two_banana

This is from an article in Fortune magazine about rich folks under 40. The founder of Alpinist magazine has 120.4 million to burn and can afford to lose money. http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=209305 Marc Ewing, 33 Then: Red Hat Now: Alpinist magazine Leaving Red Hat, the software maker he co-founded and that made him a paper billionaire by age 30, was literally a breath of fresh air for Ewing. (He retired in 1999 because "I was tired of it. I thought, Why don't I do something closer to what I really like to do?") Since then the married father of two has been focusing on his favorite hobby: rock climbing. Earlier this year Ewing decided to use some of his estimated $120 million (see Easy Come, Easy Go) to start Alpinist, a quarterly magazine whose first issue hits newsstands in November. Alpinist is aimed at both the experienced climber and the novice, a niche Ewing says hasn't been tapped: "It could be both a great business and a great contribution to the climbing community." I imagine Mr. Ewing was not quoted correctly when the magazine was described as "... aimed at both the experienced climber and the novice, a niche Ewing says hasn't been tapped" since this seems to describe many (all?) of the existing climbing magazines.

God bless Bablefish. Pencil Pusher said "Where did Wired Knut and Hacim remain? " To which thelawgoddess replied "Yes, it hears it to be made as, fun "

I heard from Hacim about a week ago. They had left Boulder and were going to be in the backcountry for a couple weeks. From there I think they are heading North to Canada. Sounds like fun, those beotches!

"Someone postulated on National Public Radio a week or so ago that Lance Armstrong was the greatest athlete in the world. Greatest athlete in the world? I wonder if he’s an athlete at all." http://www.msnbc.com/news/785267.asp?cp1=1 This bozo must be a friend of Ken Schram's.

The Sloop Tavern, Ballard's volume discount beer headquarters. 32 oz glass of swill beer: $3 32 oz glass of micro: $4 32 oz glass of Guiness: $5 They even sell beer in pints. Two pool tables, decent food, and all the leering fishermen you can hit with a stick ( ). [ 04-15-2002, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: two_banana ]

Scenic was completely destroyed in early November. The wreckage has not been removed at all, the irony being the main reason the spring was removed was due to the environmental hazzard the pit toilet posed to the river below (resulting in big fines for the owner). [ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: two_banana ]

I only wish I was the one who coined the 'nic!

I interviewed for a couple development positions at REI last year. Part of the all day process involved going out to lunch with a couple big-wig, muckety-muck types whose job it was to make the (then) scarce software developer want to come work for them. The conversation was very illuminating. Basically, they said the gear REI sells is secondary to the clothes, jackets, boots, and other "image" type items. People go to REI to buy a lifestyle. Buying a fleece jacket at a place that sells ice axes makes the consumer feel somehow connected to that lifestyle. They also said that REI would just assume stop selling most of their outdoor gear and focus on "branded" type items, exactly like Eddie Bauer or other stores of that ilk. One major topic of conversation was the previous Christmas season when Gap spin-off Old Navy had heavily marketed what they called "Performance Fleece". Old Navy sold tons of the junk leaving REI with literal warehouses full of their own brand of junky fleece. REI considered fleece to be their turf and was alarmed by all the people who bought fleece elsewhere. The head of marketing told me that in the next few years REI is going to be more like Old Navy and less like the musty cavern that was their old store up on Pine. Needless to say, they made my decision to turn down their offer very easy. Besides, almost no amount of employee discount is going to get me to haul my ass down to Kent every day.