What’s happening…well, let’s see.  New job: PM for Windows Server Business Intel; should be very fun working on the BI angle exclusively.  Just did ~18 mo’s on the engineering side of putting inbox instrumentation into WS08 R2. 

 

House construction is mostly done – results are good; process was terrible.  See me if you’re considering hiring a GC for a reno.  Seriously.

 

It’s a gorgeous Friday – looking forward to the weekend.  Pizza in downtown per recommendation of a friend.  Might be able to squeeze in a hike.

It’s nice to have a ‘good’ friday again.  Work stuff pretty much wrapped up before noon…  fun things planned for the weekend (tour de fat, mt. si)… and a decent sounding forecast.  Probably have to plan in a little Q’ing too… but nothing on the radar as of yet.

 

ps – it’d be nice if my blogging friends weren’t as lousy as I am about posting regularly…</hint>

They’re here – and like the saying goes: "When it’s beautiful in the Pac NW, it really is beautiful".  We’re on week two of sunny skies, drifting clouds, infrequent showers and crazy backdrop views of the mountains.

 

Spent the last month, really, with family; Paula’s mom was in town for a couple of weeks the beginning of June; then a week later, my mom & pops were out for a week and a half (during which we cruised down to Portland for Gretchen & Matt’s wedding).

 

The wedding was cool – they chose McMenamin’s Kennedy School for lodging; what an awesome place!  The renovated early 1900′s grade school had several corner pubs, a wicked theatre, fantastic landscaping, funky art & decor through-out and awesome rooms.

 

The wedding itself was at Leach Botanical Gardens - lots of lush foliage, the sound of a crick nearby and a relatives’ bluegrass band made for a wonderful memory.

 

Later in the week we took M&P up to the new diggs in Oroville to show them the place and found out, much to our dismay, that rattle-snakes are NOT affected by elevation, and that we WOULD most likely encounter them from time to time.  Hah!  Guess I’ll have to get some shit-kickers for sure, now. 

 

Last but not least, I found out last night that one of my best buds got engaged over the holiday.  Not wanting to steal any e-thunder, I’ll leave it at that except for saying how thrilled we are for them.

 

Back to work today and I have a 12-5 meeting…nothing like jumping in to the deep end to get used to the water.  *sigh*

On my way into work this morning I was contemplating the relevance of every-day frivolities (card games like poker) in a future where organic matter is replaced with synthetic matter.  Say such an event happens – one would assume (another organic-specific notion) that if we were to replace ourselves (or rather, be replaced) by programmed mechanisms, all the quirks that make us ‘us’ would have to be programmed in, and thus, could be ‘figured out’ via cause & effect calculations.

 

These are the thoughts that enter my head as one luxury car after another forces its way into my mid-western driving comfort zone in packed traffic.  Would a short commute really be better? 

A long time dream came true this week as P and I are now going through the buying process of a really neat piece of property up in the Okanogan Highlands.  On top of one of the peaks in the Nine Mile Ranch area, the views from our new mountain fastness include Lake Osoyoos, the East side of the Cascades and beyond, broad vistas and British Columbia to the north.

 

Just east of the Methow Valley, the closest town (which is right on the lake) is Oroville.  Lots of resorts in the area as there are loads of outdoor activities (skiing, hiking, fishing, hunting, etc. etc.).  Coupled with year-round access to our new place, we’re really excited about popping over there throughout the year to get a huge contrast in climate.  Oh, and another big perk is that it’s very close to where they hold the annual northwest ice-fishing festival.

 

Here are a few pics we took of the place when we went up there last weekend:

A friend/colleague of mine just got back from a visit to jolly old.  When asked how his trip was, he replied "It’s old.". 

My sister’s org (Minnesota International Center) is putting on their annual gala benefit this week which includes an auction.  Check it out.  There is lots of cool stuff available.  Lots of cool trips (I hear tell that the Mexican Extravaganza is quite top).

 

Online auctioning ends Thursday, I believe, so check it out now.  Elsewise, the non-online items will be auctioned off on Saturday.

Well, the weekend is here and it’s been a good one so far.  We celebrated a project milestone on my team yesterday which made for a very pleasant afternoon.  The weather being as nice as it was, Mr. Seven decided to throw a Q so we migrated over to his house and had a few drinks along with great traditional Q items (ribs, burgers, brats, etc.).  When we got home, we got a call from KorbyP informing us that "Reservoir Dogs" was on IFC at nine (quite ironic since it was one topic of discussion at Doug & Erika’s).  Good flick!

 

Today we’re going to do some spring cleaning (yay).  This evening we’re getting fancy and going to a charitable dinner that sweet-baby-j is a board member of (Food As Art).  Apparently, the food is just fantastic so I don’t think I’m going to have lunch today .

 

We’re going to fire up the Egg tomorrow – just haven’t decided what to put on it.  I’m anxious to try a pot-roast since the prime ribs I’ve put on it have all turned out A-1, but we’ll see.  Ribs seem a good potential also.

Oh yeah, i forgot to mention i picked up some sweet tickets to see the M’s against Minnnesota (april) and Los Angeles (may).  The season ticket-holder I bought them from noted "1st base side – you can smell the grass".  I can’t wait.