New Pop-Up Tent Trailer

Last weekend we purchased a new pop-up tent camper. It's a 1980 Coleman model which had a broken lift that I had to repair this past week. (It was really just 20 feet of 1/8" wire, but it took so many different tools, almost all of which I already owned!) This past Saturday night we took the trailer to Dash Point State Park, near Federal Way, located about 20 miles south of Seattle. This was intended as a test trip, to see how waterproof the old canvas is (the body itself is in great shape, but the canvas is showing its age). The thinking was that if it was absolutely miserable we'd be able to pack up in the middle of the night and come home in under an hour. Well, it turns out there are a few tiny leaks which need to be plugged, but it makes a wonderful home away from home. It packs down and tows very nicely, but expands to have two double beds and a table and is quite roomy. An added bonus is that with the electricity hookup at the camp ground, we were able to get a space heater to keep the temperature almost near 60 while it was freezing outside.

Sarah has the photos at her Smugmug site.

2009 Governor's Inaugural Ball

Four years ago, the governor's race in Washington was very close with two recounts and a court challenge (Christine Gregoire won by 130 votes in the end). I had volunteered for the recount, so once it was all said and done, I was informed about the Governor's Inaugural Ball, and took Sarah. We had a blast, so we went again this year. Although we weren't able to snag the governor (she ran down the stairs way too quickly for us to keep up with her!), we did get a very nice photograph with Sam Reed, the Secretary of State. (See more photographs). A variety of Washington wines accompanied the hors d'oeuvres, made by a variety of cooking schools. I even ate geo-duck! The only downside is that the ball takes place on a weeknight in Olympia. That means we have to get off work, get ready, then drive for an hour before we get there. We'll be sure to be there again in four years, however, as it's worth all the effort.

Snowstorm Timelapse

Sunday evening the first snow of 2009 came down in Seattle. It didn't last very long, melting over the course of the day on Monday. I took a photo every 30 seconds and made a 2 minute video:

Holiday Photos Galore

We've managed to post all of our holiday photos now. I escaped the worst of the Seattle snow, leaving on Thursday, Dec. 18th for Atlanta. Michal, too, missed the airport weather madness and arrived safely in Atlanta on Dec. 24th. We tore through two days of presents, then, thanks to snow delays with packages, came home to another week of presents arriving.

Michal's Holiday Pictures

Sarah's Atlanta Pictures

Sarah's Seattle Pictures

Michal's Shinty Pictures

Michal also got some great shots of our shinty game in the snow from New Year's Day.

Happy 2009!

Winter Weather Update

I don't really have much to say, but I did upload round number 3 of photos, which include some skiing I did at Steven's Pass. Also there are a lot of videos this time around.

Winter in Seattle

On today, the shortest day of the year, Seattle was supposed to get a tremendous wind storm with snow and freezing rain. Well, we got everything except the wind. When I woke up this morning there had been a layer of freezing rain on top of the snow from the previous days, which made it very difficult to ski through (crusty snow). Winter has truly gripped Seattle. This is more snow than I've ever seen in the city. I have been taking lots of photos and thought I would share them here:

Snowstorm (Part 1)

Skiing at Crystal Mountain

Snowstorm (Part 2)

Happy winter solstice!

Snow More!

Did you see those pictures from the weekend? HA! That's nothing. I stepped out my front door this morning, one hour and fifteen minutes after my Boston-trained driver came to fetch me from five miles away. My boot sank until the snow went over the toes and I couldn't see my foot anymore. It took us another hour and a half to make the return five-mile trip.

After that, it snowed for another four or five hours, enough to erase most footprints left undisturbed. The steps to our yard from the sidewalk? Well, they're really more of a ramp, with a few slight bumps. And my car? It might be a Beetle, but it's certainly not blue.

Assuming the airport and airline aren't lying about the thirty minute delays, I leave tonight for sunny 72-degree weather. I can't take snow more.

There's no business like snow business

It snowed. A lot. I had to work, and it sucked. Beacon Hill, as usual, got hit with an extra inch or so on Saturday night (virtue of the "hill" portion of the name), starting around 6 p.m. By midnight, when I was driving, several inches had accumulated. I'd guess our total was around 4 inches, but I tend to over-estimate when talking about snow in my vicinity.

In better news, Michal has had our house decorated in holiday lights since Thanksgiving weekend, and I am just now getting around to taking pictures and posting them. The snow does add a certainly holiday element, I'll give it that. And it takes care of two things at once: snow pictures and holiday light pictures.

Although the snow came Saturday night, as of Monday evening it's still here in force. We haven't had any more, but the temperature, even with one full day of sunshine, has been low enough to prevent the snow from melting. The car doors have frozen shut more times than I care to count, and everything that did unfreeze a bit is now ice. Luckily, since I have to work, the roads remain clear, at least until Wednesday, when there's more possible snow in the forecast.

Weekend in Whistler

We just returned from a three day weekend at Whistler. It was early season, and the Pacific Northwest hasn't had much snow yet this season, so there were only a few lifts and only a few runs open. I ended up skiing two mornings and snowboarding both afternoons, with Sunday being a relaxing day with a late lunch in Vancouver.

We had a great time ice skating, shopping, eating, hot tubbing, and watching Coupling.

See the photos here.

Turkey on Rainier

Michal and I made our annual November trek to Mt. Rainier National Park, driving up to Paradise. They've got an awesome new visitors' center up there, and despite the shady weather forecast, we got really lucky with several sun breaks. Of course, it also snowed during our hike up to Glacier Vista, but it wouldn't be Rainier any other way.

See more photos from our day trip.

Andy & Angie's Not So New Baby

I finally got to meet Andy and Angie's newest addition, Ally (short for Alyssa), in the middle of November. She's a real cutie. I've seen them several times since we got back, but this picture was taken last week on Monday evening. Ally likes to eat, sleep, and smile. Pretty cute.

I anticipate seeing much more of them in the next nine months before Angie goes back to work, but not again until late December.

2009 Washington Governor's Inaugural Ball

We got our tickets! Unfortunately the event takes place midweek in Olympia, but it's definitely worth making the effort to go. Sarah and I went four years ago. Highlights included the first chocolate fountain either of us had ever seen, meeting the governor, and sitting at the Secretary of State's desk. Pretty much all the government chambers were open and you could go through wherever you pleased: the court, the legislature, and more.

Tickets are $100 and you need to call (no online ordering). The website with information is nearly impossible to find; it's located at http://wastategovball.org. We'd love to have some friends join us this year, so if you're at all interested, we urge you to get your tickets soon. (You can see photos from the last inaugural ball here.)

Europe Photos

Sarah and I have both spent a lot of time over the past week dealing with all the photos we took on our trip, and I'm pleased to present them:

First, this gallery contains the best 10% (roughly 160) photos that I took.

If that's not enough or you'd like some more details, this gallery contains the next-best 500 or so photos.

Finally, I have a gallery of the rest of the photos which I took on the trip, but it hasn't finished uploading yet, so I'll have to post the link later.

You should also be sure to take a look at the photos Sarah took (270 of them) on her Smugmug site. She thinks there are too many photos so she recommends you advance by a page at a time instead of looking at each photo individually.

Feel free to leave comments or rate the photos by clicking on the green thumbs-up or the red thumbs-down.

Yay for Shopping

And yay for friends that work at Ann Taylor!

Today we went shopping (ostensibly for other people, but you know how that goes) because I had two coupons expiring. I got a great new dress for $15. Yup, that's right, $15, thanks to the 30% off coupon. Not that the $19.99 price was bad, either. I think it was worth it. It can also be worn strapless.

Waking Up Isn't Hard To Do

When I posted on Tuesday during the day, I thought we were back on Seattle time. I should have known better. Michal wanted to see the new 007 flick, A Quantum of Solace (better known to me as A Quantum of Toast - German joke). We went to the 7:15 show on Tuesday night, and as soon as they turned the lights down, I got sleepy. I made it through the previews and maybe 30 minutes of the show, but then managed to sleep through most the rest while trying to stay awake. If I can sleep through those loud action scenes, I can sleep through anything. I must say the theater offered much more comfort than the planes, though.

We're waking up fairly consistently around 7 in the morning, which is actually quite nice. I'm not sure how long it will last.

In other news, Michal gave me flowers for our "anniversary" on October 29th before we left for Europe. When we came home, they still sat in the vase on the table. We both had to touch them to make sure they were real (they are) because they looked as nice as the day he brought them home. I'm not sure what kind of process colors them (I'm sure it's dye of some sort) but it works to preserve them as well. They still look just like this picture, which was taken on Nov. 16th.

Recovering Europeans

We both managed to sleep through the night last night, and, in addition, it was actually night when we slept! I had to drag myself through one rehearsal in the evening, but luckily the bright lights and peppy music kept me mostly awake (although yawning). I even managed to see the remainder of the episode of House (the one that got us both on Sunday night) afterwards, but that was all I accomplished for the day.

Dragging through one work day and rehearsal sure beats waking up around 4 a.m. starving, though. Hopefully we are back on Seattle time for both sleeping and eating now.

Back in Seattle Again!

We made it home last night, despite the best efforts of the customs' luggage carousel. We had only one hour and 40 minutes scheduled during our connection in Chicago. Our first flight landed only a few minutes late, perhaps ten, but every one counted. We had no trouble with passport control, even though we were seated in the back of the plane and therefore, theoretically, behind all the other people who might have issues. But our bags didn't come off the baggage carousel until about 30 minutes before our next scheduled flight. Even the official representative, right before they appeared, told us that unless the flight was delayed, we'd be finding another ride to Seattle.

We passed through customs in a breeze, and at that point I was relaxed because I assumed we'd be finding another flight. We gave our bags back and got kicked out of the security area, then waited for a train to haul us back to the normal portion of the airport where we had to re-enter through the normal security lines. Two people let us cut in front of them at the scanner, and I didn't bother to tie my shoes as we hit the ground running. We arrived out of breathe at the gate as they loaded first class, so we had a few minutes to wipe off the sweat of running (or in my case, attempting to run) loaded with 30 or 40 pounds of carry-on luggage. Even better, this flight had air vents so we could cool off during the trip.

The best news is that despite my lack of faith, all three of our bags sat on the Seattle carousel when we got there. I'm still not sure how.

New Polish Vocabulary

Today's word: sklep = store, shop Very useful to know, since it appears on a lot of signs around town.

And since I didn't get to post the last few days, here are the other Polish words of the day: (Technically these should start on Tuesday, when we hit Warsaw, but I think I was overwhelmed with Polish that day and didn't learn anything new.)

Thursday's word: teraz = now Also terribly useful, and frequently used in both sentences and as a stand-alone question, ie Now?

Wednesday's word: bardzo = very, much can be applied to just about any adjective, which is great I'll even stick it in front of English adjectives now.

We're in Lublin for the next two nights, and I'm not sure when we'll get a chance to post again. Rzeszow, another family stop, Krakow for sightseeing which we might have to skip as it's a Polish national holiday (basically Indenpendence Day on Tuesday when we planned to spend the afternoon and evening there), and Prague are next on the itinerary.

Lublin

We arrived in Lublin last night, driving entirely at night. It wasn't too bad, actually -- the only problem was we got caught in a traffic jam leaving Warsaw and the drive took 3 hours instead of the 2-2.5 it should have. Today we went to the old town in Lublin, where we saw frescoes in the church. They had been graffitied, but it was actually pretty neat as the graffiti was from the 1600's. The frescoes themselves dated to 1418. Lublin, unlike Warsaw, wasn't completely destroyed in the war, so the buildings there, while often re-newed, haven't really been rebuilt from scratch so they are slightly more authentic.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to the farm and the spring, and possibly fit in a few more things.

US Elections

I think I can safely say that on behalf of Europe, the next US president needs to be aware that other countries in the world exist, and that he needs to work with them rather than acting unilaterally. The US population is roughly 300 million, out of roughly 6 billion inhabitants on Earth. ignoring the other 5,700,000,000 people or dismissing them entirely unless they bow to our command is both insulting and irrational.

Barack Obama needs to win.