Playing Catch-Up

So, it's been a while. I'm working on a list of topics that will be written about. Topics might overlap, topics might lead into other topics......I have almost a month and a half to catch up on....bear with me

Getting Settled
So, we've been working on getting settled into our new place. We are "settled" except for the garage, which may never get fully setup the way I want. I guess until I have a reason to set it up, it will continue to evolve as it goes. I've got a big set of shelves built that holds tons of stuff and makes life easier and I've got my tool box setup with a wooden top that I can use as a work bench. It works, like I said, until I have a big project to do, then, maybe I'll build a work bench...we'll see.

Anyway, my office is in a walk-in closet, and it works way too well. There is plenty of room in that place for me to sit down and pay bills, however, I just don't use it much other than that. It works pretty good for storage of some of my stuff that shouldn't be out in the garage.

We bought a new queen sized bed for the guest room. Don't get too excited, we don't have a frame for it, so it sits on the floor for now. But...there's more room! Our guest room has been getting plenty of exercise since we moved (more later).

My Parents
My parents came up for a few days after we moved up. They had both been up here before so we didn't have to do the Space Needle. We did Pike's Market, and some downtown shopping on one of the days, and on the other day we went and watched one of my cousin's soccer games and then went up to Granite Falls to have dinner with them. It was a really good visit. Too short though...

Oh, and lesson learned: double check flight times before rearranging your schedule! Also, AM and PM are different. For some reason I saw 7am and read 7pm....no problem, I'll just run down after work... Oooooooops. Yeah, before work. Oh well. You gotta book flights when you can get them!

But, we found out when I was making this first video that my mom doesn't know how to use a video camera (second video)





Corders
Jessica's parents have come to visit as well. Jessica's mom came and spent some time just before she had to go back to school. Jessica's parents both came during the 4th of July break from school and spent the week.

Jessica and them spent some time playing on beaches and playing around in town during the week, and then yesterday we did more of the same. It was a bunch of fun. Plus, we went to the Crab Pot and did their big 1 pot dinner of crab, mussels, and potatoes and stuff. Man is that good stuff.

Their big news is that they have a new car. Laura has been saying she wanted a red convertible for a long time now, and so Nathan planned out a surprise to get one for her for graduation. So, he ordered it, but wasn't able to have them hold it until graduation, so they had to pick it up early. We've all been in on this for a while, knowing she'll be getting this car for graduation, and she had no idea at all. The ploy was that they had to go pickup a seized evidence car and she was pissed that she had to waste her time to do this. They get to the dealership and she still didn't get it. Once she finally understood, she was speechless. So, they drove over in their brand new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible in red. It was a fun car to drive around in.

New Bike
So, I got a new motorbike. 2008 Suzuki SV650. I am pushing close to 900 miles now and I've had it for just over a month. It's a great bike, and I'm glad I finally broke down and bought one. I ride it to and from work so that I can take advantage of the HOV lane and I ride it around trying to learn to actually ride, which is going pretty well. I'm getting better. I've done a couple rides with some friends and some rides alone. I'm also going out tomorrow for a good long ride...longest ride I've ever done...we'll see how that goes....

Track Day
So, part of learning to ride was to break down and run on the track. This was *NOT* a race. This was a track day where they teach you how to ride on the track. Some people have goals of eventually racing, some people are just out there having fun, and some people are out there to learn to ride, which was me. I learned so much out there. Most of what I learned was to learn to trust the bike.

I almost didn't get to ride because I arranged rental leathers and their biggest didn't fit me. Luckily one of the control riders had an extra set that kinda fit so I was able to squeeze into those and ride for the day.

I had a couple people pass me a little close, but not too close, just closer than I was used to. Most of the passes were totally good passes. Having a slow bike on the track means you get passed a lot, and being a total noob on the track means that you get passed even more. No problem, the rule was you can't pass when the bike is leaned over in a turn, and this is to keep people safe in the beginner class.

It worked out great until a control rider (one of the guys out there to keep people safe) was evaluating someone for the intermediate group and basically forgot what group he was in... I was crusing comfortably around the corner...WHOOOOOOSH...pause...WHOOOSH..... They blew past me and took off around the track. My only thought was "hey, that's against the rules..." and on with life....Whatever, I thought it was 2 control riders. Knowing that they are experienced riders, no big deal.

Well, as we got close to the end of the session, they caught back up to me and the control rider waved at me to follow him so I follow him off track and head back to the pits. He was so worried he had scared me that he felt like he needed to apologize and all I could do was laugh about it. Apparently they were going a "good intermediate" pace...which is FAST, especially compared to me. Yeah, so apparently I can keep my cool while being blown past on the track, which is good.

But, it was 100 degrees on the pavement, in the shade, and so I was drinking water all day in an attempt to stay hydrated...and it worked for most of the day. I sat out the last session because I was just done. It was a total blast, and I'm totally going to do it again one day, but not this summer.

July 4th
So, I asked my good buddy Dane where to go to watch the fireworks in Lynnwood. He suggested that we sit on the top of the Alderwood Mall parking garage overlooking the highschool parking lot across the street where they would be launching the fireworks from. This is quite possibly the best place to watch from ever.

We decided it would be crowded later and so we loaded the lawn chairs into the pickup and drove it to the mall, up to the top of the parking garage and backed into a spot over looking the highschool and left it for the day.

Then, we took off for Picnic Point, a park just on the sound a few miles away from my house. It was a beautiful beach park and we were catching the low end of a rising tide...we were walking on a strip of beach between a retaining wall that the tide half buries and the rising tide. We walked out a while, and then looked at the water level. Oh, crap. We turned around and booked it. We were watching the waves go up, almost to this rock, then pull back, 1 person walks around the rock, another wave, back and forth, with someone going around the rock between the waves. We turned back a couple minutes later and that rock was in 6 inches of water.

Then, we went home and had halibut for dinner! WHOO HOO!

Then, we went to the mall to watch the fireworks and we were able to drive up to right next to the pickup (wasn't crowded yet) and played cards in the bed of the pickup while we waited for dark. We were 1 of 3 pickups backed up to this one section of wall. Tons of people swarmed around us, and we were sitting in lawn chairs in the bed of the pickup. They had to stand...we were comfy, wrapped in blankets just chillin.

Here's a video I took at Picnic Point:


Fishing
So, I suck at saltwater fishing... I tried hard. I bought 2 good saltwater rods and reels and all the stuff I needed. We went out and fished for hours. Nothing. No bites, no nothing. No one else was catching anything either, so I don't feel bad. I'm hoping to get out and try it again. But, before we do, we gotta figure out the salmon runs, or at least find someone to show us where/how to fish. But, it was a blast anyway. Fishing is always fun, no matter how bad the catching sucks

Mariners
The Seattle Mariners had lost the last 8 games they had played...and we had tickets to watch the 9th game, so you know it's going to be an empty stadium. Ok, so we went and watched. It was a total blast. They won too! My mom and Jessica and I had a total blast. The hotdogs were....stadium hot dogs....the beer was great, and the game was pretty good too. We got the tickets from my mom's newspaper convention that was in downtown Seattle, so we went with a bunch of newspaper people. I totally recommend going to a pro baseball game with friends or family even if you don't really like to watch baseball on TV. It was more fun than I expected, since I'm not a big sports fan.

And that mostly catches up the blog with the big events of the last month and a half...it's been a crazy time, and hopefully it calms down soon....not too calm though!

City life is different...but it's a good different.