The interns piled into a 15-passenger van today for a tour of Seattle led by Dave Boardman, editor of The Seattle Times. A good time was had by all.

I heard a commotion on Sunday afternoon, and saw some people across the street all staring at the intersection a few houses down. In the middle of the street was a loud protest with yellow signs. I didn’t have a picture of the day yet, so I ran to my room, grabbed the camera and my keys, and proceeded to follow the protest for a few blocks for pictures. From what I could tell, it was the Vietnamese community from Seattle-Tacoma area protesting against China. when I got in, I took a look on Google and found out that it was planned in solidarity with rare protests happening in Hanoi. Wild, huh.

This is what I saw coming through the intersection near my house.

This guy spent much of his time shouting into the megaphone. I don’t know exactly what he was saying, but he was emphatic.

A lot of the participants were shielding their faces with their signs from the photographers/videographer.

SPD was there and was very helpful in keeping the protest safe from drivers. The intersections can be nasty in my neck of the woods.

My schedule is a little strange this week, since I am working on Saturday night (but not really working – we get to see the presses as part of the internship). So I joined my favorite Stephanie and her friend (and her friend’s son) on a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. The weather was nice, and the zoo wasn’t too crowded. And the animals came out to play a bit! A very worth-it visit and day off adventure.

For size comparison, see here.

Um, Steph – that’s not a zoo animal. That’s the baby.

Something strange appeared when I looked through my photographs from the Georgetown Carnival on Saturday. Do you see it?

(this one is a stretch)

What a strange combination of punk, rock-n-roll, live music, antique vendors, food, kids, dogs and sunshine. It was rather enjoyable.

I found myself out and about much later tonight than any other night so far. I’ve now been here a week. Crazy, it feels like it’s been so long, yet it hasn’t been at all. This city is incredibly beautiful.

Alki beach

From the King County Water Taxi fishing pier

A week ago Thursday morning, I left for my summer internship at The Seattle Times. It was not an easy morning. But Seattle is beautiful. And three days in, the internship is off to a good start. So all is well. But I still miss home. And Scott.

1. I met the President and First Lady. There’s video here of my friends and I getting honored at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

2. I walked in graduation. I am steps (well, words) away from my master’s degree from the University of Missouri.

My best friend Diane got married in Chicago two weekends ago. It was awesome.

I still haven’t gone through the rest of the photos from that trip. That’s not so awesome.

I’ll get to it, Diane.
Sometime soon.
I hope.

Every day, I ride the metro. And every day, I sit with my camera in my hands thinking, “Another day on the metro. Nothing interesting happening here.” But still I sit there, camera in hand.

Just in case the lights turn out for thirty seconds.

New York is just so busy. So crazy. So many things going on. So many memories. So many characters. So many lives. I feel like this photo has a lot of that all balled up into one.

Made me miss the small town feel of Missouri.

Just for a minute.