So today was race day for me- a 10 km run in the snow and rain. Actually it went pretty good- I am still waiting for them to post the official race times but I finished in the 53 minute neighborhood which is pretty much in the kickass class. Though some of them runners were crazy and did it in like a half hour. For inspiration I thought of Clara Hughes. Her gutsy bronze medal race in the Olympics but also an interview I heard with her where she said every cell in her body starts to hurt in the latter stages of a race- even her eyeballs. I figured since my eyeballs weren't hurting that I could kick it up a notch.

About 40 feet away from where I was working, a good 40 or 60 tons of rock came crashing down off the highwall. The pipe I was working on kicked a bit from the impact. My helper and I jumped but if we had been just down the road a bit all they would have found would have been our boots, sticking out from under a boulder.
I called my foreman to tell him the job was unsafe and that I was done. But he didn't answer and I had time to kind of cool down a bit. I looked at the wall above where we were working and it wasn't that bad. I had already cut the pipe and inserted the first of two huggers to repair it, so there was no point in leaving the job undone, the pit was slowly flooding and I wasn't about to leave it to the nightshift guy to do it. So anyways we finished the job (I commandeered the grader operator to watch the wall for us) and went home. Just another day in mining.
Earlier in the day, I was caught by my foreman and his boss hauling a flexible suction hose in a manner they deemed unsafe- I had hauled it up over the cab of my truck and chained it down so it wouldn't move. I didn't want to drag it on the ground for 10 kms so I thought this was a way better way to do it. The bosses disagreed and decided that it was better to do things the right way than the easy way. Fair enough, they even helped me rig it up differently.
A while later the big boss returned and we had an earnest heart to heart about safety. It was a lecture, but a gentle one. I didn't even mind, I am all about safety too. But then a few hours later I'm under the highwall doing my job. Boom! And I could have refused to finish that job, nobody would have blinked at that. Nonstop rain for so many days makes highwalls unstable. But I did it. I guess that makes me an unsafe worker. That's weird, eh? Last thing I want to do is get hurt, and definitely don't want to be squished by a boulder. But risk is part of the job, no matter how safety conscious you are. I don't see any way around that.

I was very saddened today to hear about the passing of Paul Gray.

Our friends
Are all hurting
From moments
And regrets
And charity
Laced with a lie
Still we keep hoping
To fix all the defects
And strengthen
These seminal ties
We go on together
For better or worse
Our history
Is too real to hate
Now and forever
We stay until morning
And promise to fight
For our fate

Til we die
Til we die

The start of a journey
Is every bit worth it
I can't let you
Down anymore
The sky
Is still clearing
We're never afraid
And the consequences
Opens the door
I never stopped trying
I never stopped
Feeling like family
Is much more than blood
Don't go on without me
The piece
That I represent
Compliments each
And everyone

Til we die
Til we die

We won't be forgotten
We'll never give in
This war we've achieved
Has allowed us to win

Til we die
Til we die

My last true confession
Will open your eyes
I've never known
Trust like the nine
Let it be spoken
Let it be screamed
They'll never ever
Take us alive

Til we die
Til we die

We won't be forgotten
We'll never give in
This war we've achieved
Has allowed us to win

Carry on
Carry on

(We'll never be broken
We won't be denied)
(Our war is the pressure
We need to unite)
(We'll never be broken
We wont be denied)
(Our war is the pressure
We need to unite)

Til we die
Til we die

We won't be forgotten
We'll never give in.
This war we've achieved
Has allowed us to win

Carry on
Carry on

We'll never be broken
We won't be denied
Our war is the pressure
We need to unite

Til we die
Til We die

We won't be forgotten
We'll never give in
This war we've achieved
Has allowed us to win

Til we die
Til we die

We'll never be broken
We won't be denied
Our war is the pressure
We need to unite

Speaking of Empire, here's a great illustration Chris Wahl did of Chewie on Hoth. This got me thinking what a showdown between a wookie and a wampa would look like. Not too good for the wookie I think. Unfortunately I was pondering this in the shower and clear forgot all about rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. This leads to a condition known as wookie wig.

It's the 30th anniversary of the release of Empire Strikes Back! Here's 30 reasons why it's the best movie of all time:
1. Wampas
2. 2-1B
3. Probots
4. 4-LOM
5. Snowspeeders
6. "Then I'll see you in hell!"
7. Tauntauns
8. Tauntaun guts
9. AT-ATs (but they fall down a lot!)
10. asteroid fields
11. TIE Bombers
12. Boba Fett
13. Bossk!
14. IG-88
15. Zuckuss
16. Imperial March
17. Ghost Obi-wan
18. Yoda's entrance
19. Mynocks
20. Space slugs
21. Do. Or Do not. There is no try.
22. 3PO gets blown up!
23. Chewie puts him back together
24. backwards!
25. Vader sits down for dinner
26. Carbon freezing chamber
27. Leia loves Han!
28. Han knows
29. Luke I am your father!
30. Nooooooooooooooooooo!

Once again a week of radio silence has befallen the Woods. Well, what can you do. I still have not much to say. We watched The Men Who Stare At Goats last night and I enjoyed it. Very funny if you like that type of humor. I read Living Oprah, a book about a woman who took one year of her life to do everything Oprah says no matter what. It was interesting, though maybe I was expecting something more A.J. Jacobsish. Also, what does it say about me that I knew of nearly all the O-people she talks about, like Dr. Oz, Nate Berkus et al. And of course Oprah. After five years of marriage I have become quite fluent in Oprahese. Fair is fair, since Michelle has been to a Slipknot concert and has learned the names of all the Oilers. And she's from Calgary!
Anyways, here's what I've been up to:

There was a petting zoo sorta carnival thing going on in our local park today. Pallas loved it! They even had a wallaby which is a type of kangaroo with cassowary claws but we kept her well away from that one.

Sometimes when you got nothing much to say you can talk about what you're into these days.
Musically I'm having an R.E.M. revival a bit, Hurricane Pallas unearthed some old discs I hadn't listened to in years. You Are The Everything and King of Birds are some great tunes that kind of got overshadowed by their now-somewhat-dated poppy hits like Orange Crush and Stand. IMO anyways. Also I got some songs from iTunes from a Canadian jazz singer name of Lily Frost. Bug Tax and Wychwood. Pretty cool.
I'm reading three good books right now- The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and The Boba Fett Omnnibus. Reading them all at once can be a little confusing as I am never quite sure when Boba Fett is going to embark on his career as an escape artist or get his new tattoo.
I got a 3-pack of George Clooney today at the Blockbuster (not intentionally it just worked out that way, I mean, I like him but not like that). Fantastic Mr. Fox because I've been wanting to watch that one again ASAP since the first time. Men Who Stare At Goats which I haven't watched yet, and tonight we watched Up In The Air. Pretty good, right? Not sure Michelle liked the ending but I was happy. A friend at work lent me seasons 1 and 2 of The L Word which I've been really enjoying. What's not to like? Added bonus- many BSG actor cameos.
I registered for the Little Big Run today. Been running a lot. So much, in fact, that the sizable investment I made recently in blue jeans has taken a nosedive just like the DOW Jones. They fall right off, actually. I might need a bailout, or at least a belt.