One more day of work. I'm going to miss watching lots of birdies and having kitties sleep on my lap while working. I've been spoiled.

If we converse in the very near future, please don't inquire how the job hunt is going. It will only put me in a foul mood. I don't want to talk about it. Give me a chance to deal with being laid off again. Thanks.

So the parties were fun. Friday night, I thought Amanda's party was pretty mellow, but someone actually called the cops and made a noise complaint. Didn't stay there too late - prolly until 1:30am or something. Disappeared for a little while to go to Jose's roast. We got lost getting there and couldn't stay too long, but what we did see was quite amusing.

The party at Chris' house was full-o-drinking as usual. He always has the alcohols that I have never heard of and would never have the opportunity to try if I didn't know him. We didn't stay up until sunrise this time, but it was early morning before we headed to sleepyland. There were 2 people with cameras at this party. If I can get ahold of them, i'll upload them to my gallery also.

Had brunch on Sunday with a few people cause Murray was in town. This was the first time I got to meet the Murray and he is quite the friendly dude and seems to know everyone. Really. He's never lived here and knows tons of people. It's uncanny, I tell you. The rest of Sunday was quite mellow due to the need to recover from the prior night.

I should think about making some dinner now and being somewhat productive with my evening.

Pictures from Alaska! I haven't put comments on them yet, but feel free to take a peek.

Horrah!

Alaska!

As many of you know, I had my reservation about going on another cruise. This time, we were on a different cruise line so the ship's environment wasn't gaudy and huge like the previous cruise I went on in 1997. It was like being in a nice hotel. The first couple of days were difficult because we didn't stop at all until Monday and were away from the shore for most of Sunday. But, the beauty of Alaska made up for it. This region is so green and lush. So much of it is untouched and appears pristine. I know that these cruise ships and tourists definitely have an impact on the area, but I think it makes people appreciate what is here and they will fight to keep it the way that it is with the deforestation and oil drilling. Yes, I am a bit of an idealist.
This makes me sad.

Anyway, I wish many of you were here to see just how gorgeous it is here. I cannot describe how it makes one feel. The water, rain, trees, fog - it all works together perfectly and is absolutely breathtaking. It's like living National Geographic if that makes any sense. So here's what I did on my trip:

Saturday, September 6th

Jenn, Duncan and I met Kate at Mae's for a yummy brunch. We go back to my house and Kate takes J&D to the ship. I stay and finish cleaning and packing. Tony comes over to pick me up and then we go pick up Teresa. He drops us off at the ship around 2 or so. We check in and head to the ship. On our way up, we see Dad, Carolyn, Jenn & Duncan waving at us from D&C's balcony. We meet up with them and then I think Teresa and I took a nap. Jenn comes and gets us when we start to leave Seattle.

We pretty much just hung out until dinner. I think we slept some more. Both T & I got little sleep the night prior. We met up for dinner with everyone (Dad, Carolyn, cousin Becky, cousin Anne, Jenn & Duncan) at 8pm and gorged ourselves. After dinner, we went to the show that night. It was an illusionist; he did some pretty cool tricks, but wasn't too funny.

Sunday, September 7th

This was our first full day on the ship and it was all travel with no port stops. We were going pretty fast and the boat was quite rocky. Lots of people experienced seasickness on the ship, but only Anne did in our group. Teresa and I got room service for breakfast. We lolled around for most of the day and ate a lot. We did go to this nature slide show that bored me to sleep. After eating too much again at dinner T&I went back to our cabin and watched a bad movie on the T.V.

Monday, September 8th

We docked early in Juneau; I think many were happy that the boat was no longer moving. Jenn, Duncan, Teresa and I decided to forgo any of the overpriced cruise tours and took a shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier Park. Unfortunately, we didn't do any hiking. Most of the trails were closed due to the rain and some didn't want to hike in the rain. We did get some good views of the glacier, but much was hidden with fog. It was still beautiful. We stayed for about an hour before heading back to town. The four of us had some coffee and went our own ways. Teresa and I did a bit of shipping - she got a moose and I got a backpack. After getting bored with the touristy shopping, we decided to tour the local bars. This town had many, but we only went to two. They made the drinks cheap and strong in Juneau. Apparently, they are also not used to getting tipped. The person working at both places tried to give us the tip back like they were confused. It was strange. After enjoying the dive bars, we head back for the ship for a quick nap and shower before dinner. After dinner, Dad, Jenn, Duncan, Teresa and I went to the little movie theater and watched A Mighty Wind.

Tuesday, September 9th

Today was another onboard day, but we were sailing through Glacier Bay Park. This was by far the best day of the cruise. Teresa and I got up around 9 and had breakfast. We met up with the rest of the crew in Becky and Anne's suite. They were in the large one with a huge deck. We stayed there for most of the morning and early afternoon. When we were in front of the Margerie Glacier, T&I went up to the top deck to take pictures. This large hunk of ice is just too huge and beautiful - I do not feel I can adequately describe it. While we were up there, a huge chunk fell off into the bay. It was very exciting! We went back to B&A's suite and while we were there, another huge chunk fell off! Dad laughed at my excitement :-) Around 2 or so, Teresa and I went up to the lounge at the top of the forward of the ship to wait for the aquatic mammals. Around 3, we went outside to the observation deck. At first, we didn't see too many. I think the first thing we saw was a sea otter. A very cute sea otter of course! And then the whales came. We saw several humpback whales and I got to see at least 15 killer whales! It was so exciting and everything I hoped for. At one point, I was running from one side of the ship to the other to see all of the whales and then I realized that there was no one else on the deck. It had started to rain really hard so most had gone inside. I couldn't let the rain and wind stop me from seeing the whales! We also saw lots and lots of porpoises. Oh, it was a great day. After we got out of the main area with the aquatic mammals, Teresa and I went back up to the lounge to warm up and continue to look out for more whales. We had to leave to shower before dinner and again ate too much. Well, I didn't. My dinner wasn't so good that night. We did play some Simpson's Bowling afterwards :-)

Wednesday, September 10th

This was our second day in a port - Sitka, Alaska. It's a smaller town than Juneau. Jenn, Teresa and I went ashore mid-morning to walk around town. It was very crowded since there were 4 ships in the port. The shops were touristy, be we did find a good coffee shop. We didn't spend too much time in town before heading back to the ship. I regretted not doing any hiking because it seemed a good area to do so. When we got back to the ship, we ate lunch and went our separate ways. I went and worked out for a while and relaxed for the rest of the day before dinner. At dinner that night, we noticed our server wasn't his usual chipper self. We found out that his brother had just died and they wouldn't let him leave the ship early to go home. So, so sad.

Thursday, September 11th

We arrive in Ketchikan, Alaska early in the morning. Jenn & I decided we were going to hike around, so we took a little nature walk and did some exploring. Not only did we get to walk through some old growth forest, but we also saw thousands and thousands of salmon. We were only at the port until 1pm. We tooled around on the ship for a while. T&I decided that tonight was going to be Sintastic. After dinner, we went to the casino where Teresa proceeded to win $176 on quarter slots. It took about 10 minutes :-) We chose not to press our luck and went up to the Crow's Nest to have drinks. Jenn & Duncan hung in there until around midnight. Towards the end of the night Teresa and I were dancing to 80's booty rap music. Aw, jeah!

Friday, September 12th

We docked in Victoria, BC in the late afternoon. Jenn, Duncan, Teresa and I went to town for dinner. We didn't do too much exploring since we only had a few hours and it was cold and dark. We did eat some really yummy food at a British Pub. I think we watched another bad movie that night.

Well, there's not much more to tell. We got back to Seattle very early on Saturday. J,D,T & I were the last group to get off the ship. We took Teresa home, went back and picked up Duncan and had lunch at Saigon Pearl on Cappy Hill. And the rest is no longer Alaska history :-)

Duncan flaked on me, so i get two nights to stay at home. Last night, I did some much needed cleaning. Unfortunately, there is still much to do. I had to run some errands after work, so I decided to walk. Dusk weather was pleasant and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous, so I walked around for awhile dreaming of owning my own house. Must go cook dinner now.

I swear I'll put up the Alaska update as soon as I have some free time. I've been very busy. So, I'll do a week's worth of updates.

Tuesday night, went to Mercury (a club) I think. I know I definitely went on Wednesday. Wed afternoon, my boss calls me and tells me that he has to lay me off. I have until the end of the month. I wasn't surprised to hear this, but I was hoping that the job would last until the end of the year. The team I support has been doing pretty poorly as far as sales go and they just couldn't afford to keep my position. Now I must prepare for the job hunt. Ack.

Thursday, I went over to Teresa's house. We made fajitas, chatted a bit and watched some T.V.

Friday I was feeling ill so I went over to Tony's so he could take care of me and make me feel better :-) We watched 'Road to Wellville'. I love that movie. By the end of the night, I did feel better.

Saturday I had a book club meeting to discuss 'A Lesson Before Dying'. I didn't really like the first half of the book, but the last half was pretty good. We had a sunny day yet still cool. Lovely! Afterwards, I dropped Teresa off at her house and came back home for a few. I went and picked up Tony and we went back to Teresa's for a night of gin indulgence which is always fun.

Sunday was sunny and warmer. Tony & I went out riding on his motorcycle after lunch at The Globe (it's all vegan!). This city is just so beautiful. It was fun to ride around on a bike - it was my first time and all! Around 4, we went over to Chris' house to hang out and ended up staying there until after midnight. The time just flies when we sit around and chat.

And that brings us to today. Been doing the worky-worky. Tonight is Mercury. Duncan is in town this week on business - I hope to get together with him on Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday is the Cruxshadows show, Friday is Jose's and Amanda's birthday parties and Saturday is Julie's & Natalie's birthday party at Chris'. Yep, another busy week.

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain. It was lovely. It's typical Seattle weather today and it makes me so happy. I don't think the kitties are enjoying it - they aren't used to the chill. Screech is sitting on my lap now which is rare and Persephone just doesn't know what to do since she also wants to be on my lap. It has made her grumpy. I want to go for a long walk, but must work instead. The days are definitely getting shorter as fall arrives.

Got back in town on Saturday. Jenn & Duncan left today. I did offline journal while on the ship. I'll transcribe it later. I've also uploaded my few Alaska pictures to my computer, but still need to create the gallery. I'm just not in the frame of mind to do it tonight. The ship didn't sink and I didn't get eaten by a bear, so all is good :-)

I installed the new Google Toolbar and am loving it so far. I highly recommend it.

I've been trying to get ready for our cruise to Alaska. Actually, I've been getting ready for my visitors more. Anna is going to housesit/kittysit for me which makes me very happy. It's great to be able to exchange favors and they both be very beneficial to both friends. I wish she wasn't leaving so soon, but I understand why she must go.

Screech is trying to discreetly make his way to my waffle and is sitting on my mouse. He's so silly. It's making it difficult to get work done.

I did a socially inept thing last night and I still can't forget about it. I'm sometimes too hard on myself.

Good news for a change.