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. ;)

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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!

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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!

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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…?

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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…

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Got an email from Mom today saying she'd like to see a new entry… parents can be so demanding! ;)

DJ and i ordered a bunch of tuning parts for our mini RC cars, and they arrived yesterday, so i spent my evening working on a 2″ car (for a change). It’s so fast now! I have a bunch of pics i'll throw up this weekend, if i get a chance. I'm really behind on the pic posting, apologies for that.

Picked up John at the naval station in everett yesterday morning, he appears to have survived his tour at sea, despite the general incompetence of a large number of his shipmates. Welcome back, man, and thanx for breakfast! He has a few weeks at home before it’s back-on-the-boat, so we're going to try and make the most of it. Translation: we're going to do some stuff to his car. ;)

I'm not in the habit of quoting someone else’s content, but i though this was funny and annoyingly true:

The NEW open-source software business model: 1) Write free stuff. 2) ??? 3) Sell tech support to your family. 4) Profit! As opposed to the previous open-source business model: 1) Write free stuff. 2) ??? 3) Get supported by your family. 4) Profit!

So does this mean i'm adapting to the times? ;) Speaking of the times, i'm finally going to join the world of high-tech mobile phone users… ordered a new wireless handset yesterday, a nokia 7210. At last, ringtones that i choose and a model series that hasn't been discontinued! I'm feeling very high-tech and geekish, super excited for that to get here.

Working late tonite on a side project with a woman at work, a web site for the ceo. I get paid overtime for it, so i don't mind doing it, but it has been a bit disorganized and that frustrates me, plus i'm just not very artistically inspired to make a website about someone else’s high school class reunion. I've been struggling with visual content, that and it’s supposed to talk with an access database and i royally despise micro$oft access in all its forms, not real jacked about getting that to work. Ugh. But i get paid for it. And i guess there’s about a million worse things i could be doing for money. (Ahem. Adjusting insurance claims!)

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Sunday morning and i'm lying in bed, surfing the web forums and thinking about what i want for breakfast. If i could reach them, there’s a box of lemon zingers on the dresser, but that'd mean getting out of bed, and i'm just not ready for that yet. ;)

Steph and i went on a lovely morning stroll through the Montlake neighborhood yesterday. Actually, we stopped for a breakfast first - hot chai and smoked salmon schmear on a toasted bagel (smoked salmon schmear - say that five times fast!). Then it took us a bit to find the Montlake neighborhood - apparently there’s this whole part of the city between Capitol Hill and the 520 that i never noticed before…

Raced home and changed into grease monkey clothes, as we started on Ian’s tranmission swap right after lunch. He had some rewiring to do, as his alarm wires passed through the exact place in the firewall where the clutch pedal needs to go (doh!). We got the brake pedal in and some holes drilled (well, Matt did most of that work). There just wasn't room for more than one of us under the dash. I didn't really earn my steak (we bbq'd at Dave’s place) but i will next weekend when we really tear into the job. Thanks again to Dave for being such a great host, especially since he only closed on the new house that morning - we messed up his garage before he even had a chance to move in! You rock, Dave! And great place! Somewhere in there i re-grounded my horns, as one of them was working intermittently (of course, the low-pitched one would cut out, making my car sound like a moped. typical). Also installed my Injen cold air intake - my first noticable performance mod! I'm soooo jacked about it, even though it’s not that big of a thing. My car has this super-awesome growl to it at WOT now (sorry… Wide Open Throttle) - like i needed another excuse to reach high revs… it’s so sweet tho! Very cool.

Off to dinner with Kim and Josh now (it took me all day to finish this entry - what can i say, it was a lazy day!). We're headed down to the waterfront in search of overly large and salty 'freedom fries'… [insert laugh here] and maybe some shopping… plus i have to let them ride in my car now! ;)

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So it’s friday, but i'm not sure if that’s It’s finally friday! or It’s already friday!. Didn't get a lot of those chores and household tasks done that i meant to (no surprise there) but am definitely looking forward to the weekend. Kim made a pot of coffee this morning and then i left and forgot to take a cup with me. Should have done it, cause it’s 11.30 and i'm ready for a nap. ;) I guess staying up late watching Will & Grace reruns and Elimidate while surfing the internet probably wasn't the best move… but it is friday, no one expects me to be on the ball today anyway…

Going out to lunch with DJ today, next friday is his last day working here. Then he’s off to Hyde Park, NY for culinary school. Guess i'll have to find someone else at work who will appreciate my engine dress-up and who is interested in tuning mini RC cars… On the plus side, maybe i can go visit NYC and stay with him, and we can roll up to Jersey, take my car to Level10 for a valve body upgrade!

I noticed that the WA dept of licensing charged $25 to my paypal card, which must mean they've processed our application for a business license. So Patrick and i are now legit, just waiting on our irs tax id number. That means i've gotta build us a website and a bunch of other stuff, so i've got weekend work to do. That, and we're doing the first part of Ian’s transmission swap saturday, installing the clutch and brake pedals and the clutch master cylinder. Then a couple saturdays from now we'll drop his auto tranny out and replace it with the 5 spd. Should be an interesting project, definitely messy. Added some more stuff to my Maxima wishlist today (brake upgrade) after a bus cut me off on the freeway. Stupid bus. This is really a random post. Kind of stream-of-consciousness writing. Maybe that’s because i'm kind of half-awake. So far i haven't started talking like Ozzy… but the day is still young.

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It’s just a little after midnight and i'm getting home - two late nites in a row - no wonder i've needed so much coffee at work! No regrets, tho, as i was busy enjoying myself! Matt convinced me a few weeks ago to buy a ticket to a punk concert at the Showbox. I decided i could afford it (you're only young once, right?) and I actually ended up finding a good deal on the newest disc from the headlining band, The Ataris, and have been enjoying it for the past few weeks.

Standing in line on the sidewalk before the show, i was beginning to wonder if i wanted to be there. I was tired after working all day, it was a bit cold and rainy standing out there, and i didn't seem to have the energy that all high-school kids bouncing around the sidewalk did. A guy was walking up and down the line looking for extra tickets he could buy, and at one point he came by offering $40 for a ticket. Now, if you've looked at the pic of my ticket you'll see i only paid 15… well, $16.50 with handling fee. I had already told myself if somone offered me 50 i would take it and go home and listen to the cd again. I almost took the 40. But i stuck it out, and Matt and Michelle showed up, and we made our way in and retreated to the bar to avoid the throngs of teenagers.

The first band was excellent, Yellowcard, a great punk gang with a ska-like twist in their violin player. Freakishly energetic and a very fun group, their new cd comes out in july, i'm going to be watching for it. The second act’s name was lost on me, as was their performance. They just hopped around and screamed a lot randomly. Not that i'm inherently against a yelling vocal style - Linkin Park - one of my favorite bands - comes to mind as a counterexample. These guys just weren't together and the beat kept getting lost in the shuffle (and the screaming). Judging by their subdued mingling the crowd seemed to agree with me. The third group, The Juliana Theory, is what the second act aspired to be: screamers with rhythm. They were much more organized and a tighter group. Some great harmonies from the Bo Duke (as in: of Hazzard) lookalike, too.

After a substantial delay and a small amount of showmanship, the Ataris finally took the stage and made all the waiting outside worth it. A dynamic, intense performance combined with music that is already so emotion-charged truly brought the evening to a climax, and they artfully took advantage of that to truly treat the crowd. A four-song encore finished their set, including one feature performance from Tom Wisniewski of Mxpx on guitar and a solo cut of 'My Reply' from lead Kris Roe. They're such a killer band, and with meaningful lyrics to back up their musical talent. It was a great show and i'm very glad i made it (thanx, Matt, for making me go!). I'll definitely be watching for the Ataris next move here and shopping for Yellow Card’s new disc this summer!

Well, time to sleep for a few hours and then get up and go to work tomorrow. Such is my life! And i love it!

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Well, it’s a little after one and guess who just got out of bed? I'll give you a hint… he’s taller than Tom Cruise, less annoying the Gilbert Gottfried, and blacker than Michael Jackson… okay, i give. It’s me. Anyway, i missed like 8 phone calls while i was sleeping, apologies to whoever that was. Gabe i know one of those was you - sorry man! you call at weird times! ;)

Kim is getting some mountain time, as the slopes close next weekend. Dunno where Josh is (it was Kim’s week to watch him, i swear!). So i'm home alone [scream and pinch face in hands] and there’s no one here to tell me i shouldn't have a coke and two lemon zingers for breakfast…

Tonite is st paddy’s day with Lexie, Hillary and Molly. Now, i know what you're thinking… 'wasn't st patrick’s day last month?' Well, you're correct there, but Lulu had the nerve to be deathly sick that day and missed all the fun, so we're holding a rerun at kell’s (irish pub in post alley). Molly of course has ground rules, involving who gets to kiss who depending on what color they're wearing and who she thinks looks the hottest in green. I read the rules twice, and i haven't decided if i'm better off to be wearing or not wearing green… i think i might wear something green that’s not obvious so i can whip it out should it become advantageous. Either way, i expect to be there until well after closing time, just as i have every other time i've accompanied 'the three vodkasteers' to kell’s. ;) And i expect it should be a wild time, as always. Anyone who’s bored tonite or isn't feeling lucky lately, come join us in toasting Lulu! Slinte!

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