wish I'd had my camera

I did my 20-miler today (I need to verify the distance, but I'm pretty sure it was at least 20 miles). I didn't bring the BlackBerry along with me, so I missed a few messages, but even worse was that I missed the chance to photograph some interesting sights and moments today:

1. the state capitol building and Temple of Justice (not to mention "Capitol Campus") in Olympia, which is right next to Lacey;

2. the Korean War Memorial on Capitol Campus (6/25, yuk-i-o, is only 2 days away, and the memorial's already decorated);

3. the tree on the SMU grounds that was turned into an Ent by some wiseass student;

4. the Yoda sticker that some prankster stuck on a traffic crossing sign (the instructions that accompany the buttons you press to get the "crossing man" symbol) so that the sign read, "press button and wait for [Yoda] signal to cross";

5. the world's weirdest park bench

--and so much more. I had thought about doing a totally different route tomorrow, but given what I saw today, I might do the same route again, but armed with the digicam this time.

It's 6:56PM as I write this, and the library closes at 8PM, so I'm a bit pressed for time. I'm going to attempt my very first sound file upload, but just FYI, the file won't be for public consumption (though Charles is free to listen to it all he wants, since it'll be in the Liminality FTP space); because of the poor sound quality, I'm hoping to transcribe the review, which will read better than it sounds, mostly thanks to my poor interviewing skills. The conversation is with Genjo Marinello of Choboji, the Zen temple in downtown Seattle about two miles uphill from Paul Cox's house.* If I can hammer out the transcript while I'm here at the abbey, great. If not, you're going to have to wait, I'm afraid.

UPDATE: No dice in my attempt to upload. I apparently need some sort of system administrator password that will allow this computer to accept my device, and it's now too close to closing time for me to go through all that. I'll try this again tomorrow... or will start transcribing the old-fashioned way: listening, pausing, typing, lather, rinse, repeat. That way, we avoid the upload issue altogether.

---

*When I look back on my brief time in Seattle proper, I'm often thankful I didn't hit Paul's house first and then walk to Choboji; the slope from the water up to where Choboji sits is pretty hairy when you're out of shape and loaded down.


_