The Foam that Ate Woodinville
I was out of town for training last week, from Monday until late Thursday. Elisa and I had pre-planned to go to Red Hook Forecasters Pub Thursday night. We got there when the sun was still out but, ooo, darn, the outside deck is not open yet. They say it usually opens Memorial Day. Okay, fine.
I had a couple of pints of the Porter and a California burger (I know, seeding crazy-cow holes in my head left and right). Afterwards, we went for a walk to enjoy the evening.
As we turned the corner around the pub and headed between the two main Red Hook buildings, I lifted my head back, smelling the air, and exclaimed, “Berries!” The fragrance faded after a few steps.
Pf-hlop.
Elisa and I looked around for what kind of bush or tree could be emitting such a sweet smell.
Pf-hlop.
A thick foam was escaping out of Red Hook. Mesmerized, we walked towards it.
On the side of the building was a non-discrete overflow valve, one you probably wouldn’t notice if it wasn’t currently emitting the occasional huge wad of sweet smelling foam. Beneath the valve was a shrub… a shrub island, in fact, surrounded by a thick pond of foam.
Pf-hlop.
Hmm, perhaps a happy shrub. There wasn’t drainage or anything special under this foam valve. Everything beneath was landscaped as if this valve’s use wasn’t to be all that common. Elisa and I stepped closer and I remarked how this is the point in most bad horror movies where the dumb young couple get far too close the suspicious goo and get eaten.
We enjoyed the foam show for a little bit more (the Porter kicking around in me probably made the show all that more entertaining) and then continued on our way. As we reached the end of Red Hook closer to the Willows Lodge, two workers walked our way on a break. Elisa asked them about the foam and they laughed.
It seems someone didn’t manage a valve correctly and the CO2 level got out of whack. It’s not something that usually happens.
We headed home and I was happy that at least our house was up the hill a good bit that any foam that filled the valley that night probably – probably – wouldn’t reach the house.
The Battle of the High-End Food Stores in Redmond
The only problem is that anything near 520 / Avalon and SR-202 is so crowded that people don’t go there anymore. I guess I should be happy that it’s not sprawling out and making it busy and crowded everywhere, but it has to be a weekend day or a mid-day jaunt before I even consider slogging through that traffic zone.
Lots of time for contemplation and acts of kindness to let people in, though…
Thank you, Stephen Colbert
This is a strange point in history, a time where we look to our jesters to make the most direct points about truth and what’s going on: Daily Kos: Re-Improved Colbert transcript (now with complete text of Colbert-Thomas video!)
That was some pretty direct stuff delivered really well.
Due to where we live, I don’t get exposed to cable news anymore (well, any news, except via newspaper and web-browser). I take that back – sometimes, when working out, I’ll slip on the headphones and tune into CNN or FOX or the local news being shown on the monitors looming over the machines.
It amazes me how they talk about nothing. Has the talent pool been spread so thin that there truly is nothing important to talk about so you talk and conjecture about nothing? Seems to be. To talk with authority is more important than to talk about something of meaning, something with content. I want a collapse in the news business just so that they can drum out all the marginal talent and maybe get refocused on meaningful news again.
We are in the middle of regrettable history. I thought about that during a Portland weekend trip recently, standing in front of the monument put up recognizing the wrongs of the Japanese interment of WWII. And only the jesters are pointing out our folly…
Knife Maintenance and Sharpening
Wow, lots to read later: eG Forums -> Knife Maintenance and Sharpening
I never realized how dull I had let my knives become until the day I used another person’s collection of the same set that was new. Those knives practically cut on their own, I was just directing them. I immediately sharpened my set to improved results, but not like new…
Eric'o'theque!: Bird + Plane engine = bad news
Over at my techy-alternative blog, I linked to a great video of what a fighter jet has to do after sucking a bird into its engine, plus I told a story about one of the more interesting incidents I encountered while flying about with my Dad: Eric’o'theque!: Bird + Plane engine = bad news
I mentioned how that was one of three incidents (well, four). They are:
- That incident of the fuel pump failing high, high up in the sky.
- Instruments only landing with stormy high-winds in Tennessee. At night. I felt like we landed sideways. But perfect.
- The radar left on close range that, when finally flipped to long range, revealed wave after wave of upcoming thunderstorms Dad had to thread through. Over Louisiana.
- (I was asleep and zoned out to Tangerine Dream, my study music) Ice accumulating more and more on the wings flying out of Nevada back to Texas.
Whew. It all helps me understand why aviators are a different breed of folk.
Boss sighting! Judy Guist from my Intel days.
I came into my office on Monday to find some materials from my Intel days had fallen off my bookcase onto my desk. I have an interview to conduct today so I’m reorganizing the desk mess to look like an organized person. So I flipped through the old Intel ParAide: The Parallel Integrated Development Environment leaflet. Ooo, there was a picture of my boss at Intel, Judy Guist. I did a quick Google search (sorry MSN) and came across this article: GAL Twirler Feature Story – December 2005
And there’s Judy’s picture at the bottom!
A fine cowboy movie…
So Elisa and I went to go see Brokeback Mountain this past weekend. It was at one of my favorite nearby theaters (well, now nearby since we’re not in the middle of BFE). It’s a fine cowboy movie. Once I saw coyotes I was really hoping to see some coyotes go to heaven. Tails. All I got were tails.
I could have dealt with a little bit of romance. All the relationships in the story seemed so doomed and broken, except maybe the relationship Ennis has with his daughter… mostly thanks to his daughter.
When I was younger, I liked my films dark and full of angst about the human condition. After having lived a few more years on this earth and getting to experience my own darkest moments of the soul, I don’t seek out films about other people’s failings near as much. So, I can’t imagine standing to see Brokeback a second time.
Same thing with Capote. I enjoyed it (a lot more than Brokeback) but there wasn’t anything rewarding in seeing it other than to appreciate the experience.
So, I’m looking forward more to a fresh bag of popcorn and X-Men 3. And Superman. No cowboys need apply.
No spin and The Daily Show – Pitching in the "no-spin era"
Wow, it’s interesting to read about other people having the same reaction to When Interviews Go Bad on The Daily Show: Presentation Zen: Pitching in the “no-spin era”. I watched this with Elisa and it was just painful
Jon and Torie just weren’t communicating very well at all. Near the end of the interview, I remember Mr. Stewart saying something like, “Okay, I think we’ve made it past the cover page!”
All I can say is that it reminds of the days when I presented to a group of people way more than I do nowadays. Sometimes, I’d get an obtuse hard-to-understand just what the heck the person was asking kind of question. My crude attempts to do some active listening to replay back to them what I understood their question to be usually resulted in frustrated “Oh, never mind” from them.
Tweaking things
I’m tweaking things here a bit. I’ve decided that this is the family-friendly “What’s going on?” kind of blog and that http://www.ericri.com/et/blog/ is the more technical / work kind of blog. I’m playing with the template right now.
DJ Check 6 and XBox 360
Elisa picked me up Monday night due to the Subaru being in the shop due to a rotted radiator tube feeding into the heating system. After about the third turn not going in the direction of home, I simply asked, “Can you tell me where we are going so that I don’t have to start getting too anxious.”
“It’s a surprise!”
We ended up parking in front of building nine where a green XBox 360 show was going on. The fog was building pretty quick and the big lights shining into the fog wasn’t as cool as you’d think. We got out of the car and struck up a conversation with the fellow manning the light booth.
It was DJ Check 6 of Check 6 Productions: http://www.check6productions.com/
We ended up having a great talk with him regarding the Manga Lounge and PLUR and postive rave / dance culture. He gave us a can of the Wired caffeine drink. It was a fun talk in the chilly, foggy cold. I was surprised how little was being done on the Microsoft campus to celebrate 360 other than this light show and other bits of green showing up on campus. Well, at least we got a fun, interesting talk out of it.