My littler typer.

Josh has said many times how he hates that it seems our lives revolve around a computer.  Quite frankly it seems like it does.  We don’t have internet in our apartment unit and have “condensed” both our computer driven lives onto my Stout laptop (I put condensed in quotes because it seems we have filled it- yes we have managed to fill a laptop and is nearing full again- ugh).  With the limitations in our computer usage we must make mental notes or actual lists of everything we need to get done when our usage time is up.  Such a first world problem we have huh?  Oh boy sharing a laptop...don’t loose sleep for us at night and or lift this up in prayer.  I say all this because in light of Josh going home for a long weekend we have acquired another laptop.  It is a small PowerBook G4 Apple Amy graduated Stout with in 2005 (or was it 06, sorry Amy I can’t remember).  When Amy had a co-worker look up the current value, the large price tag….$100 bucks.  Yup that’s right, an apple laptop worth only one Benjamin.

While neither of us has turned this bad boy on since Josh’s return I had the idea tonight to give this little apple a purpose.  He is going to be “my little typer”.  I recently watched the academy award acclaimed (not really but should be) movie “You’ve Got Mail”.  In the movie, Kathleen’s boyfriend Frank has a strange affection for his typewriter and speaks in the movie about how solitaire had to be removed from workers computers because they were getting distracted!  Oh solitaire, AOL and hearing the computer say “you’ve got mail” how fast things have changed.  Anyways, it has got me thinking that Frank has a point.  A type writer does make a beautiful sound with each tap of a key, only serves has one function and doesn’t have spell check.  I type much faster than I write and feel there are so many times I should write down what I’m thinking, questioning, and experiencing.  Well my little baby apple you do make a nice sound when I type (seriously, I do have a thing for simple sounds- typing, crinkling paper, fans…), and while you do have more to offer than Word, I’m sorry to say you run a little slow.  So all this ranting to say I have my very own “type writer”. 

Saturday was a daylong adventure to, at and from the Gorge.  The Gorge is an amphitheater situated on the side of a cliff overlooking the Columbia river.  It has been a bucket list venue for Josh and therefore I get to rally in the experience.  From Seattle it is about a 2.5 hour drive- thankfully all highway.  The parking lot was opening at noon, the gates at 3:30 and the concert staring at 6- our goal was to reach the Gorge by 1 pm.  We wanted to get good parking, get our bearings, and grab a good spot in the general admission lawn area.  The drive out there was enjoyable because we were taking the same road we drove when we first entered Seattle back in March.  It was much different this time because everything wasn’t covered in snow!  Washington is so beautiful.  It is one of the aspects I will greatly miss when we move back to the Midwest.  Driving the 2.5 hours we got to see mountainsides FILLED with evergreens, rocky terrain that was almost desert like, huge still bodies of water and more.  Once we got to the Gorge, the process of waiting began.  We always bring things to do when we know there will be a lot of down time- like books, cards, and Farkle, but most times people watching is so much more interesting.  When we finally got to enter the venue you had to walk a good half mile from the gate we entered to actually seeing the stage.  The venue, like I mentioned before is beautiful.  We scouted out our spot and “set up camp”.  As time progressed more and more people started filling in all the gaps around you known as “personal space” hence beginning the frustration of the night.  We were shocked and disappointed at the number of people who seemed to attend only for the reason of getting drunk or high.  By the time DMB started more people had moved to stand right in front of us meaning I would have a shifting view of the stage.  Don’t get me wrong DMB was awesome and put on a great show- the fans however decreased the experience.  Knowing that there were 20,000 people in attendance and hearing how getting out can take hours we headed out before the beginning of the encore.  It was 11:30pm and we knew it would be at least 2 am before we were home, but both of us (obviously) had the determination to stay awake.  The drive back was quite lovely.  Seeing that where the Gorge is located could be considered in the middle of nowhere- the highway had minimal to no streetlights.  But the night was crystal clear with a full moon shining bright and it was beautiful.  There was one moment where I saw the silhouette of a large hillside with white puffy clouds just above the top.  They were glowing with a hint of blue from the moon and bright twinkling stars surrounding it all.  I will not get many chances like that to see the state of Washington in the glow of the moon.  Thankfully, our eyes did not feel sleepy and we made it back safe and sound- hitting our pillows at 3 am.

I hope you all have an enjoyable labor day- taking the time to rest before the kick off of fall!  Yippee!  One of my favorite times of year- sweatshirts, jeans, warm drinks, blankets, crisp morning air, warm rich colors, hearty hot meals, oh I love it.