Humongous Pillow Fight

So there was a giant pillow fight in Rosa Parks circle this Sunday. I was fishing and saw some people walking around with Braveheart-esque face paint and wondered what was going on. Little did I know there were hundreds of people gathered to smash pillows in other peoples faces, how fun that would have been. My Grandmother heard about it down in Tennessee!

There is an Mlive article about it but the general idea was this: a GRCC student wanted to do something fun that involved a bunch of people around town so he organized the event on Facebook and eventually the city ended up sponsoring it and payed the expenses. The guy who planned it is looking to do another "Urban Event" It would be fun to be a part of that. It was suggested by the author of the article that everyone gathers in Calder Plaza and does the Robot for 5 minutes - thats kinda weird, but I break it down with a mean robot so I might have to partake.

It's pronounced koh-hoh.

I landed my first Salmon yesterday. It was a 33 inch Coho Salmon and weighed about 18 pounds. I went fishing in the Grand River by Ah-Nab-Awen park with my buddy Brad from Ferris Rugby. On my second cast the salmon hit really hard and I was psyched as soon as I set the hook. It was a hard fought battle for about 20 minutes but after a sore wrist the fish gave up. It's always a good time when the salmon are running because they are in the river so thick you can see their dorsal fins popping out of the river. A re-enactment of my salmon fishing experience can be seen below.


(Thats supposed to be me in the orange!)

The fish I put in the freezer Sunday will help with my quest to challenge myself and eat only meat that I provide. But at this point I am not sure exactly how my challenge is going to pan out or what rules I will hold myself to but I do know this: It will start in whatever form on the first of the year and go on for as long as I care to continue doing it. Thanks to my friend Erin I've got a new book to read: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver to add to another great book that started me thinking more about what I eat and where it comes from: 'In Defense of Food:An Eaters Manifesto' by Michael Pollen. I can vouch for the Pollen title and I'll let you know more about the other one after I read it, but I bet its going to be good.

[Insert Clever Title Here]

Today I had my first ever squirrel hunting experience. My roommate Mike and I went out to Cannonsburg state game area and walked around for a while after work. Until now I've only hunted for deer which requires a much higher investment of time and money. This adventure wasn't very productive and I only saw one squirrel and it was on a tree quite far away and it was gone by the time I got to the tree... but I'm determined and plan to spend more time in the woods.

Now before you write me off as some red-neck hillbilly let me explain. I have made a goal for myself this coming year to eat only meat that I kill and butcher. I have a lot of respect for vegetarians but I am not ready to take that step yet and I believe 'normal' meat is healthy for you (not corn-fed fatty beef pumped full of hormones and anti-biotics). I feel bad every time I take an animals life, but isn't that the point? Every time someone pulls into the drive through at McDonald's shouldn't they realize that an animal was killed to provide that meat? I'm proud that I take an active role in the meat that I eat. So I'm trying to fill up my freezer for the winter - I can see I'm going to have to put in some more time in the woods before I can enjoy some squirrel stew.

Number 2

Having a flooded basement is not fun. It started with just a little bit of water coming through the walls of a very holy michigan basement, and ended up as water seeping up through the hole in the ground where the sump pump should be but is not. Then things got smelly as the city sewers started backing up and water/fecal matter started coming through the drain. Which was even cooler.

Luckily most of my posessions stayed dry because the neighbors with whom we share a basement with were nice enough to knock on the door and let us know there was about an inch of liquids covering the basement floor - ah the luxuries of living in a vintage house.

On a brighter note I have offically started attending rugby practice for the Grand Rapids Gazelles Rugby Football Club. Even though I will be out of town hunting most of October I hope to get some B-side time in the next few weeks which will help me stay in shape.

It's nice to have some time to try and put down roots in Grand Rapids and get used to being in one place for a while.

Here we go

alright.........

Step one: create blog.

Step two: ??

Step three: Self actualization.

This being my first ever blog post I'm not sure where to take it. Do I discuss my opinions, vent, give advice, lament, write notes to my future self to remind me to live life to the fullest? Not sure, we'll see where this random rambling takes me for now.

Hopefully this will one day be hosted on my own webspace but first I've gotta see if this works for me.