Yay!

High of 70 today in Dallas. Beautiful Day!

I got back from Austin on Monday evening - meant to write about the trip earlier. Here's a recap since my last update:
- Friday: Drove out to Rhimers Ranch northwest of Austin to go climbing with Chris and one of his friends. It's a privately owned ranch, but the owner (with a little help from REI) allows climbers on her ranch for a small fee and a liability waiver. It was gorgeous out there, in a very texas way. Unlike flat plains Dallas, the terrain out there is hilly with an almost romantic rustic feel. After driving for about ten minutes and hiking ten more, we arrived at a small river valley surrounded by limestone cliffs. We spent the whole day climbing the cliffs and bouldering (rope-less climbing) on this one rock by the river. I had a great climbing day, managing to finish a several routes, and learning some new techniques. On the way home, we stopped by a dive restauraunt which served mostly grease and batter. That night, we met up with two of Chris's other friends, and hung out at Dave & Busters playing pool games and stuff.
- Saturday: Woke up late and cooked some dumpling noddle soup for lunch. We then met up again with the same friends to go costume shopping for the Ibiza-themed party that we were going to. Ended up wearing track pants, a hula grass skirt, a tight tight orange t-shirt with a tacky logo, and a blue hawaiian shirt over it. Saturday night was a complete blast, and we danced till dawn. Okay - until 4am which was several hours before dawn. Afterwards, we went to eat queso con carne and breakfast at Magnolias. Yum.
- Sunday: Another lazy day. Don't quite remember what we did. Oh yes, highlight of the day was lunch with blagg followed by dinner and a movie with Blagg and Mo!
- Monday: Another climbing day. This time we drove south of Austin to McKinney Falls national park. There is a short limestone cliff that extends for quite a while that is a well known bouldering place. This was my first time truly trying to boulder. Very difficult thing. I was only able to solve one problem. I ended up ripping my finger on the rock when I slipped and took a fall. It started bleeding profusely, but for some reason I was really happy about it. Perhaps it's some kind of validation of the legitimacy of the sport I was doing. Anyways, we taped up my finger, and finished off at the Austin Rock Climbing gym that Chris frequents. By the end of the day, my arms were aching, tendons stinging, and finger bleeding. It was good. Afterwards, I drove home.

I think in climbing, I've finally found a sport that fits me. I know this, because it's the first sport where I not only am willing to bear the pain and suffering associated with it, but I relish it.

Anyways, since I've been home, I've been getting stuff on my to-do list done. The two job leads in SF are still dragging me along - of course I have no expectations from that. My back is slowly getting better. We're going to have to make a decision about surgery quite soon. I've decided to study for the java certification exam - it might help me pick up contracting work over the next few months.