Ratatouille

I finally got a chance to see Ratatouille tonight. Dad is off at the railroad volunteering in the single-digit temperatures, so the house is just me and my mom right now. Mom got the ingredients to make ratatouille, then remembered neither of us has seen the Ratatouille film yet, so she picked it up at Blockbuster on her way home from the store. My parents haven't rented a movie from Blockbuster in about a decade, so she had to fill out paperwork (which makes me think she might not rent again for another decade or two!).

Had a great time cooking, eating and watching the very funny movie with Mom, now I've got some preparation to do for my interview tomorrow. I should probably clean up my room a bit too, this place is starting to get a little out of hand.

6666.6

I fired up a 45-man SNG just now... let's see if I can intermittently live blog that SNG while putting up a little post about this weekend.

Unfortunately, I didn't get on TV for the football game on Thanksgiving. My friend Andrew did though, and he steam-rolled a few guys before getting gang-tackled, which I must admit, makes for good TV!

Saturday I played in a hat frisbee tournament over at Marymoor Park. I rode my motorcycle over to the fields at 8:30am, and it was a balmy 34 degrees. Brr! I had about five layers of clothes on, but my neck was frozen after driving over the 520 bridge. The tourney was a blast, we finished 4th out of 8 teams, but all of our games were tight, and my team was a lot of fun--which are the most important things for me at a hat tourney. Our team was actually never more than 3 points ahead or behind in any game we played.

(Update! Bluffed a river brick in a 3-way pot and took down a nice pot, up to 1,665)

There was a guy named Dan on the hat team who turns out to be on both of Princess Leia's teams. He's going down to Vegas next weekend as well to play in the Vegas tournament. I'm a bit jealous, and Vegas is officially not happening for me this winter. It is alright though, I have a meeting with my old college adviser to write a letter of recommendation for the teaching cert program. That, and I have finals the week after the winter gathering, and a weekend in Vegas just wouldn't be the best studying time...

(Update 2: Lost a couple hands, defended my BB w/ KTo against a 2.5x raise from MP. Ace on flop I bet at, get smooth called and give it up. Next hand I am in SB with K2o and see a flop with five others. 777, checked around. 2 on the turn, bet the pot, get called from BB, others fold. J on river, I check, he waits 15seconds then bets half the pot, I fold--Down to 1,030)

So yeah, two weeks of classes left, then finals. Middle East geography is pretty darned interesting. Never learned much about the Middle East geography when I was growing up. In math, we're starting in on Trig, and it makes a lot more sense now than it ever did before. I need to sign up for the night math class during the winter quarter.

Sunday was good times, Susie and I got together at about noon and had an afternoon of motorcycle maintenance. We changed the oil in our bikes and lubed up the chains. While we were waiting for the oil to drain, we shot some hoops at the court next to her place. We got a bit of disc tossing in as well. It was a nice, albeit a bit brisk, Seattle day. Any day it doesn't rain from November to June is nice, if you ask me.

I did an incredibly stupid thing when I started to change my oil. The bottom nut that holds in the oil is on there pretty tight, so you have to give it some pressure to loosen. I looked around, and saw that if I jammed the wrench hard, I'd probably whack my hand on the center stand. What do I do? Jam it hard and cut open my hand on the center stand... brilliant. It cut the back of my hand, which doesn't really affect anything, but it was dripping all over when we were playing basketball--kinda annoying.

After motorcycle maintenance, we were hungry and I offered a hot tub at my place if she was interested. She jumped at the hot tub opportunity, and we grabbed some Ezel's Fried Chicken on the way to my place. My parents were up for some Ezel's Chicken as well, so we grabbed a big bucket and brought it back to the house. We all ate some yummy chicken, then Leia and I hopped in the hot tub and much needed massages were had. I think friends is what the relationship is going to be, which I am completely fine with. Having a female friend to share massages with is never a bad thing for a single guy.

(Update 3: Card dead and stuck at 1,000)

I rode home from school yesterday and filled up the tank. When I got home, the odometer read 6666.6 miles. Not bad for six months of riding! I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot, balls.

I've been playing a ton of WoW lately, up to 63 on the Druid. My friends Tyler, Guang and Mike got me into their guild. It has been a while since I've had guild chat to entertain me. The guild has like 100 active members with level 70s, so there is lots of communication going on all the time. The leader of the guild is actually a guy we were all in a guild with back in the DAoC days, so I know some people from way back when.

In addition to all the fun I've been having, I got a call about a job opportunity at Children's Hospital. I have an interview on Friday afternoon, so hopefully all goes well and I'll have a job by Xmas to help pay for my schooling!

(Update 4: still at 1,000, M of 8 or so... gonna start pushing soon...)

On My Way

One summer night in Tahoe earlier this year, I laid on my bed in the darkness, while my house mates partied in the living room five feet away. Some nights I joined in, other nights I didn't. This night, for whatever reason, I felt like closing my door and shutting myself off from the rest of the world.

In between the bass blasts from Fergie's latest hit single, I thought about what I was doing, and what I wanted to do--for really the first time in my life. What I wanted to do, not what I thought others would like. Not what I thought would please my friends and family, girlfriend or crush. 25 years old, single, no strings in the world--what do I want to do?

I had thought about the question in bits and pieces, usually while driving long distances on the highway, but my mind always drifted away and the question would fade. I'm good with computers, I'm a quick learner, and I think 99 out of 100 work mates would give me a good recommendation. For some reason, I always saw myself working in the corporate world. An attractive wife would bear us a son and a daughter. I'd be head over heels in love with my wife in the beginning, then the fire would fade, but the love and friendship would remain until death. I'd be making more money than I needed, and I would be happiest attending my son or daughter's sporting events when they were still young. I would be knee-deep in work, and I wouldn't get much time to spend with my family. The time I did spend, would be spent with my kids, and my wife would most likely feel neglected.

But that night in Tahoe, I thought of a better path: Teaching.

My Dad and I have had dozens of hot-tub conversations over the years. The topics have ranged from high school girl crushes to investment strategies. When he's asked me what I want to do, my answer has changed over the years, but one thing that has stayed consistent is the only career I have ever been able to see myself in long-term is teaching. The chaos that comes with teaching, the amazing minds of students, and the learning environment for both myself and the students will keep my mind fresh for as long as I can envision.

I know the teaching experience won't be all mashed potatoes and gravy. I'll have students who are in terrible situations and want to kill themselves. If I stay with the middle school level (as I intend), I'll have to deal with raging tween hormones all day long, and I understand the last thing those hormones want to do is learn math.

Much like I'm writing right now, I've been able to envision myself as a teacher. Not just a teacher, but a great teacher. The kind of teacher the students might not like the first day of class--heck, maybe not even on the last day of class--but they would come back after graduation, give me a smile, shake my hand and say, "Thanks."

Writing and day-dreaming about becoming a teacher is all well and good, but it accomplishes nothing. Back in Tahoe, on that summer night, a huge smile consumed my face. I found the door. My life, as I saw it, was one long hallway, covered with doors on either side. Most doors were open a crack, some were wide open, and others were closed and boarded up. The doors represented my life paths. One of the closed doors, with a sturdy deadbolt lock read, "Doctor." A completely boarded up door had once read "Pilot" (I'm colorblind). A peak inside a wide open door would display a vision behind the counter at a McDonald's. I had opened one of the many different "Teacher" doors plenty of times, but I would never leave the door jam. I'd look in and think to myself how cool it would be... and then retreat back into the hall and browse the other doors much like staring at apples in a grocery store, hoping for a telepathic message from the ripest ones.

As the smile stretched across my face, lying alone in the darkness of my room, I couldn't help but let out a little laugh. Heh! I was happy, but it was also funny to me. It was silly. Teaching is really the only thing that I want to do. I knew this a long time ago, but I never pursued it, or wanted to put enough time in to make it work. Why? I was too busy enjoying my youth. I spent eight hours a day either watching TV, playing a video game, or playing sports from about age 10 to 24. I wouldn't change a thing.

But, I realized I'm not really a kid anymore. I love using my brain and helping others. I get to use my brain and help people in video games at times, and I enjoy it immensely. But really, besides the anonymous people skills, I was learning and accomplishing nothing playing games (although, I was enjoying myself). Teaching popped up again as something I would be proud of. I've always thought teachers have the most difficult and under-appreciated job in the world.

A lot of teachers have it rough, and there really isn't anyway around it. If you teach in a run-down inner-city school, you've got no funds to reach students who don't want to learn. You've got unattainable benchmarks to meet and life would be rough. If you teach out in the suburbs, you'll most likely have a band of rotten, spoiled brats, whose lives are already laid out by their parents--and both the student and the parents could care less what you are teaching. How could knowing the tangent of a 45 degree angle affect the kid's life who has a million dollar trust fund waiting for him on his 18th birthday?

As crazy as it sounds (and I know I'm being idealistic here), I want to be those teachers. I want to give the spoiled brat a different view of the world. A world outside of his gated community and Caribbean vacation spot. Show the kid that he has all the opportunity and resources to do anything he wants, and that he has done absolutely nothing to get that privilege. I want to be the white teacher who looks completely out of place standing in front of a class of 30 young black kids. But I wouldn't see them as 30 young black kids. I would see them as 30 creative bombs ready to explode. On the first day of class I would see what they themselves could not, and by the end of the semester they would smile and be shocked at their transformation. I would smile, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. They'd learn algebra without even realizing it, and they would teach me more than I could ever teach them.

I'm still smiling, laying on my bed, dreaming up these fantastical ideas of my life as a teacher, when a jolt of reality hits me. I've done it again. Dreaming about something just doesn't won't cut it this time. I need to get serious about it. For once in my life, I need to put myself out there--all of myself, and see what I am capable of.

After that night, within a week, I was observing classes at Kingsbury Middle School, in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. I had done research about what schools in Seattle had teaching certification programs. I called Marc's wife, who had gone through UW-Bothell. I talked to Stacey's brother's wife, Jess, about her schooling experience to be a primary school teacher.

I was on my way that first night in Tahoe, and the wheels have kept on turning. I've gotten over 60 hours of classroom observation in, all in public schools. I have two letters of recommendation, and I've obtained FAFSA and other scholarship info.

Today, I got my test results back from the West-B test I took on November 3rd.

I wasn't too worried about the test originally, but during the test I had a lot more trouble than I had anticipated. I aced the online practice test, but while taking the actual test, I narrowed down the reading and writing sections to two answers and had a very hard time figuring out which of the two would be the better answer. Two guys also wanting to be teachers in my Geography course at NSCC took the test the same weekend, and had the same gripe in class on Monday. It made me feel a bit better, but I also realized all three of us could fail. You need above 80% on each of the three sections to pass. If I didn't pass, I would have to wait until the Fall to begin my teaching program, which would delay my graduating date by a full year (different, longer program in the Fall than the Spring).

I got an email today labeled "Your WestB Unofficial Scores." I swallowed hard.

Reading: Passed
Mathematics: Passed
Writing: Passed

Reading: 277/300
Mathematics: 297/300
Writing: 278/300

The application deadline is January 4th, 2008. One more recommendation letter, two official transcripts, and I will really be on my way.

Is that a Challenge?

It would take 18 Margaritas to kill me

Indianapolis Dating

Over three hours, I *know* I could drink 18 margaritas and not die. Well, I guess it depends on who makes the margaritas. I know I could drink 18 margaritas in three hours if Stacey's Mom made them, because those margaritas are freaking delicious!

Football today was amazing. The temperatue read 28 degrees this morning, and the frost at the field was thick. You could tell there would be a few mud pits as the day wore on, but when we started playing the field was hard as a rock. Andy slipped squarely on his ass after missing a pass while warming up. Getting tackled on that? No thanks. We got a big 8v8 flag football game going, which was a blast. We played for two hours and I got to play quarterback, lineman, wide receiver, defensive lineman, middle linebacker, cornerback, and safety all in a couple consecutive games.

The highlights for me were only throwing one interception, in a game where almost every possession ended in an interception or touchdown. I had a couple of touchdown passes and I also ran one in. On one deep bomb from Marc, I purposefully tipped it up to Jeremy who was behind me in the end zone, because the guy defending me cut under and made a nice play on the ball. Jeremy caught the tip and much slapping of hands ensued. Defensive highlight had to be my two sacks. First off, I rarely get tackles. Second, who gets sacked playing flag football?! I have to reach down and grab the flag, they can just swat my hand away!

I'll be on the 4pm, 5pm or 6pm news, as a KOMO cameraman was there filming for the better part of an hour. I won't be on film for any of my touchdown passes or sacks, but I think he caught me doing a funny Seahawks bird dance in the end zone after Po caught a touchdown pass from Andrew. The silly dance, or the play where I returned a kickoff and got clobbered in the muddy section of the field. I got hit so hard the lens in my glasses popped out. Shamefully, the cameraman walked over to me, camera rolling, and asked:

"What you... a... doing there?"

"Oh, my lens popped out on that last hit. It wasn't so bad (spits blood), I've just got to get this lens popped back in so I can hop back in the game."

Come on 5 seconds of fame!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm looking forward to the yearly football game over at Greenlake and plenty of turkey. Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays, both having to do with everyone being around for the holidays. This will be the 10th annual Turkey Bowl game over at Greenlake, and we've managed to get a full 11 on 11 game going every year--through high school, college, and on. Lots of fat, scrawny, out of shape non-football players playing tackle football with no pads in what is usually a mud-pit.

Glorious.

This year, it looks like the rain will hold off, but that just means getting hit harder... and more interceptions.

I want to thank my parents for everything they've sacrificed for me. They lived a good portion of their adult lives with the goal of providing plenty of opportunity for me. At times, I've been a complete spoiled brat. I think now I'm just a spoiled brat.

Thinking about how my parents have raised me always makes me think how I would want to raise my own children. In my experience, most people I've met think that if the world were made up completely of them and their clones, it would be a perfect place. Their parents raised them great, and along with their experiences, they have a great head on their shoulders. I think I have a good head on my shoulders, and I think my parents did a great job raising me, but I realize that my work ethic sucks, and I tend to get along with people different than me. If the world were made up of all Chris's, it would be a very poor, and very happy world :)

In other news, Matt has a good poker hand discussion going on. And may be organizing a Seattle blogger poker night, which would kick ass.

$4800 score!!!

Can't believe I won the whole tourney!!!

I got extremely lucky throughout the whole tourney, but when I got to the final table with the chip lead I got a rush of cards and took out seven of the eight other players.

OK, ok, I didn't win a tourney... I sold my car! Still a big chunk of change, that will go towards my schooling--and possibly Winter Vegas??? Woot!

Wow (long)

This weekend was one of those amazing weekends you don't want to start blogging about, because you're acknowledging that the weekend has past. Little expectation turns into an unforgettable weekend--those are the best kind of weekends. It would be like Barry Greenstein calling you up and asking if you could fill in for him and take his seat on High Stakes Poker for a night--and play with his money.

"Well, Barry, I had planned on sitting on my ass in front of the computer with a bag of cheetos and a few MGD's, but sure! I'll take your seat!"

The weekend started out with a bit of indecision on my part. I had talked with "Leia" about possibly going on a motorcycle ride on Sunday or Monday, but she had a previously arranged bowling get-together and the weather looked terrible. We had talked about going over to a hot springs on the Olympic Peninsula and making a long day-trip out of the ride, but she intelligently pointed out that we'd be riding back in the dark and rain. We'd both be tired and wet, which could be disastrous on a motorcycle. I didn't have high hopes for the kind of ride I wanted to take with her this weekend. Although to be fair, the summer ride along the coast with a sunset isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Another indecisive thing going on was Andrew's invitation to come down to Portland for the weekend. He called me Thursday evening and was looking for a clue as to whether I would be coming down. I looked up the weather forecast, saw rain, and decided that I wouldn't be coming down for the weekend. The cost of gas to drive down in the Explorer is just silly, and riding down on the motorcycle in the rain just wasn't appealing. I might still be doing something with "Leia," so I decided to keep my options open with her.

Friday rolls around, and I start my last day of observation at Salmon Bay. The day is gorgeous, and I start to question my decision to put off the visit to Portland. I didn't have any big plans in Seattle on Saturday, and the sun was shining, so I called up Andrew and asked if it was still alright with him if I zoomed down after my classes and observation. He was excited for me to come down and finally see his and Becca's new place.

The sun mixed with clouds to scare me into ditching out early from my observation Friday afternoon. I wanted to get down to Portland as quickly as possible, and in the least amount of traffic, so I headed out around 2pm from Seattle and left a note for Anna saying I'd be back Tuesday to finish up my observation.

The drive down was alright for the most part. I hit a couple patches of rain, but I got down to Portland around 5pm, which isn't bad at all for a Friday afternoon. I only stopped once, and I didn't even get off the bike to get gas, which is a bit rough for a 180-mile stretch of 70mph highway riding. On the way back up to Seattle, I stopped for gas and walked around, then stopped again for breakfast.

Made it down to Portland and got there just as Andy (Andrew other roommate) was on his way out the door for a bus ride up to Seattle. The two of us got an hour of Guitar Hero in before picking up Becca and heading out to the Olive Garden for dinner. The three of us met Po and his girlfriend and it was Po's girlfriend who really wanted to go to the Olive Garden for some reason or another.

Dinner was an absolute blast, three of us got the all you can eat soup, salad and bread-sticks combo, and Andrew and I split a 2-liter bottle of wine. Nice! Po's girlfriend actually turned out to be a pickier eater than I am. I have never met a pickier eater than myself, outside of severe allergies or veganism--and even then the vegans and allergics eat a wider array of food than I do. We were listing off foods we liked instead of disliked.

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches? Just peanut butter.

What do you put on your hot dog? Nothing, just have it plain.

What do you have for breakfast? Bagel for me, Cheerios for her.

She drank the broth out of the soup bowl, but not the actual vegetables in the vegetable soup.

The only thing I don't eat that she does is salad dressing, but we found a few things I eat but she doesn't, so she won the "Pickiest Eater" title.

After getting back to Andrew's place, we grabbed a few tall-boys and hit the 9th floor hot tub and had a pretty cool view of the rainy city. I love hot tubs. We got pruned and decided to see if the trolley was still running. Andrew and I headed down to Ground Kontrol to drink some more and play arcade games. Always a good time at Ground Kontrol, even though the PBR Representative wasn't there this time... damn! I beat Andrew at Missile Command and he had to do 10 push ups, sucker--don't challenge or accept a challenge from me at that game, boyyeeee!

Once we were finished playing arcade games, we made the mandatory trip to Voodoo doughnuts, and Andrew got hit on by this intoxicated girl. We were both wasted by that point too, and we both found it incredibly funny. I'm not sure of the exact conversation, but it went something like this:

"I know you!" she says.

"No you don't."

"Were you at Mitchel's Bar tonight?"

"No."

"Do you live in North Portland?"

"No, you don't know me."

(Another guy walks in, and she says to him:)

"Hey! I know you!"

"Heeeey!" the other guy says, and tries to cut in front of all of us.

"Hey now, no cutting!" she says, as she pushes him to the back of the line, while Andrew swoops in and cuts them both.

"Hey! You're not that pretty, you can't cut!" she says to Andrew.

"First of all, I am that cute..." he says to her.

"OK, you're right, you are." she says bashfully.

"and second of all... here's your spot back."

The sly Andrew also managed to get off a nice "Nice Box" comment to a few ladies leaving the doughnut shoppe', who were carrying a box of doughnuts out. They responded "studly" on the way out. Andrew is just a big, happy, chauvinist drunk. Good times. We stumble back to his condo and I pass out very quickly.

Wake up Saturday with a monster hangover. Bottle of wine and four beers will do that to you if you don't drink usually. I eventually shake it off with plenty of doughnuts (we bought a dozen), water, and Guitar Hero!!! Again, the day was beautiful, so the two of us decided to head out to the nice Portland State turf field and kick around the soccer ball. I love to hack, but I suck at soccer. We must have kicked it around for a good two hours, before heading back to his place. We were hungry for something other than doughnuts, so he hopped on the Honda Ruckus and I got on my bike and we headed for Monsoon Thai.

That place is bomb. So much Thai for $9. We stuffed ourselves and bloatedly got back on our bikes to play more guitar hero and hot tub. When Becca got done helping out at her mom's veterinary clinic, the three of us headed over to Stacey's work and had some drinks and food. Andrew and I got a game of snooker in, where he had a pretty good come from behind win against me. I was due for one of those losses, I'm just glad it didn't come at the hands of Marc. Stacey joined us back at Andrew's place for some guitar hero (after all, she does play a bass in a band). She was rocking out hard and a good time was had by all.

Becca crashed early and eventually Stacey had to go. Somewhere in there I had a chance to check my email and "Leia" emailed me back about our little motorcycle trip. She had canceled her bowling outing on Sunday, and wanted to start early. I gave her a call for the first time and let her know I was down in Portland, but if she wanted to start a little later, I'd be up for it. We decided on just biking up to the cabin and staying the night. I wasn't sure if she'd want to stay the night with practically a stranger, but she seemed pretty cool with it.

I wasn't really sure what to expect with "Leia." I gave her a massage in the hot tub in Hanford without knowing her name, and she seemed to like it, but I wasn't quite sure if this motorcycle trip would be platonic or not. I knew we'd have a good time either way, and I was totally fine with either option. I'm not the one to pressure anybody into anything, except my really good friends when I know they are just being a wuss. This motorcycle trip was her first trip longer than a few miles, so she was excited to get out on the road.

It didn't rain on us until the very last stretch up to the cabin. We decided to head into town instead of going up to the cabin right away, because the cabin is cold and we wouldn't want to get back into our wet gear to go have dinner. Dinner was scrumptious, we both had burgers (well, I had a french dip), stuffing ourselves thoroughly. It was dark by the time we left, but not raining.

As soon as we got onto the road, it began to rain again. Balls. We slowly made our way in the dark up to the cabin and were pretty much surrounded in dark once we parked our motorcycles at the cabin. We had a high-five at making it, then I fumbled around with the keys in the dark. Finally got the door open and the light switch didn't work. Uh oh. Dad distinctly said he left the breaker on, so the lights *should* work. But the storm had been hitting the area for a while, so I was a bit concerned!

I tried a different light switch and that one worked. Phew! Apparently half of the light switches either don't do anything, or don't have light bulbs in the lamps. Got me, Dad! She zoomed over to the fireplace and got cracking on getting a fire going, and she got one up amazingly fast, although I think being an engineer had something to do with her success. I grabbed some wood from outside so we wouldn't have to go outside later, then we popped open some wine and played a few games of gin. Prop bets ensued, which led to your hero receiving an amazing back massage and returning the favor. More massaging ensued, and we fell asleep in front of the fireplace.

The next morning we got up and had some glorious breakfast sandwiches. We struggled to leave the heat of the fireplace, but eventually got out and walked around. I showed her the garden where I wanted to pet a bear when I was 4. We walked down to the Brison's gigantic log cabin and to the creek where salmon come to procreate and die. It was, of course, raining, so we didn't last very long.

Back in front of the fire and snuggled in, it wasn't easy to leave back for Seattle. We made a few failed attempts, then finally got our gear on and headed out, in the rain. By Arlington we were Popsicles, so we ducked into a diner and got some hot chocolate to warm up. We saw a patch of blue sky, so we darted out and road until almost Everett, but that took us an hour due to heavy Seahawks traffic. We stopped at a Thai place and she called a friend to let her know she'd be later than expected. She was planning on getting back to Seattle for her dance class, but with a 90 minute Everett to Seattle commute (which usually takes 20 minutes), we decided to just stay at the Thai place and have dinner.

The trip was amazing. We got to know each other, which was easy to do at a cabin with no phone or TV or anyone else. We're probably going to hang out again this weekend and see what happens. The really coincidental thing that happened with her this weekend is that she is going down to Las Vegas for a frisbee tournament the same days as the poker blogger get-together. Which may have tipped the scales in favor of me heading down to Vegas as well! Any available room to crash in, if I get any sleep? Still not 100% coming, but getting closer!

I'm doing Scrabulous! And you?

I'm up to five games of scrabulous at the moment. I'm just about to lose the first game I started against Michelle from Sacto. She is crushing me with words like "Jeu," "Qi," "Quids" and "Gruyeres" (for 3w score...).

Tessa and I have had two tight games, I won the first and she pulled away in the second dirty-word filled game. I made: "Mafia soul, Scot "Squinter" Haze, gags at any metal rod come fir 'is anus!" from the words we played.

Josh H. and I are also a pretty even match. We're down to zero tiles left to draw from, and we're trading the lead after every play...

Josh F. is a bitch. I start out the game with six consonants and a Y as my only vowel, so I pass to Faux and let him know about my sucky hand. He says, "So sorry to hear that. Prepare to die." Lol.

And I started up a game with D-Tran, but I think he's a little scared to play me.

Observation week has been going well over in Ballard. Anna runs a tight ship, especially for being almost five months preggers. I've been observing, then rushing to my two classes, then rushing back to the school to observe more in the afternoon. My geography prof failed the entire class on our last essay test. After telling us he failed us all, he handed back papers and mine said, "Pass+" on it. What is a pass+?

Motorcycle trip with "Leia" is getting finalized. The ferries around Seattle have a sweet discount for motorcycles, so we might head over to the Olympic Hot Springs and make a long day-trip out of it. Other option is to head northeast into the Cascades and have the cabin to stop at if the weather sucks. I'm jonesing to do both, but we'll see what happens.

7 Things

BrainMC, thanks for reminding me that I should blog. I'm not going to continue on the chain of 7, but I will post seven things that have been fun over the last few days:

1) GUITAR HERO 3!!! ROOOOOCK!!! A group of seven of us rocked it good, and rocked it hard on Saturday night. I attempted my first "hard" song and got owned by the machine.

2) UPS vs. UPS Alumni game. We old timers won, barely. I guess last year the alumni team just crushed the UPS team, this time we won 15-13 I think. I didn't really play much of the game, I spent a lot of time playing soccer with Jerry and Jenny's 3-year old kid, or playing in the co-ed pickup game going on at the same time. I did get a hand block in the UPS/alumni game though!

3) Classes. My Geography and Math classes have been going pretty well. It sucks to take classes in the middle of the day, but so far I've been able to have it work OK for me. Next week starts the job-seeking process... we'll see how that works out.

4) Princess Leia. I don't think I mentioned that a mighty fine looking lady by the name of Susie dressed up as Princess Leia for the Hanford Howl frisbee tournament and decided to plop down in front of me in the hot tub. I didn't know her, but there were twenty other friendly frisbee people in the hot tub, so giving her a massage seemed like the nice thing to do, after a long day of frisbee. When I looked around facebook last week, I found a Disc NW group through Will's facebook, and found a picture of a Susie. The picture is of her in full motorcycle gear standing behind a new Kawasaki Ninja 250. I couldn't really tell if it was the same scantally clad Susie from the hot tub, but I took a shot and sent her a message. She replied on Sunday and I might finally have a friend to ride motorcycles with! And that friend is a sexy, ultimate-playing, Princess Leia look a like, BOOM!

5) I'm observing classes at Salmon Bay K-8 School this week. Anna, my sister's old high school and college friend, teaches at Salmon Bay and said I could mooch some observation hours from her class if I wanted. She's a pretty awesome teacher, and she has a wide range of classes. From her first class where 1/3 of the kids have some sort of learning disability, to Language Arts, to Social Studies and a 7-person study class for kids who don't work well with others. She caps off the day with a Journalism class of 7th and 8th graders, who put out a newspaper for the school and the community. Pretty cool stuff.

6) I might be heading down to Portland either this weekend or next. Andrew wants me to come down this weekend, but that might interfere with motorcycle plans. Or, the weather might be so crappy that I don't want to ride my motorcycle down to Portland--nor would I want to drive the Exploder down and pay $50 in gas. But Portland would be a blast, and he also has Guitar Hero 3... damn addictive game!

7) I got a game of scrabulous in with Tessa last night in a rapid-fire format. Every time I refreshed the game she had already made her move. I was pretty sure I was playing against a robot. The game was super tight, and with my last two tiles, I made the word "Boa" to EXACTLY match her score. I thought we tied the game, but forgot that I get any points on the tiles she has remaining on her rack--so I ended up winning by... you guessed it, 7.

Damn Cagers

So here I am, riding home from class on a partly cloudy Friday afternoon. I'm less than a mile from home, on a nice and long straight stretch of 25th AVE NE. About 200 feet in front of me, a car heading towards me decides to make a U-turn.

No big deal. Sure, it is illegal to make U-turns in Washington State, but we've all had to at one time or another. He doesn't have enough time to make the U-turn and not slow me down, so he finishes his U-turn in the right lane, and slows to a stop (the right lane has a few parked cars here and there along the road).

A car makes a U-turn in front of you, then stops in the right lane with other parked cars. What is the last thing you'd expect it to do next? How about MAKE ANOTHER U-TURN RIGHT INTO YOU?! What the fuck?! I barely squeaked by the car while swerving away from it and into the oncoming lane. Luckily there wasn't any traffic coming, but really? The double-U-turn without looking for anyone who might be behind you? GRARRR!!

Flashback to 2003

I rode down to Tacoma yesterday after class, and I couldn't help but remember all the drives I did while I attended UPS. I'd come up for the weekend to hang out with friends, or make an excuse to come home and use the hot tub. Just south of the airport along I-5 is where the "good ol' Alma Mater" feeling hits.

I took the back way, which takes you on a bypass through downtown Tacoma, along the water and up through Old Tacoma and 30th N. 30th is a long, steep hill in North Tacoma, about a half-mile from the UPS campus. I parked my bike in the SUB parking lot, hoping to not get a parking ticket. Strolled over to the Business building to see if my old advisor was around, but he wasn't.

I came back to the SUB and headed upstairs, which immediately brought me back to my junior and senior years at UPS. I'd always go up to the loft of the SUB to study. There was usually plenty of ambient noise, as well as plenty of opportunities to people-watch. I was never good at just sitting in a room and studying, I need little distractions to keep my mind fresh. I opened up my backpack and started studying for my Geography exam next Tuesday, and within an hour Josh called and he was off work.

We met up at his house for some Guitar Hero 3 action, which definitely didn't disappoint. I started off with Pearl Jam's "Even Flow," then played "My Name is Jonas," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Seeker," "Bulls on Parade," and a few others before we packed it up and headed out for trivia night at E-9.

Josh and I were the first to arrive, and he suggested we get a pitcher of Belgian White to go along with our food. I had completely forgotten about the Belgian White at E-9. We'd always get a couple pitchers of it after playing ultimate over on Jefferson Field in 2003. Josh is beer conesuer, and he still hasn't found anything quite like the Belgian White at E-9.

We had slim competition for the first round of trivia. Josh got 27 of 32 answers right, and he needed my help for the Lenny Kravis question. We won a free pitcher with 28/32 right! Tom and Andrea showed up for the second and third rounds, but by then there was more (older and wiser) competition in the room. And even with Tom's history degree and Waldo's Bio. degree, we didn't get anymore free pitchers of beer.

No matter! Josh and I got more Guitar Hero in, and decided because we were buzzed from the beer, it only made logical sense to try the next difficulty setting. And we owned it! We ended the night on Josh's near perfect run through "My Name is Jonas," and promptly passed out.

I made it out on the road by 8am this morning, and froze my balls off. Besides the wet bum and cold hands, the ride wasn't too bad. I only ran into a little bit of traffic, and made it up to Seattle in about an hour. I quickly hopped in the shower and took a nice 15 minute relaxing shower from luke-warm to "so much steam it looks like I'm hot-boxing." Not the most environmentally sound thing to do, but it hit the spot.

Looks like I'll be heading back down to Tacoma on Saturday for the UPS Alumni vs. UPS frisbee game, where I hope to sky Dylan. Afterwards, we might get some more Guitar Hero in, and depending on what goes down, I might spend the night--or I may come back up here to watch the Seahawks game and the Indi/Pats game. Go Colts!