Had a delightful email from the co-chair of the LaConner Classic Yacht and Car show, personally inviting Katherine Jane to the show next year. It seems that someone had forwarded a blog to with pictures of our vessel passing through their town on the recent San Juan trip. Should be another fun adventure.

The show will be on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 from 10:00am to 4:pm. We’ll be there.

There have been typical heavy November rains (I’m glad I’m not in the river this year, getting beaten up by debris!), so we dropped by the Locks this morning to see how the flow was and what was coming up the fish ladder. Not much in the way of salmon (one lonely looking Coho), but they had almost all the spillways going.

It was a little strange being on the “watching” side of the operations, instead of on KJ. It’s nice when we go through the Locks and all the operators recognize us (duh, Brock has worked here forever, I guess!). They have a certain confidence that we can do what we need to without too much babysitting.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Tmkb2i4Zg]
Then we headed up to Snoqualmie Falls to see how the flow was. It’s at 4470 cubic ft per sec today, which is a decent volume, but not as large as it gets. Still fun to watch; lots of mist around the falls.

Onward to Alpental and a cruise back down a little road we had never explored. Hiked a mile to Franklin Falls. It’s the downside to King County hiking; you’re never far from people or roads. The falls are basically right under I-90. I tend to feel a psychic claustrophobia living in the city. I don’t think I could do it if I weren’t on a boat. The water isn’t too bad ~ too many people everywhere else. It was good to get up in the mountains. I’ve become so boat-oriented, I sometimes forget that my soul needs the woods as well.

I may not indulge in too many traditional holiday rituals, but there are certain sacraments of the season which mark the passage of time for me. One of those is the annual waterproofing of my boots. As I rubbed the wax into them today, I recalled all the places these boots and I have gone together. All the hiking, every time I rode in the helicopter, the beach, the mountains. I realized how attached I am to them ~ nearly 9 years of adventures. And I was able to order them online, not something most people can do successfully. But my standard size 8 feet are easy to fit. And a long, rewarding relationship was created. I love these boots.

They start my new job with me on Monday.

So we’re getting on top of the electrical weirdness around here. I’m not convinced that there isn’t some bizarre global effect this week (based on nothing more than my personal observations and the anecdotes of friends of mine). Personally, I’m blaming the Republicans. Why not?

(Speaking of which, how incredibly awesome was last night?? As one pundit phrased it, the election was basically an IQ test for America and I was quite pleased that we passed. Friends and I had agreed that if the election went badly, we were filling KJ’s fuel tanks and leaving the country. I’m glad we don’t have to. 76 days and counting)

But back to the tech challenges. J&K; had issues and they are two of the most technologically advanced people I know. Cyberangel blogged about her misadventures as well. Other friends had their new fridge decide to throw ice cubes on the kitchen floor at 2 am. I think it was just that sort of week.

The website is working. Finally. Although I must confess, there was just a tiny component of UE. Not completely or anything (it’s still an MS problem), but Brock did prove his inestimable worth yet again by slowing me down enough to think it through and figure out what needed to happen to repopulate the name servers correctly. His observation was that, while I’m usually a smart and logical girl, there are times when I’m confronted with a Wall and instead of figuring out how to go around it, I get uber-stubborn and determined TO GO THROUGH IT BECAUSE IT SHOULDN’T BE THERE, DAMMIT! At which point, head-pounding ensues. Not Useful.

But with his gentle guidance (I swear, that man handles me so smoothly, I have to laugh), it was soon all better. The email naturally followed.

And they’re sending me a new motor for the washer and dryer. I can’t say I’m thrilled that it went out after less than 2 months, but they were certainly enthusiastic and helpful in getting a new one out to us right away. Hopefully that will be resolved soon also.

Then we can get on to the next project. You’re gonna like this one too!

in the river of technology. Oh, just for fun, let’s go through the list of everything that’s decided to go TU on me in the last few days. And let’s add up the number of hours spent online/on the phone with the various tech departments. And, just for some more giggles, let’s figure out how many of those technogadgets in my life are now operational.

1) Clearwire internet service. Speeds have dropped precipitously to an average of 400kbps. No obvious reason for that, but after 3 hours spent with their tech department restarting Windows again and again, we’ve concluded that it’s in no way my fault and that they will have to go climb some towers to figure it out. Should be an answer in about a week. NOT CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL.

2) MVKatherineJane website. Yes, well, we’ve already beaten that one into the ground. Suffice it to say that I’ve even given my password to my ex-husband so that he can help ~ I’m that desperate. He’s chatted online with their techs, I’ve chatted online with their techs. Currently no one knows where my domain is. Best guess is Australia right now. Probably 4 hours on that one. NOT CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL.

3) Katherine Jane email. See #2. And given the fact that I had *just* sent out notice to everyone I know that my old address was no longer active and this would be my exclusive one, it’s ironic that I now have no functioning email services whatsoever. If you have emailed me in the last several days, assume I did not get it. A couple more hours here. NOT CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL.

4) New AT&T; phone. Actually this was a win. My old Treo was finally to the point of dropping calls completely randomly and shutting off when it felt like it. The guy at the phone store thought he was looking at a relic when he saw it, muttering to himself “I can’t believe you still had it” over and over again. Am I the only one in the world who thinks that a 6 year old phone really shouldn’t be utterly obsolete? Anyway, that was 45 minutes well spent. CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL.

5) The washer/dryer. This was the crushing blow. Something about the motor. I’ve spent about 10 minutes with their tech support, who kindly offered to email me the training manual, as we seemed competent enough to do a bit of troubleshooting. Note, he offered to “email” it to me. I’m sure he was puzzled by the bitterness in my laugh. NOT CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL.

I don’t dare drive the BMW. It’s been temperamental enough recently and I don’t want to give it the “everybody else is doing it” excuse.