Travel and Sir Walter

I'm in Atlanta. It's 6:30. My flight home is at 8:30. I've been here Since 1:30. This layover is too long.

This week I was in Reno, NV. It didn't rain at all, which was a nice change of pace. The hills were on fire, which was impressive to see. The fire burned the whole time I was there. It didn't seem that big, but I think the forest service now has a policy of "managing" forest fires to allow old growth to die off. Anyway, when I flew in you could see the flames flicking against the horizon line. It was an awesome sight.

My paper went over well, and the organizers for a conference on the same topic in Liverpool have asked me to present there. Liverpool is just past Manchester, so easy to get to from Sheffield. I'll probably go.

I went bouldering twice while in Reno at the local gym. I went Tuesday night because I figured it would be the only night I could go. Then I went again on Thursday night because I had this gift card and time on my hands. As a "thank you" for speaking, the conference gave me a $25 gift card. Except it was in US dollars and could only be used in the US (per long leagal sheet that came with the card). I should point out that this was an international conference and many of the speakers came in from outside the US. Still, free money. So, I spent it at the gym.

I worked on a V-? bouldering problem. It was unrated, and by the end of the night I could do all but the last move. There were three of us working it. Nobody could do the last move. I'd say up to the last move, it was probably a V-2 or just barely a 3. With the last move, a V-inf. We even asked the gym worker if there was a trick. Nope, just a suicidal dynamic off of a single foot hold and a crimppy almost sloper on one hand. Bollucs. I declare the problem solved.

I like that I get to travel. I like that I get to see so many places and I like that I'm only gone about once a month. I'm better at it now than I was a few years ago. I know more what to expect, and I get more out of my trips. The upshot of this is that I had over 100,000 frequent flyer miles in my account.

We found out this week that Sir Walter isn't going to make it. He has cancer and it is spread through his body. I'm sure Amanda will write more on her blog. This is only slightly non-sequiter because Amanda will travel to St. Louis next weekend and put her cat to sleep. I now have about 2,000 frequent flyer miles. Totally worth it.