Work is mad crazy at the moment. They are sucking up all the hours I can provide. I am thinking it will help fund a nice trip out to Hawaii sometime this winter. I did manage to get to New Mexico over the weekend and do training for a pair of aspiring technical divers. We did a bunch of training dives and a couple of fun dives just to let them relax. I was able to pass one by the end of the weekend. The other guy was pretty discouraged, but I let him know that these skills are very hard to master and that the weekend was not a final examination, but an opportunity to practice.

I spent some time over the weekend reflecting on my teaching. In these courses I drive students very hard as these are essential survival skills. It's not for everybody, but I still hate to lose students and see them so discouraged after being pummeled in the water so. I don't think there is any other approach possible really. At least one that leaves me feeling I have given them the best possible chance at doing these aggressive dives safely.

We have a pesky bear in the neighborhood who has broken open my storage shed twice now. I heard it out there a few nights ago and went out and yelled at it a bit. It really did not want to leave so finally I chucked a Croc shoe at it and hit it in the ass. It slowly wandered off at that point. We came up with a better way of securing the door after that so maybe it will have to look elsewhere. Part of life in the mountains.

Great community fireworks display last night. A local couple essentially fronted the money for it, about $15,000 and the community stepped up and made it good. They also shot some of the ashes from the guy who started our local fireworks display into the air during the finale. I really love Nederland sometimes. It's changed a lot since I first moved to CO 20 years ago. It's gone from a fairly notoriously druggy mountain town to an interesting group of families, druggies, hippies, ski bums... more of a balanced mountain town.

Great mtn bike ride today.

My current main client is pressing me to be a more 'permanent' presence. After my last experience, I am wary.

A picture from my recent road/diving trip, checking out the ship's bell on the Typo in Lake Huron. I am at about 160ft and the water temp was 37f.

Finally have a bit of time to scribble here. I had a very intense weekend starting with Saturday where I rode MTB most of the day then taught technical diving skills at the pool from 6-10. The next morning I got up at 5:30 and drive up to Jefferson Lake, at about 10,000ft to do a pair of deep dives there. The water was cold and murky, but the dives were good. There were some large trout sitting on the bottom, very lazy because of the cold. You could almost reach out and catch them with your hands, they moved so slowly. I left Jefferson at about 3 and headed back to Boulder where I taught skills again from 6-10. Monday was a work day followed by yet another pool session from 6-10. By Tuesday morning I was pretty beat. I am happy to get a break now, though the teaching was very rewarding. Watching people transition from absolutely struggling to a degree of competence really gives a good feeling, especially when the skills being taught will keep them safe/alive.

The lilacs are out in force here in the mountains. My favorite time of year.

The pine trees are all having sex. There is pollen everywhere.

Spring.

Back home after my condensed 'endless summer'. Driving, hanging out, boat rides, biking and diving dominated the time away. I drove 5480 miles through 16 states, pausing mostly around water to dive.
I watched gas prices climb as I drove, and talked to people in various areas about how they were dealing with it/coping. I felt lucky that I drive a relatively stingy Jeep.
Florida seemed unusually hot, northern Michigan unusually cold. I saw some pretty incredible tornado damage in a couple of states, Iowa and Arkansas, and wondered what riding one out really feels like.
I am very glad to be home, but happier for the journey.

My route:

The road trip winds on with a night in Louisville then on to Michigan. I will be among friends there and on a boat every day for some chilly diving in Lake Huron.

With my new found time, I can now take a road trip. I am headed to FL for a week, then Michigan. Lots of diving, biking, and just hanging out. I will get to see my parents which I always enjoy. I leave tomorrow bright and oily.

w00t! I am so fired!
I was fired today from my current position. I am extremely happy about it as I can now get back to doing what I do best, tech-gun-slinger-for-hire. I had been consulting for this start-up company all last year and in November they offered me a job with great pay and a healthy shot of 'juice'. I believed in what they were doing and very much liked the people there at the time so I took it even though I had been independent for 12+ years at that point. Everything went downhill when they hired a VP of engineering. He was a mid-tier startup manager who really has no ability to lead in an early tier startup environment. We clashed pretty quickly and I have been practically daring him to fire me for quite a while. I have really hated the place for the last two months and was considering resigning, but today they canned me and a couple of the other talents. I have plenty enough stashed and enough severence to hang for a while, but I immediately turned and signed a contract with a company that had been asking me to help them for quite some time. I was 'unemployed' for all of about four hours. I fly to Houston on Monday to start with the new gig.
Champagne tonight!

Last night was a bit chilly, with some fresh snow about so I decided to make some hot cocoa. We like Mexican style hot cocoa, and it's a bit of a ritual to make, so I got to it and got the box of Mexican chocolate from the cupboard. All the various brands we find in the local markets are in yellow/red boxes and this has always puzzled me. The one we have at the moment is called 'Abuelita'. I got the stuff together, adding a cinnamon stick and a touch of vanilla and stood stirring while my mind drifted a bit. I thought about the brand and it took me to thinking about language and colloquial language in particular. There is a funny, though somewhat disused term in Mexico (central, mostly DF), 'Abuelita de Batman' which when literally translated means 'Batman's Granny', but really means 'for sure'. It made me think of how hard it is to really grasp a culture, that all the analysis in the world is no substitute for immersion. Formal language lessons are a start, but really fall short. There is another term from a song, 'todo lo naco es chido'. This would take a paragraph to translate, and the reader would likely still be left with an incomplete picture. I have been to Mexico thirteen times (I think), my best friend since 7th grade is a native and his mother does not speak english to me and I still have a poor picture of the culture. I cant imagine really trying to get a grasp on another people without immersion or deep help.

The hot cocoa was good, though.

In the fog of my mind this morning, while laying in bed waking up, I thought I heard the singing of a bird that I usually hear in the summer. I listened to it for a while, cheered by the possibility of another warm spring day. However, when I finally dragged my ass out of bed, there was an inch of new snow and it was about 40F colder than yesterday. The good news is the ski area got a bit of a dump and I am only 15 minutes away. Time to throw the sticks in the car and head up...

The Ten Day Week

Just got back from ten days on the move. I started by heading for Santa Rosa, NM for 3 days of technical diving then heading for the Denver airport a week ago to catch a flight to NYC. Had five days there, teaching, seeing a bit of live theater, then attending the opera on Valentine's day. Not my favorite sort of opera (Barber of Seville), but the soprano was brilliant. Flew back to Denver on Friday and then headed to Ouray, CO for a couple of days of soaking in the hot springs and nicking the Ice in the ice park. It snowed a lot and was generally beautiful. Ouray is probably my favorite mountain town. It's interesting, but there is no nearby ski area to soil the place with ski-towniness. In the winter it's mostly the motley locals and visiting ice-climbers. Drove home today over the seven passes and through several snow-squalls. Just time enough to gather myself and get ready for a talk I am to give tomorrow night on cave-diving.