Life

General ramblings connected to my personal life and activities.

Goodbye FedEx Kinko’s

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Some people may have noticed that there was a lot more information here not too long ago.

I’m having second thoughts about publishing what just happened publicly, though.

Suffice to say:

  1. I didn’t get fired — I quit.
  2. This is a good thing (for me).

Friends and family are welcome to the details. I just don’t want an urge to air my dirty laundry to potentially damage any future job prospects.

A little ray of sunshine

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While it’s never a happy thing to see one of Seattle’s many homeless inhabitants laboring to push a shopping cart filled to overflowing with what few items they’ve been able to claim for themselves up one of our many hills, I have to admit it’s hard not to grin when they’ve got a big smile on their face, they’re happily engaging in conversation with a passerby who helps keep the cart from rolling away — and the cart they’ve chosen is one of the “keep the kids entertained” models designed to look like a bright red and yellow plastic car.

Pity I didn’t have my camera on me, I’d have gladly traded him a few dollars for a shot or two. Perhaps I’ll run across him some other time.

CascadiaCon

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For the past few months, there’s been two different events on my radar for the Labor Day weekend that I was interested in: Bumbershoot and CascadiaCon. Some time ago, I’d decided to forego CascadiaCon in favor of Bumbershoot, but then over the past week I got a bit ticked at the Bumbershoot people over their “no cameras” foolishness, and ended up deciding that I didn’t want to head that way, either. So this weekend was looking to be pretty low-key.

Thursday evening Prairie and I went out for dinner with some friends from the Vogue (something that’s becoming a weekly event), and found out that Erin had been asked to showcase some of her clothing in a fashion show at CascadiaCon. Over the course of the conversation, I ended up getting asked to photograph the show, and Prairie was asked to be one of Erin’s models!

So, Saturday evening, Prairie and I headed down to the SeaTac Hilton, picked up CascadiaCon attendee badges at the registration desk, and found our way up to the designated “green room”. Prairie was soon buried in hair, makeup, and clothing, so I wandered back and forth between the green room and the conference room where the show was going to be.

The show itself was much fun — three designers showcasing four clothing lines (Imp of Satan, Fetishwear, Winter Couture, and Notorious Curves) in a late-night, 18+ only Fetish for Fantasy Fashion Show, hosted by Betty Rage of Glitzkrieg Burlesque and Cherry Baum (aka Mickey, who I know from the Vogue).

There are, of course, lots of pictures in a Flickr photoset. While my photos aren’t nearly “professional” quality (after all, there’s only so far you can push a little point-and-shoot, no matter how many dials and buttons they stick on it), I did the best I could. Here’s a few sample shots…

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The New Apartment

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Finally — pictures of the new apartment!

Each of the following shots has notes added if you click through to the Flickr page, pointing out some of the bits and pieces you see in the rooms.

And now…tour time!

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Sometimes predictions come true

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The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level — more than eight feet below in places — so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn’t — yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

— National Geographic, Gone With the Water, October 2004

A freakishly prescient look at what could happen if a major storm hit the New Orelans area. Well worth reading to understand just what happened, why…and some of the reasons it’s so bad right now.

I’ve been absolutely awestruck at the news reports coming out of the Gulf Coast over the past few days. I’m really not sure what to say other than that — the whole thing is just mind-numbing.

(article via Doc Searls)

Happy Anniversary!

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What with still being neck-deep in moving I’m a day late on this, but — yesterday was my parents’ 38th anniversary.

John and Berta

Happy Anniversary, mom and dad!

Boxes Everywhere!

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Our living room is filled with boxes. Some full, some partially emptied, some waiting to be broken down and taken out to the recycling…but it’s still a lot of boxes. Most of mine are still over at my old apartment, too. Uff.

The end result is going to be nice, but man is moving a pain in the butt.

Anyway. :) A quick recap, somewhat brief because I’m hot, tired, and fighting off a cold (which I’m going to blame on my little brother):

The weekend with my family was great. We hadn’t had a chance to have the whole family together since Kev and Emily got married about a year and a half ago, this was the first chance I’d had to meet my nephew Noah, and this was the first time Prairie was around my family as a whole — while she’d met Mom, Dad and Kevin before, it had always been separately as one or another of them was stopping through Seattle on a trip.

Noah’s a great little kid, too. Thirteen months old, and out to explore everything. Pictures from the weekend are, as usual, uploaded to Flickr.

Monday morning Prairie and I got up early, hopped in the car, and came back to Seattle. I crashed out at my apartment for a few hours while Prairie went off to the first day at her new job, and then we headed out to Ellensburg that night. Got up the next morning and managed to get her entire apartment packed into her dad’s truck and a U-Haul in just a few hours. We caravanned back to Seattle with me in front driving the U-Haul, Prairie following me in her car, and her dad behind us in his truck, corralled K, H, and P into helping us unload, and dumped everything into the new apartment. While Prairie and K got a few things organized and cleared a little workspace, the rest of us went over to my place to grab a full load. Back again, another round of unloading, and then we declared ourselves done for the day.

Now we’re in the process of getting everything unpacked, sorted, assembled, and put into its proper spot. I think this place is going to be a really nice little apartment once it’s all done…but we’ve got another few days worth of work to do before it’s really going to be ready.

So, things have been and continue to be busy here. More updates as time and energy allow.