Crab Feast!

Yesterday, Jeremy and I joined a couple of curlers for the Monday night All You Can Eat Crab dinner at Thrasher's Corner Pub. I enjoyed the crab, though it wasn't anywhere near as good as the stir fried crab that my mother makes. Jeremy is not a big fan of shellfish, so he stuck with a Philly Steak Sandwich.

Earlier this evening I had an experience that left me speechless. I went to take the recycling out before dinner, and was hailed by a couple standing in the driveway next door. The house next door is a rental house, and was recently vacated. The first thing the guy said to me was "Do you speak English?"

Being born and raised in the Seattle area, I am always surprised when people make comments like that. Last year at a Seattle Mariners game, an older man was sitting next to me. He asked me if I was born in China? No. Was I born in Korea? No. Taiwan? No. Where were you born? I was born in Seattle. I received a blank look. He couldn't understand that even though I am Asian, thatI was born in Seattle. Sometimes I wonder what century I live in.

Breaking the ice and a walk in the park.

There was a small get together at the Seattle Granite Curling Club before the ice was melted last night. The first sheet had sand and hair all over it. Another sheet had the pebble scraped off of it. There was tire frozen to the middle of the ice, and we bounced the rocks off the side boards. We were a little surprised at how few people made it out.

Today we walked around Discovery Park sans beagle. Ali decided that she did not want to be stuck in a car with a whiny beagle. While we were on our walk, we came across some people with this weird balloon. Apparently they were going to attach a camera to it for arial views. After a very long walk we went to Red Mill for burgers and milkshakes.

Steak for dinner!!

Jeremy, Elaine (his mom), Gravity, and I had a steak dinner this evening. On the way I, I stopped by Costco and picked up a package of 4 fillets. I had forgotten that Alison was going to hang out with her Seattle buddies in the U District.

There was lots of yard work preceding the dinner, making the steak that much more tasty. Gravity the beagle is now crashed out in a meat induced coma. The coma may also have been created by her trip to the Lake Washington arboretum. Unfortunately I had to work today, so I only heard about the trip.

Here is a photo of Gravity and myself. I was playing with the Photobooth functionality of my MacBook Pro before I went to sleep.

Arrrgh. Not enough time.

There's just not enough time in the day.

Today I ended up staying an hour and a half past the time I was going to leave at. At this moment, I am waiting to help out on a release. In between the time I arrived home and now, I ate the dinner my hubby cooked, took out the garbage, washed two loads of laundry, and gave our dog a bath. I also too her for a quick stroll around the block.

When I finish testing, if I can work up enough energy, I need to clean the main bathroom. My mother in law and sister in law arrive tomorrow.

I'll probably end up sleeping in a little tomorrow.

Curling on the brain.

My friend Jason took this photo of me at the Last Chance spiel. My husband edited it, using the GIMP. This is my new favorite photo of myself.

Last night, I went to learn how to play bridge. There's lots to think about, and it made my head hurt. Much more complicated than learning how to play craps. I'll have to hunt down an online game to help hurry the learning process along.

Today I spent time harassing developers to update their bugs, so I could find out if I could finish my testing. Hopefully they still like having me work there after two weeks of pestering. On the plus side, some processes are getting ironed out. I just wish I didn't feel like such a nag.

Since I've been home, I've been fairly productive. I changed the sheets, started a load of laundry, and emptied the dishwasher. I've also played one turn of Scrabulous on Facebook, and I'm finishing up this blog entry. As soon as I've done that, I'll try and tidy up some more before the in-laws come in to town.

Snow in the middle of April

We've got some crazy winter weather in Seattle this year. When I left work on Friday, it was snowing. By the time after I got home, some of the snow had stuck.

I'm sure the weather was a surprise to Jeff and Mijung. It was surprisingly chilly in the church that they got married in. The bride looked beautiful, the groom looked handsome, and the maid of honor looked cold.

The ceremony was fairly quick. Jeremy and I arrived at the church a quarter to 3. We arrived at the reception area by 3:40 pm.

I had a fantastic time at the reception. Jeremy and I sat at a table with people from the curling club. Bob T, Dani T, Chris O, and Derek M. There were many conversations about curling, that were interspersed with the eating of appetizers, blowing of bubbles, and jokes about the bags of happiness.

Missed my last game.

Missed my last game today, due to work and lack of sleep. I didn't get to sleep until just after 9 am. I was unable to find a sub to take my place. An email from Leslie F let me know that Sara's kids subbed for me, and that they won, holding the other team to only one point.

Currently working on baking some crazy potato bake dish and washing dishes. Still really tired after a nap of about 3 hours.

Jeremy is still really sick. I hope he improves fast!!

Here's a couple of more photos from yesterday.

I dream of curling.

Well, at least I would if I could go to sleep. Still working. 2 hours, 45 minutes before I need to get up. *sigh*

At least my delivery is improving. My friend Jason stopped by, and snagged a couple of .AVIs. Leslie F, the woman that is skipping for my team, suggested that I choke up on my grip of the broom by about an inch. My left shoulder was not even with my right one.

I made the change in my second game, and now my weight is off a bit. I hope I can find it tomorrow.

Here'e a photo of the team, and an .AVI of my delivery from the first game.

Last chance to curl.

We finished the 2nd game of the Last Chance Bonspiel. Team Eng-Dinsel has lost a game and won a game. Both games were shut outs.

Poor Jeremy has been home sick with the flu. Lots of people thinking of him, and saying Hi - get well soon. Or, in Betty's case "Hi, get well soon so you can drink all the beer!"

My raffle ticket for the 50/50 did not win money, but won some donated beer from Pyramid. I had gone to talk to Dani and Bob T for a bit, then left my 3 raffle tickets there. Dani won beer. She pulled the next ticket, which happened to be mine, so Bob went and got the beer. He pulled a ticket, and Leslie F, the skip of my team won beer. An amusing coincidence.

More about the weekend later. I need to get to sleep. I have to test at 1:00 am for work. :P

Team Thibodeaux wins the C bracket, edging out the Korean Women's National Team!!

Back from Artfest 2008!

I had a great time at Artfest 2008!! This year was very mellow, hanging out with my best friend Maya. I got to her house at 9:30 AM and loaded up the car. We stopped by the library turn in some books, and Kinko's so I could make a few transparencies. We then drove to the University Village Apple store for a replacement phone charger and lunch at a noodle restaurant.

We made it to Fort Worden just after 3 pm. While we were in line, I bumped into last year's FestMates, Ellen, Lani, Julie and Kim. It was nice to see that everyone was able to make it back. On the way out of registration, we made a new and memorable friend, Andrea. Andrea managed to snag a spot 10 days before the start of Artfest, and had been feeling overwhelmed. We received a couple of hugs, gave out some words of encouragement, and went to check out our room in dorm 225.

Dorm 225 was soooo much nicer than 202. It had regular bathrooms - no banging knees on the stall doors. It also had two individual shower stalls. There was no having to sign up for a time slot to take a shower in the morning.

We made jewelry with gut (sausage casings) the first day. The instructor Melissa Manley said all the gut tended to make the room smell like wet dog. I didn't smell wet dog, but I did think the classroom smelled like brine. I stuck some gut against a window, and made parchment.

On the second day, I took Michael DeMeng's transparency class. The class was held in the Art Asylum. I burned some transparencies with a lighter, and made a shadowbox that holds a photo of my grandfather, my father, and myself.

Our last day was taught by Susan Lenart-Kazmer, another jewelry class. The class was difficult for me, but Maya took to it like a fish in water. She was truly in her element. What I loved about Susan, was her friendliness and willingness to help all of us that are new to jewelry.

We took a nap after class and almost missed dinner. We then headed for a brief tour through the crowded and stuffy Show and Tell. I dropped Maya and her luggage at the front of her doorstep, and drove home so I could see Jeremy play in the midnight draw of the April Spiel.