We visited the University District Farmers Market again this afternoon. It was crowed almost to the point of being overwhelming, but other than that, I had a great time. It's always an enjoyable experience to see real, natural food - not the factory food I'm so used to seeing in supermarkets. Instead of solid red tomatoes stacked neatly in cubes at QFC, there were baskets of tomatoes in fascinating shapes and sizes, in every imaginable shade of red and yellow, with blemishes. There were more varieties of zucchini than I knew existed. (I didn't know there was round zucchini!)

The guy from Sol Colibri Organic Coffee (Costa Rica) was at the Farmers Market, as usual, and I'm almost out of coffee, but I'm just not into coffee like I once was. My morning cup of coffee has turned into a twice a week cup of coffee. I can't remember when I last had a latte.

After the market, we looked at an apartment on NE 36th. It wasn't a bad place. There were a lot of positive things about it - nice price, two bedrooms, access to two bus routes, and fairly close to grocery stores. (I will miss being able to walk to the grocery store.) But the negative things outweighed the good, we agreed - a tiny, tiny kitchen without a stove (there is a communal kitchen shared by the six other units) and the difficulty we'd have closing off the bedroom during playtime with the kids.

Phoebe, one of the clerks at Broadway Market Video, is the only clerk that I know by name there. She always remembers my name. Unfortunately, she knows me as "Phillip," and I've never corrected her. See, I was added to Phillip's account when I moved in with him in 1996. We're currently into our second block of 100 video rentals, and I rent movies a lot more often than Phillip. When I step up to the check-out, I used to say that it was on Phillip's block, and that I'm Paul. Somewhere in the past, Phoebe began to remember me, but she got it confused and remembered that I'm Phillip. I rented "Better Luck Tomorrow" and "Indentity" on my way home, and of course, Phoebe called me over: "I can help you over here, Phillip."

I don't know what's going to happen when she discovers the truth.

I have a mystery. My mom left a voice mail last night (I was online for most of the evening) and told me she and Dad had seen an espresso stand with a "Bonus Question" that asked "What color is Goya?." She did a search on Google (I'm proud of her for that) and, of course, found lots of sites for the painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. What color is a painter? I did some searches on the hunch that goya might be a Spanish or Italian word. That didn't have any positive results. Phillip suggested this morning that it might refer to Goya Foods. But I can't think of any dominant product color for Goya. So, unless something occurs to me this afternoon, I'll call Mom tonight and tell her I don't have an answer. But, since she's one of the few regular readers of this blog, she probably already knows that.

This is about the only thing keeping me going this morning.

For most of the morning, I've had a persistant thought that what I really should be doing is working in a small team building small wooden boats.

(I have no boatbuilding or woodworking experience.)

"Why boats?" asked Connie, "Why not cars or airplanes?"

"I don't know why boats - Maybe it's being next to the water. I just think it would be fun to produce things that I can see and touch. Maybe it's the old-fashioned feel of wood. Maybe it's the idea of working without having to use a - computer! That's it! Computers! Cars and airplanes need computers. Small boats don't."

(I don't know where this thought came from. Maybe it's the idea that for the past several weeks, our computers and printers at work have been constant sources of trouble. Maybe it was the result of talking with Kim last weekend.)

Here's a quick primer for Nuclear Medicine reception:

The three most popular Nuclear Medicine studies (at my clinic, anyway) are: Bone Scans, Myocardial Perfusion Studies (a.k.a. Heart Stress Tests), and P.E.T. Scans.

Bone scans don't require any paperwork to be stamped at check-in, and thus, the patient does not need to have their hospital card with them. (They do need to be registered in the hospital system.) Bone scan patients, however, will argue with you that you do need to take their hospital card. (It's best to take their card, study it, hold it up to your computer screen, and return it to them.)

Myocardial perfusion studies have four sheets of paper that need to be stamped at check-in. Cardiac patients will tell you that they have a hospital card, but the last clinic didn't return it to them.

P.E.T. scans have from two to ten sheets of paper, plus a wrist band, that need to be stamped at check-in. P.E.T. scan patients will argue with you that they were referred from somewhere else, so they don't need a hospital card, nor do they need to be registered in the hospital system. (Everyone who comes into our clinic was referred from somewhere else.)

Every once in a while, a book comes along that seems to be a very good book, but which, for whatever reason, I'm just not in the right frame of mind for. This had been the case with Solaris. It's due back on the 3rd, and I've read only 58 pages.

"Adding highway lanes to reduce traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity."
- Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist (The Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1997)

It's a strange time of year in Seattle. The weather can't make up its mind, and no one seems sure of how to dress for the day. It's the first day of classes today. I crossed paths with people wearing parkas, and with people wearing tank tops. If you tried to show that in a motion picture, it would probably get listed as a continuity error.

Phillip had a spur-of-the-moment idea last night to go to Matthews Beach. (We'd driven past it on our way to Kurt and Lori's party.) It was nice - we sat in the dark, on the edge of the beach. We looked at stars, we looked at waves, and I played my djembe. We need to do that more often.

I had a dream this morning that I was back in Holland. It seemed like I hadn't planned to be there. I was browsing through a rack of brochures, trying to figure out what I should see - I had no ideas. I was in a panic because I had only two days to stay in Holland, and all I had for money was one $20 bill. What should I see in that short a time, and what could I convert into guilders? Then I relaxed. I remembered that I had a credit card, and there was a Postbank nearby. I also remembered that Phillip was there with me. All I had to do was ask him what he wanted to see.

Two great parties in a row: Last night was Kurt and Lori's housewarming (and Kurt's birthday) party. The black Utilikilt crowd was there. I spent a lot of time talking with Hank and Kim - especially Kim. Kim makes it all sound so easy. Want a house? Buy one. Want to move to Canada? Simple - open a glass foundry and become citizens. I didn't get to talk to Lori at all - she was always busy giving tours.