Bathroom Soap
Mankind has been to the surface of the moon, sent remote control rovers to Mars, cured Polio and split the atom but we have not invented bathroom soap that doesn't make you puke. I went with Amy and Donna to Olive Garden today and was sent to the restroom like a little boy to wash my hands. Without thinking, I applied a healthy dose of the pink soap to clean my bloody nuckles (long story there). Instantly, I knew I'd made a terrible, terrible mistake. That stuff is so heinous that I gagged (seriously) several times while drying my hands. I did everything I could including running hot water over my hands and drying them on my jeans but I can't get it off. I lost my appetite and couldn't eat. Now I have a migraine.
I've had this happen a few times at airports and have heard many other people complain. Why not spend a few extra scents (pun intended) and get some better smelling soap? I'm less likely to wash up knowing my hands will smell like that crap for a day or so.
The Great Kate Wait
Amy's Sister, Carolyn, was due on 6/12 with her baby Kate. It's 6/21 now and with no sign of contractions, she will probably (ok, hopefully) be induced any day now. Kate is going to be one big baby...
EDIT (7:22 am PST):
Of course no sonner than three minutes after I posted this, I got a call from Amy saying Carolyn is on her way to Evergreen Hospital and will definitely be having Kate today. Her water broke around 4 pm yesterday but she didn't realize it I guess. I'll be going as soon as I get out of my morning meetings and there should be pics to follow later tonight.
UPDATE (3:37 pm PST):
Evergreen Hospital, Kirkland, WA
Carolyn is in some serious pain but I'm not sure if she wants (or is able) to have an epidural. Apparently, there is a school of thought that epidurals can harm the fetus and I think she wants to keep it as natural as possible. After seeing her in the hallway though, I'm not sure why anyone would forego that option. I'm sure glad I'm not a woman.
No Flake.
I'm not flaking out again, there's just some very heavy code lifting going on in the background (and foreground with the design) and I don't want to post until I get it right...
Goodbye for now, Dodger
On Friday, the Engineering Dept. at Speakeasy was in chaos. Our main database server was on the fritz and everyone was under the gone to get project deliverables on time so we could meet our product launch dates. I was knee deep in WiMax network readiness and one of the guys I needed, Chris Dodge (aka Dodger) was AWOL. This was completely unlike him and I immediately had the sense something was wrong. Dodger was by far the best damn network engineer I have ever known and I've been around countless CCIEs (Certified Cisco Internetworking Engineer- one of the hardest certifications to get in any industry) and people with five times the experience Chris had. Even the hardest concepts came so easy to Chris and he would just laugh when five of us were so stumped about things that were trivial to him. I thought I was a good network engineer until I was humbled by Chris on a daily basis.
I only had the fortune of knowing Chris for about four months and I learned a lot. Chris was not only levels above of all of his coworkers but he was always approachable, willing to lend a hand, selfless, and an amazing teacher and just a good guy. He always, always, always had a smile on his face and never grew frustrated with the rest of us idiots. I've always heard the phrase "anyone is expendable" but that didn't apply to Chris. He had just recently been promoted to Senior Network Engineer a few weeks ago and just a few days before his fiancé Becca gave birth to their second child.
On Thursday night, Chris was involved in a motorcycle accident and he was rushed to Harborview Medical Center where he remained in a coma until losing the battle last night. Chris is the second friend of mine in less than a year taken by a motorcycle accident. I could channel all of my anger and sorrow towards motorcycles but that's not want Chris would want. He LOVED to ride his bike.
Even though I can look over my shoulder and see his empty chair, it's still impossible to think he's gone and won't be attending my meeting with him today about the WiMax VLAN. He was so smart, so young and a great guy and it makes no sense to think that he won't be walking through the door. Why was he taken now? I guess maybe heaven really needed a network upgrade and Chris was the only man who could do it. And probably do it in a day.
We'll miss you, man.
The Picture
Since I re-launched raincitystory.com using the new WordPress content management system, I've received 13 e-mails from people asking me if I took the photo used in my logo and if so, can they have a copy. I even received an e-mail from an advertising company in North Carolina asking if they could license it. As I told the Swiss company wanting to license my Seattle Public Library photos, they can license it for free as long as they give me credit somewhere in their materials.
Anyway, the answer is yes, I took it (11/17/2004) and even have the 23 MB .raw files (Sony format) if someone wants the uncompressed originals.
Here it is:
For the full size .jpg image and four new photos from the Kerry Park viewpoint, check out the new additions to my Seattle photo gallery.
