I'm not sure if Squatty Dog approves of this message

...but I hope he's flattered!

The website is kind of cool too.

Say what you will about politics

I'm still a huge fan of this! 

It hurts my brain

I found a nail in my tire, and while the tire hadn't gone flat in the probable weeks the nail had been lodged in there, Dad said it had to come out. I kept putting it off so that I have only myself to blame for what happened next. The day I had finally put aside hours for some quality time at the tire place fell two days after that first big snow storm here.

I made my way to Les Schwab thinking it would be an hour or so, but it ended up being three and a half hours before I finally drove outta there! It was amusing in a sad sort of way to watch the patrons freak out over the wait. It's not like the workers were slacking, there were just a lot of people! Besides, they provided free wifi- a nice service (too bad I didn't bring the laptop). So as I sat there idly playing with the dog, reading magazines and my book, and people watching, I basically had all the posters and tire displays memorized. 

There was one particular poster, though. It was like a train wreck- so awful you can't look away. It makes me cringe on the inside every time I look at this photograph, and yet I can't stop... 

The EKG tracing is backwards! I can't handle these kinds of things.

End note: turns out the screw was so tiny that it hadn't actually punctured through all the way. The guy was nice enough to just smile at me and wave me away, no charge. 

It was bound to happen eventually

Sitting at a stoplight, the turn lane to my left had three cars lined up. All three were green Subaru Outbacks. I'd say what are the chances... but I guess it's not really a surprise. Welcome to Seattle!

A mystery

It's been established that Munoz has introduced me to the joy of candles, more specifically tea lights. I love, love, love spending quiet nights at home with Gazza while the fire is going, hot chocolate is steaming, Vivaldi is playing, and the candles are flickering.

I find it interesting to see which tea light makes it the longest. You would think that because the tree has the most tea light holders, statistically the last candle would most often be on it, but I've found that not to be the case (there, um, may or may not have been a calculator involved). Instead the lone light keeping late hours with the fire usually is on the votif on top of the fireplace.

Why would this be? Yes, its closer to the cracked door, and arguably maybe that slows down the burn rate, but at the same time its on top of the fireplace. To state the obvious, it's not exactly in the coldest part of the house.

Couch hog as well

As I've mentioned (numerous times) before, The Beast always has be be near me. Sometimes when I'm up late at night or she knows I'll be leaving shortly, she not only has to be near me, but also has to be touching me. This way I'm sure to wake her up if I get up. More recently she's begun to stay on the couch when I move around at those late hours, and she even went to bed (on my pillow...) without me the other night! This is one of my favorite couch shots, though:

When I was getting a midnight snack, she must have been too tired to pad over to the kitchen and keep an eye on me. Instead she just peeked up over the back of the couch and rested her chin there until I came back. Baby steps...

Sadly, I haven't seen her nearly as often as either of us would like. Fortunately being back on twelve hour shifts is better. She sleeps all day with me, with the exception of running with Bob for a few hours, spends an hour or so with me getting ready for work, and then spends the night burrowed under the covers with either Katie and Ellie or Megan, Jeff, and Violet. I hear there are pictures soon to follow from the latter crowded bed! 

I sure miss her out here in Indiana. 

December 22

The winter solstice. It's the most bittersweet day in my book. Why? Because it's the shortest day of the year and the point at which the days only get longer.

Ready, set, go!

Happy gotcha day Gazza!

Today, December 21st, is the day Woofda Gucci Ragazza (aka: Caboodles) came home. I worked that night then drove down to Portland. Picking her up, I had only two pictures to go on (and several hours on the phone with the breeder), so when it came time to actually claim her, I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing. We spent the long drive home in the car checking each other out, not quite sure what to think. I couldn't believe I had an animal living with me.

One year later, I can't imagine life without her. Gazza with the three inch fauxhawk. My Beast.

(all pictures shamelessly "borrowed" from Katie/Ellie and Megan/Jeff/Violet- two of her surrogate families)

Yes, she still takes Prozac (though much less). Often she stays in the car. She still has some anxiety about being home alone (but merely sleeps on my pillows and tackles me when I come home). It's a small price to pay compared to one year ago. It's worth everything when we go for walks around Greenlake, spend hours at the beaches and parks, and hike in the silence of the Northwest forests. It's worth it because she's not only acting like a dog now, but she's a happy dog.

Beast? I don't think you'll ever understand how desperate I was for this to work and how close you came to being put down ("not adoptable" indeed). But then again, I wouldn't want you to. All I want is for you to sleep peacefully when I'm gone, cuddle when I'm home, obsess over your ball at the park, and jump around smiling like you do when we're outside. The rest is just details.

Update: I put a link on the left side of this page titled "The Beast" for periodically updated photos of her for those of you who are curious...

Word play

Our pastor used Wordle last week to give a cool illustration related the parable of the prodigal son. The way Wordle works is that you plug in a block of text, tell it how you want it to look, and it spits out a "word cloud" where words are bigger the more frequently they appear in your text block. The biggest words in the Prodigal Son cloud were father, son, and celebrate. Point well made, I think.

I plugged in one of my favorite quotes by an Outward Bound student. I thought my results were pretty cool too:

Always a surprise

A few weeks ago, I stayed up for the entire night. Getting a case of cabin fever and temporarily disobeying doctor's orders (hey, sanity trumps the achilles), I took a stroll with The Beast about 5am. It wasn't exactly cold, but it had been raining for days and was a bit chilly. Gazza always gets excited for these forays into the night, so she was hopping and prancing the entire way at my side (she sometimes gives little kisses so I even got a few of those!). There are only a few people out walking in the midnight/early morning hours this time of year, and that's mostly the reason we don't go as often (rather than the weather). Gazza is somewhat surprisingly a pretty awesome guard dog, but I'm trying to be a bit more proactive (Hi Mom! Hi Dad!).

Anyway, while these city ambles are different than the night walks we'd do at our cabins or at home, they are generally peaceful. I never felt safe going alone in Chicago, so it's another thing I appreciate about Seattle. And while I usually prefer to share the quiet time and idle observations with somebody, perhaps it's for the best that Gazza and I get to spend it together.

Observing a sleeping city is cool because it's indirectly people watching. You get to peruse details without questioning looks or the rest of the world swirling around you. In a non-creepy way, my eyes are always drawn to windows (whose shades are open). People watch tv at odd hours and weekend nights often have lights shining out and silence punctuated by laughter. It makes me smile. I especially love Christmastime because of the lights and Christmas trees. So warm and inviting!

The more mundane sights are fascinating too. For example, on our walk back a few weeks, I noticed one particular house with rotating decorations looked different. In addition to holiday and seasonal yard ornaments, wreathes, address placards, and porch decorations, they always have five fish windsocks hanging from the eaves of the front stoop. As best as I can figure, the two big ones are mama and daddy, flanked by juniors one, two, and three. Cliche... but kinda cute!

Once I got to the major Wallingford through street, I did some window shopping. The wedding store had some very pretty, elegant dresses in the windows silhouetted by some soft lights in the back. The raindrops on the windows twinkled as they slid down and lights flickered. It looked like little diamonds were raining down on the dresses. I stood and watched for a while.

Walking into the Starbucks for a breakfast sandwich, we were greeted by loud music, bright lights, and one rather obnoxious customer. The baristas seemed to like him well enough, a regular I suppose, but I thought he was loud and arrogant. As I was waiting for my sandwich and scratching Gazza's ears, I heard him talk about how he and his wife had moved here from Boston and bought the most expensive house in Wallingford. Rolling my eyes to myself, hep happily continued to boast about the process and money involved. We couldn't get out of there quickly enough.

Nearing home on a particularly quiet street, I noticed something new. There was a brown van, not unlike this one that was backed up to a partial basement garage. The house looked a little sketch, but then again the same could be said for the market, so I don't know if that says much... I'm sure (or at least mostly sure) that it's simply a work van for the family living there, but don't tell me you wouldn't wonder for just a moment...

Baby it's cold outside!

Seattle is trying to be wintry like Chicago. It has been snowing on and off for a week with a few inches of accumulation in the actually city of Seattle. This is an unusual occurrence and the source of quite a few accidents and delays. I sure wouldn't want to be working at Harborview right now. What you need to know is that Seattleites freak out when it snows in town. I don't think it's because they haven't driven in snow because we're surrounded by mountains in three of the four cardinal directions. I think it's because the snow usually turns to ice, and in case you didn't know, Seattle is very hilly. As in, lots of steep hills here. I learned that snow chains for your tires are legal within the city limits- even the buses have them! I guess I was a bit surprised because Seattle is known more for its rain than snow, and snow chains notoriously tear up roads. 

Anyway, it's very pretty. It's also very cold and many of the roads are ice rinks. I was fascinated to learn that you can call into work if you're concerned about coming in, and they'll send someone out to get you! Also, they'll put you up in a hotel if the commute is too far and dangerous. I live less than three miles away, so I'm not really concerned (there's always the bus), but it's still nice to know. I am not, however, able to pick up The Beast downtown, so tonight I sleep Gazza-less. I'm home from work with body aches, stuffiness, an throbbing achilles tendon, and a raging headache... and am missing her on top of that. The place feels lonely without her beasty noises, dreams, or snuggles.

On the upside of it all, I'm going home to Indiana for the holidays tomorrow! Dee, Nicholas, and I haven't been home together at the same time in well over two years, and I haven't made it home for the prior two Christmases (or any holidays, come to think of it). I'm really looking forward to it! A parting observation by Shawn, "I'm convinced a Seattle weatherman couldn't predict a sunset... lame." Cross your fingers for air travel!

(Also, I've updated so now back to your scheduled postings!)

All the pretty colors!

I like the Seattle skyline at night from pretty much any angle. There's a lot of construction downtown, so there are a bunch of red, blinking lights alerting air traffic to temporary structures (cranes, for example). From Gasworks at night you can enjoy quiet summer breezes and multicolored lights of the Seattle skyline twinkling over the usually placid Lake Union.


(I don't know who to give credit for this photo)

Around the holidays they make a Christmas tree out of lights on top of the Space Needle, complete with a red star at the top. It's a nice addition to the usual constellation!

And yes, I'm well aware of how often Gas Works comes up in this blog. First of all, I love it. Second of all, I live only a short walk away.

Still alive

I haven't forgotten you, my ten adoring fans, but I've been busy trying to sleep. A while back I was in a writing kind of mood and stockpiled about a month's worth of entries. Each day's entry was almost a surprise to me too! And now here I am with little scraps of paper scattered everywhere, each with a posting idea, and without the creative energy to do it. So bear with me, I'll get back on the horse.

But first, I think I'll try to get some sleep. After tonight's shift, that is...

Foul ball

Regardless of how I fall asleep (preferably on my stomach), I invariably wake up on my back. Since my arms are usually thrown up above my head, I even sometimes wake up because they've fallen asleep or my shoulders hurt from the odd angle. I woke up this evening in a novel way, though.

Apparently my right hand had gotten somewhat tangled in my hair. In a dream I was throwing the ball for The Beast and my arm decided to half-heartedly attempt that throw in real life. So I woke myself up pulling my own hair.

Weird.

Can't believe I didn't catch this earlier

Gazza has a strip!

Oh come on now, it was funny...

Maybe it was something I ate. Or didn't eat.

Do you ever have those moments where you're absentmindedly doing something and then a random thought or memory comes to mind?

I was pouring some tea for myself (pomegranate white tea by Trader Joe's- yum!) staring into the cup. All of a sudden*, the image sprang to mind of the Jabberwocky as it stomps through Alice's house and she leaps through the mirror (I think that was when she did it? Near the end of the movie?). It was so completely random that I can't for the life of me figure out what triggered it.

*Go learn something! I did.

Please take a number

It occurred to me this past week that a number of people "reading" this blog are actually referred via Google Image searches. I'm debating the merits of labeling my pictures from now on as wenikio1, wenikio2, etc versus continuing as I currently do (meaning labeling them appropriately).

On the one hand, the current labeling method obviously creates referrals, which is good I think. On the other hand, I don't know how many of those referrals actually ever come back to read the blog for its merit alone (assuming this has any). So if that's the case, my numbers are skewed because they aren't exactly onetime "reads." Those visits are just one time picture views. Considering that some of my pictures aren't even mine, is it fair to count readers drawn to others' photos with my labels?

I suppose the bigger question is does it even matter? It does a little to me because I find it interesting!

Glowing eyes of evil

This picture pretty much captures the essence of cats, to my mind.

Terrifying.

Zing!

Somebody called into the radio station the other day complaining about back pain. Upon elaboration, she made it clear that it was her cyanotic nerve.

*snerk*

Well, I suppose if my nerve were cyanotic it would hurt too... I'm going to assume that, like a huge portion of the world, she meant to say her sciatic nerve.

I'm not laughing at her pain. I'm laughing because if you're going to freely broadcast your issues across the radio waves (or internet for that matter), it seems to me you should first get your facts straight.

Bored bored bored

I don't do nights well, that's no secret. On my nights off, I more or less stick to the same schedule so that my body doesn't revolt and decide it's never time to sleep. The problem with this is that nights off are typically pretty boring. It's great to sit by the fire and read, write, watch movies, and do some work, but in the end it's pretty sedentary. Sometimes I take The Beast for walks and go get breakfast up the street, but mostly we hang out at home (especially when it's cold and rainy. Yuck.).

Gazza sleeps all day with me, with the exception of the few hours the dog walker has her. She also sleeps all night with friends when I work. On nights that I'm home, however, she sleeps lightly, keeping an ear out for the sound of my keys, the door opening, or other such indicators that I'm not five feet from her. I've given up trying to be sneaky and let her sleep because she wants to know what I'm up to. 

The other morning about three, I got up from the chair by the fire and she woke up startled. I grabbed this picture and it still makes me laugh:

PSA

A traffic light is not a traffic signal. 

... ok maybe it is but "traffic signal" is like nails on a chalkboard to me. So please just say "traffic light." Pretty please?

Thanks :)

Good music

Somehow worship at church seems more intimate when members of the band aren't just, well, members of the band to me. When somebody is up there that I know outside of that context, it makes me feel more connected to church, and likewise, to God. Just thought I'd put that out there.

There was another thing at church tonight that made me smile- the harmonica. That's right, Chris whipped out the harmonica and worked it (nicely, I might add) into a few Christmas songs in the heart of Bellevue. Another reason I love my church.

Incidentally, I also loved Trampled by Turtles at the Tractor Friday night. Goooood bluegrass!

Entertaining the masses.

One of the masses (who ditched the crutches for beer and dancing).

Three of the masses (Jim and Carly and yours truly).

Good times had by all :)

Keep it down in there!

My mind is loud enough as it is. Sometimes I come home from work and find that I'm having to scream louder than usual to be heard over the beeps and alarms from work that have lodged themselves in my brain.

Wish my bellybutton doubled as a "reboot" key.

Finally finished Snow Crash

I slept for sixteen out of a twenty-four hour stretch yesterday/today. So when I woke up this morning at six, I knew my sleep schedule was screwed. I haven't the foggiest when I should go to sleep next (don't want to revert back to a day schedule after all). 

I do know that I finally got breakfast with Munoz (The Dish, mmm). Good tea, good people, good food. I like good things :) Then I took Gazza to the dog park today for the first time in over a month and was thrilled to stand around in the sun. Mini-Beast was there with Bob, so it was a gorgeous afternoon filled with beasties.

Coming home, I had a craving for protein. Following through on a promise to use what's in my freezer first, I cooked some chicken (breathe through it, I know it's hard to believe...). Of course, I realized my only condiment is mustard, so I ate it with tartar sauce left over from Ivars (that's normal, right?). 

Why am I writing about this? I realized I haven't been out in sunlight (for any notable period of time) for weeks (!!), so it was a nice change of pace. And the cooking thing, well, that needs no explanation. And now I'm sitting by the fire reading and napping. Because... why not?

PSA

Ranch dressing can, in fact, go bad. Very bad.

That is all.

A nice way to start the day

When I work days, I take The Beast on a walk around our block before work. Starting at the top of the hill behind my building, we're treated to a view of Lake Union and the eastern portion of downtown. As we walk down, more of the skyline across the lake opens up. The bikers outnumber the cars at that early hour, and it's quite peaceful.

Lately of course it has been completely dark at that hour, but during longer days the view varies from rainy to clear to foggy, like this particular morning:

Take a deep breath, pet the dog, smile, and start your day...

Suck it in folks

While I am a huge fan of hugs, I'm not such a big fan of being crowded with random people. Not claustrophobic, mind you (in fact, I'm the opposite of claustrophobic), I just think the cramminess* can be awkward. Even so, I like riding the el and watching how people deal with it on a daily basis.




*You know what's coming. That's right, Martha Brockenbrough.

Healthcare as a "right"

Among the mediblogs that I read, this is a topic that has as many different opinions as authors (and perhaps even more!). I find this one, if not exactly how I think things should be run, a view that is maybe more realistic given the way things are today. Apparently so does West Virginia.

I didn't even realize this was possible

There is cancer. It's awful.

There is being born with cancer. It's also awful.

Then there is being born with cancer so advanced it has already metastasized. It's... unfathomably awful.

Who could possibly relate?

The picture says it all

Meh.

It's such a great word! It can express indifference or apathy. I especially like its use, as Wiktionary puts it, "to express a mild disagreement where the person does not have either the solid foundation to actually argue a point or does not feel the argument is worth pursuing any further."

Apparently the Collins English Dictionary feels the same way.

Bang! You're...

stunned!

Cool!