I'm sitting at cpratt's computer desk while he plays X-Box Live with other bears around the country in the next room. danlmarmot is still at the drink-up following his rugby practice.

I'm feeling peaceful. Chris and Dan's house has always done that for me. This is a new house, though, quite different from a half-good, half-hood area of San José. At Salmonberg -- the original name of Redmond, Washington -- there's more than one acre, trees, and the pleasures of a European aesthetic throughout.

And Microsoft is only miles away.

Here's the spectacular tulip bed:

And the dining nook, bedecked with succulents:

And Chris, authentically blurry:

Mode: sunny
Muse: Age of the Sun - The Sunshine Fix