Thinker

I call it my SCCPA. self contained crash pad apparatus. REAL men can't fit into a women's size 6 evening gown like you can, Dru.

Gradually getting unpacked and spread out again. I drove a friend up to the Alta ski area on Saturday and about choked on my coffee when I saw this in Little Cottonwood Canyon about 15 minutes from my house.

This morning as I was unpacking a box I ran across some images of CA roadtrip I did earlier this year. The images speak for themselves.

I've got a couple of OF cans proudly displayed in my kitchen. "foamy on the bottom, creamy on the top." Fyfe and Drum Bad Cat Stout (one of my homebrew batches)

Is that why they always served citrus drinks at all the Rave parties I went to?

They ARE kinda sneaky...always trying to run away when you turn your back on them, and trying to hide under freshly fallen snow.

and even further: Who cares if Saddam Hussein is killing and torturing innocent civilians? ************* edit: Oh Yeah! 6:30 am pagetop:

yeah, those chics rapping on one rope down a 2-rope rap created a little extra entertainment that day.

Hug away! "A hug is just a hug, a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh, The fundamental things apply, As time goes by." I invited her, maybe she'll show up to her 2nd PC and make another splash with her wild telemarking stories.

link to news story LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Peruvian police said on Monday they seized nearly 1,540 pounds (700 kg) of cocaine hidden in frozen giant squid bound for Mexico and the United States.

great idea!

stop down sometime and try one out.........

Beer? In Utah? They served up some fine micro brews during the Olympics a few years back, and even had a reasonable selection of Single Malts at the liquor store. It ain't the Utah your polygamist lovin' mama told you about anymore.

50+ issues of Outside Magazine, from back in the days when it was a rag worth reading. Bitter Apple spray to keep dogs from chewing on stuff. Price tag $13 new. Free to a bonafide dog owner. I tasted the stuff earlier today and my tummy is STILL a little whacked. I certainly wouldn't take a 2nd bite of anything with that junk on it. (Alternatively, I'm sure an ice princess with an attitude could find good use for it, too.) 2 spot lights that fit on track lighting. several different varieties/configurations exist. Bring one of yours by to see if it matches. seattle/lake greenie area. If you have an old car stereo around I'd love to have one...any old POS would do.

there used to be a guy who posted in the Rant and Rave section about the Greenlake Motel, where he was a desk clerk. Chock full of hilarious stories about the dregs of society who rent rooms by the day or the week there on Aurora Ave. Classic stuff...but deleted long ago to make room for newer and better? content.

Thanks for all the wishes-well. I'll definitely hook up with you SLC cc.comers soon, for a beer at least while I'm getting settled. I'm looking for a POS car stereo for the road trip. See http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=413899 Also looking to trade a couple of mp-3 files to get some fresh road-trippin tunes. PM me.

A fine TeleBetty has decided to join me on my road trip to Salt Lake (hoping to get in a few turns before Thanxgiving) and the mobile MP3 player/headphone system is suddenly inadequate. I'm looking for a POS car stereo to fill that big hole in my dash. Any old thing knocking around your garage or basement would do. Free/cheap/ or trade for sumthin. I'll be in Seattle til Thurs morn.

John Peel's recent passing prompted me to dig thru my cd's and fish out the few 'Peel Sessions' I have, which are Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order, and Joy Division. Somewhere along the way I've lost The Smiths. One Jesus and Mary Chain disc I have has a number of tracks from their Peel debut. For those of you not familiar with him, Peel was a British DJ who has spent decades showcasing new and cutting edge bands on his UK radio show. Each show typically includes a live performance that's recorded. Who else has any Peel Sessions?

I'm outta here! Got a shiny new job in Salt Lake City, the movers are coming Tuesday to pack me up, and I'll be on the road for a few days visiting friends between here and there. I plan on having plenty of room to host guests, so if anyone wants a place to crash when you come over to enjoy some of the finest snow on earth then look me up. Hopefully I'll have time for one last Pub Club. As a side note, check out this early season BC skiing in Southern Idaho: http://www.mountainmurph.com/VIDEOS/Bruneau2LQ.wmv http://www.mountainmurph.com/VIDEOS/BruneauLQ2.wmv http://www.mountainmurph.com/VIDEOS/Sahara.wmv

I have one that will probably do. Check your PMs.

Go for it - have a circle-jerk with like-minded people. You'll never need to feel threatened - or have to think. Kojak, it's neither your ideas nor the way you present them that bothers me. It's the sheer number of posts (7 out of the first 15 on the last page) that I object to. To me it's not unlike TV commercials, shopping at malls, or listening to commercial radio...I just don't need to have that crap pounded into my brain every other post. I know that folks such as yourself get a little excited and can't help prattling on just to hear yourselves talk, but that doesn't mean I have to sit hear and listen to it or read it. It's easier for me just to turn off the TV, listen to NPR, and ignore people who, IMHO, over-saturate this (CC.com) entertainment media. Nothing personal, I tune out chics who say the same things over and over, too....but at least they can be fun when the lights go out and the music's too loud to hear them yakking.

Wow...it looks like I need to 'ignore' Kojak just like I did Scotty. What a bunch of vapid drivel!

My worst was in Wichita, Kansas about 6 years ago at an engineering firm that installed water and gas lines to (and in) small communities in Kansas. The receptionist was a chain smoker; the whole office REEKED of stale cig smoke, and so did I after about 10 minutes...kinda reminded me of the Zoo Tavern in Eastlake. Of course I was offered the job. I literally prayed that something else would come through before I felt forced to move to that dry dusty hellhole. Thank goodness a job in Idaho Falls came thru shortly thereafter.

Refreshing? She provides first hand accounts of living in the city that our politician/propagandors tell us is free and safe. She's not limited in where she can go and what she can say, unlike most of the 'journalists' in the country. All in all, I find her coherent, articulate, and telling real experiences. In other words...refreshing. Here's an example from her archives: Saturday, August 30, 2003 Road Trip My brother, E., was out at 8 am this morning getting gasoline for the car. He came home at 12 pm in a particularly foul mood. He had waited in line of angry, hostile Iraqis for 3 hours. Gasoline lines drive people crazy because, prior to the war, the price of gasoline in Iraq was ridiculously low. A liter of gasoline (unleaded) cost around 20 Iraqi Dinars when one US dollar equaled 2,000 Iraqi dinars. In other words, 1 liter of gasoline cost one cent! A liter of bottled water cost more than gasoline. Not only does it cost more now, but it isn’t easy to get. I think they’re importing gasoline from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. We (a cousin, his wife, my mom and I) dragged E. out of the house at 12:30 to go visit my aunt on the other end of the city. We heard the usual instructions before we left- stop at checkpoints, return before dark and if anyone wants the car, give them the keys- don’t argue, don’t fight it. The moment I had a foot out the door, the heat almost forced me back inside. Our sun, at noon, isn’t a heavenly body- it’s a physical assault. I could swear that at noon, in Iraq, the sun shuts out the rest of the world from its glory and concentrates its energies on us. Everything looks like it’s traveling on waves of heat- even the date palms look limp with the exhaustion of survival. We climbed into a battered, old, white 1984 Volkswagen- people are avoiding using ‘nice’ cars that might tempt hijackers (‘nice’ is anything made after 1990). I mentally debated putting on sun glasses but decided against it- no need to attract any undue attention. I said a little prayer to keep us safe as I rummaged around in my bag, checking for my ‘weapon’. I can’t stand carrying a pistol so I carry around a big, red, switchblade hunting knife- you don’t want to mess with Riverbend… Being out in the streets is like being caught in a tornado. You have to be alert and ready for anything every moment. I sat in the backseat, squinting into the sun, trying to determine if a particular face was that of a looter, or abductor or just another angry countryman. I craned my neck looking at the blue SUV, trying to remember if it had been behind us for the last kilometer or longer. I held my breath nervously every time the cousin slowed down the car because of traffic, willing the cars in front of us to get a move on. I caught site of two men fighting. A crowd was beginning to gather and a few people were caught in the middle, trying to separate them. My cousin clucked angrily and started mumbling about ignorant people and how all we needed, on top of occupation, was hostility. E. told us not to keep staring and anxiously felt for the pistol under his seat. The ride that took 20 minutes pre-war Iraq, took 45 minutes today. There were major roads completely cut off by tanks. Angry troops stood cutting off access to the roads around the palaces (which were once Saddam’s but are now America’s palaces). The cousin and E. debated alternative routes at every checkpoint or roadblock. I stayed silent because I don’t even know the city anymore. Now, areas are identified as “the one with the crater where the missile exploded”, or “the street with the ravaged houses”, or “the little house next to that one where that family was killed”. The looting and killing of today has changed from the looting and killing in April. In April, it was quite random. Criminals were working alone. Now they’re more organized than the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) and the troops combined. No one works alone anymore- they’ve created gangs and armed militias. They pull up to houses in minivans and SUVs, armed with machineguns and sometimes grenades. They barge into the house and demand money and gold. If they don’t find enough, they abduct a child or female and ask for ransom. Sometimes the whole family is killed- sometimes only the male members of the family are killed. For a while, the men in certain areas began arranging ‘lookouts’. They would gather, every 6 or 7 guys, in a street, armed with Klashnikovs, and watch out for the whole area. They would stop strange cars and ask them what family they were there to visit. Hundreds of looters were caught that way- we actually felt safe for a brief period. Then the American armored cars started patrolling the safer residential areas, ordering the men off the streets- telling them that if they were seen carrying a weapon, they would be treated as criminals. Most of the gangs, at least the ones in Baghdad, originate from slums on the outskirts of the city. ‘Al-Sadir City’ is a huge, notorious slum with a population of around 1.5 million. The whole place is terrifying. If you lose a car or a person, you will most likely find them there. Every alley is controlled by a different gang and weapons are sold in the streets… they’ll even try out that machinegun you have your eye on, if you pay enough. Americans don’t bother raiding the houses in areas like that… raids are exclusively for decent people who can’t shoot back or attack. Raids are for the poor people in Ramadi, Ba’aquba and Mosul. By the time we got to my aunt’s house, every muscle in my body was aching. My eyes were burning with the heat and the strain. E.’s brow was furrowed with the scenes we had left behind us on the street and the cousin’s hands were shaking almost imperceptibly- knuckles still white with tension. My mother said a prayer of gratitude for our safe arrival and the cousin’s wife, T., swore she wasn’t going to leave my aunt’s house for another three days and if we planned to go home today, we could do so without her because God needed to look out for other people today, not just us...