Hi everybody, Here are some more stories from the far West. Things have been looking up. My lower back seems to have healed somewhat with a decrease in pain flares and general uncomfortableness (wow, what a word!). Of course, it took me some opium-based pain killers and a period of withdrawal to get there... but, oh well . I got back my MRI results in the mean time. Amazingly, they show nothing! So, the question remains... What the hell is causing me to have such pains? What's causing the weakness in my legs, the loss of sensation and control over my [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 was awesome. We started at the Brouwers. An apparently world renound brew pup featuring 60 different beers on tap, 3 nitro, and 3 cask conditioned beer. I started with a black cherry stout that was excellent, but blew the tap so no mor fo u pretty lady. Pete had the Boundary Bay Oak Aged Cabin fever. My next was the Elysian Haleakala Sour. I love sour beer. This was ok. Not really all that sour for my liking but good all the same. Pete finished up with the Red Hook Tripel. It just so happened last weekend was the [View Full Entry]

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We are very tired. It's 7:15 for crying out loud. I just sent Pete out for a store run. That big king sized overstuffed bed is starting to look pretty good. If you open up the blinds and turn off all the lights, the view of the city at night is absolutely spectacular! Nighty night..... [View Full Entry]

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Are you a Nazi?... Erm, I've never been asked that before but this was on my visa application and I'm pretty sure it isn't a trick question so I chose 'no'. God only knows what happens if you choose 'yes' but you're not a Nazi... you're a bloody stupid Nazi. This is the United States of America, a nation that apparently spends more money per year on porn than the whole Sub-Saharian African debt. God bless 'em. We arrived here from Rarotonga, the largest of a group of 15 islands collectively known as the Cook Islands and absolutely nothing happens there [View Full Entry]

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Up at 3:30 this morning. Gawd that's early. We arrived in Seattle about 10:30 this morning. Raining cats and dogs. It's beautiful here. I forgot what fall looks like. All the bright colors of the leaves. The smell of rain. Really a nice day. Our flight was without drama, as was picking up the car at the rental. We were able to check into our hotel early and did you check out that view? We are on the 32nd floor. Really nice, except for the letter left by the hotel that said "The towers of the Westin Seattle are designed to [View Full Entry]

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Seattle Das Wochenändi simmer in Seattle gsi. Am Samstig simer eifach chli goge sightseeing mache u si under anderem uf em Space Needle gsi. Das isch sone Turm womer uechan u de über alles ine gseht. Leider isch ds Wätter nanid ganz so super gsi womer uesii, aber mer het trotz Wolke die ganzi Skyline gseh. Es het de när o uftue u am Nami heimer ds schönste Wätter gha womer sich chan wünsche. Mir si de im Pine Market gsi, das isch de berüehmti Märt vo Seattle (de wos d Fische umeschüssed, damits schnäller geit). I dem Märt chamer [View Full Entry]

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After Olympic National Park, I drove to Seattle in the afternoon where I had to take a ferry to go across the bay. I arrived in Seattle at night. It was the beginning of a wonderful week at Cheryl's, Kirsten's and Brian's place, my first couchsurfing place in the US. My arrival in Seattle immediately erased all the prejudice Europeans tend to have about Americans. The people I met were interested, well-educated, informed, into great discussions about life, politics and society, critical and active in many ways. Meeting people like Cheryl and her friends made me realize that change is possible [View Full Entry]

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I met Alive With Skies when he was passing out flyers for the Columbus Day Protest at a reggae show a couple weeks back. He is a Native man from an American Indian Movement family and a community organizer. We talked about growing up amidst the colonial regime that instructed me to play the role of "occupier" and him as "occupied", not because of skin color--he's the same tone as me--but because of continental heritage. We talked about the problems in the cities. We talked about the problems on the reservations. We talked about the hope growing on the reservations and [View Full Entry]

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I watched last night's Colbert Report as he made jokes about www.conservapedia.com and the Conservapedia bible translation project. Visiting the site to add my own conservative re-translation of the Bible, I found it blocked from accepting new contributors. Who knows if this is related to Colbert's challenge to viewers to "write me into the Bible", or if it's just regular policy at this heavily-administrated, heavily bureaucratic corner of the web. I couldn't add my Bible translation there, but I could try to learn where these guys are coming from. I agree with the Conservapedia folk [View Full Entry]

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Today we left the wilderness behind for now, and with the help of our intrepid guide, Helen, we negotiated the Seattle area freeways and traffic and arrived at the Silver Cloud Inn on Lake Union. We were impressed this small hotel chain’s amenities (free shuttle, breakfast, laundry, internet, 24 hour coffee, etc.) and with our large room with its picture window view of Lake Union. Also impressive was the picture window-sized flat screen TV—just in time for all those weekend football games—not! Dave did enjoy getting to tune into ESPN to catch up on all the action once we r [View Full Entry]

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