July 20, 2008
Mission accomplished! Got up to Flag at about noon on Saturday. First stop, Marttan's for a late breakfast. Had the spicy posole and a side of guac like a good boy. Really excellent. The cook (one of the owners) said to say hi to Thomas Charles. We said we would do just that next month when we go visit him in Peru.

Next stop, the Snow Bowl at 9,500 feet above sea level. I had on my heart monitor watch and we parked the car and took off across the upper ski runs. My heart did great, hitting 106 at the max while Kathy was hitting the 130s (she bought a second heart monitor watch for a baseline comparison).

Very cloudy and cool. A few sprinkles. Came down off the mountain and went to the Wine Loft on San Francisco and had a $30 half-bottle of Champagne from Champagne, France (or, so the guy said). Really good. Sat on a couch on the second floor and looked out at the magnificent clouds. Great time.

High about eighty, lows in the fifties. Nirvana for a flatlander from Hell.

Ended up at Busters for dinner, the Quality Inn for the night. Spent $45 on the meal and $116 on the room.

Got up this morning and hiked the NAU campus with my heart monitor (phase two of the test). Never went above 90. The training and the diet have paid off. I think I'll survive the high mountains of Peru. We leave in two weeks.

Got into it with a lesbian in the parking lot of the Quality Inn on Saturday evening. She was unpacking her pickup and placing everything in an empty space. I pulled up to take the open parking space (they were quite rare at sunset on a Saturday night) and leaned out the window and said, "Sorry," and she said, "No, you're not." Saw her later in the lobby with her partner and it seemed obvious to me she wore the pants in the relationship. I told Kathy, "it must be hard to be the dick in a relationship and not have one." Later, on the walk I confessed, "It's hard enough having one, but I can't imagine not having one and acting like I had one, that would be hard on me." She didn't laugh and I didn't push it since it was a pretty lame joke.

Hard on me? Hey, I had a heart attack. It's the lack of oxygen.

"To stoop to jokes about sexual organs is the last bastion of the immature male."
—The Nelson Mandela Fella