June 08, 2008
Big Water Blowout
Brian, Laura (not my girlfriend, but a different Laura) and myself planned a little outing to Riggins, Idaho. This year marked their 10th annual Big Water Blowout. We were all jonesing for a raft trip, and this year promised to be something amazing.
Brian called around a bit beforehand, wanting to be sure that some rafting company would rent us wetsuits. The river temperature was about 46 degrees, with a flow rate of 46,000 cubic feet per second. In a word: awesome.
The Salmon River through Riggins is pretty neat. Laura and I went kayaking there when the flow was about 25,000 cfs. At that rate, getting in the river in town provides the most enjoyment. At this higher rate, we get bussed upriver and paddle back to town.
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| I'm up front in the blue helmet, with the intense expression on my face... |
Our guide was a seasoned hoot. He felt us out a little through our first set of big waves (Ruby Rapids). We were all relaxed enough, so he decided to take us through a really big wave called the Haystack about 1/3 of the way down our run.
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| Watch the carnage here... |
We flipped, obviously. Going for a swim in such cold water, even with a wetsuit, was breathtaking. Quite literally. I plunged down through a few big standing waves and had quite a hard time breathing. I also swallowed a lot of water. For a few moments, I pondered whether the trip was a good idea, and hoped that my life vest would provide enough buoyancy to get a solid breath of air. Once it had, I still couldn't get a solid breath -- the briskness of the water made it a bit difficult to do more than gasp. After two failed attempts at paddle retrieval, I called it lost and swam for the boat.
The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. We all shivered ourselves back to warmth, made it back to the rafting company, and drank a fair amount of Talisker to warm up. I would heartily recommend Exodus rafting company to anyone. They're a riot! Hopefully I get to go rafting again with Laura the Girlfriend when she is back on the Left Coast.
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
that was some pretty sweet carnage my whiskey- totalling friend!
Posted by: Kat Goldberg on June 10, 2008 01:03 PM