Kennedy Creek

On Saturday, I finally broke out of my no-hike streak with a whopping 14-miler. I think I would've been able to handle it fine, except that a) I hadn't hiked in a long time, b) I didn't expect to go so far... Anyhow, I came out feeling like a very old man, completely sore from feet to the knees - barely able to hobble from my couch to my kitchen. We went just a few miles west of town and trekked some old gravel logging roads through some rolling hills. There wasn't a peak or any especially spectacular views, but it did feel great to be out of civilization a bit again and getting some solid exercise. I was poking fun of Mike for his elaborate pre-hike stretch routine... but turns out I could've used one of my own.

The crew was Bruce (a friend of Brian and Meliss'), Mike Eekhoff, Kristin, Eric, and Brian. My body started to regenerate yesterday, but I think it'll still be a day or two before I'm back to normal - I feel like a wimp!

March Fourth

Alrighty... I'm still around. I just haven't been doing anything that's picture-worthy. And picture-taking is what usually leads to any blog updates.

I recently discovered the simple pleasure of two consecutive days off. There's a big difference in two days off in a row and having a day off here, a half-day there, and maybe another half-day somewhere else. If I have just one day off I usually spend it trying to decide how to best spend it - cramming as much relaxation and enjoyment into my waking hours as I can. But with another day off "tomorrow" I find it much easier to take it easier. It's awesome.

It's March 4th, and Christmas/New Years seems like a very long time ago. I prefer the feeling that time is moving slowly, rather than the more frequent feeling that it is flying by and things are being under-valued or missed, glazed over, or forgotten. Lots has happened in the last two months. Work-wise, we started two worship services at our church (both on Sunday mornings), we're doing Wednesday PM worship rehearsals, I went to a vocal workship which has led to me taking a lot better care of my voice and exercising it regularly, I've scheduled a summer rock-climbing and rafting trip with my middle school group, pretty much decided that we're going to do another music and drama camp this summer - just a lot of stuff at work is going on... Also in 2008 I've seen U23D three times (and it's unbelievable by the way...) I went to it twice on the IMAX in Seattle and it came to town last weekend to the local "big" screen; I've been leading worship on Sunday nights at Reality-which has been really great, several of my friends started getting together for joint dinners on most Monday nights, I've gotten back into recording music at home, and.... I got new tires for my car... and a new roomate - and rearranged my apartment too. That's about it. Everything's been busy, but... I like that time is taking its good old self.