Connie

Today, I believe, is Connie's birthday. This also just happens to be the one day out of the week that there's usually no way in hell that I can get to the pool, seeing as how they close at 6pm on Sunday.
So I didn't get to make it there to see her.

Maybe tomorrow if I find time I'll get her something. Not really sure what, but I'll think of something. The last thing I got her was that ball she's holding. It's her favorite ball to play kickball with. I guess I've got a soft spot in my heart for some kids.

In addition to that, I finally get to go diving again after about a 3 or 4 week hiatus. The times that my buddy had proposed just hadn't worked for me. But this coming Tuesday I'll be able to go at 4:30 after putting in a full day at Fred's.
It'll be the first time I get to try out my light underwater!
I wonder if I can balance handling both that light and a camera.
I haven't taken pictures in a long while either...

bored

It's finally hit me. After 3 days of doing next to nothing, I'm bored off my ass.
Attempting to apply to UAA (Alaska/Anchorage), but I need to get out and do some things.
Those I'll probably do tomorrow.

As for the rest, it's just waiting. OH. GRE's. I can do that, then I'll be bored again.
Stupid shitty/cold weather.

Harborview

Last week on Friday I had to drive my dad to my mom's place of business so they could have an extended weekend together in Seaside, OR. Ya know, just so they'd have one car.

On my way back I decided once I got off of Mercer Island that I'd take backroads home. I tried it out and I ended up on First Hill overlooking downtown and Mount Rainier, as well as my diving spot at Alki. It was bitterly cold and I was only in a t-shirt. The sun made it rather deceiving, but it was probably around the upper 30's. My hands started to fail me when taking pictures.
But there was an amazing view of Mount Rainier with it being such a nice day. I went into the hospital to see if there was anything interesting in there.
Nope. Just a bunch of sick people. One area was really bad, I could feel a warm haze of sickness around me. I bolted.

So, even with that small side adventure, this is all I came up with. A few photos from outside.

Totem

Last week I got anxious from sitting around the house and decided to get out. I didn't know what to do with myself and couldn't go too far cuz I had to work at 6, so I just thought I'd head back up Totem Hill like I did just after I came back from Alaska. Although this time in the light.

What I found out, was that that place is very plain in the daytime. Other than beer cans hung on tree branches, the foliage wasn't even as thick as I had remembered. I guess a veil of darkness just adds that much more intrigue.

So I headed off from there in hopes of discovering something cool around Totem Lake, which is hidden from view off the intersection of 124th Ave and 124th St.
The lake is a nice getaway from all the traffic around. It's just a bunch of high cattails and small trees that harbor a bit of wildlife.
Nothing big, maybe a city block.

There's even a little boardwalk that take you out to an overlook of the lake past some of those cattails.
Last time I went out there was maybe a year ago and there was a floating island with just enough dirt for two small trees to be attached to it. I don't know what happened to it, whether it reattached itself to the banks of the lake, or if it took a nosedive to the bottom.

Beyond the lake there was an additional trail. I found an adbandoned construction site with a few support pillars, maybe for a garage, but it just looked like everyone had up and left the site. Beyond it were a bunch of condos in a single building. Their backyard is the wooded area on 124th just before you dive into the valley to Redmond.
It's weird how you never really notice the area cuz you can't drive through it.
For that matter, I wonder how many Totem Lakers even know that there is a Totem Lake or it's location.
From either 124th, you can't really see it unless you know what you're looking for.
Even in the winter if you're just driving by it's not obvious.
Either way, I took pictures. Nothing too exciting, but I got to get out, and I got to hike around in marshy, blackberry-ridden areas.
Good times.

Devil's Club

Man, what a sigh of relief.
While on my hike on Tuesday up at Snoqualmie, I tripped over a mossy log and grabbed for the nearest thing to stop my fall.

It just so happened to be a thick devil's club stem.
After gaining my footing I peeled my hand from the stem.
I didn't get it as bad as I thought.
Two sizeable thorns remained in my hand.
Each on the inside of the finger past the last knuckle.
One in my middle finger, the other in my index finger.

That night I was able to work out the one from my middle finger, but the one in my index was deep.
After many painful tries (including at the pool) I gave up.

The next day I tried again. But a bit of puss and blood was all I could extract.
This continued for 5 days until last night, with a bit of help, I was able to create a crater in my index finger to pull out the deep-seeded thorn.
It was barely noticeable once remonved, but my finger felt the difference.
Now it's just a matter of that damn crater healing.

But at least I don't have to wear a band-aid at FM anymore to cushion the pain from the contact of items that I'd have to grab to cashier.

Why does nature have to be so cruel?

Dive

More pictures from people who go to my same dive shop.

Kathyrn has some from Alki.

Bob Bailey took some from Three Tree, near Tacoma.

Damn, I need to get out again.
Although their pictures are so much better than mine.

Casual Friday

At the pool Thursday, I was playing catch with a 7 year-old named Marcus.
The ball was a palm-sized soft-rubber basketball.
After many a throw, the ball landed in the pool.
I bent over to pick it up while Marcus came up behind me.

With the slightest push, I lost my balance and all moment went pool-side.
I was able to turn and face away from the water, but it was no use.
Down I went into the water. A slow-motion splashdown.
It felt like Will Farell's same fall into the pool from Old School.
Cognizant of what was going on around me, but unable to react.

Luckily all I had on were shorts, a shirt and my hat. I had spare shorts, but no shirt.
So I put everything wet into the sauna.
I went back into the water where Marcus kept wanting to play; me from the water and him from the pool deck.
He kept throwing our vast supply of those small basketballs at me until they were all on the other side of the pool.
Then he ran over there and repeated the onslaught.

The thing though, is that Marcus has yet to realize the consequences of his actions.
One of the balls he threw interrupted the swim lessons going on by hitting one of the 7 year-old girls in the face.

The girl was trying to figure out whether or not it was worth crying about. Eventually she realized it was, which made me feel bad.

I tried to chastize Marcus by telling him that he hit her in the face, that he needs to watch where he's throwing the ball, and that we can't play anymore because of what he'd done.

Marcus looked me directly in the eye and told me he didn't hit her in the face.
Then he got out of the pool and again started to throw basketballs.
My authority is nonexistent.

It took one of the moms of the kids who got hit to tell Marcus to stop before he actually would.
Maybe it's because Marcus doesn't have a father-figure in his life so he only listens to a motherly-type figure.
Hopefully it's not just the fact that I'm a pushover.

Then came Friday.

I've come to enact my own casual Friday.
This involves wearing nothing that remotely resembles lifeguard attire.
I'm only there for 3.5 hrs now, and no one comes on Fridays anyway, so I assume it doesn't matter.

But the story that comes along with Friday was when one of my buddies came and after a bit of conversation started to swim.
While he was doing this, a family of four came in along with a few people from their extended family.
In all they were 10.

They start playing and doing kid stuff; throwing balls, much like Marcus had been doing.
I go into the boiler room to make sure the bromine feeder was off.
When I come out, Clement from the front desk comes out and informs me that my buddy swimming just had an incident with one of the kids.

Apparently two of them collided.
My buddy doesn't wear goggles while he swims, so he saw nothing coming.
The kid's goggles hit my buddy's forehead. He stood up and said a few nasty words.
I don't know if this was before or after he realized it was a kid.
Either way, him getting hit wasn't right.
The kids are old enough to know where and where not they should be playing.

I had a few words with my buddy later who went on about how he pays enough money to where he should feel safe here and not have to worry about kids running into him.
He's right. I happened to be doing an odd job while it happened.
He also mentioned that the kid should know better, which is true.
He showed me the bump on his head.
He seemed more dissappointed than pissed.
I felt bad.

Later on that night when we were closing, the family came up to me and wanted to know who the man was. They said he said things to the child in question that wasn't acceptable.

The hard part here is that I know both sides. I know them rather well, actually.
So I had to stay neutral and tell them that I had no idea what went down (which I still don't. I don't know whether the kid jumped on my buddy, plain ran into him, or if somehow my buddy is to blame.) So I told them that until I knew what had happened, I wasn't going to say anything.
They accepted this and instead of explaining their side, just exited the building.

But what is that? Two situations in two days where kids go wild and no reprocussions fall on them. Marcus hits the girl and his mom (who is supposed to be on the pool deck) isn't on the pool deck, and this kid who ran into my buddy (as I heard from my buddy) didn't even apologize!
Then the parents were looking for retribution for what the guy did in the aftermath of the situation that should have been prevented if the kid was more aware of what was going on around him. The same goes for Marcus.

I used to say that kids don't know any better, but I believe they do.
Although, if parents don't make them know any better, then the won't care to.

Hopefully if I'm ever a parent I won't let my kids get into situations like that.
They're going to behave.
I won't have to be a pushover like I am now because they'll be my kids, and I can whoop their monkey-asses if I need to.

Oh. btw. I also took pictures on Friday between all the mayhem.

Snoqualmie

The same day that I got my dive light, I thought I'd go out and have more of an adventure. This time further toward the mountains.
I hopped on I-90 going east until I was prompted by a few signs to make my way to Snoqualmie Falls.
Sounds like a plan...
The last time I went was with Grandpa and Irene.
It was winter time and Grandpa drove up after not driving for many, many months.
When we got there, he informed me I was going to drive back.
The rain wasn't too bad once we got to the falls, but it did keep us from staying too long.
I can't remember how good the view was. Probably a bit foggy.

However, this time the weather was beautiful.
It hadn't been sunny in what seemed like months.
I parked, ran up to the observatory and took a few shots.
Nice flow, not that many people, just some kiddies and japanese foreign exchange students.

Next, I thought, "I want to see the top of the falls."
Over at Niagra, they let you get right up to the cresting point of the falls, where water is misting up back at you at such a volume that you think it has suddenly started to rain until you walk back out of the mist's reach.

So I headed up past the Salish Lodge that sits on the cusp of the falls where the 270-foot drop starts. Maybe I could have snuck in there, but it seemed like too many people were around to enjoy that luxury. Around the back, the lodge was fenced in and a sign stating "Please respect our guests" stared down anyone like me who wanted to get a better view.

Continuing on, I headed more upstream until I found the blocked off electrical areas that posted no tresspassing. I continued further upstream until the signs dissappeared.
Then I cut in toward the river. That's where I found the old columns that may have once supported a bridge.
I went all the way to the river to check out the buildings across the way that I could see from the observation deck.
But when I got to the shore, there were about a half dozen men on the other side seemingly staring at me.
I freaked and bolted.
I got almost all the way back past the electrical area and almost back to the lodge when I saw a clearing through some holly bushes. Being careful not to touch them, I snuck by and noticed a 30-foot sloped area covered in brush that led to a paved road down below along the river.
I trekked down to the pavement only to see that now some of those men had gotten into their trucks and were driving toward the old buildings.
However, if they wanted to do anything about me, they were heading in the wrong direction, because the only bridge around was back upstream.
So I continued.
I got about 100 feet from the edge of the falls at a point where if those men were actually watching me, they wouldn't freak out from fear of my safety, or any foul play with the falls or the equipment surrounding it.
I darted back up to the employee parking lot and nodded at some dude walking past as if I worked there.
Again I passed the lodge and took more shots of the falls.

Now was the time for the real hike.
There were signs that one could follow for the River Trail. I took it with its initial steep half-mile grade. Down around the bend from the falls, but still near the river everything that seemed like the direction I wanted to go was blocked off either by a make-shift fence or yellow caution tape.
There was also an actual chain-linked fence that had signs for no trespassing on PSE land.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I was taking that picture from the wrong side of the fence.

Cautiously I made my way down to the seemingly abandoned building that had large pipes connecting it to another building on top of the cliff.
I explored this area a bit, found a zip-line that crosses the river, and decided to head back.

But then! I see a man in a white cap come around the same way that I had! He looked somewhat official.
I sprinted off toward the woods and took a leap down the slope toward the river and ducked behind a large root. It felt like that scene from Lord of the Rings where the wraiths are following the hobbits in the woods.
I peer around looking for the bobbing white cap. It's nowhere to be seen!
Crap.
I build up some courage and get nearer to the paved road.
Apparently the man had forgot something and went back to his truck.
Now he was heading back down the trail. And as he did, so did I re-find my cushy hiding spot.
This time I was able to follow the bobbing cap and waited many seconds after it was safely past me until I jumped back up onto the road and sprinted to get back on the other side of the fence.
Mr. Whitehat never saw me.

Then I noticed another fence that kept onlookers away from the pipes that connected the two buildings. With my previous history today from both Issaquah and here at the falls, I figured, why not just jump this fence as well? So I did. My better judgement kept me from attempting to scale the barbed wire fence immediately next to the pipes.

From here, I thought my journey was over, and I'd head back to my car.
But then I saw something that I could ford.
This forest of monocots was easily stompable, although in spots it was a bit mushy.
Especially around this cleverly disguised stream.

However, that wasn't the hard part. Once that was traversed came the upward slope.
At first it wasn't bad, and it was actually refreshing not to be squishing in the mud.
Beyond this tree, things got hairy.

Wearing street clothes, I wasn't expecting anything like this. But after a while, all fours were required to gain any ground.
It may not look like it, but this fallen tree was lying at an angle around 60 degrees. Its base was dangling 15 feet over the ground. So I had to climb up smaller branches to get to its mossy top.
But once I stepped on the log, I realized my mistake.
The moss and ferns made the climb way too slippery, especially for my street shoes.
I had to climb up the crevice along the right side of the log using any grip possible to gain any headway.
Once I got to the tree's "base" it was a lot easier to pull myself up.

But that by far was not the hardest part.
Next came the nearly vertical wall that was covered in peat moss that came off in your hands as you grabbed it.
A lot of the rock under the moss was slate-like slabs that slid out from their niche if you pulled hard enough to support your weight.

So the best bet came from grabbing at strong-rooted shrubs that could find a better grip in the rocks.
For the most part this worked well. The worst part was when you had a foothold, were hugging the wall, and couldn't find anywhere else to grab.
Or something to grab was just out of reach.
I sometimes had to find other loose branches to pull down those that were more sturdy.
At one point I tried to hard to reach too far and found a branch that couldn't support me. (Bad call. You always need at least one firm foot- or handhold.
Down I went, sliding vertically for about a foot or two, but the branches I had come from were there, and I immediately had a deathgrip on them. Old footholds were found.
When all upward avenues failed you, you had to look for an ulterior route which meant hopefully shuffling to the right or left.
In another incident, I was doing just this when my foothold which happened to be some of that shitty pete moss resting upon some of that shitty slate gave way.
Luckily, at the time, I was gripping some 2-inch thick branches that resembled a divining rod.
So when my feet gave way and I slammed against the bare rock with my chest and tops of my feet, I had a strong hold with each hand.

From that dangling position, I was able to pull my feet up level with my waist and shuffle over to the left where better footholds lie.
By this time I had been climbing for a while and I felt a little shaky, but it wasn't that bad.
And besides, there was still more cliff left lying ahead of me.

But a few more minutes of weaving around poking branches, I came to my last obstacle: a cluster of roots from an old fallen tree.
In the roots was something white and ceramic.
I couldn't quite figure out what it was, maybe something for grounding electricity. But thankful to have the worst behind me, I took my picture with it.

The last little bit was annoying because of so much of the foliage, but other than that, nothing like what I had previously gone through.

At the top was a fenced-in area where the building with the pipes sat atop the cliff. The cliff comprised the entire bend that kept me from seeing the waterfall from the river, but atop the cliff I got a small peek at it.

Turning around I could see the river to the left and the white-ish area being the parking lot where I snuck behing the fence. I'd come quite a ways.
Just like at Deception Pass, I feel like I got to know the area better than most because of my intimate involvement with it.
Yeah, I spent hours in a relatively small area of the falls, but I feel I now have a better sense of its environment because of the bushwhacking.

I also learned a few other important things from this experience:

1)Always plan ahead and wear the proper attire.
(Hiking shoes and shorts would have done better than jeans and vans.)

2)Don't be stupid and let at least one person know where you're going.
(If I did die/break a leg, I would have been screwed. No one frequents where I was.)

3) Bring water.
(I got quite parched.)

4)You don't always have to continue forward.
(I can't quite get myself to follow this one, even if it is a good idea. I look too forward to the challenge.)

So even though it was a slight bit dangerous and I was a slight bit stupid, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Getting away from the monotony of the city while partaking in some physical activity was exactly what I was looking for.
Hurray for Snoqualmie Falls.

Light

Tuesday I had nothing to do until 6 pm, so I decided to pick up my new underwater light for scuba diving. The shop had recently moved but it was still in Issaquah and I roughly knew where it was located. So that wasn't much of a big deal.

But on the way I noticed Mount Rainier standing out between some hills.
The night before the winds had blown away all the clouds so it was a wonderful day.
I pulled over and tried to recreate the same view that I saw from the elevated freeway, but it was damn-near impossible.

I found a walking path that went under the freeway, so I decided to see if I could get level with the road. There was a slight obstacle of a fence that aimed at keeping bums and people like me out from under the freeway. However, there was a little area of the fence that was pulled up, so I used that to get by. The fence itself was too flimsy to climb over.

Trying to get up to the freeway was a pain in the ass. There were tall trees and berry bushes everywhere. I got scratches on my stomach and legs (not to mention all over my hands) from those bushes. I climbed up on the upper extremities of the bridge only to find out that other trees were blocking the view I was looking for. So that whole idea was a bust. Well, at least the part involving the berry bushes was unnecessary.
So I decided I'd try the other side. Eventually I got down and went under the bridge to the other side. Now this area had traffic on both sides. Beyond where I popped up, traffic was merging and 60+ mph. But I stick poked my head up through there and snapped what I was looking for. Mount Rainier. Semi trucks kept wizzing by so I thought it was time to duck out of there. So I ran down the embankment, slid under the chain-linked fence and got back onto the trail where a woman with an over-sized pit bull greeted me.
They said nothing and I went on my way.

Covered in a bit of foliage, I took a few more shots of the area and got back into my car to hunt for the new dive shop location. I knew pretty much where it was. The only problem was getting to it. I had to go through some industrail-looking buildings to find the place. Leaving it was cake, cuz it's right on the main road. But from that road you can't take a left into the parking lot.
But as I said, I found my way around that obstacle and greeted Mark who was smiling and told me that he had something arrive for me yesterday.
Just what I wanted to hear!

He pulled out the light, gave me a quick rundown of the do's and don't's. Then he gave me a new tour of the place that's still getting put together, and some ideas of where he's going to put some stuff that he had from the old place. I liked how he looked for my input on ideas. I almost wanted to grab my camera and take pictures of the place. What impressed me the most were the amount of tanks that he has. There had to have been at least 50 just lying around.

So we BSed a bit, I played around with his newly adopted year-old kid. She was a meth-baby. He says she has some neural issues, but I didn't notice anything. I wasn't about to ask what. The only thing he did say was that she didn't make any noise at all for the first few weeks they he had her. Weird stuff.

The funny part was that this time around, my visit felt slightly different. Usually things like bolt snaps that are accessories to the expensive equipment that I buy, Mark will throw them in for free. And not only that, but he'll assemble the parts to my equipment. This time he just showed me and example and also had me pay.

Then I got to realizing... He knows that I pretty much have everything that I need to be a successful diver. I don't need to drop anymore wads of cash on him. So he squeezed out his last penny from me and didn't give me the VIP treatment. =P

Also during our conversation, he dropped a hint that I needed to go to doubles (double tanks), which means dropping a lot more dough. But then he was nice about it and said that I wasn't really ready for that yet. Which is true. I need to dive more before I'm good enough for that.
Then as I was leaving he said, "Don't be a stranger."
Which I've never heard from him before.
I don't know what to make of it. Yeah, I know he's in business to make money, but it just makes the report that we've built over the last half a year seem so fake.

The man didn't need to worry. Even without his subtle pleading if I ever need more gear I'm going to go back to him.
Cuz really, some day I do want to dive like they do.

Anyway. Here's the Issaquah link, I'll use a seperate post to talk about my further adventures in that same day.

CLEAN

I got up today and felt motivated enough to clean.
I did a fairly decent job, but I always seem to get distracted.

I put on some chill music (The Garden State soundtrack) and just went to it.
Although in doing so, I somehow managed to buy another book:

In the Wake of the Jomon.

The Jomon are native Japanese from around 15,000 years ago.
They had pottery and allegedly boating technologies (seeing as how they're on an island).
Some archaeologists seem to think that these people might be related to the Valdivia culture in Ecuador based on similar pottery styles, but it's very uncertain. People have also thrown out that Kennewick man may have been Jomon.

Either way, I never thought I'd see the day when my bookshelf (a little 2-tiered thing) would be overflowing. What happened to the days when I hated reading? I think they were called school. And I was forced to.