Rachel Grace

This is my friends baby. Her name is Rachel Grace Anderson. She was born August 4th, to proud parents Joe & Anna after only 5 hours of unmedicated labor. She was 8lbs 9oz. I got to meet her tonight for the first time. It was kinda nice to hold her. She smells good. My friend Chloe just started kindergarten. Her mom and dad are nervous. I read her mom's blog. She cries a lot. Chloe's brother wears a potty training toilet seat on his head. I went to a baseball game today. The Mariners lost. The police yelled at me and my friends. I had pizza for dinner. It's fun to write like a kid. Here is a better family photo.

Clean your can

While sitting in Starbucks today, celebrating a friends new unemployment, we saw this baby blue truck drive by. It was oddly shaped and we both took notice. What the??? If you zoom in, in a very Seattle like fashion, it reads, "CleanACan.com". Yup. Here's the official link. For only $6 a can, you too can promote healthy living and prevent your family (of rats) from getting diseases, mold or bacteria poisoning. Side note: The Blue Angels practice was less intrusive today. We caught a couple glimpses of them over sipping our frappuccinos.

Perspective

So, at the end of an exhausting day full of rants... I can go to sleep having just eaten two fortune cookies that read:

"You are domestically inclined and will be happily married."

and
"Good news from afar will bring a welcome visitor."

As I sit here, in my double-heat-intensifying skylighted attic, directly in front of my fan, those two quotes make me laugh and realize that while I may read them differently tomorrow, it was enough to make me crack a smile now. See, the Blue Angels are in town for Sea-fair weekend. It's exciting and a real rush watching them. Seldom seeing them through the hills and trees, but hearing them break sound barriers and sometimes feeling their afterburner rumble, I jolt my head to the sky, only to be blinded by the sun as the Angels are long gone. They are incredibly awesome and talented. Admittedly, they have grown on me. As a spectator, I figured the bulk of society would watch with anticipation of a horrific incident. Giving up the too cool for school attitude, my perspectives changed to hope of safety and admiration and even a little day dreaming of being a fighter pilot. However, it is also incredibly frustrating finally having something to do only to be delayed by interstate bridge closures so the Blue Angels may practice for this weekends show that I'll most likely not be able to attend. Perspective? 45 minutes to go 4 miles. No exaggeration required. The job? While glad to have it, I'm still learning the ins and outs of a design team who lapse in communicating from time to time. Patience wears thin on such toasty, muggy days as today. I faired well though through buckets of sweat. It's crazy to me that one would spend $200,000 on a Ferrari but not put air conditioning in their home. The commute home was just as horrendous with an accident on I520 westbound (my direction) as well as eastbound. When I got cut off from an extended/articulated metro bus that was blocking 5 lanes and an intersection, I pulled into Qdoba for a quiet, air conditioned mexican dinner. A friend called. We talked about the challenges of my day. and the joys of hers. A nano-micronic split fraction of a second later, she asks if I could let her dog out... and feed it... and add water to the food... and... She has two children, apparently unavailable. And after sharing with me the great time she had on a boat watching the Blue Angels, she was going directly to an art walk and didn't have time to... Well. You get the drift. Of course there is more things that happened today. But... the fortunes changed my perspective of the "world hates me" to "there is hope that your wife is on her way, perhaps from a far off land, and she will appreciate your handy man skills, like your cooking and be so pleased to have finally bumped into you after traveling the world."

Oh oh! I just had to go and eat one more cookie...

"There will be true and sincere friendship between you both."

What could it mean???
(other than I should stop eating fortune cookies before bedtime...)

Hello Blog

"You may have to be patient; think, listen and heed signs."

Humpf. Thought I could do this, get back in the blog swing of things, but the above was my fortune cookie devoured a moment ago and the undertow I seem to be battling. The last few weeks have had their challenges. Doesn't every mama impress upon their child, "If you don't have something nice to say, then don't say nothing at all"? Oh, Mama. Will I forever remain silent? A friend asked me today, "How's your summer been? Any highlights?" And do you know, my mind drew a dumbfounded blank. Is it the day? Or the mood? Or the sad reality that nothing memorable has happened this summer? There certainly has been challenges which in my tiny world seem monumental but I know all too well in the bigger picture... there are far worse things occurring and things could get worse. (hope and change has evaded me this year mr. president.) So a note to say that I am still occupying more than my fair share of space and perhaps the suns rays will shine brighter tomorrow.

Already?

I can hardly believe it. Yesterday I was watering my garden when to my surprise, I found that my raspberries have begun to ripen. Fortunately, they don't need the sun to do their magic. I picked one and shared it with a friend. Yup. We divided a raspberry. Summer deliciousness filled my mouth. I'm so proud.

I've also been working hard on the chicken coop. The girls are getting big. One question that gets asked often is whether or not they are endearing to me. I'm not sure how to answer that. I'd like to think they respond to me, but then again.... there's a major lack of consistancy. Kevin often jumps up on my hand, but still, chickens are not dogs. Dogs long to be by your side and serve you. Cats, although they have no intention of serving anyone but themselves, still respond better than chickens.

The coop fits just as I had hoped in the corner of our yard and hasn't cost me a cent (items have been purchased, but the coop itself was entirely free). I've used all "found" items from craigslist and keeping a sharp eye out. I'll probably mention this factoid a few more times, because, one, I'm proud of the result and two, I honestly didn't think it could be done (by me). I've met a wide variety of pedestrians as they do a double take not expecting to see chickens chillin in the hood of the university district.