ken4ord

Because most of the time women don't run out to the end of branch with no other way around the guy in front of you.

Yes, the Iraqis need a peacekeeping force, but one that actually means it when it says that violence is wrong--and that cannot be the U.S. Yes the casualties (with all due respect) are relatively low (50,000 in Vietnam?), and this suggests that 'war' is a misnomer for our activities in Iraq. Our war is over (we attacked and defeated Iraq), and what remains is a civil war that we can't fight (and aren't) for them even if we wanted to--we can only try to mediate how the rival factions in Iraq work out their differences. Unfortunately, the U.S. executive branch is in no place to defuse the situation, because it already showed that as far as it's concerned, violence trumps diplomacy. An international peacekeeping force that isn't commanded directly by the United States would be more appropriate, and certainly more acceptable to the peoples and powers of the region. Unfortunately, the current U.S. government has never been interested in being a team player. Why? One possibility is that the notion of essentially owning (overtly or covertly) a middle eastern country is far too attractive. I completely agree, but right now there does not seem to be any interest to get involved from the international community and I don't blame them. Hell we went into Iraq essentially flipping off the rest of the world and doing what we want. I imagine the international community is now approaching Iraq as, the US made the mess, they can clean it up.

Try using [ b ] and [ /b ] (without spaces) on either end that you want bold and your mad skills will return.

Damn, it sounds like half of the crew is going to be gimps. I'd be there if I could. Big thanks to everyone who is making the effort.

Damn, I miss sausagefest, the one and only time I made it was definitely a good time.

As my girlfriend just pointed out, people's hand size plays a huge role in deciding what qualifies as OW. For her, #1 is hands, #2 is fist, and #3 starts OW...I'm like you, #2-hands, #3-fist, and +3 starts OW. Your climbs are added to The List. Blake, enough alpine out of you. No one is going to hike hours to climb a multipitch route just to climb the OW pitch at the top! When I think of offwidths I would exclude climbs that are off-hands or off-fist. Those climbs are too subjective. Too me really offwidths there is alway thruthing and scumming involved no matter how big or small your mitts are.

Here is my quick picks Yam, trad, 1000ft, 5.7-12 :tup: Grotto, sport, 1P (though I think there is some multi), Grassi, sport, 1P :tup: Rundle, sport/mixed, 1-15P, :tup: Chinaman, mixed, 10-15P, :tup: Mt. Louis, trad, 10-15+P, 5.7 and up :tup:

Jammin, I lost a friend on LR a few years back who had more than 15 years experience climbing all over the world. He was strong climber, technically capable and very fit. I had been on WI5 and 5.10 rock route with the guy. I have done the route too, it is a great climb and definitely a good goal to have. Granted it is mainly a snow climbs most years, but it still works the hell you. The good thing is that route is not going anywhere soon. Just some food for thought.

He probably bought several copies one for the day and spares for personal use.

The recruiting booths they're sticking in area high schools designed to suck up the bottom students in danger of not graduating or dropping out doesn't sit well with me though. I'm sure they're being completely honest and upfront with these intellectual marvels however. I agree it is pretty disgusting the way our government recruits sometimes, but I tend to think no matter how dumb you are there is no way that you can actually think that you might not see some action at some point.

Agreed, but we probably shouldn't do that until these other countries are stepping up and willing to take that on. So far I have not heard of anybody volunteering to do that.

Damn damn damn damn I hate being overseas sometimes!

Let me first start by saying, I thought it was the stupidest idea to attack Iraq in the name of war on terrorism and that there was WMD. The main weapon was Sadam and most of the terrorism was inflicted upon the Iraqi people and neighboring countries, not the US. At this point I am glad he is no longer able to do the shit that he was doing to "his" people and neighbors. Now let me say to pull out right now would be a disservice to us, to the Iraqi people and to the rest of the world. If we leave right now we are basically leaving a country unprotected to civil war, corruption, which would probably leave it as a perfect breeding ground for terrorist group. We need to see this out until there is more stability before leaving or else we leaving it worse than when we began. As for our troops dying in the line of fire, yeah that sucks, but nobody forced individuals to enlist. Our soldiers enlisted (for Gawd knows what reason) and hopefully knew that being a soldier is not a free ride and there is a chance they could see frontline somewhere in the world and possibly die. You can't expect that you can go to war without deaths, that is fucking rediculus. Hell I am surprised with the low number of US soldier deaths to be honest, I thought for sure that there would be more, I couldn't imagine Iraq being an easy place to fight.

I agree, it pisses me off when people think we are better or more intelligent than animals. If that is the case then we probably won't killing each other. Arch, I definitely do not agree that animals are not able to reflect, but I am not sure that they do. Not until we are able to communicate with them in a language that we both understand can we say for certain that they don't reflect upon there actions. HOR I am not sure I agree that many view (I am interpeting as 'think') mass killing is acceptable, at least that I would like to believe that we don't.

Yeah I have had a similar experience. Also they are pretty cheap bastards when it comes to buying stuff and overpriced when it comes to selling it, I guess that is business. They wanted to give me $50 for a front fork that listed for $600. I kept instead and told them they were crazy.

Note on components, manufacturers and bike shop for that matter say a bike is equipped with LX or XT or whatever, but be aware when they say that they don't necessarily mean the whole bike. In most cases manufacturers will put a single high end component (normally rear derailer and/or shifters) to say that the bike is equipped with that component group, then they skimp on the brakes, hubs, headsets, seatpost, bottom bracket and cranks. Look out for plastic (I am not talking about carbon), cheap plastic is junk and will end up as real junk in no time. Places you will find it on rear derailers, brake lever, brakes, shifters (now-a-days most shifters have plastic, its the internal part I am talking about) and on cheap cranks as a chain ring prtector. As far as buying a second hand bike, I would reccomend not buying one, unless you like tinkering around with bikes and enjoy that stuff. With that said I will be selling my Bullit this summer with extra rear shock (need a rebuild for the seven inch travel the current one is 5 and is brand new 10 rides so far) and front fork. If any you want some specs let me know.

tanstaafl where the hell are your quotes from our Canadian Rockies trip, I recall you writing a lot of them down. I drank to much whiskey and black russian to remember what I said.

OJ and carrots don't feel to good coming up through your nostrils either!

Everybody who was here is gone now. They found the grave as a result of a confession.

Again with these "accidents" and the recalls I cannot imagine clipping into one, even as pyschological pro.

I am so sorry to hear this. How awful for people in the area to be re-traumatized by these types of unexpected rememberences. And awful for you to come face to face with the evidence of these horrors. Very sorry for you all there during this time. Definietly sucks for people, a lot of my co-workers have been traumatized by the whole experience. Our cleaner at our house is the only one remaining in her family. This will continue on for a long time with Gacaca (comuunity tribuls). They estimate another 15-20 years before all of the trial processes are over. At this point it is sort of rediculus, because people who are charged are dying of AIDS or old age in some cases. Prison is sometimes a better option since they have a bed, job and meals, no pay. This grave site that was in front of our house was a complete family, I guess there is another accross the street that they still need to dig up. Sort of bizzare where this thread went when I was gone for a few days.

Hey Arch, I think someone has already mentioned it, but gou get what you pay for. If you love cycling then invest the time and money into it. Also it sounds like you have a bike right now that might be similar to what you are looking for, get rid of it and put it towards your new ride, unless it is quite different or you have some other purpose for it like turing it into a commuter or touring rig. It better to have one bike that you love rather than many that are so-so. First thing figure out the type of riding. Fire roads, single track, cross country, technical or non technical, free riding, all mountain or down hill? I can tell you right now that you will be hard pressed to find a decent ride sub $500 that will hold well for technical, fr, am or dh. (Except for some hard tails). Decide how frequently you are going to ride. Ocassionally on the weekend, every weekend, commuting, every day? For ocasional and every weekend you should be able to find something for sub $500. For every weekend and some commuting, it will be worth while to spend more for better components. If you are into riding every day then get something you are going to love riding, I tend to be in this arena I don't care what I spend and buy what I like. Once you have figured this out, get out and try riding as many bikes as possible. It doesn't cost anything to go to shops and try them out. Try everything even the one you thought you might not be into. Make notes about how you feel on the bike, later this will help. Once you have done this now narrow down your price range and bikes of interest. There may have been expensive bikes that you tried that felt great, it might be simple things that you can do on your cheaper bike to give you a similar feel. Like a big saddle for your big ass, you mentioned, from you calender pictures, I can't picture that, but maybe the winter was bad for you. Longer or shorter stem, riser bars or straight bars, even better grips, pedals, better shock, these are all things that a decent shop will swap out and give you some credit towards the upgrades. Then get out and ride and don't gouge your eye out!

This weekend I almost got to see one of the greatest places in the world to see game, but instead I saw puke piling up in grass and the inside of the bathroom at the lodge we were staying at. It was suppose to be a nice weekend at Nygorogoro crater, but instead I got food poisoning at the first hotel we stayed at. It hit me on the drive into the crater and still feels like it hasn't left. A complete bummer.

This morning, like almost any weekday morning Misti and I get in the car and head down our dirt road to work. Today as we were pulling out of our gate there was several guys standing out in front of it which was sort of odd since we live on a dead end street and are close to being one of the last houses on the street. We made a comment to each, wondering what these guys are doing. We didn't give it too much thought since after all we do have a guard at our house and Misti's mom was there and our nanny. Just a few minutes ago I got a call from Misti. She had just found out that those guys were there to dig up a mass grave that was right next to our house. Very creepy, especially since I have been thinking of doing some digging there to build some double jumps.

Today back to happy feel good twisted music. HalDFVVo4aY HpP-8tJ-9Js&mode