That stuff that I did and that stuff I may do.
Let's start with what I actually /am/ doing, which is writing a journal entry. I haven't done this in months. No one has said anything, so either no one reads this, or all my loyal fans are just too polite to say anything. "No, I don't wish to bother her, I know she's very busy with the science job and the stuffed animal hobby and that semi-feral animal she let loose in the apartment." You're all very thoughtful, thanks for your patience.
So I'm mostly going to write about the holidays, you know, HallowThanksMas. For Halloween, I went over to Orange County to see Shawna, as we had a magnificent idea of going to Target, buying ugly Halloween shirts, and wearing them to Disneyland. We did just that. Disneyland was in Halloween Mode, including the most awesome Ghost Galaxy overlay on Space Mountain. Projectors in a pitch-black room still illuminate whatever they're projected on, even if they're projecting something black, but the rockets are going so fast that you don't really notice. We parted ways at 9pm or so because Shawna had been invited to do a "walkthrough" (see behind the scenes) of the Matterhorn mountain. While she shot baskets in the tiny basketball court in the mountain and marveled at all the nuts and bolts that have fallen off trains at the load/unload providing a cache of spare parts below the track, I watched the World of Color show with a couple people who didn't think they were going to enjoy the show and wondered why they'd waited all day for it. World of Color set it straight. After the show was over and the park shut down, Shawna still wasn't done in the mountain, so I drank beer in the Grand Californian's bar. Not too much beer, they charge $7 for a simple Sam Adams, though they do give out complimentary bowls of spicy mixed nuts and remember to place the napkin /just so/ under the bottle of beer. Halloween night itself...I think I was at work. No, pretty positive I was at work. I was going to try and dress up in a costume, but when the time came, I just couldn't bother to put it all together just to drape a labcoat over the top and ruin the effect. There is one guy at work that wears very fancy stage makeup for Halloween - green face and hands and nice big horns sprouting from his neon red hair, and that does work well with a labcoat - but I don't have the skills or desire to go green for Halloween.
In mid-November, I went up to Washington for an interview. Except it wasn't really an interview, because there technically was no job opening at the lab. Oh, they'd listed one and I applied to it, but then the person who they thought was leaving decided /not/ to go back to school after all. If I had known which tech it was, I would have cornered them and given them a nice pep talk about how education and bettering one's self are very important things in life, and she needs to get a move-on and get out of this silly place. Really, does she want to stare at tubes of blood the rest of her life? But no, no open position at Puget Sound Blood Center. Really, it would have been ideal. It's the same job I do now, with different equipment and instruments in different places. I had a tour, was shown around and shook hands and was explained the benefits packages...and was then told to watch the website and be sure to apply to any jobs that come up that you'd think you'd like! And oh, you didn't come all the way up just for /this/, did you?
Actually no, I didn't. Okay, it was a goal, but I figured I'd make a week of it while I was in the neighborhood of one of my favorite cities. I flew in, rented what turned out to be an extremely tiny clown car, and drove up to Bellingham to see Beth, who these days works in a charming pair of hotels as a night auditor and person-who-gets-you-pillows-at-3am. Makes for some boring nights in old creaky buildings, but the town the hotels are in is just so adorable and the lodgings themselves are very nice - going for the lakeside cabin feel, it seems, that it's not a bad gig. Beth got me a screaming deal on a hotel room which had its own comfy little fireplace and a giant king-sized bed with oceans of blankets. She worked...and I slept until about 5 am when she was almost done with work. We had breakfast and a nap, and then it was up to Bellingham to see Tod, Arsen (briefly, he was running out the door), and Milo. We had blissfully no plans besides "get a lunch", so we went to lunch. We went to a place we'd dined before, Red Robin, because they have menus that cater to our allergies, and they have strawberry lemonade. Delicious. We returned to the home of Tod and Milo to visit and play with the cats until Beth needed her daytime snoozes, so we headed back to Bellingham to see her new boat Gandalf (which was full of rain water) and some adorable deer that often stop by her backyard.
(This is the end of Part Disc 1. Please insert Disc 2.)
So I'm mostly going to write about the holidays, you know, HallowThanksMas. For Halloween, I went over to Orange County to see Shawna, as we had a magnificent idea of going to Target, buying ugly Halloween shirts, and wearing them to Disneyland. We did just that. Disneyland was in Halloween Mode, including the most awesome Ghost Galaxy overlay on Space Mountain. Projectors in a pitch-black room still illuminate whatever they're projected on, even if they're projecting something black, but the rockets are going so fast that you don't really notice. We parted ways at 9pm or so because Shawna had been invited to do a "walkthrough" (see behind the scenes) of the Matterhorn mountain. While she shot baskets in the tiny basketball court in the mountain and marveled at all the nuts and bolts that have fallen off trains at the load/unload providing a cache of spare parts below the track, I watched the World of Color show with a couple people who didn't think they were going to enjoy the show and wondered why they'd waited all day for it. World of Color set it straight. After the show was over and the park shut down, Shawna still wasn't done in the mountain, so I drank beer in the Grand Californian's bar. Not too much beer, they charge $7 for a simple Sam Adams, though they do give out complimentary bowls of spicy mixed nuts and remember to place the napkin /just so/ under the bottle of beer. Halloween night itself...I think I was at work. No, pretty positive I was at work. I was going to try and dress up in a costume, but when the time came, I just couldn't bother to put it all together just to drape a labcoat over the top and ruin the effect. There is one guy at work that wears very fancy stage makeup for Halloween - green face and hands and nice big horns sprouting from his neon red hair, and that does work well with a labcoat - but I don't have the skills or desire to go green for Halloween.
In mid-November, I went up to Washington for an interview. Except it wasn't really an interview, because there technically was no job opening at the lab. Oh, they'd listed one and I applied to it, but then the person who they thought was leaving decided /not/ to go back to school after all. If I had known which tech it was, I would have cornered them and given them a nice pep talk about how education and bettering one's self are very important things in life, and she needs to get a move-on and get out of this silly place. Really, does she want to stare at tubes of blood the rest of her life? But no, no open position at Puget Sound Blood Center. Really, it would have been ideal. It's the same job I do now, with different equipment and instruments in different places. I had a tour, was shown around and shook hands and was explained the benefits packages...and was then told to watch the website and be sure to apply to any jobs that come up that you'd think you'd like! And oh, you didn't come all the way up just for /this/, did you?
Actually no, I didn't. Okay, it was a goal, but I figured I'd make a week of it while I was in the neighborhood of one of my favorite cities. I flew in, rented what turned out to be an extremely tiny clown car, and drove up to Bellingham to see Beth, who these days works in a charming pair of hotels as a night auditor and person-who-gets-you-pillows-at-3am. Makes for some boring nights in old creaky buildings, but the town the hotels are in is just so adorable and the lodgings themselves are very nice - going for the lakeside cabin feel, it seems, that it's not a bad gig. Beth got me a screaming deal on a hotel room which had its own comfy little fireplace and a giant king-sized bed with oceans of blankets. She worked...and I slept until about 5 am when she was almost done with work. We had breakfast and a nap, and then it was up to Bellingham to see Tod, Arsen (briefly, he was running out the door), and Milo. We had blissfully no plans besides "get a lunch", so we went to lunch. We went to a place we'd dined before, Red Robin, because they have menus that cater to our allergies, and they have strawberry lemonade. Delicious. We returned to the home of Tod and Milo to visit and play with the cats until Beth needed her daytime snoozes, so we headed back to Bellingham to see her new boat Gandalf (which was full of rain water) and some adorable deer that often stop by her backyard.
(This is the end of Part Disc 1. Please insert Disc 2.)