The Touch

Night before last I had this bone chilling dream about the end of humankind. A plague was spreading through the world that only killed humans. If you were "Touched" by an infected person you would contract the disease, be driven to "Touch" as many others as you could, and then die. Chris had already perished and I was freaking out. There was mayhem in the streets and I found myself at this bar with a bunch of other uninfected persons just waiting to be "Touched". I ordered a Manny's (how else to approach the end) and settled in with the others to wait. We had barricaded the doors and we felt somewhat safe. All of a sudden I felt something on my shoulder and turned to see David Duchovney giving me "The Touch".

Then I woke up. I think that perhaps I have been watching way too much X-Files.

I'm big in China and Bothell.

A few months ago I put an IP tracker on my blog so I could see where my readers came from. Much to my surprise I get a lot, a surprising amount, of visitors from overseas. Most of them find me by searching for KikiRiki or O2 Optix. And oddly, a lot of my hits come from China. From Internet cafes in China. I find that very cool. I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone actually in China at this time.

In the US most of my hits come from Bothell. Bothell, WA. I'm big in Bothell.

So to those of you in Bothell and China - Hello! And thanks for visiting.

The rest of you - Hello as well.

Dilemma

Ok, so one of my favorite favorite bands is playing a free concert next weekend. But they are playing at a casino, in Olympia, the Little Creek Casino.

It is a free concert! But it is a casino.....
It is a free concert, and it is a The Paperboys. I *heart* The Paperboys.
But it is a casino....in Olympia.

Ugh....

The Saga Continues

We still have the wrong fridge. They were to deliver the correct one last weekend but on Saturday morning, about 20 minutes before they were to arrive we received a call. It was Sears, they had ordered the wrong one again. They said "we have your fridge, but we can't reverse the door for you, it is stainless steel". Um....yeah, that is why we ordered the other one. So now I've gone round and round and round with Sears trying to find out why they can't seem to order us the correct one. To top it off, in the last 3 days I've received 3 calls from their delivery department, each time a different rep. All 3 times they have no idea what our situation is and each time they are calling to tell me the door on the wrong fridge can't be reversed. The last time I slowly explained to the person that if they didn't take notes on my account, and I received ONE MORE DUMB ASS CALL FROM THEM, I would become their worst nightmare.

I haven't heard back......

Confession

So I know that on Friday I stated that I'd be getting up early and going for an 8 mile walk. Well, I didn't quite make it. I woke up around 6:30, put on my walking gear, opened the front door, and then closed it. It was pouring down rain in West Seattle.

Usually that wouldn't stop me, but recently I have become addicted to Exercise TV. Comcast Cable On Demand has a section called Exercise TV which contains tons of those exercise videos you see on the rack in the fitness section of DVD stores. I found one called "Fitness Walking" in my browsing one day and was introduced to the wonder who is Leslie Sansone. She has video after video of in home walking. And not just walking, but jogging and strength training too. So when I looked out Saturday morning to the rain I was excited at the prospect of spending another morning walking with Leslie.

I went downstairs, set up the TV, browsed to Exercise TV and then it hit. Where was Leslie. Where was the 3 mile Power Walk or the 3 mile Hand Weight program. They were gone. In their place was Walking for Older Adults and the 1 mile Booster. I was in shock. Luckily I remembered that I had seen Leslie's smiling face at Target a while back. So I hopped in the car and headed down there to purchase the 5 Mile Deluxe! Now I never have to worry about Comcast taking Leslie away from me. I have her at home with me anytime I want to pop the DVD in.

Another Crisis Adverted.

(On a side note, I introduced Chris to Exercise TV and now he is addicted to Kendall Hogan.)

The Mountain Time Forgot - That Kicked My Ass

Yesterday was awesome. My cousin Cam and I had decided to get one last ski day in before the season ended. We wanted to go somewhere close and chose Alpental. Little did we know that on Saturday Alpental had to close down at 12:30pm because it was raining so hard. I'm glad we didn't know that before heading up there.

We arrived in the parking lot and it was virtually empty. We parked right up close and got our gear together. It was like a ghost town. No lines for tickets, the coffee stand was closed, and there were about 4 people in line for the chair. We were starting to get a little nervous.

But, as we reached the top of the mountain and looked out over the bowls we noticed something spectacular. The mountain was covered in 6 to 7 inches of fresh, untracked, beautiful powder. Skiers paradise. The first few runs were amazing. This is the stuff that ski videos are made of (complete with a great face plant by Cameron right in front of a ski patrolman).

We lasted until about 11:30 by which time our legs and lungs were burning. We headed toward the lodge and left our skis with a guy named Squirrel. He yelled up to the lodge and told them to open the bar for us. We relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine and snow falling for a while. When we finally went back out to the hill, Squirrel had our skis all ready for us. He had even waxed them for us while we were in the lodge. Apparently he had been a little bored.

The afternoon wasn't as great as the morning, the fresh stuff was all skied out and it had gotten quite heavy. It was like work getting around the mountain and after a couple more hours of skiing I had to throw in the towel. I was tired, sore and hungry. The mountain had kicked my ass and I needed a hot bath. I woke up this morning and could barely get out of bed. This is the best kind of pain!

Thanks for the memories Alpental, see you next season!

Update!

I'm at $565 after only 1 week of fund-raising! I have such amazing friends and family that have stepped up to donate! Even a friend of a friend read about my journey and donated to the cause. Damn that is awesome!

Tomorrow I will awake with the sun and go for an 8 mile walk to honor those who have donated. You all can sleep in, comforted in the knowledge that I am out there, pounding the pavement, for a better tomorrow.

I should write inspirational videos.

Kayaks!

So, in order to get my new appliances I had to make a deal with the devil and agree to the purchase of fishing kayaks. This weekend Chris and I will be making a trip to Hobie Cats Northwest to put a down payment down on 2 fishing kayaks. Chris is so unbelievably excited he can barely contain himself. I'm looking forward to the kayaks, but also see them as a lot of work (mainly lifting them to and off of the new rack we're getting for the Subaru).

Chris has done a ton of research and has decided on the Hobie Outback SUV. I will be getting the same. They're actually really cool and come with something called the Mirage Peddle Drive which allows you to propel your boat through the water using your legs and something similar to bike peddles. Thus leaving your hands free for fishing.

Stay tuned for many stories of our paddling/peddling/fishing adventures!

I'm on my way!

So far I've raised $270 towards my $2,200 goal for the 3 day Breast Cancer Walk! Not bad for my first few days of fund raising.

To top it off I'm averaging 17,000 steps this week! I've been to the gym 3 days in a row (8,000 steps a trip), taken the long way to the bus stop every morning (3,500 steps a day), and tried to walk to everybody in my office rather than call them on the phone! I'm feeling pretty good about myself, of course I'm really tired now and I have class tonight.

Oh well, I'm sure the instructor will keep me awake with his tales of Procurement and Contract Management. The Mini-Storage example from last class really kept me on the edge of my seat.

*yawn*

Ode to Manny's

Ok, I know I talk about Manny's Pale Ale a lot, and about how much I love finding it on tap places. I also gush on and on about all of the beers from Georgetown Brewing Company located right here in Seattle. But, let me tell you, there is nothing like an ice cold Manny's direct from a freshly tapped keg, a keg that is nestled in ice in your very own basement.

As Homer would say "Mmmm....Beer.....".

Chris and I threw a St. Patrick's Day party on Saturday night, and in honor of purchased our very own keg of Manny's Pale Ale (complete with leaky bottle of green food coloring if you were dying for a green beer). At the peak I'd say we had about 25 people crammed in our tiny house. No one seemed to mind though, they were too busy enjoy the Manny's, mixing up Duck Farts and Irish Car Bombs, and enjoying my first foray into the cooking of Corned Beef (I made two separate batches, one I followed the directions and the other I made up my own recipe - I do that sometimes....ok a lot - and both turned out wonderful).

I was up way past my bedtime (2am!) and Chris and his buddies were dead set on finishing off the keg. Luckily (for both us, and for their hangovers) they did not accomplish this feat and we still have a bit of Manny's left to enjoy for the next couple of days before the keg has to be returned.

Someday I want to meet Manny and thank him personally for the joy he has brought to my life.

Yay Beer!