Changing It Up

Spring is in the air (or at least I hope it is) and I've been gearing up to do the annual spring closet purge and try to sort through the detritus I seem to gather. I have a bit of a hard time getting rid of stuff and always feel daunted with the piles of stuff that accumulate around me.

As I was trying to sort through stuff I realized I wanted some sort of change in my room. It came in the form of a new bedside lamp. I purchased a couple lit branches from the University Bookstore and put them in a vase I had. The pictures don't quite do the best job because I had to turn off the flash for the "after" shot, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

Before:

After:

This is What I Get

My office is extremely casual. We have a large concentration of computer engineers in our building and we don't share any common space with other businesses which makes it even more casual. I routinely see people walking around in sweatpants, there are even a few who walk around in socks or bare feet. If you dress up it breeds a level of suspicion. I been hounded with questions about it I am going out to interview just because I've worn a skirt.

I wear jeans to work quite a bit, but I also try to dress up a few times a week just so I stay in the practice of looking somewhat presentable. Today, however, it bit me in the butt. My boss comes into my office and comes to my side of the desk to see what I am wearing. She says, "Oh good, you're dressed up today." I immediately sense trouble. I am wearing black flats, black slacks, a gray and black striped sweater, and little pseudo blazer made of sweatshirt material from H&M. Apparently I now have to go to what I've sure will be a very painful meeting with a potential client and one of our sales guys because I wore something nice.

Tomorrow I am going to wear sweatpants!

Happiness

It's been a down couple weeks for me. After growing up in Seattle I thought I was immune to the winter blues, but I think working in a windowless office has finally done it to me. I went to the doctor and got a recommendation of a combination of vitamins to take and that seems to have helped a little bit. However, I have finally found something to cheer me up...


Griffey is coming back to Seattle! While I personally was always a little more smitten with Dave Valle (I met him at a fan forum when I was 7 or 8), I will always have a soft spot for Griffey and all the fond memories he provided for me and my family in the Kingdom. I especially loved seeing him play with his dad during the 1990-1991 season. I'm hoping this means the Mariners will be back in top form this season.

Somebody's Baby

Last night on NPR I heard a story I can't stop thinking about. It starts with Charlie LeDuff, a reporter who gets a call about a body at the base of an elevator shaft encased in ice. He goes on to investigate to see if it a hoax and find the body there exactly as it was described to him (you can listen to the story on All Things Considered). As LeDuff investigates further he discovers that the body has been there for a month and nobody made a move to call the police to try to get the body out or identify it. LeDuff was able to get the police to come after two calls and they exhumed the body and are now waiting to conduct an autopsy when the man thaws out. He has committed to do an obituary for the man. As he said on NPR, "Everybody is somebody's baby, right?"

Here is the original story (warning: it does contain images of the body),Frozen in indifference: Life goes on around body found frozen in vacant Detroit warehouse.

Yes We Can