I had a 20-paragraph post drafted on some nonsense happening in our neighborhood HOA that I’m having to deal with, regarding a neighbor that wants to remove a large-and-healthy tree from their front yard, but didn’t feel like adhering to the required procedures. I haven’t felt like finishing that post up, and it’s caused a bit of a backlog – lots of more interesting stuff has happened in the meantime! So suffice it to say that the tree is saved for now, but may die later this year. Sniff.
Super Smash tournament, which I got knocked out of pretty quickly. Fun times. 
I was very proud of how this tri-tip roast turned out, served it for some neighbors at a dinner I hosted. 
It got out that I’d never seen Ratatouille, so we made a dish of it and watched the movie. 
Played the Harry Potter board game while we were waiting for it to bake.
Next, it was off to Utah. I got invited by an old colleague to speak to his Computer Security students. A few weeks before departure, someone who used to work at Google reached out to me; we ran recruiting trips together, and his daughter – currently VP of the Women in Computer Science club – asked if we could bring back the Google Games coding competitions we ran in the past. So this guy reached out to me, who still worked at Google, to see how the software looked. I checked and (a) official recruiting events were still mandatory virtual, and (b) the Google Games software was unmaintained. I played around with it and it appeared to still work, so we decided to just go for it. Planning a whole recruiting trip in a week and a half was a bit of a stressor, but it all worked out wonderfully.
With Mattie moved out, I got to reclaim my ancestral bedroom. 
Caught up with a friend in Provo while I was in town – lovely sunset. 
I thought it was very funny when I told Mom about this car and she said she’d seen it around before. 
Smaller crowd than usual for the Google Games (which was not being branded as such, as this was a clandestine operation). 
Getting the band back together. 
I visited my old lab afterwards. That’s my Portal 2 poster, still there after 6 years. Also still there is that red twine I cobbled together after our door stop kept slipping. Couldn’t resist posing for a pic. The lab will be renovated later this summer, so this was probably the last chance for me to see my handiwork still around.
The presentation to the class went phenomenally. It really helped that I gave a preview of the presentation to Mom and Dad the day before, and got to identify the parts that weren’t working and needed revision. During class there were tons of good questions and participation. It was the kind of lesson where you really wish your crush were there, to see you in your element. The professor expressed afterwards that I was invited back next semester to give the same presentation again. Cool cool.
Spent my last day on a bike ride up to Fort Canyon. 
That loop in the water is the Juanita Beach boardwalk.
Movie night the evening after I got back, their cat was feeling social.
On Wednesday, Hayden came to town! We ate good food.
On Saturday, Steve came into town too. We had a grand old time.
Jamming out to some Good Charlotte. 
Hayden needed to dispose of his old ID badge, so we melted it. 
Another fine Sunday dinner. I didn’t sear these ones correctly, and had to deal with flare-ups the whole time they were on the grill, but they turned out great. 
Had an amazing time at a Kraken hockey game. 
The world is a really small place. This is an old friend from my Sammamish Valley YSA days, that we happened across in a train on our way into the city. 
This is something Grandpa would have gotten for the Cabin I think. 
The next day we had planned to head out on a deep sea fishing trip, but we got word that the weather was no good and we’d have to cancel the trip. Instead we headed north on a loop around Whidbey Island, where there was much better weather.
That evening, I had an HOA meeting. It was our big annual meeting with all the neighbors. At that meeting I announced that I was volunteering to take on the role of HOA president, as we’d been operating without one for the past year. One neighbor, who was known to be litigious and divisive among the residents, asked if there were any open board positions. There were, and she then asked if we should open them up to volunteers. We did, and she then volunteered for the board. I knew this would cause problems with the people who were currently serving on the board and ACC, but everything happened so fast and before I knew it I had to call for a vote, and the vast majority of the HOA members happily confirmed her in, so now she was in the board.
Our saving grace came when someone else remarked that there were people not present, who had not been told that board openings were being considered. We all agreed that allowances should be made for them. However, I wasn’t sure what should be done about it. We’d already voted, after all. Finally someone suggested that we put forth a motion to consider the current slate of board members “interim”, until an HOA meeting next month. Sure, sounded good to me. That motion carried.
Only, it would’ve been much cleaner if I’d had the presence of mind to just suggest that we completely annul the vote. Because the next morning I got an email from one of our ACC members saying that if this litigious homeowner were allowed on the board, he would resign immediately, as she has some unresolved issues with the ACC. One of our other board members was also feeling like doing the same. Ugh.
I had the other two long-standing board members over to my place for a meal on Friday night, where we talked it over. We agreed that I would call the litigious homeowner and ask that she recuse herself from the board in the next vote. We’ll see how that goes.
Anyways. Steve headed out Wednesday. Thursday evening was a rare quiet night in. Friday morning Hayden and I headed in to the city to meet up with Libby and Mondo, who were in town just for the day.
That evening we headed to a friend’s place for games. Today we were supposed to go up to Bellingham, but weather is pretty bad up there right now. Which works out great because I’m running pretty far behind in work and I’ve gotta get ready to head out for Africa next week, the day after Hayden departs. Should be fun!