One More Writer

[Irritated bunny is irritated.]

Well, it's almost time for another school year. The summer has come and gone, and with it many missed opportunities to make posts on my blog. So, to my one reader still checking the site from time to time (or did you give up hope, too?) here's my biennial update.

First, the big news: Valerie and I are expecting an alien parasite, err, I mean a baby! She's three months pregnant, which means if you're reading the news here for the first time you're about two months behind the news cycle. Sorry. We're mulling over what to name the kid ... we don't know gender yet and I don't want to until it's born. We haven't picked out any boys names yet, although we really like the name Lucy if it's a girl. Which we think it is, for no other reason than a gut feeling.

In an effort to fight the end of summer and the return of work and school, Val and I are embarking on a week-long trip to Hawaii tomorrow morning. I'm writing this update from our hotel room in Seattle. The details are rather complicated, but basically we missed several flights last year in our effort to return to the mainland. We had to buy a new ticket to get back, but the only low price was to Seattle. Round trip was cheaper than one-way, so we're using the second half of those round-trip tickets, then flying back for free with Hawaiian Miles. So there.

Val graduated from Pacific University today with a Masters in special education. As she pointed out today, she has reached a higher level of education than yours truly. Just wait til I get my doctorate in lawyering, Mrs. Reinhard. Hopefully she won't show me up by getting a Ph.D. Ahh, I love it when the student loans pile up! Anyway, I'm very proud of Val. She got hooded, which is basically a scarf with a hobbit hood in the back. No one wore their hoods today, so I felt obliged to make sure Val modeled her $18,000 graduation outfit. Good times.

After the ceremony the Mrs. and I made our way to Seattle. We hit downtown at sunset, getting the full city outline in an orange-purple glow. I love that city. We had a delightful evening in the university district, and enjoyed some Thai food outside and watched as the people walked by in the 90-degree night. It's odd - most people go to Hawaii for warmer weather, yet with the heat wave we've had this month in the Northwest, the islands will be a welcome respite from our air-conditionless house.