Roadtrip 2

Well, it's Monday, the day after Easter. The past two days have found us along some majestic areas along the rugged Feather River, just outside Chino CA. We climbed at a place called Grizzly Dome, which had some excellent slab and sport routes. We happened to meet one of the areas pioneers and maintainers, who was a great friend in showing us some stellar routes. Brad is currently bolting a new route in his spare time, which after my test-flailing, may go in the mid to hard 11's. It should be a great route, with a very interesting crux sequence. I learned that my 60m rope is actually a 70m, since it allowed us to toprope more than a normal pitch yesterday. (Woot! 10m for free, and no wonder I got tired of flaking it out in the gym.) We'll definitely been meeting up with Brad again, as he had great stories of places he's climbed and seem to agree with us on every philosophical aspect of climbing (crowds, ethics, style, etc). He's a very cool guy.


Camping was fun - we simply pulled up into the hills along the river and took an access road way above the valley. The train still sounded quite close (toot toot!) but the view was vertigo-inducing. The drive itself was some mild off-roading and quite narrow in places. After choosing a flatter spot, we snarfed a hearty meal, enjoyed some great local pino, and slept on the sandy, pine needle forest floor. Hanmi manage to get some interesting photos of the location before we saddled up and headed south.


Central California is a hot valley of monotonous tree farms, vineyards, and rustic pit stops. We chugged along south of Sacramento to enter into the land of fast drivin' and hot breezes. Rosie doesn't keep up so well with the teenagers in their suspensionless civics, but we made it to Fresno in pretty good time. Fresno itself seems like a city with a hole in it. The "downtown" is full of empty-looking buildings, each with faded paint and a bulbless marquis. We wandered around a bit and then drove to the university district (not much different) looking for a wi-fi spot. Thus, this post brought to you by Starbucks.

Hanmi's hair has decided to become another entire personality, joining us on the trip. From morning to night, sleeping to waking again, it's a different shape and expression. Sometimes it's Bride Of Frankenstein, sometimes Eraserhead, sometime Robert Smith. She takes it all in stride though, and laugh along with me. After all, "its only hair" is almost a motto in our family - from the dog grooming to our own follies.

After this, we're planning a few days out again, a bit northward, toward Shaver lake. There are some sweet crags hiding out there, and they should be warm enough to keep us climbing for several days. Then, we'll probably decided again where to go. We're keeping it easy and not really deciding until we're driving.

The centipedes grow big out here!

I'd like to send a big THANKS to Cedric, the best man with the plan on the East Coast. He returned a shot-in-the-dark phone call today to chat and relay some info about old contacts in Phoenix, AZ. Sounds like he's doing well, and hasn't lost a bit of the charm/wit I remember of him. Sounds like Gary in AZ still remembers me, so we may get a chance to visit him along our way.

Climbing has been strong, managed to do everything except Brad's new project without a take/fall. I will definitely feel better when we can crank for a few days stright. The past few days has been a bit stormy or too cool to stay for long. The best places of the trip are still yet to come, with Yosemite, Tuolumne, Tahquitz, Red Rocks and Joshua Tree in the next 2 weeks, then places in AZ and CO, UT and ID on our way home. So much to do!

Doggies are doing fine. They are active morning and evening, then bliss out in the midday sun. Nights are a body pile in the tent, since everyone wants into the sleeping bags. All in all, they're doing well.



Days out: 4
Pitches: 6
Replaced: Dog Food, ice in the cooler
Gas prices: $3.29
Best Meal: Camp veggies w/wine and steak


BONUS: S'MUTT

Ellis maxes the cute factor with her new haircut

Malo in his "Playdog" pose

Roadtrip

Well, we're on the road again - six months since our tour of Ireland. This trip is the Western US. we're singing songs, tapping away on the laptop, sketching, eating gas station food and of course..climbing! This time around, we've brought the doggies.

Not much is different with them in tow, and more folks seem smiley than without them. So far, they've not been too fussy, and seem to be clear when they need to pee and eat. Thats better than our communication sometimes.

Our journey has left Portland, with a few mis-starts (had to mail the tax forms), out to central Oregon to camp/climb in one of our favorite local places, Smith Rock State Park.

This time around just for kicks, we splurged the $4 and camped at the state bivy site. The most awkward things about this site are the awful camping distance from the car and eating in a litle pen in the middle of the parking lot. They have showers though - which is redeeming.



The climbing was good - it was hot in the sun. We ticked two sporty climbs on the Pinic Lunch wall. There seemed to be a large group spread all over the more popular walls, so we decided to skip them - we've climbed them many times in the past anyway. Picnic Lunch has some varied face climbing, just like the other walls, but they are mid-10's so the instructor-led crowds seem to skip them.




One night at Smith, then we drove south to Crater Lake, which is still under 3 feet of snow, snowmobiles brapping everywhere. We drove around it, then headed down 138 along the Rogue River into Ashland, Oregon. A storm was brewing as we entered, and the lightning that crackled over us was incredible. By the time we had secured the motel room and found a place for dinner, the storm was a thunder-rama. Even later that night, it hit something right outside and shook us all out of bed.


Downtown Ashland was quite cute. There was a recently developed "Main Street" area full of boutique stores and restaurants, many of which had lines in front of them (in the rain!) Checking the local paper, Ashland doesn't have a big problem with crime. However, not far from here is a sea of pickup trucks and damn-ugly strip malls and rural farm homes that seemed to have skipped the farming and gone straight to "collect rusty things in yard" stage. At one point, we were so surounded by jacked up pickup trucks, I wondered if there was a truck show going on. I passed a mustachioed guy with stringy hair at the gas statiOn carrying a Miller twelve pack and wearing a T-shirt that said "I [heart] Strippers". As he climbed into his pickup truck, I thought: Awesome! We're closing in on the heartland of America.




Dinner last night was fun. We found a Bitish Pub-themed pLace in downtown Ashland, complEte with soccer games, Guinness, dart boards and a traditional menu. We gobbled up the good food (although the lamb was off and had to be rejected) and even shared a Guinness/ice-cream float. Darts and beer always work well together. Hanmi pulled a rare "William Tell" and stuck a dart in the end of a prior one. Pretty neat!



Summary
Days out: 2
Forgotten and replaced: Toothbrushes
Kitch Level of Car Decor: 0
Pitches: 2
Best meal: Camp-cooked veggies


J&H

a response: please don't

Dear President Bush:
After thinking a bit today, reading some news, and re-reading your speech last night, I was compelled to write you - not something I have ever done to any political figure. I tend to believe letters such as this are akin to Lists For Santa mailed in December.

First, thank you for apologizing. I'm content in believing it was sincere, as I'm going to take you by your word, although I feel betrayed by speeches in your past. I'm willing to take this fresh perspective because you ask it, as I hope you are willing to extend it.

I need you to reconsider this act of your military tweak to this ongoing war in Iraq. The current numbers of soldiers in Iraq (150,000) suggest another 20,000 will not change much. Truthfully, you and I both know this is really just changing schedules of existing soldiers - who's resolve and morale you've pushed to limits by the dubious claims behind Iraq's initial invasion.

Your apology was the first step towards what I'm asking: Iraq will be so slightly changed, probably only slowed towards complete anarchy, that it's not worth the dramatic emotional toll the US will suffer. The families picking up the pieces of the returned war injured and deceased are going to be your legacy. By extending or growing this group, you are only solidifying this historical perspective. Children and grandchildren will grow up with missing, maimed or bitter ancestors from this declaration of war. I saw a photo with a tear on your face today, sir. This war wins us nothing but such tears - a stable Iraq will be found the same way with 20,000 more US soldiers or not.

I'm pleading with you. Please, Mr President - my leader as everyone's leader in the US right now: You can change years of suffering in this country by extending the humility you showed last night. Congress and the military are the best advice as to what this country feels, and all signs point to their need for a reduced military action and a new army to be deployed: An army of diplomats, leading tables upon tables of discussions with towns, tribes, religious leaders and entire countries around the world: There must be a better solution to a civil war than simply killing the participants.

Please continue the honest and humble stance you showed by extending your proposal - indeed, changing it. Put a short term limit on all soldiers in Iraq and begin deploying more teams of non-military chaperons to assist the entire region in adjusting to the realities of Iraq now, not any promised Iraq of the future. Truthfully, few people, from blogs of Iraqi and US citizens and soldiers, as well as militia they fight, believe your decision holds any real change in it.

But there is a path forward that changes their expectations: Realistically challenging the existence of a country of Iraq entirely. If we lower our military presence, the country may indeed split, fade or fall apart, but this isn't a issue we've begun but merely uncovered. We need not be the police of this part of the world - this argument leads us to believing we should also police several other countries and eventually, the entire world directly. I cannot believe you condone such a role for our country's soldiers - policing is too fine a tool for our immensely strong and yet blunt military.

Thank you for your attention.

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Answer Me!

inquiring minds

One day, we were curious about what some professions could make in terms of an annual salary. After a bit of surfing around, and some wide-spectrum answers, I decided to try yahoo answers. A friend had mentioned that it was interesting, and I needed to take a look at how it worked.


Well, Yahoo Answers turns out to be a place where you can ask anything, in free-form text, and it's routed to everyone online on that site. They can answer you, which then, in turn, gets moderated by other viewers to a most/least favorable answer. In the end a single best answer matches each question. The entire process takes about 3 weeks from question asked to best answer decided.


After setting up my account, I asked my question and instantly became bored with waiting for an answer. So, I began to look over the questions other people were asking. Most, as it turns out, are mundane.


Folks ask baiting questions regarding debates long-since abandoned in their real lives. Religion, Politics, flame wars, etc. Every old misconception is put back into the mix with a stream of questions usually left to chat-room fodder.


As with most things Yahoo, Answers categorizes things into rough topic that help narrow your viewing down to just a subset of all questions/answers. So, you can view the "Computers->Security" or "Relationships->Dating" topics and wade through nonsense of your desired flavor.

help us! help us!

Such nonsense! Yahoo Answers seem in reality to be an interface catering to web surfers that don't want to deal with Google keywords, lists of relevant web pages, or skimming information out of web sites' forum discussions, new articles, etc. They don't want to research an answer, they want it done for them. For the most part, if the question isn't too poorly constructed or heavily opinionated, they get one.

Homework answers appear, paste-jobs from wikipedia, repeat answers from prior yahoo questions. People even go through the effort to answer "I don't know" to many questions, believing this to be more informative than no answer at all(?) But shouldn't we expect the web to get closer to this level of interaction? isn't everyone hoping for the Star Trek "computer, beam me a beer" interface? Sure, but this is not a step in that direction.


So, is this the next layer of web? Has the web gotten any closer to being able to converse with you in natural language, with well-thought-out answers to your questions?


No. It is interesting, since a human layer is taking over the "last mile" of parsing information already on the web into a specific answer for your question, but the level of intelligence is distinctly human. Gone is the wikipedia "just the facts" tone, and for popular subjects (celebrities, politics, religion, sports - rivalries of almost any kind) you are going to get a squabbling mass of deluded neophytes. Even technical questions are answered with "Duh! you need to do this..." or sly commercials for tangential products or probably best, no answer at all.


But if the answers are bad, the questions do not lack for innane content and delivery. Questions such as "Apple/Microsoft? Which, um is like, the best" (not made up) indicate indeed, the questioners and answerers are in fact the same social group.



Lest you think this is a snap judgement, I've gone on to answer almost 150 questions, creating the "voted best answer" 38% of the time, over the period of about a month.



I cannot say the population isn't diverse, it is. There are professionals, students, young, old, smart asses and serious teacher-types. But for all the "buzz" of having a live person answer your burning question, you get more often than not, a random, average person's opinion, not an expert's direction. For that, Yahoo may have to build yet another layer.


That's my final answer.