Snow Days of December, 2008
 
december_2008_001.JPG (225112 bytes) december_2008_002.JPG (447611 bytes) Friday, December 5
Downtown Bellevue...
 
Saturday, December 6
 
Mukilteo, WA with Chunhee...
 
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december_2008_017.JPG (529278 bytes) Linwood... H-Mart...
 
december_2008_018.JPG (266756 bytes) Entering Alderwood... dogs in the truck... What was the driver/owner thinking?
 
 
Sunday, December 7
Yang-Sun's wedding, in Tukwila, south of Seattle... with Ai...
 
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december_2008_025.JPG (338515 bytes) In the middle of the ceremony the judge realized that he had left the rings in the pocket of his coat, requiring him to halt the ceremony while he dashed to the coatroom... which provided a comical moment...
 
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Four days later (December 11, 2008) Ai left for a vacation in Japan... and returned January 6, 2009...
 
Sunday, December 14
 
december_2008_048.JPG (243456 bytes) december_2008_049.JPG (312566 bytes) At Bridle Trails in Bellevue, where Bally Fitness had closed shop several days before. I stopped in at Bally nearly every day since early in the year and enjoyed the place considerably. This was the beginning of a memorable stretch of icy days...
 
december_2008_050.JPG (432460 bytes) december_2008_051.JPG (383300 bytes) december_2008_052.JPG (426887 bytes) I walked from Bridle Trails over to Chunhee's place in the Rose Hill neighborhood of Kirkland...
 
december_2008_053.JPG (470559 bytes) december_2008_054.JPG (453121 bytes) december_2008_055.JPG (311918 bytes)  Chunhee joined me for most of the walk back to Bridle Trails...
 
The roads were a bit treacherous but I made the short drive from Bridle Trails to Avocent (my work place in Redmond) in the early evening, reasoning that conditions would likely be worse in the morning. Conditions did in fact worsen over the next couple of days and I was soon iced-in at Avocent...
 
Thursday, December 18
 
december_2008_057.JPG (537773 bytes) december_2008_058.JPG (447732 bytes) Iced-in at Avocent...
 
december_2008_059.JPG (253918 bytes) december_2008_060.JPG (392999 bytes) Eric (my boss) made it in to work then decided to chain up for the drive home...
 
december_2008_061.JPG (490049 bytes) december_2008_062.JPG (305300 bytes) december_2008_063.JPG (300463 bytes) Icicles...
 
december_2008_064.jpg (355350 bytes) Bigfoot Thompson's 2008 Christmas card...
 
 
Friday, December 19
 
december_2008_065.JPG (431472 bytes) december_2008_066.JPG (478603 bytes) I was able to leave Avocent (where I had been iced-in for several days), but the streets were sheets of ice. The hill from Willows Rd. in Redmond to NE 85th St. in Kirkland (Rose Hill) was nearly impassable...
 
december_2008_067.JPG (332578 bytes) december_2008_068.JPG (446327 bytes) december_2008_069.JPG (403810 bytes) Once on NE 85th St. in Kirkland I pulled in to the Safeway. The weather forecast called for more snow and lower temperatures. I figured that if I was going to be stuck in the ice again the Safeway would be a good place...
 
december_2008_070.JPG (501795 bytes) I walked to Chunhee's condo for a visit, just a block up from my snow camp at Safeway...
 
 
Saturday, December 20
 
december_2008_071.JPG (562590 bytes) Chunhee and I walked down the NE 85th St. hill to the Kinkos in downtown Kirkland where I made copies of my 2008 Christmas card for mailing. This shot is from Parkplace, looking back across 85th St. toward Kinkos. Nancy happens to live in the complex atop Kinkos...
 
december_2008_072.JPG (408321 bytes) december_2008_073.JPG (454536 bytes) december_2008_074.JPG (392027 bytes) Chunhee at Parkplace...
 
december_2008_075.JPG (354691 bytes) december_2008_076.JPG (376452 bytes) december_2008_077.JPG (707877 bytes) december_2008_078.JPG (848457 bytes) Walking the tracks... back up to Rose Hill in Kirkland...
 
december_2008_079.JPG (715269 bytes) december_2008_080.JPG (310542 bytes) Back at "Snow Camp Safeway"...
 
 
Sunday, December 21
 
december_2008_081.JPG (389639 bytes) "Snow Camp Safeway"...
 
december_2008_082.jpg (321164 bytes) I tried to stitch a panorama shot but the boarders defied my best efforts...
 
december_2008_083.JPG (189503 bytes) december_2008_084.jpg (727579 bytes) december_2008_085.jpg (613293 bytes) december_2008_087.JPG (170177 bytes) "Number 1" and her friend... scene hoping...
 
december_2008_088.JPG (185329 bytes) december_2008_089.JPG (202669 bytes) december_2008_090.JPG (181304 bytes) december_2008_091.JPG (231562 bytes) Around "Snow Camp Safeway"...
 
 
Monday, December 22
 
19.jpg (342695 bytes) "As of this writing Bigfoot has been iced-in at the Safeway in Kirkland for 3 days (since Friday, December 19) and reports suggest that it could be several more days before the ice clears. It's not that the snow is too deep - the problem is that a thick layer of ice covers everything and the streets are not being cleared. Seattle has an asinine "no-salt" policy with respect to clearing icy roads which has resulted in roads being "snow-packed," not cleared. I don't want to risk a bad slide on the snow-pack with Bigfoot so I'm iced-in at the grocery store and not having a bad time at all... and looking forward to a white Christmas"...
 
Chunhee's street... behind the Kirkland Safeway where Bigfoot was iced-in...
 
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Chunhee's daughter "Number 1"...
 
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Chunhee and "Number 1"...
 
 
Tuesday, December 23
 
After digging Chunhee's car out of the ice in her parking lot we braved the snow-packed roads and made the short drive down to Avocent (my workplace) in Redmond to see if anything was going on. The place was deserted. The Rancilio Epoca espresso machine was working fine so I made a round or two of mochas. In the shots of Chunhee talking on the phone (below) you can see the Rancilio Epocha in the background. I've become quite fond of that machine over the last few months at Avocent...
 
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15.jpg (176793 bytes) 16.jpg (309965 bytes) 17.jpg (292618 bytes) 18.jpg (273215 bytes) Back to Kirkland on snow packed streets...
 
From Kirkland, through Bridle Trails, to my mailbox in Bellevue...
 
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Back at Ice Station Bigfoot with a Christmas package received from Sister Jan and the Hamilton family back in North Carolina...
 
 
Wednesday, December 24
 
december_2008_092.JPG (371303 bytes) Still iced-in at the Safeway...
 
december_2008_093.JPG (302498 bytes) december_2008_094.JPG (311087 bytes) december_2008_095.JPG (413768 bytes) Visiting at Chunhee's place, where "Number 1" (standing) was baking bread...
 
december_2008_096.JPG (360466 bytes) december_2008_097.JPG (449755 bytes) Christmas Eve... we watched Michael Martin Murphey's "Cowboy Christmas"...
 
 
Thursday, December 25 - Christmas Day
 
december_2008_100.JPG (221481 bytes) december_2008_098.JPG (447007 bytes) december_2008_099.JPG (406260 bytes) Early Christmas morning... gifts from Sister Jan's family in North Carolina...
 
december_2008_101.JPG (354761 bytes) december_2008_102.JPG (314820 bytes) Around mid-day I was fetched at the Safeway by Chunhee's sister Hae-sun's husband David in his all-wheel-drive Subaru. We then collected Chunhee and "Number 1" for a Christmas gathering at David and Hae-sun's home in Kirkland...
 
december_2008_103.JPG (476853 bytes) december_2008_104.JPG (389989 bytes) Chunhee, at David and Hae-sun's place...
 
december_2008_105.JPG (299049 bytes) december_2008_106.JPG (413549 bytes) december_2008_107.JPG (542563 bytes) "Number 1" made bread...
 
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Friday, December 26
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Saturday, December 27
 
Having been iced-in for 8 days - since Friday the 19th - I was finally able to get Bigfoot out of the slushy Safeway parking lot. Bigfoot needed a Liquid Propane refill and fresh water, requiring a drive up to Everett...
 
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december_2008_129.JPG (302350 bytes) Back in Kirkland, at the coffee shack beside Pegasus Pizza on 85th...
 
 
Wednesday, December 31
 
My six month contract with Avocent came to an end. I started with Avocent back on May 27, 2008 while on the required 100 day break-in-service from Microsoft, working on the audio/video extension/multicasting test team. This technology was similar to the Media Center Extender product I worked on at Microsoft. Working at Avocent turned out to be a fine experience and I was saddened when they decided to spin-off their audio/video product and close Redmond operations. Oh well... back to Microsoft...
 
december_2008_131.JPG (279677 bytes) december_2008_132.JPG (280547 bytes) My last brew from Avocent's Rancilio Epoca espresso machine...
 
december_2008_133.JPG (397097 bytes) Eric Bisset (my boss) and Craig Van Hook (my coworker)... both fine gentlemen...
 
Shoving off from Avocent, and another good work experience...
 
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