Decorated for Christmas

The Washington Mutual Tower where I work is a really pretty building. I've posted pictures of the exterior before.

The interior is also beautiful with its grand Third Avenue Lobby and the Atrium on the Second Avenue side. I especially love the way the lobby looks at Christmas with two large decorated Christmas trees and Chases Flower Shop decked out for the season. This photo shows Chases. I took pictures of the Christmas trees too, but the lighting wasn't right so I will try again in a couple days.

Give Blood

Did you know that every two minutes someone in Western Washington needs a blood transfusion?

Have you ever given blood? If so, how long has it been since you last donated? You can donate as frequently as every eight weeks. I try to give as often as I can, but sometimes it’s easier to let other things take priority. The nice folks from the Puget Sound Blood Center come to Washington Mutual Tower where I work every month. That makes it pretty easy.

When my mother had her scare with anemia last month she required two units of blood. That was a good reminder for me to get back on the program. PSBC was here last Friday. I made myself an appointment and did it. It’s really very easy. You have to answer a questionnaire, and they take your blood pressure and make sure you’re not anemic before you donate. Afterwards you get juice and cookies or crackers.

If you’ve ever thought about it but chickened out I encourage you to give it a go. This page has information on Western Washington donor centers and blood drives.

Give blood. Get cookies. Save lives.

Snow Bunny

This is my little friend Elena. She and her folks live up in North Bend where they get the real snow. Last week's weather made for some great playtime in the snow. Thanks to her mom Kristina for sharing these pics! You can click the pictures to see them larger.

Sunrise on a Snowy Day

I took this photo last week when there was still snow on the ground.

Watch Out for Gift Card Fraud

Thanks to my friend Colette for alerting me to a problem with some gift cards. Especially at this time of year a lot of us buy gift cards - they are an easy way to get someone a gift when you want to give the recipient a choice. This information will come in handy if you don't want to get ripped off.

Yesterday Colette sent me an email which described the problem as follows:

"Well the crooks have found a way to rob you of your gift card balance.

If you buy Gift Cards from a display rack that has various store cards you may become a victim of theft. Crooks are now jotting down the card numbers in the store and then wait a few days and call to see how much of a balance THEY have on the card.

Once they find the card is "activated", they go online and start shopping. You may want to purchase your card from a customer service person, where they do not have the Gift Cards viewable to the public."

Of course you have to be careful about what you believe in forwarded email messages. This message was verified as credible at the Snopes.com site here. Later in the day Colette called me to let me know there was a story about this issue on King5 News. They did a good job of describing the issue and explaining how to buy gift cards safely. You can read King5's story here.

Be safe shopping out there, everybody!

Snow and Ice in Seattle

We've been having some non-typical weather in Seattle. The last two or three days we've seen a couple inches of snow in our neighborhood and definitely some ice as temperatures dip colder than normal. It was 21 degrees as I waited for the bus this morning and tonight temps are supposed to chill down into the teens in Seattle. Less than half of the staff showed up at work today because of the difficulty in commuting from outlying areas.

It is pretty, though. Here is a picture I took this morning as I waited for the bus. You can see there's a fair amount of ice on the roads and sidewalk. While I stood waiting I witnessed one car accident and one dog-walker landing on her backside thanks to the ice.

This picture was taken last night from our balcony.

If you would like to see more photos of the ice and snow (mostly taken last night) click on either photo and use the Next and Prev buttons to navigate through the pictures.

If there is ice and snow where you live my advice is to stay in if you can, and if not be very careful while out and about.

Thanksgiving With Pictures

Clay and I had a really nice Thanksgiving spent with my Mom, my sister Jozi and friend Colette.

It was our plan to go out to eat with Mom and Jozi in Olympia. A week or so before Thanksgiving I just happened to learn in a phone conversation with my friend Colette (who lives in Lynnwood, a little north of us) that she was also planning to make a trek south for Thanksgiving. Colette has family in Nisqually, which is just about 5 miles from where my Mom lives in Lacey.

Those of us who have driven the Seattle to Olympia stretch on Thanksgiving know that it can easily take twice as long to drive that distance on Thanksgiving as it does any other day of the year. Colette and I decided it would be fun to carpool. Colette generously offered to drive us in her cushy new van. It turned out great!

As is not uncommon, the weather was quite wet for the drive down. We had one little scare when a car two lanes over suddenly veered out of its lane and hit a car near us. Thankfully we were not involved in the accident. We could only speculate about what happened - was it a hydroplaning mishap? Or did the driver of the errant car have some sort of medical emergency? We hope and pray everyone in both cars is okay.

Colette's dinner plans were later in the day than ours, so we got to have some visiting time with her at my Mom's before heading out to eat. Jozi brought pumpkin pie and we had a little pre-meal dessert. Colette helped us take some pictures. If you click on the photo of Clay and me you can use the Next and Prev links to see the rest of the photos from the day.

Colette went off to her family celebration and Clay and I went out to a local restaurant with Mom and Jozi. The restaurant we chose didn't take reservations, but we were fortunate not to have to wait too long before being escorted to a table. The food was good, and we all ate a little too much. Isn't that required on Thanksgiving?

Colette picked us up at Mom's in the evening and we headed back home. All in all it was a fun and satisfying day. Thank you to those who shared it with us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my blog's readers. I hope you had a wonderful day spending time with loved ones and eating turkey and all the trimmings. Clay and I had a great day celebrating like most of you. On Saturday I will be at a computer where I can upload some pictures of the day and I will post more then. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Update Sat. 11/25: Sorry, folks. Here I am in front of the computer I use to upload photos, and I forgot my camera at home! The pictures will be up tomorrow, I promise.

Wild and Woolly Weather

We continue to have some pretty crazy weather here in Seattle. Today we endured a strong thunderstorm which included heavy rain, hail and lightning. In fact my office building was struck by lightning at the same time as the Space Needle. You can see both in this photo from KOMO-TV.

Earlier in the day I noticed very loud sounds coming from outside because of high winds and rain. From some offices it seemed like a freight train was coming through. I understand this lightning was accompanied by quite a thunderstorm. Unfortunately I was busy training at the time and didn't notice the extra noise.

It looks like today or tomorrow will be the day that November 2006 sets the all-time record for wettest month in Seattle. If you want to read more about today's storm and the weather trends see KOMO's full story here.

Autumn Sunset

Sometimes I get busy and don't look out the window often enough. This afternoon a pale yellow light caught my eye as I walked past one of the offices where I work. I looked out the window and saw what I thought was a rather pleasant sunset. Nothing striking, but quite pleasant. I went back to my office to get the camera so I could share the view with you. Then I promptly got distracted with a project and forgot about the sunset.

Several minutes later I remembered that I was supposed to be getting the camera. I thought it was probably too late, but grabbed the camera and headed back to the office window just in case. I was rewarded with a spectacular view.

I turned on the camera but before I could get the picture it told me to change the batteries. Yikes, I didn't have fresh batteries on me! So I turned the camera off and on a couple times trying to get it to cooperate. I was able to take one quick photo before it died.

The camera didn't catch the view as beautifully as it looked to my eye, but I think it came out pretty well. You can click on the photo to see it larger, and if you look closely in the lower left corner you will see a ferry boat there.

A New Toy in the House

Clay got some birthday money from his Mom last month. After giving it some thought he decided to use the money to add a new piece of electronic gadgetry to our entertainment center (big surprise!). The new toy is a Samsung Multiformat DVD Recorder and VCR combo.

I am told this gizmo will do all kinds of wonderful things for us. We can watch our Netflix movies on it if we want. We can use it to record programs from the TV in either VHS or DVD format. We can transfer old footage from VHS and 8mm format tapes to DVD with it. And best of all, it will make a nice companion for our recently purchased digital camcorder.

Now if only I could get it to wash the dishes.... Oh wait. Clay does that!

Short Hospital Stay for Mom

I frequently spend Mondays with my Mom. That's when I take her to doctor appointments and help her run errands. This Monday Mom had a checkup with her doctor. She was feeling great, just a little tired from time to time. As part of the checkup the doctor ordered some blood tests. Before the day was out he was calling to say she needed to come back.

On Tuesday afternoon I took her back to the doctor where we found out that her blood count was only 7.6. A normal blood count is 30, and anything under 11 is considered dangerous. One concern is that she could pass out and that would not be good for an 82-year-old woman who lives by herself.

She had to spend the night in the hospital where they gave her a couple units of blood. In the morning after the transfusions her blood count was up to 32. She got to go home before noon.

Mom is glad to be home and doing well. The next step will be to find out what caused the blood loss. She has had bleeding ulcers in the past so it's possible this could be a repeat of that problem. She goes back to the doctor on Monday to find out what further tests she must undergo.

I'm really glad her doctor did that blood test when he did. Something to add to my "I'm thankful for" list for sure.

Thank You to the Veterans

I want to say thank you to all the Veterans on this their special day. It's thanks to them that we enjoy the freedoms we do today.

My favorite veteran was my father who passed away two years ago. He taught me more about honor and sacrifice and duty to one's country than anyone. My dad was not even a native of this country when he joined the US Army in World War II. He survived the Bataan Death March and time in a Japanese Prison of War camp.

If you know a veteran, say thank you today.