Pouring Beer at Ocktoberfest

The last volunteer gig had me pouring beer to passerbys at the Fremont festival. Started out pretty weak, but as the day wore on, my pours was just perfect.

As an appreciation, they gave us drink tickets to sample some of the beer. German beer is yummy! Mmmmmm....

If only all volunteering events were like this :P

Another Todo Complete: xbox - blue cable.. CONNECT

Another todo is completed today. Got that xbox live gold thing, blue cable attached to the xbox. Anddddd we are off!

Sucky thing though is that my local profile couldn't get converted into the online one. Which meant I lost the very little achievements that I have :(.

Todo Complete: Air Conditioner - Purchased!

after 3 years of talking about getting an air conditioner, today this was completed.

yeeeeaahhh!

Volunteer Day - Sculpture Park Prisoner Labor

Woke up bright and early today to do the 2nd of 4 volunteering outings for Seattle Works. The last one (at Women's Jubilee Center) was all about cleaning and vacuuming... Even though they were simple tasks, it seemed pretty worthwhile to do because it felt like it would help the place and make it feel like an even nicer place to live in.

So today, in the hot sunny outdoors, we arrived at the sculpture park at the Seattle Arts Museum. The task of the day... weeding. We ended up weeding 3 areas, under the sunny cloudless sky for 3.5 hours+. Water breaks probably around every hour...

During this time, I can't help but feel like those prisoners in the movies, where they go to a field and hammer at white rocks (or in my case, go to a big field, and pull out weeds). The tools we were given were a pair of gloves... and that was it. The 12 or so of us weeeded out buckets and buckets of weeds with our hands - you'd think we'd get those small little shovels or what not to dig at the ground. Not only would we have been more efficient, it would also have been less tiring. The bigger issue I had was that we were weeding what seemingly looked like areas that were pretty obscure - didn't seem rewarding at all. Also, these weeds really would just grow back, so this is an endless task really.

The good part of the day started after 2pm, when it was bye-bye time and we hit a bar that served Sangria (sponsored by our awesome volunteer leaders :P).

To top off the night, an IMO night was called during our time in the fields, and it turned out pretty fun - a few of the folks that we volunteered w/ came out, and the usual crowd. Even amidst all this, the 3 drink limit was observed (as usual) :).

E-Ma in Seattle

An unexpected call during a spec review a couple days ago reveals that E-Ma was in town. Giving her part of my tourist package, I take her out to Ginza and Ray's Boathouse :0)

Good nephew = me!

Wuhahahaha...

Lake Chelan: Part II - Manson!

Today was the day!

Some may recall a post I made a while back about the place called Manson, WA. After a year, I am finally here. The city with my name on it... ha ha ha.

Went around, snapping photos here and there, pulling over on Manson Hwy to take pictures of anything with Manson on it... heh heh heh. What a funnnn day!

Went to the Wapota Hills Winery, and they were doing complimentary wine tasting. The guy there was pretty nice, and I tried a whole bunch. Never shying away from a deal, we ended up picking up 6 bottles (partly because it was 20% off, partly because I needed to pick up a new batch of wine for my place anyway, and also, partly because the wines were pretty good)

Then also swung by Leavensworth. It was really neat actually. Looks like those miniature Christmas towns / gingerbread houses.

Lake Chelan: Part I - World Cup and Waverunners

First item on the list - get to Lake Chelan, and then find a place w/ TVs to watch the England vs. USA match :).

Got in time to catch the 2nd half, and to see that big fumble by England's goalkeeper. I would hate to be in his shoes right now - basically lost the game for the team. Ouch!

After that, it was time to soak in the sun, and to do outdoorsy stuff. Tried out waverunning-ing for the first time. It was really fun.

Going 25, 30, 25, 40 miles per hour was really fun. Gorgeous day.

Next time definitely bringing a camera.

Opened a bottle of red wine from Manson (yes, Manson :) ). The winery was called Vin du Lac. The steak was pretty good - even better because the meal was free!.. wuhahahaha.

Walked around and sat out in the balcony for a bit. Then passed out shortly after... did quite a bit today!

My 2nd course completed!

After a 65/100 outing... recovered to get a final mark of 3.7. Not too shabby eh?

Still trying to figure out this GPA system. Doing some quick math, looks like 3.7 = ~89.3. I wonder what a 4.0 is equal to. Hrm...

Sushi Nite - Ototo

The fish was really really fresh. And the taste was just really good.
The sake was also very reasonably priced.

Going to start a new blog for all the sushi place I've gone to and give them a review :). Maybe I will even take pictures of them.

Yellowstone Weekend: Part V - The Trek to Work

En route to home...

12am-ish. Drive into the car wash, to find we can't fit under it. Solution, park perpendicular to the car wash stations, then use the water jets from various stations to clean one side

Arriving back at the owner's place at 3am-ish, slept in car since we were a bit early.

Woke up at 6am to the sound of the alarm I set at 10am.. and with that, the final cleanup process started. Moved everything out of the RV and into our cars, ready for the final inspection.

Got back to S.town at 9am-ish. Took a quick shower, then off to work I go.

And with that, another soldier trip completed.