Just Another Week

Going back to work on Monday was a real drag. It's not too surprising as the weather had changed to dull overcast and there I was having to get a ride to Building 93 for those ridiculous electronics samples that we had thought we'd never get into again. So they were stored in the dirtiest, darkest, dankest little corner of the warehouse that could have been found. Since this was the fourth time this year we had to do this, and the second in two weeks, I thought it profitable to bring them back to my building. Funny thing, on Tuesday, the next day, I needed to get into them again. I was impatient to put a photo album together from Sunday, so I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning finishing it, and that affected me adversely for the rest of the week.

Now this next bit may be a little shocking to some, so be warned (it's not my fault).

Although Meg and Jason have only been "a couple" or whatever they call themselves, for just over a month, they've already decided to get married next year. Just to set minds slightly at ease, they have known each other for over ten years. The odd part is that they are not "officially" engaged yet, because of getting a ring, but they have set a date... the first weekend of August, 2010... oh, dear, are they silly! So I have agreed to be the photographer for this event, and for my "pay" and as part of Christmas, Mom and Dad got me a DSLR camera for doing so. So the news for Tuesday this week, is that it came in the mail! :) That was a complicated way to talk about a package arriving!

Even for all this, I've been pretty un-motivated to do anything this week. All the days pretty much felt alike, except for Wednesday evening, when I read with Mom, took a nap and then talked with Mike. Thursday was dull, but I decided to start reading my Bluejacket's Manuel again, and I'm getting more motivated as I go.

Friday was better after work. I relaxed, talked with Mom and busied myself by taking pictures in my room, which I'm planning to put together in an album for you to see. I also planned dinner: marinated & grilled chicken tenderloins with grilled mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli & cheese and buttered bread. That was nice! And I also brought home some strawberry ice cream to enjoy during Monk.
My impression of Monk: Eh.

Last night I went to bed early because I was still quite tired. I dreamed all night about my girlfriends from Jr. High and Highschool up to my senior year in college (they suddenly stopped the friendship short that year). I dreamed of them becuase the younger one of the two is getting married today in southern California... and my dream was really lovely. Her older sister and I were having a grand time hanging out together, although we both remembered what had happened. If only this was real.

This morning it's rainy and cool out, although it's been sunny for most of the week. And our neighbor just painted their house yesterday...

Jp

Whhoooo!

Last afternoon, to continue my tradition about talking about the previous day, I headed down to the University District to get a new bicycle for all of these biking trips I go on on Saturdays. The shop is called "Recycled Cycles". They sell new, used, refurbished bikes, parts and accessories. They happened to have a sale going on... and I got this beautiful bike... it rides great!

I tried it out yesterday evening on the Sammamish trail in Bothell, and took my camera along and mostly just took pictures for my project. A good friend of mine came over a little later, and we enjoyed Monk together. Definitely a fun time, and a fun episode with only a few quirks. (My friend didn't understand Randy... Gaahhhh! Neither did I!)

Today, I got up for the bike ride, but I had to really pull myself out of bed. It was a demanding week with all the weird hours and extra work I did at school to try to get my camera/computer stuff to work. Turns out I still can't use Photoshop on my own laptop yet because it doesn't have enough RAM. (Just got some on newegg.com - that'll be here around Wednesday) It only has 2 or 3 hundred MB... That's why it goes slow sometimes! LOL

So the ride was amazing with my new wheels! I went so much faster! And didn't hold up the other guys half as much! Actually, we shaved 20-25 minutes off our 9 mile ride to Seward Park. A record time! All because I had a real road bike that didn't make my legs burn with every slight incline... :) So now I have two bikes that can be used for very different purposes. And I love it!

Fun, Fun, Fun!
Jp

Untitled

Well, you know you're living in a great place if you don't mind being stuck in traffic to enjoy the scenery... While driving home across the SR-520 bridge from another 18 mile bike ride (exactly like last week) I savored the view of the sun setting behind me on an extraordinarily, uncommonly sunny day. Lake Washington was a light turquoise-blue and it was ultra-reflective with the lack of wind. I could see all the mountains encircling me... the cascades to the north and east and Rainier to the south, jutting into the cloudless sky. My gosh, I love it here.

The bike ride was easier this week, but I fear it was only because I figured out that my seat needed to be raised about six inches to make it easier on my knees. Gosh! My knees were the only things that suffered from the last ride! I was surprised I wasn't all sore... I still have no idea. Maybe it was me being uncommonly faithful to go to Jazzercise since the new year (knock on wood). Friday was difficult to get myself in gear.

I'm still lagging behind everyone on the bike ride. We had six riders this week, as opposed to last week's four. Jeremy and Brian think I ought to get a real street bike - the one I have is a hybrid, with a skinny traction tire (mountain bike's have wide traction tires and street bikes, of course, have skinny bare tires.) - and they think that's what's mainly slowing me down.

Unfortunately, my digital camera (panasonic lumix) only shoots in JPEG, which is not very good for printing high quality pictures (because it throws out data from the image when it gets saved every time - don't ask me! I'm still confused about that! I just learned this in Tuesday's class.) So, my teacher recommends getting a Canon G-10 (point and shoot), since I'm not really interested in getting into SLR's yet ($,$$$+ time in learning the blasted thing). However, the G10 is top of the line point and shoot, so it's around 400 smackers online. ($500 retail!) Ouch!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the camera, but I'm not sure about when/if I can do a bike.

Gosh! I'm loving my class! We watched a movie called "The True Meaning of Pictures - Shelby Lee Adams". It raised very interesting questions about what photographers are doing when they claim to be photojournalists or doing documentary work about a people (the Appalachians, in Adams's case) and make buckets of money off of the pictures as he did. Several distinguished people in the field were offended by his methods... although they sounded very legit to me. It generated lots of fun discussion.

Friday I saw my long, lost friend again! And we went to the zoo for a couple hours.

I'm tired of talking on here now. Now to talk/type more to my WENN friends... never tired of that! :) It's just extremely hard to blog and chat at the same time.

Until later,

Jp