Last entry for April - wow, already! Lots of random cool stuff today to finish off the month in style… Got a totally random text message today… from John McAllister! Yes, he’s still in Tanzania with the peace corps… don’t know how he managed to get a wireless phone in africa. Super crazy. So we chatted back and forth for a bit, i looked up my calling card rate and it’s 56 cents a minute to Tanzania… so maybe we’ll just send texts… ;) Then Gabe called me to say he received his orders today, and he’s been station in washington in the position he wanted, and under a commanding officer he knows and likes! Congrats, man, that rocks! He might be moving back to Seattle from texas as soon as friday!

Free lunch at work today, on the boss (thanx Bill!) to celebrate my birthday - chinese food with the IT dept. We also moved our office to the other end of the building, so i kinda have a desk now… hopefully having a more permanent place will make things a little less chaotic. We’ll see…

It’s another beautiful sunny day! It’s finally spring! Washed and waxed the Max last nite, it looks grrrrrreat. I’m ready to get outta here, get some sun. Gonna go home and hit the heavy bag tonite, too, make Libby proud. ;)

So i don’t feel any older… ;) Yesterday was my birthday, big number 25, had a great day. Weekend with the family was excellent, it was so good to see Mom and Dad, and it was totally great that Danielle was able to come with them, too. We tore the city apart - mostly the shopping district downtown - and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Really, just being all four together again was the best part, it wouldn’t have mattered what we did.

They took me out to dinner, and birthday shopping, and bought pizza and beer for a whole mob of us (Steph, Josh, Kim, and myself, and Tim & Carol drove up to join us). We laughed and talked until late sunday nite, and then they departed monday morning, to head back to MT and rescue the dog and Danielle’s kitten, Ferris, from the pet hotel. I’m so glad they were able to be here! I have some pics i’ll post, and a bunch of cool birthday presents to enjoy… and a really great family! Thanks so much, you guys!

Birthday day itself was pretty cool, too - work wasn’t too stressful, and Kristen sent me home early with a big ‘happy birthday’ balloon - thanx Kristen, you totally rock! Kim, Libby, Steph and i ordered chinese takeout, and Josh showed up just in time to join in for another evening of plain good fun. Stayed up late but it was worth it, i’m tired today at work but who really cares, life’s short! Also, thanks to Libby daring us all to snarf a chinese-mustard-drenched slice of bbq pork, my nasal passages are very clear today. I’m proud to say i was the one who held out the longest before crying like a sissy girl. Libby, perhaps your toughness is starting to wear off on me already… ;) Had a great night, reminded me how many excellent friends i have. Speaking of that, Lance called somewhere in there, too, to wish me a happy birthday - thanx, buddy!

So like the 60’s song says, i’m another day older and deeper in debt. But neither of those things really bother me, nor do the overcast day and my really dirty car… because life is good!

Got a call from Mom at 8am this morning, they’re on the road! I’m down in burien working, but only until noon, then it’s home to straighten up the house and put another load of towels in the dryer, and otherwise get ready for them to be here! Incidentally, Mom called on the new phone which is super-duper cool. Found a sweet transformers pic for it, thanx Jhonny!

Put the new phone on silent last nite to catch Spike & Mike’s animation fest at the Varisty theatre up on the Ave with Josh and Kim. A couple very funny toons, and a bunch of really strange ones, and one that was kinda sad… pretty cool, overall. My fav was i think Happy Tree Friends. It looks cutsey but it’s not - it’s very much like Itchy & Scratchy of Simpsons fame, in fact i wonder whether one inspired the other. Really funny, and the high-pitched giggly theme song is still stuck in my head today… “La la la, lala la la, la la la, lala la la…” Augh! Make the madness stop!

I’m coming to you on this rainy tuesday from the breakfast table, racing against time to type something interesting and still eat my bowl of special K before it gets too soggy. According to ups tracking, my neato new phone is supposed to arrive today. I really just want to sit at home and play ssx tricky until it shows up, but i’ll probably go to work… ugh. I need to go visit the offices in burien (south seattle) this week, but i hate going down there almost as much as i hate driving to kent - it’s just a sucky drive, and when i get there nothing works like it’s supposed to. Plus i always seem to get in car accidents in that part of town. Well, ok, it only happened once, but i’m entirely creeped out down there now about it.

Mom, Dad and Danielle will be here thursday afternoon for a long weekend. It’ll be cool to have them here, hopefully the weather will be as nice as it was last weekend and we’ll be able to hit a bunch of the fun stuff. I already have tickets for a Mariners game saturday nite - my birthday present to myself. I still have two more nites to finish cleaning the house…

Haven’t been getting much done on the cleaning front so far cause i haven’t been home an evening since, like, march. Went to Dave’s last nite to help Matt finish up Ian’s transmission. At least, that was the plan, until we figured out a banjo bolt that connects the clutch master cylinder was missing. It’s a special order part, won’t be in for a few days, and none of the local places had anything similar enough. So it’s mostly put back together, other than the master cylinder (obviously) and a few under-hood parts (battery, supercharger piping) that would be in the way. But the pedals are all there, the tranny is in, and it shifts - although third is a little sketchy. I think it’s just stuck, nothing a running engine and moving car won’t fix. Fourth works just fine, and it’s on the same actuator. I keep telling Ian that, but he’s worried that it’s not going to work once we get it all together. In that case, i think Matt’s and my advice would be ‘take it to a transmission shop!’

Sunday was a lovely Easter lunch/dinner feast with Adam, Lindsey, Mike and Donna. My contribution was two bottles of wine, both with a story: a bottle of Rosemount shiraz that Tim and Carol introduced me to, and a Due Uve - an italian white - that my wine expert Michelle McL recommended. Both were great, i drank quite a bit of both of them…. ;) I was up early that morning for Easter mass at a very beautiful cathedral that is only two blocks from my house - ’so those are the church bells that keep waking me up!’ - and had breakfast with Josh downtown at the Cyclops. It was a beautiful, sunny, excellent Easter sunday!

Wednesday nite Josh, Kim and myself are headed to an animated film festival in the U district that’s supposed to be killer-funny. So that pretty much leaves tonite for me to finish my laundry and clean the house… but why do i suspect i’m going to spend all nite playing with the new phone…?

New photos up from the aforementioned Oregon coast daytrip. Go check ‘em out! I know it’s been over a month… i hope you think they’re worth the wait! It was a fun trip, i had fun putting together the gallery - even really late! ;)

Got a few more steps done on Ian’s transmission today. Old automatic tranny is out, new manual tranny is working and assembled. Big old hole under the hood, couple pans full of tranny fluid laying around in Dave’s garage. Looks pretty cool. ;)

Doing laundry and staying up late watching movies with Josh. Well, i’m not doing laundry with Josh, just the staying up late part. A little Charlie’s Angels is a great way to finish the night…