fall.

Unlikely my road trip is going to be happening this fall. I've convinced myself to stay in one place for a few weeks to focus on some things. I feel good about that. The Grand Canyon isn't going anywhere, and this way I can plan a little more carefully instead of trying to throw it all together at the last minute. And who knows, maybe someone will decide to go with me!

So I'll be hanging around Bakersfield mostly. Which is really not as bad as people make it out to be. I mean, yesterday I went hiking with my mom. Only an hour-ish from our house and we were out in this:

And there are a lot more places I'm excited to explore.

road trip

This, or something very similar to it, may be happening starting next week. I'm looking for some input:

1. Any willing and able co-pilots out there? Strict background and compatibility checks will be performed, primarily evaluating one's ability to drive 5 hours without stopping.
2. I need some interesting stops on the way back (I-10, the southern route on the map). Tucson is cool, and I have some peeps to see in the Phoenix area, but that's about all I got. Help me out.

I may potentially be posting a recap of my brother's wedding weekend, which was last weekend. Or I'm going to put together a short video of some of the highlights. Until then, check out my uncle Bo playing The Goat Song at the rehearsal dinner (which was a rather blissful evening by itself).

lazing

So, remember how I said I'm a pretty lazy person by nature? It's true. And no, I'm not referring to the two weeks it has been since I last posted. Surely my Tiger Cruise video was enough to tide The Reader over for that long? Right?

Well, I'm in Salt Lake City right now. I'll be here for another week. I was working on some things this afternoon (no, really, I was actually working on some things) when my roommate told me I should take a nap in the entirely-too-pleasant family room today. While I never actually fell asleep, I did think about it long and hard. And if I had, this is probably what it would have looked like. Thrilling, isn't it.

Tiger Cruise video

Here it is... My video from the Tiger Cruise aboard the Reagan. Enjoy!

update

I'm in Lemoore, CA, hanging with my brother and sister-in-law, relaxing, and enjoying quiet anytime I want it. Because, let's be honest, an aircraft carrier isn't exactly the quietest place on earth. Case in point: rattling aircraft chains on the flight deck, which just happens to be about 10 feet above my bunk, at 0300hrs. Was that really necessary?

Over the next couple of days, I'll be working on a video and editing photos recapping my time on the carrier. It was a pretty wild experience. Being as close as we were to the catapults and recoveries, seeing how the whole operation works... Wow. It is truly impressive.

In about a week and a half I'll be heading back to Salt Lake City for some cooler weather, fall mountain biking, a wedding and other fun activities. Then back to California for the brother's wedding. More to come.

photos

Here are some iPhone photos from my visit to St. Louis.

Click here to view these pictures larger

I'm back in Bakersfield for a few days before heading to the Bay Area, and then off to Hawaii and Tiger Cruise.

excuses

It's really easy for me to make excuses.

When I want to wake up early and workout, it's a lot easier to convince myself sleep is more beneficial than exercise. "But I'm tired..."

When I know I don't need that second pint of ice cream, it's much easier to listen to my taste buds than to the voice of reason. "But it tastes so good..."

When I am faced with the prospect of going out and meeting a bunch of new people, it's way less frightening to cling to my I instead of embracing my E. "But I was planning on staying in tonight, anyways..."

I went out to dinner with my aunt and uncle from Illinois recently. We went to a BBQ place. We put in our order with the server. We waited for our appetizers. Then our dinner came. Before the appetizers. Which are supposed to come before the meal, but they actually came after the meal (and after some encouragement).

At least I thought. Because isn't that why they are called appetizers? Because they hold your appetite at bay until dinner shows up? Or, if for some strange reason you weren't hungry before dinner, they would at least get your salivary glands cranking?

Well, whatever. That was fine, but then drinks didn't come. And it's really, really difficult to eat BBQ without drinks. So we mentioned it once to our server. But they still didn't come, so we mentioned it again to a different server. Anyways, to make a long story a little less long, our original server came back with one of the drinks. He set it down, looked at his feet (I think; I was preoccupied with other matters, such as self-preservation), and said, "I'm sorry, I was given a really big table."

Bless his heart, he probably was. And the table was probably full of really awful people. In retrospect, this was a really great opportunity to extend grace to him (this will spawn another post). Maybe he was new. Maybe he wasn't working his usual shift. Maybe they were really shorthanded. Maybe that night was one of the nights where he just can't wait to quit his job and start his own company, or graduate college so he can get a job where he doesn't have to deal with customers all the time.

But it got me thinking about the excuses I make in my life. Excuses I make with the subconscious (or maybe conscious) intention of avoiding guilt for some mistake, injustice or other slight. Since making an excuse is much easier than admitting, "Wow, I was wrong about ______," repenting, asking for forgiveness and growing.

What if I stopped rationalizing all of my decisions (especially the bad ones), and started taking responsibility for the times I make a mistake or hurt someone close to me?

What if we all started holding ourselves to some level of accountability?

What if we actually considered the potential consequences of our actions before we acted?

That's a novel concept, isn't it?

Making an excuse for not turning in homework in school never got me out of an assignment, nor did it protect me from the consequences of not completing an assignment. Why would it be any different in the "real" world? A mistake is a mistake, and chances are the consequences will catch up to me eventually. I want to avoid the excess baggage that goes along with trying to dodge the consequences and own up in the first place.

discipline

I'm really good at folding a hospital corner.

I promise.

Mom made us do it. Every morning before we left for school, we had to make our beds. And it wasn't the shoddy pull-up-the-sheets-and-comforter version. We're talking Fresh. Hospital. Corner. every time. Sheet tucked in the length of the bed. Comforter smoothed. Pillow fluffed. Ready for bedtime.

Really, it's a pretty absurd exercise. When it comes down to it, we get in bed every night and mess it all up. All that hard work, down the drain, in the matter of a few seconds.

But I realized something a few weeks ago. It's pretty profound, too. Trust me. Ready?

Making my bed in the morning fosters discipline in my life. It gets me focused. It gets me moving for the day. As mundane (lacking interest or excitement) and arbitrary (based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system) as it may be, making my bed in the morning seems to hold significant influence over the direction a given day might take.

It's anecdotal, really. I don't have any solid evidence or measurable data to support the idea. But I have found when making my bed is one of the first things I do after waking, I'm more productive. I'll read. I'll exercise. After exercising, I'm more inclined to recover properly. I'll write. I'll be diligent with my time.

Which is good. Because right now, I have a lot of time on my hands. It's a gift, really; a gift I hope not to waste. So I'm going to keep making my bed and being thankful that my mom made me do that when I was little.

Even though it caused more than a small amount of adolescent consternation.