What's up with Chris

Where the Road Ends...

2008-06-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

...A new beginning is presented.

This is the last post of this blog. I will no longer write here about climbing, or my political rants, or any basics of life and family.

You can read more about me at here.

May you find your peace and happiness.

Great Improbabilities

2008-05-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Do you ever have those moments in your life where nothing seems good, you feel you are trapped by the bad, and there is no way out? Then all the sudden the world flips on its head and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel? Well, today I think good things will happen. I'm 100% positive. This morning, I arrived at work. I set off the building alarm and had to call the boss at 7:30 AM. More bad things to add to the heap. Apparently, my alarm code was removed for a generic one. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the generic code, and didn't realize that my default code had been removed. I got the code and turned off the alarm, I put my lunch in the fridge, and then I went to my desk. I threw my keys on the desk, unloaded a few things from my pack, and got to work. About an hour an a half later, I notice my keys. Now, the picture isn't great, but you can see that my keys are all balanced on the key tips. There are five keys, and the tags, and remote are all balanced on top of the keys.

I think this is truly one of the most improbable things I have ever seen. It is as exciting when I was dealt a Royal Flush and a Straight Flush, all in the same night of playing poker. I think things maybe looking up for me. I'll still keep my fingers crossed...I need all the luck I can get.

Seoul long

2008-05-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a couple of days since I returned from Seoul, Korea. It was an amazing adventure, that I am very thankful and glad to have been there to visit. I decided it was okay to take some pictures.

I actually ended my day with a picture of the Archway of Itaewon. It is much prettier in the night all lit up. You have to be careful taking pictures at night in Itaewon. If you get a picture of a prostitute they will start to yell at you and be very vicious.

I took several pictures down the streets, and they aren't much to look at but you can see that the place is kind of similar to any city town in the U.S.A.

The Friday nightlife was much more packed with people. The streets had lots of activity and the bars were worth every moment. I don't smoke, and I usually don't like bars because of the smoke. In Korea, you can still smoke in the bars, and it is disgusting, but the activities really are entertainment.

Laura again joined us at the Seoul Pub, and we had fun watching the young guys picking up on the girls in the bar. Strategizing about their pickup lines and how they were getting all cozy with the babes.

We also stopped at the Hard Rock and saw these amazing girls rocking out with their electric trio of violin, chelo, and viola. It was loud, and so it made it difficult to have a conversation, but it was fun all the same. I find it difficult to focus on a conversation, so as 11:30 rolled around, I got myself out of there, and took a few more pictures of the walk home. It was a nice walk, and not long at all. Most people grab a cab, but I found that the streets were safe. I had to dodge a few cars, but that isn't any different than during the day time.

I look forward to my next trip to Seoul, but I think it will be great to visit other area's of the world too. I mean, I have yet to even be to the east-coast. I have lots more adventure in me.

Seoul Long!

Seoul Secrets

2008-05-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

Ugh. What is it about alcohol and me? I had four beers, over four hours and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Seriously, I have not had that much to drink in one night in years and the lesson is well learned.

Of course, it simply could be that I haven't had enough sleep. I have yet to sleep in and get on Korea time. I usually am asleep by eight or nine, and up by four. Last night I pushed myself to stay up until after eleven. I still got up at 5:30 AM.

And then it might be a hangover. As I said, I don't usually drink much, so four beers in a single night is a lot for me. I'm chugging water as I hope my eye balls will stop feeling like they want to jump out of my head. I think this is the real reason I usually only have one drink in any given night. My poor liver.

So about last night -- One of my co-workers who I have never met but have had a very long phone relationship with asks me to join him and his buddies at the bar. It is Thursday night and I figure I should see the night life here at least once, and I decide I will have some fun too. I meet up the group and we are in this little shack of a bar. The beer is like $2 and crappy, but we sit around chat, get a bit inebriated, shoot darts (or watch in my case), and have a bit of food. Now, I say something to the affect of "Where is everyone?" Apparently, people are responsible sometimes, and when they are it seems to happen as a group effort. So really the streets where not that crowded. Usually, or so I'm told, on the weekend (Thursday is the start of the weekend -- didn't you know that?) it gets much more crowded.

The group thought it would be "fun" to show the darker side of Seoul. They wanted me to meet the "Juicy Girls" who come over and "talk" with you if you buy them a 20,000 won drink. Fortunately, that didn't happen. If you have a woman in your group they tend to leave you alone. Thank God for Laura. I think just walking down the alley of "bars" where these girls hid behind not so tinted glass with a not so hidden agenda was enough of the seedy side. I felt thankful that one of the guys in the group who had no girlfriend was drawing a line in what bars he was comfortable with, and that made it easier to walk away from the "peer pressure." must have though my discomfort would be entertaining. It probably could have been. They were a nice group of people for sure.

After four hours of drinking and checking out the local night life I was ready to go back to my room and get some sleep. You already know how that worked out for me. I think tonight, I will probably put on my camera and go take some pictures, avoid alcohol, and watch the people. One of the guys in the group had a Nikon D300 which took some pretty nice looking pictures. I didn't take it last night, and I would have liked to get some additional pictures before heading home.

So maybe there will be one more Seoul Adventure.

Satisfied Seoul

2008-05-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

I did it. I finally tried the local cuisine. However, I made a mistake. I was told not to eat the chicken. So I didn't order chicken, but I did order a dish that had an egg on top. Cross your fingers I don't get the Avian Flu. Fortunately, I was in Itaewon which is basically like going to Capital Hill. It is very hip and trendy. Many shop owners were very nice to me and wanted me to sell me a nice suit. I kind of wish I wore fancy clothes. Apparently, I need to dress a bit nicer though.

So the dinner was "ok." The food was fine, and the over all experience was pleasant enough. I think I will forever regret not sitting down in Namdaemun when the lady said to me "American Friend!" I should have sat down and let her serve me food, and just had a nice local lunch. Instead, I let my fear of not knowing what I could order stop me. I did finally do it though. Tomorrow, I will try to bulgogi. It is a beef BBQ, and I should have tried it tonight. I only had a few thousand on me, so I limited my meal to what I had on hand.

I only have a few days left, and I'm looking forward to fitting a couple more adventures into my trip. Hopefully, there will be more to come.

Seoul Sacrifice

2008-05-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a work day. No pictures to share, no grand adventure into the city. In fact, today was just any other day. It was coming and I knew it would, but somehow I didn't expect that I would be so disappointed to not have another day around the city.

The good news is that my feet were in great need of some rest. So tonight it is about a classic Robin Williams movie "Club Paradise" some chocolate and sweets. Of course, I had a nice dinner with $0.99 beers. I cannot remember the last time I had a beer for $0.99. That made the dinner worth it.

So not a lot to say about Korea today, except I wish I had more time here to visit the place. I look at my pictures and I feel I did pretty good. I just hope I have more time to take pictures. This country is really wonderful, and I think there is so much to be learned in places like Korea. I'm very tempted to stay for a bit longer, but at the same time -- I miss my family.

Seoul Survivor

2008-05-05T01:22:00.000-07:00

Day 2

I made my way out to Namdaemun Market today. It was something else. The crowds were pushing and filling every space open. On a few occassions an opening would become available, but it never lasted.
I wandered all around the Market, until my feet became too sore and tired to continue.

The shops are litterally this tiny little stalls. Even in the builds an empty stall is about the size of your average closet without the doors. I actually had to stop taking pictures, because at one point I took a step back and a stick fell and landed on a poor girls head. I felt bad but apparently that isn't all that uncommon as no one seemed to mind.

I found most everything there not worth purchasing. The clothing was so small. A size 15 in women's jeans were like a size zero in the U.S. And the men's suits were fantastic like 40000 won, but again I couldn't fit anything.

I almost tried some of the food. I didn't do it though. I couldn't bring myself to eat alone. I read that Korean's like to eat with family and friends, and seldom eat alone. Ever since I read that I just have been afraid. I had an opportunity from a nice woman that invited me into her restaurant and I said no. I regret that on hind sight, but I I will get other chances to eat the local cuisine. Honestly, the local food looks better than the pictures that the show the items they serve. I find the idea of eating live "mini octopi" is very weird. Apparently, some people actually do eat them alive. The grilled food smells so wonderful too. I guess I will just have to be brave and eat alone. We'll do that tomorrow. I will let you know how that works out.

Seoul Searching

2008-05-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

As you might have guess, from the title. I got lost in Seoul. Without my trusty navigator, Sara, I managed to think I could walk 55km, and could use a subway map for riding the buses.

Yes, I'm a genius.

My travels began Friday morning, and Ended Saturday evening. The trip wasn't too bad even with crossing the International Date line. My first stop was in Tokyo. After ten hours of flying all I wanted was something to sleep on. Unfortunately, Air Ports are not made for sleeping. And I seem to always get stuck with the guy who wants to share with me how much he loves Jesus. I was worried that he'd want to talk for the whole flight, as he mentioned that the personal video screens and headphones were a way to make it so people didn't have to communicate. Fortunately, he fell asleep pretty quickly, and I had the opportunity to grab some shuteye as well.

I did manage to watch three movies in the ten hours of travel to Tokyo. I watched Jumper, The Golden Compass, and 27 Dresses. All of these movies sucked. Ever single one. Jumper was boring, The Golden Compass ends incomplete, and 27 Dresses -- well, I fell asleep through it, twice.

I finally got to Korea, and was fortunate enough to meet someone who was going to the same place as me. It made getting to the destination after nearly 20 hours of travel very easy. When I got to my room, I sent Sara a quick e-mail, and then fell asleep. When I woke up six hours later, I took a quick picture of the view from my window. I was pretty anxious to get out and start seeing the place, since I probably won't get much time to see Seoul during the day time. I ended up walking off to Samgakchi, where I stopped at the Korean War Museum. I didn't actually go inside, but I did walk around much of the open space that is free. There was plenty to see and I managed to take numerous pictures.

After wondering around the parameter of the Museum, I began walking to Namsan. This is where the Seoul Tower is located, and the walk is all up hill, but it was beautiful. This is where I spent most of my day, and I enjoyed taking pictures. The weather was overcast, and the temperature was very warm so as I walked I was sweating up a lake. As you walk along there are small shops everywhere. You literally can walk just about anywhere and you can get a snack, and water. My first won spent was 700 won for a bottle of water.

Along the way to Namsan there were a couple of things that stood out. One is the fact that on some of the buildings there were these huge televisions, which are used to advertise. They literally distract their driving population with television. The driving population is very angry too. It is almost like there is a war between the different public transportation drivers. The other thing I noticed is that they have live animals along the way. One such thing was an aquarium filled with these tiny little octopi. Sad that they were going to be turned into a meal for a customer. There was also an area of like five blocks of puppies being sold. They were very cute, but it was also extremely sad.

When I got to Namsan, it became clear that I should have taken the public transportation. Many locals use the hike to the top as an opportunity to exercise. Along the way there are several areas where you can stand on a plate that swivels and you can rotate back and forth. You can also do pull ups, and even lift weights with a bench press, or arm curl. As you walk up a series of steps you get an opportunity to relax as well. There are more vendors to buy things from, and many people will bring along a picnic, or watch one of the many events that is going on. As I was walking up I noticed the voices. People in Korea like to sing. Some of it is good, and some is bad. All of it is entertaining.

As I made the final approach to the top of Namsan, I noticed this drumming sound. Thump, Thump thump, Thump, Thump thump. It made the walk up all these stairs doable. The stairs seemed to climb for a very long time, and each step was actually larger than one would hope for during a hike. Many of the older folks had actually picked up walking sticks to make their way up the steps.

I approached the top and noticed that the singing seemed to be more radio pop than actual drums. Fortunately, there were actual drums, but for a brief moment the sound I heard was pop Korean music. Soon after passing the radio, I came to the top and there was a plaza that had a bunch of very happy youth drumming and dancing and banging on cymbals. I stopped to watch and take pictures for about an hour. I needed the time to rest too. I think the best part was the number of people who saw me with a camera, and wanted me to take a family picture of them with their own cameras. In Korea, at least in Seoul, everyone has a camera. Most are on their phones, but they use the camera all the time.

I finished resting and I began to wander down the hill.
On the way down, I chose to walk the other side. There were a couple of neat stacks of rocks that I found to be amazing looking and reminded me of Goldsworth. I ended up walking down to the bus stop. This is where I got on a bus, and rode around for a short while. I eventually got off the bus as I thought it was going back to the top of the hill. Really it was a mountain, as it even had a area that you could rock climb if it were not a national park. I ended up hoping off the bus, and wandering around downtown Seoul. I ran into a number of things, but I found it almost too unbelievable that at home in Washington there has been an effort to get light rail, improve schools, and all sorts of other social programs with little or no success. In Korea, they have amazing parks all over the place, and they have a day to celebrate the children. One of the parks was a baseball park for the youth games. I have never seen a baseball field this nice for the kids anywhere in the U.S. It just goes to show that socialism can work with democracy. Capitalism can even work with socialism and democracy. The capitalism here is very present, and the people have embraced it alone with American television.

As I was lost and looking for a bus to get me back to my hotel, a very nice guy named Enroh, "Roh" offered help. We talked quite a bit and he showed me how to use the Subway. The Subway is a bit difficult because there isn't as much English to help guide you. In Korea, the people have embraced English, and often long after their education has finished they will spend time studying and improving their english skills. Roh told me that CSI is very popular here and when he heard I was from Seattle, he mentioned that he like Grey's Anatomy as well.

I managed to get back to the hotel, with a blister on my little toe, and just tired feet altogether. Tomorrow will be much of the same, as it is the national holiday to celebrate children here, and I don't have any work to do yet. So I will post more pictures, and please check out the other images in my album

Obama '08

2008-04-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law participated in a fantastic ad for the Obama campaign...enjoy.

No Signs of Intelligence here.

2008-04-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

I got a wonderful response from Susannity about an earlier post I made on the topic of media reproducibility. It was a very common response,

"If someone creates intellectual property that can be copied easily, then why would folks pay money if there were no [ramifications?]"

I think people will pay for what they perceive as valuable, and I believe that currently our perceived value of some items is skewed. However, the very idea of "intellectual property" is silly. If you can show me an original idea, I will be very very surprised. I remember sitting watching a movie with my English major spouse who had gotten up early in the movie and said "You can keep watching, I'm not interested." I, of course, wondered why. She responded, "The brunette is going to die." I finished the movie, and my dear spouse explained how in literature there is a bit of formula, which she applied to the movie and identified the story type, and thus concluded the ending of the movie. So really, there are no original ideas, and thus "intellectual property" is bogus. It is a farce, a scam, a trick to keep money centralized.

What? You believe patents are to prevent someone from stealing your product and getting it to market first? I laugh at you. Don't be so naive. Large corporations have people who literally sit and write patents all year long to protect "ideas." Which I will point out are not patentable. I once came across a patent for a dog toy -- It was a stick of wood. I'm not kidding. That system is broken.

So, again, I'm not saying one should take someones movie and turn around and sell it for money. That would mean you are a fool for stealing. However, if I buy a $20 for a DVD, and copy it and give it to my friend, who intern gives it to a friend ... to the Nth. Well suffice it to say, I believe I was ripped off by at least $19 for that DVD, and should be able to give away -- no, "donate", my $20 copy of a DVD to my friends. If a movie were hard to get, if it required the producers of the DVD more than $0.01 per 1000 copies of a DVD, then maybe $20 would be worth it. These corporations are making billions, when they are only producing something that is worth pennies -- and you are being robbed. You are so used to being robbed you've accepted it as the price of entertainment.

"Piracy discounts everything - time, education, talent, and money - that goes into making a product."

This is probably true, but I also believe that piracy discounts the cost of things that are over priced. If you buy something that you know is stolen, you are doing so in part because you feel that the full price is not of value, or you believe the "knock-off" value is more appropriate. I said originally "How much would you pay for a blade of grass?" Maybe you'd respond that it depends on the quality of the grass?

If I steal your food, I'm a thief -- I've deprived you of your food. If you give me some seed and pollen so I can make my own food, will you starve? If I play your song you can still sing it and make money, you have not lost your voice. If I play it better, I will have earned the money I make from playing your song, but you are not deprived of your song or your ability.

As someone who works in technology, I believe what I provide is a service to my corporation and for those that I produce software. I am simply a story teller, retelling the story I learned, twisting the plot, changing the landscape, mixing stories together. I'm getting paid for retelling the story, not for the story itself. Once you've learned my story, feel free to tell it to your friends and your children. And please, put your pennies in my tin if I tell the story better than someone else.

A friend once said to me -- "Quit thinking outside of the box. We have enough boxes. Lets put something together with what we've got."

Dino Rossi is an Idiot

2008-04-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned that I think the GOP is more about "me" instead of "we" and/or "us." In today's Seattle Times, an interview with Dino Rossi has demonstrated the usual lack of fore thought we expect from the Repugnant Party. The article quotes Rossi as saying, "Our state is experiencing a transportation crisis that is impacting our quality of life and hindering economic growth... My vision for transportation is rooted in freedom and the ability of people to make good choices for themselves."

Now, I agree, I want freedom and the ability to make good choices for myself, but building a new Viaduct tunnel, widening I-405, and replacing the 520 is not a good choice for myself, nor does it give me the ability to make good choices. In fact, it isn't a good choice for any person in any county, including King, in Washington. With the money that they want to spend to do all those projects, they could put in a light rail system that runs the length of each of these highway systems and reduce the number of cars so new wider roads are not required. Not to mention that gas costs four dollars per gallon, or maybe you didn't notice. It costs me eight dollars each day to drive to and from work. Now I have no problem with gas costing so much money, but then we have the GOP who want to continue subsidies to the oil industry, with CEO's getting 40 million in bonuses.

We could, oh, I don't know, tax the windfall of these corporations and say, build a light rail system that connects up with Portland, and Vancouver B.C. It could probably even run from Seattle to Spokane. I am seriously disappointed that people are upset about $4 gas and they would even pause to consider voting Republican. I mean at $4 for gas, can you afford to drive on the new roads Rossi wants you to have so you can make choices freely?

We all know that when we are free to make choices for ourselves, we make the most selfish choice. That is why we have government "for the people and by the people," so we ensure that some choices are for the benefit of our community and our society.

Move on, yourself.

2008-04-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

As you might have guessed by previous posts, I don't think too highly of the Repugnant Party as I find their politics more about "me" instead of "us" or "we." Every time I hear some moron say, "vote republican if you don't want your taxes to go up," I think "you, sir/madame, are a moron." I know some people who label themselves as republican, but when you speak with them you realize quickly they don't pay attention to politics because if they did they wouldn't be voting republican. The truth about the GOP is they are the party of disfigured truth. And I could go on, but I actually wanted to say something else.

I often get messages from different political groups. One is Move On.org which recently started a new campaign against McCain. And so here is that ad --

However, it is just a dumb ad. It isn't compelling. At least not to me. There are so many other things about why this man should not be president. Like his not following the rules of public financing, or his record on torture, or his record on choice, or his record on the war, and on and on.

Anyway, I don't find the video compelling at all...so there you have it, and you can make your own opinion.

I'll get back to the deception of the GOP in the future...I need to get back to my day job now.

Yes, I would steal your car.

2008-04-03T10:17:00.001-07:00

You know that little blip at the start of a movie that says "You wouldn't steal a car...Buying Pirated Movies is Stealing." The question I have to ask is this -- If you could quickly, easily, copy the car you wanted from your neighbor and at the same time didn't deprive your neighbor of the vehicle or any functionality, have you stolen anything? More importantly, if your neighbor came out and saw you coping the car and said, "Hey, I paid good money for that car, stop copying it." Would you care? I'd probably look at my neighbor and think he was a fool for spending so much money on something that is so readily available and copyable. How much would you pay for a blade of grass?

I have been told that I'm drawing an arbitrary moral boundary. I think that if I can pull TV off an antenna and watch my show at any time, I can also take a copy of that show, and hand it off to my neighbor. And further more, my neighbor should be able to take the copy received from me and give it to another neighbor. I should identify that I think "antenna" is a broad term. I don't mean just off the roof top, but also over cable, or satellite, or even ethernet/WiFi.

Now, I have heard the argument that this is stealing from some company here or there, but what has been deprive to them? Money? They broadcast it over the air waves, so what if you got it off cable or satellite?

In fact, they should be paying you money because you have given a copy of their show to someone who might not otherwise have even seen their presentation.

Now, you might think I condone taking something/anything without permission. I do not. My point is simple. In our current economy I think it is vitally important that we re-evaluate what is important and how much we are willing to pay for "things." As a society we will pay billions of dollars for things we don't need, and at the same time we complain that our roads are poor, our gas costs too much, there isn't enough time in the day, etc. Do you think the $60 a month you are paying for television is worth it? Market demands that you stop being stupid, and you evaluate the value of your television (or other crap you spend your money on besides food and shelter,) and demand that price be reasonable and affordable.

Capitalism without conscience is simply greed.

Everybody loves Robin Hood, and he was a pirate.

Short on Time

2008-03-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

OMG, I cannot believe I'm going to say this...I'm so glad the weather is suppose to be crappy this weekend. We had plans to go climbing and I'm just too tired to make the trip.

I'm certain I would have fun if we were to get out and climb outside, but we've been burning the candle at both ends -- we're almost out of wax. In fact, we have not grocery shopped in probably three weeks. I'm serious...three weeks. Our pantry is even starting to look empty. While we could probably make something to feed us if we had no money or other food resources, there is diminishing items of nutritional value in the cupboards.

Okay, now for my end-of-the-world story. I finally contacted a company that will install Solar Panels. Sara got me a subscription to Home Power and now I want to get a solar water heater, and electricity. You are probably wondering what does getting solar power have to do with the end-of-the-world? Well, unlike Y2K were I wasn't even remotely concerned about it, with the rising cost of gas, fresh produce, and even getting to work, I've come to believe that thanks to the <sarcasm>great leadership</sarcasm> of George W. Bush and his faithful band of idiots, we are doomed to suffer another Great Depression.

Sara thinks that we are fortunate that there is going to be a change of leadership soon that will help to alleviate a major depression. And of course we are so certain that only the most extremely zealous and thoughtless are going to vote for McCain and another four years of a war that should never have been.

Okay...that is my interpretation of what Sara thinks -- she'd be a lot more elegant in her choice of words. Anyway, I need to get the ivy cleared from my yard, and cut back a few more car loads of blackberry bushes, and then maybe I can start my garden. Oh and we are trying to buy a climbing gym, and we have a couple of businesses running, and I am also trying to master my new hobby of Spanish.

Huh...when you write it all down, it almost seems like I need to cut back a bit.

Sooo Sore

2008-03-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

While Sara was out climbing I decided to stay home and do some yard work. I started at 7:30 in the morning by starting a small fire (my fire permit only allows for a four foot diameter fire) which burned very hot and in a counter clockwise path burned the two year old yard waste. I actually had to pull some dried alder from our wood pile to get the fire to burn because the moisture was still very high.

I proceeded to start cutting out large sections of blackberry bushes. I swear I burned down a pile of vines that was a couple cars large. I had dreamed that I would get all the blackberry bushes in the front yard and it wouldn't be too much work. Well after six hours I can hardly tell that I did any work at all. It is really just depressing. , and my body is still sore two days later.

I figured being the kind of person that likes to hike, and rock climb I should be in pretty good shape for the yard work. Apparently that is just not the case, and I'm looking forward to more rest. The last time I was this sore, I road my bike 110 miles from Bellingham to Bellevue.

InDirecTv

2008-03-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

I have found that companies that try playing games with me is simply unacceptable. For years Sara and I paid a monthly bill to a satellite television corporation. In June of 2007 I called to cancel my programming. As is the custom of these corporations they want to keep you as a customer. I said I just wanted to cancel the account, but they persistent and I finally let them "Park" my account for six months. What I didn't know was that they would reactivate my account without contacting me, and start billing me for the service after that period.

This weekend I happened to open a letter from this television distribution corporation and saw a bill for $125. My first thought was, "What the Hell?" I was certain that I closed that account, and I had no intention of continuing service. My second thought was, "Good thing I didn't just dump this in the recycling like I usually do." I proceeded to call the service center to find out what was going on.

A very nice and polite lady took my call. She was more than willing to help me but she said I either owed them $125, or I had to pay back a $150 credit that they gave to me. They gave me $150? I don't remember cashing that check, and my bill was paid up when I closed my account. I didn't use the service that they were charging me for so how could I owe them any money? I was a bit irritated, and told her I didn't owe them anything, but could she please get a supervisor. I didn't feel the service rep was responsible for such poor business practices and I didn't want to be yelling at her. Already my voice had been getting harsh.

After making me wait for nearly five minutes, "Chris" my service rep supervisor got on the line. Now, "Chris" didn't sound to be the brightest bulb, but I suppose he could have been educated thru high school. He tried, as the service rep did, to convince me that I owed them money. I let him speak his bit, and then responded, "Look, the only reason I let you 'Park' my account was because I was being badgered and I just wanted to get off the phone and get on with my life, and as for the 'credits' you gave me, I received no money or check from you. Now, you know I'm never going to pay you for something I didn't use, and I'm not going to pay back a credit I never received. You can either continue to waste our time or you can clear and close the account." To which "Chris" responded that he had closed the account and reversed the charges -- just like that. That was very smart as I was about to reach through the phone line and knock him upside the head with the receiver. I have to admit, I was very surprised, and kind of delighted that he resolved that situation so promptly after my spiel.

I think it is amazing how difficult corporations have become and the tactics that they use. If I agree to put something in "Park" or on hold or however you want to describe it, and I don't return the call to continue service the account should just be closed. Or if they are determined to keep my service, they should be required to gain my okay to continue the service. This process of resuming billing without a verbal acknowledgement is unacceptable. Now some might say I received a bill from them, but I also receive tons of junk from them and most of it went directly to the recycle bin. Anyway...the lesson is don't be nice to these corporations, it will only allow them to take advantage of you.

Too Busy.

2008-02-20T15:35:00.001-08:00

Sara and I have been burning the candle at both ends lately. It is starting to effect my work, and play. I'm, personally, going through one of those stages where I want to do too many things. I want to be a programmer, run my own business, keep my day job, start a climbing gym, go out climbing, read books, do more photography, clean my house, clean my yard, fix my roof, install solar panels, install solar water heater, send my nephews grandpa's laptop, visit friends who just had a baby, and the list goes on.

Sara isn't doing much better. We did get out for some climbing that Sara blogged and it has been restless since. In fact, now we are just bidding our time until we get out to our next trip.

*Yawn*

Yep, I'm tired -- we are both tired, and Sara made me clean up so the house cleaner could get to all the counter tops and the rug, and it turns out I have another week to clean up. That kind of sucked, but it wasn't too bad since we've had help keeping the house clean.

There is lots going on in the world right now, and I just want to sit and watch it go by for a bit.

Yes, We Can.

2008-02-04T09:20:00.001-08:00

A number of people have asked me who I support and why.

Now that the candidates have been narrowed down, I support Barak Obama. I believe, despite some policies I disagree with, he inspires something more of America, of U.S. Citizens, that the other candidates (right or left) have not and cannot inspire in the people of this Nation.

McCain is a disappointment. Eight years ago I thought he was someone different, but after watching his actions, his votes along partly lines despite policies he openly disagreed with, his idle response to illegal signing statements, his weak response to veto's that he knows are wrong, I simply cannot support him.

Hillary simply does too much double speak for my taste. I think she is more than capable, and would actually do a lot to repair the foreign policies that have been so diminished, as well as bring the return of checks and balances to our political system. However, she simply does not make me believe that a change to our lobby and PAC system can be repaired to do what is right for the people of the country (I simply do not believe that corporations are people.)

But Barak -- He inspires. He brings people both young and old, male and female together. I believe with Barak we can do great things. I believe with Barak we can see a return to a strong stable economy. I believe that Barak will return to caring for our neighbors all around the world. I believe Barak will bring a return to wanting to achieve great things.

Be a Patriot

2008-01-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

Tell your senators to stop any attempt to give telecom companies immunity for illegal wiretapping.

It's here, It arrived!

2008-01-21T13:21:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited to get home...omg, omg, omg. My first ever

Watch for Feral Asses

2008-01-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

It begins with a very long trip from Poulsbo, to Las Vegas. We left on the 26th, and the 19 hour drive took a little over 25 hours (including a stop at Denny's). But we soon arrived at our destination of Red Rocks Canyon, where we spent the next seven days climbing as hard as we could. There were six in the group and despite the cold nights, the days were pretty spectacular. Our first day we spent up at Moderate Mecca and despite a two hour belay, we had a pretty good time until the wind kicked up and we had to head for shelter. We ended up going to the boulder fields where we played on the smaller stone until it got late and we had to head back to camp.

Camp was pretty baron and not much shelter was provided from the wind. We were all pretty tired from the drive and decided to eat and hit the sacks for another day.

Oh, and if you are wondering what "Feral Asses" have to do with anything, in the canyon there are apparently Feral Donkeys that roam the desert range. We didn't see any though, otherwise there'd be a picture to share.

Day two was spent at Cannibal crag and while much of it was out of my climbing level I did manage to run up a nice little 5.4 that super easy and provided a little confidence building. I also managed to climb a 5.8 that was hiding in the shade, and while my fingers were too numb to actually feel anything, I am sure it could have been a fun climb.

Alas, the sun didn't provide enough to keep us there all day. Again we ended our day in the boulder fields and lots of pictures were taken of some valiant attempts at very difficult problems.

Day three Sara and I were on our own while our friends did an epic climbing day. Sara and I went about climbing the Solar Slab Gully. I'm certain it could have been a lot of fun, but we were having a learning experience and as it went we did pretty well. We came away with some things to remember for future climbs -- like optimizing our activities so we move quicker, and making sure that we double and triple check before we do something potentially stupid -- and we had a number of successes that made the learning experience worth it.

Unfortunately, it got cold and as the name implies "Gully" doesn't allow for as much of the "Solar" that we were hoping for while climbing. Though we did get back to the car before sun down, unlike our fellow climbers.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth days we spent in the Calico Hills at Panty Wall, The Gallery and Stratocaster Wall, and Dog Wall. I managed to get a couple more leads in, and worked on a few harder problems, but ultimately was pretty burned out by the prior days and needed to rest. I have a lot of work to do so I can do multiple days in a row and keep up with our younger friends. My excuse is that I have put on some muscle and now have more to haul up the wall...but really I just need to work on my endurance.

Our last day was just hanging in the boulder field, and I tried to work on a few problems but I really just didn't have anything left. Endurance. That is the goal for this spring.

The Dream

2007-12-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

As you know, Sara and I like to climb. We have made this a priority of our life, and do our best to get out and do some long weekends and lots of climbing. This year we are heading to Red Rocks Nevada. I can hardly wait -- we leave the day after Christmas and will get six days of climbing before returning on the 2nd of the new year.

As I dream about the climbing in Nevada, I have started to dreaming about my own climbing walls. We have in our yard a woodshed. The thing about having a woodshed is that we don't have a place to burn the wood. In fact, it should be sold for a couple hundred dollars. The shed is sheltered, sturdy, and that would give me motivation for clearing out all the crap in there...besides selling the wood.

Ah, the dream continues...

Thankful

2007-11-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

This is the first holiday without my dad. I think I'm suppose to be sad, or depressed, or maybe in deep thought.
I'm not.
In fact, Sara and I are doing this holiday by ourselves, with a few visits with friends. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday -- food, family, and relaxing. That is my kind of holiday. I like the idea of enjoying and celebrating something that is all inclusive.

So some things I am thankful for ...

...Climbing
...Good Health
...Balance
...Friends
...Family

I am very thankful for Sara and Hana. They both bring me the most happiness.

K. David Prince March 19, 1943 - September 15, 2007

2007-09-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were not aware, my father was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Last night at around 7:30 PM he took a couple of last deep breaths and then stopped.

The last two weeks of his life were very high. I commented to my dad "You haven't sounded this good in a very long time." During the second week my dad had expressed some fear of coming off this high, and by mid week it was clear he was coming back down. Friday night dad had a rough night.

When I arrived my dad wouldn't talk to me. He would say a few phrases to the nurse, he talked to his brother and sister, but he wouldn't talk to me. He did smile at my joke -- "Hey dad, how does Chinese sound for dinner?"

Around seven o'clock, Kathy asked if dads head hurt. He responded yes, and Kathy gave him a bit more mediation. He complained of no other pain through out the day. Kathy and I soon after went out for a walk with her boys. We dropped the boys off to watch a movie with some very kind neighbors, and after a bit more walking headed home. As we turned the corner I told Kathy I was going to sleep on the couch with dad, because I felt that it was going to be a very short time until the end. My Uncle Keith came out and told us that he had passed.

I had told my dad earlier in this process that I didn't know if I could watch him die. I find it interesting that he waited until my sister and I left the house.

This kind of feeling is hard to explain. There are waves of grief, and some uncontrolled crying. But there is also relief. He had very little pain in the grand scheme.

He was a good person. I miss him already.

She's so Pretty

2007-09-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

It has been years since Sara and I attended a wedding. A couple weekends ago Sara's cousin was married, and had one of the most fantastic parties I have ever attended. The property was her cousin's uncle's place on Vashon Island. It was like a small Italian village -- or how I imagine one to be since I have never been to Italy.

I took the above picture with my cell phone, and I just think Sara looks so amazing. It was on the way to this wedding so that is why she looks so good, and I could lose a couple pounds.

I'm getting Fat

2007-09-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

I am usually busy with climbing. It is the primary activity that I use to stay in shape, but lately I've had more going on than usual.

Back in April my Dad had an incident where he collapsed at a gas station. He ended up driving himself to the ER. As they ER was about to discharge him, he collapsed again. They did a cat-scan and it turned out that he had a dark spot on his brain.

In mid-July he started to seizure and since his cancer has taken its toll on him. He's now in hospice care at his brothers home and has lots of visitors.

In the meantime, Sara has decided to go out on her own, and I have started a side business doing tech support for the small businesses in Kitsap. My sister is staying with my dad, and been doing most of the care. And we have her two year old golden retriever, which is so mellow everyone thinks he's wonderful...yet he keeps getting into trouble with us.

So as you might have guessed, I am not getting much exercise. The last time I was out climbing, was mid-July and I've gained 10 pounds. It is very sad. I'm starting to look like a dumpling. Sara and I have plans to get back into the climbing gym, and to start walking the dogs but even that is difficult as the weeks have been so busy.

Oh well. I'm sure I can work off the 10 pounds eventually.

Slippery Slopes

2007-07-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Recently, Sara and I were visiting with my Dad, Sister, Uncle and Aunt, and a friend of my dad's. This longtime friend showed up and provided great conversation. It was a blast, but he liked to bring up the touchy subjects. My poor sister was inundated with liberal/progressives to battle her down.

My sister has never been a great debater. To defend her position (not that I'm sure what that position is) she argued the Slippery Slope. So here was how I saw it --

Dad's friend mentions sex education for kindergartner's
Sister makes an acknowledgment of disgust towards the topic having heard it on CNN
Other commentary rises
A lull in the conversation
Me -- points out the miss-information and corrects the topic by providing context.
Sister says -- Yeah, well that is a slipper slope

Of course, that got my sister in a position where everyone was trying to provide their opinion and convince her to change her own. My self included. I felt slightly bad -- that's brotherly love.

What really bother me about the "Slippery Slope" argument is it has no position of substance. Not to mention that it can be used to support either side of the argument; it is a straw man. I mean someone might say that legislating "Abstinence Sex" is a slippery slope, because it leads to a government sponsored religion. Or that providing health care to poor children is a slipper slope, because it will lead to a national health care system.

This Slippery Slope argument is used so that instead of saying "Oh, I am mistaken in my position. If what you say is correct then I'd agree," they can then say "Oh, Well that is a slippery slope...If you follow it far enough there are a million What ifs"

Why are people afraid to have their opinion changed? Is it really that bad for you to say "I'm not familiar with that topic, where can I find more about it?" Or are you so afraid of what could be a remote possibility?

I like to read my news on the Internet over watching the television. The reason is that if a statement is made, I can Google it to get context. If I cannot find anything of reference I can then disregard the writer as a poor example of a reporter and move on knowing that such a writer is not worth my time. With television you get a personality who pushes an opinion, and is on daily and is only held accountable by the ratings. So I have very little impact on the ratings -- I have to turn off my television, stop buying from the advertisers, write letters complaining, etc. I think people who do the foot work on the Internet can find the transcripts, the video, and the context. You don't have to depend on a system to be truthful to you, you just have to be honest with yourself.

Why do we celebrate the 4th of July?

2007-07-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

My eight year old nephew asked me that question yesterday while we were all visiting. Made me wish that I had thought about it a bit more. I kept my answer to the bits I could remember from high school, but for what I told him I believe I told him the truth.

We had a very nice visit at my Dad's place in Bellingham. Unfortunately, the 4th being in the middle of the week made it difficult to stay the night. Sara and I both had meetings and work the following morning. But the family all got together, we had hot dogs, and Kathy made burgers, and Lars cooked up oysters -- I have the pearl to prove it. Seriously, my dad handed me an oyster and as I ate it I got a pearl.

We had a nice week so far... We started it with a weekend at Smith Rock for some fantastic climbing, and amazing weather for some camping. Now, we are recovering from the fourth.

My angry driver

2007-06-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

This morning on my way to work I had a driver turn his car into mine and honk at me. Why this driver did this is hard to explain, but I think it had more to do with being cranky or angry than with me.

So I came to an intersection where the cross street has one lane that extends into two lanes after going through the light. From my perspective this gives people wanting to make a right turn an open lane to turn into. Remember the rules of the road say you must continue through an intersection without changing lanes.

So as all the cars are going through the light and into the left lane, I make a complete stop at the red light. I then proceed to make a right turn into the open right lane. Ahead of me in the right lane is a big semi truck which I purposefully pulled in behind so as to not crowd the left lane, plus he was moving slow so I figured most of the drivers would want to go around the big truck.

Then all the sudden I hear a honk. I look in my left drivers side mirror and a car is turning into me. I continued to move forward figuring if I stop I'm going to be hit, but the guy then pulls up next to me, gives me the finger, and then proceeds to drive past the slow semi truck that is in front of me.

Someone needed a hug this morning apparently.

No more Television

2007-06-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

So I canceled our satellite television. I figured at $65/mo I could save a lot, and we don't really watch much anyway. Besides, the shows we do like will be out on DVD in a year, and the ones we want to keep up on are likely available online.

Surprisingly, I am missing it more than I thought I would. I mean, there isn't anything on but I often would put it on for background. Or I would find two shows and I would pause one while I watched the other until a commercial would pop up. But some how saving almost $800 for the year seems like a good idea. That means I can buy $800 worth of television from apple or bittorrent.

Now I'm in the process of finding a tuner card for my machine so we can download the television we like to the computer and play it out to the tube. I suppose I could just hook up a monitor but I thought I'd like it better if I could watch my actual t.v. Besides, I have the tube available for our DVD's and NetFlix.

I think I'll miss PBS the most. I might have to put up an antenna for local channels. We'll see.

Weekend of Firsts

2007-06-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Memorial Weekend, Sara and I were joined by about 10 other people in Leavenworth for several days of our favorite activity -- rock climbing. Our first day was mostly orienting ourselves, and we did some top roping at a spot that is popular but no one was around Friday. Sara and I spent our second day out on the hard stuff with our friends Shawn and Ken. Shawn was our rope gun and we had a couple of ropes running between the four of us. We did some fantastic climbs and as usual after about three I was totally whooped. I have a goal climb though which is to lead this 5.8 crack at the Alphabet wall. I'm certain I can lead it, but doing it while placing my own gear is something I'm a bit nervous about. I have lots of excuses though -- I'm old, I'm relatively new to climbing, I break easy...

Day three was a day of firsts. Sara lead her first 5.5 crack on trad gear, and we left the gear in so Ashley, and Kari could do their first outdoor leads. I also lead the 5.5 and had fun on a 5.9 and 5.4 cracks. I should have gone back and lead the 5.9 (it was just about three hard moves) but as I said, I have lots of excuses. Day four was the easiest day. We spent time leading a 5.6 with gear again. Sara did it and I checked placements, then Kari mock lead it with Sara checking the placements. I climbed and cleaned my own placements and was very happy with how I placed my gear.

Leading on your own gear placements is kind of scary. If it fails...it is your own fault. We watched our friend, Shawn, on a very hard climb, and he did something super smart -- he placed two pieces of gear right near each other. It was a good thing too because just after he moved beyond the gear he kicked out the lower piece. We all breathed after he placed a new piece of gear. When he got down, he didn't even no he'd kicked out his gear. It was just good he had that backup.

So lots of good experiences and we cannot wait to get up to Squamish, B.C.

Oh -- I saved off the beard. Yep...it is true. But I'm definitely going to grow it out this fall.

Christian Terrorist?

2007-05-23T10:59:00.001-07:00

Why is it that if a person of the Muslim faith straps a bomb to their chest they are called a "terrorist," and a Christian with the intentions to bomb anyone who would protest Falwell's funeral is just called a "bomber?"

Can we say "hypocrisy?"

An Epic Adventure

2007-04-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

Sara and I had a weekend climbing which was a grand time. We started on Saturday at Index doing some trail clean up. The WCC arranged a crag clean up to foster a relationship so that sani-cans can be put in place. Otherwise you have hikers and climbers digging cat-holes all over the place, at best. Currently, the later is what is taking place if the individuals don't know about the park just in town.

Day two took us to Leavenworth for some visiting with friends and climbing. Sara and I are early to rise and start climbing. Thus began the adventure. We started by reading a couple guide books. Picked a climb to do an prepared for the climb.

Now guide books are to provide the climber with appropriate information to help make the climb safe but can still have errors. In our case, we started a climb that did not tell us we had to climb to the top. We made our first mistake in assuming we could rappel to where we started. Normally going to the top would not be a problem, but we were looking for a quick single pitch route so didn't bring enough gear to climb all three pitches. Not to mention the route was not clearly marked. Both books that we had reviewed had some errors.

So we began our climb. I started by setting a piece of gear to secure me before the first bolt. I climbed up and at the bolt saw two more bolts. One was a traverse to my right the other was a good 15 feet up from there. Now, normally, I'd traverse and clip in, but I presumed it was part of the climb next to us and was rated much harder than I wanted to climb. I decided to continue up and took the run out to the clip above me. It was no problem. Beyond that, I continued to climb, but there were no more bolts, and the anchors I could see (again presuming they were for the climb next to us) were far off to my right. I placed another piece of gear and then ran out my line until I got to a point where I could build my own anchor.

Now, problem two became very clear even though we knew it would be a problem. The wind and the noise of the river made it impossible to communicate. I sat at the anchor I had built and kept pulling up the rope. Finally, I saw Sara pop-up over the edge and she cleared the gear I had placed. Sara, wisely, eased out to make sure I'd take up the slack. However, she had to make a guess that I was safely anchored before making a move. When she reached me she promptly scolded me for running out the rope.

Now we had to make a decision -- Do we go up? Or down climb? We choose to down climb, because again to our right we could see the rock had been bolted and we didn't really bring enough gear to go up. I began to lower Sara to the anchors that I had skipped before. I cleaned up my anchor and down climbed and traversed to her. This was particularly scary because I had no place to put any gear to protect myself as I moved down, and it would have been a long fall that would have left a nice rock rash.

Once at the anchor Sara informs me that we don't have the rope length to rappel back to our safe place on the ground. I suggested I could rappel and see, and then just hitch my way back up if it was a problem, but we could also see more bolts going up.

There were two crews below us, so we went up. I cruised up the slab hardly using my hands. Again Sara came up and we had a choice again. We just happened to have one of our friends walkie-talkies, and we made a call out to our friends. They had four ropes between them, so if they sent up a climber we could all rappel and not lose any gear.

We got a message through to our friends and they made a plan to climb up to the anchors. Many people discourage the walkie-talkie idea, but I have to say that if you use it only to pass along commands, and only to clarify safety needs it is a great backup system. Used properly and they can be a life saver, used wrong and they can be dangerous. In our case, I was very happy to have one with us.

I had Sara lower me to the first anchors. As I went down I clipped in some gear to protect her from any falls. At the anchors we lowered Sara and Kari (who came up just to have a climb) and Mark (a new climbing friend) and I tied the ropes together, cleaned the gear and rappelled.

It was quite the adventure, but I'm very proud of how we handled it. We could have climbed our way into something very dangerous but we kept our cool and practiced our safety the whole time. We also figured that in a worse case scenario we could have rappelled the length of our rope, built and anchor and then down climbed the last bit with the gear from an intermediate anchor.

Now we have to get a second rope. And some bail webbing, which would have made our down climbing safer. Such is life though, and we live and learn. I'm very thankful for all our climbing friends who have taught us all our safety skills and didn't think we were too insane when we asked question after question.

Be safe, Climb On, have fun.

New Gear!

2007-03-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Sara let me purchase some new gear. I found a product that gets great reviews and the cost was so good I just couldn't pass it up. I got eight new Durango cams which are a copy of the Trango© Flexcam®. And because I bought them on sale, and they were having a special they gave me an extra cam for free! So I got nine new cams for climbing.

Having the new cams will fill out the remainder of our rack and we should be able to safely climb and build anchors and all the important stuff. Now I just have to find a way to stay focused until the weekend.

We are taking the first week of April to climb with a group of great kids from the climbing team. These kids can out climb us any time. It is still going to be fun though. We are doing a few days at Smith, and a few days at Vantage, and I'm hoping (fingers are crossed) that we'll get a day out at Leavenworth.

Yeah...climbing outdoors and new gear.

Get in Line!

2007-03-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

I am an "old man" driver. I put my cruise control on and sit in the right lane. When there is another driver who is even slower than me, I check my left, change lanes, speed up to pass quickly, and then move back to the right lane and sit on my cruise control. So what is up with these @$$ holes who pass on the left going one mile faster than the guy on the right? Really? Are they worried they are going to get a speeding ticket? Then get in line! One mile an hour more won't get you there significantly faster. Put your damn cruise control on and relax already.

These people retard the flow of the freeway. If some guy wants to go 100 in the 60 zone, get out of the way. Quit controlling traffic, you're causing a hazard for everyone else. You are! If an incident occurs more people will get caught up in it because both lanes of traffic (or more) will be involved.

Sure you'll be speeding -- that is the point anyway right? Since just about 99.9% of all drivers are going at the limit you must not care about going a bit faster? Otherwise you'd be in the right lane with your cruise control on...

End Rant.

My Chocolate Addiction

2007-03-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

I have been attempting to quit chocolate. I know that seems crazy, but I find it exceptionally difficult to do -- I have a chocolate bar stuck to my whiteboard with a label that says "Just say no ..."

My office buys bags of chocolates from Costco that I have requested many times that we don't get. I'm actually surprised that they (those controlling the funds) don't use that as an excuse to save money. Seriously, every time they do an order they spend $40+ on bags of chocolates. And don't get me going on all the soda that they buy too.

The other day I was in a meeting and there was a big jar filled with mini chocolates (42 calories) and I reached in and had the little mini chocolate in my mouth before I realized -- I am on a chocolate diet! I found it difficult to not eat another. So I did.

Now, I wouldn't compare this to being an alcoholic as that has an aspect of diminished returns. The more you drink the less your brain works correctly, you endanger your health, and potentially the health of others. Chocolate -- well if you eat it in large quantities you may have some serious health issues as well, but driving wouldn't be a problem. Anyway, I definitely know what it is like to not have the self control when you are surrounded by your vice.

The good news? I've lost three pounds in the last couple months.

The buzz in my brain

2007-02-27T11:40:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have those days, weeks, or months when you sit at your desk and you try to get something accomplished, but you seem to only check your e-mail? I've been stuck in that rut for a few weeks now. I get more done than reading my e-mail, but I don't get the work finished in a way that it feels "done." I don't know if that is because the task isn't clear, or that so many tasks are popping up and changing the priority, or maybe it is just busy work.

My brain has been wandering in and out of thoughts all this time too. Partly work related, but often not on what I'm should be focused on. Even when I get home I'm looking for distraction. I will read part of a comic book, or a few pages of a book (or multiple books.) Yet, I never seem to keep a focus that would let me complete even the distraction. I have managed to help clean the kitchen with Sara, fold laundry, and make the bed -- busy work.

I was really glad to climb yesterday, big surprise for you I'm sure. I was really focused and my brain was idle for a bit. It makes me wish that we all valued free time more. I'm sure we'd all agree that we need more time for holiday and travel, but I'd bet we'd all put in more office hours to save for the future. Okay, before I get distracted again....done.

What is wrong with Honda?

2007-02-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

If you could get a SUV with all wheel drive that got 42.2 mpg or you could get the same SUV with 23 mpg, which would you choose? I'm guessing you would probably choose the SUV that gets 42.2 mpg. So, what if you were not allowed to have the SUV with the higher performance engine?

I'm am completely dumb founded as to why Honda has both of these vehicles but won't sell the higher performing vehicle in the United States. In the UK the CR-V comes with a CTDi diesel that gets nearly twice the performance as the American model without the diesel engine (Oh and the UK non-diesel that gets 34 mpg.)

How does it make you feel that Honda tells you that there isn't a market in the USA for a high mileage SUV?

Please write to Honda and your state Representatives and let them know you want the CTDi available in the American Honda vehicles.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Honda Automobile Customer Service
1919 Torrance Boulevard
Mail Stop: 500 - 2N - 7D
Torrance, CA 90501-2746

Pull Down 2007

2007-02-11T10:53:00.000-08:00

Our local gym has a bouldering competition every year. It is a series of three comps and you add the top five scores from each comp. It is fun to work the problems, but what was really impressive was that Sara was second in her group. I did okay, but the boys are very hard to compete against. Most of them are much stronger climbers than myself. And I don't work the short hard problems as much as the roped climbing. Sara's group was very strong too, giving the guys a good run for it.

I was really proud that I managed to work out one particular problem. I have gotten much stronger and so for me to stick to the problem until I figured out the moves was kind of a big deal. I'm working on being more patient on my climb and not just lunging for something I know I cannot stick.

Sara had to leave the final comp early for a fancy dinner, but even with climbing just to get her points she still managed to whoop me. I was just excited to win a door prize. We both won small prizes in the raffle -- I got a huge t-shirt, and Sara got a mug that she can put her coffee in on the go. I never win door prizes so even a t-shirt was pretty cool.

Now for a rest day.

Cold Bones

2007-01-31T18:10:00.000-08:00

Since our last climbing trip, I have been very impatient to get outdoors again. At the end of February we'll be heading down to Smith Rock for a weekend outing with a few friends. The problem is the weather has been very cold. Some mornings have been in the low teens, and the day doesn't warm up until after noon. Hopefully by the last weekend of the month it will have warmed up enough to climb all day. I think after Joshua Tree, I'll be able to handle the cold nights. This time I have my ultra warm jacket, and I'll make sure Sara has our third sleeping bag to double up in case she gets cold at night.

I think this year, we are going to be weekend warriors. It won't be every weekend, but I think any weekend that isn't wet, we are going to be someplace that warm and has stone to climb on.

This spring and summer I'm going to spend as much time cleaning up my yard too. It has been a number of years since we have taken care of our yard. We've done a few improvements -- new windows, doors, but now I'd like to make a garden and work on some of my projects.

So not much has been going on. Sara and I have basically been lazy. We did have a nice visit with my Dad last weekend. Hana got to swim and play on the beach and took several days to recover. Her tail didn't have a full wag until Tuesday.

Okay, that is enough of my random ramblings.

Five Things Meme

2007-01-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

So my friend Cam hit up Sara for the meme. This then led Sara to ping me. So here you go:

Five Things you may not know about me.

1. I believe in Ghosts. Or Guardians, Angels, whatever you want to call them/it. Seems kind of strange, but it started when I was ten years old after my uncle died from cancer. Sometime after I had a dream, and my uncle told me something. I don't remember what he told me, but I do remember waking up thinking, "What did he says? I need to write it down." I fell back to sleep and couldn't remember the details in the morning. So that was my first "encounter." A few years later I was over at a friends house, and we'd been playing all day. In the afternoon we stopped to make lunch and relax on the couch. While sitting on the couch we heard a huge crash in my friends bedroom. When we walked back to the bedroom we couldn't find anything at all that could have crashed to make that sound (not even in the closet.) As we walked back to the couch we saw someone run out the door. The part that freaked us out was my friends younger brother was outside on the side walk playing with some action figures but he swore that no one had come out the front door. The next time anything like this happened was a few years ago. My martial arts instructor past away from a heart attack. I woke up after a dream where Sa Bum Nim Zoppi had a conversation with me. This time I had disturbed Sara and she made me get up and write down what I could remember of the dream.

2. I am highly susceptible to visual information. Television, or Movies often come back to haunt my dreams. When I was 19 years old I had a medical condition and the doctors gave me Demerol. Demerol is very similar to Morphine and helped me with the pain I was in. Up until that point I never remembered my dreams. I knew I had them, but I didn't remember them, hence not writing down my first dream of my uncle. After the Demerol I started to remember dreams, particularly scary dreams. I once woke Sara up after watching X-Files screaming "Scully, Scully, Help Me!" And not too long ago I put a nice bruise on Sara's leg as I kicked her in my sleep after watching Battle Star Galactica.

3. I was a senior in high school before I ever read a book cover-to-cover (on my own without the help of others.) The book was "Nigger" by Dick Gregory. Up until then I was never be able to finish a book in the time allotted. In fact, I had tried to read All Quiet on the Western Front three different times in the eight, ninth, and tenth grades. I have not yet gone back and re-read it. I am still a very slow reader, but I do enjoy reading very much.

4. I hate swimming pools. As a youth I was a very good swimmer. When I was 14 I was nationally ranked in the top ten in my age group. Now, I don't like to swim in a pool. If I'm going to swim, it is going to be in warm tropical water with a snorkel and fins.

5. I have never tried or used illegal drugs. Never. Not once.

Now I am suppose to ping five more people, but I don't know if I have five friends...David, Chad, Scott, Alex, Kari

Joshua Tree

2006-12-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

I finally got some pictures up for you to view. Here are the pictures from Joshua Tree 2006.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

Sara and I returned from a trip to Joshua Tree, where we climbed for five days. It was an amazing trip. We are both completely worn out though. We'll likely have more pictures up later. We wish you all happy holidays. I know for some this time of year is difficult, but I hope your families bring you happiness.

Going Public

2006-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

A company I used to work for went public on Friday. I now have 180 days to wait until I can sell the shares I own. If it stays in the $20 range it won't be much but it will give me some seed money for additional investments. The initial offering of $13 opened at $25, if fell to $23/share but that is still nice. I have to admit I'm dreaming about selling at $100, but the reality of that happening is pretty slim. I will likely be lucky to sell for $5.

The unfortunate thing is that my few shares have already been cut in a 1/2 reverse split. Even though, I'm happy to see potential. Life could be much worse...

Meeting Fred Beckey

2006-12-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Fred Beckey was at a holiday party that Sara and I attended. I don't have much to say about him. He actually didn't say much. His attention was easily distracted, but he was friendly and kind.

I guess I'm suppose to be in awe. To some extent I am, but really I'm just thankful for people like him who pioneered the sport I've come to cherish. Without them we would have bulldozed this country flat. I guess I'm just lucky. It isn't often we are in the presence of a legend.

Honda's 2.2 i-CTDi

2006-12-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of it? That is because you cannot get it in the United States, or in all of North America. What is that? It is a cleaner, quieter diesel engine. It can run on biodiesel. It can get 40+ mpg (some reports are as high as 70+ mpg), and it has a hauling capacity so you could even hook up your boat. Why don't we have it in North America? Probably because Americans are stupid.

I'm tired of hearing that the market place doesn't support bringing these vehicles to the U.S.A. I think that is out right bull sh!t. If you marketed a vehicle that would get 40+ miles per gallon, and is cleaner, and can run on renewable fuel that is cheap to make -- no, no, not likely the market would survive. We Americans are so stupid we couldn't possibly have want a vehicle that would be better for the environment, better on our pocket books, and better for our economy. Yes, better for our economy -- we'd finally be pushing our local companies to compete with the worlds great manufactures.

LAME!

Snow!

2006-11-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

We are having our first snow of the season at sea level. It has been coming down all day really, and has sure been messing up my satellite television. Sara is making bread and soup and Hana is begging for outside time. With the way things are going it doesn't look like tomorrow will be a day for working at the office.

We have had a fairly nice four day weekend. Sara and I hung out at the gym and even took her parents and sister climbing. Her mom and dad did excellent, I hope we get a chance to bring them outside in the spring.

What's a philosophy?

2006-11-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

I have an eight year old nephew (well not yet eight, but soon) who likes to ask big questions. I was a bit stumped when he asked "What does philosophy mean?" We pulled out a dictionary and went about trying to explain it. Not easy when every word you want to use has to be explained as well.

Sara and I had a nice visit with the family in Denver. The nephews were more than a handful on Saturday, but they shaped up pretty quickly. After some sassing back to grandma the older nephew got the shake down from Uncle Chris. The boys were very well behaved after that and we had a very good time with a quick science project. We went into the bathroom and the boys looked at their eyes in the mirror. I turned off the light for 30 seconds and then turned it back on. This of course causes the pupil to constrict and the boys thought that was cool.

We visited Breckenridge, which is a nice ski resort/tourist trap. We would have liked to spend more time but such is the way things go. We also had a great time on the way to the airport. There is this monster store called Outdoor World, and it had a shooting range (with lasers, not bullets) and the boys also got to climb the indoor rock wall. That was pretty neat. We probably could have played for a few hours. Even Sara had fun in there shooting at the range.

We had a bit of excitement at the airport in Denver. Going through security we got pulled aside. Sara apparently had our Leatherman in her purse. Why this wasn't caught at Sea-Tac we have no idea, but none-the-less it was a big surprise that we had this knife with us on the plane to Denver. So $8 and three to six weeks later we'll get our Leatherman back. Fun stuff to have security going through your purse. We cannot remember why the Leatherman was in Sara's purse though...we figure it must have been from our camping trip to Redwood National Forest.

So the family is well, and the nephews are growing tall. Mom has settled into Denver, and seems to be very happy with the weather and altitude. Sara and I just need to become wealthy enough to visit more often. Colorado is a great place to visit.

Hmmm, interesting results.

2006-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

I didn't see that coming. Seriously, I was almost 99.9% certain that the GOP would hold the Senate. And seriously, I figured Missouri would be much closer than it turned out to be...I mean despite the exit polls and weekly trends showing a Dem win there...didn't expect that it would actually hold to reality.

So, I hope that now there is a clear change of power in our political system, we don't fall asleep and let the Dem's become as corrupt and dirty as the GOP's became. My hope is that both parties do some serious work on setting the ethical standards of our politicians. And I hope that the GOP can find its way back from the lunacy that has gripped them for such a long time. Focus on politics that actually impacts the people, not this gay bashing, tax cutting for the rich, anti-abortion stand. Middle class America needs to focus on keeping our civil liberties, providing education so we can compete in this global economy, keeping people employed with good paying jobs, and making sure we can have reasonable health needs met.

And hopefully we can get away from these bills that amount to doing nothing. It makes no sense to say we are going to "leave no child behind" if we are not going to fund these bills.

Okay, it is nice to see the bully humbled.

Keep your video camera's powered on.

2006-11-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow! Thank you all who have taken your video cameras and focused them on the polls, and have made it next to impossible for the election to be twisted and undermined. Yes, there are some very, very close races and we will likely have to wait until the morning to see the end results, if not longer. However keep your eyes on Missouri and Virginia. The weekly polling, the exit polling show there is a favorite, and so far it is looking suspicious. We knew Virginia would be tight, but Missouri ... well 60% of the votes are counted and it should be much closer than it currently is being reported.

Earn your citizenship!

2006-11-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Go and Vote. If the odds are overwhelming they can try to cheat all they want...

Prepare to have your Democracy undermined...again.

2006-11-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well there are really only two and a half days left until the votes are cast and counted. If you are paying attention, the media is already minimizing the position of the Democratic party. My first thought was "This cannot be right!" So I started doing my research, and sure enough it looks like the media is reporting on selective polling that shows the Democratic Party to not have the leads that weekly polling has been showing.

Why is this important? Well most polling has a plus or minus three percent. So if you put the Republican candidate within that 3% then you flip the results so the Republican wins and then you can say it was within the margin of error.

So the media is preparing the Democrats for disappointment. This is what they did in 2004, 2002, and 2000. The pattern of deception continues. The media claims to be "impartial" but they fail to report the facts, or if they do they minimize the time of presenting factual information. If you pay close attention you'll catch a few comments like "This is the only poll that shows the tightening of the race, but no other polls are showing that. (paraphrased)"

And then they keep playing up the John Kerry comments which if you actually watch the video, the whole video, it is clear and the audience knows it is clear who the jab was directed at -- George Bush. People who claim otherwise are lying to themselves.

So just pay attention. The deception before us is not well hidden, but so many choose to ignore the truth.

Dogs Dogs Dogs

2006-10-31T10:38:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting for it to be November 1st in Korea. That is about three hours away, and while I wait for the seconds to pass, I sit and watch Vertical Frontier while Hana stares at me, Leroy watches the yard outside (certianly dreaming of having someone scratch his bum), and Apple is curled up sleeping. It is a great day to hang with the puppy dogs, and watch some interesting history of climbing. I've watched it before but somethings never get old.

I should probably get my chores done for the day...

Justifying the Right

2006-10-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

So, all over the news is this slander from Rush Limbaugh about Michael J. Fox. What surprises me, and I'm really surprised, is that some media outlets are siding with Rush. They are justifying his vicious words, and Rush himself has said he stands by what he said and wouldn't put it any other way.

Why would anyone, and I mean anyone think that the opinions of Rush are worth listening too? He's a drug addicted, hooker chasing, lying, disgusting, right-wing apologist.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! And I stand by that description of Rush.

I feel better. Better than my friend Heather who hurt herself climbing at Elwah this past week. I don't know all the details but I do know she pulled a rock from the wall and tumbled. Apparently, she hurt herself enough to need crutches.

Sara and I haven't had much time to climb lately. I've been putting in extra hours in the office to get a product delivered by the 1st of November. There is always lots to get done and never enough time to do it all. I have a chore list that hasn't budged in weeks. Oh well.

That is just so weird.

2006-10-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

I didn't know you could smile with your cheeks and frown with your mouth. I've been married to Sara for eight years and I just noticed that she smiles with a frown. I didn't even know that was possible.

Why am I so tired?

2006-10-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

This fall is just killing me. I cannot seem to get motivated. I need to do so many tasks. I've even started keeping track of them in my google page. I was hoping to get outside for one last climbing opportunity but I'm too tired. I've even had a hard time getting motivated about the gym. Though I have had a great time every time I've been in the gym.

This weekend I'll likely have to work. That kind of sucks too. I'm too tired to really care though.

Straw Men

2006-10-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

You are either with us or against us.

If you don't support the war, you support the terrorist.

If you vote for a Republican, you vote for a pedophile.

Isn't that how straw men arguments work? Two options neither one really providing the whole picture? I'm certain that not all Republicans are bad. Although, it is very interesting to me how there is this rally to minimize the actions of one very bad individual, and the cover-up by other members of the GOP Party. The press secretary, Tony Snow, referred to the behavior as "naughty" and Fox tried to represent Mark Foley as a member of the Democratic Party, and other GOP members tried to make it out as a Democratic conspiracy (failing to recognize that the information was leaked via a Republican staffer.) What is wrong with the world? Since when do we support and justify the actions of those that cause our society harm? The so called "moral" party seems awfully thin on actual morals. I'm just amazed, dumb struck, confused.

Well, you'll only have to listen to my voting rants for a few more weeks...November 7th is approaching quickly. On a final note ... Vote. However it is that you vote, you should vote. This country doesn't ask much of its citizens -- the least you can do is vote.

My Party Princess

2006-10-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

So I managed to throw a party for Sara. I tried to throw a 30th surprise birthday party for her, but she opened some mail and found out. So my little party princess had a Not-So-Surprise Party at the park. Both our families and our friends joined us and we bbq'd burgers and dogs. I think about 60 people joined us throughout the afternoon. Sara had a very good time and I think got to chat with everyone.

I finally surprised her though. I placed several Cam's on her seat in the car. I place a pillow over them, so she'd have to move the pillow before sitting. She was on the phone when she finally moved the "metal," and her surprise was very convincing. She knows I'm terrible at keeping things a secret so she played the part very well.

So now, with a few pieces our friend gave as gifts, and the new cam's we have a great start on our trad rack. It is kind of exciting. It would be nice if we had a chance to get out and start testing things. We'll probably have to wait though.

We'll see. Climbing is adictive.

How Prophetic

2006-09-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."

--Martin Luther King Jr.

Well, that clears up what is wrong with those who support this Administration.

The President Was Right!

2006-09-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Extra, Extra, Read All About!

Mr. Bush has finally spoken the truth!

He used to say that in time the truth will prevail and that history will show the truth. Well, we are finally starting to see some of that truth, that those of us who actually think and read have known for the last several years.

CIA Learned in '02 That Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties, Report Says

It is curious that so many people have avoided seeing the truth for all these years -- including the "left-wing media."

I gave her the boot.

2006-09-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, this used to be about what is up with both Sara and myself. The reality is that I mostly rant about politics, religion, and occassionally my own general thoughts. Besides, Sara has her own blog these days, so go there if you want to read her thoughts.

Can you see the difference?

2006-09-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

I came across this article from the AP. As I read this article and the quotes from Ahmadinejad, I could not help but notice that his comments are very similar to those of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and others.

This vitriol talk about the "Liberals" is the same from both groups. Funny, how the radical "Liberals" -- well they just want to have peace, prosperity, social fairness and yet are hated by both our right-wing and Ahmadinejad's right-wing. Oh, what's that you say? "But, they are terrorists!" Oh, I can see the difference now.

She stole my story.

2006-08-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend at Squamish again. We were suppose to take a class in Leavenworth but that was canceled and so we found some friends to meet up with. Our friends were on a different schedule than Sara and me. Saturday we ran into them in the afternoon. They had just arrived and we were finishing our day. We only had a short day with them, but we hung on their ropes and got our butts kicked. On Sunday we spent the morning bouldering, and oh my heck that was a whoopin. I finally got a couple a problems finished, but there where several that once on the holds I couldn't make the next move. I would have liked to stay longer. Especially because this next month I'm doing so much that I don't have much free time. I'm being shipped off to Georgia in a couple of weeks on business, and then there is the whole anniversary and birthday stuff that goes on at the end of September. And then, October hits and there are only a couple weekends left...to get Sara up more than one pitch.

If you want to read more on our latest Squamish trip you can read it over at Sara's Squamish Redux.

No Intelligence Here.

2006-08-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

In the Washington Post, Dafna Linzer writes, "...a Republican staff member on the House intelligence committee who holds a hard-line view on Iran, fully backs the White House position that the Islamic republic is moving forward with a nuclear weapons program and that it poses a significant danger to the United States. But it chides the intelligence community for not providing enough direct evidence to support that assertion."

He continues writing, "Its authors did not interview intelligence officials." "It" being a 29-paged report from a House intelligence committee.

Clearly, the White House has no intelligence, and it neither cares nor wants to be intelligent. If you would like to read the entire article you can find it here. These people are so completely psychopathic.

In the meantime, Sara and I are off to do some climbing. I think we are going to camp out and climb some boulders in Squamish. We originally were planning on taking a Self-Rescue class in Leavenworth but that fell through and the class was canceled. Fortunately, we have options.

Growing Up.

2006-08-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

You know I find it absolutely hilarious. I never wanted to grow up. Now I have responsibility. It seems to find us when we don't want it, and then you never seem to shake it off.

So what can you do? I know this couple who every five years re-evaluates their lives. If all is not well...well I don't know what happens. But if it were me I would never have the courage to do anything too dramatic. I'd wish I could just quit, I'd wish I could just pack up my wife, my dog, my cats and just ... I don't know.

Most likely, I'd just keep paying the bills, buying too much crap, and supporting a system that I don't believe in.

Yep, it is hilarious. Fricken hilarious.

Are you a fool?

2006-08-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

How can you identify a fool?

The definition of fool is "one destitute of reason", "A person deficient in intellect", "one without judgment".

I think it is fairly easy to identify a fool. First you look at the mistakes of the fool, then you look at how often the fool repeats those mistakes.

Once again this administration is falling back to old behaviors. We are all the sudden painfully aware that we can never be 100% safe. And this administration has done nothing but play on those fears.

Wouldn't it be funny if ...

2006-07-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

the Christian's right got what they want and our democracy fell to a christian theocracy? But instead of getting a Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran christianity they got a Mormon christianity? Or Worse?

No, that wouldn't be funny. Just like it isn't funny that we have a presidant that doesn't understand what it means to be moral. As he bombs and kills thousands upon thousands of civilians -- killing women and children and old men -- he denies people the hope of new cures for diseases.

Why?

Ignorance, Arrogance, Pride.

How to celebrate your Independence

2006-07-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

Every year the Tumalo family gathers at Tumalo State Park in Bend, Oregon. This year was no exception. Sara and I joined this gathering last year with a desire to climb at Smith Rock which is 25 minutes away. It is really too hot to climb at Smith during this time of year, but if you are determined and stubborn you can get up super early and climb until the sun melts your shoes. Which is what we did -- up at five AM, climbing by six-thirty, then cleaning up our routes and walking back by eleven. Then we'd hang out at camp or by the river. It was great.

We had a couple of friends join us, both celebrating their independence. One was recently laid-off from her job, and the other had completed a divorce process. So we had fun celebrating with lots of climber talk, lots of teasing eachother, and our divorcee even made her own bouldering problem that we named "Just Divorced" - V0.

Signs from Above

2006-06-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

This year for my birthday we decided to take a weekend class on gear placement and crack climbing techniques. It was really a great time. I will need a lot of practice before I can lead a trad climb, but at least I have a place to start.

Now I need to figure out what gear I want to buy...yeah...that's going to take some time since a Cam will cost anywhere from $45 to $100. Ouch, my pocketbook is already empty.

Back to the weekend -- Our first day was warm and nice, we sat and talked mostly. The best part was learning the anchors and practicing placing gear while on the ground, which covered the whole day. We did a mock climb where we were on top rope and got to faux lead the climb and place our gear. Then one of our instructors would tell us how unsafe the placement was -- they were very kind, but it let me know that I need much more practice. It was a lot of fun.

Day two was all climbing. The point wasn't to send the climb as much as practice the movements, and figure out other techniques. I really struggled with that until the end of the day, but I'm starting to figure it out. At one point of the day, I was walking over to belay for a climber that was going to clean the anchor. As we were walking, a huge boulder crashed right next to us. If I had been moving a little faster it could possibly have crushed my head.

The sign from above reads -- "Watch for falling rocks."

Dinner with Dad's

2006-06-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Sara and I took our fathers out to dinner last night. We would have done this on Father's Day, but that also happens to be my birthday and we will be doing a outing to learn some traditional climbing skills. I know -- selfish me.

Anyway, we had a very nice dinner and conversation. I learned something about myself during that dinner. My awkward connections to a conversation are not unique to me. My Dad does the same thing...Go figure. I think it is that we, my dad and I, try to relate our own experiences into a conversation. Now that doesn't seem out of the ordinary, but the way we do it makes other people pause and think -- "Where's he going with this comment?"

I noticed it when I was talking about a lead route I had set in the local climbing gym, and I was explaining that I wanted to force left handed clipping, and moving beyond the anchor before actually clipping the rope. Well, this lead to my dad bringing up handball. It took a moment before his comments came around to dexterity and the skills required to be a good player. Thus the connection -- dexterity of climbing and handball.

Yep, we are the products of our parents.

Me and my tinfoil hat

2006-06-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sara and I participated in the Election Protection, that totally failed. We thought that if we watched we could prevent the election of 2004 from being stolen. We failed to do our job. Interestingly, we talked to so many people of what we saw, and what we knew to be true. Some said we were nut-cases, and tinfoil hat wearer's, and other such names.

I chose to live with the names. I know what I saw, and the evidence has always been there. Not to mention that as the Republican party self destructs more and more of the truth is starting to show.

Well, it has only taken a year and a half since our democracy was undermined and now we have a reporter taking the time to document, with references and all, the fraud that leads all the way to the Bush administration. For those brave enough to read the truth, there is much to sift through. Take your time. The truth is almost never easy to find.

High on Krack

2006-05-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in Squamish, B.C. which was just perfect and wonderful. The weather was warm but rainy the first day. We found a nice crag that had a high overhanging cliffs that left the walls dry enough to get in a day of some spectacular routes.

At the end of the day, everyone left for bouldering at the Chief, and Mac and I did a two pitch climb. That was a high point for me and climbing. I did my first multipitch, and it included a short bit of crack climbing. I hadn't done that yet.

Day two was just as spectacular. We found a handful of slab climbs and put a young climber on his first lead. He did just fine, though he had to overcome a bit of nervousness. In the afternoon, Mac took Sara and I over to a 5.10a five star classic crack climb called "The Zip". He lead the climb and put up a top rope for Sara and me. Crack climbing is addictive, and super exhilarating. I can hardly wait to do it again.

Thank you for nothing

2006-05-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

The other day I read about this article and I was just stunned.

Can you believe this so called "tax relief"? If you make between 10 to 100 thousand you will save $2-$400 dollars. If you make over a million you will save $41977. Now, I'm not a super math genius or anything, but shouldn't that number be $4,198? Why is it that if you make ten times as much money you get a hundred times the savings? And that is on the high end, on the low end you make 21 thousand times the savings instead of one thousand times the savings. Is that right? Maybe my math is wrong...I mentioned I'm not a math genius right?

I'm sure that is helping our economy...Greedy bastards.

What makes you tick?

2006-05-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've felt very crowded. I am not enjoying working indoors. Don't get me wrong, I have a great job that is not too demanding, pays well, and leaves lots of time to do other things. However, I want to be outside. I want to go spend a few months traveling (if only I could afford the fuel.) I would spend some time revisiting places I saw last summer, only camping around more and hiking. I'd go visit many of the places I didn't get a chance to visit.

There is this article in the February-March issue of Gripped and it is about a husband and wife, with their dog and cat, living on the road: "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. Reflections on Four Years of Climbing and Living on the Road." It's got some gross stuff, but only because modern conveyances are not readily available. Anyway, this couple spent four years (as you might have guessed from the title) out camping, climbing, meeting new people, and enjoying most of the things we neglect. There is this picture where they are at a open market in Mexico shopping for fresh food, and all I can think is how wonderful it would be if I could "afford" this kind of life. I don't know that I'd really want it all, but at the same time I fondly remember being at the Grand Canyon and a huge thunder and lighting storm was going on outside the tent, and while Sara didn't sleep a wink, the last thing I remember hearing was ... "You've got to be kidding me, you are not already asleep." Certainly not at that specific moment, but just as certainly within a few seconds ;)

Fortunately, I'm dragging Sara around outside. I've become a bit pushy and not really giving her much say, yet she isn't fighting really either. I take that as a compliment -- She could just put her foot down and be difficult, but really she just has trusted me to be extra safe and doubled checked my work. I say this hoping that we'll get our first multipitch adventure in a couple weeks. Speaking of which, I have some research to do...

Finally! Climbing outdoors.

2006-05-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well, Sara and I finally got outside to climb. We went to Vantage and had a wonderful time at the Feathers. The first part of our day was climbing on ropes placed by people we'd never met before -- Ilee, Lea, Salus, and Alexa and husband/boyfriend (sorry I forgot his name), and Jessica and Kari. I should have gotten emails or something...But I guess being random is just fine too.

Our crew totally bailed on us, so Sara wasn't too sure about going all three plus hours. Fortunately, we went the whole way because back at North Bend it was raining and snowing. I'm very excited about our trips coming up. Late May we are headed up to Squamish B.C. for some bouldering and hopefully I'll get to do a mulitpitch (Sara isn't sure about doing that yet). I'm really excited about that.

Our Adventures Continue

2006-04-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

We have not had a nice weekend yet that allowed us to climb outside. It has been a bit of a bummer, but I'm sure things will change soon. Sara will be making some changes too. It is a bit scary but I'm certain we'll survive.

Hana recently hurt her back. She jumped off the couch to go play ball, and something happened that made her very sore. We've been keeping her calm (as far as Labrador's are calm) for the last two weeks, and now it is all about working up to her full play potential. She thinks it is time right now.

I keep meaning to setup a big party but that just hasn't happened. Life keeps getting in the way. I think I may just start inviting people to meet us at a park and we can do a potluck and bbq...hmmm, I'll look into that.

What is you soul worth?

2006-04-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

I heard a report about how in the U.S. workers are actually putting in more time at work and producing less results. It got me thinking -- how much money would I give up to be able to play more than I work? I mean, I'm fairly productive until I get so tired that I am pretty much useless. I end up looking at the screen and struggling to do the work in my schedule. Yet, if I only work a 6 hour day, I often get more done.

It interests me that companies in this country which are all about the bottom line, are not interested in an increase in productivity. I wonder how much companies lose because of a lack of productive work?

I wonder how much people lose because they waste their lives being unproductive at work?

I really need a weekend without rain so I can get out to the crag with my lovely Sara.

We're going Climbing...

2006-03-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

It is our first weekend outside this season. Hopefully the weather will hold long enough to make the trip worth while. We are heading east to Vantage for some fun at the Feathers. It is a bit of a trip but has been mostly dry these last few weeks.

In other news, sara now has her own domain Sara Lingafelter.com which currently forwards to her blog (which is also a link to the right,) but ultimately will go to hour home server (if she decides to set that up.)

I have started my sites as well. Both, yes I have two so far, are in the works but you can take a look at Left Over Comics.com and my business site Natural Fuels which I hope to in the next month or so have the money to setup our first pump. It has taken a lot longer than I had hoped but now that Sara is out of school and back to work hopefully things will pick up soon.

Just jump for it.

2006-03-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

Sara and I did the 4th and final bouldering competition of the series they do out here. It was a blast. Sara placed 3rd in her group, and one of our local climbers, Victoria, placed 9th in the nation (though our local comp had nothing to do with her national standing.)

Sara, of course, performed methodically and made all her attempts seem simple and flawless. She really is fun to watch.

My favorite moment, was after I had achieved my goal, and was attempting climbs that were difficult either because of my skill or because my arms were all pumped out (that means they were hard as rocks and over used). I was on a climb that a number of us were having trouble (we were all tired at this point). I got on it, and made it to the last move before the final hold. Now, if I were not so tired, I would have taken my time and moved my feet to support me, but I heard the kids below me saying "jump for it" so I did.

I missed the hold and fell to the ground. I laughed and said "Oh, yeah, just jump for it." They youth that was cheering me to jump said, "Well, if you'd just jumped higher."

It was great fun, and now Sara and I are very excited to get up to Squamish B.C. for a weekend. I'll try to get a few pictures up.

Zed Foo Bonbon Zip Gow

2006-03-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

I couldn't think of a title today, so zed foo bonbon zip gow. That means I am fully capable of speaking jibberish. Not much going on. I've been spending a bit more time in front of the computer lately as Sara has been super busy with work. We've also been preparing for our house guest, Sara did most of the work.

I've been getting my website up and running. So far it has mostly been configuring my server. But you can now get to my home server leftovercomics.com and hopefully it will improve as I learn how to web design. Something that I have never been good at is web design.

Well, I guess one thing has been going on. Sara and I have been setting routes out our local climbing gym. Apprently, I'm quite the natural route setter. I've been asked to set more and I'm looking forward to doing at least one route every couple weeks.

Okay, back to the jibberish...zing zowy whip whip dong fong.

Damn kidney stones.

2006-02-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

I blame my father.

Fourteen or so months ago I had lithotripsy, and now I'm still having problems. Fortunately, they seem to be small and flow out pretty easily...so far.

Okay, sorry to gross you out.

Sara wrote this amazing article about Washington's new anti-discrimination law that protects individuals from "Unfair Practices Based on Sexual Orientation." It is kind of long, but Sara says it isn't a "book" and that she has proof. I'm not waiting for the proof.

In other news, Winnie's mom is coming to live with us while she finishes her thesis, or so I have heard. Winnie will be super excited. She has lost a bit of weight, so I'm certain her parents will think we've been starving her. Certainly, Winnie will agree. Yet, she'll run like crazy for the ball.

I trust him with my life.

2006-02-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

So I have been going through a background investigation to get security clearance, and the investigators drop in on our friends. Recently, the investigator stopped by a friend of Sara's and mine, and asked if I treat Sara well, and am I trust worthy. Our friend responded to the later with "Well, I rock climb with him, so I trust him with my life."

That just made my day.

And in a slight tangent my google page has a daily quote, and this is today's: "The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." - Joseph Heller.

In light of our Veep shooting his "acquaintance" in the chest and face...And Katrina...And Iraq...

Stepping out of the Dial-up Age

2006-02-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

Yeah! We finally are getting DSL in our area. It is really nice that I could download a new iTunes install, update my system software and surf all at the same time. Now Sara and I will be able to do some work from home and not have to stay late at the office all the time...More time with my sweetie...Good stuff.

Climbing like a girl

2006-02-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Sara and I competed in our second bouldering competition. I made the mistake of not playing the game, and just trying to get the highest amount of points. The problem with doing that is you climb more climbs and the more you climb the harder it gets. So I did have some fun pushing myself, but I ended up with a much lower score because I was too weak to complete all the climbs I needed.

Sara was spectacular as always. She wasn't even feeling her very best. She'd just spent the last week sick with a cold. Of course all the girls were kicking but on the problems. The best part for me was Sara telling me I climbed like a girl. It is really dificult to climb like a girl, and at the same time it is a complement to be told you can climb that gracefully.

Stupid is as stupid does.

2006-01-25T13:46:00.000-08:00

So this young woman, Tiffany Cooper, asks the President this question:

"Recently 12.7 billion dollars was cut from education. I was just wondering how is that supposed to help our futures?"

The President, clearly confused (go watch the video clip), stumbles and responds "At the federal level?" And then proceeds to simply lie about the cuts. Now, the lie -- "Actually, I think what we did was reform the student loan program. We are not cutting money out of it. " -- is bad, but the question I have is this -- Does any state have a 12.7 billion dollar budget for education? Seriously, what state has that kind of money to cut from their education program? Most School programs are so strapped that 1.27 million would be a huge cut.

Forest Gump got it right.

100.5

2006-01-23T15:56:00.000-08:00

It is the flu season. Last Wednesday I was at work and the day wasn't starting well. Fortunately it was one of those days we had a guest in the office. Basically, the day was going nowhere. I especially wasn't going anywhere. I apprently looked like I needed a nap. I left the office early and got home just fine. Ran the girls, and then lay myself out on the couch and took a nap.

Things seemed pretty good, until I had to drive to get Sara. I left the house and about half way there, my arms, chest, and face had gone numb. I should have stopped and called a friend of mine to go pick up Sara and drop her off at where I was parked on the side of the road. Instead, in my less than full capacity state, I drove on to meet Sara at the park and ride. I got there, and stumbled out of the car making my way over to the passanger seat. Sara was ready to take me to the ER. Yikes that was dumb. Turns out by the time we got home, I had a 100.5 degree tempurature.

I promptly crawled into bed, and slept for 14 hours. I spent the next two days laying around the house, and reading comic books. The sucky part of the flu is that you really have no energy even after you start feeling better. By Saturday all I wanted to do was sit and read comics or watch the boobtube.

Get your flu shots...

Say "no" to bad Judges...

2006-01-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Justice Alito ruled:

"saw no problem with a police officer shooting and killing an unarmed 15-year-old who was fleeing from a $10 burglary" (The Supreme Court disagreed 6-3.)

"sided with a hotel owner seeking dismissal without trial of a housekeeper's claims of illegal demotion and sexual discrimination." (He was out-voted 12-1.)

"rejected a 17-year-old's claims that his public defenders [in a capital punishment case] had failed to use mitigating evidence of mental retardation and traumatic upbringing" (The Supreme Court reversed him.)

"saw nothing wrong with a police strip search of a woman and her 10-year-old daughter thought there was no warrant naming them as targets of an investigation." (He was out-voted again.)

[From USA TODAY editorial, "If you cherish your rights, this nominee bears questioning," 12/26/2005]

Is this really the kind of individual you want making the rulings on the highest court?

Happy New Year!

2006-01-10T10:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it has taken a few weeks to recover from the holidays. We've been running around crazy trying to remember if we actually slept the night before or not. I keep saying (mostly to myself) that I will get a location and have a big gathering. Of course I've been very slow in organizing that operation. And Sara and I both competed in our first bouldering competition. It was pretty fun.

Lot going on -- hiking, climbing, working, cleaning. Sara is getting used to her hourly requirements, which makes for a long week. She has X number of billable hours required, and then on top of that she has meetings, training, etc that she has to work in during the week. That kind of stinks. At the same time she is a super star. As though you had any doubt.

Work? I guess it is going well for us both, although as with any job there is always adjustments that are required. Actually, now we have our goddog for a lengthy stay. Yes, we have a goddog. She's a cute golden labrador mix. She's settling in fine even though her parents are moving to the eastcoast. During that transition Winnie will be Hana's playmate. Fun, fun. I like having two dogs though. Hana seems much happier too.

Why is Santa so Jolly?

2005-12-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

Because he has a list and he knows where all the naughty girls live.

Sorry, it is one of the few jokes that I have heard and I can remember. So far the seasonal stress have been kept pretty low. I have been trying to do as much as possible to help Sara as she is gearing up for meeting the billing requirements. Starting next year it all counts and I can feel her stress already.

But the presents are in the mail, and this is the big weekend of running around. Hey, if you want to give the U.S. a present this holiday season you can sign this petition to censure and impeach President Bush. If you are a supporter of Bush -- I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

To Mom -- We miss you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.

To the Painter's, the Lingafelter's, and the Prince's -- Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.

To Dad -- Merry Xmas, we'll see you on the 24th.

To all our friends and family -- Thank you so much for helping us through the last three years. It has been a long road, and one that we've managed thanks to you all. Sara is proving to be an outstanding legal advocate, and I'm learning to cook -- when I can keep Sara out of the kitchen.

Happy Holidays.

Clearning the mind.

2005-12-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

I need to go climbing. My brain is full. I have been reading a book called "Don't think of an Elephant!" by George Lakoff and it has really helped me connect the dots. I have often wondered how so many people can support the corruption of the Republican party? I mean when a Democrat is corrupt few rally around that party representitive, but with Republicans they can have money laundering, election fraud, mob relations, and these people will have the support of their party to the bitter end.

Yeah, my brain is full. The deciet of the GOP party is almost too overwhelming. That must be why so many people continue to support them. If they actually thought about the party they follow they'd be shamed, embarrassed. I mean think about this -- the GOP says we need "tax relief" so they cut taxes, and they spend billions each week causing the government to be so straped that they have to cut social programs. Now some would say that is great, we should support the causes we believe in, but the reality is that these people secretly don't want to be responible for anyone but themselves. They don't want to be kind to their neighbors. Pretty soon, medicare will be gone, Social Security gone, how about unemployment?

I often wonder if my mom had kicked me out at 18 where would I be? If not for my mom's "social" program I'd probably gone from minimum wage job to minimum wage job. But she gave me room and board for three years of junior college, and then she paid my rent for five more years as I went to university. Yeah, I had to work for it, but we are talking eight years my family supported me to give me a chance at a better life. And without my mom's taxes paid to the government, I probably wouldn't have even gotten to the university.

Yeah -- clearly I need to go climbing.

This I believe

2005-12-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

There is this interesting "This I Believe" written by Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller. I really enjoyed the essay, as it has a few profound points (to me.) He writes, "I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," ..." I found that to be true, and sad. Especially since so many people who, despite truth and fact and faith, stick their heads in the sand and ignore the very foundations of morals, freedom, peace, etc.

Anyway, I liked the article. I like that someone can just accept that maybe what we know as truth can actually change. That truth has a perspective and we can impact that truth. In physics it was believed that Newton's laws were absolute. Then along comes Einstein and he sees the laws as guidelines and ends up appending the laws, changing the laws, providing new truths.

Being wrong is not really new to me as I have for years professed that I try to keep my opinions flexible and I am male. Who am I to say my opinion is better than yours? Of course, we should all do everything we can to support and understand our own opinions. Too often do we hear someone elses words and claim them as our own without doing the research. How hard is it to listening to the opposition and then either accept an verify the information, or disagree and disprove the information?

Okay, it is difficult. Some of the crap that comes out of the talking heads is so offensive, so hateful ... Yet, you have to spend the time or you wake up one day and you've lost sight of what is important in your own life. Whether that includes a faith in God or not.

This I believe...for now.

Any other day.

2005-11-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

The last month and a half have been long, and we are getting into a routine. We had one of our first weekends without a million things to do, and as usual one of us got sick. Sara, the dog, and the cats are pig piled on the couch with a nice warm blanket, and I sit typing while I download 33MB iTunes over my 44k modem. So that gives me lots of time to figure out something good to write about...I read a funny comic the other day. Okay, I'm won't tell you about the comic, but I did recently get over to a comic book store, and was in heaven. I don't really know why I like comics, but I find the reading and artwork to be where my imagination can be most inspired. T.V. just doesn't seem to do much for me. Most tele just irritates me, and has me wanting to open a book or comic to read instead. If I were a better writer I would try to create something interesting but I have enough trouble in my efforts to come up with dinner ideas.

I made my mom's Kung Pao Chicken last weekend. It turned out pretty good and instead of using chicken I used quorn as a substitute. It had been a number of years since I made that recipe and it turned out delicious. I have also gotten some other cooking done the last few weeks. I made a completely vegitarian lasagna which lasted half the week, and palenta with veggies for a quick dinner last week. I enjoy the cooking. I just need some more experience. And some additional recipes that I can cook when I don't have much time in the evenings.

Made my first holiday purchase for my nephews. I certainly hope they enjoy the gifts. These boys are really neat kids, very much a boat load of trouble, I hope they enjoy the gifts since I'm not the most reliable as an uncle. Now on to more seasonal depression. I need to write down my ideas more often. I keep thinking up things and then forgetting them...I need to find a way to have a better memory.

Your word is your bond

2005-11-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

Nothing new has really happened. Mostly we have shifted to a mode of "work, work, work." I had really hoped to organize a party for the family and friends so we can just celebrate seeing each other again after so much time has passed. It has been over three years since we have seen some of our friends, and those that we stay in touch with the most have fallen to about once a year at best. I guess I will have to work on something for the spring.

Last week I went and watched Sara be sworn-in to the Bar. It was a bit entertaining, especially the part about abstaining from offensive personalities. That part had many family members snickering. We followed up the ceremony with a quick breakfast and heading back to work. Woooo, so exciting. Actually, we did go and watch a bouldering competition in Redmond, and that was pretty cool. These kids are simply the most amazing.

Oh and today is my oldest nephew's eight birthday...Happy Birthday Justin.

Mmmm, Cheese!

2005-10-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

In return for helping David get a job with me, he gave me his secret recipe for lasagna sauce. Mmmmm. It was yummy. It was also a lot of work. I made it all vegetarian, and Sara even made it completely vegan. We've been having lots of pasta this week. David was a bit disturbed that we had put it in the crock pot and let it stew. However, since it was vegetarian it didn't need the same attention, but it was given plenty of attention. I mean it smelled so wonderful how could I not pay attention to it.

I made good lasagna.

I hate stupid people.

2005-10-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

We have these two initiatives. One is 330. It is an initiative that will limit individuals rights to sue. It would "require disputes concerning malpractice to be sumitted to arbitrate," and will limit the amount that a person could be entitled. So you go in for a heart transplant, you get a new kidney, and die because your heart explodes. Your family cannot sue, and you are limited to a max of 350K. Got love that, your life in Washington could be limited to 350 thousand dollars.

The best part of all this is the pro-330 group. They say "Our opponents' arguments are a collection of smokescreens, half-truths and misleading sound bites ..." However, if you read the opponents arguments against 330 you will see direct references to the 330 initiative. It points to all the bad things that this initiative does to keep the insurance companies rich. I personally always thought insurance was suppose to be there to protect us incase of a bad incidence.

The other initiative is 336. This initiative is written by lawyers and is aimed to punish bad doctors. Basically, it makes it so that doctors that commit several bad mistakes that have been found to be malpractice will not be allowed to be insured and licensed in this state. What does this do for us? Well, if bad doctors are not insured then the rates do not have to be raised to protect bad doctors. Is this a great solution? I don't know. The law is written better and protects the individuals as oppossed to the corporations.

Now the opponents have a chance to point to all the bad things in initiative 336, but what do they say? "Just when voters are being asked to enact meaningful reform to lower malpractice costs, greedy personal injury lawyers have responded with a cynical attempt to punish good doctors and make even more money from lawsuits." Of course not a single, not one, reference that would suggest this comment or any other is true or based in the real world is given. Of course who is supporting the anti-336 movement? None other than the pro-330's with there "meaningful reform."

Everyone blames the lawyers...until they need one.

I wonder what percentage of stupid people in Washington will vote for I-330.

Hip-Hip Hoorey!

2005-10-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

It is official. Sara, Esq. has successfully passed the Washington State Bar Exam. Yeah!

It has been a long three years. The stress, the sleepless nights, the testing. All done. She keeps saying "I can't believe I'm a lawyer." Of course, we all knew it was just a matter of hoops to jump through.

Now on to being a kept man. Wahoo! Not really. For now, I'm looking forward to a year of being DINK's and to saving and investing.

Help...help...help...she's watching "The Apprentice" I think my brain is going to ooze out.

Oh, that reminds me. So the word "faith" literally means to believe in something that cannot be proven to exist. So I saw this sign on a local church road sign. It read "God has faith in us." Basically, they are saying god believes in us, he just cannot prove that we exist. That just cracks me up.

I, Blog

2005-09-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

So many things going on. I found a bump on my personals. Turns out a bug crawled up my shorts and bit me on the hohos. Freaked me out at first, but fortunately nothing bad.

Sara is having her last weekend of vacation. Monday is the big day. It's sorta funny watching her fret about what to wear. I'm excited for her, but she seems more nervous about the cliks and other social pressures of working in a big swanky law firm.

I'm trying to figure out how to get a party organized so we have an excuse to visit our friends. Unfortunately, it may be too late in the season. I'll still try to find someplace indoors though.

I'm enjoying the climbing -- still. Though I hurt my wrist the last time I was out climbing. I heard something pop, and the wrist is a bit bruised. I guess I'm a bit of a mess too.

Besides the hurt wrist, I've had an eye stye that returned and is now gone. And now I'm having some sort of stomach flu type problems. Lots of gas. Sara doesn't believe it was the dog anymore.

I better take another tums.

A bump in the road.

2005-09-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

I need to get some sleep.

This week has been a very long. I'm suffering from active brain overload. If it were focused and clear I might be okay but I just have this buzz that runs constantly.

It will be interesting if I sleep tonight. Sara moved our bed into the guest room, since we are expecting a new bed -- super sized -- on Saturday. Bed shopping sucks, but Sara did all the work. All I had to do was lay on the beds and try them out for a bit.

Of course, I'm not going to be here on Saturday when the bed comes. I'll be out car camping and bouldering with some friends. Its exciting to go climbing with the boys. I have to say it will be interesting. Sara has been hanging out with the girls alot lately and while she is excelling in her climbs, I'm looking pretty lame up on the wall. So some guy time and testosterone will be good for me. Hopefully I'll have some good moments I can share with Sara.

Sara, even though she initially encouraged me to go climbing, now is trying to get me to back out. I would back out but sometimes you just need some playground time, and I don't know when the next time I'll get an opportunity where I can take a weekend and play.

Hopefully some outdoor time will help clear my head.

You should call your mother.

2005-09-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

I called my mom for the first time since she moved to Denver. Actually, she called first, but I had been saying to Sara for several days that I needed to call. It always seems that I would remember when it was late and so would say to myself that I'd call "tomorrow."

It is weird to call my mom now. I have always had my mom close so our phone calls were usually short, knowing that we'd be doing dinner or lunch. Now, I guess, it will be chit-chat and smalltalk. Its not like much has changed for Sara and I. We mostly go through our daily rig-a-ma-roll -- let hana outside, feed her, start my shower, give hana a full body pat, send her back to bed with Sara, shower, dress, shave, brush teeth, put dishes away, turn on news, eat a bite, wake sara, goto work, come home from work...

It was nice having my mom close. At least when I missed her I could just stop by, or call and set up a night for dinner.

Today we took a friend to the gym with us, and we had a nice visit. I was pretty tired from the day before (Sara and I did a hard work out and my legs are sore from it.) Sara has joined a ladies climbing class on Sunday evenings and she teaches me from those experiences. Some of it seems really simple but when you do it for several hours on end it is real hard and takes lots of concentration.

Yeah, to me that is just what we've been doing. Seem pretty uninteresting to share with others. Oh well.

Trust the "process"

2005-09-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Clueless. You have got to be stupid, or of such diminished mental capacity to be supporting Bush. The man should be impeached. He's lied about the reason for invading Iraq, he's supported people in his cabinet who have commited treason, he has given the rich tax cuts, he cut spending for homeland security, and now left people to die of exposure after this hurricane and flooding. And he says to trust the process, like he says whenever the truth proves he lied.

Bush is a disgrace. He shames every person in this country. Has he ever told the truth?

And don't get me going on Hannity. Every time I listen to him he is either saying something stupid, or supporting the opinion of someone stupid. The latest is that the federal government should not provide "one dime" of assistance to the hurricane/flood victims in the south. I guess I'll take being a radical left-wing liberal who thinks that we should be helping, instead of a "compasionate" conservative who thinks its okay for people to die in the streets because they are poor and black. Such hate. It amazes me that he is a voice for anyone in this country.

I wish people would impeach, boycott, whatever it takes to remove these hateful, shameful voices. They -- the Pat Robertsons, Sean Hannitys, and George W. Bushs -- all disgrace this country.