Thanksgiving dinner

For the first time, I played hostess to Thanksgiving dinner for my parents, friends Tony and Alisa, and our new friend Tony Ellis.

Earthquake Park

My dad took us all out to Earthquake Park on Monday to show us the location of a house he used to live in. A house that was destroyed in the 1964 Good Friday earthquake that killed 131. My father and his family moved out of that house just three months before the big quake that devastated his old neighborhood.

My dad checks out a bit of old foundation near the lot of of his old house.

The lot where my dad thinks the house sat.

The view of Cook Inlet from Earthquake Park.

Someone has decided it's safe to rebuild on land that has been deserted for more than half a century.

It was cold.

The old stomping grounds

My parents arrived in the wee hours of Sunday morning and spent the week showing Joshua and I around memorable parts of Anchorage and introducing us to old friends.

cougs and family

WSU won the Apple Cup in double-overtime this afternoon! Had my brother on the phone watching with me through the final minutes.

It's snowing -- hard.

My parents arrive late tonight and will stay in Anchorage for the week. I'm looking forward to seeing my dad's old stomping grounds from when he lived here as a kid.

it's 11 degrees

Frost clinging to the tree outside my balcony door. It never warmed up enough today for the frost coating Anchorage to melt.
Yesterday was Joshua's day off, so we spent it hanging pictures and assembling our new dining set. It was an early happy-birthday-to-me gift.

Those are my paintings on the wall in the background.

so much for 'only a skiff of snow'

It hasn't stopped falling since noon.

My window seat

Here's a peek of my view upon decent into Anchorage on Sunday. As the plane passed through layers of clouds the mountains came into view.

It has been in the high 20s and low 30s since I've arrived with only a skiff of snow on the ground.

Oh-bama!

Was Newseum so busy and slow-to-load on Election Day that you didn't get a good look?

Our friend at NewsDesigner put up a page of election fronts from the major U.S. papers.

Worst (or maybe best) headline I saw all day? Oh-bama!

A touch of autumn

Today I'm in Kennewick spending time with my folks.

For my last day in Boise I picked up Davin for breakfast and a trip to the park. Here's a taste of fall in Boise and on my drive to Tri-Cities. I'm sure it will contrast greatly with soon-to-be-made pictures of Anchorage.

* * *

cleaning out my desk

Wednesday was my last day at the Statesman. The editors gave me a lovely sendoff with turtle cheesecake and the retelling of lots of nice memories.

I cleaned out my desk. This is the file where I kept drafts of all the local graphics I ever created or worked on.

What about the Evergreen?

The Lewiston Morning Tribune's press was broken down tonight, so it was printing here at the Statesman. Our deadlines were adjusted to accommodate it.

I couldn't help but wonder, where did the Evergreen print?

Happy 'double-tall' Election Day

Happy Election Day! Today should be very exciting. My newsroom is set up to operate 24 hours today. I'm working the 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift on the copy desk.

I'm headed to Starbucks in a bit to claim my free cup of coffee. We were discussing at work last night how it's actually illegal to offer voters rewards. So now they're giving free tall coffees to all patrons:

"The (Washington) secretary of state's office is pleased with this decision, and wishes hypercaffeinated Washington voters a double-tall Happy Election Day."

T-minus one week

This time next week I will be flying along the Pacific coastline of Canada.

Joshua called to tell me it was 9 degrees in Anchorage this morning.

A political Halloween circus

Yesterday work was a circus. Halloween is a big deal at the Statesman. All the departments compete to have the best Halloween theme. Employees bring their kids though to trick or treat. Last year Advertising won as Harry Potter.

This year the Newsroom won with the theme political circus in honor of the upcoming election. The theme beat out Advertising's "Chronicles of Narnia," Circulation's "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and even IT's technology graveyard.

We had politically charged carnival games, a cotton candy machine, multiple bearded ladies and our newsroom manager wore her snake like a scarf most the day.

Here's a few pictures to document the tradition.