For the second consecutive year, I spent Christmas weekend mostly with the Tylee family. Tracy flew into town from San Diego on Saturday morning, and we spent parts Saturday and Sunday evenings and all of Monday hanging out with her family. As always, it was a pleasure to be in their company, and it didn't even feel all that different from Christmas with my family (well, without the Lucky Charms!). Tracy and I managed to squeeze in a snowshoe trip on Sunday afternoon, but as of this posting, I haven't any photos from that day.
Lots of big news in other parts of my life. My time at Groundspeak is winding to a close. I just realized that I have only one 5-day work week left with them before I leave the company in early February! Before then, we are changing offices to a spacious new place about four blocks from our current office, I'm having Lasik surgery done a week after that, and a few weeks later, my mom is coming to town while I celebrate my 30th birthday. Then it's off to Honduras...
Lots of people have asked me what I plan to do with my house, and it looks like that's starting to come together, too. I'm finishing up the last of my projects (the basement remodel), and preparing for the big move-out in late February. I learned today that both of my roommates are interested in sticking around, which is great news in that I don't have to worry about finding anyone and it's nice having a known commodity when trying to manage a rental property from 1200 miles away. I'm still looking for a third tenant, but that will be up to them as much as it is up to me.
Next up for me is a quick trip to the northeast tomorrow night through New Year's Eve, to celebrate a belated Christmas with my family. Looking forward to getting some of my mom's signature apple pie!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Filling in some gaps
I know many of my biggest fans have been wondering if I have fallen off the face of the earth these past few weeks (or maybe got flooded out of my house, frozen in the snow, or blown away in the wind). Fortuntately, none of these are true. I just haven't had anything noteworthy enough to write about. So, without further ado, I'll fill you in on some of the noteworthy events of the past few weeks (Christmas shopping notwithstanding).
Two weeks ago, I convinced my roommate Brian to go snowshoeing with me up at Snoqualmie Pass. We had just gotten through with an unusual week of late-fall snow, and conditions at the pass couldn't have been better. An added bonus was that we used a Sno-Park facility that was
marked as "Closed" on the highway, yet was
fully plowed and actually had a few snowmobilers. (For those of you not familiar with the Sno-Park system, these are basically winter recreation parking lots in the mountains that are plowed througout the winter and make great bases for snowshoe, skiing, and hiking outings. The ones around Snoqualmie Pass are predictably overcrowded on the weekends, given the close proximity to Seattle.) We were the only ones on the trail, and it was a beautiful day for it.
This past week, my company's Christmas party was Thursday night atop the Space Needle, and, as luck may have it, one of those "100-year storms" was forecast for Seattle -- heavy rain followed by record winds (up to 60-70mph). Where would you least want to be on the night of such a storm? Yeah, you guessed it. The party was great, as long as you didn't mind the constant rocking of the structure. Though I've never experienced one, it felt like an earthquake that just wouldn't end. By the end of the night, almost a million people were without power, including large swaths of Seattle, all of Mercer Island, and most of Bellevue. Me? I only lost my cable/internet service for about 2 days, and more importantly, my house held up just fine to the beating. Best news of the month so far.
The other big news regarding my house is that my basement work is almost done. This evening, in fact, I began installing the molding (which proved to be a chore, considering the floors aren't level). Even with the unevenness, it looks 100 times better. Here are a few pictures of the front room and the hallway:
Two weeks ago, I convinced my roommate Brian to go snowshoeing with me up at Snoqualmie Pass. We had just gotten through with an unusual week of late-fall snow, and conditions at the pass couldn't have been better. An added bonus was that we used a Sno-Park facility that was
marked as "Closed" on the highway, yet was
fully plowed and actually had a few snowmobilers. (For those of you not familiar with the Sno-Park system, these are basically winter recreation parking lots in the mountains that are plowed througout the winter and make great bases for snowshoe, skiing, and hiking outings. The ones around Snoqualmie Pass are predictably overcrowded on the weekends, given the close proximity to Seattle.) We were the only ones on the trail, and it was a beautiful day for it.This past week, my company's Christmas party was Thursday night atop the Space Needle, and, as luck may have it, one of those "100-year storms" was forecast for Seattle -- heavy rain followed by record winds (up to 60-70mph). Where would you least want to be on the night of such a storm? Yeah, you guessed it. The party was great, as long as you didn't mind the constant rocking of the structure. Though I've never experienced one, it felt like an earthquake that just wouldn't end. By the end of the night, almost a million people were without power, including large swaths of Seattle, all of Mercer Island, and most of Bellevue. Me? I only lost my cable/internet service for about 2 days, and more importantly, my house held up just fine to the beating. Best news of the month so far.
The other big news regarding my house is that my basement work is almost done. This evening, in fact, I began installing the molding (which proved to be a chore, considering the floors aren't level). Even with the unevenness, it looks 100 times better. Here are a few pictures of the front room and the hallway:
A little "toilet" humor
One of my co-workers returned recently from a trip to Tokyo, and since she is one of those people with a very devil-may-care attitude (which I love about her!), she didn't hesitate to take these two pictures:
In case you can't tell, the first one is a controller for a high-tech toilet. My favorite part is the graphics (I guess they are for people who don't know either Japanese or English :)). I need one of these!
In case you can't tell, the first one is a controller for a high-tech toilet. My favorite part is the graphics (I guess they are for people who don't know either Japanese or English :)). I need one of these!
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