And now following "The Greatest," one of the worst. Sunday the Alaska Daily News reported that Sarah Palin plans to join the national political scene. Also, her PAC (political action committee, for those of you who don't do acronyms, hers is beautifully dubbed SarahPAC!) has raised just shy of a million bucks since she started it in January and most of that money comes form outside of Alaska (oh no). Sarah is on the move and she admits that this was basically her plan since John McCain brought her on to the political scene in August. I don't care how you slice it, ol' girl is scheming. She is about to go on a national tour promoting her political agenda and just being a celebrity. At least Barrack was still a politician as he became something of an absurd celebrity. Palin is just something else and the crazy thing is, it might work. Right now I can't imagine someone unseating Obama, but hey just maybe this hockey mom can do it. And maybe she can do it without being directly involved in politics. Romney and Huckabee still might be more popular on the national level, but Sarah with dollars from SarahPAC is about to unleash her traveling roadshow to get her on level with those two gentlemen. If somehow I could get elected to a state level political position tomorrow morning by election time in 2012 I would only have slightly less experience actually in a seat of political power than Sarah Palin. That is wild. She is wild. And again, it might friggin' work. She might get into a position of power by proving that she is more powerful outside of law making and governing politics. Sorry for being young, but can someone find me an example in history (post 1800) that this has worked or even been effectively implemented in a losing effort. What precedent might Sarah be working off of here? Was this a dream Todd had one night? Did they totally make this up? Does this seem like a crackpot scheme to everyone else? Are you panicking as much as me thinking that it might somehow be an effective move?
Also be on the lookout for Sarah's book, she's got a HUGE book deal in the works apparently going to get her over a million dollars.
In my news, I went on a whitewater rafting trip this weekend on Sixmile Creek, which is very near Hope, Alaska. The night before we camped near Cook Inlet where it branches into the Turnagain Arm. Not the best campsite but you could walk right down to the train tracks that ran next to the water and look out over a bay and right at some big snow covered mountains. I will run some pictures of this site later this week, but for now I am too lazy to upload them. The river was real cold, about 40 degrees, and the rapids were pretty big. The last rafting trip I went on was on the Nile River in Uganda so this was literally the exact opposite experience. Instead of an expansive and equatorial flow this was glacial creek that ran through very tight canyons only slightly wider than the raft at some points. The day starts at the Chugach Outdoor Center where they fit you with a dry suit and some old tennis shoes, the suit keeps you dry but has no insulation so you need to wear pretty warm clothes under it to be comfortable in sub-50 degree water all day. I of course was totally unprepared and wore a cotton long sleeve t-shirt and some khaki shorts and thin little socks. After you get all dressed up in what looks like the merging between a Beastie Boys tracksuit and one of those Astronaut pre-flight get ups they wear in Apollo 13 when they are walking to the rocket you get a personal flotation device (actually these really are life vests so the new school lingo misses the point), some old tennis shoes so you don't scratch the neoprene on the bottom of your suit, and, of course, a helmet. Once you are fully outfitted they drive you about 7-8 miles to the put in point and instead of getting right into the raft you do a swim test. It's cold as shit in the water and you just gotta walk in and start swimming in a rapid. My hands were so cold I figured right then and there after about 40 seconds in the water that I was going to stay in the damn raft at all costs. Once you prove you can not immediately drown when put in the water they consider you ready to get into a raft and you group up and head to the rapids.
The first two canyons have about 5-7 class IV rapids and then the last canyon has 7 rapids, three of which are considered class V rapids. What was interesting about the first Canyon was that the biggest rapid was the first, so in case you were nervous you get to hit a huge set of rapids right away just to totally kill any bravado you may have been trying to muster up. Canyons one and two for all their hype were not that wild. I mean you got wet and you had to pay attention, class IV rapids aren't by any means small, but I was never nervous and barely had any adrenaline when we stopped before Canyon 3. At that point about 40% or so of the rafters leave and the rest continue on to the more daunting and more expensive third canyon run. Canyon 3 was about as awesome an experience as I have ever had on a raft, the rapids came in short succession and the guides were genuinely worried for your safety if you were to fall out of the boat. Luckily I did as I planned and stayed in the boat but I did damn near fall out on this one rapid called ZigZag and was only saved because when I flew to the other side of the boat I landed on my friends, and fellow interns, Evan and Alex. It was their first time rafting and they had an absolute blast. I did get to pull someone else out of the water though, and it would have been heroic if it wasn't totally easy and happened below a rapid in essentially flat water. We were close to another rapid but the raft I pulled the guy into was basically still and he was only in mild danger when I grabbed him. We made it through all the rapids without a scratch and rode back to the office feeling triumphant in our now horribly smelly and still extremely goofy dry suits.
By the end of the day the hot chocolate followed by the beer and chips in the parking lot were a Ben Roethlisberger-send err godsend, excuse me.
The sports world has been a mixture of boring and depressing, but in the next week we will have real Blazer news which I will give you the inside edge on. I assume most of my readers don't care about the NBA or the Blazers so for you guys I am your first report and cutting edge info on the world of Portland basketball. It's a real honor. I also am working this week (shocking, I know) so I am sure to get a few goofy office stories too.
Expect pics and tales soon. Out.
Also be on the lookout for Sarah's book, she's got a HUGE book deal in the works apparently going to get her over a million dollars.
In my news, I went on a whitewater rafting trip this weekend on Sixmile Creek, which is very near Hope, Alaska. The night before we camped near Cook Inlet where it branches into the Turnagain Arm. Not the best campsite but you could walk right down to the train tracks that ran next to the water and look out over a bay and right at some big snow covered mountains. I will run some pictures of this site later this week, but for now I am too lazy to upload them. The river was real cold, about 40 degrees, and the rapids were pretty big. The last rafting trip I went on was on the Nile River in Uganda so this was literally the exact opposite experience. Instead of an expansive and equatorial flow this was glacial creek that ran through very tight canyons only slightly wider than the raft at some points. The day starts at the Chugach Outdoor Center where they fit you with a dry suit and some old tennis shoes, the suit keeps you dry but has no insulation so you need to wear pretty warm clothes under it to be comfortable in sub-50 degree water all day. I of course was totally unprepared and wore a cotton long sleeve t-shirt and some khaki shorts and thin little socks. After you get all dressed up in what looks like the merging between a Beastie Boys tracksuit and one of those Astronaut pre-flight get ups they wear in Apollo 13 when they are walking to the rocket you get a personal flotation device (actually these really are life vests so the new school lingo misses the point), some old tennis shoes so you don't scratch the neoprene on the bottom of your suit, and, of course, a helmet. Once you are fully outfitted they drive you about 7-8 miles to the put in point and instead of getting right into the raft you do a swim test. It's cold as shit in the water and you just gotta walk in and start swimming in a rapid. My hands were so cold I figured right then and there after about 40 seconds in the water that I was going to stay in the damn raft at all costs. Once you prove you can not immediately drown when put in the water they consider you ready to get into a raft and you group up and head to the rapids.
The first two canyons have about 5-7 class IV rapids and then the last canyon has 7 rapids, three of which are considered class V rapids. What was interesting about the first Canyon was that the biggest rapid was the first, so in case you were nervous you get to hit a huge set of rapids right away just to totally kill any bravado you may have been trying to muster up. Canyons one and two for all their hype were not that wild. I mean you got wet and you had to pay attention, class IV rapids aren't by any means small, but I was never nervous and barely had any adrenaline when we stopped before Canyon 3. At that point about 40% or so of the rafters leave and the rest continue on to the more daunting and more expensive third canyon run. Canyon 3 was about as awesome an experience as I have ever had on a raft, the rapids came in short succession and the guides were genuinely worried for your safety if you were to fall out of the boat. Luckily I did as I planned and stayed in the boat but I did damn near fall out on this one rapid called ZigZag and was only saved because when I flew to the other side of the boat I landed on my friends, and fellow interns, Evan and Alex. It was their first time rafting and they had an absolute blast. I did get to pull someone else out of the water though, and it would have been heroic if it wasn't totally easy and happened below a rapid in essentially flat water. We were close to another rapid but the raft I pulled the guy into was basically still and he was only in mild danger when I grabbed him. We made it through all the rapids without a scratch and rode back to the office feeling triumphant in our now horribly smelly and still extremely goofy dry suits.
By the end of the day the hot chocolate followed by the beer and chips in the parking lot were a Ben Roethlisberger-send err godsend, excuse me.
The sports world has been a mixture of boring and depressing, but in the next week we will have real Blazer news which I will give you the inside edge on. I assume most of my readers don't care about the NBA or the Blazers so for you guys I am your first report and cutting edge info on the world of Portland basketball. It's a real honor. I also am working this week (shocking, I know) so I am sure to get a few goofy office stories too.
Expect pics and tales soon. Out.
For the history geeks out there, Sixmile Creek, Hope and Sunrise (no longer there) are where Soapy Smith first arrived in 1896 while searching out a town near the gold fields to take over. I have an original letter from him, to his wife which says to write to him c/o Resurrection Creek. Another one mentions Sixmile.
ReplyDeleteI can believe it. I saw three people panning for gold on the banks of the creek as I floated by. If they are panning for gold in 2009 they sure as hell were in the 1890s
ReplyDelete