Good deed doers, good witches, and good bands

I don't know if naming my bike after Miss Gulch from the Wizard of Oz just has me thinking about that childhood cinematic favorite of mine or what, but I was struck this weekend by the wonderful number of good deed doers I encounter. Remember when the Wizard (after he gets found out) says, "Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila... er, phila... er, yes, er, Good Deed Doers!" I don't know any philanthropists, per se, but I did encounter 3 good deed doers in about 3 hours on Saturday night.

I had been planning to go see a band called The Rural Alberta Advantage all week. They are FANTASTIC (you can learn about them here)-- so fantastic, in fact, that my assumption that a band from central Canada would be unlikely to sell out in Portland was very wrong. As a result, I found myself outside at 10:20 pm on a chilly night asking everybody who came by if they had an extra ticket. After about 40 minutes of this, the box office attendant (who had been trying unsuccessfully to ignore my pathetic campaign) couldn't stand it anymore and with what can only be described as unfuriated kindness, he let me into the sold out show. I hugged him, against his will I believe. I offered to pay. In another pulse of aggravated kindness he yelled "Just go!" And I hugged him again. Good deed doer #1.

Once in the show, I was ecstatic to be there. The venue is small and good, and the band was just about to come on. I had time to splurge on a cocktail and locate my colleague who had mentioned he'd be there with a friend in front of the soundboard, which he was. The show started and it was GREAT, and my colleague bought me a "thank you" cocktail half way through for some recent teaching favors (as recently blogged, the bourbon sidecar has been my drink of choice when fancy libations are a must). Good deed doer #2.

After the FANTASTIC show (you can listen to them here), I wanted to go buy a concert t-shirt as I often (always?) do, but I didn't have enough cash for the cash only purchase. The nice lady selling merch for the band assured me they would want me to have it anyway, so I gave her what little I had, and went home with concert tee in hand. Good deed doer #3.

Roughly 3 hours, 3 good deeds, plus awesome music = very, very happy me. Which brings me to a second Wizard of Oz quote. When Glinda first meets Dorothy, she asks "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?" because, in her experience, we are all one or the other. Perhaps true, in which case I want to be a good witch. I need to! In order to shower kindness on all those good deed doers out there.

Speaking of showering kindness-- the night before a student band at L&C knocked my socks off this weekend with their performance as winners of a recent Battle of the Bands at the college. They are called the Dancing Hats and they are absolutely delightful. You can hear them here if you like, but it doesn't do their live show justice at all. They had me (and 700 19-year-olds) in a jubilant fervor with their set. Thank you to them and the many kind strangers and not-so-strangers that made for such a splendid weekend.

Perdition Trail and a Another Flashback to 1995

Last week's hike took us back to the nearby falls to climb a closed off section called Perdition Trail (if this is eternal damnation, I am all set!) It was raining cats and dogs, so I didn't take pictures, but I did find this one on the internet that I believe was taken by a guy named Scott over 10 years ago (based on the caption on his photo blog) which revealed that, even back then, the trail was closed off. Add 12 years of no maintenance, landslides, and rain, and you might be able to picture what the trail looks like now: these staircases are largely horizontal, and the overgrown vegetation provides loosely anchored handles with which one can pull oneself up the muddy sides of Larch Mountain. It was great! Definitely one of those days where loving hiking trumps all other emotions and good sense.
The rest of the week consisted largely of work, with some occasional sidesteps for play. It is really hard not enjoy the delicious abundance Portland offers up when it comes to food and drink. My neighbors Aasta and Stefan have turned me on to the happy hour possibilites (more for the food than for the drink) all over town which provide a fantastic opportunity to dine out on the cheap. This past week, for example, I went to a late night happy hour at a steak house and ate like a queen for about $7 (including steak!) My friend Esther came to town yesterday unexpectedly and we more or less gnoshed our way around Portland, one appetizer at a time, all evening. It is good that the hiking is so great and close by to offset how great and close by the happy hour specials are too.
In other news, I am starting to prepare for summer travel to Europe and East Africa in earnest. At the moment, this primarily involves daydreaming and chitchats with the travel clinic about vaccinations. I will be in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania this summer to teach a couple of workshops in bioinformatics and genomics, while collecting spiders and caterpillars on the weekends for research. I cannot wait. It has been 5 years since my last trip there and my Swahili is getting rustier by the day. Those of you who know me well know there are few places I am happier than sub-Saharan Africa, so it will be great to get back. On my hopeful To Do list will be a return to Mt. Kenya-- one of the first mountains I ever attempted to summit (back in 1995). We were a motley crew and I was a very recently inaugurated climber, but somehow more experienced than most of the rest of the party. Towards the top, one guy developed altitude sickness and the consensus was to head down as a group (we *were* Earlham students after all) . Point Lenana (shown here, but not my photo) is the highest accessible peak with only one's feet as equipment, so I will head for there again if I finish everything I need to do and have a few days at the end of the trip to spare. Recently, I got a group email regarding that first trip to East Africa, lo' those many years ago. In response to it, someone sent out a picture that was taken of us at Lake Naivasha in November of that year (yours truly, front row, center) which has been such a fun trigger of memories from that time and a welcome seed for lots of daydreaming about my return trip.