A belated Happy Father's Day

6/22/09 -- A belated Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. I got to spend the afternoon with my oldest daughter, Kelsey, her boyfriend Tyler, and my wife, Debbie, hiking at Silver Falls State Park (see photo of Kelsey and me below). Today my younger daughter, Amy, and her boyfriend Alex, will be dropping by for dinner. I am one lucky dad to have such great kids!

This week I'm still focusing on subplots. Hopefully, I'll have all of the pieces done and ready to put together by the first of July. Then come many many rewrites.

Amidst all of this work, I am, however, sneaking away mid-week to climb Mt St. Helens in Southern Washington. My friends Tom and Mark and I will leave tomorrow after work, and drive to the climber's bivouac to get a few hours of sleep. Wednesday morning we'll get up very early -- 3:00 AM -- for an alpine start, reach the summit before noon, then ski down and be back home by that evening.

Or that's the plan, anyway. As always in mountaineering, the summit is not nearly as important as coming home in one piece. If the weather or snow conditions aren't safe, we'll turn back, or scrap the plan altogether and go rock climbing on the dry side of the Cascades at Smith Rock State Park. Sort of a rewrite, I guess, just scribbled in actions instead of words.