catbirdseat

Okay, it's been ten minutes. Where's Rudy with a timely knot joke?

A heck of a lot of people have tied "granny bowknots" their entire lives and don't know it. A granny will untie itself a lot more than a proper square bowknot.

There are routes on walls below Sunshine that have less rockfall danger and yet are good for kids to climb. Hen House, Fat Man Wall, and Riverview Crags are examples.

I know that I've got friends here. If I move, I'll still be around cc.com, you can be sure. Maybe not as much as in the past, but I'll be around.

When do you have the most responsibility and burden? When you are middle age. You are under the most pressure to produce at work. You have the college payments for your kids. You might be making big payments on that great car you always wanted. It's not surprising to me at all that middle age would have the most depression.

My son lives at home and my daughter lives nearby. They are young adults and I would count on them to help out around the house. My brother suggested that if my wife becomes unable to care for herself, she could live with my mom and I and we'd hire a second part time care-giver. It's a tough subject to broach with her though. I feel that my skills and my edge are drifting away. I need to get back into the lab to be able to hold onto what I know let alone keep up.

Make up your minds. I will show if my jazz band rehearsal gets cancelled due to snow.

I've been unemployed or underemployed for a year. Thanks to a buddy of mine, I have a job in construction that allows me to barely eek out survival. It's very hard work and unpleasant oftentimes. We're paying $1000/month for COBRA for medical coverage, which is absolutely essential, as my wife has terminal cancer. COBRA will last another 6 months. I just received a job offer in my field of analytical chemistry, but it is in California. I like it here and would prefer not to move. My wife is too sick to move. She wants to stay put. She has doctors she trusts and all her friends are here. I am considering taking the job and living with my invalid mother and her full time care-taker. My brother and sister live in nearby cities. The big house my dad built could use some work, which I could exchange for room and board. The job would pay very well, but it would be a very demanding job. I know I could do a good job at it though. Things I am considering: 1) We're entering a recession. It could be long. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 2) It's the only offer I've had in a year. 3) The job comes with full medical benefits. 4) I haven't seen a local job in chemistry that I would apply for in months. On the other hand: 1) How am I going to take care of my wife if she gets too sick to care for herself? 2) How can I keep my Seattle house in good repair? 3) What's it like to fly back and forth once or twice a month? Then on the other hand: 1) My best climbing buddy moved to LA last year. We could go climbing again. 2) I could go to Joshua Tree any time I wanted. 3) I could check out Yosemite. Life is at a crossroads for me.

I was able to go to work today. My vision is a little blurry in the affected eye. Hopefully that will go away.

Sweet baby Jesus! That must have hurt. There's got to be more to that story. I take it that the cornea was reattached and eventually all was well with the eye? The previous day, I'd been cutting steel lath-reinforced stucco using a diamond cut off blade on a high speed grinder. I wore safety glasses. I surmise that the particle was lurking on my lower eye lid. When I rubbed the eye, the particle penetrated the cornea.

Everyone has heard the expression. For me all it took as a little shard of metal to wreak havoc. I woke up with an irritated eye that felt like maybe an inverted eye lash. By the end of the day it was really bothering me. I looked closely in the mirror and saw a black speck. I tried washing it out to no avail. Then I tried a moistened cotton swab. That didn't work. So off I went to the emergency room at Stevens in Edmonds. After looking at it in the slit scope, the doc said it was a metal shard and she'd remove it with a needle. The eye was numbed with anaesthetic drops, then by swab. I had to hold still while she jabbed with the needle. It was important to keep my gaze on the same object to avoid presenting a moving target. As the needle probed the particle, it was manifest in the distortion of my sight. The stubborn little bugger took quite a bit of probing before it was dislodged. It left behind, what the doc referred to as a "rust halo". Now it was still necessary to wash the eye. As I awaited the nurse, I was so happy to have the irritant gone that I was almost giddy. Little did I know what was coming. I was told to don a gown, otherwise my shirt would get wet. With my head on a towel, the nurse proceeded to squirt 100 mL of saline into my eye. It was one of the most unpleasant things I've endured. What's more, the saline washed out all the anaesthetic. I could now feel the abrasion. I made it to the pharmacy where I placed my order for Tobramycin drops and Vicodin. It would be an hour before it was ready so I decided to drive home. Holy moly! The eye couldn't tolerate the night glare. It wouldn't stay open. If a cop could have seen me, he'd have pulled me over because I was weaving all over the place. It was a hell of a drive. I took some hydrocodone we had around the house and decided to wait until morning to return to the pharmacy. The eye was weeping and throbbing. I took two benedryl and a shot of rum and, thankfully, fell asleep. Woke up with a goopy eye, but feeling much better.

It's pretty hard to beat the Sloop.

Just move to Washington. The mountains will be right there.

With winds like that you need to worry about wind loaded slopes. Winds have slacked off of late. http://www.nwac.us/products/OSOMUR MM/DD Hour Temp RH Wind Wind Wind Wind PST F % Min Avg Max Dir 10100' 10100' 10100' 10100' 10100' 10100' -------------------------------------------------------- 1 22 2200 21 56 12 17 25 314 1 22 2300 22 55 8 17 25 314 1 23 0 22 52 10 16 25 314 1 23 100 23 42 7 15 24 314 1 23 200 22 43 8 14 19 314 1 23 300 22 41 3 13 20 314 1 23 400 23 28 1 7 13 314 1 23 500 21 43 0 1 8 314 1 23 600 21 38 0 1 5 314 1 23 700 21 29 0 0 3 314 1 23 800 22 29 0 4 7 314 1 23 900 24 27 3 6 8 314 1 23 1000 26 30 0 1 6 314 1 23 1100 25 33 0 4 7 314 1 23 1200 34 25 0 2 4 314 1 23 1300 33 29 0 0 3 314 1 23 1400 31 35 0 1 3 314 1 23 1500 29 32 0 1 3 314 1 23 1600 30 30 0 1 5 314 1 23 1700 21 34 0 2 5 314 1 23 1800 21 23 0 3 6 314 1 23 1900 22 19 0 4 7 314 1 23 2000 21 16 4 9 12 314 1 23 2100 21 14 10 14 19 314

Of all the screws I have tried, the Laser Sonic was my least favorite. It was the hardest start and the swivel binds when you turn it. Perhaps the screw I was using was in poor condition. The nice thing about a swivelling bolt hanger is that you could remove the screw with the sling still on it, thus eliminating the chance to drop it. Do you guys actually do this? Yes, the Pan Pipe or the Ice Flute would seem to be a good solution for racking some types of ice screws. Jens, by "float", I take it that you are referring to the ability of the hanger to shift up and down to clear obstructions when it is turned? The 360 is very good in this regard, is it not?

I have a couple of 360s that I bought on sale. They are easy to place but they are a bitch to rack. Does anyone have ideas on how to rack them better. Does it help to have more ice clippers? Maybe rack fewer screws per clipper? Those handles get fouled in everything. I tried a couple of Helix screws last year and thought they were the easiest of all to place, specifically to get started, but like the 360s they too are difficult to rack.

If you look using the search function, you should be able to find some trip reports on winter ascents of Rainier on this site if you go back far enough. They should give you a feel for what is involved. Basically it comes down to waiting until snow conditions (esp. avy conditions) and weather come together and going then. You have to be in top shape, well equipped, and have a strong team. You have to go at the drop of a hat, even if it means ditching work or whatever committments you have when the conditions are right.

We climbed the right side of the main flow on Sunday. The second pitch is rather thin, but I get the sense that that's more or less normal.

You're going to make your first ascent of Rainier in Winter? Interesting.

No kidding! I figured you were young and gung ho, but didn't realize you were that young. Sounds like you've already done a lot of climbing.

This is earthshaking news! An extinct snafflehound the size of a bull!

Those of us in the pharmaceutical business know from experience with clinical trial just how large the Placebo Effect can be. There are numerous examples of highly effective drugs for which the placebo effect was greater than the direct effect of the drug. When I say "highly effective" what I mean is that there is a statistically significant difference between groups in a double blind placebo control clinical trial AND the quantity being measure is numerically large. For example, in a pain trial, a 25% reduction in pain sounds pretty good, right? Chances are the drug group had a 50% reduction in pain RELATIVE to the start of the trial, whereas the placebo group had a 25% reduction. So, homeopathy is all about giving drugs that are pharmacologically inactive. The belief on the part of the patient that this can be a benefit provides relief via the placebo effect. This effect is REAL. The patients can and do feel significant relief thanks to their belief in the remedy.

Bomber! I can remember times when such an anchor would have been the answer to my prayers.

You could also use a Freshette. REI carries them.

Close enough for government work. Close enough for the girls I go with. Close enough for rock and roll. Let's make like a drum and beat it. Let's make like a tree and leave. Beats a sharp stick in the eye. Beats a swift kick in the teeth.