The Grateful Dead were in D.C. last week. I asked about 12 friends if they wanted to go see them with me at the "phone booth". Literally every one of them came back with, "It's too expensive" or "I'm just not feelin it".

The weird thing was that I agreed with both of these statements.  I've been listening to the Dead for a long time and consider myself a big Phil Lesh fan.  

So with no one to go with me, I just hopped on the metro and 15 minutes later I'm outside the Verizon Center cruising the sidewalk for the best prices from scalpers.  Luckily I find a $100 ticket for 35 bucks.  

It's always great to see the eclectic variety of fans that the Dead draws.  I find my seat facing the stage, remove my jacket to expose the only tie-dye shirt I own.  The early 40 year old-man sitting next to me (also alone), starts a conversation with me. 

Hippie: "Hey man you as excited about this I as I am?"

Me: "Definitely, but this is my first time seeing them live."

Hippie: "Ahh awesome mannnnn.  This is my 37th.  Welcome to the family dude.  I first saw them live in 82 in Pennsylvania.  The show cost $9 and I was so close to the stage I was givin hi-fives to Jerry. "

(We make small talk and I ask him what he does out here)

Hippie: "I actually work for the DOD on one of their bases."

Me: "Cool man, you don't look like it"

Hippie: "Yeah, that's what makes dead-heads so great.  We're all so different from the people we once were, growing up listening to them.  But they will always be the same to us."

(At this moment the lights go down, the crowd starts to cheer, and the faint/pungent smell of burning herb stings my nostrils)

Hippie: "Ahh sweet man, you want me to buy you a beer real quick?  My wife's at home and this is gonna be a great night of music!"

Indeed it was.  They played three sets.  The first being a real solid fast jam session.  The second bit slower with an emphasis on acoustic songs.  The last started out with an overly-long version of Dark Star but ended with a bang.  

The highlights were two covers which included an acoustic version of Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" (one of my favorite Dylan tunes too) as well as a cover of the Beatles "Come Together".

Despite it not being their song, enjoy both this version and this one as well by Dylan.  Poetry in motion.

They ended the night super strong with "Sugar Magnolias", "Uncle Johns Band", and "Ripple" as an encore.

There are just some nights when you walk home in the rain alone that you recognize the distinction between the words "alone" and "lonely".  While I went to this show alone, I left to find myself on the steps of the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro stop listening to a spontaneous acapella version of Uncle Johns Band sung by about 30 deadheads.

The Red Line is much more mellow and happy with background music.

I broke a promise to myself to get a post in once a week.

On the plus side, I'm still receiving paychecks. As Bill Murray would say "So I got that going for me.....which is nice."

I figure since this is a climbing blog that I should put something up about climbing.

Ben and I went bouldering a few weekends ago on the Maryland side of great falls. It was sunny but there was snow on everything we climbed. This sun also led to significant melt that would drip onto the holds. Combine this with top outs on slushy ice and you have Maryland winter bouldering. This time last year I distinctively remember being in the Queen Creek, AZ area getting a tan.

AZ - Where winter should be spent

This cracked me up more then angered me. Of course I see the irony in being brought down by a Tony Bennett song after thinking Vanilla Ice woulda been too damn cliche. Although when I give in and buy a new camera I will post everything on Vimeo. Is there really any other reason besides a larger random viewership to posting on Vimeo instead of YouBoob?

(BTW, I'm this close to just deleting my facebook account simply because of the "status update" bullshit. Fuckin shit, 4 posts in a single day about your hubby washing the poo off of your kid's toes is fucking disgusting. Also every time you go shopping, then get to the shopping mall, then leave the mall, then arrive at home...DOESN'T require a status update!!!)


It's just viral narcissism at it's worst. I've already removed one (supposed) friend because of that shit. I counted and I've got 9 status updates.....IN THE PAST 10 MONTHS.

I know people that won't get through tomorrow afternoon without doubling that. No exaggeration. I'm now checking it twice per week max unless someone actually reaches out to me with a pertinent message.

Sigh....anyways....hence the rationale behind the music in our videos, corny as hell but implied modesty was the ultimate goal.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

3 days ago my dog passed away. She was pushin 14 years I think.

While she had been sick for the last couple months I'm glad she held on this long. I got to see her a little over a month ago while in Arizona.

She was like all members of our family in that she was built for the outdoors. We would never have a dog that always wasn't a happy, healthy, desert hiking partner.

She was a pure bred australian shepherd.....so she didn't even have a tail.

I lost a friend in a freak accident a month ago and my only remaining grandma is probably on her way out soon (at this point, I'm convinced old jewish grandparents can hold on for ever if given a combination drip of matza ball soup and manischewitz).

Regardless I'm a very happy up-beat kinda fellow. We all lose people, friends, family....but we smile. For who they were, what they did, and hopefully where they are now.


Time for a happier story.

People who know me well enough rarely see me drink heavily. I like a beer with dinner or while outdoors. But I'm usually the sober guy driving people back from Scottsdale on bar nights. I say that I've been drunk maybe 4 times in the 5 months I've been out here.

But I drank almost a whole bottle of pinot grigio after hearing about the dog and watched the suns get destroyed by the 76'ers, and laughed mostly about better times.

I don't even like wine usually, but it was left over and staring me down from the bottom of my fridge.

This got me to thinking about an old drinking story. A favorite of mine.

When you are able to grow a beard at an early age, by the time you are 19 and you have a fake id in the town of Flagstaff Arizona....getting into bars really isn't an issue. I really didn't like to drink at that age. It was just that all of my friends were older then me and I wanted to join the social scence at the bars.

Now this ID of mine was a real one. Meaning it scanned, showed up under the lights etc. However it wasn't mine. It was my buddys' Trevor. Since he was of age and I looked enough like him there was never a problem and I got into the local dives without fail for almost a year and a half.....until a week before my 21st b-day.

I believe it was around St. Patty's day and I attempt to walk into Maloney's Irish Bar downtown (ironically, a place I ended up becoming head D.J. and working for almost a year later). Now I had gotten in here at least 20 times without fail.


The bouncer looks at my ID, takes one short look at me and says, "this isn't you". Then pockets it.

I try to play it off, "of course that's me, man!!" I say with a grin on my face.

He replies with, "Ok. If it's you then go get a cop and I'll give it back to you".

At this point I'm trying to figure out how he knew so damn quickly. I walk off, leaving my date with her friends and head somewhere else, sans-fake ID. I just couldn't figure out what changed with this bouncer.

About a week later my buddy Trevor (the guy whose ID this was) calls me up and says, "Hey man. Did you try to get into Maloney's only to be sent packin". I said, "yeah, but how'd you know?".

Of course, I should have seen this coming living in a small mountain town with a small tight-knit community, but it turns out the bouncer and Trevor and good friends. Trevor continues to tell me that this bouncer calls him and says that some kid tried to get in using "your" ID but he knew it wasn't you. Trevor then laughs and explains to him, "yeah man, cause that was Tim. I GAVE him my ID for that exact purpose."

They had a good laugh and the bouncer actually apologized to Trevor, saying "had he known....".

The irony of using a fake ID for over a year and only getting it snagged 9 days before your 21st birthday.....well this nostalgic memory is making me smile again.....


R.I.P. Sara-Bella

As mentioned in a previous rant, on a recent miserable and cold snow day I wandered out to see some of the monuments before sunset. Yes, I live that close to these monuments and I often forget just how lucky I am to have this privilege. I actually live about 8 football fields away from the Pentagon which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it from a safety standpoint.

I have a camera. It's not mine. I got it for free.



It's an old school Kodak Easy Share that has a 125 mb memory card (it wouldn't take anything larger). This means I can get maybe 80 pictures in of acceptable quality before it turns into the flinstones mobile.

I'm not a great photographer and I certainly don't have the right weaponry for taking quality level shots. I just try to take shots that either people don't usually go for. Or I have to struggle a little to get the shots. This trip involved the latter.

I took the metro the the national mall and walked not quite 2 miles through a very slight 34 degree wind filled early dusk. I've always been fascinated with the Korean War Memorial and so few people think of it out of the context of M.A.S.H.

I like people to interpret photos and art for themselves since I have no talent whatsoever. I just enjoyed the stark, almost morbid, feeling this place gave off in the snow. Humbling to say the least.

(My personal top 3 from the shoot can be found at the bottom of the post)

Feel free to leave feedback on your thoughts as well.

(Below are my personal Top 3)

I woke up early to a sunny day at 9am to go bouldering in the snow, but that will be an entire post on its own since there is already video being edited on how to top out in mixed snow and ice on a v3....

It should be noted that despite my best skepticism about the Cardinals in a previous blog I should give credit where credit is due. The game ended exactly how I wanted it to. They played a great game officiated by Pac-10 referees and almost won it despite what seemed like 37 dumb penalties. But I must recognize my bias.

If the Cards were to have won it, then that would mean the Suns and Coyotes would be the only locals not to acquire a ring. And the way Matt Barnes is chucking up threes that barely hit glass....I'd put my money on Wayne Gretzky's Ice Dogs.



Regardless, kudos to cards fans. Don't break your ankles jumping off of the bandwagon too fast.....

The highlights/lowlights were the commercials. For the most part they sucked....even after 5 beers I couldn't get excited about most of them.

The Transformers, GI Joe, and Star Trek trailers did nothing for me. I'll still see them of course with the anticipation of an excited child in order to stimulate the economy and put a few more punches on my man card. I'm sure the movies will all be bad ass, especially Star Trek.

The commercials had a lot of horses, random animals, sexual innuendos sponsored by a url-hosting site, and apparently the implication that the next coming of Bob Dylan is Will.i.am.

If this is the case for our musical generation then you might be better off dropping your radio in the bathtub next time you wash up.....

My favorite commercial goes to the E-Trade baby and his new duet partner. The subtle humor of having a cute black baby go acappella on a Mr. Mister song is right up my alley.....





The other gem in "Nannerpuss". I think it gets better with every time you watch it on your computer (Watch closely as his eyeball gets slapped off by one of his arms). It sneaks up on you with its low budget and terrible song but come on....it's a banana puppet held up by strings straddling a stack of pancakes. I'm not sure of the innuendo here, but it gets three thumbs up from me.

There are those that are better then me. There I said it.

I'm not smart or all that witty and I have the same writing skills I did in 7th grade Honors English.

I chose a while ago that I didn't want this blog to be anonymous and wasn't opposed to throwing a mug shot up every once in a while. I think it provides for a sense of inclusion, that friends know this is the real me.

This also helps because it works as a form of self-imposed censorship. If this blog were completely anonymous it would get a lot more flagrant, sexual, and offensive in nature. And while this surely would be fun, I tend to find a happy medium with my Rules.

Now that this is out of the way, I thought it would be time to give a note out to others. Almost all of them have either a much better grasp on the english language or a much nicer camera then I do......sometimes both.

For the 25+ people that I've come to find actually read this blog, your time has come. And Klime, rest assured an entire post will be dedicated to your work, support, passion, and overall badassness.


First off needs to be Benny-Boy over at Disjoint Thoughts. His blog is much cleaner lookin, he actually gets to climb and takes professional quality shots since he still lives in the warm dry area of the country, and most importantly he is the main influence for getting me to start sharing my thoughts.

Topics: Climbing, technology, photography, and drinking. Sometimes together....
My Favorite Post: The Annual Wenny Awards- The Best and Worst routes of 2008

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Next off is another "Ben" at Go Big or Go Home. A teacher of your children, climber of your rocks, and jack of all trades. A local that I befriended out here in Virginia and has a great candid style to his blog.

Topics: Climbing, Tim Tebow's erotic physique, and everything in between.
My Favorite Post: Almost Wobbled

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I met a very cool character named Glen while climbing at Red Rock who writes at Prickles & Goo. Another very talented photographer and climber (seeing the trend here) who is lucky enough to live somewhere warmer then I.

Topics: Climbing and Food. I was sold.
My Favorite Post: Sharkwalk

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These three get the most pull because they post the most often. You (you know who you are) that only blogs once every month, get on it. I'm shooting for at least once a week.

Others include my "Foolish" buddy Dave at Tour de Dave, and Arizona childhood buddy at Zack at Zack is Becoming

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Lastly, there are the topical blogs that are just my style. I liken it to reading the "rags", those magazines about celebrity gossip and 2 headed children, but with much better content.

My favorite of these is the eternally optimistic Phoenix Suns fans at Bright Side of the Sun, the cynical Why.I.Hate.DC, the crazy escaladores at Climbing Narcissist and Dabtronics.

There are many other blogs of personal interest that really don't have a single topic besides being all around bad ass and manly like The Fukerton.

With so many great blogs being put out by famous and semi-famous people (not those written and edited by a publicist), it's a slightly voyeuristic opportunity for us all to actually give our thoughts some proper context rather then changing your F#@%in facebook status message every 45 seconds about how it's snowing.

(I've updated my status 7 times in the past calender year, stop it...just stop it. Also please take this opportunity to delete those pictures you took of yourself in front of a mirror posing, no one gives a shit.)

Snow without Sunsets in Alaska (sitting on right side of photo for perspective)

Yeah, it snows out and you can't drive that's so damn original. What valuable insight. How come I'm from Arizona (I will admit to spending the last 5 years living in a mountain ski town and a few seasons in Alaska where it snowed in July however) and I'm not phased by the powder?

Either go stand under a window awning and wait for an icicle to fall through your eyeball or if it misses you pick it up and stab yourself in the ear with it, or shut up and do what I did......


.....walk/metro to work, then bail out early afternoon, walk through the freezing snow and spend the last 2 hours of sunlight paying your respects at the Korean War Memorial and wait till dusk to take pictures of the Lincoln Memorial/National Reflecting Pool while smiling about how beautiful life can be at certain moments.....

(Photos to follow soon)

It's a damn fine question.

Now despite both of my parents being jewish, I grew up without any affiliation with an organized religion. My parents are just good hippies from New York that gave my brother and I options if we chose to pursue a religious path. Paramount to this though, was their belief that we grow up to be kind & caring human beings.

I feel I've done ok so far and would/have never judged someone based on their beliefs. Hell....I even believe in God (I just realized the irony in that sentence). I just believe that God is too big for just one religion.



I've come to find that my favorite kind of people are those that are able to find humor in the outward stereotypes regarding their particular religion. Some of the best comedy comes from this practice and it also provides for a sense of inclusion for those that are normally skeptical about learning anything else about someone else's beliefs that are not their own.

Some of my own favorite jokes are self-depricating jewish jokes. Would we even have Seinfeld if it wasn't for this kind of humor. Believe it or not I just took this picture of the original "puffy shirt".....in the friggin Smithsonian Jerrrryyyyyy.



Maybe the best way to create understanding is through humor. No one, in my humble opinoin, is better then that of Stephen Colbert's character (he's just in character so much you forget that).

If you enjoy him as much as I do, then you'll appreciate this interview with Lori Lippman Brown, director of Secular Coalition for America.