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Kim and I spent Labor Day at Bumbershoot. This was by far the most crowded day of the festival. A little too crowded, but still fun. We saw two reggae bands in the morning. The first, Toots and the Maytals, which my coworker Dennis told me about. They have a really great album with all sorts of guest musicians including Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton. Great stuff. The second band was the Marley Brothers with Ziggy Marley and 4 other brothers. We both had a lot of fun dancing.

We saw some break dancing and some comedy as well. We finished by seeing the Pixies, but I didn’t really know any of their stuff and didn’t think it was that great anyway.

Kim and I immediately had to try out our new hammock, so we went for a hike to Annette Lake near Snoqualmie Pass. It’s a little over 7 miles round trip. We started hiking around one in the afternoon. We got a little bit of a late start because Kim had a job interview this morning for a Nan position. The environmental job hunt has been a rough one. This job would only be four days a week so she’d have an extra day to volunteer with vironmental organizations and hopefully make some contacts and get some experience for future jobs.

As soon as we got to the lake we set up the hammock and ate lunch. Then we lounged by the lakeside while playing with a roaming puppy and all the punk grey jays that were sweeping the area. There were a half dozen or so other people around the lake area, but everyone was quiet and it was very peaceful. The only downside was that it was a little chilly today, especially when the sun went behind a cloud. Normally I’d jump in the freezing cold sub-alpine lake, but I didn’t bring any warm clothes and the sun was so unreliable.

We were famished when we got back to Seattle so we went out to eat at a vegetarian restaurant on Roosevelt that we hadn’t been to before. I’ll miss being so close to so many good restaurants and bars when we buy a house, but I certainly won’t miss the noise and traffic.

It seems like everyone is out of town for labor day weekend, including our real estate agent, so Kim and I have spent the last two evenings in the Seattle center at Bumbershoot seeing Deathcab for Cutie, Pedro the Lion, Presidents of United States of America, and many other bands. The Presidents put on the best show so far. They’re really fun and quirky to see live. Tonight we saw Nickelback and they were pretty lame. They’re immature, white trash kind of heavy rock music and I like them even less after having seen them live. At least I got some cool pictures.

In another building there was a rap off just like in the move 8 Mile. It was really weird to see all the white guys rapping. Some were surprisingly good at it. I couldn’t believe it was so open to the public though with all the swearing. For those that haven’t seen 8 Mile, the rap off is basically just an excuse to make fun off another person while rapping on stage. Usually the rappers just swear about each other, use lots of profanity and talk about each other’s mothers. Kim really enjoyed all the rhythm bands because she could dance to them.

Other than music we’ve had fun seeing the vendors. We bought a hammock that was really nice and portable. We’re going to use it on our hike tomorrow. We also got some Shea Butter, which is like a lotion made from Shea nuts in central Togo. It’s really good for smoothing out climbing callouses. Lastly we bought a really nice head scratcher. I couldn’t resist, it makes your spine tingle when you use it.

We’ve finally chosen a real estate agent to work with. We’re not supposed to tell who since we found her through this referral service, so we’ve got a secret agent. Ha ha. If the financing all works out we may begin putting offers on houses as soon as next week. Then again we may not. Kim is just beginning to believe it’s real that we might buy a house.

Kim and I have been diligently house shopping the last week. We’ve visited three lenders to get preapproved and get an idea how much we qualify for, and now we’re meeting real estate agents to look at houses. It’s both a daunting and exciting task. We’re actually finding some things that we think we’ll like in our price range. We’re not ready to start making offers yet since we haven’t finalized our decision on an agent, but it could happen in the next few weeks.

We’re using a wonderful referral/consulting service that I found out about while taking real estate classes at the UW. The teacher of those classes, Jim Stacey, provides the names of reliable agents and advice through every step of the home buying process. So far it’s a wonderful service. Our biggest problem is that the agents that Jim and his wife Mel recommend are all so good that we have trouble choosing between them. It takes a lot of the stress out of the whole process because you’re a lot more confident that you aren’t making bad decisions.

It’s great that people have been posting comments and signing the guestbook. I’ve received a lot of positive response since I sent out an e-mail to my friends and family letting them know about my blog. I just wanted to let people know that the guestbook in the top right corner is a good way to leave a comment if you don’t want to comment on a specific entry. My former Spanish roommate Eli has already posted a hello! I’m jealous that her English is looking so much better than my Spanish. What a great way to keep in touch with old friends.

The fact that I’m now making some money and the current embarrassment that is the presidency have made me decide to donate some money to charitable causes. See? Bush isn’t all bad if he can get people to take interest in our society despite the fact that he wants to attack America, can’t beat a box of tic-tacs in a poll, and mangles the English language worse than any president in history. If you start taking his lying, policies favoring the wealthy, disregard for the environment, and utter lack of diplomacy into account it’s a different story, but that’s a different story.

I decided on four worthy organizations to donate money to. Two of these I would recommend that everyone join, the Sierra Club and the American Civil Liberties Union, one that every rock climber should become a member of, the Access Fund, and one that any internet user should support in addition to the ACLU, the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

The greatest benefit of donating to these organization has not been just some warm fuzzy feeling, rather it has been the wealth of information that they provide me. I initially donated money to these organizations with a very elementary understanding of their causes, but through newsletters, e-mail, and meetings I feel that I am very well informed on issues that affect my day to day life and freedom. You might think that the news would educate people about such important issues as our civil rights and the environment, but this is becoming increasingly untrue as the media becomes more homogenized, sensationalized and corporate censored.

The cost of joining most of these organizations is around $20 and is well worth it for the info, plus that warm fuzzy feeling. So inform yourself and donate to a good cause while you’re at it.

I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.
Thomas Jefferson Primary author of the Declcaration of Independence, 3rd President

My parents came to Seattle this weekend to see the Mariner game. They picked a good game to see. The Mariners were up to their usual shinanigans of leaving runners stranded most innings, commiting offensive and defensive errors and completely relying on Ichiro to provide defense and offense. Then in the bottom of the 7th they managed to score 6 runs to seal the game.

My parents showed off their new Subaru Outback. Our whole family owns Subarus now. They’re just such great cars, especially if you like to get out of the city. After dropping off my mail and some gifts from Aunt Sue, the parents left right after the game since they had a long drive home and it was already late afternoon.

Working 40 hours a week during the summer kills me. I’m seriously considering teaching just to get summers off because it’s just too nice outside to be in an office. Being independently wealthy would be another option for having summers off, another option that I’m seriously considering.

So today I took some time off work to go climbing and swimming with Brian. He’s a little more committed than I am in that he went into work at 6 am so that he could get off early. I’d much rather work late some other day to make up for it. I left work at 3 pm, picked Brian up and we headed for exit 38 on I-90.

If you take exit 38, turn right at the end of the ramp and keep driving until you pass under the freeway again you’ll find a dirt parking lot and a gate that I think the forest service maintains. Walk in a little ways and there’s a bridge over a nice stream that you can jump off of. Underneath is a rope swing. We jumped off the bridge and swam around a little before heading up the trails to go climbing.

I led three climbs on this trip, the most leading I’ve done in an outing. I took my first lead fall today! It wasn’t bad at all. I was only a few feet above a bolt trying to find a way to pull myself over a bulge. Falling did unnerve me a little anyway and I led the rest of the route slowly. I fell on a 5.9 but led a 5.10- right after that. I’m pretty pleased that I’m leading close to the level that I’m comfortable climbing at on top rope. Leading harder routes is a whole different aspect of climbing. It feels quite a bit different from just top roping the same route. There’s a lot more to consider so there’s a lot more thinking involved.

We decided to hike back before it got dark, especially since Brian is going to be going out climbing with people the next two afternoons and doesn’t want to overdo it. We stopped by the rope swing for one more quick dip and then drove home. Days like this with beautiful weather, sun, mountains, trees, streams and climbing seem so wasted in an office. Being out in nature renews something inside me. I feel a cheesy but appropriate quote coming on…

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves. John Muir Sierra Club Founder

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Kim and I spent the weekend visiting an old friend of mine from back in Newport. I should still be too young to say old friend but we realized this weekend that we’ve known each other for close to two decades now. The last time I saw Laura was in Spain more than two years ago. It doesn’t feel that long and neither of even realized it had been that long until we saw each other again and got to talking.

Kim and I drove up Saturday morning from Seattle to Laura’s current residence south of Bellingham in an unfinished house with a wonderfully crazy Scottish man named Scotty. Yes, Scotty the Scott.
Scotty is an interesting character who is very friendly, very social, very talkative and will very willingly talk to you for as long as you’re willing to listen if not longer. After some brief introductions we took off for some climbing near Anacortes.

We took a few wrong turns but found Mt Eerie and started wandering around the summit looking for climbing. We mostly setup top ropes on fairly easy routes since Laura claimed that she had only been climbing a few times, but it was soon obvious that she climbed too well for the level at which we were climbing. We hiked down the power lines and found some more challenging routes. I led a route and then set up an anchor that gave us access to two other more difficult routes. Laura climbed what was probably a challenging 5.9 and Kim tackled a difficult 5.10 pincher router that I was never able to do. The first time I tried it I traversed over to do the 5.9. I was going to call it a day and forget the route but I had to go back up and clean the gear. While attempting the route a second time the sole of my shoe tore on a small ornery toe hold. I was pissed! Oh well, I guess they needed to be resoled.

None of us had eaten lunch so we feasted at a Mexican restaurant. Returning home we found Scotty with a bottle of wine watching Alien. After Kim recovered from the dizziness that 2 glasses of Sangria had given her, we passed out.

The next day we ate Mac and Cheese for breakfast since it was was all Laura had for food. Scotty chatted about plants, the economy, the weather, animals and many other subjects before we escaped to meet up with Laura’s friend Steve to go sailing.
We took out what I believe was a twenty foot boat out on the lake for some perfect sailing weather. Kim and I learned about booms, jibs, jibes, tacks, lines and all those other fun sailing terms. Arrrrgh! What has eight arms and eight legs? Eight pirates. Steve and Laura were both great teachers.

We had beer and pizza back in Bellingham and got to know Steve better. Steve and Laura are dating even though Laura seems to have a hard time admitting it. Steve is from Pennsylvania and has been traveling around with Laura on her random adventures the last few years. After some ice cream we said our goodbyes and Kim and I drove back to Seattle.