Would you call this "all natural"?

One of my co-workers has a box of protein bars on his desk that actually taste pretty good. Recently, they've added the "all natural" label to them, which immediately made me wonder what the ingredients were (as you could probably guess, it would take a chemist to understand what is really in those bars). Here is a link to a page that lists the ingredients. Have a look, and let me know if you agree with Promax's assessment.

Side note: I recently watched a documentary about the "Future of Food", which presented scathing criticisms of Monsanto, genetic engineering, and many other trends for the future. One of their big gripes was that foods that have genetically modified ingredients are not listed as such on the labeling in this country. The bigger point is that labeling is such a powerful force that it had better be accurate or the average consumer will be misinformed. I tend to agree with this stance.

Giving golf a go

This weekend, with Tracy off in Palm Springs for a conference on Saturday, I decided to get together with some of my friends from work or a day of golf. Maybe it was because one of the clients I am currently working on is a golf retailer, but I thought it was time to dust off what I learned in a golf class that I took in college nearly ten years ago.

It didn't go well. I hadn't so much as been to a driving range in several years, so just making contact was a challenge (I had several swings and misses). The course we went to was nice enough, a green oasis in the middle of a city whose main color is brown. The fees were quite reasonable, and, while it wasn't technically a par 3 (one hole was 395 yards), it was very do-able. I just hit a lot of ground balls. For the nine holes, par was 32, and I shot a 77. My (very patient) friends end up shooting in the 50's, so at least they didn't show me up too badly! After shooting a 15 on one hole, I was ready to close up shop for the afternoon. I'm glad I didn't, since in hindsight, I had fun and I'll do it again. Maybe my own set of clubs would inspire me?

Today, Tracy and I spent the afternoon at the beach. Honestly, it's probably only the third or fourth time I've been to the beach since I moved here, but it is quite a novel idea to go to the beach in October. Temperatures the next two days are supposed to top 90 degrees, which is also kind of new for me in October. I wasn't too keen on my first San Diego summer, but fall is turning out to be just fine.

Rafting pictures

One of the guys from the trip put together this very nice album. He also didn't waste any time in organizing next year's trip (he wants it to be on the Gauley again, but I'm lobbying for a California river). Part of his marketing effort is displayed below:

Rafting the Gauley

Ever since I was old enough to remember amusement park visits, I recall an unusual attraction to the ride known as "the rapids", where they put you and about eight others in a round, yellow raft and send you down a man-made river, with the hopes of getting wet. It was definitely a sign of things to come. Last weekend, I went to West Virginia and experienced the best of my eight rafting trips to date, on the Gauley River.

The Gauley River is a dam-controlled river in the middle of the state, and each fall, the state opens up the dam from Friday through Monday, between the hours of 7am and 3pm, simply so the rest of us could enjoy rafting the river. (Incidentally, the dam is named the Summersville Dam, even though tradition states that it be named after the nearest town, in this case Gad. They quickly realized that the "Gad Dam" might be a bad idea! See this link for more if you're interested.)

After taking the redeye to Charlotte Friday night, I drove the 3+ hours up to the outpost in Fayetteville, WV and met up with five other guys from around the country (one from Seattle, two from Texas, one from Illinois, and another from NYC). I only knew one (Kevin, from Seattle), but on trips like this, everyone learns a lot about each other quickly.

After spending the night at the outpost, we headed out early Sunday morning to the base of the dam, where we split into two rafts of three people plus guide, along with our own videographer, who would accompany us for our two days of rafting in a kayak. The upper Gauley features five class V rapids (the most dangerous that are still runnable), along with many smaller rapids spread over about 9 miles. On Sunday, we ran the upper Gauley twice, and it was easily the most fun I've had on a river. The guides were excellent, and the weather (75-80 degrees and no clouds) and water (65 degrees) couldn't have been better. Despite the bad rap it gets, West Virginia really has a lot of natural beauty!

That night, we camped along the river at a campsite owned by the rafting company. This was hardly roughing it. An access road allowed them to set up permanent structures with tents, grills, picnic tables, and a fire pit. Dinner consisted of salmon and baked potatoes, homemade bread, pecan pie, and lots more. All throughout the trip we received first-class luxurious service, which is strange considering our remoteness. After a steep hike up to a ledge overlooking the river valley, I opted to take a dip in the river to cool off and freshen up. It was so refreshing!

Monday morning, we rafted the 15 miles of the middle and lower Gauley, which were much more tame even though we still did our share of swimming. By the time it was over, it was very apparent that the group was wiped out, and after returning the outpost, we watched the video and ate a nice dinner at the restaurant there. By Tuesday morning, we were headed out in 6 different directions.

There has already been talk of a repeat trip for next October. For some of the guys, this was their third trip already. I'm lobbying to have next year's trip on a river in California, since it's unlikely I'll be able to get time off right after my honeymoon to take a long trip back to West Virginia.

We ended up with a 55-minute video of our trip, and some still photos, too, which I'll post on this blog as soon as I get them.