Everything Must Go

The coalition rounded up at $500 overall. A good time was had: zingers were flung, pizza destroyed, items given new life, and landfill spared. At least two-thirds of the stuff sold.

The good: Mr. T lunchtray, mini-foosball table

The bad: S'mores Presentation set (for use "indoors AND outdoors"), Dianetics

The ugly: that one dude who kept telling me how hot Sara was, plus ironic gradient-fill on one of our signs

The surprise: 10:45 AM is not too early for Gin and/or Tonic.

Semi-Backpacking

Last weekend, the call was made to change backpacking routes from the smokey, fire-encircled Trinities to the clear-ish coastal Redwood National Park.

I took the opportunity of a short, close-to-home hike to try my hand at ultralight packing. No tent, only the tarp/fly. No toiletry bag, just exactly the few items I'd need. No nothin' other than survival gear (except for the camera, it's case, and a therma-rest sling.) 24 lbs. is the lightest I've ever gone (I'm big, shut up), so that is getting filed under "success." It felt like cheating.

S, K, and N went in early, and I hiked in Saturday morn. I brought a surfboard up and checked the usual spots on the way up to the trailhead. No luck.

Getting my permit at the ranger station, the woman said "You're hiking in from where? You leaving your car there overnight? Bad idea, buddy. It's close to town, and break-ins are pretty common."
"How common?"
"Common. We tell everyone not to park there."

Well, that sucks to hear if you have an impossible-to-conceal surfboard in your car. So it goes. Hike in. Beautiful. Townes Van Zandt sings sad songs until the posted warnings tell me to stay alert because of that one cougar. Silent hiking is also great.

When I found the riverbar campsite, K said that Ian once had his truck robbed at that same parking lot. That sucks to hear, as well. Hmmm. Setting up my ultralight-mode tent proved challenging, in that riverbed rocks don't take tent stakes well. Success attained.

We hone our leisure skills. Swim in the creek, sit in the sun, throw rocks at various targets until our arms are weak. Jokes, laughter, lunch, chill, jokes. Evening approaches. Cook dinner on my bitchin' new ultralight stove (love it!).

After dinner, the love of my carbound surfboard surges forth. I tell S, K, and N. "This sounds crazy, but I think I'm going to hike out. "
S says, "Yes, that is pretty crazy."
"Yeah, but if anyone cruises that lot, my board is the first thing they'll see. And my insurance, well, who knows."

Satisfied with the day, I pack up and hike out. Next time, leave the board home.

High Sierra Recap

So, now that the bags are unpacked and the wristbands cut off, we're dead. So tired. So. Tired.

This year's High Sierra Music Festival was awesome. Not unlike Michael Franti & Spearhead, it's never a question of if the show's going to be good. It's just a matter of how good. Every year the campsite ("pleasure dome") gets a little cooler, and this year we had extra everything.

Our crew, in order of distance traveled:

April and Larry in from Oakdale via Montana or something
Julie and Brian in from AZ
Jen and Box/Westside Eka
Sara, Sasha, and Mike/Northside Eka
Dawn, Larry, and Jack/ Ferndale
Kim and Chris from Yuba City

This year was smoky. There were wildfires all over NorCal, and we drove through tons of of smoke (and an active fire zone!). The wind pushed it up toward the festival three out of the four days.

It was really great to see old faces, especially when those old faces were either dirt-encrusted or adorned with glowsticks. Or both. Whatever.

The headliners, we didn't seem to care for (excepting Spearhead, duh). But the smaller, newer bands generally ranged from surprisingly good to literally stunning. Sara's favorite band was the gently beautiful EverybodyFields. James Hunter was unreal, as was Abigail Washburn's Sparrow Quartet. Spearhead blew it up, as did NoLa's Trombone Shorty. More props: Langhorne Slim, Ryan Montbleau, Mother Hips, March Fourth Marching Band.

Sasha did great. She's such a trooper. People loved her headphones, which allowed us to get much closer to the speakers than last year.

You know when you're a kid and you go to camp? That what this is. It's Fun Camp. It's where everybody who's randomly friendly to strangers gets together. Good music, freaky people, and total release. Photos here.



HSMF Field Notes and Quotes:

There was a small wedding on the Yoga Thursday night: officiant, wedding party, and all. Instant honeymoon!

This other couple in front of me had semi-discreet sex in the middle of the mainstage's music bowl during Built To Spill's set. (I found this noteworthy, but the campsite crew yawned it off. )

"Nice shirt!" - more than a few people, appreciating the Big Lebowski shirt Zeke gave me.

"Not on the rug, man." - Bumper sticker at Nathan Moore's campsite

"Don't break the seal, dude." - A guy sharing a theory of festival hygiene that relied on not showering or using the bathroom until Monday.

"Chicks dig the funk." -Same guy, bragging about going to Reggae on the River in a moldy tent with sweatlodge blankets. Ironically, he was volunteering for HSMF's shower crew.

"Is that Kashmir?....Alright." - Chris, finally being convinced to go see Bustle In Your Hedgerow

"There was a typewriter solo. It was good." - Julie, when asked about the band Sneakin' Out

"Can I play with your hair?" - Some chick who was really, really into Kim's locks

"OhMyGodOhMyGod!" - Jen, after getting kissed by Michael Franti, who is like totally her boyfriend now

"...and he was all, like, fuckin,' meeeeoooooaaaw!" - Box, admiring Buckethead's guitar prowess

"Preferably with someone who's not tripping out on anything. Or, I can drive your car." - Jill Andrews from The Everybodyfields, asking the audience for a ride to SF

"You missed out, but you'll get your chance to see it." - Joey, bragging about his Jaminator

"We're camping with the Republicans." - April, reveling in the opulence of HSMF's RV section.

"You mean the Shastafarians?" - Little kid at the pool, describing the people from his hometown of Mt. Shasta.

"So do I!" - Topless lady with a "Free Hugs" sign around her neck, after Jen said she wanted a free hug.

"That was smooshy." - Jen, ten seconds later.

Boxing Day

My (Mike's) mom is in town, which is great. She lets me drive her Prius. In exchange, I showed her the wonders of the Nintendo Wii.

Caption Needed

This photo was taken by Wilco's lead guitarist, who emailed it to a guy I know, who sent it to another person I know, who bounced it over. In other words, the smile isn't for PR. It's for music.

24% More Coordinated

Admit it: it's not as funny if she's not pratfalling all over the place.

18% More Balance

AnOde to Some Code

Today I engaged in a friendly IM battle with someone doubting the power of Google Reader, so let me just take a sec to espouse it's virtues. Other people like Pipes or iGoogle homepages. Not me. I freaking love Reader, and it works for me perfectly. No, I don't have a deal with Google. It's that awesome.

(Don't understand RSS feeds? You look at lots of blogs, so you need some sort of RSS reader that piles them all up, looks at them for you, and shows you only the new stuff. Then click on one page every day instead of 70 or whatever.)

Recently, it looks like more people are "sharing" items in their Reader, and I can't even say how awesome that is. Y'all who are sharing stuff: thank you. The most interesting stuff comes my way because you're clicking on the little "share" thing. You know who you are.

Yes, oversharing happens with some folks. And yes, I've seen some aggression in the "share with note" feature. I so don't care.

Here's my point. If a piece of code is going to save me hours a week or more, watch my news, keep me updated on my peeps, read what they're sharing, and keep my inbox clear of update-notifications, color me grateful. That means more time doing real life. Best o' both.

In fact, I have that same enthusiasm that hit me when I got my first email account in the 90's. I doubt there's a better way to do what Reader does, but if you know a way, I'll listen. Technology rules.

Free Drum Project

Maybe a year ago, I started begging publicly for spare drum parts. I used to play in middle school, and it was fun. Why not relive the dream, right?

So, one guy last year had a snare he didn't need anymore. Then, last weekend, I secured a kick drum (rusty), two cymbals, and some sticks. Then, by chance, a rummage sale in Bayside had a kick pedal and cymbal stand. I'm in business, baby!

Workarounds: cat litter box is the snare stand, excercise ball is the stool.

Drums are fun. They really are. The problem is that I suck at them. I've recorded them, and they sound good enough. They sound a lot better coming of of my Reason sampler, due to my near total lack of skill.

You know who really loves my new drums? Sara. I'm. Not. Being. Sarcastic. At. All.

So it goes. I'm on the prowl for more parts. Know anyone?

Still looking for: floor tom, rack toms, hi-hat, hi-hat stand, cymbal stand, and a stool. You know how to find me.

Look out, Jens Henneman.

Last full day today

Surfed a reef in the middle of Hanalei bay this AM by myself (and a turtle); overhead in the sets. That's about as good as it gets. Checked out Wailua falls later. Meanwhile, down at Kalipaki (photos), the surf looked micro and playful. Surfed there last week; a 30 year old flight attendant drowned there yesterday. How?

Tomorrow evening, after cleaning this place, we fly to LAX/SFO/ACV, red-eye style.

It's been fun here: not too long, not too short. It'll be good to see the pets and even better to get Sasha back on her routine. Yes, it's good to keep them flexible, but man, can I get an "amen" for predictable nap times? Glory be.

Back to Humboldt at 10:30 AM local time on Tuesday.

Hawaiian Sovereignty: Haole-style

Since arriving, we've heard a steady trickle of talk related to Hawaiian sovereignty. Some of it has been direct (there's a good radio show devoted to it), but most of it has been indirect: a comment here, a bumper sticker there. That's their original flag (not "state flag").

Without going into the whole history, it's your basic colonial imperial story:

In 1893, Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was deposed in a coup organized by Sanford Dole, (the pineapple/banana guy is on the left, see how comfortable everyone in the photo looks?), and supported by US marines. Five years later the islands were annexed. American, Japanese, Chinese, Portugese, and other groups populated the island, crowding the indigenous culture. Statehood followed in 1959, and the Hawaiian-ness of the island has slipped ever since.

So, yeah, that's exxxtreme Manifest Destiny for you. What makes it different from the US's treatment of Natives on the mainland? I don't want to get into "Whose injustice is greater," because there's more than enough to go around. Suffice to say that the relative recency, isolation, and cultural unity of the Hawaiian people are a unique situation.

Can the sovereignty movement take off? It seems to be gathering followers. Apparently there's a Hawaiian government of sorts that's been meeting formally. There are a series of blogs that follow it, and again, bumper stickers, posters, slogans, anthems, etc...it's all in place.

I asked our neighbor here about it. He said that most people who are into it are sort of like voter-fraud conpiracy nuts: right about everything, fighting the good fight, but basically kooky. (Our neighbor, by the way, has lived here since '62 and is pro-sovereignty in a "Sure, that'd be nice" way.)

He also said that any such independence would be fraught with problems, not the least of which that Hawaiian-ness, for now, has racial undertones. Also, the islands depend on the mainland's insfrastructure, food, and funding.

Sara and I have been trying to think of a single reason that Hawaiian sovereignty shouldn't happen, and we've come up with crap: world maps and US flags have to be redesigned, Hawaii might just get taken over by China eventually anyway, economic collapse would lower local quality of life.

On the other, much larger hand, freedom and self-determination are pretty sweet. Same for preserving cultural identity.

It does seem that a lot of these grievances are in the past, and there's not much you can do about that. As for current oppression, who knows. All I know is that, since we've been here, I've noticed that white people aren't doing undesirable jobs (gardener, street sweeper, line cook, busser, etc).

Could total sovereignty work? How would it happen? Given the low profile on the mainland, total independence looks impossible. Maybe they'll shoot for a Puerto Rico deal. The Dalai Lama's only asking for cultural autonomy for Tibet from China, so who knows what Hawaiian leaders think they can/should get. (Speaking of Tibet, there are so many comparisons, I'm not even going list them.)

Either way, are we missing something, or is there a moral wrong waiting to be righted?

So, yeah. Food for thought from some dumb tourists who've been here maybe a month, collectively.

Waimea Hiking, Kohana Plantation

We took a side trip a few days ago down to the south/west side of the island, which is leeward and essentially arid. The Waimea canyon was our first stop, and yeah, it does basically look like a smaller Grand Canyon.

The next stop was Koke'e State Park, which is the inland access point for the Na Pali coast. It's not unlike the Lost Coast: too steep, remote, and isolated to develop. Big mountains drop down to the coastline. We hiked around in there, and the going was slightly tough. All in all, it was the most incredible trail we have ever hiked, ever. It's that awesome.

After that, we hit up some shave ice, and then it was off to surf Pakala. Someone tipped me that Pakala was the longest left in the world. I don't know about all that, but it was a long, clean, workable wall that A-framed overhead and just kept going. Lots of goofy footers in the water here.

Today was the first day on the whole trip that I didn't catch an overhead wave. The north shore is showing a small swell tomorrow, which means I'll probably try SUP surfing. Today didn't disappoint, though. We took a train through an old plantation, fed some tiny pigs, and went to the beach. Snorkeling rules. I saw an octopus!

Anyway, we keep kicking around more interesting stuff, like the pros/cons of hotel accomodation, Hawaiian sovereignty, and island culture, but somehow we don't blog it. Maybe later. The sovereignty is particularly interesting to us.

By the way, I'm warming up to Jahwaiian music.

Kauai: Pictures