Aufwiedersehen
Saturday, June 2, 2007
The car is packed and I’m ready to head out for a week-long volunteer vacation with WTA. Check back next Sunday to hear of my trail maintenance adventures. Or, if you’d prefer, come by the house while I’m gone and keep Nick company. He says he’s going to spend the week laying around the house drinking beer in his underwear.
First tooth
Monday, March 19, 2007
Ronan and Mike came over for dinner last night, leaving Anne in peace to work on report cards. At seven months old, the lil’ hucker is sporting his first tooth. Lots of new pictures (including a few from Anne) are in the photo gallery for your viewing pleasure.
Why we don’t have a TV
Sunday, February 18, 2007
It all started innocently enough. I wanted to show my mom how to subscribe to a podcast using iTunes, so she could download Italian lessons from learnitalianpod.com. Of course, I couldn’t let her leave without seeing at least one installment of AskANinja, arguably the greatest video podcast currently produced.
(Side note: If you haven’t seen any of these, stop reading this immediately and go watch at least one. No, I mean it…stop now and go watch! You might not be able to resist viewing the entire catalog at one sitting, but that’s okay. Just come back here when you’re done. What else were you going to do for the next two hours anyway?)
Okay, back to the story…so I’m showing my mom AskANinja and then the t-shirt folding video because she hadn’t seen it yet, when it occurs to me that high speed Internet has saved Nick and me hundreds of dollars in cable bills. I mean who needs a TV when you can watch a beat boxing flautist playing an Inspector Gadget remix on YouTube?! NOBODY, THAT’S WHO!
If I’d figured out how to do this when I was 13, I’m sure I’d still be playing today. (Mom, did you read that? A little more creativity and my music career could have spanned decades!)
This other remix goes out to my little brother. It reminds me of the hours spent together (ironically in front of the TV), negotiating the Mushroom Kingdom to save the-one, the-only Princess Toadstool.
Seattle Boat Show
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Sing it with me now: “The boat show, the boat show, the big Seattle boat show. It’s happening at the Kingdome for you to come and see!”
Okay, so it’s obviously not in the Kingdome anymore, but it’s been about that long since I’d been to the boat show. Faced with an invitation, the possibility of rain, and nothing better to do last Saturday, I happily trotted off to the docks on south Lake Union to look at the floating armada with Keith and Nick.
Having spent our sailing careers mostly in dinghies, big boats are somewhat of a mystery to Nick, Keith and me.
The sales people weren’t much help either.
“So, why does this boat have two steering wheels again?”
“Well, see, when there is a wheel on each side, there’s this awesome space in the middle…” (Demonstrates possibility of a running dive off the back of the boat, starting at the main hatch.)
The most remarkable yacht on the water was a Beneteau 523. This boat had it all: three double berths, three heads (a shower in each one), a galley with a microwave (!), spacious dining area, and two steering wheels (of course). It had almost as much square footage as our house and cost twice as much.
Nick checks out the Beneteau’s separate sail locker
Having seen the best that there was on the water, we set off in search of warmth at Qwest Event Center.
If you’re into power boats, big or small, this was the place to go. I can’t speak for Nick or Keith, but I found very little of interest there. (Maybe I was just getting hungry.) Tucked high on the second floor, in the waaaay back, however, was the real highlight of the show: The Boats of Bond!
Recognize this from “Diamonds Are Forever”?
There was so much coolness packed into 200 square feet, I could barely breathe. I’ll take one of each please…
You’re never too old to build a snowman
Friday, January 19, 2007
Because snow (and sun and anything but rain really) is such a fleeting thing in Seattle, we are masters at making the most of it. While a sunhat may be a bit optimistic, you have to admit that Keith and Cathy’s snowman is an excellent creation.