12.31.2007

Reuter's Best Of 2007

At least in photos, here.

There are some really amazing photos in here.  It covers all sorts of types of photos.  Heads up though that there are some graphic (In the news from a war zone sense as opposed to the skinemax sense) photos in the collection.

12.28.2007

In Case You Want Your Kid To Be A Lumberjack

 P1040211

You could get them this awesome chainsaw.  They might also turn out to be like Dexter so there would be that balance.

12.21.2007

It's A Shrine Really

P1040208 Primarily dedicated to me.  It is cause I am the favored child (which I must bask in now until my niece / nephew is born and I am usurped by the youth).

12.15.2007

Does This Make Me "A Bad Person"?

31

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Now playing: Double F - West Coast Chaos
via FoxyTunes

12.14.2007

Fancy New Feeds

Try out my new RSS feed at Feed Salon

Casey has decided to create a new service that aggregates multiple feeds into one single one which I think is a pretty awesome idea and service.  It is open to anyone at this point so I expect to see all my favorite blogs exposing a feed salon feed soon.  If not expect much random harassment (consider yourselves warned).

I do not have many feeds (and am feeling kind of inferior about that) so right now it is just my blog but I am going to go out and acquire feeds like a mad man and add them.

12.05.2007

Weather Of Biblical Proportions

For whatever reason (*cough* climate change caused by the human race *cough*) the weather in Seattle recently has reminded me of the stellar movie staring Hilary Swank, "The Reaping".

Last Saturday as I was getting ready to go shoot baskets with Tim I looked at the window and saw this:

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After making fun of the neighbors trying to take pictures of the snow I decided to try to subject you my loyal reader(s?) to my own attempts (Much more successful as you can see)

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Yachi and I of course decided to do the smart thing and wander around outside and head downtown.  I put on my full capilene long underwear, multiple layers and boots.  The snow was heavy and wet:

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And by the time we got downtown it had mostly melted and I was overheated to the point of heat exhaustion.

Yachi soon tired of my slow pace and constant whinging:

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In contrast I have been wearing a short sleeved shirt to work for the last three days and it hit 57 yesterday.  I am telling you, in the words of Lewis Black, the next storm coming will involve frogs.

11.29.2007

Good Day For A Guiness

11.27.2007

Drum Pattern Awareness

You should check out this DJ Spooky mix that he did for the Biennial in Venice.  It is some of the normal Spooky type stuff mixed with his favorite music originating in Africa.

One of the cool things is that he does not limit himself to music but adds a lot of speeches and found sound / collage stuff.  I know I make it sound exciting but the speeches are by some of the best in history (Malcolm X & Nelson Mandela).  The music is ridiculous.  Ginger Baker for those from an earlier generation (Cream), Fela for everyone, Abdullah Ibrahim for the avant garde in us all, Akon for the kids and my personal favorite Konono No. 1.

http://www.djspooky.com/articles/venice_2007.php

11.26.2007

Holiday Travels, Pt. 2 AKA Chrysler, Ford Or Foreign

As heard on the radio in this land of Buicks and Oldsmobiles.  That's right this version of the holidays is coming to you straight from the great lakes state.

It is always good to go home.  There are a lot of things that are uniquely Michigan and it is great to see and experience them.  It is also a lot of fun to catch up with family, both old and new.

Yachi and I have spent a week here shuttling between her and my families homes to see everyone.  Along the way we have run into some great things. 

We started out in Lansing (after a brief stop for rest, food and TV in Detroit) where we got to catch up with my family.  We got to see the home of Jiffy <Link here> mix for delicious corn bread and muffins after having a spectacular lunch at the Common Grill.  Surprisingly that was my fist time eating there and I am glad I finally was able to sample their wares.

We also were able to see a trailer park in the shadow of a landfill which I think wins the award for worst place to live.  I also managed to develop quite the addiction to Project runway by watching the entire Third season and all the Fourth season episodes that exist now.

On Thanksgiving it snowed quite a bit which made for a really beautiful day.  It was a wonderful day with lots of food and family.

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I also got to see Trixie who has to win an award for cutest and smelliest dog ever.  She is 14 and about to die so appropriately she smells like death.  She had a great Thanksgiving as well as she managed to scarf down half a blueberry pie and step all over the pecan one.  She is getting frail and there was some discussion of digging a grave for her now before the ground freezes.  I am pretty happy that I was able to see her and spend some time with her.

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We then went back to Yachi's parent's place and had another Thanksgiving dinner with her family (on Friday).  Her mom brined the turkey for about 36 hours and it showed.  Normally I do not really eat much turkey (the night before I just had a lot of my Aunt's outstanding stuffing) but this turkey was good.  I mostly ended up eating that.

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Saturday we had a reception for Yachi's family friends whom were unable to make it to the wedding which was cool.  Great food and fun times were had by all.

Overall a most enjoyable holiday and fitting with the whole theme of what I picture Thanksgiving to look like and be about.  Hopefully everyone else enjoyed theirs.

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11.20.2007

Holiday Travel, Pt.1 Of Possibly 3

Yachi and I just got back from Vegas and I am writing this on a plan to Michigan.  We were in Seattle for about 17 hours.

To go to Vegas I had to betray my basketball team and miss a game.  From what I heard it was a bad game to miss as we needed more players.  I felt bad for a couple of minutes but then sat down at the poker table and the guilt rapidly disappeared.

I am glad Yachi and I got married as we both are partial to gambling.  Every night we both played our respective games until way too late.  The biggest thing I learned is that I am a limit game poker player as opposed to a no limit player.  In limit I have to ignore the voice that keeps telling me to push all my chips into the pot.

Our room at The Hotel:

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Yachi and I went to see our first Cirque De Soliel show which I highly recommend.  It was really entertaining both from a music and physicality standpoint.  The performers were amazing and the stage made me turn into a huge geek.

Us before the show:

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After the show, they offer you glamour shots of yourselves taken during the show.  Yachi and I might have purchased one for an excessive amount of money.  A airbrushed photo of yourself is something ever house needs.

Yachi with flowers which cracks me up:

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I was also able to catch up with a friend who I found out was in town for a conference.  It was good hanging out with him as he was unable to make the wedding.  Yachi hung out with us for an hour until her obsession with video poker took a hold and she had to head back.

 

Alright the plane is landing, on to the next part of the trip, family.

11.05.2007

Amateur Banksy

It appears that we have someone who has been following Banksy in our very own neighborhood.  My favorite so far has been the following:

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Maybe it is cause I am compulsive?

Another good one was this.  Here is the setup:

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And the punchline:

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10.31.2007

A Little Halloween Action

We got ready at our place in order to get ready for the social event of the season, better know as Marques' Halloween party.  Ryan was a ghostbuster, Ella a pumpkin and Yachi a bat.

They had all prepared their costumes much earlier but as it was a busy week for me and I did not even start thinking about a costume till the night before mine was a little more haphazard.

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I decided to go with the skin approach and be a mermaid.  The thing I am most proud of was the real life previously live Dungeness crab that protected the world from the mayhem of having my junk exposed.

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Once we got to the jam Marques was no where to be found but there were imposters hanging out.

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After some waiting around the man of the hour showed up in his price tag costume.  The night proved to be a blast with me finally achieving my revenge for the marshmallow fiasco of years past.

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Shahaf and Pnina decided to go as Adam and Eve and were trying to seduce everyone to evil with their selection of apples.

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More pics here

10.23.2007

Funny?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21432722/

I am not sure it is?

10.18.2007

Kill The Pig, Cut It's Throat, Spill It's Blood

Apparently right now Seattle has reverted to a primal state similar to everyone's favorite 8th grade novel. The electricity is out in wide swathes of the city and the bridges into the city are closing sometime soon.

Here wrapped in the isolating cocoon of work with its very own electricity generation system (Also know as the Redmond / Bellevue grid but we pay more so we get all the juice over the plebs) it is difficult to tell anything is wrong. I am looking forward to the 97 minute drive home.

10.13.2007

Finally Some Wedding Photos

It took a little while but here are all the collections of photos I am aware of right now. I will continue to update this as I find more online ones to see.

Tama's

Ann's

Mine

Jong-Raye's

Carmen's (The photographer)

Robbie's

Holly's

10.10.2007

Defeat (Almost)

Beacon Hill came close to defeating me today. This neighborhood is remarkably hard to get out of once you accidentally get in there. I was driving to the goodwill to donate some things and found myself heading in to Beacon Hill instead of where I wanted to go. I foolishly thought I could relatively easily make my way back down to the goodwill. How wrong I was.

30 minutes later I finally found my way out but it was after taking far too many lefts and heading back in the way I came for a while. It appears that the neighborhood was specifically designed to make it impossible to get out of. Every street leads you to a dead end or back to where you came from.

After finally making it out I was near the Rainer street taco truck so I had a celebratory set of tacos. They were awesome as usual.

10.09.2007

Acrimony

In the Capitol hill neighborhood there are a bunch of new developments going in. Sometimes this causes a little tension between those that were here and those that want to be here. The most amusing thing to me is the cry that everyone around here makes about density being the way forward in city planning. Now that more high occupancy places are going up the cry is turning into density in every place but here. There are some valid points about new construction being something that fits into the overall aesthetic and integrating places that gave the neighborhood it feel into the new places. This naivete about neighborhoods changing without changing is a little grating though. At least one funny thing came out of this though:


This was located at outside the windows of a new build which has a Quiznos in the first floor.

10.04.2007

I Want To Be A Shadow Hawk

I am not even sure what one is but if I don't have to deal with pigeons sign me up.



As an additional note this is why I love walking. You would never see this from a car.

10.02.2007

Modeling

This is the best example I have seen in a while of why I am not a model. My face is not what you would call photogenic. My sex appeal is purely in person (As opposed to Luke who exudes photogenicness, bastard).


The best thing about this photo is that it was before I started drinking. I cannot even imagine what the rest of the night looks like.

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Now playing: The Postal Service - Brand New Colony
via FoxyTunes

10.01.2007

Normalcy Slowly Returns

After the hustle and bustle of the wedding, things are finally settling back into a normal pace and feel. I will post about the wedding soon I am just waiting on a couple more photo posts to come in.

This past weekend was the first in which Yachi and I did not have to do wedding stuff or attend another wedding. We went to dinner at Veil which turned out to be surprisingly good and then I met up with Shahaf and Neville and Tyler and Sarah whom have just returned from a round the world trip. On Saturday I ate some pizza and watched the entire Planet Earth series and Blades of Glory. Sunday found me eating more pizza and playing a little bit of poker. Overall a most rewarding lazy weekend.

9.19.2007

Long Time No See

It has been about three weeks since I last posted but I was getting married and had no time. I will post on that later as I have lots of good pictures and stories. In the meantime here is a selection of photos from the landscape photographer of the year in England (As decided by the Guardian):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2007/sep/18/travel?picture=330763997

There are some truly amazing photos in here.

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Now playing: DJ Signify - Five Leaves Left (For Lauren)
via FoxyTunes

8.29.2007

Conspicuous Consumerism

As much as I rail against it at times, there are times when needless consumerism is a source of the utmost joy. Such a case is my new AWESOME sneakers . Now I understand why people get shot over scuffed sneakers. I was actually going to post a picture of myself rocking them but such a site would cause the end of the internet as we know it. Everyone would be trying to reach Blogger to see the AWESOMENESS for themselves and that would eventually go down. All of the people who had managed to save the picture would post it only to quickly cause the demise of the internet. Finally it might spill over into the real world with people breaking into one another's houses to steal computers containing the photos or even the print versions people made. Madness all around.

I also purchased a couple of CD's that I am loving. The new Epoxies EP which I am listening to as we speak. As good as their previous work with a slightly more space age feel (if that is possible) and snottier lyrics. The new M.I.A. (the real one, not this one). If anything it is more experimental than her first album while managing to maintain an amazing energy throughout. My favorite song is still birdflu for its crazy use of sounds to make rhythm. The last album of note is the old new Justice album. I think everyone knows them for D.A.N.C.E. which is a great song but the rest of the album has been pretty spectacular. Some of the songs sound like they are the logical French progression of Air or Daft Punk (which is not a bad thing in my mind). The best songs though are those that sound like they spent two years hanging out with Merzbow learning the finer points of Japanese noise and Mr. Oizo learning the finer points of moving that ass. Check out Waters of Nazereth or at least a mix that is mostly it with some more Ed Banger bananas shit for the best example of what I am talking about.

Consumerism == bad
Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good

8.27.2007

The Continued Descent

Recently I convinced Yachi to purchase the following fabric softener. My arrival in hippie hell is all but assured. Pretty soon I am going to start going by a noun instead of a name and wearing overalls. I already am kind of opposed to showering so I imagine that will continue to get worse. Hang out with me now before the transformation is complete.

On a completely unrelated note I finished a book called Perfume Dreams today. You can either read it here or borrow it from me (or maybe the library, I heard they were in to this loaning thing as well). It is non-fiction and great. It is a collection of essays about identity and culture that is much better than that description. You should read it.

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Now playing: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
via FoxyTunes

8.23.2007

So You Want A WeddingPlanner?

My schedule might be open. All I ask for is some Morcheeba and Steinlager.

Tonight I decided to get even more in touch with my crafty side (I think I might have to cut off all contact with women besides Divya as they are pushing this craftiness). I made the seating chart for the wedding. By my lonesome. By first copying everyones name to a word document and sizing them to be small notecards. By then cutting all said notecards out of the paper with scissors. By making piles of notecards into appropriate dining groups:

By organizing groups into small model sized tables with the help of my trusty lion cat:

By realizing I had not included Yachi and myself who are now at a table of our own :(:

All while Yachi caught up on some much deserved rest:

Even if you blow up the picture to see who you are sitting with chances are it has changed as I had to redo it all once I realized Yachi and I were sitting dolo.

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Now playing: Morcheeba - Almost Done
via FoxyTunes

8.22.2007

Little Victories

I know that no one else wants to hear this but it is something easy to write about as it has been 8 days since I have posted.

I finally feel like I played decent basketball yesterday night. After an initial loss the team I was playing with managed to pull off a couple wins. It was fun playing hard and actually winning.

I also realized how much more I would like being close to where I work. My commute is not that bad in comparison to some people but I would love to cut it down. I think I might end up looking for a job a little closer to home.

Alright awful post out of the way. tomorrow will be better.

8.14.2007

Jog On Marques

Marques is always complaining about graffiti and how it destroys environments.

I found this near Jack In The Box and am pretty fascinated with it. I like the stache; it is a great touch.

8.10.2007

No More Loud Nights At The Bars

Nobody wants to have to be quiet when drinking. Follow the info below to contact the city council and make your voice heard.

top

Action Alert!

Council to vote on nightlife rules on Monday, August 13th
Mayor's license proposal still alive

Voice your opinion to the City Council!

Last Thursday, the City Council's Neighborhoods and Economic Development committee passed a reasonable package of new nightlife rules which creates an advisory board, requires some nightlife businesses to develop security plans, and adds additional enforcement staffing for the city. This package can be viewed at http://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/nighlife_ord.htm.

However, a last minute push by Councilmembers Jan Drago and David Della has put the mayor's license proposal back on the table. The new proposal can be viewed here (http://seattlenma.org/downloads/prpsd_ntlf_lic_ord.pdf). This new license, combined with the new rules the committee has already passed, makes this new package as extreme – if not more – than what the mayor proposed. In addition, the council is working on a new noise ordinance
which has yet to be made public, but is expected to be voted on next Thursday, August 16. The council is now contemplating even more regulation than the Mayor proposed!

Here is what we need you to do:

  • Contact the members of the city council and tell them you support the package that the committee has approved and we don't need a license. They should just vote on what they have in front of them NOW and move on.
  • Please contact the City Council today! Councilmembers email addresses are listed below.
  • Attend the Monday, August 13th 2 PM City Council meeting and testify. You will have only two minutes, and they limit the total time allotted
    for public comment so sign up early!
  • Attend the Thursday, August 16th, 6 PM meeting of council's Neighborhoods and Economic Development Committee at the Highpoint Community Center – 6920 34th Ave SW. Testimony will be taken at the beginning of the meeting.
  • Forward this email to your friends and colleagues asking them to voice their support of nightlife in Seattle. Neighborhood activists and the Mayor have been pounding on City Councilmembers these last few months. Our voice needs to be heard! Contact the councilmembers today!

    Seattle City Council:
    Sally Clark - sally.clark@seattle.gov
    Richard Conlin - richard.conlin@seattle.gov
    David Della - david.della@seattle.gov
    Jan Drago - jan.drago@seattle.gov
    Jean Godden - jean.godden@seattle.gov
    Nick Licata - nick.licata@seattle.gov
    Richard McIver - richard.mciver@seattle.gov
    Tom Rasmussen - tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov
    Peter Steinbrueck - peter.steinbrueck@seattle.gov

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Now playing: Consequence - Disperse Feat. Gangsta L. Crisis & Really Doe
via FoxyTunes

8.07.2007

So Many Stories

So it has been almost exactly two weeks since I have last posted. I know that your lives have been bereft of meaning while waiting for the fix of sweet nothing that is this blog.

So much has happened, starting with a stupendous dinner at the tamarind tree. Between Yachi and I, we had the meat and seafood course. My favorite was probably the crunchy veal meatballs as appetizers. Hopefully they will find their way unto the menu. For those that have not tried this restaurant you should go there right now if in Seattle.

After that my friend Adam came into town and we hung out for a couple of days while I finally shipped the product I work on. After that a group of us went to Vancouver for the weekend.

The occasion was my bachelor party and I could not have asked for a better one. The one drawback was my own fault (The second mistake I have made this year, damn am I slipping). On the way up we decided to stop and gamble at Tullalip and it was there that I realized I had left my passport and birth certificate back in Seattle. This realization made me sad as you can see:

So after realizing this I made the responsible decision and went to Canada anyways. Adam came up with a decent way of solving the problem and I was able to get back into the country with the help of Divya and a locksmith.

Friday was a lot of fun with good food (that I did not really eat, damn stomach problems) and a great night that involved many bars and a story that is not publishable. All you got to do is ask me in person though and I guarantee I will spill the beans.

Saturday we made a great breakfast in our wonderful suites.

Given the surroundings I am amazed that the meal turned out as well as it did. We had an egg scramble, bacon and pancakes. The only difficulty was getting rid of the bacon grease in between batches of bacon. Someone had the great suggestion of pouring it down the toilet. This is the result of boiling bacon grease and the toilet:

I could not catch the steam that came off it. It was gross to say the least.

We spent the rest of the day playing ping pong and then had a phenomenal dinner at cru. The night was supposed to be spent at a club but those of us who decided to walk got a little lost and the night ended up being a meandering one around downtown Vancouver.

It was a great time and you can find more pictures of Shahaf's here.

For shipping I had the whole of last week off. I wish I had something terribly exciting to mention about that but it was very slow and relaxing. I watched some movies, finished the first 6 Harry Potter books and cleaned the house.

Last weekend was my birthday though and something exciting did happen on that day. We went to Wild Waves and I had my first day at a water park. It was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. Who new giant slides would be so much fun? A large-ish group of us left around noon and spent a couple hours there which as about the perfect amount of time. My personal favorite was the twisty all-enclosed slide. I highly recommend going if you can. Here are some pics that Ann took.

I think that is mostly caught up. Let me know if you like or dislike the new FoxyTunes sig.

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Now playing: Arrington De Dionyso - Khomuz Voice One
via FoxyTunes

7.25.2007

Was That Really That Color?

Also known as my trip to South Korea. It was a short trip that was basically a layover on the way home from Beijing last time I went there. We only had two nights and one day there and seeing as how Seoul seems to be as big as Rhode Island we really did not see much. What I did see I liked quite a bit though. The food was amazing and the people were all ridiculously nice.

People did regard us a little curiously especially when I decided to kneel down in the middle of the subway and start taking pictures. I think they were more curious of what I could possibly be taking pictures of. My Korean was not up to explaining that we did not have subways in Seattle so I needed to satiate my urge to take photos of them in their fair city.

We went to a great restaurant the night that the bell man recommended. He also called ahead and had a table reserved for us with beer and appetizers waiting. Did I mention the people in Seoul were really nice? The food was great, so great that we ended up going back the following night but found the restaurant closed. Instead we went to a fried chicken joint that beat almost every fried chicken I have had in my life.

I am a big fan of ground effects but have never seen them on anything smaller than a little four banger. This motorcycle now holds that dubious record.

We then wandered down to the Eastern Market where things were poppin'. There was a large karaoke event that also added dancing which was interesting to see. I might mention that it was around 11 PM at the time this photo was taken with all the children out. This reminded me a lot of Spain in that there was no real concept of having to be in early.

The market was pretty cool. They had a large selection of fake goods but also a lot of random things that were pretty nice. Marcelo bought some watches as gifts for various team members and we had a good time seeing the variety of things for sale.

I also partook in some street food as it was too good to pass up. I am not sure how I managed to eat more but I thought I had to at least try some pajeon while I was there.

The next day we wandered over as much of central Seoul as we could and saw lots of palaces and gardens. There was one park where it was just a bunch of people kicking it and playing go which looked like a lot of fun. This was also the place where Marcelo made friends with some older gentlemen who were playing guitar and singing old Johnny Cash songs. He ended up drinking a decent amount of soju with them. I stayed away from the soju then but ended up drinking more than my fair share that evening.

Later I saw this dog. As some back story, Yachi has been telling me for years that she wants a pink poodle. I thought it was all mostly in jest but this was not the only one I saw in Seoul.

This was just a smiley face in the grate that brightened my day.

Seoul was a great time and I would really like to go back there and spend some more time if possible.

7.19.2007

Jealousy

I wish I had thought of this and had the composure to achieve it.

http://www.alternet.org/story/57001/?page=1

It is amazing the level of ignorance that exists in the world still. An interesting topic for discussion would be the flip. What happens at a cruise full of readers of the New Republic?

7.18.2007

Cupcake Carnage


One of the most enjoyable aspects of this wedding thing is the ability to go to tastings. Yachi and I treated ourselves to one recently at Sugar Rush bakery. They don't have a full blown "here taste some of our cakes" tasting soon so we made our own. 1 dozen cupcakes later we thought that they looked rather forlorn with half of them gone and the rest in various states of disappeared.

7.16.2007

Free Light

As part of our trips yesterday Yachi and I bought a bunch of energy efficient light bulbs. While I am excited about this rapidly speeding up slide to hippieness it leaves us with many extra unused and half used normal light bulbs. Before dropping them off at Goodwill I wanted to see if any of my 4 loyal readers wanted them or knew anyone who might. Let me know

7.15.2007

Ice Cold Water, Bruised Feet And Whole Paycheck

This weekend was a blast. Yesterday we drove to Leavenworth to go tubing. This is an activity for those unfamiliar with it where you lie in an innertube and float down a river. Oh and you get to have a tube strictly for beer. Kind of making it a first class citizen. The scenery was beautiful and the camaraderie was wonderful. I think we ran a little over our allotted four hours but the company did not seem to mind.

The water was a little brisk when you first entered as it was mountain run off but Marques broke that seal when someone tipped his tube over. By the end I was spending more time in the water than out. Overall a great time and many thanks go to Ann for suggesting it and pushing it along.

Today was not quite as exciting. With sore muscles Yachi and I moseyed down to Whole Paycheck which turned out to be more inviting than I thought it would be. Let's see if we can keep up the weekly walk down there and the associated cooking (or more specifically if Yachi can keep up the cooking).

7.11.2007

One Of Those Days

Where it is above 95 degrees in Seattle. I worked from home today and decided to walk down to Nordtroms in the early afternoon as I thought it would be the cooler part of the day. I am still sweating.

Jjang agreed with me.



So did Eileen:



Even Max:



I had a great picture of Yachi asleep as well but have been restricted from posting it due to legal reasons.

7.09.2007

Podcatching?

Apparently software used to download podcasts and sync them to an iPod is called a podcatcher. Glad I learned something new today. Why I am looking at this software? A long rant about iTunes should follow that but I don't have the energy. Suffice it to say that I am done with iTunes and looking for alternatives.

If you fall into my boat you should check out podcatch matrix I wish every decision were made this easy.

7.03.2007

Labor Fruits

Primarily orange and pink ones. If you have not seen me or I have blown off social obligations it was to make these beauties. I am not traditionally very crafty but this past weekend Yachi and I made our invitations. It was a 10 hour marathon followed by a shorter 6 hour one on Sunday. We finished them for the most part though and I felt really accomplished. The only part to do is address the envelopes which I get a free pass out of because my hand writing looks like someone has a pen in their mouth while having a seizure.

7.01.2007

What You Want To See More Pictures Of China?

OK.

Here you go. As you might have guessed from seeing a second post on the same subject these are the photos I like for nothing more than aesthetic reasons.

Many tiles. Piles of tiles you could say, hahahahahahaha!

Some color in the hutongs

$6 tea. That was the equivalent of 176 Oz. of beer. It was worth it though. As mentioned in Marie Antoinette, the flower opens in the pot.

Walls in Summer Palace



The verdant forest in the summer Palace

A wall in the summer Palace

Silhouettes

The famed marble boat that ended the dynasty system in China

Landscape with my camera flaw extremely apparent in the upper left corner




Music:

Smog - A River Ain't Too Much Too Love - Drag City

You won't be supporting a good Seattle label with this record but a good Chicago one instead.

Smog is the moniker of Bill Callhan (who has recently started releasing music under that name). He has released many albums that are predominantly him and a guitar, singing and playing. I think of him as a male Cat Power but he might have been around before her. I think I am losing indie cred as we speak because I don't know that. I am not sure I will be allowed into Linda's anymore having admitted that. He has the same truth in lyrics that draws me to Johnny Cash. His arrangements are also beautiful and sparse which gives his voice a lot of room to impact you. The songs where he decides to incorporate more than just the guitar are usually successful as they have a lot of artists who fit in ways that you would not necessarily expect. Not something you would listen to before something that requires amping up but a beautiful counterpart to the sort of weather we have been having around here recently.