OMG!

I turned off the TV after watching the recorded version of last night's Veronica Mars. I popped into the home-office to post on the Veronica Mars blog that my friends keep up to date and that I occasionally pepper with my stunning wit and observations. Seriously, they do it all and I just bask in the glory of being famous. (Famous? Its my fantasy, run with it.)

In reading through the previous posts MWR called me out on the carpet for A) never posting and B) having a typo in my side bar. Hell if I can find it, so I've gone to the source and begged for help. He's a stand up guy and will help me find the error of my fingers.

But, in searching the sidebar I clicked the EVIL BEET link to catch up on the latest (and admittedly grossest) celebrity news. There's photo's on EB of poor Brittney Spears with Paris Hilton (who we all know it the ONE person to turn to for help through a tough time) out on the town. Brit must have packed light because in a couple of the 'exiting the car' shots you can see her SHARON STONE (if you know what I mean.) HELLO... you just had a baby... put on underwear!!!!!!

Surf over there at your own peril. I may never be the same.

That was a snap!

I was in line at the Starbucks in my building at 8:15! The hardest part was the snowy, icy walk up the hill to the bus stop. It's totally dry and snowless in downtown but I have photo's to prove I didn't just tack on a day off in the middle of the week.

The Seattle Times has a huge headline today that reads something like: HERE WE GO AGAIN... MORE SNOW!! This pretty much guarantees a snowless night.

Wish me luck

I'm headed into work today. Let's hope Metro has it's act together...

I may have spoken too soon...

Sorry about that folks. I casually quipped that the snow would be gone by Monday and well... it did sort of go away, but by 6pm it started to snow and then zip zap an *Arctic Blast* (that's what the news folks call it when the weather gets cold here in Seattle.)

The girlfriends and I were attempting to get to East Seattle for a lovely French dinner in honor of our friend MWR who hosted his 40th birthday (Whoa fella!) recently. We, Yaz and I, headed east out of down town and quickly got caught in traffic. We drove about 15 blocks (in 30 minutes) and passed two stuck busses and realized that we had 28 blocks and two major hills to go before we got to the restaurant and it was obvious that the roads were quickly going from slushy to icy. We debated the likely hood of making it to the restaurant let alone the smartness of trying to head home afterwards against the understandable disappointment of MWR. He graciously understood and we took a right and headed towards the freeway over the lake (she and I both live on the east side - she in the highlands above Issaquah and me in the (low)Rent(on) highlands. (Highlands is northwest speak for hills.)

We questioned our decision when we hit the I-90 bridge and found the roadway to be wet but totally passable. Traffic was non-existent and we zipped to the park n' ride in record time. (Maybe we had called it quits too early?) I promised I call her when I got home and made my way to 405 South. I found *ALL* the southbound traffic at exit 9 at 7:45. At 8:15, when I had gone 1.5 miles I called Yaz to see how she was doing and I think it is safe to categorize her mood as bleak. She found all the eastbound traffic about a mile from the park and ride. At 8:45 I finally got to my exit (#6 - yes folks that's 3 miles and hour.) It only took 15 minutes to navigate the back streets to my condo - I had to wait for the 'yahoo' to give up the dream of leaving our condo complex (it's a steep hill) before committing to the slide around the gate.

I spoke with Yaz twice more last night. At 9:15 and then again at 10:30. By this time, her husband MC had caught a ride down the hill and braved the trek home with her. (that's so nice!)

I called in SNOW this morning, but that won't fly tomorrow. I'll have to don my snow boots and deal with the bus.

Snow!!!

With nowhere to go, I'm excited to see the rain turn to snow! Knowing that it will be gone tomorrow in time for the commute pleases me as well.

It might be time to break out a presto log.

Soggy Movie Reviews

It's been wet, darned wet so I've been seeing some movies. Here are the mini-reviews:

DeJa Vu: Denzel lands on New Orleans as an ATF agent who is chasing a terrorist/patriot 4 days and 7 hours in the past. Interesting and twisty it was a a fun ride with some loose ends but enjoyable. We didn't have to see him make out with anyone - which is a plus. It had an inventive car chase that made me dizzy. Rating: PayPerView

Stranger Than Fiction: Harold Crick is an IRS agent who also also happens to be the doomed main character in a soon to be finished novel. Will Farrell (Crick) manages to keep clothed during the entire movie and is touching in his sadness. I loved this movie & recommend it to those were inclined to enjoy Adaptation, and Being John Malcovich. Rating: Matinee to Full Price

Shut Up & Sing: The Dixie Chick's documentary about the making of their latest album and the fall out from their unfavorable comments in 2003 about President Bush. It does kill my enjoyment of an artists work (especially actors) when they speak out against things I believe in, so I can somewhat understand people turning away from the DC's after their comment, but I don't understand death threats and corporate censorship (my term for a wholesale boycott by radio stations.). While political (and enjoyable for me the frustrated democrat) their story is really about friendship, family and loyalty. I was touched! Rating: Matinee/Pay Per View

Casino Royale: New Bond. He's athletic, blonde, a wicked poker player, and H-O-T!!! It was a fun movie. Rating: Matinee or Friday Night full price.

Tee Hee

that's not a good sign

I'm sure there's more to the story, but I wouldn't take it as a positive outlook for the future if I was a citizen and I read this in the morning paper:

Lebanon Cancels Independance Celebration

Missing Posts

I sent some wonderfully inventive and humorous posts to update you on my innermost thoughts and alas the e-mail server ate them. While they were delightful they were also timely so taking the effort to re-post them wouldn't be any fun. Why do I tell you this? Writers block!

Mr. Bell - my high school English teacher taught us a writing technique that was basically stream of conscience writing. He would tell us to take a blank page of paper and a pen and write for an extended period of time and if we ran out of things to say then we were to repeat the last word we wrote over and over until something else came to mind. It was nutty - I mean PAPER AND PEN!? No one does that anymore. However the writing without editing was a way to get over the scary white space.

We were lucky to have Mr. Bell in our rural community; he was a great teacher. He cared about the students and challenged each of us to be better. He is is responsible for my love of words, especially fake words. We were encouraged to find words that we didn't know and incorporate them into our vocabulary. He also had us make up words as a fun exercise. I guess he's the inspiration for the fictionary. Yaz talks to this day about our friend Jackson who came up with a new word that combined Idiot and Stupid: "Stup-Id" Yes, Jackson, but it still spells Stupid.

Mr. Bell was also really brave. He lent his only car to the Honor Society kids to run an errand during the school day. Oh Mr. Bell - Connie Gore and I were NOT to be trusted! Actually, I was never blessed with the "get in trouble" gene. I skipped school once in four years and my parents knew before I got home. SAD. On our Senior Skip day I told my parents ahead of time... what a goodie goodie. No wonder my brother tried to kick my ass all the time.

The Vacation Commitment

I'm in Orlando, Fl for a short conference and have half a day today and tomorrow of "free time". My original thoughts were to take the Magic Boat to the parks both days, but a 15 minute stop at the hotel park ticket desk killed that dream.
Note that when you come to Orlando the park entrance fees are an investment. $112 for two days. Holy crap batman, that's a lot of bat cash!

I opted to stay here today and work and only go to the park tomorrow. Will it be possible to "do" universal studios in six hours? It will have to be possible. I don't have kids to slow me down, and my hotel key gets me "front of the line" privileges so that should help.

I'll be at the gate at 9:00am tomorrow. Let the fun begin!

Adventureland

Man, there is NOTHING more exciting than a Risk Management conference. The people are "dynamic" and the concepts are "interesting."

The current presenter is describing the "seven habits of a highly effective operational risk and compliance programs." (Still awake?)

The trip out to Orlando was fine, my seat neighbor didn't make the flight so I had space! Yeah!

It nice out here, not warm, but not raining. Hopefully that will be the case tomorrow afternoon when I go and explore Universal Studios. If it rains the hotel (which is massive) has a $20 poncho with the Incredibles on it (so I could totally wear it at home!)

I should go and pay attention.

Sigh

It was a hard week. The glow of being Seals new best friend wore off the moment my boss (and mentor) told me he was leaving. All plans that were set are now in flux and the stress level has risen about 200%

I was looking forward to dinner with my friend that I never see, but she's bringing her "fun" co-workers so I guess we won't be talking talking.

Oh well.

if these kids can't make it work who could?

Britney Spears Files for Divorce in LA
Nov 7, 4:34 PM EST

This is shocking… just shocking.  I’m stunned.

MWR in the Seattle Times

From the Seattle Times coverage of the Opening of WaMu Theater. This picture shows Tod Leiweke, CEO of the Seattle Seahawks, as he stands for a round of applause. The show opened with an appearance by the Seahawks football team. Photo by ERIKA SCHULTZ.

You can "clearly" see MWR's head under Tod's armpit. You can't see me because I was sitting behind Tod.

tp gal, MWR & Seal

Some days are better than others. Everyday life is a wonderful thing but there are some days that are just a little more exiting than others. Yesterday was one of those days. Thanks to MWR who had an online chat experience about photography with the singer Seal he was given two tickets to the Seattle Show and backstage passes. Lucky me, I got to be the +1.

It was the grand opening of the venue and there were all sorts of folks on hand who were quite high up in the food chain. As our seats were in the 7th Row Center they didn't really suck too badly. The CEO and COO of Washington Mutual Bank were in the seats in front of us, the president of the Seattle Seahawks was in front of MWR, but when he stepped out Warren Moon (yes, the NFL Football hall of famer) came and sat with his lovely wife. Other sightings included Matt Hasselback and a bunch of other footballers. I did comment to MWR that's it was a little unfortunate that we weren't bigger football fans.

The show was great. The Paul Allen band opened (they have a different name like "Scourge" or "Ailment" something not very rock n' roll) and they were great. Mr. Allen was not present - they claimed he had a cold but I bet he was home stacking his millions. Chris Terrill (also a Seahawk) came on stage and sang a few songs. He was fun.

The Seal concert itself was great. He's got a lot of energy and seemed to be having fun. Once the show was over we flashed our backstage passes and started following the football crowd (picture large, fit men with thin young booby women on their arms) to where we thought the 'back stage' was. I was aced out of an elevator from a mildly high level executive at Washington Mutual and then snootily directed to a different area of the building by an event person. We made our way down a non descript hall following signs to Seals dressing room where we found him in the hall with Shaun Alexander and Warren Moon. Both Mr. Alexander and Mr. Moon were star struck which was cool to see. Another couple was there was well and it turned out they too had met Seal through the photography thing. We chatted as we waited for the football posee to visit.

Seal was so nice and was really eager to talk cameras with MWR and the other guy. The football executives were clearly ready to "party in the back room" with Seal, but he was doing all the talking to MWR. We stood there until well after midnight. When it was time for us to go, Seal kissed me on both cheeks (remembered my name -he remembered everyone's name he met- wow) I wished him good luck with the new baby and we left.

It was all very very exciting. There was a lot of standing around, but it wasn't like standing on line at the metro waiting for the 111 bus to suburbia. We talked to one of Shaun Alexanders friends - clearly a football player himself. (Who was he? No clue -- I'm so awful!! - mystery solved Leonard Weaver) His wife was very nice and we had a genuine interaction. In fact, most of the Shawn Posee were down to earth and I was talking with one gal and expressed that I was a little embarrassed to be start struck and that I really make an effort to leave celebrities alone. She said that because of her relationship with 'these guys' that she gets to meet all sorts of people and there are times when she gets to excited she wants to do the autograph thing. (No autographs for me...I would loathe to have to do it and thus will not ask for them.)

MWR and I babbled the whole way back to his place and I had crazy dreams all night (like I do when I'm overly excited about something) and woke up this morning at 11! It's back to my normal life today (blogging with the cat sleeping at my feet) but I know it was real - I have photos!

You want me to touch what?

While driving to the Park and Ride this morning I was filling up on the left liberal news (NPR) and there was a story about the shamed Rev. Ted Haggard the Colorado minister who has been accused of buying drugs and paying to have sex with a male prostitute.  The story was clearly recorded prior to the comments Rev. Haggard made to a local TV news crew came to light where he admitted to purchasing the drugs but not using them and to receiving a massage from the young man in question.  As the story ended and NPR transitioned to the next story two notes of a song played to bridge the transition… the artist: Depeche Mode the song: “Personal Jesus”   the first two lines of the song are “reach out touch faith.” 

Tee Hee

The vacation has completely worn off

I'm surprised it took this long for the glow of a week away from e-mail and people's *urgent* issues has completely worn off. Yesterday I attended three meetings on the same topic. THREE!

I have to huge things to get done by Friday and so here it is 6:10am and I'm ready to walk out the door for work. YUCK.

So, no time to blog, but I do want to leave you another picture from our holiday:

This is Mom and "Aunt Ebby" (elisabeth) She doesn't see doctors nor go to the hospital because you see her neighbor went to the hospital in 1954 and they gave him high blood pressure and he died. She also has a very large shotgun on her dining room table that she uses to shoot "arm-a-dillers" that walk through her yard. The neighbors must LOVE that.


This picture is for Jeb.









We awoke one morning to a lovley fog that reminded me of the icy crisp mornings at the beach. Only it was about 90 degrees.