As much as I would like to take the libertarian Ayn Rand stance, I have to disagree with you MrMister. I would agree with you if you were talking genetics. I have zero interest in "being proud" of my ancestry. It may occasionally interest me, But I was just born into it, etc. But your culture is fairly inescapable. Even a devout counterculturalist is simply defining himself by his born culture. I don't believe you can ever divorce yourself from the framework of the culture you were raised in. I don't mean massive generalities either, such as American, New Yorker, White, or things of that nature(even though they are huge factors). I mean the the subtleties in the way you were raised. Daniel Quinn defined culture quite succinctly by saying Culture is the way a group of people make a living and the behaviors that stem from that. This will eventually boil into a nature vs nurture arguement. Also, I'm not sure if you're seriously posing this question/statement as a legit thought, or if you're being condescending simply to exercise some internet-only sense of superiority. I hope its not the latter and you will extrapolate on your thoughts.
Adam- you should get your ass out to the lake, dude, dwsing is great! I can't tell if you lead or followed that roof cause there was a skipped bolt going to the anchors which were already clipped. If you are learning to lead, or thinking about it, definitely get out over some water with no rope. It'll really build some confidence and help you learn your limits in terms of fear and, well, ballsyness. plus its great to whip out into the water on a hot texas day. The closest to that I've got is in the dacks (small road trip) or Summersville in WV (medium road trip). One thing I was wondering, I saw your finger board, how come you didn't just buy a hangboard from metolius? You'll have much more diversity of holds and grips to practice on.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001APVUW6?ie=UTF8&redirect=trueAlso, has anyone seen this? is it a joke?
http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/previews/preview.pl?sys=wii&game=castlevania_judgment