30 Miles Roundtrip

Well, after my usual bike-day breakfast of eggs and bread... I met the guys at 11:30, and we went to Kenmore on the Burke-Gilman again. But then we turned to the left and went up Ballinger Way, several miles up a hill. Yikes! That was hard! But coming back down, we went so fast... maybe 30 mph... way fun! except for my big left toe that got numb... because I was wearing sneakers with ventilation.

It took us an hour and a half to get to Brian's house, and then we each had a "Cup-o-Noodles" and a little tv... the UW won the basketball title! yey!... and then we headed back. We got back around 3pm, and then I took another 45 minutes taking pictures, lying down in the wetlands area (where it was dry). Had fun, and got some good ones.

And then I came home and watched "The Voyage Home" with my siblings :)

Jp

Everything is Going Swimmingly

Work has calmed down for the moment, I cleaned off most of my desk before calling it quits today. I've straightened out most of my monetary affairs, received my American Express credit card in the mail, bought a new laptop at $100 less than I thought it would be (yet, I will still get the deal with the credit card), found out last night that I don't have to worry about framing prints until next quarter (yey!) and went to Jazzercise this morning for the first time in nearly two months. Golly! The light was different outside afterwords! Like night and day! And then I found this beautiful place to photograph between Jazzercise and work... a little stream next to an abandoned railroad track... a little restored wildlife area in the middle of industrial parks! That was so fun and random.

Lord, life is easy right now! Thanks!

Jp

Oh, the Weather Outside is Delightful...

Well, even though it snowed again, I'm really loving it! It's just a dusting really... maybe an inch, but not quite. Everything is just gorgeous. Since paranoid drivers were backed up when going down the big hill on 132nd square, I took the back way down the little-bit-more treacherous hill... and it was just amazing! Even though I had someone going 3 mph in front of me. It's really a beautiful back way. Trees overhang it and it's mostly not developed as it crosses a railroad track. I felt like I was in a dream world. Everything was pristine white... the many-fingered branches hanging over the road... the gleaming bushes... and then... the blazing white valley. This side of the valley is occupied by an instant lawn company that I worked for in 2004. So it's just wide open plain, covered in white. I was sad I didn't bring a camera, but then again, I was driving on snow, down a hill... might have been a little dangerous. :) Moments like this make me glad that I get up in the morning.

Jp

And the Rain Came Down

Just sittin' here, listening to the rain pound down on the roof.
Just like I did yesterday and last night for the 30 seconds it took me to fall asleep.

Monday was so insanely busy, I barely took a breath all day long... mostly MRB actions, for a change. Yesterday and today have been much nicer though... still busy, but not pulling out my hair anymore.

A belated "happy birthday" to Rupert Holmes (thanks, Linda) and my 3 year old nephew... both born February 24th. We celebrated Micah on Sunday, and yesterday I listened to "Swing" and "Widescreen". The lady on the track "Our National Pastime" sounds exactly like "Jane Smith" from "Caller ID"... huh.

[yeah, okay... it was Alice Playten... just checked Linda's site. LOL]

As a side note: You know you've been reading Narnia too much when you start saying "bother" and "rot" and "I shouldn't wonder"... and you're an American. :)

Jp

Weekend

Friday evening, I took the dog for a walk along the Sammamish to take more pictures... but taking care of a dingo can get in the way a little... "Spiffy stay! Spiffy staaaay!" as he tries to chase a bike. I got a couple, but there weren't many birds on the swift moving river anyways. Afterwords, I dropped by Half Price Books to pick up a present for a coworker.

Saturday I slept in!!! But I had a terrible dream... so I was feeling out of sorts all morning. Did a little cleaning up in the back room, and I had quite a headache and I felt as if I might be starting to get sick. So my sister and I went horseback riding in the afternoon, and boy! was that what I needed! Got away from the city, enjoyed the country and got back in the saddle! Even though Roo bucked a little, it was still a lovely ride. The weather was perfect, and we had a wonderful time. And then in the evening, chat was hysterical. Producing discussions out of us while we obtained to sing in the moon... All with pendants and pennants and Patty Puke. LOL

Today I managed to stay pretty relaxed. Had a great sleep and a long shower. Family and friends came over around noon or so for my nephew's third birthday party, so it was wild and crazy for a time, and then everyone left all at once, except for my brother (he's been delayed again and again and is still with us until the middle of March). Spent the evening washing my bed and converting my RAW images and talking on the phone with a dear friend. And then everyone came back again and we watched a little more Dick Van Dyke. I don't feel like I'm getting sick anymore (knock on wood) and I think I might be ready for another long shot... um, week.

I thank the Lord for watching over me!
Jp

Thursday...

The problem is, by the time I am done with my day, I am usually too dog-gone tired to type. Hence, 75% of these posts are done on a following day... (sigh)

Thursday was pretty terrible at work. I did release 14 out of the 18 WI's I had from Wednesday, and got more comfortable with that process, but a coworker spent all morning looking for something that I had given to someone... back in November. Uuugggg! That was embarrassing. And then my boss did her job by making sure I knew that it was bad, and I, being already upset, got more upset.

But that was then, this is now, now I'm fine. It helped that I had photography class! For sure! I went in early and made eight prints from the 27 that I was pining about on Wednesday. I even did a little cropping and lightening and hue saturation on a few of them. Much more comfortable with Photoshop, that's for sure! Only 3 weeks left to the quarter! And only one more quarter to go after that. How sad!

Jp

Eh, Nothing but Work, Work, Work

By the time I stopped working, with lots of work left to do, it was 5:48 PM. Tons of drawings to release, and I did all my review. Whew! When I got home, I helped mom with dinner and then spent nearly the entire evening organizing hundreds of photos and selecting some to print tomorrow... I narrowed it down to 27. Well, at least it's a far cry from several hundred... It'll be way hard to decide what to do tomorrow. Yikes!

I took our poor neglected doggie for a walk to break up the organization process. And we all enjoyed an ep. of Dick Van Dyke and M.A.S.H.

Ooooh look! It's already tomorrow! (1:02 am right now)

Jp

Odds and Ends

I've been mondo tired all Monday and Tuesday...
everything is go, go, go!

Especially Tuesday. The data book process started for one of my programs, and so everything needs to get done *right now*. (the data books are all the information we analysts put together for our customers. they don't buy our hardware without them, and they must be *perfect*. understandably so...) Today should have more of a lull though, since some things need to happen before things get really wild.

Class last night was good. We took a step back from Lightroom, thank goodness (because it wasn't working last week), and we did more on Photoshop after a quick quiz to see how we're doing so far. I need to get more familiar with the tool bar... LOL! And Susan surprised me with a toy dinosaur skeleton! :) She had seen my picture last week of my Carnegie dino collection.

Here's a very random note: I forgot to mention that last Thursday on the way to class, I saw a Bald Eagle perched on a street light on the SR-520 bridge near the Arboretum. I wanted to stop and look, but it would have been inconvenient, as it is a freeway.

We got season four of the Dick Van Dyke Show from eBay yesterday... and so last night we watched the one where Laura gets her toe stuck in a pipe. LOL!

Jp

Lovely, Lovely!

Had a wonderful Sunday with a dear friend! She was house sitting, taking care of a dog, right on the Arboretum in Seattle. So we went for a walk at noon around the core of the park, came back to drop off the dogs, and then went out on the water trail that I've wanted to do for years but never got around to. It was so pretty and lonely! The sunshine I had seen that morning, coming over, had vanished behind a thick cover of clouds. But at least it was still pleasant: not warm, but not bitterly cold either. I took more pictures for my project... I think I need to work on selecting now... LOL

We got done with the walk around 3, and returned to the house. I showed her some fun stuff, like my WENN website and facebook group... and so we ended up watching "On the Air" on the internet (I am very grateful for whoever posted the whole series!) She, of course, loved it (who doesn't?). She thought that the characters sort of mimicked the roles they played on the opening sequence of 'The Hands of Time'. An interesting first impression...

And then we did work on Photoshop together... and then we went to her church together... Mars Hill in Ballard. This has been my third time visiting, and again I am impressed with how they are very culturally different from churches I usually go to (they are geared towards college age people), but how steadfastly they teach love and trust in Jesus. It's so cool to know how different we all are, but also to know that we are all loved by the same, unchangeable God.

And we rocked out to Jon Foreman in my car.
Aaah... sweet fun.

Jp

Well, That's Alright With Me

"You will visit a faraway land that has been in your thoughts." - A fortune cookie from tonight's Valentine's Day Chan's Place take-home dinner for my mom. Umm, Okay!

I slept in to an unheard of 10:30, and when I awoke I found that it was warm and sunny outside... as opposed to the cloudy and freezing that we've had all week. Almost every day I've had to scrape the cars before going to work. T-shirt weather, although slightly chilly in the shade, was very welcome! Right away I took the dog for a walk because I was so excited about the sun. And I didn't even take a camera with me! Upon getting home, I made myself a couple eggs and then my sister and I did a couple errands at the post office and bank.

I was going to work on Photoshop today, but instead, I went for another photo shoot at the Bothell Landing and Juanita Bay Park. It was brilliant sunshine out, so I didn't want to pass up the opportunity. I got lots of nice shots, but as I was getting in the car to go to Juanita, I realized I had just shot the whole 150 pictures or so in JPEG. GAAAHAHH! I hope I can use a couple anyway. The second location was great as well... my project has changed to birds on water... the bridges project has sort of gone by the wayside. At least it was good starting ground for my project to evolve.

Jp

Happy Valentine's and Other Things

Like Happy 200th, Mr. Lincoln.

My! I have been away for a while! This week was simply exhausting! Balancing work and school and life in general somehow didn't go very smoothly.

My boss was gone the first couple of days this week to spend time with a dear relative who is not doing well. On Tuesday, I did more work on the colossal amount of filing in Document Control. While sitting down next to an open drawer, I noticed something unwelcome about the lower drawer that was thought to be empty. The person that had just quit last month had stashed there a stack of documents in no order at all. This was the second time now that I had found something of this nature, so I thought I'd look in more "empty" drawers to diminish our surprises later. And I found two drawers stuffed to the gills with large, rolled, hardware drawings. The most important thing we keep. I showed my co-worker, who is heading the department now, and we decided to look through every drawer and we found six or seven more stashes of things that should have been filed, ranging from 2006 to 2008. So my boss came back on Wednesday, the next day.

She took it rather well, but was very sad, and disappointed in that employee. Now I don't mind filing at all... I find it rather relaxing actually, because it's straight-forward, no nonsense work that you can see get accomplished. But my boss didn't want me to work on it because of a time-charging issue. I was caught off guard by this, and got rather mad. I felt like walking out. I think a lot of that had to do with the way she told me, and me being so tired from class the night before where we worked on a new program called 'Lightroom' and my machine didn't work. But I did finally download and start Photoshop on my own laptop for the first time this night. That was an accomplishment in and of itself!

Thursday went much better. I got some sleep, and was prepared for what I had to do. It was a very long day however. I got to the University a little later that evening than I wanted to, and realized when I got there that I left all my prints at home. So, in earnest speed, I proceeded to the lab and printed off four prints, adjusting a few things on two of them beforehand as well. Class is always great when we do critiques, and that's what we'll be doing for the rest of the quarter and the next. After that, there was a little demonstration on mat-cutting, and then we watched a bio on a National Geographic field photographer... what a life! yikes! exciting but excruciating, both physically and mentally... and they say it's glamorous! Thy guy would leave his wife and three kids at home for weeks on end to photograph all over the world. He got deathly sick once, and usually had to work in harsh, miserable conditions. But he loved to work and photograph, and he was great.

Friday I went right to work to make up some time from leaving for class, like usual. It was very busy at work. I finished up all my tasks from Thursday and managed to get something else done too. After a quick lunch of chicken noodle soup and garden salad, I headed off to Kenmore to explore some riverfront and photograph. Aaaah! It was great! I have so many that I'm pleased with, it's going to be hard to choose which to print. When I got back home (after the sun was gone) my sister and I went to Woodinville to poke around at Target. We stopped off at Taco Time for a brief dinner, and then continued on. I ended up coming out with two new knight figurines, both Schleich models. I have a weakness for historical-looking knight figurines. One is a crusader on horseback, and the other is an archer kneeling. Both were very different from the others I have, and they are very cool. You've got to hand it to the Germans. They make great stuff! Crusader figurines always make me think of my Senior Seminar at the U... History of the First Crusade... very interesting, engaging and fun class.

Monk was pretty darn good tonight! Sad, for sure, but very well done. Loved Monk's reaction at the video at the end... liked how he's enduring doing things he doesn't like... climbing in boxes, getting hugged... the magician was great too! I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!! If they let us down this time, I will give up hope for sure.

It's way past my bedtime... 2:03 AM as I type...
Good night! Good morning! Won't you be my... valentine?

Jp

Surprise, Surprise!

With absolutely no warning, it snowed over an inch last night. The weathermen were saying rain... and since it's been in the 40's consistently lately... this was quite a surprise.

Gosh, it was beautiful though... fresh, clean snow illuminated by a brilliant full moon. It was only 34 degrees this morning, so scraping the cars was very easy. However, when I got to Jazzercise, I found it was cancelled. On to work...

Jp

Memory... all alone in the... nevermind.

Gee, I loved that song from 'Cats'. Just looked outside and there is moonlight, but I guess I'm not alone, here at home.

Anyway, it was a long trip down memory lane today. I got the notion to put all my old negatives from when I started shooting - in 1998! - into the extra negative holders I had left over from last quarter. I looked at every single picture as I sorted them and put them in sleeves.

And then people had the idea to watch a family home video this afternoon... my sister and her family were over, and we were celebrating my other sister's birthday... and so we were taken back to 1991 and on... trips across Montana, South Dakota, British Colombia, Wyoming, on the way to and at Minnesota... interspersed with birthday parties and Christmases... me, actually crawling onto an exhibit of dinosaur bones when I was 8 years old... LOL! me taking a record five minutes to jump off the dock... "Jump in, Jennie!" LOL! I was such a brave kid... LOL!

And then between watching the last episode of MASH (which was a present), and 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' (with Martin Landau) from Netfilx, we had some lovely cake.

Another week. (sigh)
Jp

Blue Skies

Even though it was totally overcast today (until about 2 pm) I had a lovely day. I got up at 9 like usual for a Saturday, to pick up my room and make myself some eggs. It was just Brian and Jeremy and I again, and this time we went 9 miles north on the Burke-Gilman trail to Lake Forest Park... and had Subway when we got there. It took us 40 minutes each way. It was my first time on my old favorite trail on my new ride, and it was so different!

When we got back to the U around 1 pm, the guys took off and I spent an hour or so on the wetlands trail with my camera. Had lots of fun with the herons, red-winged blackbirds, and several varieties of ducks. The sun came out a little later, and my battery died. It's was still on the first charge from when I bought it... a while ago! I'm very pleased with it.

When I got home, I noticed that my car was very dirty from all the sand on the roads, so I wiped it down until it shone. And then I wiped down my bike and then my GI boots, which were still dirty from riding horses last week. When I got done with all of that, I was worn out, so after some food, I took an hour nap. Boy, did that feel good!

Jp

Printing, Printing, Printing

Well, it's time for bed! Another lovely Friday came and went.

I thought about getting up early for Jazzercise, but when the alarm went off, I realized that I needed the sleep, even though I "felt" awake. So I went back to bed and ended up sleeping until 10 minutes to 8! Which is when work is supposed to start. Wasn't too late; good thing my hours are flexible... I don't work well with regular, rigid schedules early in the morning.

Work went by very quickly because I spent most of the time in Document Control, trying to get the documents under control. Seriously, though... it's just crazy how much filing there is to do. The person who left just didn't file... for months.

After I had eaten some lunch at home, I headed off to the University to work on organizing my files, get the work done in Photoshop for this week's assignment (my RAM isn't here yet! gahhh!), and select and print some photos for this Thursday. I think my project switched focus from bridges, to birds and bridges. We'll see what people think on Thursday. Except for one bit to the assignment, I did everything I wanted to.

After a lovely dinner out with the family, we got home to watch Monk just in the nick of time. At first I was skeptical, because we've seen plots sort of like this before. But I was very pleased with it in the end because they surprised me with how Monk figured it out - unlike the wheelchair one a few weeks ago. I loved the cartwheel scene with Natalie and the scene in the police station with the bully (that I recognized from The Truman Show - he plays the friend of Truman - I just looked it up now.) after Monk knew what happened. Tony plays the emotions so well. He truly is a great actor. They did it again! :)

Bed!
Jp

Going, Going... It's Almost Friday!

My goodness, these last two days have been hectic!

I started out mondo tired from staying psyched up from the amazing concert until midnight-thirty Wednesday morning. I've been really busy at work (which is a good thing, I assure you), but running low on energy.

Class on Wednesday night was really difficult, with me being tired and all the stuff we were learning... more functions in Photoshop... It was a really good thing I got there early, even though it makes my work hours irregular.

Class tonight was again, inspiring and fun. We were supposed to have prints from our projects, so I went in early again to print and I came out with four. Two of my classmates came in after me, and we had a jolly good time! I helped Susan with our Tuesday class assignment and Frank with printing his pictures... I felt very useful for the first time. All the other times people have been helping me.

So we started class with a critique, and again, I was a little surprised at and thankful for the comments I got. I'm really glad I printed that last picture... I like it best too.

The movie we watched tonight was on Richard Avedon. He was most famous for his fashion photography, but what I loved was his portraits of faces. He knew how to read faces, and he was very... maybe honest is a good word... in how he portrayed them. I loved how the movie had people's comments playing as you saw the picture they were talking about. I loved how he thought that good photography is that which makes you think about the picture and usually makes you uncomfortable somehow. He also firmly believed that the photographer is "in charge" of the subject. I wish I could remember everything he said. I thought that this film was more thought-provoking than the others we have watched. I just love this class.

When I got home around 9:45, I ate some salad and leftover spaghetti and then took Spiffy for a walk. I took my camera along and discovered that I love it even more! It shoots wonderfully at night! Sigh of contentment.

Jp

Playing Hookey!

TUESDAY, Feb. 3rd:

Long day at work! Since the line at Denny's was so long, Dad got me breakfast at work. Around 9 in the morning we had one of those ridiculous "All Hands" meetings, where the head cheese from Sacramento comes up and several people talk about money for two-plus hours. They always give me splitting headaches. I was fine until about 10:28, when my pen ran out of ink. Thankfully, medicine made me feel fine for the rest of the day. I'm so glad I can go home for lunch every day! The guy that ran the Document Control department left the company to go back to school early last month... and he left a heck of a mess of drawings and documents to file... so that's how I spent all afternoon: sorting them so they are ready to get put away.

Instead of going to class (I'm going to the section B class tonight to make up), after a quick snack of vegetable soup, fresh French bread and string cheese at home, my good friend came over and picked me up along with her brothers to go see Jon Foreman in his new indie band "Fiction Family". The concert was in a small little bar/club in East Seattle and it was very cozy... and absolutely amazing! While waiting for it to start, we went and had English style fish and chips at the place next door. Yuuummm! I had catfish with the creamiest tarter sauce I've ever had.

Now Jon Foreman is my most favorite singer/songwriter, as the lead singer in "Switchfoot", and I think I have a crush on him. Hey! He was awfully cute in his sweater and tie... and he's finally cut his hair to shoulder length! LOL! He sang like I've never heard him before and he sang two of my favorites from his EP's. There was lots of variety to the evening, with a good opening band, and the sister violinist of the other member of the band (who used to be in a band called Nickel Creek). Oh, my goodness gracious! I've never heard such good music live! Jon played his guitar, his harmonica, a banjo on one song, and the keyboard. LOVE LOVE LOVE! LOL!

Jp

Not Much to Report...

But I'll log it here anyway.

The party for Grandma lasted pretty much all day on Sunday. She had a great time with all the people who came - one from California! My aunt and mom put together a really nice food/snack table, and I was able to help with the roses and taking the pictures as well.

Today at work was rather busy! I didn't quite get through my stack of scanning though. We had some leftovers for dinner, and then I was wanting to read tonight, but my sister persuaded me to watch Dick Van Dyke and Get Smart with her for a while instead. LOL! Love those shows! They just don't make them like they used to!

So I might read a chapter or two of one of those books that have been on my nightstand for ages... and then it's off to bed and a free breakfast at Denny's tomorrow! Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

I did manage to find another war memoir read by JBL... on Amazon. It's by one of the people from the famed Easy Company. And then there was a cheaper version of a Canon battery for my camera that I wanted as a backup... so that was a good find as well.

Jp