Wait ... it's December already?

New job!

Hey everyone! I recently became a Professional Transportation Consultant and now work for Larson Nissan of Fife.

I can now assist you or anyone you know in finding the perfect new or used vehicle! Tell your friends.

Puppets can be terrifying

Jack came home with his first tattoo the other day. 8 months old, and he's already running with a bad crowd.

Baby's first tattoo

At least he has good taste in beer. Brittany and I took him to the Fall Free For All today to try to reintroduce him to some more wholesome activities. We ended up getting attacked by a horde or creatures with a penchant for cleanliness.

Giant puppets can be terrifying

How frightening is this guy?

Jack is a brave little boy

Jack wasn't the slightest bit intimidated by the creatures, which were actually just Giant Puppets! They were roaming the streets of downtown Tacoma as part of the first ever Fall Free For All arts and music festival. Jack actually seemed to find them pretty amusing.

Check out the article I wrote about this exciting spectacle: Strange creatures and clean up downtown Tacoma.

Free For All

Brittany and I are pretty excited about the upcoming Fall Free For All community arts festival. It's happening this weekend, and it's completely free. We just have to decide which event(s) Jack will like most. Check out this article I wrote about it.

Back from the coast

Our first ever vacation as parents was a lot of fun. We spent about a week on the Oregon coast. The weather was great, and Jack seemed to enjoy his new experiences quite a bit. Unfortunately, we all got sick towards the end of our trip. It figures. We were having too good a time, I guess.

Jack had a really fun time playing in the sand for the first time. He seemed to enjoy eating it, too. He didn't appreciate how cold the ocean was, though. That wasn't a fun surprise for him.

Jack had so much fun sitting in highchairs at restaurants while we were vacationing that we decided we'd better buy him a new highchair of his own. The antique one we bought him isn't quite as functional as it is interesting to look at.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Business time

I just got back from a very successful meeting with a new client. It was actually a very enjoyable experience. Not that most of my meetings with clients and prospects aren't enjoyable, I just always feel a little tense before meeting anyone for the first time.

I always find meeting new people somewhat intimidating, especially when that meeting necessarily involves negotiating a price.

But I've found that it's much easier to make a good first impression if you just assume whomever you are meeting already likes you. If you act with confidence and have good posture, that can make all the difference. Say what you mean. Get to the point. Focus.

Parkin' on the lawn

Yesterday, after returning home from grocery shopping, I pulled my car onto the lawn, much to my wife's chagrin.

Be responsible: park your car on your lawn.

Brittany was terribly embarrassed. I told her what I was doing was both responsible and efficient. I was watering the grass and washing the car at the same time. She didn't care. She hid inside.

Jack wasn't too embarrassed to be seen with me.

This is what the City of Tacoma says about car washing:

Wash your car on your lawn or on gravel. Grass and gravel filter the dirt and soap out of the water and keep dirty runoff out of storm drains, which empty directly into streams, lakes and Commencement Bay. Don’t worry, the soap won’t hurt your lawn, but it will hurt the fish. 

Squandering Paradise

I've been a little frustrated with my writing this week. The problem is not writer's block--I've written a lot--I just haven't been very satisfied with most of it. Creative dissatisfaction is a more accurate term.

Yesterday, I decided to take a break from writing and work on something completely different, yet relevant to my novel. I started working on designs for the cover, and I'm pretty happy with what I created.

I used a picture that Brittany took on our last trip to Kauai. I think it works well. I'd love to get some feedback on this. Let me know how much you like it (or hate it).

Point Defiance

Last Sunday, Jack got to go to the zoo for the first time ever. He was so excited, he slapped his grandpa.

He smacked a goat, too!

He looked with wonder at all the sea creatures.

He loves the beach. He can't wait to taste sand!

Progress

It's been weird working on my novel lately. My writing processes have evolved significantly over the past several months. I'm writing out of sequence a lot these days—even more than I was before. I often start a writing session by reading through notes until I find something that really grabs my attention, and then I go off on a weird tangent, just scribbling ideas frantically in a notebook, or recklessly typing on my laptop (I lost a shift key the other day). Now, almost every time I read through my notes, it inspires something completely unexpected. And even though I know how the story is going to end, I'm still not completely sure what it is about.

I have completed twelve entire chapters (although, in reality, they probably aren't really complete), and I have the rest of the plot outlined. But the characters in the book are still continuing to evolve. And as I continue to flesh out each point and sub-point in my outline, not everything is fitting together in the ways in which I expected, or intended. The characters in the book wouldn't do, or say, some of the things the outline wanted them to do.

The characters and plot line are developing somewhat independently of each other. It's weird. I didn't anticipate this. But, I have never written a book before. It's hard—harder than I thought it would be. As I continue to read and re-read, edit and over-analyze everything I write, it's forcing me to reconcile all sorts of unexpected issues within the story, and this is more of a challenge than I anticipated (to be honest, I didn't anticipate this at all).

Quack

I've been meaning to post something for a couple weeks now. But I haven't, until now. I've been devoting most of my spare time to searching for and applying for jobs. There's a job at Olympic College in Bremerton that I am very optimistic about getting. It closes tomorrow. I turned in all required documents last week, and the suspense is killing me.

Jack has spent a lot of time in the car lately. A couple weeks ago, we spent some time driving around the Kitsap Peninsula (I applied for a couple jobs out there).

This was taken at the general store in Port Gamble. I did not apply there, although, maybe I should have.

Our friend Veronica's friend whose name I can't remember (sorry) somehow acquired a tapestry featuring Chairman Mao, and it's hanging up in his bike shop, Crank, in Portland.

Jack started crawling a couple weeks ago, but so far he can only move backwards and in circles. He seemed quite proud when he discovered a box of his toys the other day.

Here is Jack with a very fascinating spot of sunlight on the couch.

Post-run nap with Monkey and Ziggles.

Jack's new favorite toy is a little rubber duck with sunglasses and a tie. It's name is Quack. I named it as Jack is not yet able. But he loves hearing the word, "quack!" It makes him laugh.

Quack has become a pacifier substitute.

Happy 50th wedding anniversary, Pete and Sandy Pedone!

Tomorrow is the 50th wedding anniversary of Pete and Sandy Pedone. The Bend Bulletin published an article all about the couple and the event.

Jack practically ate the first sign I made, so I had to come up with something a bit more durable. But that's probably for the best as it looked far too much like a panhandling sign, anyway. Jack found it offensive.

August came too soon

We bought a jogging stroller a couple weeks ago. Jack seems to be enjoying the new perspective, and Brittany and I have been enjoying getting exercise again.

We have been going through a lot of sunscreen lately.

We are trying to help Jack learn how to drink from a bottle by himself. He is starting to get it. When the bottle isn't too heavy and there isn't anything going on to distract him, he can sometimes swallow almost as much as what ends up running down his chin. His new favorite activity is to spit while eating. He thinks it's funnier than we do.

He loves water.

His favorite part of his new swing is the straps. He seems to think they are pretty tasty.

Action shot.

Snoqualmie Falls

On Monday, we went to Snoqualmie Falls. The weather was great, but the trail was closed (until Spring 2013).