Oh How Technology Delights Me

Starting at the first of the year, I’ve been working for a construction company. A lot of what I offer is technological competence. Now my team needs someone with AutoCAD knowledge. Well, back in the early/mid-90s, I studied CAD, back when I was thinking about becoming an engineer.

So, to say my skills are rusty is a bit of an understatement. We studied AutoCAD for DOS! Now, DOS was awesome and all, but that really was an unfathomably long time ago.

My local education institution, Edmonds Community College, offers a AutoCAD class as part of their Construction Management program. And as I need to ramp up my skills quickly, here I find myself, taking another evening class.

I’m having a ton of fun, though. I mean, I’m sitting in front of a computer making it do cool things. Speaks highly to my tech geek side.

It is a quirky thing, that’s for sure. Many operating elements are counter-intuitive if you’re solely used to the Microsoft-land. A bit less so if you’ve used Photoshop and Adobe products, or Quark (remember that one?). As Master Yoda would say, I need to unlearn what I’ve learned.

Anyway, I’m having a lot of fun learning new stuff. A key element of the geek heart, as I describe it.

Some considerations on the “Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act”

So, I read this article “Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act” over at KNKX and have a few concerns.

Mainly, we do so much more with our phones than just call/text. Will this bill make using GPS illegal? What about radios? I often use my phone to play music. Where does that fall?

Now I haven’t had a chance to look into this deeper, and it might be simply too late to really impact the legislation. However, I still see value in bringing up the concerns.

I do see the value in what they’re trying to do. Just need to make sure it’s thought through enough so that it doesn’t cause too much “unintended consequences”.

I guess we’ll see what comes of it.

 

The 2017 Skagit Tulip Festival Is In Full Bloom

For those of us who deal with life north of Puget Sound, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is on. That means extra volumes of traffic around Mt. Vernon and the surrounding south Skagit County Communities (La Conner and Conway, I feel your pain…).

Here’s some guidance, straight from the experts at WA Department of Transportation, to help minimize the aggravations increased traffic causes.


 

Tulip Watch 2017 & we’ve got blooms!

We’re about halfway through this year’s Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, and the tulips are finally here. According to the Festival, more tulips are blooming each day! With the weather on tap to be decent this weekend, this might be as good a time as any to head up to Skagit County.

Now that color is popping, expect the roads to be busy:

  • Come early, before 10 a.m. on the weekends (especially sunny ones) to avoid backup.
  • Consider SR 20 instead of the exit direction into Mount Vernon city streets.
  • SR 9 is another northbound alternate into Skagit County.
  • Remember these tulip fields are along 2 lane county highways and when you’re out there:
    • keep moving
    • don’t stop in the road (including parking over the white line)
    • obey no parking signs
    • don’t block driveways
    • be cautious if walking/taking pictures along the road
  • Consider stopping at a WSDOT safety rest area to use the restroom before you hit the fields.

Some changes in Everett

A few months ago (well, maybe a bit longer) Everett’s Trinity Lutheran College folded up shop. We have a new tenant moving into their old space: Funko, formerly of Lynnwood. 

 Looks like they’re taking the whole building, which, if true, will be great both for Funko and Everett.  That’ll be a boon for the local businesses, restaurants and such. 

I’m excited to see this change, though Lynnwood will certainly miss a great company that’s up and coming. Such is the way of things, I guess. 

Ah, the world’s gone completely mad

​Reading about United’s PR debacle, and their CEO’s ratcheting up the tone deaf response, gets wearying after a bit.The tweet storm right now is simply horrendous. I’m glad I’m not with any element of their OR right now. Truly a Maalox moment. 

But that’s all in Twitter. It’s just ugly right now. No one knows how to argue with dignity and grace. 

Blindness to basic compassion and common decency. Rage filled vitriol, invective and brutality…The internet is loaded with the worst humanity has to offer. 

I’m not sure of the way forward right now. United, I’m sure, is hoping this news cycle will be short, and memories shorter. Air travel as a whole has become an enterprise featuring dominatrix/management. Whip me, beat me, make me sit coach cross country. The

I wonder if we can move our society towards decency, respect and compassion. Note: I’m not saying “again”. I’m under no delusion that we ever were. Seems we have been better once upon a time. The

But maybe, maybe we can move towards a place where we value each other more than for a cheap shot, the few dollars we can eek out of them, if we can get any at all. 

I hold out hope…most of the time. 

Enjoying the cherry blossoms at UW 

We wandered around campus last weekend. Stunned by the masses of tourists…I heard that there were tour buses. Very cool l guess. But out wasn’t the most lovely thing. Still, the blossoms were a lovely site. I always enjoy walking campus while they bloom. 

Another thing I enjoy about the U district: food. An interesting blend out food types, styles, ethnicities. No matter what you like, some one the ave,  most likely,  serves it there. 

I experienced so much life there, learned so much. A let part of development centred there. And I didn’t study there much. Yet I still love it, and expect I says will. 

Seattle, Life Twists, the Navy and Home

My life has taken a few strange twists. One of the strangest: my time in the Navy.

I joined the Navy, ostensibly, to get away from Seattle and western Washington. Most of my life was spent here, and I missed the journeys to more exotic locales. With my early childhood spent wandering the US, along with a stop at two different Navy bases in the Philippines, there was a certain attractiveness to wandering inherent in the military.

Goal # 1: extensive time in Europe. Other global stops would be welcome bonuses. When I was stationed in Orlando for bootcamp, I thought I was well on my way.

One of the training steps for the nuclear power program is to spend six some-odd months at a prototype facility. An actual operating reactor based on the specs of fleet deployed reactors, it’s a great place to get real-world experience without the distractions of normal ship-borne life, and the life-and-death risks inherent in being at sea, on a combat ship.

When I was in (a couple of decades back), the prototypes were in Connecticut, New York, and Idaho Falls, ID (though the prototype in South Carolina had been established, hurricane Hugo knocked it offline for a few months). Well, when I was sent to Idaho Falls, I was a bit nervous that my European plans were messed up. My final orders to the fleet: SUBBASE Bangor. At that point, with a 30 minute ferry ride, I was less than an hour from the house I grew up in. I was rather frustrated.

At the end of one of my patrols, though (it might well have been the first one…which is how my memory portrays it…but I’m not sure), I had an epiphany of sorts. I had a break while we were transiting in through Hood Canal, so I popped my head up top side (at that point the sub was on the surface). The weather was classic western Washington, high grey clouds and misty rain.  Mesmerized by the mists pulling through the fir trees, the strings of the fluff pulled apart by the brushing branches. I had visions of cotton candy. A sense of connection, of belonging, of love washed through me. I deeply felt my connection to this region then. A full spiritual awareness; hauntingly beautiful. My relationship with the region changed at that moment. This became, in a richer, fuller sense, home.

That feeling’s only grown over the years. Studying my family’s history in this region, exploring the arts and culture, the natural history…all that’s connected me deeper.

Even with years of dedicated work to learn the region better, working at key Seattle area institutions (Starbucks, Amazon and Microsoft being the biggest ones), and exploring my region, I still feel weak with my knowledge. I’ve never set foot on a San Juan Island, nor been to the Petrified Forest, nor seen the Grand Coulee Damn, nor…well, you get the picture. There’s so very much more I have to explore.

With the above, I’m starting to plan out my summer. I’m thinking about hikes and areas to explore. Considering:

  • bike/walk on to Friday Harbor (San Juan Islands, fyi)
  • Hiking Mt. Pilchuck – great photo opps there
  • A long weekend to Spokane
  • Definite: a weekend camping on Camano – this is a yearly thing we’ve done with dear friends
  • It’s been a few years since I’ve been down to Portland.

So, what are some unique and delightful trips I should add? Comment below with your ideas.