What makes a good memory?

What makes a good memorable occasion? Is it something life-changing? Is it spending time with people you care about? What leaves a mark on our mind that allows us to take a day and wrap it up inside our hearts? For me, every memorable occasion is different, I can remember vividly my first entry into Main Street as an adult. My subsequent entry into Adventure Land for the first time. How the jungle-like Tiki land took me to a play far away from the stress of adult life. All of that took place in my mind without human interaction. Conversely for my birthday I was surrounded by people I love, had no social apprehension, and was able to be myself and enjoy everything around me with the worries of adult life so near.

Suffice it to say I had a great birthday. I came across a marinade that I switched around a bit to reflect my tastes and soaked two tri-tip cuts for about 24 hours. I threw them on the grill along with corn and both cooked up fantastically. My parents stopped by as well as one of my brothers and his son. Ramden (Riley) was in good form.

Then there were the presents! Northern Exposure, sixth season, Metallica Death Magnetic, Two spidermens with glowing web, a new Tool kit to replace my aging one, and $50 at target (Which of the three games coming out soon will I buy?!?)

Times are hard and money is tight, but really just being around family was the best gift I could have. So what makes a good memory? I'd say good feelings, something that we need more of during such hard times.


How to make the awesome cake.

Wedding in Washington

Trip Statistics

Miles (round trip): 1612
States Traveled: California, Oregon, Washington
In car arguments: 0
Funny jokes: Too many to count
Consumables: 1 bottle of yummy mead, some strong lemon aid.
Notable observations: No rain, no longer an agriculture checkpoint for passenger vehicles, hills in Seattle are just as bad as in San Francisco.

Summary: I drove, I saw, I conquered.

Wordy summary:

It's been a long time since I've traveled to Washington. I believe I've made three trips total to the area. A trip in Jr. High where I visited the lovely city of Carnation, celebrated 4th of July, and helped row a boat out on duck lake. Visited Seattle center and had a gang sign flashed at me at the top of the space needle.

Two other trips, one of which was another 4th of July where the urban streets looked and sounded like a war zone with all the fireworks and projectiles flying through the air. This time I visited the great cities of Puyallup and Sumner, took a quick trip to an Indian reservation that netted me firecrackers that lasted a good seven years. The landmark I remember most on this trip was Snoqualme Falls. Unlike Beale Falls, AKA Shingle falls there is not a huge hike to get to the waterfall. You can feel and taste the spray as soon as you get out of your car.

My recent trip to Washington was mainly to attend a wedding in the city of Bremerton. An interesting town opposite Seattle through Puget Sound. Thanks to a ferry, we were able to access Seattle without much of a headache, and I didn't have to drive through city traffic.

All in all I had an excellent time. I stopped at a pirate shop in Seattle and got some booty, had a nice dinner at a seafood restaurant overlooking waterfront park, saw what all the shops had to offer at Pike Place Market, then returned the next day for some excellent smoked salmon chowder and scallops n' chips from Ivar's Seafood.

After the sight seeing, I got all gussied up and watched two friends that I've known for a year (but had not met in person) get hitched to each other. We had some pretty good times and were a bit silly, but as we all know meeting Internet friends is serious bidness.

The Story of the Wolf

I collect wolves. I could think of stranger things to collect. They are beautiful animals, and deserve protecting. How long have I collected wolves? Since high school at least, so for those of you who suck at math, 14 years. So it's no surprise that on my many trips to Oregon that I managed to find my way to Wolf Creek. My first visit was probably around 10 years ago, and was sort of an unplanned spur of the moment event. I saw the word wolf in the sign and adventured to the on-ramp to see what it was all about. I found a small gas station that had connected shops. Looking for a souvenir of my trip, I came across a quaint shop called Circle of Wolves, where I picked up one of my first small statues that I have in my collection. As I was exiting, a large wolf next to the door caught my eye. He was beautifully crafted and colored and I instantly fell in love with him. The price was much too steep for my pathetic wage earning prowess. I've probably visited the shop over a dozen times on my various trips to Oregon and Washington, and every time the large wolf statue called to me.

Fast forward to my recent trip, I discovered that the old shop where I remember Circle of Wolves being was filled with various junk and a paranoid-looking 60s throwback. I was sad that I'd reached an end of an era and never had the chance to take the wolf statue home with me, since it had been a promise to myself from ages back. I turned around and looked up to the inn, and saw what looked like a gift shop next to it.

Sure enough they had moved into a larger area, and once again I stood facing the large wolf statue that I came to visit as part of my ritual. I later discovered that it is replaced every time one is purchased, but I think of that statue as their town mascot.

After a bit of internal strife about whether or not I should get the statue, I eventually decided that I would finally call it mine. So now in my home, I have a little bit of Wolf Creek Oregon.



It has been a number of months since I've purchased anything wolf-related and last week made up for it. This trip also signified the first time that I visited Pike Place, and although crowded the sights and smells were awesome. There was so much going on there that it was almost sensory overload. The new statue joins other wolf statues on my mantle, and adds a bit of unique flavor to the room. (the one on the right)



I'll have more information on the trip, Mary and Chris, as well as pictures of us all together later on when I get time.

Greetings from Washington

I'm just hanging out in a Bremerton hotel waiting to get breakfast.
The trip has been great, including two trips to Seattle some Pike
place action and some very expensive fish. I met up with some wow
friends that I have known virtually for over a year and they ended up
being great folks.

This is the last day before the long drive back home. I've always
loved this state and have not been disappointed on my trips here.
Here's to the last day of my vacation.

If I had a dollar for every wedding...

I'd have at least $2. Two weddings in two months, between school and my parent's house almost burning down, it's set to be pretty busy this week.

Some friends of mine from WoW are having a wedding near Seattle, and I'm packing up the suitcases and headed on vacation for a week. I'm looking forward to the time off since I haven't had any in an extended block for awhile. I'm going to try to squeeze my schoolwork for the week in tonight so I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week.

Speaking of busy, this weekend was spent prepping for both weddings. A trip to Men's Warehouse netted me a suit for the Washington wedding, as well as my fitting for the Tux that I'll wear to Dan's wedding in AZ. This is the first time I've bought a suit and I'm looking forward to trying everything on tonight to see if it all fits.

Then there's school. This is my last week before finals, the classes were exceptionally difficult and my reading assignments were near Law school-worthy. I had to read through a huge book on software security assessment, and I thought the Microsoft Press Books ran large. After next week, it'll be about 7 months before I have my Master's degree. Six measly classes, time really flies.

On the news front, quite a bit is going on here in the area. There have been quite a few gang-related shootings. A fire near my parent's house, that pretty much burned around the property's perimeter, some of our long-time neighbors had their homes reduced to just a smoking chimney stack. It was quite sad. I read about the fire online this morning, and after my parents didn't return my phone calls, rushed to their house. Everyone was fine, and I went into work smelling like smoke. All's well that ends well.

Fall looks like it is going to be impressive for upcoming video games. I wondered whether or not PC/Console gaming was dead, after this last year's non-impressive releases. But up on the horizon we have Dead Space, Left For Dead (I'm a huge fan of Valve, so this horror shooter should be most excellent), Fallout 3, and of course Wrath of the Litch King. I wish publishers would stagger their games through the year, so that we didn't have a huge glut right around Christmas time.

I can't wait to be home at the end of the day to start my vacation. Work has been slowly digging under my skin, and a well-deserved escape will do me well.