Mendra found got some cute candles through a fundraiser of one of his co-worker's kids. This is our first Halloween at the house. I had no idea how much candy to buy -- I guess we'll find out when the night is done. So... here's my candy theory. I have no kids of my own to go out and beg for candy from stangers -- so its ok for me to sample the candy I bought to hand out :-D... Whaddya think? Good reasoning?

Add a comment

Posted by Jessica on October 31, 2006 9:16:19 PM EST #

This weekend, in an attempt to pretend I'm not nearing 30 (oh my goodness, I don't think I've actually ever written that before... thirty... ooof) I partied, worked out and competed on little to no sleep. It was absolutely exhausting. But I actually had a great weekend.

First was the costume party. I haven't been to one in way too long. Its fun to play dress up. In honor of my little trip to Munich last month, I found a short little Beer Wench / St. Paulie Girl" outfit. Morgan looked absolutely amazing as a Vampiress in this gorgeous black corsette. Taramin has a pirate party this coming Friday, I think I'll just wear the same with a big pirate-y bandana and an eye patch.... hmmmm we shall see.

Saturday morning was a Power Vinyassa class with Rochelle. At Tuesday's Yin class she told me that the class wouldn't be very arm-y and would be mostly twists. I thought it sounded great before a comp: get me all stretched out, get my mind all focused. All good things before you push yourself to climb as hard as you can. Even better, Sara came to class too. Its fun to go to yoga with people you know. I'm so glad I started practicing yoga.

The one snag in the yoga-before-a-bouldering-competition plan came when we got home from the costume party at 4am.... and yoga started at 8am. Sleep is also a good thing before a comp.

This year was the PRG's 10th annual Midnight Burn. It was crowded, but it was a good time. The comp was well run, the routes were interesting and well-varied. There were just a lot of long lines to get on the routes. I was ok with the lines. I was exhausted. After each climb I'd jump down and my hands would be shaking. I climbed well, and I pushed myself hard. But I only attempted things I was sure I could finish.

For all the comps here on out I'm going to enter the intermediate class. That way I'll have to push myself to try routes I may not be able to flash. I love the mindset I get into at a comp. I push myself to hold on harder, to stretch further to balance more. I'm excited that the comp season has started. I'm looking forward to the rest of the comps this season. I think the next one is Dec 9th at the gym in Downingtown. I've never been there. Hopefully its fun.

By the way, that's Taramin working on a bouldering problem at the comp. She's got GREAT form in that picture. Nice straight arm, dropped knee. Very nice.

UPDATE 10.31.2006: Results for the PRG comp are online: Women's results | Men's results | Youth results

Responses[1]

Posted by Jessica on October 30, 2006 9:44:06 AM EST #

Do it. Go donate. It'll make you feel good, even if you're having a poopy day like I was. PleaseGiveBlood.org

Responses[4]

Posted by Jessica on October 24, 2006 6:34:51 PM EDT #

Rochelle is my yoga teacher at The Studio for You. She was listening to The Jersey Guys on New Jersey 101.5 and heard them talking about a Breast Cancer fundraiser called "Cans for a Cure". Basically they asked women to call into the show and have their breasts cast, and they'd then auction off the busts and donate the money to Breast Cancer. She called in, and a few days later she was on the radio and having her boobs set in plaster.

So boys... don't you want to have a lovely cast of Rochelle in your house?? Check her out!! Bid on Rochelle's Cans for a Cure!!!

hmmmm... Sam... what kinda cool fundraiser can we do like this for HERA?

Responses[4]

Posted by Jessica on October 18, 2006 7:06:25 PM EDT #

Tim made my day. He put up a new problem at the gym. Its a lovely little V2+ called "Jess is Short and Sweet". Tim rocks.

Next week, Saturday October 28th, is the first bouldering comp (competition) of the season: Philadelphia Rock Gym's Midnight Burn 2006. I'm SO excited. I just registered. I wonder if I'll end up sandbagging the comp. This is how they broke down the categories:

• Womens:
• V2 and under: Novice
• V2 - V5: Advanced
• V5 and up: Open
• Mens:
• V3 and under: Novice
• V3 - V5: Intermediate
• V5 - V7: Advanced
• V7 and up: Open

So.... I climb V2s, and after I've been working on bouldering for awhile, I can climb some V3s. I'm trying to remember how the stuff at PRG's last comp were rated. From what I remember, they were rated easier than how they rate things at Go Vertical... so something at the comp that was rated a V2, would be a V1+ at GV.... But anyway. The reason for the concern is I'd like to get myself in the right category and not end up sandbagging the comp. PRG has a decent explanation of sandbagging on their website. Basically its rating yourself lower than you should, i.e. someone who normally climbs V4's putting themselves in the novice category.

No matter, I'll be pushing myself as hard as I can. I'm sure my hands will be very sore by the end of the day. I'm quite excited. I think we'll get a pretty good crowd from Go Vertical to come out too. That'll be fun.

YAY! Bouldering comp season!! It'll be fun. I'm excited (can you tell?)

Responses[1]

Posted by Jessica on October 18, 2006 3:44:57 PM EDT #

This last weekend we went out to Salt Lake for my 10 year High School reunion from Brighton High. We had a great time (I know... I heard reunions were supposed to suck too, but hey I was pleasantly suprised).

It was crazy to see people after 10 years... all those faces, all those memories. I guess after being away from Utah for 10 years, and not really keeping in contact with anyone, it was nice to see how many people remembered me and how many I remembered. Some people looked SO different, but others looked just the same. I guess that's all expected.

There were a few people I really was hoping to see, but they didn't make it to the reunion. They were still on the "missing classmates" list the last time I checked.... So here's my little plea... maybe they'll google themselves and find this little blog entry...

• Emily Davis
• Nicole Lingard
• Mindy Hanson (class of 97)

So... if you went to Brighton High School in Salt Lake City, Utah and you happen to have a name strikingly similar to one of those listed above -- I'd love to hear from you!

[update 10.18.2006]
And yes, there were other people that didn't make it to the reunion that I knew weren't going to make it, and I missed seeing them too. BUT for those girls.... I know how to contact them... so they're not "missing" like the ones above. So, Ms. Elizabeth "E" (Myers) Toman, and Ms. Denise "Nesie" Van de Kamp, I missed seeing you girls at the reunion. I hope all is well in your respective parts of the world!!

Responses[4]

Posted by Jessica on October 17, 2006 9:58:12 AM EDT #

Dad thinks that Rotspitze looks like the Matterhorn. As a child he said he always dreamt of climbing it... and he said it would be cool if someone in his family climbed it one day. I say, it looks pretty damn cold to me. But I think the question is.... Dad, are you paying for my summit attempt?

Rotspitze, Austria

Matterhorn, Switzerland-Italy

Responses[2]

Posted by Jessica on October 4, 2006 3:44:02 PM EDT #

Thank goodness the FAA lets you take knitting needles on the plane. It keeps me busy and sane (and mostly helps to make me think that I'm not wasting all this time staring at the little tv screen in front of me). I had plenty of flights (and a couple train rides) to knit on. Two from the Climb4LIfe trip to Salt Lake, and eight from the JBoss trip to Europe.

I got some gorgeous yarn from the knittinghelp.com Great Yarn Swap. Its called Manos Del Uruguay, its the Space-Dyed Wool Yarn, color 113 "Wildflowers". I got two skeins of this lovely varigated yarn. The guage of the yarn varies throughout the skein. It wasn't enough to make a top out of, but I thought it would be great for a scarf. And I think I found an ideal pattern for it.

Stacey at Sheep in the City had the pattern listed online. She originally got it from a yarn shop in San Francisco called ImagiKnit. I think I'll have to check them out next time I'm on that side of the country. The pattern is actually pretty simple and goes quickly after you get used to the stitches.

I'd consider this an advanced beginner project. You need to be able to read a basic pattern (its just two rows repeated throughout the pattern). The two main stitches you need to do are: p2tog (purl two stitches together) and psso (pass the slip stitch over the last knit stitch).

• the size
• Finished piece measures ~62" long x ~5" wide
• the materials
• 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay spaced dyed yarn - color 113 "Wildflowers"
• 1 pair of size 11 needles
• the pattern
• Listed here at SheepInTheCity

The finished Manos Del Uruguay scarf

Responses[2]

Posted by Jessica on October 4, 2006 12:00:07 PM EDT #

Last night, I was sitting in the Zurich Flughafen (airport). My flight to Heathrow was delayed. It’s pretty impressive that of the eight flights this trip, that was the only to get delayed.

I was sore. Seeing as though I had some time, I decided to stretch. Man did that feel good. I did some of the poses we practice in my Yin yoga class. The guy sitting next to me looked at me kinda funny. I wanted to turn to him and say, "Don't mind me, I'm just really sore and need to stretch. You see, I went rock climbing in the Austrian Alps yesterday." How cool does that sound? (!!!)

Saturday was a long day. But I loved every moment of it. The 'bus' left Thomas' house at 9. We headed out of the city and grabbed some food on the way. We got our first glimpse of the Alps after a half hour or so. Then as we entered the valleys between the foothills, we drove past the most beautiful lake. I wish I could remember the name. It was gorgeous, all cozy and nestled in between the green mountains.

A little while later Thomas pointed at this huge mountain with a large rock outcropping on the top, "That's what we're climbing" he says. Ummm, k.

The view towards Rotspitze in the Rofan region of the Austrian Alps.

The side of Rospitze we repelled down.

We parked, packed our gear and bought tickets for the gondola (its just like the Tram at Snowbird). After we got to the top, it was about a bit less than a hour's hike to the base of the climb. It was a spectacular sight.

Manik tieing his shoes before the climb.

Thomas chose 2 routes for us to climb. He and his girlfriend, Doris, took the one on the left. Manik and I, the one on the right. Unfortunately I'm not as gifted as other people I know and I can't even begin to describe the view from the climb. Amazing doesn't do it justice, but that's the best I can do.

Doris seconding the climb after Thomas on the second pitch. What an amazing view.

I lead the first pitch (I think it was a UIAA 5+) and Manik lead the second. I lead the last pitch. The last pitch really zig-zagged across the face, and the rope drag was nuts. I got quite the workout on the top taking up all the extra rope so that Manik could second. The repel down was great. Luckily a 2nd group of climbers were on the bottom and were able to take a GREAT picture of all of us.

Thomas, Manik, myself and Doris after our climb.

We repelled down on Thomas' double ropes. And before he began to pull the ropes down, he looked up and thought the ropes were twisted, so he untwisted them. Or so he thought. The ropes ended up becoming really twisted together. Thomas tied himself to one end and hung off of it. The other end of the rope creeped up the smallest bit. He decided he needed more weight, so he tied himself and Doris to the rope, and they ran down the hill. Again, the other end of the rope only moved a few feet. So up and then down the hill they went.

Thomas and Doris bringing down the rope

After 20 minutes or so, the rope came down. We packed up our gear and began hiking back down towards the gondola. The last gondola ride down was at 5, and we knew we'd missed it, so we continued down the mountain.

The view of the Alps and the lake silouhetting Doris.

Thomas, myself and Manik on the way down the mountain.

Luckily Manik and I had our headlamps, cause it got dark pretty quickly, and by the time with an hour left down the mountain, it was pretty much black. So after three and a half hours hiking down, we made it back to the van. Quite the day.

We ended the night at a big Bavarian restaurant, where we had beer and a nice little diner. I love how everything tastes better after a big hike.

Thomas and Doris

Manik and myself

Responses[2]

Posted by Jessica on October 2, 2006 8:06:37 PM EDT #

This has been quite the whirl-wind tour of Europe. The beginning was great: I got to see family who had moved to Frankfurt a year ago. The middle was good: I got to meet lots of customers, some JBoss colleagues, and get a glimpse at a bunch of European cities. The end was AMAZING.

I'm in Munich this morning. One of my colleagues, Thomas Dielser, was kind enough to put me up at his house for the weekend. Another colleague, Manik Surtani, joined us too.

On Friday we met up with Heiko Braun (another JBoss core developer) and climbed at Kletterzentrum Munchen (Munich climbing center). Its HUGE. I think Go Vertical in Philadelphia has about 12000 square feet of climbing space. Kletterzentrum Munchen has nearly 48000 square feet (22000 square feet indoors and 26000 square feet outdoors). It's massive, and I believe, the largest climbing gym in Europe. Its ALL lead climbing and there's a good sized bouldering room upstairs. (Check out babelfish if you'd like to try to translate the website into english).

It was interesting going to a gym outside the US. No waivers to sign, no belay tests to take. Just pay your money and off you go. Its all lead climbing -- and on all the routes (except the ones with big overhangs) you provide your own quick draws. Routes are marked by using the same colored hold throughout the entire route, and each route was marked using the UIAA grading system (here and here are two comparison charts that vary slightly). I seconded a couple 7-'s (5.10ish), lead a couple 6/6+'s (5.9ish) and tried to second an 8- (5.11ish). If I had started the day on that last 8-, I might have been able to do it... but by then my arms were done. The climbing was challenging -- the walls are highly textured (lots of features to use for food holds and even some inserts for hand holds). The only thing I didn't like about it so much is all the routes go straight up and down. Although that's a very efficient way to set up a gym -- I like how the lead routes at Go Vertical meander a bit from side to side.

We went for dinner Friday night at a tasty little Moroccan restaurant. Supposedly its where Robbie Williams goes to eat when he's in Munich (well.... if its good enough for Robbie Williams, then..... ummm yeah anyway ). When we left the restaurant, Thomas' van had been parked in (the pictures are a little dark, but you get the idea... there was about 3 inches in front and behind the van). It was pretty entertaining to see him get out of the spot.

Saturday was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, the pictures are still on Thomas' camera... so I think I'll leave everyone in suspense until I get the pictures and do a proper write up.... hmmm maybe a teaser?? ok: Climbing in the Alps of Austria. Yeah... you're jealous I know. I can't wait to go back.

Responses[1]

Posted by Jessica on October 1, 2006 5:21:20 AM EDT #