fenderfour

I noticed that OR has some new, really reasonably priced down sweaters on their website. OR Down

I-River has been great for me over the past two year. Before I got an armband, I would run with it on a neck lanyard with it tucked under my shirt. I can only imagine the foul horrors of moisture ad foulness that it experienced ther, but it's still working great. The sound is very good for such a small unit but the headphones that com with the unit suck. Most smaller platyers lack the power (amplifier) to get loud. The I-River players do not suffer from this.

Off-topic, but I couldn't help but notice the birthday cake by NOLSe's name. I think he's turning 12 today.

-007

Seracs on the Coleman Glacier on Mt. Baker, Nisqually Icefall on Mt. Rainier. I've never been on the Nisqually, ut I've been on the Coleman a number of times. It's a hoot. There's a great campsite on a ridge just above the glacier. Nothing else is in right now.

Keep it cheap and light in the alpine:

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Go swing them. I tried all of the above and the Tech Wings were the best for my swing. That doesn't mean that the others aren't great tools, the design of the Grivel was best for me.

I'm a gaper. I'm a rope tangling, belay device dropping, 5.8 leading, non-skiing, too-fat-for sport, too-slow-for alpine, non-dry-toolin, cheap gear owning, WI3 sketching fuck-off. I've never lead 5.10 trad. I've never tried 5.11 sport. I've climbed the WA volcanoes by the easiest routes possible. The only leader fall I've taken was 20+ feet… in the gym. I've never bivvied a storm on a big wall. Hell, I've never bivvied a storm. I believe in the light-and-slow approach to climbing. I believe in Wild Turkey on summits and PBR in parking lots. I don't own a crash pad and I could give a shit about V10 bouldering. I don't know any big name climbers, and I don't care to know any. I've flailed trying to toprope Classic Crack, only to watch someone else solo it. I still enjoy hiking the Mt Si trail. I've never been benighted on a route. I have respect for the Mountaineers because they are teaching people to climb. I have respect for REI because they are a business doing what businesses do. I don't talk about what I do because what I do sucks. Regardless of all this, I still have a great time climbing. Next time you see a big-ass bearded son-of-a-bitch sweating like Drew Carey in a South American marathon, laboring up a trail or thrutching up a 5.6, stop and say hi. I'll appreciate it.

How about a new one for $17? MGear link

Mental Terrorism: I used to work with a guy who was a total glutton. He would eat all the group snacks as fast as he could. I thought about talking to him about it, but he was a clueless meathead as well. Instead I devised a plan and got my coworkers in on it. We would always make sure we had some fatty, high-calorie snacks at work. Meathead would eat himself fat. After about a month, Meathead started commenting about gettting fat. At the end of three months he had packed on 20lbs. Mission completed. Every now and again, when a certain coworker stood up from his desk, I would loudly complain about a fart (wich he had NOT let) and rant about always being the victim of his poor digestive tract. This went on for about four months before he admitted that it was giving him a complex. He just though his ass smelled bad.

It's the 20th, any word?

Those bastards! I seem to remember brunch is only on Sunday at Anthony's.

Anthony's Homeport has a good brunch menu. Portage Bay Cafe (Eastlake) also kicks some ass

if it was a democratic rally, the shirts would have been torn up.

You could go to www.barrabes.com then select engrish. One drawback to Barrabes - there is a 4% duty on all goods shipped. DHL will be kind enough to pay the fee for you, then send you a bill for the 4% plus their $5 handling fee. Back to big shoes - 5.10 makes most of their shoes in size fricken huge.

Most gearslings are full-strength slings as well as places to put your gear. The tied runner would still be lighter.

Golite Gust for the light trips. It's a bit big, but it only weighs 20 oz. The fabric is a lot tougher than even the best silnylon. If you add some compression straps and know how to pack it, you are left with a 24 oz pack that can carry a lot of weight comfortably (but a lot of weight isn't the point, now is it?).

I don't htink Bush has a chance this year. There has been a major get out the vote effort, and it hasn't been backed by the conservatives. All of the polls show the opinions of "likely voters", not those of the few million new registered voters. These new voters are the slackers that the fatass Michael Moore (and others) have been recruiting. The polls have never taken their opinion into account. Quite frankly, if you're not going to vote, your opinion doesn't matter. Now if we can only convince them to follow through and vote...

Ok. I was kicking ass when you were just a dribble down your daddy's leg.

Sorry Distel. Maybe it would make more sense if you read my follow up. Until then, i will feel honored to be in the presence of someone who has, in fact, served a federal politician in some way. Please forgive my iniquities, for I am but a single uneducated voice that pales in comparison to your own. Excuse me while I sing praises to the masses of Distel's honorable service to our country.

Chill homeslice. I'm not saying that they don't work hard. I dunno. What I'm saying is that they make a lot of laws because that is what lawmakers do, not because we really need them. Nobody wants to comment on a democrat sponsoring a bill to reinstate the draft? WTF?

That's a "yep" Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) Then he voted against it. I guess if these guys weren't making laws they would have to sit on thier thumbs. Maybe we should have some sort of backup plan for our legislators for when we don't need any new laws. Maybe they can all work as fish packers too.

Wasn't the draft bill sponsored by dems?

Dumbest bumper sticker: Frodo Failed Bush got the ring!