Friend Rant...

I like Facebook, it is a good program/website. I joined it to get away from the bear cliques of Seattle, let me tell you it is really bad here, and at the beginning it was nice. But the cliques soon followed. It is amazing, when someone adds you as a friend, you would think they would want to get to know/keep in touch with you. Um. no. I have figured out there are few types of freinds on Facebook.

1. Family- Unless you truly hate them, you have to add family


2. True Friends- Granted there are few of them, but at least they keep in touch.


3. Friend Whores - Those that add you as a friend to up their number of friends. How can someone with 3000+ friends keep in touch with all of them.


4. Invite Whores - Those that have a business, or work for a compnay/bar that puts on events. Only reason they have you as a friend is so they have more people they can send invites out to. You think they are genuine and want to be friend, oh hell no.


5. New Friends- New friend are nice, they are usually friends of friends. Very rarely do they actually become #2 on my list, but most of the time they end up becoming #3 or #4.

Whew...that felt good....

Oh, there will be more.

WOW!

I can't believe it has been about 2 years since I have posted on here. I highly doubt that anyone reads this. They would have to do some digging to find this. I have decied to start posting again to use this as a form of venting for the furstration I have with Facebook. I don't have an issue with Facebook, just the some of the people that are on it, and are my "friends", and others that just really torque me the wrong way. I won't be posting names, that would be pretty rude of me, and I try not to be rude. I just might do general venting on here all together, I need a place to do it, and this seems to best.

My Bad..

You know, I have to blame FaceBook for me not keeping this updated. It is so much easier, but I need to keep this updated also.

I promise to keep this updated...

Just a heads up

I am going to be stepping away from this for a bit.  I need to do some reassessing of things and I will get back to this as soon as I get things sorted out.

Few More Canada Pictures

Rich sent me a few pics of Matt and myself when we were on Grandville Island. They turned out pretty good also.

Canada Trip

Wow, it has been way over a month since I have posted. Man have I been lazy.

So, last week, Rich's friend Matt was visiting from Minnesota, and it was his 1st time to Seattle, and he had also not been to Canada. Well, truth be told, I have never been to Canada either, so, last weekend, we headed North with Passports in hand. I had gotten my passport over a year ago, and have never used it. I felt all grown up.

I rented a car, because both Rich and I have trucks and there was not enough room for the 3 of us.
We headed North and hit the border. Rich said they would ask us a couple questions and our passports. We pulled up and they asked a lot of questions...then he told us we had to go park and go in and talk to the border people. We had thought we did something wrong. Well, after waiting about 20 minutes, we figured it was because both Mat and I have never been to Canada and we were in a rental car.

We then were on our way. I had my TomTom and was able to switch it from MPH to KPH, so I would not speed.

We got in to Vancouver, and to the hotel. We stayed downtown, and had a great view from our room.
We then went out to get something to eat, but stopped by an ATM to get money. They have the most colorful money I have ever seen. I took out 60 dollars, but when I checked my bank online later, only 47 dollars was taken out. God I love the exchange rate.

We went out to the bars, and it was fun.

Saturday we crossed the river and went to Grandville Island. They have their version of Pike Place Market. It was a really nice place. We walked around a bit and they have street performers that were walking around on stilts. there were a couple of "bugs" walk by us,they were cool.
There is also a marina there wtih a lot of really nice boats, perfect photo op for Rich and myself.

After the marke, we were going to head up to Whistler, but it was a 2 hour drive. We went part away, and the views were amazing. I wish I wasn't the one driving, because wasn't able to see as much as I wanted to .
We went out again, that night and I got drinks at the bar. They don't have dollar bills they use coins. I was looking at my change to see what I got back, and the guy next to me said, " You are Amercian, aren't you?" I said, Yep I am. It was funny.

Sunday we headed home. I was a really nice trip and I can't wait to go back.

Kind of funny and cute

I saw this online the other day, and made me grin. I hope it doesn't offend anyone, and if it does phttpppppp!!!

How to Shower Like a Man

Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.
Walk naked to the bathroom.
If you see wife along the way, shake wiener at her making the woo-woo' sound.
Look at your manly physique in the mirror.
Admire the size of your wiener and scratch your ass.
Get in the shower Wash your face. Wash your armpits.
Blow your nose in your hands and let the water rinse them off.
Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.
Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding area.
Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.
Wash your hair. Make a Shampoo Mohawk. Pee.
Rinse off and get out of shower. Avoid bath mat.
Dry off forearms and butt only.
Fail to notice water on floor because curtain was hanging out of tub the whole time.
Admire wiener size in mirror again. Shake it to watch water fly off.
Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.
Return to bedroom with towel around waist.
If you pass wife, pull off towel, shake wiener at her and make the woo-woo' sound again.
Throw wet towel on bed.

Flooding....

Just wanted to let everyone know, I am not affected by the flooding that has been going on here in Washington. Seattle was not hit hard, a lot of urban flooding, but nothing really bad. Since I live on a hill, I am pretty safe.

Visiting my Sister Part 3

Well, it was now Sunday and I was going to head home, but not until later that afternoon.

We woke up again to snow..OMG, too much snow
Julie, Sarah and I went out to breakfast. The "original" pancake house, oy, far from the truth. They wouldn't make an omelet the way I wanted and...AND..they had no country gravy. I should have just walked out then. No gravy, that is unheard of.

We then dropped Sarah off and went back to Julies house to digest our breakfast.

We then took her dog Annie to the dog park.

Now, no dog is cuter than mine, but Annie is pretty dang close.

Annie just loves the dog park, she runs around and even looks for critters in the dirt, and I thought my boys were diggers...

After she had gotten all nice and muddy, we headed to the river for her to take a swim. Just watching her chilled me to the bone.



We then headed back and I got ready to leave.

My sister took me to the train station and my train was almost time time

As we headed up north, the snow started getting heavy again, I am so glad my camera has video




All and all it was a really good trip. I am glad I went

Visiting my Sister Part 2

The next morning when I got up I looked outside and saw this...
It had snowed the night before.

My sister and I were planning a trip to Albany, the town we grew up in . It is only 20 minutes from where my sister lives, so it was not that far.

In the afternoon most of the snow had melted and we headed South.

The 1st place we went was the house we grew up in, man it is a lot smaller than I remember. It has changed quite a bit, but yet it looked the same
Even the color was the same, there use to be two trees in the front, but they are long gone.

We then went downtown, to see the tree the county planted in memory of my mother. She had worked for the county for years, and when she passed away, they planted a tree and put up a plaque. When the planted the tree, it was as tall as I am. Man, has it grown


After that, we headed to my mom's best friend Anne's house. Julie was a bit tired, she stayed at Anne's and I headed over and visited the parent of my Best friend in high school. Now, it has been, maybe 15 years since I had seen them, but to me, they still looked the same as they did when I was in high school. I had a really nice visit with them

I went back to Anne's place and then we headed out for dinner. We went to my mom's favorite Chinese restaurant, Ping's I think, and a had a really great dinner.

We then went back to Anne's, who has a beautiful new house, and said our good bye's. I had to get a picture of her and Julie in front of her tree.

It was a great visit, brought back a lot of memories, a lot of good ones. How much the town I grew up in, has changed...but yet stayed the same....

updates

I have more updates coming soon

Visiting my sister

Last weekend, Dec 12th I do believe, my sister was having a Holiday party at her house, and I decide to go.

Now, it has been about 4 years since I have seen my sister and she lives in Salem Oregon, not far from the town I grew up in . So I decided to go and pay her a visit.

I took the train down, it isn't that far away, I would say about 4 hours by car. But the train was about 6 hours and was only 77 dollars round trip.

It was a great ride, and great views.

I got there about 3PM.

That night my sister had her Christmas party, it was very festive, and lots of food, most she made herself.
She even had a tree up, that her friend Sara help decorate. Julie, my sister, has all the Christmas decorations from when we were kids and it was really nice to see them all.

I helped in the kitchen a bit, and then Julie wanted a picture of us in front of the tree.

My shirt was wet because I was doing dishes. How domestic am I.
I also took some video of her place



She also had a theme, Wear an ugly sweater or dress like someone from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". I don't own any sweaters and had only seen the movie once. But one of her friend, Brent, I think. Dressed like cousin Eddie from the movie and he looked just like him

It was a fun party, my sister has good friends.

Another year passes

I just realized that it has been a year since I started up my blog, boy does time fly, and today is the boys birthday.

Today they turn 9...9! I have had those little blessings, and pains for 9 years.

Just like last year, they got an apple for their birthday, and of course.I have pictures.


I am very blessed to have them in my life.

Leavenworth

I know it has been a long time, way over a month since I have done anything and I am sorry...I am a bad bear.

A couple weeks ago when Tom was home, we took a trip to Leavenworth, no not the prison, geesh. It is a small town in the mountains East of Seattle, it takes about 2 hours to get there. What is so great about Leavenworth is what kind of town it is. Back in the 70's when the town was alm0st dying, a bunch of investors bought up the town, and turned it in to a Bavarian village. It is that perfect place for it, snuggled up in the mountains, with a river that runs through it.

Even today, when the have new businesses come in and want to build, it has to be in a Bavarian design. It is funny to see a Subway and McDonald's that look like they should be in Germany

We went though Stevens Pass which was one of the high passes to get there. We had a lot of rain the week before, and the freezing level dropped so there was snow. It was really nice to see

Once we got there, you could see the snow in the mountains and hills. Usually the town is really crowded, but it wasn't the day we went. It was a really nice road trip.

Day Trip

Yesterday it was beautiful here, a wonderful fall day. My friend Rich that had just moved here from Santa Cruz this last summer had never been to Snoquamie Falls. Now, those who don't know what the fall are. Remember the TV show Twin Peaks, in the opening of the show it showed a beautiful waterfall and lodge. Well, that is Snoquamie Falls. It is only about 19 miles from Seattle, not that far.

We had a good time and took some pics

Me at the falls

Lodge and Falls

I took some video also, but it is sideways, and I can't fix it, but you get the idea

I made the switch

Well, kids I finally did it, I made the switch to a Mac.

I saw a Mac Mini on eBay and got it. Let me tell you, it is TOTALLY different than Window. It will take some getting use to, but I think I will like it.

It does run better, I will tell ya that.

I will keep you posted

Monday Morning

Today is my day off! I just needed a 3 day weekend, so I got one. I woke up at 5 which is sleeping in for me and when I came out into the living room and started seeing the sun come up,this is what I saw.

Walk on Alki

My friend Tom gave me a call this afternoon wanting to know if I wanted to go for a walk on Alki. Now, if you remember from my previous posts, I had pictures of Alki Beach, but I was a bit away. This time we came in from the back side, so you will be able to see what was in the distance in those other pictures.

Now, Alki is a point so it has a bit of a bump out into the sound.

Here is a map. you can see where we started and where we ended..you can also see in the middle where I live.
Click on it to make it bigger.

Now I took a lot of pics which I will put up as a slide show to the right, but I wanted to point out some things that were fun.

These are Condo's that go over the water, they are spendy, we saw some for sale the cheapest one was 500K
Then we headed to one of the beaches that is has stones instead of sand. Now the tide was out so there were some people down there. I saw this Mom and son, and it was a cute pic
We saw some art in one persons front yard. Their whole yard has all these blue glass bottles, it is really cool

Once we got to Alki, I don't know if I said or not, but there is a Small Statue of Liberty there. Then just spent 2 month making a new plaza for it and it is great.
Then we came up to the beach area, and as you can see, it is a real beach. Someone asked me if they brought the sand in, I told them, they did not.










Now, I have video on my camera, so I stood on the seawall and did a 360, so you can see it all. Yes it is bit windy.

That was my walk on Alki. As soon as the photos upload I will put a slide show off to the right

Totem Pole

Someone was looking at the picture I took from my front window and saw the Totem Pole. They asked me why it was there, and I said, because there is a park there. They asked, have you not gone down to look at it...I said "no".

Now I have lived here for 4 year and have walked by it but never stopped and looked at it.

Well, today, I did.

There is no plaque, or any reference why it is there. I did notice that it points toward my house, no wonder I have had a feeling of being watched.












While I was there I also got a picture of the Space Needle and of course the house.

New pictures of the boys

Ya know, I think it has been awhile since I put pictures of the boy on here.
I took some this morning, because I said I was going to use my camera more.
I do have to say, they are so darn cute..

Aren't they just the cutest! That is Dexter on the left and Bear on the right....and of course, here is the both of them