Last night I went roller skating, in which must have been at least 25 years. I remember very little about my very few roller skating experiences from my childhood, but it was interesting to see that very little, if anything has changed. I still suck at roller skating. Roller rinks still generally don't smell that great. Leg warmers are still very much in vogue at a roller rink. The whole experience is absolutely fabulously tacky and fun.

I mean, when you walk up to the cashier and you are greeted by this, you just know your evening is going to be authentic:



I mean, seriously. And this:



After only an hour of skating, I was exhausted. I now have a whole new found understanding of what it must feel like to be a beginner ice skater or skier, who is totally freaked out by all the better and really good skaters/skiers "whizzing" passed them. Once it got super crowded, I just didn't have the guts to stay on the rink.

As I've said before, sometimes a video is necessary to get the full gist:



Right. Now let's do that BACKWARDS!

Spring has sprung in Seattle. I went to celebrate this at a local Japanese garden I'd never been to before. It was really stunning, especially when you realize it is a public, free garden.

Because I always like to have balance in my life, the morning immediately after some serious scotch tasting, I headed for an "off road car rally." Which, essentially, is a off road car race for "street legal cars" that have been outfitted to go, oh.. about 100 mph through dirt roads. It was awesome. The gist of it is, drive to the stage route (this was easy for me, I have a Subaru, which was the major sponsor of the rally) and hang out by the side of the road waiting for the cars to go whizzing past. And hope they don't lose control and crash. Into you. From what I understand, that has never happened because there are major safety precautions taken by the officials, but still, the cars are going incredibly fast, so it kinda feels like they could. At the very least, as a spectator, you have to be prepared to be sprayed by mud and rocks. The following photos were the best of the day:







Sometimes a video is the best way to illustrate an experience:



No fancy car necessary to rally... I mean, if a VW Rabbit can do it...


In closing, I'm posting a picture of the smallest spectator of the day:

On Saturday evening, I attended a scotch pairing dinner. No, this was not a dating service for people who are from Scotland, which could also been entertaining, but instead, was an opportunity to try some serious Scotch with some serious food at a very fancy pants seafood restaurant. I am not a scotch or whiskey drinker. I prefer bourbon, but I figured, why not give it a whirl? I had been wanting to visit the Seastar restaurant for ages. 5 courses with 5 scotch pairings for $99 all inclusive? Nice.

First course was salmon poke with taro chips:



Second course: Dungeness Crab Chowder (I got two helpings of this thanks to somebody at my table being allergic to shellfish. Nice.)



Next was ahi tuna in a very elaborate plating:



And then, as if we had not had enough already, came a enormous pork chop. It was the size of my bread plate.



Now, at this point, if you are keeping score, 4 shots of scotch or, "blaaaeeeehhh" has been served. In case you are not familiar with this alternative name for scotch, it is based on the noise you make after swallowing some scotch. The scotch "ambassador" taught us the best way to drink scotch, possibly after hearing this alternate name a little too much by the 4th course. Apparently you need to let the scotch sit on your tongue for 8 seconds before swallowing. This, supposedly kills the burn and allows you to really taste the scotch, not just the alcohol. This didn't work for me, but I kept trying, which is more than I can say about other people at my table who looked like they were setting up to play "beirut" with scotch, instead of beer:



The final course was butterscotch (yes, this did make me laugh) panna cotta. Which had its own pairing, and was followed by a tasting of 25 year old scotch. I was shocked to learn that one tasting would cost $50 at a bar. I think that was the most expensive bit of alcohol I've ever had. Personally, I liked the younger ones better.

Seriously, only in Seattle, will you find such a dichotomy in women's footwear at a single event. In the theater. In the audience.

Inspired by my photo class, I visited Seattle's Museum of Flight for the first time ever. I have know about this "must see" in Seattle since even before I moved here, but for some reason, I had never made it to the museum. Having now been, I can highly recommend this to anybody who visits Seattle. Especially if you have children.

One of the major attractions of the museum is the Concord. I was completely shocked as to how narrow and cramped the fuselage was. I guess I had always thought of the Concord being luxurious.




The other major draw to this museum is the Air Force One. THIS was really awesome. This Air Force one was in use through the Kennedy administration. Here is THE phone on the plane. Yup, only one.



Here is the office.. which had a doggie door. Who would have thunk about that kind of detail.






The other exhibits inside the massive museum are just overwhelming. It would take days to see it all. And do it all. The hands on aspect of this place is staggering. There is a very involved flight simulator - for which you have to PRACTICE before being allowed to actually enter. Here is what the practice console looks like:



Needless to say, I didn't get very far. Oh, I tried, but I nearly made myself sick in the 30 seconds or so I "practiced" flying my fighter plane. Into the sea. Spinning into a mountain. Definitely not blond proof.


Here are my favorite shots from the museum:

Skiing this year was less than inspiring, comparitively speaking. So when recently, the weather at least cleared enough to take photos, I took full advantage. Hopefully next season will be better.

The second class was all about shutter speed. Here are some of my favorites.

I've recently enrolled in a photography class. This is the first time i've ever gotten any formal instruction in photography. This so far has been incredibly challenging and time consuming. One of my first assignments was to take a single object and photograph it in 5 different places where it doesn't belong. I took my ski goggles on a journey:

To the the Monorail station:



To the theater:



To the Beach:



To Passover Dinner:




To the library: