Uhh… excuse me, but they were in the middle of a friggin’ NATIONAL FOREST! They could have kept a huge fire going for months. If he hadn’t burned his tires and used up all of his gas, he could have simply DRIVEN out(as someone else observed). He was as idiot.

You know, I was willing to pass over the fact that this couple had no reliable electronic equipment with them on the trip such as a satphone. After all, what if writing for CNET was like working for other journalistic positions? All prestige and no pay? But it was not the case here. The Kims were very well paid. And Kati particularly was living high on the Yuppie lifestyle, as evidenced by her long list of reviews of swanky restaurants and hotels and pubs.

They could have easily afforded a satellite phone. And Jim, as tech editor, had his pick of the new cellular technology on the market. I was in a Verizon Wireless store tonight and saw a sat phone for sale for under 500 bucks.

I think the review site sheds some light on the utter naivete of this suburban spoiled couple who had no outdoors experience and no fear of nature’s power outside of the mild San Francisco region.

But even in this decision, Kim made some bad calculations, and had he been more careful he may yet have been able to survive the ordeal. Its just so frustrating to see, especially in hindsight, any final errors that contributed to his demise.

He didnt wear the proper clothes. He went the wrong way, down into a ravine rather than try to make it to a road where they came from. And he told his wife that he would be back at a designated time and he didnt turn back at the right time to make it back to the car when he was supposed to. He never did make it back.

I said before that I think he was brave in his attempt and Im certain he was noble in his desire to save his family. But he was woefully unequipped to handle this emergency and I for one will view this tragedy as an object lesson on what not to do.

Also, if I were a man (which I am not) and raised in American society, I’m pretty sure I’d feel like I needed to be a hero for my wife and two small children and go find some damn help while my wife stays behind to nurse my infant and 4-year-old child in the middle of the wildnerness.

Let’s stop blaming Kim for making bad choices, since he’s not the only one to “blame” for this situation, and instead choose to learn from it. Maybe your knowledge of the circumstances surrounding his unfortunate end results in your life or the life of someone you love being saved.

“Someday, I’m going to be a very rich woman with a very large Dwelled-out house. And, when I am, I’m going to buy up plenty of these rugs to adorn the floors of my lavish abode.”

“I consider myself to be a hardcore shopper. Hard to the core. I love stuff, and I’m unapologetic in my pursuit of it.”

“I don’t want my friends to know I spent $95 on a pair of pants that will be outgrown in two weeks. Except, sometimes I do and say I didn’t and then everyone can’t help but coo and melt when they see how adorable my little half-Korean bears are. The ladies stuff doesn’t work quite as well. ”

“When I first began my career as a serious shopper, Bloomingdale’s in New York was a marvel to me. I’d never seen such a tempting melange of affordable and off-limits and I had never before considered that I might want to own fancy underthings.”

“Only in San Francisco can you watch Opera in the company of gutter punks and walk 200 yards to hear hippie drum circles. Another great thing about this city: nobody thinks you’re weird if you’re nursing your baby and a beer at the same time.”

“The foodcourt comes nowhere _near_ to any of the big, fancy ones like the Lotte (Seoul) or Takashimaya (Tokyo). And certainly is not even a close 53rd to Les Halles or Harrod’s. It was dark the first time I was down there. And I had a darn fine cup of soup and salad after a crazy afternoon of shopping. I went again last night and my husband had a loathsome beef dish from Coriander “Gourmet Thai”.”

“When my husband and i were first married, and he’d do something dumb and I’d get pissed, he’d often bring me a present from Alla Prima. Much more effective than flowers.”

“Even though someone I hate once took me here, I have reclaimed this restaurant as a Kim Family favorite.”

“Beward the newest cabbie scam: playing on the public’s fear of contaminated blood. Yesterday, my cabbie was picking his gums with a pointy piece of folded-up cardboard. The cardboard was completely bloody on the tip and I was freaking out the whole time. I had my two babies in the car, so there was _no way_ was going to touch anything that had touched him. So, I threw the bastard a $20 and he got away with a $6 tip!!!”

“Three adults, two children - $150? WTF?!! We weren’t even that full when we left, and the sushi wasn’t even that good. Our new name for this place: “You just got f’d in the ass sushi.”"

“The wine: something from up North, recommended by the waiter. Terrific choice, $35 a bottle - we ordered two. ”

“Honey - I’ve never had a $300 meal before!” and my husband didn’t pass out onto the floor. That was a lie, anyways;

The final blow was at the end of the appointment, when they made it clear that I would not be welcome back at the office. WTF???

REEEEEPULSIVE!!! I didn’t think this place could get any nastier until I ran into a guy from college who we used to refer to as “The Troll.”

I could go on and on but you get the picture. And the public is being asked to give this woman money? Unbelievable.

There are three lessons we all should learn from this. 1) If traveling out of state, never get off of the major interstate or highway. 2) Always inform someone of your intended route, especially if you will be out of cell phone range. 3) Never leave your group, there is safety in numbers. The Kim family could stay warm by huddling together in the car and there was plenty of snow to melt into water. In addition, Kim should never have run his gas tank empty or burned all of the tires. Two weeks after the event we can see that the car was not snowed in and the family could have simply driven out. I know that criticizing a dead man is not popular, but it is important to let people know that the decisions made by Kim were wrong and his wife and two children are lucky to be alive. By suggesting that Kim did nothing wrong insinuates that if someone else is confronted with a similar situation they should do just what Kim did. This I would not recommend.