Two Months Later - Rebuilding

May 17, 2008 | 4 comments, w00t!

I woke up this morning and realized it was two months to the day I went up the Pollen Grains a climber with the world at his foot and came back down with a broken foot.

This morning I got up, and slowly walked down the stairs, out the door and in the front yard without any crutches.

That’s how far I’ve come since that day. I still need one crutch if I’m walking long distances. My foot still gets sore at the end of the day, but each day is a better day than the previous one.

I weighed myself on the bathroom scale. 138 pounds. I’ve lost 7 pounds of muscle. I can see it in the mirror, I’m not as defined as I used to be. Thats what two months of inactivity will do to me.

Healing time is done, its time to (gently) whip myself back in shape, boys and girls.

Today’s Spray

May 15, 2008 | 5 comments, w00t!

Buncha random links, thoughts and whatnot.

California Supreme Court overturns same-sex marriage ban. While they were not the first (Massachusetts was), the California Supreme Court is also known for being the first to overturn the ban on interracial marriage in 1948. I believe history will view this decision in the same manner.
How much does an sculpture of an anime-style boy whacking off go for? $15 million.
Tate Tullier returns to Fantastics Mag with photos of a real hottie model, Nyle.

I’ll be taking a second road trip out west to California at end of this month. Funny how at the start of the year I took a road trip to CA through the southern parts of the country. Now almost exactly six months later, I’m back to doing the same thing.. just this time I’ll be traveling through the northern part!

I’m really looking forward to this trip!

I also have a couple photo projects in the works. I know it’s been kinda dry here on the blog lately and hang in there.. things are definitely coming down the pipe!

Springtime The Second Time Around

May 12, 2008 | 2 comments, w00t!

This year is unique for me in the sense that I got to experience spring two times. In Bishop, it came early, with the grass getting green and the trees exploding in bloom around late March and the dry dusty desert plains picking up a definite green tint.

Then I drove home at end of April, just in time for springtime to roll through (a bit late, but its here) here in Minnesota. I drove around a bit, didnt take a lot of pictures, but here’s some of the good stuff.

Minneapolis - One Week Update

May 3, 2008 | 3 comments, w00t!

Well, its not actually a whole week yet. I rolled into Minneapolis early Monday morning, but close enough.

My foot continues to improve every day, more rapidly than I thought it would. Last week I was still not putting any weight on my foot when moving around - only when driving, would I use my foot.

When I arrived back in Minneapolis, I started putting a little body weight on when walking, mainly to get my foot moving, and to restore the range of motion. It was initially very stiff and clumsy, but over the last few days its really started to limber up and getting stronger.

As of yesterday, I started using just one crutch to support my weak side when walking. Its still rather slow going, and for long walks, I’ll still use two crutches, but its a major improvement, because now I can carry things with one hand when walking somewhere. That was the BIGGEST and most annoying thing about using crutches is that both of your hand are completely occupied and you can’t carry things like cups or plates of food while using crutches. You have hold up one crutch and hop wherever you need to go.

I really hope that if this rate of progress holds up, I should be able to start walking without crutches within a week or two. That’s going to be such a huge moment for me!

Its really nice to be back home in familiar territory, but I’m missing the weather in Bishop. Its still cold up here and there are no mountains to look at.

I hope to get back to doing some more photos soon and have more exciting news to post as well!

I Put Bishop In My Rearview Mirror And Rolled On, Baby

April 29, 2008 | 6 comments, w00t!

I left Bishop after lunch on Saturday. My parents (as usual) were great and came up to help me load the truck. Since I was sort of on a time crunch (needed to be in Minneapolis by Monday morning), I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I’d like.

Driving across the western high plains - you really get an idea of the scope and enormonity of this country. Also makes you question whether this world is really getting overpopulated when you can drive a hour and not see a single sign of civilization.

Driving through Nevada, it really becomes apparent that most of this state is really just one big empty place with people stratching out an existence wherever they happened to land. And then there’s a lot of evidence where people just gave up and left. Abandoned houses probably outnumber habitated ones ten-to-one.

Shrine to the Tractor Wheel Gods?

Even the cemeteries are dry, dusty affairs.

Who lived here before? What did they do? Why did they leave? How long has all of this been sitting there?

Who knew Nebraska had such beautiful rolling hills?

For the first time in weeks, I took the 35mm off my camera to use my big-gun, the 70-200mm to take this amazing late-afternoon picture.

Back in Minnesota, and its Freezing Here

April 28, 2008 | Just one comment so far!

Yup. Left Bishop Saturday afternoon and drove back to Minnesota. Some (not many) pictures to come as soon as I shake off the last of the road fatigue.

Its Almost Closing Time, Buddy…

April 22, 2008 | 4 comments, w00t!

My parents are gonna be rolling up here soon. They’ll stay with me and take some sights in. Oh, also they’ll help me pack my stuff in the truck because I can’t. Nice parents, huh?!

Then it’ll be a 1,800 mile drive back to Minneapolis. Back to where I started out Jan 10th of this year. When I left that cold snowy evening, did I even entertain the thought that life would bring me full-circle back to Minneapolis? With a broken foot? Can’t say I did.

But I’ve always been one to roll with the punches. Sometimes… no… not sometimes, its a certainity that life will knock you down at some point. As someone famous… and probably dead said, its not about falling down, but how you get up and dust yourself off thats the big idea, yeah?

Oh yeah, doctor said I could start driving again. So I drove around the valley. I drove up and down roads I’d never driven before. I saw whole new sights I’d never seen before. And whole new angles to familiar landscapes. As I watched the clouds go by, my heart broke a bit. I’d become attached to this little town in a big valley.

I keep telling myself that I’ll be coming back. This is not by any means my last time here. But I know that for the rest of my life, I will reflect upon the four months I spent here as truly priceless. I came here to climb and I discovered so much more about myself than I expected.

But well, its time to turn the pages, time to look ahead to things yet to come.

One more drink please? For old time’s sake. Just one last round before we stumble off into the night?

Natalie & Anaya Shoot

April 20, 2008 | 2 comments, w00t!

Another late night in organizing my photos. Last month when I was in DC for the wedding shoot, Natalie wanted to get a photo shoot in with her daughter, but my week was so busy, the only time we could get was about 30 minutes before I’d have to dash off to the airport to catch my flight!

Here are three of my favorites.

Its Getting There

April 16, 2008 | 2 comments, w00t!

So yeah.. my foot’s looking better those days. The dead skin around the fracture blister area started peeling off today. I kind of helped it along in some areas. Boy, I tell you.. the dried stuff under the dead skin smelled BAD! *shudders*

I still have a bit of swelling around the ankles and toes. The arch of my foot and around the heel still shows bruises. But overall, its a tremendous improvement over the last few weeks. I’m happy with how it’s coming along… just a couple more weeks… *sigh*.