August 30, 2003

Techno Shopper I didn't waste any time when I went back to Seattle. I arrived Friday night and Saturday morning Mom and Kristin took me to Costco where I purchased a gorgeous Toshiba Satellite P-25 with a 17" monitor, then to Best Buy for an iRiver mp3 player with 512 megs of storage. I used the Satellite to create a multimedia presentation of "Beautiful Leaf of Autumn," a poem that my Dad wrote. I narrated it, incorporated some photos he took and set it to a piano piece called Canadian Rockies that he really liked. When I visited him in December of 2001 after his heart surgery, we talked about putting it together. He would have liked the way it turned out. The iRiver was absolutely imperative for Budapest marathon training. During my one really long run before the Stockholm marathon, I had to listen to the same playlist 3 times because my Rio only has 32 megs of space. So you can appreciate the urgency of the situation here. With the iRiver I could do an ultramarathon and still not hear the same song twice. And just the experience of going into Best Buy was worth half the cost of the player. It was MASSIVE, clean, well organized, filled with fun techno things at low prices, and the staff was cheerful and helpful. What a contrast to the Tottenham Court Road experience I'm used to.

August 16, 2003

The Last Call My father passed away on Friday, August 8. I flew back to Seattle to prepare for his celebration of life service, sort through some of his mother's things and be with family and friends. And my friends and family certainly didn't let me down. Mom was helpful and supportive of my preparations for the service and sorting out of belongings, even though my dad was not a good husband to her. Kristin made the journey across the Cascades twice (with kitty Sasquatch and new boyfriend Travis along) to visit and help out. Jay picked me up from the airport late on a Friday night and drove me to Mom's house in Edmonds. When I arrived, there was a bouquet of Stargazer Lillys on the mantel with a beautiful card from Shaun. Amanda called me in London and in Edmonds throughout the month to lend me a sympathetic ear. Jerri came to the celebration of life, even though she didn't know my dad or any of his friends. Then she came out to have some grubbin' Mexican food with us at El Puerto. Both Shaun and Debbi came over to give me hugs and support. Glenn called at my mom's to offer condolences and see how I was handling things. Friends like this are what make life so rich. Then at 9 pm Thursday while my mom and I were chatting at the kitchen table, there was a knock at the door. Mom and I looked at each other quizzically....it was too late for guests to drop by. Mom answered the door while I stayed in the kitchen. She was shocked to see him, but didn't let the surprise out, just talked to him like he was a door-to-door salesman until he popped into the kitchen and put his arms around me. While I was hugging him, I could see Mom was teary-eyed with joy. Thanks Brian.

August 13, 2003

Home Sounds We saw Sleater Kinney tonight, yeah, the rocker chicks from Olympia. They played at the Mean Fiddler (isn't that a wicked name for a venue?) just around the corner from our offices. I remember hearing Sleater Kinney on the End in the late 90s when I lived in Seattle but I couldn't name any of their songs. Well, the show rocked and it was great to hear some live music....and their PNW accents when they spoke on stage. Next it's Wheatus in Rocktober.