tim

Wikipedia Hacking

2008-09-26T21:34:00.001-07:00

So much funny stuff is on there for a second and off the next. Not just blosting, but also funny agenda-pushing.

before:

a minute later:

New bike! Buy my old one, tall people!

2008-09-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

My favorite thing is my new bike.

Ride from HJF to Portland went so well and fast on this beauty.

Tall people in Portland, buy my old red 60 cm Schwinn Super Sport! A great bike!

sad

2008-08-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

moment of blog silence for the 11 folks that died on K2 this week, and for the survivors.

Fire! Fire on the Mountain!

2008-07-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I experienced wonder and awe in the presence of Vulcan.

My good climbing buddy Keith, with whom I have summited five Cascade volcanoes, invited me along on a climb of the Mazama Glacier on Mt. Adams. Adams, aka Pa-Toe/Klickitat, is situated directly north across the Columbia River from Mt. Hood (aka Wy-East). Pa-Toe has the second largest eruptive volume (surpassed only by the dazzling Shasta in Northern California) of all the Cascade volcanoes. A story is told that Pa-Toe and Wy-East (two warrior sons of Sahale, the great Spirit) strove for the love of Loowit, a beautiful maiden. Loowit proved indecisive, so the brothers grew restless and joined in battle to win her heart. Cities fell, forests burned, and love begot hate.

This saddened Sahale, and he smote the brothers and the maiden for the destruction their romantic struggle created, and their selfish betrayal of their land/people. Even in his punishment, Sahale showed his love for these three, and raised up volcanoes from their bodies where they fell. Wy-East (Hood) lifts his head in pride and gazes on the Maiden Loowit (Helens), who was a gorgeous white-capped cone until the recent eruption, while Pa-toe (Adams), a tender-hearted romantic bends his head in sorrow as he weeps over the outcome of such an event.

Thus it has since been, but the battlefield has not seen the end of death and destruction.

We arrived at Cold Springs Trailhead at the South of Pa-Toe on Saturday morning at about 8 o'clock. We took friend Mike Niemeyer's truck, leaving other vehicles at the ranger station. Taped up our feet, distributed group gear (ropes, pickets, shovels, etc.), and hit the trail. Most folks that climb this peak take the "dog-route" a gentle slope up the glaciers of the South face of the mountain. We cut East where most continue straight up the mountain, and joined the 'Round the Mountain Trail until arriving at the Sunrise camp, where we made our bivouac. Sunrise is at the base of the Mazama Glacier (our intended route) and is flanked by the ridge of wonders. Upon reaching the camp, I set up my bivy sack, ate a little food, and had a heavy but constructive conversation with Loowit, read some Moby Dick, and fell asleep early without the stomach for dinner. This day saw 6 miles of hiking with 2,000 feet of elevation gain. On the way to Sunrise camp on the RTM Trail, one is treated to the beauty of a glacial tarn, and the bluest of blue waters, sweet as can be.

After a surprisingly restful sleep, I awoke with the rest of the group at 3:00 am, packed up gear and gathered on the toe of the Mazama glacier. Put on harnesses, roped up, cramped-on, and started our ascent. At about 5:00 am, on the Eastern spine on the mountain, we noticed a delicate whisp of smoke rising from Cold Springs camp, our only exit route, and the location of our transportation. We could barely make out flames, but the size of the blaze was observably less than an acre. Concerned by the possibility of a wildfire, we tried our best to call rangers via radio and cell, but to no avail. We kept onwards, and upwards.

I passed by the site where I fell into a minor crevasse (up to waist, catching myself) last year. I knew that coming back to this route would be a little heavy, but for other reasons I was in a miserable mood, with a nonstop chatter of stress in my mind. It was good, if slow, climbing. On glacier climbs, there is a magic early morning of shooting stars, dramatic sunrises, crunching of crampons on ice and the rhythmic clank of ice axes.

At around 8:00 am, we reached the false summit of Piker's Peak (11,657'). We could once again see the fire we had last seen as a minor blaze. It had grown exponentially, reaching about 100 acres at this time. A massive column of smoke rose 3 miles high, so large in fact, that lenticular clouds were forming on top of the smoke. The fire was creating/altering weather patterns. The prevailing winds swept the smoke to the East, onto the Yakima Indian Reservation. Still, the fire was right where we knew our camp to be. Camp, and exit route/transportation. Fire planes and helicopters started to drop retardant and water on the inferno to no avail.

For whatever reason (possibly the same, unknown reason that people want to climb mountains in the first place) we headed up to the summit of the volcano after ditching our packs. Hit the summit, saw the amazing views of Rainier, Helens, Baker, Hood, Jefferson, Sisters, Stuart, and other minor peaks in the Northwest. I took a nap. Then we started our descent.

The South side of Adams is known for its amazing glissading chutes. The butts of many climbers wear slide chutes into the ice, and allow for amazing fun sliding down the mountain, using ice axe for rudder/brake. We dropped 6,000' in about 2 hours. Now we were close to the base of the glaciers on the South side, and at a loss in what to do. The fire had spread to about 400 acres by this point. over two-hundred foot tall flames were digesting the forest, turning verdant, wet, Doug Firs into match sticks in minutes. If the winds changed, the smoke alone could asphyxiate people waiting on the glacier. Up to this point, we had received no word from below.

Then word came, and the word was crazed. A woman was running up the glacier in a tank-top, Umbros, and running shoes, screaming and wailing about the carnage below. People have been overtaken by the flames. The fire is heading up the mountain. All the vehicles, the camp, and the road have been incinerated. Run for your lives, and now, back up the mountain. So upwards she ran, sliding and wailing. She was filled with the most supreme panic I have ever seen.

How to digest this? Did she just flip out? Did she get away from a growing inferno that had taken her friends? Why was she wearing such gear, with no supplies, running up the glacier? Should we climb back up? The only way to get out, and get out quick, was to head directly toward the fire. Deep breath.

This was a big situation. But it also swept away my fell mood. Death was a real possibility if something weird happened. We had extra food, but knew that unless we went towards the flames, we might have to bivouac on the glacier again, subject to changing winds and other threats. I had no control over the fire, but had a lot of control over myself. Get tactical. What would Man vs. Wild do? Probably something rash.

On that note, Keith made it clear that he was going to run ahead and search for a ranger. And so he went, running down the glacier towards the fire. We tried getting in touch with Search and Rescue and local Rangers, but only were able to get through to 911. No real good answers, but we were encouraged to head down to the RTM Trail and find a ranger. Keith was on the right tip. By now, the fire was over 500 acres and spreading. So beautiful, and terrible as the dawn. So we faced this forest of Sudden Flame, this Eryn Bragollach. Were we to fall, as Bregolas? Or flee as Finrod? Or to carry on, but suffer greater loss than death as Hurin? Or to sneak by with the skill of brave, brazen Beren?

We headed toward the flame, soon finding a ranger. She was very mellow. The fire was still growing, blocking out the sun from certain angles, visible from Portland and Seattle. The ranger told us that they were now evacuating the campsite, which was not incinerated, and the cars were in fact, unscathed. There were those that resisted the great conflagration, freeing the road of fire, doing back burns, and clearing a closed road for evacuation. We went as quickly as possible down to the camp, jumped into Mike's pickup, and headed down from the mountain. Helicopters carrying water misted us as they flew overhead (I was in the bed of the truck), and the forest told the tale of the inferno: the top two-thirds of many of the trees were incinerated, but the understory was untouched. The fire danced across the canopy in this area of heavy suppression, but the rest of the woods were not so fortunate. The fire had grown to over 600 acres by this point.

We got out and saw the fire from afar, and it was a sight to behold. This massive volcano was dwarfed by the smoke. Flames were visible from miles away. And that woman was still on the mountain, somewhere, spreading panic amongst the host still on the peak.

Heavy. But liberating. And so beautiful.

As of this morning, the fire has spread to over 7,600 acres (~ sq. miles), the biggest fire in the area in decades. The fire is at 18% containment. There are no reported injuries or fatalities, and the cause is assumed to be lightning and beetle-killed timber.

Wonder and awe. Completely incredible. So scary.

Now With More Bragging!

2008-07-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

Scott Storch is good at what he does. From new Clipse due later this year. Label drama came to an end.

"Fast Life"

Pusha T:
"I 3D it,
If I say it you can see it,
no red and blue lenses needed"

Terrence McKenna:
"...And in fact, this is what is happening in the psychedelic experience. There we discover, just under the surface of human biological organization, the next level in the organization of language: the ability to generate some kind of acoustical hologram that is manipulated by linguistic intent."

Why doesn't anyone talk about Cynthia McKinney?

2008-06-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

(A) Green Party Presidential Candidate. I would maybe vote for her. The only candidate so far that has really impressed me. She had a great interview on DNow a while back.

Sum-r-here!

2008-06-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Other cool things!

1.5 yrs ago in Salem, OR, I was at the Humane Society Thrift Store. After rummaging through the bins of used puppies and cats, I found a gas powered compost shredder. Butter. So awesome. Better sleep on it, it is 15 whole dollars. Came back the next day, fucker sold. Why is that implement so cool? Why have I regretted not buying that for over a year? Because it helps you turn out the dankest compost ever. More surface area, quicker decomposition, less smell, finer grade end-product, ability to use things like blackberry canes, chop watermelon rind, bananas, everything. It is just good.

Fast forward to almost today. Got a 2.5 HP electric shredder (almost as pictured):

for $50 off Craig. Shredded the entire compost pile and it lets me sleep easier at night knowing that there are not pieces of straw longer than 1.5 inches. I am so excited about the prospects of even better fertilizer. This compost system here has been better and more productive than any I have had before. I credit Dr. Earth's compost starter, red wigglers from Pistils, turning it every other day, chicken shit, and burdock leaves.

Other conspicuous consumption!

I bought this amazingly pretty Hujsak (Hee-sock) 61 cm bike frame. Retiring my red bike. Feel wierd about it, like I don't really need a new bike. I was taking lovely 30 mile rides in Salem every weekend (not spent climbing) last year, plus a 175 mile trip and that bike served me fine. Its only 5 years old. Built it for $450. I am inspired to sell it for what I can get, while the fixed-gear-backlash is in full swing. I am comforted knowing that all of my bike friends have bought and gone through several bikes in the time of my owning the old red bike. I can treat myself too. Catholic guilt.

Gonna get it powder coated! Yellow! Got some wheels! Brakes! Campy! Fancy! Shooting for keeping costs under $500! The frame builder is cool, high-end, and helpful to this day. It is steel. I love it.

Sterling, would I that you were a Hen.

2008-06-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

He's the cutest and sweetest. He mainly likes to perch on your shoulders, nuzzle his face under your ear or hair. This manouvre he must redo often, which makes it sweeter. He also climbs onto you and sleeps in your hoodie pocket, tail-out. Trilling noises. He has my heart, but alas, will be crowing all the time soon. His special chicken breed is Self-Blue Old English.

Today I get to go to Cascade Surplus Electronics in Gresham. Sounds bad for one big reason (greeesh) but I have been ordering from this place since living in Tivoli. Full circle. They have the bomber deals on DPDT stomp switches.

I am seriously considering building a new bike. I found a fancy handmade steel frame on Craigslist. I think it could really be a near-zero investment, selling my old (3 yrs young) bike. The builder is Hujsak (built the bike that broke the bike speed record(+153 mph drafting a race car)), and his new frames are like $1,200+, this dude wants 250. Seems real. Seems weird. Money is the weirdest.

It's been a long time...

2008-05-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

Portland rules.

House is so awesome.

Here are a few pictures courtesy of Adam and his big digital camera!

Chicken Coop:

My friend Rachel:

Me and Lady Clucksly:

Our Front Yard. We are continually removing more concrete to plant more food.

Our backyard:

Adam takes good pictures. Jonah takes good stuff.

I went up Mt. Hood with my friend Keith Hill the day before last. It was deep. It was just us two, after leaving a third party on the Palmer Glacier due to insufficient conditioning/experience/etc.

We made such good time. Left the parking lot at 2:15 AM, hit the Hogsback and started up the Pearly Gates variant before the sun was hitting the cauldera. This was my first time with the Pearly Gates. So fun. Crossing the bergschrund was cool. One nice blind corner move with some nasty exposure. THen while making our way up 60 degree ice, we found all the rime ice to dissolve into nothingness and leave us with exposed rock. This led to some very cool mixed climbing (crampons on rock nubbins, stemming against 3 ft wide chute icewalls). Then we topped out at 9 am, with the best weather possible. Ate a cookie, then descended unroped via the Old Chute. I was feeling so fit and confident and coordinated. It was great. Surrender and relaxation and experience.

Since we were heading down so early, we were able to glissade 3/4ths of the way back to the car. This meant over 5,000 vertical feet descended in about 2 hrs. Ideal. (Glissading is just sliding down a glacier on your butt with your ice axe as a rudder/brake).

Here are some highlights.

This is at the top of the Pearly Gates route. Not very good to detail the route, but pretty.

Summit picture with Keith "King of the" Hill. The bulge in my jacket is my very very frozen waterbottle. Or a gun.

Summit Shoutouts!!

Hood Shoutouts from B8D8X9D on Vimeo.

Ken Burns effect Attempt:

Hood Ken Burns Attempt from B8D8X9D on Vimeo.

Thats kindof it for now.

hustle

2008-03-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

So busy, so fun.

I started a cleaning business called Petal Power Cleaning. All natural foodstuff cleaning agents, bike driven. I charge $20 an hour and pull in handsome tips. Cash in my pocket, friendly kindof paper.

I have been remodeling a property in southeast PDX. Refinishing the wood floor, installing wood floor, tile, grout, painting, cleaning, sanding.

I have been working at Pistils Nursery. So fun.

We have six chickens. Two Ameraucana, two Buff Orpingtons, one golden laced Wyandotte, and a Black Australorps. Rachel, Fiona, (aldous) Cluxley, Owlsley, Sam Peck'n'Paw, and Kestrel. So cute, so smart, only 3.5 weeks old and so big.

I put more finishing touches on my basement cave. Routed heating in, put up 12 well places rock jugs for some extreme bouldering (non rated). Built a cold frame outside my window with lots of great starts in it.

Brigette is here with big Lupe the Fiasco. Puppy.

Just finished a fancy 200 ultrabright white led sign for Ras Jona Bechtoldt. Check it/him/them out on the tour with fancy Vampire Weekend. It is so bright it hurts to look at. I love it.

Gonna get internet soon for real.

hustle tires you out then you remember that you love it. and that you should onl spend time doing things you love, even if you just love them a little bit. and make friendly paper while doing it.

Important!

2008-02-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

Thank Dionysis (or Hades, or Hermes, not sure which is the appropriate god of cocaine hustling/rapping about the activity)! The ReUp movement has delivered another scorching mix tape in the form of We Got it 4 Cheap Volume 3: The Spirit of Competition (We Just Think We Better). Featuring Pusha T (AKA Brick James), Malice (with the former Pusha comprises the Clipse), Sandman (AKA Fat Dad), and Ab Liva (Chilly Willy calls him 'The Monk,' I call him 'The Chosen One.' The man who would be king. Currently my favorite MC). DJ Drama warming the block, or whatever.

They offer all three amazing mix tapes for free. You get it for free. Why are these dudes so appealing? They seem so nice. They are smart. They are funny. They seem to care about their fans a lot. They tote glocks in pairs; they are the ghetto Noahs. Get the fuck familiar, however, Clinton Sparks in not on the cuts of this tape.

Archive Issues

2008-02-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

So it seems that the archives from the old template will show up as wierd 1995 era html. Oh well for now. Trying!

Driving is scary and fun

2007-12-29T12:39:00.000-08:00

I made it across country, thanks to craigslist, friends, and the public buses of the northeast. I rode with my now good friend Mark from Seattle to Pittsburgh.

I met Mark on a wednesday (assassinated on friday) for coffee and quickly determined that he was not a creep. He was in fact, one of the kindest, most beautiful people I have ever met. Both in monetary generosity (paid for all the gas, tolls, and hotels) as well as straight up personal generosity. He called to make sure I was safe after we split in Pittsburgh, and helped return my laptop charger to me from indiana. Amazing dude. My little 14 year old cousin heard that I rode with some dude I didn't know and exclaimed,"But he could have been a tranny!!" Not the case. We took the high road. From Seattle through Snoqualmie Pass, through Montana, N. Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Possible the most brutal weather route we could have taken. We were driving a Budget Moving van, like this one:

It was a complete whiteout blizzard from Snoqualmie Pass to Indiana. For real. A few breaks in Dakota, but after hearing baout the pending Lakota independence, we were ill at ease with the threat of attacks (But for real, check that out. Of course it is not being reported/well). Montana takes forever to drive across. Upon entering the city limits of Bozeman, MT, we were greeted with the full power of this armed and operational highway system in a blizzard. Fire at will, God! I was driving. Going like 65 MPH in the right lane of the... well here's this shittily made flash animation i made in a few mintues after getting into the hotel room in bozeman.

Here's the text account. I was going 65 in the right lane of the eastbound highway. The road looked way clearer than everywhere else we had driven that day. So far on the ride, we saw jacknifed semis that we had to drive around, flipped cars in the median, and lots of ambulances. Cars were ppassing me. Play it cool, Tim. If any of you have not driven with me before, I am a terrified driver, slow, cautious, and maybe a little haphazard. This time, I was just slow and careful. But nonetheless, all of a sudden the van does a 90 degree turn, flips onto two wheels, and then just as fast does another 90 degree turn. I get way tactical, cut the wheel and slam us down onto all four wheels, but now we are going backwards down the highway at 65 mph. Then we careen across the median (a 8 foot deep, 30 foot wide snow covered ditch) and into the lane of westbound traffic. My foot is firmly slammed on the brake, while I try to see out the sideviews to assess the situation. We stop just in time. In fact, we spun out and almost died just in time; one secnod before and we would have been creamed by oncoming cars, one second after and we would have flown off a 30 foot bridge. It was a shaky experience, but at no time did I think I was going to die. Idi Amin said he knew when he would die, I just knew it wasnt then.

From then on out, it was easy. We got to Pittsburgh on the 4th day. I found a ride on craigslist the day before, with an amazing woman named Carolyn. She was driving to the Hudson Valley. Why? To house sit for Bob Bielecki of course! Friends with lke a million friends of mine, MFA student at CMU. She took me as far at the Kingston Rhinecliff bridge. From there I hiked the 7 miles to Red Hook and stayed with Paige Meade and Chris Rice. The next day, I hitched a ride with friend Tristan to Albany. From there I took a bus to Dover New Hampshire, where my mother picked me up. 5 days, 3162 miles, and cost me about 75 bucks. It would have been cheaper, but the last of my food stamps were spent on road trip food demolished by "friends," so I had to use like $15 USD to replace it, plus I took the bus to NH from Albany. I am pleased with the journey.

The lost ode to Craigslist Rideshare

2007-12-19T16:51:00.000-08:00

I am veritably broke. I have been self employed-ish doing tutoring gigs around town, trying to make it a bit more legit for myself. We'll see how that works out. The main prongs in this attack are: petal power cleaning service, lasercave ltd custom ethical effects pedals and dry goods, and tutoring. Sounds reasonable.

Anyhow, I have little to no money, but would very much like to visit the parents in PA and NH, and other homies on the east coast. I had planned to buy a plane ticket back in early December, but was waiting for an interested party to confirm driving to PDX from SLC for a NYE Mt. Hood climb. I waited too long, shit got expensive, homie flaked out, and I found a ride from Seattle to Pittsburgh for free on Craigslist.

Seattle to Pittsburgh for free. Interesting. I leave tomorrow morning. I have food (that which remains from a savage attack by Brodskian hunger daemons), $32 iPod touch (not a typo, works perfectly), several audiobooks:

Songs of Innocence and Experience - W. Blake

Call of the Wild - J. London

Ozymandias of Egypt - P.B. Shelley

Adventures of Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll

Common Sense - T. Paine (hehe)

Mountains of California - J. Muir

Kubla Khan - S.T. Coleridge

and a feeling that this will be fun and enriching. Met the driver yesterday. He's a nice guy, not a creep. Exciting. Craigslist, you are amazing. People who care on the east coast, I should be there in a few days.

Ode to Craigslist Rideshare

2007-11-26T11:42:00.001-08:00

I do not mean to presume this to be in league with the honorariums of Pindar, but the feats, virtues, and heroism of Craigslist mustn't remain unsung any longer.

Case #1: Wake up at 9 am at the farm. Make some eggs, toast, stretch on Sue's nice foam back things. Go for a walkabout, eat an apple. Log onto craigslist and find a ride that offered to pick us up from the farm at 2 pm. This changed to us meeting him at an exit and at 4 pm. Anyhow, no fuss, cool dude, and made new friend named Memo. Took us to PDX for $10 as opposed to $30 via train/hound.

Case #2: Decide to go visit Brigette at 2 am. Post wanted ride on PDX CL, go to sleep. Wake up at 10:30 the next morning, missed 2 calls and 4 emails offering rides. Got to weed through them (for instance, dude that wanted a dedicated j roller and music selector for a copilot obviously didn't respond, in fact got and email from him today blaming his lack of communication on binge drinking. For the best. Also, dude who kept coming on to me and alluding to staying over in a motel with him to help him relive days gone by as a dirty old man...didn't make the cut)

I left on Saturday at 6:00 pm from the new house. The ride from PDX to SLC usually takes 12 hours. This time it took 23. I pitched in $50 that I don't really have towards gasoline. He (Giahau Liu) initially told me I would be riding in the back of his 250,000 mile 1970 Mitsubishi pickup, but then changed his mind and let me ride in the cramped cab. We drove for 6 hours, taking 5 stops for rest in that time. He didn't speak much English, but was good conversation and we laughed at each other a lot and got on really well. He was born in Canton, moved to the states 26 yrs ago, currently works as an electrical engineer. He is 45. He was coming to SLC because he couldn't find any work in PDX.

"You had turkey?"
"No, I had two great Thanksgivings, but no turkey...I don't eat meat."
"OHHH! You are peace green guy 1969!!! HAHAHAHAHA"

"You are liberal?"
"Sure, I guess so."
"I saw Inconvenient Truth. I think it is the truth. Everyday...we reach into the future."

After 6 hrs of drving, we stopped at a Roady's truck stop.

"Come in, come in! I find a place. I am too tired."

We go inside and sneak into the CDL/truckers only lounge, and find an empty TV room. We turn off the lights and close the door, and take a 7 hour nap. This is in Baker City, OR. Then we get up, hit the road. Giahau doesn't drive (nor does the truck permit anything else) faster than 65 the entire way. I like that. Driving is scary, 65 is fast enough.

We then stopped to take breaks every hour or every other hour. Intense drive. Didn't listen to the radio except for the hour that I drove. Listened to Selected Shorts, a reading of Joseph Conrad's "The Initiation." A tale that used the term "ejaculate" to describe yelling, talked about seamen walking on the poop and ejaculating their disdain. Giahau didn't pick up on the giggles. So pretty though...desert covered in snow. I saw a live red fox and a dead baby fox that was so cute. Disney cute. I wish there were two and I would have tried to tan them and make the cutest slippers or biking gloves.

Anything you want is on craigslist. Why take mass transit far distances? It is way more expensive, shittier, and less exciting. To not use the rideshare is to be lame. To complain about not having a ride somewhere is to be a lazy whiner. CL rideshare git's r. I am now in Utah. Found a ride back even, I think.

Gwoing, Gwoing, Gwan

2007-11-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

New House!

Deserves its own post with pictures.

Extremely positive.

Got EEG, ear clip electrodes, now just waiting on the scalp electrodes and conductive paste.

Get to go to Utah to visit this chola brava:

a word from tom robbins

2007-11-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

Thoughts on Lilly

Sometime in the sixties, the term "far out" acquired a positive connotation. It still meant something or someone removed from the mainstream, but in those exploratory, innovative times that had come to be an accolade rather than an insult. In the context, then, I regarded Dr. John Lilly as the most "far out" person on the planet. Seeming to operate with absolute fearlessness, he allowed his massive intellect and consummate erudition to carry him from one frontier, one edge after another, regardless of the psychological and even physical risks involved. And like the god Hermes, who must have been his personal deity, he brought things back from out beyond the boundaries, gave them back to us, and wryly observed the way they changed our lives. If the changes were controversial, so much the better. Every bit as much as he loved the truth, and was willing to go to any lengths to pursue it, he also loved the thrill of dropping those truths like cherry bombs into the tepid punchbowl of polite science. I'd like to think that somewhere, in another dimension perhaps, this great man is astride a dolphin, leaping over paradigm and convention, riding headlong and joyfully into some ultimate Ultimate where he, more than any man I've ever known, will feel completely at home.

Master's Cleanse: Day 4

2007-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

I feel great. I feel energetic. I feel light and I have been passing some semi-rope like objects. However, I could not ride my bike for long without my legs cramping up and getting too tired. I broke the fast with chanterelle miso soup and toast. The toast was the real treat.

Master's Cleanse

2007-11-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Day 2.

Feel good. People are far too bossy with how you should fast and such. There seem to be a million different canonical right ways. The lemonade is delicious. Jonah and Zach are doing it too. I think that my sense of smell has been boosted. Smelled the best smelling lasagna I have ever encountered from the street in front of someones house.

I plan to go back the the sensory deprivation tank soon. First time was amazing. So dark, buoyant, quiet. But also a good amount of brain lights and the overwhelming cacophony of your breath and heartbeat. Feeling of swirling around in a giant tank, while in a 3 ft x 7 ft tub. Such an amazing resource. Can't recommend a float to enough people. It cuts through the physical nags usually encountered in sitting zazen for instance, and goes right to a calmer state of no-mind. There is so much interesting work to be done in there. What did Richard Feynman like about them?

I hope to keep going another few days. I got way pooped riding my bike around, and should that keep up I think I will end it. Pooping my brains out in the morning is great, however.

Joel Kovel on Democracy Now!

2007-10-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hometown favorite cranky Marxist Joel Kovel is interviewed on Monday, October 29th's broadcast of DNow!

A few months ago, Joel's new book, "Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine" was dropped for distribution by the University of Michigan Press, due to allegations of hate speech by right wing special interest groups. This is a big step towards a broader discourse on Israeli/Palestinian resolution in the US.

Joel is pretty well spoken on the show. He interjects lots of "yeahs" and "rights," but enunciates and does a nice job.

I have not been blogging as much as I should like.

My camera broke in a deep way.

I was in Utah for a month, now I am in Portland. So many friends are out here and I am so happy to be here, so sad not to be in Utah. Need to unite the worlds.

Trying to redesign this site so it is prettier and more easily navigable. Hard to make color choices as a colorblind dude.

Just had a really promising interview for a woodworking apprenticeship with a master boat builder/restorer. But it is a one year committment, and I dunno if I will even be here in two weeks. All forces are operating at their maximum, positive and negative, no stagnacy.

In great news, I made a work trade with a sensory deprivation chamber center in town. It is Common Ground Floatation Center on Everett. It is sweet. I hope to float this week.

love
tim

Tactical Recon: Tim and Jade Visit Tahoma

2007-09-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday:

3:45 pm - Tim arrives at Helsing Junction Farm. Jade is packing boxes. Should we leave tonight? Seems like so much work. None of the safety gear Tim ordered arrived in Salem on time. Can we still go? We have to go shopping? Let's just j and go tomorrow.
4:15 pm - Jade finishes work. Lewd comments thrown at Tim from los vattos and las vattettes.
4:30 pm - No wait, let's go tonight. Any time that we're furthur away from that mountain than we should be, we are doing something wrong. Do we need a campsite?
5:00 pm - Packing frenzy.
6:30 pm - Olympia. Go to Alpine Experience. Purchase a picket, a sling, 2 'biners, a pair of glasses, fuel can, and Tim rents crampons. Tim's usual pair only fits on his plastic mountaineering boots, which are 2 sizes too big and cut his shins.
6:45 pm - Order large pizza at Old School, with minced garlic, olives, and broccoli on top. (Aside: we were kicked out of the resteraunt with like 4 other lasercavers weeks before, but that was pilot error, not to be reflected on the quality of the pizza at this rare beacon of pizzalegitimacy in the NW).
7:00 pm - Buy $46 USD of food supplies at the coop. 3 bars dark chocolate, two packages soy jerky, one avocado, one package savory baked tofu, bag of trail mix, bag of oatmeal, bottle of agave nectar, earl grey tea, three boxes of Annie's mac and cheese, one block sharp chedder, one block (???), 3 cookies. Appears that the cracker scene is rather unacceptable. Will pick up some crackers enroute to the peak.
7:30 pm - pick up 'za from Old School. Hit the road, put on Clipse, thick J, then eat the entire large.
8:45 pm - pick up crackers in Puyallup. One box Stoned Wheet Grins, one bag Sourdough Rye Crisps. J.
10:00 pm - Arrive at Mount Rainier National Park, White River Entrance. Enter. Find campsite. J. Sleep.

Thursday

9:00 am - Late wakeup. Go to ranger, sign climber's registry, get some info on the ice conditions, routes, and weather.
10:00 am - Pack, begin hiking. 4,500 ft.

1:00 pm - 7,000 ft. First step onto the Inter Glacier. Rope up, put on harnesses, helmets, and cramp em on.

3:00 pm - 8,000 ft. One of Tim's feet fall through while crossing a snow bridge over big crevasse. Pulls himself up; Jade instantly falls into tactical self-arrest/belay position. Confidence is good.
5:00 pm - 9,000 ft. Jumped over some sketchy 4 ft wide crevasses, made it to a very passable section on the Inter.

6:00 pm - Off the glacier. Onto the scree at the foot of Steamboat Prow. Jade's feet are cut up and blistered. There have been about 8 sunsets/sunrises so far with the ball of fire retreating and revealing itself from behind ridgelines.
7:00 pm - Top of Steamboat Prow, approx 10,000. How do we get down? Sketchy-ass scree slope, with some 4/5th class downclimbing with 50 lb packs on. Not very fun.
7:30 pm - Arrive at Camp Shurman, 9,500 ft. Set up tent, guy down the fly. A painfully beautiful dusk. The sun setting behind the mountain projects a shadow of Tahoma miles and miles away on the horizon. Jade falls asleep instantly. Not hungry. Tim cooks dinner (Tasty Bites rice and Dahl, 3 pkgs). Wakes up Jade to get jade. Look at the shadow!

Here is a panorama of the mountain from Camp Schurman. On the left, the jagged brutal rock is Little Tahoma peak. In the middle you can see the spit of scree on which camp is made. Click to visit the big size version.

8:30 pm - Tim hears a mouse outside and reacts too extremely, jostling Jade awake. Jade has slept off his headache, fatigue, and lack of appetite through Medical and sleep. Clean up and rejay, back to sleep.

Friday

10:00 am - What the fuck? How did we sleep in so much? So good. This day was decidedly untactical. Planned as the acclimatization day, so we just melted snow, organized gear, Jay Glacier, talked with folks at camp. There are two polar explorers up here. One is leading a trip across Antarctica to the South Pole via kite sleds. If you are interested, it is $60,000USD per team member. Lots of eating, pretty much nonstop. Man, we should really go walk the route, it is daytime. Yeah we should. We do not. Look for the circled human forms on Emmons glacier in the second picture down.

6:00 pm - bedtime.

Saturday

00:30 hrs - it's 12:30 am, lets wake up. Melt some snow, make a cuppa, organize the rope, and get ready.
03:30 hrs - Turns out it was actually not 12:30.
03:31 hrs - Begin tactical ascent. Damn anolog watches. Anyway, gear up and start heading up the Emmon's Glacier. Follow the footprints as best we can. Man we should have walked the route in daylight. No moon to speak of, save a sliver of orange glow from the east. The ice cracks under Tim's ice axe as he tests his footing. Morale is wavering. Basically, the route is just a spit of ice in the midst of a clusterfuck crevasse field.
04:00 hrs - Shit. Fuck. What's up man? I forgot my backpack. Jade forgot his backpack. Morale is crushed.
04:01 hrs - Back down the glacier, retrieve pack, head back up. Set a picket, prepare to cross a nasty crevasse. The ice is creaking and groaning under our feet. The picket may have poked through underneath, the way it resisted going in until popping through the snow with ease. The ice is terrible. No one climbs Rainier in the fall, because the ice is terrible and the route is gone.
04:15 hrs - Begin tactical retreat. We should have walked the route. Why didn't we? This is dangerous.
04:20 hrs - Jay Glacier.
04:35 hrs - Morale is soaring. Bed.

Saturday

10:00 am - Wake up. Oatmeal until we are sick.
11:00 am - Explore the Emmons glacier in the sun. What were we thinking? This mountain will always be here, maybe not in this form, however.
12:30 pm - Climb up Steamboat Prow. Tim almost dies, Jade does not. Lots of large rocks falling.

1:30 pm - Reach the top of the Inter glacier. Begin descent

4:00 pm - Bottom of the Inter glacier. Quick, fun descent. Finish out the hike through the wind/rain-swept glacial basin and head back to the car, then Olympia.
7:00 pm - Tim scores free rental at Alpine Experience 'cause he got two left footed crampons from them.
7:30 pm -Another large pizza at Old School. Then to Olympis Welfare Rights party, where two smaller pizzas were eaten. Also many desserts.

Best time.
Jade and Tim

hecticfrenzy

2007-09-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

computer: lost three keys in 3 days. spacebar broken.

news: jade's dvd will be printed soon
lasercave will become a business
powernap 7 inch
moving to portland
finishing job for real
farm fest was incredible, overwhelming
going to climb rainier with jade
picked lobster mushrooms and ate them
rode bike from salem to washington
going to new hampshire
going to utah
going to make mind over matter matrix mastery machine with jonah

live

2007-07-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

summer is in full swing. i went on a climb of mount adams via the mazama glacier but forgot my camera. it was awesome. i fell up to my hip into a crevasse and that was cool. then i went to what the heck fest. then visited oakstone permaculture center. then went on a five day hike/approach + climb of glacier peak in the north cascades. most beautiful place. drink from all the streams. saw a golden eagle. lots of marmots. feel good but crazy. tired. forgot my camera that time too. it is summer, hard to blog when it is nice out!

project success!

2007-06-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

while many projects linger in limbo, it feels nice to start and finish a project in a weekend. i want to move my shit up to washington later on. i need a bike trailer. plans are available for a very kind bamboo trailer from Carry Freedom.

i put an ad on craigslist looking for bamboo. i got a reply very quickly. dude has been growing some timber bamboo. he also has a 100 ft doug fir rotting in his back yard, too afraid to cut it down as it will likely take out some structures. so he's been shooting it with his 30-06, trying to chunk off upper parts of the tree, to fell it later. his llama also attacked me, i had to hit its legs (secret vulnerable spot, the front legs only though) to beat it away.

so anyhow, here's the resulting trailer. it tracks beautifully, hauled 50 lbs with no problem. suggested maximum is 250 lbs. i plan to cut a big piece of canvas to stretch inside the frame and make a basket. maybe with speed holes. this trailer is so light.

cost:
2 used bike wheels+tubes and tires=$40
shitload of bamboo=$5
sheet metal, drill bit, twine, bolts=$10

this could have been made much cheaper. it should be. i tried liberating the hardware from home depot, but was borrowing a car for the tac. got out to the car, key in ignition, alarm goes off. car refuses to respond. had to go back into hd, pay for the ten spot of goods if the fools were hip to me but just too slow. then use their phone. such a failure of a mission in many ways.

aearth magicks

2007-06-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday I was working on one of the community gardens and decided to come home for lunch. While at home, I checked my email to see what time people were going to head down to Mts. Thielson and Bailey (replacement for a rained-out Mt. Baker climb). My only ride turned out to be in the bed of Keith's pickup truck, and it was coming in an hour. Frantic pack session. Good to go.

Five hours later, and wow, totally awesome area. We camped at Diamond Lake, sandwiched between Mt Thielson (9,182 ft) and Mt Bailey (8,368 ft), in view of Crater Lake, aka Mt Mazama RIP.

Mount Thielson is a pretty mountain covered in nasty scree and dinner plate rocks that you end up surfing on and knocking downhill, potentially maiming your friends. Really, I was hit by the vibe of Frodo and Samwise sliding down the rocks at the gates of Mordor near the racist evil men everytime we had rocks fall. It was a fun scramble nonetheless.

The summit plug is a fun rock climb, and an awesome little rappel opportunity.

Thielson is the most lightning-struck volcano in the Cascade chain. The summit has lots of melty rock.

Pretty sheer drop.

After the hike down, we snuck in showers (since I fled so abruptly on Friday, my arms were still covered in horse manure plaster for a cab bench I made with some friends, shower was cool. Maybe the 4th shower I've had since last year, after going shower-vegan). At the campsite, while wandering about, I was hit by the notion to cut through the trees back to my tent. In my way stood two beautiful Morels. I gasped deeply and audibly. Then I picked them and founds several others. Morels+leftover potato and garlic soup mix=amazing meal.

Then I found more the next day, when we climbed Mt Bailey.

Anyone who knows my voting records remembers that I have always been in favor of more l's.

We found a natural arch, made likely in the past year or few in the Basalt.

I look huge in that picture, like Giant Man huge.

How does a tree fall like this?

Wildflowers and butterflies on the summit, for real.

Oh, and check out this ungodly large panorama from Bailey. Very large, fun to explore. Climbing is the funnest thing ever and other things are not as fun at all.