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Mon. January 9, 2006
So, how is your year going so far? We had some fun so far, someone "tagged" our apartment building, our van, had its gas cap removed and thrown in the street and earlier today I saw a dead rat in the garage. Our building lobby door is busted and we can't get our key in it to get the mail, therefore, the dead rat in the garage..that entry is still working. On top of all that, it's been raining for 3 weeks or more. But who's complaining? ME!!! surely you gest... But, on the bright side, I've been busy working at the eye store, doing data entry and now starting to update the website for the upcoming trunk show in February, so I guess, you would say I'm still busy. Plus, old favorite TV shows are returning to the tube, yea!


Wed. January 18, 2006
Been working since the beginning of the year, man, I needa vacation. Maybe next month, here's crossing our fingers :)
Finished the work for 4 Your Eyes Only posters and updated pages for the web site. Slowly getting WSRC's web site updated as the info starts streaming in. Our rain streak is over and back to the normal gloom & doom, plus working at lot at my on-call job, never a dull moment.


Tue. January 31, 2006
Busy as a beaver, or more like a groundhog, it's coming up soon in a couple of days, and winter has set itself here for a while, nothing but rain, rain and even more rain, and not the usual Seattle drizzle, but RAIN, and it's getting boring, I guess it's a good thing I'm working all the time and not really noticing it, that's a lie, I notice it, all too much.


Wed. February 8, 2006
Still busy, well even more busy, don't see an end in sight, unless we actually do go to Arizona for a long weekend. Seahawks couldn't pull it off, no matter how hard they tried kicking and screaming to win, I'm not gonna say anything, it's just we have good teams, they make it almost to the number 1 position, but somehow it eludes them. An old friend passed on this week, first one this year, and it's only Feb. ahhh getting old, ain't it grand!


Wed. February 15, 2006
Yes, it's very cold, I'm loving this winter, lots of fog, lots of rain, and now lots of cold temps, and I was tired of winter back in November and here it is mid-Feb. Still busy, but at least the pace is getting to a comfortable busy and not making me feel stretched to the limit. No plans for the future, we were thinking of taking a vacation to Arizona, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen and I don't know when a vacation is happening, but it would be nice to get out of Seattle and away from the day to day grind, and maybe some warmer temps.


Tue. February 21, 2006
I have a routine now, I have a set time to work, none of this waiting by the email to let me know if I'm working or not. Our noisy upstairs neighbors are moving out, they left Sunday without saying a word, but I bumped into Ted just now and we said our goodbye's, sweet, they bought a house, like all the others who had gone before. We haven't bought a house, we're still thinking of moving away from Seattle, just like I've been thinking the first day I got here, 22 years ago. I must be a slow mover or else I must like Seattle and am afraid to tell myself that out loud. So, shhhh, don't tell me. Cloudy and gloomy again today, but what else is new. I'm creating another Ad for the eyewear store, some 5x4 inch Ad, just designing the prototypes now, I have to the end of the month, lots of time. Just got an email tonight about Wendy Jackson-Hall passing away, I'm quite shocked, she was our organizer and leader of ASIFA-NW, an animators organization, like I said, I'm quite shocked, she was only 32. Google her and see her accomplishments sometime.

Thursday, February 23, 2006
What a difference a day makes, well, not even a day. Between morning and afternoon. Hair today, gone today, that's right, it's been over six months and it was time to have it done again, this time hopefully right, last time too many chefs in the kitchen.



Thursday, March 2, 2006
Working a lot again so far this month, I did have a couple of days off, well, off from work, still messing with web design research and development, that never stops. Re-designed 4 Your Eyes Only's website again, Judy wanted a more innovative, hip, cutting edge site. It's a bit different from the original one that's been up. I might be having a couple more websites on the horizon, guess that makes up for the ones that were on hold and are still on hold.


Thursday, March 9, 2006
That's right, we're changing guitar strings, it's been a few days, if not weeks, my "A" string or 1136, broke, last week, and I haven't had time to change it. Looks like I have some time to change it. Perhaps, I'll change all the strings so they'll be in unison age-wise with each other.
It seems like changing strings is a big ordeal, not only did it take an hour to get the thing back in tune, I had to remove the back cover off to get the 1146 string out, so that wasn't fun at all, but I finally got them on and tuned until they go out of tune since they're brand spanking new!
Looks like my "day off" isn't happening, I'm working tonight after all, and it's going to be a long day!
Coming up next week, Todd and wave hound pack are heading south of the border for a couple of weeks, lucky dawgs, sounds like it's Spring Break in the 'hood!

Thursday, March 16, 2006
Sometimes the rut is the best place to be, and now it would be nice to get back to the ol' rut. Have some time for this and that and not spend so much energy elsewhere. Just kick back, do a few research and development things, have some fun with the surfing buddy's if they weren't in Mexico...or just watch TV and spend some time vegging.
My schedule seems to have changed again, back to the old schedule of no schedule, which is probably the way I like it, since, I really don't think I stuck to the actual schedule that was given, so why have one.


Sunday, April 2, 2006
My so called vacation is still in the works, last week, was a week of both play and work, work was no play, but I made it through and in record time, didn't have to spend too much time there.
But play and work, in the form of web redesign was making a big comeback, looks like my muse finally paid off, I finally finished the redesign for Western Type I've been after for ahhh, let's say 2 years or more. I made a quick website for them in 2003, and then changed the look in about 6 months or less after that, and have been working since then to create something more appealing, at least to me. I finally combined the work of all that time and made some quick updates last week to get to where it is now.
Of course once I uploaded it and went on my usual research and development phase, which I always do, (it's called surfing the web to most people), but I surf it, not only for content but look as well, so I'm sorta working I guess. I've been noticing another trend in the making. I don't know if any of you are aware of internet design trends, but they do exist, ever so humbly, or blantantly sometimes, but I like to keep up with them, if not in actual webdesign but in theory. Sorta like fashion, what's hot, what's not. And we all know the internet is entertainment for the most part these days.
Not only did I redo the Western Type website, it was time to redo my own, again, and it never stops. I made the new version, hopefully a bit more streamlined, someday I'm gonna make it so streamlined it probably won't exist in the real realm, only in theory and in cyber-cyberspace...which would make it perfect.

Friday, April 14, 2006
My Automatic Update from Microsoft really stunned me this week, Wednesday I was doing some Flash animations and uploading them and all of the sudden I saw something strange. Looks like Microsoft in their infinite wisdom changed their ActiveX settings for Flash embeds and now there's a box with an alt message saying, Click to Activate to Use Control ... means the user has to click it to start working embedded coding for user interaction if there are any ... this basically changes the whole "look" of Flash animations or Flash static embeds, not that it actually "changes" the look, it's just the box is not what I had in mind. Nice, now either I have to create some javascript external sheet or make a change in the code of the embed itself to possibly stop this ugly occurance or just leave it and accept Microsoft's infinite wisdom. After reviewing information about altering my code for Flash, I'm going to let it stay in its current form.
I remember the day, not too long ago when the Net was a bit more unique and there were plenty of differences for everyone, now to make it a bit more standardized, we all have to give a little or a lot, depending on what system you're using and what browser and what day of the week and whatever!.....oh and Happy Easter!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Our trip to Kalama, went better than expected, at least on my part, we didn't have to get up at 5am like planned, and slept until almost 6am, then we proceeded to drive I-5 to witness the aftermath of a road rage incident that left 2 motorcyclists in the hospital who had nothing to do with it, just wrong place, wrong time.
We got to Kalama in record time and Becky and I sat in the sun and chatted, while Judy and Bruce went digging in the forest looking for crystals, jasper and other things, like a skull of an animal, which Judy seems to always find.
Stayed at the Kalama River Inn, it was okay, ate at the Columbia Inn restaurant, should we do a Review, probably 2 thumbs down for dinner, the steaks were not like steaks we're use to, but we do have higher standards, and the margarita's didn't have any taste at all, not strawberry or alcohol. But breakfast was good the next morning, so it's good for that.
We went back into the forest and to beaver pond and spent the day there sitting in the sun and actually feeling it. Everytime before that we've been to Kalama, like 3 times or more, it's always rained, hailed or both and was always cloudy except for a half an hour once. When the sun does shine in Kalama, it's hot and dry and we actually saw Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Adams, but stupid me forgot the videocam this trip.


Sunday, April 30, 2006
My first real live surf trip, man what a day, a long day. 4:30am, getting up, really, did I sleep? maybe an hour or two, I was too something... stoked maybe? anxious maybe? both... details in the surf report >>




Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Just got back from 4 days in sunny Mesa, AZ, we had a lot of down time, just swimming in the pool and eating, drinking and taking drives thru the desert hills. Our hosts were very nice and fun to hang with and I'll be slowly putting together another slideshow of the whole experience, once the sun leaves Seattle later in the week.
On a sad note, the night before we left, our family friend Jack passed away and it was so sudden and unexpected.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006
This morning we bid farewell to Jack Rubens, who was a friend of the family and Judy's mom's boyfriend for years, he was a really swell guy and everyone had lots of good things to say about him at his memorial. He's going to be really missed coming this christmas when we usually all get together.


Monday, May 22, 2006
BREAKING NEWS: We Were Robbed! This morning we were robbed, burglarized, my whole metal/rock collection of CDs gone, Judys pearls gone, my box of old coins and stuff from my granny gone! If I ever find those people they will be having hell to pay!! bastards. This is my first time ever having anything stolen from me, my phobias are in high alert, so more on this later as I calm down.


Friday, May 26, 2006
Well it's been 4 days since those bastards took away my sense of security not to mention my CDs, pocketwatch, rare coins and other stuff. Most of all my freedom to leave my apartment for any length of time. Fear has taken over my life, my once mild phobias are to the "Monk" level and I might have to start using my nightguard again from grinding my teeth day and night. Still don't know who did it or why and probably never well, I have my suspects, but can't prove anything. I only wish we lived in the Star Trek age, so I could put phasers all over the place and zap anyone breaking in. Where's McGuyver when you need some creative thinking.


Thursday, June 1, 2006
Even with the burglary and all the aches and pains that go with it, I still have time to think about surfing, and getting into a wetsuit and buying a surfboard. My friend Todd, just gave me a heck of a deal on both and hopefully this year will be the year. Haven't put $$ on them, but I have my name slapped to the board saying it's mine. This weekend is the Clean Water Surfrider/GSI Contest at Westport, WA, and all the surfers are going, even if it's raining...I'm seriously thinking about going, but we'll see, it's only 3 hours away. Damn! wouldn't ya know I had to work that weekend.

BREAK IN THE CASE... Yesterday I was rebuilding my collection of CDs through tower records.com when one of the record stores we faxed or emailed the missing list of CDs called saying they might have a bunch of them. And they did, 35 out of 53, not sure, but that was thrilling, and they may have the name of the guy who sold them, maybe the guy who ripped us off. The police are dealing with it now, and the CDs are still at the record store, hopefully, I can get them back and hopefully, they're just as good as when they were at home.



Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Well, I made a payment on the board today, or yesterday if you're really keeping tabs. I hope I'm making the right decision, I hate going against my comfort zone and looking down the barrel of new ways of living, but you only live once. So I'm biting the bullet and letting the waves fall where they may. Tried on my wetsuit, I had to buy a used one instead of the new Matrix, I went with the one I took to Crescent Bay goes on like a glove, a Body Glove, haha. The Matrix was taking like a half an hour to get into, this one I'm literally in it under a minute, or two. Still worried about the board being too long, 9.0, (9.5 with surfbag) my ceilings are under 8'... but it's leaning against my amps, at least I found something for my amps to do these days, since I'm out of the music biz, not that I wouldn't get back into it, if the band was right and the music was cool and the gigs were worth the effort.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Ok here's what we have so far. We were burglarized on May 22nd, it's now June 7th and we know the guys name, his driver's license number, approximately the location of where he resides, he's 6ft. tall, 185lbs, brown hair and eyes and was born in 1954, and now the police are trying to make a case. To make that case they may need me to get fingerprinted to connect me to the CDs and "the villian". That means, my blog on 1984 is coming true for you know who. Once in the system, I'll always be in the system, not that there's anything wrong with the system...but I am a child of the '60s, so there ya go. Not only that, he was arrested for stolen goods just in April, so he's already in the system, and the police say, this is his job, a career criminal...lovely. So, who I thought it was, probably wasn't, and so I've learned a lesson in quick judgement.

Thursday, June 15, 2006
Well, I'm all paid up and I have a wetsuit and surfboard I can call my own. Now I gotta go use it, a bunch of money for a sport, and, since when have I become a sports person?
Well, we have new neighbors above us for a week now. Hopefully, they'll be quieter than the last tenants. I know having absolute quiet won't happen, but it would be nice. They're a married couple with a very interesting lifestyle compared to the previous tenants. Phrank is a drummer for a couple of bands, pretty well accomplished bands. Dagna, his wife is a Bass player in their band, and also a guitar specialist. They haven't been around enough to get to know them, as a matter of fact I haven't been around much either, since work has picked up again.


Thursday, June 22, 2006
UPDATE: Case Closed We were burglarized on May 22nd, it's now June 22nd and we know the guys name, his driver's license number, approximately the location of where he resides, he's 6ft. tall, 185lbs, brown hair and eyes and was born in 1954, and now the police aren't pursuing it anymore. We've lost our sentimental goods. Got back 34 CDs, only need 18 more.


Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Last weekend Judy and I headed to the coast, the Oregon coast, to Short Sands. We got there in 4 hours which is pretty good. Trying to find the rest of the pack was a bit tricky, the hike to the beach was longer than I expected and of course the whole lay out of the area was different than I imagined but that's always the case. We did find them eventually, so I trekked back to the van and suited up in my wetsuit, only to unsuit up cause it was really hot and the trek to the beach was long, so I put everything in a bag and walked back. We found Todd and he and I went back to the parking lot to retrieve the 9 ft. SuperSoft board for me, and I then proceeded to suit up, with Judy videotaping the whole long process of putting on a wetsuit in a public beach. Read More, See Pix on Surf Report >>


Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Well I've spent 10 days on antibiotics for an alleged case of Prostatitis, so no sunshine in 10 days, and it's summer! Upon completion of the antibiotics, which meant no more pills everyday and plenty of sunshine, my eye doctor scared me into thinking I had Glaucoma, I passed the test on Tuesday Aug. 8th. But I go back in 3 months just to be sure completely. There is no cure, just eyedrops or surgery, and both have side effects.


Monday, August 7, 2006
Another friend from high school passed away this year. Charles "Chucky" George. He was a funny guy, also tried his hand at band promoting in his young lifetime, my band, which one, I can't really remember I had a few back then, but it's sad another friend is no longer among us.



Thursday, September 21, 2006
Innercore Datatek [ Pure to the Core ] is up and working as my "work website", Donnneon is my own again, so expect the unexpected from now on.
News on the front is: raining in Seattle, go figure... Jenn, our neice is getting married in a couple of weeks in Santa Barbara, been awhile since we've been with the family.
Summer surfing is off the board, surfboard that is, although, I just chatted with Todd, and he may give me swim lessons over the winter, get over my fear of deep water... New board shorts are in the shop, WATERPROOF! from Body Glove, $65 a pop, but WATERPROOF!, although, I still need booties, hoodies, and gloves...$$$$$, whatever!
Working on a couple of website revamps, long, tedious, agonizing .. but working on it, plus some Ad work for the eyestore and other stuff around that, new season on TV, not as good as some seasons.

Monday, September 25, 2006
Well yesterday was a treat, our upstairs neighbors washer flooded their floor, that means our ceiling had water dripping down the walls of our closet and storage area in the garage. But we managed to move everything and dry it out, just hope the landlords start fixing up the place. The other day, Dan and I fixed the door to the lobby, only took a minute.
Summer is back for this week, been riding my bicycle again, and feeding the pigeon, it now flys to our doorstep, doesn't fly to the alley and walk up, no, no, too good for that now, ahhh, but we love it...can't wait for the rains, maybe it'll go away.
Working on some flyers, Ads, websites, and more websites, almost to the point of overload, but trying to sort it all out and make some fun of it, or at least try. Oh, today was my dad's birthday, I tried calling but he wasn't home, out partying I guess, like son, like father.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Well, we fixed the door, Manny our old maintenance guy is back from Jersey to fix the washer upstairs and Frank is getting everything he needs done to his apartment.
I'm working on websites as usual and getting my last bike rides in before the rainy season. It's been warm this week, and nice to have time to enjoy the sun too. I'm not getting use to my haircut, maybe I shouldn't have cut so much off...anyway.
Helping Judy with her art studio stuff, she's giving it up since she didn't have time to use it. And bringing it all back home, now where to put it.
Phoned my dad today to wish him a happy birthday, which was yesterday, he's fine and let me know how the rest of the family was doing.

Sunday, October 1, 2006
Well, the first page of Anything Fiberglass is almost complete. Just have to work out how to make thumbnails and photo pages for the site now.
The pigeon is still hanging around, he/she is getting more use to me, doesn't really run away when I'm 2 inches from it, that's not a good sign. I guess this bird will be my pet/pest for awhile. I don't mind the pigeon, but I do mind pigeon droppings, if I could only convince it to poop on the street instead of our front area. Damn bird!
Working on constructing some Wallingford Center ads, that's not easy, I seem to be in another creative stupor again this week. I try and open up to whatever, but I keep formulating ideas instead of just implimenting them by hand.
Next week we go to California for our niece's wedding, it's been awhile since we've been to California. I hope the weather is good for the outdoor event. Which Jenn asked me to video tape the wedding, I'm a little apprehensive about it, I thought I'd be a watcher, and not a participant, good thing I cut my hair, I just need to get some good shoes.
Haven't been to the surf shop lately, and I'm just about to finish up bike riding for the season, today the sun is out, and I really should be out there getting one last ride in before winter.

Monday, October 9, 2006
Today John Lennon would have been 66 years old. My pigeon hopefully got the message not to hang around anymore. Judy chased it down with water, after it kept hanging around and even tried to get inside our door by hanging on the the outside of the windowpane, strange little bird.
Getting ready to go to Santa Barbara this weekend, our niece's wedding, I'm the videographer for the ceremony, I'm little scared about that, I don't like responsibility, especially, one time events, too much pressure! If I mess up, there's no reshoots.
Still working on Anything Fiberglass's new website, it has a few problems, and I don't know if I can fix them or not. Finished up on the Ad for The Wallingford Center, that was a pain to do, worked all week getting that done.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Yesterday, our neighbor was burglarized again, this is like the 4th time, so our guard is up and our alarms are on. Also, yesterday, I spent the day at the surf shop, getting my ding repaired and helping out here and there, that was cool, cause I haven't been able to spend time at the shop like I use to, but I'm making time lately. Tomorrow, Todd and Mark are going paddling on Lake Washington, I wish I could go, but I have things I have to do, bummer.


Thursday, October 19, 2006
Spent the weekend in Santa Barbara attending our niece's wedding. It had its moments, of course there were the flukes, mostly on my part, like we all knew that was gonna happen. First there was the wedding walk with attending music, half hour before the wedding, I was picked to click the button for it to happen on the MacBook Pro laptop, which I've never even touched one before, and well, before the walk, it accidentally started, and of course, I have no idea why.
The ceremony was next and Judy had taken on the responsibility of videotaping the affair, after we came to an agreement she probably would do a more "professional" job, as oppose to my "artistic" way of videotaping. Then there was the exiting wedding music, which I was also involved with clicking the button, but since the last fiasco, I didn't touch the laptop, and I guess it just shut down, I went to click the button and nothing came up on the screen, at least the live quartet played the exit music. I felt really bad about it all, but, what can you do..a little later, since it was an outdoor event next to the road and sidewalk, some "homeless" looking dude came over to the champagne table and plucked a rose from the garden, and started a little scuffling, he was made to leave by some hotel worker. We finished the wedding with photos of the family, me included, my first wedding pix.
Then the reception dinner was great, they said I had 10 martini's, I say I only had 5 at the most, with wine with dinner and a couple of champagne toasts. Then Judy got everyone involved with our favorite Seattle drink called Trainwrecks, I think I had a couple of those too, but the matra'd, told the bartender to cut me off, I was shocked, I wasn't driving, I wasn't slurring and I wasn't obnoxious, oh well, I'm glad someone did, I still didn't make it to the brunch the next morning...The groom's sister and husband were staying in the same hotel, and they were waiting for us when we got back from the wedding with beer and cigarettes, that was fun, and we got yelled at to shut up, which is a first for me.

Leadbetter Beach
This beach is located in the heart of Santa Barbara, right next to the marina and really close to Sterns Warfs.
There's free parking either on the street or at the park at the top of the hill before you get to Mesa, which is also probably a bit better for surfing, that's up the street. But if you want to pay there's a pay parking lot at Leadbetter Beach.
But if you want to get closer to the point, you be better off parking near the bluff, so I had time to check out the surfers and the waves for the next time I'm in Santa Barbara, there were only 5 surfers the day I was there, the waves were flat but I like them that way, there were a couple of swells, mellow, near the point. I'm gonna have to try those sometime in the future, rent some gear at Al Merrick's and do the California surf.

Friday, November 10, 2006
I went in the the eye doctors again, this time to pass the Glaucoma test, yea! I have to see him again next year, but I'm so happy I don't have it. I can continue the way I'm living. Now on to getting through the rest of the year, and looking forward to a week in Arizona at the end of the month.


Thursday, December 07, 2006
Had a great time in Sedona and Mesa last week. We just got home and our neighbor on the second floor turns out to be a tweeker who steals for his drugs. He stole from a neighbor down the street in broad daylight and everyone saw him, how stupid is that! Although, at the time, I thought they were moving, which I was hoping, but that night around 2:30am the cops came to our door to ask about what we saw, seems our other neighbor found some stolen items in our garage, and called the cops and it all came together.


Thursday, December 28, 2006
The neighbor who eluded the police for a couple of weeks has come back only to be turned in by yet another one of our neighbors, it's all so Peyton Place or Histeria Lane, but the cops came and the dude jumped off the balcony and broke his leg. He already had a broken leg from some other stealing adventure, but the cops came back and asked us to look at a mugshot, so that's still in whatever mode. What a way to end the year, I suspect he could be the one who stole from us earlier this year, but who knows.

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