Friday

Everyone should check out this site. I go here daily (when I am at home) to see the view and if anything is going on http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/ I have like 15 websites I go to when I turn the computer on on my day off. I start with my 2 emails at www.comcast.net and www.mochamail.com , then www.seattletimes.com and www.seattlepi.com then www.tacomanewstribune.com (but I only read the sports section there), and www.theonering.net After that, I go to www.nba.com and www.wnba.com to see if I have missed any news, then over to www.nba.com/sonics to check out my team and see what the locals have to say. Next it is over to www.merritts.blogspot.com and www.fierofam.blogspot.com to see if there are updates, and based on my email at www.mochamail.com I look at my blog (I get emails on my mochamail account when someone posts on my blog) After that, the order of things changes somewhat. I try to get over to www.allnurses.com to see any new nursing news, and occasionally go over to www.fidelity.com and www.tiaa-cref.com to check out my retirement accounts. I am trying to avoid www.ebay.com since we are on a bit of a budget these days. Looking at www.wastatecu.com , I can check out my paychecks since they are automatically deposited there, or go to www.bankofamerica.com to see Ethan's paychecks and our alaskan airlines credit card. I like to check our mileage amounts at www.alaskaair.com to see where we are on the road to a free trip (currently have enough for 3 tickets round trip in the US, or 2 1/2 tickets to Mexico). For a laugh, I sometimes go to www.cheapovegas.com I love playing travel agent, and this funny website has really good info and links to all the Vegas stuff, so I get a good deal when we go there. My new favorite places to go are www.twopeasinabucket.com for all things scrapbooking and digital photography, and to www.escrappers.com for photoshop help. www.scrapbook-elements.com is another new favorite, which I am trying to avoid like ebay, but not having as much luck. It is where I can get elements for digital scrapbooking. My new blog is at www.digitalcrafts.com, and I am still working on adding things in there to make it entertaining (at least to me). Another place I am often at is www.myuw.washington.edu where I can check out my employment stuff, see my next paycheck and insurance, etc stuff.

That is pretty much where I go on the internet. I see other places occasionally, but these are my main hangouts.

I really want to go to Mt. Rainier. I want to go there with my camera and take hundreds of pictures, in search of a beautiful shot that I can blow up and frame on my wall. I love that mountain. I look for it every day. It is so pretty! The standard soft mountain shape, unlike the craggy cascade mountains in central oregon (not that they aren't beautiful too). This one is so much bigger and older and I just love it. It is not visible every day (average is 100 days a year, knowledge left over from my days at the Space Needle as an elevator operator), but this year has been so ridiculously dry and beautiful (drought later this year, but pretty now!), that I see it even more often. From rooms 3 and4 on the 6th floor of the hospital, I can see the mountain, and I point it out to the patients in those rooms. Many people are from out of town, and most enjoy having a view from their rooms.

I often tell Ethan how spoiled he is. He takes Mt Rainier for granted. He has always lived in view of it. It has always been there. But for most people, there is not an enormous mountain in view of their daily lives. I remember in Crane, there were little plateaus to see, which I enjoyed, but no mountains like this. So pretty. Anyway, I want to go take pictures of it. I think I would like doing some nature photography. I will wait another month or so, until the flowers are out and things are greener (although this year, there are tulips growing and pansies are already out and the trees are pink and beautiful and blooming--it has been so warm, up in the 60's, that nature has decided to come early), and then I will go.