Drinking and homework

My wife just brought me a shot of vodka. She is alright.

It's a good thing all I have left on my homework is to format it nicely!

I always say that working on the weekends is better with a cocktail, I guess that homework is better with shots!

8 Random Facts

Helen once again tagged me, this time for eight random facts about myself. So here goes.

1. I like a lot of espresso. I do also like espresso a lot. I drink about 6 shots a day. Ten on the bad days. I will try just about anything with espresso in it - I even made an espresso creme brulee twice (I forgot how bad it was the first time around).
2. My favorite dessert is creme brulee. Not any of the fancy flavored ones (no green tea or chocolate), just a pure and simple creme brulee. And I think that it is snobby to refer to is as "the burnt cream," as they called it at the Chena River Lodge in Fairbanks, Alaska.
3. I lived for 4 years in Fairbanks, Alaska and have slept outside in just my sleeping bag at -26 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. I love the outdoors, camping and hiking and wish I could spend more time with those pursuits.
5. I really like haiku. The formal structure appeals to the engineer in me.
6. Since I was ten, I haven't lived anywhere longer than 5 years. I hope to change that here in Washington.
7. I haven't gotten any taller since I was a freshman in high school. I was pretty tall then. Most people have caught up with me now.
8. I love new technologies and being on the leading edge. However, I am cheap (my friends tell me I am frugal) and that keeps me from being an early adopter of things that cost money. No iPhone here.

Wow. That was easier than I expected. Pretty random stuff. Enjoy.

The cost of education

Within the last 7 days, I have purchased over $400 worth of text books and readers. I sure to some, that isn't a large textbook spend, but I am only taking two classes! And I don't think I get to use the same text book next quarter.

What really drove me to rant about this was the $47 custom printed reader. Not a lot for a reader, but it wasn't even bound!

I hope that the text books for next quarter cost less.

The wrong car

Today is mobile blogging day. I just got dropped off at the passenger pick up area at Oakland International.

I am waiting again to be picked up by Ray in the correct silver Lincoln towncar. At least Ali and I got a laugh out of it. Hopefully his fare, Edgar, sees the humor in it too.

Ali, the wrong driver, says this happens about once a year.

Ahh, travel trials.

The benefits of ultra-light traveling

This morning when I left to catch my 6 o'clock flight, I missed a spot when I was shaving. Luckily, I had my razor and other toiletries in my carry on bag, so I just stood up went to the bathroom on the plane. I shaved the spot I missed, and didn't cut my throat in the turbulence.

How great is that? Shaving on a plane, just like blogging from your phone.
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Weird Al at the Puyallup fair

I've been awfully busy of late, but I really do have 3 posts that I want to write. Just so that I can at least get it written about with in 7 days of the occurrence, we went to the Puyallup Fair last Wednesday.

It was early release day at the schools, so we picked up the kids and headed to Puyallup. I even took vacation that day - real vacation - I didn't work!

We saw cows, sheep, pigs and horses (the photos are still on my camera) and were amazed at how clean the barns were. In fact, the whole fair was very clean and pleasant. I'll get the photos posted this week...

The concert that evening was Weird Al Yankovich and the grand stands were packed! A sold out show, for Weird Al... It was entertaining. But I'm not sure how we've set up our kids. My first concert was Metallica, Heather's was New Order and our kids, Weird Al. Not quite the same caliber...

You make me smile

Helen recently awarded me a You Make Me Smile Award over at I forgot where I was going with this. Evidently my comments make her grin from ear to ear." I can't take all the credit, most comedy acts come in pairs, but she sets the foundation for me to build some pretty funny stuff upon. Watermelon.


So, when awarded this, I am supposed to pass it on to 10 others. So, without further ado, the 10 others that make me smile in alphabetical order. And yes, I mean that I make the letters of the alphabet when I smile.

1. Agaetis Blojun
2. David's Big Adventure
3. Eugemar Strikes Back
4. Laura's flickr photostream
5. The Life and Times of a Broken Sith Lord
6. LifeHacker
7. Nullspace
8. The United States of Motherhood
9. Yomma Probably Wasn't Here
10. Zen Habits

I guess tag-backs don't count, but new Helen's new posts make me smile too.

There are a lot of other things that make me smile, too. I written about hugs from my littlest - he seems to just know when I need them. He has also taken to leaving me gifts - stuffed animals and drawings seem to be the leading ones. Watching my kids grow up and become more and more little people than little kids. Sunrises over the cascades.

Trip to the dentist

Yesterday, I went to the dentist and good news - no cavities. In fact, the dentist said I had the best teeth in the neighborhood. On the other hand, the Hygienist said, I really needed to work on my gums. What good is having good teeth if they fall out of your gums. So, now I have set the goal of flossing at least once a week.

Hey, it is better than I was doing before.

[Post Jott editing and additional content]
In fact, they said, if peoples' gums get so bad, they need to schedule cleaning in two appointments, one half of the mouth at a time. They numb your mouth (I guess just the side that they are working on) and then have you come in more frequently.

Part of it could just be threats - but I don't want my teeth to fall out. With gum stimulation, I can strengthen my gums and make them healthy again! On with the flossing

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Back to normal

So, our lives are returning to something more normal. Summer has drawn to a close and the kids are back in school. The visiting in-laws have gone home. Work has slowed down to a fast pace. The control that I have over my life is slowly returning. And I'll be able to return to blogging, too.

The visit with the in-laws went well. We visited places in Seattle we had already been to and places we hadn't. We really pushed them in their visit - we got back home from Friday Harbor at 2:30 am! Having our new HD TV was also nice, because they did enjoy just watching Comcast On Demand movies (although the choices weren't always the best for watching with your grand kids).

My work slowed down some and I was able to make dinner almost every night. That was really relaxing. I hate to prepare green beans and so I "involved" Heather's Mom in the bean stringing and she helped me skin beets later in the week. I was also able to finish up the pre-requisite statistics and accounting assessments for b-school.


We went back to Mount Rainier again, and her parent's spent the afternoon at the visitor center while we hiked up to Glacier Vista and up Pebble Creek until we ran out of time. The kids played in a snow patch at 6,225' and we turned around at 6,852' feet. I was the packhorse and carried everybody's jackets - I was beat that evening. I think I have to get in better shape for my backpacking trip to Camp Muir.

Jott Blog Post

So Jott has released a whole new set of features. They have new Jott links. Now Heather and I can drive around say "How much do you think that house is?", and send it to Zillow. I'll get a text message right on my phone with the Zestimate! There are also several blog links; I am writing this blog, by way of Jott! How cool is that?
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Edit: This post required some editing to make it presentable. Some of it was fixing the lack of pre-thought that came out of my mouth and some was in the transcription. Listen to the audio and compare.