SchadenFriday
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CATURDAY
BONUS Saturdogs
Many thanks to:
Animals Being Dicks
Señor Gif
k00l 4 k@+z
Almost Famous Cats
Cats, Beavers & Ducks
Derpy Cats
FAT CATS
FUCKYEAHFELINES!
CHEEZburger
Every Day is Caturday
Cats and Dogs
And everyone else who happened to put a cat or dog where I ended up seeing it this week!
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Last walk of the year
The fog yesterday was shockingly thick. Enough that once I was alongside the biosolids retention pond, I couldn't see the cars on the highway on the other side of it. I can't remember a walk there before that was as dark. This was my first photo of the day, near the car, and the last one I'd be able to take for a while.
![20171231_061930]()
![IMG_20171231_073715_979]()
![IMG_20171231_074029_726]()
![20171231_075104]()
![20171231_080536]()
Since we go to bed so early, we don't even try to stay up late for New Year's Eve any more. Our friend Stacy is in town, and I had the brilliant idea to have her and her friend over for the earlier part of the day, before they went out to whatever party or bar. Garrett made cheese and chocolate fondues even though he wasn't feeling well, and we had a great time watching bad movies, which has always been our favorite thing to do with Stacy. First was The Room, then Birdemic.
If there were any fireworks nearby, we didn't hear them.
Since we go to bed so early, we don't even try to stay up late for New Year's Eve any more. Our friend Stacy is in town, and I had the brilliant idea to have her and her friend over for the earlier part of the day, before they went out to whatever party or bar. Garrett made cheese and chocolate fondues even though he wasn't feeling well, and we had a great time watching bad movies, which has always been our favorite thing to do with Stacy. First was The Room, then Birdemic.
If there were any fireworks nearby, we didn't hear them.
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Schmupdate
Woke up Monday feeling terrible from the previous night's festivities, but as that got better throughout the day, I realized I was also getting a cold. Yesterday I was wide awake at 2am, so I checked my work email on my phone, saw I had no obligations, and turned my 4am alarm off. It took a long time to fall back asleep, but eventually I did, and was in bed for almost 12 hours total. Last night was a little better, and I slept pretty well through to the 4am alarm, checked email, and went back to sleep for another 90 minutes. We have nice plans this weekend and I hope I'm all the way better by then.
One of my presents this year was a nice memory foam mattress pad, and it's been very nice to sleep on. Did I already mention it? I've had it for a while because I slept in a very bad position a couple of weeks ago. That led to me ordering one for myself, learning Garrett got me one which I was allowed to open early, and returning the one I ordered.
He also ordered new Dish Network equipment for the whole house and a 55-inch 4k TV for the lounge. The new stand we ordered for it isn't here yet, but he found a board in the garage and balanced it on our old one for now. It's pretty amazing! We looked at a little bit of an episode of The Crown, which we already finished, and really wished we had the new TV while we watched before. Everything looks so much better.
Well, not everything. Yesterday I watched Interview with the Vampire on DVD and it was obviously not made for tv with so many pixels.
Sam and Steve's annual exam is today. That's always delightful. Hopefully we still have some Feliway wipes, I forgot to check.
I haven't left the house in a while. Here's a neat time lapse of the frost melting in the back yard a few days ago.
One of my presents this year was a nice memory foam mattress pad, and it's been very nice to sleep on. Did I already mention it? I've had it for a while because I slept in a very bad position a couple of weeks ago. That led to me ordering one for myself, learning Garrett got me one which I was allowed to open early, and returning the one I ordered.
He also ordered new Dish Network equipment for the whole house and a 55-inch 4k TV for the lounge. The new stand we ordered for it isn't here yet, but he found a board in the garage and balanced it on our old one for now. It's pretty amazing! We looked at a little bit of an episode of The Crown, which we already finished, and really wished we had the new TV while we watched before. Everything looks so much better.
Well, not everything. Yesterday I watched Interview with the Vampire on DVD and it was obviously not made for tv with so many pixels.
Sam and Steve's annual exam is today. That's always delightful. Hopefully we still have some Feliway wipes, I forgot to check.
I haven't left the house in a while. Here's a neat time lapse of the frost melting in the back yard a few days ago.
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SchadenFriday
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CATURDAY
BONUS Saturdogs
Many thanks to:
Animals Being Dicks
Señor Gif
k00l 4 k@+z
Almost Famous Cats
Cats, Beavers & Ducks
Derpy Cats
FAT CATS
FUCKYEAHFELINES!
CHEEZburger
Every Day is Caturday
Cats and Dogs
And everyone else who happened to put a cat or dog where I ended up seeing it this week!
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30 questions
1. Do you make your bed? No. I think it's a pointless, Sisyphean task.
2. What's your favorite number? 38
3. What is your job? Site Operations and Workflow Support Manager
4. If you could, would you go back to school? Absolutely not. I hated school.
5. Can you parallel park? Yes.
6. Name a job you had which people would be shocked. I haven't done anything particularly shocking, but that time I did three months of daa entry for the Girl Scouts was pretty funny.
7. Do you think aliens exist? Yes
8. Can you drive a stick shift? No.
9. Guilty pleasure? I don't believe in the concept of feeling guilt in enjoying pleasurable things.
10. Favorite childhood game? Hide and seek in a completely dark house.
11. Do you talk to yourself? Yup. But only when I'm absolutely alone. I think it's quite rude to talk to oneself when others can hear.
12. Do you like doing puzzles? Yes, but I've only done it a few times in my adult life.
13. Favorite music? Disco, dance, '90s alternative, oldies. Lots of stuff.
14. Coffee or tea? Coffee.
15. First thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up? Rich.
16. Favorite Season? For the weather, I like fall, but I'm starting to really love summer, but only at sunrise.
17. Truck or Car? Car
18. Steak or Salad? Yes.
19. Cat or dog? Cats.
20. The most influential person from your childhood? My brother.
21. Crafty or all thumbs? Both?
22. Biggest fear? Watching people I love die slowly.
23. Pessimist or Optimist? Optimist.
24. Favorite Holiday? Halloween, but only because it's fun on the internet.
25. Mountains or Ocean? I refuse to choose and am glad I live where I can enjoy both.
26. People person? I like people but solitude is also very important to me.
27. White, Milk or Dark chocolate? High quality of all types, dark if I could only have one.
28. Do you like to cook? Mostly. The pressure of being in charge of most of it can be hard to deal with sometimes.
29. Night owl or morning person? I'm the most morning person I know or have ever met.
30. Flannel sheets in winter? Yes indeed.
2. What's your favorite number? 38
3. What is your job? Site Operations and Workflow Support Manager
4. If you could, would you go back to school? Absolutely not. I hated school.
5. Can you parallel park? Yes.
6. Name a job you had which people would be shocked. I haven't done anything particularly shocking, but that time I did three months of daa entry for the Girl Scouts was pretty funny.
7. Do you think aliens exist? Yes
8. Can you drive a stick shift? No.
9. Guilty pleasure? I don't believe in the concept of feeling guilt in enjoying pleasurable things.
10. Favorite childhood game? Hide and seek in a completely dark house.
11. Do you talk to yourself? Yup. But only when I'm absolutely alone. I think it's quite rude to talk to oneself when others can hear.
12. Do you like doing puzzles? Yes, but I've only done it a few times in my adult life.
13. Favorite music? Disco, dance, '90s alternative, oldies. Lots of stuff.
14. Coffee or tea? Coffee.
15. First thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up? Rich.
16. Favorite Season? For the weather, I like fall, but I'm starting to really love summer, but only at sunrise.
17. Truck or Car? Car
18. Steak or Salad? Yes.
19. Cat or dog? Cats.
20. The most influential person from your childhood? My brother.
21. Crafty or all thumbs? Both?
22. Biggest fear? Watching people I love die slowly.
23. Pessimist or Optimist? Optimist.
24. Favorite Holiday? Halloween, but only because it's fun on the internet.
25. Mountains or Ocean? I refuse to choose and am glad I live where I can enjoy both.
26. People person? I like people but solitude is also very important to me.
27. White, Milk or Dark chocolate? High quality of all types, dark if I could only have one.
28. Do you like to cook? Mostly. The pressure of being in charge of most of it can be hard to deal with sometimes.
29. Night owl or morning person? I'm the most morning person I know or have ever met.
30. Flannel sheets in winter? Yes indeed.
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Photo catchemups
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SchadenFriday
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CATURDAY
BONUS Saturdogs
Many thanks to:
Animals Being Dicks
Señor Gif
k00l 4 k@+z
Almost Famous Cats
Cats, Beavers & Ducks
Derpy Cats
FAT CATS
FUCKYEAHFELINES!
CHEEZburger
Every Day is Caturday
Cats and Dogs
And everyone else who happened to put a cat or dog where I ended up seeing it this week!
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Relax and jump back in
We spent last weekend in my favorite cabin and had a fantastic time. As usual, we set up some cameras to watch the cats while we were gone. Here's the first shot from the kitchen cam just before we left.
![Kitchen001]()
Check-in time at the cabin wasn't until 3pm, so we decided to have lunch on the other side, do our shopping, and then kill a little time before checking in.
Village Pizzeria in Langley is amazing. Fabulous food and views, and we managed to snag the parking spot right in front of the door. The grocery store is across the street, which is very convenient.
The original plan was to head up to Coupeville to see if Barbara's grave marker has been updated with the dates of her birth and death. Garrett's parents want to visit the cemetery, but it'd be a huge bummer if we got there and the marker was offsite at the time. So I'm hoping to hear about it from her family when it happens, but if we were going to be nearby, it made sense to check. Until we realized we were further away than we thought, and it would cut into our cabin reservation more than we wanted. So we went to the Whidbey Island Winery instead, which happens to be owned by a fluffball named Sangiovese.
![IMG_20180106_145233_787]()
The cabin was wonderful, again. We watched I, Tonya, which was amazing, plus the first two episodes of the new seasons of Travelers on Netflix. I'm so glad that show came back, and am happy Enrico Colantoni was added to the cast. I've always liked him.
Just a pretty picture of what happened in the sink when I set down the box grater I was washing.
![IMG_20180107_100816_541]()
Village Pizzeria is perched way up above the water and I hoped to get a time lapse from there, either on the fence by their storage area or the from the window sill. The Podo wasn't cooperating, though, so I just pointed it at the trees by the cabin for the whole day Sunday. Not a lot to see since it's mostly trees, but it gives you an idea what it's like out there.
Speaking of the Podo, I accidentally left it behind. The owner of the cabin mailed it to me for free! Super nice of her. I think she knows we'll be repeat customers again and again.
I've had my eye on a lot of cabins lately and unless we were to live in one full-time, it wouldn't make much sense to own one unless money just wasn't an issue. Believe me, I can see myself living in a house in the middle of the woods all the time, but that time is far off.
I'm also a little bummed to discover that a place I've had my eye on for a while only allows occupancy for 120 days a year. Though that particular spot isn't one I'd want to be in full-time, I've always looked at it as a good, inexpensive back-up plan if something bad happens. Oh well.
It was a very lovely ferry ride back because we ended up on the ramp in the front with a great view. The first shot is from the terminal.
![IMG_20180108_095259_284]()
![IMG_20180108_095853_169]()
![IMG_20180108_100626_270]()
Garrett went to work for a half day when we got back on Monday, and I'd scheduled the day off but told my team to leave any non-urgent requests and I could tend to them in the afternoon. There wasn't anything initially, but then someone we work with occasionally asked if we could help with a test. I was going to be on campus anyway Tuesday, so we scheduled a meeting and I took a couple of hours to start working on some templates so we wouldn't show up to the meeting with nothing. And that's how my busiest week in ages started.
I spent all day on Campus Tuesday, plus a big chunk of Wednesday. The meetings were valuable, but it takes a long time to drive out and back, so the days were long. I did complete testing and release notes for our newest deployment this week, and built those test templates out for use. The only exercise I got all week was one swim on Thursday! Quite unusual for me. I put in so many hours that I didn't claim any PTO to cover Monday, so that's one good thing to come out of it.
Lowe's parking lot selfie from yesterday with a rare low angle because the sky looked cool.
![IMG_20180112_071553_233]()
I always hate going to the hardware store for something, because I can't shake the feeling that there are other things there I need that I haven't thought about in a while. That was totally true yesterday, as it turns out. I hate it when people knock on our door instead of ringing the doorbell, so I got a "Please Ring Bell" sign. It didn't come with any mounting hardware, and the holes are small, so I wasn't sure what to use. But I didn't remember that until after I got home, used some nails, and did a bad job. One nail is bent down a bit, and I knocked some of the finish off the sign. It looks pretty crappy. But we want to replace all the doors because they look old anyway, so a little wear suits it. I guess.
Check-in time at the cabin wasn't until 3pm, so we decided to have lunch on the other side, do our shopping, and then kill a little time before checking in.
Village Pizzeria in Langley is amazing. Fabulous food and views, and we managed to snag the parking spot right in front of the door. The grocery store is across the street, which is very convenient.
The original plan was to head up to Coupeville to see if Barbara's grave marker has been updated with the dates of her birth and death. Garrett's parents want to visit the cemetery, but it'd be a huge bummer if we got there and the marker was offsite at the time. So I'm hoping to hear about it from her family when it happens, but if we were going to be nearby, it made sense to check. Until we realized we were further away than we thought, and it would cut into our cabin reservation more than we wanted. So we went to the Whidbey Island Winery instead, which happens to be owned by a fluffball named Sangiovese.
The cabin was wonderful, again. We watched I, Tonya, which was amazing, plus the first two episodes of the new seasons of Travelers on Netflix. I'm so glad that show came back, and am happy Enrico Colantoni was added to the cast. I've always liked him.
Just a pretty picture of what happened in the sink when I set down the box grater I was washing.
Village Pizzeria is perched way up above the water and I hoped to get a time lapse from there, either on the fence by their storage area or the from the window sill. The Podo wasn't cooperating, though, so I just pointed it at the trees by the cabin for the whole day Sunday. Not a lot to see since it's mostly trees, but it gives you an idea what it's like out there.
Speaking of the Podo, I accidentally left it behind. The owner of the cabin mailed it to me for free! Super nice of her. I think she knows we'll be repeat customers again and again.
I've had my eye on a lot of cabins lately and unless we were to live in one full-time, it wouldn't make much sense to own one unless money just wasn't an issue. Believe me, I can see myself living in a house in the middle of the woods all the time, but that time is far off.
I'm also a little bummed to discover that a place I've had my eye on for a while only allows occupancy for 120 days a year. Though that particular spot isn't one I'd want to be in full-time, I've always looked at it as a good, inexpensive back-up plan if something bad happens. Oh well.
It was a very lovely ferry ride back because we ended up on the ramp in the front with a great view. The first shot is from the terminal.
Garrett went to work for a half day when we got back on Monday, and I'd scheduled the day off but told my team to leave any non-urgent requests and I could tend to them in the afternoon. There wasn't anything initially, but then someone we work with occasionally asked if we could help with a test. I was going to be on campus anyway Tuesday, so we scheduled a meeting and I took a couple of hours to start working on some templates so we wouldn't show up to the meeting with nothing. And that's how my busiest week in ages started.
I spent all day on Campus Tuesday, plus a big chunk of Wednesday. The meetings were valuable, but it takes a long time to drive out and back, so the days were long. I did complete testing and release notes for our newest deployment this week, and built those test templates out for use. The only exercise I got all week was one swim on Thursday! Quite unusual for me. I put in so many hours that I didn't claim any PTO to cover Monday, so that's one good thing to come out of it.
Lowe's parking lot selfie from yesterday with a rare low angle because the sky looked cool.
I always hate going to the hardware store for something, because I can't shake the feeling that there are other things there I need that I haven't thought about in a while. That was totally true yesterday, as it turns out. I hate it when people knock on our door instead of ringing the doorbell, so I got a "Please Ring Bell" sign. It didn't come with any mounting hardware, and the holes are small, so I wasn't sure what to use. But I didn't remember that until after I got home, used some nails, and did a bad job. One nail is bent down a bit, and I knocked some of the finish off the sign. It looks pretty crappy. But we want to replace all the doors because they look old anyway, so a little wear suits it. I guess.
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Article 0
Late in 2017 I finally decided I didn’t have to post every single day on LiveJournal. This was after years of daily posts that I mainly did out of spite for the people who say they miss the site but never actually read it or post anything.
I just noticed the “Your 2017 on LJ” link at the top, clicked it, and found out I did exactly 365 posts last year. Haha.
I just noticed the “Your 2017 on LJ” link at the top, clicked it, and found out I did exactly 365 posts last year. Haha.
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Missing a colorful opportunity
Since it was a holiday yesterday, I didn't leave super early for my walk. I'm used to them being so dark lately, it didn't even occur to me that there would be a good opportunity for a time lapse.
![20180115_065237]()
One frustrating thing about the marina is how safe it feels down there due to all the lighting, which in turn overtakes a lot of the photo opportunities.
![20180115_065426]()
Sometimes you get far enough away from them, though.
![20180115_070959]()
![20180115_071414]()
![20180115_071728]()
![20180115_073021_Pano]()
![20180115_074009]()
Being there later meant I could get some good seal photos. I see them all the time down there, but it's always too dark.
![20180115_073511]()
![IMG_20180115_075047_952]()
The second seal shot was made possible via a guest dock that I walked on for the first time yesterday. I've walked by it probably a hundred times, was the door open every time? No clue. I also got a shot of the Weyerhaeuser Muse from a new angle.
![20180115_075303]()
The Olympics looked amazing, but of course in photos they look tiny.
![20180115_075822]()
![IMG_20180115_080022_210]()
I've come to the conclusion that it needs to be at least this bright out before you can use the wide-angle lens on my phone. When it's darker out, it looks terrible.
![20180115_081008]()
The water was gorgeous and I loved the squiggly reflections.
![20180115_082810]()
I can't get too frustrated when I miss an opportunity for a time lapse. There's just no point. All you can really do is move on and make another.
One frustrating thing about the marina is how safe it feels down there due to all the lighting, which in turn overtakes a lot of the photo opportunities.
Sometimes you get far enough away from them, though.
Being there later meant I could get some good seal photos. I see them all the time down there, but it's always too dark.
The second seal shot was made possible via a guest dock that I walked on for the first time yesterday. I've walked by it probably a hundred times, was the door open every time? No clue. I also got a shot of the Weyerhaeuser Muse from a new angle.
The Olympics looked amazing, but of course in photos they look tiny.
I've come to the conclusion that it needs to be at least this bright out before you can use the wide-angle lens on my phone. When it's darker out, it looks terrible.
The water was gorgeous and I loved the squiggly reflections.
I can't get too frustrated when I miss an opportunity for a time lapse. There's just no point. All you can really do is move on and make another.
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Icon challenge
kazzy_cee picked three of my lj icons that she wanted to know more about.I use the handle christopher575 on just about every site and app I'm on, except Instagram and Snapchat. It was already taken on those, so I'm xtopher575. Lots of people know me as christopher575, and thus send me photos whenever they spot a 575 somewhere. I almost always make them into icons, and between the ones people have sent and the ones I've spotted myself, I have 36 "575" icons. This particular one was spotted by my friend Aengus on a cab. The full sign read, "computer dispatch."
The lj community owlihotornot was fun for a while, but fizzled out. If memory serves, I continued to post a lot of owls on my own page for a while. This was just funny to me because most owl stuff is very cute even though owls in real life are quite tough.
The title of this icon is "butter milk eggs" because this little memo recorder came free with something that was sold on TV, and they always showed a woman reciting her shopping list into it, saying "Butter, milk, eggs." A voice recorder is a terrible way to do your shopping list! I also liked this particular photo of the recorder because it looks like a little robot.
I'm not confident anyone will, but please comment "me too" if you'd like me to pick some of your icons so you can post about them.
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Some firsts
Construction continues on the new ferry terminal in Mukilteo. They've taken another chunk out of the walking loop. I'm not able to say how big the loop is now, though, because it rained all night and the water was too deep on one of the huge concrete parts. this was an issue last time around, and the construction crew was nice enough to make a gravel path. Hopefully by next week they'll have one in the new spot where it's needed.
Obviously trains go onto the pier to grab cargo that comes off of barges, but I'd never seen a train there before this morning.
![IMG_20180118_055757_299]()
Some cute graffiti on a train car near the station.
![IMG_20180118_064608_866]()
Later on back home, I was surprised to see two hummingbirds peacefully sharing the feeder. They're so territorial.
![Two hummingbirds sharing a feeder]()
Obviously trains go onto the pier to grab cargo that comes off of barges, but I'd never seen a train there before this morning.
Some cute graffiti on a train car near the station.
Later on back home, I was surprised to see two hummingbirds peacefully sharing the feeder. They're so territorial.
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SchadenFriday
↧
CATURDAY
BONUS Saturdogs
Many thanks to:
Animals Being Dicks
Señor Gif
k00l 4 k@+z
Almost Famous Cats
Cats, Beavers & Ducks
Derpy Cats
FAT CATS
FUCKYEAHFELINES!
CHEEZburger
Every Day is Caturday
Cats and Dogs
And everyone else who happened to put a cat or dog where I ended up seeing it this week!
↧
↧
Soaked
It was a windy, wet morning, and I didn't even realize how bad it was until I got out to Langus. But I hadn't been there in a while and wanted to walk anyway, so I pressed on. Since I knew there was no way to keep the rain off the Podo no matter what, I decided to point it more down. There's some sky in the video, but the highway was the focus.
It was a fun day for bird sightings. But mostly it was a brutal workout. It felt so great to get home and into a hot shower.
![IMG_20180121_082525_249]()
It was a fun day for bird sightings. But mostly it was a brutal workout. It felt so great to get home and into a hot shower.
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Busy few days
I'm doing some new stuff at work this week for the first time, and it's been uniquely challenging compared to the last couple of times things were added to my repertoire. It's just growing pains, and I'm finally over the hump.
I managed to make it to the pool today and Monday, and did yoga yesterday because I couldn't work anything into the morning schedule because I also had a followup appointment with my doctor, who incidentally, really liked all my current results and statuses.
Knowing it'd be a busy few days, I decided on Saturday after I posted Caturday to sit down and write my latest for Live in Everett. It wasn't originally supposed to be about three kinds of duck soup, but when I ordered the wrong thing for the piece I meant to write, I made the best of the situation.
Thankfully tomorrow, while busy, will be the regular amount of busy I'm used to.
I managed to make it to the pool today and Monday, and did yoga yesterday because I couldn't work anything into the morning schedule because I also had a followup appointment with my doctor, who incidentally, really liked all my current results and statuses.
Knowing it'd be a busy few days, I decided on Saturday after I posted Caturday to sit down and write my latest for Live in Everett. It wasn't originally supposed to be about three kinds of duck soup, but when I ordered the wrong thing for the piece I meant to write, I made the best of the situation.
Thankfully tomorrow, while busy, will be the regular amount of busy I'm used to.
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Icon origins
Photo by Louie, formerly lj user ltorosf.
![575]()
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More Pages to Explore .....
