Nomad is on Island

(written Dec 7)

I’m composing this in an office in Bellevue, which is an odd experience... it's disconcerting to see someone you know in a languorous island context appear all perky and corporate, moving briskly among cubicles with sheafs of laser-printed arcana, interacting in a loosely suited hierarchy, and otherwise doing things that seem utterly foreign. Jeannie dropped into my life via Friendster a little over a year ago, and since moving to my enclave in the woods has mysteriously disappeared before dawn five out of every seven days, only to return exhausted, 14 hours later, in dire need of drink and dinner (in that order). Of course I have always believed her, in an abstract sort of way, when she has related harrowing tales of employment travails; but now I see where she actually goes.

It's another world out there.

For me, venturing off island has become a big deal (unless it’s for an expedition, in which case it’s an energizing inhalation... funny bit of psychology, that). Today the motivation was to appear before the Island County Board of Equalization, hat in hand, petitioning for a reduction in the assessed value of a 5-acre piece of forest that has increased over 50% in the past year with corresponding impact on my property tax bill. I made my case, pointing out an adjacent “comp” that just sold for just over half that on a per-acre basis, then moved on... meandering down Whidbey Island and doing a recon mission to confirm the feasibility of incorporating a 2-mile kayak portage on an upcoming mini-expedition. Should be fine... there’s a “neck” on that huge island in the vicinity of Penn Cove and Coupeville, allowing us to haul out Bubba and sistership at a public tideland, convert to road mode with the Paddleboy "Heavy Lifter" cart, do an hour or so of hearty schleppage across Libby Road and into Fort Ebey to camp at the marine trail site, then re-launch on the western shore and paddle over to Port Townsend. There's something alluring about amphibian nomadness...

All that off-island running-about happened to coincide with the annual holiday dinner shindig where Jeannie works; hence the odd context switch into a corporate environment. Perversely, while she does adminish things and development-biz buzzwords muffle their way through padded partitions, I’m sitting here noting the flaws and details of their drop ceiling. That’s my next job at Nomadic Research Labs, now that the Wall o' Laurel is installed, so troffers and tees are very much on my mind.

Ah... time to head to Spazzo's for treats.

In other news...

Items sold since last entry:

49 Windowed DIP EPROMS - $17.00 to Barrington, Illinois
Mountain Biking in West Virginia - $5.00 to Wheeling, West Virginia

New goodies on eBay:

(nil)