The anticipation!
Almost like Christmas morning. (Well, not really. But Carl did receive a postcard a few days ago from Jay Witasick, a pitcher for the A’s at the time, that said, “My first win was a lot like finding out what was under the tree at Christmas.”)

And the game finally arrived.
Full of the normal pomp and circumstance, and the usual between inning shenanigans. The best shenanigan from our vantage point was the second base steal. They bring out a kid from the right field hole in the wall to run to second base, “steal the base” and run back to the outfield fence. [They change the bases at this halfway point in the game.] It is a long run, so the kids have to be at least elementary age. In this particular version, when the kid picked up the base at second, the umpire accosted him. Turns out the “umpire” was his dad, home from Afghanistan. The kid was shocked, his mother/the wife, completely in tears at the right field fence. They took a little longer than usual getting the kid off of the field again. (Should have known it was a set-up when there were 3 cameras instead of just one.)

In the end the Mariner’s lost 4-0 to the Athletics.

But the best part about opening day is seeing the people we primarily see at the ball park. Here a few shots from the day. (Dennis could not make the game, but his hat did.)

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Did anybody think the words in the title were “fling”?

I just noted the similarity as I typed.
In some respects that is what I have been doing a lot lately.
I file, and as I file I fling. Shred, recycle, and a bit of trash to boot.

The preceding pretty much describes both my home and work life.

I have a database I am dying to dive into as well.
But there are a few customers that are waiting for answers that I should attend to first. And then there was a reporter this afternoon. Hope that one ends up OK, since he was called by somebody else (not us). Never know what sort of spin will be placed on a story.

All I have on my plate for tonight was two sources of filing.
House project stuff, which is finally getting to be enough to sort successfully.
(I know it will get much more in-depth, so now is the time to set the stage for files to fill up as we move forward.)
And some bank/investment paperwork that I have tried to tackle in the past, but it tends to just grow in a bin. But it has forced the lid off of the bin, so must be tamed once more. And because we have flung a fair amount of paper, I actually have a file bin that is available to accept a new set of paper.

How exciting is my life!

Carl should get home tonight – after just one more game.
His baseball team is watching the Rainiers tonight in Tacoma.
This is the last stop on the start of the 2012 season road trip.

Of course there is still the Home Opener to come. This Friday.

It is a good thing he is coming home.
I am almost out of food for lunch.
I could go a long time with dinners out of the pantry, but lunches are generally based on fresh foods.

He suggested that I could go to the grocery store!
Harumph!
I almost did, just to show him I could do it.

But then work went really long, and I wasn’t going to get home until about 7 PM, and I was hungry. (Remember, dinner stuff is plentiful.)
So I am trying to do some cleaning, to somehow make up for the lack of fresh food. Hey, I even washed the vegetable crisper since it was essentially empty. (That has to earn a point or two.)

Back to doing what I can to make it look like I didn’t while away the last 5 days eating bon-bons.

(And it's dark chocolate!)

My husband is such a sweetie.
He left me to fend for myself for a few days.

Before he left he filled up the refrigerator and cupboards.

And this morning he called to tell me to go on my Easter hunt.
I do love him.

Happy Easter. May your baskets be full of love.

It’s almost like being there.

Carl (and Dennis)

That was last night. A screen clip – not sure why Carl looks so serious.

Some of the Boys (Dennis, Tom?, Mark & Carl)

This was even before last night. Tom provided a place to place one’s head. Dan (the photographer) is missing from this shot, as are Chris, Mika and So, who were waiting near San Francisco, er Oakland, er Palo Alto (somewhere there).

It sounds like the boys are having a great time.
Mariners are 3-1 on the season, all against the A’s.
Next up, some other team.

Also had a chance to chat with Ashlan while watching the Sounders (on TV and some computer feed), and following the Mariners on Gameday. Almost like she was home.

So, it is finally the Mariner’s Stateside Opening Day.
I followed the game on the computer.

In an early inning I was getting dinner.
I came back to the computer and the bases were loaded with Mariners!
A good start.

And the game progressed, with mostly good things happening.

Getting close to the end of the game, and the phone rang.
I really expected it to be Carl.

Instead, it was a friend, saying he had just seen Carl on TV.
Since we don’t have cable, no luck  on this end.

Just spoke with Carl (hour later). He said Jason had tossed up the last warm-up ball to him, and apparently that was camera-worthy.
Not as dramatic as catching a home run, but then they were not sitting in fair territory tonight.

My day? You don’t want to hear about it. It maddening, boring, frustrating, and then a spark of light. Followed by a slog home, and a Mariner win.

Carl is.

And I am home, except that I can’t seem to get home for as much time as I might like.
Two days, and two late nights at work.
Yesterday was due to a last minute project that required a little bit of research.
Tonight was to go to a different agency’s planning commission meeting.

Not as bad as it might sound.

But not as good as an evening at home would probably be.

So, now I am home, and finding what my spovely louse left to keep me alive in his absence. Boy, I hope I am not this boring when he is around. I guess that must mean it is bedtime.

Or maybe raincharm.

It did rain during the day, but had cleared into a sunny late afternoon.
Spoke with Carl and arranged to take a walk when we both got home.

Left in the sun. It was raining lightly when I hit the bottom of the hill.
Continued as I got on the highway.
Turning into Bellevue, the sun came out, through the rain, and I actually thought, “I should be in a rainbow.”

[Of course the whole rain charm, rain stripe thing is always around.]

Anyway, the sun was streaming through the raindrops, and then it started raining harder. Top wiper speed harder. Hard to see through the sun, er rain hard.

And then I looked into the rear view mirror and it was all

RAINBOW.

From one end to the other. No cars, nothing but color.
It was intense, and beautiful, and a bit distracting for that moment as my brain tried to understand what I was seeing.

Then it moved to the side view mirror, and we exited the rain for a dry spell.
Actually, it rained on and off the rest of the way home.

It's obviously springtime

Traffic was unusually light this morning, and light this evening as well.
I believe some of the school districts have dismissed their urchins for the week.
The several school districts in our area all have their own idea of when spring break will fall. With Easter in the coming weekend I think many will be this week or next.
Seattle does not get out for another two weeks.
Hopefully this staggering means that traffic will continue to be manageable for April.

I was doing quite well on the way to work this morning, until I was fairly close to work.
Then I happened upon the road closing type of accident that can plague 2-3 lane roads when somebody is not paying attention. I have no idea what really happened. I am not sure how many cars were involved, at least four from what I saw. I got within about 5 cars of the accident. No flashy lights had arrived, and there were a fair number of people wandering the scene to help. So I figured I would be in the way if I found a place to pull over and got out. After about a minute of deliberation I did a three-point turn and headed back down the hill. When I reached the bottom, and set off on my alternate route I could hear the sirens. [One of my workmates coming a different route altogether, was entering a roundabout when the fire station next to the roundabout disgorged its truck. She was not sure what to do at first. You can’t pull over in a roundabout, and she did not know which exit the truck planned to take. So she just kept driving around the roundabout, until she was behind the truck instead of in front.]

AND

Jay wins the family final four. Or rather, Kentucky wins, and Jay gets the prize.

2012 - Kentucky and Jay win

It did rain today.
In the early morning, and a few spits here and there, and it may rain again tonight.

I did check the Weather Underground at one point.
It was sunny out, and we had not gone out for a walk yet.
[Carl walked about 9-10 miles yesterday, and I wasn’t sure whether he wanted to walk again. But it was sunny!]
The Wunderground hourly report said 100% chance of clouds, and 90% chance of rain.

But it was sunny. So we took our chance and set out.
4.5 miles later and it was still sunny.

We did not do much else today to speak of.
Finished the last of the taxes.
Finished a crossword puzzle.
Spent a bit of time cleaning up here and there.
Met with the architect for a bit more discussions.

And then the day was dark and done.