Okay, okay ... the Nuns/Cobblestones joke ...

A few people have e-mailed me about the nuns/cobblestones joke I mentioned in my Columbus post. So, here it is ... although I'm horrible at telling jokes when I'm put on the spot:


Two nuns were riding their bicycles through the back streets and alleys of Rome.

One turns to the other and says, "I've never come this way before".


The other nun says, "It's the cobblestones".


Thank you. I'm here all week.



(The perfection of this joke while I was in Columbus: My friend Linda was driving me and our friend Todd to a farmers' market for lunch, and didn't know the best way to get there from the office, so she kept asking Todd which exits, etc. to take ... and at one point mentioned, "I've never come this way before". I HAD to tell the joke at that point ... and I think we all peed a little)

Like the wind ...

Via my friend CondoBlogger ...

How cool is this.

The latest Google search to find me

Someone found my blog with the following Google search:

"blasphemy anti-Christian terms"

Wow. I'm a heathen. Who knew?

My Musical Life

I've seen this meme on a few blogs - most recently on Claudia's - so I thought I'd try it.

I came up with some freakin' weird answers.

Here's the deal:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every category, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

Opening Credits:
"You're My Home" by Billy Joel

Waking Up:
"Everything Must Change" by Oleta Adams

First Day at School:
"Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles

Falling In Love:
"Ave Maria" by Leontyne Price

Fight Song:
"The Dreidel Song" by Barenaked Ladies

Breaking Up:
"Ticket To Ride" by The Beatles

Prom:
"Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones

Mental Breakdown:
"Now I Have Everything" from Fiddler On the Roof

Driving:
"You Don't Know Me" by Michael Buble

Flashback:
"There Will Come a Day" by Faith Hill

Getting Back Together:
"Where Or When" by Harry Connick Jr.

Wedding:
"Be Slowly Lifted Up" from the War Requiem by Benjamin Britten

Birth of a Child:
"In My Arms" by Rufus Wainwright

Final Battle:
"You Raise Me Up" by Westlife

Back in Seattle Again ...

I lived. Four times I was strapped into a two-inch-square seat and hurtled through the air, six-plus miles above the earth, in a pressurized aluminum tube - and I wasn't even paid for it. But I'm back home and pretty damn happy about it.

It was a rough week, in general. I got a lot done, but not everything I wanted to. I met quite a few people that I have known via e-mail for years, but it's always great to meet face-to-face and create a personal connection. And a lot went on while I was 2,000 miles away from The Office.

The Good: Great food. Reuben pizzas, ginormous burgers (mmmm), blue-corn cornbread, fantastic carbonara, Blue Sapphire martinis, wheat beer, steak quesadillas. My wonderful friend Linda chauffeuring me everywhere and showing me some great neighborhoods in Columbus, and keeping me company during our dinners. Seeing a real, honest-to-god thunderstorm for a change. Meeting some cool new friends in a beautiful garden before going to a cool old theater to watch one of my favorite Marx Brothers' movies. The nuns/cobblestones joke at the unbelievably, absolutely perfect moment.

The Bad: My laptop frying upon entry to the Midwest. Having back-to-back meetings where I was at first greeted as the Angel of Mercy, and then flogged on a post more than once. Jetlag. Feeling sick from being in air-conditioning all the time. Dealing with team members in Seattle ripping each others' throats out while I was on the other side of the country.

The Ugly: Being told what to do regarding team issues by other core team members and making me feel two inches tall an hour before I had to head towards another pressurized metal tube. Having to come up with an emergency job description and contingency plan for a team member who is retiring at the end of August. Trying to plan how our team will make it all work, knowing that we probably won't be able to hire someone before said team member leaves. Dealing with Flow Control that almost made my flight from Columbus to Chicago leave five hours late. The little girl two rows in front of me throwing up all over her entire row of seats - 45 minutes into a 4 1/2 hour flight.


Pretty Picture time ...

Waiting to board my plane at O'Hare (on the way to Columbus).

My luxurious room.

And the view with the room.

The view from the accounting department - the building is right on a quarry lake. Very serene - I loved the atmosphere here.

My friend Linda. She called herself "Julie Love Boat", being the Cruise Director for my trip.

Linda's friend Jim invited us to have dinner in his gardens (knowing I'm into our gardens) before going to the theater. He's an artist, and some of his sculptures are in the garden. It's exquisite - I wish I had pictures that would do it justice.

The view of the garden from the Tea House. Those are my feet, up in the comfy recliner.

The Pond.

The view from the study. I want a study like this.

And finally, the view from the plane - somewhere over Minnesota, I think.

Why, oh why, oh why oh ...

... why did I ever leave Ohio?

(Bonus points to anyone who can identify that lead-in ... I'm counting on Michael ... and no, I've never actually lived in Ohio ... )

Yes, I'm going to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow. I'll be there through Thursday, for work. Now, I've been to Columbus before - YEARS ago - and it's actually a pretty cool city. I'm looking forward to the areas near my hotel, and hoping I can get to the cool bookstore in the German Village (I honestly have no idea where things are or how close to my hotel certain neighborhoods will be - and my friends in our Columbus office are planning on taking me out most nights ... I hear drinking is a contact sport there, so I'm a little worried ... ).

I will take pictures - maybe even videos (!) while I'm there, although I can't promise I'll have much time to post. There's a lot for me to do in four (well, three and a half) work days. And not being a real happy flyer, think of me white-knuckling it for about six hours of in-air time tomorrow and on Thursday.

Do they let you bring fifths of vodka in your carry-on anymore??? I guess I'll be throwing some cash toward my United Airlines flight attendants ...

Where's Matt?

Maybe I'll make some videos like the more famous Matt ...

So I'm going on a trip Sunday.

I'll be travelling the majority of the day.

My buddy Linda Lou is picking me up at the airport that night, and we'll be touring around some cool neighborhoods near my hotel, and eating huge burgers (my oh my god favorite) at Thurman's Cafe.

I'll be livin' large in the country's 32nd largest metropolitan area.

I'll be near a Big Ten university.

I'll be toolin' around neighborhoods such as the Short North and German Village.

Where am I going?

Ella Has Two Daddies

Via Joe ... a story about the horrific cultural effects of same-sex parenting and adoption.

(And a couple of pictures that will make you melt ... )

Pure Scott

I've been asked more than once to post more of Scott (especially after the "Bob the Crab" video), so this should make y'all happy.

Scott visited his Mom and brother last month and took a quick video while he was playing with his Mom's little Bichon Frise, Sweetie. I'm not usually into small, cutesy dogs - but Sweetie is hands-down one of the most adorable dogs ever. When you come near her she looks at you with these big eyes and slowly raises her paw up in a combination handshake/wave motion. She's also brilliant - she has a huge basket of toys and knows what they're all called. If you say "bring me the giraffe", she'll dig through the mound of toys, find the giraffe and bring it to you. Hell, I can barely do that.

My favorite part - and the Pure Scott part of this video - is about five seconds in.

A Blatant Advertisement for the Size of One's Penis

Across the street from our house this week:

(I drive a small-sized VW Jetta, BTW ... )

July 12 of 12

12 of 12 always sneaks up on me ... but at least I remembered before this morning!

About 7:00, getting ready to iron my clothes:

Driving to work ... I know Seattle is known for leaning to the left, but here I'm told to veer right:

Heading down Boren Avenue toward the South Lake Union neighborhood ... driving by the Four Columns Park on lower Capitol Hill:

The building in the middle (with the green-patinaed copper roof) is the (fairly) new Federal Courthouse in Seattle - designed by the firm I work for. Did I mention I work for a globally-reknowned architectural firm?

Passing by the Re-Bar, where we've watched the dazzling renditions of Miss Dina Martina many times:

Pulling into the parking garage at work:

Walking up to My Floor:

The view from a common area of the third floor. The rooftop garden you see is only accessible from our firm (there are many firms in the building). Unfortunately it was a bit hazy, so you can't see the Olympic Mountains behind the Space Needle:

I didn't take any pictures inside my building; we have a lot of confidential clients, and I'd be breaking some contract agreements if I posted pictures that included project displays. So - now I'm on my way home. I worked briefly for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, and drive past it on my way home. What an incredible agency, filled with tireless people trying to not only prevent the spread of AIDS through education and outreach to many communities, but also to help and advocate for those who are living with HIV. I was incredibly humbled to even work in this building:

This is who I get to come home to every day. Cute, ain't he:

I know our 12 of 12 posts are supposed to include the blogger in some form - here's me TRYING to take a picture of Kali the Amazingly Large and Resilient Puppy, but mostly geting my pants and shoes:

I wrote about how our baby Kitty had gotten so sick - well, she's doing much better. Back on her regular diet, happy and prancing, not totally energetic but not bad for an 11-year-old dog, and so much better than a few weeks ago (and yes, I know how much damage the puppy has inflicted on the deck and the back door):

The Bonus Picture:

This month the bonus word was "Hot". This would have been much easier yesterday, when it was 98 degrees in Seattle (VERY rare) and the city - and, more importantly, our house - was an oven. But, it only got up to about 82 degrees today - still warm by Seattle standards - so I had to take a picture of something other than just the thermometer.

Kali had some residual panting going on - and I'm not in a creative mood - so here is Kali feeling hot (and don't you forget it):

Happy 12 of 12!!!

Seattle Fourth of July

Until we sort through and clean up our pictures of exploding things, this will have to do as a representation of the Fourth of July in Seattle this year. Note the Kate Smith recording of "God Bless America" in the background. We're either very traditionally patriotic, or off-the-meter campy.

Notice that the more things are being blown up, the wilder the crowd gets (a.k.a. Patriotic).

Discuss.

Pretty Pictures

Okay, that last post was icky.

Pretty pictures, anyone?

The door upstairs to our deck opens outward, so we don't have a screen "door". But it gets hot up there, so we made one from screen and velcro a few years ago. It needed to be replaced, so we bought a pre-made screen that's pretty much the same thing we had made. I pulled off the old velcro tape this afternoon ... who knew the trim around that doorway was once pink???

The color du jour in our garden seems to be orange right now ...

... although the white shasta daisies and calla lilies are in bloom (next to our pink lawn ornament - it has flamingoes wearing gold hoop earrings and fruit-basket hats - we saw it in Hawaii last year and couldn't pass it up ... )

Kali lounging in the yard - she's DEFINITELY the biggest of the three dogs now ...

Some nicotiana by the back deck (the pink and white flowers) - very fragrant at night.

Scott LOVES him some Pamela Stanley (best known for some disco hits in the early '80's) - he's e-mailed her and started up a friendship! She recently sent him an autographed copy of her latest CD. Scott happy.

Isn't he adorable???

We'll try to get some more pictures of our Fourth of July later on. Scott was working today but came home early, so we'll have our cookout and maybe a few fireworks in the backyard. We don't like heading downtown to the big firework shows (well, I don't - too many people, and who wants to deal with all that traffic???). But it's a gorgeous, sunny, 85 degree day here in Seattle, so we'll go enjoy the yard and the dogs and maybe cook some ribs later on.

Happy Fourth!