It’s a lovely morning and we are on our way to fan fest. The transition from football season to baseball season, although technically the soccer season will start first.
And it is sunny! Though I don’t think it will last the day.
After the festivities the afternoon is open. Taxes?? A walk? Or those pesky chores.
Yesterday was not focused enough. I want to check more off of my lists or make progress on a big progress.
Today has two events that will happen, take time, and could even be fun. First up will be opening bids for two properties we are surplusing at work. My project (other duties as assigned). It has been a fair amount of work, mostly because I don’t do this very often, like never. The worry is that nobody bids, or there is a problem with the bids. I already have one bid for one property, so we are halfway home there. (Just had another worry thought. What if I have two top bids that are equal?)
The second event is an open house that the City of Sammamish is putting on for a road improvement project. We are installing sewer and a larger water main so we will be there in support. I think the real topic of discussion will be roundabouts. Either way it will be a late evening.
On the fun side at home
New chewies. Just because.
The Seahawks have been out for a week or so. The super bowl is still more than a week away. And yet the sports radio is all football. And more Seahawks than Broncos or Carolina. And the Sounders have a tournament (Concacaf) in a week. Spring training is in the offing.
This is more noting the facts than a complaint.
And the driver just changed the station to music. That seems more like a complaint.
Every morning is a little lighter. Rather exciting.
And in the vacation/sports continuum, we will be traveling through New York city on our way to Cooperstown this summer. I would like to see a Broadway show while in town, without breaking the bank. I have not researched what is going to be about, and have heard about getting day of show tickets. But I don’t know about spending our brief time standing in line for a chance. Sounds like a project.
A day or so ago we watched a movie, Blue Skies. Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones. Quite good. Carl noted that Lange won the Academy award for her role. I don’t even remember the movie being in theaters. Better late than never I suppose.
This post has been all over the place. About five miles to go to the office. Is it time to start focusing?
As in I am sitting at the park and ride waiting for my carpooler to show up. I am driving, so this could be really short.
Got home relatively early yesterday. Not due to lack of work. Due to the lack of will to keep working. Yesterday was a mash of requests. I am hoping for a better plan of attack today, with less jumping between tasks.
And we’re off.
It was sunny! No way could we stay inside.
We figure the walk was about 7 miles, give or take. With long drawn out hills in both directions. (Both up and down in both directions.) We managed to pay a bill and buy some socks, and lunch. We had a pie. A pizza pie that is.
Our second pie in 24 hours. Although the first was a British style meat pie. We met friends at Pies and Pints, a local eatery. We have walked past several times, but never entered until yesterday. We will be back.
The group gathering included 3 former soccer teammates. Their first team together was the University of Illinois men’s team circa 1977. Their later team was in Seattle, where they each came to the team independent of each other. What a coincidence.
And all these years later, back together for an evening of food, wine, pints and memories.
It’s only January, and much of the country is spending the day digging out. But it looked rather like spring today.
It is raining in Seattle. That is as it should be, and while we may complain, we really are accepting. Last winter was dry. This winter is wet.
Both of the kids, on the other hand, are having snowy winters. Knoxville has had some snow. A few inches here and there. Not anything to write home about.
Ashlan is in the midst of the NYC snow. The early afternoon report was, “At least 3 feet and still coming hard. Can’t open the door (to the deck) and can’t get a good picture through the screen on the windows.” And then after the requested pictures were sent, “You can see the top corner of a chair.”
I found a normal view – where you can see what is beyond the deck.
And now for a little ditty. This is from a moment in my 112 hour pay period.
My new work mantra for 2016, Focus, Focus, Focus
But competing priorities are creating a fracas
This makes me feel feckless
Hey, I think my office could use a ficus.
What was I working on? Oh, f*** it.
Enough fun for now. Puttering through some chores before we head out to meet some friends for dinner.
I saw an article over the weekend that predicted Rey would be a popular choice for baby names in the next few years. This is due to the Star Wars heroine. (If they won’t make Rey action figure toys, we will make live action models.) I don’t think Rey is too worried about sharing his name.
Yesterday was MLK day, and most government offices were closed. Not ours. A rather skeleton crew, but in operation. And all managers, including me, had a most of the day retreat (meeting). It was supposed to be offsite, but at the last minute our proposed venue was unavailable due to the flu. Okay for me because we had a Board meeting after the retreat. Not normal, but one of our board members has a problem with Tuesdays, and we rarely have the public in attendance.
On the positive side, there was hardly any traffic. Similar to the pre-Microsoft buildup 25 years ago, when the reverse commute was a real thing. (It still is, just not as much.) I made it to work in 30 minutes! That is, I made it to the vicinity of the office, and then had to wait more than 2 minutes for the green turn arrow. The clock said 7:32 when I arrived, and 7:35 when the light changed. With not much other traffic around. In the old days there was no signal at our office, although it is needed most days and much safer. Before they widened the road from 2 lanes to 5 lanes we could wait 5 minutes for an opening in traffic. Patience was our safety word. I think there have been at least 8 traffic lights added to my route since I started.
On the home front we are moving on the backyard recovery plan once again. The big move has been contacting the landscaper that helped with the path along the side of the house during the remodel. Now we need to figure out what we want. We have a few ideas, but not what I would call a vision.
Rey is popular.
Reverse commute of old.
2 minute traffic lights.
What to do with the backyard.
I just checked out my last post, from last week. My last weekend goals? None achieved. Just move them forward to this weekend.
I ended up working both days last weekend and on into this week. I had my 40 hours in by Tuesday. But I was ready for a meeting and sent a database out to a consultant. I have realized that many of my work priorities are based on not holding up somebody else’s schedule.
This weekend will not be spent at work. And I left relatively on time the last few days.
The late afternoons have been noticeably lighter. Spring is on the way!
Without really believing the last statement, it has provided a boost to get home and out of doors. Of course, by the time I get home it is dark. But we did take walks the last two evenings. Wednesday we headed to a hair cut joint, but there was a long wait, so we just walked home. Yesterday we headed to Rositas, a Mexican restaurant near Green Lake and had dinner.
And if any of you read the NY Times a few days ago, there was an Erin Brochavich (sp?) type story out of West Virginia and Ohio. The story referenced a city where we provide water to a small portion of the city. It generated a few calls. Waiting to see if this blows up.
Griffey did not get the vote of 100% of the baseball writers to join the hall of fame in his first year of eligibility. 3 writers left him off their ballots. (I will let you do the math on how many did put him on the ballot.) Nobody has ever received 100%.
Carl and his best baseball buddies had an impromptu gathering to watch the announcement. I had to work.
I am hoping this week at work is not the model for the rest of the year. I have a big project to work on but I have not been able to give the project the time it deserves. Interruptions from other work related bits and pieces. And this is after reading an article about Focus, Focus, Focus – How to be more productive. It is hard to say no to people at the front counter, trying to get their 2016 plans and goals underway.
WHAT ABOUT MY GOALS?
Pictures on the wall, grease the elliptical, make a bed or two, and move forward on the hall of fame vacation planning. Goals for my weekend. And start on taxes if TurboTax arrives.
GO SEAHAWKS
(On our way to work.) It’s all about the 12s. And it is Blue Friday. All Seattle things. Per Carl and football, “Scream Really Loud!” (Stolen from Pee-Wee Herman.)
Next stop, so Jim can get his coffee. (I bring drip from home.)
This seems to have morphed into a going to work blog. Which it is. And we’re off again.
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