i just went to a friend's graduation, where the graduating commencement speaker made a disappointingly common mistake in speech which just makes me cringe.

"i would like to thank you, but i'm not going to." that's always how the phrase rings in my head.

in winter, we had volcanoes.

in summer, we now have winter floods. nice.

so missing from the news: our dear sweet governor, who was almost vice-president, has not declared the city of eagle to be in a state of emergency.

to put this all in perspective: downtown eagle is usually 20 or 25 feet above the river. now, it's 10 or 15 feet below ( Read more... )

most of us are probably familiar with the annoying *beep* *beep* of a commercial vehicle in reverse. and most of us probably take it in stride. and i know that when i throw my bus into reverse, i want the world (or at least that small portion behind me) to know i've done just that ( Read more... )

sometimes, it really sucks to be left-handed.

ouch.

ok, class. raise your hand if you are surprised by this.

though as i understand it, the spectrum rights have already been sold. so there just might be a legal problem with this little display of legislative back-pedaling.

it is one of my great disappointments that today i was not in Washington, D.C ( Read more... )

-20? not so bad ( Read more... )

it's amazing how comfortable +40 degrees is after having just spent a week in -40 degrees. unfortunately, the 40s, 50s and 60s of seattle are behind me. back to the frozen north. the very very frozen north.

it's amazing how quickly the temperature can change in extreme climates. in the valley right now, fairbanks is hovering around -30F. but twenty miles out of town, and the temp goes north of -10.

ok. so it's not *technically* the new year. but it is winter solstice ( Read more... )