Water! Water! Everywhere!

The rain is unrelenting. Our office parking lots have flooded and I ended up wading through calf high water to get into the office. But instead of receding - it only got higher through the day. By 2:30 I called it quits, put two garbage bags on my feet, hoisted Mikey under my arm and trekked back out to my car. What an adventure!

Puppies! Need I say More?

This is Rupert.

He's Savi's new puppy and Mikey's new friend.

He's a Corgi and about 12 weeks old now.

Smart and funny and as a friend put it "weapons grade cute"!

Mikey is still the top dog, of course!

SeaCompression 2007: Unicorns and Rainbows!

Wonderful, wonderful event! Turn out was pretty good and the volunteers kicked serious hineys.

Corvus and his troupe "the Three Twins" stole the show.


I had to laugh at the number of Hunter S. Thompsons dressed in red white and blue I saw. How funny! Oh - and quite a few leprechans too.

I helped feed the masses with the 2000 pancakes that John the food lead got donated by OHOP and bacon bits. It felt wonderful to be able to gift so many folks with the food.

Erin shows us her cakes.

You'll find many more photos here:

• Tumbleweed's Photos
  
• Hank's Photos
  

Scored me a trailer! woo hoo!

Yup - greatest Craigslist find to date: Free 1974 17 foot Komfort brand trailer. We had to drive into the hills near Lake Cle Elum to get it - but my dad helped and it was well worth it. I'll write more about it later.

Burning Man 2007: Camp Mates & Neighbors

Originally we were gonna have up to 4 people sharing our little slice of heaven on Playa - but slowly that changed until it was just Savi and I. We made our space open to everyone around us though - and were pleasantly greated by someone napping on our couch or gently swaying in a hammock whenever we stumbled back to camp.

Scott and Corvus camped in another part of Husheville but visited often. It was really great hanging out with them.

I spent a good deal of time simply hanging out in camp and in doing so got to know my neighbors very well. To one side was Muppet and Merry. Adorable couple who volunteered their butts off and weren't around much. But when they were - we'd pull our chairs out the edge of the road and heckle people while drinking cold beer and bullshitting. It was great.

Then there were the "newbies" from New York. It was wonderful to be reminded of how my first time to burning man was. Wow... we've come along way ;)

And "Booga". Savi nicknamed him that from the movie Tank Girl. If you've seen the movie than I don't need to say anymore. But he is an awesome guy and I enjoyed his unbridled enthusiasm for saving the planet to no end.

Burning Man 2007: Camp

Oh man! our little home while at home was great! I did so many things right - and what a difference it made. Although - the things I thought would be the greatest things were cool - other unexpected things turned out to be the lifesavers.

Number one improvement - the shade structure itself. My coworker was whining about having to tear down and throw away one of those Costco carports from her Dad's house one day. I jumped and said "Whoa missy! That's just what I need!" and offered to take it down and remove it myself if I could keep it. "Absolutley" she shouted - and so appreciated not having to deal with it she tried to give me money!

The top canvas was really, really dirty and a bit torn. Knowing how the wind works out there on Playa I knew it wasn't worth trying to repair. So, I bought three nice, sunblocking, tarps that fit perfectly in each section of the roof. This gives me the option to make it smaller if I want - and allows wind to get through which brings down the parachute effect. I drilled holes in the plastic feet and used bent rebar to hold it down - as well as a couple of straps to the van for security. It worked like a charm. Nice solid shade that did not blow away in the wind.

The next best improvement was a table. Yes... a place for everyone's crap to accumulate, but also a place to stand and deal with stuff without playing in the playa directly. A small plastic shelf unit was also a great addition. Kept coolers off the ground and gave everyone a place to throw their shit (not on the seating - which is usually the case).

The number one biggest hit was not the hammocks though. They were fun and comfy for resting in but the angle was too sharp and they were impossible to actually sleep in. The bench seat out of the van was the winner. Everyone loved to come over and plop themselves down on that thing. It was "real" furniture - and it felt great. Naps were had there - hanging out was done there. It was a hit!

Geek-o-rama

Savi spent her birthday weekend at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo 2007) geeking out with the best of them.

Nothing new?

Noticed that I haven't published much here lately? That would be due to the fact that I've decided that I'm going to Burningman for sure this year - so my head left about a week ago. My physical self will leave on August 28th. My thoughts reside over here until I'm back...

It's Critcal time again

Critical Massive - the pacific northwest regional buringman event opened it's gates Monday. Learn more about the event here.

I got to tow our ballpit out there Tuesday night. To be able to make better time I towed it into work with me. Erin, our shipper gurl, jumped right in to the delight of Chuck and Kristin.

I arrived at Royal Arches Private park in Maple Valley about 5:30 pm. A beautiful evening - and a beautiful location! So many trees - and a river. Very, very nice.

Some participants were already there and setting up various camps. Flight to mars was well on it's way. Succubus sat awaiting her cake costume. I helped start to get her dressed that evening. I dropped the ballpit which Huckelberry promptly hopped into (he's been missing his ballpit!). Homophobus was nicely tucked to one side and Marty was merrily working on his solar panel set up. The "Snot Rod" was blaring music in it's full glory. Kevin, in his tutu busily glued the words "Happy Birthday!" to the bus's new skirting. Jole scooped me up and I found myself diving in to help set up the lighting in the "Aural Cube". Amazing stuff!

Other campers had set up their central structures and various tents - ALMN had their tel-tale parachute. Coffee camp with their mini-dome. I sat around it's central fire later in the evening and listened to stories of playa life.

What an amazing way to spend a Tuesday evening. Wouldn't it be great to always come home to his kind of thing?????

Power Tool Races - yah baby!

We Took my dad to the power tool races this Saturday - as a late father's day celebration. What crazy fun! You can see photos and some video clips of the event here.

I think he was inspired - and is thinking about ways to make his own hot-rod power tool now. I suggested we make it fishing themed and come up with a way to make one out all of his old fishing gear.

It was also the Georgetown "old school" street fair and the Martians debuted the "CakeWalk" (our costume we built for the bus). It's looking pretty good. Just a few adjustments and she'll be ready for the Playa! woo hoo!

Promaggedon: The End ALL!

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

I've been a big whiny baby about this year's Prom - Promaggedon. It was our annual fundraising party that Flight to Mars, throws. The date got shifted a bit and landed it smack dab in the middle of a MILLION other things going on - which was a really bad idea in my opinion. I assumed we'd have little to no turn-out and lose our shorts, financially.

Instead: The martains had one of the BEST times ever AND we recouped our money and even came out a little bit ahead. To tell you the truth - for all the fun we had putting this together and playing all night long - I'd be happy if it had even cost a bit. Therefore I am pleasantly surprised at the results.

Project Green-Ride

ooo baby - am I ever excited about this new idea. It's JUST coming to clarity and it's got me jazzed. A roadtrip - done as green and cheaply as possible. And best of all - I'll share the entire journey with the world - via blog, video and eventaully and whole documentary.

So the process has begun. I have a van - I have the ideas - I have resources and the plans are being layed. Be sure to check back often as I move forward in the world of Bio-diesel and the generosity of others....

Project Green-Ride

Here's my van. It's a diesel engine - and currently I'm running B99 (99% bio-diesel, 1% petroleum based diesel) in it. My next step is to begin to make my own bio-diesel and work out the best method for doing that by myself. Then - I'm taking it on the road babee!

More focused living

Ahhh... What a difference a geographic change can make sometimes. Not so much as where you are - but the actual space around you.

I recently moved the offices around at work. I gave my boss the smaller, darker office - since he likes the feeling of being tucked away and seems more focused on his work that way. I moved myself into what was his office because I often hold meetings in my office and it gave me much more space for this. The wall of windows doesn't hurt either. All of a sudden I actually look forward to going to the office. We also took over the ware house in the back - and now all the clutter we'd been tripping over has a new home. Overall it all feels so much more open and airy - and we can all breathe better.

I also moved into a new home - with just my kiddo and our 2 cats. We opted not to have cable T.V. hooked up (saved money) and stuck with just our high speed internet. That means if we need to be entertained our options are to get out and be social, read a book, listen to the radio, play online or watch a movie on the dvd player. Still a lot of options!

The layout is good to. I decided to make a room downstairs into a movie room - so if you want to watch a movie - it's a conscious effort - and there are not a lot of distractions - so you actually WATCH the movie.

The office is upstairs - away from the T.V. screen - away from the main living area. Peace... quiet... FOCUS! It's sweet!

Each room has a purpose and I just feel this sense of calming down, getting quieter, being more focused.

CrossDress Bowling time again!!!

Fun and silly and always a good time: The Annual Seattle Art Car Cross Dress Bowling tournament.

An event to help raise money for the Seattle Art Car Blowout that happens every summer soltice weekend along with the Fremont Fair.

Learn all about the event and how you can participate or help out.

New Edition to the extended family

Meet Mikey.

He's our newest edition to our extended family.

Tom adopted him from a family off of Craigslist.org. He's been with us for about 2 weeks now. He's just realizng that we ARE his new people - and trusting us.

He hates the rain. He's a real kick in the pants!

He goes to work with me everyday - he's the official office dog. Then home with Tom in the evenings and through the weekends.

His favorite toy (only toy he likes) happens to be a stuffed hot-dog - which I think is HILARIOUS.

We think someone stole his knees.

Together We Are One

We are part of a bigger energy

It’s all around us

When we are alone together

It boils down to just you and me

To the connection between us

So intense and fulfilling

We don’t know where it comes from

Or how we found it

It’s just there

It always has been

And it’s known all along that we’d be together

It waited for us to open up to it

Now we have and it’s wonderful

Life keeps getting better

No matter how hard we try to stop it

We are part of a bigger energy that’s for sure

Part of something grand and spectacular

Together we are one

Thomas Platt
03/26/07

Birthday suprise

So - it's my Mom's birthday. She's been really "down" about it and pouting - saying "I'm not having a birthday this year!" and such. I decided to go with that theme - and let her believe that we were all too busy to do anything with her or for her on her birthday (she's a stickler that you HAVE to do something on the ACTUAL DATE OF YOUR BIRTH or just don't bother).

Knowing that it's impossible to suprise her - Savi and I decided that we wouldn't even try. Instead, we simply decided that we would take half a day off from school and work, drive down to her house and cook her dinner. We wouldn't tell her we were doing this - but if she found out we wouldn't mind. And - whether she was there nor not -we'd be throwing her a very nice dinner party. I had my Dad non-chelantly invite a few guests and that was it.

Come the 20th -the day before her her birthday, she got frustrated, believing that really, no one was going to do anything at all for her. She decided she'd throw her own party. She called up the same people we'd already invited and invited them to her party - ha! They were all very good and simply said yes - they'd come.

On the 21st Savi and I headed down to her house - with all the makings of a dinner party and broke into her house (well - we actually had a key - but it's fun to say we broke in). We decorated with fresh flowers and banners and started cooking. She wasn't home.

About 4pm she rolled in and was quite suprised to see us! She was kind of in shock for a bit and then relaxed and really enjoyed the evening. Later it all kind of sunk in and she was grateful and happy. She really did have a very nice Birthday - and knows that we love her and cared. It was PERFECT!

For the first time in my life - I actually suprised the un-suprisable Mrs. T!

The results are in - we RAWKED the House

Yo!

Wow - what a fantastic way to start the new year. Our party was sooooomuchfun!

I had to put DJ Sweet Chris Bell in his place.

Lukily the number seven showed up.

Here I'm showing this dirty rat to the door.

Nothing like counting down with a GIANT clock! We built this - and yes, that is a person waaaaay up there on top. The DJs did their thang from there.

We had a good crowd dancing their butts off by the end of the night. Mission accomplished ;)