Cooling...?

Last night - well, all day yesterday - was pretty bearable when compared to the previous week or so. The temperatures kissed the nineties and promptly went down as the evening set in. Walking around town wasn't the sweat-fest that it had been, and even the portions of our house that lay outside of the kid's room (where we have installed the by-now-famous Ghetto AC) was noticeably cooler. We'll probably be keeping the mattress in the kids room for the next couple of days until the rest of the house airs out, but things look to have finally cooled off. Maybe now, I can stop grousing about the heat!

Hot!

Yesterday was another hot-as-hell day. The temperature hit the triple-digits (it ended up hitting 105!). I had to go to Belltown to pick up my glasses, and then off to downtown to pick up a birthday card for Carrie. Even though I forewent walking in favour of taking public transit, I was still a sweaty mess by the time I made it back to the office an hour and ten minutes after I left. Luckily, Carrie and I had made plans to go out for her birthday / Twin baby day, so a little bit after I got home (and chilled out in out Ghetto AC' - hooked - up room), I went outside to turn the AC on in the Prius for about ten minutes so that it would be bearable to sit in, then off we went.

Okay.

I can imagine some people saying "Hey, didn't you grow up on the East Coast? Those summers must make these look like fall!"

Well, yeah, I did grow up in Maryland, and Maryland summers - especially central Maryland summers - tend to be long, hot and humid. There are, however, a couple of vital differences between the long, hot and humid summer in central Maryland that I experienced growing up, and the six weeks of hell that passes for a summer that I'm going through here in Seattle as an adult, the first being A/C; No matter how hot it was outside, one could always duck inside one's residence for relief. A/C around here is the exception instead of the rule.Sweating wasn't that bit of a deal since one knew that as soon as one got inside, the sweating would stop after a bit. Not so here.

And then, there is acceptability. When I was a machinist in Maryland, there wasn't really an issue with me showing up at work dripping with sweat at any time, since that was pretty much a given thing. As a white-collar worker here in Seattle, however, such is not the case, and a rather stupidly unrealistic decorum is expected to be maintained at all times, no matter how hot it may be outside. And - I'm sorry to have to say this - but guys get the short end of the stick when it comes to being able to dress comfortably and cooly during hot weather. It'd be nice to get away with wearing tank tops and non-bifurcated clothing at work without getting stared at. But I don't think that I'll be the trailblazer in an utilikilt any time soon.

That's my "heat" rant for the day:)

Cascina Spinasse

Carrie and I went out last night - both to celebrate her birthday (and the other piece of good news that we had just recieved a few hours before), and to get out of the rather oppressive heat that still lingers about in our house. We elected to go to Cascina Spinasse, a new Italian resturant that is taking the place of a rather sad vegan place that I had the misfortune of going to once.

This place is not cheap; however, the portion sizes for the primo and secondi piatti are sufficient enough for two people to share and not feel too full if they are having a more traditional multi-course dinner. The excellent quality of the food more than compensates for the reduced quantity. My wife and I were *very* satisfied with both the meal and the price we paid for it.

For starters, we had sliced cold poached veal with mayonnaise of house cured local tuna, capers, and lemon; and a tomato trio with olive oil dipping sauce. We really liked the richness of the tuna mayonnaise when paired with the thinly sliced veal; the tomatoes were only so-so; although the sauce was excellent, the heirloom tomato wasn't at its best, and the others – one halved yellow tomato and one halved cherry, tasted fine.

For the first plate, we shared hand cut egg pasta with ragu – an excellent choice. The pasta was thin and expertly cooked and oiled ( a step many places tend to forget), while the ragu itself was perfectly seasoned, and cut and portioned so as to serve as a perfect balance to the pasta. For our second plate, we had the roast rabbit with braised radishes – another perfect dish. The rabbit was tender and juicy, and the sauce complimented it nicely, while the radishes were braised just enough to bring out their natural flavours without being overpowering.

Our waitress was cheery, friendly, just a (perfect) tad sassy, very attentive, and extremely helpful, making some very sage suggestions throughout our meal, which we were glad we took. All in all, we had a very relaxing and delisiously prepared meal, after which we went to Molly Moon Ice Cream, where I had the Vanilla Bean and Carrie had the Birthday Cake. We both agreed that, the heat notwithstanding, it was pretty much the perfect evening out.

Twins!

Yesterday, Carrie and I went to the doctors office so that she could have an ultrasound done. There we saw it - two sets of quickly beating hearts!

Yep - that's right - we're having twins!

We had known ever since the day before I had left to go back to Maryland for my High School reunion that she was pregnant - but the ultrasound today grounded what had previously been a mere assumption into the hard reality of certain knowledge. I'm gonna be a father - twice over!

Sultry!

Heute ist es, morgen es ist Hölle heiß

I have this theory, and I tried testing it out yesterday. Basically, since our house lies close to the top of Beacon Hill, and the front of it faces the west, the sunlight pretty much pours into the living room windows, making the place hotter. We also have skylights in almost every room in the main house, but not too much can be done about those right now. Since ourback yard has some pretty decent shade, and we have neighbors to the north and south, the sun doesn't really come in too much through the windows that face to the north, south or east - just the large one in the living room that faces towards the west. Our main bedroom windows also face to the west, but there is a large shrub right in front of that one that provides plenty of shade. Anyway, I tried to put a blanket over the large front room window to reduce the intensity of the sunlight that comes in through that window during the afternoon and evening. When I came home, the room was cooler - but not by much.

For our daily "get the hell out of the heat" excursion, Carrie and I went out to dinner at Geraldines -  only the fourth time that we did so. I'm happy to say that thier dinner is as good as thier brunch! :)

On another heat-related tangent, Carrie and I have placed our mattress in our other room - the one with the AC in it - for the duration of the heat wave.  We're getting a much better quality of sleep, but (this is the flip side) we're going a bit stir crazy in just the one room in our house, and we're spending way too much money in eating out every night to get out of cooking.

Paseo @ Ballard

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Killer place- a bit hard to find, since there was no signage. But it was well worth the trek to Ballard on a hot summer day-both  the Press sandwich and the "regular" pulled pork were full of bold flavors and life, and the sandwiches were nice and messy, and went down perfectly with an ice cold water. I could eat at this place at least twice a week, if I lived closer. Next on my "To Eat List" : their Scallion Sandwich!

Sweltering!

Since there is only one room in which we can put our ghetto-modified AC unit, Carrie and I have decided to take a different tack in regards to the being-in-the-house-during-the-hot-ass-late-afternoons thing; we aren't.

We turn the AC off during the days when we aren't there, and we leave the bathroom door open Axia so that she has a cool place to lay down in when it gets too hot. When we come back home, we turn the AC on in the back room, and close the door partially so that the dog has the option of hanging out. We then leave. Yesterday, when we came back from a dinner at Subway and a movie, we were pleasantly jazzed to find out that the back room wasz nice and chilly, and pretty much spent the rest of the evening back there.

I don't foresee us spending too much time in the house this week, since the temperatures are supposed to be in the 90's until Friday.

*Sigh*

Damn, Denzel!

It being so hot last night, Carrie and I went to see a movie so that we could get out of our hot house and enjoy the AC of the small Columbia City Cinema. It was playing the newest Harry Potter flick, "Away we Go", "Ice Age III", and "The Taking of Pelham 123". Not being in the mood for a trendy comedy, fantasy (which is what most trendy comedies are, in my opinion), or animation (which is what most trendy comedies are, in my opinion), we went for Pelham.

Damn.

It disappoints me to see Denzel Washington take on paycheck roles, since I happen to like him as an actor, and it kinda bums me out to see John Travolta in yet another role that sucks. Honestly- has he done anything of serious worth since "Pulp Fiction?"

Speaking of Denzel...

When I was in the Navy, one of the guys in my division got it into his head that I fancied myself to be some sort of ladies man. He made up a joke in which my pickup line was "Hey baby, did you know that Denzel is my brother? Yeah - in my family, he's the ugly one!" As a result, some of my shipmates started calling me "Denzel." When I moved to Jacksonville, and later Hawaii, with my first wife, occasionally some gal would look at me and say "You know what? You remind me of Denzel Washington!"

Okay - so here's me...

From [~neverland~]

And this is Denzel...

From [~neverland~]

Obviously, we are the spitting image of one another! :)

Heat

Last night was simply swealtering here in Seattle, and tonight doesn't look as if it'll be better. As a matter of fact, the forecasts for this area all say that this nonsense will pretty much continue until Friday, when we'll start seeing temperatures in the eighties (!!) again. Even then, I'm not too hopeful, as (anyone who is a Seattlelite will tell you) too much above the 75 degree mark, and we start to melt.  Just to get out of the house for a bit, Carrie and I are going to see a movie that we know to be pretty much a time-waster, just so that we can indulge in some sweet AC for a while.  Our own AC is working, but just not quite up to the task of coolong down the entire place. I've pretty much said that this AC nonsense will be addressed during the spring so that next summer we won't have to fool around with underpowered window units anymore. Maybe we'll go with Central; if we do, that will raise the resale value of our house signifigantly (I think).

Tomorrow night - hmm, let's see if we can get out of cooking anything too heavy...

Ghetto AC

Upon hearing that it would be getting into the upper eighties - upper nineties over the next few days, Carrie and I splurged a bit and bought an window AC unit. since we live in an older house, and only a few of  the windows are wider than 21", we had to settle on the most powerful smaller unit that we could find.

We went scouring Lowes, Target and Best Buy late last evening in  the hopes of finding an AC unit that wasn't too expensive, yet would suit our needs. We finally found one at Home Depot - one of  the last ones available. Most homes in Seattle aren't equipped with AC units, so there was a rush on them upon notice of hotter weather.

We finally installed it today, but had to make several modifications in order to make sure that little of the precious conditioned air would leak to the outside. We'll be upgrading to corrugated plastic sheeting!

From [~neverland~]

We also had to make sure that the unit itself would stay in the window. We will be upgrading to a 2x4 in the near future :)

From [~neverland~]

It works - kinda. After about an hour of operation, we noticed that the back rooms were cooler, while the front rooms were simply tolerable. A marked improvement over the sweltering days in the past that we spent in our living room!

Enjoy.

Confessions of an (almost) ex-Mac-Geek

Everyone who knows me (at least who has known me for the past six years) knows that I’m a Mac Geek. For me, the interfaces are more intuitive, the graphics better, the memory management saner, and the platform more stable than Windows.

Yet, lately, I’ve been becoming jaded over the entire enterprise. Each release of the OS costs serious money, and the latest and greatest hardware even more so. I don’t like having to get the latest and greatest and pay serious money for it – especially when I can get something that does the job for free. I’m not a hardcore computer user, but I do like a nice stable box who’s applications don’t always crash.

Enter Linux. I’ve been wanting to play around with it ever since 2003, but I’ve never had the chance to actually base all of my daily computer use around it. I’ve the following challenges to contend with:

1. All of my music is on my iPod, and I’ve bought a lot of it through iTunes.


2. OSX does a pretty nifty job of backing itself up and restoring using Time Machine


3. I’ve a lot of custom Firefox settings


4. Documents, pictures, and programming projects


5. Oh – and my digital camera works like a breeze with my Mac

Okay – so what am I to do?

Well…

1. I can still use my Mac for managing my music, at least if and until Apple releases a version of iTunes for Linux


2. I’ll need to investigate this one, but I’m hoping that an open-source solution can be found


3. Foxmarks will take care of this


4. Well - they’re only files! Transfer them!


5. Keep the Mac for this as well, and transfer the files – at least until I can get my camera to download files to my Linux box

While the prospect of keeping yet another computer in the house doesn’t thrill me, I’ll need to put up with it in the near future.

Okay – I guess next up, I’ll go over what my distro criteria are.

Five observations about the reunion

1. The people who were more inclined to talk to me were the ones that I knew from Middle School onwards.


2. I’m still pretty much a non-event as far as gatherings go. Given the fact that, as a JW kid, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to hang out with the other kids after school, and that I’m currently 2,400 miles away, I’m not that surprised.


3. Evidently, either I wasn’t as much of a brat as I thought I was in school, or time does indeed change memories. In either case, I’m glad that the people who I did get a chance to talk to had generally good memories about me.


4. While at one time I would have thought that people dancing to eighties music were dating themselves, we seem to have hit upon the perfect time in American culture when what was old is in again, so now - we're on the cutting edge baby!


5. Twenty years ago = four Long Island Ice Teas.  Now - I suck down the first, halfheartedly sip on half the second, and push it away. Man, I'm a cheap date :)

In any case, I had a good time at the reunion, and I'm looking forward to going again - if not for the 25th, than the 30th.

So...

So….

Tomorrow, I’ll be heading back to Maryland for a high school reunion, and getting a chance to lay eyes on people that I haven’t seen (or, in most cases, even thought about) for over twenty years. In my younger days (“younger” meaning the age that I was when the 5-, 10- and 15-year reunions rolled around), I resisted the urge to attend my high school reunions because (1) I viewed myself as the consummate loner, and thought that I didn’t get along with most of my classmates anyway, and (2) thanks to being in the military, I was conveniently at least 1000 miles away (except for my 5 year reunion – I was actually in town for that one, but I didn’t know where or when it was taking place).

Okay, reason #1 is pure bullshit. Given the impetus that I shall reveal later, I now remember quite fondly getting along with quite a few of my classmates. Truth is, while I was never one of the “popular” kids, I (at least in my reality) managed to transcend most of the various cliques so as not to (at the very least) piss any one group of people off too much – meaning that I was, if nothing else, tolerated (at the very least), or well-liked (at the very best). The reality probably lies in the bridge that spans the transom between these two poles. I’m sure that had I made the effort to attend a previous reunion, the current image that I have of me back in the day would be different enough, and I would have though more about maintaining active relationships with some of my classmates.

Reason #2 is bullshit, but perhaps not as purely so as #1. In 1993, I was back in Maryland at the time, but didn’t know about the reunion. In 1998, I was in Florida, and coming up to Maryland would have been pretty easy, had I known about the reunion and been inclined to go (reference weak excuse #1). In 2003, I was in Washington state, going through a separation, and attempting to put  myself through school,  eat, feed my dog, put gas in my car, and pay rent all on $1300 / month (hence my once massive credit card debt). 2008 came and went without a reunion (so I hear), so here it is, 2009, and I’ll be heading back to Maryland and seeing my erstwhile classmates for the very first time in 21 years.

Well – maybe not exactly. Thanks to the miracle of technology personified in the form of Facebook (the aforementioned impetus), I’ve now “seen” many of my former classmates, and they’ve now “seen” me. We’ve “connected” virtually and have now been making big plans to get together this weekend for a reunion to end all 21-year reunions (“It’s never too late for ‘88”).  There will be meet and greets, dinners and lunches on the side, and perhaps even a picnic. Fond memories have resurfaced, and I realize that I wasn't such the loner after all, and that, despite my rather severe religious upbringing, I did manage to have some good times (and even a few cute girlfriends) along the way. I'm truly excited to see some of the old gang again, if for no other reason to see how everyone turned out.

And then, some of us will drive away, some will fly, and after that…?

Dealing with long-distance relationships, regardless of their nature, are pretty hard to maintain. People living in proximity to one another have a much better chance of developing and maintaining a meaningful relationship than do those who live a hundred, few hundred, or thousands of miles away. All this to say: while many of my former classmates live within an easy hours drive of each other, some (like myself) aren’t in the same situation. The ease of contact – and by this, I mean actual, real life physical contact – is greatly diminished. Diminished ease, unfortunately, translates into reduced motivation.

So I ask again, after that….?

I realize that this query is self-serving, but I also think that it’s an important question to ask. It could be wholly rhetorical, since there may be no sane answer that can honestly stand the test of time in its practice. There are a few of us who are hundreds and thousands of miles away, and it would be a shame if we were to reconnect meaningfully with our fellow classmates, have a few hours or a couple of days of good times, and then part with the hopes of constant and meaningful exchange, only to face the reality of a series of slowly diminishing interchanges that culminates in the void of weeks between emails, months between phone calls, and years between visits.

Of course there is Facebook – social networking can be a godsend. Unfortunately, the daily exchanges that  take place there may serve to whet the appetitite of some for an eventual face to face meeting – but for others, due to the lack of motivation or the realities of distance, recessions, gas and airfare, it may serve as the sole medium of contact.

I’ll not be dismissive, however. In any medium, there can be quality; in any form, there can be love; in any method there can be friendship. It remains up to us who utilize such to determine whether or not we choose to make the most out of what we have in our exchanges to one another, and truly express such, and do so with a consistency that lays bare our true feelings – or to, instead, treat it as a façade for something richer, and skimp on the quality to focus on numbing and insipid quantity – or, even more disturbing – elect to have sparsely interspersed postings of single liners and de rigueur inquiries into the state of others represent our total contribution to our sides of the relationship.

As for me – I’ll not pretend to know the answer, nor will I be so haughty to assert that I’ve never been guilty of the transgressions that I’ve laid out above (or ever will be so again). Like everyone else – I’ll wait and see.

I - WillNot - Get - Sick...!

<Delivered in the belabored tones of Will Shatner>

I first discovered that my throat was sore the day before yesterday. Given that I usually develop mild flu-like symptoms if I don't get enough water to drink, I proceeded to down a glass of water, and went to bed, considering the problem t0 be solved.

However, the next morning, I woke up, and discovered that not only did I have a sore throat (still), but now, I had a lingering headache, and a stuffy head to boot.

Red Alert! Action Stations!

My surefire recipe for getting rid of minor crappy headcolds...

1. Drink water. Lots of water. Fill up a one liter bottle, and make sure that it's gone by the end of the day.


2. Airborne, or any of those Vitamin-C tablets. Fill up a separate glass with water, dissolve the tablet, drink. Repeat.


3. Orange Juice. Drink two 450 ml containers.


4. Asprin. Take two, one in  the morning, one in the afternoon.

I've been following this recipe for ythe past two days now, and I feel a hell of a lot better. I'll be doing this  tomorrow so that I'll be in prime shape for my trip on Friday.

Saturday with the Sounders

Last Saturday, Carrie and I went to a Sounders game with some folks from her company, Turner Construction.  The company has a box at Qwest Field, so we got to watch the game in the comfort of the shade with our own buffet and bathroom.

The game was pretty interesting. There was a definite enregy at the field, one that we missed due to us being in the "high and migthty" seats. The folks directly behind the south-end goal were constantly on their feet chanting and waving their arms. Carrie and I would have like to been a part of that, and perhaps we'll be back one day so that we'll get that chance.

The Houston Dynamo drew first blood, but the Sounders quickly followed up with a response in the first half, and an unanswered goal in the second to win the game 2-0. This weekend, they play Chelsea, and even though I'll be in Frederick at the time, I may have to keep an eye on this game, which is sure to pack the stadium fuller than it usually gets for any football (International or American) game.

Later on that day, as things cooled down, we hosted a dinner party with Carrie's ex and two of her friends. More grill time!

My kingdom for a blank CD-ROM!!!

I'm just sayin'...

Here I am, trying to install X-Ubuntu onto an underpowered laptop, I've downloaded the ISO from the site (which, if you've ever tried to dowload anything -buntu from the .org site or its mirrors, you'll know is a minor miracle), and have it sitting prettily on my desktop - and no blank CD-ROM to burn the thing onto. Arrggh!

Gotta wait until tomorrow...!

En entre nosotros

Too great a space in between us, we drift apart;

Too little space in between us, we collide;

The right space in between us, we grow towards each other.

Game.Traffic.Sucks.

Trying to get on the bus. Taking an hour to get from Downtown to Beacon Hill. Busses stopped at lights because jerks keep running red lights. No police manually directing traffic, even though we've been through this dance before. Def not cool, yo.

Goodbye crappy #27

Now that we live in Beacon Hill, we take the #36 from downtown (although I might have to try the #32, since it's an express bus). It takes about half an hour to get into work in the mornings, and about forty minutes to get home. A far cry from the twenty minutes that it took us in either direction when taking the #27 - but at least this bus is way more frequent (and reliable)! I'll not miss the #27 a bit!!!

Macpherson's Fruit & Produce

This place is great!!
Carrie and I went there the other day for some ffnv - we got a whole bag fulla stuff for only ten dollars. Granted, we'll have to use it all within the next couple of days, but it's worth it. As Carrie quipped after our first visit, "Ever feel like you've just mugged someone?"


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Where talents lie

My very first home project was making a worm composting bin. My father in law and I went to Lowes to get the lumber cut (most of it was gut 1/2 inch short) and tools, and I put it together last night.

Some people's talents lay in carpentry and woodworking - mine does not. Mine lies in putting together bits of ones and zeroes, and tossing them into the ether. Mine also lies in making sure that other peoples bundles of ones and zeroes do what they are supposed to do before they get tossed into the ether.

*sigh*

Crappy 4th

Here it is, well past midnight, and some jerk keeps on lighting fireworks. Carrie and I had a rocket land in our laps (practically). People seem to stop right outside our door just to yell at their friends across the street. Our car alarm went into warning mode at least three times, and went off once. Some idiot let their car alarm go off for a whole ten minutes before deigning to shut it off. Oh yeah,I love this holiday...

Neo-Luddite

We’ve somehow gone from simplifying complexity to complicating simplicity. The varieties of inventions and gadgetry that actually do the latter whilst claiming to perform the former are plethora, and simply placebos at best, shams at worst. Of course, by presenting such a near-Luddite thought in this forum, I'm freely admitting to the self-indulgent hypocrisy inherent in my statement.

3rd of July

Had a pretty kick-ass BBQ last night. Dry rubbed ribs that were slow-grilled for three hours - corn - roasted potatoes and freshly made peach and rasberry tart for desert. Excellent stuff! Before that, however, my father-in-law and I spent two hours in Lowes getting wood cut and supplies for a compost bin that I'll be making next week.  Perhaps not the most exciting of times, but pretty damn good times nonetheless.

Oh - and happy 4th :)

[~neverland~]

I find it impossible to live in the present. It's much easier to live in the few moments between the new memories of what I was and the new experiences of what I am about to be.

In-laws, day two

My father in law and I spent an hour putting together the very first accessory that Carrie and I bought for our house - a Webber Grill (the Genesis model). Afterwards, we celebrated by having beer-can chicken with roasted potatoes, all cooked on the grill.  Today, we're having a small gathering, in which I'll be making spice-rubbed ribs and  - well, I think that's really all that I'll be making, as Carrie'll probably be making the sides!

From [~neverland~]

We really don't have plans for the 4th - at least not yet. Fireworks at Lake Union are out, as are the ones at Elliot Bay, since it takes too long to get out of those places after the festivities are over. Being as far north as we are, fireworks can't really start utill around 10, and that's usually when these old farts (okay, this old fart) are off to bed!

In - laws, day one

A new grill, a used elliptical machine (the owner wanted $70, Carrie haggled her down to $60), a very nice espresso machine on order ($750 machine for $575, with free shipping), and in-laws sleeping in the living room. Plus, quick jaunts to a taco truck on Ranier for lunch, and to our favorite place in Columbia City, Geraldines, for dinner. Very nice.

In-laws coming in for a visit

My in-laws are coming in today from Utah. I get along with them pretty well, so I'm actually looking forward to them coming up and spending the next few days with Carrie and me in our new house.  Rus (my father-in-law) and I will probably be picking up a grill from Lowes as well as some furniture that Carrie picked up on Craigslist.

In other news - we finally got Dish network, as well as Qwest DSL, so I can finally ditch Clearwire for better, more consistant coverage.

Not looking forward to the first set of bills as a new homeowner.. :(