January 9, 2007

Kaya the Puppy

This is my dog with a feather in her nose. She does lots of goofy things, like barking at hamsters and jumping into cars when the doors are still closed and wrapping the leash around all four of her legs, but we rarely catch them on film. She's very sweet, and she's kind of cute, but she's not all that intelligent.

Some people brought it to my attention that it's been a while since I've posted, and as I was going through my pictures (because a post without a picture is lame), I realized that most of them are pretty boring. I have some from Christmas, and some from a trip to the climbing gym with Anna and Owen, but everyone who's reading this knows exactly what I've been up to lately. Thus, instead of seeing me posing for the camera with some other people, you get to see my dog with a feather in her nose!

Posted by rgutwin at 10:23 AM | Comments (1)

September 4, 2006

Family Canoe Trip

Desipte foreboding weather, my family and I headed to the Adirondacks this Labor Day Weekend for our desired-annual canoe trip. Owen, Bruce, my mom, and I drove to the launching site on Friday evening, preceeded by my grandparents, Uncle David, and cousin Christopher. Karl and Becca were soon to follow, and we managed to get all the tents set up and everyone fed not too much after my ideal bedtime.

Even though it was supposed to be cold and raining, the weather was actually quite pleasant. We experienced a bit of moisture as we were heading to bed on Saturday night, as well as a light drizzle around dinnertime on Sunday. It was nothing compared to the sideways-driven rain we usually encounter. Thus, there was a disappointing lack of excitement on this canoe trip, although a couple of bees decided to make my vacation a little more memorable. The first bee that stung me--three times--was a little bit understandable, since I paddled up a stream about two feet from where his deceitfully-hidden home was. However, the second attack from an entirely different bee that came a day and a half later was thoroughly confusing. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning with a stinging, throbbing finger, only to discover that a bee had stung me in my sleep! I either said something in my sleep that offended him, or he was some distant relative of the first bee who wanted to seek revenge. Either way, it was not a nice thing to wake up to.

All in all, we had a great trip: the weather was much better than expected, we got a campsite on the island and relatively quiet neighbors, and we created some memories that aren't likely to disappear anytime soon. Hopefully we'll be back again next year!

Posted by rgutwin at 8:19 PM | Comments (1)

July 11, 2006

Hiking Expedition

Owen and I went hiking this past weekend, taking advantage of the gorgeous weather to get out and have some fun. Our plan was to hike for a couple of hours on Friday night, stay overnight at the Cooley Glen Shelter, and complete a 9-mile loop back to the car the next day. Unfortunately, we arrived at the trail a bit later than we expected, leaving us with only an hour of daylight and 3.2 miles to attempt to travel. Although we had resigned ourselves to camping somewhere along the trail, a few estimates and mathematical calculations indicated that we could make it to the shelter before the sunlight completely vanished, which is exactly what happened. We traveled the nine miles on Saturday in a much more leisurely fashion, ending the hike with only a couple of blisters on the bottom of my feet and fewer than a dozen complaints from Owen.

Posted by rgutwin at 9:48 AM | Comments (3)

June 6, 2006

Vermont City Marathon

Owen raced in the Vermont City Marathon on Memorial Day Weekend, and Anna and I biked into Burlington to cheer him on. Although it was difficult to maneuver the tandem over a course with thousands of runners and through a crowd of even more thousands of spectators, we managed to see him at the start, the finish, and four other points along the course. It was obvious that some runners were madly jealous Anna and I were Owen's cheering fans instead of theirs, but we tried to encourage the other runners when we could. However, when we weren't on the course cheering for Owen, we were usually madly biking to the next place we wanted to cheer him on because he was running so darn fast. He finished the marathon with an amazing time of 3:07:01, placing 73rd overall and running at a pace of 7:08 per mile. Also impressive was his almost complete lack of any sign that he had just finished a marathon after he stopped running: he looked like he was about ready to go out for another easy run! The weather was quite warm and sunny, which was wonderful for the spectators and somewhat miserable for the marathoners. Overall, Anna and I had great fun cheering, Owen had a spectacular race, and a few people are probably still mad at me for getting the tandem in the way of the course...

Posted by rgutwin at 9:02 AM | Comments (1)

March 26, 2006

Springtime

Although most of this past winter has felt like spring, the weather has officially begun to consistently resemble such a season! Since we haven't had nearly any snow stay on the ground this winter for longer than a week or so, the outdoor appearance is not changing drastically. However, when the high for the day is 50 degrees as opposed to 30, it makes a big difference to Becca's hands when she ventures out on the water for her daily row! The sun and warmer temperatures are greatly appreciated, especially since I can't take advanage of any snow that may happen to fall anyway.

I can't believe that it's already the end of March. I have less than 50 days left until graduation, and it feels like the semester only started a few days ago. Unfortunately, time seems to fly both when I'm having fun and when I'm incredibly busy...

Posted by rgutwin at 6:56 PM | Comments (1)

February 28, 2006

Ooh! A Bunny!

Look! It's a bunny with a cookie!

This entry is merely to grant the request of those who would prefer if I did not allow a full month to pass without any entries. Exciting, eh? :-P

Posted by rgutwin at 8:43 PM | Comments (1)

January 25, 2006

Row for Humanity

Today marks the fourth annual Row for Humanity event at HWS (this photo is from the first annual RFH), and I find it important to note that I have never completed the fundraiser in the proper manner. Freshman year, the event fell on the day after my surgery, so I spent all day watching the ergers rather than joining them. Sophomore year, I was under special direction from December through February to train per heart rate, and thus rowed for two hours at a controlled heart rate instead of the required one hour, which is notably more intense. Junior year, I was off studying in South Africa, so I had to run for an hour instead of erg. And this year, my back is not strong enough yet to be able to erg for an hour, so I biked on a trainer in the atrium of the library for an hour and a half as an alternative. Regardless of the equipment I was on, however, I got to participate in the event this year, which was the goal anyway. I got some rather confused and bizarre looks as the atrium of the library is a busy place, and there aren't usually two dozen ergs and a bike set up in the middle of it, but no one actually asked me what was going on. It was a good thing, anyway, because it's not that easy to explain anything when you're in a very hot room trying to train...

Posted by rgutwin at 12:58 PM | Comments (3)