Reflection 09 and Look-Ahead 10

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this dissertation are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Ashland Outdoor Store. Nor does the post have anything to do with anything important.

Honestly, I do not like reflection posts and borderline hate reading them. They either come across as bragging about how much cool stuff you did, or they come across as complaining about how much cool stuff you missed out on. Anyways, I don't think that you can't really reflect on an entire year. To much happens. Also, I don't even think it is fair to generalize the status of your year e.g. 2009 was a good year or 2009 was a bad year.

Reflections remind me eulogies and thats just depressing and it's all just because the calendar changes. Now I understand that we are a traditional society and so therefore we continue to trod down the same paths year after year catering to our nature of habit. So you'll go out tonight and you'll count down, toast, kiss your hunny, and make a new years resolution that you wont stick to because your just making something up to impress the company that your keeping. And just like that a new day and a new year will start.

Will 2010 be better then 2009? Will 2010 be worse then 2009? Who knows. But nothing will change if you continue to sit around and wait for something to happen or make idle half-assed new years resolutions.

Not to get to Carpe diem, but I was reminded recently of the George Bernard Shaw quote, "youth is wasted on the young." This made me realize that every year is going to be good and bad. So 2010 won't be too different then 2009. 2010 will have moments of great exaltation, immense remorse, and excruciating pain. The highs and lows of success and failure will fluctuate from day to day, week to week, and month to month on into 2011. Therefore, live your life the way you want, love the people you want, say the things you want, and be in the place you want.

Hold nothing back and 2010 will be yet another year.

Domestic Abuse

The domestic arena is by far the most dangerous area of our lives. This fact was re-instilled in me last weekend while attempting to hang new curtains.



It was an "easy" task, but one I had been putting off for roughly 8 months. But who's counting. The window the said curtains need to be hung up over was the front window. The front window, as is traditional for this time of year, is the home for the house's christmas tree. The right side of the curtain system went up easily as a balanced on the arm of the couch. The left side was a little more complicated because I'm right handed and the christmas tree was slightly in the way. However, balancing between the arm of the couch and windowsill wasn't difficult for me. But, using the drill in with my left hand was difficult. Therefore, I decided to switch drill hands.



At this point in the story everything gets a little blurry for me, but basically after switching which hand was holding the drill i slipped and fell. I fell on the christmas tree. I knocked over the tree. My momentum and gravity continued to carry me downward until I landed on the christmas tree stand and more importantly I landed on one of the T-Handles that tightens the bolt into the tree. The T-Handle impaled the bottom of my foot. In a moment of shock and panic I ripped my foot off the T-Handle. The amount of pain was indescribable.



Luckily I keep good people around me. Both my best friend and my girlfriend are certified wilderness first responders, and they quickly jumped into action. After stabilizing me (i.e. calming me down because I was freaking out), irrigating, and dressing my wound they took me to the emergency room where I got a nice foot soak, a pair of crutches, and a referral to a foot and ankle specialist because I could not feel or move my toes.



Three days, two doctors visits, and one MRI later I was in the specialist chair getting my foot numbed so he could open it up and clean it out. Take the initial accident's pain level and multiply it by 800 and that's how painful this process was. Luckily, I had my girlfriend to hold my hand and 5 shots of Novocain to help. However, being the big baby that I am, it was still the most painful experience of my life. The bad part is that all I have to show for it is five stitches and a soft cast.



So to start this winter season I'm on crutches. But things are looking up because I have feeling again and movement is slowly coming back. Hopefully with a little PT and luck I will be on the slope just after the new year.

But it has really made me reflect about how quickly things can happen that have astronomic affects on our lives. We (i.e. active outdoor enthusiast) I think have a tendency to take our physical abilities for granted. This is my first injury that has really brought that into perspective for me, and I think that is because it is my first real injury not inflicted during an activity (e.g. skiing, snowboarding, climbing, or biking).

It's definitely a reminder to calculate your risks. Even if that is hanging curtains!

A quick clarification: the thought of moving the tree out of the way never crossed my mind.

Dear Icebreaker

I am still waiting for an answer from Icebreaker on this, but while I wait I figured I would share this story with you!

Dear Icebreaker,

I am writing you today because I love your products, and I have a funny yet sad story. October 2008 I was mountain biking in the Wagner Butte range in Southern Oregon. The mountain biking is phenomenal and extremely remote. It was a cold fall morning when we hit the trail and I was wearing one of my favorite layering pieces a Superfine 140. As the ride continued and the day warmed up I shed my layering piece and placed it in my rear jersey pocket. Later on, about 2/3 done in the ride, we came to a stop and I realized that I had lost my Icebreaker shirt. I was super bummed. But I figured someone would find it and score a sweet piece of gear.

In October of 2009 I went mountain biking in the Wagner Butte range for the first time since the previous year. At the start of the ride I joked with my friends about how if either of them found a black Icebreaker Superfine 140 shirt it was mine, and then I related the story to them of how I lost it the year before. About a third of the way into the ride one of my friends who was riding lead crashed. I stopped behind him, and then our third stopped behind me. As soon as my friend Mimi stopped behind me she said, “hey look, a black Icebreaker.” I thought for sure she was pulling my leg, but as I looked down and just off the trail there it was, my long lost Icebreaker shirt! I couldn’t believe it. Now I did not find it in the best of conditions, but needless to say I didn’t care. It has lasted a year along the trail, and it looked like a bear had mauled it.

I know that loosing your shirt in the woods and then finding it a year later does not fall under your normal warranty. However, I am hoping that you can find it in your hearts to replace this beloved piece for me.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,

Travis Caldwell

Backcountry Delight

I could be completely alone on this one, but there are few things in life that are as enjoyable as a good dessert. Especially after a strenuous day of adventuring. Which is why I am going to share one of my favorite dessert recipes.

Now, I cannot take credit for this dessert. I have to give complete credit to Dan Thurber . The name of this dessert, as I know it, does not have a PG let alone a PG 13 rating, so it will remain nameless. I figure that you can create your own name for it.

The Ingredients are: Banana and Chocolate Bar. SIMPLE!

The directions are: cut open the banana peal lengthwise on one side, and also cut the banana along this opening. Once you have created a split in the banana you break up the chocolate bar and place pieces of chocolate inside the banana. Now comes the fun part. You place the banana over a fire (if you don't have a fire then a barbecuer is your next best option). You don't really want the fire to have big flames. What you want is really hot coals. Let it cook until the chocolate has melted and the banana has become soft.



We have added ingredients (e.g. marsh mellow's, strawberry's, agave, and Oreo's) to the base recipe, and each addition has been a good one. So have fun with it, but remember that the basic recipe as it stands is already amazing enough.

We All Make Decisions

This last week I confirmed a few things I already new, but I also learned something new (which, is surprising in and of itself. I reconfirmed that you don't tug on supermans cape, you don't spit into the wind, and you never take a knife to a gun fight. I learned that you don't go to Moab Utah to climb when you are in marginal shape and have one rack of gear.



There is definitely a reason why Moab is a premier climbing location. It is one of the most spectacular locations in the greater 48 states. On the drive there I kept catching myself say, "wow, that's cool!" about every five minutes. I annoyed myself not to mention my car companions.



Moab is also a premier climbing location because it offers some of the hardest climbs around. Therefore, all the pro's go there to climb, push themselves, and they in turn get there photo's taken there. So, it's one of the places you see in a lot of climbing mag's (my favorite publications) and posters. All the guide books talk about how amazing it is and how classic the climbs are, but when you look a little deeper you realize that unless you can climb 5.12c trad and have huge rack of gear you can't climb that classic climb. It's not a premier location because it is easy or fun. It is premier because it is really hard and challenging.



Climbing there, or should I say attempting to climb there, pushed me to a point where I have to make a decision. Option 1, get really strong, buy more gear, go back and kick ass. Option 2, quite climbing altogether. Now, I wouldn't say that I am stubborn (my girlfriend might) nor would I say that I hold grudges (my ex-girlfriend might), but good-old-option #1 seems way more appropriate then the option #2 to me.

Nobody Cares

As I was over hearing a recent conversation between a couple of stereo typical climber dude bra's I gained the inspiration for this entry. As always I am just writing what I know to be true for myself and apologize for any offense because it isn't intentional.

I listened to these two over enthusiastic climbers and I realized the only people who actually cared were themselves, and the only thing that either of them cared about was one-upping the other. Through this one-upping they seemed to just inflate each others ego's more and more. While they continued to stroke each other I realized that nobody else cares about how badass you think you are except you. No one cares that you climbed a blah blah blah, how you went left-middle-left on some class blah rapid, or even if you just shredded blah deep pow all day in the backcountry. Well, except for maybe your mom but even she probably just cares that your safe afterwards, which is why you should always call her and let her know your safe after a trip.

You don't have to go into excruciating detail about how this crimper, that jug, this sloper, and that crack was the sickest hardest move. I don't care if you climb 5.19+ please just shut up! If I, or anyone, asks you about local climbing, boating, biking, skiing, or outdoor activity do not, I repeat, do not launch into inflating your own ego and telling me how cool you think you are. Because, your not that cool, and I know that because if you were that cool then you would be on the cover of a magazine instead of Sharma. But your not and I know that because I read magazines when I want a dose of over inflated ego.

In the end the best way to phrase and/or sum up this whole rant is to quote a movie line that says, "quiet frankly my dear, I just don't give a dam!"

A Little Reflection

Warning! You are about to enter into a scary realm that is Travis's thoughts.



Over the last year I have had the challenging task of launching a new retail website. It has been a long rode that has bordered on self mutilation and overwhelming exhilaration. I realize now that when I was approached by my boss about being in charge of putting us on the web that I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. Absolutely no idea. It sounded cool though, and for the most part it has been a very cool experience.



One of my first frustrations that I was meet with was time. When I started working on the website it was in addition to my other responsibilities within the physical store. Those responsibilities consumed the majority of my work week as it was and combining that with helping customers on the sales floor there really wasn't a lot of time to devote to the development of the site. I had to fight very hard for anytime and was constantly being pulled away from it. However, perseverance and dedication along with being a slight bit stubborn (some would use a stronger word here) I was able to slowly shift responsibilities and resources to allow for me to devote close to 100% of my energy on the site. Plus, the amount of work required to launch a retail and informative website is a lot to fall on only one person especially when that person is little old Travis.



The second frustration that I encountered was direction. We had a vague idea of what we wanted from the website, but we weren't really sure how to get there. Therefore, there was a lot of trial and error. Sometimes we would discover that we worked for a long time on something that was unimportant, unnecessary, or that could have been done a lot faster if we had only known. Also, we changed direction several times and each time we did that we starting back almost at square one.



The last frustration that I will mention having was training and knowledge. While I am a computer savvy hip dude I do not have formal training in web development, web design, or computer science. So, all of the html, AspDotNetStoreFront, blah, blah, and blah was completely foriegn to me. Therefore, I had to spend the majority of my time learning before I could ever start working. This was probably my biggest frustration because it was the biggest limiter of productivity and efficiency.



On the positive side each time I made a big jump in progress or learned how to accomplish the task at hand or reached a goal that was set it was hugely rewarding because it took so much dedication, learning, and time. It was very long process that I have been extremely attached to emotionally. And when the site launched I didn't know what to do. I had a feeling of being lost and not knowing what my place or roll was anymore for the store. However, since the launch my work load has not decreased, and in fact it has increased. The task of managing a site is different then developing on so responsibilities are again completely foreign and I am struggling to keep up with the work load and learning process.



My biggest fear now is that people (other then my mom!) will actually start buying from the site!



In the end I am left with a website that I am extremely proud of and that I think is unique within the industry. I feel that it is truly a resource for the locals and the tourists and I think we are selling some cool stuff too. I am excited for the next batch of products to be uploaded and to see where this long road will ultimately end.