Raincharm’s Weblog

Day to of the new reality went a little more smoothly. Blood and everything.
And this was in spite of the Mariners 18 inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Now it is not 19 innings, but darn close.
By 17 innings the crowd was getting a little sparse.

A small group of outfield area fans watch the start of the 17th inning of the Seattle Mariners versus Baltimore Orioles game at Safeco Field Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012.

Photo by Erika Schultz, the Seattle Times. Not in the hard-copy edition. It was too late, the paper had already gone to press.

I did not attend the game.
Not even the first 9 innings.
It is obvious that Carl did. And Kevin, exiting stage right (or is it left).

Carl had indicated he was just going to go to batting practice and try to chat with the Mariner bullpen coach. He has been helping Carl with a few of his projects. In this case he had two scorecards from Carl for Felix’s perfect game. Signatures on the scorecards is the request.

Carl had some friends playing a Senior League game, and was going to leave after an inning or two to watch their game. I did not want to go for just a few innings, so stayed away. Work called anyway. Trying to squeeze just a few more moments in this week.

I was asleep before Carl reappeared. I think the game went until 1:30 AM or so. Not really sure.

Tonight I stayed late at work for some budgeting fun.
When I decided I had had enough I checked on the Mariner game.
Tied in the 10th inning.

But for a real fan, perhaps more baseball is a good thing.

So it is day 1 of the new reality.

And we started off with a failure.

Part of yesterday’s exercise in the medical community was to get some new hardware to help monitor Carl’s sweetness factor. Why is it that everything seems to need more hardware? We watched the pharmacist give a brief demonstration, and it did not seem too complicated.

That was until we had to figure how to get the cap off of piece one, finally done.
Put the sharp bit two into piece one, without poking anybody.

But when it comes time to try to poke somebody – the tiny little needle shoots out, but only teases the skin. Several pokes later we have little ticks at the skin, but not able to get enough blood to attract a mosquito.

Carl later went back to the big medical complex where the nice person said he had the machine used for soft female fingers. He needed the machine for big touch male fingers. Machine provided, demonstrated, and hopefully we are now off and running. Well, at least bleeding better.

So we now have one more.

Let me start by saying Carl is feeling great.
Better, in fact, than he has recently.

This is due in part to some magical half-domes (Yamuna Foot Wakers) that cousin Aimee introduced about a week ago. His feet are loving the nubbly massage and moving better than they have in quite a while.

Foot Wakers

Thursday evening was going along swimmingly.
We were not swimming, but it was going smoothly.
I had returned home from work late, and Carl was in the kitchen fixing tacos.

And then the confusion started.
Full sentences, full person and place recognition, but not knowing why things were where they were and how they got to be there.

So off to Urgent Care we went.
The memories returned with a bit of effort, but it was foggy for a few hours. CAT Scan, blood work, EKG, the usual battery with no formal diagnosis.
So off to the hospital we continued.
They monitored him for the night and put him through an MRI the next afternoon.

Still no firm diagnosis, although we are leaning toward Transient Global Amnesia.

But what was diagnosed was diabetes (Type 2).
Carl has always exercised, and I don’t think our diet was all that bad.

It will be getting better.

I think that leaves it to me to eat all of the “bad” food so Carl won’t be tempted.

Due to:

1. Computer Malfunction
2. Areas of no connectivity, and no working computer to connect
3. Lack of conscious time with cogent thoughts

I use computers all the time, but occasionally they can be baffling. Like when they work fine in the morning, but by the afternoon you can not connect to the internet. Usually when that happens we figure it is with the internet connection itself. Unfortunately it takes a day or two to get that idea off of the plate.

Probably more than 1 week later, I finally got the computer in to work, where our resident Wizard was able to find the sneaky program that was keeping the computer from connecting. Trojan, virus, not sure. But in addition to detecting and eradicating the don’t connect program, he was able to delete several thousand bits of things that were probably slowing this old computer down.

There is a reason we call him Wizard!

And there were the 3 days on the island of little connection. Lopez that is. It was very interesting to be back in a time where land lines trump the cell phone. Liberating even. We basically turned off the phones for the duration.

The reason for the island time was the wedding of a first cousin once removed.
It was a great event, and we wish the bride and groom years of happiness and adventure. The entire group of people we got to meet and know for a bit were wonderful. The housed us, fed us, told us island stories, and made our weekend magical. It was a really fun family time, with beautiful surroundings. We kept saying, “We have not been anywhere that did not seem beautiful.” The wedding party family and friends did an awesome job.

The wedding also provided us with the opportunity to show off a bit of Seattle to sisters, cousins, and in-laws of various degrees. Carl was the primary tour guide. Space Needle, the Troll, EMP (Experience Music Project), and the Pike Street Market. Other places as well I am sure, but it seems like forever ago already.

Work has been flying at me at a maddening pace. I try to put in some extra hours, just to keep up. There are a few things that just need to get done, so the time must be spent.

That is until something more important comes along, like unexpected visits to the doctor. And why is it that these are never during a convenient time? (Everyone is OK.) The system worked for us, although there were a few too many hours spent waiting, but, since it was not as dire as others’ issues, one must learn to be patient. (That is a little joke, hee, hee.)

Carl was impressed with the skills and patience of the health care providers he saw and heard. Especially heard working with others. The end result of this event is we will pay much more attention to our diet and exercise. More in a future post I am sure.

We spent almost 24 hours getting to know the medical system just a bit better, and then slept for about 12 straight.

So I am at work. Just arrived.
I usually count on weekend work to be free from most interruptions.

Today will probably be the same, but I arrived to find the gate open, with a sign for the public,

Hmmmm.

Apparently we have a main break (water main). It is along a stretch that has at least two other recent breaks (over the past 10 years), including one that had a fire truck in the hole. Maybe it is due for a complete replacement.

The crew is showing up. But a field admin assistant was also trying to get some work done, so she will more likely be the one to respond to any radio requests.

Yesterday night started as a sunny evening.
In the sun I was warm.
As soon as the sun set I was looking for my sweatshirt, a sure sign of the approaching change of seasons. A few months ago I published a picture of our bat garden.

It has been growing well over the summer, along with the weeds.

Another sign is that Rey’s team has most likely played their last home game of the season.

At work it feels like work is accelerating toward . . . . something.
Maybe the departure of my assistant, riding off in to the proverbial sunset, has set me to thinking.

And so the sun set behind the walls of the stadium, and the Mariner game began.

Not much going for the Mariners in last nights game.
It was long, and low scoring (for the Mariners anyway).

On the positive, there was a family of three from Orange County sitting next to us. They were nice folks, and good to chat with through the game. Cheering for their team, but not overly obnoxious about it (as many routing for the visiting team can be). Their 3-year old was non-stop energy. I have seen many children over the years, and this kid was on a different level than most. The father allowed that the child would stay up to 1 AM at times, so they took to driving him around in the car to get him to fall asleep. He said that after being pulled over a few time (“What are you doing out at this hour sir”), the cops would just wave and smile.

The game finally ended and we headed to the car.
Only, the battery was dead. Apparently there was some time spent pre-game with lights on and radio going before the game.
Luckily for us we had recently decided to join AAA. I had made the call, and didn’t even try to meet the folks parked in front of us when they returned. The car was started by a friendly AAAer, and we were off. Hopefully it will start again this AM!

Yesterday was also a Blue Moon, sort of. Read this article for a bit of interesting history of the current use of the term. Much easier to remember the 2 moons in one month, but the other explanation is more interesting.

And with that I must get myself ready to head to work.

Carl is heading to the Mariner game a bit later.
Felix Hernandez is pitching again, and he and a few neighbors (father/son team) are going to join the Felix K Section. This is a view of the poster from the last Felix game.

This work week has been just a little off of normal.
There have been many vacations.

My first inclination was, “Good, I will be able to get some of MY work done without them interrupting.”
The reality is that covering for them while they are gone takes time. My work? Back-burnered.

The number of people at work has been diminishing each day.
And then my assistant’s last day is today.
It just gets quieter and quieter.
If feels like the office is just closing up.

Maybe this is what retirement would feel like.
Just slowing down to a complete standstill.

I don’t really fantasize about retirement, yet.
But there are the occassional moments when I think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to just take off and do _______ for a few days.”

I predict Tuesday will be a madhouse.
Vacation reports, coverage reports back, and a Board meeting to boot.

Until then – nose back to the quiet grindstone.

A little less than 6 years ago I officially gained an assistant at work.

He is retiring on Friday.
Today we had the retirement breakfast here at work, with all employees invited. This is not to be confused with the smaller lunch we had last week with just a few department folks. We have around 50 employees, and about 40 showed up this morning. But – it was a week heavy with vacations. Last week before school, and an added Monday, so it was to be expected.

A catered event – the food was quite good.
And I managed to get in a Top Ten type list of reasons you should be worried about your OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) inspection. The last one said, “The inspector knows everyone in your office because they were a former employee you fired.” I thought it was pretty funny.

We went with safety humor because my assistant assisted me primarily in running the safety and emergency response programs. Safety coordinator is a thankless job. At least most of the time. I did see/hear several people come up and thank him for pushing safety, and that it actually made them think more about their safety even at home. He started (at the District) the WYE (What’s Your Exposure) program.

I added a few words about working with him, and when we clashed and finally could come to agreement.

In the end I have to admit I really enjoyed having a “Mature” employee. I did not have to try to teach him to take initiative. He also did not worry so much about whether others here would like him. (This is almost essential to the Safety Coordinator position.)

And at the end of the day, I am tired.
Just this little bit of presentation in the morning took it out of me in the end.

(And we are not replacing his position. Just spreading the work around amoung a few other individuals. This is called government belt tightening. Or in our case, working longer to get it covered, at the same salary as before.)

Ready for a night off.

Entertainment would be the title, if I were smart enough to fill in a title, and then be able to fill in text in the body. On the phone again, while driving to work. Mind you I am riding.

Thursday night Carl and i joined dan, of Eugene, for a night on the town. We went to Belltown, to the theatre and saw Peter Case, with opening act Peter Spencer.

Great music, very enjoyable evening out.

The weekend turned into a movie weekend. Although there are first run movies in close proximity to our house, our movie viewing was all from the house.

The fare included Bernie, starring Jack Black, Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close. Both were excellent. Sunday we watched The Secret of Roan Inish. This is an old favorite of ours.

They are probably all considered “chick flicks”, but worthy of your time.

I apologize for word-OS and punctuation errors. Almost to work, for the last week of summer.

Usually when Felix pitches there are a few sections where the participants where Yellow Felix shirts, wave K cards when he is close to a strike out, and chant and cheer him on.

This is the King’s Court section from the Perfect Game.

King’s Court

Note: Ashlan is in the lower right corner. (Yes this is a repeat picture.)

Tonight featured Felix once again, and a celebration of his Perfect Game. The Mariners knew they would not be able to contain the King’s Court, so they went for the Supreme Court. 34,000 of the 39,204 attendees got a t-shirt and a K Card. (By comparison, 21,889 was the attendance figure for the Perfect Game.)

The stadium was still filling at the first pitch.

Felix’s Supreme Court

Quite the spectacle.

Not quite as stellar as his last game, Felix still only gave up one run.
The other pitcher (also a Hernandez) had a no-hitter through 4-2/3 innings, but then we got a home run – and the game was on.

In addition, this was the night for the trading card give-away.
This is one of my favorite fan things. Not because you get cards, but the way they put it together encourages people to talk to one another.

The card set has 27 cards. But you only get 21 unique cards, and 6 extras of one card. Then you get to go around and see who has the cards you need to complete the set, and trade your extras. Just gets people interacting.

The sheer number of people in attendance made this a bit more interesting, as not all were really aware of the card game, or perhaps just not interested. We did successfully build a few sets. 

This morning there was a moment when the game was in peril. There was a watermain break, essentially 2 blocks south of the stadium. The  businesses closer to the break lost water service (and some were flooded). Thankfully, Safeco Field was only impacted by traffic restrictions in the area of the repair.

Quite a run. One more game in the homestand, and then we can clean up the house.