Raincharm’s Weblog

The title about sums up the last week. Catching up at work, at home, with friends, on bills…

And there is a new editor for the mobile blog app. That will be my excuse for anything going wrong.

I have decided to just look at pictures on the phone since my last post and try to provide a brief comment.

Okay. The first thing that went wrong was trying to add a picture and choosing the incorrect icon.

 Well, that took way to long to figure out. This was not too far from our hotel, in Bronzeville. It is a statue commemorating the migration of African-American’s to Chicago. The surface is done with representations of shoe soles. 

Back in Seattle. A whirlwind day at work followed by Pride weekend. The Sounders embraced the theme, and so did Carl.

He improved the hat wig configuration after this picture.

Next up was the last Seattle Men’s and Women’s Chorus concert conducted by Dennis Coleman. After 35 years at the helm.

The mariners were on tap for the next day, although we did not stay for the entire game because Carl had a game with his Silver Foxes.

Yes, this game was against the Cardinals, and he is wearing red. But the front says Mariners. This particular game went to the Cardinals, but the Mariners took the series. The most exciting moment was a walk off home run on Friday night.

And I finally got a picture of the bridge that was and is no longer a bridge.

I don’t get to sleep at work, but others do nap.

We are snug as a bug in a rug in our room as the storm rages outside. Unfortunately we are very close to the venue for the Copa America game between Chile and Columbia. It is halftime and they have delayed the second half while the lightning passes. And now we have no tv signal. I wish I could capture our visuals. Lightning, rain, blowing sheets of water. And we are fully sated after eating as much Chicago deep dish pizza as we could manage.

Carl went to the Cubs day game today. Thankfully it did not rain. But the Cubs lost, again. Lucky us get the Cardinals when we return to Seattle.

I spent my final day at the conference. In sessions till the bitter end.
There was some fun around lunch time during hydrant hysteria. I did take a video of the 1 minute 18.51 second rebuild of the hydrant, but I don’t have my computer and passwords necessary to post that successfully.

And I sort of played hookey for part of the morning when I went to sessions on the Great Lakes.
The first was about microplastics. Bits less than 5 mm. There is a group that uses citizen scientists to help collect samples. Anyone interested?

Next up was a bit about the lack of separation between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi basin.
And the Great Lakes Compact.

And finally, Rapid Water Level Changes. The record low levels in Superior were in the 60s. Highs in the 80s.
In the late 90s El Nino led to persistent low levels (big beaches). Overlake evaporation was the mechanism for water to leave the lake.

In 2012 Superior was at it’s lowest, but the next two years had the biggest surge (delta change), almost 3 feet. This was the cause of our scoured banks and the highly visible Amethyst rock.

And did you know that the peak month for overlake evaporation is December?

Coolest thing I’ve seen so far.

Well, that was yesterday, and it’s still cool.
Today was more sessions, including a talk by Chris Kolb about the Flint water crisis. Turns out he may have had dad as a Spanish teacher in high school, where he was a River Rat.
And this

And that.

And then an invitation to the Sears Willis Tower for more free food and drink with a view.

And one straight down from 102 stories up.

Carl missed this adventure, but got to go to the Cubs game.

And he also got to lunch with Ashlan, who later reported she got the promotion she was in town to interview for.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I ended a sentence with a preposition, but I’m tired. Good night.

Click on the picture if you want to enlarge for easier reading.

Before I forget, Happy Fathers Day to any father that happens to read this. As I typed that I thought I was really late, but now I think it was probably yesterday. (Can you call it typing when you are touching letters on a phone? Maybe it is even touch typing.) I have really lost track of time.

Busy last week with two Copa America soccer games. Tuesday’s game was reported on in a previous post. Thursday we saw USA vs Ecuador. It was an exciting game. Perhaps a little too exciting. The US hung on to win 2-1, but it was tense until the end.

Not your traditional soccer game picture, but this truck was parked outside the venue for both games this week.

Friday work was that frenetic and sort of frantic effort that happens when you are going to be gone for almost a week. I did leave around 6 pm, so not too bad.

Of course we then had to pack for an early morning departure. A work mate picked up Carl and me at 5 am, for a 7 am flight. There has been a lot of news about airport wait lines through TSA. Both Carl and I were pre-checked through (luck of the draw) and sailed through. They have a check area now that was only for pre-check folks. It seemed to run much more smoothly being completely separate from the rest of the rif-raf.

The reason for the early flight on a Saturday was a Water Conference in Chicago. Carl tagged along, and he has been having a good time I think.

After the flight to the windy city we taxied to the hotel. Dropped our luggage in the room, and got back into a cab to Union Station. Caught the Metra train to Schaumburg where one of Carl’s childhood friends resides. Only an hour ride. And another friend from Oswego drove in as well. There was food and drink and reminiscing and catching up on the last 20 plus years.

Carl, Rob and John.

Sunday I went to a daylong presentation, Carl walked around the neighborhood. We are close enough to lake Michigan to easily walk, and then go north to museums and other sights.

In the evening we took the L Red line to Addison, the stop for Wrigley Field and the Cubs. Instead of going into the park, however, we went to Wrigley View, one of the rooftop viewing areas. And they had food and drink.

And not a bad view of the game.

The Red Line ride home was noteworthy. Sardines come to mind. I was not able to hold on to anything which made the turns and speed changes really interesting. After a few minutes Carl noticed he was standing next to Ronnie Woo-Woo. Ronnie was around when Carl was a kid. He would choose a player and then call out the players name – woo-woo during an entire at bat. I am not doing justice to the character that he was and apparently still is at 74 years of age.

And the score 10-5 over the Pirates.

Today, apparently Monday, I was at the conference all day and Carl walked again, this time to the Chicago Art Institute. After the day’s activities we headed over to the Field Museum for a party with unlimited food and drink, live music, and a lot of attendees (and exhibits on the first floor). Sponsored by some vendors.

(This is Sue)

I think I am starting to understand why people want to attend these conferences.

Tomorrow I am back in the conference and Carl is hitting the town again. On his agenda is a meet up with Ashlan. She is flying in from New York for the day to meet with some mucky mucks for an interview for a promotion. She’s flying out tomorrow too, but they will try to have a cup of coffee at Potbelly’s Store No. 1.  And then he’s off to another Cubs game. This time with his friend John, inside the stadium.

We are at the Copa America Centenario game for Argentina vs Bolivia. Carl noted the large number of ethnicities and languages being spoken, just by folks walking by our seats.

No English or Russian hooligans so far.

The crowd is very heavily weighted towards Argentina. And more specifically Messi. The jerseys are either Messi or blank.

Game time temperatures are either 70 in the sun or 50 with wind. As the sun sets it will be chilly (not Chile). And of course, Carl is wearing shorts. I have a shirt, fleece vest, sweater and two-layer jacket.

And of course there are the shoes. Lime green, green and orange (1 each), aquamarine and a pair that look for all the world like candy-corn. Carl thinks a chameleon shoe that changes colors throughout the game would be a big seller.

13 minutes in Argentina scores.
14 minutes in Argentina scores again.
The apparent rout is on.
33 minutes goal #3
And the crowd is chanting for Messi to join the game. (Sub in)

Which he did in the second half.
What footwork. A treat to watch one of the best players in the world.

Went to two ballgames this weekend. (Actually 3 since Carl and the Silver Foxes had a game Saturday morning.) And the teams I was rooting for lost all three.

Not the end of the world. Not even close.

Yesterday’s game reminded me that sometimes those sitting around you can make or break how fun your experience is. We go to many, many games, so having one or two games “ruined” a year is not a big deal. But there are those that maybe only go to one game a year, or a decade, and having their experience made less is a big deal. There were four young adults next to us yesterday that were basically obnoxious. I could ignore a lot of what they were doing, but they blocked the view of the younger patrons behind them over and over again. The day was saved by a free bacon-wrapped hot dog. It really was good. Or maybe I was really hungry.

Today’s fans were much better. Although we did have a LIKE show going on behind us. They were continually discussing an upcoming wedding. Which apparently directly involved two of the party. Carl is a counter, and he started counting the “likes” uttered during the conversation. It soon became too much, and he gave up the challenge. Hopefully they are like-minded.

We did not do a full walk to the park today – not enough time in the day.
We did a partial walk through the UW campus to the light rail station.

It is graduation week at the UW, so we were treated to sights of many happy folks.

And a duck crossing (that is set up every year).

The final chore of the day was hauling in the berry bonanza. No pictures today, but it was more than the quart bowl I took would hold.

And while I picked Carl made a new pork recipe he dubbed 5C. Cumin, cinnamon, cloves, coriander and curry.

The coming week should be fun. We have two Copa Americana games this week. Argentina vs. Bolivia, and then USA vs. Ecuador.

Oh and work, to pay for all that fun.

The western Washington region is in the midst of a four day mega quake response exercise. Our office participated with a few people on day one (communications blackout) and day two. It was worth the effort, but I am a bit worn out today. I was a facilitator, and it was an intense day.

So Carl and I relaxed by going to a play last night. Paint Your Wagon.

I had never seen this before, but I knew a few of the songs. A friend of a friend was in the show, and we are thinking one of the women leads may have played Glinda when we saw Wicked on Broadway.
Tonight we will be back with the Mariners. My plans for today are to work on anything but emergency response.
That said, do you have an emergency plan and provisions to take care of yourself for several days?

Rey is having a busy day today.

New job, new apartment, new age.

Smokies, entering UT, leaving UT.

And for the awww factor, one of his smaller apartments.

The calendar gives us a few more weeks but the weekend temperatures say summer has arrived.

Yesterday we waited for the temperature to rise and then set off to walk downtown. We took a longer than normal route to avoid a long trudging type hill and for variety.

Stopped by MOHAI for peppers and watching kids play in the water park.

This little boy was trying the bidet approach. We also watched the slalom and foot plug approaches to the fountains.

On through South Lake Union where we happened upon a graduation ceremony for the Seattle campus of Northeastern University. In a window. Or at least a room with windows to the world.

Finally at the stadium with our small clear bag of food, wallets, phones and a few sandwiches. Up to our seats. In the sun.

This was a free kick for Haiti (in blue). Peru won 1-0. The game was entertaining, even though Captain Obvious sitting behind us was a bit annoying.

Today is even hotter than yesterday, probably in the 90s. Carl did some yard work, and I did my small part around the raspberries. Including the first harvest of the year.

Mmmmm

So – I thought this had posted several days ago, but it did not. I discovered this on Rey’s birthday, and while it has a picture of Rey I did not want to double post on that day. So here it is.

I did not get a picture of the missing bridge section as we passed by on the new 520 bridge. In fact it reminded me of a family story where parents are trying to point out an elephant in the zoo to a very young child who will only look at the end of the pointing finger.

In response to, “look, look, look,” I was looking for a bird. Most likely an eagle being pointed out, and almost missed what wasn’t there any more.

I realize now I have not reported on the last bit of our vacation. I don’t think I really recovered until the end of this weekend, and it is a short week again, so running to get my feet under me at work.

Back to our vacation.

After graduating the boy, hugging the girl goodbye and vanquishing the powderpost beetles (we hope) it was time to move south again.

Lunch on the beach. We left on a beach day. Hardly fair.

Because it’s there.

Visiting with mom and dad, breakfast with sibling and cousins and we headed further south. Oh yeah, the exploding window.

I guess it didn’t really explode so much as popped and then continued to spit glass bits around every time it was jostled. And we discovered my parents have 5 different vacuum cleaners.

Met up with a childhood friend/neighbor of Carl’s, now living in Dayton. Good talks and he shared some old pictures of the neighborhood gang.

A short stay but fun. And then we roused Rey in the wee hours to take us to the Dayton airport. By the way, the Dayton airport is one of the nicest I have been in recently.

A Russian cargo plane on the tarmac.
The solar plane flying around the world was also outside the window, but underneath a tent type structure. (How does it get the sun under a tent?)

What I have not reported on here yet are the baseball games scattered throughout the trip.

Detroit tigers: Carl, Rey and Liz (one of the cousins, and one of the cousins Liz). I’m not sure how that game was, but I know Carl enjoyed the chance to chat with Liz again. And it was Polish night, with polkas.

Mariners and Reds, in Cincinnati. With Carl’s childhood friend, his wife and two sons. Felix Hernandez pitched for the Mariners and the Ms prevailed. A nice park. Rey caught a batting practice home run ball. He barely had to move, and I didn’t try to steal it from him. (He also went the next day after dropping us at the airport and spending some time at the Cincinnati Art Museum.)

Dinner with Carl’s friends at a place called Merinos (I think). Good food and a chance to relive more of the days adventures in Ohio.

Carl is second from the right, and brother Bruce is third from the left.

After we returned to Seattle we spent the afternoon drifting between naps and unpacking. And Monday it was back into the grind. I guess it’s good to be missed, but I wish they didn’t miss me so much.

And the Ms were back in town so we had plenty to occupy ourselves in the evenings.

Silly hats all over the place.

This included at least one walk downtown. And Carl caught a home run in Tuesday’s game. It was from the other team, but the score was 16-3 in favor of the Mariners at the time, so it was okay.

Realizing he has the baseball.

Chuck describing the finer points of the home run that he would have caught if he hadn’t been using a catcher’s mitt.

Enough for now. Good night.