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Huh, not sure what you're talking about... was it a spam message or just a regular question that formspring kept posting?
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That's a tough question. There are areas of my life that are going really really well, and there are parts of my life that I'm working to improve. In general, this has been a pretty tough year, but one of amazing growth. I didn't want to see my marriage end, but I'm glad that I challenged myself to grow through the experience and I'm pretty darn proud of that growth. In general, there's still little clarity in my life. That's mostly good, but it's also a challenge for my personality at times.
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There really aren't many places. Phoenix is flawed—deeply flawed in many ways—but it's also home. I don't want to give up on it or refuse to be part of the solution. I'm not sure if I'd ever quite feel at home elsewhere, but I could see myself living (at least for a limited time period) in Portland or the Bay Area. I have lots and lots of place I'd really like to visit, but few of them are places I'd seriously consider living.
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Hmm, that's a good question. I certainly didn't expect it to be ending when the year started. I think the thing I will most miss about it are the future plans and compelling stories we had together. We spent *a lot* of time together, created some really fabulous memories, and established some kickass, intensely personal traditions. What I'll miss most is I won't be able to fulfill many of the plans we created, or complete some of the traditions that I had expected to spend my life chasing.
That doesn't mean I won't accomplish some of the very same things, but it won't be in the same context, even if it's with another partner. New relationships will need to look different than my marriage did, and so nothing will quite ever be the same. That doesn't mean I won't be happy, or happier, or that I won't establish even better or more meaningful memories or stories, but it does acknowledge that they won't be the same. -
I've enjoyed meeting and getting to know each of them (sorry, you and the #nvfners aren't even included in the total); in fact, I've been surprised at some of the topics we've connected on. If I had to pick the top one or two people I am most happy about meeting, I'd have to go with Dan and Tristan, simply because we should have gotten together so long ago.
Dan and I have known each other - well, on flickr and facebook primarily - for a good three years now. And despite having some similar interests and living in the same city (and even attempting to plan a few outings together), we had never gotten together.
Tristan is a similar story. We've interacted online on a forum and facebook for at least a couple of years and never gotten together. He and I are on the same quest to visit all of the National Parks (I think I'm currently ahead by just a few units), but hadn't met each other in person. It was a lot of fun finally chatting national parks in person. -
Katmai, Denali, Hawai'i Volcanoes, North Cascades, and Everglades top the list.
I'd love to watch the grizzlies fish for salmon in Katmai, witness the neck-straining sheer scale of Denali, watch as new land is created in Hawaii Volcanoes, gaze at the glaciers of North Cascades before they're gone, and kayak the "slowest river" of the Everglades.
There are quite a few parks that I've already been to but would love to revisit as well. -
I naturally get asked this all the time, but it doesn't make it any easier to answer. There are many cool parks, and I enjoy them all for different reasons.
But if I *had* to pick, I'd go with Yellowstone. It's one of the more diverse and unique parks in terms of experiences: the geyser basins, the fabulous wildlife, lamar valley, the falls and grand canyon of the yellowstone, and on and on. There's something there for just about everyone. Another important reason why it's my favorite is the historical role it played as the first national park, and the central role that it's maintained since that time. When I considered where I wanted to propose to my wife Kim, it was the obvious choice (shoreline of Shoshone Lake).
Of course, a few other parks are very close to my heart. Yosemite is where we got married (near Lower Yosemite Falls), and where most of the national park lore of my childhood was centered (even though I didn't get there until I was 19). It's a fabulous place. There's nothing in the world quite like Yosemite Valley, even though it's often as crowded as a theme park.
Sequoia is another big favorite. I love the big trees, and a trip to Sequoia was what really sparked my extended national park travels. My most special place in the world is sitting near the edge of Log Meadow in the Giant Forest of Sequoia.
Glacier, Mt Rainier, Olympic, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Mesa Verde, Theodore Roosevelt, Rocky Mountain and Congaree are all great experiences as well. Of course, those are just the named National Parks, not any of the other places that comprise the National Park System. So many great memories from some unforgettable places. -
We met at the Staples near Superstition Springs in 1997, where we were working part-time while attending ASU. She was a new hire and I had been working in the office supplies department of the store. I can still remember walking up the paper aisle towards the front of the store when I first saw her standing behind the glass of the pen display.
I was going out with someone else at the time, but there was some sort of immediate connection, at least for me. We became work friends, and a few months later after my other relationship ended, we started hanging out.
On July 15, we took a day trip up to Prescott, had a great time and started dated. Her parents had moved way out to 307th Avenue, so it wasn't more than a month before she moved into my apartment.
Exactly seven years after that fateful daytrip, we got engaged on the shoreline of Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Exactly four years after that (on our 11-year anniversary), we got married near Lower Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park.
We've had some pretty fabulous memories over the years, and even though that Staples has since moved, it'll always remain an important memory. -
I've made a strong showing, but I'm not where I'd like to be. I have a bunch of items I could quickly mark off, but give the major life changes of the last half-year or so, a bunch of them are either no longer realistic or I've lost nearly any interest in completing them. There are also some major personal goals that I've been working hard on that aren't represented on the list at all.
All in all, I think I'll feel good about the progress I've made on the items come this fall's due date, but I've also learned that you never know what'll happen in the next 1001 days. -
There's not a single real-life individual that I'd consider to be a man crush. I can't even think of an imaginary man crush. Sorry to disappoint you.
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I have no idea, but I'm guessing it might result in months of speculative interpretation for whomever asked it.
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Let me put it this way: the firefly speaks at one with the umbrella socks.
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It usually doesn't happen right when I wake up, but yes. There's a lot to be pessimistic about in this world, particularly when you spend your day working in conservation. Not sure there's much choice but to keep a positive outlook and hope for the best - the alternative just doesn't make sense.
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Hmm, probably cheddar cheese. Make that melted cheddar cheese. I'm actually one of those few folks who doesn't really like food - an unfoodie, I suppose. I grew up with a limited selection and seem to have uniquely limited taste buds. Bummer.
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Wow, that's an excellent and thought-provoking question - and one I'm not sure I can actually answer.
The first answer that came to mind was...nothing. Nada. =p
But, the second answer that came to mind was Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. The book looks at some common conventions and history in a different way. It's an intellectual exercise, but still pulls off some irony. It's passionate about its views, and sometimes in a slightly preachy way (guilty). It doesn't succumb to peer pressure, discards tradition in favor of its own, and hopefully charts its own course. It's original (or at least seems so to me), but when you start looking, you find that it fits in with a bunch of other things you've read. It's inspired others, even if its not to follow or adopt the book's views, but to chart their own journeys. -
Officespace.
It's one of the few movies I can watch again and again without getting bored and the only one I keep on my laptop at all times. Ferris Bueller's Day Off and National Lampoon's Vacation are probably next on the list. -
As a general category? Probably big exposed rock. I love features like Half Dome, El Capitan, deeply-incised canyons, sandstone bluffs, and jagged mountain peaks.
It's hard to pick a single, specific favorite "feature," but definitely one of my top three favorite places in the world is at the edge of Log Meadow inthe Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. Not sure why I connect so well with that place, but I feel fundamentally different while I'm there.
I also have very special favorite places in Yosemite, Yellowstone, Sedona, Mt Rainier, Olympic, Zion, Muir Woods, and several others. -
Only a month? Well, my usual answer would be to take a national park roadtrip in the US. If I had unlimited cash but only a month, I'd probably head overseas instead, globetrotting some of the hotspots I've always wanted to see: the Amazon rainforest, Machu Picchu, Galapagos, Easter Island, Australia, Madagascar, the African savanna, Egypt and the pyramids, Athens, Rome. Not sure I could fit them all in, but I'd try. :)
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