For the motorcycle course, I need full-finger gloves, preferably leather, and boots that cover the ankle bone. I have some fine work gloves from my blacksmithing class (delightfully grimy with forgeblack), but I needed boots. I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and get hiking boots, but after trying some stuff on and being more clear about my needs, Jim at Redwood Trading Post hooked me up with this fine pair of cop-style uniform boots. Well, SWAT-style. You get the idea.

Much as I'm loathe to think it, as more information comes out about the British bombing plot, the no-liquids prohibition starts to look like a sensible precaution as long as they think there are other conspirators around (though in truth, it's a complicated enough plan that anyone not yet arrested will be in hiding if they have half a brain). Still, one wonders if perhaps the consequences of the flight restrictions have not been fully thought out.

I've missed seeing the girl this week. I'll see her tomorrow, but I'll have to work better at this in the future.

I'm being pretty strict about my diet again. The energy of the road trip was such that I could eat almost anything with impunity: constantly on the move, always doing something, and being unrooted from home and routine meant a much greater tolerance for the physical and emotional weights of the foods I eat. But Wednesday I treated myself to one of my favorite foods, enchiladas covered in a reduced sour cream pepper sauce. Vacation's over: my brain and body more or less stopped working at the same time, and combined with the heat in the mid- to high 90s, I couldn't do much except stare into space for the next 24 hours. (I can fight past that feeling if there's an emergency or anything, but...there never really is.) So, chicken shawerma for lunch today, and pasta with sauce and portabello mushroom sausage for dinner. And I'm feeling much better.

When packing for Colorado, I got frustrated with the amount of pure crap I have, because I couldn't find stuff. I'm a bit of a pack rat, but I try to stick to things that I'm pretty sure I'll need or use eventually, and in digging out all my camping gear and everything, I discovered that a lot of what I own doesn't meet that criterion any more. So much stuff to get rid of.