chelle

Yeah call me a light weight. One Full Sail Pale Ale, a flaming Dr. Pepper, a shot of amaretto (ok maybe 2) and then a shot of Malibu rum (problem was that all this was drank in about 2.5 hours...) Then about 2/3 gallon of water from about 1 am -4:30 am when I sobered up enough to get my sorry home to sleep. Thanks to all who made my 34th memorable, both online and in reality. At least the parts I can remember. BTW spent the day at the mixed ice climbing clinic and had a blast. I guess I'll have to take back all the b.s. I said about it being dumb. It's actually fun in the gym and I can see good potential for real rock/ice too be a blast too.

I thought they all took "The Snow Leopard"... I couldn't finish it because he just kept droning on and on... how come no one has flamed me yet for asserting that people go to Tibet with a book about Nepal? Because you said people go to Nepal with a book about Tibet. Which is what I subtly implied. Guess I forgot you have to be direct when communicating with guys... back to my mars/venus book! Nepal is a beautiful country though!

It's not even 5 pm here. No worries, I am sure I will be plenty drunk in a few hours.

Sometimes I need a change. I'll bring the froggy back... I needed to "shake off" some "stuff" when I found my tree, so it fits for now...

34 and proud of it. We'll have to see about the candles...but that is a good idea.

I think a couple regular cc.comers were climbing at Index during the March 2001 quake. Pretty scary from what I recall. I was looking up at Shirley on the Lower Town wall last Sunday. Thought it'd be a fun practice pitch. Thought about the rockfall that Dr. Jay had last year while trying the pitch...then noticed another big block right at the base of the route that looked very recent. I said and just wandered around for the rest of the afternoon.

Here's a book you should check out. I think you'll find the answer in there.

Thanks everyone. You make me Tonight's gonna be 'n and Eddie - once again here's my drink limit! No mas! Kapiche?

I thought they all took "The Snow Leopard"... I couldn't finish it because he just kept droning on and on...

"Storms of Silence" Joe Simpson "The Last Step" Rick Ridgeway "The Ascent of Everest" John Hunt "Tents in the Clouds" Monica Jackson & Elizabeth Stark

Thanks JayB, but I knew that one. If the economy is truly recovering then yes, the jobs will come. I still don't think that the average American is going to believe that the economy is improving until: (not in any specific order...) 1) more people who are looking for reasonably paying work find it 2) state and city governments stop cutting services and begging the national government for funding 3) the federal government stops high levels of deficit spending 4) capital market returns actually benefit the average 401k participant, meaning they start seeing positive returns each quarter on their statements for awhile 5) gas prices at the pump return to "reasonable" levels 6) layoffs and fear of layoffs become rare events Sorry you're just not going to convince me. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I do understand my economic situation and the situation of most people I care about.

Who knows who is "right" unfortunately you can only know the answer in hindsight. I guess that the treasury secretary was right that growth would be high again this quarter, but we'll see about the long term picture next year this time. Especially where jobs are concerned. - - - - October 21, 2003, Tuesday BUSINESS/FINANCIAL DESK NY TIMES Treasury Chief Sees a Jobs Boom, But Most Don't By EDMUND L. ANDREWS (NYT) 834 words WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 -- Expressing a confidence that goes well beyond the projections of many economists, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow has predicted that the American economy will add two million new jobs before next year's elections. In an interview with The Times of London on Monday, Mr. Snow predicted that the economy would grow at an annual rate of nearly 4 percent over the next year and add about 200,000 jobs a month. ''I would stake my reputation on employment growth happening before Christmas,'' Mr. Snow said in the interview, which a spokesman confirmed as accurate. ''Everything we know about economics indicates that the sort of economic growth expected for the next year, 3.8 to 4 percent, will translate into two million new jobs from the third quarter of this year to the third quarter of next year,'' Mr. Snow elaborated. ''That's an average of about 200,000 new jobs a month.'' In offering such confident and explicit predictions about job growth, Mr. Snow went well beyond the general cheerfulness that President Bush and administration officials have repeated for some time. But Mr. Snow's could come back to haunt him if job growth continues to be lackluster for much of the next year. Most economists, from those at the Federal Reserve to those on Wall Street, agree that economic growth has already accelerated sharply, but many are skeptical that the job picture will improve much by the time Mr. Bush faces re-election next November. ''We are surprised that Snow would choose to hand the Democratic presidential candidates this optimistic prediction, instead of managing expectations more conservatively,'' Jan Hatzius, a senior economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note on Monday. Mr. Snow also provoked surprise in the financial markets by asserting, in the same interview, that he expected interest rates to rise. ''Higher interest rates are an indicia of a strengthening economy,'' Mr. Snow said. ''I'd be frustrated and concerned if there was not some upward movement in rates.'' To some, that sounded like a pronouncement about how the Federal Reserve should conduct monetary policy. The Federal Reserve has said it plans to keep short-term rates at the current low levels for ''a considerable period of time.'' But Rob Nichols, Mr. Snow's spokesman, said the Treasury secretary was not commenting about Fed policy. Rather, he said, Mr. Snow was merely observing that long-term interest rates tend to rise as economic growth accelerates. Mr. Snow's boast about job growth could cause heartburn for him and for President Bush if it does not materialize, because Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates would almost certainly accuse Mr. Bush of failing to make good. Since Mr. Bush took office, the economy has shed about 2.7 million jobs -- most of them in manufacturing and many in politically important swing states like Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Acutely aware that his father was defeated for re-election in large part because of the country's economic woes in 1992, Mr. Bush pressed Congress to pass a $350 billion tax-cut package this year and promoted it as a ''jobs and growth'' plan. Faced with a choice between cutting taxes and letting the budget deficit climb to record highs -- $374 billion in 2003 and probably above $500 billion in 2004 -- Mr. Bush sided firmly with cutting taxes. Though the tax cuts do appear to have fired up the economy over the last few months, with some economists estimating that the gross domestic product roared ahead at an annual rate of 6 percent to 7 percent in the third quarter, job growth remains anemic at best. Last month, for the first time in a long time, the government reported that the nation had added about 57,000 jobs. But most economists, including those at the Fed and many in the private sector, predict that job growth will remain modest and that unemployment will remain near 6 percent. The reason for such caution is that companies have been increasing productivity at an annual rate of well above 4 percent for much of this year. If the economy really were to start generating 200,000 jobs a month, it would have to grow by at least 4 percent throughout the next year and productivity growth would have to slow. ''The risk of being wrong on at least one of these counts seems dangerously high from a political perspective,'' wrote Mr. Hatzius of Goldman Sachs. White House officials take a different view. N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a recent interview that both the economy and the labor market were capable of growing more rapidly than conventional wisdom would suggest.

Get on board! Bush has got the economy rockin' and will sail into another term! Yeah...and I've been trying to get a job for over a year. Fuck Bush. My economy still pretty much sucks!

Listened to the report. Okay...so 7.2% growth based largely on capital expenditures by corporations. Most were probably spending remaining budget dollars because of the end of the fiscal year and the spend it or lose it mentality. Consumer spending up 6.6%. Unlikely to be repeated because they were spending dollars they'd received as tax rebates. Also, no mention of whether this was corrolated with increases in credit card spending. Unemployment up with 57,000 new jobs (I'd suspect mostly seasonal employment and not high paying jobs). And commentator said that it was not enough to keep pace with population and that claims will likely go back up in the near future. Sounds like a potential bubble to me. I'm not going to get too excited.

Which statistic showed 7.2% PP? GDP? Who is benefiting from that growth, certainly not the unemployed.

I just got home from Erden's slide show at TNF. What a great story about the first leg of his human powered adventure with a few of our fellow cc.comers. If you don't have something planned for tomorrow night, I believe he's doing another one at the Seattle REI at 7pm. Check it out!

Don't know how the jury duty process works in Seattle or Portland. In CA each county is different. In SF you have to be available to the "general pool" for a week I think. Dumb waste of time. In Marin, you go in and in one day you're either on a jury or out the door.

WDYM That is my wife exactly (5'8" 130# 36C) and she is no what's her name Moss... She's a perfect, well built woman Great for you and her. I just think that keeping weight under 130# and having a good amount of muscle mass is pretty difficult. Especially if you are that tall. No harm intended.

Are you being serious? If so you're crazy and so is she! But have fun!

I got called up once for jury duty and was dreading it. I showed up figuring I would try one of the suggestions people have used here to get out of it. Once we were in the jury room and got to hear the case (civil case: drunk driver who seriously injured some people) we'd be deciding on I was pretty interested. And a little bummed to not be selected. A friend of mine was on a jury for a wrongful death case involving blatant neglect on the part of a doctor. He tried to get out of it based on his views of western medicine and blatant distrust of doctors. They put him on the jury anyways and the thought it was a great experience. You might be surprised and enjoy the opportunity to actually have a positive impact on our sometimes f'ed up system.

Depends on how much notice I have. If there's a fire evac and time, I'd grab my wallet, cell phone, photos/slides, CDs, computer, and climbing gear. If I don't have time 'cause I wake up in the middle of the night with a fire alarm and smoke. I'd probably just grab my bathrobe and slippers and GTFO.

And watching is truly what its all about, eh? Naw, Necro. You gotta try watching/crewing for the Western States 100 trail run sometime. Those guys/gals that finish in less than 24 hrs are awesome athletes. Pulling 10 minute miles the whole way, with some pretty big hills/drops, river crossings, and sometimes snow/icy slopes. Way cool shit. Ironman distance triathlons aren't even in the same league. Oh yeah...congrats Robbob.

I keep ignoring you and you just keep pursuing... You like the abuse, don't you?

Darn! I thought this was a weenie game thread... Where all the chicks on the site get to discuss what the physical requirements are in a man.

So it's time for the marriage/relationship thread already? Congrats to whoever it is!