Well, here we are, January. Wait, that’s not right, February. This year is off to a record start and I can’t believe I’m already 1/12 of the way through it already. January has been a crazy, yet awesome whirlwind experience. Wait, so was December. Wow, I’m behind.

So, December was packed with my usual excursion to Oklahoma City. We had a great Preachers’ Study, which I still need to get edited and posted on-line. The New Year’s Meeting was good too, and I really enjoyed it. I got to meet some new friends: a family that started attending at Edmond, and two awesome Australians: Jim and Bonny. Also got to see a lot of old friends again. It was a great way to end the year.

January was crazy busy too. I started a new job at Classy Llama Studios. It’s an awesome group of people that love what they do and are just a blast to be around. We develop e-commerce websites with Magento and are generally awesome. I’ll probably be making a few posts about Magento as I start working in it more and start to learn the ins and outs.

I got behind on my rock climbing because of all the crazy, but I did manage to get down to Rocktown in Oklahoma City while I was there. It’s a set of grain silos that’s been converted into a climbing gym. It was a pretty awesome, but cold experience. I’ll have to try and dig up some photos to share. I’m also finally back to a semi-regular schedule at Big Rock. I hope the weather gets better soon so that I can start going to Arkansas regularly.

I also picked up an EMT class. It’s been keeping me pretty busy after work, but it will be a good set of skills to have in times of disaster.

Since this year is shaping up to be one of the busiest in quite a while, I’m going to be trying to get better organized to make the most of my time. I’m starting with cleaning up the house. I’m going to try to just take it one room at a time and get rid of junk I don’t need to try and get things simplified.

Well, I probably better leave it there for now. I’ll try to have some kind of updates on here as time permits. Until then, stay classy.

Even though my fall goal is officially complete I wanted to give a little update on my latest accomplishment. I cleanly sent a strong 5.9 overhang on lead. I’m real happy about finally getting it under my belt and look forward to even better climbs in the future. It took a couple attempts to complete though, and the first round ended in a 4-6 meter whipper that got me woke up good.

Also, I’ll throw this out there real quick. I’m a finalist in the Achieving Autumn promotion at Dynamic Earth. I would appreciate a vote (like) on my entry. You can also take a look at my Achieving Autumn page for more details on my goal. Thanks for following my adventures along the way.

Great news! I took a trip to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Saturday with Matt and we got to do some awesome outdoor routes. I on-sighted a 5.7 and two 5.8s. I sent Green Goblin (5.8) the first try, but it wasn’t clean. I had to stop and rest for a few seconds about half-way up the 65 foot route. The sandstone was nice to climb and had a good feel and grip to it. Also, I lead climbed all four routes that day.

It feels good to have accomplished my goal and even learned to lead climb in the process. The month isn’t over yet either. I’m hoping to lead climb a nice overhung 5.9 in the gym either by the end of the month, or early December.

Megan finally got her belay certification Monday night and on-sighted her first ever route! It’s the same 5.6 that I learned to lead climb on. She did a great job for her first night on the walls. I really look forward to climbing/bouldering with her in the future.

I think this is one hobby that will stick with me for years to come. I’ve enjoyed everything about climbing so far. I’ve made wonderful progress in a short time, and gained more strength than I ever did in the gym. There have also been several new friends gained along the way; and, I’ve managed to get existing friends interested in climbing as well. It’s great sport for teamwork and friendship since you have to trust each other with your lives and we’re helping push each other to greater heights instead of competing with each other.

Big thanks go out to Dynamic Earth for the gear and motivation to get started. The guys over at Big Rock Climbing Gym are some of the best coaches, friends, and motivators I had along the way. The Take A Hike group is highly awesome as well and has some awesome, friendly climbers. Everyone I met at the gym was super friendly and fun to climb with. I learned a lot from all you guys/gals. Finally, big shout-out to Megan and Matt for being my main bouldering/climbing/belay buddies and helping motivate me to finish off this goal in style.