That was my time for a mile in the race this weekend down 5th Avenue. In some respects a mile that fast was harder than the marathon. Headed out to Redmond, Washington to visit the boys at Microsoft at the MVP Summit. Should have some good stories to tell in the old blog while I am out there.

This Sunday I am going to see the Dalai Lama speak at Rutgers University. The topic is “Peace, War, and Reconciliation.” I am curious to see how he approaches the topic of China and Tibet.

 

Not being a fan of Richard Gere I do find the Chinese occupation of Tibet wrong. I can say this having visited the region several times and spending a lot of time there making friends with the locals in Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. I hope the Dali Lama speaks to this.

Three and a half years ago I scaled my first peak in the Catskills and was hooked to get into the exclusive Catskill 3500 club. The 3500 club is someone who has climbed all 35 peaks of 3500 feet elevation in the Catskills, including 4 of them twice in the winter. You may say, that is easy, but considering that 18 or so of them are trail less and the Catskills can have a foot of snow as early as October 1 and as late as May 1.

 

Well I did it! It did take me long enough since I got diverted by the mountains in Bhutan, Machu Picchu, Everest, Denali, Mt. Rainer (twice), Kilimanjaro and a marathon in some strange land of Antarctica.

 

So in all of those crazy treks, Nepal is my favorite country (people, scenery, Buddhist culture), Rainer is my favorite, and Kilimanjaro is the one most likely to do more than once.

 

In the Catskills, I would do almost any of the mountains over again (and will do a bunch this winter) and most likely will start climbing some peaks in the White Mountain Range in NH.

 

So here are the peaks:

 

2002:

Slide (2/9)

Balsam (2/24)

Hunter (6/2)

Southwest Hunter (6/2)

Black Dome (9/8)

Thomas Cole (9/8)

Blackhead (9/8)

Whindham High Peak (9/28)

Graham (9/29)

Balsam Lake (9/29)

Panther (11/10)

Panther (12/29)

 

2003:

Blackhead (1/12)

Big Indian (3/13)

Eagle (3/13)

Westkill (3/23)

Table (4/19)

Peekamoose (4/19)

Indian Head (10/4)

Twin (10/4)

Sugarloaf (10/4)

Pleatu (10/4)

Katterskill High Peak (10/25)

Bearpen (10/26)

Vly (10/26)

Slide (11/16)

Wittenberg (11/16)

Cornell (11/16)

North Dome (12/28)

Sherill (12/28)

 

2004:

Balasm (1/4)

Lone (9/22)

Rocky (9/22)

Doubletop (9/25)

Fir (11/27)

 

2005:

Balsam Cap (5/15/05)

Friday (5/15/05)

Rusk (7/16/05)

Halcott (09/17/05)

 

Back from China and ready to start the fall marathon season in New York along with the usual list of conferences, MVP Summits and the like.

 

A very quick synopsis on China, well it was pretty cool. Got to experience communism first hand (and made me not take for granted the freedoms I have as an American) and see some amazing historical, religious and cultural areas. I met so many everyday Chinese people, very excited to practice their English talking with me for hours and exchanging views and ideas.

 

While I went to several places in China (Beijing, Datong, Dunhuang, Xi’am, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau), I have to say two places really stuck out for me.

 

 

First is the Great Wall. It lives up to its reputation. It is steep, vast and goes on and on and on. I kept climbing on up, seeing in the distance a watchtower and figured to myself “well this watchtower should be the last one, I can then view over the other side of the mountain.” Then when I got there, there were just more and more and more. A truly amazing experience.

 

Second is the Yungang Caves, just outside of Datong in the Shanxi Province. These caves were carved out of a mountain by Buddhists 1500 years ago (yes 1500) and are a very special place-it was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. Started in 450 AD, Yungang is a relic of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). It is a combination of Chinese and  Indian Gandhara Buddhist art. Chinese are not like the Buddhists in other parts of SouthEast Asia that are Theravada, the Chinese are Mahayana.

 

Anyway, I saw a ton of other great stuff, but don’t want to bore you all with the details. Time to get back to the Model View Controller Design pattern…..