Call off the rescue squad, I have successfully returned from my mountain operations. I wasn't able to reach the peak though, but my goal was not really to reach it but to simply climb the mountain. I was able to see the Cantilever Rock and reach the alpine tundra area (well I hope I did).
(almost) conquering Mt. MansfieldI will go hiking tomorrow... or at least try to. The destination: the highest peak in Vermont Mt. Mansfield. It has a good view of the Champlain Valley and a glimpse of the Adirondacks on a good day. It also has a nice geological feature called Cantilever rock. I got my stuff ready, a good supply of water, trail mix, energy bars and drinks.
My only concern is the mountain itself. Vermont isn't called the Green Mountain State for nothing, and the fact that I will be climbing the highest peak is a little daunting. Mt. Mansfield is 1339 m above sea level (Gulugod Baboy, which I've summited a couple of times is only 470m above sea level), I have no guide, no cellphone and limited gear (as I never intended to climb a mountain while I am here).
Although I will be starting my climb halfway up the mountain from the ranger station, it is still a little higher than what I have climbed before (Mt Maculot or Mt Manabo, I forgot). And considering the latitude of the state, the weather and temperature is a factor. And although the trail is marked (I hope), I will be going at it alone.
So... if you do not see me online in the next couple of days, call the rescue troops in.
I'm back in Vermont (did I mention I went back home for a couple of weeks?) for another 2 month stint. Things look a little different now... more green stuff and less of the white stuff.
Hopefully I don't get too stressed with the work I need to do here. I am excited, however, with the opportunity to travel to a few other states over one of the weekends. I am also looking forward to doing some outdoor stuff Vermont is renowned for.
But first I need to get over the upcoming jetlag... hopefully it won't be too bad.
Last Monday night, I drove 179 miles from Montpelier to Cambridge and met up with Patrick and Bikka. It was a long drive in bad weather (it rained pretty much the entire way) but well worth it. It was nice to meet up with friends in a foreign country and simply by sheer timing with Patrick taking up his MBA, Bikka on a vacation and myself on a business trip.
We had a few drinks to celebrate the occasion the first night we met up, then it was on to exploring the city the following day. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating and it rained pretty much the entire day. But we still braved the weather and went around town to see the sights. Harvard, The Freedom Line, Boston Common, fresh Maine lobster, taking the subway, shopping at Macy's and a visit to Patrick's school were some of the many things that we did that day. I was pretty wet and tired when we finally came back to Bikka's hotel room, but was all good.
What kinda sucked was that the weather in Boston when I left earlier today was great, the sun was up and shining a perfect day to enjoy the city. It also sucked that I had to drive the back nearly 200 miles to go to work.
The gang in Boston CommonI headed out for lunch earlier, had a hard time looking for a place to eat as Church Street Marketplace is pretty busy on a Saturday afternoon. I ended up a true blue American diner where I sat on the counter and had toast, home fries, bacon, sausages and eggs plus a Pepsi.
I hung out for a bit, taking a couple of snapshots. I particularly like this one, oh the irony:
Having nothing else to do (plus the fact that I only had a 2hour free parking) I headed back to my car. A guy stopped me and asked me if I wanted to participate in a survey. He looked kinda dubious and was kinda leading me to a corridor. I was already thinking of an escape route but decided to man up and see how things go. Long story short I did, and around 20 minutes later I was done. As I signed my name on the list of participants I noticed that there was a column called "Amount received" and surprise surprise I was handed $3! Cool!
We were caught speeding earlier this morning. Doing 82 miles an hour on a 65, which translates to $144. A whole lot of money.
Good thing I was asleep in the back seat. Too bad for my officemate though, what a way to start a Wednesday morning.
It was a nice experience though hehehe
sachet of sugar in Vermont
I got mine in Stowe MountainI'm now here in Vermont, the place is beautiful.
It's been a tiring trip to say the least, however I am settling in ok. The hotel is nice, I have a decent car (SUV baby!)... and the weather sucks. For a tropical guy like me, but I like it... hopefully I'll get used to the day long sub-zero temperatures.
First impression of the project team is good. They are accomodating, and they are young troops like me. That should provide us at least with something in common.
Will definitely try to get some pictures up soon.
... at where I'm gonna be living in the next 2 months (at least, I think)
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/legacy/collegestreetcam.shtml
A quick update on what's happening, Socs and I went back to La Mesa Watershed a few days ago. This time we had some of the Oracle troops accompany us. Good fun and a nice break from the hassles of city life. Big thanks to the blood lusted, adventure freak Mr. Verchie Totanes for organizing the trip.
Earlier this week a few friends of mine (and a few strangers as well) went on a tour around Binondo. Good thing this was a walking food tour, ate a lot of good stuff! You guys should try it, especially if you've never been to Binondo. Socs and I are also considering trying out the other tours.
I'm flying out to Vermont next week! Another country/city to mark on my list of where I have been. Once there, I can say I have been to 2 continents... Europe and America. Is Asia another continent though? According to Wikipedia in depends, oh well. Europe, Asia and soon America will be off the list. Antarctica is gonna be a problem though.
Finally a chance to be on a project at the very start, I'm very excited. I hope I do a pretty decent job as this is an investment in my career.
Unfortunately I will have no per diems for the 2 months I am onsite, so no chance of earning a few extra bucks. Hopefully the project manager will let me reimburse costs related to fun, did I mention that Vermont is a haven for skiing? I just hope I don't freeze to death 5 mins upon arrival though...
My Lakbayan grade is C!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.
ending a day of wakeboarding fun
I have found my calling... surfing, it seems, is in my blood. After only 3 surfing trips, and around 12 hours of surfing under my belt, I am hooked.
My first surfing trip was in La Union, our introduction to the wonders of surfing. I found it fairly easy to catch a wave, with the help of Manong surfer who pushed us so we can ride the fairly easy waves (1-footers). Although I knew I had a long way to go in terms of skills, I felt I had the basics covered which, as far as I was concerned, was standing up and keep standing up until the wave died out. The following day, this time with no help from Manong surfer, we failed to catch some waves as there weren't as many good ones as the previous day. I, however, was not deterred.... me and my friends vowed to come back.
Brgy. Pundakit in Zambales was entirely a different story. We enrolled in a surf camp offered by Stonemoney Surf and 'trained' by surf-master Joe Villatora (a real surf pro from Hawaii). The waves here where much much bigger... 5 footers I believe, since a typhoon has passed by recently. We never caught any waves, but this was the real eye opener for me into the surfing lifestyle. As Joe said, 90% of surfing is paddling and I was okay with that. I loved the notion of paddling into the line up and waiting for the right wave to come. And the feeling of the wave just when it catches you.... heaven.
Finally, before the surfing season ended, Tots invited us back to Zambales for a final surf trip this time in San Narciso. Everyone was excited and really stoked to catch some waves, but disappointment greated us as we approached the beach... no waves. So we ended up playing frisbee and hanging out for the rest of the day. The following day, I woke up to my friends saying "Let's head off to the beach, there are waves! Time to surf!". And so we did... after some time of trying to catch one, I finally did it. I caught my own wave, and from then on I pretty much caught wave after wave... such is the life of a surfer.
I just checked friendster.com... my primary photo is no longer a featured photo.
Oh well, I can't expect it to be featured forever. But it was nice while it lasted :)
I'm not really in the mood to think of a nice way of putting this... to just visit Socs' blog entry. Let me know if you are (or know anybody who might be) interested.
By the way, I've had some bloggable stuff that's happened to me recently but I'm just too lazy to blog about it. So I leave you to your web surfing...
