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August 21, 2005
Vacation's off to a good start
I get three weeks of vacation a year - the only catch is that one of the those weeks has to be taken at the companies convenience - either in August or December. It's known as "R&R" around the office, and I elected to take mine this coming week - the 22nd through the 26th of August.
We got the weekend off to a good start with the dinner party at our place on Friday. Saturday I made breakfast (omelets, with some of the remaining soujuk - thanks Ed ;) and we caught an afternoon ferry to Seattle. We needed to find a new bit of furniture for the TV we're planning to acquire (tomorrow) so it was off to Ikea to see if anything struck our fancy. We ended up taking home one of these. A "LEKSVIK" - which had the doors we wanted to keep the electronics from becoming a visual focal point, and the added advantage of being solid wood.
From Ikea we drove over to West Seattle and stopped in at Todd and Katie's place for their housewarming/moving-away party. It took them all of two days to sell their house - which was a lovely little place, nestled in a nice neighborhood toward the north end. We met a few folks - several of whom were RealNetworks expats, and had some very good food (Todd made killer blue-cheese burgers). I'm disappointed I didn't get to know Todd better before he decided to move back to Atlanta - definitely a friendship missed out on.
We drove home from the party, and I put together the new furniture, but left moving the electronics for another day.
This morning we had breakfast and went into town so Dawnise could sign up for some sewing/quilting classes she wanted to take. Popped back home and mapped out a few wineries to visit, before realizing it was too late in the day to really get to many of them before their tasting rooms closed. So instead we decided to wander over to the Naval Undersea Museum in Silverdale, just off base from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport.
The museum was fascinating, and not just for the military hardware they had on display. We got there about 2 hours before it closed, and just managed to see it in the time we had available. Outside of the museum proper is the Trieste - the submersible that descended to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Looking at the body of the vessel, and the tiny crew cabin suspended underneath - it was crystal clear that underwater explorers are every bit as heroic as astronauts. The power of the ocean to crush the unwary, or unprepared, is just as acute as hard vacuum.
By the time we left the base we were both getting peckish - our plans for stopping for a nice lunch at a winery having gone south. We decided to hit the local pub for dinner, which we did, and was very good. I had my once-a-year craving for fish and chips satisfied, and we shared their bread pudding with Bourbon sauce for desert.
From dinner we stopped at Brad and Kat's place to swap cars (they're loaning us their Honda Element to pick up the TV tomorrow) before heading home. I spent the evening relocating the home theater electronics into the new enclosure.
Tomorrow morning (not exactly bright and early, Costco doesn't open 'till 11) we'll be heading over to the Costco in Silverdale to spend more money than I ever though I would on a Television...
Posted by dberger at August 21, 2005 10:05 PM