Engineer? Yes please

The perks of being married to an engineer:

My blow dryer was doing this weird thing where it heated to an abnormally high heat, emitted a giant blue spark, then switched to cool air. About 10 seconds later, it would spark again, switch to the high heat and repeat the cycle. After about a month of living in fear of my hair going up in a plume of smoke, I finally handed it to Mark. He took it apart and played around on it for a while, put it back together and said, “See if it works now.” Now my blow dryer is spark free and remains on a constant heat! What a luxury! I have no idea what he did (something with the coils?) but I’m very thankful. I love my handy man!

Bear! Bear!

A black bear has been wreaking havoc on Seattle. Well, not so much wreaking havoc as he is just causing a stir. He was sighted on Sunday night in Magnolia and is now believed to be somewhere in Shoreline. How the law enforcement has been unable to catch a 2-year-old black bear in the city is beyond me.

Roar!!

A scare

I just received a phone call at work that started like this:

Heather: “This is Heather.”
Caller: “Hi Heather, how are you?”
Heather: “Fine… how are you?”
Caller: “Fine. Well Heather, this is Dave from the Washington State Patrol…”

The Washington State Patrol? The first thing that popped in my head was that someone was in an accident or something. What would you think? I could feel my heart rate rise as I thought, ok Heather, he hasn’t said anything to you yet so just keep calm! But then I thought, well, if someone was taken to the hospital, surely the hospital would call me? Maybe they’re still at the scene or something? This is awful! This is the phone call that you always hope will happen to someone else!

Caller: “Heather, I’m not sure if you’re aware of the financial difficulties facing Washington law enforcement right now, but I wanted to know if I could count on you and your company to join the fight against meth and the horror it is causing Washington teenagers.”

Back up Mr. Dave. I’m still on the Washington State Patrol part. Once I figured out that he was only asking for a donation and a loved one had not died, I lost no time in transferring him to someone who is actually in a position to donate. I considered telling him that it just wasn’t right for him to start a conversation like that, especially with a voice as deep as his, but I refrained. After I hung up, I had to take a moment to recompose myself. It’s weird how your body responds so quickly to stress, even though there was nothing to be worried about at all. This is obviously an excellent excuse to go get a massage.

A new addition

We brought home our new chinchilla! He and Frederick are still warming to each other, but we're hopeful they can be friends soon. I think we've settled on the name Theodore, Theo for short. Theo's a feisty little guy. He chases Frederick away from the food!



Go Mariners!

I've been to two Mariners games so far this season, and they've been the greatest baseball games I've ever gotten to see live. The first game fell on Jackie Robinson day, so every player in the league wore Robinson's retired #42. Mark was supposed to go with me but he had to work in Idaho that week so Jessica came with me instead. The Mariners won the game 11-3 with a little help from a grand slam from Ichiro. Amazing!


The second game was on Friday night, and we went with Mark's co-worker and his girlfriend. The M's were down 6-1 but they rallied and came back for the 8-7 win. So exciting!

Running to MJ

I’ve noticed that when it comes to the tedious task of running on the streets, my legs are only as good as my iPod playlist. (Some Olympian probably just rolled over in his grave). The monotony of my shoes continuously striking the pavement for an hour is too much for my stimulation-craving brain to handle. And yes, I do try to look at the scenery, but not even Lake Union has the ability to keep my attention. I started out with a solely hip hop playlist, but since my iTunes collection of hip hop is severely limited, I grew tired of the same 15 songs. Now I run to a mix of hip hop and alternative, with a dash of Broadway tunes thrown in for good measure. Nothing gets your legs moving like “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray! I was recently surprised by another song that inspired me to run faster, but not necessarily for a good reason. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” came on, and I think that was the first time I actually listened to the words of the song. The lyrics are terrifying! I could feel my heart rate rising, and not just because I was working out. So maybe I should be thanking MJ for helping get my heart rate to its optimum level. I’ve since solved the problem of the scary song though. I don’t listen to the lyrics, I just imagine myself doing the dance. That gets me going.

pretty mountain

Our office has a great view of Mount Rainier when it isn't super hazy outside. Today was particularly clear so I took a snapshot through the window. Video Only, you can thank me later for the free advertising.