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Point of Arches, revisited

The weekend began with a trip to Neah Bay, the Northwestern point of the lower 48. Located on the Makah Indian Reservation, the Point of Arches begins a scenic stretch of undeveloped oceanfront stretching over 30 miles down the Olympic coast line. Its remote and a great distance away from the nearest major city, which simply is the only reason why this area isn't as well known as the overdeveloped (and overhyped) Oregon coast. And thank goodness; instead of a road filled with RV's and overstuffed family sedans, instead we tackled a near-deserted beach on a perfect Washington day.

There are three jewels of coastline on the Washington coast: Point of Arches which leads to Cape Alava, which leads finally to Third Beach. I've done each seperately and dream of one day through-hiking the whole thing. As we sat admiring yet another perfect Washington sunset, I think the seven of us all felt the same way. One day...but until then - pictures!

My pics
Jayson's pics
John's pics

Goodbye, my friend

In February of 1999, I was participating in a senior retreat at Marquette. About twenty of us had gathered at a house on a farm with the purpose of reflecting on our years at college and discuss our plans for the future. One exercise had each of us spending a few hours in quiet reflection, where we would jot down what our goals were for the next chapter in our lives. We soon met together and one by one, discussed what we had written down. As I listened to each person at their turn, discussing fears, careers, and family goals, I remember looking down at my paper and chuckling at the list of the two things that I wanted for myself after graduating: 1. To have Seattle as my mailing address and 2. to own a dog.

I had grown up wanting my own dog for as long as I can remember and finally, being an "adult" and free to make my own decisions, getting a dog was going to be the penultimate goal of graduating. It only took me a few weeks after graduating to find one of the best friends I would ever make.

BJ passed away this weekend. Its always seemed a bit silly to me how much people invest their lives in these little creatures - you open your hearts and homes, fully trading the inevitable heartache that will occur with the little joys and wonders that the bond brings. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but it never occurred to me that one day she would just grow too old, too tired to be with me anymore.

Goodbye, my friend...

My posse's on broadway

Heading back to Seattle this weekend for a little backpacking trip. Same trip as the one we took about 3 years ago (pics here). Its a classic 4JnK trip, with Pat and Cheri signing on so a good contingent of people I've known since the 6th grade. One major difference this time is that we are all packing SLR's, so if you hear anything about stranded hikers packing more lenses than a <insert japanese tour group cliche here>, its us! See you all next week!

Googlemap: Seattle to New York

Earlier this week, Google released a new feature basically giving users the ability to embed a custom map on a website, ala Youtube. I've been experimenting with this since and love it - opens a whole new way of story telling. With that said, I've reposted the pics from Palmer and my roadtrip last fall - let me know what you think (already know the pics are way to big, but I was just linking to the pics posted on this site - in the future will need to reformat).

View Larger Map

The timing of it all

Of course I'm gone this weekend....

Pela headlines the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday. Oh, and if you are a fan of comedians, writers, and musicians, Sarah Vowell, Demetri Martin, Fiest, Jim James, and Brooklyn favorite Grizzly Bear will all be at the Beacon Theater (upperwest siiiiiide!) on Sunday for a benefit for 826nyc (discussed earlier). Tickets

Pela in Seattle

Sure, you can drop $25 to see them play at the KEXP BBQ on Saturday, but why do that though when you can get in a free performance? Pela plays Easy Street Records!

Saturday, August 18th @ 2:30pm
20 Mercer Street

Score one for living in Manhattan

photo via The Stranger

Uptight Seattleite

I spit out my coffee this morning. My love of all things coffee should convey the magnitude of the guffaw that precipitated this action. The cause of my coffee spittage? A story via Seattlest:

The Canucks have been steaming around up there (the Northwest Passage) with warships, pissing on islands to piss off the Danes and Russians, and at one point in the Harper's correspondent's trip, they stop at Devon Island the same time as a tour boat pulls up. The Canadian soldiers are humping gear to make camp when a tour guide, a bearded man from Seattle in full-on eco-hiking regalia, wanders over to remind them to "leave no trace," and to point out that the island's ecosystem is very fragile.

I'm not immune, either - I once put a sticker on my Infiniti G35 Coupe proclaiming that I bought carbon off-sets!

If you've never read any of these, check out the Uptight Seattleite column on the weekly. My favorite one here:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-11-01/diversions/ask-an-uptight-seattleite.php

Any of you have an "uptight Seattleite" moment?

Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

Today is a bit of a sad day in my 30 year life - and while this may cause a collective "so what?" and earn the ire of the braces wearing community, I'll preface my comment by matter of factly stating that my teeth are a medical marvel. No braces, great immunity, and never, ever a cavity. That is, until my dentist appt this morning. Not just one - but two - caused not by bacteria, but by the grinding of my teeth during my sleep. (Its been well documented that I can saw a log, but do it while I grind? Well, who knew?) So yours truly goes in for his first tooth fillings on Monday. As a special bonus, I was fitted with a Night Guard, which is not the name of a cool covert anti-vampire special ops unit, but really an expensive mouth piece. And oh, so sexy.

All week my place has been host to friends Renon and Debbie, so as a final capper last night they took me to go see 'Wicked'. Great seats and a really, really good show. I can't thank them enough to taking me. I didn't think the tunes were as catchy as Les Mis, but the performances were great and story was very funny. I have now watched (and liked) two broadway shows and I'm fine with that.

In NY this weekend, Seattle the next, and then Palmer is coming over for Labor Day weekend. September is the nicest time of year to visit NYC, so jump on your horse and get out here! I think when Palmer gets here we're gonna go see Legally Blonde: The Musical.

(btw, the weird yahoo thing at the end of this post is 'cause I've been experimenting with blog updates via email)

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Summer days

August has certainly turned out to be a busy one. Stats include from August 1 through the end of the month, I will have hosted someone at my place for 16 days and will have been away visiting for 9 days. I don't mind the company - more visitors means more beers bought in gratitude and thanks. So keep 'em coming. Summer doesn't end until September!

Speaking of travelling, I will be back in Seattle on the 24th for a quick overnight backpacking trip and will be staying through Wednesday of that week to meet my new condo renters and get the place ready for their move-in. I've got a group ready to go to the M's game on that Monday night, so if you are interested definately let me know!

I will be of course, coming into town 1 week too late to catch Pela perform at the KEXP barbecue and 1 week too early for bumbershoot (bumpershoot being highly overrated while Pela of course, is not).

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