Wednesday, June 28, 2006
What's news?
It's funny to live in a city where the newspaper's lead story on the front page is "Sleater Kinney calling it quits."
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
I love summer
Some things I love about summer in OlyWa:
1) Local fruit: You have not tasted berries until you've eaten Spooner's strawberries. If I ever make it to heaven, St. Peter will welcome me with a giant bowl of Spooner's. And when we can't make it to the market, we have raspberry bushes in our back yard, which SMH seems to be picking and eating while I'm not around.
2) The mountain: On a summer day, Mt. Rainier is in her splendor. She is always amazing.
3) The weather: Sunny and dry, with highs in the upper 70's and low 80's. I can run whenever I want -- noon, 3 pm, 5 pm -- and not suffer heat exhaustion. The days are long -- it starts getting light around 4:45 am and stays light until almost 10pm. And the fun is just beginning. As somebody told me yesterday, "Summer doesn't start here until the Fourth of July."
4) The nights: No need for air conditioning. Just open the window.
4) Good moods: After a rain-filled winter, people are chuffed to soak in the sun. Everybody, including my boss (especially my boss), has a suggestion for their favorite place to run, bike, camp or kayak.
1) Local fruit: You have not tasted berries until you've eaten Spooner's strawberries. If I ever make it to heaven, St. Peter will welcome me with a giant bowl of Spooner's. And when we can't make it to the market, we have raspberry bushes in our back yard, which SMH seems to be picking and eating while I'm not around.
2) The mountain: On a summer day, Mt. Rainier is in her splendor. She is always amazing.
3) The weather: Sunny and dry, with highs in the upper 70's and low 80's. I can run whenever I want -- noon, 3 pm, 5 pm -- and not suffer heat exhaustion. The days are long -- it starts getting light around 4:45 am and stays light until almost 10pm. And the fun is just beginning. As somebody told me yesterday, "Summer doesn't start here until the Fourth of July."
4) The nights: No need for air conditioning. Just open the window.
4) Good moods: After a rain-filled winter, people are chuffed to soak in the sun. Everybody, including my boss (especially my boss), has a suggestion for their favorite place to run, bike, camp or kayak.
Take "ability to multi-task" off my resume
I used to think I was very good at multi-tasking. In fact, I once prided myself on my M-T ability. The past month, however, has proven that I am not nearly as capable as I thought I was.
In the past month, I went home to Cincinnati for a week, came back for a few days, hosted SMH's parents for a week and a half, then went to Spokane for a conference. And during all this, I haven't found time to blog once. Shame on me.
I should probably kick off this round of blog entries with a description of our visit to Cincinnati, and move chronologically from there. But I won't — I'll begin with more recent activity.
On Sunday, I went to Spokane, where the temperature was in the high 90's. Spokane is only about 30 miles away from Coeur d'Alene, so temperatures were pretty much the same there. I mention this because Sunday was the Ironman in Coeur D'Alene. So, athletes swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 and ran 26.2. In 90+ degree weather. Yikes.
One of the reasons that we were attracted to the Pacific Northwest was the weather. Apparently, this year's weather is a big, funny joke on us because there's all kinds of records being broken. In the winter, there was the record rainfall. And, now there are record high temperatures. Somewhere in the mid 90's, I think. But, I'm not complaining. Well, actually I am, but not that much. It's hot, but without the oppressive humidity a la Cincinnati, it's altogether tolerable. And, highs are supposed to get back to normal — upper 70's / low 80's — by tomorrow.
I'll sign off with a little insight into WA phonetics. The letter "a" is pronounced strangely here. Pronounce these places: Spokane, Gonzaga and Yakima. How did you do? See below:
* Spoke-ann, not Spo-kane
* Gon-zag-ah (like "zig-zag"), not Gon-zah-gah
* Yeah-kih-mah, not Yaw-kih-mah
Oh, and nobody pronounces it "Warshington" here. It's okay, Patsy — you're still welcome here :)
In the past month, I went home to Cincinnati for a week, came back for a few days, hosted SMH's parents for a week and a half, then went to Spokane for a conference. And during all this, I haven't found time to blog once. Shame on me.
I should probably kick off this round of blog entries with a description of our visit to Cincinnati, and move chronologically from there. But I won't — I'll begin with more recent activity.
On Sunday, I went to Spokane, where the temperature was in the high 90's. Spokane is only about 30 miles away from Coeur d'Alene, so temperatures were pretty much the same there. I mention this because Sunday was the Ironman in Coeur D'Alene. So, athletes swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 and ran 26.2. In 90+ degree weather. Yikes.
One of the reasons that we were attracted to the Pacific Northwest was the weather. Apparently, this year's weather is a big, funny joke on us because there's all kinds of records being broken. In the winter, there was the record rainfall. And, now there are record high temperatures. Somewhere in the mid 90's, I think. But, I'm not complaining. Well, actually I am, but not that much. It's hot, but without the oppressive humidity a la Cincinnati, it's altogether tolerable. And, highs are supposed to get back to normal — upper 70's / low 80's — by tomorrow.
I'll sign off with a little insight into WA phonetics. The letter "a" is pronounced strangely here. Pronounce these places: Spokane, Gonzaga and Yakima. How did you do? See below:
* Spoke-ann, not Spo-kane
* Gon-zag-ah (like "zig-zag"), not Gon-zah-gah
* Yeah-kih-mah, not Yaw-kih-mah
Oh, and nobody pronounces it "Warshington" here. It's okay, Patsy — you're still welcome here :)
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