It's a beautiful Saturday night - perfect for geocaching. We found two more caches, just a couple of blocks from home.

Last night, a group of us from work went out to dinner at Dragonfish (part 2 of this busy weekend). Phillip decided to not join us.

After dinner, a sub-group of the dinner group went to The Paramount and saw the stage version of The Graduate. That was part three of the busy weekend. The play was an enjoyable experience, but I much preferred the movie. For some reason, the play made the story more "happy" (except for Mrs. Robinson. I don't remember Mrs. Robinson being such a constant drunk in the movie). There was a happy ending tacked on to the end, after the wedding. There was the scene, which Camille especially disliked, in which Elaine, moments after bursting in tears at Benjamin's attempts to ruin the date, suddenly bonds with the stripper. There was the bonding scene between Elaine and Mrs. Robinson. There was actually a lot of bonding in the play.

Last night was the first night of the new yoga session, but, because of dinner and the play, I went to the Saturday morning class instead (part 4).

There used to be two asanas that I just couldn't do: Vasisthasana (Side Plank) and Bakasana (Crane). Then one evening, I did the Side Plank, and then did it again. I was down to one asana I couldn't do. Then came the Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel) and I was back to two unattainable poses.

This morning, I did the Crane. I held it for only two seconds, but during those seconds, both feet were off the floor, and I didn't topple over. I felt so good, I couldn't help smiling. Then, immediately after the Crane, I did two side planks. I started laughing. I felt so good that, later in the class, I didn't attempt the Wheel.

Right after yoga, Phillip and I went to the U District, picked up Emily, and went mini golfing at Seattle Center. (part 5) Seattle Center's course was fun - a Pacific Northwest theme - a little rundown, and small. It was only 9 holes, and not much room for a CAP group. We're still liking the course at Interbay the best.

Along the way to Seattle Center, we learned that Emily is an experienced geocacher. Phillip and I had planned to try to find a cache or two on The UW campus after dropping Emily off, but instead, we invited her to join us.

Phillip and Emily and I looked for three caches near the Medical Center, and found two. We're going to remember to bring the clues with us next time. (When we got home, we discovered that the clue for the one we didn't find wouldn't have helped us much anyway.)

This evening was Dine Out For Life in Seattle. Phillip and I tried a nearby place we'd never been to: Six Arms McMenamins. (Part one of this busy weekend.) I had Thursday Jane's Spicy Tofu Burrito and a Scotch ale. Phillip had the Communication Breakdown Burger and a hard lemonade. Over dinner, we reminisced about the time we went to McMenamins in Portland with Ken and Rondel.

Immediately after dinner, we went geocaching. (Phillip was willing to skip dinner and spend the evening geocaching, but I was hungry.) With me driving, and Phillip reading the GPS unit, we set off to find a cache that had been created this morning.

With only the GPS - no map - we went directly to the right bush. (Still newbies - we read the hint beforehand, which told us only that we were looking for a bush.) I guessed it would be under a rock, under the bush, but there was one rock I missed. Once again, Phillip was the one to find the cache. We became the second Geocache member (we share a membership) to log a find for this cache. We signed the log book, there was no prize to take, and we left a toy truck.

(My wristwatch was, indeed, next to the computer.)

Yesterday, I went to work and forgot to put on my wristwatch. I'd gone into the bedroom to get it off the nightstand, got distracted, and forgot about it until I was almost to the bus stop. I spent an entire day without my watch, and didn't miss it much (surprisingly).

This morning, I was almost out the door when I realized that I still didn't have my wristwatch on. I went into the bedroom to get it off the nightstand, and it wasn't there. I went to the second place my watch usually rests - the bathroom counter - and it wasn't there, either. I looked on the only two other places my watch could be - the floor beside the bathroom counter and the floor beside the nightstand - and it wasn't either of those places, either. My wristwatch had vanished into thin air.

I had an impulse to walk to work, for the first time ever, but without being able to look at my watch and know how close to starting time it was getting to be, it felt a little too risky to me.

Somehow, during the bus ride into work, it occurred to me where my watch likely is. I was playing Diablo II on the Compaq the night before last, and, as I usually do, I set my watch down beside the keyboard because it's too easy to loose track of how long I've been playing that game.

So, this is day 2 without wearing a watch. I'm still not missing it much. Maybe it's a sign.

While looking for something else last night, I happened upon yet another critical commentary of my favorite book - yes, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez. I can't link to it, because the commentary is intended for students of the Delta County School District only, and I don't have permission to use it.

The commentary addressed some themes and subtleties of the novel which I had never seen before. It shed new light onto things in the novel I had seen before, but which I now see more clearly. It discussed some of the original Spanish and how it translates into English - a subject I had never read about before.

It also asked one major question I had overlooked in all the times I've read the book: Who is the narrator? It is one of the many mysteries of the story.

Soon after we both got home from work, Phillip and I started talking about Geocaching. We realized that, although we were still feeling a little bit frustrated, we weren't ready to give up so soon. I mentioned two cache sites nearby that I'd like to try someday soon. We talked some more, and realized that we were both ready to give it a try right away. With me driving, and Phillip working the GPS unit, we found the site without any trouble. Although it was nearby, it was in a neighborhood neither one of us was familiar with.

Phillip found the cache in the first place he looked. (We did look up the hint before we left, which turned out to be rather explicit.) It was almost too easy. Phillip used the word "anticlimactic." Maybe it was, but this finding of our first physical cache (a micro cache!) was important for several reasons:

It gave Phillip some experience at using the GPS.
It showed us what a physical cache is like, and what people put into them. (We took a USB converter plug and left a rubber frog.)
It showed us that not all caches are impossible to find.
It boosted our confidence and enthusiasm a lot.

For the first time ever, I actually listened to the words to that "golden oldies" song Winchester Cathedral (New Vaudeville Band). I still don't like the song, but at least I now know what it's about.

Phillip and I are a little bit frustrated by geocaching. It's tougher than it sounds. We returned to the "Lynn" cache after work today, full of ideas where it might be. Our GPS unit had an accuracy of 20 feet, at best - which is about the size of the whole park. We still haven't found the cache.

This morning, before work, I found a listing for a location literally in my workplace's back yard. On my way to work this morning, I found the exact location without having the GPS unit. During a morning break, I think I saw the cache. During lunch, I went to retrieve it, but it was too nice a day - too many people were having lunch outdoors. I went back tonight, after the Welcome & Nurture Committee meeting. I couldn't reach what I still think is the cache - I'll need a stick or something.

We are consoled by the realization that we are urban geocaching - which, we figure, is much, much more diffiuclt than wilderness geocaching. There's less privacy, fewer untrod-on spots to hide things, and greater opportunities to look suspicious. In an urban environment, you just don't have long stretches of time available to go poking through bushes or under benches before an onlooker (or police officer) happens by.

We are consoled by the realization that we haven't been doing this for very long at all.

It's been a busy weekend. Maybe this is a warm-up for next weekend, when our schedule will get really busy.

I went to the University of Washington's "Washington Week" yesterday. In other words, it was an open house. I took a tour of the beautiful Suzzallo Library, and saw the world's largest book. I got to see the wind tunnel in action.

Then I discovered just how difficult it is to bus it from the University District to REI on a weekend. On a weekday, it's easy - the 25 from south campus, or the 71/72/73 from The Ave, will take you right to the store. On Saturday, though, the 25 isn't running at all, and the 71/72/73 is an express all the way to The Convention Station.

So, I got some walking done on Saturday.

When I got home with our new GPS unit, Phillip and I tried our hand at Geocaching. With Phillip doing reconnaissance, and me doing the leg work (more walking!), we tackled our first cache - a difficulty 4 microcache, unfortunately. I couldn't find it. Next we tried a difficulty 1 microcache, a few blocks from us. I couldn't find it, either.

Saturday night, Phillip and I went to the symphony - in Burien, of all places. One of Phillip's co-workers couldn't go, so she gave us her tickets. A free night at the Northwest Symphony - you can't beat that. It's something I'd like to do again - even if we have to pay for our tickets.

This afternoon, after church, we tried more geocaching - this time, with both of us going to the sites. First, we found a ghost cache - we knew exactly what we were looking for, actually, but had never been there. Then we tried that cache up the street, and even together, we couldn't find it. Then we tried another difficulty 1 microcache, and couldn't find it. Then we went back to the difficulty 4 microcache, but there were too many people around, so we called it a day. We're thinking we should avoid microcaches, and look for regualr-sized caches, for the time being.

It's too hot in our apartment, and Phillip and I are both feeling ill.