John Yaya

We had a fabulous vacation in Maui in April to celebrate my birthday and just enjoy ourselves. We stayed at the same condo complex that we have visited twice before and then were joined by my sister and brother-in-law and nephews at a resort just down the beach for the second half of the trip. Now I am counting down the days until our next vacation. It's so hard to come home again...

We had a great time making beer at a "brew your own beer" place out in Edmonds called Gallagher's We went back two weeks after the initial brewing and bottled it up. Easy-peasy and the beer is great. Our batch is an IPA. Nice and hoppy but not too much alcohol like some IPAs. I will definitely want to go back again for another batch. I don't think I want to get set up to brew at home and this is a fun alternative.

I had a great visit from my old pal Dave last week. It's fun to see how much, and how little, we both have changed. It has been over 15 years since we hung out regularly, seeing very little of each other since Dave moved away from the northwest to go to school, but he remains one of my favorite people. Come by any time Dave! (But call first.)

I joined the Green Lake Crew board last year and have decided to try to help organize the alumni a little more. To start with, I have started an online group using Ning. Ning seems like a pretty cool and flexible social networking tool and I am eager to see how this project works out.

If you are an ex-Green Lake Crew rower, I hope that you will check it out.

I have been having a hard time lately -- ever since I decided to start keeping a blog again, actually -- finding anything inspiring to write about or to take photos of. Sure, I could tell you about my new toilet, that I waxed my car, or allude to developments in my project at work that I can't talk much about, but who would want to read it and why would I want to write it? So, I am just noting that I have not been feeling very inspired to blog and share my blah, blah, blah with the world. That being said, I am quite excited about my new toilet. It really has a nice flush.

I love my new fence. But it has its limits. One thing it cannot help me with is the view of my neighbor's "shed". Taken one item at a time I suppose it is not so bad, but as a whole it makes for quite a lovely view from our deck and kitchen. I have not figured out a diplomatic way to ask him to clean it up. He truly could not fathom why on earth we would want to build a fence and ruin that wide open view...

We had another great weekend hanging out in our back yard. All I did was little projects in the yard and sit on my deck. After a week of business travel it was pure bliss, though now I am finding Monday morning hard to take in comparison.

I had a quick business trip down to the bay area last week and used the BART to get from the airport to my hotel. I was really surprised how loud and uncomfortable the system is compared to other cities. I sure hope that the light rail we are paying so much for in Seattle turns out to be nicer to ride. I am a big proponent of public transit, but not if it makes you deaf.

Heidi has declared this the summer of halloumi cheese. She has my full support. There is nothing like grilled halloumi. Mmmmmm.