It is the first day of school, and I'm in the cafeteria getting a late lunch. So far I've been on campus for 3 hours and all I've done is go to my pilates class. I don't teach until 6PM on Mondays. Sort of sucks, but not the end of the world. Anyway, the only thing open this late in the afternoon in the cafeteria is the grill. I'm sitting there looking at the menu and watching the lady take orders, and call out the finished orders. It takes be backs... She isn't old enough to be June, but this could [View Full Entry]

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I can't believe it. Here I sit in a truck loaded with gear on its way to Lee's Ferry. I'm actually going to kayak/raft the Grand Canyon. I'm filled with way to much nervous excitement. I don't actually know if I will be rowing a gear raft or kayaking. The plan is for Todd and I to take turns rowing and paddling. Who cares, it is the Grand Canyon, and the trip of a lifetime. We have 18 days planned to go from Lee's Ferry to South Cove in Lake Mead, 297 miles down the Colorado River. Before it starts I [View Full Entry]

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Well I thought I should write and tell everyone about my exciting last couple of weeks. First of is I found a job... that means I'm about to enter the world of responsibility... how scary. Now the good news, my first assignment is to take summer vacation. My job doesn't start until September. I am going to be a full time instructor at Portland Community College. I am going to be teaching about the equivalent freshman and sophomore circuits and EE classes. Should bring back good memories. (Pogue I think there is a joke here for you to write) So now [View Full Entry]

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If you aren't interested in reading a boating trip report, don't bother to read any further. I'm actually posting this on the paddling website. I figure I will put it here as well because well, I can. Anyway today I got back in MY boat. YAY. It felt good to be back in the EZ. It was nice to be in a boat that I knew and was "comfortable" in. I don't understand why the PFD, dry top, dry pants and spray skirt all felt so tight when I put them on. I mean I do weigh less now than when [View Full Entry]

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Wow, so this weekend I moved all of my stuff from storage in Seattle to storage in Portland. I'm getting good at loading my stuff from one box, into another box/trailer moving it and then putting it back in a 3rd box. I have to say that loading the trailer this time was a lot less work than the last time. I guess that is the practice of the jigsaw puzzle. Of course fitting it all into storage was another good game of tetris. It seems that the dimensions are always just a few inches shorter than I need. My 5x5 [View Full Entry]

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So I'm at Kells in downtown Portland on Friday night. I sit down to talk to these girls. We get to talking about where we are from (nobody in Portland is from Portland... sort of like Atlanta in that aspect) anyway the one girl says she is from Atlanta now but Indiana actually. (interesting) For some reason I respond with “Go Hoosiers.” To which I find out that she is a Boilermaker fan. She continues to tell me that she went to “Rose.” I find it interesting that she just says “Rose.” I find myself saying the full name most of [View Full Entry]

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TIA stands for This Is Africa. I first heard the term used in S. Africa. Since that time I’ve used and heard it used many times. When I hear it used by westerners or travelers it doesn’t bother me. It is usually used as a way to remind ourselves that we aren’t home. Western rules don’t apply. However, I have heard it used by locals at times. This generally bothered me and would sometimes cause me to go off on said person. To here it from a local it always came across to me as a way of making excuses when [View Full Entry]

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Well my time of traveling Ethiopia has finished. It has been a really amazing 3 weeks with lots seen and done. I spent my entire time in the north, in the Ethiopian Highlands. This is a very mountainous area, similar to Lesotho (I know that doesn’t help). The people even where blankets like in Lesotho. I found this very reassuring for some reason. It has an average altitude of above 2000 meters. Simien Mountains The plan for the Simiens was an eight day trek starting and ending in Debark and making it to the top of Ras Dashen, the highest peak [View Full Entry]

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Well I've been in Ethiopia for just over a week or so. I have yet to leave Addis Abba... but we will get to that story later. I have to say I like what I've seen in Ethiopia so far. It is so laid back it seems. I had heard that is was really in your face and such. But I don't recall anyone yelling "faranji" (Ethiopian equivalent of Muzungo) to me yet. People just seem to mostly let me go about my business, maybe I just look... who knows. And hardly any traffic, and the traffic stops for people in [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday was the start of my journey home. I had a flight on Tuesday morning to London where I planned to spend a few days visiting some friends before heading on home. I have to comment on this flight because I got to fly first class. It turns out that the pilot happened to be sponsoring some children at Ray of Hope where I worked in Kampala. We had met several times. He was able to use some clout and get me bumped up to first class. It was pretty nice. The best part was that the seats reclined almost all [View Full Entry]

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