Walla Walla, WA

On November 25, my parents and I drove from Pullman to Walla Walla to do Thanksgiving with my brother, his wife, and her family. The first night there, I ended up in a volleyball game loaded with former high school and college players. Luckily, this meant that there were plenty of people to tell me where to go.

Dinner was very good, and a bit chaotic with multitudes of people rushing around the kitchen. I did my part and mashed the potatoes.

Here's a shot of most of the group.

While in Walla Walla, I also did some Christmas caroling. No, really. Audra had a few of us show up at her friend's house and sing jingle bells. We were terrible, and everyone in the house seemed really confused until Audra and Brent popped out from behind a bush.

After Thanksgiving, a bunch of us headed up to a cabin in the Blue Mountains. We drank hot cocoa, then turned off all the lights and played hide and go seek. I had to wear a hat so that my shiny head wouldn't give me away in the dark.

Pullman, WA, for the third time

After a week in Seattle, I returned to Pullman, WA for the two weeks before Thanksgiving. As I may have alluded before, not much happens in Pullman. Therefore, to pass the time I spent as many waking hours as possible in either the public library (free wireless Internet!) or in Washington State University's palatial rec center, which is equipped with a giant swimming pool, a monstrous weight room, and hordes of hot college babes.

Unfortunately, all the hot college babes were gone for Thanksgiving break.

With nothing else to do, I also decided to cut my hair. Now, here's the thing about hair -- just when it becomes awesome, it also becomes nearly unmanageable.

See how awesome/unmanageable that hair is? Anyway, I spaced out and had an accident with the clippers, the result being a necessary shaving of my head.

So yeah, I'll be sporting the bald-with-a-beard look for Thanksgiving. No worries, though; there will only be about 25 people at dinner this year. And I have a job interview in three weeks.

Seattle, WA

On November 9, I drove across the state to Seattle. I stayed with local Kokondo sensei Gary Mikasa and his wife Diane. Like everyone else, they were incredibly hospitable; I had an entire basement to myself, and Diane cooked up a storm while I was there.

In addition to attending a variety of Kokondo classes and a seminar with Kaicho Howard, I also had the chance to catch up with some old friends. I met Julie and Joe for lunch in West Seattle, and had a chance to revisit some of the areas where I grew up.

I also got to see my old friend Dan at a party in Issaquah. We were neighbors in the graduate dorm at Washington State University, and our rooms shared an adjoining bathroom. WSU officially called us "showermates" but I prefer to call him my "bathroom buddy."

In unemployment-related news, I also applied for a postdoc position at Sandia while I was in Seattle.

Helena, MT

On November 6, my mom and I rented a van and drove to Montana to pick up the last of her stuff in Helena. Like the true vagabonds that we are, we slept in the back of the van on the first night.

While in Helena, we visited a wellness labyrinth with a peace pole in the middle. The labyrinth was 75 feet in diameter, but it was a 0.3-mile meditative trek to reach the middle.

In Helena, we stayed at my mom's friend's house for the night. When we arrived, her cat seemed incredibly interested in my shoes. I commented that they must smell like dogs because I had just been kicking some puppies. For some reason, that joke didn't go over so well.

Pullman, WA

On October 28, I left the Bay Area and drove north. My plan was to camp a night in the redwoods and then work my way toward Pullman, WA. However, for some reason I became possessed and drove 18 straight hours to Pullman. I don't know why I did it; maybe all this time on the road is getting to me.

Halloween in Pullman was exciting -- I watched TV for a while, then went to bed. It was the exact opposite of this:

The last time I was in Pullman, the snow was out of control, and the roof of my parents' house became clogged with ice dams. So this time around my dad and I spent an afternoon covering the gutters with some low-resistance heating wire, in preparation for another ridiculous winter.