What other's think of me

Lately I've found myself being a bit more concerned of what people think of me than usual. For the most part I'm not too overly concerned about other's thoughts of me. I do try to live my life in a way that hopefully leaves people with pleasant thoughts of me, or at least not terrible thoughts.
When I make decisions that are in my best interest, I shouldn't be too concerned how other's may feel about those choices I make, after all it's my life. I think though that these thoughts I have are the fact that I've made some desicions that I'm not completely comfortable with. They were the right things for me to do, but I'm not completely in a place where I can see the end result yet. I know that in time I will see that I did the right thing. I try not to hurt people around me, especially those who I care about the most, but sometimes that still happens. Basically I don't want to be seen as the "bad guy".
I recently found an apartment that I really like in Seattle. It has a wonderful view looking to the north and has a very large window in the living room. The location is great!! It's located not too far from work and there are a lot of cool things nearby, ranging from unique coffee shops, nightlife, easy access to the highway, and friends. I've been wanting to live in the city for a number of years but never have the guts to move accross the lake. The one major drawback of this move will be living further from my sister and niece who have been a very large part of my life since I moved here 5 1/2 years ago. I'm going to try and visit on a regular basis as much as I can. I know that they are both happy for me and know that I have not been happy in Kirkland for a few years now, but I can't help to feel a bit badly for moving away from them.
Other desicions I've made in recent months have been publicized enough that I don't need to rehash those again, but I'm still having a tough time with one in particular.
I know that I am living a good life and I've been raised to be a good person and for the most part I believe that I'm having a positive affect on those around me and that most have positive thoughts of me. So much has changed in my life in the last 6 months. There have been some amazing learning experiences and just plain old wonderful moments in there too. I look forward to seeing what's in store for me as life goes on.
Here's a few pics I recently took, including the view from my new apartment which I move into on March 9, 2009.

Twin Falls

On Monday I went for a short hike with my friend Tony up to Twin Falls which is located near North Bend, about 30 miles from Seattle. The parking lot was mostly empty and we headed down the trail. The falls are actually mis-named, there are 3 falls, not two, but hey, who's counting right?
Words cannot describe this area well enough, so I will let my photos do the talking instead, enjoy.

Wrapping up the San Franciso Trip

Well the trip to San Francisco was wonderful. We all had a wonderful time and I took a lot of pictures. To summarize the rest of the trip is not a very easy thing to do, but I will try.
We visited AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants Baseball team.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkraai/sets/72157614097284764/



It rained in the park and there was hardly any grass on the playing field. They had hosted monster trucks in January and the rains slowed the progress on installing the new sod.



We visited the Aquarium By The Bay. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkraai/sets/72157614049069997/
Talk about cool, we got to walk through a tube surrounded by fish and sea life.



A tour of the bay was a must, complete with a pass under the Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkraai/sets/72157614096552912/





How could we tour the bay and not take an open top bus tour, complete with a little rain near the end.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkraai/sets/72157614069092177/





I could never forget our stop on Nob Hill to visit the Cable Car Museum, holy cool!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkraai/sets/72157614116806662/





I can't express enough how much fun I had on this trip with my sister Lisa and my niece Summer. Thank you both for inviting me along on this memorable trip. I hope to be able to return next fall and spend more time with my camera and tripod and search for those rare and hardly seen locations and scenes.

Alcatraz Island

What a cool place this was to visit!!! The history here is more in depth than I ever realized. Aside from being an Army fort and a prison, there was even an indian occupation for 3 years! I could have stayed on the island exploring all day, but we did have other places we wanted to visit. I won't write too much but will let the pictures (hopefully) speak for themselves. All I can really say is that this was one of the best parts of the vacation. Here is a link for the complete set of pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkraai/sets/72157614045183469/

I will say that the weather started out rainy and cold, but as the day went on the skies cleared a bit and I really enjoyed taking the audio tour and spending time at a place that has such a long history. Now for some pictures.

San Francisco: Day 1 Chinatown

We arrived in San Francisco at 9:00am and quickly made our way to the hotel where they stored our bags while we headed out on the town. The bus ride from the BART to the hotel was interesting to say the least. A whole slew of Chinese charged the door to get onto the bus!! We couldn't believe it, the bus was packed!!! Standing room only and we had our suitcases with us. Once the bus got to Chinatown almost 70% of the riders got off, and they tried to de-bus in the same manner that they got on. People pushed and nudged each other as if it was a race to get off.
After dropping our bags with the bellman at the hotel we headed up Columbus Ave and got some great food at Pat's Cafe.



After lunch we walked up Columbus Ave to Stockton and found ourselves in Chinatown. Lisa and I had not been here in over 20 years and we wanted to check it out. Wow is this place busy!!!




The buses through here are packed as are the streets. People push their way around like it's no big deal. Summer had a tough time with this as she is not used to it.



We stopped in a few shops and found a lot of stuff we did not need. These shops are packed with all sorts of stuff almost from floor to ceiling. I don't know what's in the air, but there was a rather strong aroma lingering everywhere we went.





From there we headed up to Nob Hill to see a The Huntington Hotel that we stayed at over 20 years ago on a family vacation.The park across the street has a nice fountain with a Cathedral next door.



We then headed back towards the hotel so we could get checked in and get off our feet.

Back on the trail, destination: Oyster Dome

As I get back into the swing of my life I decided to go for a snow free hike this time. I met Jorj and we drove up towards Bellingham with Oyster Dome as our destination for the day. As we got off I-5 we noticed that part of the Hwy 11 bridge was gone, lucky for us they have a decent detour.
We got to the trailhead, after missing it on the first pass. The trail starts out gaining elevation pretty wuickly. Having not been out on the trail too much lately, my legs were really feeling it. The trail is very well used and takes no effort to follow it. For the most part the trip up was eventless.



There were sporatic views along the way up with a few creeks to cross.





The view from Oyster Dome opens up to the west and Puget Sound and the San Juan islands. I hope to come up here for the night sometime and take in the sunset.



After a 30 minute break we headed over to North Butte and got some good views of Mt Baker.





The hike wasn't too long but it was nice to be able to get back out there and get to know somebody new.