This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

Know when to fold em'

Posted by ehren

After leaving the library, the day of Work undone by my scatterbrainedness, my inescapable hamartia, I walked again to REI in an attempt to resolve the boot situation. Miraculously, I not only remembered to bring one of Sean's boots to have the toe stretched, I also brought the correct one. Cal, my helpful and friendly REI footware sales associate, referred me to his colleague who promised to "warm up the rice cooker and give it a shot" by 5. During the interleaving hour I walked to a photography supply store, where I was shunned for going digital but was nonetheless allowed to buy Kodak lens cleaner and lint-free tissues, as well as a turkey-baster thing for spraying air and removing dust. I cleaned the lenses on my camera, and can now see through the viewfinder again. Unfortunately, despite my efforts particulate dust still causes the optical zoom to malfunction, so I still have to beat it against things before I take a picture.

The boot stretch failed. I bought new boots. I consider them to be the best balance between ankle support (mine are made of damp spaghetti and birdnests), stiffness (for being h4rdc0re), and weight (so I spend most of the energy lifting my legs, not the boots). Turns out they're the exact same make and model Miro got in Eugene, so it means we can't both wear hiking boots to the same paparazzi-scoped gala parties.

I called Joseph after leaving REI, and got directions to his BBQ. I would be moving the bus later towards the airport, so I walked back to the bus and drove 3 miles to 26th Ave. & Yesler. Joseph was busy with the twins (they have taken to sneaking up and biting one another), but I gave a short bus tour just before the party broke up. Since it was an afternoon BBQ instead of a dinner affair (I should've known) I stayed for a short while with Joseph and Amber (their mom) to observe the twins, agents of entropy, vascillating between adorable and chatty and extremely tired (no nap today).

I left Joseph's around sunset, and almost made it to a rendezvous point near the airport (a casino offering wireless?...indeed) without Seattle's street signage getting in my way. S Ambaum abruptly turns a sharp left around 156th, and then it splits off from an otherwise convincing 4-lane road without letting you know, and the Casino was around 157th. Also during the journey 99 South went North, and the same road is I-405 if you got left, and WA-509 if you go right. In the words of Dave Barry, I'm totally not making this up.

I had 2 hours before Miro's flight, so why work when you can gamble? That I'm very bad at poker and also enjoy it immensely combined to make Sunday quite expensive. I lost it all, then won it all back (exactly), then lost it all again. I mis-read cards in the flop twice (i.e. You should always call a spade a spade, they say) and unintentionally helped a rip-roaring drunk Boeing employee.

I contemplated re-buying but the table was emptying and I had a brief moment of clarity. Miro showed up around 11:30 via cab and said something like "unnnggghhhhhhh" before we drove back to the shipping district for the night.

Four paragraphs in a row starting with 'I', minus one point. Using 'hamartia' in context, plus two points.

Monday many plans were foiled by Memorial Day. The library was closed, as were the used book stores. I spent a few hours starting my job search and planning the week. What to do after August? I'm looking at Austin, Santa Fe, San Luis Obispo, Portland, Seattle, and maybe Vancouver. The short list is basically just Austin, as I have yet to experience a sweltering summer there, and the jobs seem plentiful. Santa Fe is tough, workwise unless you want to build nukes or shitty art gallery webpages. San Luis Obispo has the same problem (minus the nukes at Sandia Nat'l Labs and Los Alamos), and it rains all the damn time in Portland, Seattle, and probably Vancouver. Maybe I could get used to it. I know the most people in Austin, but I think moving into a house with the right roommates is all that's needed to jumpstart a social scene. Austin is also closest to Milwaukee, where the bus will sit in August. I'd rather not drive it all the way back to the Left Coast, at least not immediately after doing the reverse.

After getting bored with that, I snuck a shower at the Westin (haven't done that since San Antonio... no, wait... Carlsbad, NM.) and spent some time browsing movie times and bookracks. As of right now I'm a little late to meet Miro for a Mariner's game.