A thoughtful, detailed analysis of my mental status

Courtesy of the What's Your Mental Age quiz, part of the Likeness application on Facebook:

Result: 7 Years Old
You're all about energy, fun, and not really caring or even thinking about the future. Basically, you're seven years old. The good news is, you've got a youthful spirit that others envy. The bad news is, you still wet the bed. Sometimes. Only when you've had too much soda late at night.

Yeah, that's pretty much it except for the bedwetting. Can I go to the amusement park now?

Accurate description of my work day

I was asked just now to prepare a bulleted list of what I do -- part of my department's introduction to our new director. Here's what I came up with:

• attend meetings
  
• email
  
• more meetings
  
• more email
  
• write stuff (usually email)
  

Yes, I did a real one afterward, but I think this one is an accurate summary of most of my work days.

Trip to Seattle, a/k/a being a tourist in my old backyard

I've lived in several places over the years, and each time I have a similar experience: While we live in a place, we travel to other places in the region or beyond, taking lots of interesting trips. We see a few things in our home area, but we never approach our home city as tourists. We don't study what's there and choose interesting things. Instead, we hit the obvious sites and a few other things sort of randomly. Then we decide to move, and we realize how much we haven't seen and done. By that time, though, we're busy with packing and planning our move. You would think we'd learn, but you would be wrong. We've lived in Portland for 12 years, and there's still a ton of stuff we haven't seen or done.

So why am I writing about this now? Are we planning to move? Nope. I've spent the last three days in Seattle, where I went to graduate school and therefore lived for the better part of two years. I've spent most of my time at a conference, so my exploring has been limited, but I did get out and about a few times. We took the Duck tour, seeing part of the city from a WWII amphibious vehicle. I used to watch them when I lived in Seattle, but I could never afford to do the tour in my student days. Then last night we went to Discovery Park, which is on a beautiful peninsula overlooking Puget Sound. We watched the sun set over the Olympic Mountains, and Jerry played on a small sandy beach, throwing driftwood in the water and covering himself with sand from head to foot (oh, to be 10 again...). I kept thinking how neat it would have been to go there while I was a student. It would have been a great place to relax and get away from the busyness of the University District -- and it's free, which would have fit my starving student budget perfectly. Yet I missed it, along with lots of other Seattle attractions. Ah, well... better late than never, I suppose.

Here are a few pics of our Seattle adventures:

Obligatory picture of the Space Needle:

I believe it's the law that all visitors to Seattle must take at least one picture of the Space Needle.

If you take your husband to Seattle Center, he will want to throw darts at balloons. If he throws darts at balloons, he'll win a prize. If he wins a prize, he'll pick out some hideous bunny ears and wear them for the rest of the evening. Just call him the Playmate of the Month... from hell.


Ride the Ducks!


The bunny ears have been replaced by a duck bill. This is not an improvement.


This is Seattle, so Everyday Music needs to have a statue of native son Jimi Hendrix out front:

I suppose if Kurt Cobain had been a native, there would be a statue of him out there too.

West Point Lighthouse, Discovery Park:


And a slightly fuzzy night shot of the dreaded Space Needle. I really need to get a tripod!


I spent today driving to Sisters and Bend with Laurel. Pics coming soon.

More beach pics

Till a few weeks ago, I hadn't been to the beach since September. Now I've gone twice, and I'm probably going again tomorrow. On the last trip, we drove to the Surfrider south of Lincoln City, then drove back up the coast to Tillamook on the way home the next day. Here are a few pics:

Jerry jonesing for coffee (yeah, they start young here in the Northwest):


Cape Meares lighthouse and one of the clearest, bluest skies I've ever seen on the Oregon coast:


This was a throwaway shot through the lens of the lighthouse, but it turned out sort of cool with my shadow and the view of the coast through the lens.


Ah, to be 10 again...


Chowin' down on some shellfish:


Next up: some pics from the trip to Seattle this week, then whatever pics I take at the beach tomorrow. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even bother unpacking my suitcase in the summer.

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