Luckily, there is one in town - SOLO Wilderness First Aid Course (WFA) presented by Central Arizona Mountain Rescue Association (CAMRA) a partner of SOLO Schools.

We immediately signed up for the 16-hour long, 2-Day WFA Certification Course and try to learn as much as we can about WFA. The classes were held at North Mountain Visitor Center. The classes focus on the basic skills of: Response and Assessment, Musculoskeletal Injuries, Environmental Emergencies, Survival Skills, Soft Tissue Injuries, and Medical Emergencies.

One of our instructors, Mike Englund, offered lots of on the field rescue examples to explain how important it is to have these basic skills to self rescue or help others.

We spend lots of time in the classroom going over the literature, then we will do outdoor hands on training to see if we can run through the essentials of things to look for to help someone who might be in need of a rescue or as simple of some water.

The course covers mostly situations in the desert that deals with heat and dehydration and we learn to recognize if someone is in shock.

We both passed the written test and earned our 2 Year WFA certifications. Now we just have to sign up for First Aid/CPR and other wilderness survival course~

I am fortunate to meet my soulmate, Jeremy, who supports and encourages me to try new sports and be more active. He loves me for me and I am lucky to have someone to share my passion for outdoor activities.

Today, I came across a beautiful documentary, The Eighth Parallel by a pro mountain biker/film maker, Darcy Turenne. It is a 28 minute short film shot in Bali and Java, Indonesia. The cinematography is fantastic and I love the soundtrack. Take a short break from work and enjoy this~

We went to Fry’s last week for grocery shopping and I saw the Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color – Light Intense Auburn R3. It states that it is designed specifically for naturally dark color hair.

Like most Asians, my hair is really dark and thick in volume. My hair is medium in texture but it does not really take in color very well. So I normally have to leave hair dye in for 2+ hours to get some color… which is really bad for my hair.

Jeremy was promoting me to try it, so we got two boxes since from previous experience I need to use double or sometimes triple the amount for the amount of hair I have plus the length. There was even one time I used two boxes and needed a third so Jeremy had to run out and get me another box.

I had already tried to lighten my hair color with Kao Prettia Soft Bubble Hair Color in Sweet Pink a few days ago, and ended up not really liking the color too much. It ended up looking a little too flat against my complexion, so I am looking forward to give it a little more boost.

This series is exclusively designed for naturally dark hair people to get a intense red color. It does not work on hair that has been colored to a black or dark brown shade. Also not recommended for predominantly gray hair.

The mixing of the chemical is pretty standard, easy to follow instruction and a pretty good quality set of latex gloves, not the thin, cheap plastic ones.

As soon as I saw the main bottle, I know I needed a second box so I was glad we got two. One box was enough to cover about 2/3 of my hair. Since I have already lighten my hair to more of a medium brown, the red really showed through, almost exactly like they showed on the box. I had several highlights from some bleaching done last year, so I ended up with some really bright red highlights, which was a happy accident.

I think a combination of this product designed specifically for dark hair and I have already lighten my hair a little a few days ago, helped with the really impressive result for just one hour of coloring time.

It was really messy doing this by myself, it would have been much easier to have this done by Jeremy or a friend. It also had a strong smell, so some people might not like that.

It took me about 15 – 20 minutes to rinse the chemical out of my hair and it still was not completely clear… I assume that is what it takes to get this intense red for dark hair. The conditioner that came with it was not bad, but it definitely left my hair much healthier compared to the Kao hair dye.

I highly recommend this to my fellow dark hair peeps, but I don’t know how the color would fade and how long the color will last. So I am curious to find out.

Here are the before and after photos.

Before: Right after I colored with Kao Prettia Soft Bubble Hair Color in Sweet Pink

After: The second day of coloring with Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color – Light Intense Auburn R3

by nooccar

This year we attended our first No Pants Light Rail Ride. This is the 3rd Annual No Pants Light Rail Ride by Improv AZ. This is also part of The No Pants Subway Ride, which is a global event started by Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002.

Here’s the info Improv AZ gave us on their Facebook page for the event.

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REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

1. Willing to take pants off on light rail.
2. Able to keep a straight face about it.

**THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY EVENT. DO NOT SHOW UP UNLESS YOU PLAN TO TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF. THIS INCLUDES THE MEDIA! **

DETAILS:
When: Sunday, January 9 at 2:00 PM Sharp! (Over by around 4:00)
Bring: A backpack and a fare card.
Wear: Normal clothes (hat, jacket, etc)
Mid Party: There will be a mostly unofficial gathering at Robbie Fox’s Pub at the midway point

WHERE:

There are three starting points – choose whichever one is closest to you:
WEST SIDE – Start: Montebello/19th Ave
MID-TOWN – Start: Central/Roosevelt
EAST SIDE – Start: Sycamore/Main
END AT: Mill Ave/3rd Street (then head South to Robbie Fox’s (more info below))

HOW IT WORKS:

Be at the West Side or East Side starting point station and ready to board the train at 2:00pm sharp. It is the same time for both stops. Be early if you need to, especially if you need to buy a light rail pass.

Watch for Team Leaders (identified by a red bandana tied to their bag): The Team Leaders may try to split people into small groups to board different trains, depending how many people show up.

Show up in your underwear! Unlike in the past, we’re not waiting to depants on the train. If you’re depantsing once you arrive, bring a backpack, briefcase, or something else to carry them in. You are responsible for your own pants.

Act normal – Stay with your group. Sit in the car like you normally would. Read a magazine, listen to your iPod, etc. You do not know any of the other pantless riders. If questioned, tell folks that you “forgot to wear pants” and yes you are “a little cold.” Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants. Be nice and friendly and normal.

Do not tell people you are doing a prank! You don’t really notice anything odd about people not wearing pants.

We will have photographers on hand to take pictures documenting the event. We need everyone else to just act casual. If you bring a camera, be very discrete and only take a few. It’s supposed to look like a normal train ride.

You can wear fun underwear if you like, but nothing that screams out, “I wore this because I’m doing a silly stunt.” Wear two pairs of underwear if it makes you feel more comfortable. Don’t wear a thong or anything else that might offend people. Our aim is to make people laugh, not piss them off.

Don’t disrupt the Light Rail – While the Phoenix Police Department said that wearing your underwear in public isn’t illegal, don’t do anything dumb. All responsibility for your actions during this event are entirely your own.

Disembark at the Mill Ave station and head south. Stop by Starbuck’s for a coffee if you wish, but eventually make your way down Mill to 6th Street and hang a right. Head into Robbie Fox’s Pub where they will have some space set aside for us.

At 4:00 start heading back to the Mill Ave station and ride back to where you got on. Try to stay with your group, but if you need to leave earlier (or want to stay later) that’s entirely up to you. The same rules apply as above.

Last year was a lot of fun and we’re anticipating more people in 2011! Spread the word and tell your friends, just make sure they read all the rules!

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We had Jeremy’s dad drop the 5 of us off at the East side (Sycamore/Main) station. There was already a big crowd of pantsless participants waiting at the station. Everyone was trying to act normal, and lots of people who did not know what was going on just mostly point and smiles. A few asked what this was about.

The train ride was fun, our group had a musician playing guitar and had the whole crowd singing. My favorite was the “free balling” song. HAHA…

Then the most scary/fun part was walking down the busy street of Mill Ave to Robbie Fox’s Pub. We got people honking, whistling, cheering, laughing and just baffled by the pantsless group of people. Jeremy even went in a store and asked if they would sell pants to us pantsless folks to see how the staff would react.

It was a really fun and refreshing experience, and we will definitely do it again next year~