Thursday, March 30, 2006

Spring has Sprung

During my mid afternoon strole out of the office I was given the first taste of the approching summer today. With clear sky's and no breeze, the sun was roasting hot. Something I hadn't felt in six months. It is a relief to know the darkness and perma-rain season is behind us. At this rate I'll be lucky to get up snowboarding again this year. The resorts close in a couple of weeks as the snow melts fast.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Mass shooting in Capitol HIll.

The whole city is in shock after this gruesome incident last Friday night. I overheard an old lady at the coffee shop this morning ask outloud "what's a rave?" Apparently the young victims met their killer at a rave and invited him back to their house where they partied until dawn. It was only after he left that he returned - armed to the teeth. Seattle is normally a quiet town with very little gun related violence (as opposed to many other U.S. city's). The last time anything like this happened was in 1983. And that was gang related.

It's another case against gun advocacy groups and the NRA. It's all well and good to expect the right to protect your family and to defend your constitution, but what happens when you start thinking everyone's out to get you, little voices started screaming in your head and you decide to take your psychotic state of paranoia out on a half dozen completely innocent people. Last Friday night is what happens. What will it take to make the gun lobbyists realise we as a society have a long way to go before the majority of us can be trusted with guns?

Tuesday, March 21, 2006


Our Neighbours....

Ahhh - isn't he cute? NO! After much internet induced panic about potential diseases and parasites carried by these furry rascals we have come to the conclusion that there is nothing much we can do other than co-exist with them. We've got two living in the small forest that is our garden. The problem is, these guys have babies between now and June and that's when they get territorial and pose a risk to dogs, cats, squirrels (we have armies of these guys) and humans. They are also far bigger than they appear in photographs... Still, friends here have grown up with them. Just the other day a lady we know found one in her kitchen after leaving the back door open. After coming out of the shower a neighbour was surprised to find one sprawled on her couch eating peanuts while channel surfing between the Disney Channel and Animal Planet. So we'll trim back the undergrowth this spring in the hopes that these real-life cartoon characaters will move on.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Tim's stag night in L.A.

Spent 24 hours in L.A. for Tim's stag night extravaganza. A good portion of those hours were spent in a limo driving around my old haunts while drinking copious amounts of alcohol in between bars, strip clubs, racing car tracks and impossibly steep angles in the Hollywood hills. I didn't tell Tim I was coming which was quite the surprise considering how much he hates me!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Dublin Riots

Priceless image taken from a live webcam shortly after the riot
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