#pixelphoto

Hey, friends. How was your week? I hope it went well! ☺️⁣ ⁣ Last weekend I took a train from Seattle to Portland, Oregon. I haven’t been on a train for many years. It was wonderful. 🛤️⁣ ⁣ The King Street Station is normally a 15-minute drive from my house, but at 7 AM on a Saturday 🕖 it took 5 minutes. It's a beautiful old train station, built in 1906.⁣ ⁣ I’m glad it hasn’t been ruined by modernization. 🏫The terracotta ceilings and walls along with the terrazzo floors are gorgeous. And it’s a treat to arrive 15 minutes before departure, 🚅 quickly get a seat assignment, then board without ever having to take off my shoes 👟 or get my luggage scanned. 💼⁣ ⁣ Another mind boggling part was the cost. Round-trip car fuel is about $50 USD/45 EUR. The train was $60 USD/54 EUR. 🚃 And I didn’t have to freak out about driving and getting lost (which happens even when I use GPS). It took about the same time as a non-stop flight at about 1/3 the price. AND it was comfortable and scenic. 🗻⁣ ⁣ One of my closest friends picked me up at the Portland train station. We hung out for a few hours before she dropped me off at the Lake Oswego Country Club ⛳ to attend my cousin’s husband’s memorial service. He died a few weeks ago in a plane he was piloting. 🛩️ The plane had recently been fitted with floatation to enable flying in and out of remote lakes. 🌊 Not sure what caused the crash. It’s still being investigated by the NTSB.⁣ ⁣ Memorial services often become de-facto family reunions. ⛪ I saw relatives I hadn’t seen in many years. Hearing people's reminiscences made me realize he was an amazing person. I'd wished I'd known him better. 💙⁣ ⁣ In other parts of the world train travel is a primary way to get places. 🚄 Do you use trains? Are they super-fast, like in Japan, Germany and elsewhere? Or are they normal passenger trains like here in the US? 🇺🇸⁣ ⁣ Photos: Beginning, middle and end of my journey⁣ ⁣ #train #traintravel #amtrak #Seattle #KingStreetStation #pioneersquare #LakeOswegoCountryClub #portland #PDX #pixelphoto #pixelphotography #pixelperfect (at King Street Station) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0aJIXrgHGH/?igshid=b5j47wpzt9zu

Happy Friday, 🙋♥️ guys. Scary how one week of my break has elapsed already. Yikes. ⏳⁣ ⁣ Some of you know I’ve been working on a book project for my uncle. He kept a diary for roughly 60 years. In 2010, he typed a lifetime of ✍️ handwritten notes into a computer and scanned a ton of photos dating back to the late 1800s. 🖥️ There were details about being put into internment camps during WWII, and other hardships the family endured. Not surprisingly, they ended up being successful in everything from family to fortune. 👨‍👩‍👦 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧👵👴⁣ ⁣ I’ve been reading through the printouts and marking up hundreds of pages of single-spaced text. 📝 Lots of the entries have been repetitive and boring, but there have been some moments that just about ripped my heart out. 💔⁣ ⁣ It’s a gift to have this legacy that goes back to the time of my great-grandparents' journey 🚢 from Japan to the U.S., 🇯🇵 🇺🇸. Most everyone in the family is at least mentioned at some point. So finishing this project will be meaningful to many of them. ⁣ ⁣ Some of his diary entries include personal information. If I kept a diary 📖 I would probably self-censor some things, even if the audience is family. 👁️ Or is that revisionist history? What do you think? 🧠⁣ ⁣ Besides many days of editing, there have been persistent problems with images 🖼️ and their placements throughout the manuscript. 📑. It’s like a puzzle to get things properly sorted out. After I do, I'll begin for the third time to design and format everything. 👩‍💻⁣ ⁣ As I approach the final 40-page editing stretch, it’s really changed the way I imagine I’ll design it. 💡⁣ ⁣ ☺️ It’s going to feel great to complete it. 🍾⁣ ⁣ Have you ever agreed or offered to do something for someone, then regretted it? Did you get out of it somehow, or did you grit your teeth and persevere?⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Pictures: #manholecover #totempole #pergola #pioneersquare #PilchuckGlassSchool #LondonPlane (again, @flaviabisi) #leschielementary playground #solak ⁣ #pixelperfect #pixelphoto #pixelphotography #flowers #flowerstagram #flowersofinstagram #prayerrug #turkey #pioneersquare #madrona #seattle (at Pioneer Square Totem Pole) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1icax_AZoT/?igshid=1nwykerl1rzls

There is an online community here called “Next Door.” Have any of you guys heard of it? 👂⁣ ⁣ The Next Door network in my area serves Pioneer Square to Lake Washington, and represents a pretty broad range of people – economically, ethnically and otherwise.👷 💏👵👨‍⚕️👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🧑👬👩‍🏭⁣ ⁣ Seattle in the 70s was a pretty low-key city with claims to fame that included Boeing 🛫 Nordstrom 👠and Starbucks. ☕ Today it has expanded to include Amazon and many other companies. ⁣ ⁣ Along with with economic prosperity and job opportunities have come an influx of people from around the country and the world. 🌍🌎🌏 Their arrivals have negatively impacted housing, traffic and the cost of living.⁣ ⁣ So what does this have to do with Next Door? 🤷⁣ ⁣ People move to Seattle from other places then want to change it.⁣ ⁣ A Next Door person opined about how the Blue Angels ✈️✈️✈️are not good for Seafair (Seattle's summer festival). The Blue Angels are a beloved Seafair tradition.⁣ ⁣ I commented, “It sounds like you moved here from somewhere else?” ⁣ ⁣ My remark compelled a woman to message me, 📧 saying just because I’ve lived here a long time didn’t give me the right to suppress others. 🖐️⁣ ⁣ That wasn't what I intended. 😕 ⁣ Do you live in a place that has experienced growth that has changed the fabric of your community? 🌱 How have you been impacted? And do you use Next Door? Do you like it? ☺️⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Images from the lowest tide of the year. #anemones #crabs #starfish #blueheron #AlkiLighthouse #pugetsound ⁣ ⁣ Gotta love #alkibeach #westseattle #lowtide #beachcombing #seacreatures #pixelphotography #pixelperfect #pixelphoto #beach #seattle⁣ ⁣  ⁣ (at Alki Point Light) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzkMDnYgvxp/?igshid=96bod7bj6wdp

Happy Friday, guys. We're waiting for warm weather here! 🌞 Hoping it’s nice wherever you are. 🔆⁣ ⁣ Have you noticed there are weirdos who follow you, and have strange bios that say stuff like “I’m a good and honest man…?” 👨‍✈️Often they're military or pretend to be professional 👨‍⚕️ and are poorly written and have fake links. 🔗⁣ ⁣ You can tell the accounts are fake. Multiple accounts even use the same photos! It doesn't seem to help to block or report them.🛑 It seems they're trying to rapidly build large followings, but to what end? ⁣ In the early years of Instagram, people would follow each other and that would be that. 🏃 Now it feels like there’s growing instability with accounts that follow you, then unfollow. 🤷⁣ ⁣ Before it was purchased by Facebook, IG didn't seem so much like a game. 🎲 In fact, it seems to me it changed once influencers who had followings of 10K or more started getting free hotel stays and other goodies. 🏨 Then the race was on with many competing to get there. 🏆⁣ ⁣ I've been studying digital marketing and learning about the growing popularity of “micro influencers” -- people with fewer than 10K followers. 📣 They’re often more engaged and more influential than people with 10x more. Brands are recognizing tons of followers doesn't translate to tons of influence.⁣ ⁣ Are fake accounts trying to attain influence? Without engagement, what's the point? 🎯 Do fake accounts follow, then unfollow you? ⁣🏃🏃‍♀️⛹️ ⁣ If we are mutual follows, thank you. I'm not going anywhere. 😍⁣ ⁣ Photos: Visited #amazonSpheres and #amazonGo store with @steveBrogan09 and @dianebrogan when they were staying with me last weekend. We also drove to #SnoqualmieFalls. BTW, this is NOT a good time of year to visit the falls, but hanging out with friends is a win!⁣ ⁣ #Follow #followers #unfollow #unfollowers #waterfall #nature #washingtonstate #adventure #pixelphoto #pixelperfect #Pixelphotography (at Amazon Spheres) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0IMlKqA-94/?igshid=dhel32tg65x0

Seattle enjoyed glorious Friday sunshine 🌞and blue skies. Too bad my happy day was darkened by chaos!⁣ 👹 ⁣ Last night I was so focused on schoolwork that I didn't look at my phone all evening. 🌘 I use the Pixel2xl for Instagram but for calls and texts I use my iPhone.⁣ ⁣ I missed an important message last night 🌌 and didn't find it until 1 pm this afternoon. Suddenly I was swept into a vortex of phone calls, 📞 emails and text messages that would've been completely unnecessary if only I'd checked my messages last night!⁣ ⁣ I've been on a self-imposed "digital detox" since school started, and go for hours without picking up my phone. It actually feels liberating!⁣ 💃 ⁣ Earlier this week I took a bus downtown 🚎 and sat in a row aligned with the front side windows. Four of us faced the four on the other side of the aisle, and everyone but me was on their phones for the entire journey. 📱📱📱📱📱📱📱 ⁣ Standing outside my classroom yesterday were 10 or more people waiting for students in the previous course to empty. Again, everyone but me had their noses buried in their phones!⁣ 👃 It's actually kinda scary! ⁣ Do you need your phone within sight at all times? 👀 Do you have a constant need to check it? 🔎 Maybe it's time to try a digital detox? Go outside and notice the trees and flowers. 🌲🌳🌴🌷🌸🌺🌼Greet a neighborhood cat. 🐈 Stop and talk with your neighbor.⁣ 🏃🏃‍♀️ ⁣ When you get used to it, it will harken back to a simpler time when our lives belonged to us instead of to our phones.⁣🕺 ⁣ Just remember to occasionally check for messages!⁣ 📧 ⁣ Photos: grand tree on 35th; another hellebore; a profusion of crocuses.⁣ ⁣ #inthemoment #digitaldetox #liveyourlife #evergreen #hellebore #crocus #crocuses #madrona #centraldistrict #seattle #pixel2xl #pixelperfect #pixel2xlphotography #pixelphoto #flowers #flowersofinstagram #lonetree⁣ (at Central District, Seattle) https://www.instagram.com/p/Buf1peTFWxn/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1d2d45t6oechs

Happy sumner solstice! Seattle is so far north, sunset was at 9:10 pm tonight! 🌅⁣ ⁣ Spring quarter ended and nine days off until summer begins. I'm looking forward to sleeping in late! 💤⁣ ⁣ The past week I've caught up with a bunch of friends on outings, for dinner or drinks, 🍽️ and even for an algebra tutoring session. 👨‍🏫 I'm remembering two friends who are no longer alive and making a greater effort to appreciate people who are here!⁣ 🙋 ⁣ My friends span such a range of lifestyles. It's interesting how lives can follow different paths. 🏞️⁣ ⁣ I think being wealthy is a comfort but doesn't guarantee happiness. Finding yourself alone or in poor health are things that can't always be fixed with money. 💲⁣ ⁣ Solid relationships, financial independence and professional accomplishments are great goals. And so is having a roof over one's head, enjoying good food and drink and sleeping soundly each night. 🌌⁣ ⁣ Do we put too much emphasis on attaining wealth? Do you think money leads to happiness? ⁣ ⁣ Photos: a series of flowers on #CapitolHill last evening. Does anyone know what they are?⁣ ⁣ #flowers #flowersofinstagram #flowerstagram #seattle #pixelphoto #pixelphotography #deepquestion #meaningoflife (at Capitol Hill Neighborhood) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzALinfAjVP/?igshid=1wxuj7lqrihfj

Compared to other parts of the U.S. and the world, Seattle's snow is not a biggie❄️❄️❄️ . . But seven inches (17+ cm) 📏 is deep enough to stop everything: school and offices closed, and it was harder than heck to get an Uber! 🚘 It's hilly here 🏞️ and it can be scary to get around. . . We took the guys outside and the first thing Hunter did was make a beeline for the old apple tree 🍎🌳. It's been months since he's been outdoors but he remembers bolting up the tree trunk and jumping onto the shed roof, nearly making a getaway. 😸🐾 . . All week we've been hearing about "Snowmageddon" or 🌨️☃️❄️ "Snowpocalypse"--a huge snowfall that was expected today. It DID snow, and it wreaked all sorts of havoc. But it has been much less than I imagined . . Earlier today the roads were mostly bare so I thought I'd go to the grocery store to pick up some supplies. 🏪 When I arrived, it looked like the neighborhood Safeway had been looted! . . Store shelves were empty; refrigerator cases were bare; there was one carton of eggs 🥚 and very little fresh meat or poultry (no fish). Entire produce categories were nowhere to be seen. 🥔 It was just bizarre. . . An employee told me deliveries didn't make it. 😦 . . Traffic was unreal everwhere. Apparently the entire city left work at noon 🚗🚘🚙🚎🚕🚃 and headed straight for the store to stock up. . . People wouldn't freak out as much if there was an understanding that the city will clear the roads. 🛣️ But because the length of time we can find ourselves snowbound is unpredictable, no one wants to take a chance 🎲 . . Are there snow plows or are roads salted where you live? Or do people "chill out" and enjoy the downtime? . . Photos: Hunter trying to climb a tree; snow on the roof; icicles ☄️ . . #snowmageddon #snow #icicles #seattlesnow #seattlesnowpocalypse #CentralDistrict #CentralArea #mainecoon #catsofinstagram #catstagram #caturday #pixelphoto #pixel2xlphotography #pixel2xl (at Central District, Seattle) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btp1o9flHxg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gdwpsrv02c5l