After getting soaked on Ingalls on Saturday, we decided to do some cragging at Vantage on Sunday. We went to Feathers area again, explored a couple new routes in addition to the old ones.

• Shin Smasher 5.9
• Uprising 5.8. This is really a fun one despite the first bolt being too high. The crux is the traverse on the small ledge to the right. It really fits my style.

Shoe size is one of the most confusing things I have encountered in the US. I finally decided to do a bit research and come up with a conversion formula between US size and EU size.

For men’s shoes: EU = 1.27 * US + 30.94
For women’s shoes: EU = 1.27 * US + 29.035

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_size

I finished my doctoral program in September 2006. But today is the official commencement. This is the final conclusion of 22 years of education with a PhD. This is a hot day in the valley and sitting under the sun was no fun. But I have worked so long and hard for it. It’s totally worth it. This is a picture of Robin, Martin, and me.

Finally I am done with this excellent book. I would recommend this book to anyone. You don’t need any economics or math background. It does an excellent job explaining the basic principles of economics in layman’s terms. As the sub title indicates, the book explains why rich countries are rich, poor countries are poor, and why you can never get a decent used car :). It also presents the problems of the US medi care system, why it is so inefficient, why it is not working. The book tells you why stores have sales, why tax on import is actually tax in export, why sweat shops are not neccesarily bad things. The book spends the last whole chapter on China’s economics reform in the recent three decades and why it is so successful.

All in all, this is a very well written book by a clever author. It is definitely worth reading no matter what your background is.

It’s way past new year. But since everyone has a new year resolution, why don’t I?  

Hmm, I am gonna run 1000 miles in 2007. That’s 20 miles a week. Swimming or cycling translates to 5 miles per hour. Outdoor sports don’t count.

Another wish is to be able to snowboard smoothly at the end of this season. So far, snowboarding seems harder to learn than skiing…

I have always been complaining about commuting in big cities, even cities not that big, such as Portland. And I always blame the poor public transportation in the US, which is a result of interest groups such as auto and oil industry. I was reading Tim Harford’s Undercover Economist last night and he proposed a valid point. The real reason that people drive too much is not driving itself is cheap, but an extra trip is cheap. We pay a lot for a car, registration, insurance, and such costs. However, taking another trip is almost free (only the fuel cost). That is to say, the marginal cost is very low. London introduced a fee of about $9/day for vehicles entering the congested area of the city in 2003. Withtin one year, the traffic considerably improved. Much more people took alternative means of transportation. It is time for big cities in the US to take similar steps to discourage people driving. One big problem I can see now is that the gas price is relatively too low. For example, it costs $2.5 for a bus ride in Seattle. For the same amount money, you can buy almost one gallon of gas, which translates into at least a 20-mile trip. It doesn’t make sense, does it?

I came across an interview with Tim Harfard on Weekday KUOW yesterday morning on my way to work. It was an interesting talk. He is the author of this book The Undercover Economist. I might want to get from some library.

Three climbers went missing last weekend on Mt Hood in an attempt of summiting. Search and rescue had been going all the whole week. But they were unable to reach the elevation where one of the climbers was believed to caved. The storm finally got over and they finally found one body today. The other two were still missing.

Mountaineering is a business of casualties. You have to respect mother Nature. When you challenge her, life is the price you pay in case you fail. Sigh.

Western Washington and Oregon were hit badly by last week’s storm. We were out of power for almost 36 hours, pretty miserable. We were lucky to have candles, gas cans and stoves handy so that we can still have a hot meal. There are still a lot of areas without power. It was said this is the worst storm in decades, even worse than the one in 1993. Seattle Times and PI missed one day due to the power outage at the plant. Last time they missed were in 1953 and 1936 respectively.

Fortunately the weather calmed down and there was some good snow on the mountains yesterday so that we can spend the day skiing. We got the power back some time during the day yesterday.