All Right! Who's ready for some winter pics of the Yosemite trip?
Click on the images for a larger version.

First stop, Pizza Factory in Mariposa. Who proudly sported a Cal penant...as well as the penant of some...other..schools. Their motto was, "We Toss Em...They're Awesome!"

Allison, Lezlie, and Kay.  

I took a pic of the girls, so Mike insisted on a picture of me... 

S'mores and ghost stories outside the hotel. 

The whole group at Bridalviel Falls 

Me, Allison, Kay, and Lezlie at Bridalviel Falls.

Allison soaks in the grandeur as we hike through a meadow.  

The Merced River 

Lezlie says hi 

Allison made a snow angel 

The perfect backdrop. 

Allison at Lower Yosemite Falls 

The view of Upper Yosemite Falls from the valley floor.  

We built a happy Cal snow man before starting the hike. 

...and the hike begins. 

A pause to admire the view, and catch our breaths. 

The view from just below Columbia Rock. See how high we hiked?!

Mike takes in the view about .5 miles past Columbia Rock

We Made it! Kay and I at Columbia Rock

Four happy hikers on Columbia Rock 

The view the end of the hike, Upper Yosemite Falls. 

Allison and Mike on our way back down to the valley floor.

View of Half Dome from the Valley Floor 

The whole group at the Tunnel View.

Yosemite was awesome!

The weather was clear, the snow was abundant, and the company was great. I went up there with representatives from each of my three main sources of friendship at Cal; BUSSA, studio, and the dorms. The five of us, Mike, Lezlie, Allison, and Kay had a really nice time together.

We spent most of Friday afternoon on the road, until we got to Mariposa up in the Sierra Foothills. We stayed at the same hotel that I stayed at with Matt, Kim, Martin, Chris, and Gaby a few years back. Mariposa is a typical little Sierra town, with a population that looks to have come straight out of a 'red state.' Friendly place though, and we had dinner at the local hangout, a pizza parlor downtown. Told ghost stories back at the hotel parking lot, while we made Smores.

We woke up bright and early yesterday morning, drove to Yosemite Valley, and spent most of the day hiking and exploring. I can't believe how many activities we packed into one day. The friendly rangers at the visitor center gave us a couple great trails to take.

I've never really hiked in Yosemite, just explored and saw the things that were only a 5-10 minute walk from the car. After one easy hike, we decided to go on one pretty tough (and very rewarding) hike from the bottom of the valley to the base of Upper Yosemite Falls. The scenery was jaw dropping. It was so exhilarating to look down at the valley, almost 1000 feet below, and know that our own legs had carried us up that high.

All five of us got up to our destination, Columbia Rock, but the ranger told us that half a mile further was a great view of Upper Yosemite Falls. We were all pretty tired by then, and weren't sure how strenuous the next stretch would be. (It sure looked tough, with a steep accent up a snow covered cliff) Kay and Lezlie decided to chill at the rock but Allison, Mike, and I decided to give it a shot. Ends up the hike wasn't that bad, and we were rewarded with even more stunning views.

We decided to stay in the valley till the evening, so that we could ice skate under the stars in Curry Village. While we waited, we went to the Curry Village Lodge, a real down-home place in the middle of the camp ground. Worked on a puzzle near the fire, where an old man was telling stories about John Muir. Capped off the day at the skating rink for about an hour. Drove back to the hotel very tired, but very, very, happy.

This trip reaffirmed a belief I've held since the last time I spent a very similar short trip up there; Yosemite in the winter time is my favorite place in the world.

Kay, Lauren, and Candice are all on my buddy list next to each other. They all have their away messsages up right now, and I found the following combination of monosylabic 'words' funny:

ichigo83: sigh
lprofeit: gah
dirticandi: brrb

Any how. I'm off to Yosemite. Sing with me now:

SNOW...SNOW....SNOW....SNOW....SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOWW!

It has been decided.

Our party theme will not be NorCal v. Socal

...it will not be stashes and Short Skirts (um, thanks Dan)

...it will not be Heroes & Villains

...it will not be the ingenious Graffi-TEE

...it will not be The Republican Party (thaaaaanks again Dan)

No. We are going with ::::drum roll please::::

$5 PROM!

Thanks to Liz Cruz for the initial idea. Miss Profeit's enthusiasm for the theme won me over.

So, with $5 Prom, we're going for that were-to-cheap-to-get-a-hotel-ballroom-so-we'll-have-prom-in-the-gym look/feel. A mix of early 60s prom-queen innocence and 1980s tackiness. Basically put together a retro-formal-outfit, and if you really want to go all out, try assembling it from Thrift Store Merchandise for under $5. Or, raid your parents' closet.

So, kick off the school year right and come to the Casa Rosa on Saturday, Jan. 22nd for a kick-ass party. E-mail me for details.

I just came to the startling revelation that I will have HOMEWORK this semester.

HOMEWORK! Gah. A second semester senior with regularly assigned homework. Damn Econ requirement.

All right then. Moving on....

Happy New Year and all that. 2005, exciting huh?

Winter Break has been nice, but I can't help be somewhat disappointed since in the back of my mind, I know I could have been in Europe right now with Leo and Lauren. Looking at my bank account though, I know its probably best that I stayed. Then there was the trip to Hawaii I could have gone on....but that too was killed by my finances. So, no big winter break trip...

Unless the BUSSA trip to Yosemite pans out next weekend...and....well...I did go to San Diego.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH. San Diego! It still hurts! Fuck all-thing-Texas.

First Cal is politicked out of the Rose Bowl, and then we loose in the Holiday Bowl. Couldn't have been a worse way to end the season, short of the departure of Jeff Tedford to Stanfurd (thank Oski he's staying for five years!). My heart was broken and my spirit was shattered until USC managed to avenge our loss and the Pac-10's reputation by humiliating Oklahoma. I never though I'd derive pleasure from a USC victory. Go fig.

San Diego, before the game at least, was lots of fun. I had a pleasant couple of days with my family, and a really fun night in the Gas Lamp with Erik, Leslie, Lauren, Lauren's Dan, Kat, and BJ. As for the rest of break, Christmas was nice (and relatively drama free!), New Years was lots of fun, and I've had plenty of quality time with my friends from high school.

But that's all over now. Everyone's gone back to school. Today, was quite possibly the saddest day of the year, the day the Christmas decorations come down.

So now I'm staring at a week ahead filled with way too much free time. It's not that I don't have anything to do....there's still that Univ. of Washington grad school application, updating the MVPA web page and my guidemv page, and planning Pinkertin's big start-of-the-semester bash. But I'm so damn lazy. I'm going to have to force myself to get active, or else I'll be looking back at a week filled with empty days, wondering where the time went.

This has become a very whiney post. I apologize, and I'll shut up.