It's All About Numbers

Everything we do is all about numbers isn't it? We measure everything we do in life by numbers. It's how we know something is better or worse than something else. Numbers. Just try to explain something about anything without numbers coming into play somewhere in the explanation.

I had a few insignificant number milestones over the last week I may as well relate.

• I broke my previous high score of 637 (see the post on October 19th 2007) on my bathroom Yahtzee game. The new score is 641. See? Sometimes sitting in the bathroom for a while can be beneficial.
• I bought a new cell phone a while back, but I still carry the old one to work with me every day. Why? To play Tetris on. New phones don't have games preloaded on them like that one did. Anyway, the current Tetris game I'm playing is at over a million and a half.
• My 1995 Plymouth Neon was bought new in June of 1994. Just this last weekend it rolled over 100,000 miles. I was kinda pissed that I missed it to tell you the truth. I was actually going to pull over and take a picture of it (how anal can you get). Pretty low miles for a car of that age isn't it?
  

How much we make, how fast we go, how many we have, how long it is (oh wait--Size doesn't matter), how far something is--There is no end to how many things that are based on numbers. See? There's another one. Heck, just pick one topic: How much gas costs, how many gallons your car holds, how many miles can you go on it, what octane is it, how long can you drive on one tank... Yada, yada, yada.

Okay, that's enough. I really just wanted to brag about my high scores and pat my car on the back. Oh yeah--I'm also another year older today. Can I stop now? I like it right where I'm at.

Taming Unruly Growth

We spent the afternoon at Suzie's house yesterday dealing with her lawn. She has a big yard, and if you let it get out of hand it's quite the job to get it cut. Between the two of us I think we spent 4 hours or so at it. She spent time weeding while I was edging, then she did edging while I mowed. Yep, that was pretty unruly growth.

There was other unruly growth that we had to contend with, but it was a little more convenient and easy to deal with: My hair. She has offered to cut my hair quite a few times, and after the last haircut I got (it was pretty bad) she was determined to not let that happen again. When we finished her yard work she grabbed all her barber stuff and came to my house. She did an awesome job on it! Too bad for her--Now she's stuck doing it.

Sunday found us on the Harley yet again. We decided to head down to TJ's (one of my coworkers) "vacation" property down on Ohop Lake to pay him a visit. Suz had never been there and he told me at work last week to pop on down if we were out on the bike. Anyway, it was pretty warm out and we foolishly took the liner out of Suzie's jacket. Unbeknownst (is that a real word or just slang?) to us, the closer we got to his place the colder it got. We never got rained on but we did see evidence of rain just ahead of us that still hadn't evaporated off the roadway yet. He was there with his wife & daughter and one of her friends. It was a good visit but we didn't stay long because by the time we got there it was getting a little late and we didn't want to get rained on or anything. Suz made an observation yesterday that all weekend it seems like we had better weather here in Auburn than anywhere around us.

I called my folks' house last night to get the latest on my dad and was surprised by him answering the phone. Apparently, time flew by a little quicker than I thought this weekend. I never did pay him a hospital visit during his stay. I'll swing by this afternoon after work and get the lowdown on everything.

Well, it's the end of a really good 3-day weekend. Now it's back to work time. This is one of those 4-day work weeks that my employer always has the mandatory 10-hour workdays. I seldom stay for any extra hours, but if my job is swamped at all it could happen. It will be my choice though--Not theirs.

Blog Fodder?

Friday night Suzie and I were just getting ready for bed when she remembered she was supposed to check on her son's kittycat to make sure she was indoors while they were out of town camping.
"Oh shoot, I forgot to check on Denny's cat. I'd better run up and do that," she said with a sigh.
She was in her jammies and brushing her teeth when she had that amazing revelation. I was wearing even less than that, but was equally ready for bed. Being the nice guy, but I offered to go with her, so I put some jammie bottoms and some kind of shirt for a jacket and away we went. Just outta town we were stopped by a slow, lumbering freight train.
"Aren't we just something else," Suzie said, "Sitting here in a car at 10:30 on a Friday night in our jammies, watching a train while on our way to check on someone's cat."
"At least we've got blog fodder." I said.
Well, the cat was already indoors, and because Suz went and checked she was able to sleep without worrying.

Speaking of blog fodder, how about this cartoon? It's getting to be a sign of the times:


Okay, let me back up a bit. As soon as I got home from work on Friday I ordered a pizza for us to be ready an hour later. I had just gotten back home and was washing dishes when Suzie showed up. We sat around talking for a bit and I told her we couldn't cook the pizza yet because I was waiting for a phone call from a guy that had a bicycle for sale up on the hill here in Auburn. We had already communicated and he said he'd call when he got home after 6pm. Well, he did call and we zoomed up to check it out. It was beautiful! I ended up buying her a nice (hardly used) Diamondback Topanga mountain bike for $50. It was a steal and way better of a bike than I have. We were feeling pretty good when we came back home with it and went into pizza mode!

Yesterday was beautiful when we got up. The sun was out and it was so nice and warm! We were planning on going to a park here in town for an event they call "PetPalooza" to wander around and possibly take pictures, but it turned out that it was next weekend instead. Now we had 2 choices: Harley or mountain bikes? Well, we opted for black leather and asphalt, and we decided to take a trip over the mountains to see if we could find out where all her offspring were camped.

It was a fantastic ride out. When we stopped at the top of Snoqualmie Pass to pee it was in the upper 60's and sunny! We stopped for a quick lunch in Cle Elum before hooking up with them. They were camped at a beautiful spot about 15 miles farther south. We hung out with them for a couple hours, taking pictures of everything around us, then we headed out to come back home. When we headed over the pass to the Eastern side of Washington the clouds got a little thicker. It's usually the exact opposite. Anyway, the longer we stayed there the more cloudy it was getting, so we decided we should head out. I'm glad we did. All we got hit with was some drizzle once or twice for a few seconds. Because it was such an open area we were riding in we could see the areas of rain--The kind of areas where the clouds are streaking towards the ground--And they were all around us. It was awesome to be able to see all around us like that, but I'm glad we missed all the rain. The closer we got to home the nicer the weather got. You've gotta love that! By the time we got home at about 9pm and about 200 miles later, we were exhausted. Riding at 70+ for that long takes a lot out of you. Seats, wind, noise, temperature, vibration--It all takes its toll.

It was a fantastic day!

Trying to Play Catch-Up

So much time has passed since I last posted anything... It feels weird. I don't know what to cover because I don't really know what I did or didn't do at this point. Let's see if I can cover how and what has transpired since then.

The funeral I attended went without a hitch. It was hot as I knew it would be, but it wasn't terribly uncomfortable. Suz went to her funeral as well, and we planned to get together afterwards. Well, that didn't quite work out as I thought. By the time we finished eating and talking and finally leaving the church where the funeral was held it was 3pm. From there we ended up at The Mint in Enumclaw, where we ended up splitting a few pitchers of beer and a couple of giant plates of nachos between about 10 of us. It was there that I noticed that my phone had a message on it and returned Suzie's call. She was out and about shopping for plants somewhere, but wasn't really in a position to rush over to Enumclaw. Her funeral was only about 45 minutes for her so she was out quickly (way before I called). We rode the Harley out to the south end of Auburn later on and met with some of her kids at a river park. We were both wearing our overalls and looking like summer geeks. It was a great night for a ride. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures of all of us while we were there, and on the way home I opted to take us up on cemetery hill overlooking Auburn. I wanted to see if I could get any good shots of Mt. Rainier. It was fun, but the shots were only so-so.

If memory serves me, we ended going out the next day to a nursery in Sumner called Windmill Gardens & Nursery. Suz was looking for a few specific plants and opted to try their store out. I had never been there before (not much of a nursery shopper after all) and was surprised at how big the place was. While Sue was browsing for plants I was wandering around taking pictures. I got a few pretty good shots while I was there. From there she bought us a great pizza for lunch at Aversano's restaurant. She ended up buying a few more plants at McLendon's Hardware before we finally headed home. We thought about going out on the Harley, but instead decided to hang out and do some sunning out back and relax with some beers and each other's company. It was a great weekend!

I don't really have much to report for the last few days with the exception of last night when I attended the presentation of awards for Sarah's school tennis team. It was a potluck and I managed to get a couple good pictures of the group here and there. While I was there I got a pictures of Sarah's art project skateboard too. It and others from her art class were on display within a glass case in the main hallway.

Today was mom's birthday and she got to "celebrate" it in a strange way: By spending all day in the hospital with my dad. He got his lung cancer operation today and apparently he will be there for about a week. Denise spent the day there with her too, so that was good. I really don't know what to say about all that's going on with him though--I can hear details about stuff like that all night long but can never seem to relay them. When I listen to someone explain stuff like that it just goes in one ear and right out the other with me. The bottom line is, mom is glad to be home this evening. Sue and I went over and visited with her for a while, as did Denis, Kim, and Cassie. Mom & dad's weird dog Jake was finally starting to warm up to Suzie by the time we left. When we first got there he was totally frantic and skittish. That's okay though... There were plenty of cats there to pet.

The picture site that I subscribed to a few days ago is now mine and Sue's together. I decided that she needed a place to showcase her pictures too, and with no limitations on storage or anything we'd might just as well share space. If you click on that link you'll see us.

The Saturday Morning Report

Well, summer seems to have finally arrived! It's been nice and warm the last couple days and Suzie and I are just eating it up. We're both sun lovers (or is it just heat and skimpy clothing?) and we look forward to this time of year so much.

I rode the Harley to work Thursday and Friday both and was the only one of the four of us at work that own motorcycles to do so. Kinda weird. I'm sure Harry would have ridden if he had been at work, but he was off both days. He rides an old Kawasaki cop bike that he bought used. I call it his Kopasaki.

Sue has been working a lot of overtime all week, and that included starting earlier and staying later most days. She decided it would be cool to ride in with me yesterday morning on the Harley all decked out in her leather finery. I agreed it would be most excellent.

Well... Not so fast. When she brought up the subject to Bernie (the office manager of the two LaCroix brothers) he "started in" on her. All she wanted him to do was to let her in from the shop side as soon as he got there. See, when he or his brother, Phil, come in and open up the office the shop area is already functioning and work is underway. They'll come in, shut off the alarms, and maybe make it back to the shop door quickly or maybe not. Sometimes they get sidetracked by a phone call or email or any number of things. She just wanted him to be aware that she would be in the shop waiting to go to work and to let her in as soon as he got there. Well, he started flipping her all kinds of grief.
"I'm not about to start altering my schedules to suit my employees," he said (or something similar). After more ranting and raving she finally said "Okay, okay--Never mind" and went back to what she was doing. The bottom line is that the two brothers are "old school" and have a severe problem with letting the distance between themselves and their employees get too slim. They want to maintain absolute power at all times. This seems to be why they have such a problem with Suzie and I seeing each other. They see it as nothing but trouble for productivity, creating distractions and all kinds of things. They hate "us".

Anyway, back to the ending of the little story: When I came to work yesterday morning I glanced up at the alarm lights and was surprised to find them already "winking out" one by one at 5:55. That meant that one of them was already in the office, unlocking and turning things on. At exactly 5:59 Bernie came blasting out of the door, looking around, and said a hasty good morning and went back in. I couldn't believe it. It was as if he actually hoped or expected to find Suzie sitting there so he could chew her and/or us out! It was obvious that that was exactly what he was doing--You could tell by the way he popped out like a prairie dog and looked around--He never does that. What an asshole. When Suz and I were talking about it last night I told her, "I wonder what they would do if we both gave our notices at the same time?" We both got a good laugh out of that, and Sue postulated that both of us departing the company at the same time would most definitely create a problem. Although we are a couple of people there that do a lot of things to keep the business running smoothly, her departure would send some serious ripples through the office. There would be some serious problems if we both left--No doubt about that. The more I think about it, the more I want to do it just out of spite...

I got home after work yesterday and had no beer, so I parked the Harley and hopped in the car to take care of that. When I got back I enjoyed one while I went over my email and stuff. At that point, I had to get back on the bike--It was just too nice out! I did a little ride around town and filled up the gas tanks. At $14 (it uses premium) it's sure a lot easier to take than filling up a car is! On the way home I stopped at my folks' house and yakked with them for a little while. When I got home Suzie was already there, sitting out on my patio in the sun, and after I stripped down I joined her. We had a good time laying out there talking, drinking beer, and "misting" each other with a spray bottle of water. When we decided it was time to eat, we opted to walk uptown to have burgers at the Spunky Monkey. It was a beautiful night for a walk! On the way back we stopped at my brother's house and visited with them for a while. It was a great evening.

Because each of us have funerals to attend today (which is extremely weird) she opted to stay tonight instead of last night so we would have plenty of time to get all the stuff done that we need to do. It's going to be quite the weekend... Forecasters are showing mid to upper 80's here.

In the Blink of an Eye...

...Weekend plans can change. Suzie and I were planning to wander around the Monroe Swap Meet (it's BIG) this Saturday, a day when it is supposed to be pulling a total weather swing the other direction from what we're used to. They're saying low to mid 90's this Saturday, and we've been lucky to have even 60 degrees lately.

I talked to my mom the other day and she asked me if I was going to Buckley on Saturday.
"Sue and I are going to the Monroe Swap Meet on Saturday. What's going on in Buckley?" I asked.
"Gloria's funeral." she said. Gloria is Melinda's mother who died March 27th.
"Hmm... That's odd," I said, "she never told me about it."
She probably just forgot, or maybe she didn't tell me on purpose because she knows how much I hate funerals, but either way, I feel I should go. My dad would say, "I didn't get an invitation so I'm not going!" I could hear him hollering that in the background when my mom was on the phone with me. "He didn't get an invitation? I wouldn't go. I wouldn't go." I hate talking to my mom because it's never just her "on the phone". It's him too, listening and adding to everything she says. So anyway, I'm going to a funeral on Saturday instead.

Suzie was going to go with me, but then came news from her camp that she had a funeral on Saturday too! A close family friend suddenly died on Tuesday and they're having a funeral for her this weekend. My funeral is at 1pm in Buckley and her funeral is at 2pm in Covington. We're going to hit our own respective funerals and then she'll probably join up with me after hers. I'll probably still be in the area of the funeral drinking beers or something with all the family members. Not a good way to spend a 90+ degree day, but oh well.

In other news, I joined a picture-hosting site yesterday called SmugMug. It's the best out there and photographers swear by it for speed, usability, and everything. It's a pay site, but it's worlds away better than anything else out there from what everyone says. From what I've seen I believe it. It will allow me to post my pictures with no limitations. Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and picture size. I also posted a new addition to my personal website: A photography page. Gone is the page on nudism (there wasn't really anywhere I could go with that one) and now there is new info covering my return to the world of photography. The link to my pictures is in the menu on my photography page, but I'll give you a quick jump to it here over on my blog menu as well. So far only pictures of ballooning in Walla Walla have been posted. I'll get the rest up soon enough... Keep watching.

A Milestone

It occurred to me yesterday at work that I passed a milestone Monday evening without realizing it. The act I performed was not itself a significant thing, but rather the fact that I have never done it. You'd think that by this time in my life I had done most things, right? I will be 52 soon and I sat at work and wondered how I had managed to slide through life without ever being exposed to the opportunity.

Monday, for the first time in my life, I drove a riding lawnmower.

Yes, my life is somehow more complete now. A thing I can add to my long list of accomplishments on this earth. I have driven practically everything there is to drive that is powered by an engine, and even things without. Trucks and cars of all sizes, backhoe, grader, ambulance, cop car, school bus, motorcycles of all shapes and sizes... The list goes on and on.

Thanks Suzie, for letting me mow your lawn and thereby allowing me the pleasure of putting another "notch" in my lifelong resume' of accomplishments. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

The End of a Great Weekend

Suz and I got home this afternoon after spending a fantastic weekend together exploring a little culture in Walla Walla. I drove about 575 miles and took about 500 pictures.

After we got moving yesterday after our nap, it became even more apparent that we had overextended ourselves during the car show pictures. Both of us were somewhat rubber-legged in the thigh area. As a matter of fact, we still are. My legs haven't ached this much since I don't know when. Anyway as I was about to say, after relaxing for a while we got ourselves together and took off once again for the balloon/fireworks finale over at the fairgrounds. We got an awesome parking spot right near the gate in a "no parking" zone that had only just then been commandeered by the masses. I didn't even hesitate to pull in behind all the cars in front of me that instantly filled the previously bare side of the street. We watched in amusement as the cars behind us did the same. When we got out of the car it was obvious that this was going to be one huge mob of people. What brings it out--The fireworks or the colorful balloons being lit by their burners at night? We lucked out and got a great spot to sit up in the grandstand right in the middle. We no sooner finished chowing down a couple of great Italian sausage sandwiches when showtime arrived.

The balloon event wasn't nearly as cool as the one earlier in the day but it was fun nonetheless. There were only about a dozen balloons at the night event. Neither Suzie or myself knew what we were doing when we started snapping pictures. We each took a huge pile of pictures of both the fireworks and the balloons. We kept changing lenses and settings, trying to get the perfect combination of things to make a great picture. One thing we really needed but didn't bring was our tripods. Nevertheless, we ended up with some pretty interesting shots. Here are a couple:

When we got back to our room and perused our newly taken pictures, we weren't nearly as pleased as we are some of the times we're out snapping away, but there were some pretty good ones. When it was bedtime we did exactly what we had thought about doing: We took the mattress off the bed. Sleeping on just the mattress on the floor turned out to be one really good night of sleep. It made a huge difference!

When we awoke this morning it was a little cooler than it was yesterday but still beautiful looking. Instead of the whitish, high-cloud day we had yesterday, we had a blue sky with floating clouds in it. In addition it was a little blustery. It was pretty obvious to us that there would be no more balloon launches that day. After all, wind is critical when you're in a balloon--It has to be in your favor.

We checked out at about 10:30 for our drive back home, but before getting on the freeway we investigated Washington State Penitentiary, Washington's only federal prison. While we couldn't get too close to it, we did manage to get a few good pictures thanks to long lenses and such. Here's a sample:

The whole thing was surrounded by more concertina (razor) wire coils than I have ever seen in my life. It's hard to tell how high the coils actually are, but it's safe to say that it's not a fence that anyone is going to be going through. This shot taken with my 300mm zoom will give you an idea. I really don't know how tall the fence actually is, but it's pretty tall.

We stopped at a really cool nursery right along that freeway near the town of Mabton. We spotted it on the way out and kept an eye out for it. It was totally cool!

The place had lots of rusty old cars placed strategically here and there, and had an "Old West Town" that they were in the process of creating as a tourist stop. We each took over 100 pictures there. Again, here's a sample:

We finished off our weekend with one last stop at Subway for dinner, and we enjoyed it alongside a nice river under sunny skies. I great ending to a weekend for sure!

Walla Walla Balloon Stampede

What a beautiful town! We've been wandering around it all day and Suzie and I both agree that we picked a most awesome time to visit. All the trees are blooming all over town and the weather is nice. It's a town that is very clean and friendly, and you can tell by the age of the trees that line the neighborhood streets that the homes and streets have been well-maintained for a long time.

Our drive here last night was a nicely laid-back journey with only one stop for dinner in Selah. The weather was nice and clear all the way and we got here just as it got dark. I guess the only thing we saw during the drive was the deer that ran across the road one car up from us as we neared town here.

Okay, I'm not going to lie--Our motel is kind of a dive. Reservations were sort of last minute so we didn't get to be very choosy. It's clean and well-equipped, but the bed... Hoo boy. We're actually considering putting the mattress on the floor tonight! The wireless internet works really great, and it has the usual amenities like fridge, microwave, etc. The hot water is barely adequate but that's okay if I still get the pleasure of ogling a freshly showered babe wrapped (barely) in a wet towel...

We got up early this morning for the big balloon event that started at 6:30. We were near it at a Safeway getting some coffee when we saw one of them go up.
"Our luck that will be the only balloon and we just missed it." I said sarcastically.
I couldn't have been more wrong. When we got there this is the scene that greeted us for a solid half hour. It was a huge mass of balloonists and spectators. The coolest thing was that people could get right up close and personal if they wanted to as evidenced in this shot:

It really was an excellent opportunity for people to see what makes ballooning what it is. We got to see them go through the whole thing from unfolding them and filling them with air via fans to heating them up and taking off. It was a photographer's dream!

After that ended, we took a couple-hour leisurely stroll up and down the main drag. We hit the Farmer's Market and a few stores, including Hot Poop, a great record/music store. Naturally, I had to get a t-shirt from them. After our stroll we went back to the fairgrounds for some more picture-taking, only this time is was a car show. We had a great time taking interesting shots like this:


The car show finished up with a visit to a horse race right next door. It was great. One thing about all those car shots we took (I took 200 and Suz took almost 300): We both needed a nap. Those pictures involved a LOT of deep-knee bends!

The cool thing about this trip? It's not over yet!

Scurrying Around

It's near the end of the evening and I'm just putting the finishing touches on packing for the weekend. I'm not very good at things like this, so just to counter any unknowns I usually pack too much stuff. I can pack real light if I have to, but when I'm traveling by car I usually say, "what the hell" and throw it all in there.

Suzie and I have been so looking forward to this little excursion all week. It's not the destination--After all, most people don't even know where Walla Walla is--Rather, it's just the adventure of it. It's our first real trip anywhere together. We're both sure we're going to have fun, even if the balloon festival is a bust (excuse the pun) due to weather or whatever. It's something we both want and need. It's a way for us both to have a mini-vacation away from LaCroix Industries.

We're both equally excited as far as the balloon festival thing goes too. We're both predecting some pretty awesome photo opportunities. Many of them will be in low light conditions probably, and those might be the most dramatic looking of all.

I have been emailing a guy that lives up in Duvall all week long about getting a part for my truck that he had advertised on Craigslist. One thing or another keeps coming up and I still haven't gotten to go up and get it. There has been contact, but it's sporadic at best. Screw him. I'm finished. Add him as a reinforcement to my adage that Craigslist people are DEADBEATS. I have things for sale also and have had numerous contacts in the last week and a half. Have I had anyone actually show up? Hell no!

Well, back to getting my stuff ready. Maybe I'll do my next blog post from a motel bed in beautiful downtown Walla Walla, Washington next time!

I'm Disgruntled Again

Not about my life. No, I am happy with the way my life is going (I had a very in there preceding happy, but decided my job could be better.)

I'm talking about web stuff this time.

I'm going to close down my Rix Pix blog. It is clearly lacking direction and results. What did I have for direction to begin with? Hmm. I guess when I started it I thought there would always be a clear winner to showcase from pictures I had taken during the week. You know what I've found? There never is. It's always something:

• Not enough pictures and having to "settle" on one
• Too many pictures and not being able to choose one
• Dealing with dimensional size limitations (the blog only shows a certain size, and even when you click it to show it full size, which size should I make the full size actually be?)

I know I'm too picky. I guess I really need to have more of a photographer's showcase site instead of a blog that shows one here or there. I'll keep looking and thinking about it. In the meantime, expect Rix Pix to disappear any day now.

The other source of my disgruntledness (is that a word?) is my Harley site. I like the site and all, but I've been meaning to have all these pictures and things put up there and I don't know how I want to present it. I chronicled the entire upgrade process of my Harley last winter/spring, but when I put it all on the web I didn't like it and pulled it. There it sits. Again, I guess I'm thinking too much about it. Remember the old saying: K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid. That's what I need to do I guess. I'm also toying with a "timeline" sort of a layout regarding the bike. Just basically have a running page that is paragraphed by date. That way I can just add an entry any time I need to. That may be more doable.

In the meantime, I'll keep thinking about it too much and not getting it done.

A Little of This... A Little of That...

That pretty much covers my weekend.

Friday is an easy one to report on--Not much happened there. I had a good day at work except for the stern "talking-to" I got from the boss... Basically for being too happy when I ring the office bell and announce incoming things like UPS arrivals and such. He thought the way I did it was basically like I was flipping the office workers off each time I did it. Well, can you guess who I'm flipping off now Phil? Suzie came over after work and we had a nice dinner from the oven: Whole chicken and baked potatoes. We finished off the evening by watching the first disc of Gangs of New York.

Saturday was a crappy day, weather-wise. We ended up driving around doing some shopping and other stuff. It was fun, but it was your typical mundane stuff. At one point Teresa called, frustrated (and rightly so) about Sarah. While she was on the phone I repeatedly had to hold the phone out from my ear because there was so much yelling going on between them. Whew. It was all about Teresa saying no to Sarah about going camping with her boyfriend. Supposedly there were to be adults, but it turned out that the "adults" were his older brother and who knows who. She said no and Sarah screamed bloody murder about her changing her mind. I told her no and keep saying no. I'm glad she did.

Yesterday was a much nicer day. I did some laundry and went out to the library to pick up a couple movies that were waiting for me. I took my camera with me in case anything came to mind while I was out and about. After I left there, I went by a local spot and bought some beer. I was feeling in a good mood and decided I'd swing by Teresa and Sarah's to see if anyone was bleeding or dead. Apparently Sarah had just left, but Teresa was out back wandering around. We talked a bit and all was well between them again. Whew. I asked her if there were any birds in either of her birdhouses on the outside of the garage yet, and she said there was. I got out my camera and tripod to see if I could catch some pictures of them. At that point I offered her a beer and we stood around talking and taking pictures and drinking beer for a while. It funny--Now that I think about it, we had a strange "distance" thing going on. Although we enjoyed visiting with each other, we kept a barrier of respect (for lack of a better explanation) between us as we yakked. We talked about a bunch of stuff: Sarah, the puppy, birds, school, Suzie (she's fine with her BTW), flowers, Sarah's boyfriend, senior pictures--You name it.

When I left there and went back home I got a text from Suz. She came over and we went out picture taking. We had a great time taking pictures at a local skate park. It was a beautiful day, and the place was pretty busy. We were almost celebrities it felt like. Boys are only too happy to have someone with "real" cameras taking pictures of them. The posing and showing off for action shots was the order of the day. We each got some great ones! Here's a sample:


From there we went over to another park and took a nature photography walk, stopping for closeups of plants and stuff. Finishing up and awesome day, we decided a pizza was in order.

Nicely done for a Sunday... They tend to be boring sometimes. Not yesterday!

A Room Full of Me?

It's gross really when I think about it, but I'm pretty sure all the "dust" in my bedroom is me. I mean that literally--Without putting it under a microscope, I looks to be dried skin. Eww! When I had that epiphany last night, I was grossed out. I'm still grossed out...

A couple days ago I happened to be wearing black socks and was getting ready to leave to go somewhere. I was walking around the bed, making it like I usually do. When I finished, I noticed my socks were totally dusty from accumulation of dust under the bed. After all, I've lived here two years and the bed has never moved, nor can the vacuum access it. Last night I decided it would be a good time to move the bed and other furniture and vacuum under it. Before I did so, I stripped the bed to put new sheets on, and when I did a cloud of dust came out of it. I guess I had seen it from time to time but never really "noticed" the correlation or something. Last night it hit me like a ton of bricks because the sun was streaming in the window as I was doing it. It looked like I should be wearing a gas mask in there when I started banging on the bed!

Anyway, my theory is that it may have a lot to do with the fact that for so long I took showers at night before getting into bed, and they tended to be longer, hotter showers because of it. That can make for some seriously dry skin. I don't do that as much any more. One thing's for certain though--I'm going to keep better tabs on things up here. I can just hear the surgeon general's new warning: Caution: Breathing Rick might cause respiratory illness in weakened immune systems. Please use appropriate filtration."

Eww, that's creepy...

In other news, I finally put my huge pile of car magazines up for sale on Craigslist last night. I need to start squaring things away lest I start looking like some sort of a hoarder. I already have one interested person that wants them at $80. Not bad when you consider the fact that I got them all out of a recycling dumpster where someone had dumped them all at once. For a while I was selling them on Ebay, but that got to be very tedious. Yes, you can make a lot more money doing it that way, but it would take forever. I just want em gone.

Last but not least, I wanted to issue a correction to something I mentioned a few days ago when I was on the subject of "razor wars" between Schick and Gillette. I forgot about existence of the Gillette Fusion which has 5 blades. I wonder how that can possibly work if Schick's 4-blade one didn't. Oh well, like I said--I still like my old Trac II...

It's hard to believe it's May already, and look--It's Friday!

A Weekend Away

Suz was over last night and I introduced her to the fine, upscale taste of a fine genuine Johnsonville brat, right off the BBQ. I know they are highly upscale and quite frankly, I wasn't quite sure whether or not she was ready for such a taste treat, but I pulled it off anyway. Actually, I almost didn't even get to buy them when the people at the store saw how I was dressed. I had to show them my Harley Visa card so they knew I had enough class before they let me buy them.

Suzie's reaction? "Different..." "Good..."

Lucky I didn't go for the hedgehog liver/rutabaga pate'. That might have been a bit much.

After dinner we were talking and somehow got onto the subject of an upcoming balloon festival in Walla Walla called the 34th Annual Balloon Stampede (and yes, that's a real town to those of you not from around here, made semi-famous in this old Daffy Duck cartoon). She mentioned it and I told her that I had also been looking at it the other day. Well, one thing led to another and we decided that we would both love to go and wander around taking pictures of everything, so that's exactly what we're going to do. May 9th, 10th, and back on the 11th, we'll drive over (too far for our first bike trip) for our first weekend getaway together. Lucky I thought about reservations while we were sitting there because most of the motels are already booked. Had I waited much longer there probably would have been nothing left to pick from.

We're looking forward to it already--A weekend of acting like young (I said acting) lovers, photo geeks, and tourists.