Raincharm’s Weblog

Sunday was my weekend day at home.
Except that I started it out working from home – so what is the difference.

The difference was that we had a potential destination for the day.
AND after the fog burned off it was SUNNY!

Of course, by the time I got to the point where – I was not done, but needed to leave – the sun was about to be covered by a cloud bank. (Not a cloud that might cover for a bit, and then leave – but a bank of clouds that was continuous.) We continued on anyway. It was dry, and the sun had not been adding too much warmth.

Our objective was on south Capital Hill near the Seattle University Campus.
We took a bit of a different route than we had before and finally found the I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Park.

Be Careful Out There

We had been close on several different routes, but never directly adjacent.

Since we didn’t have bikes to play in the nearly deserted park, we took off on a Pedestrian Park – otherwise known as one of the many sets of Seattle stairs.

The initial view

This set of stairs should be named Progressive Disclosure.

Around a curve

You know from the start it is a long set of stairs, but every time you reach a slight change in direction even more steps appear.

End in sight – we think

In the end we climbed 300 steps. It was not the full set as there are steps below the Bike park as well.

Here is a Garfield pic for the kids. (Aren’t Garfield folks so serious)

Note the G hat

Five miles later we reached our destination, the Photo Center Northwest.
The primary reason for the visit was to view the Vivian Maier exhibit. This selection is from the Wilmette beach – kids under an upturned boat.

“Partial View of Feet”, Wilmette, IL, 1968

From the Vivian Maier Website (linked above)

My personal favorite.

Her story started us on our trek, and the pictures were worth the effort. As it turns out some were taken in locations that Carl frequented as a youth – doubly interesting.

This is where we were last night, at the Seattle Women’s Chorus concert, with Vicci Martinez.
Ms. Martinez is a fairly local product (Tacoma), and was on the Voice. I never saw her on the voice, but she sure has a great pipes.

It was fun. So crowded after the concert in the lobby that we never found our friends that sing in the chorus. We did run into an old acquaintance, parent to one of Ashlan’s friends growing up (Kyranny).

It was nice to have a break from the grind.

[I am actually back at the grind right now, but taking a break to communicate.]

Work is just endless right now, and for the foreseeable next few months.
So we will take our breaks when they appear.

I am also going to try to push a “fun” project at work next week.
Not a project I will probably get to work on, but one that might have some fun results.

On a visit to Ann Arbor a few years ago we ran across the hydrant exhibit outside of the old Fire House.
We have old hydrants in our bone yard. I thought it would be fun to paint them up and mount them in our “front yard” at the office. They could be painted by either us or outside folks. Kind of like the pigs, horses, and whatever else sprouts up around cities from time to time. We will have to see if I can generate any kind of enthusiasm. I think the key may be getting time alloted from normal work schedules to put it together.

The first hydrant is one of those in Ann Arbor (out of service), the others are in Cleveland – an in service.

And I had a moment of private satisfaction when a problem I had pointed out and had a little bit of an eco-freak hissy fit about at work, is actually going to get addressed. And it has been less than a month since the fit. The resolution may take a bit longer, but at least it has been recognized as a problem that must be resolved.

All for now – back to the grind.

Not a real word I know, but it perfectly describes this week for me.

Today I was feeling smug at the chiropractor’s office because I was feeling good.
And then he asked me what I had been doing all day, because my back was so tight.
“Sitting in meetings” was my answer.

And I had been – all day. Literally. Including one in the afternoon that I didn’t have on my calendar – until the middle of my morning meeting. And it will continue at least through Thursday. On that day I get to attend my bi-annual First Aid training followed by a Commissioner meeting.

(Note that none of this is helping me meet my strict schedule for the major project.)

Back to the subject of words, Carl wondered aloud if Carnal and Carnival had similar roots.

The answer based on my limited research is, “Yes.”
Caro – latin for “flesh.”

Kind of a jumbled day all-in-all, and I am of jumbled mind so I should just stop.

The day was not a total loss, there were two points at which a co-worker and I dissolved into giggles based on misunderstood actions and misspoken words. It would be too hard to explain here, but it involved banana peels, a trip to the restroom and holding stuff.

Of course today is the Super Bowl.
But not for a while yet.

Yesterday was a work day (for me).
I chose Saturday because today is Super Sunday.
I had some specific tasks to work on.

When I need to start a big project, I have to start by organizing.

When I do the dishes, I get them staged to one side of the sink. Neatly stacked.
Then I work my way through them.
[ This is opposite of Carl’s all over the place method – throw them all in the sink, no real order.]

So the first step I had back into my mega-project was to organize the bits of paper scattered around my office. This morphed into cleaning my office. I think I threw out two waste baskets full of paper – at least. And rearranged some bits here and there. And ordered some more. Based on dates it has been since sometime in 2011 that I last cleaned my office.

I am now staged to work on the mega-project, but not much got done on the project itself – yesterday.

Today I plan to try again to make some progress.
While watching listening to the run-up to the BIG GAME.

I got up early to take a few friends to the airport, so off to a start (although blogging is definitely not working). But it does get my brain activated and engaged – a good thing.

I have also decided I am rooting for the Ravens.
SF is in our division (I think), but my decision is based on the homophobic comments of one of their players, and the lack of decisive response from his teammates against his comments.

Not a very football reason.
OK – I like purple a lot more than red and yellow.

I hope you enjoy the game, food, commercials or avoidance strategy if the game is not on your agenda for the day.

Yesterday was my scattered day.

I felt truly scattered yesterday.
Almost from the moment I got up.
The morning routine things were just not falling into place.
Simple things – like take the bath mat out of the bathtub after the shower.
Important things – like take your coffee cup with you when the car-pooler arrives.
(He did allow me to go back into the house and retrieve the cup.)

Work did not improve the situation.
I did get a few things done for a few customers – right away. I am sure they appreciated the effort.
But the big projects lagged even further behind.

I was trying to keep energy to finish said day project that night, but to calm down at the same time.

And I just felt so scattered.

This morning I forgot to brush my teeth, and thought it was going to be a repeat of yesterday.
After using a toothbrush I keep at work, the day improved.

Ended with yoga.
And calm.

That is how I could describe my lovely husband.
Diamond – could be a baseball reference (duh), could be a name (Diamond Natasha is one we knew), could be a rock (although they do not grace our fingers).

In this case it is a shape.

The lovely couple

On the house front, the weather would seem to be changing to “normal” (rain), which should allow us to figure out where the “normal” gets in (to the house).
Normal is not coming through the hole in the wall.
Normal is not coming up through the hole in the floor.

hole in the floor – for flowing in or out?

Normal appears to be coming in through a series of seeps along the west wall.

seeps near the west wall (the dark areas)

This is just the starting point of figuring.
One of my tasks is to clean up the current state of work so we can see detail.
There is too much dust, dirt and little bits of wood to have a really clear look.
And the pieces of floor structure that are stacked against the west wall. (This is the real deterrent.)
[The picture was taken looking into the dark behind the stacked floor pieces. Nice work by the flash.]

Work has continued to be work, with a vengeance.
I don’t mind the work, I just want to get it done.

I did stumble across this job announcement. I am not quite qualified, but boy … one of those that made me pause.
Mackinaw City Village Manager

Carl’s work has been taking him hither and yon, and then taking naps (which also allows Carl’s battery to recharge).
And he is apparently managing to mix our yoga class in with his work.

Downward Facing Dog

Today we took a break and went to the Mariner Fan Fest. They are doing a lot of reconfiguration work this off-season. I was almost more interested in that aspect than the ball players.

Left field under construction – no walls at all

Left field seat area.
A few hundred were removed to make room for an Edgar Martinez restaurant.
But the real reason was to move in the fences a bit.

Since the fences were moving, they were not in place to hit Home Runs over (off of tees).
But they did add a zip line.

Daniel Carroll in the yellow hat – about to zip away

Carl had to get his hitting in at the “Felix” cage. He did pretty well, putting the bat on every pitch (a few were pop ups).
You can not see it in this fuzzy picture, but the white screen shows a video of Felix pitching, and when he releases the ball it flies out of the hole in the screen.

Fuzzy Carl

And we will now have the biggest d*** video screen you have ever seen.

BIG Screen Supports

It is not quite done, but they are putting up the supports.
It is behind us, so we will not be looking at it all the time.
(Wonder if they use molly bolts to hold up their pictures?)

The rest of the week has been spent working on taxes.
And now filing, and more cleaning …

In other words – life is normal.

So today was my day off.
I slept in until 8 or so, and then we did a bit of burst training.
Then we drank vegetable juice and ate broccoli.

When I was a kid, I decided when I grew up I would not have to eat what I did not want to eat, and could just tell people I was allergic to those foods.
This makes it sound that I did not enjoy our breakfast.
I really did enjoy the breakfast.
And as much as we are eating vegetables all the time now, at every meal, I don’t do eggplant.
And I realized I don’t have to tell people I have an allergy.

In addition to lessening our own personal loads, we unloaded a few hundred more pounds from the house today.
Our predecessor had a thing for wood.
We have been gathering wood from the room demolition, and also wood that has been stuck into every nook and cranny in the basement, into the garage.
A friend came by today and liberated a bunch of said wood. Mostly that stuck here and there.
The proposed use is for kindling for a wood stove. This limited the choices to “raw” wood only.
Good to have it going to a new home.

Theoretical Question: Could you live without your phone (your only phone) for 3 days?
That quandary was presented to Ashlan today as her phone seemed to have lost its ability to get a charge.
It will take 3 days to get a replacement – Sunday plus holiday added to the normal 1-day turnaround.
The alternative is to use an upgrade to a new phone ($200 for the one in question).
WWAD? We are still not sure of the outcome.

And as the title indicates, the sun came out.
Not initially. The wood time was all fog, but then a foreign orb appeared in the sky.
It was almost warmish on the sunny side of the street, so we went for a walk.

Don’t want the water freezing after all

Shadows

Winter White

Now we are in the recovery phase of the day.
I think I will start on taxes.
(This will probably mean I get the program loaded.)

The title sums up the last week of weather.
And it was pretty much a state of being, but not really a state of mind.

My week has been what I call, “meetingful.”
Not all of the meetings were meaningless.
In fact most of them were worthwhile gatherings.

But they have been mentally taxing.
Mostly because it means I don’t have time to do the “real work.”

Leaving work on Thursday I was absolutely exhausted, mentally.
Which usually makes me feel physically exhausted as well.

It made me reflect on why I work where I work, and why was it so difficult right now.
I like working for the District because I get to help people get service for their homes and lives.
They don’t always like what I require for the initiation of service, but in the end they have a place to live (or sell). We have over 10,000 new customers since I started. Enough to have created a new city. It is certainly not my personal doing, but I am a good little cog in the machinery.
What has made work become a bit of a millstone is a bit of an attack on the District.
It is rather like having a really bad neighbor.
You would really like to move (or have them move), but it is no feasible for many reasons.
You think your neighbor is poisoning your cats, could maybe prove it, but they are friends with the police chief.

Then the chiropractor thanked me for keeping my appointment, even though I was tired.
And we went to yoga.
And the exhaustion lifted just a bit.
Enough to get to work again the next morning, and of course the next (there will be no meetings TODAY!).

Anyway, on the home front we (i.e. CARL) are making some progress.
The floor is surrendering bit by bit.
The elephant in the middle of the room remains, although the baby elephant is working its way to the non-work side of the plastic. I am hopeful that we will be down to a next stage by the end of next weekend.
And if it rains again we should be able to see where the rain gets in.

Elephant avoidance

For those that are acquainted with my past – there is a wooden 1/2 bushel basket near the wall. This was a laundry basket in an earlier incarnation – with a nice flowered vinyl insert. And before that it held oranges or grapefruits sent from Florida to my parents, I think by Don & Katie.

And in other news they have started a program called Car2Go in parts of Seattle.
I read about it in the newspaper, and then spotted a car across the street from our house.
It was there two nights in a row. (I did not notice whether it was there during the daytime.)
Also saw one over by Greenlake.

Car2Go

I don’t know that this service would make sense for us, but it is an alternative to the other shared car services that I am sure will find a niche.  The size of the cars means it is for moving yourself and a friend or two.

Here is my impression of the Seahawks Falcons game.

Really?
Really?!?
REALLY???

OK – whatever.

Cool – not a shutout.

Really?
Really?!?
REALLY!!!!!!

OMG – Arrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Carl could not take it and left in the first half.
He returned briefly, and then left again.
We thought we had it all figured out.

At least he is getting some exercise. (Walk, soccer basketball, etc)

And the kids were at the game.
All we know is that Ashlan made it to Knoxville with, “… a fiasco at the end of the bus trip but I can’t describe it via text.”
And at halftime she told Carl that the Atlanta fans were not hassling the Seahawk fans, just the Seahawks.

Rey & Ashlan make the game

I am hoping we can skype with them later tonight, and get the straight scoop.

They were there – really

A beautifully cold sunny weekend here.
Our front yard has not relinquished the frost layer yet.
Looking forward to insulating this old house.