Deep Thoughts

A fresh coat of paint

My house was painted w weeks ago, maybe the last house to get painted in Seattle this year. After a few weeks of rain, my painter took advantage of an almost rare sunny fall day in Seattle--a Saturday even.

I'm happy with the results. I think the house looks bigger and more distinguished. What do you think?

Where's the beef?

Or maybe the question should be, why does it cost so much now? Amy--who works in the grocery industry--told me that recent increases in the price of beef are being attributed to the Atkins diet. Although this article from Slate suggests that everyday economics may be the primary cause. While I believe that the Atkins diet is a bit excessive, I do agree that reducing the amount of processed carbs is a good thing.

Obesity is health epidemic here in the US. What's even worse is that it's rapidly spreading among children. According to the CDC, "today there are nearly twice as many overweight children and almost three times as many overweight adolescents as there were in 1980." Do parents realize that they're shortening the lives of their children?

New Tires

I had to buy new tires for my Jeep Grand Cherokee today. The old tires had just under 40K miles; the front tires had to be replaced but the rear tires had a little life left in them. I decided to replace all four since I was never really please with the OEM tires in the first place. After doing a little research, I chose the Michelin Cross Terrain SUV tires. The first thing I noticed was that Costco installed the tires with the white lettering facing in. I wanted the lettering facing out but I didn't feel like waiting to have them reinstall the tires. What do you think looks better, black or white lettering on tires? Some reviews mentioned that this tire is a lot quieter, this was evident very quickly. I'm excited to try them out in the snow.

Another bites the dust

Or another enters the happy bliss of marriage. David and Sandy got married at the Seattle Asian Art Museum last night--a beautiful and sunny autumn day in Seattle. I only got a few photos so I'll try to post what little I have later this week. Meredith told David that she's pregnant so the "Bean" is out of the bag and I can mention the pregnancy now. Congratulations all around!!!

Balance...

Today is Take Back Your Time Day. Americans work about 9 weeks per year more than Western Europeans and today is 9 weeks from the end of the year. Admittedly, America has a much better economy than Europe but is it really worth it? What good are all those extra toys in your life if you don't have time to use them?

A fresh start

I've switched to Movable Type for blogging so we'll see how well it works. Hopefully it will be easier and I'll be more consistent. I paid $40 to have the software installed on my web server--you can do it yourself for free but you need to know Perl script. I've just spent over two hours trying to figure out how to import my old blogs from Blogger. It wasn't so much that Blogger was difficult to use, it just didn't have all the features I wanted.

Geez, I really need to

Geez, I really need to get into the habit of blogging more often.

So tonight was a very sad night for me. I said goodbye to Bill, Mary, and Joshua before they move to Idaho. I've known Bill for 22 years--and even lived with him a few of those years. I can still remember when we first opened the door to our dorm room, so empty and cold we were ready to jump on the next plane back to Alaska. But having each other there helped us survive our first year away from home. Sure we could have done it on our own but it was a lot easier and more fun this way.

I know I'll see them again, but I also realize that we'll probably never live in the same city again. I'm glad that Bill and I had a chance to play hockey again the past two years. We first met playing hockey together in the 7th grade and playing hockey was something that we always looked forwarded to every time we went back to Alaska for the holidays. My first game of the season is tomorrow night--it won't be the same without Bill.

Good luck and best wishes in your new home.