Relaxing

Couldn't sleep past nine, but that was okay with me. I woke up and cleaned my room. All four sets of NWUs and both coveralls were out because I had their name-tapes changed this week. The bed hadn't been properly made all week either, so it was in a serious state of dishevelment. Then I swept my rug and used my lint roller on it, since there was an incredible amount of hair, both from me and the cat.

Made myself oatmeal and scrambled eggs... and broke my drinking glass in the sink. So I had OJ in my mug. Then I wasted an inordinate amount of time on the Internet. Facebook, and tweaking my Navy blog. And I played more Minesweeper. Watched some fun stuff on YouTube via FB... and suddenly it was late in the afternoon. Finished off my spaghetti leftovers, then headed out for shopping. Got some kitchen things at Target (along with crayons for marking wiring charts in class), then headed off to Mission Valley Mall and Sports Chalet to replace my stolen Swiss Army knife keychain and get a new bike helmet. Also got some 5# weights to use in my room.

Then it was dinner at the food court... I tried Indian, and boy, was that good! Mango chicken curry on rice with some pita-type bread and OJ. Yum! Good stuff. And I've made it back in time for chat!

Jw

Sailors, Horses and Historians

or, "What I did with my weekend".

Saturday morning my legs were very, very sore. I got up around 8:00 or so and spent most of the morning setting up my Facebook group for Navy things. I don't know if it was a good idea to do is so far in advance, but I've already been sitting on the idea for a couple months, and I want to see everyone get in it before I go. I think it was a good thing.

My big plan for the weekend was to go horseback riding. I mentioned this to Mom the day before and she also wanted to go so she could measure two of the girls for the wedding (she's making their dresses!). And then suddenly Meg was free because her (almost) other half was suddenly busy... so she came along too! She and Mom took care of the measuring while I got the horses ready... Rooster was such a brat! It took me five minutes to pick one back hoof! (it is the one he's usually bad about, so I wasn't too shocked or anything). But it doesn't make sense. I do it just like all the other ones and Meg says he's been doing it just fine for her. Who knows.

But the day was just lovely! Even though there were a bit of hazy clouds, we could see the freshly-snow-dusted Cascades magnificently. All I needed in terms of the temperature was a thin sweatshirt... and it was beautiful fun. We only saw a few butterflies and robins and sparrows on the ride, but when we were leaving in the car we encountered a doe on the road.

Once back at home, we decided to go out to Mexican for dinner at our favorite little place, Santa Fe Mexican Grill with Dad and Jason as well. It was fabulous, as always. I just love their chicken enchiladas! And then at home again, we stuck in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" with Julie Andrews (1967) and we all enjoyed it during chat. We caught the tail end of a Doctor Who episode while I was just getting on, so that was sort of appropriate. :) The movie was hysterical! I little on the silly side, but that's okay by me! And Mom recognized a few of the other people (since apparently they were famous)... speaking of generation gaps... LOL! It was pretty much the perfect end to a perfect day.

Sunday morning I actually slept in for the first time in weeks! I did wake up for a moment early on, but I didn't wake up until 11:20... and I don't think I got out until 11:50. Aaaahhh! So nice!

For most (the rest) of Sunday I went through some stuff that was stacked on my floor (after lunch of course). My quest to clean up took me through old course packs from college history classes, photo albums, letters from recruiters from when I was 17, scrapbooks I had slapped together with stuff from Jr. High, High School and so on. Goodness gracious. Lots of memories. I got stuck in there practically all night.

I felt really bad about missing the church service I had wanted to go to... and we watched a stupid ol' modern movie after I discovered that fact. I don't much enjoy modern movies compared to the neat older ones I've been treated to lately. It was entertaining to a degree; it was "action packed" for sure, but that was pretty much it ("Wolverine" 2009, Hugh Jackman). Modern screenplays make me cringe. Afterwords, I went back at my room and all the history surrounding me made me forget all about it.

Jp

Wheeee!

Ooh! I saw my friends tonight! We've been chatting back and forth on Facebook about meeting tonight for dinner and then a few games of bowling. This little group of us used to be a small Bible study that met back in 2007... and before that we were all members of the University Christian Fellowship at the U of Washington from 2004-2006 (that's when I was there at least).

So anyway, I was worried it wouldn't work out because I wasn't hearing back from anyone on Facebook. But this morning I checked my *email* and sure enough, there had been lots of chatter about it. :) So we ended up meeting at the Elliot Bay Brewery in West Seattle for dinner, and then drove a mile or so to a bowling alley where I first bowled 124 and then 140 and then 90, successively. My right arm and left leg had got sort of worn out by the third go-around.

It was a marvelous time! It was fabulous to see Jen and Cam, here from Australia, and Denise and Andrew back from New Jersey. Becky and Danielle still live around here, but I hadn't seen them in a long time either. What wonderful people!

Other than that, I had a good talk & prayer this morning with my parents after they got back from church and after lunch with the family, I worked on my aquarium website, like I had been planning on doing! Only there's a little more work to do. Need to add more pictures.

What a marvelous day this has been.

Jp

More Days

Maybe I should make myself an appointment to talk about each day instead of doing these gloms of days in one post... what do you think? is it annoying to read three days in one (on average)? LOL

Well Sunday was really fun! I ended up going to church again, because I've been thinking I should lately (it's something that I haven't quite figured out yet, if it's very important to me or not). The Bible says that we're supposed to "fellowship" with other believers in order to stir each other on to love and good works. It also says things about singing songs to the Lord... but it isn't really clearly defined that I should go to the specific kind of meeting that is today's modern church service. Hmm. Well... it's been turning around in my mind. We'll see if anything changes it by the end of my study on worship.

After lunch on Sunday with the family, we stuck in that episode of Dick Van Dyke with the guy from the last Thin Man movie. Max the Mobster... or whatever that was. So funny! And after that, I was invited over to Jason's house with Meg & Jason for his birthday dinner with his family. I helped his mother make the stir fry... which was very large and fun. The whole evening was very nice, indeed.

But then I did something rather ridiculous. I got on Facebook that night and I didn't get off until quite a bit later the next morning. Yeah, stupid! Except I had a lot of fun doing my annual log-in as the 3 fictional characters I made profiles for. And I talked with my friend from Australia... and I stayed up way too late. And that really affected the rest of Monday and some of today. Thank the Lord we only have 8 hour workdays this week because of the holiday.

Ooooh. The final set of my books got done on Monday though... that was really nice. I've only been working on this program all year long. So my desk is about to undergo a major clean sweep. :) Oh, and I finally remembered to actually purchase the tickets for my mom and I to see my grandparents in February. I was "going to do it right now" for a few days.

Today wasn't much of anything... except lots of cleaning up the desk (with lots more on the way) and being a little late for work again. We watched "Shadow of the Thin Man" tonight. And besides the dopey things they threw in there about their little kid, it was very fun.

And I am going to hit the sack right now! Wow! 9:30! I might just make it in the morning! How blessed I am... only 6 hours tomorrow and then four and a half days off!

Yay!
Jp

Holy Crap!

So I log on to Facebook tonight... er, this morning... just to check to see if anyone's liked my Spiffy/Bolt rendition... and I check my groups... and I find that my JBL fan club has jumped from 5 people, including character profiles for Betty Roberts and Victor Comstock...(making that 3 real people) to 29! including his wife! Holy crap!

LOL! and at the same time, being utterly embarrassed, since I have a number of, um, goofy screen shots. lol. (Jen turns red) and continues laughing.

Glad to know that other people know of his work.

Jp

Joy!

'
Tom Beckett just made my day!

He's "delighted that [they] haven't been forgotten by the fans".

(Big Smile!)

Jp

Lovely View of the Lake

A couple days ago, a friend of mine from Husky Band invited me and a couple of his friends via Facebook to go for a bike ride today, starting at the University and going 9 miles down Lake Washington to Seward Park and back. It has been a long time since I've been biking, but I've wanted to get back into it... so I was quite surprised and pleased that it worked out the way it did.


I got literally winded after the 2nd hill - gasping for air and such -, but we stopped for a moment at the top so I could get my breath back and we continued on. Most of the terrain on the ride was even, so I made it alright. And that's where it was really nice! Even though today was windy and cloudy and pretty chilly, it was just wonderful riding along the lake. I had never been on this route before, so I was surprised that we were so close to the water.

I've done the north route (from Woodinville to Seattle) on the Burke-Gilman Trail, but only a few times can you see the lake. Except for that one short part in Kenmore where there are these beautiful views of Mount Rainier (on clear days). But it's very different from the south route that we did today... the north route is never on streets (it's a maybe 12 foot wide paved path)... the south route is completely on the streets. First time biking with cars! Wouldn't want to do that alone much!

Gosh, what fun! The whole trip took two and a half hours. After we were done I went and got myself half of a QFC sandwich (the kind I adore... sourdough, turkey, swiss, 4 kinds of veggies and avocado and humus), and when I got home I ate it and then took a long, relaxing shower. I know my seat and my legs are going to feel horrible tomorrow... oh well!

Jp

Pictures and Things

I don't know if people will be able to see this if they're not on facebook, but here's an album of pictures from fall and winter that I just created.

Today at work I started training for the Document Control position, since our current person is moving on to go back to school in a totally unrelated field. So that makes three departments I work in now, with my regular responsibilities in the Data Center and my position as the MRB coordinator. Wild times!

Jp

Don't Quite Know How to React

I found Kevin O'Rourke, Mary Stout, Tom Beckett, Matthew Bennett, Margaret Hall and Amanda Naughton on Facebook today. All have been invited into the WENN group, and the first two listed have joined it already.

Um, HOLY COW!

I like facebook.

Jp