razmaspaz

I was driving in the car the other day listening to an add for Cubs tickets.  What would normally have gotten me excited about spring prompted a mix of anger and dissapointment so here it is:

Dear baseball,

I don’t know how to say this any other way.  You let me down for the last time, and its over.  I’ve never been a rabid fan, but I’ve been loyal.  I’ve attended a couple games a year, cheered on my team, and watched the world series almost every year for as long as I can remember.  In fact I think its fair to say that baseball has helped shape my identity.  And so its sad to do this, but I’m turning my back.  This year I will not watch a game, catch highlights, or read the box scores.  I will not watch the All Star Game, the playoffs, or the world series.  In short, I will not care about baseball.

I know this sounds harsh, but I think it is for your own good.  You’ve got a problem.  I don’t see any way that you won’t decide to lick it unless you hit rock bottom, so this is my contribution to your first step to recovery.  I hope you change, I really do.

My name is Raz and I love food.  I won’t say I’m overweight because I don’t think by any stretch of anyone’s imagination I would be considered such, but as I’m getting older I’m noticing my body changing.  No, not the “What’s Happening to Me” changes, the old, fat, and lazy changes.  My wife is pregnant and i seem to be growing a sympathy belly.  To top it all off as part of a transition to fatherhood I got a life insurance exam and the cholesterol results were less than favorable.

I’ve been making little changes over the past few weeks.  Skipping seconds at Christmas dinners, yes there were multiples of them, eating chicken instead of steak, eating less fast food, and so on.  And substituting my normal Special K Red Berries for Cherioes.  It culminated yesterday with my weekly trip to the grocery store that usually involves picking up some kind of snack (and by snack I mean an entire meal’s worth of candy).  I found myself staring at a bag of Life Savers Gummis for about five minutes before finally walking away empty handed.  Victory!  Those can come small as long as they keep coming.

Today was another one, or maybe not.  I, like any rational, intelligent, good looking, person in the United States LOVE Chipotle Burritos.  I could eat one every meal, particularly the steak variety.  So it was no small task today to forgoe the steak burrito for a more cholesterol firendly chicken burito.  What I found out upon ifrst bite was one of the most dissapointing discoveries I’ve made so far this year.  Chipotle Chicken Burritos taste like cardboard.  I want my steak back.  In fact I think I can give up candy, ice cream, even lay off the wine a bit, but there is no way I’m going to reduce myself to skipping the Chipotle Steak Burrito.  I just can’t do it.

I’m not one for new year’s resolutions or big todos on New Year’s.  Marking life by 365 day increments always seemed a little silly to me.  But it was about this time last year that I got my Nikon D80.  That camera marked a start ot a new year with a new hobby and so I’m feeling a little nostalgic as 2008 comes to an end.  Fortunately I got two SB-600 speedlights for Christmas and 2009 looks to be the year of the flash.  I’m excited about the prospects, and at the possibility of little baby pics.  Thats right, baby on the way which means a newfound interest in people pictures (portraits if you wanna get technical).  I’m really excited about the opportunities coming this year, both in fatherhood and in photography.  Here’s to a good 2009.

I took a wonderful trip to the northwest this summer.  I’m finally getting around to editing most of the pictures from the trip, and I have a couple I wanted to share.  For those interested in such things all the EXIF data is on Flickr, just click thru.

There was a time as a kid when going to a movie in the theater was an event.  As time went on, high school turned that into such a common experience that it lost the magic.  Less time, more netflix, and an abismal selection of quality movies has returned the theater to a noteworthy experience.  So it was this Friday night that I ventured out.  I must say its been a while.

The first sign that its been a while since I’ve bee nto a movie was the three seperate occasions in which I was warned to silence my cell phone.  Really?  Have we become so desensitized to the warning that we have to be told three times?  The real kicker was the last warning.  It went on for a full two minutes.  I couldn’t believe that if people hadn’t turned it off in the first minute, that the second minute would somehow convince them.

Second sign that I don’t make it to the theater too often was a preview for Austraila.  that preview went on for a full five minutes and I don’t have a clue what that movie is about.

Finally, and probably the most shocking, there is a new Star Wars Movie?  Really?  How did I miss that?  I feel somehow less of a legitimate geek for not knowing that.   I’m really at a loss on that one.

On the flip side, I’ve got tickets to see the Dark Knight in IMAX.  Thats a theater experience worth gettting excited about.

Its been a while since I’ve put fingers to keys and posted something on the blog.  Thats unfortunate, because there has been so much going on.  I guess thats what happens when you’re busy, no time to write about all the cool stuff.  My last post was all about starting to bike to work.  Things have changed considerably since then, and I’m riding my new Trek 2.1.  I know its nothing special to all those serious cyclists out there, but I’ve gotta say it blows the doors off of anything else I’ve ever ridden.  I really do love it.  After riding to work for a few weeks now, and having overcome all the initial aches and pains, I can say that if you have any way to ride to work, even once or twice a week, it is worth it.

I’ve started biking to work.  Its about a 20 mile round trip, and I must say it hurts.  I’m really excited, because it is almost certainly a fast track to getting in shape.  2 hours on a bike every day tends to have that effect on people.  That being said, it really is exhausting.  I hope my body catches up soon, because this is gonna get old quick.

All of this is in preparation for this summer’s climb up Long’s Peak.  I’m pretty sure I can handle a 10 mile hike in a day, but doing it with a pack at 10-12k feet, is gonna be interesting.  Hopefully the biking I’m doing now will make it a little easier to take those final few steps up the mountain.

This weekend is my TU chapter’s annual trip to Southwest Wisconsin.  Its a trip guaranteed to have good conversation, good beer, and good food.  On top of that it takes place at one of the coolest hotels on the face of the earth.  The Eagle Creek Inn in Fennimore.  I’m getting excited, giddy almost.  The weather is widely rumored to suck this weekend, and the persistent rain may very well ruin the fishing for the week, but I don’t care.

It may be cold, it may be rainy, but today nothing can dampen my spirits, because the day holds the prospect of the tug of a trout on the end of a fly line, all is right with the world.

I’m planning a menu for a backpacking trip I’ll be taking in a couple weeks.  In preparation I’ve been pouring over old issues of Backpacker looking for meals.  During the course of my search I found a tip for cooking rice in a water bottle.  Its simple really, just follow the directions on a box of minute rice for the water to rice ratio, and boil the appropriate amount of water.  Then dump the water and rice into your water bottle.  A few minutes later you have cooked rice.

I’m sure this isn’t all that impressive to the non-backpackers among you, but for those of us who carry our lives on our backs on a regular basis, we know that every ounce counts.  This is a great way to dump those pre-packaged Uncle Ben’s rice packs, and carry the dry weight instead.  Backpacker had a recipe for Cajun Rice Fritters that is making the menu this time around.  Sounds yummy.

Every kid who has ever played a sport has dreamed of being the best player to ever play the game, with me it was no different. I ran track all through out middle and high school, and harbored dreams of one day being an Olympian. I knew then, as well as now, that those dreams were nothing more than fantasies, but it was always fun to pretend.

During the 1992 and 1996 Olympics I cultivated a true love for what is most certainly the greatest sports spectacle on Earth. Yes even more spectatular than the World Cup. The worlds nations come together and put aside their differences to compete. I have no doubt that in every corner of the world grown men are transformed into children as we stop to watch and cheer our countries with national and personal pride. Stories of personal triumph are played out on a grand stage, and they inspire the world to reach a higher plane of humanity. I am a perpetual cynic, but for a couple weeks every 4 years I put it all aside and believe that we can come together in harmony.

It is because of this childlike faith that I am saddened by protesters. If you aren’t aware human rights activists have been protesting the running of the torch, to the point that the running may be canceled. They are protesting China’s relationship with Tibet. I don’t want to say that its an unimportant issue, it is very important, but the Olympics is supposed to be above it. This is an event about sport, and the love of games and superhuman feats, not a political microphone. I would hate to find a cause like this used to justify promoting a more sinister political agenda in the future.

Because I’m a cynic, I know this plea will fall on deaf ears, but please, protesters, leave the torch alone.