I'll admit that I want the iPhone (released Friday at 6pm) badly. Quite badly. Apple packed almost every feature that I want from a mobile internet device with personal info organizer and phone capability into the iPhone. And then they added the multimedia capabilities of an iPod. (Funny enough, the iPod parts are the capabilities I care least about.) And the toy just looks gorgeous. Like something you want to use because it is pretty and slick and (as one tech pundit put it) "lickable."

Sadly, I have Sprint phone service. And I will have it until next April. So for me to switch to an iPhone (and the attendant AT&T service plan) would cost me $650. $499 for the iPhone and $150 to cancel my Sprint contract. If Dev wanted one too, then we're looking at 1300 bones. So I'll be watching from the sidelines. For now.

Maybe I'll get a deal through work that makes it somewhat less expensive.

Word has it that "of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic."

Awesome.
1% of people do all the work anyway, right?

These pictures came from the Pet Hotel (a "kennel") where Moxie and Bojangles spent the night while we camped up in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest for our friend Warren's birthday (happy birthday again Warren!). I thought that Stay did an amazing job of capturing each dog in a characteristic pose for their personality. Absolutely uncanny how well they portrayed our dogs in a single snapshot.

Dev and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary quietly at the same place we got married - The Resort at the Mountain in Welches, Oregon. Funny enough, we got the same room this last weekend that we stayed in on our wedding week. And it was merely chance - we didn't ask for that room! We had a short hike along the Salmon River. We relaxed to a mindless movie with a bottle of wine. Basically had a good time on a quick getaway from normals-ville.
And to all of your who sent cards and called and sent emails with well wishes for our anniversary, thank you! Though be careful, if I ever forget the date and you guys remember, you could get me in trouble!

Apparently my readers miss me. This is a good thing. Maybe I'll start a cult of personality with me as the center of the target for adulation. We all know I would do a better job of running the worlds than all the crazy plutocrats that hold the reigns of power right now.

Cheeky!
Safari for Windows.

Hiked in Forest Park yesterday with Dev. The rain tried to catch us a few times, but Cowboy scared it off. He's our good luck hiking charm. Six miles and 960 feet of elevation gain went pretty quickly. We saw a lot of trail runners and a few other dogs, but mainly got a lot of quiet forest path to ourselves. A nice way to spend a few hours on an otherwise un-splendid weather Sunday. We forgot the camera so I have no pictures to share. Maybe next time.

I am officially a Mazama. Paperwork came in the mail today. Yay!

Pictures from Dog Mountain here

Good Sunday yesterday. Dev and I hiked Dog Mountain to see all the wildflowers. Her and Jami handled themselves quite well. Jamie proved the toughest of us - she roofed a blister on each heel, finished the hike without complaining about the blisters (she complained about her shoes instead) and poked a rattlesnake with a stick to scare it off!
Then we cleaned up, had some snacks with Jami and her mom Jan. After that we went and ate some excellent barbeque ribs made by our friends Jon and Lori. We sat around in the shade and ate some sweet potato and pineapple potato salad, fresh green salad and homemade peach cobbler. They gave us enough food so that I was fit to burst.

Pictures of the hike coming later tonight.

I've been listening in to a trip that one of the editors of Backpacker Magazine took last fall through the High Sierras. Really inspiring stuff. You can listen to it starting here. He has 30 days worth of satellite phone from-the-trail-reports.

Truly spectacular accomplishment.

I'm better than halfway done with hanging the cabinet doors in the kitchen. Hope to finish tonight. Maybe I'll get the knobs and handles installed, too. Hanging the hinges right stymies me a little bit. I may have some adjustments left to perform after, but we're in the home stretch of the cabinet refinishing.