June

June was an exciting month. GRADUATION MONTH! Nathan finished his classes with a 3.9 in one and a 4.0 in the other. His overall GPA is 3.84 Fantastic. He's amazing, working full time and still got top grades. Nathan's friends came over to celebrate. We're also planning a celebration with family. Really though, we're going to be celebrating for a while. It's so nice to be done. As far as what's next, there is currently a hiring freeze for the FBI. We're going to keep watching, but for now we'll just enjoy being full time married.

Since he's finished we've enjoyed evenings together. Making dinner together again, and eating while it's still light outside. We've also started jogging a couple of nights a week. We're registering for a 5K in August. I asked around and got several recommendations of places to get good running shoes. The goal is to get our new pairs this week.

Nathan's best friend Jeff got married in June and we went to support him. Although we had to wait for the ferry, we got there in time for the "I do" and kiss. The reception was very relaxed. It was in Kingston, WA at a place called MY GIRL DRIVE-IN. The place had a ton of classic cars and 50s memorabilia.

The owners are big fans of Elvis. They have an old movie trailer of his so we peeked inside.

Flamingo outside the trailer

Nathan is All Shook Up

Hula Hoopin'

Nathan took this picture of me while we were waiting for the ferry home.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Ninjas – Networking

In all professions there is one great equalizer... it's all about who you know. It is no different with the clandestine organization of ninjas. While a truly artistic and powerful ninja may be able to rise above the ranks of his compatriots, one can only make it so far without connections. As a result, some of the most sophisticated and cutting edge networking techniques have been developed and used by ninjas.

At the dawn of the 2000s the ninjas decided to foray into the networking capability of the internet. It began simply enough in 2002 with the development of a site called Friendster. The site was a modest success in the eyes of ninjas, but it lacked the necessary ability to customize user pages. Not to mention, word got out and the site was hijacked by shoguns...

In August 2003 the second phase of the networking plan was rolled out with MySpace. It originally solved all the problems the ninjas had discovered with Friendster. MySpace was entirely customizable, it allowed for privacy needs, and created a platform that could easily be embedded with hidden codes. That is, until the Pirates showed up. In their traditionally haphazard way of destroying everything pure, they infiltrated the site and plagued it with their heathen attitudes and pedophilia. (Fun side note: It was an effort to rid the world of these pirates that begat To Catch a Predator).

After the infiltration began, the ninjas decided they needed to find a new area for their networking... so they started working diligently with a couple of young Harvard students: Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. It wasn't long after beginning work with the Winklevi that the ninjas were attracted to a much brighter and more capable student at Harvard. Their new partnership with Mark Zuckerberg proved quite powerful, as the development of Facebook provided the perfect platform for ninja networking.

Other networking sites have been attributed to the ninjas, but this is purely conjecture. In questioning known ninjas about the advent of Twitter, the sole response has been, "Ninjas don't tweet." LinkedIn has also been posited as a ninja formation, but no self-respecting ninja would look for the referential praise that one sees on sites like that.

Facebook will not be the last networking technique used by the ninjas... it certainly wasn't the first. After all, you never know when pirates will ruin everything again.

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday was fantastic. Since Nathan only has 3 days of class left he had time to relax. So we slept in late (a rare treat for him). Then we talked to Christie, Chris and Teddy in Italy via Skype. Good times. One of my favorite things about Skyping with Teddy is that he likes to hold stuff so close to the camera...The picture quality isn't great to begin with, but add in an EXTREME CLOSE UP and the picture is even worse. But I love it. He shows me his video game (DS) and his toys. Some times he just makes funny faces and then dashes off. After visiting for a little while we relaxed and watched a few episodes of BONES, our latest marathon series. Then we called Nathan's dad to see what they were up to this weekend. We made our way up to Everett for a visit. Although it wasn't a super warm day, it was dry and a wonderful partly sun shine day. There are some great flowers around Dennis's yard. We finished they day by having a great dinner outside then off to see the new Pirates movie. We saw it in IMAX 3D. While Nathan and I admit that 3D has come along way, we're still not completely sold on the idea. For me watching a movie through dark glasses is a distraction, and it makes the movie so dark (and blurry at times). Maybe it's all because I don't like change, but I think we'll stick to watching movies the good ol' fashioned 2D way. ;P

View of the yard

I love this tree swing

Nick took a picture of us