We had a tailgate party at work today.
For those that don’t pay attention, and don’t live near the left coast, the 7-9 8-9 Seattle Seahawks are still playing football. They have a game on Sunday, in Chicago against the Bears.

We have a few folks at work that hail from the fair (and highly taxed) state of Illinois.
Some of them live with me too. (Not those from work, just from Illinois)
A few at work have not been able to change their allegiance from the midwest to left coast.
There have been all sorts of good-natured ribbing this past week. Verbal, signs, etc.

One of the Bear’s fans had the grand idea to have a tailgate party today.
Folks brought all sorts of good tailgate type food. Lots of barbeque.

I brought the makings for nachos.
I had good intentions.

But after diligently working for 3-1/2 hours I was going to head to the kitchen and start prep work.

Only – Jay to the front counter please.
So – 1/2 hour later – I had explained what I could to the customer (really a future customer), and grabbed my fixings and headed to the kitchen.

Of course, the kitchen was full of food (not mine) and people.
I felt a little bad, but there was ALOT of good looking food.

So I stowed my fixings and sat down to enjoy others – food and company.
It was really fun. Just one of those – “we ought to …” – at the last moment, that really worked out. Of course, we all stayed indoors, out of the rain.

My nachos will make an entrance – tomorrow.

GO SEAHAWKS!

What else? Not much. Work. Workout. Eat. Repeat.

Calculators, arms and movies.

I discovered the calculator on my computer at work this morning.
I was looking at the keyboard. It is new (to me) and has lots of keys that I am not familiar with, or have used. One located over the 10-key pad had a funny looking icon. So I pressed it. And presto, a calculator appeared on the screen. Now that I look at the icon, it is a calculator. Playing around a bit with it, it has all manners of calculators. Scientific, translating, regular, etc. This is interesting because I have two calculators at work. One, a relatively cheap casio type thing, I can not find currently. I am sure it will turn up. The other, a reverse polish HP model from many years ago, was given to my by my mother-in-law several years ago. This has become my go-to work horse. Of course, being able to find it is a big bonus.  But I tend to get partway through a calculation and forget the language I am calculating in. I go forward instead of in reverse, and it all comes out Greek. Now I find I have an alternative – could be helpful.

And in the personal betterment section, Carl & I have decided I should do a workout that pays attention to something other than my legs. The most obvious choice was my arms. So Carl has been pointing me in the direction of some exercises he does on our in-house exercise machine. After the first day, in which we just experimented with exactly how weak my arms were, I felt pretty good today. So I did it again, with a little more gusto. I intend to take it slow enough that I keep working on it – at least a few days each week.

To relax after the workout, we settled down to watch Brewster McCloud.
It is an old movie, but not one I have ever seen. I am sure I will watch it again.
The wicked witch lives! Except she dies. And I really think her singing voice is much like mine.

And, at a bit past nine, the movie ended and I wandered into another room, and saw

First snowfall of 2011

In the other direction

Most shovel the walk. Carl clears the yard.

All pictures taken with no flash.

7-foot tall snowman. Still snowing (check the grass coverage from earlier picture)

Today has been an at home kind of day.

I have plans to go through 25+ years of medical paperwork to thin the pile down to what is really necessary. I think I may try to compile a list of major events in each of our lives as well – with dates. I don’t know how many times I get asked questions and feel lucky if I can get within 5 years of when something happened.

I went to urgent care once, with an urgent issue. When they told me I had been there once before for the same complaint, I told them, “no – I had not.” It was only when they said a doctor’s name that I recognized that I believed.

The morning started with the paper, and much got wasted spent with a crossword. I did not come close to finishing. Then Carl got us started by suggesting a walk, approximately 6-miles. I agreed, but thought we should get the tree out of the house first (pick-up tomorrow). As that was coming down he suggested I get the recycle out, which I did. Finally had all of the trash, recycle, compost into their containers for pickup, and we started to walk. Got two blocks (to the mailbox) and it started raining. Cold rain. With 5-3/4 miles to go we decided there was enough to do at the house still, and returned home.

Wussies!

But the rain turned to a hard rain and then a wet snow.
I think we made the correct decision, although I am sure we could have completed it.
However, the last little thing done before starting the aborted walk was to make sure we had our bus passes along. Just in case we wanted to divert further along.

OK – so the title was a little dig at my beloved bro-in-law.
And it is not so much that he hates the Seahawks, or wishes them poorly, it is just that the Seahawks road to the playoffs went through the St. Louis Rams.
And the Seahawks were the first team to win their division with a losing record.
And they beat the Rams with a back-up quarterback – who has ties to GOD.

We started watching the playoff game today without a great deal of expectations. And a pan of nachos.
The nachos went quickly, and so did our expectations. The Seahawks were quickly down 10-0, including an interception.
But … strange things can happen, and in the end the Seahawks prevailed over the defending SuperBowl champions by a score of 36-41. WOO-HOO!!! It will be fun here over the next week.

In other news, we took a pre-game walk this morning. About 5 miles, although I haven’t check the mileage. The last time I set out on a 5-6 mile walk it ended up at 9-1/2 miles. Today we went with a much safer route, at least as far as the potential for unexpected length. The basic walk was to start at home, walk around Green Lake, and back home. This would be 5 miles. We decided to add in a little grocery stop, so diverted south after getting under the freeway – through a residential neighborhood and eventually intercepted the lake. Around about 1/2 of the lake, and then diverted for a mailbox, and eventually to the aforementioned grocery store (QFC in case you are following this ramble).

We could not find a pomegranate at the QFC, so we tried the small organic based grocery on our block – they had two. We brought one home and then stumbled on a little video on how to seed a pomegranate. It suggested banging and then rolling the pomegranate to break up the internal membranes before cutting into the fruit. Carl tried this technique, and indeed found that it made the seeds easier to extract.

Today has been relatively dry, but with threats of rain and snow in the offing. The snow is supposed to be minimal, but perhaps more in the last half of the coming week. Oh, joy. Time to start bringing work home with me again.

It did rain yesterday – hard in fact. When another worker was leaving just before me she was actually looking for her rain gear – just to get to her car. I realized I had an umbrella that Ashlan had suggested I keep. I had intended to leave it with the car, but it was still in my backpack. Now, despite living in Seattle for many years now, I do not usually use umbrellas. They are just another thing to hold on to. Since I had not used the umbrella before I tempted the fates and opened it indoors, so I could be sure to know how to close it quickly. [Otherwise the whole reason for using the umbrella would have been moot.] So I walked out the door and opened the umbrella. And as I walked it started to close around me. Apparently I needed to pay more attention to the whole opening bit. Got to and into the car relatively dry, and proceeded to slog through the deluge with all of the other commuters. My carpooler was at a hockey game, so I had to go it alone today.

And that about sums up my last two unbearably exciting day.

But I was reminded today of a happening as we waited to get through the border last weekend. We saw a coyote off the side of the road. It was checking out traffic and general surroundings, and eventually disappeared back beyond our view. I had initially thought it was a german shepard. It was quite large. Carl speculated that it might be a wolf-coyote hybrid, but I don’t know that there are wolves in close proximity to the urban border. That further raised the question of whether this sort of hybrid would be sterile. I really think it was just a large coyote, but still … I would not want to run into a colf or woyote, sterile or not.

It is that time.
Twelvth night.

Usually by this date our house has been relatively cleaned of holiday debris.
This year – the tree with lights still stands. And there is still a nutcracker, mini-tree, and a few ornaments on the mantle. A few assorted other Christmasy things are about the house. In other words, we have been putting off the clean out stage.

On the other hand, the next yard waste (tree pickup) is not until Monday.
There is no reason for a perfectly good tree to sit idle for the next few days when it can continue to decorate our house.

So let the holidays continue for a few more days.

And in the tradition of getting books on Three Kings Day (at least how I remember it) I got my last present from the boy. A book about Tipon – an Incan estate, full of water works that are worthy of study today. Perhaps I will report on this more after I have had a chance to read more.

I did not turn up the volume on our alarm clock last night (TV), and did not wake up until 7 AM this morning. Of course, that was the time I was supposed to be picking up my carpooler at the coffee stand. I did get out of the house in under 15 minutes, and found him chatting with the barista.

We did make it to work with about 4 minutes to spare before the all staff meeting. I hate walking into those late, especially since it is the first meeting with just the new boss in charge.

Finally about 10 AM the coffee from work was starting to do its thing, and I no longer feel like I am completely in the fog. (That is misty type fog, not FOG.)

Back to work.
Final kid out of the house and back to the eastern states.
Hoping he is there safe and sound, only a few inconveniences.
One jacket hid and stayed behind.
Putting together a package for that and other things that just wouldn’t be carried back.

Earlier kid out the day before – but with some minor inconveniences.

Waiting on Jethro's

One phone up north, when it should be south.
One credit card – soon to be south, when it needs to be north.
Boots – soon to be south, want to be north (need – not necessarily).

Since we had a long wait at the border yesterday the excitement of another trip is just not there.
Once we have all of the errant pieces pulled together we will strategize on how to rearrange their locations.

Just in case you wanted to know why the Seahawks were able to pull out a win over the St. Louis Rams, and become the first team to win a division title with a losing record…

Clipboard Jesus in on the Seahawks side (and on the field as the quarterback)

Clipboard Jesus was on the field (or next to the field).

Ashlan got home before 8 AM.
That is worthy of note, as she would rather not get up that early anytime. Much less get up, gather up, drive a friend home, and then get home herself.
But we are trying to get an earlyish start up north this morning.
[And one of her friends involved in the last night together soiree has an 11 AM flight out of Seattle.]

So while she is packing I decided to check e-mail.
Heard from WordPress. Now I like WordPress – they have afforded me the relatively easy way to blog. Not that I have figured out any special effects like my relatives, but I can write and post a picture or two.

WordPress was all about the stats.
They offer a link to post my yearly stats on my blog – easy.
But I think I would be embarrassed by those that also blog, and can write more interesting thoughts, take better pictures, and provide a better presentation. So I declined to link, but will pass along a few choice bits of information.

The most popular post was about our visit to see Rey in June. The fifth most visited was written by Ashlan (while I was walking the 3-day). Another popular date revolved around Jane’s birthday – maybe she had her friends visit to see one of my few pictures posted.

The search term used most to land on my post was, “granny beaded neck meaning.” The next four search terms all had to do with Dr. Goat, which also has the most comments – and by far the most comments by people I do not know.

My own personal favorite search has been by somebody that found Wayne Drop from our Mariner game escapade. It resulted in Wayne being booked for a Weather Fest event in January. He will be there with Doppler (radar).

So I guess I will keep blogging, and for now I am going to check to make sure Ashlan is still packing, and not lying down on her bed. Rey was sure enough he had time – to take a shower, and Carl has gone to the bank. But still – we may be out before 9 AM. [We are moving quickly so we can enjoy a meal in Canada and get back before the Seahawk game – where the bottom of the Division Title holders will be determined.]

GO HAWKS! – game time predictions – clear and about 30 degrees.

Now the real story of what is going on.

Ashlan is taking the USA shopping to the max. She took me (Jay) out shopping to refresh the wardrobe a bit. She knows that I rarely shop, and dislike it more than most. So we have a few new cardigans (I only recently noticed how much I can resemble what my father used to wear day in and day out), and a few new shirts, and some new shoes. Now some are from 2nd hand shops, but they are all new to me. Ashlan also was able to further her ability to stretch a closet to the max – plus a new jacket. [The jacket was sort of a gift, except that the gift one was returned and a different one purchased elsewhere (2nd hand) and the gift card from the gift used for some of the other aforementioned shopping.]

Whew – I am tired.

The most difficult part of yesterday’s shopping adventure was getting gas.
Or not getting it as it turned out.
We made our first stop at the video dvd store, and realized the gas light was on.
I suggested we go back the few blocks to home and trade cars for one with gas.
Ashlan wanted to just make the detour (a few miles out of our way) to get gas – because this car has the automatic plug for her I-pod, and fun music.
So we went north (our goal was southeast) to the gas station.
It was packed. And when I finally maneuvered into a slot and got out to pay, I saw the sign saying, “No unleaded.”
So then I made the decision that we were going to change cars.
I can only do so much to accommodate the girl.

Carl & Rey have been hanging out – not shopping. Not entirely true, Carl did grocery shopping. Rey has been hanging out with Carl, Carl’s kids, and his buddies from high school. They even made the trek to the big Seattle New Year’s Eve show. Ashlan was considering the same event, but the cold air changed her mind to a more sedate, indoor celebration.
The boys are now in the middle of a street sidewalk hockey game.

Soup is on the stove – almost the best part of the Christmas ham. We are at the “chill” stage. Actually, the it’s not cool enough to put in the fridge stage. But that means soup tonight or maybe tomorrow. And I just realized I could chill the soup on the front stoop – without worrying about the fridge temperature (or room).

Tomorrow’s stage is set for international travel.
We are all planning to trek north for a drop off and lunch.
Then those without the student visa are trekking back.
Hopefully traffic will be reasonable at the border.