Is a quah?

We are coming to you live from the Issaquah Brewhouse, where we stopped for lunch on the way back from our snow trek. But more of that later...

Yesterday was another low key day. Instead of working a lot, I made lists of things to accomplish and then worked a little - that was much more fun. I also engaged in the miracle of VVOIP: Voice and Video Over Internet Protocol. Otis and I had a nice long three-way conversation with Jon of Monmouth using iChat, and then I Skyped Sachet in the afternoon. I have to say that I really like video chatting, and that it's feeling much more natural and casual all the time. Maybe the Picturephone's time has finally come.

In the evening, we had Neds, Stella, Dingo, Johnbai, Eryk, and Sylvio over to watch the ABC News Republican and Democratic Presidential Debates (One Night - Two Parties!).
Otis made delicious chili, Neds brought a tortilla, Dingo made a yummy pumpkin bread, Eryk baked some spicy angel food cake, Sylvio contributed ice cream, and Johnbai consumed it all. It was a great, good-spirited night, punctuated by another Skype with Sachet, and well worth the collateral discomfiting of cats that ensued.

As far as the politics went: the Repubs were typically unrealistic, illogical, pandering, and jingoistic; only Ron Paul (who appears to be a wingnut on most other topics) spoke straight about the geopolitical scene, while the rest invoked the boogie-man of Islamofascism right and left. The domestic policy discussion presented various degrees of insensitivity and disconnect from the general population. The Dems spoke less stentorially but generally more rationally; if they could get past the squabbling, they might be able to actually have a substantive conversation about the issues. In any case, I think the best we all came out with was a little more comfort in our resignation about the future.

We got to bed necessarily late, but still tried to make it an early start this morning. It is something of a tradition (habit?) for us to try to find some snow on January 6. This time out, we headed east on I-90 and only had to go as far as Olallie State Park to get our fill:


It wasn't quite as cold as Otis is making it out to be.


Into the wild...


Even though we were looking for snow, we seem shocked to have found it!


Click pic for jumpy goodness!

All of which explains why we are in Issaquah on our way back. Speaking of which, almost time to go - I still have a few final details to orgabamize for class tomorrow, when It All Begins Again.