kilimanjaro, days 6 and 7

I summited Kilimanjaro at 7:30 am the morning of July 3rd, 2008, day 6 on the mountain. I reached Uhuru peak, 5895 meters above sea level, the highest point in Africa. After summiting, the rest of the day was spent hiking part way down the mountain, 15 hours of hiking that day. Then, the day afterward we finished with another 6 hours. When we reached the park gate at the base of the mountain, we all had a beer to celebrate. It was good.

kilimanjaro, day 5

It is 2:19 pm on July 2nd here in Tanzania. We just hiked 5 hours to kibo hut at 4,700 meters (over 15,000 ft) way about the cloud line. We will hike all night tonight and summit in the morning. Over 1000 meters to go. Hopefully my next post will say that we've made it and are on our way down.

kilimanjaro, night 2

I am about to sleep on night 2. Gets down to freezing at night. Very hot in the day. Like the moon? Started the trek at 1950 meters. Now at 3600 meters. Summit is at 5895 meters. A cloud ran into us today head on. Breathtaking up here.

kilimanjaro, day 1

It is 6 am here. We are driving around the mountain to the Kenyan side to start our ascent. Feeling good.

dar es salaam, tanzania

I made it to Tanzania by way of Qatar. It is 6 am, Friday, June 27th in Dar es Salaam now. The group and I are about to get on a plane to central Tanzania and then will take a bus to the base of the mountain. I don't know what connectivity I will have there, so I may not be able to post for a while. Lots of stories to tell still.

plan de l'aiguille

Yesterday my friends and I started hiking in the Alps next to Chamonix, France. We had already visited the Aiguille du Midi via a very fast cable car. It takes you up more vertical distance than any other cable car in the world (from 1,000 meters to 3,842 meters; which is about 3,200 feet to 12,600 feet) a 2,800 meter ascent (over 9,000 feet). This is the closest you can get to Mont Blanc without climbing up to its summit. About halfway up the cable car way, a hiking trail crosses the cable car path. That is the trail that we decided to take yesterday.

While we were ascending on our own, using our feet, we could look back and see some beautiful views of Chamonix, where we started.

We started at 1,000 meters and got to 2,300 meters at our highest altitude (3,200 feet to 7,200 feet). This was an ascent of over 1,300 meters (over 4,200 feet) by foot. Frankly, it was steep.

Flies and other various insects started to hang on to us as we were getting through the deep forest. Once we broke through the tree line, they decided to give up and stopped following. Some very rocky terrain ensued with large boulders and sometimes we were climbing up rocks to get to the next step. After reaching the Plan de l'Aiguille hut, at the peak of our hike, we were rewarded with some gorgeous views which included a giant glacier, Le Glacier des Boissons.

On our way down, we decided to take a detour and see the Cascade du Dard waterfall, which gave us a nice breeze.

It was the hardest hike yet, but was also the most rewarding. Now that we are back in Geneva, Switzerland, we will be getting a good night's rest and heading to Tanzania by way of Qatar tomorrow. Then the real hiking begins, I know.

2 am, chamonix

I know I have been remiss not to post in so long. The long and short of it is that I have been very busy, barely able to make time for myself, but in that time I have prepared for the Kilimanjaro trip and been pretty much slammed at work.

Two days ago, I left that work to do something I have never done, and that is to go far far away from the places I knew. Not like the Bahamas where I went when I was a teenager, but really far... like France. So today I'm in France. Here's how I got here.

Some of my friends and family (you) know that I have been raising money for VSO, a charity organization based in the UK, and will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in about a week as part of that involvement. Their AIDS education efforts in eastern Africa are being aided by the money that I raised.

My friends and I decided to participate in this VSO thing together, so we raised money together over the past several months, and donated a lot. We also trained for the climb quite a bit. As we were planning, we said to ourselves "Selves, wouldn't it be sweet to stop in France on the way to Tanzania and hike in the Alps?" to which we replied "Duh. Yes." and we booked our flights. So here's what the trip looks like...

The blue lines are in the air. The red lines are on the ground. Basically it is... Chicago to London, Geneva, then Chamonix (France), hike in the Alps, return to Geneva, Geneva to Doha (Quatar), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), then Kilimanjaro, climb up, climb down, safari... return to Dar, Doha, London, Chicago.

It is a three week trip. I am currently 2 hours into day 3 (since it is a little past 2 am right now), our first night in Chamonix, France. I will try to update more during the trip. Goodnight.

love is hell

Since the last time I posted, summer, fall, and winter happened. To sum it all up... I worked, became a step-uncle and a standard uncle, took a great trip to California over new years, won a little Rock Band competition with my friends at work (here are the youtube videos of Cherub Rock and (Don't Fear) the Reaper), and got a lot of toys and good music. Life could be a whole lot worse.

Here's what this post is really about: Some of you know that I am a music fanatic. I buy new music all the time and I've decided to share some of the stuff I find right here. I'm going to start with one of the best records I've heard in at least a year.

Ryan Adams
Love Is Hell

As his wikipedia article clearly states "not to be confused with Bryan Adams", you know, Anything I Do (I Do It For You), Summer of '69, etc? Well, he's not that guy, and he may overreact if someone forgets it. So who is he then? Well, even though he is not to be confused with Bryan Adams, he is also Canadian. (I have really enjoyed the Canadian music I have found so far, more on that in the future.) He has really broken through with his latest full-length album, Easy Tiger. Anybody who peruses myspace and/or trades random songs with their friends on the net may have run across his excellent cover of Oasis' Wonderwall. But, getting to the point, he is americana and alt-country rock. His songs are mostly quite relaxed and rich with normal instruments like piano and guitars with an occasional tremolo effect. He is believable and memorable with a raspy vocal style that sounds good wet.

Let's get to the Love Is Hell album. I love the slow steady rhythm of these low-key, melancholy, and depressing songs. It's dreary for damn sure, and I love that. The album really sets into this mode on the second track Afraid Not Scared which makes you feel like you're floating in space, similar to the mood of Aimee Mann's record, Lost In Space, but even more depressing, if you can imagine. The sweet redundancy of This House Is Not For Sale and World War 24 make me wish these songs lasted at least 8 minutes. He picks up the pace with Anybody Want To Take Me Home and Love Is Hell but then hits that sweet and simple stripped-down Wonderwall cover. Worth noting on this song is a modified melody that gives it a memorable creepy vibe. Finally, The Shadowlands is a perfect example of a slow burn buildup to many layers of sound, all enhancing the relaxed mood; a microcosm of the whole album's effect, I think.

The rest of his records just aren't like this one. (The closest is Cold Roses, I think.) They're less dreary, but still great. If you like this one, I would move on to Cold Roses, Easy Tiger, and his latest EP, Follow the Lights, which includes an awesome cover of Alice in Chains' Down In a Hole.

Ear Candy Moments are... the naked Wonderwall cover, all of it; the slow burn of The Shadowlands; World War 24's perfect melancholy mood; and the vocal melody of My Blue Manhattan.

pills and jesus

i got a myspace friend request from a michelle and i thought "aren't i already friends with her?" then i realized that this one's page was actually a front for boner pill pushers.

kind of like when my friend josh said that he had found jesus. i thought... "my god, we're rich." then i realized that he meant something completely different. - jack handey

and the pickles

After almost two days of watching reality tv with my sister, I can say that I'm definitely dumber because of it. If they wanted to be accurate, they'd rename MTV and VH1 to "Drunk People Arguing 1" and "Drunk People Arguing 2" because all they show are reality shows, excluding VH1's top 20 video countdown every morning (which itself should be renamed to "Chicks In Bikinis Walking Away From You In Slow Motion or Gyrating Rapidly In Your General Direction") and the random annual awards shows. Anyway, they're both owned by the Viacom conglomerate, so i'm not surprised that their programming is similar.

My favorite altercation that occurred during this marathon of boob-tubery was on this VH1 show called "I Love New York" which is kind of like The Bachelorette, but if it were in the hood. New York is a woman who used to be a contestant on a show where contestants competed for the love of Flava Flave, which was kind of like the bachelor, but if it were in the hood. If you're sensing a pattern here, well, so am I. Anyway, New York gets all up in this dude's face yelling "Pootie! Tell me what she means to you!" accusing him of having a girlfriend at home, and yeah, dude's name on the show is Pootie. She's actually standing on the kitchen counter, then crouching down, yelling and pointing in his face. He yells back "I'm real! I'm real! She's my friend, yo! She's my friend!" This goes on for about 2 or 3 minutes, which is quite a bit of time to yell about "who's real" and "who ain't real" and "who never said you wun'n real". Finally she says "Case closed." then pauses and asks "We cool?". As Pootie goes back to doing the dishes, he says "I'm boppin lika lika lika burger king whoppa, baby. I can have it my way an' you can have it yours." She replies "I like mine with pickles, biatch!" which was like the ultimate warrior bodyslamming the macho man randy savage, but if it were in the hood.

It blew my mind.