I have been patiently hoping that some of my friends from the past will seek me out. I think of them often and am sorry to have lost track of them over the years. I have what I believe is a unique name unchanged by marriage, so I’m easy to find. I hope some day that my best buddies from 8th grade, Diana Erickson and Becky Nissen from Catherine Blaine Middle School in Seattle will see their names in a search and leave me a message.
I broke down and got Blue Sky satellite. Besides having an unattractive dish sticking up in the middle of the chicken yard, it’s not cheap and it’s not fast.
But since I can demonstrate that I got significantly lower grades due to not having Internet access, it’s better than dial-up. However, it’s slow and I even nearly maxed out my monthly quota just updating Windows with all the updates since the last downloadable Service Pack. 
How can the United States hope to compete with Europe and Asia if we can’t get decent high-speed access to rural folk. (I’m not even that rural. Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond is less than 20 miles away.)
It is true. I don’t have high speed Internet. I’m canceling the dial-up as it’s faster to drive to Starbucks, drink a green tea latte, and update my farm on Farmville, and get home again before connecting a loading an average web page.
I live on a 5 acre farm just 4 miles between two larger towns which both offer high speed. No Clearwire (no line of sight.) No microwave (no line of sight.) No satellite (no line of sight.) I can use my smart phone as a modem IF I sit outside in the middle of the pasture, but not inside the log house. Most people aren’t sympathetic. Move they say. If every one who lived on a rural farm had to move to participate in the modern world, what would we eat?
I am a graduate student at the University of Washington. It is really, really hard to coordinate school when you don’t have Internet access at home. I’m at Starbucks tonight so I can download my homework, which I had no idea was out there. I’ve had classes where the professor posted homework into an online tool on Friday night that was due first thing Monday. I defintely lost at least one full gradepoint for that discourtesy.
We need universal access so that there is a somewhat even playing field for everyone. You know who benefits most from my lack of access? Starbucks, of course. 
I haven’t been able to attend for several years, but I’d really like to go this year. There aren’t a lot of places to learn Welsh in North America, but I can recommend these highly. This year, the Cwrs Cymraeg (Welsh Course) will be held in Cardiff, Wales. The previous course in Wales was in 2000 and it was a lot of fun.
Here is a gallery of some Asian themed cards I’ve made over the years.
Here are pictures that I used in a bound mini-album with the accompaning poems.
I still can’t believe I’m a graduate student. A non-traditional grad student to say the least, but still a grad student.
As I adjust to the new schedule, I still find time to experience the beautiful world around me.
Here are a few pictures I took with my Smart Phone on my first few days of class.
The garden is either out of control or neatly planted for fall.
The cat is enjoying the late summer/ early fall weather.
The pasture has had it’s second-to-last mowing of the year.
The roosters, hens and “peep show” (the dozen chicks of Lucilles) are always hungry!
Isaac and I went to the Evergreen State Fair on opening day. This was the first time that we went at the beginning of the fair. Usually we go on the last day, Labor Day,when the admission was half off. But it turns out the chickens are now only shown at the beginning.
Here are some pictures.
I was heading to the barn to put something away and I heard some peeping. Lo and behold, under the spruce, was Lucille. I thought she had been the coyote’s lunch a few weeks earlier, but here she was with a bunch of broken eggshells.
I moved her to the coop and thought I picked up 8 chicks. Later, Isaac found that there was an even dozen. They stayed in the coop yard for the first week and now are venturing further afield. They still all try to nestle underneath their mum!
So far, all are doing well, peeping up a storm all day long.
 | Sun in Aquarius 17 degrees |
 | Moon in Aries 8 degrees |
 | Waxing Crescent Moon 4 days old |
