Lost Lake

A friend of ours from the dog park lent us an amazing book of local hikes in the northwest. She (Thanks Claire!) even prioritized her favorite and she  sure knows her stuff. The drive through ZigZag  via Lolo pass to Lost Lake was a little hair raising. There was about 5 miles of gravel forest road that had me a bit concerned, but the scenery was unmatched.  When I got to there, you could feel why Native Indians called it the heart of the mountain. I think this Scrumpy doing her version of a mountain pose. I love this shot and it is a truly tranquil place.

From Lost Lake

From Lost Lake

Here I am, on the upper Salmon river trail at Canyon viewpoint. Imagine a hearing a roaring canyon below and a view my camera can't do justice. I am going to bring Simmy back here one of these weekends.  

From Upper Salmon River Trail

From Upper Salmon River Trail

Cape Lookout

From Cape Lookout

I hiked along Cape Lookout on the coast this afternoon with Simmy and Scrumps. It was 90 degrees in Portland and a considerably cooler 58 degrees on the coast. I'm glad I had warm clothes with me and an extra pair of shoes. Cape Lookout is officially one of my favorite hikes in the area. An amazing natural place. We stopped in at Oceanside on our way home and ran into people we know from Portland. Small world and a fun day. Enjoy the summer.

From Cape Lookout

From Cape Lookout

St John's bridge

 

Had a really great time at the Providence Bridge Pedal this year and rode over 10 bridges this morning. Door to door the ride was 50 amazing mile.  The St John's bridge is a Gothic masterpiece and my favorite. 

Tinkering with Black Swans

The summer has been unusually mild this year in the pacific north west. A great opportunity to catch up on my reading. I'm halfway through Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan and I am still tackling the concepts Taleb introduces. In short, the book is about randomness and uncertainty theory and that is only scratching the surface. A black swan is a high impact event (i.e. the internet or 9/11), the impacts of which are undirected and unpredicted. Other characteristics of a Black Swan are they are considered outliers, they don't connect to events or trends in the past, they come as a surprise, and they have lasting impact. Taleb further argues that once such an event happens, as humans we are predisposed to retrofitting it to a set of patterns or a story that helps us rationalize it; We effectively concoct an explanation, after the fact, to make the random Black Swan event more predictable and explainable. We rationalize the randomness by not acknowledging it. I'm mentally still tackling this revelation.

Taleb explores the intersection of epistemology and the limitations of our human knowledge to cope with a world that is perhaps far more random (less patterned) than we might think or be predisposed to. What if the past was really no indication of the future? What if our greatest tool (the mind) was limited and could only reduce the randomness to a set of patterns that we put on a pedestal called science and mathematics ? Gosh this would explain so much seemingly irrational human behavior.  He sights examples ranging from 9/11 to economic collapse as events that noone saw coming but that all the pundits and experts understood and predicted in hindsight. The amazing pattern matching tool we call the brain can be a double edged sword in a world where randomness and uncertainty may play a more significant role than we know. There is allot there to think about as I interact with the world around me.

analog, randomness, and snails

Simmy and I visited Paris in June to take some time off and to celebrate her birthday. We decided to rent an apartment, albeit a tiny apartment, but still a world better than a drab hotel room and a small step closer to the feeling of living in such an amazing city. This wasn't our first visit so we were spared from standing on all the lines waiting to see places like Notre Dame and the Louvre.

From Paris, France 2010

Our morning jogs along the Seine were fun and I was surprised we didn't observe a larger running culture in Paris. Jogging was a nice way to see the city and to work off some of the calories from our dinners. We had a chance to visit 2 supper clubs which are basically dinner at someone's house where the guests don't know one another. I highly recommend it, if you get a chance; it is a great way to spend an evening abroad. The concept is simple -- put random people in a room, serve dinner, and watch what happens. One of the evenings we attended a supper club hosted by an american named Jim Haynes and this amazing man has been serving Sunday dinners to strangers for over 30 years. All you have to do is call him on Sunday afternoon, pay the cost of the dinner, and be open minded. I met some fascinating people that I don't see myself having crossed paths with otherwise. There is something to this concept and it is enhanced by the randomness of the interactions and conversations. As I write this -- it just occurred to me that he's probably having dinner at his place now and I wish I was there.

From Paris, France 2010

From Paris, France 2010

A few weeks back I visited the NYC High line and I actually found its predecessor in Paris south of the Bastille. It's called Promenade Plantee and it is a restored above ground railroad that has been converted into a marvelous green space with amazing gardens and flowers. It is an elevated park and was converted in 1994, 15 years before the NYC High line in Chelsea. THe relationship between Paris and NYC is something I need to think about more. Digging through stacks of old records at the flea market in the Marais was lots of fun; almost made me want to go analog. I say that as I type away on my mac -- maybe just a record player. Until next time .

From Paris, France 2010