The sun was hot. The nachos were great. The hijinks... well we didn't skimp there either.  Dancing, floating down the Yakima river, prefunc at Chaz's place, new friends. Yeah, we got 'er done.  If it wasn't for a little piggy back mishap then the weekend would've been perfection.  Check out the Ellensburg selection in photos and look at a series of pictures titled Man Down. The river trip photos were taken with disposable waterproof cameras that still need to be developed. More to come.

 

Fin

 

PS - For those of you following along at home: Lance won!  He finished 00:04:40 ahead of the field with a glass of champagne in one hand and a huge grin on his face. Now officially retired, he'll be spending more time with his three kids, his girlfriend Cheryl Crow *gag* and will play a more active role in the Lance Armstrong foundation. Way to go, Lance. We never doubted you for a second. Vive le tour.

Last year, Carter and I made the trek to the other side of the moutains to visit our friend Charile at CWU.  Highlights included:

 

The largest tray of nachos I've ever seen.

Stopping a very ugly scene at a party (nearly a brawl).

Bringing Carter out of a coma with The Scorpions - Winds of Change

8 pitchers of beer before 11:45 - AM

Chuck Wagons and Prairie Fires

A Taco del Mar and Starbucks feast

 

This weekend we'll make our second and what looks like final trip to E-town.  May the sun be hot, the hijinks be high and the nachos be plentiful. I'll give a full report when I return.

 

Oy! Lads! Its going off!

 

Fin

The verdict is out - my weekend was awesome. No work and lots of sun makes for a happy (and sunburned) Mike.  Okay slight lie, I went into work for a couple hours... but immediately countered it with a sweet hike.  Bryan and I went up Tiger Mtn in Issaquah. It was his first time up and it'd been a few years since I'd been up too. There were the usual changes that come with the seasons; downed trees, washouts, new switch backs. But the trail was, for the most part, exactly how I remembered it. Unfortuantely I still only have my camera phone so the excursion was poorly documented.. check out the album anyways.

 

Oh yah! I had a Saturday too!  It started with a nice 4 mile run while watching stage 14 of Le Tour. And that wedding, where I have to admit I had some reservations about, was totally sweet. The rest of the evening went accordingly: lakeside conversations, speed scrabble, home made pizza, candle light tea.

 

Relative mood after said weekend:

 

Fin

Its been awhile since I've posted anything... and I don't really have anything to say. So here are some random clips from the last few days:

 

-I cut my finger while slicing cheese yesterday morning.  It didn't hurt or bleed so I just kind of ignored it. By lunch it was red, hot, throbbing and just generally nasty.  A 1-2 punch of hydrogenperoxide and neosporin stopped any 'cheddar infection' in its tracks.

 

-This is day three wearing the same jeans. They're my favorite jeans and they're getting more comfortable as each unwashed day passes. Its weird how this is only the case with jeans.  You wouldn't dare go four days in the same boxers... or socks.. nasty.  But jeans... as long as there's no funk or nasty stains they'll go the long haul.

 

-The moon was out last night. A waxing gibbous if I'm not mistaken. It was bright and beautiful and if it were not for the insistence of a friend I would have missed it. Phew, that was a close one.

 

-I'm home! For about a month. At least thats what Mr. Calendar is telling me. I'll listen to him... I like what he has to say. I can't believe how much I missed my apartment.

 

-Tomorrow is my first day off in damn near a month... and I'm going to a wedding. Not just any wedding - evidently the bride and groom have been saving themselves. Right down to the kiss. Thats right, they've never even kissed. An amazing feat, but nothing I'd soon attempt. I can understand sex, but kissing? My hat is off to them.

 

-Stage 13. Lance is still in first place by 00:00:38. Just you wait until the next individual time trial when he blows it right open. Thoughts and prayers are with you, bud. Git 'er.

 

Fin

When I was 19 I took a trip to the Idaho pan handle with my then girlfriend Jenn and her family. They rented a cabin on Priest Lake.  It was an amazing trip - hot sun, cool lake, canoes, the Aurora Borealis (unreal!) and unnaturally fine sandy beaches.  On my last day, right before I was about to leave, I snapped a picture of the shoreline. It turned out beautifully and to this day is one of the better pictures I've taken. Except... there's a fire pit right smack dab up front.  Some may say that this adds to the ambeince or it gives the photo character. Personally I think its an eye sore.  So while experimenting with Digital Image Studio I found this feature where you can remove items from pictures.. almost perfectly. Now we can take out those pesky relatives, cars, blemishes... and fire pits! Check it, yo!

Fall.

Then get back up.

 Win.

 

Suffer.

Then survive cancer.

 Live.

 

Train.

Then train some more.

Endure.

 

Give.

Then touch the hearts of those in need.

 Insipire.

 

Seven.

 

Go Lance.

More pictures!  Added album for Minneapolis. Added cell phone pix.

 

Most of the pictures in the MN album were taken at the Mill City Museum, which is where we had our 4th of July party.  The museum was resurrected from the old Washburn Mill, once the largest, most technologically advanced mill in the world.  The great mill survived the first world war, an explosion, was abandoned and then nearly consumed by fire.  Taken under its wings and rebuilt  by the Minnesota Historical Society it is now an awesome museum.

 

I also started playing around with MS Digital Image Suite 2006. Super easy. Look into it.

 

Fin

 

Oh, yeah. Look at this.

Travelport is our in-house 'travel agency' that helps us book business trips, rent cars and whatnot.  They've never done me wrong and in fact they've been very, very accomodating when my buisness plans changed or went awry. But alas, despite their awesome track record, it took one mishap to sully our relationship.  As promised, the following account is what I'm now referring to as - Baggage Gate - no not really. But it did suck:

 

The last conversation* I had before leaving for my current three week jaunt was with Travelport (TP from now on).

 

TP: "American Express travel services, this is (some jerk), how can I help you?"

Me: "I have this flight that goes from Philly to Minneapolis to Seattle, but I found out that I have business in Minneapolis for a week. Instead of rearranging my flight schedule, I was wondering if I could check my bags as far as Minneapolis and intentionally miss my connecting flight?"

TP: "Sure thing. Just tell the ticketing agent and they'll check your bags to Minneapolis."

Me: "So I won't get in trouble for intentionally missing my connecting flight?"

TP: "No, they'll just give your seat to someone else."

Me: "Great! That was easy."

TP: "Yes and this ends up saving you money. Otherwise you'd have to cancel your current flight and schedule a new one. Plus you don't have a refundable fare so...blah, blah, blah (a million other reasons why doing this the right way will be a pain in the ass).

Me: "Sounds good, thanks."

 

< Skip to me at the Northwest desk at Philly Int'l Airport >

 

Me: "Hi, I have a flight going to Seattle but I only need to go as far as Minneapolis so I only need to check my bags as far as that.

Northweast Rep: "No, your bags are going to Seattle."

Me: *soils pants* "Uh... okay.  So how do I get me and my bags to Minneapolis?"

NR: "You have to buy a one way ticket."

Me: "Right.. I'll have to clear it. How much are we talking here?"

NR: "Expensive."

Me: "Like, what, $500?"

NR: "More like $1200."

 

So by this point I'm in a semi panic.  Paying $1200 for a one way ticket will, ah, suck. I excuse myself from the counter and sit down to collect my thoughts.  So I'm thinking... if I carry everything on I don't have to check any bags. Everything will be with me... nothing goes to Seattle except an emtpy seat on the connecting flight.  Only problem is I have a HUGE duffle bag full of crap. There's no way I can carry it on. Carry it on. Carry on. Hmmm.  The gal at the info counter tells me there's a luggage store in C terminal. So after I check in.. without spending a small fortune on a one way ticket... I head to Wilsons leather in search of a carry on.  The girl there was beyond helpful. She listened, empathized, helped and hot damn, I came way with a screamin deal on a new carry on. She even cleared a little area so I could spend sometime packing all my crap into the new bag.  While I stood on it she zipped it up.  They even took my old bag and offered to mail it back for free!

 

So me and all my crap made it to Minneapolis without spending $1200. Thank you Northwest. Thank you Travelport.

 

I needed a new bag anyway.

 

Fin

 

*Conversation may not have transpired as documented.

Yeah, its been awhile. But I've been doing this thing called 'work'.  Right now I'm stationed in the land of 10,000 lakes.... or for those of you who are state motto impaired: Minneapolis, MN.  My trip out here was quite the ordeal and I'll share all of it, but for now I gotta jet.

 

Fin

 

Oh! Have a great Independence Day! Wave a sparkler for me... I'll be in the basement of a convention center.