An Idiot Girl of the Action-Adventure Club

An Idiot Girl of the Action-Adventure Club

cliomouse

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	[Feb. 3rd, 2008\|12:07 pm]
I hardly even realize it's a different year than last year. While I hate to be a sourpuss, it's not been a really great one. My car was broken into outside my apartment the first week of the year. Nothing was taken because there was not much of value. The person knew what they were doing, though, and had a master key to the rebuilt liftgate. That's the only way I figure they could have unlocked it, crawled inside to the front seats, crawled back out, then shut it all again without the alarm going off. Work has been slow, so I've spent much of my time on training sessions. I did my 8-hour refresher for the Hazardas Work and Operations (HAZWOPER) program, which involved Christina getting dressed up in full HAZMAT suit, oxygen tank and all, and taking a walk around the block to fully experience it. The best thing about the suit, though, is that you cannot tell who is inside of it, so it's not like anybody will make fun of you for it afterwards. She still wouldn't let me take a picture, though. I've also completed the two-day training for erosion control (CECSL), so now I can go tell people they've messed up in all kinds of new ways. Actually, I don't really agree with a lot of the erosion control "best management practices" (BMPs), or the excessive use of acronyms in all of these kinds of courses and areas of study. I've always figured that if something has a lot of acroynms, it's because they're overcomplicating things, think too much of themselves, and have too much time on their hands, which is why they just come up with abbreviations for everything so they'll sound important. But maybe that's just me... In case anybody hasn't had enough abbreviations, I attended an ASCE meeting a couple of weeks ago in Seattle to see a presentation by Peter Nicholson, a geotechnical engineering professor at UH on O'ahu. He was part of a crew put together to work on a sort of retroactive study of the levee systems in New Orleans. What a lot of it boiled down to is that, given what they knew and what they did, the locals were basically asking for it. How one can live in a loosely established bowl under water and just "hope for the best," then be flabbergasted when all hell breaks loose is beyond me. I'm sure everyone will be happy to know that the shoddy construction of the original levees is being fixed so that they should now withstand the design flood event they were initially intended to withstand. (As a side note, though, the design flood event is extremely small in terms of a major event, such as Hurricane Katrina, and the intended lifespan of the entire system should expire in just a few decades.) But try and tell them how to spend their money and all you'll get is an earful. I guess they want to continue to learn their lessons the hard way. Speaking of insane living conditions, I've been reading about Venice. It's funny that people will dub it the "sinking city," then attribute the flooding to "weather conditions" with not-so-subtle undertones of GLOBAL WARMING. In reading a bit of history, the exact opposite of the problem was true when lowering water levels left the city disconnected from ships. Whichever the case, I'm impressed by the ability of wood piers to withstand the weight over time that they have. Apparently the lack of oxygen and general organic activity is what has kept the piers from rotting for the most part. Exposed piers today, though, during construction are treated with boron to prevent rotting and infestation. I wonder if boron would work to eradicate the powderpost beetles that are eating away the wood floors under my bed. Nice as it was for my landlord to finally tell me of the problem AFTER putting antique furniture in there that they would attempt to resolve the issue by use of a bug killer injected into each of the little holes, that doesn't do anything to ensure that they have not spread to my furniture. Judging by the pattern of little holes, however, it looks like they prefer lighter wood and are fine in the floor. I'd be more interested in eradicating the rowdy children from upstairs, though, truth be told. Five people in a one-bedroom apartment does seem excessive to me, but then they, unlike the bugs, are paying rent. Supposedly. Most of my field work lately has been comprised of monitoring pile installation at East Blair Waterway at the Port of Tacoma. They are working 12-hour days, which has been split up into two shifts for those of us who monitor the installation. We have been recording the number of blows per foot as they drive each 143-foot concrete piling into the ground. Basically, it's mind numbing and boring, but at least I'm outside the office and where nobody really bothers me. The most exciting part of the process, though, is when they change the plywood cushions that protect the rigid pile from the 17,000 pound hammer, which hits it about 2,000 times over the length of one pile. Because of the pressure, it heats up and begins to billow smoke, and is occasionally flaming as they knock it off the top of the pile into the water. There are also some nice views on good days. I don't know how they managed to put thousands of piers under Venice when we use this kind of equipment to do it now. Also, my Aerogarden is doing very well.
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AeroGarden, Day 3	[Dec. 31st, 2007\|11:47 am]
I've added two tiny pots of strawberry seeds (impulse buy at a store the other day with Marsha) and we'll see how they do. And I have a tiny little sprout on the Basil! You can barely see it, but it's the greyish thing that blends in with the foam.
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AeroGarden: Day 1	[Dec. 28th, 2007\|12:54 pm]
I spent part of my day off Friday (last week) going to The Indoor Gardener store on 6th Ave. to see what they had. I wanted a lamp to hang from my ceiling over my hibiscus, since it's not been thriving for quite some time. I bought a bulb, and will need a fixture, but I also found kits for the AeroGarden thing I had seen around in magazines and online. They are about twice the size I had thought they were, which explains in part why they are so expensive, but decided that it was right up my alley and a fantastic way to make a real leap into actual indoor gardening. (Incidentally, they also said that corn does not grow well indoors even under optimal lighting conditions, so my rather failed attempt was not anything unusual.) Anyhow, I finally planted it today, on my lunch hour, and would like to document the progression in photos. Maybe I won't keep up with it, but here is day one: ( Read more... )
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The Big Bag Post	[Dec. 25th, 2007\|08:01 pm]
I don't call it an obsession. (But I don't know what I DO call it...) Le Sportsac Tokidokis! ( Read more... )
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	[Nov. 5th, 2007\|06:38 am]
This was on the calico cats journal. I had to pass it on.
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	[Oct. 21st, 2007\|10:19 pm]
I was looking at my bank statement online and came across a series of charges I find rather funny: I typically travel about 800 miles per week. I need to make a better effort to walk to work.
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Wish List	[Sep. 18th, 2007\|08:46 pm]
So I generally find wish lists a little tacky and gimme, but I'm giving in this year. I've got a long list of things I'd like from web pages, and people always ask what I want, so on the off chance that somebody has the inclination, these are a few of the things I'd like for my birthday, seeing as how it's a month and two days away... Mark Berube's "Sketches from the Sidewalk" CD (I heard him play "Puffed Candy" at Fantasia in Bellingham on the accordion and it was GREAT) A Mirror of Erised (because I need a mirror for my entryway, and wouldn't this be a cool one?) Also, I'm a dork and want a snitch necklace An Alto Ocarina (because they just strike me as neat, and I think it'd be fun to learn to play it while I sit in my truck at work and am bored watching people do things with dirt) A couple of blocks of Grade A White PZ Kut (since I've never used ANY PZ Kut EVER, and that's simply a travesty) Grade A Orange PZ Kut (for much the same reason) A bunch of stuff from Individual Icons, because jewelry made out of hardwear is too cool not to have: Wishbone Level Earrings Ruler Bracelet Compass Bracelet Chain Mail Bracelet Gearrings Phillips Head Post Earrings Magnifying Glass Necklace Art Nouveau Sculptural Wall Shelf Unfortunately, not much that's cheaper than $40, and that's before shipping. (Be glad I didn't post the Tokidoki LeSportSac in Foresta, typically going for about $250 on eBay...) But, there you have it. I also like paper.
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Color me a slacker...	[Jul. 4th, 2007\|10:10 am]
( There's lots of pictures, here, so I decided to just cut the whole darn thing... )
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	[Feb. 17th, 2007\|02:49 pm]
Now this is just freaky... http://zapatopi.net/themes/dactylfractalzoom.html
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	[Feb. 9th, 2007\|07:42 pm]
Lots of changes a'goin' on... Work got pretty miserable late last week and early this week. I was doing a drilling job in the middle of a farm in the Puyallup River valley. The surface was at least six inches of nasty mud, and you couldn't walk more than a few steps at a time before you got stuck and had to yank your boots out. I didn't want to get too stuck, standing and doing the soil sampling all day, so I used one of my storage boxes from the truck and stood in it all day every day. It didn't freeze the Monday and Tuesday, so it wasn't so cold but it kept the ground from being at all firm. Glad to be back to my usual site visits and occasional report writing for now. It was particularly tough getting home at the end of days like that and finding an empty house. I missed my family while they were away in Hawaii, but I'm glad they had a good time and were able to enjoy nice weather for a while. I do really miss that, the comfortable weather and lack of multiple layers of fleece. They came back late Wednesday. I had just enough time that evening to do dishes, laundry, mop, vacuum, and buy groceries for breakfast before they arrived at 11 p.m. or so. Rusty and Beau were so thrilled to have more people around. Last weekend I finally managed the opportunity to go apartment hunting in Tacoma. I hadn't expected to find too much in one day (Saturday) but figured I would at least get started. Surprisingly, a fantastic apartment will be available later this month. It's right near the office, near Wright Park, has lovely wood floors and a lot of antique charm, lots of storage space, and a view of Mt. Rainier. It will be ready around the 20th, and I have already put down the deposit. I'm excited! I've been buying things for my new place, and attempted again to find a set of dishes last night. I found a lot of things, including a glass eggplant for Marsha, but didn't find dishes. (Marsha used to draw lots of eggplants when she was waiting for Jane and me to finish our piano lessons when we were little, so I thought of her when I saw it.) Mayli and I are going shopping tomorrow for Kelly's birthday presents and I may look for dishes then, too. A group is going to celebrate her birthday by going out to dinner and then going to Chopstix, the dueling piano bar, tomorrow night. I've never been, but Mayli says the Seattle Chopstix is neat, so it should be fun. It'll be fun to have friends over to my place for events like this, since my apartment is not far from that area of town. I just love those wood floors... I had been thinking not long ago about taking another road trip to California this summer, particularly to visit Carol. It's probably silly, but I wonder if maybe I could make a difference with her. However, since she will not be there, I suppose that option is out. I want to have hope, but I do wonder how things will go for her this time around... Strange how so much traveling makes trips that otherwise seemed so very long now seem much simpler. I think almost nothing of a half-hour drive anywhere, since I drive that between home and work, and to most sites, every day. Today's site was all the way in Snoqualmie, and there was bad traffic, so it took more than an hour to get there. It was a beautiful location, though, along a creek with a dam where they want to build a fish ladder. It was a very nice change from the aforementioned muddy field. Utilities and some uncooperative soils made the job a no-go, which was fortunate as it allowed me to get home early. My family made the difficult decision to have Beau put to sleep. While we are all definitely sad, I think it will still be a bit of time before it fully sinks in. And, with more time, we'll learn to find it normal. I began to think and realize, though, that Belle is five years old this month. Assuming she will make it to the average age of 15, that means a third of her life is gone. To me, she still seems like a kitten. It makes me appreciate Her Fluffyness that much more. ( And now a picture of Mayli kissing me: )
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Aloha!	[Jan. 27th, 2007\|03:23 pm]
Mandy and I made it back in one piece Wednesday evening, and I'm already planning my next trip. I would like an opportunity where I can actually visit with Jerry and Cathy more than we got to. It's tough trying to fit everything into a week, and there were a LOT of things we wanted to see. We managed to fit in Akaka Falls, downtown Hilo, a little bit of Puna, Kilauea, Punalu'u, a little bit of Kona, Waimea, Hawi, and a few other places. Banyan Drive was fantastic at night, with all the coqui frogs chirping and the fog from the rain and the ocean floating around the trees. Mandy was hanging out the window of the cars taking pictures while I drove the whole time, so she has a lot more that I'll have to steal. What follows is a few pictures, resized smaller, but still will take forever to load if you only have a modem: ( Aloha! )
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On our way...	[Jan. 17th, 2007\|02:37 pm]
Mandy and I have made it to Honolulu and are waiting for our flight to Hilo. Some guy bought too much internet time and gave it to us, since we were nearby. This airport gets pretty boring after more than an hour or so, but Mandy's got a book and I am attempting a watercolor of the view from the waiting area. It's about the only paint-worthy thing here, and mostly paintable because I am not used to palm trees and unvegetated mountains. Jane asked for a picture message, but I think I'll wait until I find something more interesting than tarmac. Can't wait to get to the big island and see more than just an airport! I got a call from work while on the flight, but had to keep my phone off. I debated calling the contractor back and telling him to call the office, calling the office and telling them to call the contractor, or just ignoring the call altogether. I opted to call the contractor, so at least it's all taken care of... The ONE site I didn't call because they never need our services and they're the ones to call... I've guaranteed myself from this point on no business, though...mostly...haha... Aloha!
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	[Jan. 1st, 2007\|02:09 pm]
Definitely getting tired of my job, I think. Not tired of the actual subject and all, just the whole getting up early every day to fit into others' schedules and the cold weather that accompanies it all. I am really looking forward to going to Hawai'i this month, and have been putting together a list of things I'd like to see and do while I'm there. It will be a nice break from work, and a good change of pace for a week or so. I am supposed to be back at work the day after I get back, but I don't imagine I'll be super-enthused, since we aren't scheduled to land in Washington until nearly midnight. I'm sure I'll manage timing, but the cold may be difficult to come back to. I had my hair done Saturday at the salon, but forgot my wallet and didn't realize until the end! I was rather embarassed, but it didn't take long to drive the mile or so home and then back again. Jane, Marsha, my mother, and I have all been there a number of times, and many of those times to the same nice girl, so they were very accomodating. I tipped fairly well. Continuing little problems keep presenting themselves with my Kia, so I took it in to Midas after I made it back to the salon. They were much better at this one than the Bellingham one, particularly because they FINALLY found the problem with my brake system. It's been a year now since I started having more serious problems, starting with the brakes completely failing, but the problem has been there since we got it pretty much. Why Fife Auto, the Kia Dealership, and my dad couldn't figure it out when you can see it easily by just lifting the hood, if you know what to look for, is beyond me. The master cylinder for the brake fluid, which supplies the brakes with the fluid when the pedal is depressed, has a leak. Brake fluid corrodes paint, unlike most other fluids that might leak under the hood (power steering fluid, oil, etc.). So if you see flaking paint where there's liquid, it's probably a brake fluid leak. Simple enough, and he showed me where one finds it. A few hundred to replace the cylinder is nothing compared to the thousand or more it cost me in the past, which only got me back to this point. Kelly and Katy and I met up at Mazatlan for a small late lunch, dropped my car off at my house, and went to the Tacoma Mall so I could make a return. Kelly got her makeup done at the Shiseido counter and then bought some very expensive stuff the lady had used on her. It was strange to be there, considering Stinky Sarah working at the one in Bellingham and how she did the same makeovers. I can't imagine taking any advice from her on makeup...or fashion in general, really. The girl there was really nice, though. I decided to try some of their mascara and bought one, since she said it was supposed to be like the Clinique stuff that has been discontinued. My eyes have shown no sign of infection for several days, but I am giving them plenty of time before I risk using any of the new cosmetics. We also visited Madonna and had dinner at her house. She is pregnant with her first child, so we looked at ultrasound pictures and Katy insisted that all the traditional events take place, such as the baby shower. She seems REALLY interested in buying the boy clothes. To each their own... Kelly and I picked up Ellen at the airport last night on the way to Seattle. We went to Paragon to see Jubilee play, the band with which Ellen used to perform, and had dinner and drinks. Maybe I was just hungry, but I really liked the small ciabatta rolls they provided as appetizers. Ellen was quite preoccupied with her new boyfriend, David, so Kelly and I talked to two men who struck up a conversation with us. One was a middle school teacher who seemed a little disillusioned with the quality of the average young teen. I can't say I blame him too much. The other was a man originally from Hungary who does a lot of random, very "mod" jobs, including owning an art gallery and tour guiding in Europe. Apparently he works for Rick Steves. I'm not sure I bought that all... Kelly and I were not terribly impressed, but they made for some interesting stories. This week at work will probably be mostly Grand Mound and Frederickson, with some Tacoma on occasion. Certainly glad for another short week, even if it's longer than last week. Also VERY glad to FINALLY receive my reimbursement check from nearly a month ago. Somehow the paperwork got lost in transit to Redmond, and I couldn't get ahold of anybody most of the times I inquired so I found out too late to get it last week. So much for just a brief update...time to go undecorate the Christmas tree.
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	[Dec. 21st, 2006\|12:15 am]
So, I've got pinkeye. It seems to be an accessory to the cold, which I think I got from Mandy. She said she had a mild case, too, but that it only lasted a day. I'm on day three for my right eye and day one for my left eye. I have insurance now, though, so that means the doctor's appointment and the medication only cost me $35 dollars, instead of the $200-some last time I was sick in March. I also have plenty of sick time, so I took off part of today and will probably not go in to work tomorrow. Things are a bit slow, anyway. Mandy's in Tucson right now, but we did exchange Christmas gifts the night before she left. She gave me a Hello Kitty toaster, which puts Hello Kitty faces on each piece of bread you toast...it's so cute! I haven't had a chance to try it, though, since I don't often eat breakfast at home when I leave so early. I'll probably stay home sick tomorrow, so I'll have an opportunity to use it then. I gave Mandy several items, one of which was a turquoise pair of Crocs. I told her she could return or exchange them at Nordstrom for whatever she would like instead if she's very opposed to them, since she previously said that Crocs were not her style, and said I would not be offended. I explained that they will be great for any number of uses, particularly for our trip to Hawai'i. She tried them on when she got home and said they were really comfortable. Seems like she actually likes them... I'm slowly collecting Reilly & Lee Co. edition Oz books. I have 7 so far, plus one Morrow-published copy that I found in Seattle. Two of the seven we already had, the rest I got in Tacoma, except for one that I randomly found at an antique store downtown. They do not have the entire series there, or even the books actually written by Baum, so I will have to do some searching if I'm going to complete the collection. While somewhat slow of late, work has generally been pretty busy. At the end of my two weeks in Aberdeen, I barely managed to drag myself to the company Christmas party, but I'm glad I did go. Last year's party was a very family-oriented affair and it was at the office, so it wasn't anything terribly interesting. This year it was at the Varsity Grill, and it was 21+. Man, was that interesting. Most everybody drank a lot, and the party was continued at O'Malley's on 6th. Amanda came with us, but didn't last long before she was making out with some random guy we met there, then she disappeared all together. She knows what she's doing, though, so we weren't terribly worried. A lot of people told stories about some things I'd apparently been missing out on at the office, being gone so often. Mike told me about talking to the people from the state about the nuke gauges when they got picky about my methods of signing the gauges out and in. I only write down the city I'm taking it to, and I write several per day I take the gauge out. When Mike explained to them how many sites I go to in a day, they were pretty surprised. Just goes to show how their ideal manner of regulating things doesn't really work with real life. It's kind of like Communism... In any case, I heard some amusing stories and gossip, and am pretty glad Amanda bugged me to go, even though she left early and then things got rather boring. Since Aberdeen I've gone back to my here-and-there construction monitoring, mostly at the Mini dealership and a site way down in Grand Mound. It took me two hours to get back from there last Thursday when it usually takes about 45 minutes! That site's become very difficult to deal with since the material is so variable. We're having a tough time getting the right Proctor, and now my boss is questioning the CPN over the Troxlers. I took a Troxler out last, and it seems to be doing a bit better, but that still doesn't cover the several hundred feet of trench they've already done. It'll take time, but I suppose we'll get it figured out. I generally finished Christmas shopping yesterday, though I still have a couple of little things left to put together, like wrapping my mom's gift. I'll need to test my dad's gift out tomorrow, too, while I'm home sick and he's at work to make sure he'll be happy with how it works. Jane and Russ were supposed to come up this weekend, but it looks like those plans are now gone. That just means we'll be sitting around in our pajamas that much longer, eating orange danishes and drinking the mini liquor bottles we get in our stockings while we play video games and watch movies. That Santa, he's got a sense of humor... After Christmas I'm excited to just concentrate on getting ready to go to Hawai'i! I know I'm going to have a mile-long list of things I want to do, but I'll try to narrow it down so that I don't burn out completely and have some time to just sit. And if I'm worried about burning myself out, I know it'll be too much for Mandy and/or Carol... I have some ideas in mind from what I've heard from relatives and friends who have been there (I got a recommendation to see the sea horse farm on Sunday at the letterboxing gathering) and have done a little browsing online. I bought some maps of the island to help me plan, and my mom loaned me two books she bought before she and my dad went there. Of course, I've found clues to a number of letterboxes there. Carol says she'll join me for Akaka Falls, but even I don't want to attempt the one with the 8-mile hike! Maybe if I had more time there... Not a lot of luck finding a waterproof pouch for my belongings, particularly my letterboxing gear, even when I've searched REI. Maybe it's time for a stop back by West Marine... Time to go to bed and hope my eyes don't sting in the morning. Better yet, I hope at least one of them is starting to heal by then.
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	[Dec. 2nd, 2006\|06:41 pm]
After two days of false starts in Aberdeen, they finally called it quits for the week due to weather. They actually TOLD me the second day that they decided to quit, but didn't the first and I sat around needlessly for a couple of hours. I made a big stink about it Wednesday, so hopefully they got the message. I spent the rest of the week doing some odd jobs and projects as they came up. My mom and I have been trying to figure out our Lego Star Wars game I just bought, too. I had attempted to rekindle my dad's interest in the PS2 by buying it so he wouldn't spend the money on an XBox, but I hadn't realized that all his friends had XBox's and he couldn't play with the cool kids unless he had one. Unfortunately, my mom and I are having a tough time with it because we are not very good at video games, which I've told my mom is not really such a bad thing. In the meantime, my dad's downstairs on the bigger TV talking to his friends on his headset, "Let's go down this manhole! You cover that side! Did we get him?" I still like the thinking type of computer games better. The job in Olympia that I started at yesterday continued into today, so I spent a couple of hours down there this morning after breakfast with the Lethal Cycles guys. I then attempted a number of letterboxes, but only managed to find one. I'm pretty sure two were missing, and one I didn't feel comfortable going to find. It was right next to City Hall, and the cops kept looking at me weird, so I gave up for now. I was also a little stove up and generally feeling crappy from having tripped before I left for Olympia to begin with. I ended up flat on my stomach on the driveway with bleeding palms, which make digging in the leaves for letterboxes tougher. I'll be heading back to Aberdeen tomorrow so I don't have to go at 4 on Monday, and probably spend the afternoon letterboxing. I found two on the way back last week, but there's a series of six and a few others I wanted to try, and I hope to remember my carving tools this time so I can plant my own box. Jane's web site is down. Where did you go, Jane? I need shelves and a place to put them. Quote from a whiteboard in a job shack last week: "It's called a tape measure, and one of you guys needs to learn how to use it." That they do...
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[Nov. 30th, 2006|07:05 pm]

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!
You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi? says: The Future's Bright. The Future's Emily.

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On The Muddy Banks of the Wishka	[Nov. 27th, 2006\|07:25 pm]
I finally made it to Aberdeen this afternoon. Lyle was itching to get out of here, and I was sure tired of the silly expectations of the surveyor people in Olympia. They're absolute idiots. We spent about two hours at their office making notes and rearrangements in data that they could well have done on their own, and got here much later than I'd thought I would be. That means I was heading through Montesano, though, when it was thoroughly thawed, which is a very good thing considering my 2-wheel-drive S-10 work truck. It has been snowing heavily since I got here, though, punctuated only by varying amounts of hail. That means the roads will be well covered in snow for my drive to work tomorrow morning. I accidentally drove over a curb-edged planter box in a parking lot this evening when I lost control and started sliding. Fortunately, I made it ALL the way over the curb and didn't have to call a tow truck. I forgot my carving tool at home. That's one of the most frustrating things in the world to me, to own the proper item but not have it with me when I need it. I actually found a Michael's, which is where I drove over the curb, but it's a smaller store so they don't have those tools. Once again, they tried redirecting me to hardware stores. I should stop describing linoleum block as linoleum, since that's all they hear and think of plastic flooring. It seems everybody from the site is staying at this hotel. Maybe I should ask one of the ones with a big, 4-wheel-drive truck to drive me in tomorrow, but then I'd have to get there earlier than if I drove myself. Also, I'd have to catch them sometime between when they wake up and leave, which is about a five-minute span. They get The CW here, though, which means I don't have to miss Veronica Mars tomorrow night. Sweet...
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Discovering the Daiso	[Nov. 11th, 2006\|03:41 pm]
Kelly and I went letterboxing a couple of weekends ago. The main purpose was to plant a new series of nine boxes that I've already made, but didn't have much luck there. What was noted as a park on maps is actually a shooting range, and I didn't figure it would be best to have people wandering around in the woods there. We did finish off a series here in town, though, which I've been meaning to do for months. I also got to go see what Electron is all about, which is also noted on maps as being a park. Turns out there is a tiny park there, and I have plans for a box there, but the whole place is not a park, as the maps and aerial photos show. Kelly also introduced me to the Daiso of Japan store, which just opened at the mall here in town. It's sort of like a Japanese dollar store, but $1.50 instead, and everything is much better quality than your typical American dollar store. A number of items were very strange and I had to ask Kelly what they were, since there was no English on the label. "Fluffy...cheese...rice?" she'd slowly read. That actually describes most of the snack-type stuff they had. The main reason for going there is that they have a lot of little plastic ware containers that are perfect for letterboxes. They also had some general bento boxes, but none of them were as neat as the ones my mom got us from the same site Sarah got hers. I need to start making some bento lunches, now that I'm not out in the woods all day every day. That job in Bremerton is finally over, after two weeks and 421 test pits. It started the flood-worthy raining last week and forced me to get wet weather gear. It was still somewhat miserable, but at least the Rite-in-the-Rain paper held up. Highway 35 photos (not mine, somebody from work took these): The Bremerton job was probably the most miserable I've hever had to do for Geo...8 hours a day of nothing but standing, walking, and not being able to go to the bathroom. As soon as you get far enough into the woods to find a private place, you're back out again, since they're clearing the roadways and lots through. I also got the work truck stuck a couple of times. We asked Enterprise for a small sized four-wheel-drive and got a two-wheel-drive F150. How that makes sense is still beyond me, but at least it was higher up off the ground than the S10. Better engine for its size, too. Mandy and I went to the Firwood for Halloween. They had a good band there that was playing decent music, so I actually danced. A couple of girls came in after Mandy and I had been there a half an hour or so and started dancing by the bar before they even got to the dance floor. One was dressed as a skanky Snow White, the other basically as a skanky Red Riding Hood. You could tell they were most accustomed to pole dancing, and both were rather nasty. But they seemd to be having quite a great time, so enh... My mother and I spent the morning, after the lawnmower man left, clearing out the pond of all the decaying pond plants and leaves. We put the walk-board across it and I laid on it and pulled up stems with my rubber gloves on. The fish were really friendly, probably in part because they were hungry, and bumped into my hands when I wiggled my fingers around a few inches under the water's surface. Next week at work is back to the same old running around from site to site. I went to mark some borings for the utility locate yesterday in Bonney Lake and just narrowly missed being in an accident. A girl was injured (thought not seriously) in the car that was rear-ended, so the only guy who witnessed the accident called the police. He didn't know where we were, though, so he gave the phone to me to give the descriptions and locations. I handed the phone back when it came time to give a name and number, and left before the police arrived after giving my business card to the witness, just in case. I hadn't seen anything, so I didn't figure it was necessary to stay and be in the way. The other guy with a vis vest on had lights on his truck and better traffic control experience, so I left it up to him and got out of there. It's been nearly a year since I got my computer, and it is now officially mine. I have paid off the last of it and my general credit card debt, and now have no more credit card payments. Woohoo!
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[Nov. 2nd, 2006|05:38 am]

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
The Inland North
Boston
North Central
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

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[Oct. 16th, 2006|07:26 am]

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

haha, they don't even know about me...

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