Heading to Lake Chelan this weekend

Looking forward to some sun (please, please, let there be sun), some Jet Skiing, some sleep, some kayaking, some hiking, and some Wii with the kids this weekend. We are headed to Campbell's Resort on Lake Chelan, which is an excellent location for the lake. Won't take off until Friday after work, although I will try and get out of here a little early on Friday. Normally I-90 traffic is heavy on Friday afternoon before Memorial Day, will see how gas prices affect it (I expect zero impact... too bad for me).

Three days of spring in the Pacific Northwest

The gods smiled upon the Seattle area for the last three days, parting the clouds and letting the sun through. Summer here doesn't start until mid-July, so quite nice to put the REI rain jacket away for a couple of days and do a full house search for my sunglasses.

We spent Saturday morning trying to sell our junk at the community garage sale, enjoyed a couple evenings of grilling out, let the kids around the 'hood play our in crappy little pool, and made it down to Snoqualmie Falls to check out the high level of water flow.

The Falls were cool. For a couple minutes until this conversation started.

Spencer: "Dad, I'm going to the rock!"
Me: "The Rock?"
Spencer: "Yeah... THEEE rock!"
Garrett (in his ear-shattering scream that people have come to know and love): "DA WOK! DA WOK! AIEEEEE!"

At this point I look at Amy with a quizzical look as the boys take off from the observation deck. I know we're in trouble when Garrett insists on walking instead of being carried. They dart into a lawn area and make their way to "the rock." Oh yeah, now I remember, the rock. A giant chuck of stone that the kids love to play on. Nevermind North America's tallest waterfall that we are lucky to enjoy a mile from our house. We come to Snoqualmie Falls Park to play on "the rock."

Took a lot of pictures this weekend, here's a sample.

It's on as the water fight hits full steam.


Wow, blue sky, cool. Haven't seen that in 8 months.


Keeping cool


There's my pride and joy that I can't stop talking about and bragging about. And to the left of it is my son, Garrett.


Took a little stroll around the neighborhood.


A shot of the falls.


Facing downstream from the falls, the mist created can be seen in this shot. Never gotten wet on the walking paths here before. Pretty cool.


There it is, the rock, in all its glory.


A wild beast wandered into the park, scaring Spencer...



The Rock.

Snoqualmie River Flood Information

We don't live in the flood plain, so nothing to worry about for our abode, but the Snoqualmie River is in flood stage right now due to the rapid warm weather melting all the late snow that fell in the mountains in April. Looks like it has leveled off, but with such a warm day today wouldn't be surprised to see the river keep rising.

Cool that the data can be tracked on the web.

A nice evening for Spencer

We took a little different tact this year with Spencer's birthday - he got to invite three friends to do whatever Spencer wanted. We ended up deciding just to host everyone and do pizza and playtime at our house. The kids started off on the Wii, then did pizza and cake, and ended up breaking out Rockband in the end.

We invited our neighbor Jack to spend the night with Spencer, and the two stayed up late trying their hand at Lego Star Wars on the Xbox. Amy was successful getting them to bed by 10pm (of course I was out back with my neighbor lighting up an Ashton).

Wine, Cigars, and Classical music

What started as an impromptu chat over cigars and fine wine with my neighbor escalated into six of us getting together for a few hours with martinis, champagne, Killian's Irish Red, and sharing stories about Chicago. What a rare, great weather evening here in the Pacific Northwest - nice 70 degree weather, clear night with stars, all in our backyard. We need to do this more often. Like once a week. Or maybe twice a week.

And I'll never think of pillows the same way again. Inside joke. Amy's cracking up right now.

Now THIS is the definition of irony

I'm a product manager in Amazon Payments, and I launched the "Pay Now" widget back in November of last year.

A friend of mine just sent me this link where a nutroots site the widget to collect payments.

Inside me head... "NOOOO! WHAT HAVE I DONE????"

:)

Now this is some awesome marketing

Seattle Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck will be a Church on the Ridge this Sunday. Normally I reserve church for Easter and Christmas Eve... if I'm allow to wear my Hasselbeck jersey, I'm there :)

Happy Birthday Spencer

The big guy is seven today, and he was up early sniffing out his loot. He found a new Wii all set up for him with some cool games.

We normally do a full birthday party for each of the boys, but this year we have just having three of Spencer's friends over for pizza and Wii. His friend Jack will spend the night so that should be fun.

Three years in the Emerald City

Just realized that three years ago our family awoke from our first night in Seattle. Seems like only yesterday I was pulling our rental car in front of our temporary housing at 10pm, driving past the "Lusty Lady" adult establishment, and seeing the look of "James where the &*$% are you moving us?" on Amy's face.

What an interesting three years it has been:

• I've taken up hiking as a serious activity, getting out into the mountains at least a couple times a month. And to my surprise enjoying it.
  
• I've actually found a consistent group of friends to hang out with (ok they are my neighbors but hey at least I am voluntarily getting out of the house... even if it is across the street).
  
• I've learned to like a "small city." I used to be snide about cities that don't have the amenities of a Chicago or New York; now I realize those cities also don't have the crime, traffic, smog, or asshole level that the big cities have.
  
• Spencer has gone from being a pre-schooler to finishing up his second year in school.
  
• Garrett has gone from a four month old to a three year old, and now he thinks that the sun doesn't exist due to all the cloud cover.
  
• I've learned to overspend on buying a house and like it
  
• I've learned to overspend on crappy restaurant food and deal with it
  
• I've learned that you can't complain about anything in this town without prefixing it with "It's Bush's Fault that..."
  
• I've learned to say "no worries" without thinking
  
• I've learned its impossible to see my friends and their families as much as I would like to
  
• I've learned to adjust being a long way away from my folks and my roots
  
• I've learned to appreciate and cherish those roots
  
• I've learned the locals here respect those roots and "Midwest values"
  
• I've learned posting on this blog is a lot easier than coordinating time zones, plus I don't have to talk to people
  
• And finally, I've learned that time flies and you really have to carpe diem.
  

A lesson from the Romans

The entitlement mentality in this country has to stop.

Now, its energy. We are entitled to cheap gas. Politicians are pandering to the people to win votes. And we encourage them.

There was a pretty big backlash to big government's response to the mortgage "crisis" - no bailouts for the irresponsible. That stopped the bailout talk. I don't hear the same about gas prices. We need to have the same "let capitalism do its job" mantra that applied in the mortgage crisis.

Gas is $4+ a gallon. So what. You can be part of the solution. Reduce your gas usage. Support alternative energies. The higher gas goes the bigger ROI that alternative energy companies will reap, encouraging them to invest more aggressively. Or mass transportation options become more available. Microsoft operates its own bus system in the Seattle area. Great idea, capitalism at its best, employees win, the environment wins, and citizens win.

The loser will be OPEC in the next decade when enough smart entrepreneurs figure out how to bring solar, wind, and battery power to vehicles. Big Oil had better figure out how to be big energy, else they will fall the way Kodak did when Kodak failed to realize it wasn't in the film business it was in the photo business.

We survived the 70s gas crisis. We will survive this one. If government doesn't screw it up.

Well this is interesting

Former Republican Bob Barr announces running as Libertarian for President. Given the pathetic state of the Republican party these days (eclipsed only by the Dems), maybe other third parties feel they can make some headway.