The Christmas Tree Hunt

Our good friends Cara and Brent had the great idea of starting off the Christmas season right with a U-cut Christmas tree adventure. It was indeed a great time and propelled all of us into the spirit of the season.

Hanging Around, Still

We're starting to decorate for Christmas, and my favorite thing to put up is my stocking. It's starting to show it's age, but it's still wonderfully sentimental.

Tanks for the Memories

I drag this pic out every Thanksgiving, to remind me of what I'm thankful for (so much) and to remind that there's so much going on around the world no matter if we slow down for holiday or not. This is me, in Iraq on Thanksgiving 2003. My team went to a farmer in the village, that were had surrounded and searching that week, and purchased some a chicken (I'm holding it) and two geese from him to bring back to the camp and let the 3ACR tankers and the 3rdID attached unit have something special for Thanksgiving dinner. Some country boys in the unit reluctantly killed and cleaned the birds and after a slow cook time of the chicken over the open fire we wised up and used the M1-A2 Abrams tank engine's exhaust (350-400 degrees with no fumes) to cook the geese. We'd been using it to dry out our clothes (that's what I'm doing in the pic) that were wet from the week of rain and found it plenty hot for dryer duty. We put them each on a metal fence post and rotated them until done. It wasn't that great tasting or anything, but it was a ceremonial meal and a way for us to do something special for the holiday. That's what's great about the American soldier, adaptation and creativity. So, happy thanksgiving. Here's hoping you don't have to use a tank to cook your bird this year.

Seattle Sights

Something about this hill, and the sky behind it caught my eye this morning. The sunset at the port of Seattle, awaiting ships filled with your Christmas stuff.

The office buildings looking back at me, I look back at them.

Nature Invades

What's nice about the Puget Sound is that nature always shows through. Shot these two pics yesterday, and today, of the local wilds - Mt Rainier (taken from the bus stop yesterday morning) and the Puget Sound/Olympic mountains (taken from my desk at work today). I'm trying to shoot more, to better appreciate what's around me, plus I'm playing with a new Wi-Fi SD card. It's the best piece of tech I've seen in years. No kidding. It's an SD card that sends your pics to your computer and website of your choosing when it gets in range of your home wireless network. No USB cables! Just turn it on your camera and the pics show up. It's called the Eye-Fi, and yes of course we sell it at work. Did I mention I love it? Nerd alert!

Orange for Breakfast

The morning sunrise gave up an amazing moment of orange today. The mountain came out to watch as well (far right).

Snapshot Day

Lurking Mr Smith

It's been foggy and rainy the last few days. Here's the view of the locally famous Smith Tower as seen from one of the meeting rooms at my office. I get a kick out of the builder's dual claim to fame, as a "firearm and typewriter magnate..." as Wikipedia phrases it. Guns and typing is a great combo.

On the Market, Get Set, Go!

Moving is hard work. Lindsay and I have been at our second job, moving and cleaning the old house, every spare moment. The good news is that we think it was worth it, the house looks amazing. Our agents came over last night and helped us stage it, and took some pictures for the MLS listing. Check out the listing for it here. For those that haven't seen the results of the new backyard there's some great shots of all the hard work. There's an open house for it today from 1 - 4pm so we're excited to see what that brings. We're also excited to just be able to concentrate on the pile of boxes we call our new house too, so all in all we're happy campers.

Water World

It's good to know that we'll have hot water for the next 10 years, at least. We took advantage of the real estate agent provided home warranty and replaced the water heater, that was providing only wildly warm water, for a new one. I replaced the water heater in the old house and wouldn't mind doing it again for this one, but with all the hassle of moving and the cash drain that moving is, it's nice to have someone just show up and do it. Plus, the plumber that did it, C.J.'s Plumbing was a nice guy and did a good job. Funny guy too. He told us about how his teenage daughter was taking showers too long, so he installed a water timer in another room, she had to turn to reset every 20 minutes. He also installed a coin operated feminine hygiene product dispenser to get her to pay for her stuff. C.J. definitely has a sense of humor. Anyways, we've got hot water now. One upgrade down, more to go.

PS: I talked to him about installing the on demand water heater, but he made the good point that a tank water heater is a good source of (55 gallons) of potable water if there's an earthquake or something. Never thought of that.

Panic On the Bus

Before I forget it I want to relay (another) bus adventure. I caught the 21 express from downtown to West Seattle last week. The 21X gets on the highway for a bit. This particular day the bus was packed, and I was standing at the mid section (it was an extra long accordion bus). The driver had to swerve when we were at full speed and because the bus was fully loaded it began to sway from side to side, getting more violent with every rebound so much so that everyone had to grab for something to brace themselves with. So much so that those in the back of the bus, due to the whip effect felt it the most and, well, freaked out. One lady screamed "There's a problem back here!", someone yelled, "There's a problem with the bus!" another younger girl then added, "Stop. Stop! Stop!" and before you knew it it was panic. Real panic. Everyone was yelling, much to the amazement of the people in the front of the bus. The driver, occpied by his obviously challenging drive, didn't stop the bus on the highway (thankfully), but kept on. At the next/first stop it was business as usual. Group panic passed. Note that I took this pic of the guy in front of me, on the bus, seconds before the swerve.

Moving Forward

We're just about ready to get the keys to the new house, near the Junction (that's the heart of West Seattle) and we're excited. However that's tempered with lots of work too. I've been smirking with contentment as I get to use the truck like a truck as I get the old house ready to go on the market. So far there's been 4 trips to the dump - that has a weird 6 mph speed limit sign. Who has a 6 mph limit? Plus a bunch of trips to the bark place so the Toyota is getting worked over, in a good way. Stay tuned for updates from the new house as soon as we settle in.

Update: We now have the keys to the house and we're moving in!