Yes, I am still alive, but the past few days have been simultaneously really good and really stupid—hence the silence. The latter half, of course, has been entirely my fault and I'll spare you the details. As for the former, here we go. I'm really psyched about this summer job. It's a web development/publications internship with the academic computing department here. I get to pay tribute to the Adobe and Macromedia gods and play with computers all day. Well, not in the hardcore way, but still. Now I'm looking into places to live. There's a co-op on campus that's not owned by the university called, due to its frat origins, Chi Theta Chi, or a bunch of co-op houses about 2 miles from campus owned by a guy who named them after Grateful Dead songs and are hence called the Dead Houses. Either way, fun stuff.

I'll also get to play ultimate—whee! Some of the D.O.C. guys who'll be in the area this summer are putting together a team to play in the co-ed Peninsula Sports Club league, which should be lots of fun in addition to being good for me. I really gotta master some throws on top of the backhand.

But this afternoon, I'll get to leave all of this behind. I'm leading—yes, leading—a backpacking trip to Henry Coe as part of the Stanford Outdoor Outreach Program. The students will be from Gateway High School, a charter school in San Francisco. Matt, my co-leader (I run into too many Matts in this world), has met them, and said they're really fantastic. I'm so excited. My overriding concern, though, is they are what I was just last year. They'll probably be taller than me. Have seen more things. Been to more places. Had more parties. Learned more lessons. I can handle that, though. Rather, nature will handle that for me: removed from their familiar environments, I'm hoping that everything will be on a level playing ground. I can't wait. This'll be the first time I get to formally share my own little store of knowledge, and here's to winning lots of converts to being dirty, sweaty, and 5 miles away from air conditioning. We leave at noon, so wish me luck!