encouragement.

Many life changing events have occured in the last two months and my life feels like an ant farm (that a three year old has shook until the ants have no idea which way is up) again. Long story short, I moved from Seattle, WA to St. George, UT.

I had stopped blogging, but have decided to re-start my efforts due to the Facebook message from a close friend which read:

“I was just now cycling thru a blogroll that lists topics I want to read about, and it plopped me down on a blog created by you ... KEEP BLOGGING! I started to read your posts thru August, and then -- pfft! I know, writing a story every few days is not a natural thing to do when there is so much other stuff to do in life, but it can be therapeutic.”

Thanks for the encouragement.

Here we go again!

road trip.

This story starts with a road trip from Seattle, WA to Pullman, WA - Moscow, ID Area.

Pullman, Washington, USA

It was my first time visiting the area and I didn't realize the proximity of the two cities... I thought I was just visiting Pullman.

It is a beautiful area. It is really cute and quaint... but not "quaint" in the way that just means "dumpy and little". There are charming things like a farmers market, fun restaurants, and a brick buildings. Also, the scenery was impressive. 

The Palouse, I haven't seen anything like it.                                          

The Palouse, Washington, USA

I traveled with my roommate Colin (He drove, I sat and drank Diet Coke... we have a system).  I was able to briefly visit with a friend from Utah and we got to spend some quality time with a good friend of ours Miss Kaitlin Phillips. Who - besides being an amazing human being - is also a talented and creative artist (and teacher as WSU)... this is her engagement photo. Love her.

The future Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Goodey

I LOVE traveling... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I especially enjoy the experience when I get to see people that I care about and have a good traveling companion (Thanks Colin!)... check and check.

Time to unpack.

video.

As I am learning how to do this blog thing, I wanted to be able to post a video. However, all the videos that I had recorded were too large. I commented to my roommate Colin that I wasn't able to share a video because it was too big. He told me to open a YouTube account, upload the video, and then embed it to this post.

Here goes nothing.



Yea! it worked.
Done.

pay pass.

I just got a new Debit MasterCard from Chase and it has a computer chip that allows me to "tap and go" to pay for my purchase. Honestly, I don't know how to feel about this technology. Thoughts of people walking by with sensors and stealing my info flash through my mind. However, I'm sure that there are security people who have already thought of that and I'm going to trust the technology until otherwise proven unsafe.

I was at McDonald's and it was time to pay for my large Diet Coke, I noticed the Pay Pass terminal and I got to use it. Oddly enough it made me SO happy... almost giddy! Fun new technology.

vote.

Today I had the opportunity to vote in the Washington State Primary Elections. All I had to do was fill-out my ballot that was mailed to me and then mail it back. Civil duty completed.

As my parents always say:  "If you dont vote, you can't complain."  I'm not one to complain much, but I don't want to give-up that right. :)

start a blog.

Experts say that novelty and challenge are keys to happiness. I am a happy person. I want to be happier. I have decided to try to add both into my life. The challenge will come from writing this blog and the novelty will come from my daily life.

Today’s novelty: Start a blog

I asked a great friend who is experienced in blogging to come over and help me get started. There is so much to do like figure-out a name, a subject, and a font. Then learn how to post photos, videos, add links, and publish posts. I anticipate a learning curve and that I will get better with practice. This will be a challenge, but it has been a new experience. I anticipate that this will be fun.

Task one: Post a photo.

*This photo was taken by the amazing Russell Gearhart in New York (Aug 2004)

Task two: Upload video

(Apparently all the video's that I have are too big... next time!)

and... I'm done for today.