I N T H E N I G H T K I T C H E N 2.9.2002
Picture page Not as many pics as I hoped. T. has some on his camera that are probably better.  T., looking smashing!  This is after the birds attacked and we put away our sandwiches. T. put a cracker on his glove. This bird ate the cracker and then sat there and waited for another.  One of the coolest things about the hike were these natural, snow sculptures. Short or broken trees, big bushes, uprooted former giants, would get covered in snow and shaped by the wind resulting in these crazy forms. I really liked these two which look like some sort of otherwordly hikers. 2.8.2002
Things that have happened in the interim We stopped for lunch at the lake, got out the camping stove and made soup. It was so delicious. We had sandwiches, too, but were afraid to eat them. A gang of grey jaybirds circled us and when T. tried to take a bit of his sandwich, one even flew in at him and pecked a piece out of it. When that happened, there were a dozen or more birds that landed on the snow at his feet. I'm pretty sure that they had experience at this and fully expected T. to toss his sandwich at them in fright. They were a little scary. So, we hiked back out a ways until we felt safe from the birds and had our sandwiches. One of my schemes is to see if I can get some entry-level pre-press work. This would basically be working in a print shop and getting files ready for press. I've already got some of the necessary software skills and I think learning that part of the print business would be pretty valuable and fun. It's slow-going though, trying to find someone that knows someone who will give me a break. I did have one opportunity come up recently that made me realize how over web design and development I am. Basically, I was talking to this chick about a 3 month, possibly more, contract for an interface designer over in Beaverton (boring suburb of Portland). I gave her my particulars and expressed much interest in the job because, frankly, I need the money. I hung up the phone and then started stressing about the pre-press feelers I have out there. My thought was basically this: "God, I better get hopping on that pre-press stuff because I think I would go crazy out there in suburbia sitting at a desk job for forty bucks an hour. Nope, I better see if I can get one of these minimum wage jobs in pre-press where I'm somebody's whipping dog." And, truthfully, the bottom rung sounds much more palatable to me right now. Which is really fortunate because that company decided to work with someone already in-house. Bastards. I feel like everyone I know is out of work. Things could be much better than they are now. 
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