Russell and I recently went camping at Blue River Reservoir near the McKenzie River. Here are some pictures:

Gosh! It's been awhile. I don't know why I stopped posting other than I feel like I'm always busy. I'm so pleased to announce I am finally, after much hard work and networking, a photolithography process engineer! This last week was my first as an engineer and I think I'm really going to like it. It may sound funny, but I'm glad I can finally call myself an "engineer" instead of an "engineering technician." I'm also getting a chance to use my degree more fully. I'm really glad to be working for the photolithography department, instead of etch, as I think it really fits more my with my physics and optics background. Etch is so much more chemistry oriented. My new manager, ByungIn Kwon, is really great. He's very serious, but also very knowledgeable and he expects his engineers to do a really good job. I appreciate his attention to detail and his emphasis on really understanding the underlying cause for tool problems. I'm also really loving finally working days! No more graveyard for me! Russell, unfortunately is still on "D" shift, but that should change soon as he also got a promotion. He got the etch maintenance technician job and will be working "E" shift with me at the end of the month. After his training on "E" shift he wants to got to "B" shift. He'll still be on nights, but we'll have Friday night and Saturday together when he's on "B." Just in time for fun times at the river this summer and weekends on the coast riding 4-wheelers. He's also very excited to move to "B" shift as he'll have more time to hang out with Joe now because he'll have saturdays off.

Today I went to Steve Swearingen's daughter Jenna's graduation party. It was at Darrel and Darlene's campground on the Umpqua. It was very nice. Julia, Steve's wife, went to a lot of trouble with the food and setting up all the tables and chairs. She always has so much energy! It was the first time I really got talk to Jenna and her sister Amber. They are really nice. I wish I had more opportunity to spend with them. Jenna graduated with a degree in political science and she plans on working in Salem as a campaigner for the republican party. From talking to her it sounded like she and Marsha would have a lot in common.

Tomorrow is Russell's 28th birthday and I promised him a yummy breakfast when he gets home so I should be getting to sleep.

Today was a pretty uneventful day. I slept in until 9am and spent a leisurely morning reading Anna Karenina while drinking my coffee. I am enjoying this book immensely. I think Konstantin Levin is my favorite character thus far. As I'm only 140 pages of approximately 800 I'm going to reserve judgement, but once I start reading it I can't hardly put it down.

I had set a mental goal for myself to get all the housework done today, but alas all I got done was some organizing, the vacuuming, tidying up the porch, and I started the laundry. That leaves the remaining tasks of the bedroom, bathroom and finishing the laundry for tomorrow. Russell and I drove to Roseburg in the afternoon for a brief necessities trip. He needed more BP medication and we made the FINAL payment on the Dodge. Hooray for us! I feel really good to have completely paid for that truck. Now all we have to do is sell it. Russell is still hoping for $9K. I hope that'll be easy. Once the weather is consistently good and we can get it cleaned up we're going to advertise in the Truck Trader, local papers and I'm going to post some pictures on the Hynix intranet.

On the way to Roseburg we passed the site of the landslide last week. Douglas County is still heavily involved in repairing the road and removing all the rock and dirt. It's the most significant landslide I think I've ever seen. Only one lane of traffic can move through that section of the highway and they've got flaggers there at all hours. We ate lunch at the PIzza Schmizza in Roseburg. It was just okay. I had remembered it as better last time. The pizza didn't have enough sauce on it for my taste and salad I ordered wasn't very fresh. I'm not sure we'll be returning. It was lucky number Tuesday at BiMart so while waiting for Russell's diovan we busied ourselves with dodging all the elderly folks looking for great deals on sporting goods, home appliances and gardening supplies. Normally we come out of BiMart with all sorts of stuff we don't need. It's a lot like WalMart in that every time we go in thinking we only need a few essentials and we come out with our arms loaded down with bags and bags of needless stuff. This time, however, we exercised great restraint leaving only with the diovan.

I should best be heading to bed, as I have lots of chores to do tomorrow.

I had my interview today. It went very well. I feel really quite good about my chances of getting the job. I guess it all really depends on how I did comparatively. The questions were almost exactly the same as the last time I interviewed for the photolithography eng'r job. I now feel glad that I based most of the little studying I did on those questions and the concepts they contained. Mr. Kwan, the Korean manager, was very talkative during the interview as well. At the end of all the canned questions he started asking me things off the top of his head. First he asked about BARC, which I was glad I knew about. Bottom Anti-Reflective Coating. Then he asked about defocus and bad CDs on one particular shot. He asked me what adjustment could be made to correct for good CDs on MP1, but defocus and bad CDs on the test point and in the periphery. I really had no idea, as resist thickness couldn't vary too much in one small shot. I took a stab at it and guessed something about numerical aperture and depth of focus and it turns out I wasn't too far off. There is another parameter within the stepper lens system called the sigma parameter which Mr. Kwan explained as a measurement of the ratio of the radii in the illumination pattern and by adjusting this parameter one can effectively pull some CDs within a shot in control and not affect the center MP1 CDs. He even got up and went to the board to explain and draw pictures for me. I really don't know if that is a good or bad thing, but I was flattered that he didn't feel it would be a waste of time to explain it to me. Well, without trying to get my hopes up too much, I'm really feel like a I put my best foot forward and showed them all I know. I'm hoping I hear some news by the end of the week as I think I am the last one to have interviewed. Ron Gottschalk was there along with Randy Green and Byungin Kwan. I'm not too sure how Randy likes me as he's difficult to read and always really quiet, but I know Ron likes me a lot. He is actually the one I approached months ago and told him I was still interested in the position after I was turned down last Aug. and that if they had another opening I would really like to be considered. Afterward I went to chat with John a bit and when I told him I felt good about it he was all grins and told me just before the interview he'd gone to Mr. Kwan to beam about my skills and how I would be an asset to the photo group. I was a little embarrassed by this when he told me as I hope that it's not overkill, but it does feel good to have the managers all pulling for me. Now there's nothing more I can do and I just have to wait for the decision.

Russell is up at Joe's place right now. He called while I was at Hynix and asked Russell for his trailer back. We were supposed to take it to him Sunday after work, but Russell wanted to fix the lights that were broken on it after the MudFest trip. I guess Joe needs it for something this week and wanted to back right away so Russell drove it up to him. I'm not sure when he'll return, but I'm really enjoying the time by myself at home. I've got the Ravel cranked and I'm basking in the solitude. I do think that perhaps Russell and I do spend too much time together and that some away time is good for us. I guess I do miss him just a little bit.

Almost bed time.

Well, today was so nice, but once again I was so tired when I got home that I slept all day. I really meant only to sleep until about 1, but I didn't get up until 4pm. I have another interview tomorrow. This will be my 3rd interview for the photolithography eng'r job. The first two turned out to be quite a debacle. Due to the inexperience of the new HR representative they pulled the wrong questions. I had noticed during the interview process that the questions seemed really quite easy in comparison with last time. No questions about swing curves, Bossung plots, focus-exsposure matrices and I was beginning to think that perhaps the questions were tailored for Ellery, my undereducated competition. I then found out later that they had actually pulled the process technician questions instead of the engineering questions. In hind-sight that makes perfect sense recalling my etch process tech. interview. So, the interview was rescheduled for last Tuesday. Since I had already planned to go to Washington to visit I had to then cut short the visit to come back to Hynix by Tuesday afternoon for the interview. When I got there no one showed up and it turns out the HR rep, Laura, scheduled the interview during Byung Il's engineering manager meeting, so he could not attend. Ron was on vacation and Laura Murphy was in Korea so no one could attend. They were really apologetic about the 3rd rescheduling and offered to pay me for my gas so I got $45 out of the non-interview and now I have to go in tomorrow for it. I've abandoned all studying attempts. I think perhaps if I go in less prepared it might look a little better. That doesn't seem to make any sense, but I don't want to risk appearing "coached" as I did at the etch interview.

The last few weeks have been busy. I worked Thurs. night March 2 and drove up to Washington Friday morning to visit Mom, Dad, Emily and Marsha. I probably should not have driven because I was really tired, but I made it. I had to crank the radio really loud on talk radio to keep from falling asleep. Much of the drive is a fog in my brain which tells me I was way too tired. The visit was very nice. I was able to help Mom move some furniture around and clean and organize some of the garage. On Sunday we make the trek to Bellingham to finish some of the long overdue projects to make the house fit to sell. Why "fit to sell" and "fit to inhabit" are two different standards to my father, I will never understand, but that seems to be his way: only do that which is necessary. That, I think, coupled with his waning interest in Bellingham over the years had left the place to a large degree unfinished until just before the selling point. It really hit me emotionally to see many things finally complete that my sisters and I had to live with unfinished our entire college careers while living in the house. I was also felt unsettled and chagrined by Dad's constant badgering about purchasing a home. As we were painting the living room we began talking about the appreciation real estate has realized in the last 4 years. He kept harping the point that I should have bought a home as soon as I moved to Eugene. While it's easy for one to say that now that my income is significantly more than it was, I'm not sure that I could have even afforded it then. When I tell him of Russell and my troubles now with finding a suitable piece in our price-range he takes that of even further supporting evidence that I should have purchased a home 3 years ago. While he is correct, I don't need to be made to feel guilty about not having bought a home then. When I tell him that we plan to purchase as soon as we have the $20,000 for a down-payment he doesn't seem to hear me. I even told him we'd buy a home this month if he'd give us the money for the down. He didn't seem to like that idea. He is of the opinion that we should be able to buy a place with 0 down. I don't know how though because both WA mutual and internet lender I contacted told me we didn't qualify for the first time home-buyer 0-down program. I really don't mean to belabor this point of the home because it does add a tone of unpleasantness to the visit and as a whole, other than this discourse with my father the visit was nothing but wonderful. Anyhow, we did get a lot done at the house and had a really nice lunch at the Village Inn, a place in Bellingham I've never visited before. When I visit Bellingham after having been away for so long I'm really struck by how much I still like Bellingham as a city. I wish there were more job opportunities in my field up there.

Monday I drove down in caravan with Mom to visit Marci in Vancouver. Although the visit was short it was very nice to see her again. It's been years. I think it's been since Ryan and I went to her Christmas get-together 3 years ago. She and Mom were collaborating on the wedding quilt. It is going to be so beautiful! I am really touched by the amount of time, effort, and creativity that are going into its creation. I also showed Marci and Mom my pictures from Europe and chose some to enlarge. I was very impressed by the enlargements Marci and Dave have from their visit to England. They are 11 x 14 with double mats and metal frames and they look very nice. I'd like to have many of my best photos enlarged and framed to display. Although, I'll need some wall space before I can display any!

Wednesday was back to work. It was a tough week because I'd been on a day schedule for 5 days straight. Getting used to working all night again was excruciating. By 3 am I'm just so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. I made it, though and I'm glad for the weekend.

I finally got the e-mail scheduling my interview. It sure takes forever for HR to make decisions on this kind of stuff. Seeing the e-mail brought on a mixture of relief and anxiety. I'm relieved that I did indeed get the interview, as I'm always paranoid that perhaps I won't get one for whatever reason. However, I'm now quite nevous as this means I have to be ready to be a photolithography expert by next Tuesday. Jim was here late tonight and proceeded to give me a big talk about what to expect and how to answer the questions etc. I really get the feeling that he wants me to succeed and for that I am grateful. I am still shocked by his amazing change in how he perceives me. At any rate I'm not getting my hopes up on the job this time. John, though, said he wrote a recommendation for me and gave it to Byung Il Kwon. I think it is now all up to me.

Today I woke up with with my muscles completely sore and stiffened from yesterday's escapades in Douglas county logging country. Joe arrived at our house as scheduled at 9:30 so we could go riding. I busied myself getting food and our riding clothing together while Russell got the trailer ready with the bikes and accessories. For some reason he decided to test start the Lakota and it's a really good thing he did because it wouldn't start. He and Joe and eventually Jon scratched their heads and looked at it for about an hour. They eventually discovered it had a fouled spark plug and swapped the bad plug with one from the Bayou. I can't help thinking that perhaps this failure is related to me swamping the thing last time we went out. I still feel so guilty about landing in that tank-trap. Russell assures me that it's not ruined, but I can't help worrying that eventually a problem is going to surface that can be directly related to my little mishap. Anyhow, the Bayou spark plug swap worked perfectly and the Lakota started right up! At this point Joe decides to inform us that he has to pick Danny up at 11 from church before we can go. I was immediately disgruntled by this news and couldn't understand why Joe had to pick him up from church. I also wanted to get going and the day was gorgeous and sunny, perfect for riding. So, we waited for Joe to pick up Danny. When Joe returned with Danny I then understood Danny was to come with us. We stood around and talked a bit, but finally got going around noon.

Once we got to Umpqua, of course Joe had to stop at the Umpqua store to get provisions since he never brings any of his own on these trips. After browsing the wares of the Umpqua store we made our way back outside to ooh and aah over the Samurai parked by the road. It was a really nice Samurai complete with a hard top and a winch. I'd like to have one someday. I enjoyed a Henry Weinhard's Cream Soda and shared a bag of chips with Russell as we waited for Danny to come out of the store and eat his french fries. Finally we got to our staging area up in the Calahans around 2 pm. I was beginning to think we'd started out too late and in the end I turned out to be right.


( Russell and Joe suiting up. )

We had a great time riding around and exploring all the roads and trails. It was so cold many of the mud trails had frozen over making them a little easier to traverse and not so slippery. it took me some time to get my confidence up again. I always have to spend the first hour of so getting used to riding again. I don't go often enough to maintain my skills and I always feel like I'm working really hard just to keep up. As the day wore on, though I was getting better and better and was able to eventually hold my own. Russell did have to get me out of some tricky spots. Much of the area had been graveled for the logging operations that are now hauling out of this area. Russell says that about 5 years ago the whole place was nothing but mud and one of the best spots to ride he'd ever been to. He said you could take miles and miles of mud roads clear from Roseburg to Reedsport without ever hitting gravel or pavement. It's nothing like that now. I guess it kind of marks an end of an era for off-roading. This is also the last year for the Foster Lake MudFest up in Sweet Home. I'm not sure where we're going to go off-roading anymore.

( Danny and Joe discussing a trail. )

After lots of messing-around and goofing off we eventually found the trail we had taken a few years ago with Joe and Rheanan back when Joe had the Banshee and the Warrior. We followed it backwards for probably about 5 miles when we finally came a spot where the creek had washed over the trail and we couldn't go any further. By this time it was getting late, probably around 4:30 or 5pm and I was worried about having to go back uphill through all the gnarly mud pits and rutted trail we had just negotiated. We decided we had to turn around and I went ahead since I was the slowest. I was pretty proud of myself making good time and crossing over some spots easily that I had found difficult before. I made it up to a flat spot and decided to wait for the rest of the group. I heard lots of revving motors as if they were stuck and finally Danny comes teetering up the hill on the dirt-bike so I started going again. It turns out it wasn't Danny, but Joe on the dirt-bike and he tells me to wait, because Danny and Russell are stuck. "Should we go back and help?" I ask. "No," answers Joe, "there's two of them. they should be able to get unstuck." So we wait and sure enough Danny comes riding up to meet us on Joe's Yamaha. "Where's Russell?" I ask of Danny. "Oh, he said he just can't get his bike to stay running. Any time he gives it a little more throttle it just dies," said Danny. "Well shouldn't we go back and help?" I asked. We then agreed that yes, we should go help so we walked back down to the steep rutted part of the trail where Russell was stuck. By this time the Lakota wouldn't start at all. Russell opened the drain for the float bowl on the carb. and discovered it smelled of alcohol. I thought this was rather strange, but then he admitted before we left he'd used some gas-dry additive in both his and my bikes and that perhaps he'd added too much. I felt a bit of relief at this point because I was worried it was my fault the bike wasn't running well. When it appeared that draining the carb. of the gas dry was not going to be enough to start the bike we decided to get my bike and use it to tow the Lakota up the hill. After much maneuvering I was able to finally back the Wolverine down the hill. With me on the handle-bars of the Wolverine, Russell driving, and Danny and Joe pushing the Lakota like Sisaphus up the steep path it was rough going, but we eventually made it to the top. By this time it was well after dark and the sky was clear making it rather cold. I was getting a bit worried at this point thinking that perhaps we'd have to abandon the Lakota and come back for it in the daylight. To make matters worse Joe then informs us that the head-light on the dirt-bike doesn't work. Great, now not only do we have a bike that won't start, but now we have a bike with no means to get back in the dark. It was starting to feel like we really were in a situation. After much discussion and mulling over our plight we decided to have Russell pull me on the Lakota with the Wolverine and Danny would ride Joe's Yamaha behind Joe on the dirt-bike so the light on the Yamaha would guide the dirt-bike. Joe decided that he and Danny will be faster so they'll go first and come back for us when they reach the gravel road. Little did Joe know that Russell and I had much practice towing the Lakota after our last adventure with me swamping the Lakota in the tank trap! Russell and I were able to make really good time and even passed Joe and Danny who were really having a tough time negotiating the hills, dips and trees. At one point Danny almost flipped the Yamaha over backwards on himself! Poor guy, he's really not so good with the twist throttle, not that I would be any better. Once we got to the gravel it was really slow going and I tried to get the Lakota to start by leaving it in gear and working the throttle to work-out what ever was stopping up the carb. It was kind of relaxing for awhile moving slowly along and looking at the stars through the trees. The lack of ambient light makes them very vivid and gorgeous. I could even see the spirals of the milky-way. But then Russell got going a little too fast and I almost spun out of control. That scared me a bit. The gravel road was a lot longer than I had remember and it took us probably a good 20 minutes to make it back to the truck. I was successful in getting the Lakota to pull-start, but it would still die every time I tried to open the throttle a bit. Once we reached the last stretch of mud road, Russell got on the Lakota and drove it down and I rode the Wolverine. I was amazed the Lakota actually ran all the way down, but I thinking dragging it all that way had worked out whatever was in the gas.

I was so exhausted and grateful to be back to the trucks. Russell and I were going on 30 hours of awake time and were just dead tired. Joe had to quickly take-off to get the kids from his parent's place in Scottsburg, so Russell and I leisurely got our stuff all packed up and left, enjoying the lunch we had packed on the ride home. The bed was so welcome after our long and strenuous adventure.

One thing I've learned from all our adventures is that one can never be too prepared for what's going to happen when you're miles from nowhere on your four-wheeler.

Friday morning's drive home was abruptly interrupted by a horrendous car-wreck. Fortunately we're were not one of the cars involved, but if we had been about 1 min. earlier we would have been. Russell was driving the Ford and we were almost home just approaching the tunnel before Hancock Mt. road right outside of Elkton when he slammed on the breaks to avoid a black Mitsubishi Eclipse enshrouded in steam. I was half asleep until we came to a screeching halt and looked up to see the wreckage. We pulled over and got out to see if anyone was around and all we saw was the a girl who was apparently the driver of the car standing next to totaled eclipse rubbing her neck and chest. She appeared unharmed, unlike her car which had the entire hood and front end bent up accordion style with steam and liquid pouring out of every crevice. She was babbling something about, ". . he just pulled out in front of me. . " but we didn't see any other car around. At first I was thinking it was a hit and run. By this time more cars had happened upon the scene and things were quickly turning into a state of chaos. Everyone seemed confused about what happened to the other car when Russell, who is so astute and calm in situations like this, was looking at the road and the tire marks and starts walking into the road and then over to the bank next to Elk creek. Sure enough there down the 20ft. drop to the banks of the creek amongst all the blackberries and young alder trees sits a mangled Isuzu trooper and a dirty man with a rifle on his shoulder and a dog at his side. "Hey!" he cries. "Here I am! I'm alright. Can you get me outta here?" I was just amazed he wasn't hurt. He had climbed out of his vehicle and was walking around like nothing had happened. All he kept saying is that he wanted to call his son. Russell pulled a industrial strength ratchet strap out of the back of our truck and used that to help the guy climb up the bank. I was concerned that maybe he should just stay put and that maybe he might be seriously injured, but he insisted on climbing out. He was complaining of back pain. It turns out he's a night watchman for logging sites and was on his way out to buy groceries. He said he pulled out turning left in front of this girl and she hit him going 90 miles an hour. It's hard to say what really happened, but this night watchman was really a crazy fellow and I'd bet that he pulled out in front of her really slowly so she tried to pass him. Well as she was passing he swerved out into the other lane so she hit him. About this time Russell and I decided it was time to go home and the police and ambulances had arrived. It took them forever since it's a mostly volunteer crew. It really made me think about how careful we have to be making that drive every day. That could have been us in that wreck.

So, it turns out the cold I have is much more than I had originally bargained for. I was caught off-guard because it's been so slow in taking its course and it's lasting a long time. It's not really been too much in my throat, but confined to my head and nose. I'm not sure if having all these sinus headaches is better or worse than coughing all the time. I think it might be better because I can take some asprin for the headaches. Coughing doesn't ever seem to be helped by anything. The weekend is drawing to a close and we're ending it on a gorgeous sunny note. We've had the strangest weather. On Tuesday morning we even got some snow! It only lasted about 5 minutes and none of it stuck anywhere, but it was sure was strange to see.

( Jane's yard in the snow. )

I guess Roseburg and Douglas county have also has record amounts of rain. The News Review of Douglas county reports more rain for January than ever recorded before! I certainly believe it because we've noticably had a lot of rain.

I didn't work any OT this weekend and I'm feeling a little guilty for that because we need the money, but on the other hand I'm glad I had some lenghty time off especially while being sick. Weekend recap is as follows:

Monday:

Mostly putzed around the house in morning. Spent some time reading my book about Hawaii, went for a run and did some cleaning. Nothing too exciting here. Later that afternoon Russell and I went over to Darlene and Darryl's. Russell wanted to get some oak log rounds to use a supports for the trailer he's been working on. He's lenghted it by 4 feet and is moving the axles forward and is also removing and repacking the bearings. It's going to need some new tires, which will also be an expense. Here's Russell messing with the oak round. It doesn't look too big, but they each probably weigh about 500 lbs.
( Russell vs. the oak. )

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at Darlene and Darryl's. Darlene made a nice dinner for us of venison, vegetables and some of Aunt Donna's squash. I'm not sure what variety it is, but it's a sweet-meat squash that was really good. Donna and Kenneth are really proud of these squash they grow and I guess they get tons of it every winter. Though it's good, I think Darlene and Darryl are a little tired of eating it.

Russell talked to Joe when we got home and he wants to go riding this Sunday. He never did get tickets to MudFest either. I was really mad to hear this because Russell and I told him that he would be in charge of tickets because we have to work on Saturdays. He assured us he had it taken care of, but true to Joe's character he forgot. My feelings are somewhat mixed on this matter in that I wanted to go, but it does tend to be a hassle. Saving the FTO for the wedding would also be nice. Joe's going to try and find some extra tickets from people he knows at work, but I'm not so sure I want to pay the high prices for tickets from a third party. We'll see.

Tuesday:

I spent much of the day cleaning house and also intermittently worked on my wedding invitations. As I clean the house I have a tendency to let my mind wander and as I was doing this I started thinking about all the tasks that are piling up on me for the wedding. I have such a horrible habit of procrastinating on these things and I don't even know why. Well, I finally decided to call Oblation and see if they could just send me the proof they had made. They'd called last Friday and I hadn't gotten back to them. Anyway, when I called I talked to Liz who had originally taken my order and I asked her if she could send me my proof. She suggested faxing the order and lead me to believe that e-mailing it would cost more money. It told her faxing would be okay, thinking in my mind, "Crap, I'd better run in there and make sure the fax machine is all set-up properly." We never receive faxes. I put some paper in the stupid machine and sure enough she started faxing the thing within 2 min. First the answering machine tried to answer, then the fax machine wouldn't receive it. I couldn't figure out what was wrong and the menu is not very user-friendly. Russell had come in the house at this point and tried to help me with it, but we both were quickly reaching that point of supreme frustration. At long last on about the 5 the try the fax was finally received by that damn machine. I'm not sure what we did to get it to work, but it finally did. By this time I didn't really care to much. I was immediately disappointed by the fax because I couldn't hardly read the proof and size looked so small. Also there were discrepancies in the name spellings and the address printing among the three different formats. I worked myself into hysterics worrying about how the invitations were going to finally look and after several phone calls to mom and to Liz from Oblation she sent me an e-mail version that I was able to use to make a better judgement. I think I've decided to just bite the bullet, a phrase which here means fork over more money to a stupid print shop full of lackidasical hippie women who don't pay any attention to detail, and have the inserts printed on larger size paper.

Later that day I finished mowing the lawn and did some other miscelaneous yard work before Russell and I retired to the house to have dinner and I played some Final Fantasy X-2. The game is so girly, but I love it.

Wednesday:

In the morning I chatted some more with Mom about the invitations and her thoughts and made Russell and myself waffles for breakfast. They didn't turn out the best and I'm not sure if that was the fault of the mix or perhaps the fact that I was on the phone while doing it. I've never had a lot of luck with that waffle iron, though. After breakfast we went to Roseburg on a search for a special oil seal for Russell's trailer. Because the thing is so ancient we had a hard time finding it, but eventually we found something close enough. We also went to Dixon and got some more steel for Russell to use to modify the trailer. We did some grocery shopping and because we are idiots we forgot all the essential items on our list like coffee filters, deoderant and Q-tips. How frustrating. When we got home we started the project of putting my carburator back together for our trail ride on Sunday. This turned out to be a time-consuming albeit successful task. I finished rinsing everything in the carburator cleaner, which is really harsh stuff that burns your skin the instant you touch it, and dried it all in front of the heater. Then, which Russell's help we put it all back together. It had what seemed like a million little parts, screws, o-rings, and seals. Installing it back on the bike was the hard part as it was starting to get dark and cold outside and also the placement of the motor on my bike makes it diffiult to get to. It was actually a lot easier for me to reach all the parts than Russell because my hands are so small. The air-box turned out to be really difficult to reattach as the rubber had gotten so cold it wouldn't flex. We had to take it completely out and warm it by the heater before installing it. Eventally, after much man-handling, all was installed and it came time for the final test. When I first tried to start it I didn't have the gas on, duh, so I was thinking I put it all together wrong. After the gas was on it stared right up. The real test was how it would idle after it warmed up and the choke was off, which is where it had such problems before and in this it performed beautifully! It idles as well as it did when we first got it. I'm so glad as I didn't want to have to buy a new carb. So now I'm going to have to drain the float bowl every time I'm not going to be riding it for awhile. What a pain. After all this I was just exhausted and I went to bed early. I really should have tried to stay up for work tonight, but I couldn't

Speaking of work, I need to take a nap now to get ready. At least it's only a 3 day week.

Today felt like summer. We got home from work at the usual time and I felt uncommonly energetic for a Sunday morning. After a phone chat with Mom and Dad I went outside to get started on some much neglected yard work. I mowed the lawn and pruned back the mint in my herb garden that had gotten so out-of-hand. It felt really good to be outside in the gorgeous sunshine. I went for a run later in the afternoon and cooked some dinner for Russell and myself afterward. We dined al fresco and listened to all activity of the birds in the yard. It was very nice. I feel my mood just soaring because of the weather. I guess I don't really seem to notice it, but I think I really get more grumpy when it's rainy, windy and cold. I'm really appreciating this dry-spell we're having.

Russell's working on the *new* trailer. He wants to have it completed by MudFest, but I think that's going to be calling it close. It's only 3 weeks away. I don't even know if we'll have tickets. Joe failed us by not calling the hot-line last Saturday so now he'll have to try to buy them from a 3rd party which means they're going to cost quite a bit more. I'm not so sure it's even worth it. I was, however, looking forward to the opportunity to take some pictures and video with my new camera. Also, Russell has worked so hard on the Chevy I really want to see him get out and use it. It looks almost good now that he's painted it all one color. We've already got the time off so we may as well go, if we can get tickets. I was really pretty frustrated with Joe not remembering the day they went on sale. I really thought he would pay more attention to that.

Work last night was somewhat difficult for me emotionally. Keith is now working on the maint. side on the LAMs. Unfortunately he's training with Robert Provenza: a horrible, arrogant, know-it-all LAM tech. from Micron, who's going through some sort of mid-life crisis that made him buy a bright red corvette. Hence, I nick-named him "Corvette." Anyway, I really hate dealing with this guy on anything and now Keith is his fast friend. I almost can't stand to even hear this guy speak he's so repulsive to me. I feel kind of betrayed by Keith since he's now been haning out with Corvette on breaks. I know all this is so childish and just because Keith is my friend doesn't mean that he can't sit with whoever he wants. I know also that because Keith is new to the maint. job and he's training with this guy that he can't very well have an attitude with him. This is an opportunity for Keith and he deserves that. I also feel like my dislike for Corvette may be clouding my judgement of other decisions at work so I need to really get past this. I notice myself paying more attention to his tool recovery than any other maint. tech. as if I'm going to point out every small mistake and detail. I also feel myself bristle to his comments and suggestions. Next week I'm going to make a concious effort to not let this guy get to me. I need to just relax a bit.

We finally picked up our glasses and contacts from Family Vision Center yesterday. I love my new glasses! They are sort of a dark purple color that when inside looks black, but when you get outside they look dusty purple. They are really neat. My eyes had a hard time adjusting to them at first. I think I was used to my old glasses and even though my contacts were the correct prescription I think having the correction further from eyes made it a little different. I've adjusted to them now and I really like them.

Once we got home we then went up to Darlene and Darryl's to visit. It was a really nice day and their property is so beautiful in the sunshine. Russell and I would really like to inherit it someday, but alas I'm sure it will be divided. Russell was interested in looking at an old goose-neck trailer that Darryl has that he used to use to haul hay. He thinks he'll be able to modify it for use as a car trailer. He wants to have something sturdy enough to haul the 8000 lb. Chevy to mudfest next month. Looking at the trailer it appears to have a very strong frame, but I'm not really sure about the axles. A bunch of oak branches fell on it this winter so it was hard to get to and get a close look to tell. It's really old and it looks homemade. The decking is all rotted and will have to be replaced as will the tires and I'm sure the bearings as well. I'm also not so sure how this goose-neck hitch is going to work. I think it's similar to a fifth-wheel hitch and Russell plans on making a receiver for it to go in the bed of the Ford. Just what we need. . . another rusty hunk of metal to drag onto the property! I told Russell he'll have to paint it when he's done modifying it so it's not so ugly. I'm glad, though, that this way he'll be able to get a sturdy trailer without having to expending too much energy building it from scratch or by spending too much money by buying one. I hope that some day we'll be able to afford to buy all these things that he really wants. I don't like having to deny him anything and I'm sure that's the reason we never seem to have any money!

Darlene is getting new blinds. She is very excited. They finally have a little extra money from the sale of all that timber on her dad's property on the river so she's finally able to buy some of the things she's always wanted. I'm so glad and happy for her. I can tell she really likes having the security of extra money. She's also been so generous with it giving Lisa $1000 to spend on our wedding and a really nice pair of diamond earrings for her birthday. They are also talking about clearing the Florence property she inherited from her dad and using it a kind of a camping spot. She said when her dad had it and was using it frequently he had it cleared and almost like a park and she wants to get it that way again. We offered to go and help with the efforts. We'll probably get started on it this spring when the weather is more consistent.

I've been checking information about the status of the Fern Ridge Dam repairs and it seems that it's repaired and they should begin filing the reservoir again for the 2006 recreation season, which means we'll be able to do some sailing this summer! I'm very excited about that. I've really missed sailing. I hope Russell will come to love it as much as I do once I teach him how. I'm hoping that someday we'll be able to sail the weekly thistle races on Thurs. at Fern Ridge and also go to some travelling regattas and do some camping. Just thinking about sailing makes me really excited!

Today didn't start out so well and it hasn't really been getting any better. When we got home in the morning the power was out due all the wind we've had the last few days. This was only a slight nuisance in that we had to set the battery powered alarm clock. I was a little worried that he "beep" wouldn't be enough to wake me, but I figured the power would be back on soon and I wouldn't have to worry. (Our other alarm clock has a battery back up.) We had to get up early due to a C-shift evac. drill that was scheduled. When the alarm did go off, however, the power wasn't back on. Due to the fact we only have an 85 gal. water tank that we share w/ Jon and Lisa and the well-pump won't work w/o power we decided not take showers. Then, as if to mock us, 5 min. before we had to be out the door it turned back on. What made this more irritating is that if it had been a normal day, we would have had that extra hour once the power was back on to take showers! How frustrating. So here I am at work feeling exceptionally greasy. I should have brought some shampoo with me to take a shower on break, but I did't get a chance to grab some. I'll think I'll put some in my locker to have here just in case something like this happens again.

Russell and I got invited to a superbowl party tomorrow, but we're not going. It's at Joe and Rheanan's new place in Vida. I'm semi-interested in watching the game this year, but only because Seattle is playing. I think we're going to work some OT instead. That'll make day 5 for me! We really could use the money, though. We'll be getting another bonus of 3 weeks pay each the beginning of March and hopefully soon we'll find out if some money is attached to our annual reviews. I feel so money-grubbing lately, but the wedding planning has gotten me really thinking about how much I need to be saving. That and saving for a down-payment on a house. Oblation called on friday and said they have the proof completed. I haven't called them back yet to ask if they could send it to me. I'd like to make another trip to Portland, but I really don't want to kill a whole day doing it and that's what would happen. I also need to go pick up my glasses and my ring. Living outside Eugene sure makes things difficult!

I've decided to take a different tack in my approach to this PE photo job and in the process I'm discovering some interesting things about Korean culture. I asked the expat. engineer JinHo Park tonight if he would give Byung Il Kwan, Photo PE manager, a recommendation for me on the the job. As soon as I asked he just started laughing. I was really taken aback! I then felt really silly and embarrassed for having asked. When I asked him why he was laughing he responded that he thought I was joking. When I told him I was serious he became rather grave and told me that in Korea engineers don't ever change areas. He said as an engineer you work in one area and you never change and this was why he was so surprised that I would be interested in a job in another area. This confirms what I had heard from John last week that Byung Il just didn't think he could take someone from etch. It appears that I really have an uphill battle ahead of me. Jim was gracious enough to write me a very nice recommendation letter, but I really wanted to have some Korean backing to bolster my position. I think all I'm ending up doing is confusing them! Well, my resume is in the mix and I think now I'd best just sit back and wait for the interview.

The photo PE job was posted yesterday. I was just giddy with excitement as I had fears based on rumors that it would be just handed to one of the two interns photo already has. One thing that makes me nervous, however, is the fact that the job is also posted externally. I'm hoping that as in the case of the etch job not too many external candidates will apply, but you never know. It's open until Feb. 12. All I can do is hope for the best. I did talk to Tae Kwan and had him give me a recommendation to Byung Il for me. He seemed very willing, but it's sometimes difficult to read him. He was surprised when I thanked him in Korean: "kam-sam-nee-dah," I said. He smiled and said, "chun-man-aeo." I think that means thank you. . . I'll have to check my notes.

In other promotionary news Keith got the maint. tech job in etch. He'll be working on the LAMs. I'm glad for him and I've gotten over most of my jealousy. I think that's because the photo job has been finally posted. He's on FMLA for 2 weeks and after he comes back he'll be on the maint. side. I'm a little sad I won't get to yell, "Keeeeith!!! I need a recheck on . . " down to bay 2 anymore. Another good thing about Keith getting this maint. tech. job is the fact that this is his excuse to stay in Oregon which also means he'll be a groomsman in our wedding. I know he didn't really want to go to Boise.

Time for lunch.

After the blessings of beautiful bountiful sunshine we are now back to the old Oregon standby of rain, rain, and more rain. Russell and I had a pretty good "weekend."


Sunday:

Slept most of the day. I was so tired when we got home. It was shame too since it was so nice.

Monday:

Had to be to Eugene by 8:15 for our eye appointments. I was somewhat bleary-eyed after having stayed up until 2am the night before. We got there a little late, but it wasn't a problem. We both go our eyes checked and I was very happy to find out my eyes have changed such that I'm a perfect -2.5 d in each eye which means no more being careful about which contact is which when I peel them out of my eyes after work! Yea for that! I also chose a new pair of glasses, the first new pair I've had since junior year of college. Russell's eyes haven't changed any so we got him some new contacts and that was it. By this time we were starving. We were in such a hurry to leave the house in the morning after oversleeping we didn't eat breakfast. After driving around downtown Eugene for awhile searching for a suitable place we settled on the Continental Cafe. It wasn't the best and pretty expensive for what we got. We won't be returning. Next on the agenda was finding a birthday gift for Lisa. We decided on a coffee grinder so we started at Macy's in the Valley River Center. I also had to drop off my ring at Fred Meyer for cleaning and rhodium flashing. I was a bit miffed by the gal at the jewelry store. She told me I needed to have my service plan paperwork with me so it could be signed-off has having had the inspection/cleaning for this 6 month period for the insurance to remain active. I told her that when I was in 6 months ago, I was told I didn't need the paperwork and they'd performed all services (cleaning and rhodium flashing) without any questions. At any rate she continued to emphasize that when I come in to pick up the ring I need to bring in my paperwork and I was getting quite frustrated with her. Anyway we spent the rest of the day going from one store to another looking for the perfect coffee grinder. We eventually found one at Target and also got Lisa an assortment of gourmet coffee to go with it. I hope she likes it. After that we went home, as it was getting kind of late. We borrowed The Island DVD from Jon and Lisa and watched it that night. I really enjoyed it. When the movie started I began thinking it would be just like many other films in the "futuristic anti-utopian" genre, but as the story unfolded I began to really become involved. I was really surprised by the way the plot unfolded. I also thought the acting was very good. I would recommend it.

Tuesday

We slept in until about 11 am. We had to be to Hynix for Russell's communication class by 1pm. We had planned to then work OT from the end of the class to about 1am. As we walked out of the training room Russell looked at me and I looked at him and he said, "Are you hungry?" I responded, "Yes." Russell said, "Good, let's go eat I'm starving." So that effectively ended our plans to work OT. I wasn't so hard to convince considering the weather was so gorgeous. We went to Sushi Domo and had the best sushi I think I've eaten in a long time. Russell also had a Korean dish called charashi that was really quite good. We then walked over to GI Joe's and then to WalMart and browsed around. We decided to catch a movie at the Cinemark. Russell wanted to see the action flick Underworld: Evolution. I didn't realize this was a sequel so while watching the first half I was confused by all the different characters. I finally got myself up to speed just in time for the climax of the movie. It was ok. It's not really my kind of movie with vampires and werewolves, but it was entertaining. Not as as good as The IslandI'd like to see the first one just for some continuity.

All in all not a bad few days off. Now back to a 4 day week. . .

So, in case anyone every wondered what kind of Pocky I would be the answer is here for all to see!

You Are Milk Pocky

Your attitude: caring and charming Smooth and silkly... invigorating and natural. You are like comfort food for the soul.

I'm surprised by this one. I wouldn't necessarilly call myself "comfort food for the soul, but this strawberry pocky I'm eating right now sure is good!

Today's weather was by far the best we've had since early Dec. and unfortunately I slept through it all. I was exhausted when I got home this morning. I woke up once at 2 and just couldn't get myself out of bed. I'm not sure where my energy went from last week. I wish I had it back, though. I hate sleeping away the day. This is going to be a really short weekend. I'll probably end up spending the whole day in Eugene tomorrow and I'm working OT on Tues.

I got the package from the wedding expo. Mom and Marsha attended. Thanks for sending this! I haven't had a chance to really go through any of it yet, but maybe later tonight. I can't stay up too late as I've got an eye doctor appointment early tomorrow. It'll be my first new pair of glasses in 3 years.

Still no news about photo PE, although it is listed as "in progress" with HR. I have to keep working on Jim to talk to Byung Il. I think Jim loves me now, which makes my life a whole lot easier. I have to work on him also to send Brent a recommendation form for my PT 2 promotion. I got a 4 on my review, which is excellent, so I should be in a good position for the level increase, which will also mean a good pay raise, probably about $1.50 or so. I've heard rumor that 2 people are getting level increases, so it'll probably be James and myself. I know Jeremy's not going to get it. It's somewhat unfortunate that so much of a person's reputation is based on rumors and stereotypes. I feel like Jeremy's been labeled the "looser" of the tech. bunch and as a result he's never going to get that bump to tech. 2 even though he's been doing the job for 7 years. Then James and I, who've only been doing it for 2 years will get the promotion before him. I can't really feel too sorry for him, though, because he doesn't do anything to make himself look better in Jim's eyes. I had to basically go cry in front of Jim and tell him about how hard I was trying and how much I wanted to please him and now he loves me. I guess maybe I should feel bad about grovelling, but I don't really. All I want is a PE job and I'm going to do whatever it takes. If that means kissing-up to the managers then I guess that's what I'll have to do. Working for Koreans sure makes things difficult. The entire culture is so backwards. I feel like they're so ingrained to do everything the way they always have. An example is how they don't want to pull me from etch to work in photo PE. How silly is that? What makes this even sillier is how Grace was moved from PI to etch PE. I guess that's the difference between having a Korean vs. American manager. Jim's willing to pull from other areas, while Byung Il and Jae Nam are not. Once they post the job I'm going to ask Tae Kwan for a recommendation. Maybe if it comes from a Korean they'll take it more seriously.

I'm going up to Portland next week for my Mini appointment. I'm also going to stop by Oblation to see about letterpress wedding invitations. If I feel really ambitious I'm going to drive up to Vancouver and visit the employment department to apply for some jobs at WaferTech. I still haven't heard from them. I'm not sure why not. Russell's not coming with me. I tried to talk him into it, but he's not interested. I guess I don't blame him as it's just for the invitations and maybe applying for jobs. We thought about going to OMSI, but we want to save money and it feels like it'd be a waste. $10 each to get in plus $10 each for the iMAX and lunch and parking on top of that. I feel like such a tightwad saying that'd it be too expensive, but we really need to kick the savings plan into high gear. Mudfest is coming up as well and I thing he's feeling the pressure to get the Chevy ready again and since this weekend is basically booked I'm sure he'll be eager to get working next weekend.

I should get to bed since tomorrow will be an early morning.

I'm feeling a bit jealous of my friend Keith right now. He interviewed on Monday for the etch equipment techncian job and people are telling him he's got the job, according to Doc. Of course this is really good news for him. I don't wish in any way that he doesn't get the job. However, I feel some jealously that, after 1 interview, he'll just waltz into a promotion after I've worked so hard and interviewed so many different times for a PE job. The two are completely unrelated, but I'm still feeling huge frustrations. This coupled with the news from John tonight that Byung Il Kwan doen't think that PE's should be changing departments. IE if they post that photo job internally, it may be more difficult for me to get the job than I originally though. John says I need to start bugging Jim to work on Mr. Kwan. I'm just so tired of all this networking.

Here's a nice picture from the top of the Calahans taken during our last fourwheeing trip.

I've spent most of the day in front of the computer. I really need to get up and (1) make some food because I'm starving and (2) start doing some housework. I'm going to do some voluntary OT tomorrow so today is essentially the end of my weekend. I feel somewhat sad about that since it is a 4 day "weekend" and usually I regard those as sacred. My computer time today has been mostly pursing projects that need to be done. I've been working in photoshop on my Save-the-Date cards and in excel on a budget. The Save-the-Date cards are coming along. I'm feeling a bit of pressure, since I've set myself a Jan. 31 deadline, but I think I can make it. It'll just take some discipline. I distract myself so easily! I start working on the pictures and before I know it I'm on the internet (if the weather's good!) or I'm reorganizing my photos. I am realizing again the same things that I started to see in my later years of college: that sometimes I could spend a really long time working on something, but due to self-induced distraction, not get a lot accomplished. I created a budget spreadsheet for Russell and me. I was prompted to do this due to a talk we had with Lisa yesterday. We started discussing wedding plans and saving money for a house. During the whole conversation I could feel how uncomfortable Russell was with talking about how much money the wedding is going to cost. Through much discussion, though I think he's becoming more receptive to it. After we left Lisa's we talked about it a bit on our own and he mentioned he doesn't like being constantly reminded of the cost of the wedding or the fact that he'll have to get up in front of a bunch of people and be the center of attention. I guess I can understand that, to a point. I think he's feeling a lot of apprehension about his role in the ceremony and his natural shy nature is showing itself. He's then taking that apprehension and redirecting it at all my wedding talk about plans, money, or anything. Perhaps if I bring it up less. . . but that brings up frustrations in myself because I'm so excited about it I want to share it with him. Anyhow, preparing a budget is really helping him and myself to realize how much money we really could be saving. We waste too much money and now that I'm looking a specifics I think I'm going to be able to save more. Bolstering the savings account will most certainly give both him and me a better sense of security, which, I hope, will make my talk of wedding plans less of an irritation to Russell.

We didn't end up going riding on Sunday. Joe called right before we got home and said he'd just found out, that night, that Rheanan had to work. It seems rather strange to me that he didn't know she had to work until the night before, but I suppose for those two it's maybe not strange. I think they purposefully don't tell each other things merely out of spite. What an odd relationship. I think that if it weren't for Joe's inability to remain single for more than a week, he would never have married her. That coupled with her pressuring him to marry her. I think that, though, came from her Dad and Grandma. At any rate, not going riding for me that meant a mixed-bag of both relief and disappointment. I was excited to go and looking forward to it, but I also was really tired and was glad we could just go take a nap Sunday morning. I was eager to use my new camera, though. I wanted to test it's functionality as a real quick point-and-shoot camera. Well, perhaps next Sunday.

Well, Mom and Dad leave for Hawaii in two days. I'm really excited for them! I hope that Mom brings me back the souvenirs I requested!! I also hope she keeps a detailed journal, either mental or otherwise, of all the happenings. I want to know specifically what works and what doesn't work about the trip since it is essentially the same trip Russell and I will be making for he honeymoon. I also want to know what sights are great and which aren't so great. She can act as my official travel-guide.

I've gotta go make so food, my stomach tying itself in knots.