motivation to ride, even if it's cold or a little wet. Lisa has to work the entire weekend, including the holiday so that stinks but Stella and I will get by. Not much else is new
really, not much to talk about. Our friend Chris's father had some complications after surgery about a month ago and has been very sick every since. He will require a long recovery
to get back to where he was before and to help him and his family out they put together a website to help the rest of his family and friends track his recovery. You can find it at
Help John Heal if you care to keep up with his story, I'm sure they will appreciate watching the hit counter increase, knowing
that he might be in the thoughts of people that haven't even met him. You can also find a link under 'Friends' at the right. I also just got some pictures of the few small changes I made to the fountain area including modifying the water storage chamber for easier access. As always they are available under 'Projects' to the left. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend.
August 25, 2008: Just a quick one to show that we're still alive. Work has been crazy and the weather is starting to change so we've been trying to enjoy the
last few weeks before the summer turns into fall. Stella is doing well, she made it to level 3 in her obedience class this weekend, she was very excited and so are we. Next week we
get to move on from stand, walk, watch and climb to who knows what exciting commands, wooo hooo! We finally went kayaking on Lake Union yesterday and we did it total Seattle style, that's
right, it was already raining BEFORE we left and it rained the entire time we were out. The Vespa has been rocking and the Ridgeline has been sitting quietly in the driveway. So far
I've got almost 300 miles on it and I'm getting between 60 and 70 mpg. As the engine breaks in that should get a little better but I'm also not all that easy on the throttle so maybe it
won't get much better. Either way I'll be riding it as much as the weather allows. I ordered a little bling for it that should arrive this week and hopefully I'll be picking up a
proper riding jacket and gloves next week. I'll probably get a few pictures of it and post them over the weekend, before and after the bling that is. Lisa is working the entire long
weekend so I'll probably do some mountain biking with Stella and maybe go for a scooter ride. I also want to make a couple changes to the fountain to make it easier to drain the water and
check out the pump. I'll post new pictures if I get to it. Anyway, time to crash, have a good week!
August 15, 2008: Hello again everyone, sorry it's been so long since we've spoken. Stuff on the left coast has been as busy as ever with us so nothing
all that new to report on that front. Lisa's new job is going great and mine is back and forth from great to horrible to great again, usually all in the same day. I've been put
in charge of a big project to convert our first proprietary Pre-Wimax market to Wimax which on paper seems awesome. The only trouble is that none of the network or RF gear that will need to
August 7, 2008: Good afternoon class, hope you are all enjoying your day. We're both good, busy but good. The week has gone by in a flash and
it seems that one more has passed with me accomplishing absolutely nothing at work. Last weekend was fun, no projects at home but we did start Stella in her obdience class again
and she got to play with two of her litter mates and even another Ridgeback about the same age. It sounds a little crazy but they really do know and remember each other from back
in the puppy pile days. Stella was back at her old tricks again, barking at them like she did when she weighed just a few pounds. It was also interesting how well she instantly
played with the other random puppy, like she knew it was a Ridgeback and it wanted to play just as rough as she did. Other than that and a couple of trips to the dog park the weekend
was quite uneventfull. Dave and Jeanie came by to visit with Julia, who is the cutest baby we've ever seen, sorry to those who also stake claim to have made the cutest baby ever, you've
just been bumped from the top spot! She was great the whole time they were there and even let Stella give her a good face washing or three or four or maybe ten. This week has been
more of the same, work and more work and some dog park or mountain biking in between. I should take off, I'm working a late maintenance window tonight and Dave, Jeanie, and Julia are
crashing at our place as well. I need to get home and run Stella into the ground before they arrive so maybe she'll be a little more relaxed around everyone. Have a good week and
I'm sure we'll chat again soon.
work together has been tested that way and our deadline is about 3 weeks from the day we were told about it! The future of this company may rest on our ability to convert our 40+
markets to Wimax in a timely fashion so this is an important milestone for us, if we can pull it off. Needless to say the stress level is rising by the minute at the office. One
of the new guys did start this week but until he gets up to speed he doesn't have a whole lot to offer so I'm basically still on my own. We didn't do all that much last weekend because
Lisa had to work, mostly just me catching up on stuff around the house and trying to get my mountain bike back up and running after realizing that a tiny bit of salt water does a lot of damage
to bearings. I had to order parts and they came in this week so hopefully I can finish getting it back up and running over this weekend. I do have one exciting thing to report and yes,
it has to do with the picture. We've been talking about getting a scooter for me to use to commute to work and after some research I decided that a Vespa was the way to go. They have
been around for over 60 years and build a really solid product plus they have incredible resale value so it's as much an investment as a purchase. I took home my Dragon Red 2008 GTS250
earlier this week and passed my permit test yesterday. I also found a reasonable helmet yesterday too so I was finally legal to drive it on the road. Today was my first commute to
work and it was awesome, made good time and had no trouble with traffic. Considering that we only live about 10 miles from my work and I don't need to get on any freeways to get there it's
really a perfect fit. With gas here in WA still at over $4 a gallon and the Ridgeline and its 18 mpg in the city the 75 mpg the Vespa gets will add up to some huge savings. Other than
all that fun and excitement we're looking forward to a quiet weekend around the house. We might go out for drinks with some friends Saturday night but the rest of the time will be spent at
Stella's obedience class and maybe at the dog park. If we're really feeling crazy we might head to Pike Place in the morning Sunday and spend a few hours walking around the city, the
weather is supposed to be awesome. Enjoy your weekend everyone!