How many Junior Highs can they have

This weekend, we are staying Leavenworth for a competition in Wenatchee, Washington. The competition is being held at Eastmont Junior High School in East Wenatchee.

It turns out that there are two campuses, both labelled with Eastmont Junior High - Home of the Bobcats. They are about 1/2 mle from each other.

One of the campuses is very old and tired looking. The other is a really nice new school.

However, the Garmin navigation system, Google and MapQuest all give directions to the old school. That isn't where the competition is.

On top of being at a school where the only other people were some kids skating, our suspicions of being at the wrong place were confirmed when we got a call from one of parents on the team saying he was at the front of the school and we were too.

In order to get to the right "new" school, you had to drive right past the "old" school. It could have been mentioned in the directions.

Now, if you did your lookup by the address (which they did give in the directions), Google, MapQuest, Yahoo and the Garmin navigation all took us to the right place.

Three fifths of our team ended up at the wrong school. So did others, so I don't feel too bad about it.

Cake

Pretty big slice of cake. Any bets as to whether or not he'll eat it all?

Bavarian style

We've arrived in Leavenworth and are heading out for a snack at Kristall's. Living it up Bavarian style.

69% Nerd

So this is how stuff travels through the blogosphere. A blog I read, Welcome to MY World, mentioned this Nerd, Geek or Dork test. She had read about it on her friend’s blog, took the test and posted it. Now, I too, took the test and posting my results.

Check out the The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test

Now, for what you were either 1) waiting for or 2) already knew:

Pure Nerd 69 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 4% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations! This might actually be true, because I noticed that the totals don't add to 100 percent. But since I also noticed that I was 69% Nerd, I might actually be somewhat of a dork! Go ahead, post your comments that say you already knew this!

Apple releases software for volume limits on iPods

Digital Living Part IV

Apple has released new software for iPods to limit the maximum volume, most likely in response to people complaining about the potential for hearing loss due to the high (in excess of 100 decibels) volume an iPod can deliver.

The story has been carried by CNN, ZDNet, CNet, Reuters, Fox News, the San Francisco Chronicle and probably more feeds that I don't get.

This is not another blog about the great new software.

I downloaded the update, a 45 MB download, which is much larger than the previous updates have been. When I ran it, I quickly scanned over the readme and installation instructions and ran the update. Following the directions, I connected my iPod and it told me "You have the most up to date software."

Upon re-reading the installation instructions, the update is only for iPods and iPod Nanos, not for iPod Photos.

I don't get it. Am I not an iPod owner, if I play it loud, do I not have hearing loss?

I don't really want the volume control (I need to play it at full volume to use it with my crappy FM transmitter in my MINI), but I like the idea of having the latest software updates.

As a parent, I like the idea of being able to set a maximum volume on my kids portable music devices (although none of them have iPods). I have had to tell them, more than once, to turn it down - not because I don't want to hear their music (they actually have good taste in music), but to protect their ears.

Where is the update for iPod Photos?

Music soothes even the savage beast

I'm listening to Ministry right now. Loud. It makes me smile. It helps me relax.

Specifically, I'm listening to The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste.

When stuff gets to me, music helps me clear everything out.

so what.

Hanging out!

Just me and P hanging out before swimming. It was such a nice day today!

Ice Cream in Jane's

I'm not a Jane's reader, but if I were female, I bet I would (another topic altogether), but there is a quick blog posting on some Haagen Dazs Ice Cream.

JANE's Editors Blog in JANE Blog on JANEMAG.com

I know it is a shameless plug, but I'm doing it. It helps pay the bills.

There's no shame in my game!

The internet contributes to the softening of the brain

In previous entries, I have sung the praises of using Safeway.com for grocery purchases. One of the nice features is that if you place your order prior to 9:30 they have same day delivery available. Actually, if you place your order prior to 9:30 and if they have available delivery slots, you can get same day delivery.

Well, this morning, I got up early, planned menus for the week and got the order in. When I went to check out, not only were all of the Tuesday slots taken, but all of the Wednesday slots too! I've never seen it booked that far in advance - though the $10 coupon they emailed me probably triggered a lot of people to order this week.

I was at a loss - I really didn't have time to go shopping, but we needed food. We had less than a cup of milk and no bread - cereal and peanut butter and banana sandwiches are pretty popular amongst the under 5 foot crowd in my house. Plus, I really like cooking and cooking with my kids, which I can't do with out food.

This evening, after eating dinner (yes, we went out to Panera, since Chipotle wasn't open yet), I went to Safeway. This is the first time in probably two months that I've been to a grocery store to buy a full week's worth of food. Yeah, I've been in for a block of cheese or chips and soda before a kid party, but shopping for a week's worth of food takes organization.

You buy the canned food first, then the produce (so it isn't smashed by the cans) and then the refrigerated and frozen foods (so they don't get temperature abused). You need to have a list that is organized the way you think about the shopping trip. I had my print out from the online shopping - it was organized alphabetically, not the way I think about shopping (hard stuff first, then smashables, then cold stuff).

I found the shopping trip difficult. I couldn't find anything and had to wander all over the store. I think the kids were being rambunctious, but I also attribute a lot to the fact that I'm out of practice shopping. I've gotten used to the weekly shopping trip being a 15 minute sit down in front of the computer - not wandering through the store for an hour...

This is one of the negative side affects of the internet - I'm losing my grocery shopping skills!

I did a good job!

Check out the stylish way I did my daughter's hair this morning!

This hair style got a "Good job" from my wife. This is such a rare occurance; I can't remember the last time it happened!

They're back!

A few weeks ago I blogged an article about stolen artificial legs, evidently the stolen prosthetics have been returned.

Hopefully this is the case of someone doing the right thing - not setting her up for later.

Low hanging clouds of smoke and fire alarms

A few weeks ago, my Food Network newsletter had a bunch of pizza recipes and I caught an Emeril cooking show where he made some pizzas. I got the bug and decided to make a pizza.

I downloaded a recipe for a Roasted Garlic White pizza which sounded really good and Friday evening, I set off to make it. It was a whole pizza from scratch, roasting the garlic and making the sauce and crust.

I've made pizzas in the past and not had successes with the crust. I've had them grow larger than I expected and stick to the towel covering them, but I was sure this was going to be different. I had just watched Emeril do it!

The sauce tasted great (garlic and a touch of cayenne pepper for some spice) and the garlic roasted up nice. But the crust was not good.

At first, it was too moist and sticky. I got it to not stick to me, the board I was rolling it out on and finally got it on the pizza peel and assembled the pizza. Fresh mozzarella, fontia cheese, crumbled bacon - boy, I was getting excited for it.

I got ready to slide it into the oven and on to the pre-heated stone and I couldn't get it off the pizza peel. I called Heather for help and we got some spatulas to help slide it off. But the crust was too delicate. It was mangled.

Then, in the very hot oven, cheese began to melt and run off. A chunk of crust had broken off and was burning on the bottom of the oven. We pulled out the racks and pulled out the crust, but the damage was already done. Smoke was pouring out of the oven. On the good side, it imparted a nice smoky flavor to the pizza.

On the bad side, it filled the whole house with smoke. The smoke alarms were going off, eyes were burning, it was terrible.

The mangled pizza cooked up okay and in the end, it tasted very good, but it just wasn't the eating experience that I like to have.

I've got to figure out how to make a good crust or just cheat and buy a pre-made crust.

Today, the oven is on clean cycle and the piercing smoke alarms have been going off again. I got them shut off before Heather got home and to my surprise, she brought me a scale model of a MINI Cooper to help make up for the bad dining experience. She's the greatest!

I now know why they don't stop

Since moving here to Washington, both my wife and I have noticed that people don't pull over for emergency vehicles. I've confirmed my observations with other California transplants as well.

The first time I almost got run over when I slowed down for an ambulance, I assumed that maybe the law was different in Washington. In California, U-turns are allowed, except where they are expressly prohibited. On the other hand, in Washington, U-turns are illegal except where the sign says you can make them. But not pulling over for emergency vehicles, come on. That had to be the same.

This morning, on my drive to work, I now understand why.


This was on the back end of a police cruiser (yes, I just busted out my camera at the interstection and took a picture of the cop car - Copwatch, call me if you need me). The only time you see it is once the cruiser has passed you, which won't happen if you don't pull over. If they want to make a reminder like that, it has to go on the front of the car and printed in reverse. Now it is perfectly clear - they want you to pull over, but haven't been able to get in front of everybody to tell them that.

Funny thing, I saw another sticker just like this on a Jeep Cherokee with fire department stickers on it at the grocery store this evening.

February MINI drive

On Saturday, Alec, Chase and I went for a drive with Puget Sound MINI. It was a lot of fun - we started in Auburn and tooled around some curvy roads there and then took some backroads through some small towns, through Tiger Mountain and ultimately into Issaquah to XXX Root Beer (one of the last in the country).



It was a lot of fun to get to meet other MINI owners and see their cars. The drive was fun, because I got to see new parts of Washington and as it was a clear day, the views of Mount Rainer were great.

I recorded the route with my GPS and saved it with photos in Google Earth. Check it out! Playing the route isn't the same as driving in a MINI, but you get the idea of where we went. There are pictures embedded as placemarks along the way.

Why does it always happen at night?

Why do kids always get sick in the middle of the night?
Why does the smoke alarm back up battery always die in the middle of the night (and then it chirps every two minutes until you replace the battery)?
Why???

Girl's Prosthetic Leg Stolen a Second Time

Girl's Prosthetic Leg Stolen a Second Time

There is something wrong when somebody steals some one's prosthetics. It is akin to knocking over a guy in a wheelchair or not holding the door for a blind person.

But when it happens a second time? Somebody is just messing with her.

It's just wrong. It's not like somebody else could use them? Is there another 16 year old girl missing a leg - who miraculously has a new one the next day?

Not right.

Lazy Saturday

This weekend is going great! Saturday morning had a very nice start to it and the weather was great. So, while Chase was at swim practice, Heather, Alec, Parker and I went for a walk in downtown Issaquah.

We walked down a trail from the pool and community center down to Front Street. Along the way, we saw some modern art and a whole lot of pregnant ladies, which are art themselves.

There is an inactive rail line in Issaquah and it looks like they've made a small train museum out of it and Alec and Parker enjoyed playing on the train tracks. Hopefully, they know the difference between real tracks and old tracks.

As we walked back to the pool, to pick up Chase, we stopped at the Fisher Brothers Butcher and bought some beef jerky and German hunter's sausage. Again, that place is so cool.

We headed to lunch at Su Casa, which has been recommended to us as the best Mexican restaurant in Issaquah. It was pretty good. It is a family run place - we were seated by the daughter, who really knew her stuff. They were out of the kids menu, but she was able to tell us what was on it and make recommendations for our kids. As to the grown ups, the food was very good and the plates very large. I'd have to agree the restaurant was very good.

We headed home and were trying to figure out how to spend the rest of the afternoon. With the great weather we've been having, the peaks in the Cascades have been calling to me. They must have been calling to Heather too because she said that she wanted to go to a road that we can see on a mountain side.

The road is pretty distinctive and I'd found it on some topo maps I had bought, so we headed out for a Saturday drive. It was great, we took some small backroads (202, Tolt Hill Road, 203) which took us to Highway 2. We headed down Highway 2 towards Skykomish and then to some National Forest Roads. Very quickly we got into thick trees and one lane dirt roads. It was great to get off the pavement onto dirt. Since it is still wintertime, the road soon became a trail (really ruts in the snow). As we got to the intersection where the road started heading up the hillside to where we can see it from our house, it hadn't been traveled enough to have ruts, I decided that we should turn around. The map did show that it probably wasn't passable too far, because it was shown as a seasonal road (and the winter season was "winter activities/snowmachines").

At the turnaround point, there were several cars parked. We had arrived as one guy was putting his cross country skis on top of his car to head home and another guy (in running shorts) came running down the trail we had wanted to drive up. Definite hard core winter people.

It was ironic, because the kids had come straight from swim practice, still wearing flip-flops. Parker was wearing shorts. But I wasn't going to do anything stupid and get us stuck - I've been stuck enough in Alaska.

We turned around and instead of heading home, we went to Steven's Pass, hoping to see sunset. The mountains are high enough around the road that there wasn't much sunset to see, so we stopped at the ski area for dinner. Again, funny looks from the skiers in their snow gear and my kids in shorts and flip-flops.

After dinner we headed back, through the small towns and back roads of Washington. All in all, it was a great drive - about 4 hours and 159 miles. I'm so happy Heather got the "let's go there" bug. I really like being so close to the outdoors here in Washington, it is a great place.

Cooking themes

Two weeks ago, I decided to have a theme for the dinners that week. I chose Comfort Foods. It kind of started with the contribution of the Gorgonzola Mashed Potatoes at our dinner with Roger and Gina.
Monday night was mushroom risotto.
Tuesday night was Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese. The kids really like it, even though 1) it is spicy and 2) it isn't Kraft from the box.
Wednesday night was polenta and grilled sausages.
Thursday night was lasagne.
Friday was back to the usual friday night pizza.

But it continued. For my birthday, I received a crepe pan and a grill pan with panini press. So all this week, I've made panini. Panini for dinner, panini for lunch when I've worked home. It is great. I've printed up all the panini recipes from cooking light and am looking for more. Heather isn't usually big on sandwiches for dinner, but she seems to really like panini. Which is good, because they are easy, fun and good to eat. I really like the gooey melted cheese!

Not so good day

Today was not a very good day.

My day was not unique for my work group, so I don't write this for any empathy or sympathy. I'm hoping for some kind of catharsis (this is the first time I have also ever used catharsis in writing). We've been working for about a week on a forecast model that many people in the company are waiting for. Some days it seems futile and some days it feels like we are working in circles. Some days it feels like we are working against each other, although we are all working for the same goal.

When you have a bad day, you do different things to make you feel better.

Traffic was pretty thick today, so I couldn't drive fast - and living in Washington, fast isn't very fast. But while I was driving, I listened to White Zombie. Loud. It was nice.

At my kids swim practice, my daughter and I went back out to my car. Walking through parking lots with kids can be nice, because they'll let you hold their hand. They may think that you are just holding them to keep them safe from cars, but having a little hand in yours feels really nice.

Assorted Thoughts

POG
In the dining facility in college, they had a juice blend called POG. Not only did it have a great name, it was very good too! It was a blend of Passion Fruit juice, Orange juice, and Guava juice. I was at the grocery store the other day and saw some. As you can imagine, I bought it. It is a hit at home (except for with my wife, as she has gotten us on a 100% juice kick, where it is only 11% juice).

Cocktails
Chartreuse and soda is refreshing. Chartreuse has an herbal taste to it, but it is cut nicely with soda, plus it has a green tint to it. It has a Hemingway feel to it. I can imagine him sitting in a sidewalk cafe, writing in a journal, drinking Chartreuse and soda on a hot European afternoon.

My little boy is really a small man
This morning, I was going upstairs to check on my daughter's progress with getting ready for school. As I came up, he was just walking out of his room, waking up. In true man fashion, he was still half asleep scratching his butt. It was hilarious.

Your rights and responsibilities as a citizen

Today, I exercised my right and responsibility as a citizen... for the third time since we've moved here. We've almost been here six months and there have been three elections. Every other month!
In California, they say they have mob-rule politics where any one can get an initiative on the ballot with some signatures. Even the govenor uses it to get around the Legislature.
But here - it is just crazy.
Two of the three votes have been municipal elections, but can't they just roll them up all into one? I'm sure that an election, even one with only two questions has to cost money...
I just don't get it!

Photo retro blog

I downloaded a bunch of pictures of my phone and here are some photos that I should have posted on the spot, mobile-style

Enjoy!!

At the Post Office










Some people don't like to take their kids to the Post Office because of the long lines and the grumpy employees. I say take them and put them to work! We were sending 60 Christmas letters - we did have to alternate tongues. The second photo was taken just before he dropped the whole pile.

The only picture from Snowboarding


At the gas station
See that icon on the bottom row, second from the right? What does it mean? I understand the international NO symbol - but is it saying no putting the gas pump in the car? Huh?

A nice dinner with friends

Sunday evening, Roger and Gina, a high school friend of mine and his wife came to our house for dinner. It was great, because it was the first time that we'd had them over since we moved to Seattle.
It was great evening, starting off with cocktails and conversation. I didn't plan enough time for the socializing before dinner, but everything rested well in the warming oven.
Roger wrote about the dinner in his blog, so I won't repeat that. He wrote very nicely about it and I just have some other things to add from my perspective.


The Soup

The Roasted Butternut Squash Soup was from my Tra Vigne cookbook. I roasted the squash the day before at 11 am, and as I started cooking, I thought to myself that a cocktail would be nice while cooking. Maybe my wife and friends are right, maybeI do have a problem. The recipe called for a dollop of marscapone cheese, which I had never used before. It was really good - much better than sour cream.

The Meat

There is a butcher in downtown Issaquah, Fisher Brothers, that I think is the greatest store in the world. They have smoked fish and meats, all kinds of pork and chicken sausages, every cut imaginable of beef and more. The place smells so great as you walk in. I also have a problem there - I can't just go in and buy a cut of meat. I'll always walk out with breakfast sausage, bacon and some more meat. After a very Dude Where's My Car "and then... and then... and then..." I give the guy my card so I'll stop buying stuff. It's a dangerous place. Sunday morning's breakfast was huge (bacon, chorizo, breakfast links), baked goods from a new chain bakery and 8 eggs (between the 5 of us) cooked three different ways.

The Potatoes

There is a chicken and port sauce recipe that I like to make that uses about a 1/4 cup of Gorgonzola cheese and about two weeks later, I was always throwing out brown disgusting Gorgonzola cheese. I had mashed potatoes with mix-ins (horseradish, wasabi and of course, garlic), so I thought to myself that it would be a great way to use of the Gorgonzola cheese. It was a hit. I'm sure other, much better cooks than I have done it before, but this was something that I thought up on my own.

The Dessert

Molten chocolate cakes. Decadent, elegant and delicious. And worrisome. The last time I made one of these (a single serving for myself, when my wife had gone to bed early and there was no dessert for the kids), it didn't come out well. It was a molten pile of chocolate pudding. You can see, I had some concern when I decided to make them - in fact, I almost called the Chef whose cooking lesson yielded the recipe (she gave us her phone number for that very purpose). But I didn't call her and I went ahead with them. They turned out okay - the kid sized ones were a little over done and for some reason, two were less cakey and more molten (the one's Heather and I got). But they were still good. After the meal, it took me a while to eat it all - but it was good, I wasn't going to let it get away.

I really enjoy cooking and I really enjoying sharing it with friends - and they are great friends to share with. All the prep work was fun and it was a straight forward meal to prepare and have ready to eat whenever we were ready.

What do they need it for anyways?

Postal service reports 2-cent stamp shortage

You know, I don't understand why they need the extra 2 cents. Postage keeps increasing every couple of years and I keep sending less and less snail mail.

And then on top of it all, they are running out of the stamps?

Do they not want us to send letters at all?

Save a tree, send email.

An entertaining blog

This blog came up on the Web Clips in my Google Desktop and I was intrigued. There was a post entitled 10 Reasons Why Geeks Make Good Fathers. With a title like that I had to read it - I'm a geek (not fully by her definition, but close) and a father.

She covers topics of how great her family thinks meat is (she became vegetarian) and her kids and ...

She's local - someplace up here in the Greater Seattle area.

Her blog is entertaining. Check it out.
Welcome to MY world: January, 2006

Blue skies, nothing but blue skies....

Today, I went into work later than usual because I had a follow doctor appointment for my shoulder.  It was great – the sky was blue, the sun was out and the roads were dry.  I got to wear my sunglasses and I didn’t bring a coat with me today.
Because I was going in later, the traffic was much lighter and I took advantage of the dry roads (read: my MINI got to stretch out some – boy does it handle curves nicely).
I got to work just a few minutes before my first conference call and I was sharing with some co-workers some thoughts about the nice day.
I got to work, planning out lunch.  I had these great plans: I’d find a restaurant and eat lunch on the patio (a great change from my desk) and enjoy the sun.  
My conference calls ended and I looked up.  The rain had returned.  What is up with that?  And to make matters worse, this rain is forecast to continue for some time.

Children of Heaven

Today, we watched the movie, Children of Heaven. From the description, it didn't sound like it would be a very good movie, but I needed to be flexible with Heather, because the next movie in line to watch is The Devil's Rejects.

Children of Heaven is about two young Iranian children and how the brother inadvertently loses his sister's shoes. They end up sharing his shoes so that they can go to school (she in the morning and he in the afternoon).

While that in itself sounds pretty boring, the children are great actors (you can really see and feel the attachment to her only pair of shoes) and the story is touching. The brother enters a foot race with the hopes of winning a pair of shoes that he can exchange for her.

The movie showed a very nice interaction between a brother and sister and also showed some of the vast differences between the 'haves" and the "have-nots" prevalent in other countries. The director so builds suspense that we, literally, we on the edge of our seats (well, couch).

When you are looking for a foreign film, and a touching film, I'd recommend it.

Next, Rob Zombie's second movie. We'll see how that is!

Big O Tires

My MINI developed a slow leak in the right rear passenger tire. No worries, though, they are run flats. Today, after my kids swim practice, I stopped by Big O tires to get it repaired. They worked for about 40 minutes, and some of it was pretty hard work, because run flats are difficult to get back on the wheel - and didn't charge me a dime.

I expected to pay a little for the repair, something like $10.

I was impressed. They made a Big O customer out of me.


Wal-Mart wouldn't do that for me. In fact, Wal-Mart once did nothing to a tire, because they couldn't repair it. They gave me back my car with a flat tire and thought nothing of it - because they couldn't repair the tire. They didn't even offer me the option of buying a new tire. I got to Wal-Mart after their shop had closed but before the cashier had gone. And I couldn't do anything with my car.

More on Snowboarding

A few more thoughts on snowboarding:

1. When I was in Alaska, I had a soldier in my platoon, PFC Walton. Every winter he'd go snowboarding and break his shoulder. He'd be out of commission for about three months. When Bernie was picking me up off the ski slope, I was laughing to myself about PFC Walton. Bernie had to think I was going into some kind of shock with my senseless ramblings.
2. I also got some bad-ass pants. My old skool German Army wool pants just won't fit me any more (another sign I'm getting old) so I bought a pair of Burton Ronin boarding pants. Cargo pockets, crotch venting, waterproof-breathable fabric in an olive drab color. Nice.
   

Snowboarding

For Christmas, my wife got my son and I a 3 pack of snowboard lessons, rental and lift tickets. It is a really cool gift and I get to spend some quality time with my son.

We took advantage of the long weekend and on Monday, went to the Summit at Snoqualamie for our first lesson.

It was a beautiful day for skiing. It snowed all day long, with a light breeze, so there was fresh powder all day long. Now, snow in Washington is wet, so a good jacket and pants was important.

The ski area is close, only about 45 miles from our house and is a pretty good place to learn to ski. Even on the holiday, the lift lines weren't long. The instructor was good and at the end of our lesson, we both felt pretty good about riding down the green hill.

We rode up and then came down. For the first time on snowboards, it wasn't bad. It took us a while to come down (or at least get up after falling down) and then we took a break for lunch. We were re-energized and warm.

Before our second run, I told Alec that we should stop half way down and take pictures of each of us snowboarding (it would make a great blog entry). I was able to get off the chair without falling this time and we headed off down the hill. I felt really good and in control. In fact, I saw something on the ground about 20 feet up the hill from a father and son team who looked like they were picking up all their equipment after a crash. I stopped and picked up the thing, it turned out to runaway strap and took it down to them. I was able to stop and ask if it was theirs, but it wasn't. I started off again (all of this without falling, mind you) and ended up going a little too fast.

I lost control and fell, my arms all akimbo and I felt my left arm twist around and a great pain in my shoulder. I ended up sitting on my butt, holding my left arm, with a dislocated shoulder. The pain was pretty severe and I couldn't get up. I ended up crashing just below the ski lift, so there were several people who asked if I needed help. I asked a passing ski instructor to tell Alec to wait for me because I got hurt and then I waited for the ski patrol. I couldn't even stand up on my own.

A guy named Bernie helped me off the hill and got me to the Ski Patrol shack and there I sat for a few hours waiting for the pain to subside. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be able to drive home (the MINI is a 6 speed manual) so I called Heather to ask her to come get us.

While she was willing to come get me, it also happened to coincide with a playgroup she was having at our house. It also happened to coincide with I-90 opening and closing because of the continuing snow. It took her 2.5 hours to drive what took me 45 minutes in the morning.

By the time she arrived, the ski area was closed and another Ski Patroller, Rob (I think, my brain was addled with pain) was helping me stretch my arm and relocate it. While it never klunked into place, my arm moved over to the right place and the pain subsided.

Heather took me to the Urgent Care and I've got follow up appointments with Orthopedic surgeons. I never did pick up a birthday cake for Parker that day, since we were going to come back and celebrate his birthday. We did open presents after the Urgent Care.

Today, I'm sore. My muscles are sore from snowboarding and my shoulder is sore from being out and back into its socket.

I'd recommend avoiding dislocating your limbs.

Beat at Chess

My son, who is nine years old, beat me playing chess Thursday night. This is note worthy because it is the first time that that he has done this un-aided. I enjoy playing chess and it is cool that we can enjoy it together.

Edit: I need to figure out how to better post from my phone so they stop getting cut off. Sorry about that!!

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

The failed expedition to Cedar Butte

The guide book I bought has photographs and Heather saw a photo of Mailbox peak as seen from Cedar Butte and she said that she would like to hike up that trail. So, this weekend, we decided to try it out.
The trail head is a little more than 1/2 an hour from our house and it was a 3 mile round trip. I figure that it would take us about 4 hours to walk it with our 3 year old.
Heather and Alec had an activity at 3 PM, so we knew we need to make an early start in order to get back.
Saturday night, I packed up everybodies day pack with water, lunch, a warm layer, so that in the morning, we'd be ready to go.
I woke everybody up at 7:30 and we were on the road by 8:45. We found the trailhead and headed out. The weather was a little bit colder than it was last weekend, but not bad.
Well, we got about .3 miles into it (I had my GPS humming) and Parker decided he had had enough. Basically, his complaint was that it was too early and he was still sleepy. We made the not to hard call to turn around and went back to the car.
We didn't make it to Cedar Butte, but we turned it into a North Bend Outlet store trip. I ended up with a new Pea Coat, a down vest, a chef's jacket, my daughter got some hiking boots and my wife got a bunch of sweaters. Oh, yeah, and I got the credit card bills. But, still, it was a fun trip.
Once we got home and some lunch in the kids, I asked Parker what would have made it better. He would like to go again, but just later in the day. That's cool - he still likes hiking and getting out there.
We'll go again. Maybe we'll wait until later in the spring time, so the view will better, but we'll be back. Heather wants to see view and I want to hike more. Maybe for the winter time, we'll stick to the lower elevation trails, less terrain and better weather. We're getting started into this hiking thing.

Resolutions, old and new

A few years ago, I decided that I wasn’t going to make a long list of resolutions that there was no way of accomplishing and I decided that I would set some objectives for the year.
The first year I did this, I did okay – I met some objectives, I met some a little late and some slipped altogether. But I felt good about what I accomplished.
I was also using my PDA to keep myself organized, so naturally I put my objectives in there.
So, why am I telling you about 2004 resolutions? Is this some kind of super-retro-blog? Nope. As far as I can tell, I didn't change my objectives for 2005! I guess I was capitalizing on the success of the prior year. So, in 2005, I had the same resolutions:

1. Read 3 books
2. Run in 3 road races
3. Take vitamins daily
4. Complete income taxes prior to 14 February
5. Exercise at least 3 times per week
6. Invest for the kids college

So, how did I do in 2005.

Books - I made this goal. I should read even more.

Road Races I ran in 3 road races - while that counts as a successfully met objective - as the year went on, my times only got slower. Oh well.

Vitamins - I don't think I took more than a handful of vitamins (not all at once, but over the course of the year). Not so good - considering my high cholesterol and heart problems.

Income Taxes - I was close on this one. What kind of dumb idea is it to have the deadline be probably one of the most important holidays in a committed guys year. The taxes were done by the end of February. This year, this one will have to be done quickly, because with a new mortgage, I hope that we've got a lot coming back to us!

Exercise - I did well, for a while, with the help of my friends. We were running at lunch time, 3 days a week and it felt great! I've since moved and haven't figured out how to work it back in. Our new physician is going to push the issue, because she wants to ensure that I keep my cholesterol down. If I can't do it on my own, she is going to push the drug option very stongly. I really don't want it to come to that. This one is important for this year, for some other reasons, which will get detailed later.

Invest for the kids college - Not proud of this one. Didn't do much here. This will be room for improvement in 2005 - we need better defined financial goals and a plan to reach them. Do you see a 2005 resolution coming?

Enough of 2005. Look forward - always forward!

Objectives for 2006
Firstly, I'm not sure how I feel about publicly posting my 2006 personal objectives. This could end up being a good thing, because I am committing to so many more people (than just myself, I guess) that I will do some things. But then at the same time, if I fall flat on my face, that could be problematic, as well. So, here goes nothing.

1. Lose 10 pounds - When we put our house on the market, we cleaned our house and then for about 45 days only ate out. And most of that was fast food (or Fat Food, as it is sometimes known in my household). I gained ten pounds out of it. I've kept it pretty steady at that, no more during the holidays, but I'd really like to get it off. There is a pair of DKNY trousers that I have that my wife really likes, and I just can't fit into them. Not that they are tight, they just won't fit. I would like to be able to wear them, since my wife likes them so much. This will go together with my next objective.
2. Exercise, more - So, any more exercise than I am doing now will be an improvement. I've got to figure out how to work more running into my life style.
   
3. Keep my cholesterol low enough to stay off drugs - my new doctor told me that THEY have lowered the acceptable level for cholesterol. I really want to avoid taking the cholesterol drugs - I don't wanto start something and have to do it for the rest of my life.
   
4. Hike - I really enjoy hiking. Where we live in Washington is so close to the public lands. We have so many trails that are less than an hour from our house. Mostly, the kids like it and we've gone hiking every weekend this year! Hey its that joke - it is only the second weekend!
   
5. Finish the income taxes before the end of February - a much better deadline, this go around.
6. Read at least 3 books - I'll keep this one on the list. I've already gotten started, reading The United States of Walmart.
   
7. Develop some financial goals as a family - we've got three kids and college is already inside our ten year horizon. I'd love to retire (inside the ten year horizon too, would be super-cool). We are saving, but it just needs direction.
8. Keep in better touch with my friends - about mid-way through 2005, I realized one of my significant shortcomings is not keeping in touch. I looked for and found several old friends from my time in the Army and got back in touch. Now that I've done that, I need to stay in touch.
   

There they are, out there for public consumption. It seems like a long list, with 8 items and all, but that is what I'd like to do. I'll keep you posted (oooh, interesting) through out the year.

Happy New Year!!

Good things

Good things come from Livermore (like my wife) but Wente Sparkling Wine is not one of them. It does make for a good mixer (try a French 75 or a Kir Royale).

End of the year hike

Just recently, I spent my REI dividend and purchased a couple of guidebooks for camping and hiking in Washington, and on New Year’s Eve, we went for a hike in the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.  It was really convenient, less than 30 minutes from our house.
We stopped for white gas, soup and a topo map on the way there.  We got soup and fuel, but no map.  The guidebook said that there were trail maps, so I hoped for the best and just went with it.
We hiked from the Red Town Trailhead up to the Coal Creek Falls and then back again.  The weather wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, either.  The skies were cloudy (contributing to dark photographs) and the temperature was about 45 degrees.  It sprinkled on us off an on and the puddles on the trail kept the kids happy.
We started out on the Red Town and Cave Hole Trails, both of which had the elevation gain at the beginning of the hike.  Since we were diverging from the “Easy” trail in the guidebook, I had a little concern that the kids might get too tired from the start.
We stopped for lunch a little past the Coal Creek Falls.  Since it was in the depths of winter (winter in the North West, that is) I brought my backpacking stove to make a hot soup lunch.  Since it was a little cold, the hot soup and hot cocoa were nice and reinvigorating.
After lunch we headed back, by way of the Quarry Trail back to the Red Town Trail.  There is a meadow that is being restored and the way it was described with the native flowers, it would be very pretty once it comes into bloom.
All in all, we hiked about 2.65 miles in about 3 hours, including our stop for lunch.
The park was really nice and there are many more trails that I hope we can explore.  Before next time, I’ll buy the topo map of the “Issaquah Alps” so I have a better map.  The kids all had fun, so it will be something we do again.  Our proximity to the outdoors is something that I really like about living here in Washington.

On the Battlefront

My son just bought Star Wars BattleFront with some of his Christmas money. I guess since they are on BattleFront II, the price was pretty low.
He is still on Christmas break and basically played it all day long. After I have gotten home and finished dinner and the dishes, we have been taking turns playing.
I have forgotten how much fun a good video game is to play. Every night since he has gotten it, time has flown by and I have had to make a concerted effort to ensure I go to bed in time to be able to get up for work (the kids are on vacation, but alas not me).
I really like the game - the game play seems realistic, tactics seem to work and the interface is pretty nice.
It also seems like a good way to spend time with my son, playing games together! Talk about quality father-son time!

Broken Arrows - the Movie

Check this movie out. It turns out that it is partially funded by Google. Evidently, the producer and the Google guys are good friends. Looks like an alright movie.
Yeah, I am a big fan of Google and things Google related, but I also like movies about hitmen and it looks like there is enough love story that my wife would enjoy the movie too!
Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about it as well.

Long time, no posting

It has been a while since I posted last (bar some quick mo-blogging) and have some updating to do.
Work Stuff
I’ve written that work has been up and down - it has been like a roller coaster.  I’d fallen behind on some key projects.  It was the kind of “behind” that would make me think twice about sitting down and reading a book on the weekend.  My team started a new status reporting process.  It was great – it helped me focus on the right things.
With the new-found focus, I actually made some headway on the projects that I was behind on.  I felt really good about where I was with them.
As the week before Christmas was winding to a close, I was feeling really good about the few days off.  No work to think about, I knew what I had to do when I got back – I was ready to relax for several days.  I finished up solving a problem that one of the plants was seeing – they were seeing a difference between our financial plan volume and the field forecast volume.  Unfortunately, it was due to an error that I made.  Everything I planned on doing that last day slipped out the door.  It really sucked and I lost sleep over it this Christmas weekend.
Cooking
All of us, the kids included, like Indian food.  I read a quick recipe for something Indian inspired, had most of the ingredients for, including homemade Garam Masala, so I tried it out. The food turned out just the way I wanted to, the color was right, the taste was right, it was perfect!  Heather and the kids were really hungry when they got home and they loved it.  This also happened on the same day that I made the great headway on the two projects.  It was a great day and I wasn’t sure which was better, my great day at work or the reaction to my cooking.
I’ve tried all kinds of new things recently.  I really like things with mint and during the holiday season, Peppermint Bark is prevalent.  So, I tried to make some (no recipe) and it came out pretty good.
My mom sent me a recipe for Truffles, which I really like.  I’ve never made them before and I gave it ago. Chocolate and raspberry go well together, so I bought some Chambord at the state run liquor store.  I made Chambord truffles, Kahlua truffles, mint truffles and plain chocolate truffles.  I ended up with a bunch of them and we gave them to the neighbors.
Heather found a Prime Rib dinner recipe on Martha Stewart.com.  I’ve never cooked a prime rib before nor have I made Yorkshire puddings (something else I really like).  I bought the prime rib at a local butcher, Fischer Brothers Meats.  It was one of the coolest stores I’d been in.  As I walked in, I was enveloped in the smell of smoked meats.  They had smoked salmon and beef jerky – and that was just where the line ended.  The serving line followed the meat counter and every step along the way there was more excellent meat.  I had to wait while they cut me some short ribs and I saw breakfast sausage.  Heather like that more than bacon with a nice breakfast so I decided to buy bought that too.  Then I saw the slabs of bacon – they would cut it to order for you!  It was a dangerous place to be. Recognizing that, I left with what I came to buy (the prime rib and short ribs) and the impulse purchased breakfast sausage.
Christmas
The kids woke us up at 7 am Christmas morning and the power promptly went out.  I’d like to think that across the state, other kids were waking up their families and turning on all the Christmas lights, which caused a power drain.  We pulled out candles and drove on.  About 9 am, the lights came back on, so we finally got our Christmas morning coffee.
Monday was a company holiday and I played chess with Alec, Go Fish with all the kids and went for a walk again.  Even though I had to work some, it was a very nice couple of days.

Sushi, stress & sunglasses

Things are good!

My sushi leftovers didn't kill me!

The last few days in the Northwest have been clear and this morning I had wear my sunglasses, the sun was so bright.

I'm looking forward to this weekend as work has been stressful and I've fallen behind. We've reset some priorities and that has been helpful. It will be nice to relieve some stress this weekend.

*********

This was from a mobile posting at my kids' swim practice. I apologize if you read this in it's incomplete form.

Living on the edge

For lunch today, I had leftovers from yesterday's lunch. That in itself is not unusual. However, yesterday's lunch was sushi.
It was boxed up and refrigerated very quickly, but it is still raw fish, and now day old raw fish.
It was still tasty.
If this should be my last posting, learn from the error of my ways.
Good day.

Turkey Sandwiches

I really like Turkey Sandwiches after Thanksgiving.  I think a lot of it has to do with the way I make them and the memories associated with that.  I make my Turkey Sandwiches the same way my Grandma did.
You start with one piece of Wonder Bread (and only Wonder Bread), with butter and another with mayonnaise.  The butter side gets cranberry sauce and the mayo side gets the Turkey and a piece of lettuce is placed between the two sides.
How do you like Turkey Sandwiches?

Opposable Thumbs

I quite like my thumb and truly realize why we are better than monkeys and apes because we have an opposable thumb. In order to help my wife make the mushroom gravy, I was finely chopping 12 shallots. About mid-way though the 12, I chopped my left thumb, right across the thumbnail and side of my thumb. I yelled some expletives (some I didn't even remember saying, Heather has since informed me), applied direct pressure and went to bandage myself up.
A quick wrap with gauze and a secure taping (entirely covering it, which is hard to do with only one hand) and I was back to chopping shallots. Well, I did wash the knife first.
Having my thumb all wrapped up made it more challenging to continue chopping, pick things up and open containers. Imagine my chagrin when I realized how important my left thumb was to unbuttoning my pants when I had to go to the bathroom. I've also learned that my left thumb is important to the way I tie my shoe laces (I end up wrapping one of the loops around my left thumb in order to tie them tightly). I almost asked my 6 year old daughter to tie my shoes for me.
I've also wondered how many emergency room visits occur on these big cooking holidays for sliced fingers.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and keep your thumbs out from underneath your knives. Especially if they are recently sharpened!

Kids these days

I am writing this from the Fall City library and it is funny. The same reason that I am here brings several of the youth of Fall City - the internet connected computers. Today, I went on a MINI road trip and the end destination was Fall City to meet my family for an event at the library.

As I got here early and needed to do some work, I just went in to the library, logged in and went to work. But there were also a bunch of kids here, ostensibly doing homework.

But they too, were drawn to the computers. Instant messaging was providing them a great deal of entertainment and chatting about who had asked who out and who grabbed who's butt. They were fooling around, laughing, knocking each other's heads together.

As I was sitting here watching kids be kids, all I could think of was how this would drive my mom crazy.

You are a hero until you drop the F bomb at the dinner table

Today I went to lunch with a high school friend of mine, Captain Dave Carrico. He just returned from being deployed for a year in Iraq. It was great to catch up with him, hear about his experiences in Iraq and just get another person's out look on life in general. We just chatted for about a two hours over lunch at a pizza place south of Fort Lewis. It was really cool.
The military has changed so much since I have gotten out, but at the same time, so much has stayed the same. They are making such great use of technology to keep American son's and daughter's alive. But no matter what, it still requires soldiers on the ground in order to accomplish the mission.
It strange listening to him talk - his speech patterns were so military and he was ending his period of active duty to go back to a cubicle in some tech company. Things that are so commonplace in the military (ending phone calls with "Out", the F bomb as an adjective, the 24 hour clock) that aren't used in the civilian world were a now a part of Dave. In fact, the title of this posting comes from some briefing they got in order to help them come back to the civilian work place.
After lunch, I dropped him back off at his afternoon out processing station. One more day and he'll be back on his way to the Bay Area.
I'm glad that he made it back safely and that his unit didn't lose anyone when they were over there. Citizen-soldiers like him make the world a better place for all of us.

Colors of San Francisco

Two weekends ago, I was in San Francisco for a friend's wedding. Sunday morning I walked around North Beach, the Financial District and the Embarcadero and took some pictures.
The day was perfectly clear with a blue sky - impressive for the end of October. Everything was light so nicely and the colors just stood out.
I've just signed up for a flickr account, so check out some of my photos!

Installing a microwave

This weekend, I installed a microwave. Wow, you think, I took a microwave out of a box and slipped it into a cut out in a cabinet. Well, it was not a simple task. Firstly, I failed to measure the depth of the cabinet. The microwave we chose was about ¾” too deep. After a few calls, I got some guidance to cut the wall board in the back of the cabinet to make the cabinet deeper.
The wallboard was quick and easy to cut, so I slipped the microwave into the opening, drilled the pilot holes and screwed it in. There was a bracket that was supposed to go in, over the top of the microwave and across the opening. Well, again, a failure to measure, the opening was 1-1/4” too narrow. Now, it was wide enough to fit the microwave, but it needs more space for ventilation. That called for removing the microwave and some more trimming.
I carefully measured (and re-measured this time) because I would be cutting the cabinet facing. I marked it and drilled holes at the corners and started cutting. I haven’t mentioned yet that we have oak cabinets and I was cutting by hand. Each cut was only about 16” long, but cutting oak by hand isn’t exactly the most fun thing. I was also using my keyhole saw because of the small cut I was making.
I put the microwave in again and finished it all up.
What I didn’t share at the beginning was that a week ago, I discovered the fact that it was too deep for the cabinet. So, in the course of installing this microwave, I put it in the cabinet about 8 times.

iTunes and Videos

Part II of Digital Living
I am on a trip this weekend; I’ve gone to San Francisco to go to a friend’s wedding. Because I was out of town so much recently, I haven’t caught up on watching the few TV shows that I am interested in. I remembered that I wanted to transfer the last episode of Lost from my Tivo just before I left.
Tivo To Go transfers are pretty slow; they take longer than the show to transfer and I didn’t start my Lost transfer in time, and at the quality we are recording them, an hour show takes 1.8 GB. I don’t have that much disk space on my laptop right now. So, when I got to my hotel, I purchased the particular episode from the new iTunes Music store. It only cost $1.99 and was only 143 MB.
While it easily fit on my disk, it wasn’t optimized for full screen viewing. When watching it in full screen, I would get that large pixilation effect and sometimes a stutter. When I watched it at double size (about 4x6), it ran very smoothly. Now, it wasn’t the greatest, but it balanced file size and picture size. I’m glad that I was able to watch that episode.
I continue to be amazed by the way that the digital world changes the way we live.

Buying groceries online

Living on-line has gone one step further for my family. This week, I purchased groceries on-line from Safeway.com. I have wanted to do it for a while, but this week the conditions were just right for it.
Work has been pretty hectic, the previous weeks were pretty rough and they culminated with a week long meeting at the company headquarters. I got back from this meeting and all I wanted to do was catch up on sleep, but we had things that we had to do. And there wasn’t time for shopping for groceries.
It was pretty cool. I was able to type in my shopping list, in my terms and it did a pre-search and returned results for each of my items. I could then refine those results and pick the item I was looking for.
Most of the items had pictures, so I could validate that they were the right one with what I would pick off the shelf. I was able to find everything I was looking for and it didn’t take too long (only about 20 minutes). Now, if you were just browsing, it would take a while – it works best if you know what you are looking for.
I selected a delivery time and waited. It was kind of exciting waiting for my delivery. I had ordered some frosting for some really good pumpkin muffins that my wife made and that helped build the excitement.
The delivery was a little late, because the maps of my neighborhood show a road that doesn’t go through as connecting. There were 3 items that they were out of stock on and my frozen things were still frozen (much more frozen than had I driven them home). I only got 3 produce items (1 orange, a bunch of cilantro and some shallots – none which really require “picking”).
I only have two complaints, both of which are really my fault. The first was the cilantro was bagged and tied shut. Four days later, still closed up, it started to get slimy. My fault for not taking it out of the bag. There was another item that I just picked the wrong size on. Again, my fault for not reading better.
Buying groceries on line will probably be something we do more of with all the activities that we are involved in. I really enjoy cooking, I find it very relaxing, and not having to get groceries will free up more time for cooking, among other things!
Your first delivery is free and they have a tiered pricing plan. Delivery for purchases over $150 is free, a four hour delivery window is $5.99 and a two hour delivery window is $9.99. Check it out!

Chip

I'm a little bummed. On the way to the airport today I got a chip in my MINI's windshield. I guess that it is bound to happen. Bummer.

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

G unit

I wonder if everything costs 50 cent?

The Seattle Times: Local News: Crash victim's insurer should have a heart

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2002560033_danny14.html

After reading this article, there are a few things that come to mind:
1. I thought that occurrences like this were why we have insurance.
2. I do agree that her insurance company should pay out.
3. I hope that my insurance coverage isn't like this.

Why we need wi-fi

I lead a training session at work last week. What a tangled mess of wires. See why wi-fi is such a great technology ? More and more collaboration is key in the workplace and wi-fi can help!

Too much fun for one day

This morning, the whole family ran in the Issaquah Rotary Run at the Salmon Days Fair. Parker wanted to run in the 5K, but was then too tired to run in the Kids 1K.

Later in the day, the Alec and Chase went across the street to play and he wanted to do something. Parker and I went to Krispy Kreme and got a donut. By the time we got home...

Office Cookery

microwaved bacon and american cheese. Mmm, delicious?

Tonight was alright

Tonight was alright.  I came home and made dinner for my family.  We enjoyed Crab Quesadillas and chips and Garlic Salsa from Trader Joes. After dinner, I found a MINI owners club, Puget Sound Mini Motoring Club.
They have a large website, with MINI forums and it looks like they do a monthly drive.  Hopefully, I can make time to participate.
After that, I had some Scotch.  My bottle of Glenlivet is running low.

My weekend trip

This weekend, my family and I took our first trip - back to the Bay Area! Our trip went pretty well, with a few mishaps.
The Seattle airport's parking garage is posted that vehicles over 6-1/2 feet won't fit and my wife's Expedition is pretty close to that. So, just to be on the safe side, we chose to park in the Overhieght Parking area. For some reason, we had to drive all the way around the terminal and parking garage to get there. And when we started our tour, we were right by the parking area, but all of the signs pointed us away from it. Evidently we had to drive all the way around to make sure the area was secure!
We finally got to the airport and still had plenty of time to spare and on the way into the terminal, we saw several unattached SmarteCarts. I recalled that they offered a reward to return them and when I mentioned that to my small capitalist kids. they collected all they could find. It was crazy - between the three kids (each with a small rolling case) they must have had 8 carts. Parker couldn't even see over the back of the cart, but he insisted upon pushing too!

Remember that we paked in the Overheight Parking area? It is a parking area not a parking garage. Sea-Tac is built around a large parking garage and the airport terminal is on the fourth floor. So, all the carts went in elevators to get up to the terminal, where we were sure to find a return station.
Well, evidently they don't give that reward any more. Alec demanded that I pay him the money instead of getting the reward. I didn't.
We hadn't eaten dinner yet, and our plan was to eat in the food court in the airport. Here a certain comedy of errors (if you discount all the previous comedy) began. I waited in line at Pallino Pasteria with the kids and Heather went to Maki of Japan for some teriyaki. Evidently, we both got to the front of the line at the same time and tried to pay for our dinner's with the same credit card. Obviously, using the same card in two different places must be fraud, so my card was declined. The clerk almost told me to just sign the declined credit receipt. I could have gotten my food for free (which we did, but that is still coming). We ran the card again and this time it worked.
All this time spent running the credit card allowed the kids pizza to cook completely, so we didn't have to wait long. Heather came to us and Alec was carrying the pizza. He rested it on a divider cord and opened the pizza to show his Mom. She told him to close it and sure enough, I hope that Alec learned the lesson of why you don't open the pizza box when it isn't on a table - it all slid out on to the floor.
The pizza manager saw this happening and by the time Alec had picked it all up, he had brought out a new pizza.
So, the kids and Heather all have dinner. Maki of Japan sounded tempting - I like sushi. But the chance of food poisoning while trapped on a plane sounded risky. Live on the edge!
So, I waited in that line and got out my credit card (the same one as before) and it was declined. "Did you make a purchase here today, already," the cashier inquired. Well, evidently, buying sushi twice in one day is also credit fraud. So, my Check Card came in handy, becuase it never gets used. Good thing, this way my inactivity clock starts over. I'm probably good for another year of not using it. The sushi was as good as any pre-packaged sushi you can get at a grocey store and there were no stomach pains on the trip there.
On Southwest Airlines, you get pre-boarding priviledges with kids under 4. So we took advantage of that and were first on the plane. With a family of five, though, we had to sit in two rows. Not really a big deal, I sat with Parker and Heather sat with Alec and Chase. On a previous flight, Parker had big problems equalizing the pressure in his ears, so we had to make sure that everybody had gum to chew so that their "ears didn't get sick." It was really cute to watch the kids read the safety cards, which were pretty easy for them to read being in International-Picture-ese.
Parker decided that he wanted to sing on the airplane, so he sang for most of the way there. Most of the passengers thought it was cute, because he really isn't that loud - compared to an airplane.
While on the flight there, I came to the realization that I needed some kind of book to put the wedding ceremony in. I figured it out, I should get a Moleskin Journal at some place like Borders. Heather had the rental car, so I found the closest one and decided the boys and I would walk the 1.3 miles. Without being able to print out the map, I got a little misoriented and we walked about half a mile - the wrong way. We walked back, and by then, it was time for lunch. We ate at Arby's, something I haven't done in a long time and then set out again, this time in the right direction. Two hours after we started, we ended up at Borders. We found the journal, read some kids books, and called the bride for emergency evacuation back to our hotel.
The wedding went off without a hitch. It was the first wedding I officiated at, so now I am a professional.
The wedding reception was nice and there was lots of dancing with both my kids and my wife. It was a lot of fun.
We flew home with out event, humorous or otherwise. Unless you count all the people who looked at the two empty seat next to Chase and Alec and then passed it up. Finally, some lady chose to sit there. Chase chatted it up with her for awhile.
Chase had trouble finding our rental car (a crappy Ford Taurus) everytime we went out to it. Tonight, we rented a car so that Heather could get the Expedition repaired. We ended up with a bright red Dodge Neon. We hadn't picked up dinner yet, so we went to a Teriyaki take out place. As we walked out to go to the car, Chase went to the first red car she saw and pulled open the door. Well, it was a mini-van - not our rental! She closed the door and we walked away, embarrassed. Luckily, we live in a safe enough area where the people that don't lock their doors also don't have alarms.
Kids do the darndest things. It makes you smile.

Dinner with Friends

On Friday night, we got a baby sitter and my wife and I went to dinner with some friends who were in Seattle selling a house. It had been almost 5 years since we had seen Erik and Kelly, so we had some catching up to do.

We went to Union on First Street in Seattle and it was quite an enjoyable dinner. While we were definitely there to eat dinner, we were really there to spend some time and catch up with Erik and Kelly. I was quite happy with the lack of presssure to keep dinner moving and how informative they were.

We got a five course sampler and each course, as it was presented to us, was described to each person. A very nice touch.
So, we had:

• Steak Tartare with pumpernickle crostini
• Sweet Corn Soup with a seared Sea Scallop
• Duck Muscovit with roasted figs
• Sea Bass with Chantarelle mushrooms
  
• Huckleberry Crisp

All of it was excellent and I was pleased to find that they had 3 different Cabernet Francs to choose from. Cab Francs are hard to find, even in restaurants with large wine lists. We enjoyed one from Domaine des Corbillieres of the 2002 vintage.
Dinner was delicious, but the chatting was better. I got to show off pictures of our kids that, to my wife's surprise, I had on my phone and saw pictures of their baby, their dog Ronin (a totally bad ass name).

I also learned that I can fit four grown adults in my MINI - I gave them a ride to their hotel, instead of making them walk the six (or nine) blocks. I also learned something - all the people that have said that they think a MINI is cute, that is just their way of saying "badass."

I am still impressed with how quickly we can get from our house to downtown Seattle. On a Friday night, it took us less than 40 minutes to get all the way to the restaurant, including finding parking. There is no way we could have done that in the Bay Area.

So close to Seattle!

Our new community is so cool; we are so close to Seattle.  In less than 30 minutes we can be in Seattle. That is such an improvement over where we lived in the Bay Area.  So, for breakfast this morning, we decided to go to the Hi Spot Café in Madrona.
Hi Spot is a really great place that my friend Roger took us to when we were house hunting.  There is a sign in list and the wait was almost an hour, but the breakfast was great.  The cinnamon rolls are huge – our kids couldn’t finish them.
Afterwards, we drove back to the Eastside and looked for Trader Joes.  That is another really cool place.  What was especially cool is that we found a Basil plant – for some reason fresh herbs are hard to find in grocery stores around here. We’ve planted 8 pots of herbs, so once they get started; we’ll have our own in-house.  I picked up some frozen quiches to take to work to have in the freezer for lunch and some wasabi cashews.  
I went for a run after we got home and then started dinner.  I made a pesto (not with the TJ’s basil, but some from our neighbor’s co-op farm) with shrimp and farfalle.  I found a recipe for pesto in one of our cookbooks, In Nonna’s Kitchen, that said that the best way, the authentic way, to make it was in a mortar and pestle.  So, I whipped out  my mortar and threw the garlic and toasted walnuts in.  Smashing them wasn’t so difficult, but once I was supposed to add the basil leaves, I started to run out of space and patience for mashing with a pestle.  I gave up on being authentic and busted out the food processor and was done in nary minutes.
Dinner was a great success and I followed it up with Root Beer Floats.  The kids really enjoyed them and now my tummy is pleasantly filled.  As I write this, I’ve got Miles Davis on my stereo and my wife is sitting across from me, doing something on Craigslist.  A full tummy, happy kids, great tunes, a beautiful wife; ahh, life is good.

Cooking for hours

Last night, I made an Empanada recipe from Cooking Light. It took forever to make, involving an extra trip to the grocery store, marinating, making dough and then baking.
I started at about 4:30, preparing the marinade. When I cut into the package of pork tenderloin, I was greeted by a funky smell. Upon further inspection the best by date was the seventh, so I asked Heather to take a whiff. Well, her nose isn't all that particular, but she went with the "when in doubt, throw it out." So out went the core of the dinner.
I dashed out the door, and hopped in my MINI for a quick trip to the grocery store. Now, we are still new and I haven't figured out where everything is at our QFC. I found all the marinated tenderloins in one corner of the pork section, but I couldn't find any plain ones. I had to ask and they were just on the other end of the pork section - like 2 and ahalf feet away. Duh.
I had to go over to the produce section and had to pass through the wine section. I was perusing the shelves and ran into an employee (figuratively speaking) - it was the Wine Steward. It is pretty cool that QFC has a wine steward; it will be a nice way to learn more about Washington wines. It is always enjoyable to talk to someone knowledgeable about wines. That doesn't mean that I am knowledgable, but to quote Jay-Z, "I know a little bit."
So, I came home and finished the marinade. It had to rest for two hours and I had to make some pastry dough for the crust. It, too, had to rest for about 30 minutes. Once the meat was done, I had to cook it for about 30 minutes and then fill the crust and bake it for 30 minutes more.
Empanadas are best eaten at room temperature, but we didn't wait for that. So at 9:05 PM we sat down for dinner. And after all that work, it wasn't so great.
Every once in a while, Cooking Light has some real stinkers, and they are always the recipes that take forever to prepare. I still really like Cooking Light as a source for recipes, though and I'll still faithfully subscribe to the magazine.

Boys Day

Today, my wife and daughter did a girls-day and went shopping for dresses for the upcoming wedding. So, the boys and I, we had a boys day. First, we went to Blockbuster and returned some of the movies we had rented.
While we were there, we asked the girl behind the counter where to go for a milk shake. She suggested a burger joint in the same shopping mall, so we went over there and ordered three shakes. Being in the ice cream industry, of course, I asked who made their ice cream. The guy behind the counter said, “It’s just soft serve,” pointing at the machine in the corner. Milkshakes are supposed to be made with real ice cream! It wasn’t like the milkshakes were bad, they just weren’t a great milk shake. Soft serve isn’t real ice cream, unless you are buying the stuff that my company makes. How is that for a shameless plug. The kids still had a good time. Boy thing number 1 – eating.
When we came back to my car, we found that my car had made a friend. We hopped in and did something else that boys do – we drove. We had to drop of a digital cable box in Redmond, so we took the back way – a winding road and had a blast driving. On our way there, a red MINI Cooper with the Union Jack roof graphics fell in behind us. It was an older couple and when they drove past, we waved at them and he honked and she waved at us. Owning a MINI gets you into a friendly club.
We got home and decided we would go for a walk and explore (boy thing number 3) some of the trails in the area. We walked for a long time and found two playgrounds, heard things in the woods, found something that appears to be bear scat. Our new neighborhood is cool and there are all kinds of trails to walk on. We were not far from people’s back yards, but it felt like we were deep in the woods.
After we got home again, boy thing number 4 – we played video games. After a while, we decided that my wife wasn’t going to be home any time soon, so we started setting up the stereo (boy thing number 5) and then ordered pizza (boy thing number 6). We drove to Fall City to Sahara Pizza to pick it up and then drove home. I’ll go there again, for both the pizza and the drive.
My wife finally did come home, but no dress for the wedding. I guess that means there’ll be more boys days in the future.

A life of the cloth

My wife’s sister is getting married at the end of the month.  This week, I was ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church so that I could perform the ceremony.  I am pretty honored to be asked to do it, but at the same time, I am little worried about what to say.
If you’ve got any ideas for how a ceremony would be laid out, leave a comment.  I’d really appreciate it.
I think in the end, it will all work out okay.  I’ll talk with them and figure out what they would like and then help them out with their ceremony.

Mini mileage

Can you believe this? 510 miles on one tank of gas! My mini cooper is so cool!

A Sad Day

Today, a part of the sync connector for my PDA broke the plastic support for the connector wires broke out. For the time being, my PDA will sync, but the connection is ginger – I mustn’t touch the PDA or sync cable or it will disconnect from my PC.
My PDA was a hand me down from a friend at work, he wasn’t using it and thought that I would. He was definitely right. For the last year and a half, or so, this PDA has served me well. The device is definitely approaching its three year mark, but it still works great. The processor and memory handle my needs very well (rudimentary spreadsheets, address and calendar management, electronic books), so I don’t want to replace it. Also, I just bought a house, so I don’t exactly have the funds to replace it.
I hopped on Dell and went the Axim forums and found several discussion threads about repairing broken Axim sync connectors. I thought that Dell would be my only option, but I also found a company that would repair it, PocketPC Techs. They offer the repair for a fair price. I might have to check them out.
I wonder if I could get my employer to buy a replacement PDA for me…

My first posting on Craigslist

Drawer pulls / cabinet knobs

So, we've sold a car and bought a car on Craigslist (the big transactions) and I know that my wife has found other stuff on Craigslist. But tonight, I made my first listing. In our new kitchen (and all the bathrooms and built in cabinets), there were these white knobs. We changed all of them out with polished nickel ones and maybe we can make a buck or two on the left over parts!
We also swapped out our oven and as soon as I'm done here, I'm going to start disconnecting our dishwasher. Those will be on Craigslist, too!

I have a MINI Cooper

I am super-excited; yesterday morning I bought a 2002 MINI Cooper S, with the John Cooper Works. My super wife found it on Craigslist. The car is silver with a black top (I guess it pays homage to my Oak-town roots?). And boy does it drive.
Yesterday evening, I was so enjoying driving that I missed my freeway exit and had to quickly tour some of Renton.
There are enough windy roads around here that driving alternate routes will be a blast.
So, after 9 years of driving automatics, I’ve got a manual transmission (with 6 gears, no less) to get back into the swing of. I’ve had my share of embarrassing moments (I stalled during the test drive), but the best was at the metering light. It was just me, a long freeway entrance ramp and the metering light. I thought to myself, “Well, why not. When the light changes, I’ll just hit it.” And the light changed and I let the clutch up and stalled out. That was yesterday. Today, it is all coming back to me.
I’ve also noticed that Washington drivers drive slower than California drivers. Being a California driver, I have to make a conscious effort to drive not at what is natural for me, but with the flow of traffic here. Now having a stick, I have also come to the conclusion that on top of the better fuel efficiency, having to shift into a higher gear reminds me of how fast I am going – thus making me more aware of my speed.

Today's commute

Thirty-five minutes to work and forty-five minutes home. Not to shabby.

Issaquah Park and Ride isn't Issaquah Highlands Park and Ride

So I tried out the Seattle area public transit system today. While a generally satisfactory experience, my work and home aren't quite public transit accessible. Seattle has done some really neat things with buses - like a bus alley and a tunnel under downtown. They also have a version of 511.org called Sound Transit. The interface isn't quite as nice as 511.org, but it works. It turns out that my house is too far away from the bus end points, so it took some work to find alternate end locations (doubly hard because I am so new here).
While waiting for the bus, I read a magazine and failed to prepare my money. Yes, I was that guy, fumbling with money (still in a money clip), dropping money, asking how much the fare was - holding up the flow of progress. The bus system covers so much distance that there are different fares depending upon how many zones you go through. So, when I asked the driver what the fare was, he told me the one zone fare, but I was really going two zones. After I had put my first quarter in, he asked how far I was going. All the way to Pioneer Square was $2 and I didn't have enough quarters to make a dollar, so that bus fare cost me $2.25.
What I didn't realize as I was getting on the bus, but quickly came to understand that I was going to go from Kent to Seattle to Sammamish - a pretty indirect route. But I got to see interesting parts of Seattle. Seattle has built a busway - an alley for buses so that they can make a straight shot through Seattle and not have to worry about traffic. It is pretty cool and makes the bus ride much shorter. As you get to downtown, they actually have built a 1.3 mile tunnel underground that has a few larger stops, "stations" they are called. That is pretty cool. The bus goes downtown, but avoids the downtown traffic.
Once I got to Pioneer Square, I had to walk a few blocks and wait for the 554 bus. Another bus , the 210, came and the sign said Issaquah Park and Ride. I stuck my head in and asked if she went to the Issaquah Highlands Park and Ride and she said "Yes."
Well, it turns out that it had been a long time since she had driven this route and I didn't really know where I was going, so I ended up driving through Renton and ended up at the Issaquah Park and Ride. It is on the wrong side of I-90 and several miles south. But luckily there was a bus I could transfer to that took me to the Issaquah Highlands Park and Ride.
I called my wife and she came to pick me up. My adventure started at 4:20 pm and ended at 7:15 pm. Almost three hours for a commute just doesn't work.

We've moved in

Finally, after a long day of unloading the moving truck, we are moved in. Our house is full of boxes, but we have gotten all of our stuff back, new appliances delivered, cable TV and our home network is up. Did you notice that I didn't mention phone? I have figured out that there is phone in our house but it isn't the phone number we were supposed to get. Hopefully it is the old phone number - the phone guy was supposed to come today but didn't show up. I hope that isn't representative of Qwest's service.
The kids spent half of the afternoon watching just the video on the TV, because the audio in our old house ran through the stereo and the TV was set to use the auxillary sound. It took a long time before I could figure out how to change it with out the remote control.
Our neighbors are really friendly and I think we've met all of our immediate neighbors. The street is full of kids and each one of our kids has a corresponding grade/age kid so close by. This place will be all right.
We have no food in our house right now (though we do have beer that I bought when I was in the hotel - and it is in the new fridge and cold!), so we need to go find dinner.

Driving to Seattle

I did it. I drove to Seattle in one day. And I even stopped to walk the dogs (twice) and for dinner in Portland with a friend. The drive wasn’t bad – it was hot outside, but the air conditioner worked very well.

I took State Route 160 over the Antioch Bridge and into Sacramento. From there I took Interstate 5 the rest of the way. I delayed buying gas in Sacramento and started to get worried. Luckily, I found gas in Zamora, north of Sacramento, but paid through the nose for it. That set the tone for the gas costs the rest of the way.

I blazed through California. When I was planning (or not planning this trip), I was expecting that to take much longer. By one o’clock I was in Oregon. Oregon sped by, even faster. I think that it was due to the friendly drivers on the road. Once I left Oregon, the road seemed to drag. Mileage signs in Oregon were infrequent, but Washington has signs posted every ten miles or so. It seemed like the last 175 miles took forever.

I rolled into Seattle at about 9:30 pm with out a place to stay. I got a lot of help from my wife, checking online and calling places to see if they would take dogs. After quite a bit of calling, she found an extended stay hotel (read weekly rate, not hourly) in Kent. Unfortunately, by the time she found it, I had driven past it, but I was looking for a place to stay, so I turned around.

The dogs have been hanging out in the hotel room and I checked out Sammamish. Our new house and new neighborhood will be all right!

My last Bay Area posting

I am writing my final post in the Bay Area. We are moving to Seattle. Today (and yesterday) have been an interesting mish-mash of feelings. I am excited about our nice, new, larger home and I am sad about leaving my friends.
I'm glad I got to see so many of my friends from work and I'm sorry that I missed some, too.
Yesterday, as I was leaving work, I had forgotten to pack my keyboard. So, I strapped it to the back of my messenger bag and hopped on BART.
Our house is full of boxes (I've got a picture to post later) and my car is full of stuff. At the end of today, I'll be driving away from here, but also loaded with lots of great memories.
I'm rambling, so bear with me.
I've really enjoyed my time with everybody here and I am looking forward to seeing you all again when I come back. Those trips are already scheduled!
I'm going to miss the Bay Area and the people in it.

I love my daughter and she likes Fugazi

Last night, as I was driving home, the DJ on the radio was introducing the next song as a one of those bands that influenced all emo and hardcore music. He went on and on about it and then played Fugazi's Waiting Room.

I went home, got on iTunes and bought 13 Songs.

Tonight, I was cleaning up after dinner and decided to listen to Fugazi. As I turned it on and the sougnds of Fugazi filled the house, she grabbed my hands and started to dance. How can I go wrong. My 5 year old and I danced away.

I am a renter!!

Today is an exciting day. After waiting all day, I have found out that the sale of our house has been recorded. For the next two weeks, my debt ratio has gone down significantly, my cash reserves will increase and I start paying rent again (this last one isn't cause for much excitement, though).

It also means that we are this much closer to moving to a new house in Seattle.

Exciting, yes. But sad, too as this chapter in the Bay Area draws to a close.