World

Retreating to the Olympic Peninsula

Victor Lazlo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:40:09 -0600

It happened as a divine coincidence that I would be between jobs the same week as my 6th wedding anniversary. Sometimes life hands you flowers instead of lemons. In this case it was a chance to kick off a glorious summer and visit the coast and family before I start something new and exciting!

No Go Houston

Victor Lazlo — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:31:40 -0600

I've been dodging writing about this one, because my life has been in chaos around it all spring. The short of it is that at the end of March I went on vacation expecting to come home to a new position I'd applied for at The Seattle Times. When I got back, the company had laid off 130+ people and frozen any open head count. Meanwhile, a former boss of mine had been growing a new team for Hearst Communications down in Houston and asked me to come down and interview.

Wake Of The Flood

Victor Lazlo — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:53:10 -0600

This last winter, western Washington was hit by heavy rains and runoff that caused major flooding. One of the worst places to have been hit was the valley surrounding the Chehalis river. It was such a natural disaster that Governor Christine Gregoire called on FEMA to provide federal aid to the flood zones. The news showed us amazing images of flood damage across I-5, but being miles and miles away from it all, it was difficult to embrace how heavily it affected those who live in and around the valley.

CSA Baby!

Victor Lazlo — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:20:22 -0600

About a year ago, we decided that we wanted to eat more locally grown food. We've always been the kind of people who eat whole, fresh foods. We buy bulk and stay as far away from packaged foods as possible (aside from canned beans and such). Melanie loves to cook and I love to help her, it is our way of decompressing after a day at work. At lunch time, coworkers are always more interested in my leftovers than they are in their own lunches.

Beachcombing By Moonlight

Victor Lazlo — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:15:09 -0700

About a month ago we'd registered with the Seattle Parks to attend a winter solstice beach expedition and invited some friends and family to join us. The group convened at Mee Kwa Mooks park near Alki at 8pm when the tide would be at its lowest. For those who don't watch the tides, the solstices have one small exchange of water and one large exchange of water. Full moons also increase the tidal exchange, so this low tide was a "low low tide" - probably the lowest of the year and definitely exposing a great amount of sea life that live around the tidal zone.

The life of bird watchers

Victor Lazlo — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:38:11 -0700

About a month ago we put our names on the list for a free bird watching tour at Discovery Park. All we had to do was show up at 8 a.m. a few Saturdays from then. So, show up we did. We had no idea what to expect, but besides the park ranger, Dan, we were the youngest in the group by at least a couple generations. We started by learning each other's names and describing our level of experience. About half of the group were very involved with "birding" and were friends with our host guides.

The fall colors of Forest Park

Victor Lazlo — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:01:22 -0600

Every time I come to P-town I look to see Forest Park cascading across the ridge of the west hills. This time it was mandatory. Fall was in full color and it had been warm for days on end with no signs of shifting. We drove up Burnside. I mean all the way up Burnside, until it stopped being Burnside. Deb left us the map guides to Forest Park, and you must be armed with these maps if you are to navigate the extensive trail system or even find your trail head. Even with the maps, we passed ours and had to turn back to relocated it.

Wedding bliss

Victor Lazlo — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:49:40 -0600

Last weekend I witnessed the marriage of my dear friends Brenda and Megan. Ultimately, the day turned out perfectly How could it not? From my perspective, it was really wonderful to watch the joining of family and the gathering of friends around two beautiful people. They really went all out for this, including wearing white dresses to the ceremony. It is the first, and probably last, time I will see either of them in a dress.

Traveling on the 4th of July

Victor Lazlo — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:41:04 -0600

I awoke before the dawn of the 4th of July to prepare myself for a flight to DC. Usually, I choose not to travel on holidays if it can be helped, but this was a journey of personal necessity - to attend the funeral of my Great Uncle, Jim Carberry. He passed away in April, and his final request was that he be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Under these circumstances, it was rather difficult to consider festivities.

We are stardust, we are golden

Victor Lazlo — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:00:12 -0600

On Sunday, we set out to see Butchart gardens near Brentwood Bay. We knew we had to catch the 75 bus from Government Ave., but the current schedule had been replaced with the summer one, which didn't go into effect until Monday. We waited forever. Just when we were about to give up, our bus came and we were gleeful to get out of town for the day, but nettled for having to pay $2.25 for the ride.