P-U

This overweight Pomeranian was sitting next to me in a meeting today. I'm all for bringing your dog to work, I'd love to bring Percy in with me and scare everyone, but this little guy has a bit of a gas problem. He kept letting out the quietest, stinkiest farts. For 2 hours straight. Luckily he made up for it by guarding us from any intruders that might be trying to crash our meeting, he was especially rough on that pesky mailman.

Cell Phone Fund Raising - Breast Cancer 3-day

Ok, so I've been thinking about this for a while and I finally signed up. I'm going to collect and recycle old cell phones to benefit my 3-day walk this year. I don't know about you but I have 2 or 3 old cell phones just laying about in my junk drawer. I found a company online that has a fund raising kit you can sign up for. They are called GRC Wireless Recycling. I've signed up for their fund raising kit, now I need to collect old cell phones. If any of you out there in cyber land have old phones that you can donate please let me know. I can send you my address to ship them to or I can even pick up!

5 Years of Manny's!

Last night Chris, Kara, Matty and I joined numerous others at Jules Maes in Georgetown to celebrate 5 years of Manny's Pale Ale. What a glorious 5 years it has been!

Happy Birthday Manny's!

Cats Are Not Watchdogs

Chris has been out of town for a few days at his annual Argosy management retreat so I've had the house to myself. I was looking forward to a couple nights of uninterrupted Law & Order watching, and sleeping without the not so soothing sounds of a snore machine. I forgot all about how paranoid I get in a creaky old house in the middle of the night.

Last night I curled up in bed around 9pm to watch Law & Order: Criminal Intent and promptly fell asleep. At around 10:30pm 3 or 4 police cars went screaming by on the road in front of our house sirens blaring. That woke me right up and sent my heart pumping into overtime. From that point until about 2am I was sure that every noise I heard was someone trying to break into our house to rape me (yes, I realize I watch too much Law & Order: SVU). As I lay there, heart pounding, both cats were sound asleep on the bed. Percy even stepped in for Chris with his best snore machine impersonation. If Chris leaves again I'm going to trade in these worthless cats for a watchdog.

Um....hello?

It is Tuesday at 10:30am and there is a man outside my office window with a gas powered blower cleaning the sidewalk. It is SOOOOO loud. Now, I'm all for keeping this play spiffy clean, but don't they realize I'm trying to work here? That I'm on a call. That my customer is asking what the loud noise is. *sigh*

Fly Fishing Film Tour 2008 - Stop Pebble Mine

Last night Matty, Kara, Chris and I met in the U-District and attended the 2008 Fly Fishing Film Tour. If you're into fly fishing this is an annual must see. I missed it last year due to my UW PM Certification classes but was able to join in the fun this year! Rather than showing one fly fishing film they show excerpts from 6 or 7 to give you a taste for multiple films (and they sell the full length versions of them in the lobby of the theater and on their website in case you get hooked!).

There was a great film by AEG Media called Fish Bum I: Mongolia. These guys traversed Mongolia in vans and caught some gigantic trout.

The films that caught my attention the most were the two that focused on the effort to stop the Pebble Mine from ruining Bristol Bay in Alaska. They were Equilibrium by Castaway Films and River Poets by Fly on the Wall Travels. The second one, River Poets, contained interviews by fishing guides who work in Bristol Bay. Granted it was probably the sweeping landscapes and heart moving music that caught me up in it, but if I can pass along the message and help just a little bit so be it.

Here is a brief recap of what is going on with Pebble Mine and Bristol Bay from the Pacific Environment Website:

A major threat to Alaska's fishing and hunting is the proposed development of an open pit mining district at the headwaters of the two most famous river drainages in Alaska, the Mulchatna/ Nushagak River drainage and the Newhalen / Kvichak River drainage, both of which feed into Bristol Bay. This is the premier fishing and wildlife area in all of Alaska and toxic by-products are an inevitable result of open pit mines.

These spawning waters are the source of the most productive commercial and sport salmon fisheries in the world. The land is the home ground for the 120,000 plus Mulchatna caribou herd, plus numerous moose, bear and other animals. Local opposition to the proposed open pit Pebble Mine, and the proposed 1000 square mile mining district around it, is strong and growing stronger.

Here are some other websites dealing with this:

Stop Pebble Mine

Wildlife Forever

Save Bristol Bay

Stop Pebble Mine Blog

Moldy Chum

I'm sure there are tons and tons of additional sites about this, this is just a sampling to give you an idea or the uproar that this issue has caused in Alaska and in the fly fishing community.

Alderbrook Resort & Spa - Valentine's Day 2008

For Valentine's Day this year Chris surprised me with a trip to the Alderbrook Resort & Spa on Hood Canal. I'd never been out to that area before and we had a blast! We had planned on golfing, but decided to try fishing our way back home instead. We didn't catch anything, not a single bite, but we enjoyed it. Here is map showing the route we took. The red circle is where the resort was.

And, here are some photos from the journey. Chris House drove the first day - super fast!

I was the passenger.

We packed enough for a weeks vacation, even though we were only going overnight.


Fun times on the Fauntleroy Southworth ferry from West Seattle.

It was pretty empty.

Chris was really excited once we got to Alderbrook.

He got some ideas for the backyard.

Top floor third from the right was our room, Waterfront King.


Lots of fun things to explore.



Too bad this place wasn't open for the season yet!

Not much to do but enjoy the beautiful surroundings.



Our room was beautiful, filled with wonderful things.


Including robes which pleased Chris greatly.






I couldn't stop laughing at him.

The view from our room.



On the way up north on the west side of the canal we stopped to fish at a couple of spots. One of them being Potlatch State Park.


Alas, fishing wasn't for us that day so we continued north enjoying the scenery until we reached Port Townsend. We strolled through the kitschy tourist shops and enjoyed a yummy lunch at Water Street Brewing. We then drove to Bainbridge Island where we caught the ferry back to Seattle.

Appropriately we rode the Wenatchee home.

This sums up me and my Wii

Windows 2008 - Advice Wanted

Chris and I have decided that the time has come to begin researching new windows for our house. Our house was built in 1948 and I'm pretty sure most of the windows are from that date. They are mostly single pane, drafty, and not the slightest bit energy efficient.

So, on Monday we braved the Seattle Home Show to look at all the options. And there were plenty of options. Too many in fact and we left more confused than when we went in.

The worst part was the Penguin Windows booth. They didn't want to answer any questions about windows. They just wanted us to sign up for their drawing for $10,000 worth of free windows! There were 6 people at their booth, dressed in tuxedos, and every single one of them tried to harass us into signing up. They were standing next to each other. Right next to each other. The first one would say "Would you like to sign up for our drawing" and we'd say "No". Then automatically the next one would say "We're having a drawing, why don't you sign up" and we'd say "No". And before we took another step the next Penguin would start in on us. By then time we got to the sixth Penguin we were almost running and I shouted "No". Under her breath she said "Geeze, talk about rude". Yeah, that's right, I'm the rude one. Needless to say, I won't be buying windows from them.

If anyone out there in Internet land has any advice on replacement windows, which kind we should go with, and replacement window companies (in the Seattle area), please oh please post a comment. Thanks!

Really? We are?

Me: Wow, we're out in the boonies. Look at all the broken down cars in that yard.
Chris: We don't have anything to worry about, we're you're classic white homosexual couple.
Me: ......?!?!

Yummy Recipe

When Chris finds a recipe that he likes, and we enjoy eating, he prints it out, writes "yummy" on it, and puts it in our recipe box. When I find one I like and we enjoy I post it here. Last weekend I had a crazy craving for curried chicken salad wraps. I found this recipe at All Recipes (one of my favorite recipe sites) and modified as follows:

Ingredients

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - seasoned with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper, baked for 1 hour at 400 degrees, cooled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, diced
• 1 Crisp Golden Delicious apple - peeled, cored and diced
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 bunch seedless green grapes, quartered (halved pieces were too large)
  
• 10 turns fresh ground black pepper
• dash of salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 3/4 cup Miracle Whip Light
• 8 Whole Wheat Tortillas
  

Directions: In a large bowl combine all ingredients and toss. Place ~1 cup in the center of a tortilla and roll like a burrito. Cut in half and enjoy!

Super Yummy!

I now remember....

.....why I used to hate driving so much. For the past 5 years I took the bus to work every day and home most every night. I'd read my book or listen to NPR and only occasionally have to deal with the stinky seat mate.

But now I work in Bellevue, the bus ride takes about 1 hour more than driving, and well my company gave me a parking spot - so I drive. I still listen to NPR, I don't have any stinky seat mates (unless you count the soggy carpets my parents left us last night that left my Subaru with an odd odor), but I do have to deal with other drivers. And here my rant begins.

For you drivers on 35th in West Seattle:

• Why is it that if the speed limit is 35 you must go 50?
• Why must you tailgate me if I'm only going 38 (38?! Technically speeding!!)
• Why must you drive in the middle of both lanes?
• Why can't you find your blinkers?

For the drivers on I-90:

• Why is it that if the speed limit is 60 you must go 70?
• Why must you tailgate me if I'm only going 63 (63?! Technically speeding!!)
• Why can't you find your blinkers?

For the drivers on Bellevue Way:

• Why is it that if the speed limit is 40 you must go 30?
• Why do I feel the urge to tailgate you? (Not that I do! But I have that urge).
  
• Why can't you find your blinkers?
• Why are the lights here so long?
• Why is your car so darn big?! Oh, and why is it probably worth more than my house?!

I dream of the day when there is a rapid transit solution for the Seattle region. I just hope I'm still around to see it happen!

The End of Zelda

It may have taken me 42 hours of play time but I finally did it.

I reached the end of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and defeated the dark lord Ganon. The battle was fierce and I had to replenish my hearts once but I defeated him finally with a fatal blow to the chest with my master sword. And then it was over. Light returned to Hyrule. The Twilight Princess was revealed. The credits rolled. And my screen went blank.

I don't think I've ever played anything to the very end except maybe Super Mario Brothers back in 1987.

I felt lost. I wandered the house aimlessly, played Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party for an hour or so, played Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix for an hour or so, but nothing could replace the addiction that was Zelda.

Guess I'll get outside and use all this extra time to start training for the 3day.....

Lonely Friday

I used to live for Fridays at work. I'd wake up knowing that I'd just about made it to the weekend. I could see the end of the week, taste it in every breath I took.

And there were the Friday rituals. The first being that on my way into the office I'd splurge for a latte. Then at the office there'd be fresh bagels and cream cheese...and conversations with coworkers about the impending weekend and the joyous plans they held. But, by far, my favorite part of Fridays was lunch. My worker Greg and I had started lunching out on Fridays. We'd pick a different place each week, and we'd take our time (if our schedules permitted). We'd tell war stories of the past week and enjoy some tasty food. Those were the good times...

Now, I work at a new office. And most days it is just me and one to two other people. And I really haven't gotten to know them very well. There is still the splurge for the Friday latte, but there are no bagels...and no Greg to have lunch with.

Today I was determined to venture out and enjoy lunch. I did a bit of research on the internet, talked to a few people, and headed out the door with a copy of People Magazine that was laying around our communal kitchen. I made it about a block when the biting cold from the wind that was whipping my hair every which way made me cringe at the thought of the next 4 blocks to the place I chose. It was right then that I saw Taco Time.

Now mind you, I'm a HUGE fan of Taco Time (even if Christy calls it SuperNasty). But there is something sad about eating alone at Taco Time, reading People Magazine, during a Friday lunch. But there I was, in a booth all by myself, in the very back corner of Taco Time, eating Mexi Fries and reading People Magazine.

Maybe next week I'll work harder on making friends in my new office.

Fashion Alert

I kid you not. Yesterday at the gym I witnessed the strangest sight. A woman working out in her pajamas. No really, I know they were pajamas, I've seen them at Macy's in the intimates section. They were flannel fuzzy pants and a thermal top. I'd actually considered purchasing them at one point. And there she was, on the elliptical trainer, working out in them. Did I miss the memo that this was appropriate workout attire? I can't wait to see what she has on today!

My Club Ate Your Club

On Friday I saw mention on a former coworkers blog that her club had been bought by my new club in Bellevue - LA Fitness. I commented on her blog about how much I liked my new club not realizing the implications of this purchase. Last week my club was quiet and there was plenty of room in the locker room. Today it was complete chaos! they were giving tours to about 50 people, most of the machines had people on them, and the locker room was a ZOO! *sigh* I guess I'll have to switch my workout time to a bit earlier. In the grand scheme of things it really wasn't as bad as I'm making it sound, but I was spoiled before!

Lunch in AZ

Yesterday I had lunch in Tempe, Arizona. We flew down in the morning, had lunch, went to a meeting, and flew back. I'd never been outside of the airport in Phoenix so it was a new experience for me. I was expecting it to be sunny and warm there. It was sunny...but boy was it chilly. I think at one point it got up to around 55 degrees, but that was right when we were getting ready to leave.

Oh, and Phoenix has Super Bowl fever. I had completely forgotten that the Super Bowl is going to be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium this Sunday. When we landed and walked into the terminal it all came rushing back. There were banners everywhere. Also, throughout the airport they were selling Super Bowl merchandise. I picked up a set of 3 golf balls and they were $14.99. No thanks. In Tempe where we had lunch there was a makeshift store next door completely filled with merchandise. Lets just say I'm glad we got out of town when we did!