I've let this go too long....
Yes.  Tom did finish the STP.  He did his first two "centuries" (100 bicycle miles in a day) on Saturday, July 9th, and Sunday, July 10th.  He crossed the "finish line" at 7:30pm Sunday, July 9th.

Tom is still trying to shake the lingering sinus infection that he had since before that race (so he wasn't at his physical best, but he still made it).  Afterwards, we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Portland.  I remember that I especially liked their swimming pool when we were there for one night 4 years ago, now I know why.  The pool room is vaguely reminiscent of the Cistern in Istanbul.  Somehow my subconscious had tuned itself to Turkey long before we ever visited there.  I pulled him down to the sauna and hot tubs and he thanked me later.  The next day we visited the Chinese Garden, and made a shopping trip to the Olive Farm where we picked up many jars of Ayvalik (Ayvaluk) Turkish "pink" table olives, which are the finest olives either of us has ever tasted.

Here, I'm going to make a rare plug for a Microsoft product.  Read closely because you'll probably never see anything like this from me again.  Microsoft Streets and Trips in combination with a GPS unit is awesome!!!!  We used it first so I could track Tom's progress during the STP.  He'd be on his bicycle and use his cell phone to call me and tell me his position.  I could track my position in the van using the GPS (global positioning satellite) unit and then plot the easiest and fastest way to get from where I was to where he was so I could meet up with him at any time.

Then we used it when we were in Portland to locate the Olive Farm store (which I would have driven right past had I not been using Microsoft Streets and Trips with GPS) and plot the best route to get from our hotel to it.

This past weekend, Tom and I went camping on Hope Island.  Silly us.  We thought we had a special secret spot to launch and park, and a special campsite that not many people knew about....  When we arrived at our launch spot, we found about 40 families of local indigenous people having a canoe race party that lasted the entire weekend.  Similarly, our usual camping spot was full of a family of kayakers celebrating a birthday with a kayaking and camping party.

The alternate camping spot we found was definitely less pleasant than our usual, and I wouldn't chose to go back there again, but the canoeing was fun and so was the camp cooking and picnicking.

Tonight, Tom and I met by bicycle (he bicycled from his work, I bicycled from Bothell) at the Red Hook Brewery for beer and dinner.  Then we rode back to Bothell together.  That was great fun.

The July colors and this page are new.  I'm going to try to get some pictures up from the STP within this week.

I loaded and configured one laptop last week.  This week I have 2 laptops and a desktop to do, plus I'm working on getting MailScanner to work by installing missing dependencies and adding paths to @INC.  That should be fun (if it works).  I need to do some differential diagnosis for a backup problem (now fixed) in Dutch Harbor and I need to find someone I can use as a partner up there to help me install a new Firewall unit.

I STILL haven't done anything about my ISP and Majordomo major headaches with SeattleLinuxChix.  I need to call tech support but I need to have some time when I can do it.  That hasn't happened yet.

I'm relieved that this particular grief process I'm experiencing now does not seem to be intense or constant.  It is worth a sigh every so often, but the sighs are getting fewer by the day.  Even so, it will be a while before I can meet with him again and not have a tug from those jumbled feelings.

While I was taking the Java class, I gained back the 10 pounds I had lost from running and cycling.  Now the weight is starting to shed off again.  I'm running, cycling, canoeing, and getting adjusted by a great Chiropractor, Lloyd Koch, whose work is making a huge improvement in my health.

It finally feels like high summer.  Every time Tom and I camp overnight in the San Juans, I wish I had thought of bringing along a recorder for the night sounds.  Some of the bird sounds on those Islands at night are very unique.  I don't recognize them from any of my tapes or CDs.