Elevation: 19,340 feet (5,895 meters)
Location: Tanzania, east Africa
First Ascent: Hans Meyer (Germany), Yoanas Kinyala Lauwo (Tanzania), and Ludwig Purtscheller (Austria) on October 5, 1889.

Fast Facts:

• The meaning and origin of the name Kilimanjaro is unknown. It is thought to be a combination of the Swahili word Kilima, meaning “mountain,” and the KiChagga word Njaro, loosely translated as “whiteness,” giving the name White Mountain. The name Kibo in KiChagga means “spotted” and refers to rocks seen on snowfields. The name Uhuru translates as “freedom,” a name given to commemorate Tanzanian independence from Great Britain in 1961.
• Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and fourth highest of the Seven Summits, is considered the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, rising 15,100 feet (4,600 meters) from base to summit.
• Kilimanjaro is composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo 19,340 feet (5,895 meters); Mawenzi 16,896 feet (5,149 meters); and Shira 13,000 feet (3,962 meters). Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo’s crater rim.
• Kilimanjaro is a giant stratovolcano that began forming a million years ago when lava spilled from the Rift Valley zone. The mountain was built by successive lava flows. Two of its three peaks—Mawenzi and Shira—are extinct while Kibo, the highest peak is dormant and could erupt again. The last major eruption was 360,000 years ago, while the most recent activity was only 200 years ago.
• Kilimanjaro has 2.2 square kilometers of glacial ice and is losing it quickly due to global warming. The glaciers have shrunk 82% since 1912 and declined 33% since 1989. It may be ice free within 20 years, dramatically affecting local drinking water, crop irrigation, and hydroelectric power.
• Kilimanjaro lies within the 756-square-kilometer Kilimanjaro National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is one of the few places on earth that encompasses every ecological life zone including tropical jungle, savannah, and desert to montane forests, subalpine plants, and the alpine zone above timberline.
• Kilimanjaro was first climbed on October 5, 1889 by German geologist Hans Meyer, Marangu scout Yoanas Kinyala Lauwo, and Austrian Ludwig Purtscheller. After reaching the summit, Meyer later wrote that they gave “three ringing cheers, and in virtue of my right as its first discoverer christened this hitherto unknown—the loftiest spot in Africa and the German Empire—Kaiser Wilhelm’s Peak.”
• Kilimanjaro has five common routes to its highest summit: Marangu Route; Machame Route; Rongai Route; Lemosho Route; and Mweka Route. Machame and Lemosho routes are popular and scenic. Marangu is easiest and busy although the last ascent to the crater rim is difficult.
• Climbing Kilimanjaro is easy and requires no technical climbing or mountaineering experience. The biggest challenge and danger is the high altitude. Climbers die from improper acclimatization and altitude sickness rather than falls.
• Kilimanjaro is not a peak you can climb on your own. It is mandatory to climb with a licensed guide and have porters carry your equipment. This sustains the local economy and allows local people to reap the rewards of tourism.
• The fastest verified ascent time was by Italian Bruno Brunod in 2001. He climbed Uhuru Peak from Marangu Gate in 5 hours, 38 minutes, and 40 seconds. The fastest round-trip time was by local guide Simon Mtuy who ran up and down on December 26, 2004 in 8 hours and 27 minutes.
• Mount Meru, a 14,980-foot volcanic cone, lies 45 miles west of Kilimanjaro. It is an active volcano; has a snowcap; lies in Arusha National Park; and is often climbed as a training peak for Kilimanjaro.

-Climbing.About.Com

So what are your songs of the moment?

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Like I said in my first post, this blog would be quite sporadic. Anyways, it seems that there is much to update people on, not really. I just haven’t posted in a month, pretty much everything else is the same.

Well to begin with, I’m now 24 years old!!! I know, I know, what a huge accomplishment. To make it in this sick, sad, world to 24 years of age is a big deal. How come I don’t feel any different? Haha. I have to say, this birthday was a pretty good one. My boss and his wife got me some killer stuff from Williams Sonoma which made me really happy. Then my parents got me a new tennis racket! I’ve been looking around for a decent one for a few months now, I just never got around to buying it. To top it off, my brother got me the TomTom Go930. This thing is amazing and I’ve been using it everyday. It’s basically a cell phone, GPS, iPod, and secretary all in one package. It even reads out text messages from my phone through the speakers of the car! How awesome is that?!??!

To celebrate my birthday, I went to NYC and met up with a few friends. Kept it low key, just how I like it

As per my everyday life, I’ve been working a lot, but I love it. Yes, I’m at the office at all weird hours, but I really do enjoy what I’m doing right now and I hope this trend continues. I remember waking up some mornings when I was at my previous job, and I would just not want to go in. So far, that hasn’t happened with this new position. I might still be in the honeymoon phase so we’ll see…

Being at the office a lot means I don’t get to watch a lot of TV. However, Semmie mailed me some DVD’s of this show “Weeds.” I have to say, it is quite entertaining and I am addicted to the show, go figure.

The most exciting news I have, is that my brother and I will be trekking Mount Kilimanjaro starting February 16th, 2009!!!! I am so excited. We booked our flight this past Friday and I can’t wait until we get there. We leave for Tanzania on February 13th and get back on the 26th. After the climb, we are going on Safari and I hope to see some big game! We’re booking through this great adventure agency, BootsnAll Travels. They’ve been extremely helpful and accommodating . It is pricey, but it will well be worth it!! Well, that’s all I have for now. I am off to the gym!

It’s funny how things turn out the way they do. I didn’t have a job for awhile and that was just a bit stressful but I was okay with it. Then I finally get to work with great people and enjoy what I’m doing, and my car breaks down. So with the bad comes the good, and good comes the bad. With that said, I introduce you to…

2008 Nissan Altima Coupe

The office is in a beautiful area of New Jersey (yes, it’s possible) and is quite large. There are two large classrooms, a lounge for the students, a lounge for the parents, an office for the founder, and then an office I currently share with the Executive Assistant…

Currently, I am learning the ropes of the business and designing the company website, which is definitely a work in progress (www.ChoEducators.com) Although I’ve only been there for a few days, I know this will go very far. The people are great and I get along with everyone. I’m lucky to be doing something that I’ve wanted to for awhile.

On another note, my car has been acting really shady so I guess it’s time to start looking at other options. We’ll see what happens

So this past weekend, I went to Finger Lakes with a bunch of old friends and some new. Overall, the weekend was a blast. We started late Friday night since I had things to do during the day, Julie had to get home from work, and Valeria came down from the city so she could ride with us. Some reason, in all of our minds, we thought that the ride would only be about an hour long. However, after 6 hours of driving, we finally made it to the beautiful lake house. Amara and some of her friends were already there so we chatted it up for awhile. Then the rest of the crew came and we pretty much called it a night…

Saturday morning, we got up early to go on a Winery Tour organized by Amara. She had a driver take us to 6 of the great wineries up there. Needless to say, by the 3rd winery, I was pretty much done for. We got home around 5pm and we all took a nap. After getting up, we had a great BBQ meal and drank some more.

Sunday was probably my favorite day since Amara got us a nice boat!! BTW, Amara is amazing We took the boat out for the whole day and despite some problems it was a blast. The best part of the day was probably the ride back to the Marina when Priya, Eric, and I went as fast as possible and hit every wave we could. Drove back Monday and started my awesome new job on Tuesday!

The Joker

If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet, my simple advice to you is to go see it as soon as you can.

Even if you aren’t a comicbook or Batman fan, this movie has something for everyone. For once, here is an action movie that is plot driven and not merely a bunch of unnecessary explosion sequences…

In my opinion, Christopher Nolan really does exploit the evils of humanity and the choices that we must make daily as a society. The Dark Knight is a dark and complex film that will make you think about the world around you.

Why am I saying so little about this film? Simply because any words I say will not do it justice. Go see it for yourself, preferably in IMAX.

The first day there, we went to all the casino’s and I saw what Atlantic City had to offer. What I can say is that I’m glad that we stayed where we did, and needless to say, we spent most of the weekend at the Tropicana. The other hotel-casino’s were not impressive and they were merely filled with elders smoking and gambling their lives away (go figure). Anyway, we had three goals in mind: find deep fried oreos, gamble a bit, and drink.

After walking on the boardwalk for what seemed like hours, we finally found a little shop with deep fried Oreo’s. I was a bit hesitant to try them but Joe kept insisting. Before we even sat down, a keen seagull grabbed one right off the plate. We quickly took cover under an umbrella table and I bit into one. What can I say, despite the feeling of pure gluttony, fried Oreo’s are AMAZING! Next task at hand was gambling and I was a bit nervous so I watched Joe play Black Jack for awhile. Even though it wasn’t my money, playing at the Casino’s can be intense. I could only imagine how fast Joe’s heart was racing as he was down and trying to get back up. However, Joe is a pro and he more than doubled his money in a few minutes time, his weekend was basically free. I must say, that I did gamble and made over 40 times what I put in. Going out to drink in Atlantic City can be tricky. It seems that most people there are either with family, older, or just not fun to hang out with. One bar we walked into was just creepy and I had to leave, just wasn’t feeling right. On a plus side, I had one of the best Mojito’s ever and ended the night with a nice buzz.

So this is the first official post. Basically, I had some time to kill and I’ve always enjoyed messing around with webpages. It brings a tear to my eye when I think about my first geocities website.

Anyways, I’ve been out of the game for quite a while so I thought I’d take a shot at it again. I plan to post on here whenever I feel the need to. So I can’t promise a daily, weekly, or even monthly update. I’m sure as things pick up, I’ll create a subscription option for those that want it. Now I’m done with my rant!!!