All quiet on the David front

I've been quiet this last week because I've been busy. -grin-

My partner in crime and fellow service tech, Jason Wolford, had his last day on Friday of last week. He's going to Seattle, or someplace known as "not here." I know that his girl, Lucy, scored a great gig in Seattle. A dream job even. That does not mean that he gets to pull up stakes and follow her (does it?). Especially when we were just getting on a heavy roll here at Macforce. I mean we were really running strong. But he gave all that up. -sigh-

This week has been busy at work. My boss Sean has been helping out and carrying a lot of the load with me. And, I might add, in addition to his regular set of job duties (if I were feeling charitable). -grin- But I've still had to keep my head down and march double time to keep up.

And then I was gone all last weekend with no internet access. Yay! Of course that limited my ability to post news and happenings.

And then there've been household chores to do (I had to pay for the weekend off from chores somehow!).

And I'm going through a friend's sonnets and editing them for him. Maybe he'll do me the honor of letting me post his work here for perusal. Bobby did a good job crafting them and I'd like it if he showed them off a little bit.

So that's that. More soon.

Update

I thinned out the photos from last weekend. I tried to reduce the number of pics so that the non-climbers wouldn't get bored, but I tried to leave enough images to give a sense of flow between shots.

Tell me if I missed the mark. And enjoy the pictures.

Outstanding weekend

I spent the weekend camping and rock climbing with my friends Jon, Nate and Sue out at Smith Rock State Park. I did some sport (or bolted) climbing for the first time ever this weekend. And I spent some time on some slightly harder routes than I have tried climbing before. As usual, the rock humbled me on more than one occasion, but the effort paid off many times over. I've posted pictures, though only a few are of me *and* I went a little crazy on the flip-book style sequence for some of the pictures.

Yay! Activist Judges!

Turns out that another Judge has denied the Bush Administration its preference in handling important national matters. This time a judge reinstated Clinton era roadless rules for National Forest areas. Hopefully this judgement will stand and keep our national treasures from being logged and mined into oblivion.

How is this still ok?

Virginia Senator Allen (of the "Macaca" comment fame) has said some dismaying things in the last few days, as per article all over the blogoshpere. But this link to kos's posting of the the Council for Concerned Conservatives (or KKK's) list of principles really scares me.

I really don't know how it is okay for one of our congressmen to seek out a picture with the leaders of a group who adhere to backwards sentiments like this:

"We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races [...]"

Once again, I hope Allen fries. I hope he and all his ilk fry.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

This chart over at Daily Kos poses an interesting question; are our "allies" really our allies? Or are they like the enabling spouse of an alcoholic bully, constantly telling us how we really are a good person. That they still love us even if we drank too much and acted the ass last night. That the foreigner down the street provoked us and deserved what he got.

I'm gonna stop that analogy before it gets *too* creepy.


cheers!

Hidden away

Nate and Sue took me out climbing Sunday (yesterday) to a little crag hidden away and not yet well known in the portland area. (Don't ask me for directions - they swore me to secrecy.)

Nate and Sue, their friends Aaron and Bill, and I all tromped down to this set of rocks that looks just marvelous. I only climbed three routes the whole day. The first route was apparently rated a 5.10b - and I only climb 5.9 right now. But Sue was very patient with me; she belayed me, yelled encouragement and provided great advice. I reached the anchors after what seemed like an eternity, but I *did* reach them.

I don't remember what the second route ranks, but I did get about two thirds of the way up before a slightly overhung arete stymied me. I threw myself at that section 18 times and just could not get past the bulge. I've replayed it in my head a lot in the last day and I look forward to trying that section again.

My last route of the day weighed in at a 5.4. It certainly felt a lot scarier than 5.4 and the top of the route had a strangely set up top out arrangement. Once at the top of the route, the climber needs to place an anchor in a crack system. Then the climber moves up a short and easy overhang onto a "plank" of stone. The climber then needs to edge left past a large pine tree and then has a nice large ledge with two bolted anchors in the wall. So Nate went up first, set the protection and got to the anchors.

He then belayed me from the top of the route. I apparently forgot everything I know about climbing gracefully on the way up. I never came close to falling or losing my grip, but I certainly did not climb with grace or precision. Then we rappelled down to the base and packed up and tromped on back out to the car.

I spent a lot of time taking pictures of everyone else climbing. I forgot to hand off the camera to someone else when my turn to climb rolled around. Thus, no pictures of me climbing. Next time.

I'm heading to Smith Rock this coming weekend to do some climbing, so I'll try to get some good shots of the landscape and of me climbing. I promise. To try.

cheers!

Fun little toy

Here's a fun little web toy that my boss forwarded to all of us: Mr Picassohead

It's great working for a company that really loves even the frivolous applications of technology.

I shoulda watched this one first

Unbelievable. Truly. Literally. I don't believe a single word Bush says in this clip.

But it's soooooo depressing because there are many Americans who think that he is talking sense and doing the right thing.

I really, really should've watched the Olbermann piece after this one.

Truer words never....

This scathing editorial by Keith Olbermann puts in consice and riveting terms every important indictment of the moral and ideological bankruptcy of the Bush Administration in its misuse of 9/11. Mr Olbermann is shaping up to be one of the most important shining stars of the editorial apparatus of the so-called Main Stream Media.

Watch the video.

Pass it on

To every one you know.

Jon Stewart Quote of the Day

Say what you will about his speech, his presidency is now 15 minutes shorter.
-Stewart commenting on Bush's brief speech to the public on Monday night

Five years ago today

Five years ago today was the first day that my lovely wife and I said those three words "I love you" to each other. We were on the phone at mid-morning; she was in Los Angeles and I was in Cupertino (near San Francisco). And as we said good-bye "I love you" slipped out on my end, followed by the same words on hers. The words surprised both of us (we had only been dating for 3 months at the time). Dev had to go but said we'd talk about it later.

She was right, five years later we still talk about it.
-grin-
Happy anniversary, baby.

Home improvement Sunday

Our Sunday did not prove as interesting as our Saturday, but we did get a lot done. Dev ran lots of chores. And I discovered why people will spend $2000 on new cabinets and installation instead of refinishing their old ones. The math is simple: paint is *much* harder to remove from a surface than to add to a surface.

That's right! I got to strip the paint from a couple of kitchen cabinet doors today. Five decades of paint takes more than a few minutes and a la-de-da to strip off. I used some paint stripper, a power sander, a jackhammer and a "bunker buster" cluster bomb. I think the jackhammer *actually* managed to knock the paint off, but I was so tired of the whole process by that point that I threw the bomb in out of sheer frustration.

Hope you all had a good weekend too!

She rocks

Here is photographic evidence of Devon topping out on her first ever rock climb. She did great. She got to the top once and then repeated the feat a few minutes later.

We went back out to Bulo Point this weekend and took Nate and Sue with us. They provided the gear and expertise and we provided the transportation. We actually got some pictures at the crag this time, though most of the actual action and climbing shots feature Nate and Sue. That works better anyway, because they climb with a great deal more grace than Dev and I. -grin-

Enjoy the pictures!

Better fire?

"Apple has issued a recall on several models of Mac laptops because the battery can overheat and catch fire. Experts say a Mac fire is just like a PC fire, except it's more hip and condescending."
---Conan O'Brien

ABC's ongoing rightwing lovefest

And yet more on the unfolding drama concerning ABC's 9/11 mockumentary.

Why tell the truth when legend is so much easier

Apparently ABC will air a docudrama on 9/11 that portrays the destruction of the twin towers as President Clinton's fault. This must be like that story that the Clintons and their staff ransacked the White House when they left office. Except to combat this falsehood there's a high profile analyst in Roger Cressy who points out that Clinton never had a clear shot at Osama.

-sigh-

She said it!

Came across an good diary on DailyKos the other day about Libertarianism. I'd been uncomfortable with Libertarianism for a while even though many of the end points of their agenda seem to mesh with a progressive agenda. She kinda sums up why the ideology of legislation matters. A good think piece, for me anyway.

No climbing pics yet

I still don't have photos from this weekend so I'll just have to post two new pictures of Bojangles.

Bulo Point Climbing

Dev and I just got home from an overnight camping trip to the Mt Hood National Forest. We camped at Eightmile Crossing Campground with a few friends and fellow rock climbers (Tom and Nat and Tasha and Tracy and Christy) and all of the dogs. And while we camped at Eightmile Crossing, we drove a few miles away into the forest to the little rocky crag of Bulo Point.

For such a smallish area, Bulo Point has a nice variety of climb styles and difficulties. The beginners like Tasha and I had a number of easy and moderate routes to try. And the more advanced climbers (everyone else listed above) could choose from a nice variety of styles and difficulties.

We spent yesterday climbing the upper portion of the crag. Today we spent more time in the lower portion of climbing area. Tom and Tracy got to run up a few routes in "traditional" style (placing their own anchors as opposed to using bolts pre-drilled into the rocks). And we all stopped other activities and watched Nat make a dramatic run up a difficult (5.10) route. And he did not disappoint. He had a few moments of drama at the very top and pulled through it and we all cheered him on.

I'm wiped out, so I'm not going to write a lot more. But have a great Labor Day. Dev and I will talk to you soon.

Oh, and I'll post pictures as soon as I get them from our campmates - we forgot our camera. -sigh-

He only needs sixty seconds

The really sad part about this article at The Onion (America's Finest News Source) is that I can really see Bushie-boy saying those things.

My favorite quote:
"I just—Christ, I just need a goddamn minute, you know?"

A little bit of Friday fun before a long weekend away from the computer.