The joys of pre-op

I'm allowing myself a bit of a training break this weekend as I prepare for my colonoscopy tomorrow.  Today I am restricted to a diet of clear liquids: water, coffee, tea, broth, sodas, apple juice, Gatorade, Koolaid.  I can also have Jello, popsicles, and hard candy if I want.  No non-clear liquids, like milk.  And nothing that's red or purple in color--apparently that'll make the inside of my colon look all bloody.  I can only imagine the alarm bells and cries of Red Alert! Red Alert! that would set off in the doctor's office.

This weekend a rock-climbing and mountaineering legend is visiting Memphis: the one and only Conrad Anker.  The main purpose of his visit was to teach some classes at the Memphis Rox climbing gym yesterday afternoon.  For the rest of the weekend he's just checking out the sights.  He's staying with my friends Joe and Carol Lee, and yesterday morning we took him paddling on the Mississippi.  I shared a tandem surf ski with Carol Lee while Joe and Conrad paddled a tandem touring boat.  Joe shot this photo of Conrad in his bow; that's Carol Lee and me off to the left:

I had fun paddling with Carol Lee.  She paddles tandem with Joe all the time and has no trouble following the bow paddler's stroke.  The ski we paddled was one of those stable V8 models that Epic Kayaks makes, and when some barge rigs came by and created some big waves she was all-in with my desire to dive in there and play.  Maybe I should consider taking her out to the Columbia Gorge as my tandem partner next summer.