Congratulations and thank you to the Florida Marlins for beating the Yankees. "For the Florida Marlins, the sweetest sound was silence. The exhilarating cacophony of nothingness, a full stadium reduced to gaping as the interlopers did the familiar scrum dance on the pitcher's mound. ...'It felt good to dance on Yankee Stadium," said Lee. "I'm sure they'll remember that for a while.' " Yee haw.

"The chairman of the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said the White House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence documents from the panel and he was prepared to subpoena the documents if they were not turned over within weeks."Thomas Kean said that, "'As each day goes by, we learn that this government knew a whole lot more about these terrorists before Sept. 11 than it has ever admitted.' "

Amazon's Search Inside the Book;
Wired News: The Great Library of Amazonia, "Amazon's Alexandrian scheme hinges on the insight that physical books can be turned into electronic databases and then – in the retail process – turned back into physical books. This is one of the boldest maneuvers yet in an intense commercial competition, but for all its cunning, this is a civilized, even civilizing war, one that builds libraries rather than burns them."

Just what I thought.

What letter?

Almost five inches of rain today. When this happened at home a few years ago it made quite a mess. It usually doesn't rain this amount here. Per year there is more rainfall in the northeast than in the Seattle area. There are more rain days here I guess. It sort of mists and rains here and we seldom have hard showers. So I bought some cheap boots from one of the remaining K-Marts anywhere. They'll keep me warm for the winter. It looks as though I will have a job for the winter. Randy is going to order me a jumpsuit for upcoming work, as it gets colder and colder. Through all this rain today I saw plenty of motorcyclists commuting from work. They must have their own jumpsuits. I'm not outfitted for that yet.

I took advantage of this weather to get the apartment extremely clean. I even cleaned out the bulk of unread newspapers and magazines, paid my bills, got all my laundry done and sat in traffic on my way to REI. They didn't have what I needed at my price so I ended up at K-Mart. I didn't get the car cleaned but the weather wasn't good for that anyways. I have a few more projects I'd like to complete and I'm sure there will be many more rainy days for those. Y'all have a great week.

I've registered for the 2003 Seattle Half Marathon for November 30th. My running is going well when I get a chance.

I spoke with Jerry and Judy tonight. They tried to call from a beach in California despite the uneven connection. They sound like they are having a fabulous time, parking for free at WalMart and all. The temperature had been up into the lower 80's during the day and was at 54 when we talked at around 7. It is strange having someone else in my time zone. They are staying at a state park on the beach tonight. Sounds very nice. I didn't make it to Oregon and California on my bike this fall as I had wanted. It'll be a goal for next spring I guess. Call the traveling couple on their cell before they leave for Honolulu on the 22nd. They like calls. I think that everyone should take turns and call them on the hour for the whole day. When y'all on the east coast call at some stupid hour in the morning our time you can feign ignorance by saying you didn't consider the time difference. Or better yet you can call on a Sunday at 6 AM like Brenda did, thinking that Jerry gets up early for church and maybe he is still on east coast time. Just some ideas to enliven their trip, and this makes you a part of it too.

Congratulation Scott and Chrissie on your engagement. He hid the lead up to the proposal from me very well. I call all the time. I won't make it home for November 1st. Y'all have fun at the party. Judy would like a head count for the gathering at her house. Too bad Kabuba won't be able to bring his famous bread. I spoke to him yesterday and he and Judy were in Oregon still. They should be in California now. I haven't made it there yet myself. As far as I know, the wedding date has not been set. For the meantime Scott and Chrissie are busy preparing for the trip, as well are his future in-laws. What does the ring look like?

What a miserable, cold, wet day. The local forecast has a lot more rain on the way. Did I mention that I could use a tune-up; a new job; a better thing to do?

Sarah B. says about motorcycles, "In our house, there was no Satan, only motorcycles, and I was sure I was going to die a fiery death at any moment like any proper sinner should".

The big bright thing came out at mid-day today but we had already gone to Pike Place Market and had nixed the Mt. Rainier trip. I sent them on their way at 3. They are traveling to southern Oregon this evening and ultimately LA and Hawaii. I went for a run in the afternoon. I had to do something to counteract the Krispy Kreme donuts and Budweiser we had been consuming. We even stopped in Issaquah today and got our complimentary donuts and then left. I wonder how many people do that?

Hi all. It looks like the sun has once again made an appearance so we are going to try to get in Rainier and some of the city. They'll be continuing their trip today so we'll see what we get to. Pictures to follow.

We all went to Snoqualmie Falls and then up to Snoqualmie Pass today. There was a dusting of snow on the mountain peaks. After a month of driving through dry country they seemed to be pleased by all the green flora. As predicted it has been cold and rainy the past few days. Most of the mid-day was taken with getting the van it's two new tires. We had some wonderful salmon (commercially caught coho); I cooked it on a grill Kabuba gave me. He bought the grill to replace a previously faulty one and now doesn't have room for it in the van. Of course we ended the day at Krispy Kreme's in Issaquah.

I got a call from Jerry and Judy and they have made it to Seattle. They are staying in Seattle for a few days right near the 520 onramp to I-5. "i don't know where I am, we're in Seattle." I'll see them on Friday after I get out of work.

Michael Moore has 7 questions.

I have some fish pictures. These are from the Issaquah Fish Hatchery. I might go back later and take some pictures of the salmon in the creek. I put together a picture of the pre-race gathering in the parking lot this morning. These folks are serious about their salmon.

I have another running goal now. I almost broke 45 minutes for the 10K race. It might not be easy to better this time on another course because of the flatness of the Salmon Days Rotary Run. My official time was 45:31. My watch time was 45:10. I placed 88th in the male race, 99th overall and 26th in the male 30 to 39 division of 72 people. I averaged a 7:20 minute mile. There were 467 runners in the 10K race. And then I ate a bunch of salmon. The end.

Tomorrow is the Issaquah Salmon Days 10K road race. I haven't run for a week before today due to work and health. I ran this morning so as not to freak my body out tomorrow with the exertion of running a road race. It is sort of a heads up. Joe is in town again and we went to Salmon Days today. He caught a nice steelhead this morning so we'll be eating that later in the week. This is a nice weekend for me because work isn't all that much fun right now. I was looking at the artisans at Salmon Days and was thinking that a creative outlet as these people have would be very good for me. I'd need to be able to support myself, and there's the rub. Right now I mow grass for money. I would like to do something creative and meaningful while contributing to our general good and while getting paid for it. That would be like hitting a grand slam home run every stinkin' day.