wooden shoes and windmills

I am finding myself incrediably distracted today and not able to get any work done. I leave for Orange County and all of my dear Orange Countians in exactly 18 hours. Only 7.5 hours of work, two car rides a plane ride and one very short sleep to get through before I'm there!!!

So, um, it sort've concerns me that something like this exists in the world today. Run for the hills, protect the children, hunker down in a bunker somewhere! He's, it's, lose.

I think my favourite part may be when he sings to his adoring audience as the camera comes in for a close-up. My he's dreamy.

It's not Wheaties...

MMM. Oatmeal with dried cranberries and a sprinkling of brown sugar and a double tall 2 pump hazelnut non-fat extra hot latte' - it's pretty much the most perfect breakfast on earth!

I had a perpetual grin on my face yesterday. Maybe it was because of the first day of spring - which definitely made an appearance here in Seattle. Maybe it was because my mom arrived up here (finally) on Saturday completing the Lilly family's move back to Washington. Or maybe it was because this friend arrived safe and sound at home in Alaska after a VERY long time away. Just the thought of him reuniting with all of his friends after so long is enough to make a person grin. Whatever the reason, yesterday was a great today.

Today? Well, today is yet to be seen.

...but something you definitely should take a look at. There's an amazing photo exhibit up on the Mezzanine level of my office building by Nicholas Prior called "Home/Less". The pictures were taken in Seattle - It's worth checking out.

7.24am
I never thought I could be so thankful for getting up before the sun and starting work at 5.45am but when your office is on the 10th floor and faces a mountain range and the sunrise it's hard not to be thankful. The sunrises are so brilliant some days it's like an enormous light show, just for us early birds, that changes second by second.

7.25am
This morning there is a lavender-rose haze shrouding the city and more of the same peeking up from behind the mountains. I know in a minute the sky will have changed completely.

7.28am
The rosey-pinks are still backlighting the mountains but now the sun is preparing to make its grand entrance with a brilliant prelude of orangy-yellow that spreads forward beyond the mountains and reflects off the whispy Cirrus clouds blanketing the sky.

7.33am
Mt. Ranier is coming into full view and while magnificent in her own right - especially with a thick covering of snow - she pales in comparison to the rising sun.

7.38am
The sun has risen just above the tips of the mountains and its bright gleaming turns everything below it - all of the buildings and trees and people and cars - to shadows while it fills the sky with its brilliance.

7.41am
Good morning sun. Welcome to the day....

"But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."
My times are in your hands"
Psalm 31:14-15a

Happy Tuesday!

So I'm living and working in the city now. I moved - to a cute little house in Magnolia - at the beginning of January. I also moved to a new Starbucks - downtown - and another new job - U District. Living in the city (or just outside it) has been great so far. Working in it has been great and with many hilarious (read: Odd, scary, crazy) moments.

For example: last night when I was working a woman came into our store with one of our paper cups that she had clearly dug out of the trash, and asked for a coffee refill. This same woman had tried to pull this a couple of nights before when I was working. Having never encountered her before, I gave her the benefit of the doubt when she told me she wasn't aware of our refill policy and gave her her grande coffee for the refill price of 55 cents. I also informed her that next time she would need to pay full price. It's not that Starbucks couldn't afford to give her a whole pot of coffee it's just the principle of the thing. Anyway, last night she came in again and tried asking for a refill. I immediately interrupted the eager new barista working the register and told the woman that she would need to buy a fresh cup of coffee. She was mad. She started yelling at me that she owned the company and would speak to David (no clue who he is) and come back later that night and fire me. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in her face - which would have undoubtedly made her more mad because she so clearly believed the claims she was making. Finally I told her I would call security if she didn't leave the store immediately and she stalked off grumbling.

Though this was just one of the more colorful incidences I've already encountered in just about 3 weeks at this store it doesn't hold a candle to the individual that defecated while his friends captured it on video, outside our store a couple of nights ago.

To that individual, wherever you may be, you're a winner.

Am I the only one who has never known the word Virginian to refer both to a person from the state of Virginia and to someone who has never had sex? One of the guys I work with is getting married in a couple of months and I overheard him trying to tell another one of my co-workers - in I guess what he thought was a more delicate fashion - that he is a virgin.

So that's what the kids are calling it these days. Interesting.