tomcat

Well I'll admit I was confused as to the whole nomenclature myself. I think originally the plans was to do some sort of pub-to-pub shuffle. But then Timmy had mentioned he was going to be in town and so we decided to supboena everyone to an honorary [albeit out of the norm] Thursday pub club. I'll admit the whole thing was confusing, but don't let a couple of extra pubs deter you from uniting in a beer drinking frenzy with your fellow cc.comers!

Duchess your avatar rocks .. is that a squirrel riding a snowboard?

I'm not sure whining is the right word .. more like holding people accountable for where those fees are going. As far as I know there's never been a real investigation launched into this, and so I don't think anyone really knows how that money is being spent. I certainly don't see anything wrong with being concerned about where this money is going, and again I don't consider it whining one bit. Why should you be tired of people "whining" about the issue if they've got a point? It sounds like you're irritated with the repetitive discourse rather than the actual reasons behind further investigating the issue. Flame suit on.

Someone just e-mailed me this information from an article in the PI .. I think it pertains : Hoping to build support for permanent fees to pay for hiking trails and visitor center centers, the U.S. Forest Service is launching a new national pass system that piggybacks of passports for national parks and other federal lands. Starting in mid-April, the $65.00 Golden Eagle Passport and related passes also will be good at Forest Service day-use attractions where fees are charged, such as national forest hiking trails in the Northwest and southern Calif, the Mount St. Helens national Volcanic monument and the Oregon Dunes National Rec Area. The Golden Eagle Passport, Golden Age Passport and Gold Access Passport, which covers entrance to national parks, national monuments, wildlife refuges and other federal lands, now will be good at forest Service sites as well. For an extra $15.00, people can upgrade their $50.00 national parks passes to cover national forests. Existing Forest service Pass, will remain an option, as will one-day passes. The bulk of the money from the passes remains for use at the point where it was purchased. note : The expanded pass will not cover campgrounds, cabin rentals, improved boat ramps or concessions services. "We think this is going to be responsive to what we are hearing from people. They want simplicity. They want convenience, and they want value," said Teri Cleeland, who oversees the recreation fee demonstration program for the Forest Service. But opponents of the forest service's seven-year old fee demonstration program, which sunsets in Sept. 2004, said the Forest Service was trying to rain through an unpopular program without public review. Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press, Mar. 6, 2003

I wouldn't be so sure the public couldn't care less ... what if they do an investigation and happen to uncover corrupt finance issues within the forest service? What if they're buying gumball machines for their offices with the proceeds? I think there's more to fees than meet the eye and it appears from this thread that a lot of people agree. I think it's an important issue that people will care about if it's investigated properly.

lol @ Iains rendition!

I think you all suck. Everyone on this entire forum sucks!

Actually you know what, and thanks for the concern catbirdseat, but the hummus I ate on that fateful day had a earthy smell. Just ask my old neighbor lady if the hallways were smelling earthy that day. No wait, she can't smell because of that operation she had, but I can tell you the only thing smelling earthy that day was the hummus.

I am so boycotting french fries. But seriously, was it the honorable trask who so eloquently said, "Going to war without France is like going fishing without boxing gloves"?

Do beer and feta mix? By AlpenTom. One day I came home and just wanted to relax. I didn't know what to do. Luckily I had just gone to Safeway earlier in the day and found this amazing new brand of Feta cheese. Me, ever the fan of feta cheese, decided to fix myself a hummus and feta pita sandwich. I often fix hummus and pita sandwiches. They are very good. I ate every tasty morsel of this scrumptious treat and forgot all about the pains of my hard day. Until.... (and this is where it really gets interesting now, so contain yourself)..... I began to watch TV and saw a beer commercial. I remembered how good the beer tasted the night before at the Wedgewood Ale House pub club and decided I would head for the fridge. Upon arriving at the fridge I selected my beverage of choice, a lovely 22oz. bottle of Heineken (brewed in Holland - imported by Heineken USA Inc., White Plains NY), and commenced to popping the lid in true cascadeclimber form by using a lighter and my thumb (no I don't smoke - it's my camping lighter and I just got back from camping so it happened to be in my pocket OK?). So anyway, I pop the lid and begin to drink. As I begin to peel back the foil around the mouth of the Heineken bottle (why do they put that foil on there in the first place? do they think we enjoy sinking our teeth into foil when we go to take a sip). But anyway, unfortunately, the beer did not taste right from the start. Figuring the alcohol would soon take effect and eliminate most of the horrible taste I was experiencing at that particular moment in time, I waited a few minutes to take another drink. So I waited. And those few minutes passed by until I decided it was time to try another sip. So I did. I took another sip of my Heineken and all of a sudden .. WHAM! It hit me like a ton of bricks. My stomach started tying itself in knots within seconds and I got one of those weird stomach aches that you get sometimes when you eat too much ice cream (the real crampy kind -- I even got them at a wrestling match when I was a kid for being too nervous, but that's not important now). What is important is that my stomach felt like it was producing an abnormal quantity of gas, but none of the gas could escape for some reason. It was then that I looked down at the feta cheese rapper that was still lying on the counter in front of me. And it struck me .. could this feta cheese be the culprit? Could this innocent looking, wonderfully palatable feta cheese that I had so anxiously purchased earlier in the day be interfering with my beer drinking time? So I learned a couple lessons in all of this that I would like to share with you all. 1) Enjoying beer is much more important than enjoying feta cheese, and B) If you mix feta cheese and beer you could possibly produce enough gas to power your house for an entire Winter. If you doubt my word and think your body is invincible to this volatile mixture -- that you will not produce gas -- and if you live in an apartment building with an old lady that lives underneath you, please do your old lady neighbor a huge favor and try it outside because you'll be embarassed to look at her in the face the next time you see her in the hallway. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to waste some of your hard earned time -- I figured I would just return the favor since you all do the same to me everytime I enter the spray forum!

Post #100 ... I would like to dedicate this moment to my mom, dad, cousin justin, aunt helma, and to all network administrators accross the internet who made my data transmissions possible. Thankyou from the bottom of my heart.

I agree 100% Mattp .. I knew someone was going to call me on safe zones when I posted that ... the reason I didn't change it was because I didn't want some gumby reading that and thinking he could figure out where those safe zones were at. The fact is, if someone hasen't taken an avi course or learned sufficiently on his/her own about where safe zones exist, then he/she shouldn't be making those judgements. It's easy for Joe Gumby to come on this board and read things and think he's got things figured out on his own merely by reading some threads. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone.

If it's any consolation to you I voted for the no option. I certainly hope no gumbies[/] are stupid enough to go out into the backcountry in this crap.

You can buy a pass at the beginning of the season for a certain amount. I'd be the wrong person to ask about the amount though because for 1) I don't currently own a vehicle 2) I wouldn't pay the fees even if I did. It's good you're seeking story ideas on cc.com .. I think that shows class on behalf of yourself and King5. As I'm sure you know, there hasn't been a whole lot of attention given to issues concerning NW climbers in the media. I know I'll think of something else to add to this thread soon, but right now I'm recovering from pub club!

Climbing Fees/Trail Park Pass ... I'm sure someone else here could give you a better run down than myself on the stupidity and non-necessity of these fees, but I'd like to have Herb Weisbaum (or whoever your guys' consumer reporter is) investigate on where these funds are actually going.

Where oh where Has my horsecock gone? It was taken away because I spend too much time at cc.com. Ode format stolen from the honorable trask.

I like Comcast the service .. it's very fast and reliable. But I do not like Comcast as a company. My suggestion is just don't have any billing questions and you'll be just fine.

Yes, cracked even if you're underage. Make all checks payable to AlpenTom.

You are a wanker if you missed this Thursday's pub club .... Jon, Gapertimmy, Juan Two Punch, TTT, Thinker, Mattp, pms, AlpineK, ehmmic, chucK, Tread_Tramp, Col_Van_Spanker, and all the rest of you pub clubbers ... it was a pleasure to drink with you! We got some great photos that should be up soon. Allison you owe us all a beer for not showing up. So does everyone else who didn't show. I'll be collecting next Tuesday so you better start saving. You too Duchess .. you're not getting off that easy!

It's really going to depend on the amount of snowfall we get. The snow is falling hard and at low elevations right now, and who knows what the next month will bring. This has been a weird Winter.

7:30 is good

Gapertimmy is in town tonight so they declared this pub club week.

The next pub club is tonight Jim .. at the Wedgewood Alehouse (35th Ave NE and ~ NE 87th). Mike Swayne has a lot of good stories .. can't wait to hear this one.

I concur!

I had to bring this thread back up top to say I hate those damned TelWest ads with the stupid chick saying, "The price they gave me was the price I paid." That is quite possibly one of the most ignorant statements ever made in the history of TV advertising. Of course you paid the price they gave you .. everyone does .. it's called capitalism.