Three Awesome Things!

1. VOLCANO 
There is a volcano erupting in Iceland, under a glacier called "Eyjafjallajökull."  Take a guess on how that's pronounced, then click here to see how close you are!  The glacier looks like this (or did, before the eruption):

Below is a video of the eruption.  The last 30 seconds or so, with the rivers of lava, is the best part.



2. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN
Today, my housemates Ken and Karl and I flipped out and cleaned the living room and dining room, and the condo looks so much more spacious.  It's wonderful.  I also filled 9 trash bags with old stuff from old first-floor residents, but barely made a dent in the piles of junk.  Someday, that place will also be clean!  Someday.

3. ROCK OUT
My band (me, Larissa, and Hubert) is apparently calling ourselves "Soap Yourself" these days, and we wrote a new song for Song Fight!  Click here and then click on Soap Yourself to hear our song, entitled "Robot Ninja Zombie Bear."  (The mix is a bit muddy, yeah, we know.  We need a mixer.  Donations accepted. :)

I sleep now.

Welcome to Talus Slopes!

Talus Slopes is a blog that I am starting as part of the Iron Blogger project.  The idea is that I make at least one post a week, and if I ever miss one, I am required to donate $5 to the Beer Pool.  Then once a month or so, all the Iron Bloggers go out for subsidized beer!

The initial focus of Talus Slopes will be outdoor expeditions and extreme sports of interest.  Expect discussions of beautiful mountains, backpacking routes, natural wonders, and people jumping off cliffs with skis on their feet.  As the blog goes on, I may branch off into discussions of other excellent activities I am passionate about, such as music and roleplaying.

(On that note, a shameless plug: my band that just formed up wrote a song last week for a competition called "Song Fight."  You can read about Song Fight here.  Go listen to my song by clicking here and clicking on my band name, "Soap Yourself."  If you don't think the song sucks too much, consider voting for it!)

Finally, a bit of information about the title of this blog.  A "talus slope" is a slope of accumulated rocks, generally formed at the base of cliffs.  I learned about the term on a backpacking trip through Jefferson Park with my friend Eli A-J.  The route directions told us to hike until we saw a talus slope, and then turn.  As neither of us knew what the term meant, we had some fun speculating on how "talus-y" each of these slopes looked.  Since then, we've become fans (perhaps even connoisseurs) of talus.  Here are some characteristic talus slopes (click for larger images):

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nonsooth/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/druclimb/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Pretty, aren't they?  Maybe it's just me...  Well, welcome to Talus Slopes!  Enjoy your stay.