knotzen

Thanks, all. I did ask my doc (an Internist, but basically a family practitioner) for a referral to a specialist, and she chose a podiatrist, rather than a rheumatologist, which indicates to me she does not know that it is arthritis. In fact, when I called to schedule the appt. with the podiatrist, they asked if my foot had been x-rayed, blood drawn, etc., so it sounds like they know what to do to diagnose the problem. I already have a referral and appt. with this foot doc, Dr. Kierstein or some such, so I'll go ahead with that and see what he can tell me. If the, uh, shoe doesn't fit with him, I'll PM those of you who offered for recommendations. If diet, meds, and being a bit of a fatty are mitigating factors in arthritis or other foot problems, well, that's me. Hopefully this doc and/or a rheumatologist, if it turns out to be arthritis, can help me sort that out.

OMFG

Spoken like a true jazz musician.

Nice TR. I saw that dog! On my way up to, and down from, SEWS. Jeez, ouch. Didn't see the goat, though.

Tard, No problem. Capitalist

I was telling my grandfather about my upcoming climb, explaining the difference between "hiking" and "climbing" for the 52nd time, and he asked, "What do you do when you reach the top? Just come back down again?" (Which he followed up with "The only way I'd "walk" up a mountain is with a gun in my hand [i.e., for hunting].") Well, I told him, we toss a football around, have a picnic, and then play a couple games of cards. Besides the obvious ( ), what crazy, interesting, quirky, unusual things have you done on the summit?

How often do you wash your ClimbingMobile, the faithful (or not so faithful) rig that takes you up dusty mountain roads to trailheads?

I've been having pain in my right foot for a couple of years, after hiking, climbing, or walking for a long period of time. I finally asked the doc about it, and she says it's probably arthritis. She said I could try glucosamine, and an insert that goes under your (my) toes, where the joint is. I'll try these, but is arthritis an irreversible condition? Does it ever go away? Or can I only treat it? I'm too young for arthritis! Too many hills to climb to deal with this kind of pain. Plus, lately my foot's been swelling because of it.

Saturday: picked up ropes and drove up to WA Pass to car-camp before a Sunday climb of SEWS. Sunday: Woke up with a dumb-fuck migraine, met my peeps at the TH, hiked up to the slabs, felt nauseated, fatigued, and dopey, threw in the towel--er, rope, walked back to the car, drove the 200 miles back home. Fuck fucking migraines! Oh, and the highlight of the trip home was the malfunctioning of the stoplight at the site of the gigantic slide outside of Newhalem, so a line of cars both drove forward, from each side, and met in the middle. Ha! What fun. When I scooted by (after getting out of my car and heaving a flashing orange traffic barrel out of the way), a monster camper was still stuck there, unable to go forward, unable to go back.

This is a good discussion. Can't tell you how many times I've looked at a block used for a belay or rappel anchor and wondered how secure it really was (i.e, what it would take to move it). Even in L'worth. It's just really hard to tell, and often they appear to be the only anchors available. And people are so relucant to leave gear behind; the Sharkfin Tower accident has given me new respect for really making sure your anchor is just about nuclear-bomb proof, to the greatest extent possible. And no, $20 is not too much to ensure a safe return.

Was it a Tacoma Mountaineers climb?

Damn me, I'm an official girlie. What that has to do with the London Explosions, I couldn't quite say.

From Doberman Pinscher to Standard Poodle in 14 easy steps! View the makeover.

You're an angry SOB, aren'tcha?

I thought the next level was N00b! I'm so disappointed. (Ha, there's 25; yee haw)

Dude, go suck yourself.

I don't think agnosticism is noncommittal. How can you commit to something as unknowable and unidentifiable as the persona of God? I guess I could say, yeah, since I can't concretely identify it, it doesn't exist, but it's so unknowable I can't say it doesn't, either (that's why I'm not atheist). The idea of God is like what happens after death--we all have ideas, but no one knows for sure. No one has come back from being good and dead (I don't count Jesus or Lazurus or NDEs), and said, hey, this is what's it's like...! Live your life accordingly. Who the hell knows? Some people latch onto an idea that gives them peace, power, motivation, anger, etc. Doesn't make it any more real. Or less real. It is what it is, just like the true characteristics or existence of a suprahuman deity. Don't how you all get any work done. Got to get back to it. Fire away, dudes (and don't you know it's not nice to hit girls?). Me, I'm just trying to get in enough posts to get out of stranger status.

The greater question is, does God/goddess/the gods exist? And would he/she/they give a flying fuck that earthlings are bashing each other? It's people's belief of who God is, and their "relationship" to God that causes the trouble. We'd all be better off being agnostics, like me. You don't see me going around blowing up buses. Although I occasionally feel like punching someone in the face.

Yeah, but so are they. That means: to the death. Geez, I wonder how God feels about all this? It probably pisses her off.

Rebuff reproving rascals

Dude, don't you know it. So, I say,... oh wait, can we use the F word here? hee hee, hee hee hee ha

I know. I'm was just being a wuss and backing down from all you baddies.

Not saying this is an easy solution. I think we need to get the hell out of Iraq and address the poverty, sickness, corporate b'shit, erosions of liberty, and everything else here in our own home. But hey, whatev. Nobody asked me, eh.

Now, I heard it was a new heuristic for the Travelling Terrorist Problem. Hm, wonder which it was...