Underneath The Sky

Hello once again (even more infrequently as usual). So what has been shaking with yours truly? Well first off, I spent half of last week in the Seattle area for work. Again helping out on a study as usual. I was actually in Kirkland which is nearby Seattle. It was rainy except for one very gorgeous day. Going to Seattle always reminds of the X-Files since usually the setting for a X-File episode (which were filmed in Vancover) were overcast skies and grayish weather. Aside from working, I got to head out to a cool place called Freemont (which is way cooler than the Freemont in the Bay Area) and also downtown Seattle. Being in the Seattle area, also gave me an excuse to hang out with old SIers such as Erika & Viktor (or "Eriktor" as they are now known), Apete, the world famous Srah, and a certain person who expressed dismay that I didn't contact her sooner when in fact I emailed her old umich account which she doesn't check anymore but still hasn't sent out her new email to me, who will, of course, remain unnamed. It was great catching up with everyone. Apparently, Erika and Apete have just finished up their classes as part of the program they are in. I suspect they will have to go through something akin to the Jedi trials to become a full-fledged members of whatever it is they need to move up to. Seeing I am not much of a small town guy, I asked Srah if living in a small town was like "Suckin' on chili dogs outside the tastee freeze" like the John Cougar Mellencamp song says it is. Apparently, it is not and they don't have barn dances, hayrides, hoe-downs, and hootenannies like all those movies in small towns show they do.

Eriktor treated us to a traditional Irish dinner of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and soda bread. It was quite good. I had never had a real traditional Irish meal before (I suppose Guiness doesn't count). The first time I heard about corned beef and cabbage was when I was a kid and I read those Encyclopedia Brown books. Apparently the Brown family is Irish because in one story, Encyclopedia Brown's mom says to him to be home for corned beef and cabbage, presumably after he solves the mystery of the missing pillow. Skip to the end of this entry to see the super secret answer to the mystery! Also that weekend, Erika and I went to see some sort of falls and also got to drink green beer at a local brewery. Quite fun it was!

In other news, I am again taking my boot camp fitness class in a valiant attempt to stay in shape. I also saw some live theater for the first time in a long time. I saw a very funny play called "Maybe Baby It's You" at the Dragon Productions Theatre Company in Palo Alto. A minor trivia note that it was co-written by some playright that was married to Tori Spelling for like 5 minutes. In work news, one of my co-workers decided upon a name for his car. Several of my friends have named their cars too. I never got naming cars (yeah, the name of my car - Maxima, full name: Nissan Maxima). I heard you are suppose to name it a girl's name (like Susanne or something). But I guess I never grew that much attached to my car (even though I have been driving it for 6 years) to ever name it. I didn't name the first car I ever drove either. If I did, it would have been "Please car, don't let your brakes give out." As for my current car, I am appreciative of it (it did drive me to and from Michigan twice without any incident) but not so much that I need to give it a name. I also should mention that it is the 4th aniversery of this debacle called the Iraq War. Well, four years ago I wrote an entry about the then-impeding conflict in Iraq, and you know what? I called it right on the money. Geez, it is quite sad that the Bush Administration turned out to be so wrong but me, a guy who got a solid B in high school world history, can have better judgement then that. Thanks a lot Republicans and idiotic Nader supporters who cost Gore the presidency in 2000. I don't know how any of them can justify saying that our country is better off today than it was in 2000.

So I suppose that is about it for now. But before I go, I will reveal the super secret answer to the Encyclopedia Brown mystery of the missing pillow. The mystery of the missing pillow is that some neighborhood kid claims that somebody stole his pillow from the clothesline. Heavens no! The kid says that he tried to stop the thief but banged his leg against the coffee tab so he couldn't run after him. But wait, Encyclopedia Brown says that in fact the kid stole his own pillow! Why? Because on the coffee table there was a house of cards and surely if the kid banged his leg on the table, the house of cards would have fallen. Faced with the fact that the house of cards is still standing, the kid admits he fabricated the story because he sold the pillow but didn't want his parents to find out. Such powers of observation and deduction by Encyclopedia Brown surely must have influenced me into the analytical and observational genius I am today. But enough about me. Until next time, peace.