Ron Suskind on the Bush White House: "One senior White House official told me that he’d be summarily fired if it were known we were talking. 'But many of us feel it’s our duty—our obligation as Americans—to get the word out that, certainly in domestic policy, there has been almost no meaningful consideration of any real issues. It’s just kids on Big Wheels who talk politics and know nothing. It’s depressing."

CalPundit: The Plame Affair: Damage Control Roundup: "The bottom line remains pretty much the same: A couple of top Bush administration officials blabbed about a clandestine CIA operative to the press in order to try to discredit her husband, and now they're covering it up. Either you think that's OK or you don't. I don't."

Thanks to the Google people at Blogger my archives (to the left) are updated on my page now without me having to manually type them into the template. My ears still don't feel right from this quasi-cold/flu. I haven't experienced the clear end to this malady yet but I felt good enough yesterday to go for a run. I took a nice ride up to Skykomish today. It is sort of like a little ghost town of a railroad stop. It was the first time I took time out to turn off of route 2 to sightsee. Sorry, no pictures of my own. I don't want to work for my present employer. I need ideas. Or better yet, solid leads with the promise of solid money. While I was tooling around on my bike I was thinking that it would be nice to actually stop at some of these places to eat or better yet sleep. Winthrop is cool and Leavenworth is a nice place for an extended visit.

Jonathan Raban says:"Seattle is a small town trying to decide whether it wants to be a big city. It's a sort of embattled small town, harkening back to the days where everything got fixed up at the Rainier Club. I'm fascinated by that world, too — but that's mostly Old Economy Seattle."

The truth about lies: An excerpt from a Franken best-seller: "The members of the right-wing media are not interested in conveying the truth. That's not what they're for. They are an indispensable component of the right-wing machine that has taken over our country. ...Let's call them what they are: liars. Lying, lying liars."

Well, this is a journal so this is part of my weekend. I ran over 12 miles yesterday and paid for it with disrupted sleep. On the sleep subject though I spoke with Lee today and she is feeling better thus sleeping better also. Joe is readily anticipating his time out here. He'll be staying with her at the Lee-chateau in Issaquah.

I signed the lease last weekend so this is where I'll be for the next year. Despite what I have said about the management here, it is still the best deal around. Before the girls came out to visit I had the carpet cleaned by Chemdry. It turned out that Abby is much more resilient than she had been. I really didn't have to be concerned with her environmental reactions. She did have a problem with the exhaust fumes in the I-90 tunnels though. She was even eating Krispy Kreme donuts like she was a kid. Got a hat for Collin too.

I registered for the Salmon Days road race. This year's Salmon Days theme is "spawntaneous" and for the run they invite you to "run with the salmon". Right after I complained about not seeing this race advertised I got an e-mail about upcoming races in the Seattle area. I missed the beer race in Fremont today. I couldn't have done it after yesterdays run. Today I went to the Friends of the Seattle Public Library Book Sale at Magnuson Park. I found:

"Cats Revenge, More Than 101 uses for Dead People" produced by Philip Lief
"Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt
"Running The Spiritual Path" by Roger D. Joslin ..."A Runner's Guide To Breathing, Meditating And Exploring The Prayerful Dimension Of The Sport"
"Where There Is Light" by Paramahansa Yogananda
and a very good copy of Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking", hardcover.

all of this for under 5 American. Not bad. Now to figure out when I'll be reading all of this. I don't want extra time from not working though. My present work may not go well soon because I've started to be a pain in the ass. I don't want to do the paperwork for my new crew lead so there might be some bumps coming up. Oh yeah, I got a new crew lead who doesn't know how to do the administrative part of the job. I need to move on to something different anyways. Again, is there anyone out there in the Seattle area who needs or knows of someone else who needs a good worker? I'm thinking about looking into King County for employment. Does that sound good? (Nothing at the King County website). Y'all have a great week out there, and...

Congratulations Jen and Andy. And Jack Andrew, welcome to the world.

I found a new race. It is in Issaquah for Salmon Days. I don't know why they don't advertise this more. I had to go look for it. It should set me up well for the Seattle Marathon's half marathon. No 26 miles yet. I think that 13 is enough.

I'm driving the truck again. Gary, my crew lead, got himself fired for stomping off the job last Friday. No word yet on exactly what my status is concerning work and pay. The rain has returned to Seattle. It is kind of spotty now. The weekend is supposed to be really nice. I hear that good weather has once again graced New England. It has been hot, muggy and wet at home all summer. Y'all better enjoy it before it gets snot-freezing cold though. Thank god there are espresso stands, Tully's and Starbucks everywhere here. There is nothing like a cold rain to drive you to some hot espresso. Kabuba and Judy are due here October 10th or thereabouts and it is sure to be colder and wetter then. It should be fun. Maybe when Kabuba gets more minutes on his cell phone he'll call. I'll call him on the weekend when mine are nearly limitless.

Cascade Loop

I took a ride on the North Cascade Highway and it took much longer than I had anticipated. Here are some pictures. I'll get some more ready later.

this imploding heart: 20 20 24 hours ago...: "Keep the rain coming please." I hope the rain is as beneficial to me. I didn't think so yesterday while I was crouching down in some very wet rhododendrons, in the rain, while pulling wayward ivy out of the branches.

How Bush Cheapened 9/11 by Ted Rall.

My picture is ready from the race. I don't see why I would want to buy it though.

The comments section is working again, my dishes are done (not piling up until the end of the week), my lunch is made for tomorrow - not hastily in the morning or not at all, Sonya keeps writing geat stuff while Red Dirt Girl takes her leave, the Mariners are tied with the Rangers in the 8th (wait, Ichiro is on second) and now I need some sleep. The nausea is gone I think and my back is better. "...and the Mariners leave two stranded."

Tara died a year ago today. I thought of her as I was walking through the dog park in Marymoor. She enjoyed cooling off in the water there.

I was looking at some old posts of mine and I don't have as many pictures and as much commentary as I used to. I'll try to be a better tour guide. What can I say? I'm a landscaper now with little energy left. When I do have some I like to use it running (when my back and knee feel good). I'd like to have some exciting travel stories and I might in the future; the bike is ready for touring again. I wanted to have some pictures of the race last weekend but ya see, I was in the race and I didn't want to run with my camera. I'll go and see about pictures from the race at the timing website. Y'all hold on.

Americans work too much.

I finished the race with an official time of 1:44:07 placing me 240 in the overall results. My knee let me finish. I didn't meet anyone, if you know what I mean, but a few gave me a push toward the end of the race. There were over 1,200 runners. I'll do better next time.

Well, today is the race. My right knee has been giving me trouble the past few days. I'm hoping that enough ibuprophen will get me through the ordeal.