tvashtarkatena

I'm just switching out my cord today, by coincidence. I'm going to use some leftover Kelty Triptease Lightline (tent cord - secured with a hefty black plastic piston hank/draw string thing and a stop knot) because the boot laces I was using tend to fray, then freeze into the grommet. That should last for a while. Shock cord is just rubber bands with a very thin nylon sheath - it doesn't take abrasion too well, and you don't want anything stretchy that'll allow snow in when you're plunge stepping. In any case, I sure don't miss gators.

I think it's more accurate to say that not being able to get a date on match.com might make you feel very un-special. It's like fishing in a barrel with a grenade. Don't get me wrong, online dating is the modern way to meet lots of folks in a hurry - I highly recommend it. Much like being a checkers wiz, however, being the Late Middle Aged Hef of online dating just isn't something one brags about. The online dating world has all the aging Hefs it can use, at least according to feedback from the other side of the gender fence. I wouldn't recommend match.com specifically, however, unless you're the Elephant Man, in prison, or have some other specialness about you that requires a bottom feeding strategy in your search for love. In the end, the advice for dating remains the same, whether online or not: Avoid horses, dogs, and kids, in that order. Most especially horses.

Stephen has previously posted that he has 3 children. Any torture your imagination could concoct has most likely already been suffered by him many times over. The laser beam focus on how happy/successful/wealthy other posters usually indicates that whats on your own plate is less than satisfying. It is the way of the hairless monkey, I suppose. It's more an omega than alpha trait, however. I've never met a truly successful person, one that is truly grateful for their life, who feels the need to measure themselves relatively to others in this way, nevermind anonymous innernutterz they've never met. The folks I admire most tend to forge their own, unique path, with its own, unique measures, rather than climbing someone else's one dimensional ladder. Nor do I know anyone (personally) who attempts to cook 'success' down to a single measure - even something as critically important to human happiness and self actualization as student loan debt status or how many mid 40 something match.com hawties returned your winks this week. It's common among adolescents, but seems unseemly and embarrassing as an adult. Some of us endeavor to peek beneath the standard shiny gift wrapping we're handed down as children by commercial culture to see what's really inside. To me, that's real freedom.

Microspikes and a Whippet (self arrest trekking pole made by BD) are probably the most cost/weight effective solution, assuming you hike with poles anyway. Microspikes are useless when there's an inch of slush over an icy layer, however. I prefer AL six points (lighter than microspikes, actually) for extended trips when I'm not sure what I'll encounter, but they require a little practice to get used to. Alternatively, you can self arrest with a regular trekking pole. Carrying an axe for 1 or two short slopes seems excessive unless you're planning on climbing stuff along the way. Learn how to self arrest with your elbows in case you lose your pole/axe/whippet. Practice with whatever you choose, of course. Mostly, its a balance thing.

1 weekend, 91 gun deaths. Japan, population 127 M, suffered 11 gun deaths during all of 2011. Bubbles! Bubble chart: gun deaths, MLK weekend

May have been left at the HLP lookout under a pillow or something, Feb 3, 2013. TIA if ya find it. Pat

Well, Dave, you not too quick on the social cues so I'll spell it out for you as clearly as I can. Controlling your personal life? Seriously? That's crazy stalker talk. You're a tad bit overfixated with me, by your own admission. You've been a tool, and not a clever, interesting, or humorous one, since my first online interactions with you, for whatever reason. That puts you several rungs down from even FW, who at least coughed up a shined up turd now and then. I've been here before a couple of times on this site. It's weird, but hey, 7 billion hairless monkeys. Crazy's bound to happen. And you're one of the creeps. The stalker's agenda's always the same here - to hound, or bully, if you will, another poster off the forum. My last post was a pretty obvious hint that at least I've got bigger fish to fry than dealing with a stalker, particularly one that offers so little in the way of entertainment value. It was a suggestion that you, too, might put things in similar perspective. So, I'm gonna keep doing what I want to do, and you do what you need to do, but whatever you're looking for from me, its simply not going to happen. I know what I'd do, but that's me. Bye.

Fan clubs are good. Ups the self esteem. I'm more fan than idol - of the woman working in my garden right now. Now if you'll excuse me, I think the coffee is on. Enjoy your weekend, Dave.

9 year olds, Dude.

I'm just sad the BSA allows itself to be bullied by its own board members. And 9 year olds. Let's not forget all those obnoxious 9 year olds. And those poor, bullied Mormons. First Mitt, now this.

I called the ranger, but he was on leave for a week and just got back to me. He's got the following info now: Last weekend we drove to the Sibley Ck (HLP) turnoff in an Outback, which had barely enough clearance. Otherwise, its the plowed parking lot near the Monogram/Lookout TH for yeez. There has probably been some further melt, but the rutted snow's pretty consolidated and isn't compacting very quickly. Snow up high was beautiful. Shirtless temps and blue bird skies didn't hurt too much, either. The more folks call in with road reports, the more updated the NCNP road conditions report will be. Road patrols this time of year are few and far between.

Apparently I've won free tix to another stalkabully concert. FW, meet Dave. I'll be posting another conditions report on the Freshiezone soon - another opportunity for you to stand up to Tvashie the Mean, Hero. My parents are from NYC, BTW. I've never been to Berkley (School of Music) Eventually you'll get a life, DD. Divorce can do that to you, but it ends at some point if you decide not to wallow in it. Good luck.

Do a good turn daily, or as often as needed.

We need to sochully engineer a program that kicks KKK his BB-like nutz every time he posts the word sochul in any form or conjugation. BAYUM!

Today's conservative movement is actually a hyper radical departure from the liberal democracy we've been trying to build together for a couple of hundred years, now. Destroying the church/state barrier alone violates THE fundamental idea of America - the world's first secular democracy in modern times. THAT was the innovation, the departure from a shittier past, and these cuntz wanna return to that shit. Fuck that.

Even progress is bad now? Does that work with your boss?

It should also be noted that the open ghey policy proposed applies on a troop by troop basis - so nobody's 'cultural sensitivities' would even be violated. Strictly voluntary, troop by troop. The Kristians and Moms are just pissed because some troop, somewhere, is gonna have a gay kid. Assholes.

Oh, and who can forget the woodsman's pal: poison fucking oak.

I'd be pretty sad for all those kids like me who REAAAAALLLLY need to get out of the house and have a little fun to boot. I didn't have too many alternatives - Scouting was an "acceptable" activity cuz it was run by our local parrish - and 4H sucks (fur and poo - got my own, thanks) ,despite having probably the highest serious injury rate of any troupe in BSA history. Broken hips, ribs, arms (me), wrists, teeth (me again)...sheeeit, a parent couldn't afford just the insurance and lawyers it would take to keep a kid in Troop 114 for a single accident season these days. We were all rockin' the Vietnam gear, though. Trenching tools, jungle hats. How many of ya'll hiked with anti-bungi spike insoles? Kids these days. We drank water out of the creek, cooked over fires, and slept on piles of dry grass for pads. Being a Catholic troop, half the kids were borderline retards and the other half bound for prison. The first time I didn't get lost was when i finally decided to hike outside an official Scout outing and do my own navigation. Good times, fo sho.

Neckerchiefs, shorts, knee socks, and sashes are ghey? Kakester, you'r FB posts are all over my wall now. Should I friend you?

I probably should be. Working on me website. Fkn boring, but its about time for an upgrade. That, and I've had a chip implanted in your brain so I can monitor your thoughts. So far - blue screen.

Um...they pretty much disbanded in 1980, so I guess you might have been all of 9.

"you go after the King, you best not miss"

thus his deep fascination w/ early nazism, which was riddled w/ boy-buggers so clearly, knowing this horrific background, you reject the BSA and would rather nobody joins rather than adjust their participation req'ts to be more open, right? KKK trying to state one of Ivan's opinions for him is kind of like watching a dog trying to get a sandwich out of locked glove box. The machinery just aint there.

hmm...pretty sure the aclu ain't part of the governmetn, just a buncha private citizens dedicated to making the government due what it's supposed to, by the rules. We're only Big and Scary if you drop a steamer on the Bill of Rights. Surprisingly, it happens all the fuckin' time. We love it when people cave in under threat of suit. Often, it just takes a friendly letter addressing our concerns and letting the party know that we're aware of the situation. Way, way cheaper and less risky. Hey, you can LOSE in court, ya know? Common example: I had a student come up to me after a talk who asked what recourse he had with an administration that would not allow an LGBT club chapter to be established on campus. I gave him the number of our intake line, made a call to our intake person to let them know what was going on. He called, somebody in the state office wrote a polite letter asking a few question and BAM - there's an LGBT club on that campus now. No fighting. Who likes to fight? And lets not forget those Evil Lobbyists. After all, wouldn't you want your legislature, most of whom are not even lawyers, nevermind civil rights lawyers, to write constitutionally questionable legislation, get it passed, then have to be sued after a whole bunch of people suffer for years, rather than have an expert lobbyist like our Shankar (Young Lawyer of the Year Award for WA, 2010) be able to review and suggest language that doesn't violate the state and federal constitutions? As any engineer knows, the longer you let a design flaw go unaddressed, the cheaper it will be to fix it, no? In the real world, legislators often come to the ACLU, rather than the other way round, prior to dropping (introducing) legislation for a constitutional review beforehand. It's not an adversarial relationship. Being a lobbyist is an incredibly difficult job that few are cut out for. You have to be ultra smart, and unflappable in dealing with a huge variety of nutjobs that wind up in the legislature. Our lobbyist had one legislator threaten to castrate him in the morning before asking him to join him for a motorcycle ride that afternoon. And you lose most of the time - campaigns for reform take years and sometimes decades before bearing real fruit. Steady progress and persistence is the key. I 502, for example, happened after a 14 year campaign to reform drug policy in WA. Lobbying is a vital part of good government. Legislators often don't know their ass from a hole in the ground - having an expert at hand is a huge help in making better, more informed policy. Yup, corporate lobbying, that is, lobbying that is not for the overall public good, is an issue. Not all lobbyists work that way, however.