November 30, 2006
November 28, 2006
Snow Day...Yay?
Maybe it's not so great that we have a snow day today.
Reports are that over 150 Seattle Metro busses were abandoned along with countless cars on the side of freeways and roads due to ice and heavy traffic. Bus service is at 80% capacity currently. Cars still litter the streets.
Microsoft shut down their Eastside campus in Redmond, WA. This is the first time I can remember this ever happening.
90% of school districts in Western Washington are closed including Seattle and Tacoma Public.
Commutes home last night took four or five hours instead of the usual 1/2 to 1 hour. Bus drivers told people to get out and walk.
Hotels lowered rates and allowed people to sleep on cots for free in their conference and ball rooms.
Oregon fans leaving the Seahawks/Packers Monday Night Football game last night driving home to Portland are just NOW arriving home at noon, fifteen hours later. Seattle to Portland is normally a three hour drive.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge between Tacoma and Gig Harbor was shut down in both directions last night for several hours due to a major accident. As was the 512 freeway in Puyallup this morning. And the I-90. And parts of various other freeways and roads.
High temperature expected today in Tacoma is 27 degrees with a wind-chill of 13.
High temperature expected today in Bellingham (North of Seattle) is 14 degrees with a wind-chill of -3.
While the sun is shining currently, as soon as it sets everything will refreeze, just in time for evening rush hour. Snow is expected again on Wednesday evening into Thursday.
Frinklin's office, technically a branch of the Bismarck, North Dakota office, saw absolutely no reason to close their Seattle location. What's a little snow and ice? So what if Seattle is located on various verticle slopes?
November 27, 2006
About An Inch
We're finally getting some of the snow that has been hitting the Pacific Northwest. Bellingham and Everett (North of Seattle) had upwards of two feet over the last several days while we only received a light dusting. Seattle got a good dousing for Monday Night Football.
Here in Tacoma it started about an hour ago with light flurries, moved onto freezing rain, and now is steadily snowing. There's probably just under an inch on the ground at this point.
Last year it happed to snow on Frinklin's birthday, December 1st, and we both had the day off to play. Sadly, this year there will be work on the snow day. Temperatures are expected to drop into the mid-twenties, so the Tribeca's AWD will get its first workout on the early AM ice.
I just realized I never posted the pictures of last year's birthday snow. These should be supplimented with new shots tomorrow.
November 26, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving Table Talk
Frinklin and I finally explained to the In-Laws the risks associated with a potential pregancy after Thanksgiving dinner. Aside from my having to say the word "gynocologist" three times in front of my Father-In-Law, I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing until -
Me: "So I need to visit my doctor and find out what the next steps are, what we need to do next."
Mother-In-Law: "Next steps? You know how to get pregnant, right? How everything works?" [in a hushed tone] "Do we need to talk privately?"
Me (dumbfounded, with mouth hanging open): "Uh, no. I mean, making sure I'm fit to get pregnant, taking the right vitamins, folic acid, finding a doctor for high-risk pregnancies as we were advised..."
Yes, MIL, the fact that I was a lesbian before I met your son wiped all heterosexual reproductive knowledge from my brain.
November 21, 2006
The best car accident story ever
This is one of those things that Frinklin immediately should have written about on his blog. He tried several time but somehow never was able to get it down. I wasn't blogging at the time, but now I bring you:
THE BEST CAR ACCIDENT STORY EVER!
I am woken up at 6:35 AM by a phone call:
Frinklin (breathless): Oh my God! I was just in this huge car accident!
Me: What?! Are you OK?
Frinklin: Yes! I'm fine! The cops are here. An ambulance is here. All the cars are totaled.
Me: Our brand new car is totaled?!
Frinklen: No! Our car is fine! Everyone else's car is totaled! I have to go - the cop wants to talk to me. I'll call you in a few minutes!
Me: Wait--!
--Dial Tone--
I sit on pins and needles for almost half an hour until he called again to tell me the rest of the story.
While waiting to turn left on his way to work a small red car came screaming through the intersection from the opposite direction. A minivan sped through shortly after, hitting a green stationwagon turning right on a red light. The stationwagon spun out, coming to rest on Frinklin's left side, while the minivan skidded through the intersection, smashing into an acura on his the right, forcing that into a jeep just behind it. All three cars then slid into and under the semi in the far right lane.
After the motion ended, Frinklin jumped out to help any people injured in the crash. The driver of the stationwagon needed an ambulance, but fortunately Tacoma has three hospitals in the middle of the city, so police and an ambulance were only seconds away (I should note here that she is OK).
Our car ended up with only brushes of gold paint and a broken license plate frame. A few inches more and we would have lost the entire front end!
The driver of the gold minivan leaped from the drivers seat and took off on foot before anyone could speak to him, leaving an older teenaged passanger in the car. The semi driver interpreted her wailings as best as possible and explained, "She's a hooker. The guy in the red car they were chasing? He's a john that attacked her or something and then stiffed her. He owes her money. The guy who was driving who ran? That was her pimp."
She proceeded to tell the exact same story to the cops as her official statement. You know it's gotta be true--who would make that up to tell the cops??
Diagram below:
November 18, 2006
That guy's probably not getting a ride
Driving today from Tacoma to Spanaway, a more rural area of Pierce County, Frinklin spotted a hitchiker walking the opposite direction.
"What is that he's carrying?"
"It looks like...no, it is a...chainsaw?"
"That guy's probably not getting a ride anytime soon."
November 15, 2006
Vacation!
I spent the last week in San Diego, living the good life, enjoying my parent's remodeled house, and forgetting that I live in a cold, rain-soaked Northern land.
A taste of the trip:
Sunset Friday night over the hills behind my parent's house in Ramona.
Sunset Sunday shot over the ocean from Interstate 5 South just south of South Clemente and San Onofre (as taken by by sister, Nikki).
And finally, views from the plane on my way home Tuesday evening.
A few more...
Ramona--
And from the plane--
(You can see Catalina Island in these two)
November 08, 2006
Rumsfeld is Stepping Down!
Holy Crap!
From the AP:
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a key target of Iraq war critics, is stepping down, Republican officials said on Wednesday.
Does this mean Bush will try to pull a Democrat from the Senate to be the new Defense Secretary? Mysterious forces at work...
November 06, 2006
Changes Are Afoot
Found at so anyway... with a mile long snopes.com story to back it up, but it's still great either way.
In light of your failure to elect a competent
President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we
hereby give notice of the revocation of your
independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical
duties over all states, commonwealths and territories
(excepting Kansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a
governor for America without the need for further
elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to
determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown
Dependency, the following rules are introduced with
immediate effect:
You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English
Dictionary. Then lookup aluminium, and check the
pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how
wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter ‘U’
will be reinstated in words such as ‘favour’ and
“neighbour.’
Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without
skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be
replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you will be
expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels
– (look up vocabulary).
Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with
filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an
unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
There is no such thing as US English. We will let
Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft
spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the
reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of -ize.
You will relearn your original national anthem, “God
Save The Queen”. July 4th will no longer be
celebrated as a holiday.
You will learn to resolve personal issues without
using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you
need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re
not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only
be handled by adults. If you’re
not adult enough to sort things out without suing
someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not
grown up enough to handle a gun; Therefore, you will
no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more
dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be
required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in
public.
All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and
this is for your own good. When we show you German
cars, you will understand what we mean.
All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts,
and you will start driving on the left with immediate
effect. At the same time, you will go metric with
immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion
tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you
understand the British sense of humour.
The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which
you have been calling gasoline) — roughly $6/US
gallon. Get used to it.
You will learn to make real chips. Those things you
call French fries are not real chips, and those things
you insist on calling potato chips are properly called
crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat,
and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is
not actually beer at all; Henceforth, only proper
British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and
European brews of known and accepted provenance will
be referred to as Lager. American brands will be
referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all
can be sold without risk of further confusion.
Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast
English actors as good guys; Hollywood will also be
required to cast English actors to play English
characters. Watching Audie MacDowell attempt English
dialogue in /Four Weddings and a Funeral/ was an
experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a
cheese grater.
You will cease playing American football. There is
only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer.
Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to
play rugby (which has some similarities to American
football, but does not involve stopping for a rest
every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body
armour like a bunch of nancies).
Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not
reasonable to host an event called the World Series
for a game which is not played outside of America.
Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world
beyond your borders, your error is understandable.
You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us
mad.
An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from
Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to
ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to
1776).
Thank you for your co-operation
November 04, 2006
Stormwatch 2006!
Today all the rain that we didn't have during the last six months fell in the Puget Sound area within a three-hour period. Coincidentally, this was the same three hours that I was running errands with Frinklin and two dogs today. I'm like a homing beacon for shitty weather.
After visiting Comic Book Ink, Target, and Mud Bay, I drove carefully back through the rain to the monsoon in our neighborhood where we parked and sat waiting for the pounding rain to stop. Minutes passed as we continued to sit, waiting for a moment of even slightly lessened downpour so that we could pop the back door, drag the dogs out, and leap up the stairs to the safety of the house.
After ten minutes with no change we opted to take our chances, leaving the purchases to fend for themselves--no way was I standing outside a minute more than necessary. The dogs were drenched and our house has a fabulous eau d'wet dog smell that has permeated everything. My jeans spent 20 seconds outside and were soaked up to the knees.
The rain stopped about five minutes later and its sprinkled off and on the rest of the afternoon into the evening. We're leaving to see "Borat" in an hour. I won't need a clock to tell me when it's time to go, I'll know from the hurricane conditions outside.
November 03, 2006
Is it November Already?
Because nothing brings you back like catblogging!
I bring you, Barney Toes:
Does it shock anyone that we got a new cat whilst I've been gone? Because we did. And a new dog, Pharaoh:
I've always wanted a Great Dane, and now I've got one, sort of. No one would adopt him at the Humane Society, and now everyone wants to know where we found him.
I've missed blogging. I have a few good stories to tell. Just to remind myself to post them--fried cat, burgled, best car-accident story EVER, mutant, roast chicken, holey dog, I like football?, and...I think that's it for now.
Now I just have to actually follow-through! Work has been steady instead of crushing, and I have a few days of vacation coming up. Timed perfectly, as a monster storm system has overtaken the Pacific Northwest. I'll be in sunny San Diego in a week.
See you tomorrow!