I’ve been asked by the kindly few that have started to read my foray into blogging what exactly a travesty is and why I choose it for my tagline. Reference.com’s dictionary defines it as such:

travesty:

n 1: a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations [syn: farce, farce comedy] 2: a composition that imitates somebody’s style in a humorous way [syn: parody, lampoon, spoof, sendup, mockery, takeoff, burlesque, charade, pasquinade] v : make a parody of

What better definition of life is there? Everywhere I look I see improbable situations that at worst are nothing less than comical. It’s like that old commercial where no matter what the kid looks at, he only sees Tootsie Rolls ™. Wherever I look I see life being played out as a satire.

The juiced up businessman who stresses out about too much work and too little play that I met at the coffee shop. He was getting a triple espresso so that he could go back to work to crank out more hours. What happened to the possibility of a balanced life he so desperately wanted but was so unwilling to strive for?

The businesses so intent on making that little extra money that they refuse to acknowledge that their practices are not allowed. King County turned bottled water into a non-taxable item on January 1, 2004. Out of the 12 times I’ve bought a bottle this year, 8 times I have had to correct the store owner and fight for the fact that I am buying something that is not to be taxed, and I’ll be darned if I’m paying tax on it. In only one case did I have to walk away without my water.

On the same note, the plethora of local business who have recently decided that against their VISA card policies, they will still charge customers for small credit card purchases by either tacking on a fee for those under a certain aount, or disallowing any purchases under a certain amount. BOTH practices are against the rules of VISA’s policies for merchant accounts. Again, a fight for every purchase. I choose not to carry cash, and I get penalized by businesses who say they want my money, but don’t care what kind of service they provide to achieve that end. I know it costs them money for each transaction, but it is their choice to accept VISA or not. I expect that if they do they abide by the rules VISA set out to protect consumers.

And finally, the best example I have seen recently that supports the posit that life is merely a satire being played out before our eyes by a cadre of fools:

The so called eco set that scream to the world that a diffference must be made, and then waste resources themselves. This past Saturday we were treated by Strabucks to see Walt Disney’s newest Imax presentation (Premiering on Earth Day was a great call BTW…) Sacred Planet. It had a great commentary about the way life used to be for tribes and how the planet’s last pristine places are disappearing. Saddening, deeply saddening. But where’s the travesty there you ask? Well, afterwards, we visited the Explore More store at the Pacific Science Center. I found among other Earth Day eco items a book called Chinook Book, put out by King County and full of $5,000 worth of coupons for incredibly eco friendly products and services. I paid my $20 and asked for no bag. The cashier refused and said as long as I was in the store I MUST have a bag. Store policy. HUH? A store full of science and eco freindly items insisting I take a bag I don’t want? As well as the person in front of AND behind me? Now granted, it may cut down on shoplifting (hey, I have to cut some slack here…) but why not put a box outside the store (which is still inside the museum BTW) to collect unwwanted bags so that they can be recycled? It totally shattered my day… I have NEVER been forced to take a bag. Anywhere. Ever. There goes the chance of my buying a membership since I now know where those precious dollars are spent…

There you go; A definiton, some examples, and a heart felt sigh.

At least we do honor some of these folks’ kin with their very own Darwin Awards ceremony…

Well, I went and did it. I got myself a PDA. Now I can actually do work during the day while I am out and about with Kelsey. I am still getting used to this things keyboard, but give me time… Now all I have to do is find the apostrophe…

If you’re here you can see. I have officially started blogging. To tell the truth, I don’t know why I never did before. It sounds like something I’d be involved in. I really missed the boat on this one.

Many thanks to the great guys at Wordpress. Their software is rock solid (I’m actually using non released source code, and it is working well so far!) They get big kudos for having four features I’ve been looking for:

1. PHP/MySQL structure. I’d love to dabble with .Net, but man, my host charges me $15 a year!
2. The ability to run EVERYTHING from my host. Forget Blogger and the likes who hold MY data for me!
3. Categories, another thing that was tougher to find than I thought.
4. A calendar to show post dates with links. Granted because the data is mine, I could have made one, but now I don’t have to.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy. You’re always welcome here.

We started Geocaching two weeks ago when we took a trip down the Oregon coast to Newport. It’s a sport/game which combines the thrill of the hunt, hiking, sightseeing, culture, community, and more.

Basically, you check out the Geocaching web site and find a cache near you or a place you want to go. You whip out your handy dandy GPSr, download a waypoint, and follow the arrow to the hidden cache location. I don’t actually download the waypoints, I just follow the numbers and know which way to go based on basic navigation principles. Partly for the challenge, and partly because I’m too cheap to buy a cable to hook my GPSr up to the computer.

Some are easy to find, some are bloody hard. Some caches are nothing but a log book, while others hold treasures for fellow cachers to swap.

I’ve alreadyseen many views and hiked many hikes I never would ahve had there not been a cache there. I’m hooke on the hunt aspect and appreciate the views and learned culture along the way.

Just wait though, because I’m already refining some pretty nasty puzzles to solve to find a few I’m getting ready to hide. Eat your heart out Dayvi!

Have you ever tried to get on a bus holding a diaper bag, a kid, AND a stroller? I have, and it is not nearly as easy as you might think.

Due to that, Kelsey and I limited our walks to the surrounding couple miles. Not too bad since we live in Lower Queen Anne (a great Seattle neighborhood). Weíve got plenty to do, and you can walk a storller on the monorail by the Space Needle w/o folding it up. This is our key to getting to places like Pioneer Square, Pike Market, etcÖ

See, in Seattle it rains (and rains and rains and rainsÖ) Our main stroller has a built in rain shield for those daily moments when the rain just starts to pour from the sky. Itís also a bit heavy and hard to sling over your shoulder. Ok, you canít, since it has two handles instead of the cross bar that most storllers have.

However, I started to think about the places I donít go because I donít take the bus with Kelsey. Since teh monorail doesnít go towards Ballard, the UW, Fremont, and more, I got determined to come up with a solution. Now that the sun is coming out more regularly, weíve swapped the bigíun stroller for the ultra lite 6 pound Graco Citi-Lite.

Now I just use a backpack for diaper bag pluse out and about supplies (food, liquids, reading, etcÖ) and bring the baby sling. When the bus is down the road, the sling goes on, the backpack over it, and Kelsey gets in the sling. The only thing left to do is fold up the stroller (which you can do one-handed WITHOUT bending over) and throw it over my shoulder. I parcticed it at home, and it works pretty darn well.

Yeah, we could drive, but why? Walking is so much more enjoyable.