Ireneo_Funes

OK, Rocky Butte for example. How are you deciding what's a dry-tool route vs. a rock route?

Good job. Now just don't forget to wear your nut tool on your harness so everyone knows you're really a trad climber.

Culture. Check out "Two Sevens Clash."

Misery Ridge has some sweet dirt rappelling, too.

Please tell me you photoshopped that picture.

Well, I won't be so quick to dismiss a book with her sticker on it in the future.

Hey, glad to do my part! Staying at home & watching movies on the couch is the best possible conditioning for the not paying, not climbing season!

I read some interviews with Franzen that did make him sound like a jackass, including one where he said that he was afraid that having "the corrections" picked by Oprah would mean that men wouldn't read it. And then his lame apology afterwards that only made him seem more of an ass. But the funny thing is, as far as this reader is concerned at least, he was right. I'm guilty of looking down my nose at the Oprah's Book Club selections, having seen plenty of dreck there, so getting chosen by the OBC isn't exactly a mark of distinction. It's more like a warning to keep away. So I understand what he was concerned about, but he seemed to express it in the worst possible way... I haven't read Infinite Jest yet, but my sister recommended it to me in the same breath as The Corrections, so it might be next on the list.

It's worth noting that the USPS is not neutral where direct mail is concerned. Far from seeing it as an annoyance, the USPS considers it a necessary profit center, and they do everything they can to encourage direct mailers to send more and more "unsolicited bullshit" to your mailbox. Incidentally, guess who owns "your" mailbox? Here's a hint...not you! Edit : not the either!

did you camp up there, Chris?

I'm reading "The Corrections" right now and enjoying it. It's pretty funny, like Martin Amis or early Pynchon. I wouldn't have picked it up at all if my sis hadn't recommended it to me. I guess my snob sensor went off when I heard that it was an Oprah's Book Club pick.

Watched "Dogville" on Saturday night. Best movie I've seen a really long time.

I'm manager of circulation for a magazine publisher. Working with the USPS is unfortunately a big part of my job. And we do send out a very modest number of direct mail solicitations every other month. There, full disclosure. Happy?

I don't have the time for such hijinks with direct mail, but if you do send back the business reply envelopes, it's costing the direct mailer a minimum of $0.47 per piece (more if you fill it up with sheets of paper etc. and raise the weight above 1 oz.). If you write "no longer at this address" on the piece and put it back in your mailbox, one of 2 things is going to happen, assuming it's been mailed at Standard/Bulk Mail Rates: (1) if they've stamped "address correction requested" on the envelope, they'll get it back and be charged $0.70, or (2) if they haven't put such an endorsement on the piece, the USPS will throw it away. But the real problem with doing this is you're going to confuse your mail carrier & local post office. And most direct mailers don't bother with address corrections, 'cause they're probably buying your name from a list broker like Expedian, and letting them handle all the list management. Don't ask me how I know about this bullshit.

So when are they going to make "Discipline and Punish" into the latest Hollywood blockbuster? I think they should follow the "Adaptation" model. Lots of bathhouse scenes and Jude Law as Foucault.

"I do not avoid women, Mandrake...but I do deny them my essence."

Just think "I'm training for the alpine!"

Sounds like a good enough plan to me!

Where you moving to, Carl?

When does Beacon close for the raptor nesting?

With the tri-cam modification, do you ever have a problem with the sling being too stiff? I'm thinking that in some situations, the movement of the rope might cause a placement to move around more than you'd like it to.

Taking the lead test at the gym is almost as bad as filling out NOLSe's prospective partner questionnaire. I took a pretty good fall when I was taking mine at PRG...everyone got really quiet and stared at me afterward. I'm guessing it's 'cause I probably said something profane right as I was peeling off.

While we're on the subject of guidebooks, does anyone know if there's a decent guide to Idaho's City of Rocks? I've looked at a couple (one was by Dave Bingham I think; can't remember the author of the other) but wasn't impressed enough by either one to lay down the cash.