If you haven't yet, make sure you visit the new Tacoma-centric site FeedTacoma.

Organized by several Tacoma bloggers (and especially Kevin Freitas), it's self described as "A community resource by people who live and love Tacoma." And it really is.

Check out the main page, the discussion board, photos, and the events about town.

Lastly, the "About" page includes links to several Tacoma bloggers - bothhands to be added soon!

Posted by: Ensie at 08:59 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Today we stopped at the open house for a gorgeous, 3-story Victorian house a couple of blocks away from our own house. The enormously high ceilings, flowing rooms, and seemingly endless amount of space were slightly depressing, but inspired a bout of cleaning that was greatly needed.

If you've got an extra $500K to spend, it certainly looks worth it (Most disturbing was the bathroom - almost as large as our master bedroom)!

I spent several hours cleaning up the book explosion from January that had overtaken the office after the ALA Convention. Instead of being smart and putting all of my catalogs (oh, so many catalogs) and hundreds of books in boxes immediately, I had left them in the flimsy, free bags that the vendors supply everyone with, and they had started to overflow and give way at the bottom, causing gradual lava flows of books and magazine-like products over the entire space. I would have taken pictures, but the state the room was in was just too embarrassing. Weirdly enough, our next-door neighbors have a perfectly elevated view from their kitchen through our office closet (?!) window. I'm sure they think we're huge slobs.

Now the books are boxed, and the majority have moved upstairs with the rest of our books that don't fit on our minimal bookshelf space. Our next house has got to have a library in it. In addition, the books from the Bob's Hogs Conference have also been sorted through, and I have four boxes of books to donate to charity.

What I'm really excited about is that I finally got registered on BookCrossing today. With the number of free books that I get from publishers and the number of books I have that I no longer need, I have more than enough to unleash upon the unsuspecting Tacoma public. I had no idea that you could even order Release Kits to put on your books to tag them as BookCrossing titles to make sure that people notice them and pick them up. Cool!

My first book release will be an advanced reader copy of Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It looks like the book release supplies should be coming from Sand Point, ID, so hopefully I'll get to set it free this week.

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I feel like I'm so behind when it comes to learning about the city I live in. I've been seeing these posters here and there around Tacoma, but it took me weeks to finally figure out where I could get one.

Apparently I missed the holiday show in December, but will be on the lookout for future events.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:47 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I have become addicted to the blackwater cafe.

I'm not exactly why it took me so long to go there, but now that I've walked through the front door, it's going to take a crowbar to get me out.

The coffee is delicious, it's not served scaldingly hot like some places, and there are books aplenty to read on the shelves in the back.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Tacoma outperformed expectations last night in the snow category, ending up with 7 inches officially, although we measured 9 inches on our deck at 11:30 before retiring for the evening with snow still falling. Weather reports early Wednesday called for snow North of Seattle, with a possible inch or two in the foothills to the East. Trace amounts expected in the South.

The clouds formed a large convergence zone in the shape of a middle finger over Tacoma that stuck for about 5 hours. Many people were forced to abandon their cars downtown, unable to climb the steep hills to Tacoma proper. Frinklin took the day off. Now that the snow has had a day of sunshine (but not really any heat, it was all of 32 degrees today), everything has rapidly refrozen. It should be an icy experience getting to the train tomorrow.

I got lots of snow and ice driving experience today. The Subaru did well. Only one stopping problem and the anti-lock brakes kicked in immediately to stop the skid. Also one acceleration slip that was my fault for starting out too quick on sheer ice. God do I love the AWD.

Wind chill today was 16 degrees. Overnight it should get down to 14. My friend in Philly told me it was almost 70 degrees there last weekend. Maybe we should move...

A few pics from today:

First thing this morning, before the wind knocked all the snow down.

The Beetle will likely remain in hibernation for the next several days.

No footprints, just ski tracks on the sidewalk!

Early AM

The icy gauntlet

Posted by: Ensie at 10:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 BEAUTIFUL! I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous

Posted by: Jennifer at January 12, 2007 05:17 PM (DLBqP)

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Found at so anyway...

Which Character from It's A Wonderful Life Are You?

You are Mary Bailey
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In case y'all didn't know, Frinklin just happened to take part in the radio stage play of It's a Wonderful Life here in Tacoma with the Horatio Theater. He played a number of parts including the Announcer, Mr. Potter, Uncle Billy, and several minor roles. The show was great fun to watch and was reviewed in the paper positively. Can't wait to see the next one!

Posted by: Ensie at 04:54 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Frinklin-Ensie household is finally back online after the ginormous windstorm that struck Thursday evening. We lost our cable (and thus the internet, TV, and phone) on Thursday afternoon, and our power followed about 1 AM early Friday morning. We were lucky enough to have lights and heat again by early afternoon Friday, and it appears the cable came back sometime around 6 PM today.

We weathered the storm far luckier than some, having giant dogs and plenty of cats to keep us warm, a gas fireplace without an electric starter, and a gas water heater. Currently, the houses across the street from us still don't have power, and Tacoma Public Utilities is saying it may be another day to get everyone up and running. Reports are there are 6500 people still without power here and temps are already in the mid 20s.

Seattle City Lights had 175,000 customers without power on Friday morning. Puget Sound Energy had over 700,000. The town of Gig Harbor only has 30,000 subscribers on their power system, and 28,000 of them were without power after the storm ended. It's been amazing to see the destruction this storm has brought just to our neighborhood.

Check out Exit 133 to find more photos, esp. in the comments section. more...

Posted by: Ensie at 10:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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All taken in or from the front yard. Hit the time stamp to see the photos in full.

Posted by: Ensie at 02:57 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Maybe it's not so great that we have a snow day today.

Reports are that over 150 Seattle Metro busses were abandoned along with countless cars on the side of freeways and roads due to ice and heavy traffic. Bus service is at 80% capacity currently. Cars still litter the streets.

Microsoft shut down their Eastside campus in Redmond, WA. This is the first time I can remember this ever happening.

90% of school districts in Western Washington are closed including Seattle and Tacoma Public.

Commutes home last night took four or five hours instead of the usual 1/2 to 1 hour. Bus drivers told people to get out and walk.

Hotels lowered rates and allowed people to sleep on cots for free in their conference and ball rooms.

Oregon fans leaving the Seahawks/Packers Monday Night Football game last night driving home to Portland are just NOW arriving home at noon, fifteen hours later. Seattle to Portland is normally a three hour drive.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge between Tacoma and Gig Harbor was shut down in both directions last night for several hours due to a major accident. As was the 512 freeway in Puyallup this morning. And the I-90. And parts of various other freeways and roads.

High temperature expected today in Tacoma is 27 degrees with a wind-chill of 13.

High temperature expected today in Bellingham (North of Seattle) is 14 degrees with a wind-chill of -3.

While the sun is shining currently, as soon as it sets everything will refreeze, just in time for evening rush hour. Snow is expected again on Wednesday evening into Thursday.

Frinklin's office, technically a branch of the Bismarck, North Dakota office, saw absolutely no reason to close their Seattle location. What's a little snow and ice? So what if Seattle is located on various verticle slopes?

Posted by: Ensie at 01:36 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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How Percy spent the day:

What you can't see is the giant box fan in the window set on high.

Posted by: Ensie at 04:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dear Asshole,

Was it really necessary to egg my brand new car last night to celebrate your graduation or some other anticlimactic event? I haven't even made a payment on it yet. I've never owned a brand new car before. Finding several eggs glued to the side this morning...lets just say you're lucky I don't know who you are. Even better, I had two appointments that kept me from getting the nasty mess removed until this afternoon. As the weather is warming up, the eggs had solidified and bonded to the paint by the time I got to the carwash.

Ah, the carwash. I don't know where there is a hand wash in Tacoma, so I had to take it the Pink Elephant. My brand new car got to travel through the car washing tunnel. If you've ever had a new car, which I doubt, you'll know that the car wash tunnel scratches the hell out of the clear coat finish on a new car. In addition to the big scratches where the eggs met car, the finish is now marred. You may not be able to see it, but I can. Oh--and the guy who dried off the car? He used a RAZOR to pick the stuck-on eggshells off, resulting in some great gouges in the paint. So, again, thanks for that!

You are a total asshole and I hope that bad car karma follows you the rest of your days. May everything you own be a lemon and should you ever have a brand new car, I hope some dickwad eggs the hell out of it.

Fuck you,

Ensie

Posted by: Ensie at 07:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Jeffrey has turned into a killer.

A few weeks ago he scared the crap out of Frinklin by attacking a full-grown opossum that happened to be in our backyard when he went outside before bed. Frinklin told the story here. Fortunately(?) the opossum survived and after playing dead for ten minutes it wandered away. We haven't seen it since.

Despite the fact that word must have spread by now throughout the oppossum community that ours is a house of death, we are still seeing baby oppossums regularly. Unfortunately, we are only seeing them dead. Yesterday while I filled out paperwork for the new car Frinklin ran home to pick up the title for our trade-in. He let The Jeffrey out for just over a minute which is apparently all the time it takes to maul a small opossum.

I've double checked with the vet to make sure that The Jeffrey's rabies vaccine is up to date. Fortunately rabies is not a problem with opossums in the area, only with birds and bats. I really can't take anymore bodies in the backyard though.

Posted by: Ensie at 06:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If I thought it was cold before, I was wrong. The weather report showed temperatures of -5 degrees last night with the wind chill. The wind is arctic air blowing off the ocean. White Pass was -68 degrees! That's MINUS 68 degrees at the summit. Did I accidentally move to Antarctica?!

The weather man currently on TV is reporting that we will see temps in the single digits near the Puget Sound which could feel as low as -10 as the wind continues to blow.

I know for those of you living in truly cold places are probably laughing at me and my wussiness when it comes to freezing temperatures. However, the coldest I've ever been is about 22 degrees. I can't even imagine anything lower, but it sounds like I'll get to feel it. Please send warm thoughts for my pipes (no bursting!) and for the 50,000 people in the area without power (and without heat in many cases). I'm contemplating bringing a couple of neighborhood outdoor cats into our house for the night.

Posted by: Ensie at 06:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Where the hell to they sell Suave Naturals deoderant and antiperspirant around here?

Posted by: Ensie at 07:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh, the homesickness. In waves, like nausea. I've been absolutely miserable.

We've been just over two months and it's like a bell went off in my brain that, instead of saying, "ding!" is screaming, "I WANT TO GO HOOOOOOMMMEEEE!!" Then there are tears and sobbing and a weird panic attack that I actually felt coming on 1/2 hour before it hit.

I had finished eating dinner on Monday night and thought--odd, I feel as though I'm going to have an anxiety attack. Shortly after, I was preparing to go to bed and wham! Tears and gulping for air and uncontrollable shaking. After 15 or 20 minutes I was able to pull it together, only to be hit by another round of tears and shaking moments later (although I could breathe this time). I finally relaxed enough to watch some TV, read, and sleep (thanks to Simply Sleep).

Tuesday sucked. I've been having a difficult time adjusting at work. The people are relatively friendly, but each Bob's Hogs is going to be different, and this one certainly is. It makes me wonder if we were all just slackers down in San Diego. The random rules and restrictions at this particular store are playing havoc with my role as Queen of Everything. The staff at this store is proving less malleable to my way (the correct way) of doing everything. I was blessed to have a very successful program in San Diego that required a lot of time-consuming work, but relatively little outreach. Here, I find I have to do twice the amount of outreach and am reaping less than half of the benefits. Things are beginning to move, but I am impatient. I know realize how lucky I was previously. And I am feeling rather sick at the thought that I voluntarily gave that up.

Yesterday evening concluded with another round of tears, this time on the phone with my Mom. My family is extremely important to me, and I miss them more than I thought possible. How am I going to survive missing my younger sibling's high school years? How can I continue going to the movies without my best friend - my sister, Katie?

I'm feeling considerably better today, but it's more of a struggle than I anticipated

Posted by: Ensie at 06:48 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Finally!

I literally had begun to believe that nothing that I own would ever show up at the new house. All our stuff would just continue riding around on various moving trucks, traveling back and forth across the United States FOREVER.

The moving company called Frinklin on Monday afternoon to tell us that the movers would be at the house between 2 and 5 pm on Tuesday and, by the way, you owe us an extra $700 because you went over your weight limit. No kidding, really? I tried to explain when I booked job that we had 32 boxes of books and 15 boxes of comics in addition to our regular stuff, but they didn't want to hear it. Asshats. Then they showed up at 6, even though I had to leave my new job on the SECOND DAY to meet them. They also upped the stair charge from $49.00 to $69.00 for THREE extra stairs. The movers didn't mention that until afterwards and I refused. I think he saw the crazed look in my eye saying go ahead--try and take something worth twenty bucks. I dare you. I'm looking for an excuse to kill you.

I'll be contacting the Better Business Bureau later on this week about the crappy service and their inability to call me back while hauling 5,000 lbs of my belongings around.

Lastly, I wouldn't allow the movers to take anything upstairs (more money, you know), so it's all packed in the living room and one bedroom. I have pictures, but you're going to have to take my word for it for a while until we get the desk and computer set up. The movers did not set up the desk, even though we had paid them to.

To top it all off, they lost all my metal posts which hold the bookshelves in the actual cases, so the 34 boxes of books MUST remain packed until next weekend.

Posted by: Ensie at 04:58 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'll be glad when the weekend gets here...

What? You mean it's already happened? When?

Dammit.

I missed it. I was too busy clearing our entire backyard and cleaning our house like it has never been cleaned before. I am rapidly losing the ability to think--typing this blog entry took me 13 minutes.

Posted by: Ensie at 07:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Forbes List of the Best Places to Live has ranked San Diego thusly:

#25 San Diego CA
Population: 2,986,000
RANK

Engineers1 24

Cost of Doing Business2 148

Cost Of Living3 145

Crime Rate4 44

Culture & Leisure5 17

Educational Attainment6 27

Income Growth* 3

Job Growth* 21

Net Migration* 68

Overall 25

And Tacoma falls just behind it at, um, 123rd:

#123 Tacoma WA
Population: 753,000
RANK

Engineers1 120

Cost of Doing Business2 78

Cost Of Living3 102

Crime Rate4 127

Culture & Leisure5 38

Educational Attainment6 115

Income Growth* 149

Job Growth* 36

Net Migration* 34

Overall 123

But it means the houses are cheaper!

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