Me
Sean
Jon
Amy
  
If we were on South Park, this is what we'd look like!
06-04-02
June is here but it feels like April. It was a good time to go to Vegas.
Six Thumbs (the Six Arms softball team) finally won their first game - at a score of 14-12. As always, the play-by-play can be found here on Jon's site.
Johnston Architects got the South Park library project, which I'm excited about.
My computer crashed two Fridays ago and I'm at a complete loss. My Dreamweaver and Photoshop are gone. Today my attbi mail stopped working online (I have to check my mail online from Sean's computer). I'm like an addict without my fix. I'm here at Johnston right now just to work on my site.
I wish I had more to tell you, but without referring to my Outlook calendar, which is also lost, I have no recollection of what I've done for the past two weeks.
What did I do before I had a computer?????
06-09-02

Nowa

Today was the Six Arms softball game and that's all I want to say about that. My story continues with us going to Zesto's (near Ballard High School) after the game, where I had a web journal experience.
It starts with me asking if there's bacon or ham in their clam chowder. The boy says "I don't know, but there's clams." and he then turns around and asks the other girl. She says "There's clams." She turns around and asks the manager guy if there's ham in the clam chowder. He says no. I'm skeptical but I order it because it's the only thing that looks mildly pleasant there.
As soon as I open the lovely styrofoam dish, I smell bacon. So Jon and Sean both try it and they agree it's pretty bacony. (Spell-check doesn't like bacony). I go back to the counter and tell the guy "there's bacon in the clam chowder." He turns to the manager and the manager says "You asked if there's ham in the clam chowder, there's not, it's bacon." First, I'd like to say DUH, next I'd like to point out that the girl wrongly asked my question. Before I finish with my Zesto's rant (and I could go on), I'd just like to point out Noah's receipt. The boy asked Noah's name, and then wrote the name on the receipt at the left.

I'm pleased to announce that I got my computer back, all jazzed up with Windows XP and a fat hard drive. My husband is the best. He's making dinner right now. It's in here on the recipe page, and we're trying it for the first time tonight. But I'm betting you can't go wrong with over a half-pound of cheese and two cups of cream in a pasta sauce.*
Speaking of betting, I've been oddsmaking at Starbucks for a couple weeks while our boss Chris was away in Italy and Vegas. I was put in charge of ordering all pastries. The markout goal is 7% (Seven percent of the pastries are leftover at closing time - we donate all pastries to Northwest Harvest). So you don't want to sell out of everything, but you don't want to order pastries people don't want. I dabbled in some new items and they went well. Suddenly, I'm obsessed with pastry sales, percentage per transaction, markout percentage, comparisons with last week's sales, etc. etc. I've got computer printouts with little numbers scribbled all over the place and I'm having flashbacks of my Dad and his oddsmaking and power ratings. So I now call my pastry paperwork my pastry power ratings. Anyhoo, Chris is home now and he has given me all pastry responsibilities and my obsession remains. We'll start carrying shortbread cookies this Wednesday, Diane.
* I went to Central Market, of course, and they played "Ball of Confusion" by Love and Rockets. I love that place.
Friday night Jon, Amy, Jon's Dad, Amy's parents, and I went to the Mariners vs. Cubs game. It was long. Earl (Jon's Dad) informed us that they may sell the house in Yakima and move to Olympia. They'll know more in July. I'd be happy to have them closer, and not worry about them traveling back and forth through the passes, but I'd also be sad to see their house go.
Saturday Jon took his second ARE exam (in structures) and it wasn't too fun for him. We'll know the results within a month.
There's more to report, I'm sure, but I should be working on three different web sites (none of which my own). Here's my start of a beautiful site. (2004 Edit - the band broke up and the site is gone)

06-14-02
Last night we went to the hottest show we've ever been to. It beat out the Music Festival we went to in Indianapolis in July of 95. And that thing was all day.
Queens of the Stone Age played at the Graceland, and it was ninety degrees in Seattle that day.
NINETY DEGREES. The temperature does not go up to ninety in Seattle. Normally.
I forgot to mention that this was an all-ages show, meaning it started much earlier than most shows.

So the club did not have a chance to cool off before packing hundreds of kids into it. There is no ventilation there either. It had to be over a hundred degrees in there and the humidity and the young bodies and oh, I won't even go there. Bleccch!
Queens performed with Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters/Nirvana) on drums and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees) doing some singing. It was fabulous, but like I said, the heat was overwhelming. Plus most of the time I was there, I kept thinking "my fish are burning." I knew the tank was too hot when we left, and for some reason the tank seems to heat up even more on the night after a really hot day.
Sure enough, it was also at ninety degrees. (It shouldn't go over eighty.) As soon as we walked in the door, we hooked up the syphon and replaced about 25% of the tank water with cold water. We have such tough fish! Over three years now!
Tomorrow we see the last performance of Botch at the Showbox, and I hope the air conditioning is cranked.
Today I went through the torment of wrapping TWO gifts - one for Dad for Father's Day, the other for Anne, a Starbucks customer who invited me to her bridal shower and wedding (see a picture of her dog in my October journal). I can't figure out why I didn't inherit the gift-wrapping gene from the Snyder side of my family, but I tell ya, it really ain't there. I wrap some UGLY gift boxes.
Dad, Anne, I hope you appreciate the fact that I didn't throw your gifts in grocery bags bound in masking tape, because I've done that before.
Gotta wash the bleach outta my hair and go to sleep - long day tomorrow.

06-24-02
Walter, John, Bill		 My cops were on the news! They arrested a guy who killed a state auditor. It's been a crazy week for police - a sherrif's deputy was killed with his own gun while trying to wrestle down a crazy naked guy. There were witnesses and it was gross.
I survived the visit from Sean's Mom and sister and brother.
Sean took a job at Kinko's starting this week - it's a full-time job with quasi-normal hours. I am currently trying to convince Johnston Architects to hire me on full time. I would try to stay at Starbucks one morning a week just to see everyone. I probably won't know much until I get back from my July 4th trip to the midwest.
06-30-02
Yet another loss for our softball team......
Thursday night I saw Automaton play at the Liquid Lounge (a bar in the Experience Music Project). Friday I saw a killer rock band called Camarosmith - a Starbucks customer said her boyfriend was in a band that would play Friday night and I said I'd hang with her. It also turns out that she works at the Sam's Club where the guy mentioned above was arrested! It was a crazy day for them - the murderer was driving the semi with a delivery to Sam's Club when he was arrested!
Automaton played again at Stella's Pizza in Georgetown for their CD release party - I got there kinda late so I stayed late and met some nice people while chillin' on the patio. I think I have a crush on the whole band.
I leave for my trip to the mid-west Wednesday and return Sunday. Sean is staying here for this trip since he just started his new job. He's been spending hours in line at the INS to replace his green card which was stolen from his car last spring. Good times. And only $130 to replace.
I hope all of you have a great holiday weekend, and I hope the terrorist threats are a bunch of hooey.