Category Archives: People

Descriptions of Myself

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10:30am July 26, 2012. Candid, while blowing cellulose insulation.

I’ve noticed lately when I introduce myself, I rarely offer a simple description- it usually goes something like this.

“I’m a mechanical engineer doing project management for residential and small commercial projects interested in energy efficiency and sustainability.”

Tonight, the fatigue from 4 overtime days strips away any confusion.  I look at myself in the mirror and humbly accept what I am doing with my time:

“I am a contractor.

We do heating, cooling, and insulation.”

A short exchange at a social event this evening reminds me: I should offer new acquaintances the opportunity to get to know me better on the merit of their own questions and interest rather than imposing my descriptions on them.  For those who seek depth, they won’t come up shallow.  For those that don’t, I won’t be distracted.

The results of my direct efforts for one day. What did you actually *do* today?

Roaming

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Roaming- that’s what my phone said for most of last weekend.  I like it that way.

Last Thursday I was out for a short run- easy pace, short distance, with some circuit training in mind for later, but about 20 minutes in, something popped in my left foot and I hobbled home to spend the evening looking at the hills I’d rather be running.  The feeling that my awesome weekend plan was about to go sideways sank into my stomach.

Yes this is actually the view from my backyard most nights…

My good friend David spent his Friday driving out from Seattle to explore some of Montana with me, and despite limping through the workday, I knew I just needed to get out of town. David has inspired me for a long time, and I appreciate how our friendship continues to grow despite having lived in different states for most of the time we’ve known each other.  I gave David a quick tour of the city Friday night, and Saturday morning we headed for the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness in southwestern Montana.  It’s a corner of the state I haven’t ever been to, and one of the least visited wilderness areas.  I felt optimistic whatever was hurting my foot would clear up and we hiked into the backcountry above Storm Lake.

Pintler-Anaconda Wilderness. Booyah.

It’s still early season in Montana.

David thinks – “this, this is not Seattle any more…”

David’s dog Bisbee joined us for the adventure, and although she ultimately proved to limit our range of terrain, we were grateful for her company.  We found camp on a barren plateau at 9,400′ and after a gorgeous sunset, hunkered down for a very windy night.

We’re just out for a “walk”, at 9,800′.

Which one is the dog, and which one is the fox?

High country goods.

The elements may all be the same- rock, cloud, tree, sky- but a sunset in the wilderness always seems special to me.

Our second summit attempt the next morning found us facing down some serious thunderheads, and my foot wasn’t getting any better, so we bailed back to the car, and took the Jetta for a joy ride down the Big Hole valley (another place I’ve been meaning to explore).  We paid our respects at the Big Hole National Battlefield, enjoyed views off Lost Trail pass, and found ourselves camped on the Salmon River outside North Fork, Idaho for Sunday evening.

The Big Hole Valley. Montana Hwy 569 is not to be missed.

Car camping on the Salmon.

It felt like summer to just go.  To just roam.  Forget work, forget worries (minus my foot), enjoy time with an old friend, and explore.  We found an abandon mine- it was rad.  We found some sketchy hill people living at a hot spring that we drove 40 miles of dirt roads to find- it was… not so rad, but still makes for a fun story.  Sometimes I give car camping a bad rap, but when you can’t walk any more and just gotta go, I’m grateful for it.

Ever wonder how much abandon mining equipment is scattered across the west?

Well off the beaten path…

Tuesday morning David took off, and I headed to the podiatrist.  We had a useful conversation about the stress fracture in my second metatarsal, and he gave me a walking boot.  Certainly not how I planned to start my Missoula summer, but I’ve got plans to figure it out.  Many thanks to David for being an awesome adventure partner and important friend- here’s to many more.

3-4 weeks. It looks worse than it is.

Questions

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A few weeks ago, I had been talking to my mom about writing- she had two pieces of advice:

Good writers are people who notice, and who write to learn more.

I’ve been turning her words over for a while now, and thinking about how I learn.  How I progress, how I change myself, and how I let others change me.  It’s about the questions- the ones others ask of me, and of themselves (which generally beg, are you asking yourself that question?).

Once upon a time I was passed over for a leadership position for a group I was in.  I wasn’t bitter, I respected both of the two leaders that were selected, and we went on to work well together.  I did solicit the feedback as to why I wasn’t selected– “they others, they asked the right questions when we were evaluating them.”  I accepted that, and understood it in that situation.  The example has always stood out to me- take the time to ask the questions, and think about whether they are the right ones.  I’ve got big questions at work, at home, and outside– are they the right ones?

Most of the time I feel like I don’t notice, and don’t ask the right questions, and I don’t believe that just continuing to ask is any assurance you’ll ask all the right ones.  How do you make sure you ask the right questions?  (post answers to comments if you like)

Just before I left Portland, an acquaintance offered me 5 keys for success in life. Maybe the right questions point here?

14 Minutes

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“Skander, I bet we only have like 30 minutes until that storm hits.”
“Naw, it’s 8:45 now.  There’s no way we’ll be wet by 9:15.”

I spent last week desperate to climb, and despite a relatively obvious forecast (“heavy rain”), Jess and I were hiking up to the Starlight Lounge wall at Lost Horse Canyon on Saturday morning.   I had hoped the rain wouldn’t really kick until the afternoon, that seemed optimistic as we drove up to the trailhead.  Props to Jess for being a willing partner, and a much better judge of the weather- 14 minutes after our conversation, a steady drizzle enveloped the cliff face.  It was not the best start to the day.

Not sure whether Jess is indicating her opinion of the weather or my skills at forecasting it.

Jess was kind enough to oblige me by finishing the hike to the base of the cliff despite the steady precip.  Just at the base, the skies began to lighten, and we scrambled to get an up-valley vantage.  Clearing skies and warm temps got me thinking- “by the time we rack up, I bet this thing is dry…”  So we did, and it was.  I shot up the 5.8 we chose to warmup on, leaving several pieces of big gear on the ground.  Fast early season lesson- big cracks are always bigger than they look from the ground.

This picture just doesn’t really fit into any good day of climbing. Note the line of water marching down the valley.

Ultimately, it was fine, and “good training” for running it out and finding “odd” gear.  From the top I could see another system building up the valley, but it felt like we had more time.

The sun in the background is entirely deceiving.

We rapped off but left a top rope for this funky looking wide crack just next to the previous line.  The storm was moving fast. My ego told me I should lead the wide crack, but based on the previous experience, I took the top rope and figured out the route on top rope just in time to rap off before the rain hit.  And then it really hit, going back to the car suddenly became mandatory, we we’re sitting this one out.  It was clear and sunny by the time we got down, but another storm system was rolling through, so we grabbed some lunch and weighed our options.  A group of five other folks came off the cliff around the same time and we swapped stories about who was on what when it started getting wet.

Long story short, they were “the locals”, and also very friendly, and also literally lived in a climbing gym.  They were psyched to meet some new people, and quickly invited us back to town for some plastic pulling rather than rolling the dice with the weather.  As usual, the locals are STRONG.  Eric and Katie rent a 4,000s.f. warehouse, with a little partition for a bedroom, and a completely freestanding, multifaceted indoor wall covering about 1,000 s.f. of floor space.  They have plans to continue building out the rest of the space.  I admire their complete dedication to the sport, and they are equally strong, humble, and fun.  Getting to know them was a great way to salvage the afternoon- I look forward to linking up with them again soon.

Wanna get strong? These kids literally live in a gym…

More Blog, Less Facebook

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Le Petit Outré Is a Missoula baking institution seeped in French tradition, and as I discovered this morning- the perfect place to watch European bike racing. The Giro d’Italia is on and it is pouring rain in Missoula today. The decor is sparse- no tables, no internet- just a large computer monitor propped up against a 6 ton brick oven. The croissants however, are unbeatable, and the espresso is Vivace from Seattle (one of my favorite roasters). At first, I was tempted to post a witty update on Facebook- but have noticed lately that I’m on that site too much, and not for the right reasons.

More blog, less Facebook. More reading, less skimming.  Why blog?  Why not Facebook? While I do love to hate Facebook, it serves a purpose in my life, and ultimately does help me feel more connected to many people that I care about but who are not in my immediate geography.  If you look at my Facebook page, you might start to understand some of who I am.  If you read this blog, you actually know who I am pretty damn well (granted, only because I choose to share more here).  I won’t pretend either blogging or Facebook can replace real human interaction, but it gets me thinking about what place these tools have in our lives.  What good is “a social network” or “user generated content?”  Why bother, why waste all the time?

I aspire to read more blogs, from my friends, from my heros, because they inspire me.  Even if I can’t have a conversation with these people, the transparency with which they share their lives, and the honest work with which they pursue their goals enriches my life, and encourages me to do the same.  Somehow, you don’t get that in a status update, the quality doesn’t come through.  As a result, I’ll be putting more effort into the blog, and hopefully spending a little less time on Facebook.

“Dedicated hard work yields honest worthwhile rewards.”

Acting

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Last year, a group of people raised a bunch of money for me to benefit from. I didn’t ask them to, or know that I would benefit from their work when they raised the money. They took action because they believed that what they were doing was worthwhile, and that one day I would want to thank them. They were right.

I’ve been attending weekend-long seminars called the New Leaders Council (NLC) since January. I’ve written about these seminars before (here, and here), and this past weekend was again spent inside rather than out, and once again, it was worth it. I came to Missoula with big talk about “community” and “local action,” yet my action was small. Talk << Action.

NLC has been about getting connected, and connecting is the first essential piece of acting in the community. I’ve met local leaders, built business and personal relationships, and gotten to know this community on a level that in some ways is much deeper than my involvement with “community” in Portland. Attending the seminars has made me more aware of social justice issues that haven’t been on my radar, and put me in touch with a compassionate, engaged, and intellectually stimulating people that I probably wouldn’t normally get to know via the adventure circles I usually travel in. I leave each conference feeling more alive, and more aware of what needs doing, and I’ve found that invaluable.

NLC is free if you are selected to participate, and that comes with the responsibility of raising money for next years conferences. It costs ~$500 per person to put on in Missoula. We’re having a fundraising event in Missoula this weekend and it should be a very good time- please stop by the Stensrud Building (314 N. 1st St.) between 6-8pm for live music and refreshments. If you can join me in making a donation so that someone next year has this opportunity, that would be rad (click here and select “Missoula Chapter”). If you can’t (and I understand that you can’t), I’ll ask you to consider what you might do to make yourself more alive and connected to your community.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman)

Don’t Suck Today

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Don’t suck today- it’s been a common mantra lately, even though life is very full, I’m still battling the “routine”.  Low writing motivation, plenty of time at the office (or on the construction site), and relatively few adventures have kept me away from my writing, from training, and from some of the bigger things I care about.  That’s not the general idea for this space, but life happens.

The tail end of one a coal train that I happened to catch from the bike bridge. Life keeps rolling forwards.

A few links that have managed to catch my attention:

Big company invests in “small” people (thanks Kurt)

Reminding me of the Scotland love (thanks Nate)

Things are not always as they appear (don’t remember where I saw this).  A strong reminder about living on your own terms.

I’ve also been working really hard on my cello playing lately, gearing up for two events that will garner more space here soon.  One- I’m campaigning for Kimberly Dudik for Montana House District 99, please come to her kickoff party on April 11 at the Burns Street Food Co-op.  I’ll be playing cello from 5.30-8.00pm.  Also, I’ll be playing some at the NLC Fundraiser at the Stensrud House on April 27th- more details to follow shortly.

The daily reminder- do what you have to do, support what you want to see in the world, keep chasing your dreams, don’t suck today.

Adventures? Yes…

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… I am still having them, but  my motivation to write about them has been low.  Sometimes we all need a break from blogging.  A summary of adventures, in rough chronological order over the last two weeks:

Country swing dancing at the local cowboy bar.  Gotta give them credit, the band (County Line) was ripping.

Cowboys just love to dance.

Plenty of hiking and trail running on a few of the local trails now open for the season, including my first trip up Mt. Jumbo.

Mt. Jumbo is finally open for hiking!

Lots of contracting work.  Crawlspaces, gas piping, big power tools, the works.  Feels good to start to figure some of it out.

It is strangely gratifying to put a 6" hole in the side of someone's house...

This is how you prevent a gas leak, before you turn on the gas...

A little rock climbing on a day of unlikely weather.  I was glad to get into Kootenai canyon and start identifying a few projects for the season.  Steve is a beast.

The rope hangs, after two whippers on the crux...

And today, a little backcountry skiing at Lolo Pass with a new partner.  Many thanks to Jake for hiking a lot, never complaining, and making some good looking turns.  Glad we could make the most of a “variable” day!

The weather couldn't make up its mind on Lolo Pass today...

Today was not a powder day, but might have been everything else.

Ancient Art

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While I’m a little sad this post isn’t about climbing the uber famous Ancient Arts spire, I spent last Saturday learning the ancient art of blacksmithing under the expert eyes of Jeffery Funk.  Jeff saw it fit to auction off a blacksmithing seminar to support AERO (which seems to have a habit of bringing good things to my life), and despite not having a job at the time, I bit the bullet and raised the bid.

The man in his castle- Jeff's shop is completely awesome.

"You can't touch this work...." so your hammers are your hands.

The day started with Jeff saying “I can make a hammer faster than I can drive to Kalispell and buy one.” So as a demo, he made one, out of an old piece of truck axel.

The big power hammer moves a 500# head... and makes reforging a 3" thick steel bar look easy.

Jeff emphasizes "it's quick work, you have to do it while it's hot." -- with just over an hour of work.

Grey, but still too hot to touch comfortably.

Later in the morning we got to scheme about projects, and get a feel for swinging the hammer ourselves.  At first we made standard round tapers (out of square bar stock), and then formed them into hooks (game hooks, bike hooks, name it).

My first few swings.

Everybody's gettin down to business.

You figure out why anvils have their shape once you start bending the eyelets.

Most people were pretty excited to make hammers, but Jeff had said we could do other stuff, so I opted to try my hand at the fine traditions of climbing heritage.

The best recollection I had on the spot for some basic piton designs.

Yvon Chouinard got started in business hand forging pitons, and by the end of the day, I realized that probably also did wonders for his grip strength.

The first practice round, made out of junk steel bar stock.

While I was practicing, Bryan and Matt were having lots of fun with the sledgehammer.

After a few practice rounds we were running short on time, and I had a whole new respect for the precision that one can wield with a hammer and hot metal (which I had not yet developed).  Fortunately, Jeff was more than generous with his advice, and I started to get the hang of it.

Tie rod from a 1972 International truck. Perfect piton stock.

Jeff likes to make morst of his work out of found/salvaged materials.  When the world ends, guys like Jeff are going to be the ones that do alright.  You can make most anything in his shop, and make it out of most anything.  You might remember his bicycle powered apple cider press?

Getting down to business with yours truly on the medium power hammer.

In the last few minutes of the day I made the last few dents, took off the burrs, and left Big Fork with the first piton in my collection.  The work is gritty, hard, and real.  The results are as tangible as they come.  To some, it might have been an exhausting day in the shop, but to me, it was a perfect Saturday.  Many thanks to Jeff and AERO for the opportunity.

It needs a little more time under the grinder, but is pretty much good to go. Stayed tuned for the first placement.

Re-Motivate

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I don’t know, or care, if the title is a word.  Since getting back from Bozeman last Thursday morning, I’ve been low on motivation.  Perhaps the adrenaline associated with moving to Missoula finally wore off, or that the pain in my left foot is finally strong enough to seriously slow me down.  I spent the first day of 2012 with Hannah at Jerry Johnson hot springs, just over the Idado border- not a bad way to ring it in.

The New Year looks pretty good.

I just gotta jump into this year.

I do know that of the holidays, New Years Day and Thanksgiving are the ones that matter the most to me.  New Years (now) is a time to re-motivate, to plan, and dream big dreams about the coming year.  Thanksgiving is a time to reflect, appreciate, and respect how what may have been decided over New Years may or may not have gone down.  Strangely enough, while my Thanksgiving was full of gratitude, my New Years is somewhat absent of the motivation that I normally associate with this time of year.

Thankfully, I’ve spent this week hosting an awesome visitor in Missoula-  Jess, from the fabulous Strangled Darlings, came out to visit.  Her cheer, and desire to understand this place that I enjoy so much, made it an active week despite my low motivations.

If you come to Missoula, this may become mandatory.

Highlights included some great jamming, a carousel ride, trivia night at FLBC, and a day trip up to see the Missions and Flathead Lake.

So good to see a bit of Portland out in the Montana field.

Some of the view that first tempted me to Montana- the Missions.

For whatever lack of motivation I feel this year, I realized this on my hike yesterday: the most important thing to do with my life this year is not worry too much about it.

“Today isn’t special. We aren’t special until or unless we make ourselves so. And everyone’s journey is one day shorter. Did you use this day?” (attribution withheld out of respect for respect for the speaker)

Tomorrow is as full of opportunity as you make it.