Busy Time News

Sunny Saturday morning here in Seattle. Very busy weekend ahead. Got to work on motorcycle to get ready for big trip starting May 12. Twin bro Jim arriving this afternoon to spend a week with us. Lauren arriving this afternoon from Portland to spend the day. Tomorrow she will head south, pick up Benni Reuter (boyfriend from Munich) at Sea Tac and then go to Portland. She's in her last week of earning her Bachelor's Degree!

I've got house to clean, motorcycle boots to buy, lawn to mow, bills and paperwork, master bedroom to paint over the next week, and about a thousand hours of work at Perkins Coie to cram into the next two weeks.

Ginger, Mom, Jim

Sunday in Spring

lovely sunny day here in Seattle. temp in mid-60's. we're shampooing carpets and i'm cleaning up the back deck. we'll have relatives soon for the big weekend of May 4 to May 6. On the 4th we'll all migrate to Portland for a busy weekend based on Lauren's graduation from Lewis & Clark. looks like we are going to rent a floating home in the Williamette River to house everyone. it is close to L&C so should be a very cool place to stay. we'll have a bday party for me, Jim and Benni...all of us May 3, plus Sean who just had his bday on April 5.

yesterday we went to UPS at Tacoma to rendezvous with Lauren. there was a conference track meet and she drove up with friends to watch their team compete. after we went with her, Theresa, Sarah, and Laura to Farrell's Pizza and had some lunch before they hit the road for Portland.

so, a reasonably pleasant, low key weekend with half decent weather. hope all is well with everyone out there.

Fulbright Grant!

Miss Lo in a familiar spot, eh?


My fantastic daughter, Lauren, has just been awarded a Fulbright Grant for 2007/08 to teach English in Germany. Here's a link to Fulbright Website. Fulbright Program

She will be part of the "Padagogischer Austauschdienst" Teaching
Assistantships.

I guess we'll be going to Europe for Christmas again! We are so proud of how hard she has worked as a student, and quite pleased she has been honored to receive a Fulbright grant.

Have a Bit of Fun with Urban Legend

Strangely enough I ran across this in the back pages of a girly magazine from 1957 that someone gave me as a joke birthday present. While flipping past the pre-Playboy lovelies, all so naughty and nice in their fishnet stockings, I saw a grainy black and white of a guy falling to his death from a brick apartment building. Being as morbid as the next mortal I read on about this dangerous song. Then, being as modern as the next person I hit Google and got lift-off. Amazing what stories and cultural echoes bounce around out there in the awareness of millions of people over decades.....and perhaps have no real substance.

Gloomy Sunday Song Suicides

Enjoy.

Mr. Maudlin Returns

Brace yourselves. Another two paragraph quest for the true meaning of life! or..well..the usual drab stuff dressed up in clever phrases.

seriously...No more Floridas or Ohios. Here's the first step Electoral College rendered irrelevant!

Let us all support such efforts. It only takes about 2/3 of the states to do this and it will mean that all future presidential elections actually elect the most popular candidate. it will mean all states count. it will mean "one person, one vote" actually means something. the shitheads in the little red states and the south won't have an electoral advantage because they have 2 senators. should 2 senators in Wyoming equal the 2 senators from California. talk about disproportionate representation.

Let Your Light Shine Down

Thanks to Collective Soul for today's headline. It's a great song. One of the few I play every time I don the Rhapsody mp3 player.

so what are you, or I, going to do today to let our light shine down? that's a challenge for every day, isn't it? what a shame for days to slip away when not only do you not shine, but doing so doesn't even cross your mind due to the daily distractions of "real life".

my cousin, Chris, is fighting for his life and he's letting his light shine in every post in his blog (see the link to Chris Olin). can we do any less? do we have to be scared to death to lift ourselves from the muck of laundry, bills to pay, and dishes to think about bigger things or reach out to people around us? it is a daily opportunity for self-discipline, I guess. you can't sit back and wait. like Jackson Browne says, "people you got the power to pull us through". he's so right.

Here's one illustration of letting your light shine. Harry Bernstein

Harry Bernstein, 96 year old first-time author. I think I'll buy his book from Amazon later, as a tribute to him. What a guy.

Motorcycle Ride

Went for a 15 mile ride around Seattle yesterday. No destination. Just "head out on the highway, looking for adventure"...Never got on the freeway. Stayed on city streets and went around Lake Union, up Westlake, through Fremont/Ballard to Golden Gardens and back home. Had to go over two metal bridge grates which makes me nervous, but that was the point of the ride. Just practice being in traffic, staying alert and maybe see a little something interesting. It is very "be here now" to ride when you really connect with it. The focus to be in the moment, to stay safe, quiets the chatter. The ping pong thoughts bouncing around fade away. In the good moments it's like a dream of flying or something. Lol....my mp3 on random play has just delivered "Highway To Hell" for my listening pleasure...right while I write about riding. Certainly hope AC/DC is wrong or that the road has quite a few miles left.

Friends

Maybe one way to let your light shine is to treasure and celebrate your friends. Kathy and I have certainly been blessed with lots of kindness from friends, particularly in the last year and 1/2. what a mystery how people connect across the distance between. everyone comes here alone and goes alone, but along the way, sometimes, you find those whose presence just feels right and makes the journey better. there's something there that doesn't occur with most people you meet, and that rareness makes it that much more valuable.

Last night we had dinner at Divine, near our house, with Eric Stephens and his wife, Rebecca. Eric and I met in 1977 or 1978. He owns a moving company and I've been hiring them for years to do office moves. So, there's a business connection, but there's more to it than that. He says what he means and means what he says, which I like. He works hard and cares about doing a good job. So do I. From that, we've known each other 30 years, through raising children, suffering losses, making a living, etc. Rebecca showed up on my door at the office to chew me out for being rude on the telephone to her when I was griping about some move problem. She was right..ha ha. So, we all had a nice dinner and griped about Bush, talked about kids, the stupid waiter, office politics and expensive purses. Such a great way to spend an evening sharing our perceptions and learning from each other.

The Shining

Time for to get on with my Sunday, time spent with my best friend, Kathy. Not sure what we'll do, but I hope I can remember to try to make it special some way, to learn something, to shine just a little bit.