An old new world

A new year.

rainws — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:12:25 +0000

So it’s a new year. Maybe I’ll post a bit

Been a while

rainws — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:28:50 +0000

So I haven’t posted in a while. Ok, a long long time. This past summer was pretty busy at Microsoft and I didn’t feel like writing anything here. Times change, and now I’m hanging out in Palo Alto, California working for Palantir Technologies. California is fun, and the weather is great. Tomorrow I’m headed to LA. Good times….

The 4th

rainws — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:49:22 +0000

So I didn’t get to go rowing. Hopefully next weekend. But I did have an amazing 4th! Emily, Kevin, Michelle, and Rob (Songer) joined me at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park for an afternoon of lounging on the grass, and good conversation.

I was a little bummed that my roommates Rob (Smith), Adam, and Alyssa bailed on us. They drove in a separate car and arrived a bit before us. Apparently they thought the park was too crowded, so they left to go somewhere else.

The fireworks were great, but the real highlight of the evening was me locking my keys in my car. AAA was quite unhelpful (the promised to send someone out but no one showed up after 2 hours), but Adam came to our rescue by delivering my spare car key to us! Thanks Adam, I owe you one.

I felt so bad making everyone wait around while we worked the key-locked-in-car situation out. Everyone was really nice and understanding about it though. Thanks guys!

More photos:

Click here for rest of photos.

Row, row, row your boat

rainws — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 19:22:19 +0000

Happy 4th of July! It’s a beautiful day in Seattle and I’m trying to figure out what to do. I really want to rent a row boat, but I’d like to go somewhere a bit more scenic and secluded than lake union which is in the middle of the city.

Relaxing on the water seems like a great way to spend the day. Hmmm…guess I need to keep looking for a good place to go…

Better luck next time

rainws — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 09:15:35 +0000

Stars are so beautiful, and it’s amazing to think that the light from some stars takes over 1 million years to reach us.

I’ve seen some really great photos of “star trails”. A star trail photo is created by taking a picture of the night sky with a super long exposure (over an hour in some cases). During this time, the stars move across the sky, creating a trail effect. Taking star trail photos seemed like a fun thing to do, so I headed to a local park around 11pm with my camera equipment and a blanket to recline on.

After a few short exposures (5-10 minutes each), I realized I needed to go for a much longer exposure. However, I had no idea exactly how long to let my photo expose for, so I decided to try 1 hour.

It was amazing weather – clear sky, high 60′s, slight breeze. A friend showed up to keep me company while I waited for my photo to finish exposing. Unfortunately, my timing was off and the photo didn’t come out too well, as you can see to the right.

The star trail is visible, but the overall quality of the photo is quite poor. Next time, I’m going to try a slightly shorter exposure and tweak some other settings. If anyone has any tips for making great star trail photos, please let me know

Although my photo didn’t turn out too well, it was still fun to be outside on a beautiful evening.

More photos from Bainbridge

rainws — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:36:54 +0000

Here are some more photos from the trip to Bainbridge last weekend:

View rest of photos…

Just for fun

rainws — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 06:31:20 +0000

My sister was doing these things on her blog so I figured I’d give them a shot “just for fun”.

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who have a split personality – cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You’d like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is comforting. You crave a relationship where you always feel warmth and love.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You’ll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

I’d say this is a bit off, but surprisingly accurate overall…

Your Life is 20% Off Track

No doubt about it, you are living the right life.
You’ve made some great decisions, and they’ve definitely paid off.
Keep it up. You’re on the right track!

Are You Living The Wrong Life?

I guess I’m living the right life?

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense.

Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men
You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Kind of accurate..I think…

You’ve Experienced 52% of Life

You have a good deal of life experience, about as much as someone in their late 20s.
You’ve seen and done enough to be quite wise, but you still have a lot of life to look forward to.

How Much Life Experience Do You Have?

Kind of funny, this is the exact same result Bonnie received…

The Park

rainws — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 06:15:44 +0000

Tonight was pretty productive – made it to the gym, got a haircut, and still had time to relax with a good book at the park. Missed the pool though

Bonnie is coming on Friday and we’re going to see a show at the triple door. Should be good times!

I’m too lazy to sort through the rest of the weekend photos tonight. Hopefully tomorrow.

Work is going well and my project is really fun to work on. My midpoint review is next week, so hopefully my manager thinks things are as going as well as I do…

I feel old. Not sure why.

Sunday in Bainbridge

rainws — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:36:48 +0000

I went to Bainbridge Island this afternoon with some friends. It was a fun time relaxing on the ferry and taking in the sights and sounds of the island. For lunch / dinner we went to this nice little restaurant on the harbor where we all had fish & chips (except for Paul who opted for prawns & chips). Bainbridge is always a fun time although I think Adam wished we didn’t have to walk quite so much

I’m exhausted so I’ll write more (and post some photos) tomorrow. Goodnight!

P.S. – couldn’t resist posting just one photo. Here’s Paul flying:

Olympic Sculpture Park

rainws — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:15:12 +0000

Saturday evening my roommates went to see the new Die Hard film. It was a beautiful day so I decided to head to Seattle instead, with a plan to hop on a ferry to Bainbridge and check out some live music at Pegasus Coffeehouse. Unfortunately, I missed the ferry by about 2 minutes, and so I decided to go check out Discovery Park instead of wait 45 minutes for the next ferry.

On my way up North to Discovery Park, I passed a strange statue sticking out of a bridge. A few seconds later, it hit me that this must be the Seattle sculpture park I had read about in the past. After completing a quick u-turn, I was on my way back to the park. It turns out this was the Olympic Sculpture Park.I’m really glad I stopped.

The park is in a great location near Alaskan Way and there are great views of the water and the space needle throughout the park. There are a lot of little chairs throughout the area to sit and read, and I’m sure it would be a great place to take in a sunset.

I spent about an hour and a half wandering around and taking photos. The rest of my photos are up on flickr. Around 8:30, a friend of mine called and we decided to check out Benihana, a sushi bar near 5th & Seneca.

It took me about an hour to find my way over to Pike st. on foot, but it was worth the hike.The sushi was very good – I stuck with the basics and ordered two California Rolls and one Philadelphia Roll.

Below is a view of the restaurant:

Shortly after I got home, my roommates came back from a party. Adam was a bit tipsy but insisted on playing ping pong with all of us. The following action ensued:

Then we went to sleep. The end.