foraker

"Wait, what am *I* doing at a conference on supercomputing?" Actually, the best mis-quote was from one of my colleagues who was mis-quoted in the Seattle Times as saying "We're hitting over a teraflop of sustained global bandwidth!" We'll be giving him a lot of shit over that for a long time, even though he didn't say it.

What really amazes me is that you seem ready to dump a shitload of vitriole on someone for a presumed slight that you *think* abrades your delicate political sensibilities, yet you don't seem to have much of a reaction to the selling of our wilderness and public lands to the highest bidder. Maybe you ought to divert some of that energy into taking the administration and Congress to task, rather than abusing climbing site administrators. Of course, it's much easier to do the latter, I suppose.

Jeebus, F. Do you go lookin' for things to make you angry or does pretty much everything make you angry? If some group of people made me as angry as this place obviously makes you, I'd kind of think avoiding the place would be high on my list of things to do. Unless you're a tad masochistic.... Irritable Male Syndrome, mayhap?

Yay! Doom! Didya send my taquitos yet!?

I thought you were going to ask if someone was interested in climbing Adams for you on T-day and to bring back some nice pictures.

It gives time to pause and reflect on Veterans Day.

Another beautiful theory confounded by the ugly fact that politicians lie.

Considering most people in the country don't 'believe' in evolution, the fight is hardly over.

I, too, thought it was BS. Still, how do you reconcile saying it's ok to ban smoking at work (thank god) but then saying it's ok to smoke in bars? People work in bars too. You might say 'well, you don't have to work in a bar!' but at the same time you could turn that around and then, say, that people should be allowed to smoke indoors at Microsoft and, hey, you don't have to work there if you don't want! In that case, it's probably best left to the individual business, esp. given that there are so few smokers these days. Would singling out bars for special dispensation be considered unconstitutional? Probably.

While we're at it: a) no cell phones on airplanes! b) no power outlets for laptops on airplanes! c) really narrow overhead bins on airplanes so that you can only stuff jackets and a small backpack in there. none of this rolling on a huge bin o' crap and trying to jam it in and end up delaying the flight. d) tranquilizing dart guns for kids on planes with a couple of extra shots for any parents who might go postal (could have been good for terrorists too). would have been good on the crazy old bat who chatted constantly about jesus, her grandkids, and astrology on the flight from LAX to Sydney.....

anyone who worries about how 'cool' they look doing something shouldn't be doing it until they've shoved a hot poker up their nostril and excised the part of their brain that makes them think that way. FWIW, snowboarders do not look 'cool' doing that goofy-foot slap-lunge-fall walk that they do. Nor do they look 'cool' sitting in groups of 8 right in the middle of a run just beyond the top of a steep bit when you're going 800 mph. Yeah, I'm a skier but so what? I don't make a fashion statement and I'm not color coordinated. Neither do I have baggy-ass boarder pants and an iPod. I don't care what you think of me on the hill. Just be aware and considerate and don't run into my ass.

Smite them Lord! Smite them hard! Go Pat!

Unfortunately for George Bush, Senator McCain had a contagious infection known commonly as shrubitis (lat. shrubaceous mendacitii )

An excellent time to work on balancing your grip strength!

What is this 'high school' of which you speak? Was this pre 'fire ball of death from the gods' or post 'ice wall of death from canada'?

I guess I just never found one Dru... Unless you have to brought up on poutine and vegemite to like such dreck. Believe it or not, I even found a place there that had horrid fish and chips.

Oh. Fly-fishing. Go to Lake Wanaka (on the way to Aspiring). God damn. Such a beautiful place. It's hard to believe it even exists. I met some Japanese dude in the hostel there who'd spent a month or two there just fishing. Even if it's not the place for fly fishing (not sure) it's bloody gorgeous nonetheless.

ah, yah bastard. spent a total of 3 months there myself. the hut system in Mt Cook park rocks. There's even one at the base of Aspiring. Don't bother with the 'standard' route on Aspiring, it's dull (at least in my opinion). Actually, the standard route on Cook (Linda Glacier route) is pretty interesting. Your time in the PNW will have been good training since the weather there is equally dodgy. Only about a 150 people or so a year climb Cook, mostly because you have to be there, ready to go. Invest a pittance and join the NZ alpine group for cheap use of their hut in Mt Cook NP (and possibly elsewhere). A good place to stay when the poor bastards in tents in the campground are getting flooded out by the rain. Buy all the gear you need before you, climbing stuff there is stupid expensive (last I checked). Wanna copy my alpine route guide? :-) Regarding tramping, the huts there vary from Category 1 to Category 3. The cat 1 huts are plush and full of Japanese tourists and are on trails that are maintained almost like roads. The cat 3 huts are very basic and the trails are more challenging. I did nothing but cat 3 tramps and was happy for it because of the lack of people. Things you will learn to hate: sand flies sheep poo sheep more sheep Things you will learn to love: Moro bars (yum, drool, send me some!) Kiwis (hands down the coolest people around, better than Canadians) You poor fool. You'll never come back. If you do, you'll never be able to climb here. Things to avoid (if you can): sheep poo meat pies (and their derivatives) I still say things like 'bloody', 'petrol' instead of 'gas', 'post' instead of 'mail', and 'ya reckon?' (see above), etc etc.

you mean the mossy side of your head?

Check your typing skilz ascensionist

Seriously, though, good on ya. :-)

I hope you got one of the original metal versions and not one of the modern cheap plastic versions. Good on ya for saving up your lunch money like that! Didn't realize they sent out certified letters these days though. Talk about encouraging brand loyalty!

Because that would be 'disloyal' and 'questioning authority'.

the moron's got a come-along, why doesn't he just get out and use it? i'd at least try. or is that just for show? make the other jeep drivers think he's 'too legit to quit'? someone at the jeep dealership must have told him he should have one.

Outside of all these fun economic theories, I never thought I'd see the day we had secret CIA prisons in former communist countries. How sad.