Snow Day!

Yesterday was pretty fun. We took a short drive out to Snoqualmie Falls to meet up with Dan and Erica. They had stayed the night out at Salish Lodge and were recovering from a massage that Dan described as "a midget korean lady beating the shit out of me." We hiked down to the falls and then packed into Dan's car and headed out to find some snow at Rachel's request. We went up to the ski areas at Snoqualmie Pass and pulled into a parking lot with huge drifts on the side. Of course we did the whole snowball fight thing and once I was absolutely soaked and Rachel's ear was packed with snow we made a snowman. Dan finished it off nicely with a delicately constructed snow tophat.

Rach, Erica, Dan and Joe at Snoqualmie Falls:

Rachel's cat-like reflexes save her from a face full of snow:

Dan decides cat-like reflexes are no match for outright brawn:
Dan puts the finishing touches on our snowman:

I hope everyone got to watch the Huskers defeat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. What a game!! I still think the MVP should be Bowman for his game-saving heads up play in the final seconds. With the rest of the team already on the field celebrating, he realized the ball was not dead yet and saved the Huskers from what would have been a VERY embarassing defeat.

The 5 Weirdest of My Habits

I've been tagged by AMG for my five weirdest habits, here they are in no particular order:

1. If I left my shoes by the door at night I have to turn them upside down and give them a shake before I put them on to make sure nothing crawled inside them........like my apartment is infested with scorpions or something.

2. When I'm using scissors I open and close my mouth whenever the scissors open and close....probably some kind of a shorted ciruit.

3. I ALWAYS give clothes the sniff test before putting them on, even if they are hanging in my closet or fresh out of the dryer.

4. I don't like to be confined to one choice of where to sleep. My one bedroom apartment has three places I sleep, my bed, my couch and a weird little nest of blankets on top of a beanbag chair.

5. I like to drive with my driver side window down year-round. Rain or shine, doesn't matter.

And that's all I have time for, we're headed to the mountains for some sledding today!!!

What I Want for Christmas

It;s not every day you run across a car that bears your last name........unless your last name is Ford............or Dodge.............or Hyundai. I have to get my hands on one of these cars!!

The Henney Motor Company

1931 Henney Limousine-style Hearse

1934 Henney Arrowline Three-Way Hearse (Pierce-Arrow)

The Moisture Festival

I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend.... I joined my friend Sue for her company christmas party on Saturday night. I was her back-up date so I introduced myself as her lover, pool-boy, bodyguard, sidekick, personal trainer and bullriding instructor. It was funny because I could really tell which guys had a little crush on Sue by how much they were crushing my hand in a handshake....easy fellas. Most of her co-workers are pretty fun people which came in handy later when Sue decided to skip the show and hang out by the bar coaxing her boys into buying her wine. The event was held at the Moisture Festival down here in Fremont. We all agreed that "moisture festival" is a horrible name. There is no water involved at all and the word moisture is kind of icky. So, this place was a warehouse behind Hale's Ales and was similar in theme to Teatro Zinzani which I also visited recently. There were jugglers, aerialists, drag queens, acrobats, singers, etc. It was kind of the cheapo version of Teatro Zinzani but they put on a great show. You could tell they were working with a limited amount of funding and probably were not in the business for the great pay. The "bathrooms" were porta-potties with christmas lights and decorations inside. No matter how much you decorate, it's still a porta-potty.... One part of the show was a forty minute presentation by a local philipino high school marching drill team, something you might see in any local parade. I had a lot of fun though, I mean, dinner was served buffet style! What fat kid wouldn't be happy??
The can-canner on the right has the voice of an angel! You all know how I feel about a woman who can sing. I totally fell in love with her that night, at one point the entire cast came out to dance with the crowd to the music of the Fremont Philharmonic, she was nowhere to be seen, damn.

Five days left until the Seahawks STOMP the now not-so-undefeated Indianapolis Colts.......

Pipe Problem Tied to Naked Man in Basement

Somehow I knew just by reading the headline that this would be in Washington......

SPOKANE, Wash. - A plumbing problem at a Spokane home turned out to be a naked man. Police say a woman who thought she was having a problem with water pipes beneath the floor called the Water Department. Employees found the basement barricaded, and when they determined there was someone behind the door, they called police.

Police broke through the door, found the naked man and took him into custody. They searched the basement but found no clothing for the man. They also found that a pipe had been broken and repaired.

The 36-year-old was booked into jail for investigation of burglary.

What a Day!!

This was one hell of a day. I got up early, seven o'clock is WAAYyyyy early for me now, and headed to school for my eight o' clock english final. I had two hours to write a six page essay on a piece called "I Just Wanna Be Average" and tie it in to the effectiveness of our public schools. My pen touched the paper and did not stop moving until I was finished.......like buttah. While I was writing my phone started buzzing. When I left the classroom I found that Lockheed Martin had called to offer me a job in Moorestown, NJ. I've been on the job search for more than two weeks now with no success. Do you ever have a moment of clarity where everything just makes sense all of the sudden? This job offer ties in events stretching back maybe ten years for me. They want me to be an instructor at one of their training facilities. I am MIGHTY intrigued. I came home between tests and made some modifications to my resume and sent it off right away. So hopefully they'll be giving me a ring for an interview soon. Then I had my Visual Thinking final which was cake because he gave us the questions before hand and it was open note.....hmmmm. After that, drove all the way to Tacoma to talk to a shrink. The Navy is trying to figure out if they gave me an anxiety problem and if so, how much money do they owe me for it? The doc was a total quack, I walked in feeling fine and left there tense and all worked up. I don't like psychiatrists, well, not that froot loop anyway. HE should go see a shrink.

So, school's over for now and I'm going to spend some time.....ummmm.....waiting by the phone for Lockheed to call me.

Finals Week!

The quarter is almost over, I have three finals this week, one tomorrow and two on Thursday. Here is a portrait I did for my final visual thinking portfolio, the guy looks pretty stern. I copied this one from a self-portrait of Edward Hopper from the National Portrait Gallery.

Bzzzzzz.....That's Not My Phone Buzzing!

I started off my morning right with my new weekly pilgrimage to the coffee house near my apartment. It is a true Seattle experience in my eyes. Free Wi-fi, cute college chicks studying over obnoxiously gigantic mugs of coffee, and local art all over the walls. It used to be a house and still feels like somebody's home only with a large espresso bar added to the living room.
I walked in at about 8 AM this morning and sauntered up to the bar and asked the barista(my new coffee vocabulary), for a large vanilla latte....mmmm. (By the way, I'm still very impressed by the way these northwesterners can rattle off their extremely complex coffee orders with the skill of a practiced auctioneer, "I'd like a harmless double tall non-fat vanilla cap, and make it wet please.") She pulled out a mug that would hold a well-developed cantaloupe and said "are you sure?" I said to her, "hmmm....do you have anything more....say, bucket sized?" I always claim that I don't drink much coffee and then people say, "but what about this morning, you had two cups??" I guess it always seems like I don't drink it often because I have not built up the caffeine tolerance of these coffee-fiends up here. I dragged my mondo mug of coffee over to my regular corner next to the window and got right to work. About an hour later I had downed three-quarters of the cup and started to notice that my writing looked like I had been using one of those squiggle pens. I was shaking so bad you could actually hear a high-frequency hum coming from where my butt met the chair! I managed to get through writing the notes for my finals but then had to begin one of two portraits I have to do this weekend. Not a chance! After going through four hand-spasm riddled pieces of sketch paper I decided to abandon the task and walk back home for some food. I never even finished my trough of coffee.

This is Interesting, I Think.

I found this quiz while surfing the net today.....a nice homework alternative for those of you in school. It's kind of interesting if you have the time to do it. Take the quiz and leave a comment, let me know YOUR world view:

This is mine:

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 88% Romanticist 75% Existentialist 69% Idealist 69% Materialist 63% Postmodernist 63% Modernist 38% Fundamentalist 31% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

Remember......

The Sixth Annual Drawing Jam

Papo and I spent almost nine hours at the Drawing Jam, an annual event held by the Seattle Academy of Fine Art. The Jam featured 12 hours of live music, belly dancers, free food and art supplies, and about ten studios open for anything from still-life drawing to clay-modeling to nude figure models. I was picking on Papo because even he called it "artsy-fartsy," he spent several years as an art student in San Francisco. If he calls something artsy-fartsy then it REALLY must be. At Seven o'clock they ushered out the kiddos and we broke out the beer that the Red Hook Brewery had so kindly donated for the event......didn't I just have a post about drinking and drawing recently? I spent most of my night in the long-pose room where the models hold their pose for an hour. I met so many great people and it was cool to have so many REAL artists in one room. They really gave me some great pointers, I think I'm going to start sudying how to draw hair. It is a really elusive technique for me, I always end up with "rambo" hair like the woman in the drawing on the right has. I wish they had an event like this every week, I really need the practice. That was my first time ever drawing the human figure. I was really surprised to discover that there are a lot of parts that I generally overlook when I see a naked person. I must have spent twenty minutes studying one woman's shoulder! It was very eye-opening for me. I realized that people, including myself, generally have a very poor idea of what is beautiful in other human beings. Studying the body as I did that night teaches one to see beauty in everybody.

For the Gadget Lover

Holy Crap!! Is this thing real? My friend Rachel was on the hunt for gadgets as gift items for Christmas and turned up this super technoriffic set of pens that transform into a computer. There is no way these things actually exist, is there?

My New Roomie....Sort Of.

My friend's dad had a heart attack yesterday and went in for a quadruple bypass operation. I'm happy to say that the surgery went off without a flaw and tough old Greg is doing quite well. Sue flew out to Idaho as soon as she heard what had happened and asked me to take care of the dog for her. Sophie is a dimwitted but sweet 115 pound St. Bernard. Mind you, I lived with her for almost three years up in Marysville. Things were different then though, that was a HOUSE with a YARD. She is Waayyyy too much dog for my little one man pad I'm living in now. We got back to the house at around eleven last night and within two minutes, she had torn down three of the blinds from the sliding glass door, she's too big for her own good. Then she kept me up all night, at two in the morning I woke up to the unmistakable sound of a dog vomiting. I was too tired and figure I'd just clean it up in the morning. Funny though, when she woke me up at four A.M. to go for a walk, there was no sign of the Sophie surprise anywhere......I'll probably find it in one of my shoes or something. I took her to go pee and then hopped back into bed. She continued to do obnoxious things like breathing on my face, jumping on the bed and belching, yes, this dog belches, LOUDLY. She'll only be here for a couple days though, and she IS a total sweetie, she thinks she's a lap dog.
OH! Also, it's SNOWING out here today!!!! I'm so excited, I haven't seen snow in a loooong time. I usually migrate south in the winters.

I HATE Writer's Block!

And of course, if you decide to eat turkey and watch football all weekend and save your homework for a Sunday night, writer's block is what you will end up with. The football this weekend was exceptional though, the Seahawks tried their hardest to lose to the Giants today but finally emerged with a win leaving only a few minutes left in overtime.

I had to do a very hurried job on my drawing for this week so that I would have plenty o' time to procrastinate on writing this paper tonight. The proportions came out kinda funny because I worked so fast (his left index finger resembles a plump bratwurst) but the shadows overall are pretty striking, I think I'll call this one "weird distorted preacher guy with sausage fingers." Yeah, that's catchy....

GO BIG RED!!!

Congratulations to a Cornhuskers team whose performance under the leadership of Bill Callahan was on the national stage today on ABC. In a long-running rivalry game against the Colorado Buffaloes, the developing West coast offense ran over the buffs like the efficient machine it is supposed to be. WELL DONE!!!

Give Thanks.....

Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

It's That Wonderful Time of Year!!!

So, I was a little skeptical about the effects of S.A.D.(Seasonal Affective Disorder) until I moved to Seattle. Wow!! Every year, right on the nose, a few weeks after Daylight savings time ends people up here go nuts.

For example: Suspect in Tacoma mall shooting spree sent angry text messages before the rampage

By CURT WOODWARDASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TACOMA, Wash. -- A man accused of a shooting spree at a crowded shopping mall and taking four people hostage pleaded not guilty Monday to first degree assault, kidnapping and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Dominick Sergio Maldonado, 20, of Tacoma, was ordered held on $2 million bail after his hearing in Pierce County Superior Court. He's been charged with eight counts of first-degree assault, four counts of kidnapping, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Maldonado was arrested Sunday afternoon after surrendering to police about four hours after he ducked into a Sam Goody store and took the hostages, all of whom were released unharmed.
During the shooting, six people were injured, one critically. Two others were shot at, but not struck, and four individuals were taken hostage, said Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor Phil Sorensen.
One person remained in critical condition Monday at Tacoma General Hospital, spokesman Todd Kelley said. No details on the others injured were immediately released.

---This happened yesterday......we Seattle veterans are callous to it now though. This time of year these events become like the traffic report to us.....naked man.........shooting.......three dead......."I just wanted a freakin' hot dog"...........yeah buddy, tell it to the judge, we've heard 'em all up here. So, I'm sorry for those of you out there with S.A.D. Since the sun sets at noon here you would all be in good company!!!! I predict, (mark my words) that there will also be an outbreak of bank robberies here in Seattle his year.......just like every winter.......last year we were treated to a great show by the likes of "The Bag-Lady Bandit," who used the city bus as her getaway car. And, the "Whispering Bandit," actually a very polite fellow by all accounts. I hope to become a full-fledged Seattle native this year by becoming "The pantsless bandit..... ...........with the red clown nose...." Cooooool, All readers must promise to not blow my cover....

In Bizarro World I'm Famous.....

I have been procrastinating all night on this Dali presentation.....I was a little bored so I typed my name into Google, it appears I share my name with a famous general from Atlanta....

Self Portrait.....Round TWO!

Another full day of homework, I'm almost finished. All I have left is to prepare a 5-7 minute presentation on my interpretation of "The Madonna of Port Lligat" by Salvador Dali.......easy enough right? I don't even know where to begin....who knows what the hell he was thinking.....

I attempted the self-portrait again with success this time, the assignment required us to distort the image so I decided to stretch mine into a Joe-conehead:
I'm happy now because it actually looks like me.....not the drunken samurai version I crapped out last night.

The Seahawks won again today. The 49ers gave them a run for their money though, it came down to the last play. That brings them to 8-2 after six straight wins. I am so excited, especially since my Cornhuskers have not been doing so great this year.......or last year......or the year before that.

The Greatest thing about art? It doesn't have to be good!!!

So I have another before-and-after for ya. I spent about eight hours doing homework today.....boooo......and noticed something.....art does not have to look nice to be art! One of my assignments this weekend involves portraits. I have to draw a portrait of Henry Fuseli and a portrait of myself. I finished the Fuseli at about nine o' clock tonight, it was almost an exact replica of the portrait I was given to copy. I'm very happy with it.

I then went out to the pub for a few hours and came home a bit fuhrschnickahd(drunk spelling) and decided to give my self-portrait a stab. I went after it and actually stabbed myself with a #2, 2B and 4B pencil all in the same drawing. I ended up with this:

SO, the greatest thing about this? I know a few people in the "art world" and they would criticize my first drawing for the lack of talent, imagination, crativity, whatever....

The self-portrait they would look at in awe and say " wow man, it's so expressive"......I don't know....crazy people.....

All I have to say, kids, is don't drink and draw. And remember.....don't smoke crack...... Oh yeah, don't blog drunk either!

Movie Villain for Hire

So I'm single again.....and in the tradition of break-ups I promptly gave myself a haircut(maybe just my tradition) for a new look. I was actually just a little bored on Saturday and homework had lost its luster so I went crazy with the clippers. It sounds like my poor mother is very concerned after I jokingly sent the picture to my dad and she saw it. You have to admit though, I DEFINITELY could be a bad guy in an action movie. I don't have any cool villain catch phrases though so would probably be the guy who never says anything and dies five minutes into the picture just to increase the body count for the hero. My battle cry? "SPOOOOooooon!"

Here's a before and after for ya, and I will be shaving off the top........as soon as the shock value wears off......what? I'm in college!

Happy Veteran's Day

It is official buy-a-veteran a beer day! Thank you to all those currently serving and to those who have served in the past. The sacrifices you make/made every day deserve so much more than one day of recognition per year. I salute you.

Strong Bad the English Tutor

My English professor recently introduced our class to the magic of Mr. Strong Bad's world. He used this cartoon to illustrate paper writing techniques. I think it fits nicely. The prof is a pretty cool guy, the first day of school I thought he was just some crazy student, he showed up to class in a kilt, then he started teaching. Anyways, check out this site, it gets a rating of five artichokes(my highest rating for a website). The sun sets here in Seattle at about two in the afternoon every day and it pours rain all the time so I've had ample time to surf the web.

Take that Joe Camel!!

Last night's elections here in Seattle went as planned for the most part, no monorail, Nickels is mayor.......again. We were all a little surprised that what is now the nation's strictest anti-smoking law actually passed. The law bans smoking indoors (a la California) everywhere except for inside people's private residences. It will also be illegal to smoke within twenty-five feet of ventilation ducts and entrances and exits of buildings which basically means you can't smoke anywhere downtown. Smokers will be hunted down and trapped in nets and we will have a big smoky bonfire of cigarettes to celebrate this victory over second-hand smoke. I voted FOR the smoking policy and I am technically still a smoker(I've been quitting for about two years). Almost all of my smoker friends voted for the ban, allowing the initiative to pass with a 65% approval....WOW! The most common answer smokers gave for voting for the ban was an almost desperate plea for help "Anything that makes it harder for me to smoke." Those of you saying "why don't you just quit already," have obviously never felt the effects of a lack of vitamin N.

Happy Hallowe....dammit, I'm so busy

I'm still trying to find that perfect balance that college students seek. The great part of it is that I am not even working right now! The Halloween party at Rach's was great, I decorated with gusto, got my smoky, spooky fireplace running and then promptly fell asleep halfway through the party(my job was to make smoke and drink whiskey). Here are some pictures from the party...
My parents came to visit me last weekend, I have now seen them three times this year. I think that is some kind of record since I have left home. We had a lot of fun, they came over to my new pad and checked out the neighborhood. This time was a new experience for them because every other time they have come to Seattle it has been gorgeous outside. Well, the 7 months of rain are upon us and they were glad to have packed their bumbershoots. We visited the Hiram N. Chittenden Locks in Ballard which are always incredible to me. If you are ever in Seattle, this is one of my must-sees, they have a fish ladder there with an underwater viewing area where you can watch the salmon returning to spawn. Unfortunately there were only a few gimpy, "reject" salmon as my dad called them since they are between runs right now.
Today was the first day of registration for the next quarter of school. I am facing a bit of a dilemma right now as I cannot decide whether I would like to be a biologist or an artist or a train conductor, or a writer, or an oceanographer, or an architect, or an astronaut, or a secret agent........you get the gist. I suppose most college students go through the same dilemma so I have decided to take very general classes like underwater basket-weaving to buy myself a little time.

Fungus Amongus?

My apartment is on the bottom floor of the building in damp, humid, rainy Seattle. When I first moved in I noticed a rather offensive odor emanating from the sinks. I thought it was the drains so I had the landlord come by and clean those up, no help. So I've been lighting smelly candles and keeping the windows open(a little chilly now that it's October) while researching what else could possibly cause it. Almost every site I went to on the Internet agreed that it was the wood under my sinks rotting. Well, I'm a very busy man and haven't gotten around to informing the landlord of this. I have developed a new sense of urgency though after returning to my apartment after a weekend away to discover mushrooms growing out of the base of my bathroom sink. I couldn't believe it!! Sure my bathroom is woodsy, bamboo plant on the sink, leafy rugs, green towels, but I really didn't need any decorating help from my little fungusy friends. Visitors beware, I have implemented cost-cutting measures so those mushrooms on the salad I make you next time you're here may be home-grown....... :)

SEA-hawwwkS!!!!

I am very excited that this is my first year as an NFL fan. Growing up in Nebraska, I have always preferred college football. This year, I actually have a pro team that I root for, the Seahawks...HOME TEAM!! I've even been to three of their home games thanks to my girlfriend generously sharing her season tickets. She gave the tickets to Sunday's game to her friend for her birthday(same gal with the drag-queen prone boyfriend), and I had a lot of homework to do, so we watched the game at her house. What a game!! Football simply doesn't get any better than that. The Seahawks trailed for the entire game until the final forty seconds when they scored a touchdown to tie the score at 10 with about thirty seconds remaining. The Cowboys were making a dominating final drive for victory when one of our rabid, carnivorous defenders stepped up and intercepted the ball with five seconds left. He managed to run far enough to put the Seahawks into field goal position where ex-Cornhusker Josh Brown knocked it through the uprights as time ran out to win the game for our Seahawks!! An incredible defensive battle for both teams, man what a game!! Would like to mention that ex-Cornhusker Grant Wistrom played the key role in the perfectly executed defensive scheme of the game. Go Big Red!!

Punk Rock, Drag Queens, Beer and Football

What a week! Last week was just way too packed, we went to the Seahawks game on Sunday, Dropkick Murphys concert at The Showbox on Tuesday, Teatro Zinzani on Thursday and a birthday party at the pub across the street from my house on Friday. I'm spent! We were actually supposed to go to some cocktail party on Saturday but I cried Mercy and stayed in for the evening.

So, Dropkick Murphy's? Second time I've seen them live, first was on my 21st birthday. Gotta say, love listening to their CD's but they just aren't that great live. They double the tempo of their songs and up the instruments so loud that you can't hear the voice. I know, punk rock at it's finest, I couldn't even sing along(which is what we non-moshers do instead of kicking in teeth) until after I had had five or so of the tall Jamesons the bartender was pouring me. I think he may have had some kind of depth perception problem because those were some TALL Jamesons. So, Afterwards we went with my old roommate and his girlfriend to her house.....dude, this chick has the COOLEST disco room in her basement. School night or no, I decided to stay up and have a couple more beers and wail into the microphone of her karaoke machine. I was absolutely beat the next day.

Wednesday, luckily was a day off from this suddenly busy social schedule so I stayed home and revised my first formal paper for English class, got it back today, 94% Not Bad!!

Thursday my girlfriend and I accompanied another couple to Teatro Zinzani.....Holy Crap!! Awesome Show! It costs a hundred dollars for the ticket but is more than worth it. It is a three hour circus/dinner show. Each course is paraded in with it's own unique song, waiters are running and dancing around serving up delicious food. Throughout the entire evening, there is simply too much to watch at once. Contortionists, tumbling acts, juggling, singing, magic, mayhem everywhere!! There was one guy who balanced two wine glasses on top of a plate, on top of a sword on top of a knife sticking out of his mouth, cool? Yes, THEN he got onto the trapeze and proceeded to balance this collction while swinging over the audience's dinner tables! The star of the show is a drag queen named Mabel, at one point my girlfriend asked her(?) how she does her act with so much passion every single night. This ummm...lady snaps her head my direction and locks eyes with me and says in her sauciest voice "Ohh, I find the inspiration somewhere...." Then to the amusement of the other three at the table, she comes over to my side, takes off my tie, unbuttons my shirt and....gets very disappointed that I'm wearing an undershirt. So I thought I would never hear the end of the night I was hit on by a drag queen....until....a magical thing happened. Another hour or so into the show and Mabel is performing a Victorian number and has to go "on the hunt" for a prince....she goes bounding off to the other side of the room and circles closer and closer to our table....my heart rate kicks up a notch and I'm talking to the other guy with me(the girls had gone to the bathroom) "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, she's coming this way dude..." Sure enough, the spotlight falls right on us, but lo and behold, she's now staring at him. I am overjoyed by this and show it by dancing a small jig and hollering after him obnoxiously as he is dragged into the center ring. She proceeds to dance the dance of seduction with him(yikes!!) tear off her dress, wig and bonnet and switch places with him, making this guy her(now his) princess. The girls enter at about this time and I hear this guy's girlfriend from nearly across the room "OH MY GOD!! IS THAT MY BOYFRIEND!?!?" He must have been out there for about twenty minutes, parading around and participating in the show in this huge victorian evening gown and bonnet. Needless to say, nobody has mentioned my little drag queen incident as this guy had a far more interactive experience. SO, the food was excellent, service was off the hook and the show left me amazed, awe-struck and laughing to tears.

Intro post

This is my first blog, ever, WOW, I know, I'm Wayyyy behind the times. I did just turn twenty-five though so give an old man some credit. A little background on me, I was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, raised in Omaha, Nebraska where I graduated high school at Millard West. I then joined the Navy and spent six years as a Firecontrolman, sailing the ocean blue on the USS Shoup. I returned to the ways of the civilian a couple weeks ago and have enrolled in college up here in Seattle. I live in the neighborhood of Fremont, a weird, wacky corner of the city known as "The Center of the Universe." My hobbies include spelunking, lutefisk eating contests, bothering people, and jogging, all of which may or may not actually be true. Mainly starting up this blog for what I like to call "brain-vomit," when I just really gotta write things down to put my head back in order. Also would like to have for my far off family members to read and keep up with my doings. Strangers and freaks are welcome too though....