Raincharm’s Weblog

And once again I have missed a few days.
I have no excuse for last night, except that I was late getting home. But I was not at the ball game.

Here is the Thursday Rhody picture. (Taken in the evening, which seems to show a lot more of the dirt on the window.)

Thursday Evening Rhody

And a Friday morning picture

Friday morning – with sun

So – I was late getting home from work, but I was also late getting to work in the morning.
Started the day with a dentist appointment. Nothing big, and my teeth feel cleaner.

It was only 7:30 when I left the dentist so I called my carpooler to see where he was.
He had been considering 1) waiting for me to get through my appointment, 2) calling another potential ride, 3) taking the bus. [He had tickets to the M’s game in the evening, and did not want to drive/park in the evening. I was scheduled to drive him to the game (as he has done for me many times), but he ended up getting a ride from a different co-worker.]

When I called he was on a bus. But the bus had been delayed by an accident which close the 520 freeway for a while.
I checked the traffic app, and it looked like the freeway entrance to 520 was blocked, but 520 was fine. The alternate freeway, I-90, was difficult to reach since I-5 was full of traffic. So I decided to go 520, tolls be damned. But since the entrance had appeared to be in trouble I would cut through the University District.

First bad calculation of the day. Slow, lots of traffic and students.

Finally reached the entrance ramp to 520. As I was winding my way down to the freeway (tollway), at <5 mph, I noted a sign saying the bridge would open/close (depending on your perspective) at 9 AM. [The 520 bridge is tolled to help pay for its replacement. The construction work at one end has blocked the area where taller boats could get under the bridge. So in addition for paying to cross, you run the risk of having the drawspan open for a sailboat.] I checked the clock, and realized there was only a very small chance that I would be caught by the bridge opening. Then decided that it would probably be interesting enough to be worth the delay.

Finally on the bridge, but continuing to poke along, it was time for bird watching, 520 style.
First up was a bald eagle.
Then a hawk, but what would a hawk be doing at mid-span. I don’t think they pluck fish from the lake.
Then an osprey. (I think the hawk was also an osprey, just a different angle.)
All of the birds were sitting on light standards right above the freeway.
In retrospect I could have gotten my camera out and taken some pictures, but I was a good driver and kept my hands on the wheel.

Finally across the water, and after another 1/2 hour arrived at work.

Work was actually pretty interesting, as work day’s go.
Finally really digging into some databases. No real data work yet – just data cleanup.
(You know when <500 records to check is a victory, and <2000 seems reasonable, that your life is just too good.)
Finished a team review of the first draft of a major rewrite of our emergency plan (volume 1).
Was able to get a bit of work done for today action (which is good, since I am not there in person today).

And – it is time for me to get back to cleaning up databases.

This entry was posted on May 25, 2012 at 8:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.