Double_E

On the one hand I like the smoking ban, since it'll help me stay quit (about six months since my last cigarrete). At the same time, I think it's fuckin ridiculous. Voted against it. People have been enjoying tobacco with their booze in public places for centuries, and should be allowed to, at least to some degree, somewhere. The one place - the ONLY type of public place - where I've felt like the smoke from the smoking section wafts enough to the non-smoking section to be a bother are airplanes. And as far as places where the whole bar allows it .... I've always been of the mentality of "don't like second-hand smoke? go somewhere else." plenty of bars (in Seattle and other big cities, at least) already banned it.

I don't know about the financial end of it, but the rest of it's really pretty simple. Canadians don't have this perverse love for and worship of the automobile that most Americans seem to have. This has got to be one of the lamest, most depressing election results ever. And not just cause it would have involved "my backyard"... West Seattle... I don't give a shit about that. I've only lived here one year, and very possibly may not be living here in a year or two.

if you B/C ski or snowboard, and want to go somewhere Saturday, get in touch. go see my recent post in the Freshiezone... Ethan bikr273 AT yahooDOTcom

Excellent advice, that. I've heard people say that in previous winters, but never-quite-done-it-much (and consequently, have never felt I really understand snow well enuf, despite taking the Gary Brill class, and also studying the snow with friends sometimes on BC tours). Just made the NWAC report my browser's home page. As far as buying gear, dont forget about the Marmot stores in Bellevue and Tacoma. I've gotten some screaming good deals from their clearance section, including AT boots that were like 60% off!!! Their also let their employees sell their used stuff in the clearance section.

um, HE-LLOOO! there's like, um.... another thread which already covers this topic!! omigod can't you read? heh heh. just kidding. There. I did it. I called someone stoopid for broaching a topic covered in a recent thread. It's a CC.com milestone for me. Almost as cool as my first pagetop..... which I still haven't gotten (if I recall, you're like this too knotzen), cuz my posts-per-page setting, from day one, has been set to twice the normal. Anyway.. on to your question... go with skiing! then you can move on eventually to tele or randonee... I've always figured that split-boarders don't have nearly the versatility (as far as constantly changing terrain conditions) that B/C skiers have.

+h15 h65 b33n v3ry 3ducat1ona7 ..... 7nd33d.

actually it's looking like this Wednesday isn't going to work for me after all.. it's going to happen Friday evening instead..... get in touch if ya wanna join. but more importantly, get in touch if you want to head up to Paradise or Crystal this weekend!!!!!

yep... that's one of the reasons I'm waiting till next weekend for my first turns! going mtn biking tomorrow, in the 45-degree rain... would SO much rather go skiing.. but I'd rather wait, all the same.

if you find yourself in Port Angeles and craving Indian food, there's this KILLER place right next to the ferry terminal. also a Thai restaurant right next to it. easily as good as any Indian food I've had in Seattle, if not better. just a block off of the 1-way westbound section of 101.

kinde funny and ironic that, um.... "Che" and "cliché" sorta sound alike... don't ya think? hmm.. and I wonder if Chavez and "chafing" come from the same Latin root.

nice! Awesome story, that. I never read the book, and I'haven't seen the movie since I was, well ... very young. Seem to really recall liking it a damn lot though. ... when did the animated made-fer-TV movie come out? late 70s? Just put this one on my "saved" section in Netflix... also tried to find the old-school animated one ... they have one from 1988, but not the original.

sounds good. actually next Wednesday, I might be getting together for beers with this one guy I talked to from TAY.com... either somewhere downtown or else West Seattle.... come join us if you like .... if there's enuf interest I'll post a "skiers pub club" or something. Billygoat et.al.: you want to go the 26th, or 27th? I'm gonna try to keep both days open, just go whichever has better conditions. I'm thinking maybe Crystal backcountry, w/o lifts ... or else Paradise/Muir.

skiing I'd like to do this winter.... Camp Muir stuff near Crystal Mtn stuff near Blewett Pass Mt. St. Helens Hurricane Ridge and whatever else people want to recommend!!!

right on... likewise. the weekend after that is probably booked for me, but then the weekend after THAT (the 26th/27th) is totally open right now.

Split-boarders welcome too. (I guess) Overall my skill level would be "advanced newbie". I've done about 15-20 days of XC and BC skiing, spread out over maybe 7 years. Have transceiver and shovel know how to use 'em. Took Gary Brill's avy skills class in... 2000 I think it was. On groomed runs I'm solidly intermediate... fast on the blue runs ... sorta clumsy on the blacks but I do like to power thru one or two per day. Lookin to head up to Pardise/Muir, as soon as, well ..... one can get to deep, skiable snow within about 1/4 mile or so of the parking lot!!! Would be great to meet up with folks before then, tho... go for a hike, practice transceiver stuff, have a beer, etc. Ethan (The above was a reprint from my recent post on TAY.com.... my first TAY post ever actually.) So who wants to go to Muir, or thereabouts, on Saturday the 12th?!??

found recently while doing a Google Images search for "Optimator"! ....

Oh boy! Crappy chain mexican! not so, CJ. there seems to be this common misconception that Taco Del Mar = Taco Bell..... nothing could be further from the truth. i love TDM.. eat there at least once a week, often twice or thrice. I've seriously thought about using Carlos [the fish] as a web forum avatar. hmm, what else... When I used to work near Pioneer Square, I used to go to Zaina for gyros alot. mmmmmm, ggyyrrrooossssssss.......

tell ya what... going 20 miles per day you won't have very much time to see much, except for the trail flying by beneath your feet. ...... jeezis Christ, mate... take your time and enjoy it!!! then again, depending on weather, you may HAVE to go 20 miles a day just to stay warm. that sounds like a killer hike though.. Have fun!!

Happy Birthday, Dave!!! oh, and by zee way..... Your mother was a derailleur and your father smelled of axle-grease!!

This wasn't a bad ranger experience, per se, but it was certainly kind, um... bizarre. about ten years ago, me and two friends crossed Olympic Mountains from south to north... up the NF Quinault River and then down the Elwha River. one of the bestest hikes I've done in my whole life, actually. The headwaters of the Elwha have got to be one of the coolest parts of the planet. First night we camped about eight miles in. Second night we camped at Low Divide. We set up camp in the early afternoon... noticed the little backcountry ranger tent/hut thing, but the ranger was nowhere in sight... no one else was anywhere in sight, either... had the place all to ourselves. So while we're cooking an early dinner, this friggin' helicopter arrives, and starts circling overhead for what was probably 15 minutes... kept going back and forth, circling, circling.... at first we thot it was trying to find a place to land, but there were flat/open places nearby, so... strange. oh well. Pretty damn annoying at the time, but eventually it flew away, never to return. About three hours later the sun goes down. We brew up some, like, special tea we had, sip the warm goodness down, and settle in for a fun-filled evening complete with full moon lighting up the meadows, ...... bugling elk RATHER close by (almost too close for comfort), ..... and random fun and laughter. Come about 10 or 11 pm, the elk and us had all quieted down, but we were still up, staring at the moon and stuff ... and eventually, we were starting to think about bed soon... When all of a sudden we hear sort of heavy, fast bootsteps coming up the trail thru the meadow, along with sort of harried, frantic breathing. All of a sudden, coming into view in the moonlight, is a NPS ranger, with long hair and a big beard... he notices us, and starts talking fast and frantically, mostly just asking us a bunch of questions about HOW long we'd been there, HAD we seen a helicopter, HAD it landed, WHICH way did they fly, etc etc. Apparently he'd been hurt or stranded or something (or I forget, maybe he'd been helping someone else who'd been hurt, etc) and he'd called in for a chopper and they'd misunderstood him and gone to Low Divide, whereas he'd been somewhere else. We asked him if we could be of any help, but he declined and he stormed off to his little hut-thing, in an apparent state of seething frustration and anger. We sort of stared at each other, kind of not knowing whether to crack up, or feel sorry for him, or what... Yeah. Twas easily the strangest interaction I've ever had with a ranger, and very possibly the strangest state I've eve seen any type of cop-type person be in.