some pics for a friend

So, I promised a friend of mine that I would post some pictures for her to see on this blog. So all of the rest of you, sorry, but you'll have to deal with seeing these pictures as well. And no, I'm sure you won't understand what they're all about...but that's ok, cause you're not supposed to. But I wanted to be sure that my dear friend who is in India can get the chance to see some friendly faces from home. So there we go. :-)

trikes!

On my walk to work this morning I passed by a really interesting site. Outside the front of a building in Ballard there was a wall being erected with rocks, and interspersed in the rock wall were small tricycles! It was just too random..had to take a picture and post on this blog.

Happy Mountain Day!

If I was still at Mount Holyoke, I would NOT be in class today. Why? you non-MHCers may be asking? Well, because it's Mountain Day...that one precious day that we all yearned for from the start of classes in the fall, when the abbey church bells would start going off bright and early in the morning to announce that classes for the day were canceled so that we might all go out and climb a mountain. Although, to be perfectly honest I never went and climbed Mt. Holyoke on Mountain Day...I did at another time...but usually I spent Mountain Day relaxing and enjoying that there were no classes. And if I got really lucky and Mountain Day fell on a day when a paper was due then I usually spent the day in a happy haze of euphoria that I had more time to work on and finish said paper :-)

If only we alums could continue the tradition of Mountain Day in our work environments...how great would that be?!?! But instead I'm stuck inside at work on a gorgeous Seattle fall day with temps in the upper 70's, blue skies and bright sunshine. It's just so sad...so very, very sad.

Instead of pictures from a hike today...I've included some pics from a hike I did a week or so ago to Lake Serene (including a tree that was on the trail that I fell in love with).

Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving!!!

This past weekend was Oktoberfest in Fremont...and my favorite part of the Fremont Oktoberfest took place: the Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving contest!!!! Love it! So much fun! And of course I went to both days of the event and took a million pictures (which made choosing a few for this blog kind of difficult).

For those of you who have never heard of Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving, it's basically where you care a pumpkin with a chainsaw. This process creates great entertainment with a combination of factors: lots of loud noise, spraying pumpkin guts and wacky personalities.

Here are some pictures from the carving contest, cause it's hard to describe and much better to see visuals to get the full impact:





The winner from the first day (and my favorite from both days):

It's all about Beckham...

...and soccer, I suppose. Went to the Real Madrid vs. D.C. United game last night, and was one of the 68,000 spectators who were drooling over Beckham. Lisa and I both were insanely jealous of the little girl who got to walk out with Beckham when the players were announced...he held her hand and draped his arms on her shoulders the entire time. *swoon* The above picture is from the warm up before the game. Beckham is the one in front with his back to the camera, wearing those awesome blue shoes (that he wore during the World Cup as well...I love those shoes!). The game itself was pretty awesome as well. It was an interesting experience to be in an almost sold out stadium for a soccer game, and then to have EVERYONE cheering for both teams. The final score was 1-1 and there were some really great shots on goal. I felt really bad for Freddy Adu, the 17 year old on D.C. United, because all the older players were tripping him, hitting him, and the ref was against him the entire time. He seemed to be a bit frustrated about that...not that I blame him.

Anyway, I tried getting some more shots of Beckham, but the only way I could get anything descent was to use my digital zoom...which created some funky pixelized photos...so I decided to have some fun in photoshop:


This one is a fun one with brush strokes over the image.















And then Beckham in color pencil.












And last but not least...Beckham under plastic wrap!

Coup de Boule

So I read an article on the BBC online today that was talking about this song that has been sweeping France. It's called "Coup de Boule" or Headbutt, and it's by La Plage. Apparently the recording company, La Plage, made up this song as a joke right after Zidane headbutted the Italian and then proceeded to help lose the game because he didn't play. This little joke of a song, though, became a huge success and now is played on all the radio stations and all the beaches :-)

After reading this article I, of course, became quite curious to hear the song for myself. I found it online...and I have to say, for any of you who understands French, you must check out the music video at the link below (click on the link for "clip de Coup de Boule)...too funny! And even if you don't understand French I think you'd still find it funny. Enjoy!

La Plage Records

Pirates!

Saturday night was the Seattle Seafair Torchlight parade downtown. It was a lot of fun with tons of wild little kids running around like puppies and clowns and pirates (did I mention pirates...yes, there were pirates). I had a bit too much fun taking funky pictures in between laughing fits. And here are some of my favorites for your viewing pleasure! See if you can tell what the subjects of the photos are!

Relaxing Doe Bay

I love the San Juan Islands! Spent a prolonged weekend at a hippie resort called Doe Bay on Orcas Island and came back feeling totally relaxed and wishing that I could spend the rest of my life up in the islands. It's so great how as soon as you get on the ferry at Anacortes everything else just falls away...the only things that become important are the water, the weather and food. All I did over the weekend was eat yummy food (there's a new cafe at Doe Bay that serves incredibly delicious vegetarian food and really good Kire), sleep and nap in the shade, stare out at the water (the view seen below), read lots and lots (got a great book about soccer called, How Soccer Explains the World, by Franklin Foer), some hiking under really green trees and last but certainly not least: spending lots of time in the hot tub and sauna at Doe Bay...which also has an incredible view of the bay.

The whole weekend reaffirmed my wish to some day run my own bed and breakfast...I think that would be so great! I would love to try and create an environment, like at Doe Bay, where people feel totally pampered and relaxed. I mean, at Doe Bay I was camping, sleeping in a tent, but everything about the place from the nice showers, the hot tub, the great restaurant and the public kitchen made the entire camping experience feel more like some sort of luxury camping resort. Now I want to do that, but in a bed and breakfast environment...and maybe up in the islands. I'll just have to keep dreaming.

Allez les Blues!!!!

I don't believe it!!! France won against Portugal today, which places then in the final World Cup game against Italy! The blue team is playing against the other blue team! I'm soooo excited!!! Party at my house for the final on Sunday!

mutant animals

So I've been trying to get my pictures together from the Fremont Solstice Parade to post them on this blog, but haven't had the time to go through them yet to pick the best ones...in the mean time I do have some other pictures that I can post for y'alls viewing pleasure. These images were not taken by my camera...they were in fact forwarded to me, and I just couldn't resist not sharing them. So enjoy! And if you want to see more, let me know and I can forward them all to you :-)

Parkour

Parkour Craze Reaches New Heights

The above is an article from the BBC about the street art called Parkour that involves jumping from rooftop to rooftop, scaling walls and basically some pretty cool feats of acrobatics. I recently saw a French action movie called District B-13:

District B-13 official website

which features this new street sport, and I totally fell in love with the it. I know that I could never pull off being able to do these stunts myself, but I love watching others do it....the fluidity, grace and seeming ease of it is really awesome. Not to mention that the moves are just plain hot. One of the two guys who started Parkour in the suburbs of Paris will be featured in the new James Bond movie, and there are several documentaries that have been made about the sport. If you'd like to see more, here are some websites that I found with a quick google search:

Parkour::Free Running

le Parkour

Urban Free Flow

Foiled Again

I think that the boulangerie in Wallingford has something against me...over the past year I have been trying to get some of my favorite tasty treats from there, but every single time I manage to get there...THEY'RE CLOSED! One time if was because they were on vacation, one time it was a Monday which is their one day of the week off, but all the other times it has been during their open hours on their open days...but they've been closed! Like this morning for example: I was in desperate need for some comfort food cause I had a lonely night last night without Guinness (my dog sitting duties are on pause because Uncle Richard took him up to the farm for a few days). So I decided that what would make me really happy would be a brioche aux amandes, or really any tasty treat at the boulangerie. So I walk over before having to catch the bus in to work....and they were CLOSED!!! *gasp* I think they knew I was coming and closed up to continue this mean game they have going on here.

*sigh* I have such fond memories of that boulangerie from when I was a kid...my parents and I used to get Sunday breakfast there every week for years. It's actually the best place to get French bread and pastries in town. They're not super sweet like some places, and much more authentic in how they're made.

One of these days I'll trick that boulangerie into being open for me! Maybe I'll just keep going by every day and until they let me in. hmmm, must plot and plan.

How to watch the World Cup

I read TomDispatch from time to time...and today there was an article by Tony Karon entitled "How to Watch the World Cup: Politics and War by Other Means." It's a great article with great stories about the importance of the World Cup to all countries (except the USA). It's a bit long, but I highly recommend reading even just a portion of it, it covers a bit of everything:

TomDispatch: Tony Karon

And here's a great quote from that article:

"From contemporary geopolitical and cultural conflicts (or their historic echoes) to the impact of globalization, the World Cup offers a real-time snapshot of the state of our world."

I then, of course, had to look up Tony Karon's blog, Rootless Cosmopolitan, and here's the link to his World Cup commentary:

What do they of football know who only football know

Happy Art Is Fun

I'm back online after our modem crashed at work...that was difficult. However did we live life before the internet came along? Ditto for cell phones.

Anyway, I had some fun this weekend going through some old art material I had stashed away...and found some pretty funny mementos from my past. But the only person who will understand is Leah...and possibly Beks:

Hidden away between scraps of art paper was an ad for a French movie featuring a guy on a bike...taped over his head was the head of Legolas...and taped over the name of the movie was the slogan "Happy Art Is Fun". And then a few minutes later I found some other treasures...figures from a Buffy the Vampire Slayer game, all with talk bubbles wishing me happy birthday in true Buffy fashion. That's right Leah, I still have those little guys...and had a good laugh upon finding them again!

movie update

So far I've seen three movies at SIFF, and for the most part they've all been great. And for now my favorite is Expiration Date, which I saw on Saturday. For anyone who loves quirky comedies and like making fun of death...this is the movie for you. Especially cool (as far as I'm concerned) is the fact that the film was shot entirely in Seattle (cameo appearances for the troll and Waiting for the Interurban...also featured quite a bit is Ballard Ave.)

I also saw Russian Dolls which was pretty good...Xavier super annoying, but he's supposed to be...and I wish that more of the characters from l'Auberge Espagnol had bigger parts in this movie. But overall it was great to finally see something happen between Xavier and Wendy. And it was so obviously a French movie...and no JJ, this does not mean that everybody died at the end...just that there was lots of nudity. There's this one scene where...well, I'll keep that a secret for anyone who wants to see the film :-) Plus, seeing Paris again, even if on film, was awesome.

And the last movie I saw this weekend was Princess Raccoon...I've been finding it a bit hard to describe this film...it's a musical, filmed primarily on stage sets...and it's a sort of fairy tale about a princess of magical woodland creatures and a human prince (whose father wants to kill him off) who fall in love. There were some great dance numbers (and by great I mean incredibly silly), but one of my favorite scenes is when the king is trying to kill Princess Raccoon on a beach (one of the few scenes not on a set)...but all the dialogue was dubbed in and they didn't use any of the sounds from the surf or wind...so you see a beach with waves and obviously lots of wind pulling at clothing, but you don't hear any of it. Very strange...but then the entire movie was strange.

Seattle

Here's a neat website with photographs of Seattle...they're 360 degree images and very fun (but beware, you might get dizzy if you spin the images too fast):

VR Seattle

The present or the past?

From the today's Seattle PI, cartoon by David Horsey.

SIFF

I bought tickets for the Seattle international Film Festival yesterday...in case anyone might be going, here are the movies I'll be seeing:

Expiration Date (already posted about this one...can't wait to see it!)
Russian Dolls (this is a sort of sequel to l'Auberge Espagnol)
Princess Raccoon (Japanese, and I guess it's a musical..we'll see)
Carmen in Khayelitsha (South African and based on an opera)
Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas (this just looks silly)
Vishwa Thulasi (need to get my Indian movie fix)
No. 2 (from New Zealand)
the Valet (and I also need my French movie fix)
What Remains (documentary about the photographer Sally Mann...this one should be excellent)

Can't wait to see these movies :-) I love SIFF, but I wish that it wasn't just once a year...sigh. Or I guess I wish that we got more international movies as general releases instead of having to wait for film festivals to see them.

football! (not american football..the real game)

In a little less than a month the World Cup of soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it, will begin. Then it will be one solid month of intense competition. I'm already starting to get excited...and at work Richard and I have been checking out the FIFA website for updates and looking at slide shows. I've even already found a local pub in my neighborhood where I will be able to go and watch the games. Here is the website in case any of you want to check out the teams or the game schedules:

FIFA World Cup

And I also have to post two of my favorite pictures that I nabbed from the slide show:



This impressive looking guy is the Czech team's head coach, Karel Bruckner. Doesn't he look like some sort of warrior king getting ready for a major battle?

And to contrast the intense Czech coach, here's another pic that is a bit more in the realm of the silly, gee...I wonder, do you think a lot of guys watch football?

court jester

Yes, that's right...I'm going to take a minute to join all the many others talking about Stephen Colbert's monologue at the White House Correspondents' dinner. If you have been living under a rock over the last week, here's a site that has video of the event:

Thank You Stephen Colbert

I wish I could have been there...I think it would have been vastly amusing to listen to Colbert roast Bush and the media right to their faces. To see the media squirm in their seats and laugh nervously or not at all and the watch Bush try to keep up and understand what's really being said. "Wait, is he making fun of me, or is he really praising me?" But really, what were they expecting when they invited Colbert themselves...have they never watched his show?

Here's another link for y'all. It's to an article in the Seattle PI:

Why Stephen Colbert is my hero

Expiration Day

So I learned about what looks to be a great movie over the weekend that encompasses all the feelings I went through when I turned 25...basically that my life was over cause I'm old now...only I didn't have a milk truck trying to run me over :-)

Anyway, it's an independent film, shot in Seattle and looks perfectly goofy...I can't wait to see it:

Expiration Day

And this makes sense how?

Exxon's $8B 1Q profit is 5th highest ever

It's amazing to me that the oil companies are getting away with this right now. Are people not outraged enough by these numbers compared to gas prices these days? And don't even get me started on what Bush came up with a few days ago for his plan to lower gas prices.

Shoshone Land Rights

For anyone with an interest in native american issues and their fight against government practices and laws, this is an interesting article...and of course it's from The Sunday Times Magazine UK and not from some US magazine or paper.

Defiance in the Land of the Free

impeachment

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042406B.shtml

Who knows? It just might work.

too true

Fremont Outdoor Movies

OK people, I just found out that the list of movies for the outdoor films in fremont is out! So for those of you in Seattle, time to start filling in your calendars cause you know that I'll be trying to drag y'all to see my favorites! And they have some awesome films on the list this year! Without further ado:

Good Old Fashioned Summer Fun in Fremont
2006 Seattle Summer Schedule

Saturday, June 24th - Movie: Kung Fu Hustle

Saturday, July 1st - Movie: Shrek 2

Saturday, July 8th - Movie: Black Scorpion

Saturday, July 15th - Movie: Labyrinth

Saturday, July 22nd - Movie: Shaun of the Dead

Saturday, July 29th - Movie: Grease

Saturday, August 5th - Movie: The Manster

Saturday, August 12th - Movie: March of the Penguins

Saturday, August 19th - Movie: Bend it like Beckham

Saturday, August 26th - Movie: It! The Terror from OuterSpace

Saturday, September 2nd - Movie: King Kong

Of course if you know me at all you should be able to guess which ones will be my must sees...Kung Fu Hustle, Labyrinth, Shaun of the Dead, March of the Penguins, Bend it like Beckham...and then three the of the above movies will be Twisted Flicks so I'll also have to go to at least one of those...I'm thinkig maybe It! The Terror from OuterSpace (cause I'm almost 100% sure that one will be a Twister Flick..and for those that don't know what I'm talking about..the Twisted Flicks are when Jet City Improve members perform all the dialogue, soudeffects and music for the film and all original sounds from the film are taken out...hilarious good times).

hmm...well...uh....riiiiight

David Horsey cartoon from todays Seattle PI.

happy easta from da easta croc

Crash! Bang!

Had a strange morning at work today...we received several calls from clients all worried because they heard through the grapevine that a car had crashed into the studio! Apparently there was something about this on the local news last night. I think that it's another Art & Soul Gallery which is not in Seattle, but one of those bordering towns somewhere like Lynnwood because upon reaching work today the studio was whole and healthy. In any case, these clients all had friends who saw said news broadcast and then reported to their artist friends, "hey, your photographers/printers had a car drive into their studio!" I will admit that it is a bit strange to receive a call in which a client is freaking out because they think there is a car that has run over their art while in our care...all I could think to do is walk down to the front of the studio, look around and then shrug and say, "nope, no car in here."

musical excitment!!!

I just found out that one of my favorite musical groups, Amadou and Mariam are coming to town!!! They will be playing at the Showbox (not my favorite venue, but whatever..it's Amadou and Mariam!!!!!!!) on June 20th. Super excited! Must get tickets! Although I don't know who would want to come with me, since the only person I know who would probably go is my dad. hmmm.

hack hack

So what's the deal with getting sick in the spring time? I don't get it...although even worse, I suppose, is getting sick in the summer. In any case, if you couldn't already tell...I'm sick! bah. And it's my own fault too...have been working quite a bit lately cause things are crazy busy at work...then there was the opening on Saturday so that was even more work and then for some reason Sunday night I could not sleep..not a wink! So of course, woke up monday with a sore throat...I figured it would go away pretty quickley, but noooooo. It's wednesday and I've still got it! On the plus side it is JUST a sore throat, even though it's kind of annoying I'll live ;-) On the other plus side I get to drink yummy lemon and honey drinks that my mom makes for me. I even had one to go this morning....mmmmm. There's something very soothing and happy about hot water, fresh squeezed lemon juice and tons of honey.

long time no write

It's been forever and a day since I last wrote on here, so I thought I'd finally put something up so that the St. Patricks Day cartoon will go away. Work has been crazy busy so I haven't really had the chance to take time for blogging...and speaking of work, I'd like to give a public shout-out to Alison...thanks for the talking monkey ecard..that was AWESOME!!!

OK, so let's see...what to write...what to write. Well, I guess I can do a quick recap of the last several weeks. I'll start with my bday which turned out to be an awesome celebration that lasted about two weeks. It included a great Paperboys concert at the Tripledoor, extreme ironing, dinner at Costas Opa and getting shiny blue Greek worry beads, the best birthday cards from Lisa's fourth grade class (who think I'm the desk fairy) and an awesome birthday song sung over the phone with cha cha chas (I still have that message saved on my phone, it's just too cute), going up to Vancouver for the first time ever and loving it, also including meeting some very sweet friends of Naomis who got married that weekend (this trip also included lots and lots and lots of asian food, with a three hour post-wedding chinese dinner, yum). There was a lot more, but that's all I have the energy to recollect for the moment. Basically turning 25 became a big old party that didn't want to end :-) and I've stopped stressing about the white hair...it can grow as it pleases.

Since the trip to Canada work has been crazy crazy crazy so there hasn't been too much to report, except that I saw Anna Nalick at the Tractor Tavern which was a lot of fun. Most people there didn't really seem to know her music, and there was a really super drunk lady who has practically body slamming people..and who did she decide to stand (if you can call what she was doing "standing") next to? Oh yes, that would be me. But besides that it was a lot of fun.

hmm, what else...oh! Had a weird experience yesterday when walking home from work. I was waiting at a light and heard the chugging sound of an old truck also at the light. The sound immediately brought up memories of going to Maine when I was a kid with my grandparents to visit my sort of adopted grandparents. Anyway, the truck sound reminded me of the sound of the boat motor when we'd go out on the water island hopping or fishing. All of a sudden I could practically smell the Maine ocean. It was a super strong sensory memory and kind of weird...but also made me wish I was back there now, but especially with those certain grandparents/adopted grandparents who are no longer around.

One last thought..I love springing forward and the fact that there is sunshine when I walk out the door after work..even when I get out late! Makes me happy...can't wait till the weather warms up even more! Summer and all the fun that includes in Seattle will be here very soon! Can't wait!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hours of entertainment

You all MUST check out this website:

South Park Studio

The above image was created through this website...it's the South Park version of me! Only, they don't have devil horns, so I couldn't really complete the full me...but the angel side is represented. Ok, gotta go back and make more...this is way too much fun!

French students revolt

Over the past few days I've been following news from France where students in Universities, and now high schools have been mounting demonstrations against a new employment law that the Prime Minister, Villepin, is trying to push through. There was even a sit in at the Sorbonne in Paris...the students were eventually taken forcefully out by police in full riot gear. There's going to be huge demonstrations tomorrow with students and young people traveling from all over the country to Paris to participate. Basically, this new plan was set up in an attempt to try and create options for employers that would make it easier to hire more young people (this being an attempt to help resolve major issues that came out with the rioting months ago)...however, the program puts into place options for employers that do not at all favor the employee. One of the major issues is that the employee (this is applicable for anyone 26 years of age and younger I believe) is placed on a two year contract which states that at any time during the first two years of employment, the employer can fire the employee without giving a reason, nor does the employer need to give any sort of notice..one day your working and the next your not.

If you can read French, here are some sites with info for and against this new employment plan:

Movement des Jeunes Socialistes

UNI

And here's an article in english for those of you who can't read French but might be interested:

Seattle PI

It's been interesting to follow this issue...it reminds me just how lame the US is in terms of how citizens interact with government and politics...I know that France is a smaller country and all that, but really. I can't imagine the youth of the US rising up and demanding better employment rights if something like this happened here. And these demonstrations that have already taken place, and are being planned are having an effect...politicians are responding and there is a dialogue and interaction between citizens and government. From experience I know that the French take their politics very seriously and they would never stand for a government that did not allow them to be vocal in what they stand for...or for that government to ignore them. Of course some of what has been going down in France with the students has been violent, but then again that doesn't surprise me much either...the French Revolution comes to mind. Although, apparently there had been a week of peaceful demonstrations with no attention being paid so the students decided to force the issue. We'll see where this all goes.

This and That

Found a five dollar bill when I got off the bus on my way home from work last night. That was exciting :-)

By using the measuring tool in google earth yesterday...I discovered that I walk about two miles when I walk to work. And then from there figured out that I walk 4mph. Speedy me!

Have become addicted to lemon tea over the past week.

Can't wait for my trip up to Vancouver this weekend...it's finally hitting me that I'm getting out of Seattle for a few days! And getting out of the US as well...even if it is just crossing the border into Canada. Still exciting :-)

ok, that's all the random stuff I can come up with at the moment.

Pearls Before Swine...again

I love those crocs...they're so stupid!

A quarter of a century

I'm old today....25...I think I hear my knees squeaking, and I woke up with a pain in my back, and my eleven white hairs stood up on end this morning, and...and...oh, wait...I guess I'm not really that old yet. Plus I still have my better than 20/20 vision so that's all I really care about (especially with my job). However, must everyone keep saying, "ah, 25...you're a quarter of a century old." that just makes me feel like I'm ANCIENT!

I'm as old as a quarter now....yay!

Google's quote of the day:

"I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out."
- Rodney Dangerfield

Oscars

This image comes from the Seattle PI, their collection of Oscar shots...it shows Nick Part and Steve Box, the creators of "Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit"...they brought matching crazy bow ties for their Oscars...how cool is that!? I love those guys!

Other winners that I had to cheer for were the Frenchies from "March of the Penguins" who brought stuffed animal penguins with them!!! yay! More cool people! My mom and I were jumping around cheering for the Frenchies when they won :-) well, plus we really loved that movie. Then there was the winner of the Best Foreign Film that went to "Tsotsi" from South Africa, which isn't out in theatres quite yet...but I've seen the trailer and it looks excellent, and apparently the soundtrack is awesome as well. Can't wait to see that one! One other movies that was up for Best Foreign Film was "Joyeux Noel", a French film that shows good potential as well...but mainly I have to see that movie cause my favorite actor with the gorgeous eyes, Benno Fürmann, is in it. *swoon*

video

So why is anyone surprised at what the new video that was just released shows concerning Bush being briefed about hurricane katrica? I mean, we know that he lies all the time...I mean, duh, weapons of mass destruction in Irag? Come on now. Here we are now getting to view another lie...his statement that no one could have guessed the levees would break in New Orleans is now officially a lie...cause he knew, and so did Chertoff. Although, perhaps he wasn't listening during that video clip...perhaps he was just sitting there with his brain turned off. That's an even scarier thought.

On a completely different note, check out the following site:

7 Deadly Sinners: March calendar

click on the calendar image and you'll be able to read all the details...it's quite excellent.

Port woes

Alright, so I have to give my two cents of this whole Dubai port scandal thingy. Personally I think it's kind of funny....I mean, you have Bush and his administration that have been creating a culture of fear within the United States concerning terrorism and the Arab World. Then along comes this port deal that would have an arab corporation running six ports within the US. Really, Bush should have seen this coming. Of course there are now a vast majority of Americans who are angry and scared at the prospect of having arabs controlling our ports (which have major security issues to begin with). Now, my own opinion is that as long as the Dubai company is checked out and gets an ok security wise to come into the US then there's no problem...they should be scrutinized just like any other foreign company coming to work in our ports just because that is the smart thing security wise to do. Should we be scared that the United Arab Emirates will try to take over the country or let in mass groups of terrorists? No. However, I just can't help but think that Bush had this one coming :-) The really bad part is that this whole thing is making the US look like a country of racist idiots who think that anyone of arab descent must be involved in one way or another with terrorism. Sigh. The really sad part is that for a huge chunk of the US, this sentimate is true. Thanks Bush.

voting

Finally some hard evidence is being found that proves there was voting fraud in the last presidential election:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022506F.shtml

The world we live on

Craig discovered something really fun at work yesterday that I've been trying out this morning: google earth. I remember when google first came out with this product...it wasn't available for use with Macs, but it is now! So I downloaded it to my computer this morning and proceeded to make myself sick! It's super fun! You feel as though you're flying around the way that the program zooms you in and out and around the globe. It makes my head spin. The coolest parts are some areas that they have built up with a 3D effect...like Mt. St. Helens. You can fly over it and then level the globe out so that you're looking at the mountain straight on instead of from above. Very cool! Except that now I need to take a break and get my head to stop spinning.

and the Cheney jokes continue...

Craig found this online at: http://www.joeygibson.com/images/cheney.jpg

No killing, just love

OK...OK...I promise, this will be the last comic I'll post for a while. I realize that I've put a lot up over the last week or so...but there have been so many great ones! And I HAD to post this Pearls Before Swine...too funny, and since I put up the one from yesterday, I had to complete it with this one.

Brrr

So apparently my thoughts of spring came a bit too early...and all those poor flowers that have popped up all over the city were a bit premature as well. Temperatures over the last couple of days have been steadily dropping...we even got a bit of snow in the hills of Seattle Monday night, and this morning I woke up to frost and the water in the the bird baths frozen solid. And the temps are supposed to be getting even lower by the end of the week...every day the weather men keep predicting colder and colder temps...now we are at 20 - 15 degrees as the low for Seattle Thursday to Saturday...and if the wind picks up then it'll be even colder with wind chill...with the highs during the day around 30. BRRRRRR!!! Stupid Alaska air...stay up north, we don't want you down here in the Pacific Northwest! There's a reason I moved back to Seattle, and that was to get away from the cold of east coast winters! I can deal with all the dark clouds and rain...but I am bad with cold...really really bad.

Happy Loves Day

While most parts of Valentine's Day kind of piss me off, I will still join in the festive atmosphere of hearts and pinkness by telling y'all to check out the following blog:

7 deadly sinners

This group of artists have compiled a collection of old Valentine's Day cards, created new ones and also put up a few from when they were youngsters. It's a pretty funny compilation with some strange, strange stuff. But I think that pretty much anyone will find something that they like..for example one of my favorite is (surprise, surprise) the pirate card. :-)

Happy V-Day, and watch out for that crazy cupid character...those arrows look deadly, who ever thought it was a good idea to give a bow and arrow to a crazy little kid? He's either going to hurt himself, or more likely shoot the arrow into someone's eye! ouch.

what did I tell you about cupid?!

Sorry guys, another Pearls Before Swine cartoon...but when I read it, I thought it was so perfect.

yum, food

I love Bizzaro.

Bang Bang

Did you hear that Cheney shot someone? Ok, so it's not really that serious, but I love asking that questions...it just sounds so funny! And I just had to add this cartoon that was in the Seattle PI today by David Horsey. :-)

In other news, watched Grey's Anatomy last night...wow! Ok, I will freely admit that I am now completely hooked on that show. And speaking of TV...yay for the Olympics. Really enjoyed watching the ski jumping and the downhill skiing yesterday, as well as the speed skating (even though Seattle's man, Apolo Ohno, didn't end up doing well). It's so amazing how effortless the athletes make speed skating look. The Olympic opening ceremony on Friday was pretty entertaining...or at least the first half that I watched. Partly I think the entertainment factor was high because JJ and I were commenting back and forth about it by phone. :-) yay for dancing trees, rolling cows and best of all the flaming skaters!!! My favorite!! I want a helmet that shoots out fire! I have to admit, the best part of watching the Olympics is when I can share it with JJ, adds a completely different dimension and entertainment factor compared to the more boring option of watching the games alone.

Also of note from the weekend, I saw two movies: The Producers and the Pink Panther. I would recommend both to anyone who needs to see a movie that will make them laugh, as long as you don't want anything of substance. Both were laugh out loud funny, the Producers in a word play sort of way along with a bit of physical humor and the Pink Panther for more traditional slap stick humor.

new H-bomb project

Truthout.org has a new article up today about how US nuclear scientists are working on designs for a new H-bomb, along with other future nuclear weapons. I really don't understand why we have to go that route...why do we need nuclear weapons? Especially since we don't want anyone else to have them. I think it's really stupid to say to countries like Iran, no you can't have nuclear capabilities, but now we're going to develope new nuclear weapons.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020706K.shtml

Not cool

The Seahawks lost the superbowl yesterday...and all I'm going to say is that the game was rigged! Stupid officials! It was nice of my non-Seattle friends to be rooting for Seattle though...and thanks Dan, although the sentiment that there's always next year doesn't quite work for us cause with the Hawks, well you never know when they will plummet back to being the worst in the league. But you never know, maybe the team has finally broken whatever terrible spell was cast on them. And JJ, although the underdogs didn't win, thanks for your support as well..it was fun getting to call you up at random parts of the game to complain and yell against the unfairness of it all ;-)

And now my interest in football has waned once again...I still don't understand the game all that well..obviously cause there were a few calls last night that I DID NOT agree with, and perhaps that's only cause I don't know all the rules...or cause the game was rigged.

At least the Olympics start on Friday so I will have something else to grab my attention and soothe the pain from Sunday's loss....I think the reason why it was so important for me, and the rest of the city, for the Hawks to win was that I had grown up with them losing ALL the time, which is probably why I never got into football, cause the home team was such a lost cause. And now, we finally made it to the Superbowl...and what happened?!?! We lost. *sigh* That win was so important to us, especially since everyone and their mother were rooting for the Steelers! Blah.

Oh well, I guess you're right Dan, there's always next year.

it's art time!

Today's post is going to tap into the art historian in me...sorry people!

First I want to mention that my dear friend Amelia interviewed an artist, Matt Greene, who currently has a show up in Berlin. Her awesome interview can be read at:

www.thefanzine.com

And now I'd like to recommend to anyone in Seattle that they should go and check out the Henry Art Gallery's current show featuring some of the works from their collection. The art itself that is on display isn't really all that spectacular (there are some great gems in the collections, but not every piece is an eye popping wonder)....the really excellent thing about this show is the way it was hung. Instead of the art hanging on walls as we are all used to seeing exhibit set-ups, this show is completely different. Each piece is mounted on iron bars bolted into the floor so that they stand alone. On the back of each frame is a plank of wood that has the date of the artwork in bold black paint, and below that in smaller lettering is the name of the artist and the title. When walking into the space, the first thing you see are rows upon irregular rows of wood planks with black dates. You can't see the any of the artwork, and so my very first impression was that I had walked into a cemetery, or some sort of memorial space. Above each artwork there is suspended a light, with black wires extending from the ceiling, so that above your head it looks like a black web. As I was walking through the space looking at the art, I found myself performing a sort of dance as I moved around each piece to see the next artwork, and turning circles to read the titles and artist names on the backs. The one really neat thing about the way this show was set-up was how you couldn't really see what art was coming up ahead since everything was turned facing away from you. This made easier to focus on each individual piece instead of seeing what was coming next and not really looking at what's in front of you. The other nice thing was that since there was so much art in this one large room, you were forced to stand really close to all the pieces, instead of in the more traditional setting where you aren't allowed to get anywhere within a foot of artwork for fear of your touching it. So basically, for the experience alone I would highly recommend this show. It's a completely atypical museum viewing method that I found to be quite fascinating.

Leah, remember...

You're nice! and I like you! cause you're nice!

This is in response to your little break-down-blog that I just read...and since I can't reach you by phone at the moment...because you're working super hard (obviously) I just thought I'd give you a big shout-out on my blog and let you know that your pain is heard and felt, chica! And I'd like to remind you of the number one rule in life (that most of us pretty much forget about most of the time anyway):

Who cares what other people think or say!!!

So, I would like to just give you my vote for your future...and that is that you take whatever time off you need before jumping into another job...or full time business school...or whatever you choose. I took an entire summer off after college because I had no clue what to do next, nor could I really find any sort of a job. And while I ended up working for my dad, like you, the difference there was that it wasn't forced on me...there was no pressure, unlike your situation, and I went into it as a choice after considerations all around. It's important to be able to take the time, take a deep breathe, take a step back and really let your brain shut off for a little bit. You ARE allowed to take a break and recharge that brain of yours...recharge yourself. Taking the time to chill will give you a better opportunity to take the time to think about what your next step should be. But most important of all...that next step needs to be something that YOU want to do, and that will make YOU feel happy. Your parents are your parents..they always will be. However, you're an adult now and can make your own decisions. Remember..you're a big kid :-)

Pearls before Swine

Jonah got me completely hooked to this daily comic in the papers. Just had to share today's installment...gotta love those crocs.

On a different note, I got to meet an old buddy of my dad's from way back when they were kids and made movies together. My entire life I've heard about this guy, and the short movie that he and my dad made together called, "Very Grimm Fairy Tales"...my dad's copy of the film disappeared, and so I thought that I would never get the chance to see it...and now I actually own a copy of it thanks to Rufus who brought it for me. My dad, his pal Rufus and I had lunch yesterday and I got to watch the two of them become friends again...I was so proud of my pops :-) and Rufus too...they had had a falling out about 28 years ago, and only within the last year started connecting again, and now they are once more friends. Makes me glad that I stuck my nose in enough to prod my dad along the path of reconciliation.

Sea Monkies!

Y'all have to check out the sea monkey themed online art show on the blog below, quite excellent...my favorites have to be Kamala's piece (of course) but also the Frida and sea monkies piece:

7 deadly sinners

Superbowl!

The Seattle Seahawks are going to the superbowl...for the very first time ever! Yesterdays game was the first time in my entire life that I have ever know the Seahawks to step up and get the job done...it was awesome! And even though I am not a football fan...I still watched the game...I felt like I had to as a born and bred Seattlite. And I will admit that it was pretty exciting :-)

yum.

I love the BBC, there are some weird news articles sometimes...this one was just awesome, it tells of a friendship between a snake and a hamster:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4627950.stm

East to West

Bekah's coming to visit! And she'll be in Seattle in a little over a week! yay for friends coming to visit! Oh no, this means I really have to get working on the list of must see things for her...hmmm, I wish it was summer then the list would go on and on. Speaking of summer, I had a dream last night that it was summer and I was going to the outdoor movies in Fremont with my princess chair. I got there and was waiting in line, then I woke up. Blah. However, the days are starting to get longer...when I got off work yesterday I caught the last bit of sunset which could be seen through a crack in the clouds. It was glorious! Mainly for the reasont that it was 5:30 and there was light! woohooooo!

quote of the day

I am super addicted to reading google's quote of the day, and today's installment is:

The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
- Horace Walpole

penguins or monkies?

I am finally getting my act together to purchase a new hoodie from neighborhoodie.com but am a little stuck deciding what the hoodie should say. I was hoping some of you all could help me make up my mind. So let me know what you think, these are two possibilities:

Penguin Ninja
Monkey Pirate

a wedding in the air

So I just found out that I have a second friend getting married...the wedding is being planned for this summer in Hawaii. On the one hand it's exciting for Amy that she's getting married, her husband to be is a great guy so I'm not worried for her at all :-) but on the other hand it's a bit depressing that another friend of mine is getting married! *sigh*

The cool part is that I've never been to Hawaii, so this would be a great opportunity to go! Now I just need to figure out if I can get my budget to support a trip like this. hmmm.

politics

There's a lot going on politically lately from one scandal to the next...most important is that the "I" word has started to be thrown around, and even though I think the chances of Bush being impeached are slim, it's still good to know that this country is finally starting to look in that direction instead of forever letting Bush get away with everything. Of course, now that Bush's actions are being scrutinized that still doesn't mean that he won't stop from doing what he does best...which is make a mess of this world. Prime example is if the rumors circulating come to be fact, mainly that Bush is looking towards attacking Iran:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010906I.shtml

Isn't it 2008 yet?

Comments Needed

so I was looking back on some of my posts and realized that I have been using my blog to react to Leah's blogs...hon, you need to get a comments feature on for your and dan's blog....otherwise I will have to keep talking about you here.

Speaking of talking about you...sad to hear about the job :-( will try calling you this weekend.

Happy New Year

2005 is gone, welcome 2006. I ended last year and started this year with Heath...saw Brokeback Mountain on Saturday and Casanova on Sunday. Fun times....and I would recommend either of those movies. Brokeback was good in an intense emotional kind of way with really incredible scenery in the mountains...and Casanova was a good light funny movie that had no real substance but was fun to watch. Besides that I have been thinking more and more that I'm fast approaching my 25th birthday, and am thinking that I really do need to get my nose pierced, finally. But I have a few months still to fully decide on that. Nothing else really to report..am a bit tired and back at work..but I promised JJ that I would post. So here you go chica!