Friday turned out OK. It only took me two-and-a-half hours to make it from Portland to Seatac and the traffic was fairly light. My interview at DHS was really quick and I’m now on a special list. Whether that’s good or bad is not quite clear yet.

Then I went to visit my friend in Kirkland, only 25 miles away, through hellish Seattle traffic. I’m always saying Seattle is sort of like Portland, it just sucks more and I hate to go up there and be proven correct. Again. Kirkland was an interesting beach town, though. Women in bikinis at the lakeshore and a fairly unique drive-in with passable burgers. THe best part was visiting with an online friend, and his 1YO kid. The trip back was much worse, of course. It took two-and-a-half hours to get through the Seattle traffic, and then less than two hours to get from Olympia to Portland. The whole trip was pretty darn tiring.

What was more tiring was Saturday night when my mom started coughing up blood. I called her doctor who said she was probably fine. Not exactly something that puts you completely at ease, but she does seem fine now. Not a restful way to spend a Saturday night.

Fortunately, today was fairly uneventful, and that’s the best I could have hoped for.