interlude two....

i realized the other day, that the last three movies i've watched have had death as a central theme.

• an inconvenient truth: al gore tells the story of global warming. a really straight forward documentary of his speech on global warming - with a lot of high impact visual and some personal life & anecdote thrown in. holy crap, what a frightening movie. if you haven't seen it.... it's worth a watch. 40 years and the point of no return is here. besides, who knew al could be interesting? (no political comments please - i really had never paid much attention to al, but i think after watching this movie that it would have been interesting had he not let bush get away with that florida shit. your president impacts our country, but i can't do anything about it.)
• eulogy: a delightful black comedy about 3 generations of a dysfunctional family that gather for their father's funeral, only to discover how little they really know about their family.
  
• meet joe black: death and taxes, living life to the fullest - no regrets. the inevitable catches up to you, even if he is a nice guy.

i wonder if my subconscious is trying to tell me something.......

interlude one....

it broke my heart. there sat my son in his highchair, at the dinner table. he was trying to tell us something, but since he's two we're all struggling with the speaking of english.

he'd say something heartfelt, that i just couldn't quite catch - so sincere it hurt. and then he'd get a little more upset, and repeat it. near the end he was in tears, he was trying so hard to get it across. and then he changed his tactic - since we obviously weren't getting what he was telling us, he switched to his bedtime routine where he says goodnight to his animals.

he was so tired, he wanted to go to bed at 6pm. i had to explain it was too early. he ate dinner, and sat quietly through the wiggles, and had his shower, and was watching his pre-bedtime program. partway through this particular dvd (richard scarry's best mother goose rhymes) they do a version of little boy blue. at the line "under the haystack, fast asleep" he burst into tears.

we paused the dvd and asked if it was time to go to bed. i don't think i ever saw a kid move so fast. his answer was to run upstairs to his bedroom at full tilt, and jump under the covers.

i have days where i know how that feels.

vacation..... part 3hree

oh yes, i've been remiss in posting, and replying to comments. blame it on work. because it's truth. anyway....

part 3hree: the u.s. border and seattle. photos wherever they fell. no movies this round. and for the hell of it, i'll try and keep this one short(er) even though i know i'll fail miserably. (just look at how many words i used to say i wouldn't use so many words! i mean come on.... i haven't gotten anywhere yet, and you're already running out of coffee break.)

day 8ight: saw us sitting at the border. in line. for a while. the security has gone up since the last time i drove across the border. i was almost surprised when no one pulled out a glove and an invitation to a private room. they did however ask what i was carrying across. what kind of answer are they expecting? does that really work? drugs? weed? crack? illegal mexicans? i mean nothing - just some groceries sir.

i kept my mouth shut and managed to resist any response similar to the one above. the truth is, how do you quickly cover what you're carrying across the border for a long road-trip vacation? luggage, clothes, food, couple cameras, mp3 player...... ummm.... handed over the passports. waited while they checked them. suffered the mandatory photo of vehicle plates and passengers. and was glad when i was able to get the hell out. like most people - for whatever reason - i get slightly nervous around police. even when i've done nothing. to be around border guards with guns downright gives me the willies. hauled ass out of peace arch and headed down the i-5 to seattle.

didn't stop until i got to seattle. the mega i-5 antiques mall didn't catch my interest (ok... i missed the turnoff) and the costco didn't thrill me either. it had already been long, and there were two spots i wanted to hit before they closed.

• half price books
• hardwick's hardware store

ok.... so what you may ask. to be honest, i don't think we have anything quite like half price books in my area. a clearinghouse for new books that have gone through their initial release and now have massive quantities languishing on a clearance table. and used books. it's mostly the volume i think. they had books by authors i've been searching for and been unable to find used. bruce sterling, neal stephenson, orson scott card, william gibson and others. anywhere i can find a hardcover book for a dollar - or an out of print 30 year old woodworking book for a $1.50 is cool by me. we left with a box full of $120 worth of books and headed to hardwick's. headed down to seatac for a cheap(er) hotel, and had dinner at the rainforest cafe. the foods ok, the prices are always higher than i remember, and the decor is sort of cornball.... but it's become tradition on our trips now (sanfran, vegas, seattle.)

day 9ine: now, there is that corny old saying "i left my heart in san francisco" - which i'll admit i did when i finally had a chance to get there. mmmmmm..... ghirardelli's. well.... i can say i lost 2 years of my life in seattle.

we headed down to seattle centre on the i-5. where i come from, the exits on our major freeway system (all one road through the city) are on the right. same with the entrance. so there's lots of congestion as people are trying to get on and off in the same 2km (1 mile) stretch. so i kept to the middle lane knowing the exit i needed could be on either side. ok... on the left. worked around a large delivery truck in my way, cut over into the lane i needed, and realized.....
i had less than 3 car lengths to come to a complete stop from 60 mph (90 km/h for the rest of the world). you know.... i was suddenly glad i had spent all that money to have the brakes completely redone. because i managed to keep control, and come to a stop with at least half an inch to spare. although i freaked out the guy in the lane beside me because i drifted a little bit. after the guy in front of me cleaned up his shorts, he pulled back into traffic and left.

we managed to make it to seattle centre in one piece - no thanks to me. home of the space needle, the science centre, emp (experience music project) and the science fiction museum and hall of fame. any guesses what we went to visit? (didn't go up the space needle, have something similar at home. didn't go to the science center - they had the dead sea scrolls which would have been interesting, but the body works 3 exhibit had moved.... to vancouver! so i missed it in both places due to an out of date website. in my defense, their signage still showed it as being there.)

emp and sci-fi land. $27ish a person for the 2. the only thing that really made me mad was you couldn't take photos. after having gone through both, i can understand - there is a huge amount of original, one of a kind items - a flood of tourists snapping photos would cause serious damage. and oddly enough.... they sell a book of the emp. (to clarify - these are housed in the same physical building.) oh yes... the building.

it is a fairly controversial building, designed by Frank O. Gehry. The outside is interesting - the inside possibly ugly. let's say steel ribs with mesh/concrete layered over top. the outside of the building is a metal skin that is attached but sits above the framework. here's what i'm talking about....

exterior shots of the emp

interior shots of the emp

interesting stuff. history of the guitar from the first "standard" style spanish guitar about 800 years ago through the development of the electric and electric base. history of hip hop - and i'll admit while i still may not like it a lot, i appreciate where it came from and why. history of music in seattle. jimi hendrix (well, not really jimi - they left him where he belongs). all of the permanant exhibits. we skipped the special exhibit 'doubleTake: from monet to ;ichtenstein' and the 'disney: the music behind the magic' which wasn't set up at the time.

lunch was at revolutions bar and grill. it was excellent. i had the fish tacos - had never seen them on a menu and to be frank i had a horrible image of my childhood. in my childhood, a typical lunch was a box of el molino taco shells, some salsa, some shredded cheese, some lettuce, and a can of tuna. let's just say these were better then my childhood lunch. if i remember, they were "beach style". i think it was the guacamole that really made them. here's a gratuitous food photo:
post lunch we hit the science fiction museum and hall of fame. let me tell you, unless you really like sci-fi, you'll be bored to tears. they have a huge amount of books on display, movies that were inspired by them - the impact of history on sci-fi and vice versa. the original manuscript by neal stephenson for the baroque trilogy (about 2-1/2 feet high). original costumes & weapons - everything from star trek, to firefly, aliens (the queen, and the power loader used in the last scene), battlestar galectica (the original), history time lines, a massive section on war of the worlds, star wars...... geek heaven. hours of geek heaven. here's the link to their list of galleries. what i did learn is my philip k. dick library is sorely lacking. and that the rest is in decent shape.

what can i say... if you're into sci-fi you have a pretty good idea of what you'll find. if you hate sci-fi you don't want to hear about it. so i'll leave you with a couple photos.....

(yup, you guessed it....)

we left right at closing, managing to snag a copy of firefly (the complete series) on dvd.... only to find out yesterday walmart carries it for about $20 cheaper than what i paid. still.... it's a great series. think of it as a space western - lots of outer planet/frontier style to it. a fabulous series by joss whedon that got canceled for no good reason after winning many awards. if you've seen the movie serenity - it's the completion of the series. it's fantastic.

day 10en: was the day we were leaving. but we couldn't leave seattle without hitting pike place market. i've been forced to watch the corporate training videos that are based on the pike place fish market (where they throw the fish around and involve their customers. it's all about selling the business to the employees - and getting them involved. they always seem to show it to the employees instead of the management though..... anyway).

pike's place (back of the building)

pikes place (front street)

"the" pike's place fish market

monkfish on display. (this is a great gag.... they
wait until someone steps near to get a close look, and
then pull on a string to make it jump and twitch)

this is an incredible market. a must. a convoluted maze of 4 or more stories in an old water front building. across the street is the first starbuck's. if you like 'bucks, i recommend the pike place blend - you can't buy it anywhere else. i only bought a pound - and i gave it to my brother as a housewarming gift. damn.... it was really nice. anyway... pike place.

"the" first starbucks... i thought some
of the people were on pilgrimage and kept waiting
for them to drop to their knees. "we're not worthy"
would have been pretty accurate.

it is a nice store - they've never renovated it so it has the feel
of an old store, lot of wood counters - very little chrome and shiny.

fresh flowers as far as the eye can see. fresh seafood. magic shop. antiques. books. crafts. soap. musical instruments, tea, spices, fresh roast nuts..... you name it, it's there.... 3 floors of permanent stores, and the upper floor of market stalls. crazy place. lots of fun. good restaurant. we ate lunch at lowell's - a 3 floor restaurant and bar overlooking the port of seattle - since 1957.



and after lunch, we were back into the car, and on the road... headed home.

so sayeth i.

and now i'll quit, because this has become much too long to read, and taken about 3 hours more than i meant.

the road home is short. well... not literally, but it was pretty uneventful driving on major highways. but that is for another day.