Rafting 2004_09 Day 2

So the next morning we had a whirlwind breakfast and made it through the guides scolding our 15-minute tardiness and rapid donning of wetsuits and finally got onto the bus and to the put-in area. Here we are in all our wetsuited glory:



We were fortunate to have a 6-person raft and two adventurous lovebirds in our little boat. We were also most fortunate to have who seemed to be the most skilled and challenge-loving guide, Lincoln, who was also pretty hot.

Here we are in two shots (except for Anton who sacrificed his pretty face for picture taking):





At least I'm not the only one admiring Lincoln in some of his hotness:



Our rafting trip for that day was called the Penobscot Ultimate, which means we were rafting the more difficult upper portion of the Penobscot River twice. There are about 8 or so Class IV-V rapids making for beautiful surfing spots. Our first run was pretty sedate, as he was still trying to judge our listening skills and level of challenge. We were able to take a few pictures. Here is one of another group going over one of the rapids. Observe all the locals watching the fate of the boats. We think they come out every day at a designated time to watch the tourists rather than bad TV. I believe that that is the entire population of people within 60 miles of Millinocket, ME.



Our second run down was an entirely different story. We asked for a wild run and got it. We surfed a hole in practically every rapid and for longer than all the other boats. Surfing is when you throw the rudder against the current and hang out in swells for a while. The guide can spin your boat so each edge feels like it's about to drop into the current. It seems that usually surf holes show upstream of rocks that are fairly perpendicular on their upstream side. The Penobscot loses elevation in sudden drops where the rapids are, which allow for massive waves and surf holes. We learned commands to "hold the f* on!" and "taco" (which we failed rather comically). We couldn't take any pictures while surfing, but Lincoln decided to capsize us. Here we are crawling back to our boat:



Our recovery was calm and superb and as lead boat we got to play rescue boat for a while, watching some other boats capsize or lose oars or people and picking them up and putting them back where they belong. One boat lost a hilarious passenger who fell out and clung to the wrong rocks. The guides told him to get back into the water and swim to the safe side (simply downstream) and he staunchly said "Hell no". rofl. Poor guy was the butt of jokes for the rest of the day.

Ultimately we had to end and grab some lunch. This company (North Country Rivers) gives great meals. None of your little sandwich boxes. Steak or chicken, 3-bean salad, bread, cookie, macaroni salad. We took some time after lunch to take some more pictures. I think this might be one of the rapids we went down:



Here are four well-fed happy rafters: Assaf, Elias, me, Anton



After we got back to our car, we took a drive down some dusty unmarked route recommended by one of the guides - music jamming, Anton dancing, the clean air streaming in, the sun setting, such a blast. We got to Skowhegan, ME and checked in at the very quaint little Pinetree Motel and headed out to get some lobster at the Lobster Trap as we did the year before. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera >< We each had 2.5 lb lobsters (except for Assaf who had never had lobster before, and Elias so he could help Assaf) and I really really really want lobster right now.

Rafting 2004_09 Day 1

So we went rafting Labor Day weekend. We headed out Friday morning at 5:15 AM and stopped by North Windham, ME in the early afternoon for a little paintball with the Firestorm company. Here are the boys who I had to drive and who don't know how to fold maps much less hit me with a paintball:



However, I was very successful in hitting them multiple times:



After paintball we drove up to Millinocket, ME and stayed at the Econolodge (formerly Katahdin Inn) there. This was a very strange building with a pool and ping-pong table right in the very immense lobby. It was clean and there was a lot of fake green but everything looked very delicate. Especially the ceiling which did not look exactly even :) I suppose you could imagine it looking like a down-graded harem. Unfortunately no pictures.

cillian

so i saw red-eye this weekend which is very well done. i didn't exactly like it because it was a thriller and i'm not so happy with thrillers where there's a scary creepy guy chasing you around and trying to hunt you down. literally hunt, you know, when it gets all ominously quiet because he might be around the next corner or behind the door. i saw it for cillian though. who's very good at playing scary creepy guys (disco pigs, batman begins). he's a very talented actor. but i am waiting for that gratuitous cheesy girl movie so i can have that image of him instead of the scary creepy guy image. he did play a romantic role in girl with a pearl earring but had very little screen time and wore an ill-fitting mullet wig. the wig itself was horrendous, so horrendous that it didn't actually look like a part of him so you could imagine he was just standing before some background abutting the sides of his face so it wasn't as bad as it could be. but regardless, the girl with a pearl earring role doesn't count. time for something like johnny depp's character in chocolat. :)

this is not a hate crime

this is really interesting from the perspective of criminal law. and really sad as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/09/13/transgender.ap/index.html

my gut rebels and thinks that this case should have been found to be a hate crime. i can guess on a juror reasoning that it was not her sexuality that was offensive, but only the answer to the bigger question of whether or not they thought what she had shared with them was dishonest. killing for treachery is not a hate crime. but i would assume treachery wouldn't have been an issue if she were not her age, if she were perhaps not a virgin if she had said she was, if she were anything at all other than biologically male. though admittedly, those weren't their questions. so i'm not sure how to reason it out. the thing is, in even the most honest part of her mind, it isn't treachery. there has to be some way to protect the fact that she thought that way.

my friend at work brought up the important point that premeditation might be required for a crime to be classified as a hate crime. or rather, a pre-existing desire to harm those you hate. to me this would be highly useless. well actually i'm kind of torn about it. for one, this pre-meditation is nearly impossible to prove (this is however useful in protecting the idea that you're innocent until proven guilty). and on the other hand, when do you really get to manifest your hatred of a certain group of people until you interact with them?