Happy New Year!

It's 11:50 and John and I are in the livingroom waiting for the fireworks to begin at the Space Needle (you can see it from our window). A low-key way to start a new year.

Cheers!

Domesticity

We tried to go out and buy an instant hot water tap to install on our sink because I have a gift card from Home Depot burning a hole in my pocket. Turns out that we don't have any holes in the sink to put said hot water spout in. Home Depot guy said we could drill a hole or - put in a new sink. Both options sounded way too labor intensive for us at the time, as did all of the other projects we came up with while wandering among hardwood floor samples and lighting fixtures, window coverings, and closet organizers. We left.

I decided to do phase 1 of tamale making. This involves:

1. going to the store to get supplies
2. roasting peppers and tomatillos and then skinning the peppers
3. making a sauce from the roasted ingredients, garlic, and chicken stock
4. taking all the meat off of a whole cooked chicken
5. soaking pinto beans
6. mixing chicken with finished green sauce
7. cleaning up the mess I made

Tomorrow will be phase 2. I forgot to take pictures at the very beginning, but I have a few so far and will definately take more as it gets more interesting.

Ta ta for now.

Boing Boing: Dangerous Things on your desk

Boing Boing: Dangerous Things on your desk: "Kaden Harris builds exquisitely-crafted 'Dangerous Things' for your desktop, such as miniature working guillotines, catapults, and the Hypnodisk (pictured here), a staple of evil mythical masterminds."

A Cold Winter's Night

It's really cold right now and there is this freezing fog blanket covering the city. It gives everything this stillness that you rarely get here. According to the weather pixie on my blog page it is 35 right now - I think she is wrong. I went to The Rack and bought a scarf and gloves.

I read a lot today. First the entire Wired magazine we got last week, then a chapter or two of Mortals, which I am not liking much so far, then a bunch of stuff for my class that starts next week about outsourcing, globalization, protective policies, etc. Part of The Lexus and the Olive Tree and part of Exporting America. Interesting stuff.

Dagoba Organic Chocolate

Dagoba Organic Chocolate

This is really cool.

Christmas Oddities

I am afraid that poor Matt will be left with the impression that all we ever do is eat out. On Christmas Day we ate Vietnamese Pho in the international district. Matt mentioned that he has always thought about teaching English in Japan, or any other Asian country. He needs more practice with chopsticks before he goes though.






We kept with the Asian theme and went to the Cinerama to see House of Flying Daggers (subtitled in English). It is a beautiful film and includes much traditional swordplay, beautiful dancing, warriors flying through the tops of the bamboo trees, and of course, tragedy. I really like the Mandarin language; it is much more soothing and beautiful sounding than Vietnamese.



On the 26th, we again ventured forth to find exotic food. This time – Mediterranean. We went to Pioneer Square to eat Gyros and Falafel, not realizing that it was football game day. We waded through the sea of Seahawks fans and I made John stand on the side of a light pole to take this shot.



Matt seemed to enjoy the Gyro, perhaps it was because it came with fries and a Dr.Pepper.












Then we had more coffee.




We went traditional with the next phase of our trip and visited Fry’s Electronics Superstore for day after Christmas shopping. It was a bit insane in there, but we managed to find what we needed and get out without injury.








John dropped Matt and I at the Pike Place Market and he picked out a salmon for a Christmas present to the family back home in Colorado.


Of course, we had to stop for MORE coffee – SBC this time. We walked home and put the fish (in its dry ice cooler packed crate) out on the balcony to keep cool.


On to EMP and the Sci-fi museum. We are only about 6 blocks from Seattle Center so we headed out again on foot. I took some interesting pictures along the way and had fun with Photoshop on a few.







We all decided that the Sci-Fi Museum was actually better than the EMP. They don’t allow you to take photographs in any part of the exhibits – except the guitar tower. Matt showed off his guitar skills in the sound lab.



On the way back, I found a shirt lying on the sidewalk. I picked it up for my friend Tiana who seems to like found clothing.

Dinner was take-out pepperoni, red onion, and meatball pizza from Belltown Pizza. John sat and had a beer while we went to the video store – poor Matt – we were walking again.




I wish I had a recording of our phone conversation with Chloe. She is John & Matt’s little sister. She is 5 and seems to be on random play – she talks about random odd things for LONG periods of time – often switching subjects in the middle of a sentence. We talked about llamas, fish, fishing, motorcycles, puzzles, bubbles, Leap Pad, pizza, movies, Seattle, God, and “people who were not really dead”. I am really not sure what she meant by that last one, but I went along with it. She talked to all three of us several times before Matt finally said we had to get off the phone. It was definitely the highlight of the day.

A Cats Christmas

A Cats Christmas: "Your Instructors on how to assemble and decorate a Christmas tree are
Iris and Fern - 2 fluffy tailed kitty sisters!"

This is a bit weird.

Christmas Eve - a modern version

Matt is here! John picked him up at the airport, swung by to pick me up, and we headed to lower Queen Anne for Indian food at Roti. It was fabulous as usual. Matt really liked the Tika Masala (he'd never had Indian before).

After a quick tour of our place, we walked down to Starbucks to have a coffee and wish our friends a Merry Christmas. We then headed downtown, checked out the Sharper Image store, and wandered among the crowds. We ended up at Gameworks.

Now we are watching Dead movies - first Shawn of the Dead and now Dawn of the Dead. Complete with deluxe leftovers for dinner! OK, it's not everyone's idea of a good Christmas Eve, but I'm having fun!

Game Boys


Karate Matt


Karate John


Coffee Boys - they do look a bit alike don't they?



Horses, horses, everywhere!

Grades are in

I got a 3.5 in "Integrating the Enterprise". Combined with the others that gives me a 3.4 for this quarter. Not great, but considering the fact that I am teaching full time and taking a full load in grad school, it's not bad.

We are going to try and eat Indian food tonight for Xmas Eve if our favorite place is open. We want to have Matt try a lot of new things while he is here. Speaking of Christmas, here is a picture of our tree. No, we didn't put up a Christmas tree. By the time I had enought energy (2 days ago) it seemed kind of late. Later I'll take pictures of the stars I managed to put in the windows. I'm not dressed yet and my neighbors already think I am nuts.

On the first day of vacation...

• I slept in until 9:45!! It was great.
• I learned last night that John's brother Matt is coming on Friday and staying until Monday. It will be really great to have him here, I just wish it was for a little bit longer. I have been looking for interesting things for us to do, but most places are not open on Christmas and Christmas Eve.
• I took silly pictures of all of us:

Muk-Luk the Wonder Hamster



John on the couch



Me at the computer



My ear - notice the pretty piercing. I have one on both sides.



Darwin chillin' on the love seat

• John made sticky buns from scratch yesterday. They taste like gooey pecan pralines - yum.
• We are supposed to go to Sammamish to watch a marathon of The Lord of the Rings, but I might just stay here.
• I had a vodka tonic last night - it was really good.
• We got 3 packages - all from parents located in Texas, Kansas, and Colorado.
• My sister just moved back to Texas from Florida. She should be there today.
• My friend Katherine is very sore today because she walked up Queen Anne Hill twice yesterday.
• I got my grades for 2 of my classes - 3.6 in Policy and strategy and 3.1 (blah!!!!) in Project Management. The last one has not been posted yet.
• I am going to go read now.

The Complete Bushisms - Updated frequently. By Jacob Weisberg

The Complete Bushisms - Updated frequently. By Jacob Weisberg: "'They can get in line like those who have been here legally and have been working to become a citizenship in a legal manner.'�Referring to immigrant workers, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2004"

Free at last

I am free of college for about two weeks and I am reveling in it. Yesterday John and I rode our bikes around for about an hour and a half. We couldn't stop and go in anywhere because his battery was dead and I would have to push start him (it's not fun). It was just too cold to stay out any longer. The rest of the time was spent reading in front of the fire and then watching 3 episodes of "The West Wing" on DVD. It's not just the release from having to study that feels good, it's the total lack of it hanging over my head all the time.

I think we are going to see Richard Cheese at Chop Suey tonight with Tiana. He is well known for lounge music versions of popular hits - funny guy.

Two more days of teaching before vacation starts - yeah!

Fun Until Now

was having a GREAT Sunday...until I looked at my final exams. One is ok - it will take taime, but is very manageable. The other is...pretty bad. The worst one is due Wednesday at 6:00PM. I should not have played today, but I couldn't help it.

It was the first semi-clear, non-rainy day in almost two weeks (I don't count yesterday because I was in class from 8 - 5). John and I took our motorcycles out and cruised around. We went down Alaskan on the waterfront, then took 99 out to Ballard and stopped for coffee (it was COLD). I had to call Tiana at that point and beg off of breakfast because I was having too much fun - sory Tiana.

We then went to Qwest Stadium for the motorcycle show - many many bikes and bikers. Lots of custom built weird stuff, really cool restored bikes, and booths with much motorcycle paraphernalia to buy. It was fun, but I was anxious to go ride more, and very hungry.

We went out again and ate gyros at a place on 1st Ave next to a biker bar. Then we went over to West Seattle and cruised around. It was very cold and quite windy by this time. The mountains were spectacular! The sound was really choppy and there were four guys out kite boarding. I think that's what you call it anyway. Very cool.

After cruising around Alkai for a while we headed home. I forgot to turn my fuel on when we started back (knob at the side of the bike that you turn off when bike is parked). I went about 2 blocks and sputtered a bit then glided over to the side of the road. Now I know what it feels like to run out of gas on a motorcycle - not bad at all - one of my fears has been allayed. When we went back we went over the ramp from the West Seattle Bridge to 99 - a HUGE HIGH curving thing and it was easy. :) I even rode 60 MPH on the highway. Really, it's the stopping and starting at slow speeds in traffic that's a bit scary. Highway was no big deal.

I am now torn about the weather. On the one hand, I want it to be clear on the weekend so I can ride more, but on the other hand, I want snow so that I can go snowboarding. Hmmm...maybe if it snows all week and then is clear on Saturday and Sunday.

OK - enough of this. I must begin on the final exams. Keep your fingers crossed. By this time Thursday I will be free! (Until January). Only 2 more quarters until graduation.

NPR : A Beer for Hanukkah

NPR : A Beer for Hanukkah

I was on my way to class at 7:30 this morning and heppened to hear about He'brew beer - the chosen beer on NPR. Funny stuff! I can't imagine a 'christian' group coming out with their own brew and having a minister come bless it.

The Flood

It must be a slow news day. When I drove to work there were 3 network news vans down the street from the school watching the river rise. When I left, there was a new one. Slow news day indeed - it only floods out there about 3-4 times a year. I can just imagine the guy standing with one foot in the river going,” Well, as you can see, Bob, the water is now up to my calf, and when I talked to you 10 minutes ago from this same spot it was just above my ankle." Nothing is actually flooded yet, the rivers won't crest until tomorrow.

On the way home I took 4th Ave through downtown because 99 was stopped dead. I saw a really large tour bus in front of one of the hotels. A guy with a bald head complete with a really cool tattoo was standing out in the rain signing a drum-head for some guys. I wonder who it was.

I have to get busy and finish a paper that is due at 8:00AM. My last class of the quarter is tomorrow - thank goodness. I am running on empty.

Today in middle school I taught the kids some film terminology to use during the next unit. We practiced long to extreme close up shots, and different camera angles by using rolled up pieces of paper to look through. They had a blast. It's amazing what kids find fun.

Homework

I am at home today working on grades for my 8th graders and yet another project for college. I took a break for a few minutes because Darwin was playing with part of a box. He stuck his head through it and managed to run from the study into the living room that way. Apparently it was great fun. Here he is in all his glory.

Field Trip!

We took a field trip to the EMP today. It was awesome. They have changed things around a bit and have some great new exhibits. I need to go back and have more time to see the Bob Dylan exhibit and to visit the Sci Fi museum.

We took the kids to the arcade afterwords and I played DDR! It was really fun to be able to play with the kids. We almost lost one of them - everyone was on the bus except him. I went running back and searching everywhere - finally found him in a gift shop. He really had no clue that the rest of the 250 people had gone already.

Now I am in Bellevue preparing for class to start.