Thinker

'Oh, I should probably tell you it's actually been a couple of years since I lead anything...' 'Show me again how these crampon things tie on.'

So what are the funniest and most outrageous drivers ed stories you've heard or experienced? Here's one to get you going: (from the NPS Morning Report) On October 16th, park hydrologist Joe Meiman and intern Nathan Talley saw a silver U.S. government sedan parked in the middle of the Good Springs – Maple Springs Road. When the driver got out, he had a long neck beer bottle in his hand. Meiman and Talley reported the incident to rangers, who determined that the vehicle had been assigned to the Great Onyx Job Corps Center and that the operator was Dale Decker, the center’s contract driver education instructor. Rangers contacted Decker and the two minor Job Corps students who were with him. All three had been consuming alcohol, as evidenced by observation and portable breathalyzer testing. The minors provided a detailed statement of events, which was corroborated by the co-owner of the liquor store where the alcohol was purchased. The alcohol was purchased on government time and the store’s co-owner identified both Decker and the government vehicle he was driving. After purchasing the alcohol, Decker and the students returned to the park, where Decker gave the beverages to students. Decker was charged with a sale/gift of alcoholic beverages to minors under 21 (mandatory appearance) and is under suspension without pay. The minors were cited for underage possession of alcoholic beverages (mandatory appearance). Additional charges are pending against Decker. The case ranger is Eddie Wells, who was assisted by chief ranger Wayne Elliott and rangers Rich Caldwell and David Alexander. [submitted by Wayne Elliott, Chief Ranger]

sounds like a good question for your Hilti rep.

chatty

I LOVE cats.......in gravy...... PM me if you don't get any other takers.

to good guides that take the time to educate their clients. to jobs that allow a person the financial luxury to learn from those guides.

In my opinion, that's one of the best things you can learn from a big climbing class like that. The exposure to the people who just don't get it is valuable on its own, and taking a stand against roping up with climbers you judge dangerous or incompetent is a lesson well learned early on in your climbing career. While the club classes do teach knots, technique, safety, routefinding, etc., it is still up to each individual to actually learn and excell at those skills, and many really do. IMHO, those classes are a great way to learn the very basics and meet people who have the same level of drive as you do...be it little or lots. But, 'graduates' shouldn't be fooled into thinking they've got the sport wired. Death is forever.

CBS, you must just be getting too old to get the smiles from the hotties at Greenlake....those make all the difference in the world. I like GL for motivation when I tire of running hills and dodging heavy bike traffic. There's always plenty of room to run in the grass or around the outside loop, too.

connection

humpff...???..I wouldn't think the cowboys would support your industry when there are so many unattended sheep so close to town. seriously, the climbing would rock but you'd have to take your own social life with you to Laramie unless you planned on taking care of all that in Jackson. I'm sure you'd have a few cc.com visitors stopping by if you kept in touch. I lived in Idaho Falls for awhile and spent time in Jackson with a good bud who lived on a ranch in Moose. I'd spend a couple of years there if I had the chance.

intelligent

movie buff

where/when did you hear it?

I chartered a commercial chopper on the North Slope of Alaska a couple of years ago. I think the rate was around $850/hour and they counted the time back and forth from their pad to the village (Kaktovik) where they picked us up. The bill came to around $4,500 for just over a half day.

oh...and this from rec.climbing (3/2000) "I had a spanish-speaking person give me a translation: This was a PRACTICE rescue mission gone awry! They fell 70 metres, and believe it or not, both lived with massive injuries. That's basically it in a nutshell. And yeah - totally disturbing to watch..... Michael"

for what it's worth the first 6 posts of this link at rec.climbing discuss it a bit (7/2001) The pertinent info cited there is: "A Spanish (IIRC) SAR group is practicing helicopter pick ups, and the cable breaks/is disconnected, and the rescuer and "victim" both drop onto the cliff, and the tumble down - really horrifying to watch. Amazingly, they both lived. It's not directly related to the type of self -rescue practice we're talking about, but serves as a reminder that practicing rescue scenarios has its own hazards." and " http://dedicated.goofball.com/goofball/uncensored/media/rockclimb.mpeg The cable was cut by the chopper crew, both survived the fall. That's a very dangerous button, that one..."

I agree that many parents are suspicious, and they should be. In today's sick society I think we have the best chance of helping kids thru your own family, and thru schools and organizations that do background checks and who provide direction and supervision. Short of that, a person really needs to have the trust of the parent(s). From a legal and ethical standpoint I think it's important to have 2 or more adults around in most cases, especially starting out. I had a neighbor kid back home that started showing up on my doorstep, wanting to play the piano in my living room. I always called his mom immediately and let her know he was in my house, I left the front door wide open, and encouraged her to come over any time. Over the years the kid and I worked on cars together, built stuff in the garage, fixed his bikes, went to the lumber yard and the salvage yard together, did home work together, and trained my bird dogs together. I'm sure it took awhile for his mom to realize my intentions were altruistic, but they were. Could the whole experience backfire on me, still? Sure...he could go into therapy someday and confuse a bad experience with one of his step-fathers with one in my home, but I'm willing to take that risk to help a kid that shows potential.

from what I recall, it was a practice rescue using a helicopter with a steel cable. the cable got pinched in a crack and snapped. both survived.

Dude, I'm certainly not harshin them....Just having fun with their name. Do you nut off while you listen to them or sumthin?

Strictly off the top of my head, I'm not sure 'we' really learned any lessons in Vietnam or Korea, other than how to get 'our' butts kicked for years on end, take heavy casualties, destroy native populations in bulk, and then run away with 'our' tail between our legs. I do think 'we' have forgotten the lesson of how wrong it was/is to hide the disabled war vets for ever, deny vets quality health care including long-term psychological counselling, and spurn them for partaking in an unpopular war. What other lessons were learned?

A recent story related to me by two London parents shows they have similar problems. They tell of private schools there that essentially tell the parents not to bring the kid back next year it the kid hasn't performed up to their standards. Many of the private schools have waiting lists and have no problem filling the spot with a (potentially) better student who is less of a trouble maker, a higher achiever, attends more regularly, or whatever the issue is. I'm pretty sure the same is true for US schools, too. The result is that the public schools are saddled with the disabled, learning impaired, behaviour impared, etc. students. The legal obligation (in the US) to care and educate the 'disabled' kids is a huge burden (no value judgement meant to be attached to the selection of words here) that our system is simply not up to handling due to lack of funding, parental support, and probably many other factors I'm not even aware of. The result, in many cases, is that the average middle class kids attending public schools do get a lower quality education when the available resources are mandated to be funneled to the disabled kids. Is this simply market economics in practice? Many would give a resounding 'yes!'. Is it right/ethical? Probably not. Is it reality? without a doubt. What can be done to fix it? If I had the answer I'd run for office. On a microscale, those families with kids in public schools who feel they're not getting an adequate education can compensate in many ways besides sending their kids to private schools. Options I see include talking to the teachers and find ways to augment their lesson plans, find other things your kids are interested in and develop learning sessions based on those interests, take the initiative to have the kids spend time with trusted family members or family friends who can provide additional learning experiences. Is it a shame we pay taxes for an educational system that's not providing a comprehensive education? Sure it is. But if you're not spending as much time trying to fix it or counteract the deficiencies as you are bitching about it, then that's equally as tragic. Are you concerned and need ideas for ways to help? Try the big brother/big sister program, girls rock (Passages NW), talk to your family members or neighbors with kids and go to the Pacific Science Center together, buy some books at the thrift shop you think might interest the schoolers you're concerned about and encourage them to read them or at least look at the photos together and teach them something. The possibilities really are endless. Heck, taking a kid or 2 on a hike in the woods can provide the opportunity to talk about ecology, hydrology, geology, biology, and tons of other things. There are plenty of books available to help you brush up on the things YOU are interested in and help you explain them to students. Some kids won't respond to any of this, and unless you have special training or skills it's likely beyond your skills to help. But finding 1 or 2 that do respond is an experience that you'll never forget or regret. What are some other ways a concerned person can help? You teachers out there....what say you?

I saw these guys about 15 years ago back in the Midwest. The only thing I remember about them is their name, and that if you add an "O" to flaming you get flamingo. I always thought Flamingo Lips would have been a much better name for the band.

how would you feel if he ended up in my crock pot?

That's the Kurt we know and love. He's just makin' room for a little PC libation before he heads out.

Bug, read the thread...that's the MO. They copy the info from the card, put it back in the wallet, and go on their merry way. If you had a card in the vehicle I suggest you watch the charges on it verrrry closely.