Happy New Year!

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Space Needle goes BOOM!Welcome to 2002! We actually made it through, despite everything that went on this year…kinda cool, huh? I’ve been having a nice relaxing weekend, which has been great — much as I enjoyed last weekend’s trip to Alaska for Christmas, it’s nice to have four days in a row that I could just kick back and relax, with no real plans or schedule. The visit was great, but as is typical for such things, it was pretty mile-a-minute for most of the time I was there.

Downtown Seattle from the Bainbridge ferryCandice and I have been spending a lot of the weekend just wandering around and seeing some of the city around us. Since her truck is out at the college campus right now, we’re limited to what we can find on foot…which is actually a fair amount, since I live so close to downtown Seattle. Saturday we hopped on the Bainbridge ferry, since I hadn’t been on any of the ferries yet and they offer some really nice views of the city. The Bainbridge run is one of the shorter runs, just a half hour or so each way, and we just took the ferry out and back without exploring any of Bainbridge Island at all. We may do some exploring of the islands later this summer, though.

Rick, Chad, Don, and PeterYesterday Candice and I met up with Rick to go out to dinner with three of Candice’s friends from school — Tim, Laura, and Heather — at Red Robin down on the waterfront. It took Candice and I a bit of a hike to get there, as we weren’t exactly sure where on the waterfront the restaurant was, but we found it eventually, and were only about 15 minutes behind everyone else, so we weren’t too late. After dinner there, Tim, Laura and Heather headed off to take a ferry trip of their own, and Candice, Rick and I went back up to 1st Ave. to grab the #18 bus out to Ballard. Casey and Dez were having a New Years Eve party out at their place, so the three of us stopped by there for about an hour. Was a very interesting little party…the crowd pretty much split into Dez and her friends on one side, and Casey and Jen (Casey’s fiancee) and her friends on the other. Jen and Dez haven’t been getting along for a while, and it lent a little bit of tension to the proceedings…a shame, but what can ya do, right? Drama….

Don, Rick and I watch the fireworksAfter about an hour, Candice, Rick, Chad, Don and I headed out and caught the #18 bus back downtown to Rick’s apartment. He lives right at the intersection of 1st and Denney, just a copule blocks away from the Seattle Center, so we had a pretty good view of the Space Needle and the fireworks display there. We all headed up to the roof of his apartment building just a bit before midnight, and then proceeded to watch the Space Needle explode! It was actually a really neat display — I’d just been told that they launch fireworks off of the roof of the Needle. They certainly do that, but they also have fireworks going off all up and down the height of the Needle, and where New York uses the dropping ball in Times Square for the countdown, the Needle uses a brightly lit elevator rising to the top of the Needle with fireworks flying off behind it as it rises.

And that’s about it for now. Today’s the last day of the weekend break, and Candice and I are about to bus out to Bellevue to catch a movie…possibly either Oceans Eleven or Vanilla Sky. Until later….

Ion Drive in operation

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Apparently NASA‘s Deep Space 1 probe has just been officially decommissioned, slightly over two years after its planned End of Mission date. What caught my eye on this was that DS1 was the first experimental spacecraft to test an Ion Engine — a technology developed in the 1960’s, and for many people, first mentioned on TV’s Star Trek. Apparently the little craft did pretty well for itself. About time NASA had a success!

Christmas in Alaska

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Time for a little catch up on things that I’ve missed for one reason or another.

Lorelei and me!First off, this picture was taken when Miranda was visiting a couple weeks ago. This is her little girl Lorelei, who just turned 1 year old on the 24th of December! She’s a really sweet little girl, and it was great to be able to see her again when they came through.

Too much snow!While I was up in Anchorage, I was able to do some running around and visiting my old haunts, and I took a few pictures while I was there. I took this shot of the mailbox just because so many people don’t seem to understand why I’m so thrilled to be in Seattle now. Well — see all that snow? Piled up almost all the way to the bottom of the box itself? That’s why I like being in Seattle! :D Not to mention the temperatures that suddenly dropped down into the below-zero range one night. Admittedly, there are other reasons…but that’s a very prominent one. I got to slog through more snowdrifts in the weekend I was up there than I’d thought I’d even see this winter…ah, well, I’m back in 40-degree weather now. Enough whining.

CandiceAnyway, I got a pretty decent shot of Candice while we were in the car. I dunno if she’ll try to kill me or not when she finds out I put this picture up, but I thought it was worth doing. She’s actually still up in Anchorage right now, but is flying back down here tonight. Being able to spend Christmas with her was very cool, but we were both looking forward to being back in Seattle. Both of us are much happier in a bigger and warmer city — more to do, and better temperatures to do it in.

Where TimeFrame used to beI wanted to stop by the mall where TimeFrame used to be while I was there, so that was one of the first places we hit. First surprise — the whole thing’s blue! Baby blue, even! Ugh. Then I get to the doors, and they’re remodeling the entire inside of the mall, too, so everything’s all ripped to shreds. The doors were unlocked so I went ahead and wandered in to take a look. As I was walking down the hall, there was a banging at another door — turns out it was Rob Thomas, my old boss. His dad Brett (the owner of TimeFrame) was there too, so I got to spend a couple minutes talking to them. They both seem to be doing fairly well under the circumstances — they’ve scaled back to a 5 employee business just focusing on oversize color and lamination, and I think they’ll do a lot better that way. The impression I got was that they’re much better small business owners than big business — so even though the failure of TimeFrame was a blow, I think it’ll most likely be a lot better for them in the long run, and they seem to be realizing that also.

Dad and Mom on Christmas DaySaturday I spent first with Candice and her family for dinner, then we went out to ‘Koots and I was able to see a few of my friends — some of whom I hadn’t even told I was going to be there! Richard, Rachael, Stacey and James all showed up, and I also ended up running into Jason (an ex-roommate), Gillian and Jason Buck (old friends from the clubs), and even Courtney Ramsay (who I went to high school with)! Candice also found her friend Nick, and he apparently approves of me — always a good thing.

Candice and her sock monkeySince I’d had dinner with Candice and her family on Saturday, she came over for dinner on Sunday. I’m pretty sure my family liked her — if nothing else, she and Dad got caught up in conversation thanks to their common interest in religion. While I’m nowhere near as schooled as either of them when it comes to that, it was fascinating to listen to. After that we went back over to her house and hung out for a while, then after hitting VI for some late night munchies, I ran her back home and crashed out again.

Kevin and me at Son of River City BilliardsLast-minute shopping was the order of the day for Monday. I picked Candice up and we headed out to brave the insanity of the 5th Avenue Mall on Christmas Eve day. Luckily, it wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been, and we managed to emerge relatively unscathed. After shopping we headed over to Candice’s friend Nick’s family’s house so that she could see him and his kiddo (Josh? I’m so bad at names…). That evening we went to Christmas Mass twice — once at Candice’s church, Gloria Dei Lutheran, and once at mine, Christ Church Episcopal (which is currently meeting out of member’s houses during the search for a new building…the page I linked to is somewhat out of date). In between the two, I got to go with Candice’s family to a party at their neighbor’s house — between dinner with her family, the party at Nick’s family’s place earlier, and this party, she got to parade me before a whole ton of people this weekend! I’m pretty sure I didn’t make too big of an ass out of myself at any point, though.

Me and KevinFinally, we made it to Christmas Day. Kevin had brought his friend Aart down from Fairbanks, and Candice came over after her family was done with their morning Christmas rituals, so we had a nice round of presents getting opened. Before Candice had to go back to her family’s house for Christmas dinner, she, Aart, Kev and I were able to duck out to Son of River City Billiards for the annual rounds of pool that Kevin and I have been doing whenever we had a chance for the past few years. Believe it or not, I even won a few games — even a couple without a scratch on the eight ball giving me the win! I was stunned! After Candice took us back home, she left, and dad finished up our Christmas dinner. I had to do a bit of an eat-and-run, unfortunately, but once I had some food in my system Kev ran me out to the airport.

With all the various troubles as of late and the resultant extra security at the airports, they’re recommending that travellers show up 2 hours early. This ended up working out really well for me — there were so few people travelling on Christmas day that as I checked in, they were able to bump me up to the next earlier flight, so I ended up flying out at about 5:45pm instead of 6:42pm! The flight down was bearable (but after the flight up, I don’t think I’ll ever be quite as blase about flying as I used to be), and because of the switch I was back in Seattle an hour earlier than I had expected. I caught a cab back up to my place…and that about catches up the Christmas weekend.

It was a lot of fun, and seeing friends and family again was great…but I’ve gotta say, I’m so glad I’m living down here now. Seattle is definitely much more ‘me’ than Anchorage ever was. And that’s it for now….

Interesting and disturbing

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Now, the invention of the scientific method is, I’m sure we’ll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the world around us that there is, and it rests on the premise that any idea is there to be attacked. If it withstands the attack then it lives to fight another day and if it doesn’t withstand the attack then down it goes. Religion doesn’t seem to work like that. It has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever. What it means is, ‘Here is an idea or a notion that you’re not allowed to say anything bad about; you’re just not. Why not? — because you’re not!’ If somebody votes for a party that you don’t agree with, you’re free to argue about it as much as you like; everybody will have an argument but nobody feels aggrieved by it. If somebody thinks taxes should go up or down you are free to have an argument about it. But on the other hand if somebody says ‘I mustn’t move a light switch on a Saturday,’ you say, ‘I respect that.’

The odd thing is, even as I am saying that, I am thinking ‘Is there an Orthodox Jew here who is going to be offended by the fact that I just said that?’ But I wouldn’t have thought ‘Maybe there’s somebody from the left wing or somebody from the right wing or somebody who subscribes to this view or the other in economics,’ when I was making the other points. I just think ‘Fine, we have different opinions.’ But, the moment I say something that has something to do with somebody’s (I’m going to stick my neck out here and say irrational) beliefs, then we all become terribly protective and terribly defensive and say ‘No, we don’t attack that; that’s an irrational belief but no, we respect it.’

Why should it be that it’s perfectly legitimate to support the Labor party or the Conservative party, Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics versus that, Macintosh instead of Windows — but to have an opinion about how the Universe began, about who created the Universe…no, that’s holy? What does that mean? Why do we ring-fence that for any other reason other than that we’ve just got used to doing so? There’s no other reason at all, it’s just one of those things that crept into being and once that loop gets going it’s very, very powerful. So, we are used to not challenging religious ideas but it’s very interesting how much of a furor Richard creates when he does it! Everybody gets absolutely frantic about it because you’re not allowed to say these things. Yet when you look at it rationally there is no reason why those ideas shouldn’t be as open to debate as any other, except that we have agreed somehow between us that they shouldn’t be.

— Douglas Adams

I found this quote from Douglas Adams (excerpted from an impromptu speech he gave in 1998), and — as is typical for Mr. Adams’ writing — liked it a lot. He was a highly intelligent man, and very gifted in his abilities to communicate both serious and whimsical notions.

However, the article that this quote was a lead-in for (Richard Dawkins on Sept. 11 Religious Terrorism) I found more than a little disturbing. Not because of the fact that Mr. Dawkins’ is a self-professed Atheist who seems to be doing what he can to spread what he believes to be the truth, but by the almost frighteningly vehement and almost venemous way he goes about it. I’ve never heard of Richard Dawkins before, but from this single article he seems to me to be what could best be described as an ‘Atheistic Fundamentalist,’ in that he is so convinced of the truth of his beliefs that he not only refuses to acknowledge other people’s right to hold their beliefs, but he actively attacks them (and in doing so, attacks all religion across the board). Is it really any better that he takes such an antagonistic attitude from an Atheistic standpoint rather than from a religious one?

I can’t say as how I think so. I need to go over the article a couple more times, then may come back with something else to say about it. We’ll see.

I still like the Douglas Adams quote, though.

Martha Stewart’s Pagan Yule

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A friend of mine forwarded me this while I was gone…thought it was pretty funny. If you’re not of a Christian faith, how well did you follow the guidelines?

December 1: Bury turkey carcass from Thanksgiving under the Holly tree to thank the tree for the six bushels of branches pruned to decorate the halls with. Draw Pentagram in the dirt with silver dust to prevent pet She-Wolf from digging up the bones.

December 2: Order 20 cases of Irish whiskey to be left for the Good Folk on Yule. Re-bury turkey carcass, re-do Pentagram in gold dust.

December 3: Draw Pentagram on each sheet of toilet paper using silver marker for that festive holiday touch. Have staff re-roll the paper onto Victorian “crackers” for that surprise element. Re-bury carcass, consecrate concrete block, spray paint with gold and use as planter for poinsettia. Place over carcass.

December 4: Take She-Wolf to vet for eating poinsettia. Send out telepathic party invitations to 200 witches, shamans and druids for the Yule Party.

December 5: Ex- mother in law’s birthday. Send Victoria’s Secret nightgown rubbed with stinging nettle. Begin receiving telepathic RSVP’s for Yule Party.

December 6: Hand dip 365 gold candles for Yule party. Consecrate using Sacred Lady Martha of the Stewart Clan Yule Oils found at a K-Mart near YOU! Have staff clean up the mess. Pick up She-Wolf at vet.

December 7: Harvest herbs from the garden and hand crochet 200 herb pillows for guests. Stuff with the microwaved dried herbs.

December 8: Have the staff get their arms tattooed with suns now so there will be time for the redness to disappear in time for the party. Have staff decorate the Yule Tree.

December 9: Repaint Nativity Scene so figures represent Isis, Osiris, and Osiris. Re-bury turkey. Take She-Wolf to the pound. Buy new wolf pup. Hire dog trainer.

December 10-11: Fly to Europe to grub for truffles. Pick up whisky at the Irish distillery on the way back.

December 12: Use Dremel tool to carve chalices out of quartz crystal balls for the party. Roll the hand dipped candles in the crystal dust to make them sparkle.

December 13: Coven meeting! Get symbolically pregnant by the HP during symbolic Great Rite ritual. Give hand forged Athames as gifts to coven members.

December 14: Get six foot Yule Log from the local land co-op. Decorate with holly, ivy and hand dipped candles rolled in the crystal dust.

December 15: See herbalist for private itching that has been going on since last coven meeting. Burn all undergarments. Have factory send new ones in red and green.

December 16: Daughter home from college. Send her to herbalist, too. Invite local fauna to graze on the front lawn for decoration and hang wreaths over their necks.

December 17: Climb great oak and cut mistletoe using golden sickle. Leave hand cast silver coins at base in thanks. Burn sage now to cleanse house so the smell will be gone in time for the party. Pick up golden robe at dry cleaners and pack in lavender.

December 18: Appear on Oprah to show my support of her coming out of the broom closet. Bake chocolate moon pies with banana cream filling, symbolic of the return of the sun. Bake “stained glass” Pentacle cookies.

December 19: Bake brownies laced with valerian and give to fundamentalist neighbor. Butcher, gut and pluck 150 pheasants from the backyard coop and marinate in consecrated wine. Harvest wild rice from the patty out back.

December 20: Yule party. Carve sliced carrot to resemble miniature suns. Put red die in the men’s toilet tanks, green in the women’s toilet tanks. Have staff do the cooking while I dress in my ceremonial robe. When guests and TV crew arrive, assume meditative pose.

December 21: Dawn – give birth to symbolic sun god on the dining room table as the guests and TV crew look on. After guests leave, collect empty whisky bottles drunk by the good folk and recycle. Take a nap and dream of what I’ll do for Imbolc.

Back in Seattle

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Well, I’ve made it back. I didn’t get a chance to update more during the weekend, and I’m too tired to do a full update now…but it was a good weekend. Saw some friends, met Candice’s family, she met mine, all went well. The flight home was much better than the flight to Ak, which was a great relief — though I don’t think I’ll ever be completely comfortable with flying again. Grrr. Ah, well.

In any case, I’m back, and I’ll babble more about things later on, I’m sure. Hope everyone else had a good Christmas too!

Back in Anchorage

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Welp, I made it to Anchorage — although, to be honest, I really didn’t think I would for a while. I had the single worst flight I’ve ever been on on the way up. Most of it went fine, but then about half an hour before we touched down, we hit the worst turbulence I’ve ever gone through, plus multiple air pockets where the airplane would suddenly drop for a couple seconds before it caught lift again. I’ve got to say, that was the most all-out terrified I’ve ever been — one drop I might have made it through with just being a little frightened, but when it kept happening over and over, I really started to freak out. I was completely convinced that we were going down — especially when after it started happening, and when the captain came on the intercom, rather than telling us something about how we’d hit some turbulence and would we please all sit down (which, while it would be stating the obvious, would have been somewhat reassuring), all he said was, “would the flight crew please sit down and buckle in now.” Not encouraging.

However, we did make it through (after feeling the plane drop out from underneath me way too many times), and eventually landed in Anchorage. I’ve never been so happy to get off an airplane in my life. It’s kind of frustrating really — I’ve never been scared of flying before. Now I’m nervous about getting on the plane back to Seattle in a few days. I will — but I’m a lot more antsy about it now than I would have been otherwise. I’m probably not the only one, either, as I heard many of the other passengers commenting that none of them had ever been through something that bad — turbulence, sure, but never fifteen minutes of continued extremely heavy turbulence with four or five air pockets. I never want to have to go through that again.

In any case, once we were down and got off the plane, parents met me outside the gates. We headed down to the baggage claim to pick up my one piece of checked luggage — my umbrella. I’d taken it with me out of habit this morning when I went to work, and since it’s a full-size umbrella with an inch and a half long metal tip, the airlines made me check it in rather than letting me keep it with me as a carryon. Unfortunately, the baggage handlers at Sea-Tac forgot to actually load it on my plane, so it’ll be getting delivered here to my parents’ house sometime tomorrow. I didn’t even have any real luggage and they managed to lose it!

Once we got back to the house it was around 12:30am and parents were pretty beat, so they went right to bed. I called Candice, and the two of us met up at VINL. We stayed there until about 2:30 or so, when we both decided that we had better go home until we passed out right there in the booths. We each headed back to our respective families’ houses…and here I am.

And now that this update is in…bedtime for bonzo. G’night folks!