archenemy

Anyone remember this post? G. Roper describes 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class in terms of difficulty. 2nd class - like walking up an open stairwell on the outside of a building with a railing. 3rd class - like walking up that same stairwell without the railing. 4th class - like climbing an off-vertical ladder up that same building. If you fell, it would kill you, but it would be damn hard to fall unintentionally. 5th class - having to climb the building without the stairwell of the ladder. I remember that NOLS taught it as the consequences of an unprotected fall: 1st class - you might get some bruises and cuts. 2nd class - you will get some bruises and cuts. 3rd class - you will get some bruises and cuts, you might break something. 4th class - you will break something, you might get dead. 5th class - will kill you.

Broken. Been climbing in the gym.

That is the best non-porn movie ever.

"And to make it only worse, the daughter is afraid of water," the police chief said. No shit?

I am glad "bitch" is still acceptable to you. But I am still fond of the simple, impersonal, gender-neutral adjective "retarded". But to each his own, eh?

I totally agree with this. And to think that politicians can fix this is comical. Politicians can't analyze and solve problems; they are trained to. For all I know, that is not even in their job descriptions. They pretty much just work on getting voters to see things a certain way so that the politician can get more money from big donors. Politicians who make their money as a politician is going to do whatever he has to in order to keep his job. Politicians who don't need money probably can't relate to the rest of us. I just don't see how any of this benefits us. Occasionally I mention the book, "When Corporations Rule the World". It is a must read. It gives an excellent history of the corporation. It helps clarify and give depth to the issues going on today--such as the ruling that now allows corps to donate all the $ they want to politicians. Understanding the reinforcement of the corporation as an individual entity equal to that of a human is important. We live with the implications every day. Read it.

Tax conversations like this always crack me up. People like "Joe the Plunger" make it sound like anyone who makes $251K suddenly gets the whole amount they make fall into a different tax bracket. Certainly this yahoo has seen a tax schedule, hasn't he? So retarded.

I always sort of assumed that no one really gave a shit who I "really" am. If my posts are offensive or inane, ignore them. If you don't get any value out of posting on a board unless you know everyone's legal name, don't do it. When a discussion thread seems to spiral out of control, ignore it. As for the argument that real names protect us from threats; well, that just doesn't make sense. If someone knows who you are, they can track you down much easier than if they just know you as "Doper from CC.com". And sure, you have their name too. Calling the cops and making a report won't stop a crazy person from shooting you. Maybe try not pissing people off that bad in the first place. And to anyone who assumed that I don't give a shit about who you "really" are; you are right.

As do I. And learning from mistakes is imperative. Blaming others for theirs is not.

Until they grow into a Misty Mtn Cadillac; then let them know you love 'em. It might be a good idea to call a climbing gym and ask them what they use for their kid classes. They have experience working with lots of kids and probably know the ins and outs of a harness or two.

So sorry to hear about this accident. My heart goes out to those who loved him and knew him. Condemning his partners is unfair. Ultimately, we are all responsible for ourselves when we climb. We accept the risks that come with our activities and the risks that come with picking our partners. There is no knowing how a person will respond to a particular emergency. And frankly, we don't even know how we will respond when we are in a dire situation. We take our chances. I do believe that everyone involved with this event has suffered something traumatic and responded in the best way they could under the circumstances. Think about it: even simply reading about it is upsetting enough for us to evoke responses and emotional posts. Maybe later we will look back on our posts and realize we didn't really respond the way we thought we would in this situation. Let's be mindful of the possibility that the people connected with this sad event may read what we have written. Imagine that one of those people is your best friend, your brother, you. And forgive a little. And on a different note: I just have to say thank you to the volunteers and rescuers. Every time I hear about the incredible efforts you give to help those in need, I am grateful to you. Thank you for providing us with something we can easily take for granted until we need it. It is an amazing and selfless gift.

Ever see the movie "Feed". Fucking awesome.

She probably stole them from a Democrat.

Agreed. Especially if you espouse the "tolerance" line. Obviously, there are limits to tolerance, as well there should be. But blowing people up because they don't believe what you believe is simply unexceptable. And I am not in a position to indict a whole body of ideas because I don't know them all. But I know enough to know I don't like them (and this comes after taking Arabic and studying some of the culture, history, religion--so please don't go off on the "you are just ignorant" line). I'm no expert, but I recognize ideas/beliefs that are fundamentally incompatible with the rest of the world when I see them.

Shooting a person over a cartoon drawing is stupid. Issuing a Fatwa for a drawing, a book, a comment, is stupid. Not being able to draw an image that you want to draw is stupid.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/01/danish.cartoon.break.in/index.html The cartoon was done years ago. Time to get over it.

Flying is fun. The last few months have been a blast. Ever try to get through security with crutches and a metal leg? Holy shit what an ordeal. And SeaTac has been the worst. Hell, even when I was down to a cane I was dreading going through security. I had just gotten off my crutches, still had to use a cane for every step, and had to walk through security with it. A very short, angry, not-quite-human security chick was so put out when I had to walk over to get "checked". I carefully stepped onto the little footprint markers on the matt while balancing and wincing. The fucking bitch grabbed my cane and took it out from under my hand (of course, I was leaning on it). I slipped sideways and grabbed a table to keep from falling over. I looked down at her and just said, "Don't do that". She asked me if I wanted a "private" screening. I didn't know what the hell she meant so I said no. The lady dragon said ok and proceeded to pretty much grab my tits. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even get charged for it.

Woot!

I was just in Honolulu. I wanted to have a heart attack there too--what a dump.

Exactly what I was thinking. Loved this little gem too: "Blanco is pretty much the most useless climber I´ve ever met. At least if I bring a girlfriend into the mountains I can see some benefit." Nice.

IOW: A woman who will take shit from you and say thank you.

Fuckin sexy! Post a pic of it and that will count as my worst Xmas gift.

So, did you find your Romeo?

What routes are you looking at? What window of time are you thinking? What do you want to focus on?