5 min read 0

Quickie Kings Summit via Coronary

In an effort to be more regular about posting, I’ll be posting some of my runs on here. I have to get these postin’ reps in to build up my workflow, ya know?

I do want to clarify something. I previously said that hunters in Tillamook are not supposed to use the trails. This is not true. I was incorrect on that. I stopped by the Forest Grove Rangie Statie and talked to em. They can use trails but it is heavily discouraged. In Tillamook State Forest they close gates and give hunters access behind those closed gates. So hunters are SUPPOSED to use roads but they can use trails, as the entire forest is public land.

Anyway, onward with this post.

If anyone is curious and likes data, I self-host a bunch of my strava stats over at strava.crap.cam if you ever wanna dig into that. It’s a better way of representing strava data than anything strava offers. Check it out.

I ran Kings Mountain again today. I did a slightly different route and used Coronary Ridge. This is a super fun, little used, trail that is really quite steep.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:40:22
hours
5.46
mi.
17:10
min/mile
6:11
min/mile
2,650.92
ft.
1,267
kcal

Fun run! It was extremely wet but in a good way. The air temp was up around 50F so nothing to worry about. My river dip was also very pleasant. I’m surprised that 47F is starting to feel warm this early in the year but I’ll take it as a win. My car didn’t get broken into so that’s also a win! Gosh, the wins are really stacking up.

Book recommendation. Go checkout my friend Juhea Kim’s new book, A Love Story from The End of the World.

Spanning multiple locales and epochs, and rendered in fine detail and vivid color, this transportive collection shows what it means to live as human inhabitants on our one miraculous planet. Lyrical, at times hilarious, and always heartfelt, each of these ten stories is a reflection of individual choice in the face of man-made in a near-future Seoul, where air pollution has become so fatal that the city has been encased in a translucent biodome, a civil engineer charged with its upkeep contemplates an arranged marriage. A painter, disenchanted with New York City, travels to the South of France and falls into a dalliance with an entrepreneur who claims to have invented a new color. And on an island where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet, upon which other countries have relegated their waste to form a mountain of landfill, a local boy facing daily privation gets internet famous for his K-pop-inspired dances.

Her previous books are also amazing. Go check em out. She’s an Oregon native. Her writing is wonderful. I lose myself in her books in a way that I don’t come across as often as I’d like. Her books are a bit of an escape for me, so I’m quite curious how this short story collection will impact me. Thanks Juhea!

I also recently finished up The Book of Eels. I don’t really have much to say about this book, much like I don’t have much to say about the eel. This book is definitely worth a read if you want to learn a bit of history about the eel and it’s relationship to humanity. There’s a weird amount of Sigmund Freud in this book. I’d put it at a 6/10, which means it is slightly better than the average book. My pal Joules gave me this book so thanks, J.

I’m also going to recommend a wonderful anthology of South Korean science fiction. I read this a while ago. I was recently discussing it with my LMT while he rubbed me down, so I figured I’d let others know too. The book is called Readymade Bodhisattva. I believe most of these short stories have never been translated into english before. There are several amazing ideas in this book. If you like the idea behind Highlander but think the movies kinda suck, there’s a great story in here for you. If the idea of a robot finding Nirvana interests you, there is a great story in there for you. I’d put this anthology at a 9/10 for sure.

Readymade Bodhisattva: The Kaya Anthology of South Korean Science Fiction presents the first book-length English-language translation of science and speculative fiction from South Korea, bringing together 13 classic and contemporary stories from the 1960s through the 2010s. From the reimagining of an Asimovian robot inside the walls of a Buddhist temple and a postapocalyptic showdown between South and North Korean refugees on a faraway planet to a fictional recollection of a disabled woman’s struggle to join an international space mission, these stories showcase the thematic and stylistic versatility of South Korean science-fiction writers in its wide array. At once conversant with the global science-fiction tradition and thick with local historical specificities, their works resonate with other popular cultural products of South Korea―from K-pop and K-drama to videogames, which owe part of their appeal to their pulsating technocultural edge and their ability to play off familiar tropes in unexpected ways.


Stay tuned! Thanks for reading.

3 min read 0

Post Layoff Fun

Welp, it finally happened. I finally got canned by Intel on Nov 12th. I survived several waves of layoffs so I’ll take it as a win, I guess. They also gave me a pretty decent severance so again, a win.

Me being me, I couldn’t just sit around. So I started running around. I’ve been having fun.

Nov 14th

I took a lil run out to Devil’s Peak Lookout. On the way back through town I hit Mis Tacones, an amazing queer/vegan mexican spot in Portland.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
04:32:21
hours
15.66
mi.
15:31
min/mile
6:23
min/mile
4,363.52
ft.
3,056
kcal

Nov 15th

Nov 15th I did a lil fun Tillamook route. I ran into some hunters who were using the trail to hunt. I’m mildly sure this isn’t allowed. Tillamook closes gates for hunters so they can use the roads to hunt. The odd thing about this encounter was that I talked to them (Father and son) and told them that using the trail is kind of a no-no. What did this guy do? He waited until I said goodbye and then shot his rifle down the hillside. It’s pretty wild how I run into this kind of stuff year after year.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
03:33:20
hours
12.36
mi.
15:51
min/mile
5:00
min/mile
4,222.44
ft.
2,352
kcal

Nov 16th

I finally ditched town and went camping. I decided to hoof it out to Smith Rock to get out of the moist stuff that was hitting Hillsboro. This was a very good idea. I enjoy the bend/redmond area during certain times of year, now being one of them. Bend also has a surprisingly great vegan food scene. There are two carts that I will pretty much always hit while I’m there, and they are Lively Up Yourself and Toasty They’re both so delicious. I believe Toasty has won a ton of awards for local food carts, vegan or not. Seriously, if you’re passing through the area you will not be disappointed with either of these options. Anyway, here’s the strava and photos. Some of the photos are also from the 17th.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
02:20:46
hours
8.36
mi.
15:20
min/mile
5:42
min/mile
3,195.54
ft.
1,939
kcal

Nov 17th/18th


I ran around Smith again.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
02:34:13
hours
10.10
mi.
14:19
min/mile
6:04
min/mile
2,270.34
ft.
1,783
kcal

On the 18th I decided to drive out to Juntura for a quick hot spring camp. I also did some laundry at some point. I was there until the 19th when I decided to head back to Hillsboro to resupply real quick.

Nov 20th


I had to spend all day on the 20th working on my Fiesta. I had a cooling component deteriorate, photos are below. Unfortunately, Ford doesn’t really do a good job of stocking this part so it ate up an entire day as I had to drive to 3 dealerships to find this thing.

Finally, after figuring out that part I decided to hoof it down to the North Umpqua on the night of the 20th. I hit up my “secret” spot to do some trail work and hit some hot springs.

Nov 21st

After waking up cold on the 21st I went for a run on the Wright segment of the North Umpqua. This usually means some trail work, which got done. Then I hit the hot springs and did a wonderful cold dip in the river.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
02:10:09
hours
9.15
mi.
12:50
min/mile
6:25
min/mile
1,335.30
ft.
1,681
kcal

Nov 22nd

I decided to go back out towards Bend. I drove by Thielsen, then turned around and ran around for a bit.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:46:03
hours
7.31
mi.
13:44
min/mile
5:40
min/mile
1,978.35
ft.
1,306
kcal

Nov 23rd

I ran around Smith again for a bit. My run went a bit long and I had to use my headlamp which I don’t mind. My watch also died so add like 2-3 miles to this run distance.

Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
03:19:50
hours
13.46
mi.
13:53
min/mile
6:42
min/mile
3,215.22
ft.
2,469
kcal

Very fun week after being laid off!

I was also curious how far I drove, so here are those stats.

1 min read 0

Vegan Butter

Quick vegan butter recipe.

  • 3/4 cup melted refined coconut oil (melted but not hot)
  • 1 cup liquid oil, chilled in fridge (avocado, sunflower, safflower, etc)
  • 1/2 cup to 1 cup cold plant milk (soy, oat, cashew)
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (optional, for taste)

Blend the two oils, making sure they are at their temperatures. While blending slowly add the cold plant milk. Butter will form. Salt to taste. Refrigerate.