... A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING FOR MOST NORTHERN ZONES IN WESTERN WASHINGTON AS WELL AS THE CASCADES AND OLYMPICS...

... A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING FOR SOUTHERN ZONES IN WESTERN WASHINGTON...

.A FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL MOVE OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON FROM CANADA LATE TONIGHT... AND WITH A VERY COLD AIR MASS STILL OVER THE REGION... SNOW IS EXPECTED ACROSS ALL OF WESTERN WASHINGTON. A COLD UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. SOME AREAS WILL GET HEAVY SNOW... FOUR INCHES OR MORE... AND A WINTER STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR THEM. SOME AREAS MAY NOT GET HEAVY SNOW... THEY MAY GET UP TO THREE INCHES... BUT THE DETAILS REMAIN UNCERTAIN. THE WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS HEAVY SNOW IS POSSIBLE BUT NOT CERTAIN.

There was an interview with Senator McCain during the Republican convention of 2000, in which Senator McCain seems to say that running in 2008 was not in the cards.

From http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/election/july-dec00/mccain_8-1.html#:

JIM LEHRER: Finally, for the record, you have not lost your desire to be President of the United States, have you?

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Certainly it's been put in deep cold storage.

JIM LEHRER: But you haven't lost it?

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Well, in 2004, I expect to be campaigning for the reelection of President George W. Bush, and by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there.

JIM LEHRER: But between now and then you are, in fact, as we're sitting here now in Philadelphia, you are a national figure. Do you intend to remain one over these next few years?

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: I intend - I have four more years in my term, in this term as a United States Senator -I intend to remain active, committed, dedicated to the principles that I hold dear and the policies which I think should be pursued for the benefit of the American people. But I think I can do that as a member of the United States Senate very effectively.

If he thought he would retire by 2008, then how does he expect to be President of the United States until 2013?

A dear friend and very influential person in my life died April 11th. Today was her memorial and a chance to reconnect with my friends that I have lost touch the past few years. I have posted some pictures at http://waidhere.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!B56799958BD8D618!396/.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While her obituary is online, here is a local copy of the Seattle Times entry (http://www.legacy.com/nwclassifieds/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=107954777)

Helena M. "Nickie" Christiansen

Helena M. "Nickie" CHRISTIANSEN August 23, 1926 ~ April 11, 2008 Nickie was born in Saskatoon,Saskatchewan, Canada. She and her mother later moved to Vancouver, B.C., where she married and had her first son, Guy Middleton. That marriage later ended.

In 1963, Nickie and Guy happily created a family with Thomas Christiansen. Later that year, the family immigrated to the U.S. and welcomed the birth of a second son, Kim. After Nickie retired from the UW Department of Pharmacy, she and Tom enjoyed retirement together and were inseparable until his death in 1998. After selling the family home in Mountlake Terrace in 2002, Nickie moved to Chateau at Bothell Landing. In 2006, she moved to Angel Care Adult Family Home in Lake Forest Park.

She has been slipping away for the past few years and finally gave up her struggles with the creeping fog of vascular dementia. Her children, Guy Middleton of Everett, and Kim and Tina Christiansen of Shoreline, will miss her greatly, but they will remember her laugh and how much she loved them. She will also be mourned by cousin Diane Minty in England and a host of friends. Many thanks to Maggie, Al and the staff at Angel Care for the tender care they have provided.

A Memorial Gathering will be held at Kim's house, Sunday, April 27 beginning at 2 p.m. Details posted at http://web.mac.com/imtinac. In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution to the National Stroke Association, www.stroke.org.

Goodbye Mom. We hope you caught up with all those words you lost.
Published in print from 4/20/2008 - 4/21/2008.

Memorial Web site:

http://web.mac.com/imtinac/Nickie/Welcome.html

Seattle Times online obituary (with weird spacing issues)

http://www.legacy.com/nwclassifieds/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=107954777

Everett Herald online obituary

http://www.legacy.com/HeraldNet/Obituaries.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=108039191

I did some looking around and I think that flickr does a pretty good job - at least for casual online storage of pictures. There appears to be no end of deadly serious photo sites, but flickr is integrated with Yahoo and has members ranging from uber serious to the humorous. This gives me a single sign-on to some interesting photo groups (including some local here to the Seattle area) and a multitude of discussion groups.

When I look at my shots uploaded to flickr and compare them side by side on my monitor, they look pretty good - not to infer quality of my pictures as much as they are not mangled or have their color oddly shifted.

My shots are up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/waidhere/.

I've been home now for just over a month - the amount of work that stacks up while you are working on the road sneaks up. Coming back to face a months worth of meetings makes me question my sanity.

A couple of things not worked related became more obvious (besides missing my family and hopefully they missing me) upon my return.

First, while MSN Spaces works as a (mostly) free blog site, it does not put a lot of emphasis on picture quality. The color & lighting seems off when I compare the same pictures on the web site with local storage on my computer. I am trying out some alternative sites that focus more on photography (argh, pun not intended).

The second thing is that I was really missing my old 35mm SLR gear. The P&S camera I used on my trips were fine and did exactly what they advertised, but shooting buildings, people and landscapes ran me quickly out of room on the P&S 4 megapixel camera. I had some pretty serviceable 35mm SLR gear from a few years ago (ok, it was the 80's) but the lenses were good and the bodies solid. I figured I would get the shutters checked out and refresh the meter batteries and jump back into film.

Too bad my camera resurrection plans didn't pan out. Now when I boxed all my gear up "a while back" (mid-90's?), there were a couple of camera bodies, several lenses, light meters, enlargers, darkroom equipment (trays, film loaders, etc), but none of it was to be found. I dug through my garage like an impassioned rodent, but no joy. Damn. I did find several boxes of photos and slides (of which I am busy sorting out) but not one single filter, lens, case, camera or tripod. Double Damn.

So now I am making the jump all at once from 35mm film with only a light meter and all manual controls to digital & zoom lenses & auto-focus & auto-shutter & auto-aperture controls. I tried out several cameras for ergonomic fit and picked one that allows me to run either manual or automatic modes for all settings. After a lot of market research and trying them out, I picked a Nikon D80. It still feels like a Nikon and the lens mount was immediately familiar (even if the electronic contacts are new).

When I was on the road, I was determined to go back to what I knew once I got home (manual 35mm film SLR's), but I let myself get talked into trying the digital SLR's by some co-workers and friends. Now I get to figure out if I should have just EBay'ed a Nikon F2A or FM2. While I don't have to buy film or chemicals or paper anymore, I do have to learn how to use fairly complex software (Photoshop or CaptureNX). So I won't have a darkroom, but I will have a "lightroom". Sigh.