Thursday, August 14, 2008

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?

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

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.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

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:
Yep, it's 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.
Demented bunny from hell

Ride the Ducks!
Ride the Ducks!

The bunny ears have been replaced by a duck bill. This is not an improvement.
P1070325.JPG

This is Seattle, so Everyday Music needs to have a statue of native son Jimi Hendrix out front:
Statue of Jimi Hendrix
I suppose if Kurt Cobain had been a native, there would be a statue of him out there too.

West Point Lighthouse, Discovery Park:
West Point Lighthouse at sunset

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

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

Friday, August 08, 2008

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):
Coffee... I need coffee...

Cape Meares lighthouse and one of the clearest, bluest skies I've ever seen on the Oregon coast:
P1070167

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.
Through the lens of the Cape Meares lighthouse

Ah, to be 10 again...
P1070190

Chowin' down on some shellfish:
Mmmm... mussels...

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.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Like weird news and intelligent commentary? Check out This is True!

I've been a faithful reader of Randy Cassingham's This is True newsletter for over 10 years, but I don't think I've ever blogged about it. I'm going to now, because a) it's always entertaining, well-written, and thought-provoking, and b) Randy desperately needs more readers, because Yahoo has mistakenly tagged his newsletter as spam, blocking about 10% of his subscribers from getting it. There's a free version, to which you can subscribe for as long as you want. If you like it, I recommend you upgrade to the premium version to get more stories and help support the work of a talented writer. There's not too much out there that will both entertain you and make you think. Give it a try!