Proud Papa

I don't know where she gets it from really. Sarah is both smart and artistic. Neither myself or her mom are stupid by any means, but nor are we all that brilliant either. There is no way I ever came close to getting good grades in school, and I'm pretty sure her mom just scraped by also.

Sarah has maintained an almost perfect 4.0 grade point average during her entire life in the public school system, and that's never ceased to amaze me. It's been so long ago that I was really able to help her in her math studies that I really don't even remember it. She passed me by almost a decade ago.

Although it was no surprise really, imagine my pride and delight when I found out she had won a scholarship! I was even more proud when I found out that it was not exactly an "easy-to-get" scholarship either. Because her school website will most likely only have it up for a short time, I took a screen shot of it. Because it's only a screen shot, obviously none of the links on it work. (click for full size):


For people that like reading this sort of thing, here's the link to the state webpage that explains what it is and so on: http://www.wtb.wa.gov/WAVEWebpagenew.asp At the top right of that page there is a listing of the press release and the state winners too.

While I'm also proud of my son in Los Angeles who has really made quite a go of things in his life, I didn't have any part at all in raising him and have only known him for a few years. I watched Sarah born and therefore have known her for her entire life.

Times like this are pretty special to a proud papa!

Anyway, I just wanted to pass that on and thump my chest for a moment. Okay, I'm done. Now that I'm done, I want to give credit to Sarah's mom. Teresa hounds her and watches over her and pesters her and keeps her in line, making sure her homework is done and projects are handed in on time. Most of what Sarah has achieved academically is due in no small part to her efforts.

Congratulations Sarah, and thank you Teresa.

A Major Announcement

Ricky and Suzie are officially engaged to be married!

Yes, it's true-- She wears an engagement ring. I think both of us knew way back when that this would come--We just "click" too well for it not to. The events of the past year have taught us about one another: The good, the bad, the likes & dislikes--There are so many things we've explored and learned about each other. We even had one "breakup" a couple months ago, and that lasted about... I dunno... One day? We were miserable, and I think it just reinforced our bond.

We love and need each other, and we intend to keep loving and needing each other.

The biggest hurdle we face at this time is the actual physical fitting of me into her household. While I don't have a lot of stuff, there really is no room for me at this time. Fortunately, we're not getting married this instant so we'll have time to work the logistics out before that takes place. Her house isn't a giant one by any means, and at this time she still has two boys living at home. Only Dane, her 20 year-old is actually living there. Keith, her 18 year-old, does have a bedroom there, but spends most of his time at his dad's house (we think). The bottom line is that Dane is shopping to move out as soon as possible (and has been for some time). Keith? Who knows. He's a very quiet young man and it's hard to communicate with him. He may end up rooming with her daughter Rachyl.

As I said, we don't have a date. What we have agreed on is we'd like it to be a back yard wedding at her house (she has a nice setting for it). We're discussing the possibility of having some sort of a Medieval aspect to it as well. You know, the way people dress for the Renaissance Faire when they have them? We're not sure yet about all that. We just know one thing: We want it to be a FUN wedding--One that people won't be in a hurry to leave from. Wedding and party all in one place.

I'm not sure I'll go to the extent of renaming my blog, but it's indeed apparent that there will be a Rix Life, Part VI.

Internet Teevee

I love the internet. We all love the internet.

It lets us stay in our nice, cozy houses and avoid interacting with other members of the human race. It lets us shop for good deals while we're sitting in our jammies. Heck, we might even still be wearing the same jammies when the man in brown delivers that good deal right to our door. The internet lets us do lots of things.

Add one more thing to the list: Internet TV. Yeah, I know... It's been around for a while already. The trouble is, it's always been marginal at best. Either it's riddled with ads, requires you to login, or the video you watch is of barely watchable quality.

Enter HULU.com. The internet has a new reason to justify its existence. Like most of you, I had never heard of Hulu before watching that funny Superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin.

Not only is the quality stellar, they have TONS of channels to select from. Favorite shows of all kinds. I just finished watching last night's Leno show a few minutes ago. Before that? A great version of The Family Guy. It lets you watch in full screen, lets you fast-forward (it has a cool slide bar at the bottom), and pretty much gives you full control. Sure, there are a few ads here and there (after all, they have to make money, right?) but overall it's great!

No more need for VCR's, DVR's, or any other recording device to catch your shows. Just kick back and watch them right here.

Oh, and don't forget to order some groceries online... You're going to get hungry.

It's Hard to Believe...

...That my little girl is 18 years old!

Yesterday was Sarah's birthday, and off and on throughout the day I had little flashbacks of the little girl she was. I remembered sitting across from her as she sat on her little potty chair in the bathroom--She held a book and studied it carefully as I read the story to her (upside down from my vantage point), telling her when to turn the pages.

Those were special times.

She called me last week and asked me if I was going to have her birthday at my house.
"I dunno, I hadn't thought about it really, why to you ask?"
"If you have it at your house everybody comes. Nobody wants to come to our house." she admitted.
She wasn't far off base with her comment, as sad as it seemed. The difference is that I called people and invited them--Her mom didn't. I saw it happen time and time again while I lived there. I wanted a party and the day before would arrive and she would admit that she "never got around to calling" anybody. I felt Sarah's predicament.

I called everybody last Friday and invited them over last night at 6:00-ish. It was a great turnout and everyone had a good time. Sarah brought her boyfriend to introduce to those of the family that had not met him yet. How many gatherings do you ever know of where someone has their girlfriend and their ex-wife both present? Mine did, and all went totally fine.

Sarah is still not failing to amaze me with her schooling and grades. I saw her transcript, and there is just a sporadic B here and there--The rest A's. It's weird (she's my kid!?). She's taking some pretty heavy classes too, so she's not just skating through her senior year with "underwater basketweaving 101" or similar fare. She has been applying to colleges lately, and to date has her apps in at 3 of them. Based on her grades, I'm sure she'll get in.

I'm proud of her!

Hey, It's Friday!

It's been several days since I've felt like writing. Actually, I don't feel like writing now either, but I'll go ahead and lay down a few words.

My truck got it's new windshield put in yesterday! I've been tripping over that big piece of glass for a long time. According to my blog (which I occasionally get to use to check historical facts like this), I bought the windshield clear (no pun intended) back at the end of October. I didn't think it had been that long. It's a huge difference to not have the big cracks in front of my face, and I hope that I also get no more water leakage. As long as I've had that windshield in my house it's a wonder it never got broken. It's spent time upstairs on the guest bed, downstairs on (and in front of) the couch, and in the garage lying across the washer and dryer. Now I can put all the little things back together on the poor ol' truck.

A got a voting ballot yesterday which surprised me. When I set myself up for mail-in ballot right before Suzie and I went on vacation, it was a one-time thing. I even asked the guy at the place while he was setting it all up, and he said it was "for this election only." Well imagine my surprise when I got another one yesterday! That's really not the stupid part--The stupid part is what I saw when I opened it up: One item on the ballot. (Announcer's voice) "But wait, there's more!" The item on the ballot is for the Director of Elections. WTF? Talk about irony. I wonder how much money they spent to set this special election up? It strikes me as kind of a pathetic attempt at self-preservation. Yes, your tax dollars at work folks...

Update

It appears that we have saved ourselves from drowning for the time being, and we both hope that it's for good.

There is a lot invested in our relationship and neither of us are taking it lightly. We recognize a few changes that we need to make to keep going, and are going to make those changes. I'm going to go up to her house shortly and we'll get this ironed out.

What an emotional roller-coaster...

A Fond Farewell to Good Times

It has been a great year. It has been a year filled with love and fun experiences. A year of Harley trips, picture-taking, hot-tubbing--So many things have been shared between us during the year that Suzie and I have been together.

It all came to a teary end last night when Suzie and I parted ways.

She gave up a lot when we started seeing each other. It is a requirement of the Jehovah's Witnesses to be shunned by members when they court someone that is not of The Truth. Even their friends and relatives are not supposed to interact. For obvious reasons, one can't cut off contact with their own children--Especially when they live in the same house. While she was, of course, still in full contact with all her offspring, there was some tension here and there. While she knew the rules and was aware of the consequences of her actions, she was smacked upside the head by love and plodded forth.

I know it was mutual, but I can't help but feel guilty for allowing "us" to happen. Like any romance nothing is certain. It takes time, exploration, and learning to know if two people really love each other and can share their lives together. Why the guilty feelings? Because she can't just "go back" to the way things were. She has to go through some totally stupid (my opinion, but it's a strong one nevertheless) process of being reinstated or whatever they call it. She has been unable to associate with any of her friends from within all year, and now will have to wait possibly that long again until such time as she is once again a Witness. The politics of religion are denying her the ability to seek the comfort she needs at a time when she needs it most. It makes me mad.

Our parting was on good terms. While we still love each other very much and want to remain friends, we both reluctantly agreed that we would probably not be able to live with each other. Is it really wise to try to make it work when it doesn't just "flow"? When you are 50+ years old, you have your way of doing things. We were each surprised at how easily we found ourselves offended when our methods or choices where challenged. Each of us had things about the other that we knew from the beginning that we tried to adapt to. For example, I knew of her being a Witness and knew of the potential difficulties of us being together but I went forth because it was hers. She wasn't comfortable with nudism or Harley riding but tasted them because they were mine. Some things we both excelled at mutually like photography. I'm really, really going to miss that one. Maybe we can still do that on occasion. After all, I'm still keeping our Smugmug pictures site up and running.

Why it happened to come to a head on the last day of the year was strangely coincidental. It's as if our time was up: "Deal, or No Deal?" Like any breakup it was painful. After all, we have had a lot of really great times together. While Suzie's tears flowed freely last night, she was confused because mine did not. I was like a deer in headlights. Sad, frustrated, helpless, and confused, I didn't know why I was seemingly blank. I told her it must be a male thing--I couldn't really explain it any other way.

Apparently my system has a delayed response. My tears didn't flow until I was writing this...

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.

Gotta Love Free Stuff!

So let's go back a few days. I bought a radial arm saw from someone on Craigslist. I know I could have gotten a nicer one (after all, they're on there for sale all the time) but the price was right.

Or so I thought.

Sure it operated fine and was mounted on a stand and all that, but I overlooked one fairly important thing when I inspected it at the person's house, and that was everything related to the wood cutting surface, or top if you will. This one had a homemade top on it that was way smaller than the original. That was no biggie, I could just make another one like I had in the past for a saw that I used to own (it's still at Teresa's house in her basement woodshop). Upon further inspection I found that it was missing to support rails underneath, and the two screw clamps that hold the "fence" (that's vertical part of the wood top that you actually place the piece of wood you are cutting up against to saw it) was also missing. The homemade one had the fence permanently mounted. I know, I know--It's all technobabble, but the point is, the homemade one sucked and was missing some of the original mounting hardware.

I felt more than a little annoyed with myself after I found this out. Sure, the missing parts were still available, but that would have totally skewed the price of the saw. The two support rails were $8.95 each and the two clamps at the back were $13.95 each. I was prepared to make all the missing pieces myself for little or cheap (albeit labor intensive) when I found an alternative online.

I was browsing online woodworking forums for dimensions of the original table top and a pdf version of the operator's manual. I was on a help forum site pertaining to woodworking equipment when I saw that someone else out there was looking for the exact same thing. A person on the forum announced that there was a site online where you could get it all for free! What? It seems that the company running the site they referred us to is the one that made the saws for Sears and is involved in a long-running safety recall. They are retrofitting all the Craftsman radial arm saws in a certain year range (I guess it was a pretty large range) with new blade guards. What this also meant was that in addition to the new and improved blade guard, you also got a new table top! Well, I went to the site and sure enough, my saw was one of them. All I had to do was put in my model number, my serial number and my shipping address. That was last Friday as I recall.

A huge box showed up at work yesterday containing all my stuff. I was very pleasantly surprised last night when I opened it up that it also contained two new support angles and clamps--Both updated versions of the very things I was missing. Is that cool or what?

Now all I have to do is give the saw a good cleaning and adjustment, and reassemble it. It should be a very new-looking saw when I'm done, and better than when it was sold.

For anyone out there that owns a Craftsman radial arm saw themselves or knows someone that does, here's the website to see if they can get the complete update package for free as well:

http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com

Truck Shopping

You know, it's funny how people have a different perspective about what something is worth. No, maybe different isn't the right word. Skewed, stupid, idiotic, screwy... Yeah, now we're getting closer...

Anyway, on to the truck search.

I was hopelessly living in the past apparently, because I chose to narrow my search to a particular range of Chevy and GMC pickup trucks: 1967 through 1972. I always liked those body styles. Well, the problem is obviously age. As I grew older my love for that range of truck didn't age, but the trucks most definitely did. I stopped looking when I investigated 2 trucks last week--Both advertised at $1000 each--Finding trucks that literally should have been in the junkyard.

The first one was over in Port Orchard. No problem I thought, I could go over on a Saturday and that would also give me the excuse I needed to visit my sister and her husband. When we found the place and I walked up to it, the first thing I notice (obviously) is how much worse it looked in person. Then I open the driver's door, noting the obvious age when it immediately dropped down about an inch and a half after I opened it. My experience told me that any door that was worn that badly meant it had a good 200k of miles on it. The next thing that greeted me was the lovely aroma of essence of cat. One quick walk around it and away we went.

At least I got to see my sister. Unfortunately, it was not a great day at their house because Gary's dad had died earlier and their phone was ringing off the hook. Oh well, at least Suzie got to meet him and see their interesting home.

Okay, on to the final investigation of trucks in my chosen year range. This one was a 1971 and was nearby up the hill from me in Covington. It was out in a lot behind the owners' house, and as I neared it wondered why I kept going. Curiosity? Maybe. I had to make a path through blackberry vines, grass, and other assorted overgrowth just to get near the truck. Yes, it was straight all right, which is no small feat for something that old. There was a thick carpet of moss lining the entire bed of the truck. I mean thick. Moss grows everywhere around here, but it takes a long time for moss to grow to over 3" thick. The windows were so greenish that I couldn't see through them. When I tugged on the door (afraid of what I might find) it refused to open, even though she insisted it was unlocked. She couldn't open it either. Everything that wasn't painted white, which meant every speck of bare metal, was a lovely shade of orange rust.

No thanks.

It was after that truck that I opened my eyes and threw out the desired year range of truck that I had been looking for, instead opting for a certain price/feature range. I wanted a lot of things in my "new" truck, among them simplicity--Not too many features to go wrong, I wanted it to be a half ton, I wanted it to be old enough to be "pre-emissions", and I wanted something in decent shape.

I found one. It's a 1984 Chevy half ton "plain Jane" pickup. The guy wanted $1500 for it, but we did some serious haggling and I got him down to $1100. The main bargaining thing that was in my favor as the buyer was the fact that his truck still required an emissions test and wouldn't pass it. It would be it's last one because it would be over 25 years old when the next test time rolled around for it. The reason it wouldn't pass? He had put a V8 in it when its original 6-cylinder engine died. What that does is this: When you go to take your emissions test, the first thing they do is punch in the VIN of the vehicle you're driving. That loads all the baseline test data for your vehicle. The bottom line: The emissions test station thinks your truck should only be emitting the pollution of a 6-cylinder engine, and in actuality you're way over that because of the bigger engine.

So what will I do? I've talked with Melinda about it, and I'm going to title it using her address down in Chehalis. Maybe some day I'll get it changed, maybe not. Hell, I never know how long I'm going to own a vehicle anyway.

I haven't picked it up yet. Suzie and I will go get it tomorrow night. It's been weird (but kinda nice) having the extra driveway space, but it's already been somewhat of a problem not having a truck when I want to haul things. Even though the old one didn't start all the time, when it did start I could use it. I had the need for a truck a few days ago when I bought a used radial arm saw. Because we moved it using Suzie's Camry wagon, we had to disassemble the legs to get it to fit. What a hassle. I hate hassles.

Anyway, here's a couple of shots of the truck. I think it's a pretty fair deal considering the condition it's in.





When you've owned a truck it's hard to be without one. Funny too--When you own a truck everyone wants to borrow it. Oh well... Maybe I can keep it's gas tank full that way...

A Whirlwind Weekend

It actually started on Thursday.

This was a touchy thing really: What do you do when your first (yes, very first) girlfriend is in town? Well, to tell you the truth, I was a little apprehensive. On one hand I'm head over heels in love with Suzie, but on the other hand, she was my high school sweetheart and I was curious. Although we had talked on the phone a couple times late last year, I hadn't seen her for at least 25 years. She currently lives in South Dakota but her brother was my best friend in high school, so he was really our common link in this area and how she was able to still know how to find me. Suzie was none too thrilled about her being in town let alone me actually seeing her, but she reluctantly agreed to let it be. At any rate, we agreed to meet on Thursday night. It went well. We just went out to a local restaurant and sat and yakked and yakked. At no time did anyone toss "sparks" or feel uncomfortable. Suzie sent me a couple of text messages to keep me grounded just in case I started drifting--I loved that. When I took her back to where she was staying (right here in town at her girlfriend's house) at about 8:30 it seemed like about the right time to cut it off. I was tired.

The big news is that I did what I stated I was going to do in my previous blog post: I put my truck up for sale. I got 3 replies right off the bat. The first one turned out to be the classic "I'll take the truck and send you a cashiers check if you'll ship it" scheme that seems to be so prevalent these days. The second guy was genuine and was close by up in Covington. He sped down on Thursday night and scoped it out, mostly concerned with the undercarriage. Of course the truck refused to start, which was exactly what I told him it would probably do. Anyway, he loved what he saw and he agreed to buy the truck. After negotiating back and forth a bit, we agreed on a price of $1900. He was so happy! "I started looking for this truck in June," he stated, "There are just none out there that haven't been beat to death."

The next day (Friday) I had just gotten home and had a beer and checked my email when he showed up with his trailer. Fortunately it started this time and he was able to drive it onto his trailer instead of winching it up. Bye-bye truck!


Suzie came over right after he left, and she still parked in the usual spot, which would have been right behind the truck.
"How come you didn't park up closer to the house where the truck used to live?" I asked.
"I dunno... It seemed weird."
It does seem weird. That truck has lived and leaked in that spot since the day I moved in.

A little later in the evening the doorbell rang. I had totally forgotten about the fact that a guy was going to show up and buy my old slide scanner too. It was good that we were still there, because it seems like we were thinking about going somewhere for something--I don't remember. Anyway, he bought that so that was another item crossed off my list.

Two sales in one day--Not too bad!

The rest of the weekend? The Anacortes Oyster Run! That will have to wait until the next post. I'm outta time.

Changing Things

This is a blog of a few changes that have come about in the last couple of days.

First of all, there's a new change this morning: I switched from my summer weight flannel bathrobe to my heavier terry robe. It was finally time to face facts and admit that I was freezing my balls off when I got up in the morning these last several days. No more nudie man making his lunchtime sandwich in the morning while the coffee brewed. It's time for coverage!

Yesterday I rode the Harley to work. I knew the instant I walked out the door of the garage that it was "different" out there. I traded my standard short riding gloves to my gauntlet style gloves that cover my sleeves. I also pulled out my "head sock" to wear under my helmet. It was time I had something covering my ears. I was glad of both of those changes. It was evident as I sped down Auburn Way that it was considerably colder. The first bank I rode past said 40° on it. Brr!

Yesterday was also the first day I rode the Harley with its brand new seat on it. To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. I really hate it when I buy something that I don't like 100%. It's even worse when you do research after research and finally make your selection and it turns out to not be quite what you hoped it was. To add to that, it was over $350. What don't I like about it? It sits me higher up on the bike, and also seems to put me slightly farther forward as well. The design of it has the front of the passenger seat providing "additional back support" to the driver, and that may be part of the problem. I'm a sloucher, and it's trying to help me not slouch. But hey, slouching is me--Especially on the Harley. I was a little more forgiving on the way home from work though, vowing to give it some time to break in. After all, this brand of seat didn't get to be #1 by having everyone unhappy with their purchase did it?

The biggest change to report is a change of mind. Suzie and I are going to drop the house idea I touted in yesterday's blog. While the notion of buying is very appetizing, it would be a bad idea for us financially. While each of us has assets and credit, only one of us is employed. Even if mortgage lenders did approve us, we would be stretched pretty thin and wouldn't have capital to work with afterward. I thought quite a bit about it yesterday, and had pretty much changed my mind already, but hadn't given up on the idea completely. Two of Suzie's kids dropped in for dinner last night, and they proceeded to pretty much talk us out of it the rest of the way. I said afterward it was like an intervention. She's very lucky to have a family that is that passionate about her well-being. I don't have that in my family.

I'm going to put the truck up for sale. I'm at the end of my rope with it. I've already formulated the ad to put it on Craigslist and I'll snap a couple of pictures of it tonight after work. I'm going to open with the fact that it doesn't start and I don't know what it is and I'm tired of putzing with it, yada, yada, yada. I've listed all it's features and new parts and stuff already. It would be a great truck for somebody--Especially if they get it going by winter and can enjoy 4-wheeling with it. I used to love that aspect of it. I'm going to ask $2000 for it and see what happens. It might be a $5 fix for a knowledgeable person. I'm apparently not that person. I know when to finally admit defeat... It just takes me longer than some people.

Get it out of here--It's time for a change!

Suzie Stuns the Crowd

Who would have thunk it? That someone that seemed like such an integral part of the company--Someone that had been there so long--Would quit her job?

Well that's what she did.

Not many people know about it yet, but those that do are probably pretty surprised. People always "talk the talk" but seldom follow through with their "you know what I should do?" remarks. She's very excited about what lies ahead, even if it's relatively unknown. She hasn't got a replacement job line up, but intends to work on some other splinter projects that she has kicking around to see what kind of cash they generate. There are lots of people looking for people that do what she does, so she's not too worried. Good for her! Although I'd like to quit too, I haven't got anywhere near the reasons that she had to justify it. I would much rather find a replacement job first before I make such a move, and I'm going to continue looking for one. It will be very interesting to see what kind of turmoil arises from her departure. Rarely is someone afforded the luxury of being able to monitor such a thing after they quit like I will be able to do for her.

In other news, I saw a dead guy the other day. Okay, I didn't really see him (which is good) but I saw the sheet he was lying under. I was on my way home after doing some grocery shopping on Monday, and I was on a road I usually use that parallels the train tracks. As a matter of fact, it's the same road that we watched fireworks from a few days ago. Anyway, as I neared one intersection a saw an Amtrak train sitting there. I thought that was odd--You never see them standing still. I noted the only reason they would ever be stopped is if they derailed or if they hit something, and it was sitting on the tracks perfectly. As I got a little closer I saw some police activity at the street that crossed the tracks right behind where the train was sitting. By that time I had stopped, about a dozen cars back from the traffic light. As I surveyed the scene, my eyes fell upon the white sheet draped over something--Still on the raised track bed, but off the side of the rails a few feet. It was right even with where I was stopped so I had plenty of time to look it over before the light changed and traffic started moving again. For some reason it didn't quite look human, but was about the right size to be. In retrospect, it was probably because it was "broken" and not lying like a human would lie any more. Eww, that's creepy. Sue came by the house later and said she had taken the same route, only she saw legs and boots under the sheet where I did not. Apparently they had moved some things around.
I searched the news and found it online later, but as it appeared to be a suicide (a motorist witnessed it) no story was ever generated. I guess they have a rule about sensationalizing suicides in the media now. Good for them. I'm glad I wasn't driving the train though--I would totally hate for that to happen to me. That kind of stuff is very disturbing to me.

The Truck Lives!

I don't know what clicked really, but when I came home from work yesterday I felt like working on my truck. Maybe it's because Sarah was off at a friend's house and wouldn't be home until later... Maybe it was because Suzie wasn't coming over after work... Maybe a combination of both. Add to that the glimmer of hope that I detected the other day when I found out that its battery had 4 cells that were way low (below the tops of the plates) on water and had been on the charger since I discovered it.

Whatever the reason, I started plugging away at it.

I played with wiring, I played with the battery--I even added my old Harley battery (it was fully charged) to it. Nada. The most I could get was a spark and little bit of a click when I jumped the starter trigger terminals together. I even took the starter back out and tried it. When I did that it worked like gangbusters. Then I thought about maybe it was binding up and refusing to turn when I bolted it in and investigated that. Nope. After some more troubleshooting, this time focused on a suspect area and I finally got it. For some reason there was only a teeny little ground to the starter--Basically none to speak of. I added a hefty cable to the chassis of the starter and viola! A little fussing around here and there to tidy up all the crap that I had unhooked and I was ready to try it. I couldn't believe how easily it started! It was like it kept waiting and saying, "Come on man... Give me another chance..."

Well, it runs like crap. It's some sort of tuning issues from what I can see, but at least it started. It still seems to have that same problem it has had for a couple years, which is sometimes it starts and sometimes it has nothing. I would think that there really must be something wrong with it's little onboard computer. After all, that controls the spark and timing and all sorts of stuff. At least I have a chance of actually driving it or at least moving it around a bit now. Before it was just another derelict hulk of a truck that you used to find in someone's front yard up on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation. I'm still not ready to call the insurance company up and have them put it back on yet.

Sarah went off with one of her friends at about noon yesterday, but she texted me just like I told her to when she left. When I got home from work I found the TV on and clothes scattered here and there in the living room. All typical teenager stuff. I was going to rag on her about leaving a mess, but I later realized that she did clean up one potential mess. When Teresa delivered her to me the other day, she also brought all the fixin's for Sarah to make a cheesecake for her friend. Basically a home-assembled kit. Well, apparently yesterday she made it and they took it with them. There was hardly any sign that she had actually made it in the kitchen so she cleaned all that up nicely. It's a start. She got home about 10 minutes before my bedtime last night. I texted her a reminder at 9 to get home because I didn't want to have to get out of bed to let her in, and she replied that she knew and was leaving soon anyway. Although yesterday she didn't, today she has a key. Now all she has to do is remember to take it.

Small news bits:
I ordered car tabs online the other day for both the Neon and the Harley. I've still got another couple months for the truck, and hopefully I'll be able to drive it by then, because it will need an emissions test I'm sure.

G.W. finally came through and sent me my token check to help me to do my part to stimulate the economy.

I helped my mom drag their old waterbed mattress out of the house on Friday. They've had a waterbed since the early 80's. Sunday night was the first time since then that they have slept on a "real" mattress. She called last night to thank me for helping her and to tell me that they slept well. Apparently dad is now classified as a frail whiner so he couldn't sleep on the waterbed any more. It hurt his back or something.

Getting Used to a Roommate

It appears I have Sarah living with me for a week and a half.

Although there has been some talk about the potential of it happening from time to time I never read much into it. The way Teresa is, she is always "crying wolf" and I guess I just figured that Sarah would go with her when she went to eastern Washington to visit her friend like she always used to. Not this time. I have Sarah here until about the 4th of July.

It's very weird for me. It's odd enough that I have a "roommate" so to speak, but Sarah and I have a strange sort of relationship. We get along fine, but we're not close like we should be. If we were she would have stayed here whenever she could way before now. This is probably only the third time in two years that she has stayed overnight. Not very good for a father/daughter relationship is it? Obviously, it's something in my parenting skills (or lack thereof) that created what we have. I guess I should count my lucky stars that we have a relationship, as many split parents and their kids don't even have that much.

She has her car currently removed from her. For once her mom actually "stuck to her guns" and did something she was threatening to do. She told Sarah if she didn't have a job lined up by the end of the school year she would have to park her car.

So anyway, now I have to learn to close doors, be respectful of noise, wear clothes, and keep food on hand that I might not normally buy. Now she has to get used to jiggling my toilet when it doesn't shut off, and picking up her messes. Now I have to provide transportation on occasion and keep tabs on her whereabouts. Now she has to keep me informed of her whereabouts. Now she has to get used to seeing Suzie around all the time. Now Suzie and I have to get used to seeing Sarah around all the time.

Sure, her mom deserves a vacation and it's probably good for me and Sarah--It's just so weird!


P.S. The pictures from the Fremont Fair are up, check em out!

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.

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 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.

Love, Death, and Tennis

I was walking across the shop yesterday right before quitting time when a coworker motioned me over.
"I know it's none of my business" he said, "...That lady up front... She your girlfriend?"
"Yes she is." I stated, still moving.
I wanted to get more info out of him as to how he figured that out but his timing was a little off and it was almost quitting time. I'm sure I'll hear more about it. As a matter of fact, now that he knows it will probably be a domino effect. Elaine said he already mentioned it to her. I wonder if it was the kisses we exchanged out in plain view (although we didn't see anybody) yesterday? Hmm... Could be.

Actually, I'm surprised it's lasted this long. It's been 3 months and nobody has "figured it out" yet.

I got an email from Melinda that greeted be this morning. As soon as I saw the subject "News about Gloria from Melinda & Danny" I knew what would greet me when I opened it. She died yesterday at 84 years old. I would say I'm sad, but in all honesty I'm relieved. She was the most tenacious person I've ever known when it comes to clinging to life. She suffered a massive stroke a number of years ago and since has been operating on only one half of her body, and in recent years has been plagued with one thing after another. The recent few months have been the hardest though, as it always seems to be when someone frail is near the end of their life. Melinda has probably put more miles under her with visiting and care giving over the years than many people put forth driving to and from their jobs. One couldn't ask for a more giving daughter. Rest in peace, Gloria... You've had a good life.

Sarah lost her tennis match yesterday amid tears of frustration. It was virtually a repeat of the previous school's match. The first set was zero on their side and the second one was neck and neck. It was very exciting and there was some good tennis played, but at the end it was lost. Too many little mistakes can add up. While both girls are very good, they don't seem to be a good match-up. Oh well, that's sports right?

Ah good... It's Friday!

The Weekend is Behind Us

Suzie and I spent the whole of Friday evening here relaxing and having fun, feeling good that the work week was behind us. Pizza and jammies equals a good casual Friday evening. Oh, and beer too... Gotta have that.

Saturday sent us out shopping. We each took our cameras with us--Hoping for a good spot to stop and wander around for some picture taking. We decided to head toward Lakewood in Tacoma to start with because I wanted to see what they had at Eagle Leather that Suz would look good in. She bought a little wrap thing that goes around a ponytail to keep it in check called a "hair glove" but that's all we bought. They have a serious problem with too much salesperson pestering there. We got asked if they "could help us" what seems like countless times. They have a big store with lots of good stuff in it, but I didn't really feel all that keen on buying there. Maybe another time.

While we were leaving Eagle Leather Suzie's phone rang. It was the folks at the Tacoma Mall JC Penney calling to tell her that her new glasses were in. Yippie! It was good timing because we were only about 3 exits away at the time, and also because Suz was getting anxious to have them. After all, her Hawaii trip is next weekend and she wanted them before that.

On the way back we detoured by Steve's house to see how he was doing and to introduce Sue to Steve and Maria. We had a good visit. Poor Steve, his knee had way more stitches--No wait--Staples in it than I would have thought. I guess I really didn't expect to see a big incision almost a foot long right across his knee. In retrospect, there wasn't any other way it could have been... A knee replacement is serious business. Overall it didn't look too bad though. Not much swelling so that was good.

On the way home from Steve's we went up on the hill above Auburn to Mountain View Cemetery to take some pictures. For some reason, gravestones make pretty good subjects in certain lighting. We each took a bunch of shots and had a pretty good time. After a quick stop at my house to check out the pictures we took and have a beer or two, we continued Northward to Southcenter Mall. We wanted to check out a couple of camera stores to see what they had for filters. Both of the stores we stopped at were overpriced so we didn't buy.

This morning I spent some time on the Blogger.com. Not working on this blog, but rather making a new blog! I decided that I would start a blog just for the pictures I take, intending to post a "Picture of the Week" every week (duh). If I find that I have tons of pictures to chose from I can increase it if I want. The beauty is that Blogger lists the posts along the side so it will be easy to browse through all the Pictures of the Week at any time. Like all pictures in Blogger, you can click them to see them full size if you want. I called it Rix Pix and the link is over there on the right --->.

I spent the afternoon cleaning my garage and putting stuff away out there. I also cut up some firewood that I had brought home several weeks ago but never got around to cutting it. The day was nice enough that I set a few things up in the driveway so that I could take pictures for Craigslist. There is no substitute for natural light when it comes to picture clarity. Now I guess I need to get busy with the ads and get em posted.

Teresa was going to come by this weekend some time and have me help her change her oil but that never materialized. I noticed today that mine is due as well. Figures.