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June 30, 2003

Adult Swim Rulez (I have proof!)

'Family Guy' Does It Again as 'Adult Swim' Beats the Broadcast Talk Shows

"Most shocking however is that as a whole "Adult Swim" has beaten every one of the late-night broadcast network talk shows in delivery of men 18-24 and other key demographics in the past month."

It beat Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, Kilborn, O'Brien, etc... Its even more amazing they canceled Family Guy in the first place given how well the DVDs are doing. They only made 50 episodes before it was canceled. Maybe it was just ahead of its time. I think they network just thought it was too edgy. Its funny, they'll show all sorts of sex and death, but satire and irony are too edgy.

I saw Punch Drunk Love the other night. Great movie. Very different. Its just that so many movies and television shows are so contrived. This movie, as well a Punch Drunk Love were very surprising. Its all about randomness, irony, non sequiturs, and reality. I definitely recommend Punch Drunk Love if you like that type of comedy. I think when a lot of people think about adult cartoons, they think of South Park. South Park can be funny, but it also can be gross just for the sake of it. Adult Swim isn't that way. Its subtle, random, timely, and funny. Oh well, enough about Adult Swim. Why are you listening to me anyway. I'm 27 and I only watch cartoons.

Posted by wonko at 06:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 29, 2003

iChatAV

Apple just released iChatAV, the latest upgrade to their popular AIM client. The big addition is the ability to have voice and/or video chats with people. Honestly, I was skeptical as to how well it would work. I've been trying these types of clients since 95 when CuSeeMe came out. They never worked right. First, it was always a pain to actually connect to people and initiate a chat. Second, the quality always sucked hard. Even when both parties were on a high speed T1 connection, it still was unusable. So I had decided not to even try this new iChatAV. But here I am at work, doing very little so I thought I'd download it. I logged on to aim as normal and went about my business. Then I saw a friend, Dan logged had logged in and this strange speaker symbol appeared next to his name. So I clicked on it. After a few moments I heard Dan's voice coming from my laptop speakers. All of a sudden we were chatting normally. Super good sound quality (maybe a little quiet on my laptop). I'm a believer. I'm even behind a firewall and it worked without modification. Now I wish I could try the video chat feature, but unfortunately, I do not have a video camera. Maybe when my roommate gets his DV cam back I'll try it.

Posted by wonko at 11:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The rich get richer.

Very Richest's Share of Income Grew Even Bigger, Data Show This article had a lot of very interesting statistics.


I'm not a financial analyst. Plus I live in a very expensive state. Certainly in California it appears the class gap is widening. I really can't speak for the rest of the country, though articles like this confirm my suspicions. Most amazing to me is the fact that I pay more in taxes than the wealthiest in the country. It seems like the argument over the exact % the wealthy have to pay is a red herring. The real issue is how to get them to pay taxes on the money they make. Individuals are by far not the worst offenders. The largest companies pay so little in tax. The government actually owes Microsoft money every year due to an employee benefits loophole. They're not the only ones either. Where is it all going?

Posted by wonko at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 28, 2003

Cryptonomicon: The most influential book I never finished.

I tried reading Cryptonomicon (by Neal Stephenson), many years ago. Its a very long and dry book. I got about half way through the 1168 page book with still no plot in sight, and gave up. I really should finish it some day, it was still interesting. Anyway, the concept in the book that really interested me was Information Theory. The idea is best explained by the example given in the book. During WWII the German's used a device called Enigma to encrypt and decrypt messages. We were unable to crack the code. Then, a miracle happened, we found an Enigma machine on a downed sub. But now we had a dilemma. If we immediately started utilizing the information we got by decrypting messages with our Enigma machine, the German's would KNOW we had it and stop using it. We had to make it appear we did not have it, even though we did. For example, if we knew they were about to bomb some of our ships, it might be the best course of action to let them bomb those ships and kill those Americans. Sounds ludicrous I know, but its a lose the battle win the war type of situation. In some cases, when we knew where they were we would pretend to accidentally come upon them by our routine reconnaissance. But we couldn't do that too often or they'd be on to us. So we had to allow our soldiers to be killed and only use the information when it was completely critical.

For some reason that concept really struck home with me and has changed the way I behave ever since. I've always thought about what others think about me, what I do, what I say, or what I'm about to say. Now I think of it differently. I've formulated an image of how each person sees me. With this information I can manipulate that image via information theory. If I know someone looks down on some aspect of me, I can change that image by controlling how they see that aspect. Ok, it sounds anal. It sounds OCD, but its not. Most of the time its barely a conscious thing and as such, I just do it without thinking about it. But sometimes I think specifically about it and modify what I say or do in this way. Its like, I believe I know what they are thinking. I also believe they don't know I know, so I can safely change their opinion by graduating changing their perception. But I can't change my behavior so dramatically they suspect I'm doing it just for them. Thats the information theory part. I have to do it in such a way they never figure out I'm trying to manipulate them.

Ok, it all does sound crazy and I'm going out on a limb even writing this, especially given what I've just said about being so concerned with what people think of me. Its possible that people who read this will have a harder time trusting what I say or do thinking that I may be manipulating them. Not sure how I'd respond to that other than to say I tend to be honest and genuine with my close friends and family. I'm comfortable enough with myself that I do not feel the need to project some wildly skewed version of myself. Its just something I do without thinking about it most of the time. I'm probably not the only one.

Posted by wonko at 10:41 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Who controls the press.

Now that the Internet is on computer, its amazing how much information is available to anyone who seeks it. What amazes me more is how much misinformation the mainstream media puts forth as news that any semi-intelligent person with access to a computer could find false. A great example happened during the IRAQ war where our current administration (Bush) said in his State of the Union address on January 28, 2003, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. ... Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide." Even before his speech, the CIA had determined the document was a forgery. We (America) continued to use it as a prime piece of evidence. When Powell mentioned the same document as evidence in front of the UN Jacques Baute the head of the IAEA 's Iraq inspections unit had his doubts and requested the documents. At first he wasn't given them, then finally he was. At the time he was given the document, he didn't know it was believed to be a forgery. Here's the funny part. He figured out it was a forgery in a couple hours using Google to find all the mistaken information in the document such as the incorrect date for Niger's constitution.

I've talked before about how all of these commercials that make crazy claims can be debunked with the Internet. The same is true of the news. So here's my question. Commercials are one thing. How is it that the news consistently gives incorrect information that anyone with the time and/or knowhow can discover to be incorrect.

I've never been a big conspiracy buff. I don't believe in most conspiracy theories. I have a hard time believing THIS case is a result of a conspiracy. But I still don't understand it. During the IRAQ war, our news media was constantly reporting as news what our government told them was the truth, while almost all other countries were reporting the real news. Its not like you had to go to some guys website at AOL to find discrepancies. You could find them on BBC online, among other reputable news sources. Does anyone know how this happens? The people actually REPORTING the news have no idea what's going on I'm sure. They're given the news to report and they report is verbatim. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that there are really only 2 or 3 media organizations that run all the US news. But that can't be the CAUSE. In the UK, the BBC is the only game in town, and they seem to get it right more often than not. So I ask again. What's the deal?

Posted by wonko at 06:25 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Setac Astronomy

For some reason I've been thinking a lot lately about Setec Astronomy. For those of you that don't know, that was the codename for a super secret project in the movie Sneakers. First off, if you haven't seen in, don't walk, RUN and get it. One of the best movies of all time. Anyway, Setec Astronomy turned out to be an anagram for Too Many Secrets. This scientist had developed a little black box that would break any and all encryption schemes. Whoop die doo you say. Without giving the movie away, the implications of such a device existing are staggering. Basically, all financial and government institutions would be rendered useless. Money as we know it would go away. All financial markets would collapse. Its all digital now. There's no gold backing up our money anymore, its just ones and zeroes. But now that its all digital, it relies on secrecy, encryption. Without encryption, anyone could transfer money from anywhere to anywhere. Anyone could read any of our or any other governments' documents. Its like Fight Club, but without the violence. TRW, gone. Visa/Mastercard, gone. Wells Fargo, gone.

Again, for some reason I've been thinking about this lately. Wondering what would really happen. Not in a hollywood sense, but in a true sense. The long term implications. The biggest thing I've realized is that we wouldn't die, we'd adapt and live, though our lives would look nothing as they do today. It seems obvious, but usually we can't imagine a world without $$. So, once we admit that life would go on without $$, we can more freely ask ourselves what benefit or detriment money really plays on our planet. I've really just started thinking about what would happen. There'd obviously be a period of pandaemonium and chaos. The question is whether we'd come out of that and would society would look like once we did. There'd be HUGE pressure to come up with some other form of tender that would work. People would naturally assume we'd HAVE to come up with some form of monetary exchange. I'm not so sure. But what would it look like. Its fun to think. [sigh]

Posted by wonko at 05:55 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Rich vs. Poor

Observation. Rich people complain about money at least as much if not more than poor people. Specifically relating to the high cost of things. Also, they complain differently about it. Rich people tend to complain in a "I know I'm getting ripped off" kinda way. For example, I just had a customer who was obviously very well off. She found a jacket for 40% off. I told her it was a good deal and she responded, "Maybe a good deal for you." Her response is by far not uncommon, but only among the affluent. Any thoughts as to why? I'm thinking maybe its because they know the game. They know people are getting ripped off on most consumer goods. It is just as likely they got rich from a company that was doing just that.

Posted by wonko at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Mammoth and me.

Sarah and I decided to move to Mammoth for many reasons. We loved the idea of living in the mountains so close to so many different outdoor activities, rock & ice climbing, backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, to name a few. We also like the idea of seeing what it was like to live in a small town. This next week is our one year anniversary in Mammoth and I've learned a lot about what this place IS and ISN'T. First of all, Mammoth is in no way indicative of small town U.S.A. It is as far from that model as can be. Bishop is 40 miles south of Mammoth. The differences between Mammoth and Bishop are astounding. If you were to drive through both towns, you'd swear Bishop is twice the size of Mammoth. Why? Because there's so much more diversity in the stores and restaurants there. In fact, Bishop has a little more than half the population of Mammoth. Mammoth has more steak houses per capita than anywhere else I've been. It has a single Vons, Rite-Aid and 2 small home repair stores. Bishop has a K-Mart, and many different small stores and restaurants. The difference is that Mammoth is a resort town. It has many more seasonal residents and a LOT more money. If a person was looking for a 'small town' to move to, Mammoth would NOT be one of my suggestions. There's a lot of turnover. Don't get me wrong, its a small town. Everywhere I go I see people I know. Everyone knows what's going on with the permanent residents.

What's also strange about this town is the economic diversity. Diversity isn't the right word though, dichotomy or paradox maybe. There's enough rich people here to jack the cost of living through the roof. However, most of the jobs are lower paying jobs like waiter or sporting goods store clerk. Low pay + high cost of living = poor people. So at least half, if not more, of the population lives in poverty, while the other half lives in opulence, with few people in between. But its population of poor residents also shows Mammoth's differences from most places. They do not live like most poor people. Few of them make more than 12K a year, but they didn't come here to make money. They came here for the geography, whether it be snowboarding, climbing, mountain-biking, or just the scenery. So almost everyone lives with roommates, few of them have vehicles, they eat and live cheap doing odd construction jobs for extra $$. What makes them even more unique is that they're happy.

I was struck recently by my friends' lack of problems. When I lived in the city, it seemed like everyone (including me) had problems. Little ones, big ones, but always problems. Problems are probably the biggest source of conversation fodder in the city. Not that people here don't have problems, maybe they just don't let their problems get to them. They're more laid back. They have to be. You can't live with so little money, in the shadow of so much money without being able to laugh at life's cruel jokes. Take me, I've worked hard in my life. Is there any reason I'm not a millionaire like others I see my same age? Did they work harder than me? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't matter. Becoming rich is like winning in Vegas. It just happens, no rhyme or reason. Oh I'm sure most wealthy people will give you concrete reasons why THEY made it and how others could make it if they did the same things, but it just doesn't work that way. My roommate Eric still doesn't have a job for the summer. Yet, he's not freaked about it. He gets work here and there and it all sorta works out. He's still able to laugh at the whole thing. As I look back I'm surprised I never realized how much I was affected by everyone always having problems. Now I see how much I'm affected by everyone around me being happier and laughing at their problems. This brings up the whole subject of things just working out for some reason, only if you let them and don't worry, but thats for another blog. So many people here break from social norms. My friend Dennis got fixed at 24 because he knew he didn't want kids. Anywhere else that would be really weird, but not here. I have friends that have built their life around not working more than 2 days a week. I know a happily married couple that separated for 5 months by choice because she wanted to visit family for a while in Michigan while he wanted to stay here to enjoy the summer. Their separation is in no way a reflection on the state of their marriage. Their happily married, they just wanted to see what it was like. There are many more stories like these that show how unsubstantiated most social norms really are. There are no social norms in Mammoth.

People often ask me, as I ask myself, whether I plan on staying here in Mammoth. If you asked Sarah, she'd tell you she's willing to call of the search and make this home for good. I am not so ready to make that claim. This is the first 'small town' I've lived in (or been to) and I'm hesitant to say this is the best place for us to live without seeing other places... like Bend, OR or places in CO or WA. I'm very curious what its like to live in a REAL small town. I don't me smaller than Mammoth in population, I'm mean less of a rich resort town. I've talked to a lot of people and I don't know if there's another place quite like Mammoth in its accessibility to so many activities so close. You really do not need a car. You could climb, backpack, snowboard, mountain-bike, all without a car. My bike had a flat, so I walked to work this morning. Didn't even take 10 minutes. We'll see how long we end up staying here. All I know is that I'm going to get as much out of this place as I can, while I can.

Posted by wonko at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 26, 2003

German restrooms vs. American nihilism.

My parents went to Germany last year. One thing they related to me was how clean everything was. They observed that all the bed and breakfasts they stayed in appeared to have been painted the day before. Also, all of the public bathrooms around the country seemed spotless. They even went to an Octoberfest with public bathrooms and they too were immaculate. Why were all of their bathrooms and streets so clean? What does that take?

Across the pond in America. You'd be lucky to find ANY clean public bathrooms. So why are the bathrooms in Germany so much cleaner? Maybe half their country is employed by the government to keep them clean. I doubt that though. I think the only logical answer is that the Germans keep them clean. When a German uses one of the bathrooms, he leaves it clean. As strange as it seems to us, I might also assume some Germans leave the bathrooms they use cleaner than when they got there. Why? Because there are plenty of tourists in Germany who probably are not as clean as the Germans. This begs the real question, why are the German's so much more concerned with their public bathrooms. The only answer I believe is community. They must have a much greater sense of community. Its also possible that, its not that the German's have so great a sense of community, as American's have so poor a sense of community. There is no community. Only the individual, who is more important than any other individual. I don't leave public bathrooms cleaner than I find them. I don't think I leave them dirtier either. How do they get so dirty? Why don't people care? Here again we look for 'the cause'. It seems like this is an area where behavior is learned and bolstered over time. Its not any one person or thing, but a long period of people (Americans) not caring for one another building on that ethos until it becomes the rule rather than the exception. Why should I spend my valuable time and effort to leave this restroom clean when the last person didn't. Its not my fault, every person before me is to blame. I am the only person I can trust. No one will help me get to the top but me. I'm an American.

Posted by wonko at 12:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Newly Revised Children’s Books

I'm all about being realistic. I think THIS is a step in the right direction.

Posted by wonko at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 25, 2003

Not Enough Vacation

I was just watching the news and saw a thing come up on how people in the US take fewer vacation days than almost all other countries. Then I found this article on USA Today saying that US workers are taking less vacation than ever due to our current difficult financial times. "Nearly 50% of executives expect to make fewer vacation plans in 2003 ...".

I tried to write this statistics table, but missed the last two. This is the average number of vacation days per country.
US 10.2
Sweden 25-35
Germany 30
France [?] 30
UK [?] 25

This just confirms my belief that our (americans) priorities are out of wack. I'm positive this affects almost all aspects of our daily lives and how we interact. It affects how close families are, thus how well children are raised. It affects how much time people spend on 'community' activities, diminishing their sense of community. We're too busy for each other. We only see ourselves of victims of our times. I see my boss Tom who constantly reminds me that life ends when you have kids. He's SOO busy trying to build his business, his kids are an inconvenience. Its his perception that he's a victim in this matter. He HAS to work to provide for his kids and family. If he doesn't work as much as he does, it will all fail and it will be his fault. I can relate to this feelings because I too used to feel this way when I had Cnation.

In this, as in many other areas, the causal relationships are too complex to say how what the real cause is. I do not believe that not having enough vacation is THE cause. It certainly causes many things, but it too is just an affect of some other cause. Is it pointless to try and find singular causes? I keep thinking back to my discussions with Kasei on the possibility of a Utopian society. I can't envision it because I can't find the cause to our current condition. Without this cause, I do not see how any society wouldn't degrade to where we are now.

I need to think more about community values...

Posted by wonko at 03:36 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Adult Swim is ruining me.

The new season of Adult Swim started a couple weeks ago. The new season includes new episodes of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Sealab. I think there will be new Home Movies and The Brak Show coming in a couple weeks. So far, all the shows have been great. But what REALLY surprised us this season, was the adult swim informational ads between shows. In the first season, they had video footage of old people swimming. The second season had images of modified airplane safety cards. These were both unique, but did not compare to this season. In this newest season, we are treated with black screens with white text on them. In the background, interesting music plays (having no correlation to what is written on the b&w cards). The text is apparently just the writers talking to us. Its very non-formal, and somewhat silly at times. You'd have to see it to understand. For those of you that don't know. The main adult swim block is on Sundays from 11pm-1am. Mon-Fri is a shorter adult swim during the same time (on Cartoon Network).

The problem is, after watching Adult Swim, most other television shows and ALL other commercials seem trite and contrived (which of course they are). I've always held commercials in contempt, but now it is far worse. They really appear like plastic caricatures of themselves. Its come to the point that I can't even believe people are creating these commercials, others are approving them as good, and some study somewhere is showing that they are affective. How many 1800-CALLATT commercials with Carrot Top did they make? Who hired the Dell kid in the first place? Who writes this music that everyone is supposed to relate to for those Verizon commercials? I can't remember if I mentioned before about this ATT Wireless commercial that had music by The Ramones in the background. You know, The Ramones, the original anti-establishment punk band. Thank God Joey Ramone isn't alive to see his music backing AT&T. You can't get more establishment than that.

Then there's Adult Swim commercials. Cool music, and someone just talking to you through text. Being honest about they they know and do not know. They are honest about what commercials are for and how they work. They are representing exactly what I think commercials should be. Honest. Just tell it like it is, let us decide!

Posted by wonko at 03:09 PM | Comments (108) | TrackBack

SUMMER SNOW!

A little late, but it snowed two nights ago! Crazy! Snowing on June 23rd. It was cold enough that the snow stuck and was still on the cars when I woke up the next morning. Crazy!

Posted by wonko at 02:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 23, 2003

Update...

I've been doing construction in Bishop with Bruce for the last four days so I haven't had a chance to update my blog. We built an indoor deck in Value Sports. It was pretty fun, but not something I'd want to do all the time. It IS nice to work on a project so finite. You work hard, you finish, its done, you see the finished project. Computers are so different. Nothing is ever done. Oh well.

Sarah and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Saturday. We both worked so we just went out to dinner. I feel very lucky. We never argue. We talked about that and agreed it's because we both accept each other for who we are, warts and all. This has definitely been our best year. In a sense, we found the most in common this year. I look forward to many more years with her.

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday. Last night we had a last minute get-to-gether for mine and Katie's birthday. A lot of people showed up and we had a great time. Sarah provided the grilled food, and everyone brought alcohol. A lot of alcohol was consumed, but the place didn't end up to messy. Those who made it til 11 watched Adult Swim for as long as they could stay awake. Adult Swim has gotten so good lately, but I'll leave that for another entry. Sarah also got us a really nice chocolate, chocolate, chocolate cake. Its nice to know I have so many friends.

Now that my truck is unstuck and I'm done with this construction gig, I'm back on the Kittredge work. Lots to do, plenty of time to do it.

Posted by wonko at 02:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 20, 2003

Truck, unstuck pictures.

There aren't many, but I've finally gotten them online. Click Here.

Posted by wonko at 09:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Construct

Bruce asked me if I'd help him with a construction project he's been contracted to do. We're building a deck inside Value Sports, (one of Kittredge's competitors). Today we laid the framework and concrete pylons. Tomorrow, we'll lay down the deck itself. Its been a fun project so far. We worked from 9-5 today. I got home to find out the Kittredge server had freaked out after a power outage. I was at P3 til 10pm fixing it. Got it fixed though and now its on a UPS so hopefully we shouldn't have the same problem. I really need to continue with my regular rantings. I've got lots lined up.

Posted by wonko at 12:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 18, 2003

I'm out of a rut....

Yay!!! We got my truck out. Here are the details of the end of my sorted story. At 8am this morning I left the house with the AAA guy with the hopes that this would be easy. Early on he told me, because my truck was off-road, AAA wouldn't cover it, but they (the towing company contracted by AAA), could help me for $150/hr. The guy, with a thick Australian accent, seemed confident we could get it. As we got to the bottom of the hill I was over, he stopped and said the pickup truck wouldn't make it over the hill. We walked to the top and when he saw the truck, he immediately knew he was over his head. He said he would need to call another guy at the towing company who had more experience in this area. The problem was that no other vehicle could get safely within a good distance of my truck. There was a big, steep hill, with lots of lose dirt that he would have to drive over, then another 100' on a narrow, narrow road with lots of soft sand. Me and the Ausie drove back to the 395 to wait for the other guy. He showed up 20 minutes later and informed me that at least 5 people a year get stuck up where he thought I was. His tune changed once he saw where my truck actually was. The last guy that got stuck up there was just at the top of the hill, not nearly as far down the road as I was. They'd never seen anyone that far down the road. At this point the guy with all the experience said he had some ideas, but we'd need to go back to Mammoth to get more supplies and talk to a guy with even more experience, Sean. Back in Mammoth, Sean just couldn't stop talking about how much this was going to cost. It'd take 3 people and maybe many many hours. His estimates escalated over the $1000 mark. They had other stuff to do first, so they drove me home for a couple hours. At home I talked to Bruce and my roommates and we decided we would go back to try and get it out. Thanks to Bruce's engineering efforts and hours of digging, we built a road for my truck to get out on. After 3 hours, I was out.

As a reward I took them all out to dinner. They saved me a lot of money and were true friends to come out and help for so long.

Posted by wonko at 08:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 17, 2003

I'm in a rut... literally.

I went climbing today with Eric, Brandon, Deuce, and Deuces family at Clark Canyon. We did a lot of pumpy climbs and had a great time. We all went to the Tioga Mobile afterwards for gourmet food. The trouble began on the way home. We decided to try and find this shortcut to Mammoth on dirt roads. We ended up exploring all around. We went down this one, very well kept, dirt road out by Hartley Springs Campground. We just kept following this road. After this big hill the road suddenly narrowed. I stopped to figure out what we should do, go in reverse or turn around. I decided to go forward for just a little to get to a spot where the road widened and I thought we could turn around. As I gently hit the gas, the rear of the truck started to slip down the hill to our right. For the next 3-4 hours we tried everything to get the truck unstuck. Luckily, it did stop slipping down the hill, but we could getting it to go forward, and reverse was too dangerous. We tried digging under the tires to wedge rocks, building a pulley system, using a small tree as a lever. Nothing worked. We decided to walk back to the campground before it got dark. There, we went up to the first campsite we found and asked this 80yr old guy for a ride back to Mammoth.

Needless to say, my truck is still there and I'm very much hoping AAA can help me get it out in the morning. I'll keep you posted.

Posted by wonko at 09:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 15, 2003

On some hard crack!

More climbing pics from yesterday's escapades. Click Here. Bruce and I climbed American Wet Dream (5 pitches 10b), on the Mountaineers Dome in Tuolumne. A climbs rating is based on the hardest move on that climb. For that reason, you can have a 5.10d climb which is all 5.8 except for one 10d move. American Wet Dream is not one of those climbs. It was solid, old school Tuolumne 10a. Very awkward. No gimmes. There was actually only one 10b move, and it didn't seem that hard to us. Not compared to the steep, right facing wide crack climbing. Bruce lead the whole thing, with style. Only one fall on a black Alien which held. Good thing too, he had put a nut precariously in the same crack, but thought better of it and replaced it with an Alien Cam. If he had left the nut, he would have decked on the ledge I was belaying from. Part of the problem was that a lot of the rock was slippery. You just couldn't trust it. The downclimb was tricky/scary too. It involved downclimb/traversing these narrow ledges, some with water flowing down them (something we hadn't counted on). Still, most importantly, we made it up and back safe.

Posted by wonko at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 13, 2003

Tuolumne Climbing

Bruce and I went to Tuolumne Meadows today. He lead all 4 pitches of Table of Contents, a very committing 10d slab route on the Stately Pleasure Dome. We then went over to the Mountaineers Dome where I lead Darth Vader's Revenge (10a slab). See the pictures.

Posted by wonko at 12:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 12, 2003

Pictures of Mom & Dad's visit.

I took hundreds of pictures, but paired them down to a reasonable amount. Lots of pictures from all around the eastern Sierras. Click me!

Posted by wonko at 11:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 10, 2003

Back to life...

Shasta is done, which means training for Shasta is done. I've completed the all-important phase 1 of the Kittredge sysadmin stuff, and my parents came and went. Now I'm back to life trying to figure out how to balance it all out again. I've got lots more Kittredge work to do, but I can spread it out as my boss allows. I've gotta work in the store a couple days a week (though I'm gonna try and get out of that). I've got some Sarahpeutics biz to take care of, not the least of which is trying to find an agent for the book. I've gotta get my finances back in order. I've gotta get back on a moderate training schedule. I hope to go to the gym 3-4 times a week and bike ride at least 4 times a week. I'd like to get back into climbing a couple times a week as well. I've definitely gotta go backpacking a good number of times this summer as well. In fact, I'm starting to plan a solo backpacking trip in a week or so. I'd like to get some reading done this summer, as well as keeping this blog up-to-date.

Writing it all down, it seems like a lot. We'll see how much I actually get done.

Also, I've got some great pictures of Yosemite and the Sierra's from my parents visit that I need to post in the next couple days. The waterfalls are definitely raging!

Posted by wonko at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 04, 2003

Key to my dreams!

I found it! The key to my dreams! Kasei had it for a while, while we worked at the Pico office. Then, when I moved to Mammoth, he gave it back. I hadn't seen it since, but found it in a box of old desk stuff.

Now we're cooking with gas!!

Posted by wonko at 12:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 03, 2003

Shasta Pictures!

I've finally managed to go through my Shasta pictures and here they are. I also kept a journal which I will post later once I type it up.

Posted by wonko at 11:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 02, 2003

Back from Shasta: More to come.

I'm back! Yes I reached the summit. I have lots to say, but will have say it later. My old roommates, Derek and Christie, bought their own place and moved in this weekend. Simultaneously, Sarah and I are moving into their old bedroom. Two knew roommates, Eric and Brandon are moving in. This whirlwind has destroyed our apartment. I'm currently trying to put the pieces back together. More tonight or tomorrow at the latest. Plus my pictures.

Posted by wonko at 09:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack