New Northern Rangers video tomorrow

I didn't get it finished tonight, so tune in tomorrow for a new Northern Rangers video from this weekend.

US-Canada Hockey game blog

Okay, I may be near death with the plague (seriously, I don't know what I have but I fully expect body parts to start falling off), but whatever, I am live blogging the US-Canada gold medal hockey game since it's going to be an absolute slugfest.

Hopes for today... "Blame Canada" gets played once. And Don Cherry does a duet with Prince. That's all I ask for.

SEE THE FULL GAME BLOG HERE.

Outdoor Photo of the Week: Sunrise and on the water

These photos were taken by Jim Cleary. Here's what he had to say about them:

The first one I took in Snoqualmie, near Mount Si, the second photo was taken from a ferry I was on heading to Bainbridge and the last photo was taken on a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds. I hope you enjoy them!

You can view more of Jim's work on his flickr page.

Think you've got a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Please include your name, a short caption about the photo (date, location, and what makes it special) and your location.

Check back each Sunday for a new Outdoor Photo of the Week.

Who needs an autographed Kobe Bryant cast?

If you're a Lakers fan and you worship the ground that Kobe Bryant walks on... well, this is the nostalgic item for you. The Yahoo NBA blog found this one, I'm not sure how they did it.

Think about all the great things that could come from owning this. First, you've got a one-of-a-kind piece of memorabilia. Literally no one else in the world including Kobe will have this. That's pretty impressive to have sitting on your bookshelf.

But there's more. If you compare this cast's autograph to the back of your Zoom Kobe IVs, you can start a Kobe Bryant Autograph Museum, and that's just a lucrative business idea. You'll make back every dollar you spend, for sure.
Yeah I'd love to have a dude's cast in my living room. I mean, who wouldn't?

Epic Photo: What stormtroopers do on their day off

That's right, they play Wii.

The safety of our country rests of computers that use floppy disks

Could somebody get the Secret Service Windows XP? Hell, get them Windows 95...

A classified review of the United States Secret Service's computer technology found that the agency's computers were fully operational only 60 percent of the time because of outdated systems and a reliance on a computer mainframe that dates to the 1980s, according to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

"We have here a premiere law enforcement organization in our country which is responsible for the security of the president and the vice president and other officials of our government, and they have to have better IT than they have," said Lieberman, who is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. 

What the hell? Why is it like that? At some point they figured they didn't need to get an upgrade. Did the fact that they don't sell dial up modems and floppy disks any more a clue? Is Air Force One operated by an Atari 2600?

Northwest Photographer of the week: Winston Rockwell

Our Northwest Photographer of the Week is Winston "Rocky" Rockwell from Kirkland, WA. Here are some of his great outdoor shots of Northwest scenery...

Mt Shuksan, in the North Cascades, taken from the Mt. Baker ski area... I really liked the light on the mountain top. Originally shot in color, but the shadows were so blue they didn't offer quite enough contrast with the sky, so I converted to B&W to capture a sort of "Ansel Adams" feel.

Or perhaps sunset at Second Beach near La Push, WA.... The day I shot this, there were about a dozen people on the beach. All but three others had left by sundown, and those three took some pictures and departed as soon as the sun went behind the rocks. They obviously didn't know that the best colors come later... this was shot about 30 minutes after the sun set. Yeah, I had to hike back up to my car in the dark, but that's what flashlights are for!

 
You can see more of Rocky's photos at www.northwestnaturalimagery.com.

Do you have a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Just a note...

So I took Santa Clara covering the 20-point spread against Gonzaga last night. That's actually a pretty smart bet considering Santa Clara only lost to the Bulldogs by seven earlier this season and Gonzaga has been terrible at covering the spread all season.

Wonders of wonders, the Zags recorded their biggest win of the season. A 37-point victory... and keep in mind that they played lower division schools this years too. Good job Santa Clara. I guess they approached this game like it was their Super Bowl and they always like to give Gonzaga their best shot. GAG.

Anyways, I lost 50 cents on CentSports.com. I am not happy.

If I had a chess board like this, I would officially be king of the geeks

Checkmate B******!

Reasons why you're still single... Photography guy

You tell all your friends you're a photographer even though you work at the local seven eleven and take senior photos for high schoolers on the side. Your twitter and facebook name is "PhotoGuy" and you constantly are telling people that you're "editing photos" and "shooting some awesome shots"

Problem is, the only photos you have are the aforementioned high schoolers and some artsy hack crap of a bicycle chain. Congrats, you're not quite Pulitzer material yet.

And then when anyone asks you for info on wedding prices, you say minimum price is $3,000 and you'll give them a CD at the end of the night. Wow, you are truly a real man. I hope you can sleep with yourself at night.

Radical Reels Tour

If you're into outdoor videos then you've heard of the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

I just found out today that the Radical Reels Tour will be coming to Washington in March.

Faster, Steeper, Higher, Deeper. Radical Reels complements the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour & focuses on dynamic, high-adrenalin films featuring sports such as skiing, climbing, kayaking, BASE jumping & mountain biking.

Here are the dates, times and info about local showings:

Thursday, March 11 at 7 pm
Mountaineers Program Center - 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle
Tickets: $10 Mountaineers members, $15 general. Available at The Mountaineers or by calling 206-521-6001.

Friday, March 12 at 7:30 pm
Capitol Theater, 206 E. 5th Ave., Downtown Olympia
Tickets: $12 general, $2 off for Mountaineers members. Available through the Alpine Experience and Olympic Outfitters, or at the door.

I also found the trailer online. Pretty sweet.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Epic Photo: This kind of scares me. Okay it really scares me

WTF?

ESPN needs to dress better

You've probably heard about the suspension of ESPN personality Tony Kornheiser for making fun of Hannah Storm's wardrobe on his radio show. Now having read his comments, they certainly weren't the friendliest thing ever, and I guess you shouldn't be saying stuff about a coworker's clothes. On a radio show. In Washington, D.C.

However, I have to say that Tony's comments have some truth to them, I can't tell you how many times I've heard "Can you believe what she's wearing on set right now?!" from a friend while watching SportsCenter. I get that Hannah Storm can wear whatever she wants, but you really have to question her choice of knee high boots, and short, tight skirts. Maybe Kornheiser shouldn't have said anything about this, but maybe ESPN should stop letting it's anchors dress like that.

I'm serious, go on Deadspin.com and look at all the posts that make fun on the female anchors (and rightly so), because some of the stuff they wear is GODAWFUL. So maybe ESPN should look in the mirror and consider dressing its anchors in a more conservative manner so slip ups like these don't happen again.

Bear Grylls World Scout Emblem

If you've been watching the second half of Man vs. Wild Season 4 then you might have noticed a patch that Bear Grylls is now wearing on the right sleeve of his shirts and jackets.

Here's a few pictures of that patch:



Now for those of you who aren't involved in the Boy Scouts, you might not recognize that patch. However, I knew what it was right away.

That patch is the World Scout Emblem.

It is worn by Scouts and those involved with Scouting around the world.

Here's a little history about the patch:

The patch has always had the same design. The patch is one-inch in diameter, in the same two colors. The design is the international fleur-de-lis (flower of the lily), with two stars symbolizing "truth" and "knowledge" and alluding to the outdoor nature of Scouting, surrounded by a rope symbolic of unity and one-ness ties at the bottom by a square knot, a symbol of service. Those white items are on a deep, royal purple background.

Last year I wrote a post about how Grylls was named the New Chief Scout in the UK. I'm glad to see that through him Scouts is getting some attention. Even if it is just in a patch.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Kasey Kahne store closing

For those of you who don't know, I follow NASCAR for the simple reason of one driver, Kasey Kahne.

Brandon also follows him, but for different reasons. (He thinks Kasey is dreamy)

I on the other hand follow him because he is a local guy. He's from Enumclaw, Washington. I grew up in the neighbor town of Buckley.

Therefore, you have to root for the local guy.

Well, I saw in the Enumclaw-Bonney Lake Courier Herald that the Kasey Kahne store in Enumclaw will be closing.

And Kahne will be there tomorrow to thank the fans for the years of support. Now he's not retiring or anything like that, instead I have a serious feeling he'll be parting ways with the number 9 next season.

From the article:

Due to transitions with the race team, the store is closing at its current location. Decisions about the future will not be made until the 2011 race season. The store will close at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27. The online store will remain in business.

Now I've thought this for a few seasons. All of the turmoil and changes on Kahne's team over the years with new owners and now switching from Dodge to Ford. Kahne's current contract runs out at the end of this season, and I personally see Stewart-Haas Racing adding a third car next season and inviting Kahne to be the driver.

I guess only time will tell where Kahne ends up.

Reasons why you're still single... Bandwagon USA Hockey fan

You don't know what a blue line is (is that a pregnancy test) and you're also an Oakland Raiders fan. When America beat Canada in a non-medal winning matchup during the winter olympics, you thought it would be the perfect time to buy a USA Hockey Jersey.

I mean, they've been good before right? Sometime in 1980 or something.

Not only that but now everyone of you twitter updates has to remind me when the US plays next during the olympics and how much Canada sucks. Nevermind if they play America again, the Canadians are going to go all Pearl Harbor on our butts and bomb us back to the stone age. Don't believe me? Do you see what they did to Russia right now? We're screwed

But hey you're a hockey fan right? Rooting for the ol' local NHL hockey team here in Washington State. It's somewhere in Seattle right? Is it the Red Wings?

Epic Video: Lego Donkey Kong

This is what Brandon does in his spare-time.

Epic Photo: Looks like we might have to brush up on our Sith speak

Darth Vader better know how to parallel park because he certainly isn't fitting that in any parking garage.

Good Morning! Just a rule of thumb...

If you don't know what is in it... don't drink it.

If the name of the drink is actually a misspelled word... don't drink it.

If you remember the last time you drank it and the result was you throwing milkshakes on public buildings in downtown Cheney... don't drink it.

If you don't remember the last time you drank it... don't drink it.

If it tastes like a cross between carbonate Capri Sun and whatever was left over in the sink last night... don't drink it.

Vince Cart hits 86-foot shot

You talking about practice?

Video board at Eastern Washington University

As many of you readers know, Brandon and I both graduated from Eastern Washington University. Because of this we keep an eye on what is happening around the campus.

And the best source for keeping up-to-date on all the happenings at Eastern is of course The Easterner.

Now the paper comes out each Wednesday, but I missed reading in last week. So today while I was on the site I came across an interesting article by Senior Reporter Dustin Toms.

The article was about the improvements that Eastern is planning on making to Woodward Field after the red turf is installed. The main thing is the scoreboard.

EWU is looking at putting in a video board. The main reason stated in the article is the age of the current scoreboard and cost of finding parts for it.

One thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the cost for the video board will be around $400,000 and $500,000, depending on the specifics of the board and the location in the stadium. Where else would they put it?

The current location is the perfect spot for the score board. If you put it on the endzone you have the track in the way. If you put it on the pressbox only the visiting fans can see it. And if you put it above the visitor stands, then they can't see it. So where else would it go?

I think a video board would be awesome and really bump Eastern to the next level. Especially since more than half of the Big Sky Conference teams have a video scoreboard. Those teams are Weber State, Northern Arizona, Montana State, Idaho State and of course the dreaded Griz of Montana.

For a depiction of the new scoreboard, check out the pdf of last weeks Easterner, page 11.

That's not a silver medal! That's a platinum medal!

Ahh, when the Olympics roll around, it's fun to hate the Russians. Especially when they won silver and then claim they won platinum.

Evgeni Plushenko, the much-decorated Russian figure skater who lost the gold in Vancouver to American Evan Lysacek, has apparently created a fourth kind of Olympic medal: A platinum one.

Evgeni, who blamed the judges for his near-miss effort at gold last week, has posted a picture of his "platinum" medal from Vancouver on his official Web site.

Oh man! That's classy! I wish more figure skaters would pull ridiculous moves like this. Pull a steel chair on a hated rival. Trash talking after a routine. You want to make figure skating more accessible to men? Do away with the tights and have the guys act selfish and angry all the time!

See the madness first hand at http://evgeni-plushenko.com/

(Found this on The Locker Room Blog)

Epic Video: Invisible Rope Prank

Well this is one day to spend your day.


EMBED-Invisible Rope Prank Part II - Watch more free videos

Some new features that my computer SHOULD have

1. A Nigerian Email Scam Filter - I mean how hard it is to realize that "If you deposit 2,000 dollars in my account, I will give your three hundred bazillion dollars in return" is a scam.

2. Anything that could make me forget about The Who's performance during the Super Bowl - Good god... make the bad images stop.

3. A countdown clock to opening day of baseball - Cannot wait... seriously, baseball needs to get here soon after an ultimately forgettable football season. Bring on the PEDs! Bring on the overpaid Yankees! I want to watch Field of Dreams till my eyes bleed and argue with some old guy about the statistical importance of Franklin Gutierrez.

4. A Canadian Application - Something that makes my computer friendlier and more ap to know something about hockey.

5. A Cooking Application - No seriously, I'm tired of eating corned beef hash heated up in a microwave.

Epic Photo: Robo Frog

The human race is screwed. Screwed I say!

Reasons why you're single... Spock lover

Let me guess, the only guys you have been able to get on that online dating profile of yours likes Star Trek Babylon 5, Blade Runner and Stargate?

February flowers

I snapped this photo outside my apartment when I got home from our hike today.

Certainly doesn't look like a photo from February.


(This is from Just Northwest)

Poo Poo Point: South view

Today the Northern Rangers headed out for a hike on Poo Poo Point again. We showed you the views from the North, now here's what the views from the South are:

Spokane County Jail featured on Discovery Channel

You know when Spokane shines? When it's on COPS and gets its jail system featured.

The Spokane County Jail will be featured on a cable television show this Thursday.

An hour-long episode of the show “Behind Bars” on the Discovery Channel will explore life at the jail and feature interviews with inmates and employees.

“In the Spokane County Jail, accused murderers, rapists and the mentally ill outnumber the staff four-to-one and put an elite force of officers to the test,” according to the program guide for the show.

A television crew for the network filmed in the jail and at Geiger Corrections Center in September and October. 

Remember, Spokane... near nature... near perfect... near a jail full of mentally ill killers. Hooray!

Good morning pet lovers

Perhaps you have a furry little bugger running around your place now (and no I'm not talking about your kids). If that is the care, you're probably wondering why you're sitting in piles of feces and dog hair, single and destined to be alone for the rest of your life.

Why is this? Because you own a pet, and those pets stink up the place - the one reason you'll never see me owning some sort of lesser form of life on earth. I'm not nearly smart enough to keep it clean, feed it and keep it off the road to avoid it becoming a pet burger. I'm sure this makes some of you angry, but I realize I'm not responsible enough, while there are some people out there that have pets that can't take care of their meth sores much less a living being.

Okay I take back the whole pet owner being single thing... although I will say most Kansas Jayhawks fans are single... but here is a word of advice for all your fur friends out there: buy an air freshener.

Coolest toy ever

I want one!

Why it's impossible to kill Jean-Claude Van Damme

Having just seen Hard Target, I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to kill Jean Claude Van Damme. I mean, if you wanted to kill Steven Segal all you would have to do is poison his dinner (the man likes to eat) however Jean is a completely different problem since he's french...

Shooting at Jean - Since he's a movie action hero, you will miss Van Damme despite being at point blank range and a trained assassin. Doesn't matter how improbable it is that you keep missing him, that basard is shifty.

Knifing Jean - Worst idea ever. You'll get a knife in your throat or some other orifice.

Running over Jean with your motorcycle - Since you're on a gas tank with wheels, he could hit it with a pea shooter and it would blow up with you on it.

Fighting Jean hand-to-hand - Have you seen when he round houses somebody in the face? You'd be crazy to do this because the man has a mullet of power and nobody can defeat the mullet of power.

Grenade Jean - He'll just through it back at you, because we all know grenades have 10-second fuses or however long it takes for Jean to throw it back.

Send your cronies to kill Jean - Despite him being outnumbered 20-1, your cronies will be to busy laughing maniacally when they have him corned and will end up getting the crap kicked out of them and then he'll find the location of your secret hide out.

Chase Jean with a helicopter - He'll be on horseback and we all know you can't beat a horse with a helicopter.

Blow up a bunch of crap around Jean - Even though it may seem like you have magic movie bullets that make everything you hit blow up in some huge explosion, he's not going to suffer from any sort of repercussions by having a small nuke go off right next to his eardrums.

So there you go, Jean-Claude Van Damme is invincible.

Outdoor Photo of the Week: Spiked Trails

For today's Outdoor Photo of the Week I figured we'd head down to Arizona.

This photo is from Lórien over at Wayfaring Stranger.

Here's what she said about the picture:

Spiked Trails: A picture of an area near Sierra Vista, AZ where the beginning of the infamous Geocaching "Smile" is.

Think you've got a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Please include your name, a short caption about the photo (date, location, and what makes it special) and your location.

Check back each Sunday for a new Outdoor Photo of the Week.

The worst mistakes in video game history

1. Looking at the wrong screen during Mario Kart - There's nothing worst than thinking you're in first place and then realize you're guy is actually the one in the bottom right corner screen going the wrong direction into a pit of lava.

2. Detonating your own bombs too close to you in GoldenEye - Really who blows themselves up except for terrorists that live in caves and poop in a hole? Yep, just gaming newbs like yourself.

3. Getting beat down in Halo - Wait a minute, somebody killed me with the butt of their gun? They didn't actually shoot me, they snuck up on my while I trying to figure out how to aim my gun and knocked my brains out. I'm a douche.

4. Losing at Tetris - These bricks are stacking up... I need the long line block. Give me that. Not that L-shaped business. Ah wait... a square?!?! What the hell am I supposed to do with a square?

5. Accidentally lateraling the ball on NCAA Football 10 - Pressing the left shoulder button has the quarterback fling the ball out to the right where your running back should be. Problem is, if you're in shotgun formation and you're dropped back to pass, this move means you're screwed.

Epic Video: Newsroom Fight

Top stories of the day, somebody is getting f-ed up!

What to do if a volcano erupts...

Since I've been watching Volcano disaster movies all day and since I'm from the state of Washington (we have had our fair share of volcanoes), I figured I would key all of you in on how to survive an eruption.


DO
1. Get the hell out if you start to notice lakes and ponds turning into acidic pools of death. Except for the Spokane River... that's totally cool. It's normal.
2. Listen to the movie star looking geologist while ignoring the fat geologist boss (because he will die soon, trust me)
3. Evacuate when they say its time to evacuate - that guy thats wants everyone to stay because of the economy of the town? Yeah he's about to get a steaming pile of lava bomb shoved down his throat.
4. Mark out where all the abandoned mine shafts are.
5. Avoid any manhole covers or subway tunnels where there are rumors of a volcano sprouting up in your city.

DONT
1. Jump into any hot springs unless you want to look like the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs... only deader.
2. Go back through a river of lava for the freakin' dog.
3. Go back up the mountain to get freakin' grandma.
4. Be "that journalist" that gets to eager to report to the story and ends up with a stomach-full of lava.
5. Ignore the movie star geologist... I mean, since when is this EVER a good idea? Ask the dead people.
6. Make some sort of selfish move like push somebody down to get out of the way over lava, ash, or general mayhem... karma is a pain and always comes back to bite you.

There you go. Now go out there and find a volcano.

Northwest Photographer of the Week: Sonja Morgan

The coolest thing about doing the Northwest Photographer is seeing all these cool photos from around the region and knowing where they're at. Sonja Morgan is our Northwest Photographer of the Week and she's done just a fantastic job with her images...

Here is what Sonja wrote to us...

I photograph images from all over the Pacific Northwest. I have two lines of work, one in abstracts and one in natural landscapes. Both are extremely popular. I have work in galleries all around the northwest: Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Forks, Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Seattle and others as well.

I am really into photographing the Olympic Peninsula right now but I love everything about our region.

You can also view more of her images at http://simplysonja.weebly.com

Do you have a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Fitness Tracker update

It's Friday and what better way to start a Friday then with a little fitness news. About 2 months ago I told you about how it was time for me to get back into shape. (Well, I was a shape, just round)

I called this my Fitness Tracker.

In this post I listed my measurements and before photo.

Here's how my measurements compare from back on December 2nd:

Weight: 196 lbs. now 187 lbs.

Biceps flexed: 14.5 inches now 15 inches

Biceps unflexed: 14 inches now 14.5 inches

Forearm unflexed: 11.5 inches now 11.75 inches

Chest (at nipple line): 38 inches now 39.5 inches

Waist (at belly button): 37.5 inches now 35.5 inches

Hamstring: 23.5 inches now 24.25 inches

Calf: 14.75 inches now 14.75 inches

Neck: 16 inches now 16 inches

And now for the photos:


BEFORE
AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I'll update you again soon on how my progress is going. But I've so far completed my main goals. Loosing inches on my waist and getting stronger.

Happy Friday everyone!

Epic Photo: Have a very emo Christmas

Good god, here are some razors... now get lost.

Gonzaga Bulldogs, and Canada's only remaining WWI vet have died

Sorry Zags fans, but last night's game sucked. Sucked. SUCKED. There was roughly 50 people in the gym at LMU to see the best team in the WCC (probably because a 6pm game is terrible for LA traffic), and apparently the boys in blue never showed up. I would go into detail but ever time I talk negatively about GU, I get angry emails and texts, so I'm just going to let it go.

Gonzaga 66, Loyola Marymount 74

In other news, the last remaining Canadian Veteran of WWI, John Babcock, has died at the age of 109. That is big news in itself, but the man had lived in Spokane since the 1930s.

Babcock, who has lived in Spokane since the early 1930s, became a bit of a celebrity in the last few years, especially in Canada. Well wishes for his birthday in July 2009 were sent from Queen Elizabeth II, and the guest list included the Canadian consulate who joined Babcock and his family at the Rosauers on North Division for birthday cake, French fries and tartar sauce.

“I was deeply saddened to learn today of the death of John Babcock, Canada’s last known First World War veteran,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a news release Thursday. “As a nation, we honor his service and mourn his passing.”

“John Babcock was Canada’s last living link to the Great War, which in so many ways marked our coming of age as a nation,” Harper added, noting that 650,000 men and women served in the Canadian forces during WWI.

With Babcock’s passing, Frank Woodruff Buckles, 109, of West Virginia, is the only surviving American World War I veteran.

Babcock was born in 1900, on a farm near Kingston, Ontario, Canada; he outlived 10 siblings.

He enlisted in the Canadian Army during WWI, at the age of 15. 

The thing with losing a living link to the past is that you're losing an actual person who experienced history. After that, it's whatever the history books say... which is tend to not be the most accurate things in the world. However, very cool that he was living in Spokane. How about that?

Good morning mildly hung over people

Is there anything worst than going out on a Thursday night? You have two kinds of people that f-things up.

1. People that have to work in the morning and dont want to drink that much.
2. People that don't have to work in the morning and want to get sloshed.

Problem is, you're either one or the other and you always end up arguing with the person who is the other type. If you're responsible, it always seems like everyone else is unemployed and trying to make you the poster boy for "Hungover: the Documentary." If you're looking for a good time, it seems like everyone is hanging out at home watching Jepordy or nursing their Shirley Temple.

Which leads me to propose this idea... do we really need to work on Friday? Here is how a normal friday goes...

9:10 am - roll in late, hungover.
9:30 am - coffee... good you can see and hear now.
10 am - see your coworker who took off their shirt at the bar last night.
11 am - take early lunch.
1:30 pm - get back from lunch, still slight hungover.
2 pm - realize you only have three more hours to do something productive.
2:40 pm - make quick phones calls and realize everyone at work is doing the same rushed, crappy job as you.
3:00 pm - actually get work done.
3:30 pm - take off early. I mean come on. It's Friday!

So employers... wouldn't you rather just cut Fridays and have us work productively four days out of the week. This would be much more cost-effective. But what do I know? I'm just a blogger...

Afternoon hike in the Issaquah Alps

Today the Northern Rangers headed out for another afternoon hike. We were back at Poo Poo Point. And since we've shown you that hike a bunch we didn't shoot a video this week.

But we did snap the picture above.

The hike today was great. I was finally feeling in hiking shape again. However, because of the amazing weather that Washington has been having there were SO many people on the trail.

And not the normal crowd of paragliders. But just people out for an after work hike.

Normally the trail is spotted with paragliders making the trek to the launching point. And the two paragliders that we did see were hiking back down. I'm not sure why.

It was a great hike to say the least. But anytime you get outside is a good time.

Next Saturday the Northern Rangers are planning another big trip like we did Wallace Falls State Park last month. I'll keep you posted.

(This is from Just Northwest)

National Geographic Adventure is back. Kinda.

A few months ago I posted about how National Geographic Adventure was closing.

Today I found out some great news though. While making my daily trip to The Adventure Blog, I saw that National Geographic Adventure has lived on. Just not in magazine form.

Instead, it has survived in blog form.

I was glad to see that at least the information that was in each issue would still be available.

And while browsing the site today I found that they had some great content on there.

I guess this is just another sign of the changing times of journalism. As more content moves from traditional print to online.

(This is from Just Northwest)

The Brandon Hansen experiment

In case you haven't noticed, perhaps the coolest athlete of the 2010 Winter Olympics is Shaun White.

And because of his flowing red hair, Shaun has the nickname of "The Flying Tomato."

Therefore, today at Just South of North I am going to do a bit of a science project. And no, there will be no test at the end. Now let's get started.

First of all, please note the following two photos:


Now let's compare shall we?

The first photo is of snowboard sensation Shaun White. The second photo is not.

The second photo is actually of Just South of North's very own Brandon Hansen.

Now the next step of this experiment is to list the similarities between these two individuals:

They both have red hair.

....

Whelp, that's about it.

Ok, not as hard as I thought it would be. But this next step will be a bit trickier. Let's take a closer look at each photo and really examine each.

Photo 1: Shaun is hosting an American flag above his head after winning the gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics. His outfit contains his sponsors logos and USA. He is excited cause he just represented his country in the biggest show for his sport.

Photo 2: Brandon is trying to flex his arms. Notice the word trying. Also, he is wearing a Spokane Indians jersey which, I have come to the conclusion he came upon this jersey one of four ways. He either A: found it in the Indian's locker room and stole it. B: was given it while being the honorary first base coach for the Indians during a game. C: Has served as the bat boy for the Indians for the past 12 seasons. D: Bought it from the team store.

Since Brandon is an honest guy that rules out A. And I don't think he was the bat boy, so that crosses off C. Now we just have B and D. And since D involves money, I'm going with B.

Anyway, back to the photo. You'll also notice that Brandon has his thumb out. That leads me to believe that he was probably hitchhiking. Oh, and he's standing on a base, but if you notice there are no other players in the shot. Therefore I believe this photo was staged by Brandon using his own camera and a tripod. Well that, and the fact that I know Brandon couldn't make on base. Well, maybe if he was walked. Maybe.

Alright, now one last experiment:

Who would be more recognizable on the street?

Most people across America know Shaun White. So he has that going for him.

However, everyone in Spokane knows who Brandon Hansen is. Seriously, if you think I'm joking then you don't know the Spokane sports scene. That guy knows everyone and everyone knows him.

So this experiment is inconclusive.

Thank you for taking part in this week's edition of "Brandon or a famous person." Next week we'll be comparing Brandon with Seth Green.

Oh Seth Green. He's funny.

I would do this for Lindsey Vonn as well

Lindsey Vonn's brother apparently did this haircut to support his sis. Fantastic idea (I think). Although I'm pretty sure that I would do a whole lot more for Lindsey Vonn. I mean have you seen her?

(For the record, she might be my favorite Olympic athlete of 2010. That and Shaun White, who it the one and only athletic ginger)

Now does the other side of his head have a V because that would be oh, so much cooler.

Good Morning NBC haters

Is this how you feel when you have to watch tape-delayed figure skating while a very important hockey game is also going on at the same time live? Yeah, sorry about that. You'll have to blame NBC for that.

It's been no secret that the Peacock Network has absolutely screwed the pooch when it comes to the Olympics. Horrible programing choices (why am I watching curling), the lack of any suspense (We knew that somebody won gold ten hours before it airs) and a hodge podge of channels (wait, this one is on CNBC not NBC?) has left people furious.

My thoughts? Yeah they're screwing things up. I don't mind the tape delay because the local affiliates still need to get their local programming in, and people aren't going to be able to watch these events at work anyways. But there is absolutely no available live stream on the internet or any other NBC cable channel. They should let the people that want it live, watch it live on the internet and then have the people that come home at 5pm be able to see it during primetime. Just a thought.

And here's an idea... focus on the main sports, Americans winning medals and stay away from crappy fluff news pieces on polar bears in Canada.

Lebron James has a new teammate...

Everyone's been saying that Lebron James needs some support... and he just got it. Antawn Jamison was traded to the Cleveland Cavs in a three-team trade.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached agreement on a six-player, three-team trade that lands them former All-Star forward Antawn Jamison(notes), league sources with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports.

The Cavaliers are sending center Zydrunas Ilgauskas,(notes) a first-round pick and the draft rights to Emir Preldzic to the Wizards. The Wizards also will receive Al Thornton(notes) from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Cavaliers will get point guard Sebastian Telfair(notes) from the Clippers. The Wizards will send Drew Gooden(notes) to the Clippers.

Antawn's career stat line?
19.9 points per game
8.8 rebounds

While I'm not thrilled about his apparent lack of passing ability, what the Cavs really need is somebody to take the scoring pressure off of Lebron, who is a much more dangerous player when he has scorers he can dish to. Antawn isn't going to act like the alpha dog on the team either since he's playing with the best basketball phenom since Jordan, he'll know his spot.

This makes the Cavs very, very dangerous.

Epic Photo: Who wants to go to Vegas?

I do!! I do!!!

Epic Video: Singing Bard

A lot of you might not know this about Brandon. But through college he worked as traveling bard. Yeah. He sang and stuff.

Campus Rail Jam Tour 2010

I was cruising around the internet today looking at snowboarding stuff. Why? Because everyone was talking about Shawn White and the Olympics today.

Anyway, I came across this site about Campus Rail Jam 2010. And imagine my surprise to see which schools they are going to but none other than Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington on March 18. (Why they didn't choose Eastern is beyond me. I mean seriously, Eastern is getting red football turf)

The site was pretty neat and the event seems like a lot of fun. Their first stop was the University of Arizona. Yes, Arizona of all places for snow. But I guess that if Vancouver can bring in truckloads of snow for the Olympics, why couldn't U of A bring in a few loads for a rail jam.

You can follow this link to view video from the event in Arizona. The female host is super annoying, but snowboarding in the heat and sun looks like fun.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Epic Photo: Jabba the Snowman

No word yet if there was a snow-bikini Princess Leia either.

Good Morning Ken Griffey Jr. Fans

Okay, so that's not a photo of Ken Griffey Jr for very obvious reasons, but the Mariners great is coming back for another go-around as the highest paid mascot in the American League. Mascot? Well he certainly isn't getting paid for his performance out on the field...

But if Griffey gets enough playing time to qualify, he seems an early candidate for worst DH of 2010. Father Time has come for The Kid. Since 2005, a comeback year in which he hit 35 homers and played his most games since 2000, he has a pedestrian .801 OPS and 105 OPS+ in 513 games — and he's been due $43.5 million dollars for his services.

He's not getting paid as much as he used to, but he just signed a for slight raise with the Mariners and will make $2.35 million plus incentives. Considering Griffey's stature in the city of Seattle, he's getting paid less for what he'll do on the field and more for his name recognition and clubhouse presence. Still, the M's should expect something from him.

I'll say that even though I didn't expect it (I expected the opposite), Griffey was a fantastic influence on the clubhouse and provided a little bit of glue for the team that was really lacking the year before. That's more than likely while the Mariners brought him back, that and to give fans a recognizable name. Anyone would be crazy to argue his actual statistical positive influence, I mean he got a lot of walks buuuut he was a gaping hole in the lineup so you do the math.

What should we expect from Griffey? Lets set the bar low and then either a letdown wont be such a painful experience and if he does somehow get his groove back, than hey! All the better.