More Summer Adventures

Dave says: We've had no shortage of great adventures this summer. Last weekend we did part of the Pacific Crest Trail out of Snoqualmie Pass for a 15 mile day that was one of our best recent hikes. This hike features some amazing views, a section on the spine of the mountain, and also the famous Katwalk where you hike along a trail blasted into the side of the mountain. We ended the trip at a small alpine lake (Ridge Lake) where we had some lunch before heading back down.

Last week I went to Philly for the annual Academy of Management meeting. It was an enjoyable conference that was much less stressful than last year in Orlando when I was on the job market. In addition to the conference events, I also got out for a little sight seeing with friends. We rode the double decker bus, walked down Philly's grand boulevard to the "Rocky" steps and art museum, and also toured a huge old prison called Eastern State Penitentiary which was quite an interesting historical site.

Alisha and I have also enjoyed some other smaller adventures such as visiting the Seattle Temple, picking blackberries by our house, riding our bikes around the city, and also hitting some cool mountain bike trails in our area like Tiger Mountain, and Grand Ridge.

Amazing! Summerland to Panhandle Gap Hiking

Alisha says: We have been itching to get to Mt. Rainier National Park and do some hiking. The hike I picked out for us I found on a web site that listed ten best day hikes in North America (by the end of the summer we will have hiked 5 of them). The sky was cloudy as we left the house bright and early and I was nervous that it was going to be cloudy all day and we would miss out on some great views but it turned out to be a spectacular day! The trail we hiked was the Summerland portion of the Wonderland trail to Panhandle Gap.

The first few miles was a gradual climb through the forest with a few sneak peaks of the peaks that were to come. Once we crossed frying pan creek and climbed some switchbacks we entered the beautiful Summerland meadows. Lots of wildflowers were in bloom.

After a quick rest stop and a snack the trail continued above the tree line. The next few miles were rocky old glacier fields. There were still some snow patches covering the trail, especially as we got closer to Panhandle Gap. Once at the Gap we still felt good so we decided to take a side trip to the edge of a plateau. We even saw a small group of goats that we followed for a little bit until they disappeared at our turn around spot which was the edge of a cliff. The views all along the way were absolutely spectacular. You feel like you are close to Mt. Rainier as you can see all the snow fields and glacier ice but it still towers another 7,000+ feet above you.

After enjoying the scenery for awhile. We began to trace our footsteps back down the trail. We found that it was easier and more efficient and not to mention just fun to sit and slide down some of the snowy parts. We found a perfect rock to have a little rest on just before the meadow. When we got back to the car we had put in 14 miles and couldn't stop talking about how great it was.

 Sneak peak of what's to come on the trail

 Summerland Meadow

 Snow crossings

 It was so beautiful

 Dave chasing the goats

 Mount Rainier!

Nap time

Fourth of July Week

Alisha says: Dave and I have been having a lot of fun exploring our new area. Almost everyday we have been on some kind of adventure or another. We try to balance out the week with road riding, mountain biking, running, hiking, and what we call urban assaulting (riding our hard tail 29 mountain bikes around urban areas exploring all of the parks and neighborhoods). 

Urban assault ride to Discovery Park and the Magnolia Neighborhood

A different urban assault ride through Ballard, Golden Garden Park, and Carkeek Park

A road ride along the Burke-Gilman trail with a loop around Kirkland

On the 4th of July we got up early and went mountain biking at Duthie Park and King Ridge

Hiking the Lime-Kiln Trail

The Huffington Post

Alisha says: The Huffington Post recently published an article that cited some of Dave's research.

Stealing A Pen At Work Could Turn You On To Much Bigger Crimes

The Huffington Post  | By Emily Cohn

Posted: 06/26/2014 10:11 am EDT Updated: 06/27/2014 8:59 am EDT

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Steal a pen from your office and you could find yourself on a path toward becoming the next Bernie Madoff.

That's the warning of a new study, called "The Slippery Slope: How Small Ethical Transgressions Pave The Way For Larger Future Transgressions," by David Welsh of the University of Washington, Lisa Ordóñez of the University of Arizona, Deirdre Snyder of Providence College, and Michael Christian of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to the study, which was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, minor unethical behavior at work, if undetected, puts workers on a "slippery slope" that could lead to worse behavior over time.

Stealing a pen is basically a gateway to massive corporate fraud.

To most of us, fairly innocuous sins like taking a pen from work or neglecting to refill the office coffee pot are much easier to justify than, say, racking up $2 billion in trading losses. But over time, the researchers found, those minor misdeeds make it easier to justify more and bigger evils in the long run.

If you're considering taking home a ream of copy paper, just think: doing so could land you behind bars with this guy.

“People rationalize their behavior to justify it,” Ordóñez, one of the study's authors, said in a press release. "They might think ‘No one got hurt,’ or ‘Everyone does it.’ The next time, they feel fine about doing something a little bit worse the next time and then commit more severe unethical actions.”

The researchers tested this theory by watching subjects in a number of different situations. One interesting experiment found that subjects who were given 25 cents for doing a minor unethical thing were much more likely to take $2.50 to do something more egregious later on than those who were offered $2.50 to do a big no-no at the start. According to the researchers, this shows that people are less likely to commit what they call "abrupt and large dilemmas" when they haven't already committed gradual, small transgressions.

The study cites Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history and spoke of this phenomenon to his longtime secretary, according to Vanity Fair:

“Well, you know what happens is, it starts out with you taking a little bit, maybe a few hundred, a few thousand. You get comfortable with that, and before you know it, it snowballs into something big.”

So what can you do to prevent yourself from becoming the next Jeff Skilling?

The researchers offer a number of tips to discourage the minor stuff, like putting in place a firm set of ethical guidelines and calling workers out for the small things, like taking home too many office supplies.

“The ideal is for employees to recognize when they’ve committed a minor transgression and check themselves," Michael S. Christian, one of the paper's co-authors, wrote.

Ward Camp Out

Alisha says: Last weekend we went to the ward camp out. It was held at a rustic lodge on some church owned property called Ensign Ranch. We had a good time getting to know a few people and since it was a little rainy we all got to practice our around the world ping pong skills. On the way to the camp out we stopped and hiked Denny Creek and then on the way home we hiked Rattlesnake Ledge. Both were excellent hikes.

Hiking along Denny Creek

Dave made it to the finals a few times

Ponies in the pasture

My favorite road cycling route so far is out to and around Mercer Island. Great views and a trip across the I-90 bike path.

Seattle

Dave says: We've been in Seattle just over two weeks. This is a great place to be in the summer with mild temperatures and lots of exciting outdoor adventures to do. It took awhile to get things unloaded and I've had some work to do at the university, but we've also made time for some fun trips.

We live in a nice area where we can easily go trail running in Ravenna Park or on the Burke Gilman trail so we have been getting back into running. We've also been out on some mountain bike adventures including a trip out to Duthie Park with Chris and Sarah and a nearby ride at St. Edward State Park. We have done two long road rides. One with Louisa to the other side of Lake Washington on the Burke Gilman trail which just goes on and on forever. The other was with the Cascade Cycling Club and went up to some of the northern towns outside of Seattle. It was a pretty route and not too busy but there must have been 75 turns in 75 miles so you were never on one stretch of road for too long.

Finally, we've also been on a few good hikes. The hiking here in the forested mountains is really awesome. We hit Poo Poo Point out in Issaqua and then last weekend we did Wallace Falls. On the way home, we stopped in Gold Bar at a local bakery for some of the most delicious breakfast food we have had. In fact, all of the restaurants that we have been to so far in the Seattle area are pretty awesome. It doesn't get dark here until after 9 pm right now so we've been enjoying the long days of summer in Seattle.

The Big Move

Alisha says: After returning from Hawaii it was time to buckle down and pack things up. Moving is always such a pain but it is also a good time to go through and weed out some of your stuff. I didn't think we really had that much stuff until we started packing, but we did. The hardest part about our last two weeks in Tucson was doing all of my favorite Tucson things for the last time and saying goodbye to all my friends. I really hate goodbyes. I have loved working with Fred and the Tri-Fit group. At the Tri-Fit Memorial Day party they surprised me with a big cake and an umbrella that they all signed. They are a really great group of people. Then my mom came down see us one last time before we left and help us do some packing. She was a big help and did a bunch of cleaning. Thanks Mom! I cried when she left because it is going to be hard being so far away, I have really enjoyed having her visit fairly regularly. My last Tuesday Hill Ride with the Dogs was also a bit sad. I have loved riding with the Dogs, they are such a neat group of people that really looks out for each other. While we were sitting around at the bakery after the ride they brought out a huge cake to wish Dave and I well on our next adventure. It was really great.

Things I will miss about Tucson (not a complete list because that would be too long and in no particular order)
-Mt. Lemmon
-The Dogs cycling group, Sabino Cycles
-Riding, Running, Hiking in Sabino Canyon
-Riding the loop in Saguaro National Park
-The weather, not having to ever look at the weather report because you know it is going to be nice and sunny.
-The wildlife, we saw lots of animals in our backyard. We really enjoyed feeding the quail and I loved when they would start bringing their babies down to the water dish in the spring.
-The sunsets
-The views from our house and our hilly driveway
-The monsoons
-Working with Fred at Tri-Fit
-All my friends

On Thursday, June 5th the movers came and loaded everything up. That afternoon Dave and I started our journey. We drove to Flagstaff, AZ and spent the night. The next day we drove to Salt Lake, UT and had dinner and spent the evening with my brother and his family. The next day we drove to Yakima, WA and on Sunday we finished up the drive to our new place in Seattle. We had a few days of camping out in our place with only what we could bring in the car before our stuff arrived. Dave had to go to a conference outside of Toronto and that ended up being the day our stuff was delivered so I spent the next few days putting away and organizing a lot of our stuff.

We are excited for this next chapter in our story. I always struggle a little with change but Dave and I have fun together where ever we are. He is really excited for his new job and I am super proud of him.

 The cake from Tri-Fit

 The cake from the Dogs

 I am really going to miss all these people

My mom and I with some of the boxes

A cool braid that my mom did

 Our sad moving faces

 Moving day

 Driving out of Tucson! Farewell!