This is brewed in Greeley!

And it's very hoppy so I liked it :)

Greeley Griswold's part two

Greeley Griswold's

Compare which lights are on with the next picture.

Xmas lights in Greeley

We are looking at Christmas lights! This house has a soundtrack played
on 93.9 FM. All the lights are timed with the songs. Completely
insane. :)

Mom's Twi-mas

Mom really liked her Edward poster from Alex. I made her a nice twilight calendar to put up, as well.

scary sounds and sights

This is how Annie Cat looked when she saw Mom wearing reindeer antlers. She looked even more freaked out by Dad's harmonica. She booked it out of the living room at top speed.

CHRISTMAS!!

Awesome funness.

Gary LOVED all the extra wrapping paper and boxes.

How I felt when mom called to wake me up

Clue- I'm the one in the back.
Thanks icanhascheezburger

Tuesday December 23rd

Global warming

I bought a gift online that is environmentally themed, and it is that
tiny box in the middle of this ridiculously wasteful box that Target
shipped it in. Kind of ironic that they decided a 12x18x24 box was
appropriate for a 6 inch square box.

heavy trees

I finally figured out what the big pile of snow on the patio was. I hadn't looked too closely and I just thought it was some snow drifted. It's actually one of the hedge bushes that fell over. It's pretty big!

There is also a car my size that is stuck getting out the parking spot. That confirms that I am not going anywhere (until Dad arrives after work to take me out with Mom!).

Dinner

We had our restaurant night at Gorgeous George's! It was quite snowy
and kept snowing the entire time. We hope Sarah makes it back to queen
Anne safely.

We have retrieved Anne.

It was a journey and it's not over yet. Marko's car is a tank. We had
one scary moment, down bell and onto 99 into the tunnel. But Marko did
a good job.
Anne ran all the way from qwest field to pike place where we picked
her up.

Snowball attack!

He's a good snow driver, and he throws a mean snowball ;)

People at northgate have snow shoes on!

Marko is an excellent snow driver

Mountlake terrace is snowy!

See the car buried in snow up ahead?

Edmonds is snowy!

snowed in but not for much longer

Apparently we got five inches in Mukilteo. I believe it-- the piles weighing down the bushes out the dining room window have definitely grown. I'm excited to get out and about. Marko called around to find the only brunch place open: Scott's. YUM.

I think we'll cancel restaurant night-- Anne and Alex are sledding down hills near their house, probably not a good idea to have them drive on the same hills.

It is officially colder in Greeley than here-- 12 degrees versus 28.

No more tracks left in the snow

snow drifts

We have snow drifts! Sort of. It would be interesting to open any of the garage doors right now. My lights flickered-- I immediately plugged my iphone in. It's charged almost fully, but if I end up playing sim city for hours of entertainment in the dark, I need to make sure there's a full charge.
It's a tad windier now, from my armchair viewpoint. I went out and tried to make a snowman earlier. Snow is too light and doesn't stick. I used to hate that kind of snow when I was little.
Well, I'll get back to my DVR until I'm tired enough to sleep.

Mukilteo snow plows

Are doing their best! It is still snowing, though.

snow day

All my schools were cancelled today, but Jeff and I made a trip down to Seatac. He is probably on his plane now, off to Greeley and 18 degree weather. In Mukilteo, it's 27 and snowy. Check out the course of my drive home:
The top row includes three pictures from Mukilteo: first, Harbour Pointe Blvd. Pretty white! Then our front walk and a snowman a neighbor made and dressed.
The second row has a picture of an articulated bus near West Seattle Bridge. That HOV lane isn't always the way to go. Then, me on Chennault Beach near Electroimpact. Finally, you can see Chennault Beach Road near the tennis courts. It's slippery on that curve.
Now, I'm having hot chocolate and watching tv. Lovely snow day activities.

That's life

Conversation tonight:

Jeff- "we played this new version of Life-- it's fun at the beginning,
you pick your career and salary. Then you spin the wheel 800 times.
And then it's over."

Jen W- "that's life."

Waiting for my flight!

Still an hour before I should go to the airport. I'm playing pull tabs
with an old Alaskan guy at this bar near one of my schools. No wins
for me.

Loved it

I loved it. Twilight was just the movie I wanted to see. When I get
home, I'm rereading it.
Granted, there were a couple cheesy moments, and some awkward editing
at the beginning. But when Bella got out of her truck at school the
first day- I was in. And Edward is hot.

The girls from the yearbook staff near me thought a couple scenes
looked like Juneau.
Mom and Anne said their audience screamed and clapped for Edward- in
Juneau, it was more of a sigh.
I laughed with delight at all of the introductions- Charlie, and the
biology classroom, and Mike and Jessica.

I want them to make more movies. I'll just have to see it again with
mom and Anne so their box office receipts are high enough. ;)

Just look at that picture!!

Line for twilight.

Movie starts at 9:30!

Dropped Pin

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=58.299545,-134.402557%20%28226-298%20Front%20St%20Juneau%20AK%2099801%29

This is me! Having a drink before I join the teenagers at twilight
movie.

Jen

Jennifer Gregerson
Sent from my iPhone
425-239-5241

Obama in Juneau

My Obama button fell off my bag, so I left it on my hotel bed. And the
maid pinned it to the cute bear they leave on the bed. It's an Alaskan
bear for Obama!

Mendenhall glacier

Here's where the real snow is. Well, real to me. Probably nothing much
to Juneau.

Thoughts as I wait to leave for Juneau

I bonded with my eighth grade editor at OV Middle School -- talking
about twilight and going to see the movie.

Why can't I buy tickets toTtwilght for Friday night yet! The theater
will be one of my stops today.

Why didn't I bring any books with me on this trip?

I might have TWO open seats next to me. And I want to sleep so much.
Was up till 12:30am last night, awake at 5:15 for this flight.

GIS is freaking complex. And learning how to do complex maps in the
ten hours before you have to leave town... Well, it's slow going. I'm
very proud of my land use map and my retail services map-- but that's
like 1/20 of the whole project. My fate is in my group's hands now. I
hope it all comes together while I'm gone!! Not like I could really do
it myself anyways.

It's not for sure yet-- but I'm willing to relax in my open row of
seats.

I'm going to work on my map write ups now. That should definitely make
me fall asleep.

Whew, it's 32 degrees in Juneau and should snow while I'm there! I
sort of have sensible shoes. As sensible as I own. (they're at least
not slippers)

It was a glint in the sky

But still pretty cool! The space shutle is the yellow dot just going
under the cloud cover by the moon. And the head is Joe Marine's.

WDW pics

Pictures are up! Click here.

And click here for today's photos.

Another rollercoaster

Where I screamed my head off

Tower of terror

Animals and Movies

We started out at animal kingdom- did the safari ride and saw tons of
animals out for the morning. The yeti ride was awesome, and now we're
at Hollywood studios. Tower of terror was the same abject fear as last
time! Emily and I got fastpasses from some random person and did the
aerosmith rollercoaster- pretty cool. Great start that got me
screaming for a funny photo. It was in the dark and very speedy.
Now it's boiling hot out. And humid, yuck. But it hasn't rained yet,
at least.

Greetings from your Future!

It's funny they couldn't angle the photo at all. This is me at my place in the future! Part of the "future" sounded a lot like "today." having a small device that I carry with me that holds all my files... The cool maglev train was new, as well as the virtual reality style computer. 

France

The little Nemo ride was fun- the usual bucket seat on a track- and it
ended in an aquarium. Cool! I saw dolphins! And manatees, and lots of
other fish.

Then I just quickly walked through Canada and the UK to get to France.
I had the best dinner ever- Cotês de Provence Rosé wine, started with
escargots (delicious), then salade de chèvre chaud, my favorite dish,
and finally an espresso. Can't beat it. I love epcot france. Now I'm
charging my phone in a cafe. I'm going to buy something with a fleur
de lis on it. Anything.

Yes, epcot has an aquarium

I had a very pretty horse.

Princess castle

It's no city hall, but it's cool. Waiting for Snow White's scary
adventures. Is the one where it sort of ends in hell in some weird way?
The haunted mansion was fun- my ghost was very dapper.

Space mountain

I took a lovely ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Did you
know Obama is creating a director of Urban Policy in his
administration? The future is now. Now I'm waiting to sit in the front
row on space mountain. I will be screaming the entire time.

Splash mountain!

I got soaked shortly after this. I'm on my way into it's a small world
now. Pirates of the Caribbean was my first stop.

xmas wish list

I'm trying to cut back on expenses and listing out things I want helps prevent me from buying them! Plus, these are good ideas for me for xmas gifts. :)

Moleskine Pocket Squared Notebook. You can find these at Barnes and Noble.
I use it for taking notes at my schools and at UW. It’s pretty small- like maybe 3x5 inches. It’s in the diary/journal section of Barnes and Noble. Can’t have too many of these.

JC Penney’s: Photo Collage Jewelry Box ($60) Would be cool— it could hang on the wall next to my sink (if there’s one with the hinge on the right side that would be best, but it’ll be nice either way. ) My current jewelry box is kind of overflowing. I like to see all my jewelry, otherwise I never wear it and forget I own it.

Clothing at Avenue (www.avenue.com and 10005 Holman Rd NW, Seattle, WA—near Anne’s house). Size 20. I like most everything there (watch for old lady-ish stuff and avoid that).

The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I know, I could just borrow Mom's.

I made a wish list on Amazon.com, too, to add some other random stuff. Click here to see it.

Almost forgot the most important one-- new programmable coffee maker! I hardly ever make more than 5 cups. I use it every single day. My coffee pot is cracked, and it has no timer or programmable start time on it. I really want that.

Prez debate- my notes from the evening!

I'm watching it in the television studio of KTOO in Juneau. KTOO is the PBS station here. There are about 40 people gathered in this dark studio, focused on the large screen suspended above us.

A little bit of clapping here as the candidates enter.

Is it so hard for McCain to look at the camera? Obama was much better.

"Americans are going to lose their credits." McCain, what does that even mean?

So far, McCain on the defense. His tie was a bad choice. Hurts my eyes.

The Alaska crowd thinks the DNA of bears would be just fine to study.
They groan at McCain's comments.

Obama is kicking his ass!

Its so perfect that the financial market is having trouble now. Makes the arguments about health care make perfect sense.

25 minutes in

Lots of claps when Obama pointed our that we are spending $10billion a month on Iraq (was that the right figure? Something like that).

McCain brings up climate change.... Has he talked to Sarah about that?

When McCain said he has a maverick for a partner-- that got a huge BOO!

"we are winning in Iraq." really, McCain? No one here believes you.

Very powerful when Obama said "we must use our military wisely"
straight into the camera.

Obama- "you were wrong.. you were wrong.... You were wrong." awesome!

Obama perfect on the troop funding question- we have a difference on the time table, not on troop funding. Makes McCain look childish.

50 minutes in

Okay, one bad thing. Obama seems a little too annoyed with the "you don't know the difference between strategy and tactics."

McCain playing into continued Bush-style secrecy of government - "you don't do that, you don't say that out loud" (about military strikes
into Pakistan." wait-- you don't do that, or you just don't tell people?

Obama is good at dismissing the procedural type votes or actions that McCain brings up.

Okay, McCain made a decent point about legitimizing Iranian president, but then to say that also implies we agree with him? Stupid.

McCain keeps saying "Obama doesn't seem to understand..." that rings hollow when Obama looks so damn smart.

McCain does sound okay when he talks about visiting other countries. What will Palin say when Biden says the same stuff? "Oh, my mom and dad didn't give me a passport, I just had four babies?

1hour 22 minutes in

Okay, this is okay. McCain says "we have a safer country, but we are a long way from safe." I disagree, but he sounds okay.

How is sacrifice that has happened in Iraq (of American lives and dollars) lost if we leave Iraq? McCain doesn't make any sense.

How can McCain bring up experience when he picked Sarah Palin? Now he's really reaching -- comparing Obama to Bush. Totally unbelievable.

Oh- of course we couldn't finish without a POW reference!!

Everyone here is looking forward to the VP debate next week! I hope it actually happens. Can't wait to see Palin shredded by Biden!!

Juneau

This place is so pretty! My hotel is just up the street.
The local politics this year sound like they are about a failed
initiative to allow gambling. Last year it was flouride in the water.

The Glacier

I made my obligatory visit to the Mendenhall Glacier again this year.
My new high school, Thunder Mountain is near there, so I meandered up
a different road than normal. It was a cool angle!
Now, I'm at the Triangle playing tricia. Same bartender as last year,
and same older couple at the other end of the bar. Just like diamond
knot. Wait- they really are an older couple in their 60's. (shut up
Marko)

Robert called me during my dinner- so nice to hear from him and gossip
about Sarah Palin as usual! I felt lilebi should talk a little quieter
about Palin, but I must admit that I have seen 5-6 Obama signs and
only one McCain sign. Oh, and I found a shop with "our mama beats your
Obama" shirts and "a woman's place is in Washington." (what does that
even mean? The reference to the kitchen/home doesn't fit that.
Stupid). However- the little salesgirl was getting a talking-to by an
older male German tourist from the cruise ship in town right now. He
seemed to think McCain was bad. And the salesgirl whispered, "I think
he's a mean guy, too."

cool map

This website, raven maps, has cool maps. I love this washington one. I'm not buying it now, but would be a cool gift. Also a cool gift for some other people I know...

Monday....

Here we are on the final day! Feeling a bit tired and like there is
less to see. Saw some improv comedy making fun of audience member's
myspace pages. There were some dorks there. Entertaining, though!
We saw x-liberation cult instead of Adele. They sucked. Better when we
couldn't see their faces, but still crappy. Now, John Vanderslice-
pretty nice, love the violin, but I don't feel like standing up. We
are on the broad street lawn, he commented on the space needle being
so close. And he heard from the audience that the restaurant up there
sucks.

Yesterday was more rock, today's music has been quieter. Well, we did
see The Offspring. Groan. They are like 14 year olds. And a guy in a
wheelchair crowd surfed. WTF

This afternoon,

The sun was shining for Neko Case.

Bumbershoot

Here we are at bumbershoot, partway through our first day. We are
waiting before we see Estelle at the flag pavilion. I guess they don't
call it the flag pavilion anymore!
It's been lovely out today- not too hot and only two drops of rain all
day.
This year KEXP has several stages. This show is at one of them.
Tonight- Band of Horses and Nada Surf (no Beck for us).
We saw Jen Walter at Sweet Water. That show was a little blast from
the past. They generally sounded pretty good and have a lot of energy.
They were obviously having a great time. But that lead singer- he has
some strange dance moves. Some of them looked like jazzercise. Maybe
they should perform at Rosehill.

We spent some time at flatstock, looking at posters. They had an
awesome She and Him poster- but a little too minimalist, I think. Ooh-
and I got a cute necklace with an Eiffel tower and an enameled piece
of a French street map. Love it.

JOE BIDEN ROCKS

It was awesome to watch Obama and Biden speak this morning. It got me excited for the campaign. Biden kicked butt, talking about the failed Bush-McCain policies, lots of quotes about how McCain loves Bush and supports him.
And I ordered my free sticker from moveon.org. I'll have to find a new place to put it, my car has its fair share already.

We visited Gorgeous George's mediterranean restaurant tonight. It was our monthly Restaurant Night, month two. My pick, and it was a great one!! (well, Anne and Alex did recommend it to me). George was welcoming (although the rest of the help had some challenges splitting our bill on three credit cards).

We tried the large appetizer plate to share-- that was a meal in itself. If there were not five of us, we would have been completely full. I was glad I got a chance to try the hummus, baba ghanouj, tabouli, and more. Great flavors, good olive oil used, delicious tzatiki and tahini.

I tried the chich tawook (chicken kabob), which was spicy, moist and flavorful. The shawarma was the hit-- Anne had chicken and Marko had gyro. The gyro was delightfully spiced. Anne's was unbelievable, it rendered us speechless when we tasted it. Jeff had lamb steak, and Alex had the falafel platter (luckily, I had a chance to try the falafel as part of the appetizer-- otherwise, I would have scavenged some from Alex's plate).

We enjoyed a little chat with George and another employee afterwards-- about a bike the other guy built (Alex got some tips), about urbanspoon, and we got some free baklava when we told him all three of us had voted for him on the site!!

It was a leisurely and enjoyable Restaurant Night. Next month, Anne's pick, Saltoro (also on Greenwood Ave).