This morning Spun and I went running in Seward Park. She heads down there most mornings for Southside Booty Camp, but they’re on break for the week, so the trainee became the trainer as she pushed me to run trails and keep up with her as we tore around fern protected corners and mossy bends.

At one point, we were making our way around Owl Trail and were greeted by, you guessed it, an owl. We’ve seen them in the zoo, but never in the wild. What a stunning bird! The robins and other smaller birds were harassing him/her a fair amount so it took to the air and banked around some trees effortlessly to evade the airborne snacks.

After a few nice strolling points, and a couple sprints, we made our way to the north shore, which is one of my favorite vantage points in the park. The blossoms are in full bloom and Spring is in full swing.

Lots going on this week as well. My sister’s fiancé was promoted at long last (congrats Charlie!), the Magnifying the Universe infographic from last week now has more Spanish users than those in the US, North by Nine is going strong, Spun is going through some great interviews for her dream job and will likely be delivering a baby this week. Oh and one of our dear family friends … or famship as we like to call it … is retiring tomorrow. Congrats!!!

Things are really in full spring this week.

Gorgeous deep orange sunrise following a stunning sunny day yesterday. Hopefully it will stay beautiful all day today too for an all around epic weekend.

Gorgeous sunrise this morning with pristine clear skies. We could use some sun today here in Seattle, glad we’re getting it.

Oh and I’d highly recommend checking out Jupiter tonight if you get a chance. It’ll be kicking it with the moon and Venus all in a tight little cluster. The planets are those super bright, constant lights in the sky that don’t flicker.

Today, I woke with the same bug Spun has been battling for a couple weeks now. No fun. Sore throat, a nose that thinks it can do a triathlon, bringing the lake with it, and a whole lot of lethargy.

Hopefully some TLC, meds and a mid day movie break from work will get me on the right track. Definitely phò tonight too. Bring the heat to nuke the cold.

I love to stare at the sun. It’s bad, but it leaves cool trails. I don’t do it much (no worries mom) just now and again.

I think I love sun flares about as much. Thankfully, my iPhone can enjoy looking at the sun for much more extended periods of time. So much do that I’m sure it not only meets, but exceeds the flair requirements. Today, I shot the photo looking through binoculars, REI 10×26 to be exact. Here’s the setup I had with my Gorilla Pod and Glif iPhone tripod attachment.

Let’s be perfectly clear. This chapter won’t all be sunshine and roses. There will be adversity, heartache, introspection, late nights and early mornings, tears shed, new friends, grand sky scrapes and placid oceans.

This page begins the chapter in my career where I take action for what’s right for me. I push my boundaries and dive deeper into a handful of things, mastering my craft again, like I did for so many years with ActionScript. Now I have new brushes: node.js, MongoDB, jQuery, and a network of peers that believe in my skills and vision for creating something worthwhile ahead. [Thank you!]

This chapter will also see a stronger commitment to those I love. Gone are the back to back to back 100 hour weeks where my fingers caressed a keyboard infinitely more than the nape of my bride’s neck. Balance will be sought and hopefully found. Fresh vibrant air will be consumed more than recirculated beige office air. Cards will be played and food will gain its rightful place at my life’s table again … this time involving the preparation again, not just the consumption.

This chapter will be introspective. I’m looking forward to discovering things about myself that I have glossed over in the past few years of just running. Intentionally pausing and spending time in deep reflection will ensure my core stays lit up such that I can continue spreading light.

I can’t promise this will be a page turner, but I can say that I’m diving deeper and fostering a more unified world of truth and respect thanks to the way the last chapter was penned.

Last commute to the office for a while. I’m going to be trying something a little bit different on for a change in the coming days.

Hope you enjoy what’s to come as much as pixels can possibly provide.

Continuing my week I photos shot from my house before I even start my commute … mostly of skyscapes and sunrises … I snagged a timelapse video this morning over the course of about an hour. No, you don’t have to sit and watch it for an hour, though parts of it I’m sure you’d want to. It’s condensed down to about a minute and a half. There’s a huge crescendo and then poof, it’s gone.

When I walked out the front door there was an amazing rainbow as well due to the light showers that happened to kick up as the sun was beaming through the tiny sliver of sky. Spectacular start to the day.

Last night was perhaps one of the worst bouts with food poisoning (I’m assuming) I’ve ever battled. I got home from work, looking pretty peaked and then like a ton of bricks it hit me.

wham

For the next 10 hours or so, I got rid of nearly every extraneous fluid in my system. Sorry, it was awful and that’s about the best way I could envision describing it. Waking up this morning, I felt better…ish. After a quick jaunt into the office for a meeting where everyone slid their chairs a couple feet further away from me, I came home to kill some Gatorade and eventually some old school Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle soup. Not the best soup, but it’s comfort in a can and entirely what my system needed to break out of the rut it was in.

A few more hours of work after blacking out in front of my computer … sometime before the soup … and I’d say it’s been a pretty jam packed 24 hours.

Here’s to refraining from that much condensed pain in the future. I’d much rather see sunrises through condensation on windowpanes any day.

This morning’s sunrise lasted, what seemed like forever. While I was shaving, Spun was giving me the play by play of how the colors were morphing from deep purples to reds to magentas. All of which were more saturated and deeper than we generally tend to see.

After throwing on some clothes worthy of hiking out our third story window to perch on the roof, I was elated to see that Mt Rainier was out in full force, with snow drifting from the summit down the east slope. The sky crescendoed into brilliant shades of yellow, orange, magenta, and spread so far north and west that when Spun took a look out the window, her face was beautifully cast in a rich, soft pink glow.

I returned back in from my perch, put the screen back on the window and looped back through the dozen or so photos I snagged. I was able to get a panorama that doesn’t really do the colors justice. They’re blown all the way to primary colors, missing thousands of subtle heavenly hues that were silently soaring above us. Both feature Mt Rainier in them in the bottom right corner. Feel free to click the image below for a really big version of it.

What a show. So much color!! For everyone who missed it and is bemoaning the grey skies that we have now, I hope these photos bring a little color to your day.