Toast

I was joking chucK. While I do have a soft spot for the Blue Moon (it was the first tavern I ever snuck into underage)... it is a stinky, smoke filled tavern with no food service, a skanky set of bathrooms, and dope peddlers, drunks and homeless folks for patrons. Sunday nights ain't what it used to be, and buskers, artisans and bar dogs are scarce these days. Aaaah, memories...

Way to go Erden

Hey, if you like the Alki, you'll love the Blue Moon.

I'd stay away from the Mountain Hardware stuff if it's mad of their Conduit stuff. It doesn't breath anywhere near as well as it needs to. I had a MH Conduit bivvy last year, and I got soaked in it every night. Swapped it out for an OR Basic Bivvy made of plain vanilla GoreTex. I stay dry in that. I suspect there'll be significantly higher humidity in your pants than my bivvy.

For that matter, there's always Martin Volkin and his company Pro Guide Service. While the Mountaineers Basic Climbing classes have started, I do remember something about a scout troop that bailed on the BSA that was later adoped by the Mountaineers Youth Committee. You might check with them to see if they have anything going.

Hey NEWSTIPS, How come Jim Foreman alwasy gets stuck with the shitty assignments? I swear, when somethings breaking that requires a 300 mile drive in the middle of the night... it's always Jim Foreman that's sent out. I could swear during the WTO protests, Foreman got stuck manning one of the I-5 overpasses Reporting Live as he got biffed in the head by passing punks. I kinda giggled about it then, but years later I kinda like that Jim Foreman guy. Here's to you, Jim.

If they are experienced, they'd know there's not much the outside can do at the moment and that they need to hunker down till conditions improve. Hopefully they're knowledgeable enough to know this and equipped to do so. My empathy to the families and hope to the two on the mountain.

C'mon dude, pull your head out of your ass. There's a bit of a difference between Clinton finally giving in to our collective conscience to stop genocide on that kind of magnitude and Dubya's fishing for any excuse to wage a war that nobody wants. I'm not sure there's ever a right war, but there's certainly are wrong ones. We're about to step into the middle of the latter. By the way, there were protesters back then. They tended to be Republican voices whining about why we'd want to step into a fight where we had nothing to gain.

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 .

Lib Tech - Jamie Lynn XL: $200 Switch Bindings (old school): $20 or Free with board Switch Nomad Boots (Men's 43): $10 or Free with bindings Yakima tower for rain gutters, bars, ski racks, locks: $200 The Jamie Lynn is a shweet high performance board in good shape. Has a distinctive two headed cat graphic. If you already ride Switch, these old school bindings without the highback will make a great mount for your snowshoes. If you actually want to ride the bindings, you'll need a compatible boot with the highback built in... hence, the Nomad boots Drive a car with rain gutters and need a ski rack? This is your ticket. We got the whole ball-o-wax fer ya.

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