seattlejo.com

When was the last time you were at your local library?  If its been a while you might be surprised at what they offer. We live a block and a half from my local library. I’m there at least once a week picking up, dropping off or just browsing books. Recently though I’ve been able to appreciate the library in whole new ways.

Saving Money:
I’m a magazine hound. I love magazines, particularly around this time of the year. My buying spree increases with  the early thanksgiving issues through the eating healthy issues of January. I want them all. This year my local library supplied a solution as I begin to check out magazines from last holiday season for ideas. One of these days I’ll run down to the big central library and exploit their larger magazine collection in the same way.

New Ideas:
Since Miss Bit is home with me most days after school I’m also using the opportunity to check out kids craft magazines and books. Projects that use recycled materials are preferred, and medium mess easy cleanup. So far we are working on paper mache pumpkins and i have a few “holiday” ideas up my sleeve. 

More entertainment:
DVDS. Lots and lots of DVDs the best thing about checking DVDs out of the library? It doesnt hurt to check something out and have it turn out to be awful. I’ve checked out a few movies that I’d heard good things about but were stinkers*, and I’ve checked out movies that i’d never heard about that I ended up loving. It’s random what will be on the shelf and its delightful to try something new with no risk.

More accessible:
Tonight I was looking through the books of a favorite author and ended up on a list of ebooks. digging a little deeper, I now have 15 pdf ebooks checked out to me.
From cookbooks to a series of Terry Brooks that I’ve been wanting to start.  Fun. Next up? Figuring out how to get the audiobooks onto my shuffle/sansa so I have “reading” for the bus. All done from the comfort of the big chair. No going to the library neccessary.

More educational:
I’m lucky enough to not only have a great city library but a great county library system, and KCLS offers free language lessons. Through a program called Mango online, I can brush up on my German, French, Japanese or Spanish.

So this week, Seattlejo suggests you check out your local library.

*I feel either too old or too out of it, but I didnt get Napolean Dynamite.

Saturday we packed up the car and did a roadtrip down to Vancouver so i could meet my fiances brother before he goes in for surgery tomorrow. It was my first introduction to my future in-laws , talk about nerve wracking. We were up early, and hit the road only to realize we missed on crucial step. As soon as we hit the freeway, Miss Bit had to pee. So it was a stop in South Seattle at McDonalds for her to pee. We finally hit the road for real about 9-9:30.   It was the longest roadtrip Patrick, Miss Bit and I have done together, an important  step in calculating our long term  compatibility. 

Getting to Vancouver
All in all it went fairly well. Miss Bit chattered in the back and played with her groovy girls and we chattered in the front. I discovered that the new car has heated seats . Its something I consider totally frivolus, but I enjoyed them coming home, even texting Aron that I had a “hot ass”  heh.

We got into Vancouver around 12:30 and visited for a while with Patricks nephew and brother. Since we were planning on having dinner with them and other friends in the area, we opted to leave for a while, and visit Powells.

Visting Powells
So we got to Portland, had a pretty ok time reaching Powells. I think Patrick was overwealmed by the number of rooms there were. We stayed for about an hour, visiting the childrens section first, then  we split up and explored on our own. For me it was off to craft books and cookbooks, for Patrick and Miss Bit it was the childrens clearence, and the sci fi books. We met up again at the coffee shop, picked up a drink then headed back to Vancouver.

Many of my friends adore Powells  and I usually give it a hit when i’m down in Portland. Overall though, I’m not impressed. Perhaps its the organization, the crowd, just how overwealming it is. Perhaps its that its not easy to see the used books in with the new ones, perhaps its that the prices just arent that great. I’m finding with books in general, i have a hard time paying anything near retail for them. I’m much more up for buying them used, and checking them out of the library a couple of times to see if it is something i really need.   So Powells yieled a few more books on my library list and a few more on my radar in general, the only thing that came   home with me was a book on stats to prepare me for one of my winter quarter classes. So yeah, i’m glad we stopped, but  still don’t feel like its a mecca for me.   (Next time I’d love a visit to Yarnia or Penzeys instead.)

Dinner in Vancouver
We headed back to Vancouver, and spent more times with my future in-laws. Patrick’s sister in law came home from work and we ended up having at an Indian Buffet that Patrick’s friends took him too the last time they were in town.  Over Indian food there was more visiting, and his friends were also able to join us. Poor Miss Bit was a bit overwlealmed at this point though, with so many adults to get attention from and was less then well behaved.  She did pretty well with the indian food though, so I have to give her credit there.  

Back to Seattle
We were back on the road by nine and home by 11. Miss Bit fell asleep pretty much right away and Patrick had a nice chat the way home. Its nice to get away from the computers and spend some time talking,  and I take my job seriously as a navigator in the car. Patrick offered to let me take a nap, but instead i chattered up a storm, keeping us both awake the way home.

Next time? Well next time I’d say its not a day trip and we’ll spend the night. 7 hours is a long time in the car for a day.

This little guy greeted us as we got to the Waterhouse Center, clearly signaling that “Here There Be  Dragons”

I was apprehensive about the course , as I’m sure you all realized.  I didn’t expect that it would turn out to be such a negative experience for me.

We did a total of 5 main challenges.

There was the balancing bridge, the lava maze, the bone crusher, the spider web, the cube, and the tonpoco river.

The purpose was for us to function in teams to complete the tasks.  We were able to complete most everything. We learned about leadership conflict, effective leadership, and i picked up some feedback in regards to styles of leadership
i learned that there is real truth in this statement

The most effective way to do it, is to do it. Amelia Earhart.

The first challenge was the bridge, led by a girl who drove me nuts the entire day. The bridge challange is a balancing bridge that you need to get everyone on and keep balanced, if it tilts, you start over. We had to get 23 people on. The girl who drove me nuts was given leadership because she had done this before, something she reminded everyone of all day in a “This one time at band camp” sort of way. She was a stabalizer and spent 45 minutes listening to what everyone wanted to do and debating, without trying things out. It was pretty pointless.

To be honest, I also resented her enthusiasm. The class sessions leading up to this she had extolled the virtues of this and “how much fun it would be”. So it hung over my head that  “She thinks this is fun, i just want to get this done and get out of the damn woods.”

This is the bonecrusher the point is that you have to move over the spool there, without touching the sides of it.  It meant that we literally boosted people over, had them climbing on each other and pulled them over. The last guy? Had to jump and be pulled over by his arms only. I was very concious about standing on someone’s back and having to be lifted up to the spool. Of course I also helped lift people. Which meant an invasion of personal space. I said the tag line of the class should be “Touching Butt in the Woods of Monroe”
 
It didnt get better from there. After lunch we did the cube, where you have a six sided cube each side a different color. You have to go in one side  and out the other without touching the cube.  So we all lined up according to size, the 6 who “couldn’t be lifted” and then 6 who could be. Guess which one I was? 

One of my classmates, we’ll call him Sarcastic Jack,  was good about it. He stepped up said “I’m one of the biggest guys here so I need accomodation, and so will some of you others so please step up.” But he also brought more to the game. In the cube challenge since we had to lift people in and out of the cube, he was a major player. For one move he literally tossed people over his shoulder, put them in the cube and they stepped out.

The Tanpoco river was the worst.
See that platform? That can only be reached by swinging on a rope across the “river”. You can stand on the platform or on a hula hoop island. You can not move from the hula hoop island to the platform, nor from the platform to the island. So how diid the girls get in the hula hoops? Those guys standing at the front , Sarcastic Jack and the Marine caught people and put them into the hoops.  

I ended up on the platform, with 15 other people, with the girls in the back holding me up as we got more crowded.  How did i get over to the platform? By swinging across the rope playground style. The first time i ended up flat on my ass on the ground in front of the platform. Nothing hurt, just my ego.

In the end most of the day was a challange for Sarcastic Jack as he lifted and carried people here and there. He joked at the end that he had lifted 20 girls over the threshold and didnt even get a handshake.  It was his motivation that got us through it.  Was he motivated by the fun? Nope. He also wanted to get this done in the most effecient manner to get us out of the damn woods.

The worst part?
I left with my body image in shreds. Literally I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.  My body image is pretty good. I am aware of my weight and size, and am happy. I have a fairly active life, i dont eat baby flavored donuts, and maintain a pretty  balanced diet.  To spend the day  in a “team building” excerise where I was assessed for my physical attributes and the challanges they bring to the team was devastating. In a work group or class team my weight should have no impact to my classmates. (Beyond the occasional asshole who has a bias against fat people) In this though, my size, and the body that I’m comfortable with were a drawback and emberassing. I wasnt the only one either.  The day was mean to teach me to engage and bond, instead I am struggling not to question my attributes. 

Body image can be a fragile thing, and to have this  team building exercise hinge on physical prowess was  hard on me.  I’m not about to go jump on a gym membership or the latest diet. (though I must admit my condition of omg so fat must go to the gym for the next 45 hours did hit me)
 Instead my hurt has channeled into a feeling of betrayal at the course.  Last night I drowned my feelings with a hard cider and a hot bath, this morning I’m feeling better, but am still very thoughtful aboout the event.

Above all I suggest cozy socks for chilly fall days. I also suggest warm hoodies

Today’s Seattlejo Suggests is really about podcast’s though. I’ve recently begun listening to Podcasts again and wanted to suggest the ones I’m listening too and see what you have to suggest to me.

Coverville is a podcast based on covers of songs. I never thought I’d be so delighted in hearing a whole show dedicated to Stairway to Heaven,  but I was. There was such a variety and so much pure fun in the version that were chosen.

The Splendid Table: I love Lynne Rosetto Kaspar. I love the Roadfood column done by the Sterns, I love the calls from normal people with food questions. It makes me think, and sometimes gives me great suggestions.

Groovelectric DJ Steveboy knows how to get me dancing. This podcast and podrunner his fitness podcast are fabulous. When I’m trying to work my way through homework and need an audio push without distraction this is where I turn. My favorite so far has been the mix “Martini Gods”

Irish and Celtic Music Podcast I’ve got a weakness for celtic music and this is a great way to get exposure to new bands without going broke buying things I might not like.

Globalization 3000 (Videocast)
This is the only video podcast I watch. It’s a compelling look at global issues, with a personal perspective. Very enjoyable.

Lastly..
I’m listening to Dave Ramsey. i can’t really reccomend it yet as I’ve only started listening, but what I’ve listened to so far I’ve liked. One of the tasks Patrick and I have ahead of us before we get married is getting on the same page financially. I don’t want to combine finances, but want to have transparency regarding our personal finances and to work toward a common goal. We’re discussing attending a course like Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University to orient ourselves to the same page.

So what am I missing? I used to listen to Weekday, but found it really hard to keep up with it.  I listen either in the kitchen or at my computer. My main  mp3 play doesnt do itunes and I’ve not bothered to try to subscribe any other way.

Were you a girl scout/boy scout? Were you involved in  Campfire or something similar?
I was a Brownie. In 2nd grade I was part of a troop, we did the cookie sale, and I think a camping trip . I remember a visit to a local nursing home to deliver cookies and sing carols during the holidays. I remember a doll beauty contest  that made me feel bad because my doll wasn’t one of those nifty oh so in demand Cabbage Patch Dolls. After a year or so the troop broke up, there had been something like 40 girls involved and the leaders couldn’t handle it. I never got involved again, but wished that I had the opportunity. I remember in 6th grade trying to find some information about joining but I seemed to old.

Tonight I went to an information meeting about the Girl Scouts, it’s one of the activities Miss Bit is interested in, and we are interested in perhaps getting her involved.  The feedback I got was that the troops up here are pretty full, and the best way to get your daughter in is to volunteer, but thats a lot of responsibility. We’ll see. Meanwile, tell me about your Scout career!

One of the challenges of the new school year is getting to and from campus. I dont live that far from campus, only about 20 miles or so. If I was driving google tells me that it would take me between 30-40 minutes. As a dedicated bus babe though it takes me about an hour and a half. I’m good with that though. Yet I’ve found that bussing around the North end of Lake Washington is using all of my advanced busing skills. I am taking busing on two different transit agencies, I have taking between 2-4 buses each day, and able to change where I get off what transfer I make in a heart beat. 
Last night I was headed home, 4pm on a Saturday and instead of taking the 522->41->5 (or 16/48) I opted to take the 522->345/331->5 so that i could stop at a church Octoberfest for a bit.  I send text messages to figure out what bus is going to be where when, and make adjustements to fit my schedule. Advanced busing is more then just knowing the area  and the buses available it is making these changes without throwing your schedule out the window. It’s knowing that I can take alter my buses and still  make it in plenty of time to make my 3pm pick up deadline.

So far I’ve been able to get the total busing time under 1.5 hours, but I’m enjoying the challlenge.  Its fun to explore the North end, and there are so many ways to do it.
The funny thing is that most of the routes I choose are not something suggested by the tripplanner. The tripplanner suggests I bus through the UW Seattle Campus on the red route and I find that the green route is so much more direct, even if it is 3 buses versus 2. (You may have to zoom out to get a view of how the bus routes work. The purple route leads to the bothell campus, all the other colors are routes to get to the purple route.)

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 You might know that UW Bothell wasn’t my first choice. I had other grandiose plans in mind for the beginning of this school year but those got changed pretty swiftly last winter. The funny thing is, if i had ended up at Bastyr, my other choice, busing would have been just about the same.

When I quit my job in May. I wondered if I would get bored. I’ve worked since I was 16 years old, and have had a full time job pretty much solid since I was 17. Nicely enough, the time  has gone fairly quickly as the weeks have a definite texture to them. From when I first quit and was managing Miss Bit before school and my full time school schedule, to having Miss Bit full time during the days. Then she was gone and I was working  on my finals, and now, as I wait for school to start, I’m managing her after school care. Every 3-4 weeks has had some sort of change, it’s been a little bit different of a routine.  This final break before I start school means  that I’ve got some time to finish up some projects.

I’m wrapping up the Kitchen Book Project, and am enjoying the accomplishment of it. It’s been fun thinking of which recipes we really use all the time, and which ones I just wish we used all the time. I tried to stick to tried and true recipes. The purpose of the book is to give me a manual to reach for when I’m making one of our common dinner items. Instead of dragging out my well loved copy of the Joy of Cooking, I can just pull out the binder and make pancakes.  I had to fudge a little on vanilla cupcakes and chocolate frosting, as I don’t really have a tried and true, but i really wanted to have those in the book at easy reach.

I’m looking over my mom’s cookbook, and realizing it was her kitchen manual. It wasn’t just recipes she liked and recipes she’d like to make. No instead it was her tried and trues. Some of them made it into my book, but not all of them. We don’t eat the same as I did growing up.  As the book finishes and gets printed I’ll post on my food blog what is in it. I can’t share the recipes as most of them are from cookbooks.

Next project up is finalizing the material for the class I’m teaching on the 25th. Plus the requisite back to school stuff to be done the week of the 22nd.

From Blog Photos

On Saturday Miss Bit and I decided to take part in the GAIN neighborhood cleanup. I’m big on volunteering, and things that the kiddo can do are even better. One of the local church volunteered to feed us, so we headed out early hoping for maybe a donut and coffee before we commenced clean up.   We scored, and instead of the expected donuts,  Greenwood Christian Church provided   pancakes, sausage, and juice.  After breakfast we put on our orange  vest, picked up gloves and grabbers and paird up with another pair, a mother  with a little girl about Miss Bits age. The girls had a great time as we wanded up and down 80th picking up cigarrette butts, empty bottles and other bits of trash.
About half way through we had a cat join us. He was a skittish kitty who didnt let me take a good picture of him, but he followed us down the street inspecting our progress and making sure we weren’t slacking off. It was charming to have a  kitty foreman. 

Our street closed last night and gave us a chance to  mingle with our neighbors over food and drink. It was a nice chance to get to know the folks in the area, and  meet some of the local dogs. (That was a real treat for me!)  The kids ran wild enjoying the luxury of a closed street and the ability to run and bike and scoot without looking for cars. The adults enjoyed the chance to mingle. There was some discussion of how long folks had been in the neighborhood for. That made me feel a little be temporary , as being in a rental we can only guarantee to live here as long as the house is for rent, and as long as it meets our needs.  i did also find out that the landlord tried to sell the house  a couple of years ago when the market was better, but nothing came of it clearly.

We lost power last night, around 11:30 or so. it flickered then boom it was out  I stumbled upstairs and looked down the street to see the street lights out and to see a someone clearly fumbling with a flashlight through the curtains .  Sadly  i was a third of the way through  “Dude Where’s My Car” on Hulu. maybe i’ll pick it up again tonight.

The Pig and Whistle is officially open as of today!
There were signs of life there yesterday for a private party, but tonight they’ll throw the doors open and welcome the neighborhood back in. Yay!

i peeked my head in last night and took a photo