Yummy

My current favority homemade latte flavor is a splash of eggnog soy coffee creamer along with a half cup of chocolate soy milk. I make it with regular coffee. The first time I tried it I did not greatly like it, but the second cup was yummy. :)

Sunshine

When the sun shines on winter days in Western Washington, the locals go outdoors, because this area is beautiful whenever the sun shines. Our group went for a bike ride in Orting, a tiny (but growing) town almost due west of Mt. Rainier. The view of Mt. Rainier is awesome from that area.

Hello Accidentalpurposity

Reports of your demise were highly exaggerated.

Goodbye Accidentalpurposity

I see your blog has disappeared.
Goodbye Alyssa; goodbye Lacie-Tracy.
It has been fun reading your blog.
We wish you all the best.
Ped

Superbowl

The teams are set: Indy and Chicago. Chicago was not a surprise, since they won three more games during the regular season than others in the NFC, but Indianapolis?

Congratulations to Chunlin, for winning our contest to pick the two teams in the Superbowl.

How did this happen?

Here is the news story from Seattle's KIRO TV News:

Boy Sneaks Past Security, Boards Flight
POSTED: 5:01 pm PST January 16, 2007
UPDATED: 10:05 am PST January 17, 2007

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- A 9-year-old boy from Lakewood sneaked past security and talked his way onto a Southwest Airlines flight at Sea-Tac Airport Monday night after running away from home. The boy’s mother told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News the family had been planning to move back to Dallas but when they delayed the move, the boy became determined to return.

“He just made a decision and said, 'I'm going to get there.' Well, how he got there is a wonder to me,” the boy's mother told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. According to the boy’s mother, the boy had stolen three cars in the last month trying to get to Dallas.

“I didn't help him get on a plane. I didn't give him any money to get on a plane. He's only 9,” the boy’s mother said.

He flew from Sea-Tac to Phoenix, where he tried to board another flight headed for Dallas, but was not allowed on the plane, so instead he got on another flight bound for San Antonio, where he is now being held. Before the boy was able to get on the plane he had to get a boarding pass at the airline’s ticket counter. Southwest Airlines would not consent to a recorded interview but told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News it’s investigating the incident.

"It's definitely something we're looking hard into. We honestly don't know what happened,” airline spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. According to Southwest Airline's website their unaccompanied minor policy states children between 5 and 11 years old are accepted only on nonstop or direct flights with no change of aircraft or flight number. A TSA spokeswoman said passengers are allowed through screening without showing identification if the airline issues them a boarding pass. The boy had been arrested twice including Sunday night after leading Lakewood police on a high-speed chase on state Route 512, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported. According to the boy’s mother, she has asked for help with her son but Pierce County juvenile authorities have refused to hold him in custody because he is too young. Lakewood police are seeking a warrant for the boy’s arrest and are asking authorities in Texas to keep him locked up so he won’t run away again.

Copyright 2007 by KIROTV.com.

Comment: The CIA and the FBI ought to be recruiting this kid, he is invisible and clever, and he would make a great undercover agent!

Icy Cold

Seattle is having quite the cold snap. Four nights in a row with temperatures into the teens. Highs around freezing. There is still lots of ice and snow on the shady patches of the roads (which are quite common because of all the tall trees). Very unusual for Seattle area.

The weather guys on TV are calling this "bitter cold." I disagree. I think of 30 below zero (-30 F) with a 20 mph wind as being bitter cold. When it hurts to walk outside, and it becomes very difficult to start cars without headbolt heaters. Ask anyone from the northern Midwest, Canada, or Alaska. This is cold weather but not bitter cold.

It Snowed!

It snowed an inch early Wednesday morning and another 3 inches Wednesday evening. My new wireless weather station did not recognize the precipitation until it melted in the sun, and then the weather station console warned me to take an umbrella. :)


Pretty red berries on "Heavenly bamboo".


Late in the afternoon, the sky darkened.


So, how much snow does it take to completely shut down Seattle?

Road Trip

When I bought my pickup truck in 1993, it did not come with a radio. So I had an AM/FM radio with cassette player installed. I recorded the cassette tapes off of LP records, and that worked just fine. I carried several tapes in the glovebox for variety. I have almost forgotten that I had to fast forward a cassette tape to skip a song. Yuk!

About ten years later, my wife gave me an AM/FM radio with a CD player for my pickup. And she recorded CD’s for playing on the road, so I typically carried 4-6 CDs in the glove box with about 20 songs on each CD. This was much better, more songs in the glove box, better sound quality, and just press a button to skip a song.

This Christmas, my son gave me a Nano iPod along with a RoadTrip kit. The RoadTrip plugs into the cigarette lighter for power, and the iPod plugs into it. It is essentially a tiny FM radio station, with the music coming from the iPod. The existing FM radio receives and amplifies the FM broadcast, and puts it over the car speakers. The iPod will hold about 1,200 songs, which can be sorted by Artist or by Playlist. Song quality is almost as good as the CD itself. I’ve come a long way since 1993!

Seattle Winter Weather

During the Seattle winter, it is about 40 F and raining lightly in the morning. Some days are warmer, some days colder, but 40 degrees and raining is a normal morning for November through April.

It always rains on New Year's Day in Seattle (to be more precise, January 1 is the only day of the year with measurable precipitation at my house every year from 1996-present). This statement was also true of December 31 until 2006. We had no measurable rainfall on December 31.

Just thought you would want to know...

I'm Back

Now posting using the new computer. It was a whole lot more work getting the software loaded and setup than assembling the hardware.