Recycled

Be very cautious. I've run a lot of VWs into the ground and unfortunately have too much experience with keeping them going with high mileage. VW's are great for the first 8-10 years, then things start falling apart fast. If you have a parts car and do the work yourself, old VWs are a great option. If not, the costs of a competent mechanic will quickly bleed you dry at $70/hour. Note: this is general VW advice - not specific to Eurovans. I've had 4 diesel Rabbits, a '98 TDI Jetta (sold) and currently have 2 '04 TDI Jettas. The Rabbits I took up to 300-350,000 miles. They took continual maintenance and required a couple parts cars. The '98 Jetta started falling apart at 180,000 miles and I dumped it.

Part of the allure of "mountaineering" is that it is not just a test of your technique on a particular rock problem. It is dealing with a variety of factors including expected and unexpected difficulties on approach, weather, self arresting on heather, bad shit happening and general self-reliance. This calls for a different mindset than someone hopping out of their car, working a problem for a few hours, then driving off. Thus, I would definatly consider Washington Pass, the Enchantments, etc. to be alpine mountaineering. Exit 38, Index not.

Perhaps not being a uniformed combatant? Just a guess...

An ass in the hand is worth two in the bush. Maybe.

I suspect that the difference here is between posters that have kids and those that don't. Helping one's kids navigate childhood and balancing being overprotective on the one hand and being too permissive on the other hand is very difficult.

Seattle native

Perhaps the MLUs could be attached to shock collars so that the authorities could instantly deactivate anybody doing anything inappropriate. Yeah, that's it. Problem solved.

I think it's cool to put some names to faces. Who cares what some ass clowns said to you. They can go f-off. Right On. I'm laughing at myself at my mistaken mental pictures of various posters. After reading postings over the past few years, I get a mental picture of what I think the person is like, including what they look like. All I can say is that I was very wrong in a few cases. Props to those who posted - great smiles, great poise and all good looking to boot.

Obviously reusable bags are best, particularly when you get the 5 cent refund for using your own bags at many grocery stores. That adds up to about $20/year for our family, as well as the resource conservation and pollution reduction benefits. As pointed out, plastic bags are next best IF they get recycled. Unfortunately, well-meaning but uninformed retailers such as MEC think it's a good idea to use biodegradable bags in retail applications. It's not - the biodegradable plastic contaminates and weakens the standard poly bag feedstock if they enter the recycling stream. You don't want your recycled lawnmower wheels to photo- or biodegrade because the film plastic they were made from was contaminated with degradable plastics! You'll probably be hearing more about the differences in biodegradable vs. poly plastic bags in the near future. Foodwaste composting program promote the use of specific biodegradable bags for containing foodwaste, while poly bags are a real problem. The reverse is true for regular poly bag recycling at grocery stores. The world is getting more complicated...

That's a 2006 article.

Great! Could you post the location/room number at WWU? Thanks

It's not a position. Its a contract to operate the facility.

The City of Federal Way is looking for a contractor to operate its new climbing wall. This may or may not be a good opportunity - This is just posted FYI. http://www.cityoffederalway.com/folders/home/eservicesdocuments/bidsrfps/2007/RFP%20Climbing%20Pinncale.pdf

The current crop of social conservatives heap scorn on both type of liberals...

Agreed. Machine 2-party politics is the problem - whether it's the demos or repubs. We in the US tend to be pretty smug about having the best type of governance system, but I suspect a parliamentary system yields a more functional democracy. It tends to shake it up a bit and require partnerships between parties to maintain a majority government. However, I don't have know how the balance of power between parties, individual elected officials, lobbyists and staff actually works out under that system.

Unfortunately, higher turnover of electeds = more power for staff and lobbyists. There is virtually no way for a single person to read 500 page bills, do research on intended and unintended impacts, check in with constituents and do what it takes to get re-elected. Staff end up driving decisions, with helpful advice from lobbyists "stakeholders." The elected just ends up asking people he trusts whether the bill is good or not. I've met quite a few thoughtful elected officials that ask good questions and think about their decisions. I've also met a lot of duds. I have not noticed a correlation between length of tenure and quality of electeds.

ANY musical

Social conservatives screw this up all the time by ignoring the distinction between the benefits of a civil contract/marriage and the religious aspects of marriage. To me, the civil contract of a marriage means that my partner and I are an economic unit as far as our finances, arranging health benefits, being responsible for offspring, etc. As well, we mutually agree to be legally responsible for each other, including making medical decision for the other if they are incapacitated. The state has an interest in this to the extent that it clarifies ground rules as far as responsibilites and benefits in a relationship. If that level of committment is too heavy for someone, just don't get married. A religious marriage is an overlay on this basic civil contract, with whatever baggage a particular religion brings to the table. The baggage may include requirements to only marry someone from that faith, it may restrict by race, caste, gender or whatever. It makes sense to me to have the civil and religious aspects completely separated. Any consenting adults should be able to enter the civil partnership, but only those parties that meet a particular religion's stamp of approval would be able to become married in the eyes of that church. Attempting to apply religious standards to the legal institution of marriage is foolish at best and unconstitutional at worst.

Latte, working on diesels? Now that's cognitive dissonance. Best not let anyone see you wrenching with a latte.

At last we're getting somewhere. Xenu's MY bitch, baby.

Yep. That's been my backyard for 20 years. Sounds like they may go for saturation possibly towers every ridge and perhaps maintaining the slash line more intensively (my guess). It'll take years to put this in. I didn't mean to restart the thread about official/unofficial access from a couple years ago - I'm just pointing out that the status quo may be changing. A lot.

Times are a changing. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14926073/ Expect a big run on the north side of Mt. Redoubt next summer - get it while you still can.

Thanks for the hard work!

No, I'm one of those rare progressive libertarian environmentalist with an identity crisis.

Slum-lord? That's Mister Slum Lord to you. Actually, I'm selling houses as fast as I can. The RE markets going to shit and you heard it here first.