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I bought a Canon SD800is a week or so ago. I love it. I haven't taken many pictures outdoors yet, just a few at Seattle Center when we up there last weekend, but the indoors ones have come out great. Even in the low lighting at McMenamin's. I read lots of reviews before buying it. There seems to be a split among which people like better--the 700 or the 800. The wide angle lens sold me on the 800is.

I just bought my hubby a two day Mt. Hood summit program gift certificate with TMG. I'm giving it to him as an anniversary gift in early April, but I want him to start training now without telling him the reason why. Any suggestions on what I can get him to do now to prepare? I figure I can always say I want him to workout with me since I've been trying to get in better shape, but I'm not sure what I need him to do for climbing. Running, walking, biking? Does he need cardio workouts, leg strengthening, a combo? I'm out of my element here so any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I just got a Canon SD800is today. I did a bunch of research, it seemed to do what I needed a camera to do. It also has a wider-angle lens than some of the other point-and-shoot models.

Billbob - wanted to let you know TMG got a big thumbs up from a PMR member who's been helping me with some research. After talking to him, I'm going to get the Summit Program for my hubby's anniversary gift (April) instead of waiting until Father's day. The PMR guy also said he'd make sure he was on patrol the weekend hubby was up there!

I sent them an email today! I'll definitely talk to them, too. And I'm staying tuned to see how your experience turns out. I'll admit I'm still torn about doing this for him. Especially since I'm trying to figure out how to kill two experienced climbers on a mtn without making them look like idiots, yet at the same time gathering info so I can figure out a way to finally let hubby go up on Mt. Hood!

Billbob, if you do this course, can you please let me know what you think of TMG? My hubby has done non-technical climbs (Shasta, Whitney and Popo-something in Mexico) and has been wanting to do Hood since we moved here in '97. Of course I got pregnant right away and three kids later, I still haven't said yes, but I've been thinking about it a lot as I learn more about climbing for an upcoming project and am seriously considering getting him a spot in TMG's Summit Program for his Father's Day gift in June. I'm still on the fence about it though and want to know more.

Not a coffee drinker, but hubby is. He's another Stumptown fan, but if you want really great coffee, check out sweetmarias.com. Once you start roasting your own, you won't go back!

I have, Carolyn. With that same picky eater cat I posted about above, when she had serious health problems, we used a homeopathic vet who made house calls. She helped the cat, Spirit, feel better and I felt better knowing what she was giving her was natural. She had been on steroids and other medicines that seemed to have a lot of side effects. But even she couldn't figure out what was going on with the cat, either. At one point, I was so afraid we were going to lose her (and I didn't want to have exploratory surgery done after an MRI didn't turn up anything) we resorted to a pet communicator via phone call. A bit woo-woo, I will admit, but hey, it helped and was a lot cheaper than surgery.

Carolyn, I hope the kitty food works. I have three cats. One goes through picky stages a couple of times a year where she won't eat anything unless I'm eating it. During those times we fix her chicken (baked), pull the meat off the bone and feed it to her in little pieces. I also give her a little yogurt too. Baby food (the little glass jars of meat) is what they fed her at Dove Lewis Hospital when she was sick once so you could always try that if nothing else works. I hope your kitty is doing better and eating soon!

I think Jay has a good point about coffee being the biggest revenue generator. I have a friend who owns a coffee shop in Raleigh, NC. If I remember correctly when I was doing some research for a project, he told me 40% of his profits are generated by 60% the same customers. It was something like that. Just PM me if you want me to put you in contact with him. If you were open evenings, you could always bring speakers in to do talks on whatever you end up specializing in. This could work well with a bookstore since authors are always looking for promo ops. To bring in the moms during the day, you could find people to do a talks on outdoor activities/safety/trips/etc with kids. I'd love something like that and so would my friends. We're in the Portland area, but I'm sure there are moms like us up there. Plus any local (and even some not-so-local) writers would probably jump at the chance to promote themselves, especially if you were going to follow the talk with a booksigning. I don't know much about climbing (total newbie here trying to learn) but I do know a little about books. The publishing business has changed drastically in the last decade and just when you think you've figured it out, something changes again. Online sales, brick and mortar stores, warehouse sales and discount stores have really hit independent bookstores' profit margins. If you really want to go forward with this, do your research. There are success stories (you need to attend one of the independednt bookseller conventions that are held regionally around the country, if you're serious) but there are just as many failures. It's a lot of work to make any small business succeed. You would want to specialize (though as someone else posted not just climbing, maybe some additional outdoor recreation activities to appeal to a broader base of customers.) The key would be to make yourself/store known as "the" bookstore to get books on "insert-subject-here" whether a person lived in Seattle or Bangor, Maine. That would mean becoming (or hiring others who are) an expert in whatever subject you sell and knowing what's inside the books, not just the titles. You'd need to put out a newsletter (electronically) with reviews, recommendations, etc. Plus if you became really good at hand-selling books, writers would go out of their way for you and your store. Promotion would work both ways. Good luck!

RuMR's post sent me to google. Here's a slightly longer review taken from Amazon: Amazon.com's Best of 2001 Prepare to have some of your greatest fears laid bare in this collection of riveting, and often terrifying, "cautionary tales from the limits of human endurance." Based on interviews with accident survivors and the medical specialists who treat them, veteran outdoor writer Peter Stark offers mostly fictitious accounts (there is one based on a true historical incident) of people caught in life-threatening situations. In Last Breath, he thoroughly explores what happens to the human body and mind during drowning, a long fall, burial beneath an avalanche, hypothermia, dehydration, mountain sickness, the bends, malaria, scurvy, hyperthermia, and contact with a poisonous jellyfish. Stark packs enough historic and scientific information and page-turning suspense into each chapter to make them all fascinating and useful. And he answers some perplexing questions in the process, such as why those suffering from acute hypothermia often rip off their clothing in an effort to save themselves. No, Stark does not have some unresolved death wish--he readily admits that he fears death. But he also understands that the fine line between life and death actually entices outdoor adventurers to risk everything for the chance to explore their own physical and mental limits. In fact, it is exactly this close proximity to death that makes the experience come alive for certain individuals with the overriding desire "to strip away the superfluous, to remove the protective boundaries between that thing you call a self and something larger." These are the stories of those who crossed the line. --Shawn Carkonen

Does anyone know anything about the following books and if any are worth adding to the list of SAR books recommended here? Thanks. 1) Fundamentals of Search and Rescue by Donald C. Cooper 2) Ready to Serve, Ready to Save: Strategies of Real-Life Search & Rescue Missions by Susan Bulanda 3) Death, Daring and Disaster: Search & Rescue by Charles Farabee

Thanks for the SAR-related book recommendations!

Any recommendations for a book(s) that focus on SAR? Thanks.