Spinning Along

New Blog/Website

2011-04-10T19:52:00.001-07:00

Hey Faithful Followers,

I just wanted to remind y'all to point your browsers to www.mikesoltys.com for my new blog and website.

You can grab an RSS feed by clicking: http://mikesoltys.com/feed/

I think the new website/blog combo has some cool posts, including a new tool of the week every monday and other blog posts as i have time. In addition, i'm adding trip reports for past trips, which are pretty good reads.

Thanks for following.

-Mike

New Webpage And Blog: MikeSoltys.com

2011-03-09T10:07:00.001-08:00

Ok,

I know this blog has been great, but i'm migrating over to a slightly more professional website and blog at http://www.mikesoltys.com

Please head that way, and feel free to grab the RSS feed! I hope to update that one a little more consistently, and have already scheduled a couple pre-written blogs so there will be continuous content over there over the next couple months.

-mike

Tools Every Student Should Use: Dropbox

2011-03-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, So being in school for most (78%) of my life, I've gotten pretty good at things. If you want to win at school, i'm going to start a series of posts on tools I think every academic should be using. Even if you're out of school, if you want your computing life to be easier, you should check out these tools.

The first one is Dropbox.

Dropbox is like a flash drive that you can never loose. It's simply a folder on your computer, that gets backed up online automatically. So if you spill coffee on your laptop, or simply are in a computer lab without your computer, you can still access your files. Dropbox also is great for collaboration, as it allows easy sharing of files amongst groups. It can also sync your files across multiple computers (so, my dropbox folder on my work computer will always have the exact same files in it that my dropbox folder on my laptop has).

Dropbox is free, and you can get more free space by following a tutorial and inviting friends, so go ahead, and get dropbox today.

From "No Man is an Island"

2010-08-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

"It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. When we do this we will be able first of all to face and accept our own limitations. As long as we secretly adore ourselves, our own deficiencies will remain to torture us with an apparent defilement. But if we live for others, we will gradually discover that no one expects us to be “as gods.” We will see that we are human, like everyone else, that we all have weaknesses and efficiencies, and that these limitations of ours play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them that we need others and others need us. We are not all weak in the same spots, and so we supplement and complete one another, each one making up in himself for the lack in another.

Only when we see ourselves in our true human context, as members of a race which is intended to be one organism and “one body,” will we begin to understand the positive importance not only of the successes but of the failures and accidents in our lives. My successes are not my own. The way to them was prepared by others. The fruit of my labors is not my own: for I am preparing the way for the achievements of another. Nor are my failures my own. They may spring from the failure of another, but they are also compensated for by anothers achievement. Therefore the meaning of my life is not to be looked for merely in the sum total of my own achievements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my achievements and failures with the achievements and failures of my own generation, and society, and time. It is seen, above all, in my integration in the mystery of Christ"

-Thomas Merton

Final Preps

2010-05-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Thursday we woke up and headed towards the airport to pick up shane. All the time in the car with Jeff was much appreciated, because we really got a chance to chat with each other.

As we drive south, we can see the cascades to the left, the Olympics to the right, and Rainier looming straight in front of us. Its huge.

Shane is stoked, and we head to REI to get final gear and plan for the climb. After seeing some of the touristy stuff, we head to Jake's Parents house for dinner and final packing.

Wednesday

2010-05-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we woke up for breakfast, and went out to Mt Erie to find adventure. Not being much of a rock climber, and already tired from the previous day, Jeff thought it'd be a good idea to repel down a cliff and see what sort of climbing we could find in my skill level. The spot we were at had gorgeous views of the water, complete with sitings of bald eagles and angry falcons. I "Sent" a couple routes, including a "5-10 a." before being so tired i didn't think i could climb any more. Then, we got out our glacier gear and practiced ascending ropes on prusik knots.

The day wouldn't be complete without dinner with jeffs mom, a visit with jeff's grandma, and some equipment double checking

Seattle Trip: Tuesday

2010-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Tuesday after breakfast with Court, i got on the bus to begin my adventure. After an uneventful flight, I arrived at the airport where Jeff was waiting for me.

We went to REI to get a few things, and then met some of jeff's buddies at the local climbing gym, Stone Gardens. Here, I met Jake for the first time. Jake is going to climb mt rainier with us. I can see he's an amazing rock climber, and a super nice guy. After climbing until i'm "Pumped Out," Stefan and I grab a beer and then re-connect with Jeff and more climbing buddies for thai food and Rainier Beta. This guy bill, who sounds like he has a few screws loose in his head, tells us Rainier is solid gold right now, and we should go for it. The other climbers agree, and we decide to call the climb a go.

We finish the night with a 2 hour drive up to Anacortes, Jeff's home town. Anacortes is a sleepy cute northwestern town on the sound with beautiful mountains and cliffs.

A funny way of winding down...

2010-05-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that my view of relaxation has become slightly skewed. With classes over, its time for me to get out and recharge a bit. This time around, I'm packing my bags and headed to Seattle. Ahh, Seattle. Pikes fish market, Coffee, and Indy Rockers.

But no, i'm not packing my tight jeans and my rain jacket for a week of sitting in the city sipping coffee. Up on my life to-do list is climb mount rainier. I leave tomorrow for what could be one of the biggest and scariest challenges yet.

Mt Rainier is a massive 14,000' volcano popping up from sea level. It brings with it a whole host of challenges including avalanches, rock slides, crevasses, and extremely unpredictable weather. Its stretching me out already in my plans to be flexible. The weather has been bad for the past 2 weeks and the chances of a safe climb are looking slimmer and slimmer. The mountain will still be there, and we're going safety first. So, just in case, i'm bringing a plethora of toys to help me make the most of my romp in the cascades. a couple options up for grabs are ice climbing on mt baker, or maybe a peak in the northern cascades (Dome Peak?)

And so, i've got my bags packed. Ice axes, snowshoes, avi gear, boots, rock gear, crampons, and all sorts of winter camping gear. Special thanks to Steve B. and Phil P. for helping outfit me for this this adventure, and to Jeff and Shane for getting stoked and making this dream a reality. I'll try to keep the blog-o-sphere up to date as the story unfolds!

Peace.

Mike

Belize Trip Report

2010-02-10T12:22:00.001-08:00

It's finally here! Check out our official trip report from Belize!

Also, thanks to everybody that donated to our trip. Thank-you notes will come soon, but in the chaos of our church re-structuring a bit, the list of donors hasn't gotten to me yet.

Peace.

mike

If you love something, give it away

2010-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think God goes out of his way to teach us things, and I'm so thick skulled I can barely hear him shouting over all the noise in my day-to-day life.

Recently, i was listing to Bright Eyes and there is this line in their song "Landlocked blues" that says:

but it all boils down to one quotable phrase:
"If you love something give it away"

Land Locked Blues - Bright Eye...

The lyric really jumped out at me, as if this secular musician has cought some huge truth that I'm missing in my Christian life.

Then, as the thought started to leave my head, God went ahead and underlined his point. I was at this superbowl party and this guy, who i kind of know (but not well), was wearing this really sweet retroish Patagonia jacket. I told him i thought his jacket was sweet, and he immediately took it off, handed to me and said "It's yours!" This makes so little since to me, a) because he must have liked the jacket, other wise why was he wearing it... b) it's really cold outside, and c) who just gives away his stuff? I tried complementing him on his pants, but he wouldn't give me those...

Anyhow, I don't get this, but i figured i'd think "out loud" for everybody who follows me on cyberspace to ponder with me. I find Truth in this concept in 3 ways:

If you love something, chances are others will love it too. You can hoard your enjoyment, or share things you find enjoyment in, and in the void, find NEW things you Love. This way your love never grows old or sour, its always new and fresh, and others can love things that you have found.
If you Love something, and it detracts from your Love of Christ, it's better to give it away than hold onto it.
God loved his Son, and so he gave Him away to the world.

i dunno, chew on it.

-mike

Complaining / contentment

2010-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

My new years resolution this year is to avoid complaining. Complaining about our circumstances, or people in our lives is a direct insult to God's goodness, who has blessed us out of abundance. The idea was spawned by St. Benedict's strict ruling against complainers in monastic life:

Under no circumstances should complaining be tolerated, no matter what the reason. Anyone found complaining should be subjected to most severe punishment.
-Ch. 34, Rule of Saint Benedict

Indeed, we've all heard the whiny teenager who sounds like a spoiled brat even though their parents continually pour into them. How much more shall we whine when God continually pours into us?

But, God's also been teaching me this new year that avoiding complaining is treating the symptom, not the disease. The disease that I suffer from chronically is discontentment. No matter how many skills I have, friends I make, papers I write, Toys in the garage, I always long for more, think about how life would be better if I just had _______. Life is soo good, and being content with what i have should be a key aspect to my worship of Christ. That doesn't mean I don't hold great Hope in what God has in store for the future, but my Hope isn't in my future but God's glory.
and thats about all i've got to say about.
-mike

Belize!

2010-01-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

I'm back from Belize! It was an amazing time. We were down there with the Word at Work working on the foundation for a community library in the valley of peace. I really enjoyed making friends in Belize, and am really planning on trying to make another trip down there either this summer or next winter to follow up on a lot of the relationships we have down there, as well as see the finished library!

The construction was hard work, but it was great to work alongside the locals and it was really fun learning a thing or two about concrete construction from the foremen down there. In the afternoons, we would usually swim in the river or pool, and drink a belikin and talk about the day. On the weekend, we went to a coffee plantation in the mountains where we jumped off of a secluded waterfall and hiked in the jungle. We also did a full moon horseback ride where a bonfire awaited us, and had a great new-years eve party with a regge DJ and lots of locals to dance with.

The end of the trip was spend on a secluded island in the Caribbean, where we had time to snorkel, relax, and decompress from our time in Belize before returning to the states. The island was beyond description, like something out of a postcard. I am also extremely thankful for the others from Boulder (Randy, Danelle, Andrew, and Kevin) that went and the way we bonded on the trip. Enjoy the pictures!!
-mike

Sin

2009-11-13T21:13:00.001-08:00

I was getting breakfast with a friend who's really intelligent, and kind of new to the idea's of Christianity. He asked the question "Doesn't it kind of seem like a big excuse, i mean Christ dying for your sins so you're no longer responsible"

The answer is no.

Even though our sins are forgiven, they have very real and devastating consequences. They hurt us and the ones that we love. Sin must be nipped at the bud, and stopped at its earliest sign before it can corrupt. As the Lord said to Cain "Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

So often, I personally have a very complacent attitude towards sin in my own life. I've seen the very real effects of sin not stopped, and the gospel takes on new meaning for me when it warns so strictly of the consequences of sin.

God hates sin. If we are to Love God, we must hate sin to. We should grieve sin in our world, but more importantly we should grieve sin in our Church. It is important however, that we Love sinners, for we all have fallen short of the Glory.

Caught Sleeping

2009-11-09T16:26:00.001-08:00

This past weekend there was an attack by Satan, and i was cought sleeping.

It reminds me of a couple things. We need to be intentional about EVERYTHING we do. We need to hold each other accountable, and constantly be looking out for the spiritual needs of each other and our churches.

Christ's bride isn't you, its the church. Our spiritually isn't individualistic, its corporate.

attacks can come at any time, so be ready.

One of my fav. poems

2009-10-11T14:58:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite poems is "As I walked out one evening" by W.H. Auden. On first reading the poem, it sounds pretty depressing, but my favorite thing about the poem is the realization that humanly we can't love as well as we think we can. But, we do the best we can. here's my favorite part:

O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.

-mike

Christany Jargon and Beauty in small things

2009-10-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

My buddy kyle called me out/encouraged me to a)post on my blog more and b) keep up with the photo a day thing, which i started gun-ho last week with one photo and then abandoned. The biggest problem is sometimes I can't wrap my mind around how to capture all the beauty I see, but kyle encouraged saying thats the trick of the whole thing, you've just gotta take some extra time and try. With that being said, there's two more photos up on the photo-a day site.

This weekend has been beautiful. The leaves are all in full gold and red splendor. I Had a great time yesterday biking some of the magnolia trails with a study group of guys. Except a day-ending injury for Andrew, it was a fantastic ride. "The enchanted forest" is one of my favorite little sections of trail up there now.

Church was really good today, Kirk had a great sermon. He talked about how even little things are Holy to God. It made me think a little of the photo-a day project. He encouraged us to take some extra time and enjoy life, enjoy a cup a coffee or your lunch, or a glass of wine. He also really encouraged us to read and know scripture, so we can really tell when people say things when they're true. the whole sermon was based off of Jemimah 29. If you want to listen to it, you can on the church's website.

He also said something about false prophecy that made me think a little bit. I might go on a rabbit trail here, so bear with me... or don't, whatever. All the time people are talking like "God told me to do this" and "I felt like the spirit was leading me to do this." I don't want to say the spirit doesn't move in us and God doesn't speak to us, but I do feel like we should take extreme caution saying God told us something, and its not just what we want, or what we thought. Sometimes i think of the commandment in exodus 20:7 "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name." Sometimes I wonder if when we use God's name, if we're not using it to empower our words or choices instead of really glorifying Him. Or maybe we just want to sound "holier." Anyhow, thats that thought, now on cyberspace. Be careful when using christiany jargon.

"whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
-1 cor 10:31

Photo-a-day

2009-09-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Matt had a great idea to take a photo a day and post it online. The idea is simple, just take a photo a day. The exercise is to help you think "how can i capture this beauty, share it with others." Some people are incredibly gifted at this, I haven't thought seriously about photography since high school. I'm hoping I get some good pictures. Anyhow... My photo-a-day album is going to be online Here.

I'm also going to put a little sideshow on my webpage (which needs updating).

Also, Because I'm such a super-amateur at photography, I'd really appreciate comments on photos, what you like, what you didn't like, what I could do better (either in taking the photo, or post processing). I have a copy of Photoshop at school, so i might try to get into that a little bit...
peace!
mike

Photo Download

2009-09-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

I made it back safely!

i just uploaded pictures HERE:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286988&id=12702301&l=3ce8604ed5

sorry, i did not do a fantastic job of taking lots of pictures!
-mike

Last day

2009-09-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in Rome. If you find a restaurant you like, I highly reccomend returning. Todays lunch and dinner we returned to some of our favorite spots and got the VIP treatment. We spent most of the day running around town picking up souvineers and shopping which was a fun experience. I went into Armani and prada for the first time in my life and looked at some 1500$ driving shoes... Hmmm. Anyhow, Rome has been great but I'm excited to be returning home. Se everybody soon!
-mike

Spanish steps

2009-09-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Todays session at the conference was the best yet with a couple very interesting talks. I had my best lunch yet at a place near our hotel under some vines. It was very afforadable and I had pork, and a delicious salad plus some dried meats! (meal photos to come). This afternoon we walked to the Spanish steps and took a nap... Now we're off to the gala dinner at the palazzo brancaccio (which I underestand is a point of interest).

At some point I plan on seeing the Spanish steps? Thanks again for all the tips I've gotten via blog or facebook.

Oh, I should note that when travelling in Rome watch out for extra charges on your meal such as service charges, sitting charges, and charges for things like the bread they put out on the table. Yesterday we totally got Ripped off...

Bikes, gardens, the pope

2009-09-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

After falling asleep in a presentation about combining the Reynolds avegeraged navier stokes equations with large Eddie simulations, I decided to get out... I went to st peters, but did not feel like standing in the huge line...
I also checked out this huge park/garden which was very nice, and found a bike shop so I could check out some sweet itiialin bikes. I sucessfuly used public transit a lot, which made me feel good but there was still quite a lot of walking today and after my run this morning my legs are pooped... Maybe I'll try fitting a nap in before dinner.

Chao!
Mike

Moses

2009-09-16T01:26:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention the conference is held in a building connected to the st Peter in chains church which houses michaelangeos Moses. I walked over and saw it the other day and it's pretty incredible. What's even more incredible is the .50€ machine that lights up the statue of a photo op...

I think the gala dinner tommorow is in a place of interest also, I'll have to look that up...

Ceaser shuffel

2009-09-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

I started this morning with a run that was supposed to take me to the collesium, around the forum and old paltine hill, and back north around the panthenom, however I seemed to carry too much angular momentum around the forum, took a wrong turn, and ended up much to far south (off my map). I. Kept running untill I eventually hit the tiber and was able to get myself home. The run was great but a lot longer than I had planned for. Now time for conferencing! Chao!

Day 3

2009-09-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last night we checked out this trendy restaurant about a 1 hr walk from where we were are staying. The Meal was amazing, I had a seafood salad followed by monkfish covered in purscutto finished by a piece of terrimastout (yes stout, they used beer instead of expresso). We got pretty lost on the way back but it was a good experience. The goal for tonight is to try to learn the public transit system a little more effectivly.

The conference is going well, our talk was well recieved, and there have been a few interesting talks... But overall many of the talks are poor or unrelated to my interest...

Off to dinner!

Rome: first impressions

2009-09-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

Romans are very friendly and warm. The food is fantastic but expensive. Europians are, in general better looking than Americans. The weather is great and the city is beautiful. So far I'm not a fan of the major sites I've seen, they're all a little ruined by mobs of people with cameras and fanny packs. But I do love walking the alleys off the beaten path. Time for dinner and night life, I'll keep you posted!
Mike

So much for an early night and a morning run

2009-09-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

After meeting some beer enthuisits, making it an early night was vetoed by a tour of Italys small but growing craft beer culture. Most of today has been filled with lectures. I've seen a couple good ones but am reminded about how bad engineers are at presenting information.

Rome, day 1

2009-09-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

We've arrived in Rome! The trip was uneventful except when the lady next to me ordered her third glass of wine, and decided it would look great spilled all over my new pants. Rome is beautiful, I've covered a lot of the city walking (with some help from a couple shots of expresso). Our hotel is nice, a block away from the st Peter in chains church and just down the road from the collesum in a quiet alleyway. I'm pretty exausted and might make it an early night. I want to go on a mourning jog to some of the sites before they begin looking like Disney land again... Then it's conference time! The talks sound cool in the neardiest way possible, ours is on Tuesday!

Anyhow, I'll try to keep this updated but expect short posts because I'm tapping them out on my iPod.
Peace
mike

2009-07-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Does anybody know what's actually going on in Honduras? The UN, USA, and a few other large world players have denounced the coup, but I can't help but feel sympathy for the new regime. first off, they obviously have enough support from the people to overthrow the government. Oppression isn't anything new in Honduras, one of the leading banana exporters of the world. I know that US companies like Chiquita and Doll have major stakes in the Honduran economy, and in past coups have supported the old government to get stability back as quick as possible (coups are not good for business). There's also been a lot of press on these companies mistreatment of their workers. Ties to drug cartels have been linked to the old leader, and I wonder if the US is supporting him because we believe in democracy or if we stand to loose a lot of money due to fair rites for the country and their workers?

Sorry i havn't been posting very much. I've been busy with school and bike riding. the triple is 2 weekends from now! I'm feeling strong, and overall pretty confident about the ride. thats all for now. peace.
-mike

Lunch time musings

2009-04-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

How often it seems we take some blessing God has given to us out of his goodness and turn it into some sort of pat on the back for ourselves?

its like saying "surely because I've got this blessing, I've done something right and God is rewarding, and those that don't have it must have done something wrong, and are being punished"

I seem to see this attitude in myself and my friends all the time. Some examples are:

Our friends (community)
Our health/athleticism
The place we live, earths beauty
Our possessions

It seems that this posture seems to reflect our worship for ourselves, and our constant feeble attempts to cover our sinful nature with our good acts. How much more an act of worship to realize how little we deserve any of our blessings, but are given them in abundance anyways?\

I guess this is important because it determines the way we use our blessings. If we assume our wealth is a blessing to us, without our earning, than we will be more likely to use it to bless others. on a less noticeable note, if we assume we are in great community because we have done something right, our community will soon turn inwardly focused and will not represent the outwardly focused church in the new testament.

My first You-Tube video

2009-04-16T13:08:00.001-07:00

I started making this one day when i checked the weather and saw a stunning mid-latitude cyclone over much of the US. I wrote a little script to grab the current viable water vapor image off the net, and stitch them together in a video.

These large scale vortices are common around the globe, and match (in structure) a lot of the smaller scale vortices I study in the lab.

2009 Big Bike Trip

2009-04-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last year we road the blue ridge parkway to fulfill my nastolgia for Appalachia. We had a great time on a perfect trip that can will never be re-created.

However, my love riding my bike remains, and Today a dream was born for this summer: a trek through the beautiful Rockies from Boulder to Crested Butte, stopping along the way in destinations such as Estes Park, Winter Park, Frisco, and Buena Vista.

The trip will either happen in late June or early August. Here's links to maps of individual days:

Day 1: Boulder->Estes Park 64 miles, 6483 ft climbing, 3763 decent
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/co/boulder/75712398313061540

Day 2: Estes Park->Winter Park 68 miles, 5630 ft climbing, 5052 decent
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/co/-estes-park/561123983182788124

Day 3: Winter Park->Frisco 72 Miles, 2310 ft climbing, 2251 ft decent
http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/co/tabernash/982123983356526213

Day 4: Frisco->Buena Vista 68 Miles, 3310 ft climbing, 4396 decent
http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/co/boulder/225123983402330303

Day 5: Buena Vista->Crested Butte (This is up for debate, the route i have on the map above might be dirt roads...)

If any of my buds that are reading this want to join in, let me know!

Peace.
mike

From one of my favorite bands

2009-03-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

"Ultimately, every revolutionary act is an act of love - it's about love for people. And so I think every song I've ever written has been a love song." - zach de la rocha

Beef, its what's for dinner (not anymore)

2009-02-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

So i've been reading this book "rich Christians in an age of hunger" and I've been thinking a lot about the choices I make every day.

I blogged a little bit ago about gas, and if buying gas from certian companies has certian environmental or humanitarian effects. Well, this can spread to all sorts of things, clothing, food etc. A really usefull website a friend showed me is www.betterworldshopper.com On better world shopper, they rank companies on a variety of issues from 'A' to 'F'. It's not a perfect website, they don't really tell you how they got their data, but it's a start to making wiser choices.

I've also made the decision to stop buying beef. I'll still eat it if its being served to me, but the social and environmental implications in cattle raising seems to hard to justify without more knowledge. I'm not going to rant on this too much, or look down on people who still eat beef, but there are a couple of reasons:

With rising food prices and a global food shortage, its important to concsider how much the world can sustain, and what our crops are being used for. it takes 16 lbs of grains to produce 1 lb of edible beef.
With global warming, more intesnse storms and harsher droughts, water is beggining to be an issue for a lot of the united states. It is estimated more than half the water used in the united states is used to grow grains for beef consupmtion or in beef proccessing.
Finally, a recent study shows that producing 1 kG of beef produces the same amount of Co2 that is made driving a car for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on in your house.

so thats that!
peace.

Can you still see goodness in my heart?

2009-01-21T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was walking home from school around 9pm when I realize a man is following closely behind. Soon he is right next to me, just an inch from my elbow. This brief dialog followed:

"Excuse me." He says
"Yes?" I reply
"Can you still see goodness in my heart?" He asks
the question caught me a little off guard.
"What?" I asked.
"Can you still see goodness in my heart?" He repeated.
still a little woozy from a day in front of the computer i replied:
"yeah, i guess so..."

and with that he grinned, and ran off across Broadway.

The man haunted me all night. What did he mean? Then i sat down this morning to read the news.

Children in Africa are still being abducted as soldiers.

Can I still see the the goodness in their hearts?

Angry militants in Gaza continue to fire rockets at neighboring Israel, as Israel continues it's blockade and air strikes of the area.

Can I still see the the goodness in their hearts?

The news continues, war, oppression, corruption, greed. Sin. We are a fallen people, can I still see the goodness in our hearts? Yeah, i guess so. We are image bearers of God. Because He is good, i can't help but see good in all people. Despite the fall, I can still see goodness in our hearts.

I guess this means I have hope for humanity, but that hope can only prevail if the evil in our hearts is redeemed. Then goodness, our true image, will prevail. That's why I have to trust Christ. Without Him, there is no hope. there is no redemption. In him, there is hope. In him, there is peace.

Peace.
mike

Courage

2009-01-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it," is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes... A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water, and yet drink death like wine.

-G.K. Chesterton, orthodoxy

Envrionmentally friendly gas companies?

2009-01-14T07:40:00.000-08:00

I was reading this article in the BBC about Nigeria flaring off natural gas from their oil wells, a wasteful and destructive practice. The oil companies (Shell oil) point their finger at the government while the government points their finger at shell. The whole thing makes me wonder, should I buy gas supplied by shell oil if they do this practice? I'm sure other companies are destructive as well. Are there any gas providers that strive for environmental excellence and fair humanitarian practices? How bought pushing for renewable energy and sustainable practices?
I just feel really uninformed, and the only decision that affects my gas buying is "what's at this exit." but maybe if i knew a little more, i could plan to buy my gas from "better" companies and maybe make a bit of difference in the world.
Peace.
mike

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-22T06:30:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo! I'm home for the holidays. My family is pretty much the bomb so i'm really looking forward to some R&R. un-lucky for me it was a whopping -20 with windchill yesterday, and it doesn't show promises of warming up much. Lucky for me i got a week trial gym membership, some good books to read, plus all the digital entertainment my heart could desire here @ home, so i'm prepared to weather this out...

On tap for the vacation:
-Quality Time with the Fam
-A family trip to Chicago
-Always some Illinois Basketball games (My dad and brother are HUGE fans)
-some spin classes (to keep my legs in shape)
-Plenty of food for eating
-and a trip to S.C. to watch Walt and Haley get hitched.

I'll be back in CO in the new year, I hope everybody has a restful and meaningful holiday season!
Peace.
mike

P.S. if you're on facebook you should check out our sweet hike we did on Friday

Before and After

2008-12-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

Yo blog-o-sphere

So i got this bike off of Craigslist for $20 with the original intention of giving it to my bro for Christmas; but i found out it was too small and it'd be pretty expensive to ship it to Illinois.. So instead i fixed it up for a friend who had her bike stolen a couple of months ago. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. Special thanks to sean for showing me how to re-build the headset and bottom bracket, william for teaching me how to draw flames, and jessie for helping me choose colors, and iris for getting the sweet basket!

I feel like this is where most people can stop reading, but if you ever care to try a project like this here's what I did and what I learned:

First i stripped the bike of all its parts and threw them in a big box. You'll need special tools to remove the bottom bracket and headset or you might damage them. My friend sean at the bike shop helped me with this for free.

I sanded the frame, primed it, and painted it. I put the flames on my covering the frame in masking tape and then cutting out where i wanted to paint flames. I finished the paint job with a protective enamel clear coat

Now comes the rebuild. For a singlespeed or fixed gear, you have two options:
1. You can try keeping the old wheel, remove the cassette, and put spacers and a single cog on there (i did this on my singlespeed, and it works fine)
2. Or you can get a new wheelset, either singlespeed of fixed gear. This is the route i went with this bike because the old wheelset was shot
It's important that you have good chainline and chain tension. the chain tension on this bike was easy because of the horizontal dropouts. If you don't have horizontal dropouts, you can play with gear ratios and use a "half link" to try to get the tension right. For chainline, you might have to change the bottom bracket you're using. I got lucky and was able to get by by shifting the large chainring from the outside to the inside of the crank bolts.

I also replaced some clutch parts (seatpost, grips, added the basket, and threw on a set of old mtn tires i had laying in the garage).

and Whamo, a finished bike! i'm a little jellous i can't cruise around on this baby!

Today in Pictures

2008-11-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

Today in the Congo people line up as they are displaced from the fighting. In India, Troops line around the Taj Mahal Palace hotel hotel as the battle rages for the hostages still inside. In America, people line up and the battle rages for $400 dollar tv's. The death toll is already up as people are injured and store workers are crushed to death from crazed shoppers.

happy holidays.
-mike

2000 miles to New Orleans

2008-11-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

What if I got in a boat in central park, here in boulder? What would i see, where would I go?

I looked on google maps and it looks like i'd float through Greeley, through Nebraska before joining the Missouri in omaha. From there I'd cut down to Kansas City, through my childhood home of central Missouri to St. Louis and then south, through memphas and eventually to the gulf.

I'm sure there are more scenic stretches of river, I've been on a lot of rivers, but there's something about just heading out my door and ending up in the gulf. I've gotta think that the trek would take close 3 months to complete... but there's something slightly appealing to me of living a couple of months on the river.

I think i need a straw brim hat first. and a fishing pole.
Peace.
mike

a good weekend

2008-10-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend was fun. Also, I didn't tell you this but i got a digital camera for my birthday. That means I can blog, and post pictures too!

First off, I went to velo swap and scored a new bike. It's a red Felt, and its soo fast. For you bike nerds out there, its a custom built felt with a carbon fork, carbon stays, and a full dura-ace group on it. I took it for a spin saturday and had a personal best on one of the little local climbs.

After the ride, my friend Shannon came in town with her puppy. We had a good time hanging out on the roof, watching an awesome Boulder sunset! Sunday, we went to my church, which is amazing, and went on a little hike with the puppy. Shannon left this morning, which is sad because she won't be close by anymore.

Anyhow it's getting cold out, and it won't be long till the snows arrive! I'll keep you posted!
Peace.
mike

Cool!

2008-10-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

I was reading Alieen's blog the other day and found this. It's super sweet, especially for those of us who are graphically stimulated.

pretty much, it reads my blogs, picks out 150 words (i think their size is based on how much they're used) and makes a sweet graphic.

My amazing friends

2008-10-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

So before you read this post, if you're not an avid reader of my blog, you should back up and skim the last two for some background.

So tonight I'm sitting in the living room with Josh and William, we're making some homemade pizza (if you've never made your own pizza, let me know and I'll send you the recipe, its easy and delicious!)

Anyhow, the doorbell rings and I yell "Come In!" then there's another knock, and I realize I'm going to have to get up and get the door because Josh and William weren't phased. When I open the door, there's a crowd of maybe 20 people with balloons and a giant check for a new bike! Apparently a ton of my friends rallied together and all chipped in a couple bucks, to raise $760 to replace my broken bike! (the check was made before the last few donations were counted)

So a very special thanks to all the unknown people who donated to help me get back on the road! Thanks to Andrew Adare for talking me out of buying that $100 beater bike I was looking at yesterday, and thanks to Laura and William for masterminding the operation. This is a perfect example of the amazing un-intentional community I've found myself in here in Boulder.
I love you all.

Peace.
Mike

Hit by a car

2008-10-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

I keep getting asked to tell this story, so I figure I'll just blog it for posterity.

Friday night i was hanging out with my good friend Matt D. We were on our way home, riding down the Broadway bike path.

At Broadway and Euclid, i had the walk sign and there was a car stopped at the light. I entered the intersection when the car gunned it making a right hand turn, t-boning me. I flipped over the hood and landed on the other side of the car, watching it drive off. Immediately tonnes of slightly intoxicated college girls came to my rescue, but were a little helpless as far as identifying the car that hit me. I did a little self examination, and when i felt i was ok i got up and with a shoulder to lean on walked over and sat by the side of the road.

The police and the ambulance were there pretty quickly. They asked me a lot of questions at once, and it took some convincing to the paramedics that Yes, i was OK, and NO, i did not want to ride the ambulance. I didn't get a good look at my bike, the police took it in as "evidence" but i did see that the fork was in 3 distinct pieces, and I'm assuming both wheels are done for.

I caught a ride to the hospital, where i was in a bed between two drunken college girls. After my x-ray i opted to leave the emergency room and told the doc i could be found in the more peaceful waiting room.

The x-ray's showed no bad news, (my left knee was really swollen). I also when to a physical therapist who said my knee was bruised but in really good condition.

I'm glad I'm OK! And I'm really thankful for all the supportive calls and e-mails I've gotten. I'm especially appreciative of everybody who's offered to let me borrow a bike or help me fix my old one. My plan of action is to get my bike back from the 5-0 and see what Trek will do for me (they sounded hopeful that they might be able to do me some sort of favor). If the frame and components are salvageable, I'll start from there. If not, i might be in the market for a new bike.

Oh, and as far as the car that hit me goes: I didn't get a good look at it as i was flipping over the hood, but I do know that it was a sedan, and it was dark colored (Black, or maybe dark green or blue). Some at the scene thought it was a Volkswagen but based on the hood ordainment (the one part of the car i did get a glance at) I'm thinking it was more like a Dodge or a Pontiac. At any rate, if you see a car driving around boulder with a mike shaped dent in the hood, take a picture or write down the license plate #.

Peace.
mike

Un-intentional Community

2008-09-28T20:36:00.001-07:00

A "hot topic" in modern-day Christianity is "Intentional Community." I'm not an expert on this whole I.C. idea, but I'll give you a rundown of what I know about it. I.C. is living together with the purpose of seeking a shared vision, also sharing responsibilities and resources. Christian I.C. is based on the latter portion of Acts 2:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

There are also a lot of mainstream books on this idea of intentional community. One really good book is "irresistible revolution" by Shane Claiborne. Although not strictly about intentional community, Shane exhibits a great example of a working community. I'd highly' recommend the book.

With all that said, I'm all about Community. I think Bonhoeffer in "Life Together" and Merton in "No man is an Island" both do a fantastic job of going through scripture and showing how necessary it is for the Christian to live life with the support of a community, and if you don't like the idea of community you should grace yourself with these fantastic reads.

But this "Intentional Community" thing is, in my opinion, an extremely dangerous trend for Christians. Here's the bottom line:

Our Intention is not Community, our Intention is Christ. Once we start living selfless lives reflecting Christ's love the community can't help but follow. It can't help overflowing. But, if we shift our gaze from Christ to some ideal way we should be living, we've lost sight of the goal. We've substituted something we can do on our own for what Christ has already done for us. We're seeking an ideal over the Ideal.

I have been a part of fantastic communities both in Clemson and here in Boulder. I love my roommates, all solid christian men, and can go to them with any need. Spreading larger I have amazing friends, brothers and sisters, to lean on. Larger than that is my Church, which is a body of Christians whom I love each dearly. This fantastic network of support, this amazing community which I've fond myself flourishing in, its of no work of my hand. It was completely Un-intentional. A gift from Christ. For this gift, I could not be more grateful! Thanks be to God.

Would you try to build something with your hands with the assumption that you could do it better than Christ? Would you dare?

-mike

Riddle me this:

2008-08-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

If McCain wins, he'll be the oldest president in U.S. History. Now, he might be in pretty good health now, but Old people have this bad habit of dying sometimes.

If McCain kick's the bucket, do we want a woman with 2 years of political experience governing a state about the same population as Charlotte or Memphis running our country?

Do we want a President who picks his running mate not by experience or what he/she can add to the party, but by the potential demographic of voters he (or she) can pick up?

Work?

2008-07-31T16:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry i haven't been blogging much. I've been having a super fun time at work doing some really exciting stuff. The sad part is, i can't show you my exciting stuff until I publish it! (It's never been done before!). The reason I'm blogging today is because I did some rough new experiments which also promise to lead to a pretty sweet paper! I'm super stoaked, I love what I do (even if it makes me a geek). In case you haven't seen it, you should check out my advisors page with info about the lab i work at!

To offset my geekyness, I've been spending my free time doing a lot of biking and hiking. Even though its been hot here, there's just soo much to do! Since I last blogged I climbed another 14er (quandary), and the 3 prominate peaks of boulder (Green, Bear, and S. Boulder). I've also been spending a lot of time with konisha (My mtn bike).

Up and Comming: I'm headed to Mexico! My cousin Natalie called me up and needed an "adult" to go with her and her team doing a week trip with casas por cristo. I'll let you know how it went when I get back!

thats all i've got! peace and love!
-mike

The Physics and Art of Fluid Flow

2008-06-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

So a lot of times people ask me what I do, and I tell them: "I am developing a new flow visualization system to study the mixing of two scalars in a fluid flow." That is usually followed with a blank look, and then: "Cool, why? What's that good for."

Usually in conversation I don't have a good answer, but I can tell you that understanding fluid physics and turbulent flows is REALLY important. Nobel Prize winner Richard Freeman stated "Turbulence is the most important unsolved problem of classical physics." But I don't think that's what drew me to studying fluid flows. I think my reasoning might be more similar to the reason that Leonardo da Vinci studied it... That is, its beautiful.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I came across this course offering at University of Colorado: The Physics and Art of Fluid Flow. I'd encourage you to go and look at some of the galleries, and maybe you too will enjoy the beauty of one of the most complicated and misunderstood physical problems we know of.

Peace.
Mike

Brother Graduated, Back in CO!

2008-06-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

So my brother graduated. I'm super pumped for him, and hope his college experience is a good one. I'm back in Colorado and it feels good to be back in the cool, dry, mountain air, but man, i miss all the trees...

I had an interesting conversation about hope for our generation, and our future tonight which made me realize that I probably sound like a pessimist a lot of the time. I will say this, I have little hope in our generation, or the next, to make the world a better place. I have little hope in the good in mankind, because we are sinful and destructive beings. I have little motivation to share in the ambition of environmentalists, because ultimately the earth is going to get destroyed.

I have one hope, and that is Christ. That is where all my Optimism lies. I feel like my lack of hope in mankind isn't pessimism, its just biblically based truth. In all end times prophecy, when Christ comes again, the worlds morals will be in shambles, and the world will be quite literally falling apart: earthquakes, natural disasters, the whole lot. To place your hope in mankind is to place your hope in an idol. That idol is yourself, your kind.

I do want to say that I don't mean I don't think we shouldn't try. We're called to be stewards of the environment, to seek justice for widows and orphans. To be generous with our money and to spread the name of Christ. But that's just it, in the end He should be our Hope and the world's, Not ourselves.

that's all I've got to say about that.

WE did it!

2008-06-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

So we biked the blue ridge parkway. I'll have pictures to come, but i don't think they can show how beautiful and fun the ride was. Absolutely a fantastic vacation. When i get some time, i might make a website about it in case anybody else out there ever wants to try it! We all averaged around 275 biking miles and roughly 90 driving miles. We had to skip about 90 miles due to bad weather and detours, but i still think i can officially check that off my bucket list.

Now I'm at home in springfield for a week with the fam. I've been sleeping and eating a lot, which is fantastic. My family is cool, and we've been enjoying nice weather here in Springfield. My mom and I went for a cruiser ride around town, my brother and I went to the driving range, and my dad and I played some awesome disc golf. I've also gotten to see my grandparents, who are cool.

Anyhow, thats it for now. I'll holler when there are some pictures up.
Peace.
mike

We're Here

2008-05-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

After 2 SOLID days of driving (and a tonne of pretzles) we have made it to VA. We're meeting up with Jessie this morning and starting our first day of riding. On the plate:
today: Mile 0-75

I wish i could post pictures to show ya'll how pretty it is out here. The weather's looking to be pretty nice for the first couple of days. It's iffy if we're going to get a campsite tonight (memorial day weekend), but I'll post next chance I get!
-mike

I did it!

2008-05-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not know, I plan on setting out in less than a week on one of my life goals: cycling the blue ridge parkway. I'll be headed out with Matt D, Jessie F, and Brittany T. It's going to be a blast, I've been training for the trip this winter and into the summer, and yesterday I hit the milestone i was aiming for in my preparation:

I biked from Boulder to Estes Park and back! The trip was beautiful, the weather was perfect. Its about 83 miles round trip, and involved over 3000 feet of elevation gain. No major snags were involved in the ride, except 1 flat tire which was an easy fix.

In other news, last week was loads of fun, with another year of school over we had tonnes of friends from Clemson come to visit including Kelly Young, Kelly Simpson, Aileen, Shannon, Jenny, Chris, Jad, Stephanie, and some more that i'm forgetting (no hurt feelings please!)

We did some beautiful hiking up in Estes park, and around boulder. This week the plan is to ROCK OUT some work in the lab so i will have some data to look at on our road trip. I'm going to try and keep this thing updated throughout the trip, and more frequently, so keep checking back!

A thorn in my flesh and a plank in my eye

2008-04-17T06:31:00.001-07:00

I think we all tend to think pretty highly of ourselves. If you don't, then you're lying. I was reading an article online that says in on survey, a large number of high-school seniors were asked how they get along with others. Less than 1% ranked themselves below average and 60% ranked them selves in the top 10%.
How and why is it that we become so good with covering our many inequities with our few assets? It is written "the weak will become strong" and I don't think thats just a metaphor. Knowing where you are below averages gives you a better view of your abilities and where you need improvement.
Sometimes I feel like some of the best way's to see our shortcomings is find what shortcomings stand out most to us in others. I don't think my roommates (who I love) read my blog, which is fine because it gives me a chance to pull examples from my own life. I have this one roommate and he bugs the mess out of me with his persistence to be right all of the time. If I step back, I realize a lot of the time he is right, and the reason it bugs me so much is it because it points out when I am wrong. One more example: I have a friend who is incredibly spendthrifty. He buys expensive things at impulse, a lot. I immediately find myself thinking highly of my self when I compare myself to him because I live on a budget. This is kind of funny because what it means is money is my idol, not his. I think about my money way too much, and even though I budget it, I still spend it on stuff that I don't need... I just have places in the budget for it.
Last time I checked, there were 6.5 billion people on the earth, and if I'm say I'm doing better than average, thats 3.25 billion people who probably disagree with me. It's a humbling thought, or it should be.
Peace.
mike

Love your neighbor?

2008-03-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

What Does it mean to "Love our Neighbors"? I feel like in today's society we shut ourselves down to the idea of the other. Especially strangers. I've never been much of a city person, but it seems like the more people you're around, the more you put on the blinders and completely ignore your neighbors. Why? Because to notice people will slow you down, make you feel guilty, and if you started caring for your neighbors, you'd never get to your destination at all!

Here's how it looks for me: Each morning i hop on my bike and ride in to work. I pass people at the bus-stops along the way. They look bored and lonely with their iPods in and their glazed stares awaiting the bus, but I've got no time for that. Plus, it'd be weird just to stop and talk to them, and what in the world would I talk about? The weather? Then, as I cross the major road between my neighborhood and campus, I usually pass one or two homeless people with their cardboard signs explaining their troubles and asking for help. "Lazy homeless people" I think, "why don't they get a job." Plus, I usually figure if I gave them money, they'd just use it at the liqueur store at that intersection. Then the real onslaught of neighbors begins once i'm on campus. I fly past a broken world just trying not to hit any of them. Some of them are in failing relationships, are struggling in school, are struggling with addictions, or just don't know True Joy.

I wonder what Jesus must have felt as he walked the earth 2000 years ago. Did his heart break for every sad soul he laid eyes on? If he truly Loved people, and knew each and every heart, it seems that the sadness would be nearly unbearable for anybody but God. Are our hearts so hard that we've trained ourselves to ignore everyday tragedy?

I think the clearest struggle for me is Giving to the needy. As a Christian, I am called to do so. Indeed, I'm also called not to judge others (mt 7), but at the same time to be wise with what I have been given (Mt 25:14-30). Normally, I use the homeless man's sin (or even the possibility that he is a sinner) as an excuse not to love him at all. This clearly shows two shortcomings (which are really, one and the same) I have as a christian: 1) My pride in myself and 2) My lack of faith in Christ. Lack in faith that He can use my gift or gesture for good. Faith that my abstinence from certain sinful acts makes me more worthy of His blessings.

I don't know if I have a summary or a conclusion for this entry, just something i wanted to get down on paper. (or i guess, down as a string of 1's and 0's floating around somewhere in a box in California)

Thanks for reading,
peace
mike

I take that back...

2008-02-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

So, 2 blog posts ago i promised to post bi-weekly about a subject. As it turns out: I'm just not that organized. After reading some other blogs, and talking to my roommate, William, I decided that a) thats not the point of blogs and b) who cares?

So I'm scratching that and This blog is just going to be about what ever I feel like.

I think this blog will be about why I love my church! So, right when I started attending All Souls, the pastor sat me down to talk about my passions and skills. I feel like in most churches where I come from, this is where the conversation would have ended. But the pastor got really pumped when I told him about myself, challenged me to make something happen, and gave me funding to start action. A couple of months later Boulder297 is now officially up and running! We had our first project this past weekend, and i'm really excited to see where it goes!

Also, its getting warm enough to mountain bike again, which has me super stoaked. Having a winter was nice, but i'm ready to put on shorts!

well, that's a breif update, better than none at all!
Peace and love,
mike

Prayer

2007-12-08T17:06:00.001-08:00

Prayer is extremely important. The bible calls us to "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." -Eph 6:18. If you're anything like me, prayer is hard. Real hard. I don't know what to pray for, I don't have time to pray, when I do pray, my mind wanders all over the place, I don't know what to say to the Almighty, and it seems like I'm constantly just asking for stuff for myself.

Brennan Manning wrote a passage about prayer in his book, Ragamuffin Gospel, which I found extremely helpful. He describes when a small child draws a picture. Many times the colors don't make since. The sky is purple and the grass is blue. Us "grownups" don't reject the picture because the colors are wrong, instead we rejoice in the fact that the child is trying to express their creativity.

A little child cannot do a bad coloring, nor can a child of God do bad prayer.

So even if you don't know what to pray, its important to try! Whats cool is if we try earnestly, God will help us:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. -Ro 8:26

I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Mark Driscol, and he states that how you pray shows a lot about how you view God. Either you have a very high view of yourself and a low view of God or a very low view of yourself and a very high view of God. The former is paganism, and is exhibited by prayers trying to manipulate God. The latter of the two is repentance, and is exhibited by prayers that worship God and are honest about our nature.

Something else that I wonder about sometimes is about the posture of prayer. If you struggle falling asleep, or your mind wandering when you pray, maybe its simply your physical position when you pray. Once I prayed while stretching and it was some of the most focused prayer i ever had. I also know if i pray laying down in bed, i'm lucky to make it to amen. Sometimes I find that praying with my eyes wide open, or out loud helps me.

Give to me, O Lord My God,
understanding of You,
diligence in seeking You,
wisdom in finding You,
discourse ever pleasing to You,
perseverance in waiting for You,
and confidence in finally embracing You
Amen
-St. Thomas Aquinas

A final tool that has been incredibly helpful to me is reading the prayers of men wiser than myself, including those in the bible (throughout the new and old testament), and those of great men of the church (such as Thomas Aquinas).

So pray on brothers,
-love
mike

The dissemination of wisdom

2007-11-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

In our short time here on Earth, we spend our lifetimes struggling and squirming out of the darkness towards the Light. Then we die, and anything we've learned, any progress we've made, is gone. Maybe what got me thinking about this is Thomas Merton's "No Man Is an Island" In his introduction he states:

The meaning of of my life is not to be looked on merely in the sum total of my own achievements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my achievements and failures with the achievements and failures of my own generation, and society, and time. It is seen, above all, in my integration in the mystery of Christ... Every other man is a piece of myself, for I am a part and a member of mankind... What I do is also done for them and with them and by them. What they do is done in me and by me and for me. But each one of us remains responsible for his own share in the life of the whole body.

So, I believe strongly that in order to truly believe something you must make it your own. That is why most people go through a dark period of doubt and sorrow, and somehow come out stronger. But during and after these struggles, if I don't do something to remember it, how quickly do I forget all that the Lord has done for me? The nation of Israel had the same constant struggle, and because of this, the Lord commanded Joshua (their leader) to place monuments to his glory (usually as alters or piles of large stones) so they would not forget what he had done for them.
I mentioned before that I'd like for my blog to have a purpose and this is going to be somewhat it. I plan on every 2 or so weeks to post something about something, so that by the end of a year I have 25 posts about 25 topics. Do consider myself wise and all knowing at 24? No, but its ok because I can edit past blogs when i learn new things. I hope you enjoy, and I hope that you comment and give me suggestions and disseminate wisdom back towards me. Until that time...
peace, and love,
mike

cabin hike

2007-10-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

YoYo!
So I'm sorry i haven't posted in a while. Grad school has been REALLY busy. Anyhow, I've been reading blogs and I'd like for mine to have a little more purpose than it has right now (just telling about my boring life). So, I'll be thinking about that and look forward to it in future posts! In this post, this weekend I went hiking to this cool cabin. I've also decided to attend this church called All Souls. I could put a link here but I'm too lazy, so just Google "All Souls Boulder." I really like it and I'm excited about whats in store.

I've been reading 2 books lately (when i have time.) One is called east of eden, by John Steinbeck, I really enjoy his writing style. The other is called "No Man Is an Island" by Thomas Merton. The latter of the two will rock your world if you read it. He knew things about community before community was the cool thing to talk about.

Hmm... Oh yeah, if you like reading blogs and you have a Google account you should check out Google reader. It loads everything you read into a single page so you don't have to check individual blogs.

anyhow, I don't have much more to talk about. I hope everybody that reads this, and even those who don't are doing well!
Peace, Hope and Love,
Mike

another weekend another 14er

2007-09-17T07:54:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
Just wanted to throw a few pics of you of Grays peak. I didn't Climb the one next to it, torries, but Next time I'll climb both. These are compliments of william, and you can view all his great pics at his photo site

Labor Day Weekend!

2007-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yo Hommies!
1 week of school down, 1 three day weekend, and 1 14er climbed.

We'll start with school. It's going to be fun but rough, I feel smarter already. In addition to reading about fluid mechanics, oceanography, and numerical methods, I've been reading a book "no man is an island" by Thomas Merton. I'd highly recommend it!

Labor day weekend I played ultimate with some freshmen, which was fun, and then Monday i climbed mt bierstat (elev. 14060 ft) with a group called "the annex". It was loads of fun. I'll give you some pictures complements of William surles.

(bierstat is the one on the right)

Boulder, CO

2007-08-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

YOYO!

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, but it's been kind of crazy trying to move into my new place. I'm doing it though, I've got a bed and a dresser and a desk now, so i'm almost all set.

Right now there are a tonne of people staying in our house! Bill drove up to look for a job, but right now i think he's falling in love with the idea of graduate school. Chas and amy are living with us until they get their new place on the 1st of September. Kerry, Mary Jane, and Andrew are all staying with us till the end of the week on their road trip.

Boulder is awesome. I love riding my bike all over the bike lanes and green ways, there is a tonne of local brewery's so there's a huge selection of really good beer. The mountains are amazing! The main downside is everything here is more expensive.

Anyhow, I'm sorry this is short, i just wanted to touch base with the world! I'll put pictures of our apt up once we get settled down and there's not mattresses covering every inch of floor.
love you all,
mike

Goodbye old friend

2007-08-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Driving through the Appalachians on my way towards Colorado was kind of a sad experience. It was kind of like saying goodbye to an old friend, and not knowing when I'll see them again. I'll miss the Mountains of the east coast and their rustic beauty. The mountains in Colorado might have grandeur, but these mountains have a quieter beauty, less startling and surer.

I listened to a sermon on the drive back about repetition by Nathan and Winn at DCF. Downloading podcasts is really a great way to pass the time during a drive: they help focus your thoughts from useless and self glorifying daydreams to practical musings. I was thinking about the Church and how when it formed it was Christians gathering together, encouraging and strengthening each other and praising God with whatever means they had necessary. Now many church gatherings are no more than a “seeker friendly” rock concert with an alter call. People go once a week for their good music and hopefully entertaining 45 minute message and go on their way. I hope in our effort for Sunday services to be applicable to the Christian and the Non Christian we aren’t preparing wimpy Christians because seriously, who wants to give their life to Christ if all they see is wimpy Christians?

On another note, I’ve been thinking a lot about alternative energy after hanging out with my roommate Bill for a bit. While alternative energy sources are a GREAT idea, I think they’re a bit of a radical first step. Instead of jumping straight to installing solar panels on our houses I think we need distance ourselves from our addiction and dependence to electricity. I’ll start with the why, and then the how:

In order to live sustainable you are going to have to make sacrifices. A current solar panel will max out at 175 watts during peak sun. Assuming 12 hours of daylight and that you put 5 of these panels on your roof, that’s 10,500 watt hours/day or 10.5 kilowatt hours/day. Compare that to the average American household usage of 600 kilowatt hours/day and you’ll see that it looks nearly impossible to go completely solar without making life changes.

So what kind of changes am I talking about? There are easy ones and harder ones! First! Turn of the lights! Check your weather stripping on your doors, windows and outlets! Use energy efficient light bulbs! Use a clothes line instead of a dryer! Use a fan instead of the AC! Keep the door closed on your refrigerator! Manually open and close your garage door! I think before anybody drops $20k on a solar system for their house, they should try to see if they can drop their electric bill to at least 300 kilowatt hours/day.

I think that’s enough rambling for one blog post. Sorry!
-mike

The Buffalo Wilderness and Mr Ghadi

2007-07-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for being slack at updating. I guess I'm still on Ghana time. Anyhow, upon my return from Africa My dad and me set out on a 3 day canoe trip through the buffalo wilderness in norther Arkansas. It was really beautiful, and we saw all sorts of wildlife including a bald eagle, otters, mink, deer, and raccoons. Unfortunately, my camera is broken after a spill it took, but you can check out some of the pictures from my dad's camera here!

Since then, I've been at home for the past 2 weeks. It's been great hanging out with my family and just relaxing. I also got to meet our neighbor, Mr Ghadi. He's Hindu, and a little hard to understand. But, he has a temple in his house, and he allowed me to see it. I had to wash my feet before going in to look at all his Gods. He tried explaining it all to me but like I said, He's a little hard to understand. The real amazing thing to me is that he prays 3 hours every day. It makes me feel like a real slacker when I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but have trouble staying focused more than 5 minutes and other people around the world dedicate 3 hours to a statue of a lady with 9 arms and an elephant head.

Whats next? Well, Be praying that Rob finds a place to live for us in Colorado. He's been working hard and I know he's busy. I wish i could have gone and helped him. I'm headed to SC next for a couple of weddings, I'm really excited about seeing a lot of my friends. After that, i think its time for me to head west!

Peace and Love
mike

Oh, p.s., check out this website called GasBuddy.com You can use the map to go to your city, and find gas prices all around you! amazing!

Africa

2007-06-28T02:05:00.000-07:00

I just left Africa and I already missed it. Ghana is an amazing country with beautiful people. One thing that saddens me about Africa is how little hope its people have for Africa's future. Instead of being proud of their country and dreaming of greatness, they dream of leaving to America. Anybody that gets an education, instead of staying and improving their country, leaves to another country where the pay is higher.

It's important not to confuse blessings with possessions. Africans are so blessed, their land is beautiful, their fruit is delicious, and the people vibrant and friendly.

Another thing about Africa is that nothing ever runs on time. When working construction this can get a little annoying and definitely isn't my style. When I come back I'm bringing Kevin, the efficiency expert, with me and we're going to show them how to get things done. On the other hand working side by side with African construction workers was a lot of fun. Some them have never used power tools before and that really increased productivity. I hope that they continue to use them after we leave.

Anyhow, I'm in london airport now and I would like to post again when i get some sleep and can further compile some thoughts. I'm going to try also to put a photo album up soon.

Much love,
Mike

p.s. photos are up!

Heading to Africa

2007-06-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hey world!
So I leave for africa on Sunday. I've been trying to get ready as much as possible. Today I had the fun experience of taking apart a table saw to fit in a suitcase. I'm super pumped about this opportunity to go to Ghana.

I really appreciate all your prayers and will try to post if I can find internet in our small village. (Don't hold your breath)

See you on the other side!
-Mike

Mississippi: Reflection

2007-05-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, I'm back in Illinois now. I've been working on a few home improvement projects here and there, and i found an ultimate club that plays 3 times a week.

Anyhow, the other day I drove my grandma to the nursing home because one of her friends is sick there. Nursing home's are awfully depressing places with people in wheel chairs slumped over with blank looks on their faces waiting for death. It's hard to imagine behind all these people there are family's, loves come and gone, adventures, and stories. It's easy to pass the people there off as sub-human or already dead.

Getting old scares me, but working with the bro's in Mississippi was a really great experience. Most of the people i worked with on a day to day basis were older than 70. They were still happy and hard working. Many of them i could picture dying doing what they love. I guess General MacArthur said it best:

"Youth is not a period of time. It is a state of mind, a result of the will, a quality of the imagination, a victory of courage over timidity, of the taste for adventure over the love of comfort. A man doesn't grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man grows old when he deserts his ideal. The years may wrinkle his skin, but deserting his ideal wrinkles his soul. Preoccupations, fears, doubts, and despair are the enemies which slowly bow us toward earth and turn us into dust before death. You will remain young as long as you are open to was is beautiful, good, and great; receptive to the messages of other men and women, of nature, and of God. If one day you should become bitter, pessimistic, and gnawed by despair, may God have mercy on your old man's soul."

So here's to the bro's in Mississippi, my grandfather, and everybody else who may never grow old! I salute you!
-mike

The Deep South

2007-05-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Holler ya'll.

I've lived in south carolina for 10 years, and clemson is about as rural as you can get So you think that i'd be accustomed to southern culture, but man: Mississippi. It feels good sitting in a gas station-cafe talking about nascar or sitting in a tralior talking about problems with rattlers and coon's.

But seriously, It's done me good to be submersed in this southern baptist thing. I feel like I got snobby in clemson, thinking our sophisticated christianity with our books and fancy praise somehow got us a better grace than rednecks in mississippi got. But these people, they love Jesus, and they're not snobby about it. And God loves them back.

I'm currently reading this book called "the ragamuffin Gospel". I am enjoying it so far. It is all about christ's grace for people who don't have it together. and then showing us that we don't have it together. I just finished reading george orwells 1984, a weird book about the future and kurt vonneguts book "cats cradel" a weird (but very funny book) about the end of the world.

Anyhow, I'm in Mississippi till thursday. I wish I could stay longer, I've been really blessed here. But, thursday its on to Tennissee, then Illinois, then who knows, maybe back to colorado?

Joyfully yours
-mike

(p.s. gas prices are really crampin' my style)

(p.p.s. Does ANYBODY want to bike the whole blue ridge parkway or go on a 3 day sea kayaking adventure in flordia in late july? I'm game)

Clemson and Mississippi

2007-05-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not updating this in more than almost a month. my bad.

As many of you know I came to Clemson for 2.5 weeks. That was really a good thing, I had a ton of fun mountain biking, Night Hiking (see the pictures!), floating in the ridge pool, and seeing everybody before we scatter our various directions for summer.

After about 2 weeks at Clemson, I got antsy and tired of feeling like a bum so I decided to make the move down to Mississippi to see if i could lend a hand to Katrina victims. You may not know that people are still living in FEMA camps, which are just rows of trailers in the parking lot of some destroyed store. The devastation here is still evident with mobile homes and trailers sitting on the foundations of what used to be middle class subdivisions. The big fear down here is that if another hurricane were to hit Mississippi all of the people still living in mobile homes would be, once again, homeless.

Its been good for the 2 days I've been here to work. I've been working mudding and painting a house for a father with 6 children that is still living in a very crowded 3 bedroom trailer. One of the really interesting things about being here is hanging out with southern baptist. It's a culture shock for sure. First off, I'm not baptist. The second big difference can be best summed up by Jay from GA: "I don't much care for 'em democrats' but I guess I'd better watch my mouth because you're probably one of em', bein' one of em' environmental types."

Well, I hope to get some pictures from down here up as soon as I get some.
Peace,
Mike

Kurt Died... So it goes.

2007-04-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

So an update from Illinois. For some reason this is the second time this spring I've gotten sick, luckily it seems to have passed in 48 hrs.

I finished the TV stand that i put aside long ago. Or maybe not. Admittedly, it'd look better if it were stained but i just don't have the patience.

I've taken on a new task that i hope to finish before heading to S.C. on Monday. That task is to pick out my favorites of the 1,500 pictures that Kyle, Matt, and Myself took last summer (I'm aiming for 250 which seems impossible) and get them printed online. The idea is to have a photo album of our trip as kind of a coffee-table book. If it goes well i might pick out my favorites of other hiking trips and adventures.

Right now I'm looking at using snapfish.com because its cheep and the quality seems good enough. If anybody knows of some awful reason i should not use snapfish, please let me know before i spend 30 bucks ordering these prints.

Well, i think that's it. Other things on my to-do list before i head south are plan my Mississippi adventure, get 400$ worth of shots, write official letters of acceptance, and do my laundry!

-Mike

(p.s. I'm really excited about this, and i thought a few others that read my blog might be as well)

Its Offical

2007-04-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

In the fall I will attend University of Colorado at Boulder studying Environmental Fluid Mechanics. You can get info about the lab I will probably be working at here. I'm glad to have decided and I'm really excited about heading out!
-Mike

A Tough Choice...

2007-04-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got back from Seattle and I'm going to tell you that this is going to be a tough choice. Right now i'm stuck on the fence if I'm going to move to Seattle, WA or Boulder, CO. Both have strong programs. Both are cool citys.

what to do... what to do...

The Dark Side of Oz

2007-03-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

So I had some extra time today, and being surrounded by corn fields I thought it'd be appropriate to check out the great urban legend: The Dark side of oz (which I'm posting below.) The theory is if you play pink Floyd's "The dark side of the moon" with the motion picture "The wizard of oz" they go together hand in hand. The amazing thing is, they do! At first, it's just trippy, but it gets crazy at the following points:
-When the witch lady first comes into the scene
-When toto is being taken away
-When the house is being taken by the tornado
-When Dorthy arrives in Oz

Anyhow, if you got some time, Check it out for yourself:

-mike

Notre Dame and CSU

2007-03-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

So over the past week i went back out to colorado to visit colorado state university. Colorado state is in Ft. Collins, about 1.5 hrs north of denver. It is beautiful there, a little bit further back from the mountains though (than in boulder). The hydrology department there is HUGE! They have like 30 flumes that can get up to 230 cfs (a ton of water). Some of them are large enough to do full scale river simulations. Anyhow, Although all that is cool, the staff was very impersonal and it sounded like I would be one amongst 200 grad students. The one professor I was able to get ahold of is leaving next semester, and overall I don't think the fit was right for me.

On my way back I got on standby for an earlier flight from denver to chicago. It was the bomb because somehow i got a first class seat, and as I drank my wine and lounged with my footrest, i got stock tips from the investment broker next to me. There were times where I litterly started laughing out loud.

Anyhow, after less than 24 hours in springfield I was back to the airport to go to the University of Notre Dame, in indiana. If you think of a private school being a place where there is tonnes of money floating around and everybody wears sweater vests... well you're right. Every building is constructed like a catherdral (its a catholic school) and even the civil engineering building has stained glass windows (with math equations in them...) Anyhow, they really treated us nice, took us to nice restaruants and put us up in a really fancy hotel (do I really need 2 rooms and a bathroom in my hotel? I guess so). The department there focues on enviromental work, more than fluids. One cool thing was they have research going in conjuction with the anthropology department to help clean up water in africa and explain the importance of clean water and sanitary pratices in developing african countrys! Thats cool. Anyhow, I dont think i'll end up there either.

I'm here for a couple days and then i'm off to seattle to check out my last grad school. I'm excited about going out there, they have a really awsome program and seattle is cool, but it rains a lot.

Oh, and I read Obamas book "The Audacity of Hope". It really kinda gets you into his head, but i hear the first one is even better. He's extreamly likeable.

peaceout!
-mike

I love Google

2007-03-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

I, much like Kevin, Think Google is great. If you aren't in the know, Google runs this site along with Google calender, Gmail, Google earth, Google sketchup, and pretty much the rest of the world.

You'll be thrilled to know that I have combined my blog with Google calender so you can get a snapshot of what I have coming up (an answer to my new blog title? Perhaps.) Simply scroll all the way to the bottom of my blog, and my calender will be there!

So if you're my dad, or a crazed Internet stalker, or just curious as to when I'll be in Clemson next, you should be thrilled!
-Mike
(p.s. Google spell check made sure that "Google" and "Gmail" were capitolized in this e-mail.)

Boulder, CO

2007-03-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

So pretty much right after I got back to the U.S.A I was in a plane again headed to Boulder, Colorado to check out University of Colorado. Boulder is a really happenin' town, so if you've never been there I'd recommend you check it out. It's a huge skiing community, but I don't ski. Anyhow, as far as the university goes, their campus seemed Huge, but is very bike friendly and supposedly has great public transportation. All of the profs I met with were very friendly and after the tour and interviews we all went out to a local brewery (the mountain sun brewery on Pearl st.) for some brews. All and all, it was a lovely time but I really can't say what my decision is until I visit other schools?

(that tall pointy building in the middle of this webcam image would become my home if I went to CU-Boulder)

Whats next on the agenda? Well I guess you could call this week my "spring break" but instead of leaving I get to stop traveling, sit down, and do my taxes. I heard MTV might come and do some filming of the craziness, so keep your eyes open. Then next week its off to Colorado State (i hope, they're hard to make plans with), and Notre Dame. The following week it is University of Washington (in Seattle) and then its DECISION time.

For anybody that was wondering, following Seattle I'm going to Southern Illinois with my parents for a little family vacation, and then headed to CLEMSON! So, look for me there around the second week in April!

-Mike

(p.s. Ed, I'd say my favorite place in all of Australia was Tasmania. I would have liked to spend some more time there, there's a smaller town on the north end of the island named Launceston which is supposedly quite nice, and many more national parks to romp in. Hobart was also a cool town, but take this with a grain of salt. This is coming from a guy who'd rather be in the woods than in a big city. If your a big city type of person, Sydney really is worth checking out.)

America

2007-03-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

Holler,
I'm back in the states. The return trip was rather uneventful. I got labled as a Vegan when trying to tell the airline I was lactose intolerant... so i had vegan meals, but they wern't bad. It's weird that I can spend sunday at the beach, live monday twice, and tuesday be here in Illinois where there is snow on the grown. When you live one day twice, it gives you a lot of time so I finished reading "Brave New World" which was really good.

I have pictures up on my album now, including one or two from tazmania and i'm working on putting up my panoramas from the trip, so check them out!

It's funny if you stand at the back of a trans-pacific flight in the back of an airplane. Hundreds of people all sitting there, with their headphones on, staring at their individual screen each playing their individual movie at the individual time they choose. Mass-individualizim.
-mike

Sydney Oprea House

2007-03-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

I went and saw a show at the Opera house last night. I have to say, its quite the experience. I saw Brahm's 2end and 4th symphonies played by the Sydney Symphony. You go in and there are all these fancy well-to-do people drinking expensive cocktails, and guys with fancy (free) horse-devours walking around. Then in intermission you can go out and sit and enjoy the harbor. Man did his absolute best to try and light up his masterpieces (namely the harbor bridge and the opera house) but God one-upped him with a full moon and a star lit sky illuminating the whole harbor.

Today i went to Bondi Beach, and had a good swim in the huge surf there. It was crowded but very refreshing! Tomorrow i go home! (Australia has been excellent, i miss home but this trip wasn't long enough)

An interesting note about Brahm. He always felt inferior to Beethoven and because of that he had a lot of trouble ever finishing his symphonies. His first took him 20 years, and he still was afraid to release it because he knew what a genius Beethoven was.

(oh, i FINISHED catcher in the rye. I've picked up Huxley's Brave new world and its quite good so far.)

-peace out,
Mike

-P.S. in response to ED's comment: No this is NOT the end of the "planned" adventures of Mike Soltys. Upon returning to the states I have a itinerary taking me in the month of march from South bend, Indiana; Boulder, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; and hopefully Clemson, SC. April and May include working in Mississippi (i hope) and also a hopefully multi day canoeing trip on the beautiful Buffalo river (which may get post phoned to later in the summer). June I'll be in Ghana, Africa. July, there is the possibility still, that I will be in Honduras.

Then in august, its Adventures in CIVL ENGINEERING masters wooo (don't get too excited)

-mike

Sydney

2007-03-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Sydney Is Huge! Who knew? For some reason I'm really confused with the time. They're doing all sorts of Mardi Gras celibrations this weekend, and the Gay people are out in numbers. But i thought Ash wednesday was a while ago, so I really don't know whats going on. I ment to do something for Lent, but oh well!

I've done some extensive "urban hiking" and feel like I've seen a good bit of Sydney. I also got a rail/bus/ferry pass that will take me anywhere in the "red" zone for 1 week. I don't really know where the red zone starts or ends, but so far I've been golden.

Tonight I'm going to the Oprah House to see Brahms 2end and 4th. Having a student ID is the bomb, it makes everything a lot cheaper. I got a 100 dollar seat for 25 dollars.

The guy I'm staying with in Sydney is a retired physicist. He lives in a very "proper" and "quiet" section of town. It's kind of nice to wake up and see books like "Nuclear Reactor Engineering Basics" and "Quantum photo chemistry" and to know that I'll never have to read anything in those.

I'll be back in the states on monday! Give me a call!
-mike

Books

2007-03-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

I think this post is ment for english majors. Will somebody tell me who decides what books are worth reading and what books arn't? I got through highschool and college without reading very much for classes, and so now i'm trying to catch up with "the classics". I picked up a copy of catcher in the rye today and I have got to say that it's horrible. It seems to be similar to "a clockwork orange" but not as good. It's kind of like the movie "babel", which was nominated for all kinds of awards, and the only reason you sit through it is trying to find out when its going to get as good as it's acclaimed to be.
Anyhow, i'm on chapter 19 of the book, more than halfway through, and i'm about to quit. I've taken it off the list.

After a little research, i'm going to go ahead and tell you other books that i've read in the "top 100" list that are (in my opinion) not worth reading:
Catcher in the Rye
Lolita
A clockwork Orange

But while we're talking, i will say that I noticed Kurt Vonneguts "slaughterhouse-five" on the list and that is one of the best books i've read in a very long time.

Also, some lists include "the lord of the rings" which, if i'm not mistaken, are three books instead of one. And I have to tell you that while the hobbit was worth reading, The other ones put me to sleep. I really didn't even enjoy the movies that much (i think i lost some friends just now).

well. thats enough ramble for now. Off to sydney in the morning!
-mike

Lake St. Claire NP

2007-02-28T15:01:00.001-08:00

So, i just got back from hiking in Tasmania. Today has been the first bit of Tasmania's famous rain that i've seen yet. Backpacking in Lake St. Claire was amazing. I hiked up to this lake called "shadow lake" in the shadow of a couple mountains, set up camp, and then climbed a nearby mt. rufus. (funny name for a mountain). It was more difficult that I anticipated, but the 360 panarama of tazmania's rocky crags all around was amazing.
Also, if I was ever told that hiking through a bog would be enjoyable, i would have probally laugh at you. But it was absoulty astounding! Imagin hiking on a surface similar to that of a putt-putt course, and everywhere around there are holes of diffrent sizes and shapes, some full of water, some with little creeks down in them. And all around you: mountains. Amazing.
At the top of the mountain i thought of a quote: "
These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that mans weak praise should be given God's attention." -Miller
The newsboys had the same idea: "If we keep silent... these very rocks will scream"

Also, hostel life is really fun. I've met people from all over the world, had some beers with some english guys, cooked dinner with a german and a guy from the neatherlands, Met people from france and italy. It's great!

Anyhow, i fly to sydney tommorow which means today (its raining) i will clean my gear from the hike and get packed up for the trip!

I'll be back in the U.S. on monday!
Peace,
Mike

Lake St. Claire NP

2007-02-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

Hobart, Tasmania

2007-02-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

I was praying for somebody to kind of guide me on my entry into Tasmania, show me how to get to my hotel, tell me some good places to go backpacking, etc. Anyhow, I sit down on the plane and then next to me sit down this older couple in their 40's. Let me paint the picture for you:
Matching hiking outfits from the Columbia sportswear hats, matching hiking shirts, straight down to the same boots. I imagine they even had the same wool socks and capilean undies on. These are the kind of people who judge you based on what kind of gear you have.

Anyhow, they gave me some great advice on some trails to check out, and took me to where you catch the bus that takes you to the hostel! Answer to prayer? Check.

This is my first hostel experience, and its kind of fun. Let me tell you a little bit about Hobart:
Hobart is kind of similar to Portland. I say that because there are a tonne (yes, metric) of coffee shops and trendy stores, its very walkable, and it rains a good bit. everybody dresses like they're in an indy rock band. Its really pretty, there are a lot of gardens with roses and all sorts of flowers, a really cool market place, and street performers performing all kinds of music. There area lot of old houses, and churches here, and being on the hillside on the bay you feel like you're in the Mediterranean. I'd put some pictures up but I can't from this terminal. When i can, I will! An interesting note about Hobart is that the original Candbury Chocolate factory is here. I might go for a visit later, but right now I'm enjoying just walking the city.

Anyhow, tomorrow i catch a bus to lake st. Claire to do some hiking. I've bought fuel and i need to get some matches (things you can't bring on an airplane).

Oh, and i finished "through painted deserts" and have picked up a hilarious book "A walk in the woods" by Bill Bryson. If you've ever backpacked any part of the AT, or maybe just backpacked at all, you should enjoy this book.

anyhow, take care!
-Mike

The List

2007-02-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention, for those that keep up with my lists, that I have had my first few experiences driving stick. I can't cross it off the list yet, because:
a) The stick is on the wrong side
b) I stall out EVERY time i get going
3) I almost put the car in a creek trying to shift gears and go over a bridge at the same time
d) I can't shift gears and remember which side of the road i'm supposed to be on at the same time
v) I almost hit another car because i was focusing on switching

but someday, it'll be off the list. (or on the other list... depending on which way you look at it)

Back to Brisbane

2007-02-20T22:17:00.000-08:00

My tour of queensland is comming to an end. There were some things that I did forget to post about though.

I wanted to tell anybody going to townsville to stop by "the brewery" and have a "Neds Red"... quite possibly one of the most outstanding brew's i've had to date. Imagine a guiness texture with an irish red flavor. For those true blue guiness fans, they also had a stout that was comprable. Talking about brews, I havn't had a fosters here yet, much less been to a bar that serves it. Stetson Draught is brewed by the same company and is very popular, but the most popular is "XXXX gold". Other common brews are Toothy's new (and the darker version, Toothy's old). Also bundaburg rum (i toured the distillary) is very delcious, and you can buy pre canned rum and cokes!

Parts of Australia doesn't get rain very much, and because of that they are very water concious. Many houses have rainwater collection systems, and some are plummed to use "grey water" (recycled water from showers, sinks, and laundry... not toilets) tu water their lawns. Solar water heaters are also very common, but the thing that will catch you most of gaurd is that their toilets here have 2 flushers. One's a half flush and ones a full flush. I guess its up for you to decide which one needs to be used.

Magnetic Island might need som clairification as well. Its an island, mostly covered by national park and home to the largest colony of koalas in Australia. For the lost fans out there, it is indeed magnetic to the point where compasses don't work right on the island, there are old WWII bunkers and gun stations on the island, and most of the island is mysterisouly innaccessable (no roads or trails going to that half of the island). But as for the other half, it is very over developed with lots of propertys to be rented or bought, sandy beaches, shops, and you get there by ferry. Its quite nice, and if you want to go there for cheep it has FOUR backpacker resorts on the island (yes, not hostels, resorts)

also, just for your information, there's not a whole lot in the outback... unless you like cattle.

Also, an update on graduate schools for those who are intrested. I have been accepted to University of Colorado (boulder), Colorado State University, University of Notre Dame, and Clemson (I think?). Colorado State and Notre Dame are offering me very nice finicial packages, clemson is offering me an ok one, and boulder is working on it. University of seattle must be sleepy due to all the rain, because i havn't heard from them.

Anyhow, peaceout. Pray for me while i'm in Tassie (starting Friday), I'd appricate it!
-Mike

The road to townsville (and back)

2007-02-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry its been a long time since I last posted. A lot has happened but i will try to sum it up!

Over the past week or so we've been driving up to townsville. Roads in Australia are diffrent than in America. They're pretty much just 2 lane highways with long stretches of nothingness. The towns remind me of the old west, with a few shops and restaruants pulled right up to the highway. We stopped in one town to grab a bite to eat and the local grocer walked next door so he could be the postman for me as well. He was eager to have somebody new to talk to, and he had a really thick Aussie accent.

anyhow, we arrived in townsville after stoping for 2 days in the small town of bowen. where my cousin john lives. I havn't seen him since i was 9 so it was a good time. We went to magnetic island, fished, hiked, and had good times. I also went to a few australian pubs. People at pubs here are very friendly and willing to talk, as long as you take turns to "shout" drinks. I met a guy named tomo (a long haired brick layer) and his talktive girlfriend lucy. Also lockland, a kiwi that moved to Australia to do landscaping, and a guy named TC, also a kiwi who moved to Australia to work in the mines.

Anyhow, we're on our way back to brisbane now... be sure to check out the photo's on facebook and i'm sorry i dont have more time to write!

I'll be back soon!
-mike

Rockhampton

2007-02-11T01:55:00.000-08:00

"Everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like seasons; they have to or they die... Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons"
-Donald Miller

So i've been on the road over the past few days driving up to Rockhampton to visit some more relatives. Australian roads are quite different than those in America, they still remind me something of the old west. There are no interstates, just 2 lane highways, and when you come to a town there are a few shops and restaurants and a police station, all nestled up to the road and people stop, and rest. That's another thing about Australia, they don't have as many parking lots. These small towns, you just park on the side of the road. Big stores are build raised up from the grown and you park underneath them.

anyhow, on the way up we camped on the beach... What i wouldn't have given for a surf board, the surf was beautiful. I need to surf while I'm here. It was pretty cushy camping, my uncle spent 10 weeks in the outback so he has this setup with beds and everything. At night we saw baby sea turtles hatching. The photos are on my photo page but they really don't do the feet justice. The things are tiny, they fit in your palm. They hatch and spend a few days, about a hundred or so of them in each nest, crawling to the surface. When they break to the surface they crawl out to the ocean, following the brightest light they can find. They say only 1 in 1000 makes it to adulthood.

Changing subjects: i'm reading through painted deserts by donald miller. Its really a good book about traveling and finding yourself. A lot of people have asked me How i can afford to travel, and i guess my response would be how can I afford not to? Since when has the bottom line in our lives been dollars. If you're interested in seeing Australia, and you have no money, you can travel through the country as a fruit picker for a few months to a year. What you can do is rent a camper van or stay in hostels, and you pretty much make all the money you need. There are free books here about doing that sort of thing and I'll bring them home for anybody that's interested.

Upon arriving to Rockhampton we went to a football match. Football is really confusing here because it means one of 3 things: Aussie rules football, soccer, or Rugby league (which is different than rugby union played in the states). We went to a rugby league match and saw the highly acclaimed brisbane broncos stomp the locals. I'm also learning the rules to cricket because it too is a big deal here.

A little shout out to Matt Barry (and anybody reading this, make sure he gets to see it) I went to a rum distillery on the drive up and saw how they make Aussie rum. It is actually quite good. A new drink to try: the dark and stormy, is composed of rum and sarsaparilla (aka Root beer here in the states). Also, at sporting events you can buy rum and cola ready mixed in a can!

Some more Australian words: Boot means Trunk, Pokies means slot machines.

"I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave
Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."
-Miller

Peace, love, and rock and roll
-mike

Lamington National Park

2007-02-08T01:45:00.000-08:00

Today we planned on going off roading in my uncles modified subaru, but bush fires impeaded our journey. So instead, we went into lamington national park for a hike. I hiked to a few very nice waterfalls and saw a number of tropical birds. The rainforest was beautiful.

here's me covered in tropical birds.

Also, i thought this was kind of cool. It's the bower of a bowerbird. A male bowerbird takes great care to build his bower with two sets of sticks stuck in the ground. All around the sticks he collectes blue things, and places them around his bower. The idea is, a female will find the bower, and if she thinks the male has done a good job, she walks through the rows of sticks, meaning she accepts the male. The male then flys down, gets the girl, and takes her to the nest. You know the rest of the story... they buy an SUV and a nice house in the suburbs... I guess like the bower birds, human males try to build an impressive "bower" to attract females. I like metaphores!

Australian Word for the day: Chemist is what we would call a Pharmisist as in "I need to stop by the chemists to pick up my drugs"

Note of the day: Australia has fast food restaurants including McDonnalds, Burgerking (which is called Hungry Jacks here), and even KFC, but whats really big here for a quick meal are pies and quiches. (by pie, i mean like chicken pot pie). How bought that!

Oh, i've started a photo album, you can look at it here

Brisbane

2007-02-07T01:27:00.000-08:00

Holler,
so i'm in Australia after a long plane flight. The nice thing though is the australian airline has on-demand movies and free sprits with the meals (which are served on real plates and things).

anyhow, on arrival, monday:
-I was singled out by customs (Long hair?)
-took a moped tour of brisbane (How fast is 60 km/hrs, and how do traffic circles work? and why is everybody on the LEFT!)
-tea with my 91 yr-old great uncle val.
-Headed to Coochiemudlo island in the brisbane bay after gathering supplies (beer, bait, and fishing gear)
Australian word for the day: Esky means Cooler as in "throw some drinks in the esky to keep them cold!"
Note about australia for the day: they have churches and their signs are just as cheesy as ours.

tuesday
-fishing (caught snapper, stingrays, and mackrel)
-swimming
-saw the set of a matthew mcconehay film, "fools gold" (my uncle is an extra in the film).
Australian word for the day: Petrol means Gas as in "i need to stop by the petrol station and fill up before we drive to rockey"
Note about Aussie for the day: I feel like the girls here are all taller than in America.

wednesday
-Spent the day walking around Brisbane. Adventures in public transit included.
-Brisbane is a nice city, very modern and very easy to get around in. It's the 3rd largest city in the country, and its built on a river. I spent most of the day walking around, taking buses and ferrys to and fro. Here are some pictures from the city:

Brisbane from the riverwalk. Brisbane is a VERY walkable city

brisbane at dusk

Kyle, this one is for you, brisbane also has some cliffs in the city which are popular for climbing. They light them at night for night climbing, and keep the grass trimmed under the cliffs.

Australian word for the day: Pom means Englishman as in "this beer would knock the block off a pom"
Note for the day: Australian accents usually seem "sexy" in the states, but when they're everywhere they're really not so much.

Side Note: my uncle has a mac, and because mac's dont work right ever (see list to right), I can't bullets or spell check to work right. I'll re-update this post when i can get to a decent PC. He also has cats, but they're actually pretty cool.

peaceout!
-mike

Leavin' on a jet plane

2007-02-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

So I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Australia. If you call me before noon you might still have a chance to get in touch with me before I spend more than 24 hours in airplanes and ports. Jet lag, here I come!!

I'm a little bummed because i didn't get to finish my TV-stand before I left, but here's a picture of what i did get done so far.

Also, here is something you can make at home and add to your "survival resume". A stove made out of soda cans!

Anyhow! Don't forget to write me! My e-mail address is mrsoltys@hotmail.com !!

Clemson, SC

2007-01-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

So I'm in clemson now, and its been nice to relax, see friends. I'm going to play frisbee in a couple hours, go to house chruch tonight, and go mountain biking tommorow (all very missed activities). While its been great to see everybody, I really dont know what to do about graduate school. On one hand it'd be great to go to clemson, i already know people, I could go here on scholership, and I could probally get some really awsome roommates. On the flip side of that, I am taken back to the bible verse in Luke where Jesus says "woe to you when men speek well of you" (its in luke 6). I feel like clemson may be too comfortable, and although it might be spiritually good (or easy, i dont know if thats really good) for me, i dont know how much impact i would make on the community around me. On the other side of that I don't know how diffrent it would be if i went to a place where I didn't have a firm foothold in a church and community of believers.

In the mean time the best way to get ahold of me while i'm in clemson is not by e-mail but by phone, the numbers on my facebook thing.

Africa

2007-01-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

As some of you may or may not have known, i was considering going to Africa through an organization called eMI. I wasn't too confident how that was going to work out, but at the church i tryed last Sunday they mentioned they had a team going to Africa this summer to build a hospital and if anybody was interested i could talk to the pastor after the service or find the info on the website.

well today i e-mailed the doctor that will be starting the hospital. He called me and verified that i was interested in going and I was a christian and that sort of thing.

anyhow, i just got an e-mail with my plane ticket, so i guess that means that there's a good chance I'm going to Africa this summer!

Life comes at you just that quick sometimes. Oh, and Honduras, for now, has fallen through but the power of the Internet may be reviving the trip.
-mike

(p.s. you can check out the orginization on their not so flashy website www.ihdn.org)

Illinois

2007-01-17T06:38:00.000-08:00

Holler,
So I'm still in Illinois. Its flat, and its cold. I thought I'd fill blog world in on what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks. I've been reading this book: the irresistible revolution and its good. It definitely makes you want to move to India and live in a leper colony.

I also have been trying out churches here in Springfield. A good church is hard to find. The first church I went to was the first church of the brethren, the church my parents go to. A lot of old people go there, and to be honest it felt like I was listening to one of those cheesy e-mail forwards the whole church service. The next Sunday I went to this church called E-Free! It felt like christian radio doped up on happy pills. I feel like its a big masquerade when people go out of their way to cheese up church. the second church even said that they try to make church an experience that you can remember throughout the week. Get your single serving dose of happy feel-good religion (now in quick release tabs)! People want real, Or at least I do... and I don't think real looks like that.

I've been dilly-dallying in the workshop, I'm working on a TV stand for our TV downstairs. I think it should turn out rather nice, but its going slowly. I'm hoping to have it ready for staining this weekend. I'll put pictures up when that happens.

Also, my brother loves media, and has a 42" plasma TV downstairs (the one I'm building the stand for) and all sorts of game systems. I hate it, but i throw away a lot of time on that stuff. I've been up to date with the TV show 24 this season and I don't know how pumped I am about it...

anyhow, I'll be in Clemson next week, hopefully starting Monday. I'm really excited about that!

Hawaii

2007-01-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

So, I'm back from Hawaii!

Hawaii is a really great state. I couldn't live there though, i always felt so trapped on the islands. Some things I did:

Our hotel on the island of Hawai'i was on the edge of the crater of Kilauea (an active volcano). The crater really doesn't have any lava in it but it does have steam, and it is way to big to take a picture of. It was way cool hiking down to the ocean on the old lava to see the new lava entering into the ocean.

I didn't get to do this, but I'd recommend checking out the north part of the big island, apparently very rugged and and untouched.

On Maui, my personal favorite was hiking in the Haleakala Crater: it was ridiculous. At 10,000 feet, you were above the clouds and could see the peaks of other volcano-islands nearby.
I would also really recommend snorkeling, we saw two 7' reef sharks mating from about 5 feet away. We also swam with giant sea turtles and kayaked with humpback wales.

Also, Hula dancing is way hot.

Whats next? Well for January all I've got going on is planning more trips and hopefully headed to Clemson for a short visit. Check out a couple more Hawaii photos at: http://clemson.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075614&l=9909a&id=12702301

Holiday Cheer

2006-12-27T15:47:00.000-08:00

Dear "Blog World,"
Well I'm in Illinois and I've got to admit, not much is going on!

But, because my blog is "disappointing" people, then I will blog about it...

Its kind of hard to try to move into my room here, considering I've never lived here before. I think I'm going to sell all my CD's because i have them all on iTunes now. I'm also finding a lot of things from high school, which is kind of fun.

We've had a lot of party's with my moms side of the family: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and a Graduation party for yours truly. Christmas was, in my eyes, a big success. I got a pair of carharts, 2 flannel shirts, a power inverter for my car, lots of candy, and a messenger bag.

In the above picture, I'm partying with my grandpa, wearing my new flannel shirt. Notice the diploma in the upper right! Woo hoo!

I leave for Hawaii tomorrow, so expect my next blog to be in 2007!

Graduation

2006-12-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

I graduated*** today. The big question is how do you feel?

Immediately after graduation I felt hungry, because I hadn't had breakfast or lunch. I think my point in telling you that is I'm still just as human as I was before I got my college diploma. College has been a changing process that didn't happen all on December 21st from 11 to 2, it happened over some of the best years of my life.

It's kind of like Snowden's secret in the novel Catch 22, I'm still human, but I'm gaining ripeness...

The answer to the question, how do i feel is free. I'm really excited about whatever is next and becoming even more seasoned in life.

oh yeah, here's a picture of me and my mom. My parents came down and we had a blast, dinner in Greenville, lunch in Clemson, dinner at Wendy's. They're cool (and super proud, I'd probably wait at least a month before you mention my name around them or you'll get more than you'd want to hear about Mike Soltys)

***the asterisks were next to my name in the program. they symbolize a level of academic achievement that only 3 asterisks can symbolize. I could also have gotten a white thing to wear around my neck for 50 dollars to show my achievement... but i decided to go snorkeling in the dry Tortuga's instead. achievement is overrated.

I'll be home for christmas!

-mike

The Dry Tortugas

2006-12-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

Holler,
So I'm back, a little tanner and a little more sandy. The Dry Tortuga's, what is it?

A small island 60 miles west of key west Florida

Home of the largest brick structure in the western hemisphere

A popular landing spot for Cuban immigrants (44 while we were there).

What happens there?

Cool people who are sailing the seas for a year from Hawaii eat spaghetti there.

Messages in bottles get thrown into the sea
People who ride their bikes across America end up there
snorkeling

More Pictures? Sure!

Finished With College, Starting A Blog

2006-12-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

Introduction...

Everybody else is doing it, I guess I will too.
A blog, by mike soltys.

The back story...

I got a college degree. I like traveling. I want to love people.

The plan...

Dry Tortuga's, Hawaii, then who knows?

stay tuned...