Raymond Johnson @ downclimb.com

I'm a regular Daily Show and Colbert Report watcher and was excited to find out that Steven Colbert had been chosen as the entertainer for last night's White House Correspondent's Dinner. I tuned in to C-SPAN to watch it live (which sounds only slightly less nerdy-sounding "I recorded C-SPAN") and was greatly disappointed. I don't know if he didn't have adequate time to prepare or write good material, but it was a disjointed scattering of jokes, few of which were very funny. Before Colbert there was a clip about the working conditions of the press within the White House, which was somewhat interesting, and Colbert had a clip where he pretended to be the White House Press Secretary and got chased down by Helen Thomas. For my money, Al Franken still holds the pound-the-table funny prize for his appearances at the Correspondent's Dinner in '94 and '96.

By coincidence and procrastination, today is Earth Day and I finally replanted a tree in my front yard. I bought the tree last weekend, but it was a crazy week at school and I never found the after-school time to do the job. The planting went pretty well and my hole was just big enough to make me remember how much I hate to shovel. What a tool of torture! The tree I planted is an autumn blaze maple, a hybrid of a red maple and silver maple. I grew up climbing the red maples in my front yard and our neighbor had silver maples. The autumn blaze is supposed to have some degree of drought tolerance and grow strong enough to not break easily under heavy snow, so I hope it turns out to be a good choice.

Have you ever heard of a "Red Flag Warning"? I hadn't until about 5 minutes ago when I checked my weather at the National Weather Service web site ( http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ifps/MapClick.php?CityName=Florence&state=CO&site=PUB ). We had already been in a "Fire Weather Watch", and apparently a "Red Flag Warning" is a worsening of that condition. It is extremely dry and the last couple of days we've had temperatures in the low 80s. Winds could be at 25 mph with gusts to 45 mph. There are more criteria, but that's apparently enough to put us into a Red Flag Warning. Here's our actual warning: RED FLAG WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 255 PM MDT WED APR 5 2006 ...A RED FLAG WARNING FOR SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS AND GUSTS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY LEVELS AND DRY FUELS...REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM THIS EVENING FOR ELEVATIONS BELOW 9000 FEET IN FIRE WEATHER ZONES 221...222 AND 225 THROUGH 237... INCLUDING PIKES PEAK AND TELLER ...

I've never quite figured out why most major league baseball teams play opening day (which was yesterday) and then get the next day off. For a sport where teams should be used to playing 8-12 games between days off, why take a day off after one day in a row. Can't they at least play an entire series before taking a break? The Cubs (without which baseball would never be the same) are probably enjoying the day off, considering what they went through to beat the Reds yesterday. I really hope blowing 5-run leads doesn't become a habit. That reminds me...if you think taking a day off on your second day of the season doesn't make sense, how about Will Ohman getting the win even though he only faced one batter? Who ever established that as standard practice?

After many months of careful procrastination, I've added new content to this site. It's a good way to pass the time during spring break. I broke all the links to the "photos" part of the site and set up Gallery2, a very nice image organizer. I thought about posting new pictures the old fashioned way, but this is certainly easier and has more features. I'm trying to figure out if I'll move all the "adventure" pictures and pages Gallery as well. That will be a significant undertaking, so for now I hope you're happy with my pictures of 2005 .

When I was a little kid, I was vaguely aware that there was something special on TV past my bedtime. I didn't know why it was special, but I knew I wanted to see what it was. As I got older and stayed up later, I finally saw The Tonight Show and became a regular viewer. Now that I'm older, I look back and appreciate that I grew up just in time to experience some legends. Just as I'll never forget Harry Caray calling the Cubs, I'll never forget the charm and friendliness Johnny Carson brought to late night TV. Johnny must have been the most likeable, enjoyable man on TV, and that's why his passing now is such big news. He's been out of the public eye for over 14 years, so we still remember the youthful, funny, and charming host of The Tonight Show . So youthful, in fact, that he seemed like somebody who'd never die. But he did, and I'm glad to see that nobody is hiding that emphysema was the cause. So farewell, Johnny, we'll miss you mor...

I've watched plenty of tsunami coverage; being on winter break at the time of the disaster certainly guaranteed that. Out of all the horrible stories there have been some good ones, but few as cool as this one . In the Bay of Bengal on several islands exist tribes of very isolated, native people who appear to have survived the tsunami better than most could have. They're not friendly to visitors, so the fact that a survey helicopter got shot at with an arrow is a healthy sign.

I've never "vamped" anything that I know of, but I've "revamped" this site once again. It's a toss-up whether I've spent more total time working on the site or actually blogging. I'm uploading right now, even though I know I have some work to do to make all the pages validate again. Changing the look of the site is nice and all, but I know I really need to work on adding the stories and pictures I've collected since 2001. It's hard to believe it's been 3...er, 4 years since I put that kind of thing together. I'll get it done - it just takes the right amount of more important work for me to do and a certain comfort and need to procrastinate on those things for me to get serious about the site again. It'll happen, and maybe I'll post some news between now and then.

I thought I'd catch the 1.0 Firefox release before the daily rush, but had a hard to impossible time getting anything through mozilla.org . I found a few mirrors which worked just fine: mozilla.isc.org mozilla.ussg.indiana.edu mozilla.oregonstate.edu Plus, here's the official torrent . Happy browsing!

Here's a story I've been following for quite a long time . Today Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton officially reclassified Colorado's Great Sand Dunes as our newest national park. When I first heard about this a couple years ago, I had been to the dunes but had no idea that I'd soon be living a few hours away from them. It is an amazing place, and hiking to the top of High Dune is a must. I did it again earlier this summer, and if my plans hold for this weekend I'll be climbing Kit Carson Peak, a 14er that is now part of the park thanks to the purchase and annexation of the Baca Ranch. Now I've been to three of the four Colorado national parks - Great Sand Dunes, Rocky Mountain, and Mesa Verde. Looks like I need to head down US 50 to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to complete the set!

What an excellent week! Last Monday I did a 7-mile loop over Medicine Bow in the Snowy Mountains of Wyoming, then Wednesday a 9-mile trip to the Isabelle Glacier in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, then Friday and Saturday a 14-mile climb of San Luis Peak (14,019') in the San Juans. Thirty miles of hiking, all above 10,000 feet. That's the best week of hiking I've had in a long time. This week should be equally good. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I'll be at Coors Field watching the Rockies host the Cubs. Friday I'll be climbing Mt. Evans and traversing the Sawtooth Ridge to Mt. Bierstadt, weather permitting, of course. I've done Bierstadt before, but not Evans, and the traverse will be made possible by some good friends willing to shuttle cars from the Mt. Evans road to Guanella Pass. After that, only one more week of summer before school starts!

I used to be amazed at the variety of products carried by Wal-Mart; now I'm amazed at the variety of people who you can find there. It can be a very interesting place to people-watch. Today's Wal-Mart visit was highlighted by the following announcement over the public address system: "If you have found a five-dollar bill with 'I own you' written on it, please turn it in at the customer service desk." The mind can only imagine the circumstances surrounding such an announcement.

I took the last couple of weeks of June to travel back to the Midwest to visit family and friends. It's 830 miles from Florence, CO, to Iowa Falls, IA, which would make a sub-1700 mile round trip. By the time my travels were done, I had taken side trips to Cedar Falls, Minneapolis, Duluth, Ames, and Iowa City. Six states in all, and many great hours with friends I haven't seen in far too long. Thanks again to all of you who made time for me, and my door is open for you should you ever come my way. Last Monday my first guests of the summer arrived for several great days seeing sights and getting some outdoor exercise. Tuesday we went to the Great Sand Dunes, complete with a hike to the top of the High Dune. Wednesday we went to Leadville, highlighted by a visit to the National Mining Museum. It may not sound very interesting, and the endless display of interesting mineral specimens does get somewhat tiresome and redundant, but overall it is very much worth the $6 admis...

The first president I ever knew was Ronald Reagan, so his death today and the accompanying media coverage held my interest for most of the day. I don't know where I place him on the list of great presidents, but he certainly had some admirable qualities - the eloquence, the charm, the humor, and the ability to get Americans to believe in their country. I've recently read some about Watergate, and am currently reading David Gergen's Eyewitness to Power , and am gaining a better understanding of those times and how Americans had lost faith in their leaders. Reagan's stability and longevity in office helped restore confidence in the system, even for those who didn't believe in his policies. I expected to spend most of the day watching D-Day specials. I remember the 50th anniversary of D-Day, but with this, the 60th anniversary, and the recent dedication of the World War II Memorial, I'm enjoying the focus we seem to be placing on those WWII vets still with ...

Summer continued yesterday with 54 holes of golf at Appletree in Colorado Springs. My performance yesterday ranged from somewhere between horrible to embarrassing, but 11 hours of golf is better than no golf at all. Appletree has a very nice layout (not too short or long, plenty of bunkers, good use of water hazards) but is currently plagued with pretty poor turf conditions. Good price, too - golf all day with a cart and lunch for $29.

I watched the World War II Memorial dedication yesterday and thought it was an excellent event. In particular I was impressed by President Bush's speech; although he never mentioned Iraq, it was presented in such a way that it was directly relevant to current foreign policy and the war on terror. I think it's the best speech I've ever heard him give, although I'd be a lot happier to see him so eloquent at a press conference or debate. Tom Brokaw and Tom Hanks also did a nice job, and the memorial itself gives me yet another reason to someday visit Washington D.C. I've started working out the kinks with Blogger's new system, but it might take a more major overhaul to get it all right. I think everything is at least marginally functional, and the comments work if you're willing to dig a little. One last thing - I'm on summer break, the most schedule-free summer I think I've had since 1997. This teaching gig is working out great!

We're down to the last week of school, which soon means I'll have a lot more spare time on my hands. I've come to the conclusion that school isn't always time-consuming, but it is focus consuming . That's okay...I actually prefer it that way. When I need some extra time I can usually find it, but there's always something to work on, to improve, to think about. I see that Blogger has made some improvements and that means my site (particularly the archives) will be broken for a week or two until I get it fixed. They've added the ability to add comments to posts, something Blogger was noticeably missing compared to the competition.

It didn't happen until late April, but we finally had a sizeable snowstorm here. It was a warm, wet, heavy snow, so heavy that only 3-4 inches was enough to break trees and branches around town, causing many brief electrical outages. After having the driest March around here since 1911, we've had almost 4.5 inches of precipitation this month, far above our 1.25-inch average. And don't worry about the snow being around long - by this afternoon we'll have temperatures in the 50s with 60s coming tomorrow. I haven't been updating very regularly lately, and it isn't so much because school has been so time-consuming, but rather it's demanded most of my focus this past month or so. But that's a good thing - I like having a worth challenge around to keep my mind occupied. We have 5 weeks left in the semester, then I'll enjoy my first full Colorado summer. I'm looking forward to hikes and climbs, as well as plenty of Rockies games in Denver and m...

Even though today is almost like the fourth Opening Day of the baseball season (due to the Yankees and Devil Rays opening the season with two games in Japan and the Sox-Orioles game last night), you'd have to call this the "real" Opening Day. I'm watching the Cubs and Reds on ESPN and Corey Patterson just hit a home run in his first at-bat. (I think he did that with his first at-bat in spring training, too.) So far, so good, and it will be even better when the Cubs are playing at Wrigley. I can't get either WGN or Fox Sports Chicago from my cable company, so I'll probably be tuning in to most of the games on MLB radio over the internet. Enough typing...time to sit back and watch the game!

I've always really liked Al Franken, although as he's gotten more political and argumentative he's lost a bit of his charm. Oh well, I'll probably try to catch his radio show anyway, so long as it's streamed on the net. I have his White House correspondence dinner speeches from 1994 and 1996 and listen to them regularly. Not only are they funny, but they are brilliant examples of what you can do when you know and understand your audience. But if it's serious news you're looking for, it's hard to find a better voice than Bob Edwards of NPR. Unfortunately, he won't be leading Morning Edition anymore. He'll still be around, and I'm sure NPR has chosen his successors wisely, but it just won't be the same. As for what you can and cannot say on the radio (or other mass communication mediums), I'm always interested in what George Carlin has to say . My fondness for George Carlin goes beyond being a simple fan; it's more int...