Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Moving....

I want you all to know my Seattle pictures are delayed I am in the process of moving and I am only half done cleaning my shots up of Seattle and have not even begun to figure out which ones to share. I am packing and have no time to get it done. I will be moving to a home without internet so it may be some time before I get a chance to finish that set. Anyway keep an eye out because I will do my best to post even without internet at home.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A View of Vancouver From Above



These shots were taken while at the Vancouver Lookout at Harbour Centre. It had some spectacular views. It seemed a little pricey but I liked looking down into the city it was neat.

Due to Speed constraints I have added a new slide show here as a link only. This is an additional Vancouver BC slide show. It is a few that did not fit either of the already posted slide shows. It is called VANCOUVER BC REPRESENT! The link is:
http://www.slide.com/r/N1ukqeRQ6j9VIjgQRgvSHkSktjRAfClG?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

It has a few pictures of the road up including an upside down Pete, and yes I did have the camera upside down when I took it and I was aware of that. It also has a few pictures from our stop at the Steamworks Brewery in Vancouver, a highlight of the trip, the hostess they have is absolutely gorgeous and the beer is good. It also has a few pics at the Border. Enjoy!

A Harrowing Walk Slide Show




Vancouver was an interesting town and a few things struck me right away. One of them being Chinatown is a scary section. I stopped and took a few pictures as we strolled to Chinatown around 6 PM. We would find all the shops were closed up for the night but the freaks were definitely out. I was to be hit up for spare change several times and offered drugs several more. The whole area was crawling with drug addicts. One of the addle brained walked by us, sneered, and said "Bet ya didn't see this part of town in your visitor guide." He was right, we hadn't. We were walking swiftly out of the area almost as soon as we got there and ended up in the Gastown district which was a bit more swank and the degenerates were fewer in number. Click on the picture for a larger view and more control of the speed.

Monday, August 20, 2007

From Seattle (and Vancouver) With Love!

Hey all!
I just got back from a trip to Vancouver BC and Seattle with my dad and Pete. It was a good time and I have pictures to share but I wanted to post this real quick because I know I missed some calls, text messages and emails. I forgot my charger and I have expensive coverage in Canada so the phone was mainly off the entire trip. I will be getting a hold of you in due course but I am home so feel free to call me.
I will give a report on the trip later but it is back to work for me!
Mike

In the meantime check out this crazy guy with his crazy blender! http://www.willitblend.com/

Saturday, August 11, 2007

The Bite of Oregon 2007

The slide show can be found here: http://www.slide.com/r/OkA9IMYX7D-Ojp8rRoOjeqtMQ7ImYjZN?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

The place had bogged down so I am trying to make this load faster.

I have a whole series of comments that explain the titles, if you want to read them go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12754572@N00/sets/72157601369355226/

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Blooms and Trees: the Slide Show!

In case you are wondering I am playing with some photo sites to host my next set. So let me know what you think of this slide show. You have to go to the site to view this slide show. I have too many slide shows on this page and the place is bogging down. I had to do something so I made this one go away.

The slide show is named: Blooms and Trees

The link is:
http://www.slide.com/r/YUIASBPr4z9OpeJ0JSaXCjDgGkr7p2tb?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Enjoy the show!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Just Between Us Friends

It seems a lot has been happening up here. In fact the more stuff that happens the less I have been writing. I feel like I need to write something here but I have not felt inspired. I have not restarted my coast trip pictures since I posted the Japanese Garden so I have no pictures to offer for viewing pleasure. I am in a rut as far as posts go and try as I might no creative spark has ignited and taken me anywhere. No poems about laundry or the lack of trick or treaters and no fake reader mail to respond to. I am not sure what is going on really considering I have all kinds of weird things happening in my life so you would think some things would eek out on to virtual paper here. It has not happened yet. So instead I am offering a post to update you on my life. If you were hoping for more I figure you will learn to live with disappointment.

Let's start off with work. Some of you may know there were some changes at my place of business and a few struck very near me. People I liked and had hired me are moving on. The company eliminated their jobs as they found some positions to be redundant and decided to eliminate them. The people could apply for other jobs within the company if they wanted but everyone I know that was affected has said they weren't going to. This shook things up and a lot of people got all scared and were worried about their own job security. I figure some people have good reason to be. There are a lot of people that are long time employees and are within striking distance of retirement and the prospect of going on job interviews and starting all over again somewhere new is a horrible idea. Other people that are rightfully worried have children to take care of and families they are supporting. After I assessed other people's predicaments my own became less worrisome. I am 30 years old, I have no family to support and I am willing to do anything to make ends meet. I was worried about the job hunt since this is the first time that a year passed and I was only slightly annoyed by the whole work thing. Overall this has been the best working experience to date. Which either says a lot for the company and the demands of the job or the completely eroded self worth I have developed, he he he. I guess years of phone work make the monotony slide off you and the customers hurled insults float through you. After all that became clear to me I decided to ride through the storm and see how far this little ship takes me. I am officially not looking for a job anywhere else. I figure if they do close the place it won't be right away and my long term goal is to become a teacher. Which means my short term goals are getting back into school. Yes once again I am entering the world of schooooolastic excellence or something very close to that. I will let you know when that happens.

I still am lady friend-less in case you were wondering. I have developed a few hang out friends up here and we do the whole hang out thing from time to time with them. Which usually means a few beers are consumed and has made things a lot more fun and may be the reason I have been less 'share-y' lately or something. As long as all goes according to plan I will be moving apartments in September. I will have a roommate, one of my new friends, which means cheaper rent yay!. It's a 2 bedroom place and it is closer to work and seems to be closer to the school I am looking into attending as well.

I have started running at least 3 to 4 times a week. I am in my 4th week of running, 5th week since I decided to start but with the blister set back during my mom's visit I took a week off. I can tell you new shoes are needed very badly as I am running in broke down old running shoes and my legs are starting to feel it. So if I can swing it I will be getting a pair next paycheck. I need to figure out what style shoe I need for my feet, after reading running books I figure it might matter, and then I need to spend a few bucks and get the dang things. Any suggestions from runners/joggers are appreciated, all advice will be listened to and probably taken. I picked up some revitalizing energy drink after speaking with Kevin K about a leg cramping issue early in my runs and it helped a lot. Now I am dealing with various leg joint aches but I figure that is to be expected a little bit since I am at least 250 lbs and my body hasn't been used to exercise at all. I already notice that I feel better the next day when I run/jog and once I start running/jogging I get irritated when some part of me can't keep going so I feel like I already have a desire to keep it up. Some of the bad days I experience was lactic acid built up so bad that I could not move my legs enough to keep jogging and I was cramping up really quickly after I started, I bought the go juice/revitalizer mix and that has eliminated having that happen as soon as it was, I still cramp up but usually after I have been doing stuff longer. Yesterday it was my lungs giving me grief, I was winded and could not catch my breath because I ran as hard as I could as far as I could (which is already further then it used to be) and I could not catch my breath for what seemed like forever, the neat thing was my legs were ready to keep going once my lungs were, of course I was much slower and ended up cramping up all over the place but that is OK. Today I ran my usual loop which felt a little boring so even though my left knee and left hip were already complaining I went to a nearby school and ran in their fields which felt better on the body parts, a suggestion from Doug. It felt nice to change it up so I may look for another new place tomorrow and rotate them to keep things interesting. At this point I am jogging/running/walking but my ultimate goal is to be able to run for extended periods without walking. You know the Forrest Gump thing "I just felt like running", my body is not there yet but my head is. I am hoping in six months to be in a 5k run thing. So hopefully I can rely on you to ask me how I am doing to keep me motivated a little. It is one reason I am mentioning it here, because now I have put it in writing and I will feel embarrassed about welching unless I have a good reason like my leg falls off or something.

Now you are thinking what is a typed promise when you have not even delivered the promised coast photo set..... easy killer! I have not given up, it will get done and I am hoping to do so very soon. I just need to not have classes late into the night that I can use as an excuse... I need to be excuse free! So hopefully within two weeks.... give or take a couple cases of apathetic disillusionment.