Historical blogging, part 1

There was a time when I had another blog.  Due to some less than understanding significant others, along with a whole host of other issues, I took it down.  However, I did keep the posts.   While they are over two years old now, I was really enjoying reading back through them and seeing where my mind was not so long ago.   Because of this, I thought it might be a halfway decent idea to just go ahead and post them again, which I'm going to do over the next few days.

First up, Seattle sucks and I'm tired of it.  This post was from January 2, 2007.  My life was falling apart at the time, my marriage was ending, and I was 2500 miles from home and all I wanted to do was get back to Austin.

Seattle sucks, and I'm tired of it.  Current mood:  aggravated I've been consulting on Boeing's new 787 airliner, so that means I've got to spend an awful lot of time in Seattle.   I've earned over 200,000 frequent flyer miles this year, mainly traveling from Seattle to Austin.  I'm tired of it.   Seattle is gorgeous if you manage to get here during the summer months.  It's mild, and it doesn't rain (shocker, I know!).   The other nine months of the year?  This cartoon pretty well sums it up: It's just gray and gloomy and cold and that kind of bullshit rain that never really gets you wet but just serves to remind you how cold and shitty the weather really is.   And no matter what you may think, or how much fun an expense account is, traveling for business is nothing like traveling for leisure. I've got to get back to Austin.  It's like recharging my batteries when I'm home.  I want to go hang out at Maudies Milagro and drink margaritas with my friends until I can't drive home.  I want to go run my car for a few dozen hot laps at Texas World Speedway.  I want to ride my motorcycle up and down Lime Creek Road until the sun goes down.   I need to be with my friends, my family, and everyone important in my life. Not that Seattle's all bad.  I can go snowboarding, surfing, mountain climbing, off roading, fly around the city, visit Jimi Hendrix's grave, or any enjoy number of all the cool things Seattle has to offer.  It's just that it's not home, and with a few exceptions, my friends here are of the very superficial variety -- they'll be happy to drink your beer, but when the party's over, they're no where to be found.   And having visited here off and on for over year, I've seen everything here and I'm kind of done with it. I'll have to make another trip up to Vancouver before I leave though.  They don't call "Vansterdam" for nothing.   If it's vice, it's probably legal.  And if it isn't, no one's paying attention anyway.

So, in retrospect, what do I think?   Well, I never got back up to Vancouver, and I'm not entirely sure that was a big loss.   I have a couple of vices, which most of my good friends know well, but the vices allowed in Vancouver and Amsterdam really aren't any of those.  I think I was just upset and reckless and destructive and wanted to be stupidly hedonistic for a little while. 

Two years later, and yes, I really do miss Seattle.  I don't miss the weather, and I'll never visit in the winter time, but I did make some good friends there that I really do miss and there's some things in town I'd like to see again.   Hell, I even miss the calamari at my usual friday night eating spot in Sea-Tac airport. 

I'm starting to travel again for business, and that's a love hate thing all on it's own.  I'm looking forward to racking up miles and being upgraded all the time, but I'll miss being away from friends, family, and Austin.   Then again, I really miss my old Boeing job too.  It's still the coolest thing I've ever done and the highlight of my professional career.

Got Out of Another Ticket

I have no idea how I managed to get out of this one.   Usually, when you get pulled over driving a bright red Porsche that's obviously seen track time and has a license plate like mine .... well, you just man up and take your ticket.    And yet, somehow, I got lucky.   Did I mention that I couldn't find my insurance card either?  

So, what happened?  Well, I was running around town, trying to pick up my date and get back to the annual SCCA party (did I mention that I was going to a party with a bunch of racers?) before I missed out on everything.  Luckily, the officer didn't see me showing off for my friends (~80mph in a 35 in the middle of downtown) or hauling ass down the interstate (~110 in a 55) and instead caught me leaving "spiritedly" from a stop sign.   

Honestly, I was just having fun and I'm not entirely sure I broke the speed limit.  But I am pretty sure that I could have gotten busted for exhibition of acceleration.   I don't know where the officer came from, but as much attention as I was attracting, he could have come from anywhere. 

Once he pulls me over, I wonder just how bad it's going to be.  When I can't find my insurance (took it out of the car for an inspection, forgot to put it back) I know it's going to be bad.  Not having proof of insurance pretty much guarantees you'll get a couple of tickets -- they're going to make sure you show up to court to prove that you were covered, and as long as they're writing one ticket .... well, you get the idea.  

When he asked me to step out and to the rear of my vehicle, I knew it was going to be bad.  They don't ask you to step out for no good reason.   Rather, he didn't ask, he ordered me.   So, we had a nice little conversation -- where had I been, where was I going (I sure as hell didn't mention I was going to a party with a bunch of race car drivers), and just what in the hell I thought I was doing.   I tried a bullshit excuse, and then just said, "I wasn't showing off, but I don't have an excuse either."   We danced around all the other bullshit, like had I been drinking or were there any drugs in the car, and then he informed me that he was just going to cut me a warning and let me go. 

I guess some days you just get lucky.  I have no idea.   He never noticed that I wasn't sporting my front license plate either.