Raincharm’s Weblog

Let’s see, on Seattle’s schedule tonight is – Cliff Lee pitching his first game for the Mariners.
Many will not know who he is, or maybe care a lick about baseball.
But there are several thousand that do, and traffic will be heading to Safeco Field.
Safeco Field is at the west end of the I-90 floating bridge.

Also on the schedule tonight is getting ready for the Opening Day of Boating Season.
Which is tomorrow.
There are crew races (Oxford is in town), the parade of boats, lots more boats watching, and general merriment.
Many boats are already tied up on the log boom, and more on the way.
This is directly adjacent to an near the end of the 520 floating bridge.

Traffic going east to west has been impacted.
But I was carpooling (thanks for taking the car Ashlan), and just got to sit as the driver made decisions.
We started on I-90, then cut north through Bellevue to 520, skipping much of the 520 slog.
As a carpool we got to use the quick entrance to 520 instead of waiting in line.

The predicted time to Seattle via 520 when we made our decision to leave I-90 was 52 minutes.
We made it in about 35. Not bad.
And I had a ride – better than yesterday.

I didn’t really hesitate, I was just still working.
But when another worker from upstairs came downstairs and announced that all others upstairs were gone ….

Well that meant that my ride home was gone too ….

I did find him by phone, but he was well on his way home by then.
So off to the bus. (Did get a ride to a Park & Ride to avoid one leg.)

I am sure my looking for a morning ride earlier in the afternoon played into the loss of the ride home.
I just confused them.
Two potential rides, made a choice for the morning.
Maybe the afternoon ride was put out that I didn’t choose him.

No harm, no foul, and I got some work done on the ride home.

I only hope tomorrows ride in goes as planned.
It is harder to make up time going in to work in the morning.

Tuesday – work 13 hours.
Wednesday – work 6 hours, then drive 6 hours.

Which makes you more tired? I’m not sure, and have just done them both.

The drive was to the big Vancouver (not the little vancouver in washington).
The reason – to pick up the girl who has completed year 3.

Note to self: Do not approach Vancouver on 99 from the south at 5 PM.
It is rush hour. But driving into Vancouver is the reverse commute.
Unfortunately, there is this tunnel, the George Massey Tunnel, they use to go under the Fraser River.
A great little road, except that the reverse commute are given only 1 lane.
15 minutes to get across the border, 15 minutes to get through the merge for the tunnel lane.

Got a chance to see Ashlan’s apartment a little more decorated.
Here are a few views of the common area. Sorry no bedroom or bathroom shoots.

It is a cozy place. If you work at it you can piece the floor plan together by finding the links between the picture.

At work I am surrounded by paper.
Paper, and boxes filled with more paper.

At home, when I sit at my computer, I am surrounded by little dolls.
Polly Pockets to be specific.
Not my daughter’s Polly Pockets either.
The new, larger (don’t choke on me), more rubberized version of a mini-Barbie.

There are many varieties.
Different colors and shades of hair.
I am not sure I have seen a boy-pocket.
I have seen several Disney princesses.
And they all have rubberized clothes and mini-shoes that come off,
and are apparently a bit harder to get back on.

I was never that big into Barbie. I did have a Barbie, and a Ken.
I also had a larger doll, with red hair.
I think I wanted that doll because my older sister had one.
I don’t remember her playing with dolls too much either.

But I wonder about the Pollys.
They are so small.
I think I liked little things that could be manipulated.

Who knows.
What I really remember playing with were little cars.
Hot wheels.
Really Models of Yesteryear were my favorites.
My cousin and I would play for hours with cars on the floor of the old cabin.

Maybe it’s me.
Or maybe it’s just growing up in Michigan.

Note to self: Do not give blood the day before you are scheduled to play soccer.

That said I did play soccer, at least most of the game. I was a bit light headed after making runs, in addition to being slower than most of the opponents. I planted for a head ball, got backed into by a taller, stronger player, ended up on the ground with a knee to my head. That was the last straw and I took myself out.  (We had no women substitutes, and had actually borrowed two women from an earlier game to fill out our five) While I was out my team came back and scored the tying goal. 3 minutes to play – I had rested a few minutes, so back on the pitch. I figure they would at least have one more player to run around. We fended them off and walked away with the tie.

After the game I found out that one of our regular women players was not playing the season at all. But not because of the leg injury I thought was the cause. But because she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer! OMG. I was shocked. Last to know as usual, but still. She is in treatment, it is stage 1, so the prognosis is good.

My little complaints about being tired, muscle pull hear and there – they are nothing. My teammate is dealing with treatments that sap strength and make you sick – all trying to rid her body of the evil C. Since 1 in 8 women in the states is likely to be diagnosed with cancer, the fact that one on our soccer team should not be surprising.

It has got my attention – again. This is why I walk – because I can. And to raise money to support research in the fight to rid us of breast cancer in particular – but really for cancer in general. What we learn about one cannot help but broaden our knowledge about the other.

So – if you have any money to spare after taxes, or want to boost your charitable donations for 2010 – please consider making a donation to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer fight. There is a link on the right. I have been lax in fund-raising this year – but I suddenly feel inspired again. I have to support Marie!

Not very eloquent – remember the knee to the head. Moral of the story – keep giving blood, keep walking, raise some more money. I have nothing to complain about.

Yesterday was a pretty good day.
I worked basically 8 hours figuring out the fine details of some water rights.
Well more figuring out where the differences in what was reported appeared, where they started, but not why they popped up again about 10 years later.
I also got to sample some emergency rations we are considering for our emergency larder (3 year shelf life). They were reportedly much better than C-rations, but not something you would want to eat everyday.
Then it was time to go home, figure dinner, do a few chores and fall into bed.

Today is a big day for Carl. He is going to attempt to give blood for the first time. I am going along for support, and may give blood if they have open slots. If not I am scheduled on May 3rd. I started giving blood back at E. Lansing when I was in college. I wanted to know what type I was, and it was an easy thing to do. Except that to make the minimum weight requirement I would put weights in my pockets. (Note: that is no longer a problem.) My most frequent problem now is low iron content. But I get in there on a fairly regular basis. Carl has always had a little bit of a needle thing, so this is a big step. I’ll report on the outcome later.

He Did It!
The staff was very helpful and knew right away he was a newbie. Said he had that worried look. About halfway through the donation he said he felt faint. They brought him some juice and it all went well from there.
I am so proud – since he is usually the type they make lay lie down just to get a sample for a test.
I gave too – they were busy, but squeezed me in – and squeezed out enough to give me a 2 Gallon total for the Puget Sound Blood Center.

Took Carl out for brunch to celebrate.

Watched the second half of the Sounders game on ESPN360.
Great until the last second of extra time (well the last minute anyway), when a Dallas player dives – clearly – on the replay over and over and over again – in the box. Dallas is awarded a penalty kick and scores to tie the game. BS. I hope the referee is a bit concerned for his position after viewing the replay himself.

OK – now the workday has clearly receded into the past.

Calm, calm. It probably didn’t help that I was pedalling the bike as I watched, and all amped up …. Calm, calm, … bye

So I posted on Monday and it is almost Thursday.
I don’t know what happened, except that I have been going to work.

Oh, wait – the baseball season started!
But that was last week.

But it is still a homestand – when time stands still – or rather runs away and through your fingers like sand through an hourdayglass.

Mariner game tonight.
Felix Hernandez for the Mariners, and Millstone for the Orioles. (something like Millstone, anyway)
Mariners WIN!
More unusual news, both pitchers pitched complete games.

News that I got the headline only – garbage strike starts today.
Only Waste Management, one of three garbage haulers in Seattle.
But will other workers not cross a line, will the transfer stations still operate.
Inquiring minds need/want to know.
Our garbage day is Monday, so we will have a few days to figure out our impact. (Sign of the economic times – when they advertised for replacement workers a few weeks ago, they got several hundred applicants.)

Such are the questions that rattle around inside my head 5ish in the PM.

6ish was closer to the actual time my meeting got out.
Ready to go home – time to myself this evening.

Back in my office – 1 message waiting.
OK – check it out, it is only a message …..
From my carpooler (not today) telling me about an accident on the freeway home that had traffic wrapped in knots.

OK – maybe I’ll work a bit more, wait for traffic to die down.
Phone rings (cell phone – in my purse). Carl – can I please come home and give him a ride from his massage appointment to the ball game. He will be late anyway, and then won’t have to park.
So – agree, even with horrid traffic I can go ahead and leave now. Maybe get home in the hour before he will be ready.

Turn off computer, pack things to leave.
Phone at front counter is ringing. Another work person picks it up.
Do I want it at the front counter or in my office?
?!? Do I want it at all? Maybe it is Carl again.
Put it through to my office.
Customer that is not happy with a letter I sent out last week – stunned is the word he used.

I have not been looking forward to this call and now it is way past work time, and I am trying to leave.
But I let him say a bit, and then suggest we should meet.
Turn the computer back on, he does the same.
We settle on Thursday.

Computer off, pack up again.
But wait – why did his call come through to the front desk?
It should have gone to the overnight message center.
We can’t figure it out. Make a few calls, but not to the who really know.
Going in circles – nowhere fast.
Finally try calling in myself – and it goes to the overnight message just fine.
The customer must have just started pushing whatever he thought would get a live person. And because there was a live person in the vicinity of the front desk 1-1/2 hours after closing – he won.
[Really – glad I got the meeting set without phone tag – he will probably be happier for the less hassle factor]

Drive home. And happily, the only vestige of the accident by now is a motorcycle being loaded onto a tow truck.
And I beat Carl home, so am ready to whisk him to his destination – as soon as he arrives that is.

Isn’t my life fascinating!

So I mowed the lawn. I don’t think I did this last week, because it was really long in the back yard.
(I am not complaining.) It was a little more difficult to get started because the door to our garage gave out. Well, part of the mechanism is not longer attached to whatever it was attached to before. I can see where one piece pulled out of the drywall ceiling. But I haven’t cleared the space to really see what is not where it should be anymore. Then we can figure out what to do so the lawnmower does not have to take the long walk through the basement to the back door.

Other than mowing I did a little running this morning while Carl was whacking little round orbs around with some other older orb-swatters.  He kicked a larger orb with me for a while too. Then he went off to watch professional orb-swatters.

I thought I would go do some work in my car, gazing out over Golden Gardens. Nice thought – but everybody else in Seattle was there as well. I did manage to do a bit of work, but the car traffic volume was just too distracting. I need a nice cloudy Seattle day to really do good car work. This is a holdover from my graduate school days in Fort Collins, up on the edge of Horsetooth Reservoir.

Some mail-sorting/filing to round out the day should about do me in.