Double_E

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

Free to good home... (donations accepted tho) JVC Double cassette tape deck. Works just fine, I just never use it anymore. Advertised it on CC.com many months ago, but no one bit. Called a couple local pawn shops and they basically laughed at the thought of buying a tape deck. Have thought of eBay, but don't feel like dealing with shipping and stuff... plus, the times I've seen it on eBay, it goes for real cheap and never gets many bids. hmm, speaking of which, let's see if I can go get a picture from there.... Anyways, it's yours if you want it! Come n' get it. West Seattle. Ethan bikr273 AT Yahoo DOT com

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.

great beards of our times....

Hint hint, try not looking in the woods. Hint, hint, there's more types of out there than just cubensis, young grasshopper.

mmmmm.... Alaskan Winter Ale. Maybe not quite my favorite winter brew, (that'd have to be Snowcap or Wassail), but i DO like the spruce needles... think they give it a very nice woodsy taste. Apparently, spruce tips were a common beer ingredient during colonial times, partially cuz of their preservative qualities. Only one of the many batches of beer I've brewed included spruce needles, but it was so-damn-good. (if I may say so meself) i gotta get back into brewing some day.... maybe just maybe this autumn.

mmmmmmmm..... oysters. yum. (that's what those are, right?) I've picked and eaten those ..... and their smaller cousins, "angel wings" ..... and chantrelles.... and boletes.... and shrimp .... and coral. Never have been able to find in the woods, though.. sigh. Sooner or later.... happy mushroom hunting, all!!

one of the endless hilarious websites I've learned about from ol' CC.com.... http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com never ceases to me up. sigh. I love liberals, but ya gotta make fun of them sometimes, too.

priceless. thank you, CC.com (well, BG) for giving me my first laugh of the day. knotzen: if you don't ski or snowboard, learn how NOW. spending time in terrain that reflects a lot of light can be good for the ol' winter blahs.

"Goo Goo Muck" Oh when the sun goes down and the moon comes up I turn into a teenage goo-goo muck Yeah I cruise through the city and I roam the streets Lookin for something that is nice to eat You better duck, when I show up, the goo-goo muck. I'm a night headhunter looking for some head With a way-out body underneath that head Yeah I'll get you baby with a little luck Cuz I'm a teenage tiger and an goo-goo muck You better duck, when I show up, the goo-goo muck. [solo] The city is a jungle and I'm a beast I'm a teenage tiger looking for a feast Yeah I wan't the most but I'll take the least Cuz I'm a goo-goo muck tiger and a teenage beast You better duck, when I show up, the goo-goo muck. [goo-goo muck sounds]

how 'bout this?

very nice. and now, for some old skool GWB

My grandpa was an engineer. During and after the war, he worked in Navy shipyards ... first in Norfolk, VA, then in Pensacola, FL. He helped build the ships that y'alls grandads travelled to war on! Actually earlier in his career, he worked on some dam projects... one of them was on the Don River in Russia. Took the wife over there with him, too... for something like 6 months (?) I think it was. I remember them saying how the USSR was a sad, depressing place in the 1930s (as one might imagine).... everyone seemed so afraid and mistrustful of each other, and especially of foreigners. Grandma was mostly a homemaker, but kept busy with volunteer work and other projects. Then later in life, took up teaching at Jacksonville University. I miss my grandparents .... they were good peoples.... decent Suth'n folk... Grandpa was kinda strict, but also fair and pragmatic... and Grandma was sweet as can be. I'll never forget the last time I went to visit her, before she died. She had arthritis and various other ailments wreaking havoc on her 90-year-old body, but took it all in stride, going through every hour of every day with unwavering grace and optimism. Fun fact: my grandpa and his father were both named Jesse Jackson, actually. And nope, no relation to the Reverend. So that was all my mom's side. My Dad was never knew his parents well, for various reasons. He was raised in Queens, NY, by his aunt. He was pretty close to his maternal grandparents, though. They, along with certain other relatives, ran a prosperous German delicatessen in Greenwich Village. This was long before GV became all hip and trendy like it is today... mostly just recent immigrants back then. Then in the 1960s, my newlywed parents lived in The Village for a few years, when it was just starting to become hip and trendy. My dad has always said that if any of his kids lived in Greenwich Village, they could boast that they were "Fourth Generation Villagers". I somehow don't ever see it happening, at least not for me.. but it is a cool idea.

..... and he said he didn't care HOW they did it, but people HAD to get out of New Orleans.

And now... since this thread was SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LED ZEPPELIN!!! a few of my favorite one- or two-line clips from various Zeppelin songs. (Some of which have at times been featured as my sig line on web forums or emails ....... or my "headline" in personals ads.) So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains, where the spirits go now. Let the music be your master. Will you heed the master's call? California sunlight. Sweet Calcutta rain. Honolulu starbright. The song remains the same. Upon us all a little rain must fall. As we walk down the country lanes, I'll be singing a song, hear me calling your name. Hear the wind within the trees, telling Mother Nature 'bout you and me. Walking side by side with death, The devil mocks their every step The snow drives back the foot that's slow, The dogs of doom are howling more Squeeze me baby, till the juice runs down my leg. The way you squeeze my lemon, I'm gonna fall right out of bed. So if you wake up with the sunrise, and all your dreams are still as new, And happiness is what you need so bad, girl, the answer lies with you. Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was on my way. Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay. At last the sun is shining, The clouds of blue roll by, With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes. So let me take you, take you to the movie. Can I take you, baby, to the show? Why don't you let me be yours ever truly. Can I make your garden grow?

no kidding, E. they were actually the first rock band I grew an appreciation for, at age... seven I guess it was. definitely music that can appeal to many generations.

I used to work in this one job that took me thru Aberdeen/Hoquiam a lot. One day I discovered that the Grocery Outlet in Hoquiam had these little beauties for a buck apiece!!! well, at least the Pale Ale, the Winter Welcome, and the Taddy Porter. also had the four-packs of the 12-ouncers for 2 bucks each. always tasted just a liiittttlle skunky, but so fuckin what... them's one of me favorite family of beers ever. I used to come home with 20-25 bottles sometimes. Last couple times I stopped by there, they stopped carrying it. And every time I've passed by a Grocery Outlet since then, I stop to see if they got Sammy Smiths.. haven't found it again since. Tho they'll often have some obscure lager you've never heard of from small-town America (in cans of course) for about 2 bucks a six pack.

I wonder if the Mythbusters have ever, or will ever, take on the widely held myth that Snopes.com is the final word on whether shit is true or not.