Latest weirdness

1. I think I saw my ex-husband in the lobby of the building I work in. He either:

• a. Did not see me.
• b. Was someone else.
• c. Didn't care that I was walking past him, about 6 feet away.

Any option works for me.

2. I had a dream last night that was a combination of Sci-Fi's "The Lost Room" and MapleStory. The objects with the strange powers were coming from mushroom people that lived in the mountains rather than from a hotel room. The mushroom people would leave cases of cookies out for their believers, but if anyone else ate the cookies, they would instantly grow an orange walrus mustache. And teenage boys kept hitting on me, and I had to keep telling them that I was old enough to be their mother to fend them off.

Extended vacation

I just had a full seven days off work. And not for anything good.

We had Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving, like the rest of the country. Same with Saturday and Sunday. (Except for those poor bastards forced to work in retail.) I locked myself in my house with the blinds down and the TV off and played MapleStory every waking moment. I started a new character who is already a level 27 magician. Woot! And my pig is almost ready to level up and start talking. I'm going to name him Bacon. Needless to say, the cat was thoroughly disgusted with me for ignoring her the whole time.

Monday I woke up and got ready for work. I went out to get the mail from Friday and Saturday (see, I never even so much as opened my door for four days) and found snow and ice on every freaking thing in sight. Since I hadn't had the TV or radio on, I never heard the forecasts. So what did I do? I skipped work because I didn't want to drive on ice, and I stayed home and played MapleStory some more.

Tuesday. Tried to catch a bus. It never came. Went home and played MapleStory some more.

Wednesday. Tried to catch a bus. It never came. Went home and played MapleStory some more. Then I decided to get studded tires so that I could make it to work. I slipped and skidded my way to Les Schwab and blew $401 on studded tires. Then I drove around on all the curvy, hilly, icy roads in my 'hood to test them. They rock. No sliding. Yay me.

Wednesday night. More snow.

Thursday morning. Shock and surprise. No snow. All melted. And I'm out $401. And it probably won't snow again for the next 8 years.

So now, on the off-chance that it does bother to snow again any time soon, I can make it to work and not get to play MapleStory all day. Damn it all to hell.

Celebrating, lazy blue-collar American-style

My company won a tidy little sum of money from the defense department for research purposes, so a group of us went out yesterday to celebrate. We hit the Pioneer Square Saloon and drank to our heart's content on the tab of one of the engineering guys. I think I had about 5 glasses of beer, then went to the gym. Funny, it actually seems easier to do 35 minutes on an eliptical and then lift weights when you're drunk. The drawback is that it is easy to overdo it. Boy, do my shoulders hurt...

I have a four-day weekend coming up, and I fully intend to waste it in my typical style. I'm going to rake leaves, clean out the garage, muck out the rain gutters, bleach the hell out of the bathroom, stow my summer wardrobe, and play MapleStory waaaaaay too much. And quite possibly play Final Fantasy III on my Nintendo DS. I believe it will be a very full four days. (Of course, I say that I'm going to do all of this, but chances are that I will just watch TV, eat, and play MapleStory waaaaaay too much.)

Most importantly, the season premier of Scrubs is on Thursday night! You know where I'll be for that hour.

Speaking of eating, I am not celebrating Thanksgiving. I couldn't really care less about the holiday. I'm not going to my parent's house because I'm selfishly keeping my time to myself this holiday. I told them originally that I had only one day off because I thought that I had only one day off, but I was wrong and I'm not about to correct that. I want four days to myself. They can have me for Christmas.

However, I will be well-fed. I have rediscovered how much I like to cook. I was very lazy for the last two years because my free time was taken up with homework and other assorted undergraduate-related crap, but now I'm getting back into it. On Sunday I made a pot roast (I use Guiness, so you know it is heavenly) and a spicy butternut squash-white bean soup, and I have leftovers to last me through Friday, so I may do some more cooking on Saturday. I don't know what I'll cook yet, but at least I'll be able to go grocery shopping in the post-holiday lull rather than during the feeding frenzy today and tomorrow.

This is not going to help my Seasonal Affective Disorder

You can't quit the gym!

First, apoligies. Yes, the title of this post is a reference to an episode of "Friends." Now, onward.

I joined a gym. I had a choice of two; the one near home and the one near work. The one near home is $12 a month. The one near work is $35. I knew that if I chose the one near home, I would bag out as I drove past it each day on the way home. It is also smaller and very crowded and doesn't have the incredible range of ways I can hurt myself that the one near work has, including classes (yoga and BOSU leap to mind) and a sauna. All of this lead me to choose the more expensive gym.

"Why did you join a gym?" Well, I have only two real hobbies - hiking and video games - and you have to be in top physical condition for both. I'm getting older (not that I'm counting the days until I'm 40 or anything) and the last two years of school and strange eating habits have taken their toll from health and aesthetic perspectives. I'm not going to magically get back into condition, so I decided on professional help. The gym that I joined provides quite a lot of one-on-one training as a part of membership, and I am going to take advantage of it. I figure that if I can get in there three times a week, I'll get my money's worth.

Still, I wonder how long I'll last. It is a bit inconvinient. I either have to leave work at 4:30 so that I can work out and still make the last train, or I have to go during lunch and then shower and fix my hair and makeup before I can go back to work. I imagine that I'll do the first option - I hate doing my hair and doing it once a day is more than enough. I would rather ride the train with messed up hair and no makeup than do my hair twice. I do not have hair that I can just brush and go, unfortunately. It is extraordinarily high maintenance. I should shave it off and get a wig.

How was that for a digression?

Sickness and death

Tis the season for flu shots. I never used to get the flu, and I never used to get flu shots. But for the last two years I have come down with near-fatal cases of it five days before Christmas and in neither instance did it go away until more than a week after New Year's Day. Then I had laryngitis for a week or two each time.
So this year, I decided to have a flu shot in hopes of visiting my parents over the holidays without a box of tissues in hand and constant mucus running out of my nose and mouth. My company offers them for free, so I took advantage. Me, a big old needle-fearing freak. And it didn't hurt a bit. My shoulder feels a little warm, but I'm guessing that is fine. I don't think I'm going to pass out any time soon. That was the big news of today.

The big news of tomorrow is that I'm going out with friends to see dead bodies. After work we're going to head to "Bodies... The Exhibition." One of my friends (my ex-officemate) has a strange fascination with death, and the other one used to be an undertaker. My ex-officemate is bringing her significant other, my other friend is bringing a friend, and I have two other friends who may join us there, so we may have quite a crowd when we go to dinner after the exhibit. I haven't been out with a crowd that size in a while. It should be quite a treat. I'm wondering how the exhibit will affect my dreams. Here's hoping it doesn't.

New addiction

Maple Story. Online anime-like multi-player game.

These are my characters so far.
There will doubtless be more.
Hey, that one on the right looks a little like me...


Can't talk. Must play.

Die evil mushrooms! Aieeeee!

Lets call it a social experiment.

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder. This has been the worst year yet. There are a few things that happen to me every year, right around October.

1. I want to eat nothing but red meat, cheese, and bread.
2. I want to drink. Preferably dark beer.
3. I want to smoke.
4. I want to sleep. More specifically, I don't want to get out of bed.

There are also a couple of things I've noticed that tie to this fun little list. I completely quit exercising, though I know that if I do exercise, it wipes out the symptoms almost completely.

So I'm going to do a little experiment. On the way home tonight, I'm going to pick up a pack of cigarettes and a gym membership. Which habit do you think will stick with me the longest?

The truth comes out

I went to our Wisconsin office to learn a particular portion of my job. When I got there, the person who was supposed to train me told me that I am doing only one part of the job, and I didn't need for him to teach me that part. He then proceeded to refuse to teach me anything else on the grounds that there was no need for me to know any of it. The co-worker with whom I was traveling contacted the controller and asked him what I was supposed to be learning, and her interpretation of his answer was the same as the guy who was supposed to be training me.

Yesterday, I spoke with the controller myself, and it turns out that I am supposed to be taking all of the fixed asset work off of the WI guy's hands. All of it. Not just the reconciliation - everything. So basically, he either lied or he misunderstood the directions from the controller, and I traveled for a week for nothing but a nice new pair of boots. Now the controller is going to speak with him personally about it, and I am going to have to return for some actual training.

Here's the thing... This guy who is supposed to train me did some questionable accounting transactions in 2004 that caused the company to restate its financials, which is like the touch of death to a publicly owned company. It lead to SEC and investor litigation which has only recently been resolved in favor of our company (whew!). There is a possibility that he is refusing to hand over this project because he is hiding something. Or he may just be a control freak. Or he may be trying to hang on to it for job security. Who knows. Whatever his reasons, he's going to have to hand it over completely to me in the next two months and get over it. I had a feeling that my taking this from him would cause friction, and I was right. Sometimes I wish I would be wrong about these things.

Final notes on Wisconsin

I took very few pictures while I was there. Here's one of the sunset pictures. If it wasn't for the power lines, it might have been a nice shot.

I escaped the Mall of America in Minneapolis without spending more than $150.00. I bought a pair of brown suede boots, a pair of black suede shoes, and lunch. We only walked the first floor. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, and it didn't have any stores that I don't have access to here, so it wasn't a particularly unique experience.

The flight back was standard, complete with a guy sitting next to me with his elbow crammed into my ribs most of the way back. Same guy kept getting up to get things out of or put things into the overhead bin, each time rubbing his crotch on my shoulder. Not pleasant. Maybe I'll just plant my elbow in someone's crotch next time it happens. Then I'll sue them for molesting me. That is the American way, no?

Eau Claire's mysterious lady

Last night, my coworker and I drove all over Eau Claire, WI, trying to find a particular restaurant. Neither of us could remember the name or location or what type of food they had, but we thought we might recognize it if we saw it. We drove all over town, the good parts and bad parts, looking at all of the houses and buildings, reading off the names of the restaurants and bars we passed. In the older part of Eau Claire, we kept seeing the Mona Lisa on the buildings. It seemed to be a wordless ad for something, but we weren't sure what. No words, just a big blow-up of the painting. I think we saw around a dozen. We drove down Water Street near the UW-EC, and decided to pull over and walk down the street, which was filled with restaurants. As we parallel parked, we saw it - Mona Lisa's, right across the street from us. That was the restaurant we were looking for! We went in and sat down. The decor is great. It reminded me of Monica's apartment on Friends. I fell in love with the red velvet couches. I had a beef rigatoni with a glass of chianti. It was great, and very filling.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel in Lake Hallie, which was right next to a bar/restaurant/hotel called Avalon or Bridgeport. It was kareoke night. We had sundaes made with Olson's ice cream, which has been made in Chippewa Falls since 1944. It is very good, rich, thick ice cream. I had a bloody mary after that, and it was easily the best one I've ever had. Then I had a 20 ounce glass of Sunset Wheat beer from the brewery that we toured earlier in the day. Mmmm.... beer. Then, back to the hotel, packing, and then to bed.

Right now, I'm in our Mendota Heights office. It is very different from our Chippewa Falls office. Bigger, more urban, more professional looking. There's a rivalry of sorts between the offices that I find a little strange, but I suppose that "us versus them" attitude is pretty normal. They both have issues with Seattle, since that is the corporate headquarters. We will leave here shortly to go shopping at the Mall of America, then we're catching our flight back to Seattle at 2:30. My visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin have been short but sweet. I may have gained several pounds.

I found traffic amusing. We entered St. Paul during rush hour. There was less traffic on the freeway that I see in Maple Valley at 6:00 a.m. However, I did not find it amusing at all that the shoulders of the highway are covered with dismembered deer and skunks. Eesh.

The cat i s gonna be so pissed at me when I get home...

I think I'm gonna need a bucket.

Dinner was extraordinarily good and filling, as they have all been since I got here. We went to a restaurant in Eau Claire called Norske Nook. I had elk meatloaf with beer fries, preceeded by artichoke dip with flatbreads and veggie chips, and followed by cherry pie. And let us not forget the beer, which they brew there. Actually, I have forgotten it already. Red Cedar Red, I think it was called. If you're in the 'hood, I highly recommend it. And of course, I am stuffed because I ate way past where I should have. The food is just too good to walk away from it. On the other hand, it is unbelievably cheap. Excellent dinner for two with a beer, desert, and appetizers was less than $40. It was elk meatloaf, people! In Seattle, that would easily have been a $75 dinner. If I had known on Tuesday about the all you can eat elk burgers for $6, I would have gone there for dinner instead. And let me just say this: beer fries. Beer fries! Two of nature's perfect foods in one. I could literally eat them until I puked if I only had the time. Not that I aspire to that.

Notes from Wisconsin

I believe that I have already noted that it is flat and cold, so no more about that. It is also very sunny and there is no pollen, and those are great.

Yesterday on the way back to the hotel, the sunset was spectacular. I remembered to bring the camera today just in case. I'm hoping that we get a repeat.

We went to dinner at Anderson's Bar & Grill. I had the 2-cheeseburger special for $8.50. I chose the bacon cheeseburger and the blue cheese burger. Fantastic! I doubt my stomach will ever recover from the full pound of hamburger I ate. I also had a 23-ounce beer of some local brewery and the apple pie with Olson's ice cream. For an appetizer, we had the deep fried cheese curds. I believe they deep fry nearly anything, including the cheesecake. That's not a joke - it was in the menu.

My outdoor hayfever seems to be completely gone, and my skin is nowhere near as dry. However, I still have my dust allergies. As soon as I'm outdoors, I'm ok. It is nice to have clear sinuses, even if it is only temporary.

These people do not believe in eating vegetables, but they know how to do dairy and meat. I had a salad at Subway for lunch, and that is the closest thing to healthy food that I have seen since I got here. I'm going on a brewery tour after work, then back to the hotel for a while. It is a Lost night, so I may eat a very late dinner. I refuse to miss tonight's episode.

People here have an accent and I'm not sure they realize it. It is like the Minnesota/North Dakota accent we are all so familiar with from Fargo, but not as pronounced. They use the word "pop" for fizzy beverages, and they say "Eye-talian" for the dressing.

In general, people seem to be pretty nice. Though the town is about the same size as the one I live in, it is nowhere near as urban, crowded, loud, or stressed. It is actually a pretty nice little place. I am a nobody in this company, just a new bottom-rung staff accountant, but they refer to me as a big fish because I'm from Seattle, which they think is exotic. Isn't that charming?

The little town is very old, dating back to the late 1800s. The older downtown buildings sit apart from the shopping district, which helps to preserve the look of the place. I have yet to see a new house. They all seem to be Craftsman homes from the 50s. I've never seen so many wrap-around porches in one place. The building I work in must have last been renovated in the 70s, judging from the colors of the wallpaper, the dark wood veneer, and the "chandelier" in the lobby. I think the shopping district is probably the newest thing in the area, at a few years.

I find it a little difficult to work away from my office. All I have is my laptop, so all of the paperwork I need is in Seattle. I have to communicate with everyone through email. The time difference causes problems. The hotel is nice, and the food is good, but I want to sleep in my own bed and eat my own food. I'm going to get fat eating restaurant food all the time. I worry about my cat and my fish. I am definitely not cut out for business travel. Still, I like the change of scenery, and I am glad it is temporary.

The earth really is flat!

At least, that is the impression when I stepped off the plane in Minnesota yesterday. I had an aisle seat over the wing, so I didn't see the... ahem... view until I was in the airport. Ah, the midwest. Land of 10,000 lakes. And not a hill in sight. Anathema! Despair! Glad I'm here only for a week, I collected my baggage with my co-worker and departed for Wisconsin.

The flight in wasn't bad, but there was one spot of turbulence that made me wish I was Catholic so that I could have genuflected and said a Hail Mary. It was like the first big drop on a roller coaster, except quite unexpected in an otherwise smooth ride. I read the first 114 pages of Love Monkey while eating my $5 Snack Box and drinking my tiny $5 bottle of Chilean Chardonnay. It is strikingly similar to High Infidelity, which may be intentional - that book is mentioned in the first chapter of this book. I have to add, though, that it doesn't measure up. It is amusing though.

Getting the rental car was an experience in itself. They gave us a convertible Miata. Now, think about this. Two women, packed for a week-long trip in the midwest in late fall, and they gave us a Miata. Each of us had a suitcase and a laptop bag. We put my suitcase in the trunk and it wouldn't close. I would have had to hold the other three bags on my lap for over an hour. We traded it for a Subaru Tribeca, which definitely held all of the luggage and was nice to drive.

The hotel is a standard Country Inn & Suites, nothing particularly special. After breakfast, I have to go meet the Wisconsin accounting team and learn the fixed asset module from a guy that I've heard a lot about and yet I'm still not sure what to expect. He may have been involved in some fraud, he may be very knowledgeable, he may be very nice, and he may be incompetent. That's the gist of what I've gotten from other teammates. This should be interesting. I will be going to lunch with "the girls" at a place called Olsen's. I have no idea what that is.

I will also be trying the fried cheese at the restaurant next door to the hotel as an appetizer for dinner. I'm not sure what to expect from that. Added bonus: there may be a brewery tour in store for me. Woo! That I'm looking forward to.

Oh, yeah. I graduated with my Bachelor's of Science in Accounting on Saturday, the 21st. I thought it worth a mention. Two years and three months of my attention should get at least two sentences on mention on the Internet, I think. Woo! on that as well.

My new job included a new laptop with wireless capabilities. Dude. I'm at home with my work laptop, watching Animal Planet and surfing the 'Net. Sure, I should be doing homework, but I'm being lazy. I actually brought the laptop home to see if I could get into my work network (I can't, and I don't know why), but since I can work on my homework on it too, I might as well, right?

Speaking of school, only 35 days to go until I get my degree! Woo hoo!

I haven't done any hiking in the last month. I was falling behind in school because I was hiking instead of studying and doing homework, and besides, the weather is changing nastily and now the best areas all seem to be on fire anyway. Maybe I'll do some more hikes if the weather is good on upcoming weekends. We'll see.

But...

I left my old job last week and began my new job yesterday. No window here, but I don't have to share an office, either. I have a brick wall behind me that is over 100 years old, but the rest of the building interior is new. The floors creak when you walk, but I like that. The work load is more even over the course of the month, so I won't have down time, but it will never be as hectic here as it was there. Uwajimaya is further away now, but the exercise won't kill me. This company pays for parking and the train, so I can do either at will and lose nothing out of pocket. The walk through Pioneer Square might be a bit harrowing in the upcoming months when it is dark during the commute, but I have police-issue pepper spray that I can use if someone seriously threatens me. We get bagels on Tuesday and lunch on Friday. I miss the security of  familiarity, but I like everyone I've met here and I am training with an old friend to take over part of his work. They didn't have me set up with a computer or a phone on day 1, but I now have a new wireless-enabled Dell laptop of the type without the exploding battery. I still do not have access to all of the software and websites I'll need to do my job, but that will come in time. There's no convinient Starbucks in the lobby of this building, but the company coffee is good and it is free. My ex-officemate has the office to herself until Thursday so that she can work distraction-free through the final steps of the month-end close, but after that she has to share her office with Katherine from purchasing, who drives everyone nuts with her bizarre behavior and her endless chatter about her kids. I feel bad for my ex-officemate, but I have a better job and better pay, and like everyone else in the world, I'm in it for myself. 

Once again, a thwarted birthday hike

I took the third week of August off of work to go hiking. I planned one hike, but my car couldn't make it down the terrible road to the trailhead, so at the last minute I changed to a different hike. I went to Necklace Valley. Pretty, but not worth the horrific trail you have to endure to get there. Pictures are in the usual place. I did the mile-long scramble up talus to get to Chain Lakes, which would have been nice if the sun was out. Of course, it was totally overcast, with no view whatsoever of the peaks across the valley. Oh, and it was 51 degrees, and the clouds blowing across at eye-level were very cold and wet. The high-point of the hike was the sow and cub that I got within 30 feet of before seeing them. They ran away so fast I didn't even manage to get a reasonable picture, just bear butts running up the slope away from the trail. Curses! Foiled again. On the other hand, I saw more frogs on this hike than I have seen in the last 10 years. And the blueberries were perfect.

But before that, I accidentally found a new job. I wasn't looking, it just happened! I was minding my own business and got a phone call from an ex-coworker, who told me about the opening. I went for an interview on the 17th and got an offer on the 18th, which I accepted. I start my new job on September 11th.

Change

It seems that when things start to change, the changes don't stop with just one thing. They snowball into changing everything in reach.

 

An old friend called me last week about a job opening in his company. I think I may be changing jobs right at the same time that my current company is being acquired, which happens to be the same time that I am graduating.

 

Nice timing, eh?

Strange day

It is only 8:39 in the morning and my day is having major mood swings.

1. I found out that someone for whom I have great admiration and respect died in a hiking accident the day before yesterday on Mt. Formidable.

2. My boss is trying to set me up on a blind date.

3. An ex-coworker from 3 or 4 years ago called me to tell me about a job opening in his company.

What could be next? I'm almost afraid to find out.

Spectacle Lake

When I told my compadres where I was spending the weekend, I got a lot of warnings about staying cool, staying hydrated, and loading up on sunscreen. I set out early and arrived at the Pete Lake trailhead at 6 am armed with a cotton shirt, a hat, a ton of Gatorade and salted almonds, and 40+ SPF gel. Luckily, I went one step further and brought lots of DEET. The moment I stepped out of the car I was swarmed with mosquitos. It was already 71 degrees, but there was a bit of cloud cover that I expected to burn off.

The four and a half miles to Pete Lake is just long and flat, nothing to look at, and the mosquitos never let up. I stopped by the shore of Pete Lake for a drink and a snack, swatting at everything that moved, and headed up. 

Just after Pete Lake the mosquitos thinned out. When I got to the Lemah Creek crossing, I saw how high, fast, and wide it was and decided it would be wise to add the extra 3/4 mile trip on the Lemah Meadows trail to join the PCT and take the footbridge route. Some of the PCT is a little overgrown, and some of the growth is Devil's Club. The rest of the overgrowth is just wet and full of spider webs. It was actually nice to get soaked walking through that - it was a nice cool-down.

Miles later of more uneventful trail and I finally hit the switchbacks up to the lake. Again, no views, but there was one rather fantastic, crashing waterfall that looked like something you'd see in Vegas or Disneyland. 

Right after that is the one big blowdown. A huge dead tree fell over the trail. You can't go over or around it, so you have to crawl under it. With a day pack, it might be a little more navigable than with an overnight pack. Over the whole trail, I saw one group of about 8, one other solo hiker, and two couples. All of them were going in the opposite direction. I was hoping for a lack of crowds, and I got it.

Finally, at long last, I got up to the first views of Three Queens and the peaks surrounding Spectacle Lake. It took me about 6 hours between leaving the car and getting to the lakeshore. I made my way down to the lake to find that I was alone and had my choice of campsites. I wandered down the first shoreline reached by the trail and did not find what I wanted. I went around the South shore and then North onto the large peninsula and found a campsite near the end with a view of the Western portion of the lakes and the peaks surrounding it: Huckleberry Mountain, Chickamin Peak, and Lemah Mountain. Heavenly! 
  
Eventually, two other campsites were tak en, and there was a group of 4 that fished and left, and one other solo hiker who stayed for a short time and left. The lake was very quiet.

I set up camp and ate lunch, then set out to find the trail to Glacier Lake. No such luck. I went back to camp and relaxed and took in the veiw, had a swim, watched the fish and the ducks, and relaxed some more. The cloud cover broke breifly a few times. The temperature hovered around the mid-nineties, but when the sun broke it shot up to 103. That gets a little uncomfortable, but that's what alpine lakes are for.  The sunset I hoped for did not materialize - too many clouds. It was nice, but not... well, not spectacular. I finally crawled into my tent and passed out. A deer woke me up around midnight, crashing around in the campsite, looking for leftovers or something.

I did not go up to Spectacle Point due to time and energy constraints (after hunting for the Glacier Lake trail for too long), but word is that there are still a couple of nasty snowfields on that portion of the PCT.

When I woke up this morning, it was already 64 degrees.  I ate and packed out, taking one last look for that Glacier Lake trail - for next time. I left the lake at about 6:30 and got back to the car, 11 miles later, at 11:15 and 88 degrees. I must have been in a hurry to get through the skeeters. I saw only 8 people on the trail this morning, all on their way up to Pete Lake.

Tuck and Robin

This week’s hike was a comedy of errors from the outset. Pictures are here.

I decided to hike Tuck and Robin. I had done it before, but this weekend’s weather forecast wasn’t great and I didn’t want to waste a marginal-weather weekend on a new hike. My pictures from the previous trip were great, and I felt no need to improve on them. I figured if my pictures from this trip didn’t turn out it wouldn’t matter.

I got to the trailhead early and started out at a very slow pace, knowing what was in store ahead. The first several miles are nearly flat, and they lull you into a false sense of security, making you think you can go full-speed. That just wears you out. The last two miles of the trail are a nightmare of roots, rocks, gravel, and straight up climbing – sometimes with a trail, sometimes just scrambling up over rocks marked by cairns.

First error: wrong boots. I chose the boots for this trip because I wanted good ankle support. These boots used to work just fine for me, but for some reason they don’t anymore. Last time I wore them I got a blister, and this time was no different. The best thing to prevent a blister that I have found is duct tape. As soon as you have a hot spot, slap on some duct tape. However, I didn’t have any this time. To prevent a blister, I tightened up my laces and changed my pace. That hurt my ankles, but it was better than a blister. So now, my ankles are swollen and bruised.

The trail from the turnoff from the Deception Pass Loop trail up to Tuck Lake sucks. There’s really no other way to put it. It sucks out loud. As I said above, rocks, roots, gravel, straight up. I hate it. I got to Tuck Lake after seeing only two people on the trail. Tuck is a beautiful lake with a little island that looks like it should have been in Myst or Riven or one of the Lord of the Rings movies. It is a little barren and primeval while being lush and colorful at the same time. It looks a little unreal, especially in sunlight, especially since the water is so clear and so blue that you can see all of the rocks under the water and watch the fish. I stopped there for a break and headed up to the Robin Lakes.

The trail past Tuck Lake and Tuck’s Pot gives a nice preview of what the trail is like all the way up to the Robin Lakes. If you follow the trail closest to Tuck Lake, you end up climbing up, over, down, and around until you get to the logjam, which you cross to find the trail on the other side. Then you do some more climbing up and over and down and around, eventually with great views of Tuck’s Pot and Mt. Daniel, until you reach the end of Tuck Lake. That’s when you start climbing in earnest. It is about 900 feet of elevation gain from the end of Tuck Lake up to Lower Robin Lake. And it isn’t even a mile.

Up, up, up. Roots, rocks, handholds, footholds, up, down, around, through, follow that cairn, brace yourself here, haul yourself up with that branch, stick your foot up against that tree trunk while you jam your pack into that crevice for leverage and pull yourself up with your fingernails, don’t take that trail because it leads to a cliff, follow that cairn up there instead and then spot the next one. Eventually you run out of trail and all you have left is big, broken slabs of granite that you walk straight up. Not to the left – that gives a very difficult gully to climb down to get to the lake. Not to the right – that just leads to the end of the lake and adds time and distance. Follow the cairns up the middle. You see two really big cairns next to each other, like a gateway to the land of the cairns. After that, all bets are off. You can go any way you want to. Some of the cairns on the left lead to a trail that takes you down to Lower Robin Lake. Others just lead you around the end of the lake, which is great if that is what you want. Other cairns were placed for fun or some other inexplicable reason.

My welcome back to the lakes consisted of seeing the gateway cairns and a goat sticking its head out from behind a rock. Yay, goats! That is what I was hoping for. I climbed up the knob at the outlet of Lower Robin Lake, overlooking Cathedral Rock, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Daniel, Granite Mountain, and Mt. Hinman, and set up my campsite. The goats joined me shortly thereafter. I think I had 8 or 9 of them with me for a while.

Second error: For the record, that partly cloudy forecast was direly incorrect. There wasn’t a cloud anywhere over the Robin Lakes. But it was only in the low 70s, so it didn’t occur to me to put on sunscreen. You can guess what I’m leading you to. So anyway.

After the long and tiring trek up to the lakes, I was tired. I decided to whip up some chicken and rice for dinner. I boiled the water, poured the two cups of water into the freeze-dried food bag, and sealed it. I waited my 8 minutes for my lovely hot dinner. I opened up the zippered bag… and 8 or 9 little goat heads whipped around to stare at me. They could smell the salt. Uh oh. Two of the biggest goats stood up. They sparred a bit to determine who would dine on chicken tonight. The biggest one won and came at me. I backed away, telling the goat that good goats don’t eat chicken and rice, it is bad for their cholesterol levels and that goats are vegetarians and wouldn’t like my dinner. It didn’t work. Finally, the goat had me cornered and was about 3 feet from me, and like a moron I decided to treat him like a dog. I pointed at him and said “NO!” in a rather harsh tone. He blinked and gave me one of those, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me” looks and walked back to the herd and lay down. Hmmm. Interesting. Can goats really have facial expressions? Probably not, but that’s how I chose I read it.

As it cooled off, the wind picked up. The temperature started dropping rapidly. I watched the goats for a while, watched the lake for a while, and watched the sun setting for a while. I saw what I think was an eagle catching a fish and fly away toward the South. I read my book for a while and had a victory beverage. It got colder. And colder.

Third error: I made a stupid assumption. All of the other hikes I’ve done this year had temperatures above 60 at night. I assumed that this one would be no different. On the last several hikes, I took my North Face Blue Kazoo sleeping bag, which is good down to 30 degrees. Way too hot. So this time, I took my summer weight bag, good down to 55 degrees. The nighttime temperature fell to 41 degrees. I had all of my clothes on in my tent in my sleeping bag and I couldn’t sleep because I was shivering too hard. I was worried that I would end up hypothermic. Luckily, I was just very uncomfortable and ultimately undamaged.

I got up this morning and it was still in the 40s. I decided that I would not be staying another night because I didn’t have my good sleeping bag, and instead I would go visit the Granite Mountain Potholes after eating breakfast, then I would pack out. The Potholes are a little series of tarns just past Upper Robin Lake. I tried to light my stove to boil water.

Fourth error: your mileage may vary with stove lighting methods. I carry a lighter. Before each hike, I shake it to see how much fuel is in it. There was plenty. Today, I couldn’t get it to light. I think the flint was worn down, I don’t know. I had a brief panicky moment where I thought I would have to ask another camper for a light (so gauche, such a n00B move), and then I remembered that for the first time ever, for no discernable reason, I had packed matches! I dug them out of my first aid kit (Why there? I don’t know.) and got the stove lit on the second try. I had a nice hot oatmeal breakfast and started cleaning up the camp.

Back to the goats. The first time I was up there, they weren’t the least bit aggressive. They are now. I had them following me around regularly because they were waiting for me to pee. They want the salt. Yes, it’s gross, but that’s the way it works. I had to keep shooing them away. At one point while I was getting ready to go off to the Potholes, I was walking past a goat and her kid, and I was giving them plenty of space. And yet, she came at me like she was going to headbutt me, and then stomped her feet at me. I stomped back at her before realizing that I might be accepting some kind of a challenge, but she just gave me a “pardon me, I must have lost my mind for a moment there” look, and she left.

I headed for the Potholes. They’re pretty easy to find, but the trail isn’t exactly great. If you follow the trail around Upper Robin Lake, you see there are a number of trails. They eventually converge into one very narrow, steep track that drops straight down part of the shoreline, then becomes easier and heads up to the Potholes. However, there’s still quite a lot of snow up there. It is very hard packed and slick, so I gave up trying to walk on it and headed up the rocks to the left. You can follow some good game trails. It is an interesting little area. I think the flora is a little different from what is around the lakes, and it is very quiet. I could see no campsites, but there may be some under the snow. After wandering for a short time, I decided to pack out and I headed back to the campsite.

I got everything packed up and got the pack on my back. I turned to take one last look at the lakes. It is so pretty up there. I really love the area. I felt so bad about leaving so soon, but I will just have to go back someday. I miss it already. Away I went.

The trip up the trail to the lakes is bad. Going down that trail is even worse. You get winded and fatigued going up, but your joints take a terrible beating on the way down. I made it to Tuck Lake in about an hour, and my knees were bothering me. A short way past Tuck Lake, my right knee and hip decided they didn’t want to play anymore and they took their ball and went home. I struggled for a while, favoring my right leg, mostly using my left leg and relying heavily on my trekking poles. Eventually they came back to play, but they pouted the rest of the way down. Then my left knee decided it wasn’t happy anymore either. By the time I got back to my car, both my legs were pissed off, stiff, sore, creaky, and weak. Driving home was a great treat. I’m hoping they recover by Monday, but I may be asking for too much.

To sum up: stunning alpine lakes, glacier carved basin, mountain goats, wild flowers and heather, fantastic weekend. Did I mention mosquitoes? No? That’s because there were none! Make that a perfect weekend.

Deep Lake: July 15, 2006

No trip report just yet. Pictures are at http://community.webshots.com/album/552311123swTGdg

 

 

Yet another media frenzy

Two hikers, women, were found murdered on the trail to Pinnacle Lake this week. Everyone who knows me knows that I hike alone, so they are all freaking out. I'm not freaking out. Millions of people hike the trails here. Literally millions. Of them, three have been murdered. I have a better chance of winning the lottery, being struck by lightning, or getting attacked by a bear or mountain lion.

 

So this weekend, I'm going hiking. Alone. Miles and miles in the wilderness, on a trail that I am hoping is painfully unpopulated. And as always, I will be aware of every person I see and every noise I hear, but I'm not going to let it stop me.

 

I do so hope that they catch whoever killed these women. Their friends and family have been posting a multitude of messages at NWHikers.net and they sound like wonderful people. We have so few people who inspire so many, and it is such a shame to lose them. I don't hope that they catch the killer as much for my own safety and the safety as others as for the memory of two people who have positively touched so many.

"Do you guys wanna see a dead body?"

The commute was less than uneventful today. It was far too eventful.

I pulled into the parking garage and noticed two cops sitting across the street. I thought that was a little odd. Then I noticed that the garage was nearly empty. I thought that was a little odd, too. I saw people standing on the platform with the guards, so I figured it was just one of  those days when people were taking a later train or just not going to work. I heard a train whistle right about the time I was going to get out of my car, and decided that it would be prudent to take the skybridge to the platform instead of trying to cross the tracks, because I didn't want to get stuck on the wrong side of the tracks if it was a big freight train coming. As I walked to the skybridge, I saw a freight train parked on the tracks below. I thought that was a little odd as well. After reaching the platform, I found out what happened.

Yet another train hit and killed yet another pedestrian in Kent.

The big freight train that was sitting on the tracks was the train that hit the person. The person was crossing the tracks where there was no actual crossing, just South of Highway 18, and somehow missed the gigantic train with the blaring 110-decible horn and the blinding Cyclopean headlight bearing down on them at 30-50 miles per hour on the flat straight-away through Kent. (My tone may indicate to you that I think this person was a moron. You would be right to infer that.)

The freight train, naturally, had to stop. The freight train was so long that it was blocking at least two streets that cross the tracks, so I'm sure Kent traffic is something of a nightmare this morning.

The body, unfortunately, was under the train when it finally managed to stop 1/2 mile later. It was a very long train. They unlinked the cars near the body and pulled the engine forward so that they could get at the body, which was covered with a white sheet or blanket when we passed. Naturally, the Sounder train audience ooh-ed and ahh-ed when they saw it. Morning commuters love a drama.

Welcome to Thursday.

Jake Shimabukuro

Last night after work, I went with Ken and Brad to the Triple Door to see Jake Shimabukuro play his ukelele. I won't bother describing it, you have to hear it to get it. He's amazing. Try http://www.jakeshimabukuro.com/ and see if you can find a sample. There's also a clip of him floating around on the Internet somewhere of him playing a George Harrison song called "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in Central Park. Not only is he a virtuoso player, he's fun to listen to between songs. If you have a chance to see him, go for it. You won't regret it, regardless of how you feel about what you know of the ukelele. 

 

I also highly recommend the food at Wild Ginger. I had the Vegetarian Squash Curry, and it was so good I could hardly stand it. The cinnamon bread pudding was pretty fantastic, too.

 

Good lord, that's twice in one month I've been out with other people this year. That makes... um... twice this year I've gone out with other people! Wow, I'm so popular.

Rachel, Lila, and the Ramparts

Did I go hiking this weekend? Why, yes! Yes, I did.

 

I had school on Saturday, so the moment I finished my final I was out the door and on my way to the trail. I started up the trail to Rachel Lake at 2:05 pm. Way too late, way too hot. There were lots of people there - the parking lot was full. I passed too many people to count, all of whom were on their way out. I got to Rachel Lake at about 4:00, which is pretty good. I did the first three miles in one hour, and the fourth mile in about an hour. That is one nasty mile of trail! There's still a bit of snow, but nothing difficult to deal with. I sat at the lake for a few minutes, ate an apple, drank some water, and threw the pack back on and headed up to Lila Lake.

 

The slope behind Rachel Lake is snow free, which is deceptive. The moment you reach the ridge, there is snow, and plenty of it. I followed the footprints of others, praying that I would not posthole through it. I didn't have any problems, but there was great potential for injury in a few spots. There were occasional bare patches of ground, but the snow patches got larger and the bare patches got smaller as I approached the lake. Still, I found a nice bare patch of flat rock to set up camp near a couple of the streams of snowmelt. I had a nice relaxing evening, watching the sunset and eating dinner, taking pictures of every little thing. There was only one other occupied camp that I could see, and they were on the other side of the lake. I went to bed around 9:00. It had been a long day.

 

I woke up at 11:00 with a big light shining on my tent. I climbed out to find out who the heck was waking me up. Oh. It was a nearly full moon. It was a very bright moon, with a crystal clear sky. I wandered around in the dark with my bare feet, enjoying the cool night air and the view of the mountains and lake. It was bright enough that I didn't need any artificial light to get around. I love that! It was about 60 degrees, so it was very comfortable. I was expecting it to be cooler with all of that snow.

 

I woke up around 5:00 and got up to have breakfast. I watched the sun rise and broke camp. Instead of leaving, I headed over to the Ramparts. I got to see not only whistling marmots, but whistling marmot babies, a first for me. Other than that, the only wildlife I saw was a few chipmunks and some deer footprints in the snow. There were lots of wildflowers in the bare patches. Again, lots of snow on the trail to the Ramparts but nothing challenging. The Ramparts are a beautiful series of glacier-carved lakes, all connected with little waterfalls and bluffs. I wandered around the lake basin, trying to get good pictures but trying not to walk through the billion or so occupied campsites. It is kinda limiting when you're trying to avoid waking people up or distrubing their breakfast. Eventually I gave up and headed out. On the way out, I passed another billion people on their way up. Because I started out so early, I probably missed a lot of them. I got back to the car at about 11 :15 am and headed home.

Fourth of July

In my inimitable style, I shunned the general populace on the Fourth. I have never been a big fan of the noise or drunken crowds of the holiday. I got up early and headed to work because I had a lot to do, and then left fairly early to head to Snow Lake.

 

It was cool and cloudy in Seattle when I left, but it was crystal clear and hot at Snoqualmie Pass. I headed up the trail at what is for me a blistering pace. I've done that hike so many times that I didn't bother to take any pictures until I actually reached the first viewpoint for Snow Lake. The entire basin is snowbound and the lake is still partially frozen. Like a moron, I made my way down the crusty yet half-melted snow to the shore to take a few more pictures, risking postholing through the rotten snow and breaking an ankle or two. At one point I decided to just sit down and slide for about 100 feet, which was great fun. It was hot in spite of the snow, and my shoulders got sunburned because I refuse to deal with sunscreen most of the time.

 

After wandering in the snow near the lake but chickening out when it came to crossing the big creek, I headed back up the slope, which was easier than getting down the slope but still a little tricky. After reaching the saddle, it was before noon and I decided to head to Source Lake, which you can see from an offshoot of the Snow Lake trail. I'd never gone that way before because I had seen a photo of the lake and was unimpressed. I don't know why I decided to do it on this particular day, other than that it was early, I had time, and I wasn't tired. Half a mile later, the unimpressive puddle that is the headwaters of the North Fork Snoqualmie came into view, as did the snow field at the end of the cirque, the back of Chair Peak, and multiple very impressive waterfalls that currently feed the lake and the river. It was worth the trip up just to see the peaks from that angle.

 

Pictures are here. http://community.webshots.com/album/551961445osrejn

 

After heading back home, I did some homework, some housework, and I ate almost half a gallon of some kind of ice cream that involved caramel swirls and chocolate-covered toffee chunks. I was hoping to get to bed early, but we all know that was a fantasy. All of my loud, obnoxious, disrespectful neighbors decided to set off illegal fireworks until 11:30 that night, so I woke up tired and feeling like crap at 4:00 a.m. Just to be a bitch and wake up my neighbors to get even with them for not letting me sleep, I set off my car alarm a few times. Vengeance is mine!

 

I think we all need to petition to move the Independence Day celebration to the first Friday in July. That way we all get a 3-day weekend and none of us has to get up early the next day.

A little jaunt into the wilderness

Yesterday I hiked the 11-mile round trip to Navajo Pass, at about 6000 feet. If you like up-close and personal looks at the likes of Mt. Stewart (at left), you should to this hike. If you like a raging river, open landscape, gnarly trees, wildflowers, hot hot heat, and a distinct lack of biting bugs, you should do this hike. Campsites? Check. Breeze? Check. Deer? Check. Plenty of water? Check. Stunning vistas? Check. Crowds? Unfortunately, check. There were 7 tents at the pass, and I counted 9 people on the way in and two on the way out. I suppose that isn't technically crowded... Anyway, nice hike, only 3000 feet of elevation gain over 5 1/2 miles. The trail is in good shape in spite of horse use. It is very pretty and very different than Western Washington hikes - it is litteraly barren in spots, particulary just below the pass on the South slope. It looks like the moon. I'll write a more detailed "trip report" later if I feel like it, but I have homework to get to.

The influence of co-workers

Random office bizarreness.

 

One of my co-workers brought lychees to work. I'd never seen them before, but I had tried lychee juice and I really liked it. They look like chestnuts, feel like tangerines once you get the peel off, and taste a little like coconut juice. Very light and refreshing.

 

Another co-worker has developed a sudden fascination with death and pictures of corpses and accident victimes because yet another co-worker told her that he used to be a mortician. Now we're trying to out-gross each other finding pictures of dead people on the Internet. It isn't hard, believe me. She even found a website that shows all of the recent prisoner beheadings in the Middle East. Yikers. We have in common that the dead people don't bother us, but neither of us can even look at anything suggestive of animal cruelty without wanting to bawl like a baby.

 

Yet another co-worker saw me this morning and gasped, and said, "I'm so glad you're OK! I had a dream last night that you died!" Well, if nothing else, it is nice to know that someone will be upset if I die. I tend to labor under the impression that nobody gives me a second thought once I'm out of their line of sight. Apparently the dream event took place around my birthday, so I'll be sure to be extra careful on my three-day birthday hike this year. If I recall correctly, there are myriad opportunities to plummet to my doom on that particular trail. Last time I did it, I broke all of my damn fingernails off. It is a very, shall we say, "interactive" trail.

One thing leads to another

Have you ever felt that the universe was conspiring to keep you from getting to work on time? I got up late because my alarm clock didn't go off. I still made it out of the house only 4 minutes late. In a brilliant last minute decision, I took a left instead of a right, avoiding the construction holdup, only to get stuck on the wrong side of the train tracks when a freight train passed. I finally made it across the tracks, only to be stopped by traffic that was mysteriously not moving through the green light. I cut across a curb and a parking lot because at that point it was 6:16, and I catch a 6:17 train. I whipped into the parking garage only to be blocked by someone attempting to back their stupid SUV into a spot that was too narrow for a driver with no parking skills. I finally got by her and parked and made it to the platform barely in time. Luckily the train was 2 minutes late or I would never have made it.

Fortune cookies

I eat a fortune cookie every day. No reason why, other than that I like them. I don't believe in the fortunes, but I get a chuckle out of how positive and upbeat they are. The last three I've gotten:

You will be sucessful in romance.

You will inherit some money or a small piece of land.

You are domestically inclined and will be happily married.

The irony here is that only the middle one stands to come true.

On the other hand, there's a website that offers more realistic alternatives to fortunes. http://www.new-year.co.uk/chinese/cookie.cfm

Mt. Forgotten

Left: Big Four, view from Mountain Loop Highway

On Friday, I did the first real mountain climbing I've done this year. I hate to be a mountain snob, but anything under 4,000 feet is not a real mountain. I'm sure there are others who feel than anything under 6,000 or 8,000 or 10,000 aren't real mountains, so at least I'm not as restrictive as others.



Left: Perry Creek crossing at 2 miles

After checking every website I know to find trip reports, I decided on Mt. Forgotten. Last time I was up there was right around 1998, and (pardon the bad joke) I had forgotten just how spectacular it is. It isn't the most difficult hike at 3.5 miles each way and about 2000 feet of elevation gain to the meadows, but the trail isn't in the best condition in spots. That much I did remember. I left home early and got to the trailhead at about 6:30. I'm very slow. I take a lot of pictures. I took 147 on this trip. That could be, in large part, why it took me 4 hours to reach the meadows. However, I will concede that I take a lot of breaks and I am not in good condition. Once the asthma and the allergies kick in, I can't breathe and I get pretty fatigued, so I would go slow even if I didn't have the camera.

Left: Pika

I didn't see much in the way of wildlife. I saw some pikas, some chipmunks, some birds, some bugs, some slugs. That's about it. I did hear a woodpecker at one point in the forest, and I heard a grouse or a ptarmigan while I was up in the meadows overlooking the peak, but hearing things counts for nothing.



Anyway, the waterfalls off of Mt. Stillaguamish are visible and audible from across the valley. They're pretty impressive. Perry Creek is a little tricky to cross because the big log that used to make such a great bridge has collapsed partially into the creek, so you get your feet a little damp on the way to the other side. There's quite a difference in the trail before and after the Perry Creek crossing. Before you cross the creek, you're traversing the shoulder of Mt. Dickerman in an open valley. The trail is a little rocky in spots, but not very steep. It is very warm in that valley. You have a view across the valley and up the shoulder of Mt. Dickerman, not to mention back down the valley toward Big Four, the whole time. The moment you cross the creek, you're in the woods. No views, cooler, quieter. The trail gets steeper and rocks are traded for roots. The camp robbers show up if you take food out.

There is still some snow on the trail, but I managed to stick pretty close to it by following the footprints of others, the blazes on the trees, the red trail maintenance flags, and the logs that had been cut apart where they had fallen and obstructed the trail. Just below the first viewpoint, you hit the solid snow. It is packed down pretty hard and is a few feet deep, so I wasn't postholing through it at all. I got to the viewpoint and snapped a few shots of Mt. Forgotten, Mt. Stillaguamish, White Chuck, Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan. I chatted for a moment with a guy who had camped there the night before and headed up to the meadows.

After the viewpoint, the trail is a little harder to follow. The snow is patchy in the trees, but the footprints are harder to follow and there are no other real signs of the trail. Still, if you just keep those cliffs in view to the left, you get to the meadows.

The meadows are currently solid snow. It is very pretty, and there has been so little traffic up there this year that the footprints are nearly invisible. I had the meadows entirely to myself. I glissaded down one slope just for kicks before heading up to the real views. From the meadows proper, you can see Three Fingers, Whitehorse, White Chuck, Glacier Peak, Mt. Forgotten, Sheep Mountain, Mt. Dickerman, Big Four, Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and many others too numerous to name. It is spectacular. I plopped down in the snow with Mt. Forgotten to my left and Glacier Peak in front of me to eat lunch. I stuck my apple and cheese into the snow to let them cool off while I ate my beef jerky chunks and took off my outer layer to cool down. My lily-white shoulders turned very, very pink. Stretched my legs, relaxed, took in the view. Then I ate my ice-cold apple and cheese.

Here's where I got stupid. I wanted to go out to the rock outcrop with the best view of Mt. Baker. I didn't make it, but I tried. The path, even in the best of circumstances, is steep and treacherous, and right now it is partially obscured with snow. I slid down the slope to the one very small patch of dirt that I could see of the trail, then went about 10 feet to the big patch of snow that is obscuring the rest of the trail. My intention was to climb over that snow, but from that angle I could see that it was very thin. I chickened out and turned back. Kickstepping back up that slope was not easy - it was about 12 feet up and very steep, probably a 60 degree angle. I finally made it back up and decided it was time to head back home.

The trip down was uneventful until I reached the second creek crossing. Trail maintenance folk from the WTA had showed up and they were working on the trail. At that moment, they were building a rock "bridge" to cross that creek. I walked over, complimented them on their handiwork, chatted for a moment, and headed out.

My second mistake of the day was to try to take I-405 home. I drove in first gear - when I was actually moving, that is - for an hour before finally making it to the I-90 exit. Next time I'm hiking in the North Cascades, I'll take highway 2 or 20 over the passes and drive South on the other side of the state, then take the Mt. Rainier loop to get home. It might add some miles, but it will probably take less time and the veiw will be more enjoyable.

Anyway, the day was fantastic. I highly recommend this hike. Blogger won't let me upload more pictures, so you can find all of them on Webshots.

Plans so cunning you could put tails on them and call them weasels.

This week, the universe appears to be conspiring against my cunning plan to regain my health and youthful glow. Every day, someone brings something irresistible into the office. Monday was Rum Cake. Tuesday was doughnuts. Wednesday, well, that was my fault entirely, becuase I stupidly went to Uwajimaya for a "snack." Today, doughnuts again. Lousy bastards. I know, I could just not eat them, but since I'm unwilling to spend my own money on these things this is the only way I can get them. All I want for Christmas is more self-control. This isn't really affecting my health, but it still gripes me that I have such a fixation on junk food. Mmm, sugar...

 

On the stalker front, I have devised a cunning plan to avoid interaction. I think I figured out why this guy bothers me so much. Let me digress for a moment. He may not know I exist. Maybe he's just one of those people with no recognizable social skills who glares at people without knowing he's doing it. They aren't rare around here, what with all of the drug addicts and homeless people. On the paranoid hand, he watches me as though I look exactly like someone who did him a terrible wrong at some point in his life (mommy? wife? prom queen? random woman on the street? babysitter?) and he's wondering how it is that he killed me, skinned me, ate me, and buried my in-edible remains in his crawlspace, and yet, curse the gods, I'm on his train. I'm simply going to get on a different car from now on. If he starts showing up on that car, I'll change cars again. If he shows up in that car, I'll take a later train to work and let him have his stupid train. If he shows up on a different train, I'm going to drive to freakin' Issaquah and take a bus. That'll teach him.

 

Definitely stalker material

I took the train as usual this morning. I took the first aisle seat I could find. Unfortunately, I have tunnel vision when I am looking for a seat on the train and I didn't notice that I was sitting one seating area away from the guy who was making me rather nervous a few days ago. He kept huffing and puffing and sighing through the whole trip. I could hear him breathing the entire way from Kent to Seattle. (That's a bit of a pet peeve of mine. If you are breathing too loudly, you should probably see a doctor.) By the time I realized it was that guy, it was too late to move. I waited for him to get off the train before me, and as he walked by me he actually held up the line of people behind him staring at me as he walked by. I was looking out the window, but I could see from his reflection that he was looking at me, not at the stairs. I accidentally looked down the stairway just as he was rounding the end of the stairs and there he was, looking back up at me. Today I made sure that I waited long enough to avoid him completely once I was off the train. I think I may start taking a different train, or getting on a different car. He reminds me of Jeffrey Dahmer, so you can imagine how uncomfortable his attention is making me.

What time is now?

Good lord, I can't believe it is only Tueday, June 19th. I'm desperately awaiting a good time to go camping, but the snow is still pretty rampant in all of the places I'm dying to be. I am hoping that over this weekend I'll do a hike that will put me in a campsite about 10 feet from a frozen lake. The trail is still pretty bad, but I figure that will keep the hoards away. Unfortunately, that will probably also keep the whistling marmots underground. The weather between now and then is going to be good, so I'm counting on some major snowmelt between now and Saturday morning.  I was going to do this particular hike over the Fourth of July, but I've decided that no matter where I go that weekend, I won't need three days, so it won't matter where I go. I just want this particular hike to have good weather, and the forecast is looking reasonable for this weekend, so I'm going to do it early. On the other hand, there's another trail I'm waiting to hear more about. Som eone did it this weekend, and I emailed him to ask for more info and pictures to see if it is worth the trip up.

 

We once again have an "us against them" faction at work. This time, it is me and my officemate against the office whiner, who we will refer to going forward as "creepy eyebrow lady," or CEL. (CEL waxes her eyebrows OFF and draws them in about halfway between her natural eyebrow line and her eyelid, giving her a permanent glowering, beady-eyed look.) She's the one who whined about being in the office that I now happily occupy. She complained about the light. About the warmth. About my officemate, who apparently makes faces that CEL doesn't like when she is communicating. (Have you ever noticed how expressive deaf people are when they are signing? CEL was offended by that.) She also complained about my officemate making too much noise, which is terribly ironic in that CEL is the most chatty person I think I've ever worked with. She complained that I stand with my arms crossed. (I do that because letting my arms hang at my sides hurts my elbows.) She complained about my voice, fo r crying out loud - again, terribly ironic coming from someone in her 40s who talks babytalk to her coworkers because she thinks she's being cute and is just generally nasal when she speaks normally. She has repeatedly gone to the boss to whine, and ultimately it ended up with the entire department going to a conference last Friday called "How to Work with People." Do you think she learned anything about her own behavior? No, because she doesn't think that she is a problem. Now she's playing dumb because she doesn't want to do something that she doesn't know how to do and doesn't want to ask someone that she perceives as being "below" her (me, the known "expert" on that position, and a staff accountant - she's deluded) how to do, so I have to tell her without her asking me, which is going to piss her off and she's going to go to the boss and whine that I'm telling her how to do her job. Fun, no? Uh huh.  You see, this is the kind of crap that makes me wish I could be a total r ecluse.

The children are our future...

And that scares me.

Yesterday was one of those days that I really wish I had my camera with me so that I could prove this. I got stuck behind a car in Renton traffic yesterday (it took me an hour to drive the 20 miles from SeaTac to Maple Valley) that had four young'uns in it. Newly graduated young'us, I'm guessing. On the back window someone had painted That's how bright they are.

Class of 2"06"

That's how bright they are.

When did that happen?

I seem to have inadvertently turned vegetarian. I didn't mean to! I have a freezer full of chicken, beef, pork and buffalo, but I can't remember the last time I ate meat. In my quest for good health, I've been very focused on vegetables, tofu, fruit and cheese, more or less in that order. It seems to be working. I'm just wondering when the craving for a bacon cheese burger is going to hit me.

 

I didn't bring my lunch to work today, so when our network crashed I took it as an opportunity to wander over to Uwajimaya to see what I could forage. I found some great things. The plan for good health is on hold until I eat all of this mess. I got a bag of "Wasabi crunch twist" wheat crackers. The first one is sweet, with a little edge to it. The next one, not so sweet, more edge. The third, quite an edge, but still sweet. The more you eat, the hotter the tongue. I love 'em to death. Highly recommended. I also found my standard Kamar's falafel sandwich. I was going to buy Pocky, but decided to get some German dark-chocolate covered crackers called Afrika. I also found some English McVitie's Ginger Nut cookies that were apparently packaged for sale in an Arabic-speaking country, judging from the script. I also found a bag of what looks like sweet potato french fries. At the cash register I picked up some gum - I still don't know what the flavors are, but one is called No Time and has a picture of a toothbrush on it, and the other has little evergreen trees on it. My final impulse buy was Mocha Roca, which I didn't know they made. I'm familiar with Almond Roca, so I can just imagine what this will be like. Mmm... coffee chocolate toffee...

 

I need a break from the rabbit food, apparently.

Here's why I don't worry about bears when I'm hiking.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060613-cat-bear.html

4#&%ing Seattle drivers

Seattle is known for its passive-aggressive drivers and for how polite our drivers can be (see the article at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/270649_roadrage18.html), but how about those people on cell phones driving SUVs who hit deaf girls in cross-walks and then drive away? Ever heard of those?

 

My officemate was hit yesterday leaving the office to catch her bus. She was in a crosswalk and had the right of way - the driver's light was red. She was thrown only 5 feet or so and landed on her backpack, sparing her head from the pavement. She's bruised, but working. She didn't go to the doctor or call the police. Unfortunately, the two witnesses did not catch the license plate number. All I can hope for at this point is that the driver gets what is coming to her.

 

Freaking out

For the first time in quite some time, I felt vaguely threatened this morning on the train.

 

The first time, there was a man who was sitting at the end of the train car facing away from the rest of the car. (He reminded me of the Mad Bomber What Bombs at Midnight. "One of these days... Milkshake... BOOM!") He had very large glasses with Coke-botttle lenses, and he held a breifcase of some sort to his chest. He kept playing with his watch, causing it to make beeping noises every few minutes. Someone sitting two or three seats behind him coughed and he turned and gave her a dirty look. She coughed again, and he turned around and glared at her, then turned around and mumbled something and swearing. The third time she coughed, he turned and very distinctly said, "Knock it off! You're just trying to get attention." Then he turned around again, mumbling, and he continued to turn around occasionally to glare at her an mumble. She eventually moved to the other end of the train, for which I do not blame her.

 

My experience this morning wasn't quite that unnerving, but it still bothered me. The train was very crowded this morning, so I took the only seat I could take. It was an aisle seat. Facing me, two rows away, was a man. He was staring at me.  And not in a nice way. He had his head lowered and was looking at me through the tops of the lenses of his glasses, and he was sneering. I thought it was a fluke at first, and I dug out my school reading to focus on. A few minutes later, I glanced up and he was still staring at me. And then again a few minutes later. We arrived at Tukwila and the person sitting across from me got off the train, so I took his seat so that I wouldn't be facing the guy who was staring at me. When we arrived in Seattle, I waited, as I usually do, until the conductor announced that we had to detrain. I don't like walking up the stairs with the herd, so I generally let everyone go before me. Unfortunately, he waited too. That wouldn't have been so weird if it wasn't for what happened next. I stopped to talk to some people I ride with in the afternoons, and he stopped to "read" the map by the kiosk where tickets are sold. He then followed me up the stairs. I stayed near my ex-Green Beret co-worker and talked to him while we waited for the light to change so that we could cross the street. I was really uncomfortable at this point because this guy was staying within 10 feet of me, so I didn't want to go into the back door of our building because I was afraid it would give away where I work, which I did not want to do in case the guy is a psycho. I went into Starbucks instead. So did he. I never saw this guy in Starbucks back when I was in there every morning at the same time. Unfortunately, all three of the baristas addressed me by name. I love it when they do that, but I didn't want this guy to know my name. I ordered my drink and sat down to wait for it. He ordered his and, once again, positioned himself about 10 feet from me, just out of my direct line of sight. I knew my drink would be ready first, so I had a plan. I picked up my drink and went out the front door of Starbucks instead of continuing into the building through the back door, like I usually do. Then I ducked in through the front door of the lobby before he came out with his drink and saw where I was going. I effectively disappeared. As the psychotic penguin in Madagascar says, "You didn't see anything!"

 

Hopefully, if the guy is a freak, he didn't work out that I work here. Though he may have seen me before, and already knew. That would also mean that now he knows I know he knows.

 

On the other hand, maybe I'm just being excessively paranoid. I've also noted that I'm quoting a lot of cartoons lately, so maybe it is just me.

Another beautiful weekend in paradise

This weekend was one of great accomplishment and pain, though not all at once.

Saturday, I started out my day by having breakfast at Denny's with my school team to go over our final presentation. It was short and fairly easy, so it went well. We got to school and did our presentation first because two of my team had to leave early. Ironically, the rest of the class complained that we had the easiest presentation. My team was the last to choose which assignment we would present, so they all had a shot at that problem and overlooked it, so it was their own choice. We then took our final exams, which I think I did well on.

After school I headed to Home Depot, where I could not for my life get the attention of any of the employees because I am invisible when in the presence of busty blondes who giggle and twirl their hair and play dumb, so I hunted on my own and found the two items that I needed and headed for the cash registers. Getting the ladder into my car and secured was a bit of a chore, but the lawn mower blade posed no challenges.

After I got home I used my new toys. I cleaned out the rain gutters yet again, finding slugs, earthworms, ants, mushrooms, maple saplings and peanut shells in them, along with the expected pine needles, twigs, and the bits of composite roofing material that sheds with each rain storm. My shoulders got a little sunburned, but more importantly that composite roofing gets really hot in direct sunlight, and my butt was very hot. And not in a good way, either. I felt like there could be damage if I sat in one place too long. Luckily, it was easy and fairly quick to get through all of it.

Because I moved into the 21st century some time ago and subscribed to cable, I finally took down the eyesore of a TV antenna, which looks like it was attached to my chimney several hundred years ago. However, because someone painted over the aluminum straps securing it to the chimney, I now have to repaint the chimney because I tore some of the paint off. That shouldn't present any real difficulty. I also kicked some of the moss off of the roof, but since it all seems to be dead I decided not to worry about the rest of it until some day when I can take more time to get all of it off. While I was up there, I confirmed that I cannot see Mt. Rainier even from the highest part of my roof on a clear day.

After dealing with the roof, I mowed the lawn. The new lawn mower blade makes quite a difference. No more bludgeoning the greenery into submission, I actually get to cut it! The "edge" of the old blade was so dull that I ran my fingers back and forth across it very quickly and couldn't get a scratch. It was nearly as flat as the non-cutting side of the blade. While I was out there, I got a nice picture of a giant slug-slime-coated mushroom. Mmmm, juicy.

Sunday, I woke up with the best of intentions, but as soon as I got out of bed I cancelled all plans. I had forgotten how sore I get climing up and down ladders all day. No hiking for me today. But I did watch the Special Edition DVD of The Princess Bride, so I feel much better now about having to sit at home all day. I tried to download all of my class material for my next class, but the university website is having some issues. I hope they get them cleared up soon - there's a ton of reading, and I have only a week to get through it. I also managed to do laundry and dishes. Wow, do I party hard or what?

To sum up: yet another wasted, boring weekend.

Good and bad

I did something that, in the short term, is a very good thing, but it could potentially come back to bite me in the ass in a year or so. I cashed out my 401(k) from a company that I used to work for. I used it to pay off the credit card that I managed to run up because of taxes and a plumber earlier this year. That puts me in a position to either (a) have money to burn every month or (b) make higher payments on the mortgages. I'm currently assuming that I will opt for (b) and only fall back to (a) if I find something that I really want. I have a feeling that I should make minimum payments on the mortgage just for the additional tax deduction, but maybe I'll do that next year if things don't work out well this year.

Memorial Day Weekend

My four-day weekend was a nice, long, sleep-filled heaven. It rained and rained and rained some more. Everything seems to have grown an awful lot over the weekend. I need to mow my lawn, I need to clean out my rain gutters, and I need to trim my hedges.

The only things of note that I did involved hiking. I did another loop on Cougar Mountain on Saturday. It was pouring and quite cold, but I was one of the only people on the mountain. It was raining so hard that I was afraid to take my camera out, which is a shame. It was very wet and foggy, and it was beautiful, but I didn't want to wreck my camera to get pictures.

Monday I hiked up Rattlesnake Ledge. It has been two years since I did that one. I used to go up it two or three times a week while I was training to do the Enchantments in August 2004. I had forgotten what a nice little hike it was. I started up very early so that I could miss the crowds that I knew would eventually show up. I got to the top in an hour and managed to catch a full 3-minute sunbreak before it started to rain.

As nice as it was, I may not do it again for a while, unless it is after work. Some of the bigger weekend trails are becoming available as the snow melts. I just found out this morning that the trail to Nada Lake in the Leavenworth area is totally snow free, and you don't need a permit until July to camp there. That makes me wonder what other Eastern Washington mountain trails are snow-free. I plan to spend the Fourth of July weekend at Lila Lake, and at least three days in August at Robin Lake for my birthday, and I know they'll be snow free by then but I'd like to do a few difficult day hikes before then to make sure that I can carry a 30-pound pack up the 5 or 6 miles to a campsite. I could easily do either of those hikes without the pack, but carrying that much excess weight up those long, steep trails is a little different. The trail to Lila is notorious among local hikers. It has the reputation of having the worst mile of trail in the Cascades, gaining 1300 feet of eleva tion in a mile. And that's the fourth mile of the trail! It looks like a ladder of roots and rocks. Not fun, especially with a heavy pack altering your center of gravity. But I'm going to do it. There's a meadow filled with whistling marmots near the lake, and I'm hoping to finally get some good marmot pictures this year.

Otherwise, my long weekend was essentially wasted. I did no homework or studying. I slept a lot. I watched seasons 2 and 3 of Scrubs on DVD. I think that covers it. It was nice. I look forward to doing it again someday.

Oh, the irony...

My replacement threatened recently to quit her job. She blamed me. She said that I was rude to her whenever she asked me questions.

 

That validity of that accusation has been slightly rent asunder by a recent development. My officemate told me today that she is glad we all have to go to a seminar titled "How To Work With People" because my replacement is rude to her whenever she asks her questions. My officemate is not the complaining type. She's one of the happiest, friendliest, most accepting people I've met in a long time, and for her to feel that she is being treated unfairly is not in character. That makes my replacement look rather bad in light of the fact that she accused me of the very same thing to her. You'd think that if she doesn't want to be treated that way, she wouldn't do it to others.  

 

Vengence is mine!

I miss all of the fun

I wandered out of the office momentarily to get water to make coffee, and a guy in the office building across from ours waved at my deaf officemate. I wonder how her girlfriend would feel about that? She thinks he may have been waving at me, but I doubt it. And yet, she's all giggly about it.

 

And in more important news... FOUR DAY WEEKEND! WOO HOO!

I love maps!

My officemate found this fantastic resource. You can download a map of Cougar Mountain! Yes, I'm a geek. I dig my maps. But hey, I never get lost.

Its like a people aquarium!

I love the new window office, but... Stupidly, I just realized that there are about 100 people who can look at me all day long. Now I am strangely self-concious.

Cougar Mountain

I got a bee in my bonnet on Friday and decided that this weekend I would go hiking. There's still too much snow at altitude, so I chose Cougar Mountain. I headed up the Wilderness Creek Trail on the Southeast side of the mountain. At the junction with the Long View Peak trail, I decided to head West to Long View Peak. Not much of a view, but on nice days you can see the Olympic Mountains. I turned around and headed back to the junction, then turned North and then Easet on the Wilderness Peak Trail and headed up to Wilderness Peak. Naturally, I signed the little notebook in the Tupperware container. It was full, so I just put a little blurb on the back of the notebook. I may take a new notebook up next weekend if I go up there.

After resting at the peak for a minute or two, I headed back down. Instead of taking the same trail, I took the Wilderness Cliffs Trail to make a loop. It meets the Wilderness Creek Trail about half a mile from the parking lot. It is also the location of one of the only viewpoints of Mt. Rainier on the whole trail. Not a great view, but a view nonetheless. The whole loop was about 6 miles, and it took me about 2 1/2 hours. As an added bonus, I saw a multitude of slugs, snails, ferns, and wildflowers, not to mention a hairy woodpecker, a frog, and a garter snake. I also had the joy of seriously pissing off a couple of Western Red Squirrels, who threatened to tear my throat out while I made kissy noises at them for being so cute. One of them gnawed a tree in my general direction and threw bits of bark at me while the other beeped at me and charged at me every few seconds. Adorable! There was also the standard tree fungus that I seem to be so very enamored of, so naturally I took a picture to include it here. Please do not fail to notice the abundance of slug slime under the fungus, and the marks in the fungus that tell of a small furry mammal of the squirrel persuasion gnawing on it at some point in the recent past.

Granted, the so-called views from Cougar aren't impressive, but it is a nice little hike when there's nothing else available. You can tailor the trail to your needs. The mountain is covered with trails of varying difficulty, so you can pick an easy or difficult trail, a short one or a long one. They even provide nice little maps at the trailhead so that you can decide what you want to do before you go, and all of the trail junctions are signed with trail names and distances so that it is harder to get lost. All in all, this was a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

I'm not who I am

Many years ago I had a dream that came true.

 

In it, I saw the woman that would replace me in the relationship I was in at the time. She was, at the time, living in Rhode Island and I had never met her. The first time I saw her in the office two months after the dream, I knew who she was. I sent an email to a friend that I had told about the dream and said that the woman in the dream was here, and in 6 months I would be dumped. And it happened.

 

The dream started out with me, legless, in a tiny rowboat. I was drifting through heavy fog along a shoreline with a concrete seawall, about four feet high. I drifted to the shore and stepped out, legs intact. I walked up a steep slope, switchbacking through deep forest until I reached the top. There was a restaurant there, all natural wood and brass lamps and mirrors. I walked in and saw the man with whom I was "involved" and sat with him. He didn't want to be seen with me, and he got up and sat with one of his friends from work and this woman that I didn't recognize. I looked to my left, where there was a mirror. My hair was longer, and I was wearing a dark blue turtleneck. I said to my doppelganger, "I'm not who I am." Then I woke up.

 

The part about being legless and drifting through fog certainly speaks volumes about my state of mind at the time (and even now, for that matter). Knowing that the man in question didn't want to be seen with me and my outward willingness to accept that also speaks volumes. The comment I made to myself in the mirror is interesting. I still feel that way. I'm meandering through my life with no real purpose, pretending to be someone that I'm not and knowing full well that I'm doing it.

 

Right now, I'm pretending to be an upwardly mobile, ambitious, motivated staff accountant when I actually want nothing more than to just hike and take pictures. I don't want to work for a living, I don't want to spend all of my daylight hours commuting to my office or sitting in my office, regardless of how pleasant the office. I want to sit around and watch movies and eat junk food and harass my cat. On the other hand, I am a practical person by nature, and I know that reality dictates that I work for a living and I have to work at something that will pay the bills. All I know how to do that will cover the mortgage is accounting work. And I am good at it. Unfortunately, this leads my superiors to think that I want to do more than I do, and they want me to get involved more so that I can further my career. How do you tell your boss that you don't want to further your career, that you want to be just a cog in the machine and stay at one level because you don't want more work or more responsibilities or, gods forbid, more hours in the office? Well, you don't. That is career suicide, and though I don't necessarily want a career, I need one, so I need to protect it. So I go along with it and hope that I don't end up being in the office more, with more work, more responsibilities, heading for a middle-management position.

 

I am also, as of late, pretending to be a much nicer, emotionally balanced person than I really am in an effort to get along with my more irritating co-workers and not get wound up to the point where I have a stroke from frustration and stress. I don't like pretending to be someone I'm not, but it seems to help me get through my life.

 

Such a dichotomy.

 

Sold or taken over?

My company is in flux. Granted, most companies these days have their challenges, but many are not under threat as mine is. First of all, the stockholders are pissed off because of continuing losses. Granted, the losses get smaller and the revenues get bigger each year, but all they see is that they cannot make a million if they sell their shares. We've lost three executives in the last month, and there's another one on the way out shortly. There's also word that the board of directors is actively searching for a new CEO. This may not bode well for the company. On the other hand, it could be a great thing. We could get bought out, we could go private, we could be taken over, we could end up with a great CEO who creates a successful business plan and rescues all of us from our thousands of underwater shares. Whatever happens, I'm sure that I'll come out of it OK. It may be rough and scary, but I've always landed on my feet before, financially speaking. (Emotionally, not so much. T hat is why I gave up dating for Lent about 5 years ago and never got back into it. But I digress...)  I have a friend who knows a recruiter who is always looking for accounting people, so I may actually come out way ahead. I stand, currently, to get about five months severance if I lose my job, and if I'm employed elsewhere nearly immediately, all will be well. That five months could pay off my student loans! That would just about rock. Not that I want to lose my job, or even to get a new one, but that would leave me in a very good position. I just hope that in my next job, I still get a window and my iPod.

The love affair continues

I still love my new office. I'm totally enamored. The light, the warmth, the seagulls running into the windows, the clouds, the sun, the airplanes. All of it. Sharing an office with a deaf co-worker is great, too. I hate to make light of her lack of hearing, but it works very nicely for me. I don't have to listen to phone calls, she doesn't complain about my iPod, there's no idle chitchat while I'm trying to work. It is lovely. I'm very happy. My plants are happy, too. I can see the courtyard in front of Starbucks reflected in the windows of the building across from me, so I can peoplewatch when I get bored or just need to focus on something other than my computer screen. Normally, I just stare at the sky. Its very pretty. So blue! And very distracting.

 

A group of my strange friends and I might be going bowling soon. More later, if it happens. It should be amusing for all.

 

School has taken a nasty turn. I no longer have the nice, convinient drive to Tukwila on Saturdays for class. I now have to deal with the helltraffic around Bellevue. For some reason, they've moved three of the programs at Tukwila to Bellevue. Well, I suppose it is a good reason. They don't need a Renton branch and a Tukwila branch, so they consolidated the Tukwila programs into Renton and Bellevue. I am unfortunate enough to be in the new Bellevue group. Argh. Now any time I need to do any shopping on Saturdays after school, I will have to either shop in Bellevue (not an option), Issaquah (not the worst option), or drive all the way to Tukwila, where I know where everything is. That, or I'll have to drive to Tukwila to catch the train and go shopping after work, also not the best option. Argh again. I'll have to work something out eventually. Or just never go shopping again. I think I like that idea a lot. That is what the internet is for anyway, right?

Room with a view

Today is my first day in my new office, and I love it already. But then, I knew I would! I get to spy on the people in the building across from me. I get to watch the birds and the weather. I have more space. I can turn my iPod up because my officemate is deaf. It is nice and bright even though it is overcast, so it is better on my eyes. I may actually go back to wearing contacts now that I'll be able to see all of the time.

 

I can't explain the contact thing very well. According to my optometrist, I have really flat corneas. (And I quote: "Your corneas are really flat!") They make contact lenses only in a certain range of curvatures, so even contacts with the flattest of curves don't quite fit my eyes unless I'm in bright enough light that my eyes change shape to deal with the light. In low light, I get a pocket between my eyes and the lenses, and it hurts and I can't see. I think the light in here will be just fine for me.

 

I just hope I can take my eyes off of the sky more often to do my job!