Kill me now (last night)

Couldn't make it to the gym, and had to dash home to let the dogs out after work. So I did a workout at home. Simple workout:

100 Burpees

Took me 14 minutes. Gah.

Ready to go

All our backpacks ready for the trip down Siouxon Trail.

Backpacking Siouxon Creek Pics

My pictures from Saturday and Sunday are here.

Nat posted his pictures here.

I'll put together a trip report in a little bit.

The Hunchback Mountain saga, chapter 1

The first time I tried climbing to the top of Hunchback Mountain was on my wedding day almost 3 years ago. I wanted to do a hike in the morning. Hunchback sits close to Welches, right off highway 26 at the Zig Zag ranger station. (This is less than a mile from the Resort at the Mountain where Dev and I got married.) The guidebook characterized Hunchback Mountain as moderate to the first viewpoint. So that morning, I round up my two brothers and my two groomsmen and drive to the trailhead. I took a liter of water and one clif bar. I dunno what the other guys carried. Not much. We toiled up the switchbacks in 90 something degree heat. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that Portland hit 105 degrees that day. Welches hit 95 degrees that day. So we get near the top of the ridge. All five of us are dying; wilting in the heat. We turn around and start down the trail. I get slower as we get closer to the bottom. The incline is killing my knees. My legs get a little shaky. I have to rest a lot. We make it back to the car. Sweaty but alive. And then drive back to Welches to get ready for the wedding.
I shower and shave. I get dressed. I walk across the property to get to the spot for the wedding pictures. And then I get a splitting headache. And then some nausea piles on. I grit my teeth and smile and get through the pictures. Dev can tell that something's wrong. Finally the photographer finishes. We make a beeline for the resort bar. I sit in the air conditioning and drink a coke. And just sit for a few minutes.
Ten minutes before I was due at the end of the aisle I felt right as rain. Heat exhaustion didn't kill me, and neither did Dev.

Round 1 goes to Hunchback Mountain.

Busted knuckes are the price of glory

Nate and Sue and Keith and I went climbing on Sunday. The picture above shows what my hands looked like after a few rounds of crack climbing in Oregon basalt. I had so much fun; I finally started to get the how of jamming. Nate and Sue put up several routes each without seeming to struggle. Keith and I had a harder time of it. We climbed until just shy of 3 'clock. Then the sun got pretty intense. We scrambled across the giant basalt blocks that form the base of the crag and then slipped, skidded and slalomed our way down the steep and not very well graded trail.

Here are some pictures.

Hunchback Mountain round 4

I got shut down on Hunchback Mountain today.
Again.
I got farther than ever before. I made it to Rimrock Viewpoint in an hour. Pretty zippy. Kinda. I was soaked by the time I got up there. I continued on but kept losing the trail. Lucky for me, there is only one ridge for Hunchback. If I went too far left or too far right, then I would get corrected by the significant altitude loss. So I wandered back and forth a little bit. Kept to the top of the ridge, as near as I could tell. Walked on the snow when I had to. Walked on dead plant matter when I could. Stepping over dead trees. Tripping on downed branches. Skipping through semi-overgrown tread paths. The day was good. I'll post the full previous story soon. Here's some pics from today.

Last weekend pictures

Pics from my visit to the Evergreen Aviation Museum last weekend are up here.

Research paper

I started checking out some of the details for my hopeful ascent of Mt Rainier this summer. The National Park Service has some really great information on their website. I downloaded a slew of PDF files. I need to hike up to Camp Muir at 10,000 feet to get a preview of the lay of the land. I thought it might be this weekend, but with the warming temperatures and the high potential avalanche danger, I decided that I need to postpone the scouting trip. In researching the trail to Camp Muir and the roads and such I found out just how much information the National Park System posts to their respective sites. I found a file that has just the compass bearings and landmarks from Paradise to Camp Muir so that a hiker can get down safely in the case of whiteout conditions. I found an elevation profile chart of the Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates the 93 miles around the base of Rainier. I found several iterations of trail and climbing maps with mileages and elevations. Just a great level of detail. Awesome.

No Climb for Me

Nat, Steve and I are bailing on a climb of Mt Hood that we were starting tonight. The weather looks bad through tomorrow; cloudy and cruddy. Rain and snow through Wednesday morning. Then the sky clears up tomorrow, but the mercury goes high. The Northwest Avalanche Center has projected avalanche danger above 7000 feet (Mt Hood's summit sits at 11,2237 feet) from Thursday through the end of the weekend. And maybe longer. Potential big wet spring snow slides. Avalanches that can loose the entire winter's snowpack in one go.

So it looks like we are going to stay home for the next few days instead of burning a vacation day for no summit and no fun.

Big Airplane

Dev, Randy, Candy and I went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum yesterday. Lots of airplanes and replicas. And I had really mixed feelings.

On the one hand, the fighter planes from World War II and all the historic planes and replicas of planes in the museum are undisputedly cool. They just appeal to some part of the male psyche I guess. And most of the WW II planes are actual decommissioned aircraft from that war. The docent who hangs out near the B17 Flying Fortress flew 30 missions in WW II. Then he got called back up for service in Korea. He's pretty close to the last of those pilots. Entered the service when he was 17. Gave some of his best years to fight a huge threat to the world; an admirable life path.

On the flip side, the museum is pretty much a shrine of adoration to the hyper-masculine "Warrior Male" ideal. It celebrates the service of a soldier as the highest ideal of citizenship. I can appreciate this to some extent. The world needs warriors to protect the weak from the brigand; I'm certainly not naive enough to believe otherwise. The wise sage and the selfless aid worker are equally laudable and admirable ideals, like The Peace Corp. Or Doctors Without Borders. The closest thing to civilian service mentioned by the museum was the revolution in US Mail delivery by air. I'd just like a little less complete Rah Rah with my history, I guess.

That said, Evergreen does have a great deal of history in a very small space. It's a worthwhile afternoon of wandering, wondering and drooling.

Oh, and the Spruce Goose is friggin' huge. I expected big, but this thing is gargantuan!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. And to Dev's mom. And to Lori. And
Kelly. And Jenna. And to all the other moms that I know!

In-laws in Town

Dev's mom, Candy, and Randy came into town as part of their vacation
they got here Friday afternoon. Dec and Candy walked in the doggie
dash yesterday morning while Randy and I chatted about submarines and
mountains and DB Cooper. When the ladies returned from their canine
pilgrimage, Candy said "Oh my gosh, I've never seen so many dogs! Dogs
in their own outfits and owners dressed up like their dogs!"
We got home from that and prepared for dinner by taking a long nap.
Pizza from Ken's Artisan Pizza followed the bliss of naps and preceded
the ambrosia of dessert from Pix. Then, cards for few hours.

New boots

I have feet and fit issues. I've been through most of REI's boots selection and failed to find a boot that works for me. Dev refuses to go shoe shopping with me any more. Salespeople at REI know me on a first name basis and quail when I walk in to the shoe department. Until the boots in this picture. I spent 15 hours on my feet in these boots last Sunday.

On my first day wearing them.

No blisters. No bruises. A few sore spots. Somehow I think that after 15 hours in ANY pair of footwear, I'd have some sore spots.

Lost in the Woods

Funny thing about GPS units, they tell you where you are, but not where you want to go....

I signed up for a 16 mile hike on Sunday with a guy whom I've done some longer and faster hikes this winter. Jeff is great; he knows navigation, he's very fit and he pays attention to the condition of the party. So I gather Nat and Dan for this hike (as conditioning for some of the climbs we want to do this summer). We meet in Portland and head of with Jeff and a few others. Laura works with Washington Search and Rescue and hike with Jeff a lot. Shortish and a really strong hiker, I like going on trips with her. Virginia and Shannon (a guy) are on the hike too. I've never met them but Jeff knows them and figures they're strong enough for the day ahead. And Tom is with us too; he's a great guy. He got me involved in leading hikes for the Mazamas.

We get to the trailhead and set up a car shuttle (the hike ends at a different trailhead than the start.) And we're off. We cruise up Defiance in just over four hours on the Starvation Ridge trail. About two hours in on the way up we put on our snowshoes and truck on in snowshoes until late in the afternoon. Most of our route Sunday is still snowbound. We had fantastic weather at the top of Defiance. I could see the Hood River valley and Mt Hood wreathed in some low clouds with the top poking through. Crystal clear sky over us. We met a couple of other Mazamas on top; chatted with them a while and ate lunch.

Jeff led us down a southeast ridge from the summit so we could work over to Green Point Mountain. We dipped down into the valley area between the mountains and wound our way past a few snow covered lakes. We started up a rise and decided we need to lose the snowshoes for a bit. The slope angle was about 35 degrees and a little steep for snowshoes. We took turned kicking steps up the slope and gained the ridge top and followed the ridge to the second summit of the day. We still had great weather and incredible views. The cookies I brought as a group snack were a big hit. I felt good. The weather was nice.

We started down off the summit and back the way we came for a little bit. We hit a trail junction (visible only as a large clearing in the trees) and headed off on a general heading on the plateau. We tromped along like this for another hour or so. The according to the maps and the GPS, it was time for us to descend a few hundred feet to gain the trail for the way out. We descend and hit a snowfield. No trail. Jeff seems puzzled. He consults with 2 gps units. He checks his maps. We start traversing across the ridge to intersect the trail. And we traverse. And we traverse. And light starts failing.

We hit the top of the ridge that has the trail we want. The trail is not in sight. We know it's to our west and below us. Somewhere. But the sunset just started and we're 3,000 feet above the trailhead. We move to the bottom of a snow covered rock field to lose 300 or 400 vertical feet fast while we have light and an open space. Jeff gathers us together. We make the decision to move into the trees in the dark and go downhill as much as possible without cliffing out somewhere. We take a quick group inventory; everyone has spare clothes, a space blanket, some sort of pad, extra food, a headlamp. Almost everyone in the group has cell phones. We make calls to wives and boyfriends and explain that we aren't lost, exactly, but that we will be delayed coming home. I call Dev and tell her the situation. First thing she says is "Oh God" quickly followed by "They're all Mazamas on the hike, right?" I know she'll be fine as soon as she says that.

We all pop on our headlamps and jump into the woods. We descend carefully in the darkening wood. Jeff moves pretty fast; he's good at this bushwacking thing. Over the next 2-3 hours we go down steadily except for one 60 or 100 foot drop. The slope gets steep and the dirt just slides when we put our feet in it. The vegetation doesn't work as an anchor or a handhold. So we move down this stretch carefully and slowly and one at a time. It feels like an hour goes by while the eight of us move down the slope. Some of us slide a little; some just sit down and slide a bit on their bums. We all make it safely down and regroup again. Jeff leads off one more time and within a very short time we find the trail. We're still about 1800 feet from the trailhead, but it's only 11:20 pm and I feel strong. We regroup again and then speed stumble our way down to the trailhead. Shannon, Virginia, Laura and Dan drive off to the Starvation creek trailhead to get the cars for the ride back to Portland. Tom, Nat, Jeff and I hang out for a short eternity at the Wyeth Campground trailhead. I pull my feet out of my boots for an almost orgasmic sense of relief. We bundle up during the wait since cold air from a creek blows through the parking lot. I doze a couple of times very shortly. I don't even know how long it takes for the cars to get back to us.

And just like that, my first adventure in being lost is done. Twenty one miles and 6600 vertical feet. Three GPS units and 5 maps. And a new pair of boots. Eight backpacks got home safely that morning.

Pictures from my mini-climb up Indian Point last week.

Just finished reading Annapurna today.

Wow.

Climbing outside tonight after work. Nice weather. Hopefully dry rock. Playing with my rock gear. Big smile.

These guys are my newest heroes. They took two years and backpacked from the equator to Tierra del Fuego *in the mountains* along foot and horse trails used by the local farmers and inhabitants. Incredible. I want to be them when I grow up!

Good lord, I haven't posted in a while. Lots of new things happening here in Portland:

-My cousin Jenna and her family are moving to Portland/Vancouver later this year.

-The Mazamas BCEP program just wrapped up, so I can get bak to my regular climbing, hiking, etc. I met some really good folks in BCEP this year and hope to see them on a climb later this summer.

-Last weekend was the last hike with the BCEP class. It included a mini climb out on Indian Point. I'll post pictures later, but I want to say that the view and the drop-off (or exposure) on Indian Point is phenomenal!

-Bojangles got into a dogfight with another dog last night at the dog park. He's fine; he lost a dew claw and he's looking for revenge, but he's fine.

-I returned my upteenth pair of boots to REI last night. The quest for the perfect pair (for me) continues. Last weekend drove home the point about using the right footwear for the activity. More on that later. For now, I'm switching up to backpacking boots and hope to have less painful hikes for the rest of the summer.

-Devon is about to get Crossfit Instructor certified. She (and I) are very excited that a workout program has turned into a fun and rewarding activity that involves more than just exercise.

Watched The Mist last night. Enjoyed it a lot. Most Stephen King adaptations lose the creepiness or the suspense. This movie retained both. If you don't like horror flicks or creepy-crawlies, stay away.

Long day yesterday. Dev joined me and my Mazamas BCEP class (or more properly, the class which I'm assisting) for our 14 mile hike to Larch Mountain. I haven't done that mileage on a hike in a year, and it was Dev's first time for such a long hike. And she came out better than me (for one thing, her boots worked better than mine!) I'm not in the picture because I had to help one of the students back down when his knee went funny on him. Dev is hiding in the middle front row of the picture in the pink baseball cap and pink jacket. Even with 4 miles of snow cover the hike had a great pace and incredible weather. A good day!

Sometimes the adventure is in the backyard...

I started riding home in the sunlight, and the first day I've been on my bike without a jacket or long sleeves in months. People were out everywhere. Lingering. Spontaneous parties grew in front of cafes and bookstores. I saw at least fifty bikes at a corner bar at Williams and Skidmore. A crowd milled about in front of "In Other Words." A girl bent to grab the frisbee from the flower planter while her bearded boyfriend watched from across the yard. An older woman inclined her head in response to my greeting while finishing a drag from her cigarette as she strolled down the sidewalk. I saw families set up with lawn chairs at the old rose garden on Ainsworth. Suddenly I'm riding in the day's last gleam. I don't take off my sunglasses; I greedily take every drop of gold coming from the west. The warm air sleeves my arms. It's the first day of spring.

Nice review of anew Intellectual Design propoganda film starring Ben Stein: Expelled

And another here.

Favorite quote from first review:

You certainly won't hear anyone question why Expelled and the rest of the ID crowd pick on evolutionary biology for its materialism when every other field of modern science is equally so. Albert Einstein failed to devise a unified field theory despite decades of work, and hordes of physicists since have done no better -- why doesn't someone slap an ID explanation on that so we can call it a day?

Such a good birthday weekend. Dev and I took Friday off from work. Dev and Sue and I went to Smith Rock in central Oregon for some rock climbing. Sue led up lots of pitches so that Dev and I could climb. Dev hopped on some 5.7 routes and did extraordinarily well for her fifth ever climbing trip. The weather didn't cooperate with our plans very well; an hour after we to to the crag, rain and snow pelt down or about 20 minutes. We looked out west towards the Phoenix wall and saw snow and rain being blown into our side of the crag by a huge wind. The precipitation stopped, but the wind stayed around. The rain and snow hadn't lasted long enough to soak any gear or make the rock unsafe. So we kept climbing and had a great time, if a slightly chilly one.
While climbing the Peanut we met a climber named Harrison out of the Bay Area in California who was in Smith Rock for his "annual pilgrimage." We chatted and climbed. He raced up the 5.10a to my right on lead while I climbed a 5.9 on top rope. After several minutes of chatting and another move a little further down the wall, we lit out from the park to find sleeping quarters. Given the 26 degree temps projected for the night, we opted for a cheap motel in Redmond. $60 for 3 people and 2 dogs. Not a bad deal especially since the hotel was well maintained and reasonably clean.
The next morning saw us at the crag by 8 am. We hot-footed it out of the parking lot. Many groups of climbers were prepping their packs and organizing their gear in the parking lot. Since we had pre-packed out bags at the hotel room, we could jump the line and get down to the crag. We got on some popular routes pretty early on. Sue led up Cinnamon Slab and set the rope. Then we made Dev climb second. She raced up the 5.6 route with very little difficulty. We moved over to the Bunny Face area and started playing on the routes. A few minutes later Harrison and his crew showed up. We had a great time chatting with him and his friends and climbing. The weather stayed nice and we climbed to about 3 pm before we headed home. The last route (More Sandy than Kevin) stymied Sue for a while at the fourth bolt. We got a hand from climbers on a neighboring route to move the quickdraw from bolt 3 to bolt 4. Sue flashed up the route to finish it and the said I had to climb it and clean it.

5.10d/5.11a

Yikes.

I hung on the rope about 5 times while climbing the route. Shredded my fingertips. Climbed harder than I have ever climbed. And I managed to top out.

So

Awesome

After that monster route, we lit out for home. Got back to Portland about 7 and prepared for the next day; which I will talk about in my next post.

See the fancy wrapping job Dev did for my birthday present. Pretty cool.

The day before a long weekend. Hmm. Anticipation. I go to Smith Rock to climb for two days in celebration of my birthday.

At the airport and checking the day's news with free wifi on my ipod
touch. Dev and I are on our way to meet my new niece Teagin and to see
my longtime friend Chris Niemietz lose his bachelor-hood, I mean, get
married to lovely young lady in San Antonio, Texas. Should be a good
week.

This article tells the truth: the customer is not always right.
A decade I have been doing customer service. A decade has taught me that the points of this article are as close to gospel truth as you can get in secular life.

Rivercity Bicycles proves again how great they are. I popped in during lunch because I lost one of the bolts that secures my bike rack and rear fender stay to the frame. Sometime in the last month or two the demons of bike commuting claimed tribute and left me shy this mounting bolt. So I stroll into the shop during my lunch break and ask if they have a replacement on hand. The mechanic digs out the bolt, installs it, checks the other one and then refuses payment of any sort.

There's the reason I like the joint. They don't know me - I certainly don't come in often enough to be a "regular" or "big spender." Every time I go in for a small service issue, they just take care of it.

And I saw one of the managers or assistant managers walking around with an iPhone. That was pretty cool.

Lots of excitement on Geneva Ave tonight. I had just finished a short
climbing skills practice session with a couple of friends and had
settled onto the couch to read up on Mt Shasta and watch a rerun of
"Two and a Half Men." In the corner of my eye I saw a police car pass
by the front window and slow to a stop. The it reversed briefly and
started flashing its lights. "Odd," I thought. "I didn't see a car zip
by really fast." So I get off the couch to see what's up.
There's a silver two door Caddy sitting right at the corner of our
lot and the officer from the police cruiser is approaching the car. He
has the driver get out of the car. A second police cruiser has parked
behind the first on our block. The driver gets out of the Caddy and
just gets clear of the door and then the dumbass decides to run. He
makes three steps before he trips on his own feet and then the two
officers tackle him. They wrestle for a couple of minutes and I
started to think that maybe the officers were getting a little rough;
as in violating civil rights rough. When the officers picked up the
driver and hauled him back to one of the police cars, then I see the
knife laying in the street. And it was a dagger-sized knife: six
inches of blade and a big cross guard.
By the time that the first occupant of the car had been detained
there were three more police cars on the street. The new officers
pulled the remaining two occupants of the Cadillac out of the car. The
officers checked the second guy for weapons extensively. He wore a big
baggy flannel and super baggy cargo pants. The police seemed very
intent on removing his belt; I couldn't see if it was one of the
belts with a knife blade built into the buckle.
The third occupant of the car, the only girl, sat on the curb in front
of the neighbor's house. She smoked and answered questions for the
cops. The police treated her much less roughly than the two guys.
Dev got home for the tail end of the festivities. The cops sped away
and a tow truck dragged off the Caddy. Plastic evidence bags held the
stashed drugs of the car's occupants. And we hit a quiet evening back.
I still wonder though why the driver ran. As soon as you take off the
cops know something is up. They know to look a lot more closely. They
know you ran for a reason.

The plan originally involved a weekend at Smith Rock. Weather.com
projected a low of 21 degrees and a 70% chance of rain. NOAA had a
slightly more optimistic take with only a 30% chance of precipitation
and a low of 22. On top of that, the Mt Hood area was peojected to see
3 feet of snow by this morning (saturday) and that means a drive out
to eastern Oregon would involve chains and extra drive time.
So we scrapped the plan.
John and Jess and I drove out to the mountain today and rode the
snowboards in the fresh powder. I rode intermediate slopes all day
long. I got buried in powder a couple of times. Jess got bogged down a
couple of times. And even John managed to sink himself in drifts up to
his chest a couple times. We all rode well and we all survived without
injury, even though I buried my tip a couple of times and did some
impromptu cartwheels.
Links to pictures coming soon.
Oh, and powder days rock even if the sky pelts you with snow all day
long.

Greg Palast has a great take on the Elliot Spitzer mess. Not quite a conspiracy theory, but certainly food for thought. The timeline goes something like:
Spitzer worked against the sub-prime mortgage criminals like Countrywide and Bank of America.
Spitzer's bank accounts get watched (by the banks of the Feds - doesn't really matter)
Spitzer gets caught paying a hooker.
Spitzer gets outed by the Feds, unlike other Republican-friendly public figures (think Senator David Vitter paying for "diaper service")
Spitzer resigns, as he should. But the subprime debacle loses one it's leading champions.

Makes my blood boil.

Spring is coming. Crazy as it seems.

I went snowboarding up at Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood with John and his friend Caitlin on Saturday. I rode down almost all intermediate runs. I didn't fall that much, and never very hard. We went up the Magic Mile chairlift and it was my first time skiing that high on the mountain. Above treeline. I could see Mt Jefferson and Broken Top way to the south. I could see the clouds wrapping Portland in their gray grip. I had a blast cruising down the wide open upper slopes; no trees, nice slope angle, lots of room to avoid the other skiers. Just a great time. I'll try to link pictures when John gets them posted.

And yesterday I led a hike up Hunchback mountain out of Zig Zag Ranger station. I had a nice crew of Mazamas with me. Almost all the snow from 2 weeks ago had melted off. What snow remained made some of the hiking feel more like an actual climb. We topped out at Rimrock viewpoint after about an hour and a half. We turned around mainly because the snow seemed like it might get really sloppy for the cruise down and I wanted to make sure we all got back comfortably. I want to make it to the Great Pyramid. Maybe later this spring.

The weather yesterday made me think that Spring has sprung. Cool and cloudy but dry with the skies opening to the sun as the day got late. Nice day to be outside. Nice day to ramble.

Back to the climbing gym for me tonight. I really enjoy going to
Crossfit but I need to build my climbing chops for the upcoming
season. Since I need to get in for two or three night a week that
means I have to let go of something else (both to maintain marital
harmony and to avoid overtraining). So a monthly membership at the
climbing gym it is and hopefully I'll get some great technical alpine
climbs this spring and summer.

Alive and well on Monday after a great day snowboarding on Saturday.
The snow kept falling and no one came to Ski Bowl so lift lines didn't
exist. Front of the line every time. Then I had great weather
yesterday for my Dog Mountain hike lead for the Mazamas out in the
Columbia River Gorge. Sunny and cool. Good group of hike attendees.
Then I spent the evening watching two episodes of Rome with Dev. A
relaxing and fun weekend.

I climbed Mt Hood yesterday.
Pictures here.
Trip Report follows.
---

7:00 am Summit Ridge
I arrived at the top of the Old Chute to find a hand-width ridge of wind swept snow at the terminus of the chute. My calves had stopped at the bottom of the chute in protest. They sat down with a good view of the hot rocks and told me not so politely that they might not be there when I got back down to them. But then I'm jumping ahead.

12:55 am Timberline Lodge
Steve and Nat and I loaded up and started on our way. We got to Timberline Lodge at about 10 pm Monday night. Nat and I had been watching the weather stay mostly stable for the week before. The forecast looked clear and stable through Tuesday evening. We each asked for a day off from work and got it (I know, not so hard core to use a day of actual vacation time for a last minute climb). Steve (our third) worked as a nurse and had time off until Thursday. He had also been watching the weather closely. We loaded into the cars after a good dinner and jetted up to the lodge. Nat and I grabbed almost 2 hours of fitful sleep in the car while Steve organized his gear and relaxed in the climbers hut.
We tromped around near the climbers trail to test the snow. We had snowshoes in the car, but the snow seemed mostly good for boots. We only sank a few inches on the worst test steps so we elected to not carry snowshoes. After that we just loaded up and started marching. We had seen a guy in a green fleece hat when we first got to the lodge. He was headed up to Illumination Saddle to grab a little sleep in a bivy and then on to conquer Leuthold Couloir. We didn't see any really fresh looking tracks when we left 2 hours later, so we figured that we started to the left or right of his path.

1:45 am Silcox Hut
We worked a pace line up the lower slope. I "kicked" steps in the mostly nice snow 15 minutes or so and then handed off the lead to Nat. I fell back to third in line and got a nice restorative few minutes as last man in line. Nat cycled on to Steve after 15 minutes and so on. We made decent time to Silcox and stopped for the traditional quick break.

2:46 am Palmer Snowfield Lifthouse
The paceline worked great up to the top of Palmer. The wind kicked up when we got there and the temperature seemed to drop. I dressed in all my layers for the break while we arranged our gear and strapped on the crampons and ate a quick snack. Even with the extra clothes I felt chilled as we prepped for the next leg. I shed my puffy coat but kept on my rain pants and the extra fleece top I'd donned for the break. Nat and Steve both left an extra layer or two on as well, We all figured we'd shed the layer after we got too warm moving. This didn't happen until we were on our way down.
Above Palmer, the snow got trickier to gauge. The half moon gave flat light. Sometimes what looked like crust felt like powder; sometimes what looked like crust barely took crampons. We weaved around and up the slope towards Crater Rock trying to avoid the deeper snow. The wind kept on us and kept us from overheating. We still didn't see any other boot tracks but chalked it up to darkness and proximity.

5:50 am The Hogsback
The snow only got softer as we got higher. On the last bit of the Crater Rock ascent the snow got consistently calf height or deeper. NWAC had marked avalanche danger as "moderate" while specifying slopes facing the sun and getting warmed during the day. The steady susurrations of tinkling ice coming down the Steel cliffs opposite us made me nervous. It didn't feel warm enough to be melting out but the sound didn't reassure me.
We steadily traded leads traversing on our way to the Hogsback. The snow stayed near knee depth as we trudged on. The same light that baffled our snow sight also hid the Hogsback until we were almost straddling it. Another quick break and we took off again.

7:00 am Summit Ridge
So we kept on through the deepish snow across the Hogsback. We broke left just under the lower set of rocks between us and the old chute. We paused a few minutes after starting the traverse and snapped some pics of the sunrise. The high clouds coming in from the west lit up spectacularly and gave us a great show. We turned back to our pace line and found that my turn as lead got shorter. This was good except for the fact that Nat and Steve's turns also got shorter. My calves checked out about this point. They screamed every obscenity they knew (and I didn't know that there were that many!) and sat down. I pressed on without them and managed to get to the firmer snow of the Old Chute.
Just in time for my turn at lead. Sigh.
The climbing became fun here. Firm windpack snow with good purchase to crampons. The slope angle made alternate ax grips usable and gave our shoulders a break from cane position. Even without my calves I made decent time to the top. And to the tiny knife edge ridge. To my right stood a tall wind-packed lump of snow and ice. Then a gully. Then another gendarme-like clump of the same sort of snow. I turned downslope and shouted to Nat that we chose the wrong route. I felt tired; the wind scoured the top 40 feet of the chute and started to chill me; the very sharp edge of the snow ridge unnerved me a little.
Nat climbed the last bit to me and we sat waiting for Steve. Steve reached us in short order and we started talking the options. Another climber started up the chute during this discussion. He caught up to us after a few minutes and climbed over the first lump very firmly and definitely kicking each step and planting his ax and trekking pole carefully in the snow. Nat left him plenty of room and then followed to the top of the first bump. He watched while the climber dropped into the gully and started figuring a way to get over the second bump. The climber worked at it for a few minutes and seemed to make progress. Nat didn't seem reassured by watching though. We might climb through it with reasonable facility, he reasoned. But we might not down climb it to get back. And the drop into the gully below gave us a tremendous feeling of consequence.
We dickered for a few minutes but the decision had really already been made. We had made it to 11,200 feet. Steve and I had summited Hood before so the decision went a little easier for us, I think. We carefully picked our way off the first lump and then started back down the chute. I wondered about the solo climber on Leuthold. Did he turn around? Had he been strong enough to kick steps in the soft snow and get to the top of the couloir? What was he going to do when (if) he hit the summit ridge? The snow didn't look any better to the climber's left of the old chute.

8:20ish am The Hogsback
The same snow that made going up so painful made descending fairly nice. We picked out way down the chute on the firmer snow and then hit the soft stuff and made goodish time. We got to the end of the Hogsback and sat down for "lunch" and lots of water and some sun. We snapped some pictures. We reviewed the conditions. We went through our decision about a dozen times. And came to the same conclusion.
The other climber came down and introduced himself: Keith. He had made it past the second hump in the ridgeline and said it opened up nicely after that for an easy shot at the summit. We chatted for a while. And then he trotted down ahead of us. We started down in the blissful, perfect plunge-stepping snow less than 10 minutes after Keith departed. We tried glissading, but except for the cat track between Palmer and the off-piste area, the glissading was only so-so. The cat track provided fast glissading and Steve proved himself the glissade master, leaving Nat and I way back.

10:30 m Timberline Lodge
Back at the car. We drove down and ate the second biggest hamburger I've ever seen in my life at the Zig Zag Inn. Then we drove home.

Equipment:
Standard solo gear: Ax, Crampons, Helmet, Spare set of calf muscles

Conditions:
Mostly good. The summit ridge seems to be changing a lot and relatively quickly. The other climber Keith told us that a month ago the summit ridge was less severely built up and wind packed. I, of course, forgot to dig out the camera while at the top of the Old Chute so I have no good pictures of the ridge conditions

I hate energy drinks.
But I might have to try Brawndo.
Just to support the crazy ads that these guys came up with. Warning: this is internet humor at it's finest.

The simplicity of mountaineering gear constantly astounds me. I marvel at the simplicity and elegance of the solutions to the unique problems posed by mountain travel.
2 carabiners
2 single length prussik cords
1 pulley
These 5 items create a pared down c-pulley system for pulling a fallen climber out of a crevasse. Other pieces can be added for more efficient pulling or for a ratcheting system. But these 5 items provide a simple means to solve a difficult problem.

The more I learn, the more I love this sport/hobby/obsession.

Old bindings















New bindings

Nuff said.

Pictures from snowboarding this weekend here.

Video of me snowboarding. Of course, Dev kept recording until I wiped out.

Dev snowboarding! We finally had the presence of mind to use our digital camera to catch footage.

John came over last night and we had a waxing party. Ok, a snowboard waxing session. We cleaned the boards. Drizzled wax. Scraped wax. Smoothed wax. Drank beer and cider. Mounted Dev's new bindings. Ate some tasty sausage and beans and rice. Listened to John tell stories that I won't repeat here due to his pending book deal and copyright concerns. And we generally just got ready for Sunday. The weather looks like it'll be sunny and clear and warm. Not the best day for boarding, but certainly not the worst. And we will, of course, be boarding, so the day can't possibly suck.

Great quote from a blog (Handlebar Sandwich) I started following:

This is going to be one of those weekends where I look forward to going back to work on monday so I can rest.

Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Amen!

Overheard at work:

I have to hurry. It's time to change my pants.

I just finished the most unbelievable repair. I had to take this excremental iBook apart 6 times to fix the problem. Finally done. Maybe I'll write up the saga later. Right now I enjoy relief.

Pictures from our weekend are up here. I haven't weeded them out for duplicates or blurry shots yet because I am tired and about to crash out for the night. So get the duplicates and blurriliciousness while you can!

I just wanted to share one of my favorite pics from my Mt Defiance
hike about a month ago.

First post to my blog from my iPod touch. I'm going to see of maybe I
can post a little more often if I use my new little portable assistant.

Locked and loaded. Dev and I packed our bags for the hike up to Tilly Jane cabin tomorrow. We rise at the way-too-early hour of 5 something AM so we can be at the parking lot by 8:30 AM. Then we snowshoe for just over 3 miles (or just under) to get to the cabin. Lots of snow fell this week, so it should be deep and fluffy and beautiful. And hard work. I'm proud of Dev. This will be the first backpacking trip that she's gone on and she's all loaded up with a full pack and ready to go. She's gonna rock the hike this year!

On Saturday, Dev and I became aunt and uncle. For those of you not in the family, my youngest brother Keeling and his wife April gave birth to their new daughter Teagin (I'm sure Keeling will correct my spelling). I'll post pictures when we get them.

Congratulations to the new momma and papa!

The rain is pelting down now. Looks like I got a nice weather window for the ride in to work.

The weather gave me the beat down this week on my bike rides to work. The rain and the constant headwind have made me grouchy all week long. At least today I had just the headwind without the rain. The one thing keeping me slogging onward is the thought of playing in snow this weekend. I go snowshoeing tomorrow. Dev and I go snowboarding on Sunday. With all the snow falling this week we should have EPIC conditions.

I'm published!
Okay, it's for work, but still - check it out!

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat heralds the beginning of a brand-new zodiac cycle.

Aw cripes. No wonder I jump from obsession to obsession to obsession. Born an Ares in the year of the rat on a leap year. The trifecta.

From Co-op America: Ten Strikes Against Nuclear Power

We arrived in L.A. safely yesterday, if somewhat delayed. The plane pulled away from the gate and stopped on the runway for a few minutes. The pilot came over the intercom to tell us that we needed to top up the plane's fuel tank. So after an extra 45 minutes we took off. The plane touched down about right on time and we grabbed our rental car to jet over to Kirsten's house. We wished Peebo and Mark a happy birthday. Then we commenced to eat and drink and celebrate.

We had a huge flurry of activity this weekend. Devon, Cowboy and I went snowshoeing with our friend Jami and her dog Shelby. We packed up the car and headed out to Government Camp about 8 AM on Saturday morning. We started out down the Trillium Lake loop trail shared by snowshoers and cross country skiers. We tramped along in mostly clear conditions for the better part of and hour and a half. The dogs romped around in the snow. They said hi to a lot of other hikers and skiers on the trail. Snow started falling on us about noon. Soon after, all three of us seemed to have problems with our boots and blister formation. We tramped back to the car in about an hour and then proceeded to compare blisters.
Dev went over to Julie's place to play cards with the girls on Saturday night. I ordered a large pizza from Pizza Hut (I know, I know!) to load up on some extra carbs and fat for the next day. A fellow Mazama Jeff Welter offered a place on his exploratory hike up Table Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge.
Unfortunately, I needed snowshoes. REI didn't have any. Three of my snowshoe owning friends weren't available by phone - big surprise at 5 PM on a Saturday. I did manage to catch Sue before she and Nate went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. And she had a pair of snowshoes for me to borrow. She even drove them over to my house for me.
Jeff picked me up on Sunday morning for the drive out to the Gorge. We met Laura at the Hot Springs lodge and headed up the trailhead. Great hike. Awesome conditions. We managed to avoid the normal wind at the summit of Table Mountain. Ten minutes after we left the summit, the wind started to howl. We descended quickly and safely and then drove back into town.
And then I fell into bed early and slept 10 hours.

I posted pictures of our Sunday snowboarding trip here. We had a lot of fun. The rain and warm temperatures on Friday and Saturday turns the snow icy. Cooper Spur power tills their slopes but the snow still felt fast and hard. We couldn't ask for a better day to practice on not-so-prime snow conditions. The sun shined all day. Some people rode their boards in t-shirts. And Dev and I got one step closer to black diamond snowboarding.

Sir Edmund Hillary passed on today at the age of 88. God speed.

I hiked Mt Defiance with a Mazamas group on Sunday. Twelve miles with 4800 feet of elevation gain, and most of the hike happened on snowshoes. I had eight hours of really good fun. The weather stayed nice for almost the entire hike. We got back to the cars just as daylight failed. No one got hurt. And the scenery dazzled.

I have a few pictures from our group photog Andrew posted here.

Pictures from New Years can be found here.
I haven't captioned most of the pictures yet.

A nice respite from winter rain greeted me for my ride this morning. I dispensed with the rain pants and booties for the first bike ride in two weeks. Chill but not cold; perfect temperatures for a spirited ride to work. Just the refresher of a morning commute I need every couple of weeks during the rainy season.

My radio silence will get a little bit longer this weekend. Dev and I rented a cabin in Lyle, Washington for the holiday weekend. I don't think Dev packed the computer, so I will be incommunicado via text, email and blog for almost five days. Brilliance. I hope to have some pictures to show and stories to share when I get back.

All the best to you for the New Year (if I don't see you until then). And may it bless all of us with bounty and bliss in equal measure!

A sobering opinion piece about the Iraq War, war in general and history as a guiding perspective here.

Quote of the day:

"In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit it is the first."

-- Ambrose Bierce

So very sore today. Two days after jaunting to the mountain for snowboarding I feel a little like I got beaten. I had a lot of fun Sunday with former coworker and friend John Hart. We drove up to the mountain Sunday morning. John and I traded quips the entire way. John's sister's boyfriend Nathan sat in the back and quietly observed us during the drive. We arrived at Timberline lodge to splendid early season conditions. While not fantastic snow, the resort had groomed the snow enough to make it rideable.

I practiced some basics on the bunny slope (Bruno) for about an hour. John and Nathan both patiently hung out nearby. They rode down the bunny slope, but didn't need near the practice I did. At about 10 AM we headed over to Pucci to make our first run down the slopes. We rode down the easy part of main run Pucci to join up with West Leg Road. I tried to practice rocking side to side from front edge to back. My bindings thwarted me. My toes strap cam buckles kept slipping.

On a snowboard, the bindings strap across the ankles and the toes of the rider. The bindings attach the rider's foot to the board. The ankle straps also allow the rider to lift to heel edge off the snow so said rider can focus riding on the toe edge of the board. The toe straps provide leverage in the opposite direction, mainly they allow the rider to lift the toe edge off of the snow so he can focus riding on the heel edge. For a beginner, the heel edge provides the easiest and fastest braking possible. The rider rocks onto the heel edge and rotates the snowboard so that it sits perpendicular to the direction of travel. The heel edge bites into the snow and the rider slows or stops.

A lack of working toe straps complicates this process.

I fought my way down West Leg Road to get to the Jeff Flood Express ski lift. I fell about 30 or 40 times on the way. We originally planned to ride the Pucci chairlift up. The Pucci chairlift crew needed maintenance to fix something when we got to the lift. So we mounted up and rode all the way down to the next lift. The top of the chairlift presented me with another shortish, steepish slope to the day lodge parking lot. I struggled and feel down this slope. I cursed. We went into the gift shop and I bought the only toe strap replacements the carried. Overpriced at $40. Jon and Nathan and I monopolized the public ski tune bench to change out my toe straps. Then we checked our boards at the ski check and grabbed lunch.

The post lunch riding proceeded much better. I fell far fewer times on the two post-lunch runs of the day. I fell harder because I carried more speed. I carried more speed because I had more control. I had more control because I had working toe straps. So I guess I can say I crashed less often but harder because I had working toe straps. John stayed with me most of the day. He said he just wanted to get his legs back under him after not riding last season at all. He seemed smooth and in control the entire time. I felt clumsy slow and awkward following behind him. But I felt a marked improvement between when I first set edge to snow at nine that morning and when we crawled into the day lodge around 3:15 or 3:30 that afternoon.

The drive home passed quickly and uneventfully. I feel sore in a couple of key places and bruised in a couple of others. I skipped crossfit last night because I got so beat up by the slopes.

I am ready to go back soon.

Quote from Cristopher Hitchens latest editorial:

We are about to have the annual culture war about the display of cribs, mangers, conifers, and other symbols on public land. Most of this argument is phony and tawdry and secondhand and has nothing whatever to do with "faith" as its protagonists understand it. The burning of a Yule log or the display of a Scandinavian tree is nothing more than paganism and the observance of a winter solstice; it makes no more acknowledgment of the Christian religion than I do. The fierce partisanship of the holly bush and mistletoe believers convicts them of nothing more than ignorance and simple-mindedness. They would have been just as pious under the reign of the Druids or the Vikings, and just as much attached to their bucolic icons. Everybody knows, furthermore, that there was no moving star in the east, that Quirinius was not the governor of Syria in the time of King Herod, that no worldwide tax census was conducted in that period of the rule of Augustus, and that no "stable" is mentioned even in any of the mutually contradictory books of the New Testament. So, to put a star on top of a pine tree or to arrange various farm animals around a crib is to be as accurate and inventive as that Japanese department store that, as urban legend has it, did its best to emulate the Christmas spirit by displaying a red-and-white bearded Santa snugly nailed to a crucifix.

Today is Day of the NInja.

'Nuff said.

Scientists found a potentially, completely mummified dinosaur recently. Possible mummified organs! So very cool!

The end of an era. A legend has passed. Iconic Daredevil Evel Knievel Dies at 69

Quote of note:

"No king or prince has lived a better life," he said in a May 2006 interview with The Associated Press. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."

My new ride.

Got a snowboard, boots and bindings on Wednesday night. My friend John is coming over on Sunday to help me wax and clean me and Dev's snowboards. Then, if all goes well, next Sunday we will be flying down some white-covered hill for a few hours.

I cannot wait.

My favorite poster from the Bike Commute Challenge 2007 poster website.

Remember how I posted in October that I thought I was going to ski this season.

Remember how I said I'm fickle.

Yep. I'm back to 'boarding. I loved the idea of skiing. I love watching the guys ride on ski videos. Every time I thought about skiing myself, though, I felt a little dread. I felt grim about the effort I'd have to exert to stay on top of the sticks; to stay balanced all the way down the slope. I didn't look forward to the experience.

And every time I thought about snowboarding I smiled a little bit. I remember the flow. I can feel the snow sliding under me. And I don't dread the effort, I anticipate the ride. The only thing I'm really not happy about is the ski lift dismount.

So I guess I'm a knuckle dragger. Which is okay, because I'm gonna have fun this year!

“If you would know how a man treats his wife and his children, see how he treats his books.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Amazon released the Kindle eBook reader yesterday. I like much about the concept and the specs of the device. I don't care for the styling so much. This six act play points points up the problems with digital eBook readers though. Sorta dystopian.

Duct tape used as paint! Brilliant!
You might not be able to tell from the picture but the entire car (everything, even door handles) has a layer of duct tape over it.

This car is so awesome.

Why can't bike helmets be stylish? I shopped around briefly today at lunch. I must have a really big head, because all the helmets looked huge on me. I don't look anywhere near as cool as the people in the pictures on the packaging.

Good ride in to work this morning. No red lights all the way from the point I joined Interstate Avenue until I hit the top of the Eastbank Esplanade in the Rose Quarter. No rain. No flats. No jerks.

This bike is my most recent object of lust. I trotted over to Clever Cycles here in Portland and checked out their bike collection. Nice place. Dedicated to cyclists that don't wear lycra. "Bicycle living" I think one web-site or article called it. I've been meaning to get over there ever since they opened. I liked the space. They had nice all-weather clothes for year round cycling. Wool clothing by Ibex and other vendors. And they had a really extensive collection of panniers and bike bags in funky prints. (So I can't take Dev there - she'll buy out the store.)

One of the owners let me test drive the Transport (a slightly different bike that the picture above.) Bike rode surprisingly light for a beast this big made with steel. Integrated generator hub headlight and tail-light. Big full fenders. Fully enclosed chain to keep your clothes clean. And tradition/retro styling. The same sort of styling that had me lusting after vintage Harleys and Triumphs and BMWs when I rode motorcycles.

At $1400-1500, I won't be buying one soon. I guess that's why it's an object of lust instead of a show-and-tell-toy.

Good night climbing last night. Still not topping the old 5.9 yet, but my form started to return.I had one move on a 5.10- route that made my entire night. The moves just felt right. I knew the sequence. I played the theory of what I needed to do through in my head. And I felt that the sequence was right as I executed it. I fell two times after that move on that route. I still lowered off with a grin on my face.

Gonna be a good day. Radio started off with "Rock and Roll Lifestyle" by Cake.

One

of

the

best

songs

ever.

I officially need to get into the climbing gym more regularly. I went last night with Nate and pumped out my grip in short order. Falling off easy, jug-tastic holds. Frustrating. I thought I had 5.10 at the start of the season. Guess that's what lack of practice will do for ya.

snow. snow. snow. snow. snow. snow. snow. snow.

Happy Birthday Ben Konosky!

I know you're out there prowling around on the web today. And hopefully not working!
Happy Birthday!

Very foggy this morning. Can't-see-a-stoplight-half-a-block-away-foggy kind of foggy. The lack of visibility made me completely paranoid on the ride in to work today. If I could barely see the headlights of the cars then they certainly had a hard time spotting me. So I just made myself as hard to hit as possible while staying on the paved surface. And I got here all right.

Dev and I had a wonderful time with many of our Portlandian friends here at home. You can check the pictures here.

How does Olliver North have a goddamn talk show?!

Oh right, he's on Faux (Fox) News Network. Seriously people! The man is a traitor and a liar. Why do we let him have a public forum?

Dammit!

Oh Halloween. Dev has done a bang up job of decorating for our Halloween party this year. Hogwarts halloween. I'm Mad Eye Moody (complete with crazy eye. Dev's Tonks with purple hair and big boots. Can't wait too see what everyone else comes to the party as. I promise to have pictures after Saturday.

Still flirting with Facebook a little bit. One of my friends from high school reached out and said hi through it. Complete surprise. And a good one. Just trying to determine how useful it is for other stuff. Guess I'm not sold on it yet. Maybe I'm nit an ideal social networker. -grin-

Nate and Sue introduced me to crack climbing this weekend at Tieton River Rocks in Washington state. Lots of fun. I got to lead my first traditional pitch ever on an easy 5.3 grade rock climb named "The Western Front." Of course, Sue and I both missed an important but hidden hold on the route that caused us to both think that the route had been mis-graded.

Nate has posted pictures of the weekend. Only two distant shots of me, but they give an idea of what the climbing is like.

Skiing or snowboarding?

Dev and I tried snowboarding last year. Fun. Easy on the body. Floating on top of puffy snow and gliding down the mounting like a surfer on a big wave. Skiing exacts a greater toll. Legs more tired. Feet and shins more sore. But every time I think I've decided that snowboarding is for me for sure I get hooked by an image.

A silhouette sticker for back country skiing.

Or a ski video of some big mountain with an itty bitty skier making turns..

And then I want to ski. I mean, I know it's harder to master. I know it beats me up worse. But something about it grabs me the way snowboarding doesn't.

Scott will be happy to read this post. He's constantly barraging me with the "skiing is superior" position whenever the topic comes up.

Besides, you all know I'm fickle. I may change my mind again. -grin-

Jon Gruber at Daring Fireball really hits it on the head again. I enjoy reading his stuff because he's incisive, concise and makes good design easy to understand for non-designers like me. See the shared item over on the right about the iPhone as an example of some of his writing and reasoning.

Fantastic quote:
From 342 Hours on the Grandes Jorasses: "It's so difficult to accept nothingness... You would like to know how things really are beyond life, be sure it's not all a big joke, but, as big as it may be, how can a joke survive for millenia? Look how beautiful are the stars in the coal black sky, those little twinkling gems, those little fantastic worlds. You've got Creation before your eyes, here, on this same mountain that's taking your life and you can't hate, not even now. And what if truth is really here, amongst these pyramids of granite?"

The rain is here. Sunday saw rain all day long except the 10 minutes I used for the dogwalk in the afternoon. Yesterday rained about half the day. Today will have more rain. And so on to the end of the week. Oregon officially enters Autumn.

The good news: rain here in the city means snow up on the mountain. I'm still torn between skiing (versatility) and snowboarding (ease of fun). I'm not torn about wanting to go and play in the snow.

Scott and Ann each got an iPhone this weekend. Scott proceeded to call and taunt me that he had an iPhone and I did not. They are both evil and should get no cookies.

While I may get cookies, I won't be getting an iPhone until next spring. Dev and I have a Sprint contract that runs until then. Sprint wants $200 per line for early termination. We will be staying with Sprint for the very foreseeable future. The only upside to this whole shebang is that Dev and I might get the new and improved rev 2 iPhone, if said new and improved iPhone has been released by then.

Radio silence has ended.

Okay. So I've been remiss in this whole posting to the world business. Sorry all. Been busy this summer. I climbed five mountains so far: Adams, Hood, South Sister, Middle Sister and Columbia Peak. Pictures are at my picasa pages here. My buddy Bill has big plans for some winter climbs in the Cascades this season. I'm looking forward to hopefully joining him for a few of those trips.

And then there's the car camping we did this summer. Last weekend we car camped with our friends Lori and Jon and their two daughters Rhienna and Hazel down at Nehalem Bay and had a lot of fun. Lazing around on a windy beach in the sun created a nice counterpoint to the mountainous backpacking I did this season.

I've also been busy drooling over the new toys from Apple. Well, one new toy - the iPhone. I can't get one yet. Sprint has me locked in to a service plan for a little while yet. I can buy out of it, and I probably will. But I have to save the $399 for the device first. And I demoed a friend's phone for Dev this morning. She was smitten in 5 minutes.
As a side note: I find the lack of full calendar features on the iPod Touch to comprise the weakest of weaksauces!

Dev's prepping for her week long adventure with Best Friends in Utah. She'll be volunteering with them for a few days and helping rehabilitate and heal some of the lonesome pets the shelter there has in for adoption and recovery. And bonus: she gets to spend 2 days hiking and exploring around Zion National Park. I'm very jealous.

Pictures from my trip to climb Mt Adams can be found here.

Good company. Great weather. Awe inspiring views. And a 2000 foot glissade on some of the best glissade snow ever. I almost didn't mind forgetting my rain pants at camp when we left for the summit on Sunday morning.

Weaksauce!

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said that Cheney and White House aides cannot be held liable for the disclosure of information about Plame in the summer of 2003 while they were trying to rebut criticism of the administration's war efforts levied by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The judge said such efforts were certainly part of the officials' scope of normal duties.

From the Washington Post

So breaking the law comprises part of a presidential administration staff's duties now?