Where I am

In the face of laziness and not a lot of traveling or otherwise tantalizing photos, I am leaving the blog be for a while.  I do have photos up here, per usual: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38373306@N00

Here's a teaser, a photo from a recent trip to Sayulita, MEX.

To market

market @ sunset
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

My mom and brother visited this past weekend. We saw some of the local sites, including the market at sunset. The whole weekend was sunny, and around 50F. Spring is coming. YEEEEEEESSSSS!

market @ sunset 2
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Democracy, yo

Ballard caucus
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

I decided to go to my local WA caucus and make my voice heard, etc, etc. Seattle is Obama town. I like and am comfortable with both democratic party candidates, but went with good ol' Hil. Obama stomped Hillary in our precinct. I decided to volunteer as a delegate for Hillary for the next level of stuff, and was voted into it. I guess I needed a new hobby.

Sugar sugar

ginger
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

I call her "Seattle ginger girl splashed by passing bus".
Notice she is still smiling though.

Happy Holidays folks!

I love public transit

Hello seattle
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

A new streetcar started running today between downtown and south lake union, a nearby neighborhood. I love seeing rail. There is much lacking in Seattle, a fact which displeases me. I suppose every 1.3 miles helps. I didn't ride it yet, but coworkers that were involved with the project passed the photos along.

Endless summer

Haystack Rock: Cannon Beach
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

This turkey weekend, I gave thanks for wetsuits. I went with a couple friends to Cannon Beach, on the Oregon coast. We ate, ate, and did a little bit of surfing. Cannon Beach is home to Haystack Rock, this monstrosity here. Note the little people on the left side. We didn't surf here, as there are sharks known to lurk in the area. We went further down the coast a bit, which I like to imagine as "no shark zone". The weather was even this perfect shade of no rain for a large part of the weekend. We also gave thanks for climate change.

Surf!!
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

This is Chao-lin, and she also gave thanks for wetsuits. She was not giving thanks for the slippery rocks and fallen trees that were in the way of us and the beach. The one other time I came to this coast, we surfed at this spot as well. It's a nice little cove and has a walk through a mossy forest to lead from the parking lot to the beach. We surfed for an hour or two, long enough to get back the bug, but not too long as to bring on the hypothermia. We all agreed that it was "warmer than expected".

If I can make it there...

1st ave
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

A couple weekends ago I joined 39,000 of my closest friends to run the NYC marathon. It was utterly fantastic, stunning, and a bit of a dream. The scene was typical of this shot with people everywhere running and cheering. It was in fact a solid stream of people in front of and behind me.

Run!
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The race starts in Staten Island, and crosses the Verazzano Narrows Bridge to go into Brooklyn. The race cruises through all 5 boroughs and over 5 bridges. I had watched the race many times while in NY, but it still didn't quite prepare for how fun it was to run it. And yes, I did just call running 26.2 miles "fun".

slow down...
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

People sometimes diss New Yorkers calling them unfriendly, brusque, etc, etc. I'm not quite clear where that comes from. I found this sign utterly pleasant and helpful. Actually, in a city where people are usually on the go, marathon day brings everyone out and pretty happy and energetic. There were even heaps of people so concerned with our well being that they were handing out paper towels and napkins.(?!) Musn't be untidy in the marathon.

silver cape
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

After the race I got a nice shiny blanket thing, and cotton candy from Audrey, my former roommate and officially the best person on earth after her cottony gift and her helpfulness post-race. I did a lot of hobbling down subway stairs in the week after the marathon, but now am back to normal. I actually ended up having the best time I'd had for a marathon - 4:02:44. And as my cousin pointed out, this time soundly beat Katie Holmes by more than an hour. Now its just time to dream up the next thing to tickle my fancy.

Fall: Should I stay or should I go?

scenic
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

A couple weeks ago, I embraced the opportunity provided by a clear and semi-sunny day to burn some fossil fuel and check out the fall leaves in the hills and mountains out here. I took a drive out through and past Stevens Pass, an area that in the winter is home to a ski hill. That mountain is sort of strange in that on the backside of it are bunches of electrical lines a la this hill. Nothing like getting back to nature.

What is it?
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Fall has been a bit confused this year all over the country, but in Seattle we are getting too much cold and rain rather than weird heat. This means snow on hilltops and nice fall leaves. I'm not in a rush for winter, but apparently the weather has other ideas.

I am training for the NYC marathon...

Run Run Run
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

And it seems like this is mostly what I am doing these days.

Does that look like the word "run" up on the wall to you too? If not, let me know---maybe it will help me diversify some.

Happy Birthday to me

yum
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

At the end of August I turned 30, which was pretty a-1. To celebrate, I went to eastern washington - land of heat, dry, and tumbleweed. Real summer! The Columbia River cuts through Washington, and I went with some friends from work to learn to wakeboard with one of the families who has skills and a nice boat. Despite the attempts at being a sportswoman, the birthday still retained all the elements of celebration - tequila, candles, and marshmallows.

birthday prep
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Preparation is key for a divine celebration.

wakeboard pro
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

This is the best shot from my wakeboarding. I am almost a professional.

real wakeboard pro
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Here's my friend's husband wakeboarding. I guess he's pretty good.

tandem tubing
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

I am really much better at tubing. Jennica and I, one of the work buddies.

it is cold
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

We stayed out a little too long in the water that day and it got a little choppy and cold on the way back. On the left is me and on the right is my friend's son.

kelly
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Coming up for air.

Chick surf!

Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Here's a gratuitous, thrown in there chick surf shot. The first time I surfed this summer was with a big group of girls on the Oregon coast. We ranged from having never surfed to being pretty ok. Here's a selection of us. Rock.

Fun at work

sprinkler test
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

It was bound to happen. Fun-at-work!! Aaaaack! Anyway, there is a large/long bus tunnel in Seattle that is being retrofitted to be able to handle light rail trains. One of my colleagues was inspecting the mechanical systems of the tunnel, so I got to go along to help. While we were there, a sprinkler test was being done of one of the tunnel bores which made for GREAT picture taking. What did I say... work is fun!

San Juan Islands

kayak
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The San Juan Islands are just north of Seattle a little ways in Puget Sound (i think). They are only accessible by water, and a common path for Seattlites is via car/passenger ferry. The islands are known for their large amount of killer whales and smugglers. Ok, more for the killer whales, but they are very close to Canada and ocassionally folks take water born routes to bring "stuff" across the border. This is not what my dad and I were doing here, we were kayaking with the hope of seeing sea life.

whale watch park
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The main island in the San Juan Islands is, um, San Juan Island. On the west side of it they actually have a park dedicated to whale watching; I'll let you guess the name of that park.

friday harbor
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The ferry docks at San Juan Island at a spot called Friday Harbor. It was a bit touristy... we went to another of the islands the next day and that was quite nice. In general, its a beautiful area.

whale watch point
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Here is that whale watch park again, and with one of a few lighthouses that dot the coast. Do I sound like a travel book yet?

roche harbor
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

This is Roche Harbor where famous people dock their boats. Famous people like Johnny Carson. Pretty exciting, I know. I can't think of any of the other famous people that are more interesting (or alive).

Uber Mega post

Seattle is cool
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

It's been another stretch of lackluster into none existent blogging, so I decided it was time to shake that up a bit. I am still in Seattle, and as you may have noticed, it's summer. Summer here is notable in that the rain largely stops and fantastic reasons to live here arise. See below for some of that. First is a shot I took from a boat ride up to Victoria, BC last spring. Nice city, eh?

Wigs
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

A couple weekends ago I went to Westport on the Washington coast for a bit of surfing. I went surfing for the first time in this area (and 2nd time ever!) last month in Oregon on a "chick surf" weekend with a bunch of girls both experienced and not. A few of us decided to extend the fun to the WA coast, invite males along too, and bring wigs. There's the making of a good time.

Kelly
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Kelly, with wetsuit and board. The water is quite chilly but with a wetsuit and lots of movement it's actually quite pleasant. This means that whether it's raining or not doesn't matter too much while in the water... being in the water on a 55 or 60F day, rain falling, and everyone on the beach in jackets. It all seems very pacific northwest. ; )

Westport
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

I decided to get with these crazy modern days and attempt to make a panorama shot with my camera. Here's attempt 1 of the Westport beach. The first day we were there was rainy and crap, but the second day was a gem.

ragnar volunteers
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Last month a group of us, largely from work, did one of these crazy 24 hour running relay races. It involves 12 people running nearly 200 miles divided amongst them. Each team has to provide a few other people to volunteer for the race and help with exchange stations and the like where runners switch off. Our volunteers were very sporty and made their exchange stations more festive.

watching
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

We did a lot of this during the race. The race went from Blaine, right near the Canadian border, to Langley, on the southern tip of Whidbey Island (one of the islands in Puget Sound).

our home
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

While doing one of these races a team is broken up into 2 groups of 6. Each group of 6 has a van that they tote all their food, running, and sleeping gear around in. This was our home away from home for the race. We decorated that too, especially with nicknames generated during or for the race. The best was probably the super hero-esque "Advil Man".

discovery park
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

My own neighborhood is sort of pretty. This is at a park a couple miles from my house, looking out into Puget Sound.

From whidbey island
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The month before the running race I did a little drive over to Whidbey Island to check it out and attempt to do some tidepooling. That was moderately successful, but what was rather nice was checking out the bridge that connects the Island to the mainland. Here's a view from that bridge.

deception pass
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

And a shot of the bridge. In order to cross from one side of the bridge to the other, they made you go on a path under the bridge that was actually quite cool.

shoes!
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

What with the dirt and rain in these parts, running shoes get a bit muddy. I've never washed this many shoes at once.

shoes?
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Sweet. I'm training for the NYC marathon this fall, so my shoes get very special care from me these days. Is my life pretty lame if I am taking pictures of shoes?

San Diego panda
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

In May I went down to San Diego to visit a good buddy from NYC Giuliana who was going to be down that way. I also thought it would be a nice little escape from Seattle weather. What I didn't realize was that in San Diego they have something called "May Gray" and "June Gloom". During those months it's typically about 60 or 65 and overcast or rainy. Exactly what it was when I left Seattle! But it was a fun little city, and I saw some photogenic and/or sleepy pandas.

Looking for glacier
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

My friend Weeks was on his world wind tour of the US after his long hike and stopped in washington. We used the weather to guide us to where to go, and so this meant that when we left one morning we were going to go a beach, and instead ended up going to the mountains and looking for a glacier. I was dressed for the beach and so was a poster child for those lost the woods movies--- jeans and too large Doc Martens to tromp through a few miles of snow.

Mt. Baker
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Near the area where we hiked was large and friendly Mt. Baker, who looks very nice in photos at sunset. 

pretty sunset
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

My office is on the 20th floor of a building downtown. We have sweet views. This is out over Puget Sound looking at the Olympic Mountains.

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The bean
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

I went back to Chicago in April. It was a perfectly clear, sunny, and warm weekend. Here's under the "bean" in the new Millenium Park.

John Hancock
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

This is my favorite building. John Hancock, Chi-town.

Road signs
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

I work in an area of our office with a bunch of Traffic Engineers. Did you know that there are Traffic Engineers? I sure didn't. Before this job anyway. There are even specialties within it of people that lay out where signs go. They are apparently affecting my brain as I am now taking pictures of road signs.

Port Angeles
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Port Angeles is another cute little town along the coast that I took a jaunt over to last spring. It was still gray at the time, but it's nice getting out and seeing the towns. Many of these trips involve taking a car ferry which is my favorite part.

Tulip farm
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

Ever wonder where tulips come from? Well, in the US apparently north of Seattle is a good spot. There are tulip festivals in the spring held at big farms of said flower. The tulips are planted in rows and look almost like corn or other crops. It felt a little regimented for a tulip but I guess it's effective.

Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The most photographed tulip.

The perfect shot
Originally uploaded by kkozdras

The star.