The Silver Lining

Longs Peak Report - Loft Route

To climb the loft rout from the longs peak trail head go as if you are going to Chasm lake(don't take the Jim's Grove turn off). At the ranger station and the outhouse just before Chasm look to your left for a grassy hill with a stream and water fall above it. Climb up to the grassy landing and look for a faint trail and then carons. From this point make sure you follow the carons and stay on the left of the stream/water fall. If the trail neer the top leads you right next to or through the water fall(depending on how much water is running) you are on the right track. The benches can be seen in the group picture. It is the green looking rock face on the upper left of the picture. The benches are small ledges that zig/zag up the face of that rock. At the top of that follow the carons up a gradual to steep incline to the top of the loft. The water that runs under the rocks on the loft comes from a natural spring and is safe to drink. Once on the loft stop following the carons or you will take a longer and harder rout below clarks arrow. Look for a rock that has a "baby bottle nipple" to the far right(north) and go just above that rock. See if you can see it in the next picture:

The next section I didn't get any pictures of because it is the place where the path becomes much harder. If I got a chance to stop I just rested or drank water. Pictures can be seen on Michael's Picasa Web Album. After you descend the truly dificult part of the climb to clarks arrow you start the final uphill climb to the Home Streach. This section is full of medium sized loose rocks. Even though there are not that many people on the rout(4 others that day besides us that we saw) it is verry dangerous to send a rock down the mountian. Our group knocked down one rather large rock and several smaller ones. You are now climbing in a coulor next to the noch. Besides the falling rocks this is not a verry dificult section. You will stay on the right side for most of it and cut accross to the left when the coulor goes hard right. At this point climb up to the home streach and get in line with the tons of people comming up from the keyhole. When downclimbing try to follow your previous rout exactly. Make sure you hang left down the coulor and keep a sharp eye out for clarks arrow.

This truly is a secial rout that is fairly unknown. Not only does it contain breath taking vews and rock formations it is enjoyable because of the lack of people that take the rout.

Finaly I took a panaramic shot on top of the loft showing Meeker on the left and the start of clarks arrow on the right. Click on it for the full picture.


Special thanks to our guide Taunya who shared her experience and knolege of the rout, and to Ryan Morgan for helping me with some of the harder parts of this climb. And finaly for the great group we had. It was a blast. I hope to climb this rout again soon.

Inflation You Can Believe In

Who said he wasn't an empty suit?

USS New York - REAL

Motto: Never Forget

Website for the ship:
http://www.ussnewyork.com/

The article came from this AP story:
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/04/Worldandnation/Navy_ship_with_WTC_st.shtml

You can see an image of the steel workers preparing the metal for the ship:
http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=44918

Real or Fake? - USS New York

Please vote and/or comment before using Google.

With a year to go before it even touches the water, the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS New York has already made history - twice. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center, and it survived Hurricane Katrina.

That combination of disasters gives the ship a unique standing among the 500 or so Avondale, La., shipyard workers building it, said Tony Quaglino, a crane superintendent who postponed retirement to have a hand in the New York's construction. "I think Katrina made us more aware of the tragedy in New York," said the 66-year-old Quaglino. "One was manmade, one was natural, but they're both a common bond."

The New York is about 45 percent complete and should be ready for launch in mid 2007. Katrina disrupted construction when it pounded the Gulf Coast, but the 684-foot vessel escaped serious damage and workers were back at the yard near New Orleans two weeks after the storm.

The ship led many of the yard's thousands of workers to return to the job even though hundreds lost their homes, Quaglino and others said.

Northrop Grumman employed 6,500 at Avondale before Katrina. Today, roughly 5,500 are back, working on the New York and three other vessels. More than 200 employees who lost their homes to Katrina are living at the shipyard, some on a Navy barge and others in bunk-style housing.

posting html code in your blog post...

after my last post some of you are saying... how did he post that html code?

well with html in order to post on blogspot the <code> tags do not work so you have to encode each character. for example < is the same as &lt;

I found a real cool website that will encode your html for you:
http://centricle.com/tools/html-entities/

enjoy.

Blog Icons...

Devon asked me how I had changed my icon by the address bar. I had no idea since it just showed the blogger icon on my computer. This is the icon he saw:







and this is what it showed on my computer:







Up to the challenge I went online looking for how to change it and I found this instruction:

That blogspot icon is what know as HTML favorite icon. To change it just put this code in your html template.
<head>
.
.
<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="/some/location/favicon.ico" >
.
.
</head>

Then I created my own image and uploaded it at http://imageshack.us :

















Hope that helps Devon :D

Rally Report

Today at the FOX31 building down town Schaffer and Udall filmed a debate that will air next Sunday on fox. Two hours before the debate started I went down town and joined a predebate rally. It was more like a two hour shouting match between us and the Udall people for a couple hours.

It was great fun. We yelled things like... Drill Here, Drill Now - People before trees - Beat Him Again Bob - U-turn (Udall)

They chanted things like Udall is our man, If he can't win, no one can - Senator(u-turn) Udall - and other things that meant nothing...


What I was wondering is if you guys had any great ideas for chants for rallies to come. Maybe something that had to do with gas prices.

I thought of this one on my way home:

Vote for pain at the pump, Vote for Udall the chump.

I got it started... give us your ideas on any topic... war, taxes, lying, etc

Be not Ashamed, God is not Mocked

A powerful message that dad showed us tonight that has not only convicted me but clarified a lot of questions that have been in my mind. I hope it does as much good for you as it did for me.

Longs Peak Climb - Aug 9th - Loft Rout

Date: August 9, 2008

Difficulty: class 3 (scrambling)
Summit Elevation: 14,255ft
Trailhead Elevation: 9,400ft
Elevation Gain: 5,300ft
Round Trip Length: 13 mi

Every one who is up to the climb is invited. We only have so many seats in our van so if you want to get a ride up with us get in touch soon.

We have always wanted to do this climb, but were held back by the fact that it is not well marked. A real nice person at my dad's work who knows the rout has offered to guide a trip up this rout. It will be a challenge and is not for the faint of heart.

The RED line is the Loft Rout.
The PURPLE is the Keyhole Rout.
The BLUE is a class 4 variation.
YELLOW is a couloir for Skiing when covered with snow.
( http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4230&parmpeak=Longs+Peak&cpgm=tripmain )

My Brother's new get-out-of-school Plan

After I saw what he was planing on passing out with our phone number on it... well... I had to fix it. He was thrilled with what it looks like now... His next mission is getting mom to let him leave the house. Until he get's his school done... he can't shovel refuse. What a incentive?

Fist Bumping in the Oval Office

RUSH: The New Yorker magazine has a cover out, and of course Obama and his side are going nuts. Now, the New Yorker is a bunch of socialists, a bunch of libs. I have the cover of The New Yorker, and it's a satire making fun of the way some of the right wing supposedly thinks about Obama. It's got Obama dressed up like Mohammed, with a big white turban and sandals and so forth, and his wife, Michelle (My Belle), is a big afro-haired terrorist with an AK-47 or something slung over her shoulder and they're doing the fist bump in the Oval Office, and the flag is burning in the fireplace and so forth. A photo of Bin Laden, that's right, a photo of Osama Bin Laden is over the fireplace while the flag is burning.

So the Obama campaign's going nuts about this. The Democrat Party is going nuts about this. Man, these people cannot take it. They just cannot take it. I mean, the New Yorker, here we have a bunch of liberals and they're having to explain the fact that people don't understand this is satire. See, liberals have no sense of humor. But here's the thing about humor, the thing I've always said, keep in mind who's doing this, folks, the New Yorker. These are rock-solid liberals here. Now, all good comedy has to have an element of truth in it or it isn't funny, and the Obama people are saying that this isn't funny. Some of the ways George W. Bush has been caricatured over the term of his eight years or Condoleezza Rice or whatever, I mean these people need to grow up out there.

IBLP Conferance

I was encouraged and convicted over many things from the IBLP conference.
One great thing that I was encouraged to do is assign a person as a "prayer target" who I would pray for when I am tempted to sin in a certain way.

I was also encouraged to memorize. But not just memorize scripture but the meditate on it. Instead of listening to the radio on my way into and from work I am going to work on memorizing.

I also really enjoyed playing hockey with you all and I hope we can do it again. Who would be available to play before the next Bible study for an hour?

No scooter...

My uncle and I went to buy the scooter on Friday last week and the dealership tried to add $400 or so in "freight charges, dealer fees, set up, etc" so he took his deposit back and left.

He is also on the verge of selling the business also so as of right now I'm driving the car. All I can say is, debt is a bad thing.

A total ruckus...

My uncle, who I do sales for, has been paying for my gas when I'm out doing sales for him. Well this week the sales just started coming in. He also decided that he want's something for me to drive that would get real good gas millage while I'm out doing sales. He put a deposit on a Honda Ruckus... I'll get it in a couple of weeks. At 100mpg it fits the bill. And if I need to go to another town I can just throw it in the back of the car. It is the only scooter that is not completely feminine. Once we get it I'll post picts.

speeding ticket

I got a speeding ticket today. I was doing 82 in an area that has been as long as I remember a 75. Well I admit, I saw the sign for 65 but I didn't slow down. I'm thankful that of all days I was caught today. Because, in that same spot traffic opened up in front of me right there last week sometime and I went fast enough to get my license pulled or at least go to court.

It was a $99 2 point ticket. He said if I was pulled over just 50ft farther in the work zone it would have been over $300. Another thing. The actual ticket was $65, but they added a $34 "fuel surcharge". If I would have known that I would have tried to get my $34 worth of fuel. He maybe spent 50 cents pulling me over. I know, I know... I don't stand a chance in a Honda Accord and my ticket would have just been higher if I went for my monies worth in that fuel surcharge.

Have a good day and drive safe. :D

I know this is early... and maybe stupid

I was thinking it would be cool to arrange a piece for orchestra. Any suggestions? Honestly, I only have a relatively basic understanding of music theory that is why I am starting now. I was thinking this would be a great project to learn new things on. With that said... what midi/composer programs do you use? I have one that I can do stuff in guitar tabs... but I know I need something better. I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music recently... is it wrong to copy an intro or something I like from another orchestra or group? If I change the key and instruments is that ok? I haven't decided on a song yet... but I'll be looking for one we haven't done... one that is either very melodic or very rythmec in nature. I'll probably be going for a real "clean" sound. Something relatively short also. Maybe this is just another one of my stupid ideas. I'm looking for suggestions and imput...

I know what you are thinking... you get a break from orchestra for a few months and you are doing what?

I was listening to some "Christmas" music recently that had comon melodies in it but it had some odd singing... is it posible to have a "lead instrument" that plays real high and plays the "vocals"? Let me clarify... it wasn't singing it was more like a vocal instrument... I don't know how to describe it but it made for an interesting sound.

:P

A good day to be a gun owner!

Unless you haven't heard... the US Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment is a Individual Right and that the DC handgun ban is unconstitutional. Based on this ruling other gun bans will be challenged soon in areas such as Chicago and California.

It is such a breath of fresh air when the court does what it was established to do... READ THE CONSTITUTION.

http://www.nraila.org/heller/

Range Report

For Pictures of our shooting outing go to Steven's Blog.

The rifle did GREAT. With factory ammo (federal ammo with sieara matchking 168g HP) I shot under 1in at 100 yards. At shooting out at the target on the fence(230 yards) I found out how bad my shooting skills are. I was shooting maybe 5in two shot groups. That scope makes my Burris seam like a cheep scope. I will defiantly be practicing with this rifle allot and maybe take it deer hunting.

Queer Shirts for the Gayzette Guy

I sold a case of screen printed shirts off of an add on craigslist to the Denver Gazette. When I delivered them to him he said the shirts were for a gay pride event tomorrow in down town. I'll take his money any day.

A new addition to my family!

Today I finally put a gun under the scope I bought a couple months ago. This rifle will work well for coyote hunting and maybe deer. I'll probably just use my 300wsm for deer but I could bring this if I want to. I have been a Savage guy and spent money on a couple Savage rifles. They are ok... but not what I was lead to believe by the Savage crowd. I figured I'd never given Remington a fair shake because of all I had heard by the Savage loving group. But since our military continues to use them I started looking into their
line of rifles.


A week ago working in Fort Collins driving around the downtown airport in a industrial park I found a small gun shop called Liberty Guns. I figured I'd just go in a look at what they had and in there I saw this gun. So I waited a week and talked to my dad and decided to get it.

The gun fires a .308 Winchester, which is the caliber used by US sniper teams since Vietnam. It is a shorter version of the 30-06 but shoots the same cal of bullet. It was originally designed as a deer hunting round. I can load anywhere from 110grain to 180 grain bullets in it, making it a very versatile round. I plan on using it against coyotes and targets.

------------

The rifle is a Remington 700 VTR (varmit tactical rifle) - $720
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_700/model_700_vtr.asp
http://www.gunblast.com/Remington-700VTR.htm

The scope is a SWFA super sniper scope with flip up caps. - $350
http://www.swfa.com/ss_review_snipers_hide.aspx

Milldot Master - $30

Leupold rings and a Millet base - $180

Harris bipod - $70

Drag bag - $100

So before ammo this rifle cost $1450.

The rifle I was looking at buying before this one to go under that scope was a bushmaster AR15. But if you figure that the average rifle will cost you twice what the price of the gun itself that would have cost me $2500. In my experience every gun I've purchased has come to costing about twice what the gun cost before ammo.


One cool thing I discovered though is that in Fort Collins sales tax is only 3.5% :D

I'll be taking out out and shooting it this Sunday. I'll report how it shoots.

What Republican Doesn't Enjoy This?

As CINC USOC Rush Limbaugh says... the real trouble wasn't to get Republicans to cross over and vote for Hillary, the real trouble will be to get Republicans to cross over and vote for MacCain in the general election.

Plesent Change...

I'll post pictures of them tomorrow....

Dad, after a real stern warning, said we could keep all our airsofts. Including the awsome ones that came today in the mail. Full auto is just too much fun.

Praise God, sometimes when you give something up... God gives it back. :)

--tyler

Direction...

My dad told us today that he did not want us to have the airsofts and that he just gave in because we kept asking. The conclusion is that we are returning the ones that are coming and getting rid of the ones we bought at Wal-Mart.

I want to do things my dad wants me to do. Airsoft is not one of those things. God gave us a promise that he would bless us if we honor our parents. I want to do that more in my life.

I've been praying for direction and a vision. God has given me parents to direct me at this time in my life. If I am going to do great things I have to start by obeying his commands.

--tyler

Two Choices

Rush Limbaugh on Thursday:

So let me give you a couple scenarios. Barack Obama wins the White House, has a 70-seat majority in the House of Representatives, a seven-seat majority in the Senate, gets pretty much everything he wants, and we end up with Jimmy Carter 2 and the country goes to hell in a handbasket, and who gets the blame? Well, it can't be us, it can't be conservatives, even though the Drive-Bys will try to lay it at our feet, we'll have no power.

Same scenario, but with John McCain in the White House, a Republican, and the country goes to hell in a handbasket because this lofty agenda that McCain spoke about today is not going to happen because he's not going to get any support for it and they're not going to bend over forwards and let McCain have whatever he wants. He's going to have to get things done as he says on the basis of a liberal Democrat agenda and of course he's done that on many occasions, issue by issue by issue. So we get Jimmy Carter 2 with John McCain and the Democrats running the show. But, the party in power is the Republican Party, and they get the blame. The Republican Party takes the heat for whatever rotten things happen in those four years. Of which those two scenarios, is better for the future of conservatism?

You answer the poll on the right.

We are NOT going to Canada

The van needs a new torque converter and a new starter. We will not be able to get them in time to be able to make it to Canada in time for Josh's wedding.

The New Look

What are your thoughts on the new look of my blog?

Vote in the poll on the right while you are at it.