I'm Alright, Nobody Worry 'Bout Me

I have leveled- up on the Bill Murray scale of existence.

Or have I leveled down? Honestly, I'm not sure which way the scale goes, but I'm firmly at Caddyshack. 

I'm doing battle with gophers.

Group 1

In 2019 I flew to Detroit, London then on to Amsterdam, Atlanta, San Salvador, Portland, Washington DC, Kampala, New York City, Guatemala City, and Bangkok then on to Auckland. In 2020, I flew to Washington DC, and had flights booked to Dhaka, Cap Haitien, Reykjavik and Detroit that were all cancelled with plans for several others that never got booked in the first place.

I miss travel, but I didn't realize...

United Airlines also misses me. 

Forever Blue

 The list of (first world, trivial) things Covid-19 has taken from us seems to never end. Races, vacations, the ability to go to the office. Seeing other people. Hugs. In-person church. Not feeling like every venture out is like navigating the cave in the Goonies and NEVER EVER getting to One-Eyed Willie's ship. We have tried to be grateful for the time this has given us together, tried not to be (too) whiny, tried to take stock of our blessing. 

But this latest...

My husband, former high school, college and semi-pro player and former high school coach, may never recover.

Back Again

The Incline closed March 17. I know the exact date, because I was working from home, had my exercise clothes on, and was within an hour of my next climb when the breaking news came in. Since then, the cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, which for reasons I don't understand share responsibility for the Incline, have been fighting. They couldn't come up with an agreement on how to safely reopen the Incline. Part of the issue is legitimately, the Incline is narrow in most places and 6 feet of distance isn't possible when passing someone else. If there are fewer people, its easier to manage and fewer people to pass. However, the residents of Ruxton Canyon, the neighborhood that leads up to the Incline, have lodged complaints about noise and traffic. Some of that's true - there are a certain number of people who hoot and holler down the road because they are psyching themselves up for the climb (and are generally being bros.) There is traffic - usually visitors who don't know where to park, trying to find the closest place to the base of the mountain to leave their car. Manitou has put in restricted hours, and have a free shuttle bus that runs multiple times an hour from a parking lot further away. But, there is still crankiness, and these issues have bled into the current debate. Add to it the inexplicable shared ownership and weirdly territorial local government officials, and its been a mess. 

However. 

After five months of closure, they finally came to an agreement! There is now a free reservation system, and for the first couple of weeks, they are limiting reservations to (I think) 35 every 30 minutes. 

I got my first reservation this morning. 

Friendly Information on Keeping Kids Safe in a Time of Covid

I want to keep kids safe. I think nearly all of us do and in this uncertain age, I do not envy parents and their constant barrage of Sophie's choices they face in trying to protect their kids.

However, I want to also combat myths about keeping kids safe.

A lot of my work involves helping people understand who it is that we need to protect children from. There are a lot of myths out there about who harms children. The most persistent is probably one that both you and I were taught as kids (and you're going to have to hold your outrage here, so I can explain).