Once in a blue moon Amazon's stock will actually go up after the earnings announcement.

And that's when I kick myself for selling too early.

Two weekends ago we went camping (Goyer's already written about it here). Well, I finally went through the pictures on my camera, and uploaded them.

Here's a bit of a recap:

We arrived and set up camp in the darkness, and while sitting around the picnic table, made a make-shift lamp out of a roll of toilet paper, a maglight, and a plastic cup. The next morning we moved to a campsite right on the water and awaited Ben and Nick's arrival.

We then set out for a hike, conveniently ignoring the warning sign at the trailhead. Half way through, we find out that the sign was right, so we head to a different hike to a lake on top of a mountain.

In the late afternoon light, we cook up some dinner, and have smores for dessert while telling ghost stories.

Next day we went to the beach, and then home.

Full album here.

In Canada, there's a huge waiting time for non-urgent MRI scans (this source from 2001 shows that the median waiting time was 12 weeks).

I went in for an MRI yesterday, after the doctor told me to set up an appointment last Thursday, a 2 business day wait.

Why did I get an MRI? Because the doctor told me so. I've also been getting these headaches whenever I exert myself, and was worried with all that information about internal bleeding and tumors and aneurysms out there on the internet. So I went to see a doctor, and he wanted me to get a scan, so I did.

It was pretty fun. I was set up for a head and neck scan (MRA's actually - A is for Angiography). For the neck scan they needed more contrast, so I had to get an IV put in that was hooked up to a "power injector", which would inject some gadolinium into my blood stream for increased contrast.

It was pretty relaxing (good for an afternoon nap), except the machine was very loud, and sometimes shook, and the space was very small (it's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic). After all was said and done, I was in there for about 45 minutes, and they took a lot of pictures.

Today I got a call from the doctor. Apparently I'm going to live afterall. Now I just have to wait for the bill.

the dumbest lawsuit ever.

And here I was thinking only the US had frivolous lawsuits.

(via Mefi)

Back in March people started predicting that this summer would be the hottest summer in recent history, because it was already Sunny and 80 degrees (F) in early spring.

So far, that hasn't really panned out. July 4th was probably the first time we've had 2 consecutive days of sunshine in months, and it's again cold and cloudy and depressing. I haven't even had to turn on my fan yet. In fact, I'm still wearing pants and long sleeved shirts to work, and at night, when we go out, sometimes we still need to wear jackets.

Seattle no longer has the awesomest summer in my books. Just try to prove me wrong.

We have a mailing list at work where people can list random stuff they want to sell.

Today, someone sent a mail to sell a 23 cent stamp for 20 cents.

The amount of time it took to type up that email cost the company more money than his sale.

(and he did sell it).

This was my 4th July 4th spent in the US. The first was many years ago with my parents at Disney World, watching the fireworks and parade. The second was in 2002, during my first internship at Amazon. We had a party on our roof, and watched the Elliot Bay fireworks. Then came last year, when we stood on top of Matt and Ben's roof, again watching fireworks (this time in 2 locations).

But this year, we were on Lake Union, at the front of the boat line, 2 football fields away from the fireworks barge, gawking at the gigantic balls of fire in the sky. It was loud, and big, and it hurts. When you're that close to the action, you're bound to be hit by flying pieces of shrapnel. After the first minute, I was forced to put on sunglasses because ash kept on getting in my eye. Afterwards, the entire boat was covered in blown up bits of paper and ash. Next year, we're going to the back of the line.

The jschac was in town this weekend, so we hung out with her a lot, and did a lot of wakeboarding.

First there were the sex bracelets, then came rainbow parties, and now greenlighters?

I guess I chose the wrong time to grow up.