Pattern Addiction

I did a bad thing a few weeks ago. I got hold of a new game.

Actually, it's not a new game, but a new version of a game that has already been out for a while. The games are called Bejeweled. I had the first game of the series, simply called Bejeweled, way back when and was amazed at the graphics. Then not long after that Bejeweled 2 came out. It was so good that I deleted the first Bejeweled and completely removed it from my list of installable software. I basically threw it away. There was simply no reason to ever go back. Recently I upgraded my computer with a new hard drive and went to reinstall everything. That's when I found there was a new Bejeweled out. This one is called Bejeweled Twist. It's a lot like Bejeweled 2, but with a lot of differences. It does, however, have one major difference:

It's addictive.

I mean highly addictive. It takes hold of your brain. You start recognizing the patterns in the game before they happen, learning to anticipate what single action will potentially line up the pieces for the most impressive cascade of colorful explosions.

I feel bad that I've hooked Suzie on it. Now it has a firm grasp on her life as well. To make matters worse, she's hooked her youngest son on it. It's gotten to the point that when we see something in the real world that is lined up a certain way we notice it.

"You know," I said to Suzie, thoughtfully gazing at the icons on my laptop screen the other night, "If we rotated these two like this..." holding my hand up and twisting it in midair "...They would line up for a Flame Bonus." We both laughed... Nervously realizing that we may possibly need help.

Yesterday morning when she awoke, I was playing it yet again. I stopped (just for a second) and turned to her.
"Good morning." I said. She grunted acknowledgment.
"You were talking in your sleep last night." I told her.
"I was?"
"Yeah, you said 'Bomb disarmed' (a comment from the game)."
"Huh uh..." she said, not believing it for a minute.

Well, think that's enough of this blogging crap for now--I've got a game to play and I'm starting to get the shakes...

Christmas, Past and Present

It was a good Christmas this year, but a different one. Maybe that's exactly why it was a good Christmas this year--Because it was different.

Last year I bought a brand-spanking new Christmas tree. Why? Well, I've thought about it, and near as I can tell, I was trying to recapture the past. My family has always had a Christmas tree in the house. We weren't religious people at all, and eliminating religion from the whole Christmas picture basically reduces it all down to just a decorations, smells, and music (and presents of course). The tree is where eyes are always focused during a cozy winter evening. It always gave me a warm feeling to sit and gaze at the pretty lights and sparkly decorations, much the same way that people will sit and stare at a campfire for hours on end. The scent of pine (hardly anyone had fake trees back then) would greet you when you entered the house. One of the many things my mom did over the years was candle making. She had lots of molds, and would make several varieties of candles--All scented of course. The scents of the candles would be lovingly intermingled with the real pine Christmas tree, creating a mood, a feeling, an ambiance. Actually, thinking back on it, it's probably a wonder we smelled any of that stuff at all considering my dad was a smoker and everybody smoked in their house back then. Add to the sights and smells the sounds of classic Christmas music wafting from giant console stereo and you had the feeling of the Christmas season. Anyway, I think I was trying to recapture something from that time in my life. I was trying to take the "edge" off the emptiness of my home here. I think I thought that it made me feel somehow less of a pathetic loner living within his bland, rented walls.

Another reason I put up the tree last year was just that a local store had a good quality artificial tree on a super sale and and they came with lights already strung on them. I always hated stringing the lights. The other part of Christmas I hated was shopping for the Christmas tree. I got so disgusted with the prices, the weather, the transporting of the tree... Then when we got home with it and just wanted to relax and mellow out, I had to string the stupid lights on it. I remember how torn I was the year I finally succumbed to Teresa's wish to buy an artificial tree. When I thought about it, trees didn't have anywhere near as much smell in recent years as they did when I was a kid (or was it me?) so it really didn't matter so much. I finally relented and was happy about not having to drive around looking for a tree every year.

The thing that was different this year is that Suzie is part of my life. A very, very big part of my life. Because of her beliefs, she doesn't celebrate Christmas. Partly because of that, and partly because I really didn't spend time in my living room staring at the walls and feeling sorry for myself this year, I didn't put a tree up this year. I didn't miss it in the slightest. Maybe I will some day, maybe not.

So what did I do this year? Well, Suz stayed over on Christmas eve, so right away that was a major change. Waking up next to someone very special was a great way to start the day. I reluctantly left a sleeping Suzie in bed and got myself up at about 6:30. When I went downstairs to get my first cup of coffee, there was a text on my phone from Sarah: "Can you come over soon?" Yes, as usual, I started my Christmas day celebration at Sarah's house. It was one of those years when everything went right gift-wise. Suzie helped me pick out a couple of clothing items for Sarah a few days ago at Kohl's. Sarah loved them both and they both fit perfectly. As a matter of fact, she ended up wearing them both the rest of the day. I also bought her some more of her perfume that she was out of. This time, however, it came with matching lotion in the package, and she liked that. She said the previous one didn't. Her big surprise gift from me though was the Ipod Touch I gave her. Her face lit up big time on that one. I like to get her something that is totally unexpected, and this was one of those things. We both had fun trying to figure it out. Pretty cool toy! Sarah bought me the 5-DVD set of Planet Earth. She was a smart shopper, having found it used on Craigslist a while back. She remembered me saying a long time ago that I would like to own it. Nice work, Sarah! She also gave me a picture (unfinished but off to a good start) that she is drawing of the two of us on a beach. She's doing it on a pretty big canvas, and she's taking it from a small 4x6 print. I think she was about 5 years old in the picture. I've been after her to do artwork for gifts because she is so talented, and I'm finally getting my wish! After they fed me a good breakfast, I went back home. By that time Suzie was up sitting at the computer with her coffee. She left a little while later and headed for home, having a client from her Memory DVD's business she had to meet with a little while later.

The next phase of Christmas was going to my parents' house. I swung by Sarah's and picked her up. The snowy weather had really made a mess of the roads, and we had doubts as to whether or not she'd even be able to get her car out of her driveway successfully, so I offered to take her. I bought my folks a membership to Costco this year, and put each of their membership cards in a plastic CD case. They seemed very happy with it. They both totally love going out to stores and shopping around, and although they are both current members of Sam's Club, they have been interested in going to check out the new Costco that they opened nearby a couple months ago. Although there were already two of them within reasonable distance, the new one is even closer. Most of the family members were there and we all had a good visit. Dinner at mom's was centered around ham like usual, but this time we went the sandwich direction with it. There was a big basket with small dinner rolls for the bread, and baked beans and other things. This part of Christmas was another thing that went well and surprised me: They didn't give me any tools! I don't need or want tools because I have everything I need already. Either they finally listened or they just got lucky, but this time I got two steaks and two cans of mixed nuts. Although one of each would have been ample, I'm glad they got me food. After all, who doesn't like food?

When we left there, I delivered Sarah to her boyfriend's house up on the hill. It was snowing heavily when I left there and headed for Suzie's house, and it snowed all the way there. I wasn't there long though--Suz said we should go back to my place and watch one of my new Planet Earth DVDs. That's exactly what we did. We followed that with a couple games of Sorry (yes, the classic board game) to finish out a good day.

Our Rare Snow

I don't remember the last time we got snow around here really. Not like this. I can remember getting some good snowfalls when I was a kid, but not any time in recent memory. For Auburn, we have a lot of snow. I haven't been outside to measure it yet, but there's a good 6 inches out there I'm sure.

A lot of people don't understand how we, being as far north as we are, never seem to get more than a dusting of snow. It's true though. Let me put on my junior meteorologist hat for second. Start with the fact that the Seattle-Tacoma and surrounding area is nestled between two mountain ranges, add the Puget Sound (our huge inland waterway), and you've got a recipe for weird weather. Believe it or not, we hardly ever even get thunder and lightning either. Here in Auburn I'm situated in a valley, and sometimes the hills will get snow without me even seeing a flake. Not this year!

It has been snowing all weekend pretty much nonstop. When it did stop, it was not for long--I could always see the next bank of snow clouds coming across the valley toward me from my second floor window. Sometimes it was light, wispy snow and sometimes it was heavy, huge-flake snow. It was pretty cool to be cozy warm all day yesterday and watching the snow come down. I had stopped at Lowe's on the way home from work on Friday and bought a flat-blade shovel. At that time there was about an inch of snow on the ground and I wanted to clear my walk and my driveway. They were predicting unseasonably cold weather after this weekend and I didn't want the snow to turn into ice and stay there. While I was doing it, a neighbor walked by.
"You're probably going to have to do that again on Sunday." he remarked.
"Yeah, I know. That's okay." I said. (It was about all I could say to what looked like a fruitless activity.)

So anyway, I went out yesterday in the late afternoon and shoveled my car out. I figured it was going to snow all night still (I was right) because it was still snowing when I was shoveling, but I figured I had to at least get the upper hand. My car was completely covered and all I could see was the upper half of each wheel and a little above that on each side. Nothing else was visible. I figured just my luck it would rain during the night or something and I'd never get into it.

I would have liked to have went to Suzie's house yesterday, but I just couldn't see chancing it. My car just doesn't do that well in snow, and I based on what we have here in town it would be considerably worse where she lives. I kept thinking all day yesterday that I wished I had a quad runner like her son Denny has. When the snow is like this you can run down any road any time and no cop will ever catch you. I would have ridden it clear out to her house. And remember what I said about me needing my 4x4 truck after I sold it? Ditto.

So here it is--Monday morning of a 3-day work week. It would be nice if I could just stay out of work all week, but I can't. It would be nice if I had a 4-wheel drive vehicle too, but I don't. I enjoy watching the snow come down on a weekend, but when it's time to drive to work it becomes a whole new ballgame. Thank goodness the majority of the people in this area will use this excuse to extend their Christmas holiday week. The roads should be fairly empty of traffic.

I'll cross my fingers after they thaw out. After all, I've got to dig my car out again...

Snow, Ice, and Radio Announcers

It's been interesting around here lately. Our normally wet and soggy weather has been replaced by snow and freezing temperatures all week long. Although I normally would have nothing good to say about it (being the fan of nakey weather that I am), I have a different slant on things this time around. Why? Because the icy and snowy roads (overly hyped by our local media as usual) have kept most of the incompetent and idiotic drivers off the roads. All week long my drive to work has been totally trouble-free. Yesterday was a particularly snowy day, prompting a lot of worry-warts to leave work early "so they could make it home". Yeah, yeah... The snow was all of an inch deep, but whatever. I took the opportunity to hit Winco Foods on the way home from work last night, and I was greeted by a store that was practically empty! It was like they were saying, "Hi Rick! Come on in--We've been waiting for you!"

I made the prediction a while back that just because I sold my 4x4 truck and replaced it with a 2-wheel drive one, we would have a snow winter and I would wish I had it. Well okay--That's sort of what has transpired. Truth is, while my other truck was superb in the snow and very fun to drive, what good was it if it wouldn't start when I needed it? I haven't driven my truck now for a few weeks so I have no idea how it will drive in the snow and ice, but it suffices to say that I'm sure it will suck. After all, it's v8-powered rear-wheel drive, and there's not much weight in the back of a truck. At least with my little Neon (and most cars on the road today) the front-wheel drive means all the weight is all on the driving wheels.

Oh, while I'm on the subject, I was listening to KOMO AM 1000 (a local radio station) on the way to work a few days ago. I've always thought they were total idiots. Their brainless banter has always showed what idiots they are and how badly they need some new blood in there. Anyway, this particular morning was the first morning that we had some light snow in the area, and they were going nuts with it. Due to some strange quirk of nature, we happened to have a little thunder/lightning in the north Seattle area apparently, and they were taking calls about it (which itself shows how desperate they are). Here's what I heard:

Male announcer: "We've got (someone's name) on the line with us from (wherever) that witnessed something unusual on the way to work this morning. (caller's name), what was it you saw?"
Caller: "It was a bolt of lightning, followed by thunder."
Female announcer (talking excitedly): "Wow, what did that look like?"

Hellooo? Anybody home?

Driving in the Snow

For anyone that doesn't live here in this area, you probably won't know what Leavenworth is. It's a town here in Washington that got together a few decades ago and decided that they should become totally Bavarian. They got it right too--When you go there you'd swear you were somewhere in that part of Europe. It caters to tourism. There are lots of shops and restaurants, as well as special parking for tour buses.

This is the time of year when the town really comes alive. There are so many places in the world that celebrate the holidays in a special way, but when you start with a town like Leavenworth and throw in some snow, it adds quite a bit of crowd appeal.

Sarah has been after me to go there for a while now. She has been 3 times during special school events, but was frustrated at the lack of freedom and time during those outings. Her friends and classmates were never "on the same page" and might end up wasting too much time in one store and not have time to see anything else. Sue and I talked about it last weekend and decided that we'd "give it a go" this weekend much to Sarah's delight. We took her boyfriend too of course.

We lucked out. The sensationalism-driven media in our area was calling for (insert bold, announcer-type voice here) "Winter Storm 2008" and was promising lots of snow and freezing temperatures. They were making it sound pretty bad as they usually do. Well, as it usually is they were wrong. Yes, there was snow, but no it was nothing like they predicted. As such, I'm sure it kept most of the people off the roads. We took Suzie's little old 1990 Camry wagon on the trip this time. It has ample space, it's nice riding, and has great winter tires on it. We drove over Snoqualmie Pass and over Blewitt Pass on the way over, and drove across Stevens Pass to Monroe on the way home, and it was much packed snow all the way. It was also snowing pretty much the whole way with a little break here and there. On the way back last night we drove in heavy snow for much of the trip. Some of the biggest and heaviest snow we encountered was when we got closer to home in the lowlands!

There were a couple of Lions Club tents selling freshly roasted chestnuts for a couple bucks for a cup full. It was the first time any of us had ever eaten them and I believe we all liked them. They were very unusual. I thought they had a somewhat "meat-like" flavor, but the others agreed that they tasted more like sweet potatoes.

After we all agreed to meet back at a certain place and I'd buy us all dinner, the two couples split up to go wandering. Suzie and I went on a hunt for a place to eat something . I was frustrated more than once because we couldn't get into a restaurant. Place after place we entered, only to find them overfilled or understaffed. Finally we ended up wandering down "food alley" (every town event has one) where the food vendor tents were set up. We were just about to get something "ala carte" when we spotted a Mexican restaurant. It was situated far enough off the main drag and was on a second floor that it wasn't crowded at all. We got to sit and enjoy a beer and a plate of nachos. It was the perfect thing to tide us over until dinner time. After all, it was already 2pm and we hadn't eaten lunch...

Everywhere you looked there were people pulling kids on toboggans and sleds. There were all manners of strange hats too, thanks to a hat shop in town. That hat store is so renowned for its unusual hats that people that come into town always put it on their "must see" list. So much so that this time there was a huge line out into the street for people going in. Did we? No. I hate lines, and neither of us needed to see hats that badly.

I didn't end up taking too many pictures. Sometimes the mood isn't there for me. I think it was partially the cold and partially the fact that everything was "flat" and nondescript from a white sky. Had there been a blue sky or something then maybe things would have been different. Here are a few so you can get an idea of things:



When we got back together, we agreed that we would go back to the car and drive to a restaurant across the main drag that Suzie knew of. It was just right. There was a parking place for me right out front, and there was no waiting to be seated. Add to that the fact that they had free wireless, so I got to use my PDA to check on the pass conditions before we left.

All in all, it was a very good trip and we had a good time. Would we do it again? Probably not. Even though Sue overheard a shopkeeper say that the crowd was about half of what it usually was, the place was just too crowded.

It's kind of nice to wake up this morning to snow outside. It gives a whole new look to the boring vista of rooftops that is my bedroom view. Although snow is a nice change, I'm sure it will get old fast.

It Sure Is Quiet In Here

I bought my computer a new power supply the other day. The old one had a fan in it that I'm sure was co-manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. It sounded like something you'd hear around an airport. It was loud.

I didn't stop there though--I also bought a new hard drive.

I guess I need to back up a bit. I'm used to having two hard drives in my computer. Besides the obvious reason of more storage, it affords me a way to occasionally reload my whole computer. I can rotate my previously "primary" drive into the secondary slot, and then wipe and reload the "new" primary one. Through time and processes, computers get bogged down and end up running slower, starting slower, or having some sort of issues with programs. That was where mine was. Trouble is, my old "redundancy" drive had died a year or two back, so I was operating on only one. That's the real reason I went to the computer store.

After having lots of problems the first night getting the two drives to peacefully coexist, I finally was able to make it happen and they both talk to each other and play nicely together. Now I get to do the fun part of the job: Reinstalling all my software (yes, I do think it's fun--I'm a geek, remember?). The good thing about doing it this way is that all my old data is still there. All I have to do is reinstall the software and move my personal data over from the previous drive. Fun and geeky no?

The weird thing is my perception when I walk into the room. It's quiet. Real quiet. There have been two times so far that when I walked into the room I thought the computer had actually stopped.

Ahh... Whispering... Peace and quiet.

An Ordinary Bob's Brush With Greatness

You know how there are things in this world that you are reasonably sure you'll never see in your lifetime? For some people it might be a place, for some it might be a particular thing, and for some it might be an event--Whatever the seemingly unreachable item is, almost everyone has had those thoughts at one time or another. I saw something last night I never thought I'd ever see (not that I lay in bed tossing and turning about it though): A Christmas card from The White House. Yep, and for what it's worth I actually got to take it out of the envelope and open it. Woo eh? It was like my brush with fame or something.

Suzie and I were slow risers yesterday, and at about noon decided we'd take a ride down south to Melinda's house. That's where I had my truck registered a few months ago, and she had the title for it there for me to pick up. We also had a cheesy old 1993 calendar that she found at her uncle's house in California that we wanted to give her. It was a donkey calendar with an "ass" theme. Each page had something like "I'll fix his ass..." or "Peddling my ass off..." and things like that. I also wanted to stop into Cabela's on the way and look for a new jacket.

After getting a late start and stopping at Cabela's (I did find a good deal on a quilted shirt/jacket thing), we arrived at Melinda and Danny's house kinda late in the afternoon. We visited with them for a while out in the barn while they were putting all their animals to bed, once again enjoying the friendliness of their miniature donkeys. At that time Melinda suggested we all go out and eat Mexican food at the next town over.

That's where we met Bob.

We were sitting there in Plaza Jalisco in Napvine, Washington with big margaritas in front of us--And not your average margaritas either. I think Melinda called these things "Cadillac" or something. They came mixed like your average margarita, but also included a shot glass with Grand Marnier and a shot glass with more tequila (maybe it was above-average tequila in the shot glass--I didn't ask). You drink the margarita down far enough to pour the other two shots into it and finish it that way. Pretty good!

So it was about that time that Bob ("The name's Bob, with one O..") wandered over. Apparently, every bar or restaurant in the world has a Bob in it. He was an older guy (post retirement). You know--The kind of guy that wears those "puffy" farmer-style baseball cap? Obviously he knew Danny and Melinda, because he bee-lined his way over to them. He said something to them like, "You'll never guess what came in the mail for me." He handed them an envelope and said, "Look at the return address." As he was talking I was looking at his cap. It said something like U.S.S. Constitution on it. As he was saying that to them, the thought of the White House Christmas card popped into my mind, and sure enough that's what it was. They handed it over to me and there it was printed in the upper left corner of the envelope:

The White House

He was very proud of it, and rightly so. He apparently had some sort of military history that put him on the "elite" list with The White House. Yep, you don't often get to see or touch a genuine Christmas card from The White House, signed by the president and his wife.

Especially in beautiful downtown Napavine, Washington... Population 1,449.

A New Toy

Hey, it's Christmas season, and I decided I needed a toy for myself. Okay, it really didn't go quite that way... Actually, I'm not really sure what prompted me to pursue this. I just know the notion of it has been on my mind off and on for some time now.

What did I get? A Dell Axim x50v PDA. Do I need a PDA? Hell no. Up until recent times PDA's were simply devices to keep people organized (after all, it stands for Personal Digital Assistant) when they're on the go. Although I've always loved techie gadgets (who doesn't?), I never could see spending the money on something that was basically a calendar, notepad, and storage device.

Then came wireless.

This unit has built-in wifi. I am able to connect with the internet anywhere there is a wifi "hot spot" using a regular ol' (albeit stripped down for pocket PC) Internet Explorer to surf the web. I also selected this one because the "v" designation means it has a built-in 16-bit graphics card and plays flawless video.


I just got the thing yesterday and still don't know all of it's workings, but it suffices to say that I'm very pleased with it. It was barely over $100 on eBay and the guy even bundled it with a GPS unit. I'll probably end up selling that to recoup part of the price. Besides, I'm a guy and as you all know, we never get lost...

I've been uploading games to it so far and I'm very impressed with it. The graphics are very good. The more I learn about it the more I like it. It also came with a nice metal case to keep it in so I can afford to be klutzy without killing it.

There is one version of this Dell Axim that's above mine, but I couldn't justify the extra price until I had a chance to play with one. From what I understand on the web Dell won't be making them any more. Other companies will of course, but for how long is anybody's guess. The reason being that cell phones have gotten so powerful and full-featured that they are doing almost everything these PDA's do. The touch-screen is showing up on lots of the cell phones now. That's okay because they just keep driving the price of these "obsolete" toys down, down, down.

Like Old Times?

That's what it was like when I stopped at Fred Meyer yesterday and filled up my car's gas tank. It wasn't all that long ago that a fill-up of my little Neon cost me well over $35. It was good to see it on fumes and only cost me $16 to fill it up last night.

Then there is the other side of the coin. We're so used to products having two prices (MSRP and store price) that when we find a store that sells things at full retail it can be a shock. I stopped and bought a filter for Sue's hot tub on the way home from work yesterday at Aqua Quip in Kent. Granted, they are the "only game in town" when it comes to hot tub and spa supplies, but jeez--Full retail?! When every site I found on the web afterwards--And I do mean every site--Has them for less than half of what I paid, they need to wise up and at least split the difference. I hate it when a store "knows" they have some of their customer base by the short hairs when it comes to "I need it now" parts and supplies. The bastids...

Suz was out and about yesterday doing her shopping and stopped by my work so we could have lunch together. That was a nice surprise! Sure, I missed out on my usual 15-minute power nap after eating, but that's okay. She was out buying some ingredients for soup that she made for dinner last night. It was a very interesting soup to be sure, and it was one that I would definitely order again--It was delicious!

So I'm thinking (Sue: "Uh oh--He's thinking...") this morning after I woke up, a Christmas tree or not? I bought one last year for the first time and I'm not sure why. I think part of me missed the old times and wanted to rekindle that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes around this time of year with the lights and music. It wasn't to park presents under--It was for the ambience. They had one priced low at a store last year that came pre-wired with lights and I bought one (I always hated putting the lights on). So, do I put it up? I dunno. Suzie is a witness and therefore doesn't celebrate Christmas, but neither does she mind if I put my tree up I'm sure. I just don't know if it's worth the trouble. My tree is the total extent of my Christmas decor, so that's really all there is to wonder about.