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Kim, Brian and I went climbing all weekend at Vantage, aka Frenchman’s Coulee. We went despite the nasty weather reports that predicted rain. I feel like it’s been raining and overcast for the last month in Seattle, so it was time to get out. It didn’t look good driving out there Saturday morning since it was raining in Seattle, raining at Snoqualmie, raining in Cle Elum, raining in Ellensburg – but when we got to Vantage and the Columbia River it was dry. We got a bunch of fun climbs in on the sunshine wall. We started out slow on 5.8′s since it was Kim and my first outdoor climbing of the season. Kim was also feeling really sketched by the expansive valley below and the exposed arrets we were climbing. I started off leading and led up to a scary 5.9 on Saturday. We camped Saturday night and were up fairly early Sunday to climb again. Brian started off with a chimney climb called Seven Virgins and a Mule that took a long time since it was only Brian’s second chimney climb ever and he placed a lot of gear. He did great though and then we started climbing some 5.10′s. By the end of the day Kim even overcame her fears and led a climb! Now we’re back in Seattle and it’s dark, overcast and rainy. I might start to believe all the Seattle weather hype soon.

Kim is gone for the weekend on the east coast for Effie’s bridal shower, so I have the house to myself this weekend. I haven’t been doing dishes or picking up after myself for a few days, and it’s nice for a little while. I’m going to clean up the kitchen in a little bit before I pick Kim up at the airport though.

Today I’ve been working on putting timer switches on the fans in the upstairs bathroom. It’s a pain though since the electrical box that they had in the wall isn’t large enough. It’s a single gang box that they put two little switches in. I got a retrofit electrical box, sawed a bigger hole in the wall, and put the new box in. I don’t think whoever wired the house originally did a very good job either. There’s really not enough extra wire in the boxes so it’s a royal pain to try to get everything organized. They also wired a lot of things in series, so that if you flip a switch the outlets also lose power. They also apparently never heard of a three way switch. I also patched a few holes in the wall that I made when I put in a new shower head. The shower head when we moved in was probably at 5 and half feet, which doesn’t work well for most people. Normally it wouldn’t be too hard to thread in a new shower head, but they didn’t put a board in the wall to brace the pipes, so when you tried to thread the new shower head arm into the wall, the pipes in the wall moved. Had to punch a few holes to get the threading to work.

Yesterday some friends and I went to a Mariners game since I got some tickets from work. The tickets are some of the best you could ask for. Travis, Brian, Jesse and I were three rows behind the Mariner dougout. The game was going well until the top of the ninth when the closing pitcher the Mariners brought in gave up two homeruns and Brett Boone had an error to let an extra guy on base, thereby losing the lead. And it started to rain then too. It was fun to watch the roof close, even if it took 15 minutes.

I’m finally eating food that I’ve been craving again. I had some pasta today… With CHEESE! I can hardly eat anything since my stomach’s shrunk so much. You’re supposed to gain weight back quickly too since your body now thinks it should store whatever you give it. I’ve barely gained anything back, but breaking the fast you eat almost nothing anyway.

The weather wasn’t great, but it was nice enough to spend a few hours outside and get the garden planted. Some plants will be ready to harvest in 35 days or so while some will take almost 70. We’ve got brocolli, carrots, soybeans, tomatoes, kale, peppers, some herbs, and a bunch of other stuff all planted in our back yard.

At work the partners cooked breakfast for everyone. Unfortunately I can’t eat any of it since I’m still coming down from my fast. Breaking the fast is actually a lot harder than fasting I think. The temptation to stuff my face is huge, but doing so would probably leave me feeling pretty bad. We’ve been mostly eating apples, raw veggies, yogurt, soup and some crackers. It’s good to eat again, but the food cravings are back now that my body knows that it gets food again. I get full incredibly easily.

Dennis and I had an April Fools surprise for our office today. We set a bunch of joke programs to run at logon for everyone. One program turns the caps lock key on and off every few second. This one’s my personal favorite. It sounds a bit lame, but watching someone try to type is priceless. PEOPLe end up sendiNG EMAILS THAT Look a lot like this last SENTENCE. There were a bunch of other little pranks but most weren’t so noticeable. One of the funniest things today was the fart sound that we set to play ever hour or so. Most people didn’t notice it because they don’t have their speakers on, but the HR manager came over and insisted that her computer was farting and that it wasn’t her. Pranks and computers just go together.

We’re ending the fast a bit early since we’ve both lost a lot of weight and Kim isn’t feeling as well as she’d hoped. The first two days were definitely the hardest. The first day I just felt really hungry. The second day I didn’t feel physically hungry, but the cravings were intense. I was really craving burritos. I also felt really crappy for a while, but everything we read says that’s to be expected at times. It’s your body’s reaction to the stored waste in your body that’s being brought out. The third day I actually felt great, but I had lost more than 5% of my body weight, a little over ten pounds, which they don’t recommend. Kim, however, wasn’t feeling well and had also lost more than 10 pounds, which is a bit more drastic for her. She really wanted to do all five days, but I think it’s wise for her to stop considering her weight loss. Tomorrow I get to eat! Hardly anything, but still.

After a lot of research Kim and I are undertaking a 5 day fast. Today is the let down day where we eat as little as possible, and only fresh fruits and veggies. Tomorrow we’ll only be drinking juice or broth a couple times a day for five days. This is followed by 4 days of breaking the fast until we can eat normally again. The purpose is to detoxify our bodies. Should be interesting.

Kim and I intended to go climbing at Vantage this weekend, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Instead we decided to hike Mt Si. Four miles up, four miles down and more than 4000 feet. It was also raining and blowing rain sideways near the top. It’s probably the most hiked trail in the state though. We got a bit of a late start and there were still a ton of people on the trail. It was nice too get out, even in bad weather.

When we got back we wanted to go see Me First and the Gimme Gimmes at El Corazon, but they were sold out. Fortunately, we managed to find another really cool bar with great music. We frantically searched the pages of the Stranger and found the Sea Monster Lounge in Wallingord.

There’s small private rooms with couches, no smoking, a healthy vegetarian menu, and really good music. Jacob, Waleska, Jesse and Deborah were all there too. We showed up early so didn’t have to pay cover and got good seats in one of the private rooms with a skylight. The music was funk by Darrius Willrich with w/ Thaddeus Turner, Gerald Turner, and Davy C. Besides being good, it also just wasn’t overpowering. Normally bar bands are way too loud in my opinion so that you can’t even have a small conversation. We talked, drank and danced, and all had a good time. Kim wants to go back there every weekend now.

Crazy people that Kim and I are, and since we have too much time on our hands, we’ve decided to tear up some of our perfectly beautiful grass to start a garden. We went down to Home Depot and rented a tiller for four hours. I guess I never really appreciated quite how tough grass really is and how hard it must have been to plow fields before engines. Good old oxen. We finally got to make use of our compost. Kim’s already started planting some of the seeds that need to be started indoors like tomatoes and brocolli. I just know that I’m going to be incredibly sore for the next few days.

Already quite a busy weekend. Friday night Kim and I went to an acrobatic class. We worked on trapeze, rings and the rope. I was better at some of the trapeze stunts, but Kim kicked ass on the rope. She’s already doing tricks that some people who have been going for 3-4 weeks are just doing.

Saturday we drove up to highway 20 toward the North Cascade National Park. It was great scenery and we did a little over 4 mile hike. It was an easy hike to a small mountain lake. We saw a few pileated woodpeckers and heard an owl.

Afterwards we went to Laura’s house in Mt Vernon. They were throwing a sweats and uniform party. Most people were wearing sweats. Kim got a nurse’s shirt and I wore sweats and a soccer jersey. It was fun just hanging out and talking, but then a live band showed up. You might think that would be cool, but they were awful and too loud. The party moved outside for a while to get away from them, even shutting off the power. The band didn’t take the hint though and thought that they were cool and blew a fuse. Finally they stopped and we went home shortly after.

In February! I mowed the lawn and Kim worked on plants. We both slept in a lot and I got play video games! It was a wonderful weekend.