More perfect weather

It's "bud week" and the weather has been pretty great. (I first heard the phrase "bud week" used by a friend of mine years ago to describe the short span of time when all the trees are budding but don't yet have leaves. I'm not sure if he made it up, but I've been using the phrase ever since.)
I took this picture while driving to work late yesterday morning. There was a jetliner with interesting color patterns and it provided a nice contrast to the clouds and sky, but it seems I completely missed it with my mobile phone's camera. Somedays I think I should have my real camera with me all the time to get better quality pictures, but I suppose I really shouldn't be trying to take snapshots while driving on the highway.

Extremely Good Mood

It's strange how moods work. For example, right now I'm in a great mood. In fact, I'd have to say I'm the happiest I've ever been. Yep. Seriously. And I can't really place my finger on exactly what got me feeling this way. I suppose it's a combination of things - having a great time with karate classes, enjoying a challenging job that pays well, having enough free time to enjoy the outdoors, and some great friends to share life with. I know there will always be a mix of good and bad days, so I may as well get the most out of the good ones while they're here. It's usually easier to complain when things are bad, so I thought I should make a special note to remember that some days life is great.

More seals

There was a break in the weather today - the rain finally stopped - so I went for a short kayak trip to see if the seals were still around.



Fortunately, they were still there, although my picture taking skills were a bit lacking. I didn't want to get too close and scare them away. At one point, I was using my binoculars to scan around and one seal popped up about 10 feet away from me, made a big spash, and nearly scared me out of my kayak!

Office jokers

Since I was out of the office, some coworkers did some decorating of my cube. I like the new Desert Storm camoflage for my chair. Now I don't have to worry about any bombs being dropped on it.


My closet door was also decorated like one would decorate a high school locker:

Nice day for inline skating

Here's a view from a foot bridge over the Olentangy River at Ohio State University. It's a mile or two skate from the hotel.

And here's some random picture I accidentally took with my phone while skating. It almost looks like I was falling off the bridge. Sorta. Maybe. OK, maybe not really at all...

Crokinole

Soda Monkey

Manilla

Very fun gamblingish game...

Ticket to Ride - Europe

Motorcycle madness

Since I drove all the way out here to Columbus Ohio, I went to visit a friend of mine who lives about 2 hours away. The weather was great, so he took me for a ride on his very nice motorcycle. I haven't been on a motorcycle since I was a teenager and I hadn't remembered how much fun it can be. Now I'm thinking I have a good idea of something to spend my tax return money on.

Perfect Weather

The weather in Ohio has been beautiful. Cloudless blue skies and temperatures around 70 degrees. It seems like summer compared to the weather back home. And there's a bike path near the hotel, so I got to go inline skating today and not worry about getting wacked by a car.

Three interesting deaths...

Geeking out

Some people are actually playing DnD at this board gaming thing.

Ingenious!

James plans his next move. Unfortunately, Bob kicked all our butts and ended the game early by scoring 18 points in all colors.

I've never seen that happen before...

Where am I?

Just finished a 12 hour drive from RI to Columbus, Ohio. I am now at a week long board gaming thing called the Gathering of Friends. The drive was pretty uneventful - there's not much to see along Interstate 80 and I was on that stretch of road for almost 400 miles.

I had been looking forward to this vacation, but the downside is I will miss 3 karate classes. I will practice on my own but it's never as good as a real class.

Sadness

Today I found out my nephew has joined the army infantry. I had spoken with him about a week ago and he was enrolling in college and was picking courses and all that. He had always talked about wanting to join the military, but last time I saw him he said it was going to be after college. So this news is a bit of a shock. He ships out to basic training on Monday. I imagine it'll be Iraq after that.

*sigh* I sure hope he stays safe. I still remember him as a little kid... now he's all grown up.

Good luck Josh!

New Goal

While looking out the window of the airplane, seeing all sorts of landscapes between San Francisco and Chicago, I've added a new goal to my list of things to do. I'd really like to drive across the US or maybe take a train. There's just so much variety of different lanscapes - mountains, steppes, plains, etc., it seems it really should be experienced first-hand rather than just jetting over it at 30,000 feet. Maybe it won't look so impressive or interesting up close, but I have to find out.

Welcome to San Jose South, the place where no one lives

No, it's not that everyone is dead here. It just seems this place is made up of lots of office parks, but no homes. There are immaculate sidewalks with well manicured lawns, beautiful trees and flower gardens yet on my one hour walk around the area, I didn't encounter a single pedestrian. A car would occasionally drive by, but that was about it. It's like being in a computer game or something where there aren't any other people to interact with unless you go into a shop.

Not exactly a comforting sign

This cancer warning sign on the entrance to my hotel doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling about staying there.

Gah! Involuntary travel

Just when I was starting to get resettled at my condo after house/cat sitting for some friends for the month of March, I am now forced to take a trip to San Jose. So I sit in the Chicago airport as I type this waiting for my connecting flight. My favorite feature of the airport is the Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Shame I don't have enough time to eat there. Fortunately I do have time to grab a decaf cafe mocha from Starbucks.

On the water again

It's not as exciting as the kayaking with seals last weekend, but the weather has warmed up considerably and I did get out on the water again. And yes, I did wear my wetsuit this time. Sheesh! What a bunch of worry warts!

This was also the first trip with my new 17' sea kayak. I made an impulse buy when I decide to stop and poke around in the local kayak shop down the street from my condo. It turned out theywere having a sale and the sales woman was very helpful and friendly and as an added bonus, I discovered it came with a free 2 person tent as some sort of promotion. How cool is that?