Toast

That's funny! Hey, what ever happened to the idea of the bowling alley? Decent chow, a different sorta activity to mix it up a little... maybe even a little competitive gaming, and an all ages venue for some of our not-yet-legals?

Hate to say it, but it's time to put ol'Soobie out to pasture.

Actually I'm not, but there is a juicy story of slime and lies behind it all that I'll share with you over a beer sometime. Just pick somewehre besides those three establishments and I'll mellow out.

Fuck the Hopvine. Fuck Bob and the Bedlington Corporation! They are lying, stealing, slime (the owners that is, not their employees.) I will not patronize their businesses. That's the Hopvine, the Latona, and the Fiddler's Inn. I hope they run themselves out of business.

Col. Von Spanker picks me up at 5 AM Saturday with grand plans to slay Dragontail. We cross the pass and enter the drizzle zone. More drizzle. More drizzle. More drizzle. In Leavenworth, what do we find? You guessed it, drizzle. We abort, and the two of us fight dozing off on the drive home. Geoff's at the wheel, remember, so we get our dose of danger in as he tries to out doze me while driving. I wake up somewhere after the pass, and glaze over at Spanker. Some weird shit's on the radio, Polish opera or something. Spanker looks pissed, or at the very least, remorseful. I know what's going through his mind, cuz it's goin' through mine. We pussied out, didn't we? I speak up, and Spanker replies rhetorically, "what would a Hardman do?" A glimmer of sunshine peaks through and I think to myself, not pussy out. The two of us pull off at the Index espresso stand. You know the one, Bigfot lives there in a camping trailer. Well, actually, they have a honey bucket. They also have a pictorial relief map posted of the Central Cascades. It's 10:00 and a light bulb suddenly fizzles above our heads. We can conquer Index. Yeah, that's it, we got no maps, no guidebook, no beta. We're gonna FA this thing like they did in the old days. We pull into the Lake Serene parking lot and gear up. Spanker's in his plastics, and I'm strapping crampons onto my pack. The two of us have trekking poles. We're cascade climbers, goddammit. Just then, four Japanese tourists giggle and jaunt off ahead of us in jeans and tennis shoes. I'm so embarrassed. Colin and Mark suddenly pull into the lot. Colin, by the way, is a high school kid who's climbed more knarly peaks solo, car to car, than most on this board would dare to dream. He may still be an adolescent yout, but he's as hard as they come. Anyway, Colin and Mark, had also ventured out to Leavenworth with similar plans for the weekend and had hightailed it back to the Westside. They're here to get some elevation in on a quick trail run so as to make something of the day. The Colonel and I are relieved. We're not such pussies after all. Colin and Mark pass us. That's not surprising. What is, is that we never pass the Japanese tourists. You know, the one's in jeans, giggling in soft pastels. What the fuck? Spanker and I screamed up that trail at a pretty quick clip. We shoulda passed them easily. We saw no sign of them till we got to the lake. Those fuckers beat us there. I can't believe it. We are such pussies. It's 11:20 now, and it's apparent there's no chance of taking the peak in daylight. It was a pipe dream, anyway. The two of us sulk back down the hill. The Japanese tourists, jaunt past us. I'm so embarrassed. I guess I'm resigned to be a pussy.

One word... WOW!

An end to Valentines Day

Yeah, what AlpineK said, word!

The Showbox and Chop Suey would be my picks .

Allison, just get a long USB cable. Rather than climbing under your desk and inhaling dust bunnies to change out cables, you can use the long cable to plug into your various peripherals.

While bowling alleys aren't known for the cleanest taps, they generally do have honest kitchens and decent chow for cheap cheap. I don't know about Leilani, but Sunset does. I once had a poke roast dinner there with smashed potatos and gravy and veggies and a roll all fo five dolla. It wasn't Mom's, but it was pretty damn good for five bucks. The Devil says

Zee and I went up the North Face of Chair on Friday. The ice is thin but there. We weren't expecting snow, but there was lots to wade through. Skis would have been really nice.

Nothin' here

Yeah, but the Index Cafe has a back room with a Class H Liquor License these days.

Thanks Phil

I dunno... while I haven't been up there this season, I've heard things are thin EVERYWHERE. Lisa/Beck, one of you must have been up thata ways recently. How's the snowpack in the Baker backcountry?

Hey, has anybody been up to Yodelin Ridge in the last week? I'm supposed to help instruct with a snow camping field trip up there, but I'm afraid there won't be enough snow to dig snow caves let alone ski. As an alternate, we're thinking maybe Artist Point, but snow's probably short there too. I'd appreciate any recent snow sightings. Thanks.

So you'd rather be on a bike??

Read this, then tell me you feel the same way.

Matt's posted a verys sensible querry. And for all those rooting for us to march in and kick some ass, think about the price tag. By marching in we'll alienate the very stakeholders we'll need to help foot the bill. I'm not talking about bombs. I'm talking about the ten year process we're going to be stuck with feeding, clothing, and ensuring stability by active presence. Tom Friedman talks about this in his foreign affirs conlumn in the Times today. He's actually an advocate and see's this as an opportunity on the level of post war Germany and Japan to putting in place some stability. I think it's gonna be one major pain in the ass.

Hey, you know what they say, "if she smokes, she..."

Yes, that's exactly the card Kim Il is playing. Unfortunately, the consequences for us are real and immediate. I don't think you can say the same of Iraq. They don't have a bomb, they don't have an army, and they have questionable means of delivery if and when they ever do get one. Yes, they're trying... but the point is, which is a bigger, more dangerous and more immediate threat to pay attention to?

I don't think anybody doubts that Iraq has been dabbling in bad bombs. My issue with Dubya is that he's scratching for any excuse to support OUR GREED and feed our consumption. This comes at the expense of attention that should be focused on a real threat like North Korea. Are you aware that we've just confirmed that North Korea is refining plutonium. Kim Il's a guy that has real bombs, a real army, a real method of delivering those boms, and a powder keg sitting next to him. He's just as wacky as Sadam, but he ain't got no oil. Wake up.

nonanon, you're so right dude. I do kinda curl my nose at the smell. Many times, I suck on this cancer stick with absolute disgust. "Why the fuck did I do that?" But then there's the rare occasion when I'm buzzed on a few beers, maybe a little bleery from another kinda smoke, and I've been fretting without one a long time and am just jonesin. Then one comes my way and I light up and inhale, and I feel this wonderful sense of satisfaction. I think the tobacco industry invented that word, satisfaction, cuz that's exactly what it is... sometimes (sigh.)