Over the 4th of July weekend, we decided to take a trip up to Whidbey Island, for a few reasons:
- It is close, only an hour or so away (including ferry time), so it was easy on my back for travel.
- Our friends Shannon and Damon have an amazing house they built on the Island - and by that, I mean built by hand: “hammer, hammer, saw, saw”. It was great to see them and spend time with them, and their new son, Griffin (and their dog, Ebey). They are great college friends, who we do not spend nearly enough time with.
- Because we stayed with them, I knew I could rest as much as my back needed to; taking breaks regularly to lay flat, etc… and not feeling obligated to do too much.
- We happen to just really like Whidbey Island - artsy, beautiful, friendly, and close.
- And of course, get Molly away from the loud bangs of illegal (and legal) fireworks.
- In particular, Greg and Clodagh had called out, on a past trip, the wonders of Double Bluff Beach’s off leash dog park on Whidbey - a few mile long open beach for off-leash access. We wanted to get Molly into the water again.
- I have been cooped up in the house for a while now - I was looking forward to just getting out of here for a weekend as I move back into working more.
It was just what we needed - it fit all of those goals above, and we are really super-appreciative of the Arndt’s for hosting us. Molly had a fantastic time too - she got to run around their property, go swimming, get lots of fun new treats, and just be one happy (and tired!) dog.
Pictures - click for larger ones as usual:
People:
Dogs:
Arndt House:
Videos - might need to visit the actual blog post to view:
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Jeff, one of my co-workers at Pure Networks, along with his wife, Lisa, live around the corner from us. They adopted a dog, Dolce, just a little before we adopted Molly - in fact, it was them mentioning it that got us really thinking that it was time for a dog in our lives. Conveniently, they also found us the obedience class to take - also, just across the street. After we put in the fence, they’ve been coming over frequently to let the dogs run around, play, and, most importantly, get out lots of energy. Dolce definitely is the more aggressive one - Molly tends to lay down and just take whatever Dolce gives her… It has been very nice having them around - the dogs like each other a lot - another reason why putting this fence in has been a great decision for us.
Here’s a video of them playing - as usual, you might need to visit the actual blog article to see it.
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(Note: you might need to visit the actual blog entry to see the above video).
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(if the video doesn’t show up for you, this is best viewed at http://averbuch.net/2008/04/03/video-mainstream-jewish-services-are-so-boring/)
Compared to Beth Shalom of Chicago’s that is (check out the video below - it is well worth watching all of it)… it’s amazing the differences between some of the excitement they get out compared to the average Conservative service (or Reform, or Orthodox), while still holding on nearly all of the traditions. It really shows the variance that groups can have in how to push forward the same basic practices and experiences - and still hold acceptance by mainstream Judaism (the Rabbi here is part of the Chicago Board of Rabbi’s)
(My brother is heading to Chicago this weekend and really wants to attend here - he’s utterly intrigued - as am I now, after seeing a few of the write-ups he’s sent me and watching this video)
(thanks to http://mazel123.blogspot.com/2007/09/video-of-chicagos-black-synagogue.html)
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Not the most exciting video, but here’s Molly running up and down the stairs…
(If you are viewing this in email or in an RSS reader, you’ll likely be able to view it correctly only by visiting http://averbuch.net/2008/04/01/video-molly-and-steps/)
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(this post was written while I was flying and will be posted once I get online later- actual written time, 7:06 PM, Dec 11)
Sitting in the middle seat on my flight back (we got to the airport early so we took middle seats through standby in exchange for getting home an hour early), I realized quite a few things bother me about flying these days, so might as well enumerate them:
- Coach seats (at least on Alaska Airlines) has absolutely zero room for laptops. Seriously, it is so crowded to be typing on these things - the keyboard area is pushing into my stomach, the screen is folded over to be even able to fit, and the tray is at a very unergonomic height, so my arms don’t feel so comfortable. If I were a common business traveler, perhaps a smaller laptop would help - I’ll have to try bringing the work mac-book with me next time, as it’s much smaller.
- Whatever happened to dinner on planes? Especially when they fly from that key 6-9 pm hours. When exactly are you supposed to eat dinner if you need to board at 5:15 or so?
- No two TSA people say the same thing - one says to put your boarding pass away, the other says “reminder: we need to see your boarding pass”, the video playing says both at the same time! Plus, people take way, way too long taking their shoes on and off.
- Middle seats suck!
- Why don’t all planes have that movable headrest so you can make your own personal sleeping area? It can’t cost the airline more than 50 cents extra per seat once at airplane purchase time to put those in. Makes me want to fly Continental, the only airline I know of that has those.
- The food in airports is just not good. Granted they have a captive audience, but couldn’t someone come up with a decent, ubiquitous eating venue? Especially for vegetarians. McDonald’s and/or an awful caesar’s salad just don’t cut it.
- Finally, airlines - stop seating me next to talkers. Really. I am all about striking up random conversations with people in most situations. But there are two I want people to just shut up - airplanes and barbers (cut my hair, in and out, no need to find out my or your lifestory).
On a random note, I did run into the condo upstair’s neighbor randomly at the airport. It has been a good week for my goal of running into people I know at places - 3 or 4 different people at the Seahawks game on Sunday (including Pure’s CEO), and now this. Also found out 2 or 3 more people from high school have moved to Seattle, and I didn’t even know about it - weird; I usually know these things.
