Raincharm’s Weblog

Made the leap. Know so little. Where is my techno-daughter when I need her?
First mobile post.

I can not believe it is almost halfway through 2011.

There is a project I intended to start in January and finish by February, and I now HOPE to get it started next week.
There is barely time to breath.

And yet, there are those moments between activities when I do stop, and do something totally not on the list of things to do. Like a Sudoku. Or read a blog.

I think the next two weeks need to be peddle to the metal.
That includes work and home errands, and a few ball games thrown in for “fun”

No really, they are usually fun.

Although I have had it about up to here (see hand high up in the air) with Braves fans. Carl blames TBS for their number. I don’t know how many actually travelled from Atlanta.
Actually, many have been very nice, and cheering for their team as they should. But then there are those that feel they need to be confrontational about it all – nah-nah in your face.

Today is a day game, and Carl and Lillian are attending, with seats in the King Felix section. Felix Hernandez, 2010 Cy Young Award winner is pitching. There is a section where your ticket price includes a yellow King Felix t-shirt, foam crown and “K” card. They cheer as a group, and the participation appears to be pretty fun.

We did not have our regular seats today – my boss is playing hookey and taking some of his family to the game.

WELL -back to work.

Today I got up, twice (more or less).
Once when the alarm would normally go off, and in fact did, and then again when I woke up again and got out of bed.

Then the 2’s started.

2 Games – Sounders (soccer) and Mariners (baseball)

The Sounders won – 2-1 over the New England Revolution.

We got to sit in Row 2 (well Row B, but it was the second row) instead of Row H where our tickets are located. The Row B ticketholders also have 2 seats in front of us and wanted to have 4 together today, so we swapped tickets.

The Mariners won – 2-1 over the Florida Marlins.

After spending 2 hours biding her time between games (a little work, a little telephone chat) it was time to get into the ballpark.

I got to enjoy Batting Practice by myself – truly unusual.
Carl was playing a game himself between the soccer and Mariner game, but since the stadiums are just a block apart, Jay elected to stay downtown. And none of the other usual BP suspects were anywhere to be found.

Spent a bit of time at the bullpen watching Pineda and a second pitcher throwing.
A ball from BP ended up in the bullpen, and the catcher tossed it to ME. I gave it to a family standing next to me. (I think the Dad was more excited than either of the kids.)
They stopped throwing, so I moved to the drunk tank area, and watched them hit from the upper level. A ball was tossed up, and I got my hand on it, but it bounced off (no mitt – bad me).
Then they opened up the rest of the ballpark, so I moved over near our seats.
Since I did not have a mitt I planted myself 4 rows from the back, in the center of the section, and took out a book to read.
I was on about page 35 when the sound of a ball hitting the seats about 5 rows in front of me caused me to look up. I saw the ball bouncing over me, landing 2 rows behind.
Then as a fellow from the last row was trying to climb over the rows to get to the ball, I waited as it rolled down 2 rows – and I picked it up. I kept this one.
As Carl would say – I got 2 this evening.

The game was an away game for the Mariners, played under National League Rules
Played at home because U2 took over the Marlin’s stadium.
And yes, the Mariner’s pitcher got a hit, a double.
The winning run was scored on a wild pitch, during an intentional walk in the 10th inning.
But not a walk-off – an away game, it was actually a pop-out that ended the game.

Yes – way more information than most would want, but I thought the kids might be interested.
And me getting 2 baseballs in batting practice, and my hand on a third really is unusual.
Especially when I wasn’t really trying. I guess years of hanging around the rest of my family has finally rubbed off.

It has been a while since I last sat at this keyboard to share what has been going on.
What has been going on is work, work, game, work, and a show.

It is now summer, and we had our day of summer.
One day, and maybe a little into the next.
It has been in the 60’s since, but the promise is for it to get warmer in the next week, and for

(shhhhhhh) the 4th of July weekend may even be sunny!

You don’t want the gods to remember that it is their duty (apparently) to make it rain on the 4th. This tests each person to see if they are a true northwesterner, willing to get wet to see their fireworks.

I am not truly complaining, it just gets tiresome to not be warm all day. And it really has been getting warmer by bits. My evening game wear no longer includes long johns or the big jacket. I am generally happy with a sweatshirt and jacket. And my gloves. And frequently a scarf.

Scarves are du rigueur for soccer matches here – so I do not look out of place.
Sounders had a fun game on Thursday evening against the NY Red Bulls. The Red Bulls are a really great team offensively. Lots of creative ideas to watch as they race down the field. We got 2 goals on them early – which they matched. But then we managed a third, and then their goalie had a lapse of concentration, during which our forward took the ball, literally, from the goalie’s feet, moved around him to the left, and putted it into the goal.

Last night the Mariners played as the visiting team, under National League Rules against the Florida Marlins – at Safeco Field. But we were not in attendance. We were at the Seattle Men’s Chorus at the other end of downtown. A fun evening, and we will get to see Mariner pitchers bat tonight and tomorrow. [The Marlins lost control of their stadium to U2 for the weekend, and so must play 3 home games on the road.]

That was the usual for last week.
The mostly usual concerns work. I have two MAJOR projects right now. One is ending, and the other is just starting. I need to get the one ended, and am working on final edits. However, as usual, other work at work interferes with my ability to focus on what I am in charge of, and instead work on all of these things for others.

The primary OTHER thing this past week has been editing redoing a PowerPoint presentation for a focus group customer participation meeting. It is much easier to work on something when you completely understand the motivation and goals behind the project. But sometimes you just have to suck it up and do what you can anyway. In this particular case, the originator of the original piece is an elected official. This makes it doubly difficult, because you just can’t talk to them the same way you can talk to a “regular” boss, and you can not have the same expectations of technical skill sets. But in this case there appeared to be a real hesitation to allow any changes. But on the other hand, whatever went public would reflect on the workplace as a whole, so you just have to try to put the best face forward.

The elected’s goal was to have 20-25 random customers (out of 16,000+) come into our office on a Saturday, and watch the presentation. The presentation would include a few slides with “education” about a particular subject, followed by a related question or two. These are opinion type questions, no right or wrong answers. They would have “clickers” that feed the responses to a program, that could then display the results, anonymously. This way the electeds could get a better understanding of what our customers felt about certain matters, and consider those results in setting policies.

This is a good idea. Except that 20 out of 16,000+ is just not statistically significant. You could start down some strange paths with such a small sample. And while we know the technology for the Question/Answer/Response review exists, it is not a product we have in house or know how it all connects together. The elected has indicated they will get a piece of this technology from a regional group, of which we are a member.

Three of us were unwilling to let a less than professional looking product leave the office, so we took on the task of “editing.” As it actually turned out, we tried to look at the body of work presented, determine what the real question/point behind each slide was, and then craft a bit of education followed by a question. We formatted, discussed, argued, laughed and eventually came out with a set of 14 questions that we could live with. Then we left the product in our most creative members hand to dress up. (A pig with lipstick comes to mind.) And we put out a request for the Q/A/R technology, so we could make sure it would work.

Of course, this product was fine with the three of us, but it needed to be vetted by the other managers – especially the GM, and then rolled back out to the elected. And if the elected did not accept it – what then?

All of this took probably at least 1/2 of my work time during the past week. And it was not the easiest work, because it was not a project I was whole-heartedly behind. Nor in my area of natural skills. And it was keeping me from doing the work that I really need to get done. With deadlines.

The GM requested a meeting Friday afternoon to see what we had put together, and get whatever edits the rest of the Managers determined would be necessary. Only two of the workplace re-creators were in attendance, as the third was telecommuting for the day. As folks gathered we opened up the presentation, took a step back and opened up the original presentation.

There were a few in attendance that had not seen the original. Including the final slide with the puppies who’s eyes blinked and then stuck out their tongue as the words, “We love you,” flashed on the screen. Professional? Maybe for a small child or animal based operation. Well, that got the laughter started, including us re-creators, as it had been a long week – and some release was in order.

Then the Q/A/R technology arrived.

It was about as professional looking as the original elected’s presentation.
There were six clickers – with stickers, and – well it is hard to describe – I will add a picture later. But there were no instructions, and the switch did not seem to always work correctly. Only the green light would turn on, not the red. And our answers were not logic – yes/no – answers, but A.B.C.D. type. OMG – it just continues.

The two of us re-creators are trying to figure out how we can get a machine that does work. The City had one at a meeting we attended – did they rent or own it?

There were many things about the Q/A/R machine that should have told us immediately what it really was.
A bunch of bits and pieces cobbled together, with enough extra wiring to make a few bells and whistles activate. (Actually, just lights.)

But it had been a stressful week, and when you are too close to something – you just don’t see the big picture.

And as the realization hit, we had been duped, and our new GM was the master duper. The laughter increased. Most in the room were laughing so hard they were crying. Stomachs ached. It was raucous enough that the receptionist appeared and reminded us that there were customers about that were wondering what the noise was all about.

Super Duper Voting Machine

After it was all over, I realized that it was an excellent joke. Really.
Total gotcha.

But some of my tears were real. And I don’t think it is that I can’t take a joke, it is just that I have to work today – Saturday – because I have not been able to get my own projects worked on during the “normal” work week.

OK – I am sure the use of PH is old in Philadelphia, but they don’t get to Seattle very often.
We went to our 3rd Phillies game in as many days – and the Mariners took the series, 1st and 3rd games. All with our new 2nd baseman, Dustin Ackley. He has a single, a homer and a triple. And some very nice plays in the field. Exciting.

This morning we walked to the game, ~6-1/2 miles.
Weather – not raining, but there was only a hint of a shadow in the middle afternoon. I am not sure that this qualified as the promised sun-break. (62 degrees at first pitch. Don’t know whether it went up a degree or two, but having 45,000 other phans in attendance helped.)

Favorite sign on the walk down to the stadium.
This is one of those saw-horse type arrangements they use for temporary no-parking.

No Parking.
2010-2013

Maybe they could invest in a real street sign.

Father’s Day has dawned.
We have a father in house, but no children to wish him, “Happy Father’s Day,” in person.
And we too are far removed from our respective fathers and fathers-in-law.

So this morning, I was a good kid – stand-in.
I did the dishes. I made the coffee.

Now only our kids will understand that this was different (completely) than normal.
But – I tried.
Next, I am going to take him (local Dad) to the Mariners game.

And we hope to walk, so it is almost time to go.
Heck, they predicted a “son” break between the showers for today!

So – to all the Dads out there, especially 2, – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.

Thank God it was Friday!
Not really. I often feel like it needs to be Wednesday when it is Friday, because I still have at least two days of work to finish.

Friday was going along reasonably well.
It started on a bus. I usually have two carpoolers to arrange things with, or a car of my own to drive. However, I had one on vacation, one dropping his wife on the way (and I was not on the most efficient route for that), and the car was in the shop – just a regular 5000 mile change.

I do not mind the bus, and I know the route to work. And it was not raining.
I had just finished a book (A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving), and needed one for the ride. I knew Ashlan had brought back several books from UBC and had not taken many to NYC, so I went to her box. I chose Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Once at the bus stop I opened to the first  page, and immediately knew I had seen this movie just a few weeks prior. I was not sure this was the tone book I wanted to go through. … Oh well.

Working towards a goal, learning a few things along the way, and even sharing teaching along the way. And then the day was speeding toward a close. A time sensitive close – since a bus was involved in an area where buses run – just not that frequently.

In the last hour of work, on a Friday afternoon, things started accelerating.

• Co-worker asks if I have the items I told him the day prior we needed to review. The reason he was actually at work today. OK …. managed to slip my mind, so I retrieved my questions and spent 30 minutes going over my questions ….
• Call from a County person willing to work with me on an issue I had been calling 3 different people at the County over the past two weeks. He was not one that I had called, but maybe he is the person I needed to speak with after all. He wants me to e-mail him information that I have so he can look at it “tomorrow,” as in Saturday. I am assuming this is not a regular work day for him, but I did not press. I understand that many government workers do put in extra time – many times because staff and budgets have been cut, and it is the only way to keep your head above the piles of work demanded of workers – supported by taxes being cut ……. So I ran around getting the information off, and hit the SEND button.
• Closed my computer down, and then realized I had never checked the bus time. Noted time at 4:38.
• At a co-workers computer trying to check bus schedules, as she is trying to get details on how to call the Alarm Company if she sets off the alarm when leaving that evening. The schedule appears with a bus arrival time of 4:44. I told her I did not have time to find the phone number for her, and left. (There were still others that could provide her with the information in the building.)
• Out the door, through the parking lot, to the walk light – which takes forever to appear after pushing the button. Cross the street, cross the cross street (did not wait for the signal), to the bus stop. Turn, look – and get on the bus.
• Think back that I was glad I did not try to help with the Alarm number, or use the bathroom before leaving.
• Open up a different book I borrowed from a co-worker. Simple murder mystery type of book, Promise Me by Harlan Coben, but more in keeping with my mood at the moment.

Traffic was awful. Glad I was not driving. I was reading and realized we had essentially stopped in the carpool lanes, and were not even on to Mercer Island yet. No problem here, relax and read.

Eventually arrived downtown and walked to Safeco Field for the Mariners vs Phillies game.
Unlike several games this fall spring almost summer, it was crowded. We did not have our regular seats, but were relatively close. A great game – and the Mariners won. Major League debut of Dustin Ackley – at second base, and he started out with a hit. Just an energetic crowd, playing against the team leading the Majors. And, a no-hitter through 5 innings (not that I was really in sync with that point, until it was almost over).

Following the game we hung around the stadium for a bit. There were so many of Carl’s friends around, and they were just chatting. (Men chat more than women in my experience.) We finally left and it was an interesting walk to the car. The slightly later leaving crowd appears to be more buzzed than those that jump out of their seats and exit. And traffic was a zoo, until we were able to get on a major thoroughfare and head north.

Our day was not done yet – we stopped at Dick’s for burgers (no dinner yet), dropped a friend at home, and then headed to pick up a car that had been biding its time at the shop – waiting for retrieval. Home after 11 PM, just a bit tired.

Remember the reason for this blog was to keep the kids informed of life on the home front.

We went to the Mariner’s game last night.
Fun – AND WE WON – and the temperature was more reasonable, and it didn’t rain – at all. (Although we did have to watch the Canuck’s score get worse and worse)

And this morning it is sunny.
Caught the eagle on a light post over the freeway instead of the sculpture.
It was actually hard to see him/her because of the sun shining in from behind.

I kind of just want to be out taking a walk.
I could get past this if the weekend were predicted to be sunny too, but this seems to be a 1 to 1-1/2 day spell. And we are still 2 days away from the weekend.
There is a small part of my brain that says, “Take the day off, and work a weekend day.” I could probably swing this, but one of the cross Lake Washington bridges is going to be closed the entire weekend, so another part of my brain says, “Stay in Seattle. Don’t travel – even much in Seattle.”

The ripple effect of taking a major corridor out of service can be mind boggling. I think that being the DOT scheduler for these major closures must be really interesting. You have to consider what you need to get done, whether it is better to close and go for broke, or try to work around traffic, evening only, full day, full weekend, and what else is going on around that you will completely impact.

Last weekend was UW graduation. Since the bridge in question dumps directly onto the UW graduation site, I think last weekend would have been nixed. This weekend there is the Solstice Parade and Fremont Fair, and probably several other “neighborhood” events, and the Mariners, and ….. It’s a big city, there is always something.

And – Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad, and 2 days late to Mom & Dad-in-law. You all set a high standard for us to follow.

24 hours ago I was probably sitting at the computer – checking e-mail.
Kind of like right now.

But, the hours preceding the computer time were really different.

Yesterday I got to go to not one, but two Board meetings.
The first sent staff into silent tizzies, ranting quietly on the sidelines.
I was thinking I was the only one being driven crazy, when another co-worker leaned over and whispered, “I am going to run screaming from this room!”
In the second meeting I was pilloried by a property owner who was not happy with some information I had provided him about sewer. Of course, the meeting was all about water, and the other 40+ people did not get drawn in.

Tonight, a few degrees colder (50’s I am thinking), but I got to experience them while sitting outside at a Mariner’s game. A couple of friends/acquaintances of Carl, along with 15,000 to 20,000 others. Mariner’s lost to the Angels, but still – it was nice to be out with other like-minded individuals, letting the days efforts wash away. [Not quite literally, it rained before – and after the game, but not during.]

It’s raining, again.

But there is still beauty.
On the way in to work, the eagle was not posted on the sculpture next to the bridge. And I don’t recall seeing them in that location in the rain previously.

And then came the bird, flying just above the bridge deck, about 20 feet north of the bridge itself. Level, powerful, beautiful.

A good start to a work week.