My Closest Bear

Vero and I were in Yosemite this past weekend with our friends Mike, Yen, John, and Jen. Saturday night we were sitting around the fire talking when a large animal walked right us. I was facing that direction and it took me a second to realize that it was a bear. I even asked, "Is that a bear?" By the time everyone had seen it, it had passed us and continued on and we continued talking. It was the closest and calmest bear experience I've ever had. Jen was the closest and it must have come within three feet of her. The whole thing was somewhat surreal.

I'd say that was the high point of the trip but we went climbing on Sunday and did a route called After-Six. I hadn't climbed that route in years and since it had been a long time since I climbed outside, it felt just challenging enough coming off the couch. It felt really good to be back out on the rock.


We took this photo for our friend, Graham, who is living in Australia and can't get good beer.


At the top of After-Six with Mike and Yen.

Out Of My Bubble

My mother asked me to come down for the weekend to help register Spanish-speaking voters in Guadalupe, a primarily Latino town near Santa Maria. Santa Maria, a city about an hour north of Santa Barbara, is where I was raised. It's a very Republican city, which I was aware of, but yesterday it was overly obvious. Vero and I went around my old neighborhood to hand out voting suggestion fliers to addresses where people were either registered as Democrats or "declined to state." In the Bay Area, it's a rarity to see a McCain/Palin sticker on someone's car while here it's just the opposite. I saw plenty of McCain/Palin signs in people's yards and nary an Obama sign, although I did see a few stickers. The sign that seemed to be the most popular was "Yes on 8". I suppose that's an issue that crosses party lines pretty easily since it seems to be such a big issue for everyone. It's just a different experience after coming from where I live; I didn't even know what a "Yes on 8" sign looked like until I came here. It just reinforces the fact that I live in a bubble. I like my bubble, but one starts to forget that there's a different kind of world out there.

Sarah Palin

It's hard to believe it's only been seven weeks since Sarah Palin went from being a small (population) state governor to a nationally known figure. There's been a lot of discussion of her since she stormed onto the national media's attention and plenty of satire as well. We all have our views of her (mostly strong) one way or another, but I still only knew what I've been able to read and get from watching her in interviews and the debate. Fresh Air just did an interview with a journalist from Anchorage, which gave me a much better idea of who she is and what kind of politician she would be. If you have forty minutes to spare, or can download the podcast to your iPod, it's worth a listen. The link is above.