Thinker

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:

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.

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.

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.

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

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...

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ A refreshing view of the occupation from the perspective of a 'girl at ground zero -- Baghdad". 36 American troops captured in Falujah? you heard the rumor here first.

Yes, but the crowd of poor villagers wearing tye-dyed mumus and waiting outside your igloo to catch your Psilocyn laden urine would be a dead give-away....way too easy to spot from the air.

I'm aware of Sandy's notorious distinction and that's why I plan to commute. The SLC airport is only about 25 minutes away from the office I'd be working in, so I figure anything south of downtown SLC will be about the same driving time.

This is getting a little more serious and it looks like I'll probably be shipping out to SLC. Where are the little islands of liberalism and diversity in SLC? (are there such things?) Where should one consider living that's within a 20 to 30 minute commute of Sandy, UT?

I dug around and found a couple old photos of Blackfoot Canyon.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/act/46469994.html Date: 2004-10-22, 2:16PM PDT Need a climbing partner for Seattle. I'm new to the sport and the area. I would like to hook up a consistent climbing partner to develop skills with. Outside or in. Female or male doesn't matter. Mondays or after work, weekdays. Bridgett

Choco hammered Kid Scotty: Reasonable? First of all, the assumption that somehow the posters on this thread (or this board!) are the "climbing community" is a bit laughable and self-aggrandizing at best. Most of who I climb with never visit this site, nor do most of the others that I run into!?!? Secondly Scott, I find it a bit funny how you're acting like a kid who can't quite reach the freezer for a popsicle and throws a tantrum (give him a few more clues for fun's sake Nolse!). And thirdly, relax people. I'm sure all the info will be available in due time (your world won't end in the mean-time). I'm sure at that time, a reasoned conclusion and consensus will be reached. The idea that this is "the" PacNW climbing community is laughable. So a few of the notable local figures hang out here on the fringes...occasionally....big deal. Most of them are embarrased or afraid to post under their real names and realize that getting sucked into this site takes them away from their real objective...climbing. This 'community' is overrun by reactionary, knee-jerk, arm chair quarterbacks who fill these threads with pointless drivel. Sure, it's fun to read sometimes, but calling it 'the' climbing community is really a stretch. spray on...

http://www.yellowstoneteton.org/thingstodo/RockClimbing/index.html http://www.isu.edu/outdoor/climbing/massbeta.htm Idaho Mountain Trading in IDF used to sell climbing gear and guide books, they may still. Ross Park in Pocatello has tons of short routes with a 3 minute approach. Blackfoot Canyon is what I was trying to remember before, nice place. 'The Southeast Idaho Climber's Guide' gives these directions (paraphrased): 25 miles SE of IDF. Go south on Hwy 91 to 1 mile north of Firth. Left on the Goshen Hwy, drive to the end. Right on Mountain View, drive to the end. Left on Wolverine Rd, go 1.5 to 2 miles to the large irrigation pipe running up from the river below. many climbs near the pipe, more another 1/2 mile up the road. 45 to 80 foot pitches, basalt, rattlesnakes. Ririe: a dozen climbs 5.6 to 10b below the visitors overlook at the Ririe Dam. "top roping is most commonly done from the rusted pipe anchors and existing bolt anchors" Get the book, there's more. meet IDF climbers here http://www.idahoalpineclub.org/