billcoe

Link to NY times Great writer, lived a full life. Fear and Greed especially, but anyone who wants to read a great literary work, I hope you take a moment and read one of the all time greats "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". Man, amazing work, I'd almost forgotten about reading it it's been so long, it literally is one day in this guys life, and a very worthy read. I never did read Gulag Archipeligo.

I had a pair, don't remember the brand, with Cordura soles which were both fairly water resistant and not slippery, in addition to being fairly light and compressible.

I have to quote this for posterity! Ha ha Thank you for the compliment though John. For anyone who missed it, sorry, definitely come by next time and if you can belay worth a darn, lets get some laps in meantime! This means you to Paul! Say hi if you are down this way. John, my brother is badgering me to do crossfit now, I think it was the tight shirt and bulging veins of your build, along with the pitch you tossed for it. Maybe this winter though, as I seem to be too busy now to commit.

You can always do something about it like these folks did, instead of just continually trash talking shit about our country. They acted on their beliefs, beliefs you have as well, that Amerika is such a horrible place and sucks so bad. Have a nice day link When you focus on the bad all the time, when in reality there is so much more good in our country than bad, you radically and needlessly change your personal view to a narrow minded focus that is more harmful than positive IMO. Like these folks with their own narrow minded views that the Soviet Union was the glorious people republic, so much better than the US, etc etc. I wish the Russian people well, they've suffered so much pain and suffering, but you should reconsider how you view things so negatively about our country, for yourself is my point. Good luck.

Happening right now!

Interesting but incomplete artical about how many cars the Gov't owns. These cost $3.4 billion a year top operate so the gov't employees have them. A year. I'm sure many are important, but it really makes you wonder. Does that figure include drivers? They say "maintenance, leases and fuel" are included, but not specifically drivers or depreciation. Full text: "By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 14 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Americans love their cars, and so apparently does Uncle Sam. He's got 642,233 of them. Operating those vehicles — maintenance, leases and fuel — cost taxpayers a whopping $3.4 billion last year, according to General Services Administration data obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press. While Cabinet and other officials say they need the vehicles to do their jobs, watchdogs say mismanagement of the government fleet is costing millions of dollars a year in wasteful spending. For example: • At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, fuel consumption and inventory are down, yet overall costs have increased significantly. Officials there can't figure out why. • The Interior Department was told by its own watchdog that it should cut its inventory, but it's added hundreds of vehicles. • The VA has some cars that are barely driven. One just disappeared. Add to that the cost of drivers, a perk given to high-level government officials. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has two drivers. Their salaries totaled more than $128,000 last year. The driver for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt earns about $90,000 a year. That's more than double the average salary of an office manager or accountant, and about $35,000 more than a registered nurse earns, according to a salary calculator provided by CareerBuilder.com. The government owns or leases sedans, SUVs, trucks, limousines and ambulances for more than three dozen agencies, the U.S. military and the Postal Service. Are they all really necessary? "This is one bleeding part of a budget and not just in one department but in a lot of departments," says Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime foe of what he considers wasteful federal spending. "When you have something bleeding like this, there can be a lot of money saved." Saving taxpayer dollars should be a priority, says Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste. "From a management standpoint, this is something that can easily be handled," said Tom Schatz, president of the group. "It's critical use or necessary use versus 'well, we've got the money, let's go out and buy some more cars.'" The Department of Housing and Urban Development admits problems with its fleet of about 450 vehicles. According to an AP analysis, fleet costs at HUD have soared nearly 70 percent since 2004, to more than $2.1 million last year. But during the same period, the agency trimmed its fleet and overall fuel consumption. While gas prices have increased since 2004, the period AP analyzed came well before today's record-high prices. "Where that spike in overall costs came from, I have no idea," said Bradley Jewitt, director of HUD's facilities management division. Agency spokesman Jerry Brown added, "We can't explain it." Jewitt, who came to HUD late last year, promised more accountability and oversight. The agency has begun a thorough review of its vehicles, how they are being used and whether each is justified. HUD has cars for employees who conduct fair housing and mortgage fraud investigations and housing inspections across the country. At the Interior Department, cars and trucks are used by workers who help manage some 500 million acres of public lands. The Agriculture Department has tens of thousands of vehicles for conservationists, scientists, farm loan specialists and the Forest Service. Federal agencies also have dedicated cars and drivers for senior officials. In addition to the salaries for the two drivers for Transportation Secretary Peters, her car, fuel and maintenance cost $11,500 last year. Most agency chiefs have one driver. The department says Peters needs two because the "cost of paying one driver overtime to cover both weekday shifts and weekends would be prohibitive." A spokesman said a driver has to be on duty or available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for Peters. The Veterans Affairs Department has five sedans assigned to Secretary James Peake, the deputy secretary and the three top officials for the health office, benefits office and national cemetery administration. Total cost for the five cars and drivers: $353,470 a year. Salaries for government drivers ranged from $46,000 for the driver for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Naomi Earp to about $90,000 for Leavitt's driver at HHS. The latest report available from the Government Accountability Office, from 2004, looked at the fleets of five departments including Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and the Navy. It found a number of instances where agencies were keeping vehicles they didn't need. Ditching those cars, the report said, could save the government millions of dollars. The Interior Department was another agency singled out for wasteful spending. In a 2004 report, the agency's inspector general found a significant portion of department vehicles weren't being driven much. Eliminating them could save $34 million a year. Interior cut more than 600 vehicles before the report was released, but its overall fleet has increased by more than 1,500 vehicles since then, according to an AP analysis of GSA data. Interior ranks fourth among civilian agencies in the size of its fleet, but it spends the most money — more than $241 million last year on vehicles, maintenance and fuel. Agriculture has the largest fleet but spends far less, about $150 million. Debra Sonderman, director of the office of acquisition and property management at Interior, says the department has a large number of trucks, nearly 25,000, that are costly to maintain and burn a lot of fuel. Managers at each of the agency's bureaus review inventories annually, she said. But when pressed about who has oversight of the bureaus to ensure that fleet money is spent wisely, Sonderman hesitated, only to add, "Well, there's a budget for one thing." Translation: If the money's there, spend it. "Kind of a rule of thumb is the more cars you control, the more powerful you are, and so that sort of attitude of kingdom building is part of the problem here," Sen. Grassley said in an AP interview. Only a handful of agencies said they have conducted annual audits to ensure their fleets are the right size. The Department of Homeland Security said it hasn't conducted a department-wide audit since the agency was created five years ago. The agency said it is "working toward that end" but doesn't yet have the resources to analyze its 41,000-vehicle fleet. At Veterans Affairs, an audit last year by the inspector general's office found potential savings of about $83,000 for underutilized vehicles, but it looked at only three VA medical centers. The VA has more than 150 centers, raising the prospect of additional underused cars and more savings. In the case of a Cleveland VA medical center, a government-leased vehicle was driven only 16 times in nearly a year; another was driven only twice in the three months after it arrived. One sedan at the center was missing and apparently hadn't been seen in months. All agencies are supposed to report their annual fleet numbers to the General Services Administration. However, the cost and inventory estimates in the GSA's annual report do not include Congress, which isn't required to report to GSA on its fleet. "

Probably no need if you had one of these:

Like bumper cars? Ha ha! I got my money on the cars. However, this seems to me that this may be another one of those things where you get a bunch of self-righteous asswipes together....and ..well... everyone is unhappy. Have to agree with Feck, the thing about the cyclists, you can have 99% minding their own business, and one jackass: and they all, due to the mass, get painted with the same Tarbrush. Big shock there?

My wife bought us all tickets, including my brother and his wife, as a gift. I thought this was pretty cool, I love basketball. You had to buy a packet of 4 games for $100.00 total. You got to watch 1 game of the USA dream team, and then the other 3 were other olympic teams. So Jas and I show up at the first game, and some strangers show up and sit in bros spot. WTF? Hmm, introduced ourselves and after a moment got the story from them. He'd sold 3 or the 4 games. BTW, surprisingly, I though Charles Barkley outplayed everyone else on the floor, and they were certainly arguably the most talented group of players ever assembled.

Wow, nice find dude! Thanks for sharing it too.

Good call. If everyone started writing congressmen and carrying saws, while NOT paying the fee. They would quickly get the message that we do not want nor need permission to walk on in or around the Kings Forest our own f*ing property.

Stainless steel only. Stainless wedge anchors work good. SS ONLY. The Collinox would work but for an existing route, you'd have to close it till the epoxy cured. "Original Routesetter?" What kind of gym inspired bullshit is that weakshit terminology? WTF?!Please, speaking for myself only, do not ever say that about me unless I'm dead and you can't just piss easily on my grave. Greg Barnes has some professional tuning forks for sale cheap. link to link I'd jump on that quick. edited to add a smile, it sounded like yelling up there but wasn't, although I'm serious.

I do

It seems to me that one possible better option is to just buy a $10 saw and saw the sign down. Don't just leave it laying there. God forbid we walk on our own property with out getting official permission first.

Thats it Jon, thats it! I like the 1-10 rating idea as well, where all of our peers can vote and thus continually sort them out. That way, that old Don Willians piece, despite the fact that he died 15 years ago, still breaths life. It may be a Trip report, but it may just be a great story that he heard about or even made up. I hate to see the time and energy Will and Ivan just spent on their writings just evaporate like dust in the wind. Furthermore, you'll most likely get more dudes like Kelly Cords and other hot young alpinists and climbers showing up and laying it down.

Ivan, I think it's damn funny you intentionally keep putting all the Beacon stuff in the "Oregon Cascades". Toooo funny! ps dudes, if you liked this story, read this: Giving stories like this legs Maybe add what your thoughts on that are to the thread?

Dude, you got some great witticisms! It happens all the time that I read some of your pearls and nuggets you scatter about and just crack up. Thank you

Nice. No new bolt if I get a vote. I don't clip the only one on that pitch as it is. But thats me. Sounds like a good day.

Judging from the way this thread is heading, it's gonna be "WAnker Wednesday" for sure. Now that I'm here, pretty much assured in fact. Sobo, I left the A in WAnker capitalized just for you. Night all:-)

It's not awesome or justice dude. It's damn sad. These folks tried to grab the damn American brass ring and fell off the horse just as they were touching it at least due to timing. Perhaps another era and they'd be multi-millionaires with this strategy. I'm glad I live where I have the freedom to grab that brass ring, but do not rejoice when others fail. Their lives are in a stressful and hellish ruins right now. Edited to add: unless they are a competitor, in which case I will rejoice and then piss on their graves while chanting "May all mine enemies go to hell Noel, Noel, Noel"

Yeah it would. OK, heres one that will elevate this site to the top of the heap, cost you nothing and make you world class. One thing I've noticed is that great writing can will and does just disappear as time continues. Heminfuckingway himself could write up a total classic story and it will eventually drift into the black hole of obscurity. Here's what you do. Like a poll where you can vote, you allow votes, one per person, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best ever and 1 being it sucks. Then you place them so that any visitor can sort them and read them by author or by stars, still available using the search as well, but putting the good ones easier to find and read- on top. You are f*ing welcome! Ta da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bone (faint reference and homage to Kevbone) voyage sir. When you return, check this one: Link to ws trip report.

Dude, I can't respond just yet the song is still rockin' "Well we all just wanna be big rockstars And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat" I never appreciated that song till now. Damn you write well Ivan, real real well. Jimmy has a great story about me doing the first pitch (I think that's now called the first 3 pitches in the guidebook but a single rope will reach) I love to hear. He's got another phenomenal story about a new route we did Saturday at a more remote location too. He doesn't like the internet spray though, so I'll let you ask him to recount it. I've had some great adventures with him, I'm so grateful. Come by Friday after work for a beer, burger and a movie. Mike too if he's not doing fatherhood duty. So reading between the lines there, CBR? Did Beacon Ben free that route after you cleaned it? Stout! Phillygoat! - dude, when you get here Friday, remember to pick up your Thighland climbing book. I bought a new one so I wouldn't stick your pages together, thanks for the loan too. Wife is making me go. Says I need to get out of the house, and insists I need to climb at Chang Mai to. Dude, you are a f*ing inspiration. I'll loan you a weapon next time you head out as long as you don't get too crazy.....oh wait, small chance of staying in control! Nevermind! What a classic tale. Did you read Wills story of Steck-Salethe? Holy crap dude, you got competition in the tales of woe and depravity category sir! You 2 nuts should do some climbing together. The write ups and the climbs would be insanely sick I'd bet.

Thats funny! ___________________________________________________________________ After reading what Will says, one can only think this classic saw applies: "good riddance to bad rubbish".

He was in town @ a week ago, nice to meet and get a TR lap in with him and his wife. Great folks. I suspect he's both too busy and too smart to get sucked into this dialog black hole.