Lingo

You know what's cool? Zoe's got her own lingo. Sometimes when she's looking in a glass of milk or a blue plastic Nalgene bottle she'll call it her "tank". She knows how to ask for a cup of water or a glass of juice, but sometimes she'll peer into the liquid and refer to it as her tank, just like a tank of fish!

I don't know about you but I kind of miss that special lingo you had when you were a kid. You know...the words you had before you entered the world of formal grown up speak. Recently I've been in contact with a high school friend named Jeff Babe. Jeff's cousin Rob would sometimes say "corn" if he saw something cool or impressive. He’d just blurt it out "CORN". We were all teenagers and I don't think Rob or anyone else had heard the term "can of corn" (If you ever listen to a White Sox Radio broadcast you’re bound to hear Ed Farmer use the term at least once in nine innings). Anyways kid lingo is good stuff.

I've been reading like a madman lately. I'd like to give my thoughts on all these books but things have been way too hectic with moving, selling the condo, and buying a house in Reno. Here's the reading list lately:

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
The Other Side: Journeys in Baja California
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
A Season in Turmoil
Against All Enemies
Dude, Where's My Country?
Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities
Devil in the White City
Heft on Wheels: A Field Guide to Doing a 180
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
The Kite Runner
Crossing California
Boyos: A Novel

Geeze... Reading has been a pretty addictive release. The best analogy for this reading spurt I can think of is a cross country road trip. Most people sitting in the passenger seat fall asleep with the hum of the tires and the lack of stimulation. When I'm in that position I just keep staring out the window checking out the scenery. There's so much to take in and so little time to do it. Hopefully Zoe will look at the world that way.

I'll have more time to write on the blog once we get moved in and get set up with an Internet connection. In the meantime keep us in your thoughts.

Risk and Reward

I've been reading a pretty interesting book by Aron Ralston titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place". You might remember Aron Ralston as the guy who got his arm caught in a falling rock and had to cut it off. He had hiked into a slot canyon near Moab, Utah and, while scrambling over a free hanging boulder, dislodged the rock and got his hand wedged in-between the rock and the canyon wall.

What most people don't know about Aron Ralston is that he was not just some kid out fooling around in the wilderness but an accomplished mountaineer. Aron has soloed over fifty 14,000 ft peaks in the Colorado Rockies (affectionately known as fourteeners in the climbing community). Not only did he solo them but he climbed them in winter. Here is a guy that has already has a number of near misses with death yet he keeps on going back for more. Why?

Why… is exactly what I'm thinking as I'm riding to work this morning. It's been around freezing all week in Reno. The snow is melted off the streets but puddles and run off make for black ice each morning. It doesn't take much ice when you're riding on a racing bike with 23mm wide tires and a rubber contact patch only an inch long. Couple the black ice with frostbite and the lack of daylight and the commute doesn't make much sense.

From my viewpoint it all comes down to calculated risk and reward. The reward is the sense of self accomplishment in pushing yourself; to know that you are doing something beyond the ordinary. I see some reward in riding my bike.

To further my viewpoint, consider the fact that lots of people take risks everyday. Think of the overweight guy who goes out for fast food every day for lunch (I'm sure you know a person like this). What is his balance of risk and reward? How about the person who consistently drives 15 to 20 miles over the speed limit? What is his risk and reward like? Is there enjoyment from weaving in and out of traffic? For getting home a few minutes earlier?

There are risks in everyday life. To Aron Ralston scrambling down a slot canyon IS considered everyday life. It's easy for us to be judgmental as not many of us are the outdoors person that Aron Ralston is. Admittedly he pays for his risks with the loss of a hand (I'm about half-way through the book and just getting to the part where is contemplating self – amputation). It should be interesting to finish this book and see if Aron alters his lifestyle or has regret about his accident. I suspect, like most people in the examples above, that he won't.

If anyone gets some free time and reads this book I'd be curious to learn what you think of it.