Raincharm’s Weblog

What was a German store for many years is now a New York deli.
It is a few blocks from our house.
We walked down one block further to get some movies and on the way back stepped into the deli.

Carl said he had a hankering for pastrami, and it happened to be their special yesterday.
Boy, were they good. The deli will definitely get a return visit.
They had kinishes and some other items that also looked worth a try.

They also had a map of New York’s subway system. I spent some time looking at that, but really don’t know where my grandparents lived when we visited them in New York City in 1964 (or so). I think I remember being the last stop on one of the lines coming home from either the Worlds Fair or the Statue of Liberty.

Maybe I should suggest they put up a Seattle transit map next, to help those that are actually there in person.

Took a nice 4 mile walk today. Didn’t even feel as though I needed to push the pace or distance because I had done some chores in the morning. I work off of personal guilt indexes more than I should.

A friend and her 2-1/2 year old stopped by to join me. The friend happens to be a HUGE FAN of Dave Matthews. Dave Matthews happens to have a house in Seattle that is about 1 mile from our house. So that is where the walk focused (at first). It is a lovely little Seattle style house, about 2 houses away from where Carl drops off and picks up one of his kids from preschool every day. He has actually unknowingly crossed paths with DM, while on his way. The sighting determination is based on the person’s accent and the musical paraphernalia that was being loaded into a truck.

We even managed to have a mostly dry walk. A bit or rain spits here and there. I do enjoy walking around Seattle. There are some really nice looking houses and yard/gardens. It makes ours look dumpy by comparison.  It is too late to garden today (getting dark). Still definitly in winter mode. Perhaps I will go through our inventory and settle back with a movie.

This is a mantra that I say probably 5 out of 7 days a week.
It happens maybe 1 or 2 days a week.
Early means before 11 PM. Not really all that difficult.

Yesterday was a day where I had a fighting chance. I only had to put sheets on a bed or two, should do filing, and most importantly Carl was going to be out with the baseball boys, so there would be nobody else to influence my decisions.

I was watching one PBS show, The Human Spark I think. Then it just went into the next show, Passing Strange. It was not your typical Broadway musical, but I really enjoyed it. So at 11:30, after Carl returned, I went to bed. But I wanted to share it, so looked for the PBS rerun time. It is 2 AM Saturday/Sunday. May need to look for a blank tape to try to record this so Carl can share, and I can see it again.

Just a plug for PBS, and this show in particular.

It was a dark and stormy night.
And then the alarm went off.
And I put on my new glasses and looked in the mirror.
When did my face do that?!?

It was a dark and rainy morning.
So I took my new glasses off and put on my old glasses.
And stepped outside to the car.

As a approached the Ravenna Boulevard Olmstead Park I saw a gaggle of geese (the Marquis is not the only bird watcher in the family) in a small section of the boulevard. Their necks were arching down to the ground to find whatever grubs and seeds they can.
Then the necks became arms and legs.
I thought, “Flash Mob?”
“No, not enough people to enjoy the event.”
“More likely a group of fitness buffs or ROTC recruits.”

The trip into darkness continued up the freeway ramp.
Beautiful twinkling red lights met my gaze.
The freeway was moving, but the on-ramp was metered – earlier and much more than necessary.
The red turned to green, to red, to green, to red, to green, and finally on my way.

Tonight or tomorrow I may try driving with my new gafas, so I can see what I have been missing on the road as well as in the mirror.

again. Guess why.

One of the first things I read was a card from home. My father mentioned that Sonia Sotomayor and Hank Greenburg came from the same Bronx neighborhood, and Hank Greenburg went to the same high school as my father’s siblings.

What I don’t quite get is why that is not also my father’s high school. Family move? School move? Father not go to school? (I have heard rumors about less than stellar grades, so maybe there is more to the story.)

It would be nice to hear those words, but my team does not play in the winter. So I did the next best thing.

Eliptical anyone? With a side of soccer. Literally.
Rey introduced me to ESPN360, which does live broadcasts of a smattering of sporting events, including soccer. Rey pays attention to schedules and teams he would like to watch. I just hope there is a game on, or more likely, available in replay. 

I was able to set the computer up next to the elliptical (on the high stool we got for playing the bass), and voila. The vision lines are not perfect, but not bad either. I set it on 3 and went for the first half (45 minutes).

The game I got to watch today was Barcelona v Tenerife (Spanish Primera Division). Barcelona is apparently the cream of the crop, but Tenerife looked better for the first 20 minutes. Then it got chippy, and then Barcelona got serious. They scored at 36 minutes, 44 minutes and in extra time in the first half. The second half has just started, and I plan to watch this half sitting down.

It did give me a goal, which I always need when I get much beyond 15 minutes of working out. This will help on these dark and damp evenings.

Yesterday’s forecast for rain was apparently short sighted. It only lasted through part of the morning, so we took off on a jaunt in the early afternoon. Our destination was the Arboretum. The arboretum is fairly large and our target was the part that juts into the water on either side of highway 520. We found a shortcut we had not discovered previously. A short cut for those on bicycles or foot. A 6″ curb separates a nicer neighborhood from the Museum of History and Industry access that also contains the start of the wetland path.

The path had signs of recent activity, apparently aimed at keeping the path clear.

Beavers share the Arboretum apparently

Hwy 520 Ramps to Nowhere

It was a really busy week at work. Not so busy at home.
But at home there was no internet service, so no posting.
Actually, I could have plugged into the phone, but was too lazy to take that step.
Our internet provider was on vacation, and the service needed a call apparently.
Whatever, the birds have been fed and the service is back.

As I said, the week at work was busy, although not all strictly aimed at providing the best water and sewer service possible. It included:

• Learning that Blucher means glue in german. Think Young Frankenstein and Frau Blucher. Every time her name was said the horses whinney. Never got that joke before, although we did train a young Rey to whinney when ever we said Blue Car (the name of our younger Honda at that time).
• Taking a trip to the hospital. No, not for me, but following the medics transporting a co-worker. She was from swooning to the ground by another co-worker that leapt over our front counter in time to catch her, and several other co-workers leaping in to action to call 9-1-1, assist with chairs and coordinating the mayhem. I think the first aid training we do every year really paid off. Everybody reacted correctly. And everything is fine, just a mix-up in medication resulting in extreme sleepiness and low blood pressure. And nobody hit a fire hydrant.
• And other than the trip to the hospital a week in which I did hardly any driving to and from work. Actually feel a bit guilty about that since I have the great gas-mileage car, and my carpooler doesn’t.
• Rain, lots of it. The hard type that makes big puddles in the road and windshield wipers a true necessity.
• Dave Matthews, of the Dave Matthews Band, birthday celebration. A co-worker is a DMB super-fan. We had cupcakes and DMB Magic Brownies Ice Cream (Ben & Jerry’s). And t-shirts to wear. The birthday is actually today. Point, DM actually has a home in Seattle, not too far from ours. Maybe we’ll take a walk today.
• The W-2’s are ready, the W-2’s are ready! I am actually excited to get the information into the tax forms to see whether our finnagelling (sp?) of finances at the end of the year was successful in saving us from a huge tax bill.

Of course none of that is really work. But I was busy on work most of the time.

And the sun is out, about 22-hours ahead of schedule.

All kids home.
Saw 3/4 of Seahawks game, and then listened to them lose on the radio.
Border crossing north – 20 minutes.
Border crossing south – 5 minutes.
Who knew? I would have thought many more travellers heading south. Perhaps a 3-day weekend is all most can handle.

Now to hang the calendar and start work.

I like 4-day weekends.
Today feels like an extra day, but that is because yesterday was a day where I feel like I accomplished at least a few things.

1. Finished pinning out the critters (at least so far).
2. Found a calendar for Carl to use to keep track of his work hours. Not a big thing, just necessary. I plan to take the picture calendar supplied by the Marquis to work where it will be on display for others to marvel at.
3. Played Quirkle with Ashlan, and despite all appearances that she was winning, and the fact that I am a lousy scorekeeper, I prevailed. Ashlan was totalling up the score at the end, and discovered I had 3 more point totals listed than she did. Hmmmm. Well I started first and ended – which gives you an extra 6 points, so that accounted for 2 of the 3. Thankfully my winning margin was 11 points, which meant that unless I missed one of her Quirkles (unlikely) I would still have prevailed. If you like to play games at all, Quirkle is pretty fun. It is like Scrabble and Set combined.
4. Ate a really good dinner that Ashlan put together. A Greek salad and honey ginger chicken.
5. Did a jigsaw puzzle. Carl started it and he and I finished it, although not until the infomercials were on. It was a picture of a jumble of Christmas ornaments. Really quite challenging.

In retrospect, just an ordinary day, but it was nice to have an ordinary day without the prospect of having to arise early. Thanks for the extra weekend day.

Today’s goals. New shoes for walking. Watch a little Seahawks football with the girl. Drive the girl back north. Figure to spend a few hours at the crossing. Drive back south. Pray for a short crossing, but plan for a long one. Try to get to bed before the infomercials start.