Kidnapper?

So I'm walking out of Bartell's tonight on my way to my car. It was dark out already because these days the sun sets around 4pm. As I'm walking to my car I briefly notice a guy and a woman having an awkward looking conversation.

I heard the woman say "I don't know but there's a lot of people coming out of Whole Food's."

'What a strange conversation' I thought.

As soon a I finished this thought the man said to me "I know this sounds strange but will you do me a favor?"

"What's that?" I asked...learning a long time ago not to automatically say "yes" not knowing what I would be agreeing to.

"Well, my truck is stranded on the road. The fuel pump went out, and I'm diabetic" The man said as his eyes made a big googly look while he was shaking his hands. "I need my insulin I can already feel my body reacting!"

"What a wack job" I thought. I noticed that he was dressed business casual. Maybe it was the lack of light, but it was an oddly put together business casual. I thought maybe he might be a transient.

"Will you give me a ride?"

I was a little taken aback by the whole situation. I quickly thought to myself 'how does he know his fuel pump went out? I had a fuel pump go out on my car and there was know way that I could tell my fuel pump went out. This guy is telling me a contrived story!' Then I thought 'oh man this guy needs help, he needs his insulin....wait, insulin, duh!! We're standing outside a frikin Bartell Drug Store!!'

I told the man "Sorry I really don't feel comfortable giving you a ride. If you need insulin you can get some in Bartell's."

The man immediately got irate and said "yeah, can't you see my 44 Magnum here" sliding his coat back pointing to his beer gut. "I would buy insulin if I had thirty dollars but I don't have my wallet!"

'If this guy was driving his truck why wouldn't he have his wallet' I thought.

I snickered at him as I opened my car door and got into my car.

"See this is what's wrong...society has made you think like this....you moron" the man said angrily and stomped off into the shadows of the building.

As I pulled my car out of the parking spot I looked into the man's wild eyes. I could see that the man was clearly irate and acting hostile and I thought to myself 'see this is exactly why I didn't want to give you a ride you freak!"

Pulling my car out further from the parking lot I could see that the man had stopped a couple in a van, I assume giving the same speal.

By the way the man reacted to me not giving him a ride I think he really did need some help.

A.)He may have been a kidnapper looking to mug someone to steal money, a car, valuables, etc. or,

B.)he may have actually needed a ride to get his insulin.

In either case I feel comfortable relying on my gut feeling about the situation and am happy to report this post safely from the comfort of my home, alive (hopefully he got help and didn't hurt anyone either)!

To Guide Your Way

My coworker B has been asking me for awhile now to take some photos of some lighthouses. This morning I decided to do just that.

I went to Mukilteo, as suggested by B. I noticed that they call them lightstations, so that's what I'll call them. I know, tomato tomato (ehem..just accent them in your head).

Here's the link to the lightstation pictures:

Lightstation

Up Into The Unknown

OK...OK....my last post was a bit laconic, sorry sorry...geesh.

Anyway I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Thanks again for the invite G.

Well, my hike up Granite Mountain was great. I got to the trail head about 9am and was the only person (I assume because there weren't any other cars parked at the trailhead). It was an awesome feeling to be on a trail that led up into a fog covered mountain being by myself.

There were several times where I felt fear and considered if I should turn around. Instead of acquiescing to my fears I used them as a tool to push forward. I like it when I'm in situations that I feel challenged and have the opportunity I can push myself beyond my comfort level. Well, trekking up a mountain on a trail I've never been on before, by myself, no one else that I knew of around, and heavy fog definitely put me outside of my comfort level. What an awesome experience :)

I made it near the top (I think) and decided to stop and have my lunch next to a small alpine pond. The snow was coming down at a pretty good rate so I decided to enjoy my lunch and discontinue my mission up the mountain. The reason why I decided not to continue was because I was concerned that the snow might cover up my tracks. I'll wait until the summer time, on a clear sunny day, to hike to the top.

Here's a video I took of the pond. The quality may not be too good because I had to reduce the quality for the web. Also, if it doesn't play well the first time, rewind and play again.

Here's a link to my photos.

Hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Tired Of Turkey?

Here's a suggestion. Peel your elephantine fetid ass off of that putrid mold factory you call a sofa and go hiking.

Franklin Falls is an easy one.

I'll be at Granite Mountain.

Recombobulated

Wow what a crazy week! It's been awhile since I've had a chance to do any blogging.

To start off my week, G my good friend/coworker up and decided to resign! He left on Wednesday for greener pastures (and apparently will get do some traveling to Asia, which sounds really cool). Looks like I'll have to find another lunch buddy.

I also have a new computer. It's taken me a couple of days to get it configured the way I want it, and there's still some issues yet to resolve. I'm just glad to finally have an operating system other than Windows ME!

This morning I decided to check out the Volunteer Park Consevatory. It was so nice and warm inside, 70 degrees compared to a chilly 35 degrees. It took awhile for my camera to acclimate but I wanted to share some of my pictures with you. Please click on the link below:

Flora

Mountain Bike Season Recap

It's been a little over a week that I've had my new mountain bike. So far I've ridden it three times, including a night ride at Tolt. I absolutely love the way my new bike rides. The combination of full suspension and disc brakes makes this bike unbelievably agile and ride handling very plush. I can't wait until next season to try the epic trail rides that I took this season.

I thought that at this time in the year it would be appropriate to list my mountain biking season epic trail rides (to me, epic trail rides are anything other than Tiger Mountain, Tolt, and Tokul):

1.) Devil's Gulch Trail,
2.) Cranberry Lake Trail,
3.) Ape Canyon Trail,
4.) Lewis River Trail,
5.) Miller Peak Trail,
6.) Sun Top,
7.) Skookum Flats

Next season I would like to try the following rides:

1.) Bend, Oregon trails
2.) Rat Pack
3.) Moab trails (Dream ride)
4.) Palisades,
5.) Cooney Lake

If anyone has any other suggested rides that around Washington, I would be interested to hear.