KaskadskyjKozak

Yeah, that's what I was getting at with my needling... but people were playing the idealist / PC card...

Not to mention their breakfast cereals. Ever had Wheetabix? A visit to the bathroom after eating a bowl of that makes you feel like you're baling hay. Fortunately not... and I haven't tried "spotted dick" either.

Even if you *do* have 3 months of salary saved, you should always have at least that much liquid assets as an emergency fund. Better to hold on to it than squander it on a ring - a wise policy for everyone, not just newlyweds...

Ah, so you do have one then. Now do a Gedanken experiment here - if you never had got one, you would be 100% cool with that? You never would have held that against "your man"? It seems this whole thing works against human nature...

Has anyone been to Baker this week? What are the conditions like? Is it worth a trip?

Yeah but that kind of s**t sure hits the spot after a glacier slog!

You are a rare exception... Typically the ring is just the first part of the pecuniary blood-letting - then comes the elaborate, expensive wedding. I think the impetus is more than peer-pressure - perhaps it is innate or instinctual.

Dear Erden, Not everyone here is a cynic. Don't let the bastards grind you down. Just smile and give them the one-finger salute. Good luck on your impressive, epic quest, and please keep us posted from time to time!

The original poster also inquired about what it is like to work for RMI - not just how to "get hired". As for the latter, the best way to find out about a company's "corporate culture" is to ask people on the inside. Also, networking is key to getting a job - often it is not what you know, but whom you know.

English chocolate is vile and disgusting, as is their other candy. I'll take an American candy bar over the English s**t any day...

Yeah, that would go over *real* well - even for someone who claims a ring "isn't important"...

I've seen people drink right out of Pebble Creek... And then I've seen toilet trouts lying in the snow a few hundred feet higher up on the Muir snowfield...

I have. The last time was coming off a late climb in Boston Basin. I was dehydrated and it was dark. I had tablets but no pump, said f**k it and downed 2 liters straight out of a rivulet flowing over some slabs. That hit the spot.

How far up the road do you think you'll get before there is too much snow to bike?

This applies to Erden. Where he is starting in Seattle, riding his bike to Miami, rowing his boat to South America, then riding his bike to the base of Aconcagua, then climbing the mountain....only to reverse the whole thing. I think the classification of the ascent as Winter or not is the least of his worries. That guy is a true iron-man...

Yes. What if the approach begins in one hemisphere and the summit lies in the other? Are there any mountains that are located right on the equator - say in Ecuador?

I was in O.C. this August. Everyone drank bottled water. The going price as $2.75 for a 20 oz bottle.

Enough! You guys have clearly demonstrated that France is full of a bunch of pussies!

In the vein of the seven-deadly ones: slothmobile

Yeah, talk about "deja vu".

erlenmeyer flask? That's some kind of deformity!

Good things DO happen - you just need to pay attention and recognize them when they do (sometimes easier said than done).

I think Rudy is a great name for a bitch.

Ha!! My dog actually responds to that name! Are you a Steve Martin fan as well?

"shithead"