Here we go again...Scott the kavorka

Greetings from South Lake Tahoe.

This week, I'll be attending and will be one of the presenters at the Association of College and University Printers conference.

It'll be a typical conference week. Early breakfast, morning meetings, visits with vendors, lunch, afternoon sessions, dinner, and some sort of local activity.

2017 ACUP Conference

I'm sure it will be educational and fun. These types of conferences are also an opportunity for me to measure my shop at Sacred Heart University against some of the big schools. For the record, I believe my shop is one of the top in the country and we are fortunate to have recently moved into the former GE world headquarters location (now called SHU's West Campus).

This recent move to a newly remodeled facility not only increased

New HQ West Campus SHUPAD

our footprint, but I'm sure once I lay out the photos of the new digs for my fellow attendees, we will be the envy of all. With that said, I am impressed with the way Arizona State University operates their print shop.

In other words, I'm looking forward to this week, but it's not until the end of the week that things will get interesting.

I've extended my trip by two days to briefly meet with my pal, Scott Snyder. Scott lives in Tracy, California (a mere 3 hour drive from Tahoe) and has agreed to meet me on Thursday morning and then spend time with me until I catch a red eye flight at midnight on Friday.

There are only a handful of people who are able to influence me to do something I don't necessarily want to do.

One of those people is Scott. I've known Scott since we were the last kindergarten class at the old St. Mary's School. I guess that would be 1968, so Scott and I have been friends for just over 50 years.

Kramer the kavorka

If you've ever seen the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has this hold over females, you might understand the point I'm going to make about Scott. In the episode, a Latvian Orthodox nun gets ready to leave the church because Kramer has the "kavorka," a Latvian word for "the lure of the animal," meaning women can't help themselves over him.

Scott has some variation of the kavorka over me. He has the lure of the animal and I can't say no to him. Before people start whispering, I feel I need to explain this last sentence.

I am a rational guy. I did a lot of wild things when I was young that I don't do anymore. I'm actually kind of boring. I know what I like and even members of my family can't get me to do things if I'm not willing.

I generally don't deviate too much from my routine. I have a small circle of friends and I'm perfectly content to do the things I enjoy with them and my family.

Here's some examples. I love the beach. Some of my fondest memories while living in California were spent at the beach. What I don't like is getting to and from the beach. I don't like crowded beaches, unkept beaches, and generally East Coast beaches. I get grumpy when I go to our local beaches because I was spoiled during my time in California.

I love vacations. I like seeing new things and going on new adventures. I like staying in  nice hotels with air conditioning and all the amenities, I normally can't get or afford when I'm not on vacation.

I love concerts and big time sporting events, but will not go to them because the price and the crowds have gotten out of control. Even if I am given free passes, I hesitate because I find I just don't enjoy the whole going to and coming from experience.

I hope that by giving a few examples I've demonstrated that I generally do my own thing and am content in doing so.

Which brings me back to Scott the kavorka.

Scott and I talked before I headed west. "Arturo, you Animal. Are you ready for a killer hike," he asked. Scott has picked up a lot of California slang and the preceding is a true portrait of how he talks.

Mt. Whitney summit

Let's flashback to three years ago when Scott talked me into hiking Mt. Whitney (the highest summit in the lower 48 states at an elevation of 14,505 feet) in a single day. If you recall we hiked up 11 miles to the summit, and then turned around and hiked 11 miles back down to the base camp in a total time of 18 hours. In my mind, normal people just don't do that sort of thing.

When he told me about Mt. Whitney, I read two books, watched several videos, hit the treadmill, and went on solo weekend hikes throughout New England for eight months. After all that training, I still limped the eleven miles down as both my knees were throbbing in pain.

I do have an awesome memory of that excursion and nobody can take that from me.

"What do you have planned for me this time," I asked.

"We're going to do an eleven mile hike on the Rubicon trail which is fairly easy, just so we can get our legs under us," he replied.

I listened. I knew it would be something "outdoorsy," so I wasn't surprised.

He continued, "We'll do that on Thursday morning and then we'll camp out Thursday night."

"Great, I'm going from a room in a resort to camping in a tent," I thought.

"Bring something warm, Arturo, because it'll probably be in the 30's."

Scott the kavorka

Scott wasn't done though. "On Friday, we'll get up early and we're going to climb Pyramid Peak. It'll be awesome, it's only seven miles up and back, but there's over a 4,000 foot elevation gain," he said. "I hope you're in shape, Arturo. This is going to be awesome. In fact, we might need to get snowshoes, because we're going to be up over 10,000 feet."

The kavorka did it to me again. I agreed to the itinerary.

For this upcoming expedition, I've trained for about a month. When I say I've trained, I mean that I've hit the treadmill three times a week and tried to do some local hikes to "get my legs." My longest hike this season has been three miles and I was winded.

I decided to look up Pyramid Peak on the All Trails application. The following caught my eye:

Amazing view from the top!!!!!! This trail is very Difficult and Is only recommended for very seasoned hikers. The last couple hundred feet is Class 3 shambling and involves climbing up boulders as big as a minivan. An injury here will mean that you will need to be air lifted out!!! Luckily my google pixel had 3g here on Verizon network and lte most of the way up.

 I would not recommend this hike to those with bad backs or knee issues as this hike is incredibly steep the whole way and you really feel it on your knees on the way down.

Another thing to note is that with the peak almost at 10,000 feet up you really feel the altitude I was in great shape being 20 years old and running Cross Country and I found my self stopping every 20 feet or less to catch my breath and even more so often on the boulders.

Hmm, I think I'll look a little closer at this review.

• Very difficult and seasoned hikers. - I do not fall into this category.
• Class 3 shambling and boulders as big as minivans. - Not familiar with Class 3 shambling but it doesn't sound good. I am familiar with minivans.
• Air lifted out. - Not an option. Even if I get injured, I'm walking down. I would never live that down.
• Not recommended for those with bad backs or knees. It looks like my knees are going to take a beating.
• A 20 year old cross country runner felt the altitude. - My asthma will likely kick in and I'm no 20 year old cross country runner.

Pyramid Peak

Okay, so the logical part of my mind says to just say no. In fact, every bit of common sense I possess says to not go on this hike.

Knowing all this, I'm afraid that there's nothing I can do. Scott the kavorka has a hold over me. I can't say no.

I suppose I need to look at why I can't say no. I think it might have to do with the fact that Scott is one of the few people left who still calls me "Arturo the Animal." To be clear, in high school it was simply Arturo...Scott added the animal part.

You can call it peer pressure, but "Arturo the Animal" never wanted to disappoint. He did things in the interest of making others laugh. He did illogical things, stupid things, immature things, sophomoric things (take a look at last week's dancing post to see my point) all in the interest of being funny.

My mother remembers my days as "Arturo the Animal." We used to have arguments that I was an animal. She would say, "you got the A right, but it stands for asshole." I digress.

On Thursday and Friday while you're all going about your day, give pause and realize "Arturo the Animal/Asshole" will be struggling up some god-forsaken mountain located in California's Desolation Wilderness with Scott the kavorka beside him. His knees will be sore, he will be gasping for breath in the high altitude air as his exercise induced asthma kicks in while scaling minivan-sized boulders all in the name of entertaining you.

Peace.