Summer comes to a close

Hello all -

As I sit here and ponder all that has happened this summer that I have been too lazy to write about, I am melancholy. I had such great aspirations when starting the blog, and now it has come to this. No longer a daily or semi-daily rant about random thoughts and ideas, but rather a super brief monthly glimpse into my life when I get a few extra seconds. Well, so goes life, I guess. Excitement wears off, and updating becomes more of a burden than a cherished event. If you keep checking in periodically, I guess I will keep attempting to periodically update. But this message is the official adieu to the lively blog that once was. Not many blogs get an official farewell message, so this is unique: Farewell blog that was so exciting to update for everyone as often as possible, you have been replaced by stagnant blog that gets updated every once in a while when I have nothing better to do. Don't be too sad, we'll always have April and May, 2005.

Ok, on to more interesting topics. As my last post tried to convey, my wife Sandi is indeed pregnant, a couple months so. Her VERY unofficial due date is May 2, 2006. Very exciting, very exciting. We have discussed things, and I believe we are going to keep the sex a secret. Oh, and we aren't going to find out the sex of the baby, either. (Laugh here)

We recently finished up a week long camping vacation in Oregon. It was very fun to get away from everything for a while, and my grandmother was kind enough to host us for the weekend afterwards to ease back into civilization in Centralia. My friend Scott lent us a HUGE tent, as well as a camp stove and camping coffee pot. That made things very comfy. We went first to a great little rustic campground off of Hwy 26, that connects Portland with the Coastal highway 101. It was called Spruce Run, and didn't have any electricity. It had one bathroom with running (cold) water, and the rest of the facilities were outhouses. It was far removed from anything but trees and a river, so it was quite relaxing. We spent a couple days there, then went to the coast to Fort Stevens campground, on the very NW tip of Oregon. That was less rustic and far more crowded, but was a nice location, being a mile away from Oregon beach and right in between Astoria and Seaside. In all, we camped for 6 days and 5 nights. We met up with my college friend Owen on the first night, who lives in Portland, and we convinced him and his fiance to go camping for a night too. That was pretty neat seeing him. Hadn't done so in about 7 years.

This afternoon was an interesting one. I was talking with my boss at work, when she asked me if I was interested in relocating to New Jersey! Our company is building a large manufacturing facility, and she said they are looking for quality people to staff it. It would come with a promotion and a moving package. Now I've never lived anywhere but Washington, and I haven't even been to the East coast since I was about 3. So this would be a huge change for me. I must say I am considering it though. The potential for career path movement seems greater over there. Also, my wife and I have friends that actually moved to Jersey a year or two ago. It would be nice to see them again. I don't know how far away they are living from where we would be, but I have heard that the state isn't that large. Lots to ponder at any rate.

Finally, I will end with the lie of the week. I told this two my 4 person department on an outing, while we were in the car. Two of them bought it, one immediately assumed I was lying. The one I couldn't fool actually works in my office, so I guess she was on guard. Here it is:

Do you know why they call Seattle the Emerald City? It actually hearkens back to a time when Chief Sealth still lived in the area. It seems he kept a large uncut emerald in his domicile that he dug out of the base of what is now Capital Hill. One day, he got really pissed off at a white man that was arguing with him, and he went and retrieved the emerald. As the guy was walking away, Chief Sealth threw the emerald at him with full force of fury, hitting the white man in the back of the head and killing him on the spot. That's how the city eventually became known as the Emerald City.

I was rather proud of myself that I related the whole story with a stone straight face, without as much as cracking a smirk. For those that know me, you know that is quite difficult for me to do.

Signing off.....