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Charlie's SpaceIf you're reading this you must have clicked the wrong link July 06 Oh deer!Sometimes life hands you events and it's too obvious the world might be interested hearing about them. I'm currently on a flight headed back to Seattle after my weeklong trip to Minnesota to see parts of my extended family and attend a friend's wedding. I had a nice time visiting with my 84 year old grandma that I haven't seen in over 2 years (bad grandson!), my aunt and uncle and cousin Chad, and our life-long friends the Shefferts. However there were a couple of low lights on the trip that I'll go into.
The first happened as we drove out along I-90 through Montana in my parents' 2005 Honda Accord. Long story short, We slammed into 100+ pounds of raw venison at about 70 mph. Short story long, My dad was driving, mom was in the back with her seatbelt temporarily unbuckled to reach for a magazine, and I was in the passenger's seat for a nice front row view of the whole encounter with nature. Amidst a fair amount of vehicular traffic, my dad and I simultaneously spotted the deer about 50 yards up on the right shoulder as it began trotting across the two lane highway. It was average size with no horns. Once we calculated that indeed we were likely going to hit this beautiful creature, my dad and I began yelling obscenities as we rapidly approached the soon to be maimed deer up ahead. I'm not sure how cussing fits into the whole fight or flight scheme of responses to danger but it should be added in there somewhere. I propose revising the model to the "Fight or Flight or F*ing get out of the way!!" response. As for our opponent jacketed in brown fur, he (or she) chose to fight. We didn't have much opportunity to slow down from 80mph before hitting it squarely with the middle of our bumper. What I witnessed next was absolutely surreal and seemed to move at Matrix speed. We clipped the poor thing at the legs while the hood of the car took the brunt of the weight from the body. The deer bounced off the now crumpled hood and executed a full head-over-hoofs rotation about 8 feet in the air before landing and rolling off in the ditch to the left. Imagine driving through the front half of one of those lighted outdoor Christmas displays of Santa and his reindeer. It was like that.
By the time we pulled over to survey the vehicle damage, the deer was back too far in traffic to check on its condition. Let me tell you, Honda Accords can take a deer really well. (apparently I've received word that Geo Metros are also effective deer killing machines) The bumper on our car was largely unaffected. The radiator was bent slightly but everything continued working for the whole drive to MN including both headlights. So we continued driving through the night at 60 following closely behind an 18-wheeler that we intended would clear our path from other potential road hazards.
I should add this is not the first time I've witnessed my dad hit a deer on the highway. It's happened on two other occasions (once also in Montana on the same highway). It's somewhat disturbing to note that his aim seems to be getting better with each collision since the first we barely glanced the rear of the deer, the second we hit it hard with the right side of the bumper and this third one was a strike down the middle. There were some appropriate t-shirts at the next Flying-J truck plaza we stopped at for gas that I took pictures of. I'll try to get a picture of the car up here later too. Next roadtrip I'm riding shotgun and bringing a rifle.
Story #2. This one is a whole lot scarier and probably more interesting. Saturday night around midnight, I was standing out front of my hotel talking on the phone to my friend back in Seattle. I was staying at the Marriot Townplace Suites located in the "Warehouse District" of downtown Minneapolis. The street was well lit and I walked about 4 cars down the sidewalk from the hotel entrance and stood between a couple of parallel parked vehicles in the street. At some point in my conversation, two men about my age suddenly approached me from the sidewalk. I was hoping they were just going to ask for directions somewhere. When I saw the enormous silver-colored Dirty Harry style revolver pointed at me, I knew these guys were only interested in giving directions. I kid you not, the barrel on this gun was probably 10 inches long. This punk was not feeling lucky. I had to interrupt my friend that was talking and just said something like I gotta go. I think there was more cussing in this case by yours truly as well. The guy not holding the gun told me to stay calm, don’t do anything stupid, we don’t want any trouble, and we’re going to take your wallet. I was okay with the agenda he laid out. The guy with the gun slowly grabbed my phone from my hand and placed it on the bumper of the car we stood behind. The phone remained connected and my friend heard pretty much the whole exchange. I’m going to add a fourth response to the Fight or Flight model which is to “comply”. He took my wallet and fished my pockets for other items which only contained my hotel key. Then he said something like "I know you have more money stashed somewhere, give it over". I told him i didn't and offered to take my shoes off to prove it. They seemed convinced and calmly walked away from the scene. I picked up the phone and I think I said “I just got mugged". My poor friend felt helpless as she listened to everything and didn't know what to do. I think she did the right thing by staying on the line and listening so the call would get recorded and serve as an ear witness in case the worst happened. Hanging up and calling the cops wouldn't have done any good since she didn’t know my address.
So we ended our phone conversation, I called the police and also reported my lost credit card to 800-VISA-911 (memorize that number). Later I'd find out from Visa Fraud Protection that they swiped my card at a local Super America gas station (they usually do that to check if it's still active), and went on a $180 shopping spree including $24 spent at a nearby McDonalds before attempting a failed purchase at some other location around 3am. I’m supposedly not liable for any of those. Besides that I lost about $40 in cash which I’m totally fine with, my license (PITA to replace), and a few other easily replaceable cards. All in all I think it was a good $40 lesson on avoiding and/or handling being mugged at gunpoint. I couldn't give much to the police officer about the two perps' appearance. I was kind of distracted by the biggest flippin’ pistol ever pointed in my proximity. I never quite feared they would fire the gun at me since that would put them high on the Wanted list and subject to intense investigation. I was more concerned that they'd clock me in the head unconscious to buy time as they fled. I'm fortunate neither happened. For a first (and hopefully last) time mugging, I was satisfied with how I reacted. Coming out of it I have three tips. 1) I'm not so sure about this one but I think it helped not to look them in the eye so as not to provoke them or look threatening in any way. I figured they want to feel they are in control. 2) Try to remember as much about their appearance as possible. This is tricky as you're carefully listening to everything they tell you to do. And 3) avoid getting mugged in the first place. I was standing where I thought was a safe well-lit location near the entrance of my building. I was wrong. And I guess I'd add a fourth... as one of friendly muggers advised, don't do anything stupid. And there were two pieces of irony to this story. The first is that I had just returned that night from a wedding where the groom and a few others at the ceremony worked for the local Edina Police Department. Where were they when I needed them? J And secondly, I was standing outside four stories directly beneath our room where my parents were sleeping.
The thing that pisses me off more than losing my wallet or the fact that these guys will probably not get caught for their crime, it’s the fact that one of these idiots was able to get their hands on such a deadly and concealable weapon. Washington state just got a little bluer.
Now I just hope my plane makes it home. May 22 Run Forrest!Quite a day! For the first time in my life, both pre and post knee surgery, I ran 5 miles nearly without stopping. What kept me from making it all the way through? A pesky drawbridge! But I wasn't alone. I ran with a friend and a couple thousand other would-be athletes in the Beat the Bridge race in Seattle. For my entire audience of two loyal readers outside the area, this is an annual charity event put on my Nordstroms with all proceeds going to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. A few thousand people run or wheelchair in three separate heats starting near Husky Stadium in an 8k loop that ends back inside the stadium. What exists near the middle of the race at the 2-mile mark is the University Bridge that temporarily raises exactly 20 minutes after our heat started. Ours was the "Aqua" heat which must be runner-speak for "sluggish". About half of the Aqua crowd admitted to this being their first year in the event and about the same number confessed it was their first attempt running 5 miles. Evidently we were not the only suckers in attendance.
Despite barely loosing to the bridge, I really enjoyed the entire event. Travelling with the herd of other oxygen starved joggers, you can't help but run with the flow. The only thing hurting me was some cramp in my side but that's my fault since I couldn't help conversing with my running partner most of the way. :) I'll definitely attempt it again next year barring any catastrophic injuries between now and then. The fact I lost to the bridge gives me something to shoot for next year. The only thing I'd do differently is show up earlier to beat the traffic. Oh and maybe skip the IHOP pancakes. One more thing, when they talk about handing out prizes to bridge losers like me, don't get too excited unless you're a big fan of McDonalds Asian Salad. Sorry Karen, no free shoes from Nordstroms.
So what do you do after finishing the longest run of your life? You hit the nearest brunch and order a plate of Eggs Benedict with a side of hash browns is what. :)
(Did i really eat a stack of pancakes at IHOP this morning? Of course not. You thought i'd do that didn't you? Come on people you know me better!) May 08 Send in the clamsAs for the clams... we started dinner around 7 and finished around 11 :) We made clam chowder which came out pretty well. Never imagined it was so much work though. In total probably 10 person-hours and a dozen Corona's to make the stuff. The Corona's were not employed in the recipe :). We used a combination of Tyler Florence's "Classic Clam Chowder" recipe for the broth and Alton Brown's chowder recipe for the rest because I have his video. This was all done after I placed a phone call to Mark in Shelton, who's my friend Max's dad and knows just about all there is to know about harvesting and cooking local clams. He assured me that the fact that all of our clams in the cooler were lying there with siphons hanging out didn't mean they were dead and we'd die of some horrible bacterial infection from eating them. As is typical, I was way overthinking the situation. So we braved it out. One of the of the best parts of the production was eating the bacon bits created during production of the broth. The best part was of course tasting the final product.
 If we do the clam thing again we'd like to try a classic clambake. This is best done while spending a weekend at the beach with friends. It involves digging a hole, filling the hole with hot rocks, clams, corn, potatoes, onions, seaweed, and covering with a blanket for a few hours until everything is cooked. Cooking dinner in a hole in the ground. That's my kind of cooking! May 07 Clam-diggityToday was a good day.
Jason, Laila and I decided a couple days ago that we'd try clam digging this weekend. None of the three of us had ever tried it but thought it would be something different. So knowing I was going to embark on a brand new hobby, as usual I researched all I could about it in order to maximize probably of success and enjoyment. I asked everyone I knew if they had dug clams before. I got more information than I cared from some random couple at the sushi restaurant on Friday. I also found a couple of old P-I articles covering the subject here and here. Another good article here. Figuring the sport(?) of clam digging can't revolutionize itself in the matter of a couple decades, it seemed the articles would still hold relevance. I put that info together with tide table data, the clam map, and Streets and Trips to assemble our itinerary. Plan in hand, our first stop this afternoon was Fred Meyer to tool up with shovels, buckets, gloves, clam licenses, Pringles, and Jelly Bellys.
After a pit stop at Quiznos, we were off to our target location. A quick ferry ride to Whidbey Island, our destination was to be Useless Bay. It was the closest clamming location on the map and tide would be lowest at 6:38pm. This might sound strange but as we drove off the ferry I was nervous. Would all the research, planning, packing, tool purchases, and driving pay off? I had seen plenty of empty clam shells in my life but I had never seen a live clam in the wild. Why should today be any different? Hmmm, maybe we should have just gone to Costco. They have live clams. Too late. We're on the island so let's make a go of it.
What had me most concerned was that nowhere on the map did it have an arrow pointing "clams are here". From here on out, we had only our instinct and a can of Pringles to go on. We came upon Double Bluff park in Useless Bay which seemed like a good starting point. Being a saturday during an exceptionally low tide, I somewhat hoped to be validated by hordes of fellow clam diggers at the beach. Instead there was a small family of 4 flying a kite and some guy watering his garden next to the parking lot. Jason and I decided to scout the beach for those tell tale clam holes in the sand so as to avoid us looking like a few jackasses with shovels on the hunt for clams where they didn't exist. Sure enough there were those little holes and a few dead clam shells so our hopes were up. Sure enough when we got our tools and started digging, we came up empty. And now I felt like a jackass.
My worst fears coming true (aside from being attacked by a giant mutant geoduck), I went ahead up the beach where I spotted a darker colored sandbar. As I approached I noticed a small group of four mostly hunkered to the ground. Unless someone had lost a contact, the only other explanation was there was clams in them thar sands.
On the sandbar, clam carnage was everywhere. It was also supposedly favorable clam territory as described in the article with strata of rocks, mud, and sand. You couldn't step without crushing 3 or 4 dead shells at a time. Jason and Laila caught up and we looked out to see little squirts of water shooting out of the beach about 5 inches high. Seemed reasonable to pick the location of one of those squirts and start digging. So we dug. It didn't take long and I finally found a live clam. I'm a bit sqeamish around slimy water bourne creatures so I cautiously handled my first clam. It was about 4 inches across; far larger than I had expected given the clams I've had in my linguine all these years. Oh... so this is where clam strips comes from.
We tried a couple more holes without any luck. I was beginning to think the three of us would have to share the one little treasure found so far. So much for inviting the neighbors over for a clam bake. But then we struck gold. We dug a little deeper and before we knew it, we had about 10 clams in our bucket. And this continued for the next hour. By the end of the day, we gathered a total of 105 clams. Time to call the neighbors.
So that was the first half of our adventure. Tomorrow we'll continue it once we figure out what to do with 105 slimy little bivalves. To be continued... May 03 Out of hibernationI'm 30 now and recovered enough from my weekend to write something coherent. What a weekend that was! I decided to be proactive and put myself on the waiting list for a new liver. Thanks to everyone that helped make up for me doing nothing on my 21st birthday
 If I get any pictures that don't have me throwing back a Manhattan or other more incriminating poses, I'll be sure to post them.It's been a while since I last wrote anything here and I'm hoping I can make a return since I think I tend to become more inspired during the warmer months. It will be a busy summer. I'm planning to start up work on my condo again so I can consider alternative living arrangements next year. Most of the people close to me know I'm ready to put down the sawsall and finish my condo project so I can spend less than 90% of my life on 148th. It will require a number of weekends of tough labor and a few gallons of Gatorade. But having the idea of moving to Seattle will hopefullly provide the motivation I need to git 'er dun. February 06 Four ThingsI've been tagged! What a great excuse for a blog post. DPReview
January 10 Sittin' On The Dock Of The BayIt's been just over a week since i got back from San Francisco. I travelled down there with a fellow Microsoftie, Vlad who served as my tour guide. I lived in California from age 6-8 or so but supposedly never got up to SF and if I had, i probably wouldn't have remembered much of it or appreciated it's charm. I do feel like one f the last people that haven't been there since everyone i've told about my trip, the usual reaction is "Oh, you'll love it there. It's beautiful." Good to know. Next time i'll try to pick some place less trampled by american feet.
 Turns out the general populace was right. I liked the city (but didn't fall in love with it) and it's rich with beauty. We drove down in Vlad's Subaru WRX by way of the Pacific Coast Hwy 101. Turns out, Dec 26 is the opposite day of the year highway 101 should be explored because it will likely rain the whole way and it gets dark around 4:30. But it was a nice preview. Some day I'll travel it again (in the summer-time) and take the time to shoot more pictures. The drive down wasn't without adventure as we did attempt a "road" that turned out to be a sandy trail through the dunes of Oregon. Should have seen that coming since the road is called Sandy Way. But the Subaru performed impressively and we didn't get stuck, though we came close.
We arrived in SF around 9pm on Dec. 28th and the first thing that greets us is the famous Golden Gate bridge. This was the first big highlight of the trip for sure. Of course this highlight is short lived as you're forced to pay $5 after you cross. Lame. You can't tell me they're still paying for that bridge 70 years after it was built for a cool 35 million.
We stayed at the Sheraton the first two nights. Probably 3/4 of the pictures I took during the trip were shot on the first full day in SF. We walked maybe 20 miles from 11am until 8pm starting at the hotel, going along the marina, through the park, up and across the bridge, up to the viewpoint, and all the way back to the city. This was the only day of sunshine we had so i'm glad we ended up getting to the city a day early. The trip wouldn't have been nearly as immersive without it.
The next day we drove out to Napa Valley to check out the wineries. Not much to see here on a gray day in winter. It was neat to see the big names like Sutter Home and Robert Mondavi but that's about it. That night we went out to Ruby Skye which was as impressive as their website. I've heard DJ's twice now from SF (the previous during my summer trip to Jackson Hole) and both times i'm blown away at how much better they sound than anything i've heard in Seattle. I'm not a connoisseur of house music but from what I've experienced so far, SF has the best in the country.
We moved to the Omni hotel for our remaining four days in the city. The next morning was Friday and we had what turned out to be the best valued meal of our visit. In the northwestern section of Chinatown, you'll find yourself in a more authentic and less touristic atmosphere. We had dim sum for lunch at a place called Broadway market i think it was called. Only one of the three women working there spoke English and none of the items in the display had tags so we just pointed. I had no idea how much everything we ordered would cost. I was shocked when the girl asked for just $7. That was all. She handed us a bag containing our bounty and said she put a couple of forks in there for us. I supposed she assumed we were getting take-out and didn't know how to use chopsticks (she was right on the second part for me
). We found an open table in the center of the seating area and i felt a lot of eyes staring at us. We were the only non-chinese folks in the room. No biggie. We ate our lunch and near the end I happened to notice everyone else in the restaurant was eating with forks too! Go figure.We walked probalby another 10 miles that day up in the Fillmore area and it rained pretty hard. But I enjoyed the exercise. Nothing of real note on this excursion. We didn't quite make it far enough to see the painted ladies.
The next day was Saturday, New Year's Eve. We spent most of our day in the North Beach "Little Italy" district. We met up with Vlad's brother, his girlfriend, her twin sister, and the sister's husband for dinner at Steps of Rome. What a crazy place on New Years!? The festive music was turned up loud and the wait staff was dancing with the customers. We wandered down to the BrewPub afterwards and things start getting blurry from there. But i kept under control. Next morning i felt great, Vlad felt like throwing up in the bathroom most of the day
 So i set out on my own and happend upon a ceremony in Chinatown that would turn out to be one of the most interesting sights of the week.I managed to get front and center to witness some kind of celebration where the chinese consolates were officially introduced to the American dignitaries. There were some students of a local karate academy clothed in yellow and red uniform and their dragon costumes. I never thought watching chinese dragons would be all that exciting but to see them in real life with all the percussion and the character animation, it got the adrenaline going. But that was nothing compared to what happened next. I noticed (a little late since pictures show it was there the whole time) a string of red fire crackers spanning from the ground to four stories high! And these weren't little party crackers you get at the local fireworks booth around Independence Day. These had explosives the size of M-80s mixed in with some others. As some older men in suits were getting ready to light the fuse, some of the people running the show told us to get back. We were standing on a sidewalk in front of a store, there was not much room to move back so I was very close to the action.
What ensued next was a cacophony I've never heard in my life. I felt like I was suddenly thrown in the middle of a war zone. I tried to keep calm and take pictures while my ear drums were melting and fragments of the fireworks were coming at my face. Meanwhile the dragons are jumping all around next to the explosions. About a minute later, the chaos stops and there's smoke everywhere. Fortunately no dragons were on fire. That was the end of the ceremony and traffic was soon allowed to pass through and spread the red fireworks litter all over the place. My ears still slightly ring a week later.
I walked around that afternoon an shot a few more pictures. A quick shout out to my friend Julian for explaining some of the things I shot that day. Thanks man! That evening Vlad was feeling better and we went to the top of the Marriot hotel with his brother and bro's gf for some drinks and desserts. We had a great view of the city which served as a proper ending to the whole week. The next day we made the 12 hour trip up I-5 and returned home around midnight. Oh ya, and we ran out of gas on the way. haha!
Lots of pictures here. December 01 Snow day!The snow seemed to put people in a good mood at work today. Everyone's been pretty stressed lately so this was a welcome distraction.
Greg is a developer in our group that shares my interest in photography. Only he's been at it for way longer and has an impressive portfolio to prove it. But his photo equipment was nowhere near while I happened to have mine in my car. So we wandered around and took some shots of the Redwest campus. All except the last three photos were shot by Greg. I was able to extract a few photo lessons out of him during our exploration. All I have to say is Redwest is by far the most photogenic of the Puget Sound MS campuses October 03 New toyFall is my favorite season of the year. This could earn me some flame comments but I just love the cooler temperatures. No doubt I owe this to my Minnesota roots. My mother claims I was born in a cozy hospital in Minneapolis but I'd believe her more if she said my first night was spent in an ice house out in the middle of Lake Minnetonka. So ya I like the cold weather but in Fall, it's not tooooo cold and windy yet. It's just right. But one of the problems is all the pine needles that drop on the ground and eventually find their way into my condo. Makes it a liittle tougher to savor the season. I've solved that issue today. It was always a lot of work to broom off my walkways. But while visiting the Depot today, I discovered this slick little electric cordless blower from Black and Decker. It weighs only 7 pounds, runs much quiter than a gas powered unit, and blows air at 125 mph. It's probably not practical for pushing a yard full of wet leaves but it does a fine job of sweeping off my walkway and probably works great for drying off your pet dog after a bath.
I also appreciate Fall for the new TV season. For this I've added back my What I'm Watching list. And just in time for this new season my Comcast box, which I've had a love/hate relationship with for the past year, just became all love sometime in the past week. It finally auto-rewinds a few seconds when you stop fast-forwarding; something I dearly missed from my Tivo days. Now I'm back to my little game of seeing how close I can get to the end of the commercial break from 3X ffwd. You'd have to be Daryl to pull this off before the update. (For those who don't recall, Daryl was a Data Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform and was known for his ability to play a perfect game of Pole Position. No machine could outsmart him, not even my pre-updated Comcast box.) And if that weren't enough, the menus are wicked fast and the machine never freezes anymore. I highly recommend this machine to anyone that can get it in their area.
Check out the new hot rod.
September 11 Microsoft is fighting crimeI don't usually write about products and services we build but i thought this was worth mentioning. I was playing poker at a friend's house the other night. As we were leaving, one of the visitors discovered their Z4 was grazed by another vehicle leaving a pretty good size mark over the front wheel. The driver did not leave a note. I was outside with the others when the cop showed up to investigate the crime. Like any self respecting rubber-necker, I looked inside his car and noticed his laptop was running Streets and Trips! After watching so many episodes of CSI, I would have guessed that they'd use some propriatary mapping software but it makes sense to use S&T. It's simply one of my favorite Microsoft consumer products. Despite the cutting edge online mapping services coming from Google and MSN, I still prefer S&T to guide me to my destinations. It's got just about everything the online maps have (minus satellite renderings) but keeps working when you're not connected to the Internet.
So whether you're tracking down meth labs and busting perps or just trying to find your local florist, Streets and Trips will get you there.
Ok time to watch the Open. Go Agassi! (So we all basically knew he was going to lose. But it was fun for about an hour) September 06 Still aliveYa it’s been awhile. Deal. Is it because I’ve been lazy? No way!! I’ve been busy and you should feel lucky that you’re even getting to read this. My work load comes in waves at my job. Sometimes I can get away with the regular 40 hour week while other periods I’m chugging along for maybe 60 hours. I mean with the internet growing and all, there’s a lot of websites to surf! (just kidding Ken and everyone up the chain) I’m definitely on the high side of work hours these days. It’ll calm down again at some point. But mom’s complaining about my lack of presence here so I feel compelled to at least post some pictures. Hey wasn’t the bull riding video enough to hold you over for the past week? (Major creds to Tony for hooking up the sound and making the whole thing seem more extreme than it really was). And that’s a good lead in to…
Two weekends ago we held a big MSN-wide employee party for an excuse to play dodgeball and get a little tan. We don’t get many UV rays from our monitors. Billg dropped by at the beginning to say ‘hey’ to everyone. Gotta say I was impressed with his little speech since none of it was teleprompted (as far as I could tell) and he seemed to know plenty about what’s happening in our division. That might not sound like a lot to ask for but considering the mind-boggling array of code this company develops, it can’t be easy to keep up with it all. Unfortunately I don’t recall any super cheesy jokes like last year (insiders might remember the belly slapping wordplay on “peer to peer”).
Dodgeball was brought back for an encore and this time I decided to play. My dodgeball team “The Spacecraft” consisted of 9 members from the Spaces team and we played against the MSN-renowned powerhouse “Washington Generals”. They took us out behind the woodshed for the first two games but we edged out the third somehow, which I consider total match victory. The first two games were just warmups as far as I’m concerned. And I might add, I suck at dodgeball. Royally! I took a couple to the face which sent my safety goggles (er sunglasses) flying off my head. I never threw anyone out the entire three games. But I learned three valuable lessons. 1) keep some space open on your left and right flank so you can dodge (especially important at the beginning of the game when it’s crowded). 2) Those dodgeballs are not designed to be caught. So don’t attempt it unless you are made of glue. Finally 3) practice throwing the ball, hard. I’ll carry these lessons with me into the cage next year and probably end up with another textbook full of lessons to reflect on. Eventually I’ll become an unstoppable dodgeball machine, or just a highly informed coach.
After the party I took off for Spokane to hang out at Lake Pend Oreille with my old college roomies and Hayes's family. We’ve been going out there for the past 8 years or so. We don’t consume as much beer as in the old days but the usual assortment of Bud Lite and MGD was on hand and in hand most of the time. Recreational activities included volleyball, a late night of poker, eating double cheeseburgers, throwing apples at Lindsey's tent one “early” morning at 11am, and the traditional tube rides. Mike pulled me through the biggest waves I’ve ever encountered on a tube in my life. I was cruising along enjoying the quiet mountain scenery then all of a sudden ahead of me was the climactic scene from A Perfect Storm. Next thing I know I’m replaying a scene from The Boy Who Could Fly. Somehow I lived through it this year. Can’t make any promises for next. Check out the pictures here.
Last weekend was Labor Day weekend. My family had not one but two barbeque evenings and Saturday night I went out to dinner and saw The Constant Gardner with a couple friends. I was a wee bit tired that evening and never saw any previews of that movie. I didn’t pay close attention from the beginning and got lost early on. The story jumps around in time and the camera man couldn’t hold still for a second. But if you’re alert, intelligent, and hopped up on Dramamine, I’m sure it’s an excellent movie.
Monday was another highlight. I played tennis for the first time in maybe three years. My knees held up with the help of Mr. Advil while I brought my old tennis skills out of retirement. Can’t wait to get back on the court again. If anyone’s up for it and you’re not sponsored by a major sports label, give me a holler. August 08 More Blue Angels photosCaught wind of this site by Chris who works here at Microsoft. He's apparently dropped some serious coin on his photo equipment and shot some professional looking pics over the weekend. http://www.duffergeek.com/2005/08/full-album-is-here.htm
Oh and one of my favorite shows Boston Legal starts its new season tomorrow. I don't usually watch courtroom dramas but James Spader's character cracks me up. Definitely recommended viewing.
Update: turns out tonight's BL episode is a rerun. Thanks Corey for spoiling my evening  Still if you didn't watch the series last year, you might want to watch it tonight.August 07 Your tax dollars at playI’ll never grow tired of watching the Blue Angel’s air show at Seafair. I’ve gone to see it most of the times they’re in town for the past 6 years and each time I get goose bumps during their initial approach over the horizon. It’s so spectacular to witness such exotic aircraft flying over the typically mundane Lake Washington. So Saturday morning I traveled over to Frito’s house with my sister’s family to meet up with Pete and Chrissy’s family including Jack’s friend Auggie. It was crowded in the Genesee neighborhood but luckily Scott was our inside connection for parking passes. We watched from a small park where scaffolding from KIRO 7 was positioned in the way but not overly obtrusive.
August 02 Kickin' back in my condoI returned Sunday from our trip. Everyone had a blast. Huge props to my sister for doing practically all the work in organizing the whole reunion. She gathered all the names, contact info, did all of the activity planning, all while raising two children under the age of 3. I can’t say the trip was relaxing. Anytime my sister is in charge of the itinerary you can bet there won’t be much downtime.
After my last entry I went mountain biking with my sister, her boyfriend Wade, and my cousin Chris. I took a nice spill scraping my hand in the dirt and sitting down hard on a rock which left my bum quite sore. Luckily I happened to be riding in front of everyone at that moment so they all had a good view (and a good laugh). The next day we rode horses 2000 vertical feet up into the mountains over 3 miles (6 round trip). It was a very scenic ride. No injuries on this adventure. It drizzled for a short period but most of the ride was dry and the sky cleared as we approached the top. I rode a brown steed named Secretariat which was much cooler than my hunch that he'd be named something like Cinnamon. That afternoon we gathered at the house where my uncle’s family was staying and had mojitos, carpaccio and seared tuna appetizers, and lamb chops for the main course. The pressure was on my cousin and her fiancée since they own a restaurant in Colorado and they came through. Afterward we walked into Teton Village to check out some of the night life. Being in Wyoming, my expectations were low. It just so happened there was plenty of life happening at some bar/club where DJs from San Francisco were spinning and bunch of people supposedly from Burning Man festival came to dance. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera but there was plenty of interesting couture and the music was some of the best live club mix I’ve heard. This at a bar in Wyoming called the Mangy Moose. Next morning we rafted the mighty Snake River. Our large group took up 3 rafts. Max rapid was about a class 3 which isn’t exactly death defying but the guides didn’t seem to mind (and in fact encouraged) the boarding of the other vessels to pull opposing riders into the water. I cannot do justice in describing my uncle (who’s no small individual) flying into our boat, tackling Wade like a lineman and sending him into the drink. None of us saw it coming until it was too late. That night a few of us rode the alpine slide at a resort near Jackson city before everyone gathered at a brewery to celebrate my dad, mom, and uncle’s 60'th birthdays. We didn’t stay too long but I had enough pizza to put my stomach in turmoil that night. Everyone came back to our place to have cake and hold a small roast session for the three that turned 60. Of course Jack got to celebrate his birthday for about the tenth time this year by blowing out candles. It was everyone's last night together and I chose to say my goodbyes that evening rather than get up early for the morning coffee gathering. I was completely out of energy. Now I’m back home, I had one email in my inbox (yay for Internet!), a bunch of laundry (boo for perspiration and dirt), and expired milk in the fridge. Everyone’s begun brainstorming for the next reunion. There’s talk of house boats, a return to Fair Hills in Minnesota, a Scuba trip to the Dry Tortugas, or who knows what. One thing is certain, it won’t involve sleeping in. July 28 Kickin' back in Jackson HoleI departed Tuesday morning with my sister’s family for Jackson Hole, Wyoming to celebrate a bunch of 60th birthdays happening in my family. In total there’ll be about 25 of us here after everyone arrives including my 91 year old grandmother. We have family from Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, and of course Washington. I thought we’d be roughing it… living off wild game, cooking outdoors over a fire, complete disconnectedness from the world. Turns out there’s an Albertson’s about 10 minutes away, our place has a well outfitted kitchen, and best of all wireless Internet!! Some (probably most) of you are now going “Boo! You’re on vacation! Live like the Amish.” Look, I don’t feel the need to turn off every electronic gaget during vacation. Maybe sometime later in life but these days I prefer to return to work with a couple unread emails rather than a couple hundred.
The first highlight of the trip was flying out here in two different airplanes with Jack. Flying is undoubtedly his favorite activity in the world. And I’ve got a thing going where I give him my car key and just as the plane’s engines are about to spin up for takeoff, I tell him to put the key in a nearby hole and turn it to start the airplane. He looked suprised that it actually worked. When we arrived to the vacation home, we settled in and met up with other members of the family that are visiting while Jack played in the office talking on the phone and taking notes. The place we’re staying at is quite nice. Has 4 rooms and 3 bathrooms, full kitchen, 12 person jacuzzi and a view. The resort is set against a majestic mountain-scape with the Grand Tetons located just north up the road. So today we set out around noon to hike some trails below the Tetons around some small lakes and meadows. Along with the usual trail wandering tourists, there were a number of folks creating paintings of the surrounding vista™ which I didn’t anticipate. But it makes sense given the visual inspiration provided by the mountains. After dinner tonight we drove 10 minutes to the town of Jackson to check out a fair that’s going on this week. I knew things were getting interesting when I stood at a counter and uttered the sentence “One ticket for the pig wrestling competition please.” I assure you, this activity was not in the original trip agenda. Local folks from as young as age 12 were wrestling pigs for sport and a good portion of the town was in attendance. Basically a team of four get into a small ring about 30 feet in diameter, attempt to grab a pig, and place it in a barrel located in the center. They have one minute to complete their objective. The announcer says go, chaos ensues, mud flies, people fall, and the pig usually screams for it's life. It seemed one of the keys to success was good verbal communication. Commands like “Surround him!”, “Grab him!”, “Lift his legs over the barrel!” promoted effective team cohesion. To further enhance camaraderie, most teams coordinated their attire to a theme but by the end their costumes were hardly visible beneath the caked-on mud. I was amused. That’s all for now. Here's some pictures July 25 Mt. Si HikeToday was a big step for me. Scott and I set out to conquer Mt. Si and we accomplished our mission. I had done this hike many times in my high school and college years and enjoyed it for the physical challenge and sweeping views it provides. But about three years ago I suffered torn cartilage in both my knees from a condition called discoid meniscus cartilage which one is born with (about 5% of population) but isn’t affected until sometime in your twenties. I had arthroscopic surgery two summers ago to “fix the glitch” but ever since then my knees had never fully recovered to the condition I enjoyed during my more outward bound teenage years. But lately I’ve noticed as I worked around my house and on Mike’s play set, I had none of the stiff leg pain on the day following so I thought perhaps its time to push these creaky old knees. Perhaps I could pull off a climb up Si. Basically it’s all uphill for 4 miles with a 3,667 elevation gain (six Space Needles) and you return down the same trail for a total of 8 miles round trip.
This was Scott’s first time up and I must say he performed quite well. He kept with my pace and exceeded it at times, though in the last mile or so down I was entertained by his less than graceful stride as the last of the energy in his legs were used up. Yes that makes me a sick person but I couldn’t help it. For the most part I physically felt great considering my orthopedic history. My left knee made it through with no problem and my right was a little stiff on the hike and ached bad during the car ride home but it feels fine now and I could probably do the hike again tomorrow if I wanted. I also earned a pair of heel blisters since I was dumb enough to forget band-aids or moleskin. But my pride is intact.
Here are the pictures to prove it! July 09 Hammer timeToday I helped my friend Mike build a playset. Whenever we carry out framing projects i'm there mostly as a support role (holding a board, holding the end of the tape measure, fetching his water) while Mike does all the hard thinking like math and general site management. That's because he spent 5 years out of college working as a framer and has far more knowledge of that subject than I may ever have. Mike and his dad over the years have taught me much of what i know about house stuff and today was yet another bag full of building lessons. As for the playset, it's for his boy that just turned age one and from the pictures you'll see that it's a small fortress he'll have to grow into. One interesting fact, all of the cedar (which is most of the wood used on the structure) was milled from a large cedar tree they cut down from their property a while back. We didn't get to attach any of the fun stuff but eventually it'll have a slide, rock climbing wall, swings, and monkey bars. The only thing missing will be the poker table.
I shot a few pictures June 27 Weekends just fly byI’m getting kind of a late start on this entry so I gotta make it quick and get some sleep tonight. Today I drove out to Snoqualmie to see my dad’s new Great Clips franchise he opened last Friday. Who knew that my father, who many years ago held a career working for a truck refrigerator manufacturing company, would go on to open a hair salon in this lifetime? But that's just what he did. It's evident that now that it has opened the work has only begun. The thing I’ve learned especially during my visit today is that none of these types of businesses just come into existence out of thin air. I’ve always taken for granted the small take out restaurants, hair salons, landromats, and those shady pay-day loan stores without realizing all that goes into opening and running one of these places. You have promotion issues, employee issues, pricing issues, angry customer issues (though not at his location yet), and on and on. Small business owners have plenty to keep them up at night. But if you can pull it off, it can be rewarding both personally and financially. Plus the nice thing about the hair cutting business - nobody has invented a way to purposfully stop hair from growing. Of course if the Great Clips doesn't work out I suggested they could just change the 'C' to an 'H' and turn it into a small gym. Get in shape for the summer at Great Hips!
And pictures of the new store. June 20 Father's DayTonight’s event couldn’t stand in more contrast to the event I attended and wrote about last week. I guess the only thing in common is they were both held outdoors. Nearly my entire family including my parents, my grandma, my older sis, her husband and my two nephews went to see Garrison Keillor perform on stage at Marymore Park. Let me just say it’s not easy to write a blog entry to follow an act like his today. For those not familiar, Keillor has written and performed a show called A Prarie Home Companion starting back in 1974 on Minnesota Public Radio. Today 31 years later he tours with the show which is rebroadcasted on public radio all over the world. My dad has been a big fan for as long as I can remember and all credit goes to my sister for coming up with idea of taking him to see the show on Father’s Day. We arrived around 5:30 and first order of business was a land-grab. Only this was more of a lawn-grab. We found some pretty good real-estate not too far back and staked our territory with a pair of blankets. After settling in we shared a picnic dinner of fried chicken, potato salad, rolls, and cookies - an appropriate appetiser to the evening’s main course that would begin in a few minutes. The weather couldn’t have been more cooperative with the sun out and no clouds to be seen. I estimate maybe two thousand people came to see the show. Even a waning moon was in attendance during the bright daylight just left over the stage. Of course I was away getting water at the consessions when I suddenly heard that familiar soft baritone voice I’d heard so many times on the radio in years past while riding in the car with my dad. The show was beginning and Garrison was singing the opening song. He came out wearing a black suit, white shirt and a bright red tie with matching red sneakers. He’s a tall, top-heavy man and I have to say not all too handsome but given his talent, that seems forgiven and it only adds to his character. The show alternated between comically reflective stories and folk music. The mood all around was warm and laid back which was reiterated by the audience’s posture in the lawn. During the songs I played with Jack on the blanket and walked around the grounds with him. There was a nice little hill behind the audience for us to roll down. Jack and I were wandering around when intermission started. As we were heading back to our spot in the grass I noticed everyone was standing up and staring toward the same area. Apparently the spotlight operator slipped and fell about 15 feet as he was getting down from the stand located in the middle of the crowd. The paramedics were called and of course Jack was grinning to both ears when he saw them pulling up with all their flashing lights. As the show began its second act Keillor cleverly sang some old song about a lighthouse operator and considerately announced that the man had likely broken his nose and arm and suffered a concussion but nothing was mentioned of a broken neck or back so it seemed like good news. The concert went on for maybe four hours total and I enjoyed all of it. I feel like I got my money’s worth on the $50 ticket. While his show is entertaining to listen to on the radio, it can’t be compared to watching it live in concert, especially the music. I can’t say it’s for everyone since Keillor’s humor is an acquired taste and might not hit home with some folks. But if you’re looking for a relaxing escape and something different to do, go see the show next time it’s in town. June 13 Only in AmericaEarly Friday afternoon my old college roommate Mike, his wife Amy, and I set out from a cloudy and rainy Seattle for the town of Lind, a three hour drive over the Cascades and through the desert. We were to meet up with another college friend also named Mike, his wife Laura, and their families to witness something people call the “combine derby”. We were tipped off to this event back in February at the reception of Mike and Laura’s wedding. Laura’s family grew up in the lightly populated town of Lind and they’ve been going to the derby for the last 5 years. The Mikes and I decided we had to see this with our own eyes. The rainshadow was in full effect bringing sunny blue skies. It was quite easy to find the place. East on I-90, take a right at the Lind exit. In a few minutes you pass through downtown Lind consisting of mostly older red-brick buildings and grain silos. A good share of farming equipment was positioned beside the road as we approached the main venue. A stark reminder that you’ve entered Bush country. Culture comes in many forms. This one happens to wear plaid button-down shirts and cowboy hats. In the past I’ve attended my share of redneck games like the monster truck show at the Tacoma dome, a logging competition up in northern Washington, and the king of all redneck events, NASCAR at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina many years back. But the combine derby takes it to a new level. Pretty much the entire population of Lind gathers in the bleachers once a year to watch these modern day gladiators collide into each other with vehicles that resemble oversized zambonies on dirt. The combine has a wide horizontal structure positioned in the front close to the ground that everyone calls the “header”. The header has a corkscrew bar in the center that traditionally rotates to help gather grain. The two small wheels in the rear of the vehicle are what everyone calls the “back wheels”. Go figure. These are essentially the Achilles heel of a combine. During competition the first and foremost strategy is to position yourself to ram the “header” into the “back wheels” thereby severly crippling your opponent’s speed and agility. Finally you do whatever you can to permanently disable their combine from moving at all. This of course requires a lot of crashing. When the match is over you drive or tow your mangled combine to your station, weld it back together and return an hour later for one more run. It’s not all that high-speed but there’s so much action going on at once you need to watch closely so you don’t miss a big wreck. The stadium consisted of 4 sets of bleachers positioned in a semi-circle around a dirt pit in the middle. I estimate the pit was just shy of the size of a football field. Of course there’s much more than the haphazard destruction of not-so-meticulously decorated combines. There were also grain truck races and a couple of cute farmers’ daughters launching peanuts and t-shirts at a feverish crowd that seemed to be running low on peanuts and t-shirts. Off in one corner between the bleachers was the beer pit. It was simply a cordoned off area bordered by chain link fencing and a white truck with beer taps attached to its side. It did not escape me that at a subconscious level these beer taps resembled that of the udders of a cow, only these udders dispensed crisp cold brew. I had four cups of Coors Light throughout the evening. Enough to have fun but nothing crazy. Of course there were a lot of interesting t-shirts and hats worn in this area. Alcohol consumption was only permitted within the beer pit. So as time went by the crowd became thick and difficult to navigate. Not unlike many of the off-campus parties I attended during the first quarter of my college freshman year. One stranger that was walking by, inspired by what he saw (and the alcohol racing through his blood) aptly proclaimed “We need a bigger beer pit!” Right on, man. It was a fun and unique evening. This was Lind’s 18th year running this event. I never asked anyone how it got started but my theory is that 18 years ago on this hallowed ground, two pissed off farmers squared off against each other over a property line dispute. I imagine they had maybe one or two bystanders and a few cows witness the altercation and there were no t-shirts to commemorate the event. These two farmers, still alive and down two perfectly good combines, had the bright idea that a lot of people would consider this entertainment. And so the combine derby was born. I’m not sure how the beer truck works into the story. I guess any decent redneck event requires a beer hauler standing by. Check out the photos. |
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