Posts

344. Home Again

Home in Illinois again. (I guess Illinois is home now.)

It’s late. I’m tired. Adding picture posts from the last few days.

345. Travel Day

I spent all day today either on the 74 bus, on the 194 bus, on a Southwest plane, or walking quickly to catch one of those three things.

I sat on the wrong side of the plane to see Mt. Rainier clearly, but I did get another faraway shot of it on Monday.

dsc00209

Taken on Monday, January 19th at 4:36 PM, while on the ferry from Bainbridge Island (and Churchmouse Yarns) back to Seattle.

346. Happiness

44bo_header2

347. Quaker Life

dsc00198

Taken on First Day, January 18th after the 9:30 AM Unprogrammed Silent Worship at University Friends Meeting, but before the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Worship at University Baptist Church.

The photo is funnier if you know some basic facts about the Quakers.

348. I HATE UPS

US 01/14/2009 7:58 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED
LENEXA,
KS,  US
01/15/2009 6:01 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
01/15/2009 11:52 A.M. ORIGIN SCAN
EARTH CITY,
MO,  US
01/15/2009 9:56 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
EARTH CITY,
MO,  US
01/16/2009 2:08 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
HODGKINS,
IL,  US
01/16/2009 11:59 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
01/16/2009 11:11 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
ADDISON,
IL,  US
01/16/2009 12:35 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
ADDISON,
IL,  US
01/17/2009 3:57 A.M. MERCHANDISE IS MISSING. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH ADDITIONAL DETAILS. / ALL MERCHANDISE MISSING, EMPTY CARTON WAS DISCARDED. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE

The missing merchandise?

306852jpg

349. It Was Sunny Today

dsc00197

Mount Rainier at sunset.

Taken in Woodinville, WA on 1/17/2009 at 4:34 PM.

350. Pink Elephants On Parade

dsc00190

The famous Pink Elephant Car Wash, the first automated car wash.

Taken from a Duck in Seattle on 1/16/2009 at 3:33 PM.

351. Thoughts And Hints

  1. Traveling across the country throws your entire time off — but only just enough so that you feel weird, and not enough so that you can legitimately whine about it.
  2. When your sense of time is off, you forget to do things — like call your father on his birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!
  3. You also forget to blog.

So what did I do on the 15th? I worked and worked and studied and fixed a router connection. Didn’t go outside at all. :-(

For the knowledge of those on the internet: if you have a broadband connection that doesn’t stay connected all the time, the problem is probably with one of the settings on your router. Check your “MTU” setting. If it is at 1500, change it down to 1400 and restart the router.

In this specific situation, I needed to modify the MTU setting on a Airport Express remotely. To do this:

  1. On a Mac, open up the Terminal application. (If you can’t find this, open Finder and use the search box to search for “Terminal”.)
  2. In the new Terminal window that popped up, type: sudo ifconfig en1 mtu 1400
  3. Enter your password when prompted.
  4. That’s it! You’re done! If performance is still bad, repeat the above commands with the number 1300 instead of 1400.

352. Welcome to Seattle

dsc00186

Blurry picture of the Space Needle and downtown Seattle’s light pollution as seen from the sundial at Gas Works Park.

Taken at 10 PM PST on 1/14/2009.

353. The Best Job In The World

Courtesy of MetaFilter: The Best Job In The World.

Perks of the job:

  • Get paid AUD$150,000 (approx. USD $102,000)
  • Live without any housing costs for six months in a three-bedroom two-bathroom villa on the most developed island in the Great Barrier Reef

Requirements:

  • “Explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef
  • “Discover what the area has to offer”
  • “Report back on your adventures to Tourism Queensland headquarters in Brisbane (and the rest of the world) via weekly blogs, photo diary, video updates and ongoing media interviews”
  • Feed the fish that live in and around the Reef (if you like)
  • Clean the automatically filtered pool
  • Collect the mail (or help deliver it by plane for a day)

Submit video applications before February 22nd.

A funny comment from the MetaFilter post:

It’s all fun and games until the snapping turtles attack.

Also, is it just me or does this whole thing sound like the set-up for an old Scooby Doo episode?

“Gee, Daphne, we sure are lucky your dear Uncle Walter invited us to stay on his island resort for six months. If it weren’t for all the rumors about that spooky Witch Doctor, this would be just perfect!”

“Rooky ritch roctor?” *whimper*

“Like, don’t worry, Scoob, there’s nothing to those silly old stories.”

“Right! They’re just a load of superstitious island mumbo-jumbo. Now let’s to take a look at that abandoned fishing village!”

Little do they know that someone is watching them through the eyeholes of a nearby portrait! *SCARY STOCK MUSIC*