slothrop

Goddamn, that's my desktop background now. Nice photo.

and already posted, too.

Why dontcha dump a bucket of icy cold water on him and find out, chuck? Wet Mountie t-shirt contest, yowza! Here comes the ice pick to the forehead!

There's still time to run down to REI for all your costume essentials, Paul.

Third from left, filling up his Nalgene with what was the morning's first 40 of the Ol' E. Far left, about to get beat down for sportin' the red bandanna with blue gaiters. Sucka don't even know... it's black gaiters and blue bandannas in this hood.

Aw yeah: The off-kilter look is hot this fall for fashionable Mounties. Notice Gary's single twisted waistbelt strap--a real daring statement among the "no ten essentials left behind" set.

It's not his fault that the Mountie costume is inherently funny.

Awesome.

Naw, Blockbuster is the very short 5.9 offwidth just above Sickle.

Re: Sickle I'd rather do that finger crack to the right and then continue up the groove, rope drag notwithstanding. I like that groove, it's cool. Blockbuster is also cool, but two moves long.

From Boogie Nights (too bad PT Anderson is a prick and won't let the script circulate online...): That is a giant cock. - Amber Waves in perfect deadpan See this system here? This is Hi-Fi... high fidelity. What that means is that it's the highest quality fidelity... - Buck You've got the touch / You've got the power - Dirk, singing I'm just gonna keep on rockin' and rollin'. - Dirk's acceptance speech

There's some thirty-foot bolted 5.0 route at Exit 38 (Headlight Point area or something) that gets a 5.7 in the guidebook and is not even worth trying to remember the name of. By far the worst route I have ever wasted my time on. Another at Exit 38: the one that starts right off the trestle, the only route on its tiny crag. At least one bolt loads the bolt-end biner against an edge. Nightmarish slippery downsloping blocky crap to climb on. Sahale is way overrated as a climb, but it does have fine views. Sickle Crack at Index. Too short and the traversing bit is annoying.

I've got the Grivel Alpine Lite (42L or 2560 in.^3, weighs 1.3kg), which is now on sale at PMS in Seattle for $80. Pros: - light-colored interior - durable, lightweight fabric - gear loops on interior and waistbelt - daisy chains - loops/sliders on lid for lashing crampons - semi-floating lid - small removable foam backpad - carries skis - waist belt is made of zippered pockets, so you can use your socks/spare gloves as padding - "hydration-compatible" Cons: - backpad is a pain to remove - stretchy ice axe straps prone to releasing (could be replaced with cord) - single strap down the middle to cinch the lid... I just don't like this design, since the lower end always flops around in the dirt when it's open - too small for some overnights... but you can clip the Manu pack to the back for extra space - fit is a little strange--it doesn't rest on my hips very well--but most of the time I'm not carrying enough weight to care (YMMV)

Otto : You know your problem? You don't like winners. Archie : Winners? Otto : Yeah. Winners. Archie : Winners, like North Vietnam? Otto : Shut up. We didn't lose Vietnam. It was a tie. Archie : [going into a cowboy-like drawl] I'm tellin' ya baby, they kicked your little ass there. Boy, they whooped yer hide REAL GOOD. Wanda : The central message of Buddhism is not "every man for himself".

Note that you can't see the sale list at http://promountainsports.com, only at http://www.promountainsports.com. Hey webmaster, you reading this?

In no particular order: Fuddhat/Kill da Wabbit at Static Point W Ridge N Twin Castle Rock bottom to top: Fault/Catapult/Bone/MF Overhang/Midway Phoenix at Smith N Ridge Stuart (from the notch)

Gah. So... frustrating... I wonder how the so-called swing voters are distributed among those voting categories (self-interest, good times/bad times, content-free factors like who they'd like to have a beer with, and ideology).

Many lawsuits have already been filed in several states on election-related issues. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/10/15/politics1707EDT0703.DTL

Anyone get a flu shot? I'm young and healthy, so I don't feel the need to get one, but check out the people lining up in Wilmington, NC: Looks like a perfect way to spread disease to me... get a bunch of people who either: a) are hypochondriacs, b) have weak immune systems, or c) are possible germ-carrying terrrrists (anyone could be, ya know) to line up in close quarters for hours.

iain, you're just being defeatist by bringing reality into the discussion.

There's just no predicting this thing until it actually happens... electoral-vote.com has it for Kerry right now, 284-247.

Maybe she was gathering evidence. Seems a bit strange, though, like she was leading him on by not refusing any contact with him. But he was her boss...

I've been afflicted with the same malady, actually:

You also have a shoe growing out of your ass.

Little Si has several routes at World Wall One that stay dry in the rain, with one 5.9 and a few .11s and up. I can't tell ya much about "and up", but maybe Mr. can. Giant, an ".11c" at Exit 38, would stay dry in the rain since it's in a cave, but I dunno about the finishing move out of the cave. It's a really fun route that you could even lead on gear if you wanted (bolted crack), but it's only one route... everything else within a 10-minute hike of Giant (e.g., Amazonia Wall) would likely be oozing slime.