Yard Update

Richard's recent post reminded me to post an update on our front yard metamorphosis! We have a long ways to go -- cobble or flagstone pathway over the concrete and gravel, wood bridge over the dry river bed, water feature (we have the main big rock, but have to do the work around it and some other smaller rocks), plants, bench, split rail fence, etc. -- but we've come such a long way and I absolutely can't believe how different it all looks! I swear, I just about drive right by our house every time!

Here are before and after (er, I mean "during") pictures:

1400 (2253 kilometers) Miles Later...

We're home! After having a blast in Las Vegas, we got in the car and drove...and drove... and drove! I don't think I've ever driven that far in that short a time! Basically, it went really well. Thank goodness we had no mechanical problems. The only problem we did have was with a... um... different approach to the driving aspect of the whole thing. Elisabeth is 22, very impatient and very... well -- DRIVEN. She's stubborn, determined, and she lives life at high speed -- and, it turns out, she drives a car with the same impetuous attitude! And the more I'd fret and complain and cajole and flinch and lecture, the more she'd push it, defiant child that she is! I'm sure I'll eventually I'll have blood flow back in my nuckles, but oh my gawd! (I love you, m'dear! )

As long as we weren't driving, we did great and had a wonderful time together! It was a blast doing the whole Las Vegas thing together and I am honored that she could have taken any of her friends but took her mommy instead. It was definitely a bonding experience and we've vowed to do it again again someday... without the driving piece of it.

The play in Ashland was great, and the dog did, indeed, steal the show. The production was creative and hilarious and just a lot of fun! Afterwards we went to Chateaulin, one of Ashland's landmark resaurants, for French onion soup, delicious salad and scrumptious desserts. It was great to have a chance to get to know Lou better and I can't think of anyone more perfect for my dad. How wonderful to see him so incredibly happy after so many rough years -- both during Mom's illness and before.

We left Ashland this morning at 6:15 and we drove into our driveway at 1:59 (see reference to driving above), allowing me enough time to actually get some Microsoft work in... which is a good thing after a weekend like that!

Tales from Las Vegas

So we went to "the city of phony" and saw more real than we ever expected.

After settling into our hotel -- that's Elisabeth and me in front of the hotel, the Monte Carlo -- we decided to check out the Bodies exhibit at the Tropicana across the street. Yes, these are dead human bodies, but the exhibit is anything but morbid or gross. In fact, it is absolutely dignified and respectful -- and probably the single most educational experience in biology, anatomy and the human body I have ever had! It was especially interesting to have experienced it with Elisabeth who, being a bio major at Cal and newly working in the medical field, could name just about every body part and its function. There are just no words to describe the impact, so I won't even try. Suffice it to say that it is well worth any money you'd spend on it, it is unforgettable, and you will learn more from the exhibit than any one biology class -- or at least have a more real understanding of the human body instead of just memorizing names of body parts from a text book!

After hours in that exhibit, we went to the Titanic exhibit which was also fabulous... though both in the same day was actually a bit of sensory overload -- and not the kind that Vegas is usually associated with!

Of course we had to do the buffet thing, so we went to the one we'd heard was the best -- Spice Market at the Aladdin. WOW! I had planned to suspend my Weight Watchers plan for the day... and good thing I had, though by the time we ate it was well after 6 and we hadn't eaten since before boarding the plane at 7:00 that morning, so we were hungry! Actually, I was pretty good, considering the opportunity for me to have been SO bad! I love this picture of Elisabeth with her dessert choices (I had a chocolate dipped strawberry)!

After dinner, we walked off the calories -- or a tiny fraction of them -- by walking the Strip. The original plan was to see Blue Man Group, but dammit, there was no show at 10:00 as I'd heard, so we missed that one. Then we walked across the street to see the pirate show at Treasure Island (now called "TI," since the "family fun" theme in Vegas is a thing of the past). Unfortunately (Elisabeth has so built up those gorgeous studly pirates!), it was cancelled due to wind. (Huh? All we felt was a slight breeze!)

So instead of seeing a show, we watched people gamble away zillions of dollars. Don't ever let anyone tell you that gambling is fun; it is not. WINNING is fun. I had $19 worth of not fun and $1 worth of fun. After I cashed out my "winnings," we decided to get our enjoyment vicariously. I definitely recommend that method!

Last night we drove about 785 miles, from Las Vegas to Ashland, Oregon. Actually, Elisabeth drove. I can't sleep in the car at night unless I'm at the wheel, in which case sleep comes easily -- which can be a problem. Tomorrow we'll drive from Ashland to Seattle, with me at the wheel since we'll leave very early in the morning, when I'm most awake.

Tonight, though,we'll go to closing night of the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, which should be fun! We'll see "Two Gentlemen of Verona." I've heard two things about this production: 1.) It features a live dog, who steals the show and 2.) we should plan to freeze our buns off, since it's in the outdoor theater. No matter, though -- we'll be with my dad and Lou, and that, in itself, will make the evening wonderful! Will post again when we get back to Seattle!

Creative Thinking is Untidy

In a few hours, I'll lead a brainstorming session for our team. In attendance will be about thirty Microsoftie left-brainers and one right-brainer (me). It should be interesting.

Asking people who code all day in a linear, logical manner to think abstractly and creatively is no small request. It is huge, a temporary re-mapping of their brains, and I presume that it is as thoroughly exhausting for them as it would be for me to attempt math or logic puzzles all day.

So I will go about it gently, introducing them slowly to this unfamiliar way of thinking, even coaxing and encouraging them with candy. The goal is to ultimately come up with a name for this new platform we're working on -- a creative name, not something like Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager Server. (And not something weird like Zune, either...)

Viva Las Vegas!

OK, it's not my first choice for a destination. Hell, I can think of a hundred American cities I'd rather visit.

But I can hardly wait till very early on Friday morning when Elisabeth and I will take an all expenses paid mother and daughter trip to Las Vegas. Yup -- just the two of us, both over 21 and both ready for a vacation... even if it is just for a day and has to be "paid for" by a three day drive back to Seattle!

Elisabeth gets a company car and can upgrade nicely (because someone in Vegas left the company) if she picks up the car. The company will fly us both there and put us up at the Monte Carlo. We "simply" have to drive back home. So we're planning to make the most of the 24 hours we have in Vegas! A show or two, a buffet or two, a drink or two by the pool, served by a Chippendale's waiter or two... Who knows?!

We'll go from seedy to classy in a day as we leave Sin City and drive about 800 miles (I dread that!) to the location of the best Shakespeare festival in the US and my dad's home, Ashland, Oregon, where Elisabeth will meet my father's lady love and the four of us will see the season's final performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Then we'll drive all day again, all the way to Seattle.

From the time Elisabeth was tiny, Tom (who for some reason loves Vegas) had promised her that he'd take her there for her 21st birthday. That never happened because life got in the way, so he took her for her 22nd birthday and they had a wonderful time, walking (fast) all over town, observing (because Tom's not a joiner), and staying up all night. This trip with me will be a whole different experience. We'll lounge instead of walk, we'll engage and chat with strangers (because we're both the social type), and we'll be back in the room by 2 AM at the latest (because unlike her dad, I'm no night owl!). And dammit, we'll have at least as much fun as they had!

We'll take lots of pictures and blog away with the "best of the weekend"! Stand by...

I Lost This...

...and I do not want to ever find it again!

Call the Fire Department!

The Big M has hit -- suddenly and without mercy.

At first (as in, last week), I figured that stores had turned up their thermostats for some inexplicable reason, that maybe I was coming down with a fever (once every few hours), and that maybe I was dressing for the weather changing in the wrong direction. Surely there had to be some explanation other than the fact that I'll turn 50 in less than two months and nature was... well, taking its appropriate course.

Some of my friends had described their "personal summers" to me over the past year and I listened compassionately, actually gloating a bit inside that I was having an easy time of it all, sliding with dignity into a graceful middle age. Well, I have been humbled, much like I was humbled by a torturous second labor after boasting about how easy birth was for me, how my body was made for giving birth...

Nature has a cruel sense of humor, it turns out, and I am the butt of the joke this month. I am not laughing. In fact, in the past week, in addition to wanting to suddenly strip naked for all the wrong reasons, I have also found myself erupting into tears for just about no discernable reason -- something quite unlike me.

Couldn't I just have reached 50 first? Could not just that much mercy be shown?

A Lesson in Persistence from Mother Nature

We have friends who have lived within a 20-minute drive of Neuschwanstein castle in Germany for over 14 years . Until we visited them and begged to play tourist at the castle, they had never taken a half-day trip to see what others travel the world to see.

Similarly, we live within a half mile stroll of some of the most fascinating salmon spawning in the world. Every September we see these signs as we drive to and from our busy lives at Microsoft and in the city of Seattle, but in 12 years here have we ever taken a few minutes to pay a visit to the spawning salmon?

Not until today.

Kat and I had spent our Sunday afternoon at the craft store (gotta feed my scrapbooking habit!) and sipping coffee at Starbuck's and were on our way home to do normal-life things like making a lasagne dinner and doing homework when, at the last second we decided to finally see the spawing salmon. We parked almost a stone's throw from our house, walked a short trail to Bear Creek, and there they were -- hundreds of bright red salmon, some with patches of white decaying scales, the gruesome hint of the fate that would soon greet them.

For almost two hours, Kat and I watched the salmon, each one immersed in a valiant struggle to fight against the stream's current with a determination that is truly awe-inspiring. We live a good 30 miles from the Puget Sound, the salt water where these fish began their long journey upstream to spawn -- and then to die. Many of them looked half-dead already, and we could sense their sheer exhaustion as they mustered the strength to fight one small up-hill piffle after another.

As we sat peacefully on a log watching their struggle and their instinctive strength and determination, I began to think about all the times I've complained about my own circumstances recently, wondering how long I can keep looking for the perfect job and how long I can "do it all." I was humbled as I watched the sockeye salmon today, so absolutely determined to spawn, and I promise not to complain anymore... for at least a few days.