Monkey M[e]n

Climbing has been making headlines over the last week.  Two very well known climbers in the climbing world accomplished something that was thought to be impossible.  Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell free climbed the Dawn Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite.  It took them 19 days to reach the summit and is likely the hardest big wall to be free climbed in the world.

While it's great to see climbing get more attention, the way media has been sharing this story has been a bit flawed so I thought I'd clear a few things up.

Firstly, Caldwell and Jorgeson are by no means the first people to ever free climb El Cap.  People have been doing this for years, but they are the first to free climb that section of El Cap.  For example, The Nose route had its first free climbing ascent by Lynn Hill in 1993 but free climbing El Cap goes back even earlier than that.

News outlets also haven't done the best job of saying what the pair actually did.  Free climbing does not mean they weren't using ropes.  Free climbing means each person climbed each pitch (roughly one length of rope) from the start of the pitch to the top without falling.  If they did fall, a rope was there to catch them but they would have to lower back down to the start of the pitch and try again.  Free climbing also means Caldwell and Jorgeson only used the features in/on the rock to make upward progression.  The Dawn Wall has been climbed before but with the use of gear to aide in moving up (called aide climbing).  Relying only on the rock is what makes this ascent unique.  

After completing the climb, the climbers were even interviewed by Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show.  Although it was funny, it is slightly frustrating to hear climbing called "extremely dangerous."  Yes, if someone messes up, climbing is obviously going to have more severe consequences.  However, if things are done the proper way, climbing is safer than the more traditional sports.  An article from Sports Medicine said "overall, climbing sports had a lower injury incidence and severity score than many popular sports, including basketball, sailing or soccer..." 

Just wanted to shed some light on a few things.  Once again, this really was an amazing achievement for climbing and has brought more attention to the sport which is always a good thing.  Hopefully this is another step in getting climbing into the Olympics.

That's all for now.  Bye.  

Bad Boys

Having earned a minor in Criminology/Criminal Justice in school, I find the judicial system quite interesting.  I've sat in juvenile court hearings before (wait - that sounds bad - in the audience) but have never seen an adult jury trial in person.  That was going to change when I got the bittersweet surprise a few weeks ago of a jury summons.  I really am not 100% sure what I'm allowed to say about specifics of the case yet so I'll be fairly broad.

When the day of my summons came, I had to be at the courthouse by 7:45 AM which is way too early.  When I arrived, I waited in line for the security screening to open.  Listening to peoples' conversations was interesting.  One person, an incredibly close minded individual, kept whining about TSA screenings in airports.  I get it.  It can be a slight annoyance to go through security at the airport but it's for a reason and it's really not that big of a deal.  No one is "treating you like a terrorist" when you go through airport security.  

There were also people way too excited to be there that early in the morning and also those looking like they would rather jump in a pool of lava than be at jury duty. 

Once the loads of potential jurors got through security, we headed into the basement and filled out some basic paperwork which would be looked over by attorneys if/when we were brought into a courtroom.  More waiting.  The person in charge of the jury room was upbeat and knew most people didn't want to be there and tried to make it as least painful as possible.  After a quick introduction and thanking us 200 times for being there, a judge asked if we had any questions.  People then proceeded to waste time and ask irrelevant questions to the judge having nothing to do with the day. 

After watching a rather long video explaining sort of how the process works, the first group of randomly drawn 30 people went to a courtroom.  I was not picked so waited some more.

A little bit later, 14 more people got called and I was one of them.  We walked to a jury holding room while attorneys looked over our papers.  We then went into the courtroom and sat in the jury box.  The attorneys asked the group some overarching questions and either called on people or waited for volunteers to respond. I got a little caught up in it but then started to realize what they were trying to figure out from peoples' answers.  One of the potential jury members was clearly trying to get out of it by saying she didn't like judging others and wouldn't feel comfortable doing it here (she ended up being on the jury).  Some people told some really personal stories in response to the questions and others had answers having nothing to do with the question. 

Once questioning was done, the judge started dismissing people and before I knew it, I was one of the final 6 jurors who would hear the case.   I actually really liked the 5 other people.  There were 3 guys and 3 girls with a wide age range and background and they all took the process seriously.

After a break, we were escorted back to the courtroom and listened to opening statements. The prosecutor then called a witness and we examined three pieces of evidence. 

Following an incredibly long and drawn out 1.5 hour lunch break, we headed back into the jury box and listened to more from the original witness. 

Next the defense called a witness and asked them the same question over and over.  When the defense's witness was talking, it was all great information but had nothing to do with the charge.  The defense really did not have much of a case besides trying to make the jurors feel bad for the defense (which we all did).

The prosecutor then cross examined the witness followed by the defendant being called to the stand. Both sides questioned the defendant and after a few more breaks, we heard closing statements.

The jurors went back to the all too familiar holding room and waited some more and then finally got to discuss the case. It was a pretty easy decision for all of us but we did feel really sympathetic towards the defendant.  Although the defendant's lawyer did a great job in their closing statements making us feel bad for their client, at the end of the day, the defendant broke the law and giving an exception to them would mean everyone should get an exception.  Our verdict?  Guilty. 

Courthouse

All of us jurors agreed we were glad we were not involved in sentencing because the defendant seemed to be a good person who just made one bad choice.  We were instructed multiple times not to take into consideration what would happen to the defendant.  Our job was to simply say if they were guilty of the crime or not.  Because of a law class I took, I had a general idea of what the punishment would be which was later confirmed when I got home and looked it up.

So overall a long day but it was quite interesting to be a juror in a criminal case.  I could never imagine being involved in a grand jury and having to decide on something much more intense.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Paper Planes

I'm feeling rather nostalgic today.  In a couple of days, it will have been two years since I was getting on a plane to Ireland.  How was that two years ago?  I'm just sitting down and writing so this is probably going to be a little jumpy.

Studying abroad never really was an interest to me for a long time.  I knew I wanted to travel but didn't want to be stuck in school while traveling.  Of course, at the time, I didn't realize that school is only about 10% of the experience. 

After I did some more research and started to get psyched on the idea, I needed a place to actually go.  It sounded like most people going abroad had been dreaming about a place their whole life.  I had no idea.  I knew I wanted to go to an English speaking country because it would make things a bit easier and I would be able to do a little more.  Other than that, I didn't have a clue.  I looked into Wales and Australia a bit and then started to learn a little more about Ireland.  My sister's friend had been to Dublin and loved it and that was enough for me.  Destination chosen.

I remember the night before I left for Dublin when I was laying in bed thinking "what am I doing?"  It is kind of a crazy thing to move to a different country and attend a foreign school never having been there and not knowing anyone.  The first night in Dublin, I was pretty overwhelmed and slightly regretting my decision.  I was exhausted from the travel and the slight stress of a canceled flight out of Chicago which probably added to the unease but luckily that only lasted one day.  From the second day on, I loved every minute.

I don't really know why anyone much younger than me would be reading this but if you are and the chance arises, go abroad!  I met a large group of people while abroad as well as afterwards in the states that I never would have interacted with otherwise.  I also ended up getting an internship promoting study abroad which never would have crossed my mind beforehand.  

Although I said earlier I wanted to travel but not with school, I don't think I would have ever made the effort to get out of the country had I not studied abroad.  It seems like a lot of people have the desire to travel but after school, work and other things get in the way.  School really is the best time to travel.

I miss my Guinness...and Bulmers.

 

The downside to going abroad?  At least for me, it's all I can think about now.  All I want to do is go to new places and meet interesting people.  Oh, that and it drains your bank account.  But hey, Rick Steves has to retire sometime right?  

That's all for now.  Bye.

Auld Lang Syne

New Years is kind of an odd holiday if you really think about it.  Nothing magical happens between December 31st and January 1st but it somehow always feels like the end of an era and the beginning of another.

For celebrations, a group of us gathered at a friend's house to bring in the new year.  There was food, drinks, games, and good times.

2015!

2014 was one of, if not the most, craziest years of my life.  There were some extreme highs and some extreme lows.  It marked a major shift in the life that I knew and forced me to start almost completely over.  I try to keep these postings light but have a feeling this one might be a bit heavier.

So what big things happened in 2014?

• Despite going borderline insane due to being enrolled in 21 credits, I had my most fun semester at CSU of the time I was there
• Was able to have a fantastic time traveling across the country from New York City to LA (where I finally got to experience Disneyland!)
• Got to see some of Canada for the first time and made some (hopefully soon) travel goals
• Graduated from university.  That still hasn't really hit me yet
• Mentored and made a noticeable impact on a 10 year old's life
• At least for me, made what I hope to be a lifelong best friend from the other side of the world who has been through an eerily similar amount of identical life experiences/situations as me
• Lost one of my oldest friends but still think about him often
• Had to say goodbye to my two best friends and all the other people I got really close with after 3.5 years living in Colorado.  I think about them everyday and miss them terribly
• Moved back to the Northwest
• Even though the process was long, I got a job that was number one on my list
• Started writing this weekly blog which is both fantastic and frustrating.  It's great to look back at something for every week and see when I had nothing to write about or when the ideas were flowing

What will 2015 bring?  I don't really do the whole resolution thing but I do like to set some goals.  What might those be?  I don't want to give away too much so those are just for me.  

Hope everyone had a memorable year and that 2015 will be just as eventful.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a good year.

Happy New Year!  

That's all for now.  Bye.