Well, that was interesting

For this post to make sense I need to give you a little back story. Point 1: Gus is now 9 years old and Llelo is 5. During walks Gus tends to dawdle, follow along, and be the pokey little puppy. Llelo is much more energetic, always at the extreme front of the leash, trying to drag us along faster. Point 2: As a New Christmakahstice gift Rachel gave me a fitbit. It's a nifty little thing, kind of like a pedometer on steroids. It's got an altimeter so it can measure the number of flights of stairs you have climbed in addition to steps. It also estimates number of calories burned and you can measure your sleep efficiency, too! And for those not in the know New Christmakahstice is a mash up of New Years, Christmas, Chanukah, and Solstice. ;) Point 3: It's a dark, rainy, winter evening in the Pacific Northwets (started as a typo, but somehow seems appropriate!).

I've been wearing my fitbit daily since I got it. It's really cool. And today after I got off the bus this morning I took the stairs up to the office, fitbit read 11 flights for the day so far and I hadn't even gotten to my desk yet! I've been wanting to get Llelo on a proper walk for a while now. After our potty walk I decided to drop Gus back in the house while Llelo and I went walking. I managed to grab my reflective vest as we scooted out the door. Llelo was stoked, fast walkies, awesome!!!

We got down to the main street and headed north up to the stop sign and then another right up the hill. I hate hills, they piss off my knees and I huff and puff my way up. Turns out this hill was a little steeper than I'd realized but we kept on going. At one point, maybe a third of the way up the hill, I pulled out my phone to look at a map. It occurred to me I wasn't very familiar with the neighborhoods behind the new condo so I wanted to look at the map and get my bearings. My goal was to do a big loop around, I'd work towards my 10k steps per day and Llelo would get some exercise.

We finally make it to the top of the hill, the very, very steep hill. Still need to pass a few streets before we can take our right turn. Well, there are no sidewalks at the top of the hill. And there really aren't any streetlights, either. We cross the street to be able to walk towards on coming traffic. I am so glad I am wearing my reflector vest, but I'm still nervous given the speeds the cars are going. We plod along and come to the sharp right turn. I'm a bit spooked, there is no shoulder, no sidewalk, no lights, and plenty of fast moving traffic. We make the turn and continue southbound until we make it to the stop sign, then turn left. Once I realize we are about to head down another sizable hill I decide to scrap the mission and head us home the way we came. Of course, by then it's started to rain, not really hard, but definitely steady. Back through the hellish corner only this time there were dogs barking at us, yay! Then back down the hill. Finally, back into the world of sidewalks and streetlights! My knees are screeming 'WTF are you thinking, first you make me go up the hill, now down?!? Surely you are joking!' Finally we reach the bottom of the hill and then it's only a few blocks back to the condo.

After drying a very damp Llelo off I take stock of my own situation. Jeans soaked through, sopping hair, sweated through my t-shirt. Jacket under rain shell very wet, too, I think not having the hood up added to that one. Sneaks soaked because I took a short cut across some grass at the very start. Then I pulled up gmaps to see how many miles we'd traveled, must have been at least 4 or 5, at least. Well, gmaps said it was about 2.5 miles round trip! Really?!? That's it??? The fitbit confirmed it, though. Sigh. The part that blew my mind was number of flights of stairs: 58!!! Tells you how steep that frickin' hill was! Holy cow!

I've now had a shower and got warm dry clothes on. Llelo is sacked out on the couch. And Gus is laying next to my chair, still a bit miffed that he was left behind. I think it's been a good exercise day and it's now time for supper!

I MUA 2012 Pt 2

That last one was feeling very long so I decided to stop there and finish up with a Pt 2.

I headed back to Seattle completely drained, exhausted, and emotionally raw. And it seems to return to not one, but two dogs sick with colitis! I was a bit of a basket case when I left for Boulder. Thanks so much to Marcus for taking care of the dogs while I was gone. They were so happy to see me when I got home again, but also really, really stressed. It didn't take long for them both to start in with the dire rear and womiting, both bloody of course. Thankfully, some bland diet and flagyl brought them back to rights within a day or so.

I think the most disturbing feeling regarding the loss of my big brother is that I am now completely alone. I don't like it. The mother passed in 2007, far too young. But I still have my brother, I'm not alone in the world, it's ok, I can handle this. But now he's gone, too, and I cannot wrap my head around just how alone I feel. There is no one else who experienced what I did growing up. The weird little quirky things we did as a family, nobody else gets them. When I meow at someone they just look at me oddly. When we felt like something should be said, but didn't really have anything to say we'd meow and then the other person would meow back. I don't have anyone to meow to anymore and that makes me very sad.

I know I have many wonderful friends and the SIL and her parents. But it's just not the same. I really, really appreciate all my family by choice, Mark & Nancy, Maria & her family, Marcus. I don't know what I would do without them. I also have all my outrigger ohana, they are da best! But there is something different about the people who knew you when, when you were a crying infant, when you lost your first tooth, when they teased you and pulled your pig tails, when they didn't come out and say they needed to approve of your dates but you knew that's what they needed to do. Someone else who remembered that Nemo liked to bat around twist ties and would leave them in the cat food dish when he was done with them and the one christmas morning when he'd left a red one and a green one in the dish. Or the night Rose got onto the kitchen counter and into the bag of catnip, had herself a little party or rather a big party, and emptied her bladder on the stove! Or that Dante liked to curl up in the downstairs bathroom sink and nap and get a drink from the slowly leaking tap. Or that I learned to walk pulling myself up on Helga, the german shepard.

I miss my mom. I miss my brother. And although I feel alone right now, I know I am not really alone. I have my dogs, I have my friends and their families. And they won't let me feel alone, not for too long anyway.

So, now it's time to i mua, to progress, go forward. I need to take that first step forward and continue with my life. I have so very much living to do! I have so many plans for 2012. It's going to be a good year.

I MUA 2012 Pt 1

It's the first day of 2012. Here's to hoping it's a vastly different year than 2011. Talk about a bipolar year, wow. I bought my first home, a condo in Bothell. Yup, I live in the suburbs now. But it's pretty cool to own my own place. And it's huge, relatively, it's 2 bed, 2 bath, full sized washer/dryer. I have a garage, a carport, and what I'm calling a lanai (the grill & chill zone). A big improvement over the 550 sq ft of my last apartment. The neighborhood is much nicer than the hood-adjacent apartment on Lake City Way. I do miss some of my former neighbors, but I'm meeting folks in the new community. I also have the added bonus of living only 15 minutes away from Mark & Nancy, it means I get to see their little girls way more often.

Prior to move in I had a painter come in an do the living room, hallway and both bedrooms. Yesterday I started to paint the front bathroom. It's looking pretty awesome so far, still have to do the contrast wall but that should go quickly. Then next to the kitchen and master bathroom. I shall set a goal of having all the painting completed by end of January. Fingers crossed.

At our annual Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club meeting I was voted in a club president. I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed about that. I know I'll do fine, but filling Sabine's shoes will be no easy feat. I'm more than a little sad to see her step down and ultimately move to another club. I know it will be a wonderful move for her, being with her honey, racing together, and they are a wonderful group of people, but I'll still miss her here in Seattle.

Towards the end of October I had the biggest shock of the year. My brother passed away unexpectedly. He'd gotten the flu and as will most illnesses it traveled to his lungs. He'd had a history of asthma from the time he was a toddler. I'd spoken to him on Saturday night after the completion of Sukkot, I could hear he had the chills so I cut the conversation a bit short. The shock of the phone call from my sister in law (SIL) Wednesday morning telling me he was gone was almost more than I could handle. It can't be real, it just can't. I rushed out to Colorado and help SIL with the funeral preparations. I can honestly say I now have way too much experience in coordinating orthodox Jewish funerals, sigh.

The morning of the funeral, that Friday, dawned bright and clear and cold. It was a really beautiful morning, too beautiful for the task at hand. At 28 degrees, the temperature helped temper the beauty of the day. At the cemetery I was surprised by how many lives my brother touched. There were at least a dozen rabbis in attendance from all flavors of congregations and many of his masonic brethren and co-workers were there as well. Rabbi Yossi, his friend from rabbi school back in New Jersey, both helped to prepare him for burial and guided the service. He is a very good friend and I thank him for all he did for us.

Back at the house I decided to attack the sun room. It was still filled with boxes and boxes of things from The Mother's house. My poor brother was such a gentle, sensitive soul he couldn't bear to go through all those memories without being overcome with grief. How different from my own perception of going through the boxes, I would see it as a kind of treasure hunt, "ooh I remember when she got this, she enjoyed it so." I wish he could have seen it that way. Anyway, I couldn't ask SIL to go through my memories, my memories of my mother, so I tasked myself with going through all of it before I headed back to Seattle. What a job it was! Thank goodness her mother was able to help me with it, I couldn't have done it without her. Working like there was no tomorrow we managed to get through better than half of the sunroom creating three piles: 1) trash, 2) donate, 3) keep (by far the smallest pile). We were expecting folks to arrive on Sunday to help move stuff to donation, take down the sukkah, and move the wood pile so I was particularly driven to have everything gone through before they arrived. I ended up calling my buddy Fisch to help with the final push on Sat. We got through everything in an hour with him, he is so great, I really value his friendship.

On Sunday many of the Masonic brothers and Chabad folks arrived and set to the tasks at hand! The sukkah came down and was put away. With the storm the day before my brother passed a couple of the guys had chain saws and were able to cut wood to fit into the wood stove before re-piling it nearer the back door. We set up a bucket brigade to transfer donation stuff out to the waiting pick up truck. Four full loads to donation and five to trash! Then we moved boxes from the garage into the now empty sunroom so SIL could go through them at her leisure. Wow! It was all completed within 2.5 hours! Amazing!

Dog Frolicing Video

I've taken lots of outrigger video and had a great time editing posting them online. My brother asked me if I ever planned to shoot anything other than outrigger. Here it is:



My regular dog park buddy is Marcus and his two corgi, Henry (black headed tri-color) and Katherine (red & white). My next door neighbors dog came along, too. Lucy is a lab mix and sports that styling red jacket. Our other corgi pals Linda and her corgi, Cody, and Leslie and her two corgi, Edgar & Wyatt, arrived as we were headed out. By that time I'd put the camera away and didn't think to get some vid of them. The early arrivals were already pretty pooped out so there wasn't the level of play there normally is with Cody, Edgar, and Wyatt. Next time, there's always next time.

GoPro Video Camera

Have I ever mentioned how awesome my brother is? My sister in law, too. This year for my birthday they gifted me with a GoPro Wrist Hero camera. Fully rigged it weighs just under 5 oz. Has a waterproof housing and audio capabilities. I am now forced to learn how to use iMovie on my mac! There are worse things to have to do in life.

I tried to video the outrigger race yesterday but was having some technical difficulties with the media card. I'll have that worked out for the next one. Enjoy these for now and expect to see more in the future.

My very first video, you can see my torso, Jasen, Lisa, and Doug M.



My second video, Stan has the boat with the red deck, and later in the video you can see Doug M and Sabine headed towards me. I still need to work on getting a more level set up on the rear iako or learning how to level the video in post production.

Introducing Hiwa

I've been without cat love in my life for about 2.5 years now. Dog love is different than cat love, not better, not worse, just different. I have some friends that regularly rescue cats and dogs. Last summer I went to their house to meet a kitty that needed a home. I wasn't ready to take anyone home yet, but she was a very cute little girl. Last weekend I finally decided I was ready to bring a cat into my life. Llelo has been wanting one for quite some time, now.

Sabine & LeAnn had been feeding this black cat since at least last summer and had seen him around the neighborhood for awhile before that. He started out with a bed and food on their from stoop and attacking their other cats at any opportunity. That meant he'd never be able to move in with the others, 4 cats and 3 dogs. As winter progressed he was given a bed in their finished basement. He showed that he was quite cuddly and loved being petted.

They arrived with all his luggage around noon on Saturday, litter box, food, catnip socks, and laundry basket bed. He found all kinds of great places to hide and I spent a fair amount of time on hands and knees pulling him out from under furniture. When I insisted he sit in my lap he was quite cuddly. Sabine & LeAnn hung out for over an hour making sure he was going to be ok. They had some concern given his length of time being an outdoor cat.

Over the course of the evening I decided to call him Hiwa (pronounced hee-vah), which means choice, jet black (entirely black, as pigs offered to the gods, and of a desireable blackness) in Hawaiian. His eyes are a vivid yellow and his coat is short, very dense, and plush.

So, now there are three critters in the house. We are still adjusting and getting used to the change in dynamics but things are going well. More stories to come...

Cinema Paradiso

I watched Cinema Paradiso last night. I know it came out in 1988, but I'd just never made time to see it. I'm glad I finally did. It was a delightful, sentimental movie. IMDB listed the tagline: 'A celebration of youth, friendship, and the everlasting magic of the movies.' I guess when it was first released it wasn't favorably reviewed by the critics, it was too sentimental. When it was shown at Cannes it got rave reviews for it's sentimentality, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury and was also nominated for the Golden Palm. It went on to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for 1990.

It begins with the main character learning of passing of a dear old friend, whom he hadn't seen for 30 years. It brings up old memories, the film ends up being mostly flashbacks to Toto's childhood. At first I was a little hung up on it being a movie about people watching movies, but then I let go and got swept up into the story. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I laughed, I cried, I am glad I finally Cinema Paradiso. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

Five Rules For Life

I found this blog Saturday. I like it and wanted to share it with you.

Five Rules For Life


Here's an example of a posting there. I think the 'take pictures' is particularly important. Going through all the photos that The Mother and Gram had and trying to figure out who is who, was challenging. Thankfully Uncle Leonard lives in Olympia and could go through them all with me. I still have to scan them all and name the files so we won't have to do this again.

Submitted by Stephanie Poston

stephanie poston is a wife of over 15 years and a mother of three children (8, 12, and 14-years old). she is a graduate of texas tech university (b.s. in human development and family studies), a photographer at heart, and a preschool teacher by trade.

Here are Stephanie's "Five Rules For Life":

1.) Take pictures.
Take LOTS of pictures. Document your life. Write about it and leave your family your history and in turn create the start of their history.

2.) Remember to breathe.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take your breath away." - written on a picture frame that hangs in our house.
For me the first moment that took my breath away was when I met my husband. Next was the birth of each of our children; then there was the day they each went to kindergarten. I can't imagine what the day will be like when they go away to college and start their own lives. There are the endless moments I have been fortunate enough to experience through travel; there is nothing like it. And there was witnessing the death of my Father. No one said they can all be happy moments - but remember them all, the good and the bad.



3.) Drive with your windows down and your radio turned up.
Do this often - it takes you back to that first real taste of freedom. You can remember what it was like at 16, before "responsibility" kicked in. You can feel the wind in your hair and hear the music in your heart. Then do it with your kids - watch their faces light up when they see a glimpse of the child in you. It creates a connection with them.

4.) Travel as often as you can.
Go somewhere you have never been. Even if you can't afford a big trip just go somewhere. Take someone with you who has never been there either. Watch their reactions and enjoy your moments together. Go places that take your breath away and give you those "moments".

5.) Be there.
Be there for God, your spouse, your kids, and your friends; it is the most important thing you can do. Get to know them by showing them what's in your heart and learning what is in theirs. Don't hold back. Let them in.

Stephanie currently resides in Hutto, Texas.

Fair Weather Paddlers

This morning I got up extra early to go get my allergy shots before paddling. Nothing quite like getting jabbed with needles before going out for a good, hard paddle. It was cold and raining. You know it's raining hard when Gus is squinty from the drops pelting him in the face. I got down to the beach and the rain had abated, mostly. We had 13 people come down, 12 people seated in the double hull and one person steering from the aft bulkhead. We got on the water rather quickly, the clouds were looking ominious and Sabine said that it was snowing down at her place on the Seattle/Renton border.

We headed out for the Ballard Locks. As soon as we left Waterway 18 the wind hit us full force and the chop was pretty big. By this point my fingers were painful with the cold, the rain was driving down, why were we doing this??? We passed under the Aurora Bridge and then the Fremont Bridge at which point we took a brief break to adjust clothing and get some water. Then we were off into the meat of the workout. One minute active rest, six minutes hard, one minute sprint hard and back to the beginning. Thankfully by the end of the break the blood was again keeping my fingers warm.

Once we were well into the cut (aka the ship canal) the rain was still coming down but it felt like it was coming down harder. Not like more intensity, but physically harder, like freezing rain or small hail. Nothing like little bits of frozen stuff speckling your workout pants to make you wonder 'wtf am I doing this for?!?' And the stinging in the eyes, ye-ouch! But none of that stopped us, we kept on going hard. At our usual turn around/break point Doug just turned the boat and kept us going. Once we'd returned under the Ballard Bridge someone asked if he'd missed the break, I piped up with, there are no breaks during a race! I think we did 5 or 6 sets of the 1-6-1 series. I was definitely tired at the end. I'd entertained visions of heading to the YMCA after practice to do some dips and pull-ups. Between the too tired and too cold after practice, ya, that didn't happen.

We are definitely not fair weather paddlers down here. IMUA!

It wasn't this cold for us, thankfully!

thoughts on the bus

Leaving the house this morning, I was startled by the brightness of the sky. Pushing onto the crowded bus, standing room only, with the weary masses headed to work. The gentle rocking of the bus moving some to that place between asleep and awake, while others were lost in the music streaming into ears via the ubiquitous iPods, from some the volume spilling out to wash over the adjacent passengers thumpa thumpa boom boom. Hurtling down the express lanes of I-5 the bus crosses the ship canal. The clarity of the morning is so sharp it nearly hurts. The water in Lake Union glassy and clear. To the east a lone rower ripples the calm, still waters, inherently trusting the water is clear in their path. To the west the Olympic Mountain range, jagged, and still cloaked in it's winter garb of snow, not yet ready for spring. But, ready or not, spring is on the horizon.

Big Things in the Planning

This is going to be a very exciting year. I'm really enjoying my new outrigger club, practices are awesome and we have a lot of races planned for this year. There are three big outrigger races in the northern hemisphere. The biggest is the Moloka'i Crossing, a 42 mile change out race. Then there is Kona or more properly named Queen Lili'uokalani Long Distance Canoe Race, an 18 mile iron race. Iron means not change out, you race the entire distance without a break. And finally, there is the Catalina US Championships, crossing from Newport Beach Harbor across to Catalina Island. It's a 28 mile change out race. Last summer I set a personal goal for myself to do Catalina in 2009, Queen Lili'uo in 2010, and Moloka'i in 2011.

Tonight I had a meeting with Jasen and Sabine to discuss some logistics for doing Catalina this year. Jasen is heading up coordination of our team, Sabine is offering the voice of experience. And what do I bring? Loads of commitment and enthusiasm and willingness to help out where ever help is needed. It's looking exciting, we have a good group that seem interested in participating, we just need to have them commit and get on board with training.

I have lots more I want to share about my race schedule for this year, but the meeting went a while longer than I anticipated (it was over dinner so at least we didn't starve!) and I'm really tired. Practice was kinda tough and I was having trouble breathing, still getting over a cold/sinus infection and I felt like I was gasping the whole practice. Bleh and that was even after a few hits of the albuterol.

Gut Instincts

Do you listen to your gut instincts? Do they generally work out when you do and you feel like a dufus when you don't? I tend to listen to my instincts, I've found like works out better when I do.

I got home from work and decided to take the boys out for a walk around the neighborhood. The sky was greying up and rain was immenent but I figured I had a little time. I got collars on the dogs, grabbed the leashes and the thought of grabbing my rain shell crossed my mind. Nah, won't need it, it's been nice all day, even if it does rain it probably won't be very hard. All this crossed my mind as we walked out of the apartment.

We burst out the exterior door both dogs peeing on the first step off the sidewalk. Then up the stairs to the neighborhood that runs behind the apartment building. We went up the hill and took a right heading in the general direction of the local park. When we were about 2 blocks from the park it began to sprinkle lightly. Hmm, perhaps I should have grabbed the rain shell. Should we continue down the route I had in my mind or head back towards home and have to walk up and down a rather large hill. It's only sprinkling, we'll be fine, we should just finish our walk as I had planned it.

Another block in the rain started coming down a bit more intensely. At this point we were committed to this route and with each progressive step the rain intensified. It was as though someone left the tap on and then someone else cruised by and opened it wider. Sigh. Gus was lagging further, trying anyway, Llelo was trying to pull ahead, you know faster is always better. I tried hard not to hunch down, just walk head held high, rain dripping into my eyes, down my neck, soaking into my jeans.

Finally made it home. Jeans soaked through, socks soaked through my crocs (as if that is at all difficult), my hair was saturated, as were both dogs. Ya, next time I'm listening to my gut!

1st Winter Series Race - Almost

I was supposed to be racing tomorrow in Lake Union but the flooding has postponed the race. The folks from south of Seattle will have a very hard time getting into town for the race with I-5 closed in places, covered with flood waters. On the one hand I'm a little dissapointed but on the other I can really use an extra week to get in a little bit more training time. I have been on my OC1 twice since August, I think. Regardless of the number of times I've been out paddling, it's still fewer than I prefer in preparation for racing.

I've been going out mostly in the OC12, the double hull configuration, with SOCC and Wakinikona folks. When the crew is really synced up that double hull can really move and it's far more stable in the windy winter conditions. It's much less likely to huli and with the cold water and wind chill going swimming is strongly discouraged.

I'll let you know how the race goes next weekend. If all goes well this weekend I'll post a number of photos from all the snow we've been having. I really like snow, but gimme a break, are we done yet?

Communication

Have you ever said something, thought you were perfectly clear as to your intent and then the other person totally misunderstood what you were saying, misunderstood your intent? It's rather frustrating when it happens and really frustrating when it happens over and over again, regardless of how much care you may take. I have two bosses at work and I communicate very well with one of them and with the other it's kind of hit or miss. I can tell when my meaning is not being fully understood pretty quickly, her upper lip puckers up and begins to quiver ever so slightly, she gives the appearance of gotten a whiff of some really powerful stink. At that point I try to back peddle as best I can.

My situation at work isn't one I can just cut loose from. I really, really like my job and my bosses. I realize I need to work on my communication and just try to minimize the mis-communications as best I can. I found I was having similar difficulty with some of the folks over at SSP. One of the tasks I had taken on for the club was the dissemination of information from the folks running the club to the members of the club. It's something that groups can have difficulty with. I found myself venting to a couple of friends with more regularity than I liked about how communication was challenging in general and that I had felt the backlash of misunderstandings and mis-communications with greater and greater frequency. I kept saying, I'll give it one more year and see if things change if they don't I'm going to leave this club. Well, two instances of miscommunication occurred at the end of October/beginning of November and my patience snapped. I found a place to store my OC1 and contacted another club to see if I could join them and then quit SSP.

I have joined the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC) and have been very happy with my decision. I have no responsibilities other than to show up and paddle, help move the canoe into and out of the water, and maybe bail the canoe, but nothing else. It's nice and refreshing, relaxing even. I was surprised at how much tension I had locked up in my neck that immediately dissipated once I switched clubs. I really miss many of the SSP club members, but they are friends and we keep in touch, we'll have a nice little rivalry at the races this year.

Of course, I am unable to keep from helping out where I see a need. I don't have many other things occupying time in my life, why not throw myself into the outrigger world. Can you imagine my surprise to see my name put forth for the SOCC board position of secretary? I mean I knew that I offered to help out in any way the club could use me, but I was still tickled to see my name on the ballot. As I have seen no other names put forth I think chances are pretty darn high that I will be the new secretary of SOCC. So there you have it, I'm still paddling, just with a different group now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday traditions are a curious thing. When growing up/living with parents there are family traditions. Then when you are older and out on your own you try to retain some of the traditions of your youth, if you liked them, but then also try to add in some of your own creation. I can recall having some orphans over, usually fellow college student friends of my brother. I remember one fellow from Burma, he was so confused when my mother told him to lick his fork. We didn't have enough silverware for the meal and dessert for the number of guests we had and while his English was good it was a colloquialism that he'd never heard before. It was common practice to hear "lick your fork", so we didn't think twice about it, we all had a good laugh that day.

I haven't spent Thanksgiving with family since I left for graduate school in 1991. It always seemed too short a holiday to travel so far. I became one of the orphans we would have taken in. Some years there were a group of us who gathered and made dinner. Other years I recall traveling from Rhode Island to Connecticut, taken in by Kathy Howard's family, or taken in by the DeLima family either in Connecticut or New Jersey. And one year by the McKee's in New Jersey. It's one of the few days of the year that I just prefer being around people. I am eternally grateful for my adopted families back east taking me into their homes and family traditions, where I could share in the warmth, love and laughter as the dark, cold winter crept in.

Now one of my traditions is to try and go for a paddle in the morning. This morning Diane, Kristi, and I had planned to go out on the OC1 and OC2 belonging to Seattle Outrigger. When we arrived we saw Jack had made it down as well. The four of us took out an OC6, it makes you work a bit harder when there is only four, but the weather was nice, not too much wind. We headed east towards the 520 bridge. On our way there we saw a very regal bald eagle pirched on an old piling, perhaps waiting for it's holiday meal to make an appearance.

In a couple of hours Diane, Dave, and I will go to see a movie and follow that with a nice Chinese food dinner. We and Kristi, too, are going to a restaurant that has Peking duck, I guess that will be our holiday bird. It will be a restful day spent with good friends and good food.

I'm thankful for my family and friends, good health, employment, a nice place to live, and that I continue to have a good life. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Photo is of an orchid blooming at work.

YES, We Can!

Wow! I went to the Westin Hotel with my friend, Kyle, and met some co-workers to watch the election returns. It was truly historic. I thought Mr. Obama's acceptance speech was wonderful, humble, inspiring. Here it is:

Part One


Part Two


I'm more than a little tipsy and off to bed now. Hoping that Chris Gregoire wins the the election for Washington Stave governor again, but this time without the recount.




and one last ...

YES, We Can!

Wow! I went to the Westin Hotel with my friend, Kyle, and met some co-workers to watch the election returns. It was truly historic. I thought Mr. Obama's acceptance speech was wonderful, humble, inspiring. Here it is:

Part One


Part Two

Another reason outrigger is better than crew

Ya, we can see where we're going!



I think these guys are exceptionally stupid, they have a coxswain and they still don't know where they are going.

Plastics

Remember The Graduate, with Dustin Hoffman.

I'm going a bit stir crazy

Part of the reason I haven't said much lately is that I haven't had too much to say. No amusing paddling anecdotes because I haven't been paddling since the Round Hat Island Race up in Mukilteo on September 13. Turns out I'd over done my shoulder back in July up at Gibson's, then did it some more a week later down at the Gorge. After the Gorge I took a week off to rest my shoulder and then back into it to train for the change out race end of August, and well then the last race of the season is in two weeks, I can muscle it through that and then recover. When it hurts enough that it's effecting your sleep, hmm, that may be a sign that you should have paid attention a little sooner. D'oh!

I went to an acupuncturist who is also a certified massage practitioner. He said that all kinds of stuff was out of alignment, ya, like I couldn't have told him that when I walked in the door. He moved things around some and did a little needle work. Then a few days later I went to my foot torturing massage person, Carmen. Damn, I thought she was brutal when she was working on my feet. Seems my neck and back were all a nasty knotted mess.

I'd hoped to be back on the water for a Sound Rowers race on Oct 11. Good sense, though hard to acknowledge, suggested I pass on that race. Then there was fun relay to be held in Tacoma on Oct 25. I decided to pass on that one as well. My back on the water date was going to be Nov 1, this Sat. I'd planned to go to our regular OC6 practice. Then I got an email that the Tacoma race was being postponed to Nov 1! Wahoo!

I figured I could do one of the four 2.6 mile laps. I've completed a 3 mile time trial in 31 minutes. I figure I can do a leisure 2.6 miles in 45 minutes and call it good. I'd found 3 folks to do the relay with me, Neil, Lise, and Janelle. Janelle has had a family emergency so we'll either do only 3 laps, have Neil or Lise do two laps, or find someone on the beach interested in doing a lap. I realize that I cannot do the first lap, I'd over do it trying to keep up with everyone else. And I cannot do the final lap, I'd try to finish hard since it's the end of the race. So, I am relegated to one of the middle laps. Sigh, at least it's paddling. And the quicker I'm off the water to sooner I can get a bowl of Bren's Chicken Long Rice!!!

To help kill some time before I can paddle again I voted today! I hope you have either filled out and sent in your absentee ballot or have figured out how you plan to vote so you are ready when you go to your polling location.