Raincharm’s Weblog

And I have absolutely nothing scary or Halloweeny to share. Not even a pumpkin spice latte that Carl forgot to get when he was out running errands.

And yes, Carl has returned from his time in the sun to the Seattle rain.

My hopes for some long walks are being washed away, although we may still try tomorrow. The other competition for our walking time is the World Series. IT’S November for God’s sake. Baseball should be over in October.

Tonight we will miss at least some of the baseball game to attend the Women’s Chorus show. I am hoping to share the experience the show with Janet and Lisa, who would normally be performing, but they may have already left for a Tlingit potlatch Lisa’s family is hosting near Juneau.

Okay, I am going to go scare Carl by working out for the first time in several weeks. (It’s either that or do the dishes.)

I went to the Seattle Sounders game last night. With Carl out of town I convinced our friend Kevin to stand in. And stand throughout the game, as we do. Nobody wanted to sit down anyway because the seats were wet. I even put on the poncho at halftime.

The LA Galaxy have been the team to knock the Sounders out of the playoffs. We finally got to return the favor, although it was a very evenly matched game.

Next game is on Sunday. Carl will be back and I am hoping for a walk downtown. I am also hoping for a dry walk. But it is October, and will be November by then, in Seattle.

And Carl’s team lost. They’re out of the playoffs. Today will just be a day in the sun. Good times for the Seattle Blues.

Full moons happen regularly, but more are hidden from view in Seattle than many other places. Especially October moons. I think we have seen both full moons this month, including the eclipse.

I tried to take a picture of the moon last night, but there was too much light.

I did get a more traditional shot a bit later.

Our house guests appear to be getting ready for Halloween.

I am used to brushing aside webs in the woods. I am not thrilled about dodging them on my porch.

And Carl’s team won 8-5 yesterday against the team that beat them 3-2 the day before. Playoffs start today.

Not quite in focus yet.

Coffee will follow shortly.
I decided not to hear up Sunday’s leftovers.

But the day has potential.

For those following Carl’s exploits, they are now 2 wins, 1 loss (3-2), and a tie. He thinks they would have won the tie if the other team did not waste so much time to avoid the bottom of the ninth.
He also got to visit with an ex-major league catcher he has been communicating with over a few years.

He is not blue. Having fun.

My weekend alone.
Saturday goals.

Getting up in time for an early morning dentist appointment.
Completing the asbestos abatement project in our house.

Check and check.
Note that the final step of the asbestos project was taking the last double-bagged bit to the disposal company. The actual abatement had been completed more than a year ago.

Sunday’s goal was even smaller, although it took longer than Saturday’s combined.
Filing. Clearing the table loaded last weekend.

Check.

On to my week alone.
Carl’s weekend went well.
His team is 2 – 0 – 1.
In Phoenix.
A 55+ team known as the Seattle Blues.
Sounds like they are having fun.

A co-worker has been pushing Jasmine tea recently. Apparently her in-laws are big tea drinkers and travellers. They gifted her with an abundance of teas and she is sharing the wealth.

I accepted a Jasmine ball. I’m not quite sure what to call it, but it was spherical.

This afternoon I was looking for a warm drink, but not coffee.

The flower ball essentially unfurls, and most of it stayed together.

Here is the rest of the desk.

Busy tonight packing for Carl. Tomorrow morning will be an early rise, so this week earlier than normal mornings may end up being a good thing.

Yesterday the electronics rebelled.

It’s a good thing I was not driving the Prius.

After about an hour of work, just enough to get really into a document, my desktop computer took yet another powder. We have replaced memory and the motherboard. Now it looks like the power supply.

Back to the mini. I am amazed at how much it impacts my mood. Mostly because my productivity is so reduced.

On the upside, I have two meetings today that should take up at least half of the day.

And then when it was time to leave, the gates would not work. They were locked open. Luckily the project manager was still there to troubleshoot the situation. Unluckily he is my carpooler. Let’s just say I only saw the last out of the Cubs game. (He was able to close the gates and devise a procedure to lock them open in the morning.)

And I helped.

But they are not fixed. The gates or the computer.

Early in this morning. There are days when I am not up yet. And we are closer to work than to home. Hopefully we’ll get out relatively on time tonight for the Cubs last stand.

We had a few errands to run today and decided to try to get them done in the morning.

Our first goal was to get a map of Phoenix. A paper map. Metzger Maps was the place to go. In the middle of tourist town. But Carl will be there in a week, and is still more comfortable with a hard copy map than a small smartphone app.

Tourist town combined with a pending Seahawks game. Recipe for stretching your patience.

Example, There was an Armada that did a pickup move without really clearing the lane, so effectively blocked a lane while slowly loading a passenger. And then couldn’t just pull back into traffic, because an Armada has the turning radius of, well, an Armada. After backing and filling several times they got into the right lane, signaled left, changed lanes, stopped and started to move back to the right lane. Impossible to get past … All the while the Seahawk traffic is growing and impatient.

We finally decided that it did not matter where we were trying to get, we just needed to get out of the Seahawk area.

On to Ballard in search of Vernors. It may be easy to find in Michigan. Not so much in Seattle. Bevmo – a big box beverage store I had previously avoided. Bingo.

Next up , Northgate area to get some baseball duds for Carl’s upcoming tournament. Different colors and all that.

Gas up the car and on to the grocery store. The goal was cheese and coffee. Cheese was easy, but the in store Starbucks was clogged. Off to the real Starbucks. Finally ready to go home.

Along with everyone else trying to get home in time to watch the Seahawks lose.

Which we did.
I did make some progress on my filing.

The box had been full.

It has been relocated.
And the box is filling back up with paper to be shredded.

Just remember, this blog was started so the kids could keep up on what was happening at home. I don’t think they are regular readers now, but you get what you pay for.

Our office closes at 4:30 PM each day. I could count on one hand the number of times I leave within five minutes of closing, and most of those have to do with trying to catch a bus.

Last night my carpooler needed to get to the bank before it closed at 5 PM. (The reason is a complicated story with credit card fraud, PINs, automatic payments and a vehicle low on gas.)

As we were exiting the office, another employee let me know there were some kids in the trees just outside our fence. He wanted to be sure it was our property. ( It is.)

So I went over to get the kids out of the tree. Three of them. High school age. Lippy. Not my property, public property, what’s my problem, am I really taking their picture (yes), can they take mine ( go for it).

All this while knowing we were pressed for closing time.

I finally convinced them to come down by calling 911. The operator stayed on the line with me long enough for them to climb down and scamper away.

I only hope they think I got a better picture of them than I did.

And now I get to write up a report.

Literally, and we hope, figuratively.

Yesterday it was grey well into the afternoon. Today looks like it will be much earlier.

On a more individual level, I have been dealing with inadequate computer issues this week. Specifically being forced to work on a mini laptop instead of my regular desktop with two large monitors. I am amazed at my drop in productivity.

Printing out hard copies to review.
Almost missing meetings because my calendar is hidden behind many other windows.
And all of those things that just are not quite the same.
Don’t get me started on the Edge. (Not all of our applications work with the Edge.)
And then there is the super-sensitive space bar. Multiple spaces everywhere, and I am not a heavy handed typer.

The laptop is supposed to be used during meetings, and other situations out of the office. For limited periods of time. It has been full time this week, and will continue until the parts arrive to cure my desktop’s ails.

The original diagnosis was bad memory. Now it appears that the motherboard has taken a powder.