Revolution Hawk

Preface: 
Mexico. Fall 2006. I was working at a hotel, the incredibly relaxing Hotel Paraiso del Oso, in the Copper Canyon area. In rural Mexico (three hours from the closest paved road), good books are hard to come by. Let alone books in the native tongue of English. On our small yet adequate shared book shelf, there was this book that kept piquing my interest. It just looked too fat at the moment. But after a stretch of reading some entertaining but pointless mysteries, I decided I needed something a little more stimulating. And I ended up grabbing "The Authorized Biography of Gerald Durrell" and dove in. Twenty pages and I was hooked. And it quickly became the "best book I've ever scored at a book exchange while traveling." (Might not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you, when you are traveling, good books are hard to come by).

Gerald Durrell, Environmental Legend

 
Naturalist, Conservationist, Animal Enthusiast
Image from www.durrell.org<br />

So, who is this Gerald Durrell character? Well, older people might have heard the name because Mr. Durrell authored several books as an "amateur naturalist" based in his native Channel Islands off the coast of France. I had not heard of him until I read the aforementioned book, a summary of his entire life. This book gave a great overview of what Durrell had accomplished during his lifetime. Gerald had been into animals since his childhood. And despite having no formal education after his high school years, Gerald went on to undeniably change the world for the better.

The Beginnings
Simply put, Mr. Durrell's dedication and caring for all species here on this precious planet was amazing. Starting in the 1950s, Gerald had gone on trips to exotic locations such as Africa and South America to search for animals for local British zoos. The animals that were collected were carefully selected, abundant, non-threatened species and Gerald took great pride in treating the collected animals well. To fund these endeavors, Durrell utilized his zest for writing to author numerous entertaining books about his collecting expeditions. But Gerald, being a devout conservationist, came to the grim realization that the world was losing entire species at an alarming rate. Something had to be done.

A Life's Work
With the threat of extinction looming, Gerald recognized that the only remaining alternative was something called "captive breeding." Captive breeding was a very new concept at the time and Durrell, although entirely saddened by the circumstances that had caused this necessity, became a pioneer in the field, eventually creating a Wildlife Trust in his native Jersey Island. Reintroduction of species to native habitats was the ultimate goal. Also, Durrell was a visionary in his thoughts on the roles that zoos should play in soceity, insisting that their primary focus should be species survival and not entertainment. Quite simply, he could not stand by and watch as humans plodded on with little regard for those fantastic creatures we share this beautiful planet with and he made their individual survivals his sole focus. Furthermore, he admirably centered his efforts on the survival of smaller, lesser-known animals such as rodents and marsupials as "there are already enough people out there saving the pandas."

One quote that I particularly enjoy,
"I'm big and ugly so I have a lot of sympathy for those [animals] that are small and ugly."

Mr. Durrell was not without faults and his biography presents a very honest picture of Gerald's severe struggles with alcohol. But everyone fights their own demons and Durrell's contributions to the conservation of the planet were monumental. After reading his authorized biography, I cannot believe that I had not heard of this sincere and inspirational Environmental Legend earlier.

The Legacy
Mr. Durrell's legacy lives on and hopefully his dream will one day be a reality. His dream is that one day his Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust will cease to exist. Why? That will mean that there are no endangered or threatened species and that we have been successful in treating the animals and their native habitats with the care and respect they are entitled to. And most importantly, we will have proven we can co-exist in harmony with all of the delightful creatures of the World.

We hope that there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you.

We hope that your dawns will have an orchestra of bird song and that the sound of their wings and the opalescence of their colouring will dazzle you.

We hope that there will still be the extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet with you to enchant you and enrich your lives as they have done for us.

We hope that you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world.

Beautiful, Gerald. Beautiful.


(Although a bit long, Durrell's book is a nice read. Chock full of entertaining stories and priceless wisdom, one will come to realize how visionary and impactful Mr. Durrell's actions were.)

In short, the answer to the above is Colorado. Yes, I've been out here the whole time. Going on a year and a half. Without a sabbatical or extended travel. Anyway, you're probably more curious as to why I haven't posted on here in a while. Like a year. Well, my only excuse is that I have been getting my digital fix via the social networking phenomenon that is Facebook. But, with that said, I know quite a few people who are not on the Facebook (perhaps of the older generation) and I also know some people that are committed Facebook-resisters (God bless'em. Fightin' the good fight).

Anyway, although it is possible to post notes and blogs on Facebook, that is not the primary use. It is a great interweb site for sharing photos and also giving tiny updates on the day-to-day life. But not really that good for bloggage. So, Facebook's lack of blog-focus, the fact that I enjoy telling stories and that I also enjoy writing for an audience (albeit a small one) have brought me back to the neglected eponymous site.

Here's the deal. I will make an honest effort to provide a minimum of one update per week to fuel this Revolution. Who knows what the topic might be. It could be a movie review. Or a mini-article on my favorite tropical fruit. One never knows in this world.

If you know me at all, you likely know that I have an environmental conscience that I can't really escape. Therefore, with this being the week of Earth Day, I will have multiple posts this week (hopefully 5) about some green people. Not the Incredible Hulk or that pea-canner the GreenGiant. Environmental heroes. That kinda green.

Hopefully the 6 people that have inquired about the inactivity of my blog will be satisfied with my renewed efforts. And if I start to slip in this non-binding, conditional committment, send me a message. I really do enjoy writing, particularly with such a wide open canvas.

Robert Horry is the freakin' man. He really is. The guy is a perennial playoff competitor and has just played in his 238th career playoff game. Let's put that into perspective. 238 games divided by a typical 82 game season. That equals nearly 3 seasons of extra basketball in the postseason alone. Oh yeah, not only has he played in a ton of games but he has 7 NBA Championship Rings to show for the efforts.

Furthermore, Horry has been arguably the most clutch performer in the history of the NBA Playoffs and trust me, there have been some phenomenal players/performances in the history of the NBA postseason. He has no less than 5 of those dagger-in-the-heart shots in the Playoffs alone. Huge shots are what he is known for. I'm talking about one of those shots that every kid dreams of nailing as the clock expires to win the game. And not just any game, we are talking NBA Playoff and NBA Finals games. I still distinctly recall him absolutely taking over a game in the NBA Finals in 2005. From dunking it over people to drilling threes, the 4th quarter of that game was one of the most dominant individual performances I've ever seen in a big situation.

The funny thing is that Big Shot Rob, as he's very accurately nicknamed, is by no means a superstar in the league. Solid player? Very solid. Superstar? No. In fact, the past few years he has seen limited time during the regular season. At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, I recall reading that he was inactive due to "Old Age." But, when the Playoffs come around there is no one more valuable than Mr. Horry.

So, the Spurs and Hornets are tied at 3-3, battling for a spot in the Western Conference Finals. Is it Horry time? Who knows but it would surprise no one if he nails yet another one of his clutch shots.

Robert Horry's Playoff Moments as listed on Wiki 

NBA: Where amazing happens.

NBA Playoffs: Where Robert Horry happens.

After the serious snowfall the Colorado Rockies has experienced this winter, a couple of the ski resorts decided to extend their seasons past the usual April 1 - April 15 closing dates. Oddly, snowfall amount has very little to do with closing dates these days. It's all about bookings and advanced sales and centered on when those out-of-towners stop coming in. With the variability in snowfall, the high dollar out-of-towners usually don't book too much past Easter weekend or early April.

Anyway, a couple of resorts decided to re-open for a couple of late spring weekends. Wolf Creek, Crested Butte and Aspen Highlands. Essentially they open for the local crowd, which is a very nice gesture. Also, they drop the price of lift tickets substantially, also a nice gesture. We heard that they were going to be offering $12 lift tickets to anyone that has a season pass to any ski resort. Larry (Strazz) and I asked around but no one else seemed to want to go. We didn't let that stop us and wow, I'm glad we went. Given the fact it was late April, conditions were amazing.

The skiing commonly known as "Aspen" is composed of four different mountains. Aspen-Snowmass is a totally separate mountain located north of Aspen about 10 miles. Aspen-Buttermilk and Aspen-Highlands are two smaller mountains located close to each other. I believe it is possible to ski between the two but I could be wrong. Buttermilk is where they have the Winter X-Games. Aspen-Ajax is the mountain that is actually situated right above the town of Aspen. Aspen-Highlands is the area that was open for an extended season. They reported a 90"-130" base for the day we were there. Incredible for pertinear (antiquated contraction of pretty-near) May. More incredibly, it was true. We didn't see a rock or dirt or stumps or anything poking thru the entire day.

Being on the mountain with Strazz is always fun. The dude can ski. He's originally from Illinois but has been out in Colorado since 1995'ish. Highlands has some great terrain. Steep and bumped out. Conditions were a little springy, which means that it takes a little while in the morning for the snow to soften up but amazingly it never got slushy, not even at the bottom. One other thing I was blown away by was the level of skiing I saw that day. It was obvious it was nearly all locals. Everybody could ski.

The trip with Strazz down to Aspen was great and totally worth it. Turns out we didn't even have to pay for lift tickets because 2 different people gave us comp tickets as it was the last day of the season. We stopped in Glenwood Springs on the way back, which is a great little place in its own right. On the way back we put in a little Mitch Hedberg and we were home in no time.

Good call on making the trip to Highlands Strazz!!!

Three years ago, one of the few people that I've never met yet I considered to be one of my heroes, passed away. It was April Fool's Day of 2005. No crueler joke could have been played. Turns out it was no joke at all. A tragic passing of a stand-up comedian that was on the verge of legendhood.

Here is what I wrote on that fateful day on my old blog...

Mitch's style was certainly one-of-a-kind. Best described (by me) as a "stoner" comedian, he was one funny dude. Somehow, he was able to speak slowly (you wondered if all the synapses were firing) yet come across as articulate. It was as if one could watch his comedic thought develop into a joke. The result was delicately worded jokes that showed a deep command of the English language.

Unfortunately, it was the drugs that ended up getting Mitch. How many great young minds and artists have succombed to illicit substances? Jimi? Chris Farley? Belushi? Countless musicians from Janis Joplin to Bradley Nowell (Sublime). To quote South Park, "Drugs are just bad, um-kay." With that said, some of Mitch's funniest stuff had to do with drug-related events. He had a snippit about trippin' on acid in the woods and seeing a bear, where he stated "Smokey is much more intense in person."

Perhaps my favorite Mitch quote of all-time is drug-related, his "I used to do drugs, I still do, but I used ta too." I'm not in any way condoning the use of drugs but drug use was a part of Mitch Hedberg. After his death, his parents issued a statement that acknowledged Mitch's drug use and the role it likely played in his death. In any manner, the world is not as comedic as it could be without Mr. Hedberg.

Burn some cinnamon roll scented incense to honor Mitch. As most know, I've traveled around a bit and I think I've left a trail of Mitch Hedberg fans in my wake. I hope people enjoy his stuff at least half as much as I do. Laughter is always good my friends.

"I'm tired of chasing my dreams. I'm just gonna find out where they're going and hook up with them later." - Mitch Hedberg