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Originally uploaded by nthaniel.

Brother Jerry and his traveling partner, and wife, Judy, are visiting after their tour of Alaska. We are on our way to Mt. St. Helens today.

"Yes, the world is not a totally evil place. There are always cats in pants."

I don't know why I took this series of the bridge. What I liked were the hills in the background. I went to Issaquah for coffee and the paper, and then on to North Bend to see whether they had any work shoes for me. They didn't. It was such a beautiful day that I decided to head up Route 2 and I ended up in Skykomish. It was a perfect motorcycle day. Not being able to run has had a negative impact on me. It was nice getting out of town, if even for a short time.

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Originally uploaded by nthaniel.

I went out for coffee today and ended up in Skykomish.

I haven't run in two weeks. I'm giving my knee enough time to hopefully fix itself. I passed on this morning's run here in Bellevue. I may go over to Greenlake today to get some new shoes. I have a list of other chores as well. Tomorrow is the Seafair half marathon I won't be running. On the positive side, I think my knee is coming along relatively well. I had some knee problems in Florida that lasted for what seemed a long, long time. I'll get more boat pictures here soon. Happy sailing.

I went down to the Wooden Boats Festival on Lake Union today.

Happy fourth. Enjoy your long weekend. If you have it, enjoy the sun. Aum Peace.

We were called to the hospital yesterday as a group for the neurologist's clinical evaluation and prognosis. Peter had suffered considerable brain damage in the bike accident. Without getting into the specifics, his quality of life even if he awoke would have been greatly diminished, to put it mildly. His wife and family made the decision to honor what they thought Peter would want and that would be to let him go without further medical intervention. That was started last night and he left his body early this morning. I'd like to thank any who sent their wishes along. Thank you.

peter in snow2

peter in snow2
Originally uploaded by nthaniel.

I run with this guy. His name is Peter. On Saturday he had a very bad accident while riding his bike. At the present time he is still unconscious at Harborview. I'd like to ask you all for some sort of prayer or thought for him and his family. Thank you.

Update: A week later, Peter is still in a coma. He is still in ICU. His condition is not good but we hope for the best. The Eastside Runners and family friends are helping the family. Be careful out there.

Here are more Nicky pictures:

He likes to attack shoes (and feet).





Victorious.

Another race this weekend. This morning it is in Fall City. It is a flat 10k. I've been taking it easy for my knee, so maybe that will prove to be my taper for the race. I want to beat 40 or at least 41 minutes. I ran that last year at Salmon Days. These things are good because they get me out of the "house". Someday I'd like to have a house. Cheers.

Update: I ran a chip time of 41:15 this morning. I didn't do as well as I had hoped but I still ran a personal best.

The Downing Street Memo has finally hit the front page. In case you weren't aware, the British intelligence explained that the "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," of inevitably going to war. The Brits knew this would happen, as did the left here, but more than this they saw that the Bush Administration was ill prepared, to put it mildly, for the post war period in Iraq. Criminals.

Lee has a new kitten. Here is Nikki. (I'm guessing on the spelling)



He seems to be a smart little chap and he isn't afraid of much.



And Captain is finally being civil. He looks like a walking mountain next to him.

So here was my horoscope for today:

Sagittarius
November 22 - December 20
"This isn't the moment to adhere to one particular philosophy, whatever it may be, dear Sagittarius. You may feel frustrated by your inability to figure out which path to take, but ultimately this is very good for you. Continue to search around with your little flashlight, weak as it seems to you, because this is how you are going to get solid faith back again! Best of all, it will be a faith tailored just for you!"

I'll comment on it later.

Tired. I'm not sure why. I have been busting my ass on my properties in order to keep them presentable. Maybe that is why. My knee is giving me a hard time so I took today and yesterday off from running. The second in the series of Cougar Mountain trail runs is this Saturday. This one is seven miles. Another crazy trail race. I don't know that I'd ever be really prepared for one of these.

Hey, the sun is out! It has been a wet commute on the bike the past two days.

I finally planted the verbenum I bought the other day, along with some flower seeds and a pot o' herbs. The verbenum is flanking some free geraniums I rescued from a Costco dumpster. I still have extras. I'll have oregano, basil and catnip. The plant lady at Fred Meyers thought that I was far too late in considering planting seeds. The deck won't be much good until July anyways, and by that time I should at least have some plants poking up. Giving them some potent organic fertilizer tea should help. This is good for me. I don't usually get around to doing much with the planting thing at all. I spend my days either cutting them back or killing them. Who was the moron who thought that introducing English ivy to this area would be a good idea? You'd think that with all this under and overgrowth that there would be snakes here. I'm told that they are on the other side of the Cascades, where it is dry. One of the problems with groundcover like ivy is that it gives rats a place to live. I've always liked snakes. Mmmmm. Those fangs sound delicious.

I know you are all clamoring to know about the stitches. I had meant to go back to the clinic yesterday during work to have them out, but I ran out of time. I was able to get three of them out last night but with the fourth I need help.

It was Randy's last day yesterday. He was the assistant to the boss. He was a lead landscaper who had done this sort of work for a long time and he brought that perspective to his supervisory position. Essentially, he was on our side. The movers packed him up last weekend, and, as I write this he, his wife and their two yappy dogs are on their way to Montana. They'll end up in Chicago. United closed their call center here so she is following her job. Things could fall apart at work for other reasons. I need a different job.

A person in the know told me I should back off the mileage a bit and save it for when I get closer to a marathon. I ran 18 miles last week Sunday and wasn't looking forward to doing 20 this coming weekend. I don't want to injur my knee. I'm thinking about running the Portland marathon in the fall. Someone I run with spent over 8 hours this past Saturday running on the trails outside of Leavenworth, at times through hip-deep snow, for 22 miles ... and he considers himself an average runner.

They knew beforehand that there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Here is another installment in "what is Nathaniel's blood pressure". This afternoon it was measured by a healthcare professional at 140/82. A little high but nothing to be concerned about. And how, do you ask, did I come by having my blood pressure measured by a healthcare professional? Stitches, that's how. I had cut down some low limbs from a Japanese maple and then I had to break them down into manageable sizes. Japanese maples are sort of brittle compared to their cousins in the maple family, so I was breaking them by hand. There was a sharp edge to one, and when I went to snap it the end snapped onto my ear. I knew I had drawn blood but not until my helper, Adam, had seen it and I saw how big his eyes got did I consider that I really might have injured myself. Then, looking in a mirror, there it was, yup ... stitches.

I cut the skin on the tragus, or the little air foil or flap before the ear canal, or external auditory canal (meatus). Now I have four stitches. I haven't had stitches since I cut my foot as a kid. That was unpleasant. I can't remember whether I had stitches when I put the spade fork through my foot between the big and second toes. I don't think I did. I was digging for worms. That wasn't fun either. That is the extent of my chilhood injuries, other than when Dodie pulled me out of the barbed wire fence when I was learning to ride a bicycle. Thanks again Dodie. I used to see a girl who's brother had the nickname, or nom de guerre, of "laceration Mike", for all of the trauma he inflicted on himself as a child. Nothing quite so extreme for me.

That was essentially the end of my day. After I got repaired we went back to Mukilteo, unloaded the truck, and went home. God did I need some sleep. The doc told me not to get it wet but I carefully washed my hair anyways and took a bath. I couldn't stay smelling like the decomposing greenery in the back of my truck. No way. Maybe the heat hit me. Still, it isn't like Florida. It might be similar now but it isn't the same. Florida bites.

I have a new term in my lexicon. It is intestinal trail. An intestinal trail is a trail which twists and turns as you intestines would after, perhaps, having injested something fouled. Used in a sentence, "the Cougar Mountain trails are at times intestinal." The race humbled me after I posted such a good time the week before. I still beat the folks I run with though.

My blood pressure seems to be normal. I hurt my arm a few weeks ago. I had thought that maybe I had blood poisoning due to the red stripe extending from my armpit to my wrist, so I went to a clinic in Issaquah and before the doc saw me the nurse took my blood pressure. She said, "your blood pressure is 140 over 110, that's high." No shit that is high. No re-check. No "you can't walk out of here without some investigation" or at least "go directly to the hospital NOW", sort of thing. I stuck my arm in a drugstore machine today after work and the readings were normal. So my heart and blood vessels won't give out (soon) after all. The doc said that the pain was due to overuse. When I saw him the stripe was gone. A day or so later it turned the color of a bruise. If anyone out there can fill me in on this phenomenon then please do. From the armpit I think it is the coracobrachialis muscle and at the elbow maybe the supinator. I had been weedeating for half the day. The other half I spent wrestling with a 36" mower. The travails of the working poor.

Here is part of my apartment as blue. It'd be cool if it looked like this all the time. I've been running a lot lately. Last week was the Capital City half, yesterday was the first in the series of Cougar Mountain trail runs and today I think I put in 16 miles. I have to check it out with my map program. More to come.

I have some good news to put down here. I did very well in the Capital City Half Marathon run this morning. I brought my time down from a previous 1:37 something to a 1:33:23. That is four minutes folks. That put me at 11th in my division of 56 people. I was 45 overall. At half way I got a second wind that brought me clear through the finish. What is better is that I think I can be faster the next time.

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14 hours yesterday. We've been mowing the military base in Magnolia and we're going back to finish it today. There were a lot of put-out landscapers yesterday, and so much grass! My regular stops are not getting their attention while we all drop what we are supposed to be doing in order to save the management company's ass on this one. This place has not been mowed in quite a long while. At least it is overtime because I have to work on Saturday to catch up. I also have my bike back. The radiator is flowing well again and the light for the cooling system does not come on anymore.

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Under 40 minutes to the top of Tiger.

A little piece of Memphis.

Chuck and I went through Memphis on our bicycle tour of the south. I still use "y'all" when I can. Chuck went through Graceland but I didn't have the stomach for it. Nothing against Elvis, but I had just learned that the woman I had been seeing back in Northampton was now seeing someone else. It was also the 10th anniversary of his death, so let me google this to find the date,...August 16, 1987. That and the wonderful old lady who opened her home as a bed and breakfast are what stick out for me now. I also remember she brewed her coffee good and strong. After Memphis we crossed Tennessee, going through Nashville, across the Cumberland Plateau, into the Smokies, the Blue Ridge and then swiftly down into Winston-Salem. I picked up my beading habit in Cherokee, North Carolina. I haven't strung beads in a long while. So, that was 18 years ago now. Whew. And what have I done with myself since then? I cooked and now I landscape. It doesn't sound like much. I was hoping to get off the ground with the radiation endeavour but my poor communication skills killed that. Maybe I'll end this ramble here. Thanks for the reminder Sue. 'Night y'all. Aum peace peace peace.

Apparently I totally blew the interview. From the answer I got back from one of the program directors, you should keep your children, the infirm and anyone else away from me because I have no people skills what-so-ever. The answer wasn't that literally, but only because she had to be polite. What kills me is that I know they didn't see nearly the whole of me. I don't interview well. I know that. Sometimes my intensity can come across as a serial killer's does. This doesn't help. First impressions usually don't go well. This first impression has sunk me for this program. "Best of luck in your future endeavors", not "close but try again next year." Not even close enough to be on a waiting list. What also kills me is that I know I would be good at this sort of job/profession/work, whatever you want to call it. They have no idea.

Sonya is writing about her dreams. Mine have included my parents, in separate ones, of course. Mom didn't know she had passed away (though I am certain she does) and I was very aware of my role in helping her along in that stage of her journey. I think that Prudence was there also. (she was the little terrier we had many years ago) This was all set just outside of our neighbors' house. Not a day later I had a dream about Dad. In it he was dying and we were there for his part of that journey. (it didn't actually happen this way) I remember telling him how sorry I was about his hands and his poor circulation. I don't know whether the rejection letter of Friday had anything to do with these macrabre dreams. I don't really see them as macrabre though. It is all part of the whole process. These moments can be more "real" than what we consider our daily activities.

Ya know, I haven't felt this dejected and rejected for quite a long while. And no girlfriend was involved. Amazing. There is a plan out there, or in here somewhere. This turn of events has really upended my boat. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I spent a year getting good grades and I thought I could be thoughtful, considerate and kind. Nope. I scare sick people.

I wrote a few days ago that my bones were optimistic. What I'd like to know now is what exactly they were optimistic about. I received a letter from the school today informing me that I was not accepted into the program. I'm not sure how I fell short. After reading the thing I went for a run. I was hoping for a victory run but now I'm thinking that I'm stuck in this job for another year. I don't know where else to go. I don't want another fall filled with buckets of wet leaves in a job with no future. Man.

No big surprise here, my American dialect is 55% Yankee and 35% standard American English. Try it for yourself.

Do you want to know really why we are in Iraq? Go read this.

I took the motorcycle out for a ride to North Bend, Snoqualmie, Fall City and Issaquah yesterday after the rain mainly subsided. I had to get something out of my trailer and I'm helping with the Mt. Si Relay today, so I scouted the area. Here is a picture of Snoqualmie Falls.

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What a glamorous job I have.

I dropped my 41 to 43 minute run time to 38:30 today.

Ok. How did I do? All right I think, but I don't have anything to compare it to. I don't know how the other candidates did. Whether I get in is determined by a number of variables, the interview being just one. I could have mentioned taking care of Mom more but I know that now in hindsight. I think I did well in the reading comprehension and the math segment but I didn't have time to go back and check my work. I think that some of the people with whom I did my clinical observations were rooting for me in the interview. That was heartening. I find out at the end of April or the beginning of May whether I'm accepted. As I wrote to a friend recently, "my bones are optimistic."

I'm not so optimistic about the weather. After our Saturday morning run I went to Fall City to retrieve the bike. It is now sort of protected by my old motorcycle cover which was shredded by the elements. I used duct tape to patch it up until I can get a better one. I'm hoping that the sorry look of the cover will dissuade anyone from thinking that there is something nice underneath. We have been getting showers at a pretty consistent 42-48 degrees lately. It does get a bit warmer during midday, but not by much. What happened to that 65 degrees?

Well, this is it. After today I can exhale. My interview for the program is in a few hours. I started working for this last year in the spring. That, along with the course work I completed many years ago at UMass, has gotten me this far. Even though I say I don't have many more options, I really could if I consider them all. I want this option to open, that's all. And even though this is not IT, it will be part of a better course. May all the planets and stars be in place.

This time change is nice in a way, but.... This evening I got back from running in Redmond, warmed up something to eat, sat down with my computer and food and after a little while I looked up to see that it was already after 9. What the hell?...oh. The extended daylight helped with the run today. I enjoyed that. But tomorrow morning is going to suck because I have to get up at a half past nothing to get into work for 6:30. My body doesn't know anything about this time change thing, so it will be all pissy about getting up an hour earlier. We have natural built in clocks for a reason. It has to do with the length of the day and our biological relationship to the earth, but we can't leave well enough alone. I was looking for a good quote to highlight our cooperation with the earth but couldn't find one just now. We aren't so separate from not-self (or each other for that matter).

I had a mower stolen off the back of my truck today. Not good.

There are two things which confound me. One is that people throw trash on the ground, and two is that people take things that don't belong to them. Throwing shit around is wrong, and I should know because I pick it up all day. My sentiments on stealing is that you only seem to feel as though you are getting ahead when you aren't. That "more" you grab won't help. Sometimes I hate this place.

The afternoon commute was punctuated with hail. I know it doesn't look like much, but I had to check for dents when I finally got to the apartment. There were none. The Space Needle was struck by lightning earlier in the day and in that shower I got soaked . I might have even seen the light show but I can't be sure.

We are starting work at 6:30 from now on, or until the owner finds out. He micromanages, so since we have never done this in the past he'll be sure to change it. There are two other shops, one in Bellevue and one down south somewhere, maybe Tukwilla, I'm not sure. Anyways, they make their own schedules and run their shops the way they like, more or less. But not in the north shop. The owner won't or can't let that happen. This may work out to our benefit because we don't want to start at 6:30. Here is to micromanaging cheap owners. Cheers. Gotta go now.

I bought some new shoes yesterday at Road Runner Sports on Greenlake. I hope they fit me right. I'll take them out into the rain today and maybe extend the length of the normal 41-43 minute run. My legs were complaining a little this morning about the three runs I did in the last four days. All in all I'm happy where I am. It is nice to be out and moving again. What I miss are the hikes. I use my time for running instead of the hiking I used to do. I combined the two last year for a training run on Tiger mountain. What a pisser. My heart and lungs were at their maximum capacity/capabilitiy. It is nice not having any tests coming up.

If you have the chance to catch the movie Sideways, go see it. It is worth the (high) price of admission (I don't get out much). Lee and I did last night. I am looking forward to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy due April the 29th. Now I'm off into the rain. Y'all have a good one.

A-, again. Woo hoo!

The course is over and I think I may have done as well as last quarter. I can't believe though that I still get confused about the valves in the heart. Before the test he handed back the last exam and also gave us our total grade up to that point. It was much higher than I had anticipated.

I can start running after work now and once the weather cooperates I can get the bike out. Probably not this weekend. My next academic task is to brush up on my math skills. I found out that I don't have to take the math placement test but I do have to show them before the interview that I can do something in that arena. They'll test us in writing and math. My sentences can get ungainly I know. This endeavor has been good practice. I try to avoid any computations and now I need to close that gap. I got through two semesters of calculus many years ago. I have 15 days.

I didn't see a fireball.

Cool. I learned how to strong arm the blockquote function in the editor so that I can have the font in times new roman, at a certain size and with the heretofore absent paragraph indentations.

We are finally getting some rain. I can hear the water being kicked up by the passing cars and the dull metallic sounds of the water dripping from the roof and into the gutter. It started to rain at the very end of our run this morning. I'm happy that. I think I'm going to start posting more pictures here. I'll try for one a day or one every few days. How does that sound?

My head hurts. I don't usually get headaches but all the turbulence at work today and the reproductive test (why didn't we have a lab for this section?) we just took are both killing me. Boss man sort of freaked out about a property I have a problem parking at. Randy had to almost jump in front of this pushy woman who was determined to get the spot once boss man pulled his truck out. I had to go through it, get all the weeds (which have grown a lot in the last week or two), and make it look nice. That means you can really notice them now. I then had to race to another property I had been telling them about for over a month. Because of a mix-up between iron and a preemergent grass killer, I had to remove some turf today. This wasn't an emergency for weeks but today it is. I didn't get much else done.

And then there was the test; estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, interstitial cells, cowper's gland, seminal vesicles, granulosa cells...aaggh. I don't think I can start looking at the prior tests tonight. My brain is fried and it isn't even 8:30. Ya know, I keep saying this, but I hope this all works out. I'm not getting much on this. I am tired of doing all this on my own though, that much I can confess. And there is the rub, there is no one to confess to. Boy, I start whining when my head hurts. And trying to piece it together intellectually crosses even more wires. I'll try the trick where I'll open a book at any (random) page to see what it says;

      "The psyche, always in a state of becoming, obviously has no precise boundaries. The existence of one, again, implies the existence of all, and so any one given psyche comes into prominence also because of the existence of the others upon which its reality rides. One television station exists in the same manner, for if one could not be tuned in to, theoretically speaking, none could.

      "These inner communications, then, reach outward in all directions. Each identity has eternal validity within the psyche's greater reality. At one level, then (underlined), any person contacting his or her own psyche can theoretically (underlined) contact any other psyche. Life implies death and death implies life - that is, in the terms of your world. In those terms life is a spoken element, while death is the unspoken but still-present 'beneath,' upon which life rides. Both are equally present.

      "To obtain knowledge consciously other than that usually available, you pay attention to the pauses, to the implied elements in language, to any felt or sensed quality upon which the recognizable experiences of life reside. There are all kinds of information available to you, but it must still be perceived through your own focus or identity.

      "I have said that all events occur at once - a difficult statement to understand. All identities occur at once also. Each event changes every other. Present ones alter past ones. Any one event implies the existence of probable events which do not 'emerge,' which are not 'spoken.'Physical world events therefore rest upon the existence of implied probable events. Different languages use sounds in their own peculiar manners, with their own rhythms, one emphasizing what the other ignores. Other probabilities, therefore, emphasize events that are only implied (as pauses) in your reality, so that your physical events become the implied probable ones upon which other worlds reside."

-Jane Roberts and Seth, The Nature of the Psyche, pp.112-113.

I reread that last post and the way I had tried to explain it, it sounded like Lee thought 'Vester was a skunk even after she had taken him in. I think Lee knows the difference between a cat and a skunk.

The instructor tried to explain the differences between the sexes last night by telling us what the effects testosterone has on the developing ebryonic and fetal brain. Physiologically, testosterone makes the male and female brains operate somewhat differently. He then proceeded to take a big step and explained that if you have a cat, you wouldn't expect it to act like a dog and visa versa, the analogy being that each sex has their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe I didn't understand him completely, but he then said that you can't treat them the same because they are inherently different. That sounds too harsh, maybe he was talking about expectations. I think the man took a large step out of his medical field and into sociology/anthropology. Leave that to us buddy boy.

News on the cats who graced this page a little while ago. Sylvester, the black and white kitty on the left in this post had to be put to sleep last week. He had hyperthyroidism, was losing weight, had a hard time breathing and was about 15 years old. Lee lured him in as a stray when she lived at her ranch in California. At first she thought he was a skunk from his hair and his markings. It took a while for him to let himself to be domesticated, but in true cat fashion he did very well for himself. Captain misses his friend, even though 'Vester was the boss.

I found out too late that I can't show up the morning of the St. Patrick's Day Dash and enter the race. I ran on my own this afternoon after putting in hours studying for the next exam (last chapter exam). I spent most of yesterday reading the chapters. I need better than an 86 on this one. It is a wonder we procreate at all with all the glands, hormones, genetics and anatomy variables to be taken into account. There is one more week of school left. The final test is on Monday the 21st. My life is that simple right now. I go to work and then school and stress about them both at times. The consolation here is that the weather has been beautiful. It has been so nice that the governor called a drought emergency already. This summer might just suck. We'll see. Happy trails!

I've spent most of the day inside studying the kidney (out of the book). Kinda hard to ponder something when it is trapped in the body. We have the best weather in the country right now. Not too many days left...

I still don't like the blogger comment section. I'll turn it off soon. We got the last test back this evening. I was right about all the extra credit we had on the exam. It saved my ass. I ended up with an 85 when I should have gotten, at best, a 70. I don't go to work tomorrow but instead travel to the fair city of Everett to watch the radiation therapists there ply their trade. In the afternoon I get to see the spiffy hospital at Totem Lake for more of the same.

After speaking with the folks at school who run the program, I did my own sort of check-in with myself to gauge where I was and maybe portend some of my future. What I got was very mundane I thought. This wasn't IT. It will be more of the same. Not nearly as dangerous, but sort of like Rummie's long hard slog. I'm sure this path is a good one, especially considering the alternative: nothing. Nothing means more of the same with me being older. This is definitely a good idea. I'm sure of this, but it isn't IT. That is what I got. Somehow I want to think that this will turn into some sort of fantasy science fiction story when in actuality I will continue to dislike getting up in the morning, will have to force my body to move in space, will have to study and learn and repeat and pass. I'll then have a job where I'll have to fit in within a micrometer's variance. Granted it will be better in many ways to what I do now, but I will still be slogging my way through. Twenty years later and it's all like, "welcome to the working world." Maybe it was the future me (the one typing this now) who influenced the university me (of twenty years ago) to study Marx and his peers.

I don't get much, save fragments of old dreams that drove me from sleep, about what the IT is. My niece's e-mail reminded me that as I make time for running I also need to make time for creative endeavors such as this entry. I haven't felt too inspired for school or studying lately. Gladly, work is going along at an even keel right now. I don't need any challenges there. My virtual friend over at The Derby seems to channel her creative energy quite well. I spent some time reading a very well written and entertaining blog. Go read about the gulf between eastern and western Washington and the breakdown of cyclists. He is part of noematic creative gestalt also. A March 2nd resolution? I generally dislike the idea of resolutions. If you want to do something different or differently, then do it now and then on the next day and then for the rest of the time you are sucking air into and out of your lungs here on this planet. So IT isn't clear. But there is a silver lining; that because there was a feeling that this isn't IT, that there must conversely be one. Those Marxist dialectics did come in handy afterall. Or is that logic? Nevermind. Goodnight.

I'm still wasting my time and not studying enough. This quarter ends in about three weeks. I passed the school application in yesterday on the last day it was due. I got some great editing feedback from Tonya, but I had sent it to her at the last minute so the feedback was late. I had to tell them why I want to study in that field. My version may just work. The temperatures are getting milder. As soon as this course is over I'll get the bike out. Until then it is anatomy and physiology...every day.

I have a lot of stuff due this week. I guess I can complain about the instructor here. The complaining cook part of me is still here. We have two labs due on the syllabus though he hasn't talked about them yet. Our dietary lab is definitely due this week and then the test is on Thursday. The test had been pushed back from Tuesday but it wouldn't be wise to find out too late when he wants the labs turned in. Not the best sentence I know but you get the idea. The application to the program is due on the 28th. I still have to read chapter 24. Have fun kids.

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What a nice day. We were heading back to the shop at the end of the day.

From This Modern World, where I found it linked, and from AMERICAblog, from whence it was written, it seems that the White House allowed a gay hooker with little journalistic background to ask softball questions of the President and allowed him access to restricted information concerning a clandestine CIA operative. Tom is right, "yikes."

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The big excitement this morning is the snow.

Dad

I don't think that I have written about Dad. He was born in 1917 and lived 82 years until February 14th of '99. He married Mom in '38 or so, way before I was thought about. I am number 9 of 10 kids. I like this picture because it shows his calmness/groundedness I think. Two years after he left, Mom followed. This will be six years coming up. It seems longer to me because when Dad passed away I was still a cook in Florida and I hadn't returned home to Massachusetts yet. Now I'm trying to retool my self here in the Northwest and those other two periods in my life seem so distant now. If I have the stomach for it maybe I'll smoke one of your cigars tomorrow.

Are you an elitist?

Not that I have looked into the Seattle social scene myself, but in this Sunday's paper there is a story about "the infamous Seattle Freeze. It's the flip side of Seattle Nice. Welcome to Seattle . . . Now please go away." Being a Yankee is easy here because we tend to keep to ourselves. If you live here this article will ring true to a certain degree and it may make you smile because you have been there.

Hey internet, should I work as Bob's second, which means that I no longer have my own truck and route and less headaches, or continue doing what I am now? Boss-man is thinking beyond when I leave (a vote of confidence in my approval to the school program, right?) and he is trying to find someone to work with Bob. I wouldn't lose seniority (what there is there) and my pay would not suffer (I'm suffering with my pay now). I think I'll need the weekend to mull this one over. Boss-man was Jeckyll today and not Hyde, even after the water pump went out in the truck and he and the mechanic had to swap the truck out for another one. We never know.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

Captain and Sylvester were bored with the super bowl. I get to get another hat.

In case you aren't aware of the current terror alert warning, you can find it in the left sidebar.

I went to the advising meeting (advisory meeting?) today and I hope I didn't pester them too much. I am glad to learn that I won't have to test out of math as I had planned. They'll accept my calculus from years ago. I don't have the specific multicultural sociology that they want but my political science degree and all the classes that went into it will help me out. When I drop off the application I'll give them my UMass transcript and they'll make the final decision then. What I need to do next is make appointments with two hospitals to do visits. They want me to see the job being done before I (try to) take the plunge.

I tried to treat this meeting as a pre-interview in order to make a good impression. I hope my questions and ramblings didn't put them off too much (or at all). The good thing I heard is that according to my grades I'll make it to the interview portion of the process. I confessed that I don't feel I interview well (part of my rambling) so Sally said that this is where the feedback from the hospital visits might come into play. I'll see how this works out.

I've been in this apartment since the end of last quarter, before Christmas, and yesterday I finally finished putting the rest of my stuff away. This is much better. Mom's creshe was the first project. After that I couldn't stop. I even got some cleaning in. So all my books are finally in the bookcase and the floor is clear. I can live like this for a while. This week we are doing the immune and respiratory systems. I can catch up a little on Tuesday because I'm taking it off for the school advising session. That day may come in handy also should jeckyl be hyde today. Peace.

Work is a roller coaster, and all according to the knob's mood. Stupid, stupid managing. Bob and I worked together today on both of our properties. His name is now chainsaw-Bob. He limbed some trees and cut back some shrubs. He limbed and cut back a lot. The homeless guy near Dravus and 15th exclaimed, "you cut the hell out of that! You might as well hit it with napalm next. No more drinking and pissing back there." Bob took that as a very good compliment.

That's right. No more drinking and pissing back there. As far as I lead a live and let live philosophy, I am sick of cleaning up after bums who make their nest in my landscaping. If I have a chance to raise the skirt on some shrubs and clear out some ivy from someone little corner, then I do. For one thing it looks better and another is that they have no qualms about leaving their bottles, cans, clothes, needles and shit behind. I'm just sick of cleaning up after them.

I'll finally run with the group again tomorrow. We had the cardiovascular test last night so I am not bound to studying as much as previous weeks, and Cougar is a great place to run. It'll be nice to get out and get moving.

I should be studying for the next exam on Thursday, but, a quick update on current things. I finally made an appointment today with a program advisor for next week. I have to give credit to my boss for helping me scrape my way out of this job. He doesn't have a problem with this. But other than that, if there are problems he doesn't want to hear about, then it would do just as well to keep quiet. Eric says bide my time.

I actually like what I do. That is the funny part. They can make an easy (but physical) thing hard by requiring us to jump through all their stupid hoops. It is a bureaucratic and managerial thing. Wouldn't it be nice if there were companies who (gasp) actually had managers who worked for and with the people who actually DID the work, thus making the whole operation more efficient and productive? It is easy for a person to sell their soul to an employer/owner and thus be the knob who throws each and every stupid requirement at the workers with little consideration for morale or material compensation. I actually believe my boss when he says he is trying to get me and others our raises. Here, the owner is being uncooperative.

Where I work now it is all adding up; the stalled raise, the stalled overtime for getting up at 2 AM for snow removal (mandatory), the new mechanic who surprises me in that no one in his whole life up until now has killed him (I am truly surprised he is alive he is such an asshole, for real), the new requirement that the drivers all check their trucks every day when the mechanic is there a half hour before us -- they want us out of the yard as fast as possible, the inconsistency in wanting the whole job done but not budgeting the hours to do it, making us pay for our driving record when it is needed for the job...

There is probably more but I need to wrap this up. Last year when James asked me how I standed it there, I kind of thought for a time and answered that, "I worked at the hotel". I thought of it and realized it and it hit home all at the same time; that I had worked at the hotel and that I could put up with anything. The key now is that I choose what I put up with, I hope.

This week three years ago Mom and I had started our hoped to be series of trips. It didn't turn out the way we had planned. I believe I could feel her presence when I was moving into my present apartment. Here is the entry from January 25, 2002:


Here are some quotes for today. Take care. one,two,three,four,five.


Mom had wanted to visit all of her kids. We got to the two in New Hampshire but not the rest. I just wanted to note this here for this week before I get too busy. Y'all have a good one.

The car is fixed. If I had a better income, I could have used all the money for the last fix as a down payment on a new one, but the truth is that landscapers don't get payed well. Bob was a good sport about helping me drop the car off and pick it up and getting me to work the next morning. When in Bellevue, he got excited about a bar he had gone to 20 years earlier, so we had to stop for a few and some pool. I don't know whether it was the lack of food in me or that maybe I had hit my limit, but the next day, yesterday, my stomach couldn't hold anything and I was at half energy. Stopping there wasn't such a good idea I guess, but he was so excited and single minded about getting there I didn't protest. He had some close games but didn't win.

While inside it really became apparent to me the contrast between how I have been living and what I saw. What an unhealthy environment in so many ways. I didn't feel well enough to run with the club this morning, and besides, I should be studying for the next test.

No running today, but I got a lot of walking in. Half of the car list was done also. I need to bring it back for Friday so that they can get the carbon out of the engine and replace the plugs and plug wires. One of them isn't even working. For today's work I now have two new tires, new bushings in the front and a new tie-rod. The thumping came from the tire because the tie rods were loose. I couldn't salvage the tires. More money for the credit card, and even more yet next Friday. Not a cheap fix but it had to be done. At this rate I'm never going to get that TV. I'll have to hunt down a sports bar for the Patriots-Colts game tomorrow. Go Pats.

I'm off to get the car looked at today. I have to go back to Redmond for this. It would have been far easier to have done it when I still resided there. The tires need to be rotated, the oil changed, the engine tuned up and the break pads checked. I also think now that one tire is out of balance. Maybe I can run later. Peace.

On Thursday, January 20th, "Not One Damn Dime Day."

"everything old is new again", The horrors of El Salvador revisited.

If I only had the nerve to do what this guy is doing. He sounds convinced.

We had our first test tonight for this quarter. He asked very specific questions. A few of us agreed that he departed from his usual test type and that we were now worried about our outcomes. I had already been up since 2:10 AM applying ice melt and shoveling the little snow that was deposited in the Northgate area last night. On the plus side, it is overtime pay and then we got to go to Beth's for breakfast. I got my laundry done after a short nap and then I studied. I don't know that I could have studied any differently for this one, knowing what I know now.

"fantabulous."

Well I had a long post written up about the work trouble last Thursday, about how someone I work with doesn't see it my way and about how I am trying to stand my ground on this one. I don't think that I was alloted enough time there and I don't have much time from other places to compensate. I'm kind of surprised by how I'm not budging on this one. I also wrote that they can have the roof of dog shit. (actual copious amounts of dog shit everywhere) Peace.

It seems I have a cold. It hasn't made its way to my chest (I don't think), so maybe it won't be too bad. I'm not used to this headache. School starts tonight. I hope that my work day and week are uneventful. What kind of work weeks are going on out there?

E.J. Dionne Jr. writes:
"One line of attack against Bush is to say that his certainties are mistaken and that he never, ever questions them. That's true. It's also inadequate. Those who oppose the direction in which Bush is leading us need to propose an alternative."

Read Dave's "Three things."

My horoscope today:

"SagittariusNovember 21 - December 20Be polite and try your best not to impose on other people today, dear Sagittarius. It is important for you to behave well in all circumstances. You will find that people may feel as if they have been cheated, and though you may not be the source of their discontent, you may be feeling the consequences. Keep other people's issues separated from your own, and try not to let their discomfort bleed over into your world."

Well, it bled alright. Maybe it would have been better if I had read this at the beginning of the day rather than at the end. I didn't have a good day. On the bright side I got to yell at my boss. I was told this morning that one of my properties was not in acceptable shape and that the owners (who own many more) had decided that they would go with a new landscaping company. My defense was that I only get a little bit of time there every week and that this amount of time is not sufficient to do a good enough job. He didn't like this explanation and he then started lecturing me on future pay rates in future jobs and about how I could use this whole mess in life and that my now poor attitude was not helpful. It stopped right there. "Don't lecture me about life," I told him. I'm way too old for that. I could have had a much better day. I also don't think there was sufficient warning concerning this property. I thought I was doing my best with what I had to work with, really. Cheap m***********s all.

So now I have this tension headache that's starting to wrap itself around the left side of my neck and I have a limited number of therapies at hand. Maybe some day I'll have a job that I can excel at and be adequately compensated for. Yeah, fat chance, but I can hope.

photo_067.jpeg

Tuesday night at whirlyball.

I was on top of a building today in the U-District. What a nice Seattle winter day.

I finally went through the pile of bills and took care of them. The wood doors circa 1968 are cleaned and de-odorized. This problem seems to be a theme for me. The prior occupants must have smoked quite a bit. I used a TSP or TSP-like product to clean them and then I applied Odor-X from Turtle Wax. That stuff works. My bureau is put back together and now it is holding my clothes, rather than having them strewn on the floor. I was able to run the last three days and I even cooked tonight. Now I have food for the week. I hope you all have a nice one. (a four-day week for me)

This sounds like a good idea.

See why the gingerbread man smiles.

"For now the appalling truth is that there has been no remedy for the documented torture and killing of foreign prisoners by this American government."

"Those who oppose the war — how it started or how it bogged down — are routinely told that we are undermining the troops. Now those who run the war have to prove their support for the troops."

Fire all of them.

"While society is a kind of slow dance between the conservative and liberal impulses, the liberal role is the more important one. It makes our societies humane rather than just stable and mean."

With this new hard drive, I can download files from the net directly to the new drive. Once I get my act in gear I'll further back up the music and pictures to discs and then delete them and their gigabyte hogging space. This may seem a trifle thing in general, but for me it'll be a major coup. So I guess I'm stealing a U2 song. Sorry Bono. I wouldn't mind seeing them again. They came through Massachusetts in '84 and played a great concert. Wow, I'm getting old. Another coup would be to more wisely use my post work time for the coming week. It is really too dark to run then. We just had the shortest day of the year, and up here where the aurora borealis (*spelling is now corrected) can sometimes be seen, it seems especially short. and wet.

I found this the other day:

"Now, my words will not , I hope, be used to begin a new dogma. My dogma is the freedom of the individual. My dogma is the sacreligious one - that each of you is a good individual. There is nothing wrong with your emotions, or feelings, or being. When you know yourself then you are joyfully - joyfully - responsive, and, being joyfully responsive, you can carry your society to the furthest reaches of its creativity."

- Jane Roberts and Seth, The Unknown Reality, Volume Two, appendix 18, pg.740.

I gave up on the Buffalo external hard drive and returned it to Fry's for an Acomdata external hard drive. I missed out on the very good sale price for the Buffalo but if I couldn't get the thing to work then the sale price is a moot point. I now have 150 (160 advertised) gigabytes of space. My computer holds 11Gb. I can get my pictures and music off this machine and free up some very needed working space. I didn't have much time left.

I have two weeks until school starts again. The second course is with the same Dr. Phd. instructor. We'll know what to expect. As for now I'm enjoying not having to rush back to the apartment and then off to class. I'll need to start thinking about applying to the radiation program soon.

Have any of you ever heard of Whirlyball? We went there for the company Christmas party instead of bowling this year. In the world of Whirlyball, the players sit in these quasi-bumper cars and try as a team to thow a large wiffle ball through a backboard with a haijailai-type "paddle". There is a yellow team and a red team. I'm going there after work to watch Bob play. He had so much fun he joined the league. Edmonds holds the National Championship. (to be fair, by looking on the wall I think they hold them all as far back as '90)

Oh yeah, I know what else I was going to do. This past weekend I had tentatively planned on making Mom's donuts. Maybe that can be a Christmas Eve project. I need buttermilk, milk and eggs. I'll see whether I can re-create my version of them.

I could hardly believe it when I went online to check my final grade. I got an A-. I didn't even get an A- for the introductory biology course I took in the spring. That means for this instructor, I had anywhere from a 90 to a 95 percent. Considering that I came from behind with a 70 on the first test, I think I did pretty well.

And all you Seatowners (borrowing Sonya's saying), how did you like that sun today? For the first time in months I had to fish out my shades.

The weather is doing the crazy big, big rain thing again. This morning I thought I could just work through it for a while. I ended up being wet throughout the day. It usually doesn't rain this hard. I got a 95 on the special senses test (sight, hearing, taste and equilibrium). There were many answers I knew for the final on sight tonight but the nervous system still threw me. Overall I think I did well. Can we have a let-up with the rain now? My boots need a day to somewhat dry out.

The final test is tonight. I've gone over the previous tests four or more times. Now, it is either I know it or I don't. Peace.

vulcan nomad 1600

vulcan nomad 1600
Originally uploaded by nthaniel.

I ended up going to the motorcycle show anyways. Here is the bike I wish Honda would make. I sat on their 1300 and it seemed perfect for me. Mmmm ... bikes.

Apartment deck

My new apartment deck, posted directly from my camera phone.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I just signed up for the Flickr photo service. This is a picture from the summer when Bob and I climbed up to Camp Muir. I can finally post my own pictures to this site. Cool. Here is a link to the picture.

We had the last chapter test tonight and I think that I did well. I didn't have to guess on many at all, and I was able to fill in all the extra credit questions. Now we have the final cumulative test on Monday... and that is it. How many days has it rained lately? I think the answer would be "every".

I have two more tests left; Thursday and Monday. It was bad enough that I had the race a week and a half ago before a test and all the moving stuff also, but this coming weekend there is the motorcycle show.

... mmust ... study....

Damn. Bright, shiny, new motorcycles.

Ok, I'm back online. I have my new Qwest phone service and all my stuff is in the apartment. Whew. What a weekend. I bettered my half marathon time by a little and I got an 84 on the test Monday. We got to cut open a cow's eye on Tuesday. Don't underestimate the toughness of the sclera. It looks as though I am pretty much where I need to be in the course. I hope so because I'm signed up for the second course in the series for next quarter. It will be so much easier now that I live so close to school. And everyone is so happy that I have a focus. How many people are so concerned out there? It makes me wonder how I seem from the outside. Just a thought. Oh yeah, now I can google what Mt. St. Helens is doing, (you can see here) because that is currently a popular question in New England, and I can look for a Red Sox World Series hat. It still seems strange to type that. I want this one too.

The Space Needle has its hat on, just as Poets Seat Tower I'm sure has it's own. Is there a Christmas tree in the Connecticut River this year, or am I going back too many years? Later.