Pockets of Blue

Anticipation

Alec LaLonde — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:28:00 -0800

Time for a rare forward-looking blog post.

I try to keep myself busy, and it's been a good winter. At least for my ice tools and crampons, not so much for the skis. It's pretty clear where my priorities lie these days, and between work/climbing/girlfriend I've been staying pretty busy.

A couple years ago I was hoping to get in the groove of an international trip a year. This was right when I got back from Nepal -- bitten hard by the travel bug. I haven't been out of the country since.

That's about to change. Well, actually, technically... continue

Thank You

Alec LaLonde — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:57:00 -0800

Most of these posts incubate in my brain for days, weeks or even years before finally seeing light.

I just got done watching American Beauty for the umpteenth time. Perhaps, as the theme of this post weaved its way through my mind like mycelium, the film became the final piece of inspiration to bring it to fruition. Or maybe it was the recent conversation with my wonderful girlfriend, and my appreciation of her unyielding gratitude. She gets it.

You are lucky. If you have family and friends that love you. If you have always had the resources to... continue

Six signs that you should probably be spending less time in the office and more climbing

Alec LaLonde — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:38:00 -0800

You often find yourself at your desk making clove hitches and slipknots in your headphone cable
You keep getting comments about white marks on your work clothes, especially on casual Fridays
You've brought climbing shoes to work
You've traversed, stemmed or laybacked the office I-Beams
You've gone up or down office floors without use of the stairs OR elevator
You constantly find rolled-up, discarded medical tape in your desk, car, etc.

continue

Exercise and Injury

Alec LaLonde — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:45:00 -0800

Any of my climbing and/or skiing partners over the past two years will attest that I've fairly injury-prone. I've suffered from one ailment or another for the past 12 months with a broken bone a couple years ago.

However, it should be said that my lifestyle has changed completely since moving to Utah 2.5 years ago. Whereas in New York I'd be lucky to get outside to hike or something once every two months, some weeks I'm outside 3-4 times, with workouts every day in between. I've become somewhat of an exercise junkie: Pull-ups, push-ups, fingerboard workouts, front... continue

Goings On

Alec LaLonde — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:54:00 -0800

Well, it's been exactly two months. I can't say I've been too busy to post, but this is what's been going on in the life of Alec...

Sept 26: Adopt-A-Crag Day: Ferguson Canyon

After two years of climbing all over the Wasatch, I decided to put in a Saturday to contribute back to the community.

Steve and I were in a group of 10-12... continue

Cold Winter Love

Alec LaLonde — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:31:00 -0700

There aren't many moments from my childhood I can still recall. One, however, remains illuminated fifteen years later. I was sitting in the back of a classroom with the rest of my 4th-grade classmates in a group discussion with my teacher, Mrs. Bingle. I forget the discussion, but I do remember the question: What's your favorite season?

I was an exceedingly shy kid growing up (surprise surprise). Rarely would I raise my hand to answer a question or participate in a discussion. My quarterly report card would be immaculate save for a few demerits concerning "needs to participate more"... continue

Perfectionism

Alec LaLonde — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:06:00 -0700

Seven years ago I sat down at a Unix terminal in a dark, stuffy, tiny computer lab in the old Computer Science wing at RIT. Coming from a non-programming but computer-enthusiast background, the whole command-line environment was quite foreign. I was tasked with implementing a few Java methods as part of a weekly lab and, though looking back it seems trivial, was rather overwhelmed. How many lines should this algorithm require? Are there naming conventions I should be following? How should I format my code?

I'm a perfectionist. I got it from my Dad. For a while I thought... continue

It's really not about you. Sorry.

Alec LaLonde — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:44:00 -0700

Today I stumbled upon another fantastic blog post by the inimitable Kathy Sierra. It may contain the single best piece of advice for teachers of any kind: center the experience around the students, not yourself. Check it out.

But the concept doesn't just apply to teaching. I often find myself, likely due to my personality, in situations where I'm thinking "are you really still talking about that? This conversation should've ended 15 minutes ago." This is especially apparent in business settings, where underlying political agendas can so easily derail (or make interminable) the original topic of discussion. Does what... continue

The Quarterlife Crisis

Alec LaLonde — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:05:00 -0700

Really? Seriously? Give me a break.

I stumbled upon this article the other day. It's a fairly in-depth definition of the "quarterlife crisis," or to put it more bluntly, the "plight of the white middle-class well-educated twenty-something."

Let's take a step back and look at this from another perspective. It's 2009. We have experienced six decades of exponential economic and cultural growth, reaching a level of wealth never before seen on this planet. We're still mired in a fairly deep recession but the bottom has clearly been reached and we'll soon be rallying back. Opportunities abound: you're in your... continue

Five Days in Deso

Alec LaLonde — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:59:00 -0700

It's been about a month since my last post, and, coincidentally, about the same time since we've seen the sun. Well, ok, it hasn't been quite that bad, but the weather has been decidedly atrocious. We've had thunderstorms and/or rain pretty much every day for the past three weeks. It all began Memorial Day weekend, when Cam invited me to join him on a river trip down the Green River...

At eight PM or so, friday, May 29, nine of us arrived at Sand Wash, the put-in for a five-day trip floating the Green River in east-central Utah. Cam,... continue