April 7th
April 7, 2011
No Joke! (View out my office window this AM.)
Not to be outdone by St. Louis’ spring snow.
Home Opener for baseball is tomorrow.
It is not supposed to snow tomorrow, but yesterday and today was a bit of a surprise.
Think I might wear my long underwear.
Today – I slept in. This is what I do do on the weekends – when I need to and can.
I also came face to face with what I don’t do, usually.
Carl has been gone for several days now, so I have to try and cover some of the things he does.
He does a lot.
I did manage to do the dishes, get the garbage, recycling and yard waste to the curb, buy gas for the car, and am looking at the laundry in the basement. I have made lunch for myself, heated up dinner (and made breakfast – such as it is was).
Now, just so I don’t look too bad – there are things that I do that Carl does not, especially if it involves a major holiday meal, a vacation, or the computer.
But I do miss him, and it will be great to have him back tomorrow.
That is my day in a nutshell of very few words.
In more words – this morning I got up and made coffee.
Did a little homework, and then a little work-work as well.
About the time it was time to go to soccer, but first a phone call – —
So, I got to soccer just as the whistle blew.
Now I have not played soccer for a few months, and am not in peak shape.
But there were a few plays of note – one particularly nice tackle. I got the ball, but did end up on the ground (physics).
No substitutes, so tomorrow should be interesting from the tired leg point of view.
Run home, pit bath (TMI), fresh clothes – just finished getting dressed when my ride arrived.
Down to McMenamins for dinner with a few friends. Steak sandwich and a beer (yes me).
Then out to the Seattle Mens Chorus show, Falling in Love Again.
This was a slightly different concert than the Men’s Chorus usually put together. Two acts – the first a cabaret scene. The second, For a Look or a Touch. This is in reference to the persecution of gay men in Germany in the 30’s and through the war. It was a powerful story of two gay men – and the memory of one that went to the camps and died, and the other that survived, (and still survives) keeping the poems written by his lover before he was arrested. I learned some historical information that I never knew previously. Paragraph 175 in particular. (Of course nobody would accuse me of being a scholar of history – but still, I just really had no idea.) The production was very well staged, and the leads of both the Cabaret and Holocaust acts were superb.
What did I miss between soccer and dinner and a show?
The semi-finals of the NCAA Basketball, the Seattle Sounders soccer game, and the Seattle Mariners game.
I will now have to find out what happened while I was out and about.
OK – one thing I found out was in my March Madness Bracket I had the final four matchups wrong. And I really did try to follow one from a real March Madness web-site. Oh well – the final two are Butler and U Connecticut. (Go Butler)
Ashlan has both teams, so our winner has been determined.
The Mariners are 2-0 and in First Place. (I need to write that while I can)
The Sounders tied again – this time 2-2.
Not RANDY Johnson. He’s a pitcher (ex-pitcher). Not even Mark the Bird Fidrych. Also an ex-pitcher.
Yesterday I watched two robins outside my window at work.
I am fairly certain they were fighting, or at least trying to demonstrate dominance.
The other choice was one gender trying to fend off the other gender.
The contest involved a bit of dancing around face-to-face, and the jumping into the air with each bird facing the feet to the other, and trying to 1) scratch each other, 2) gouge each other, 3) grab the other’s foot and swing them around – do-si-do.
Today, as I was wandering around the empty office, I heard a noise as I approached a different office, I heard a strange noise. At first I thought it was branches from the adjacent bushes hitting the window in the wind. But after waiting for a gust to repeat the performance (and confirm my theory), a robin appeared at the bottom of the window – having jumped/fluttered up from ground level – attacking the window. I suppose it could have been attacking the cute little figurines (poke-people I think) located adjacent to the window. No – more likely a reflection of an offending robin.
Ain’t spring great.
So I am at work this morning, reviewing a Sewer Plan by a consultant we are considering hiring to do a similar task. Straight forward enough – and I should be able to focus and move through the plan.
This particular plan is for a City that includes a college.
It is a college town in the true sense that I think the college population represents more than 1/2 of the total population.
Anyway, several years ago we went on a college trip to this town.
We got a hotel to spend the night during our visit.
The hotel was, well, a bit strange and a bit ookey.
Carl has a college reunion of sorts (Soccer Team) planned for the fall, in Champagne-Urbana.
It is going to take place during Homecoming Week.
The planner has alerted all that hotel rooms could be hard to come by.
Carl is trying to determine whether any friends were planning to go, that we might want to try to get a joint room/suite.
If we don’t act relatively soon, and even if we do – we could end up in another slightly strange or ookey room.
It is lunch break now – but I need to get back to my plan review, and rein in my mind from wandering.
The planner of his
My work day started at 8 AM. (Really 7 AM if you count waiting for your carpooler)
My work day ended at 10 PM (Really 9:55 PM, and there was a driving, dinner and e-mail break from 5:00 to 7:30 or so)
So it is about time to catch up on the March Madness, before it is done. I am posting our families updated bracket. The colors again, for those that care:
Our Final Four Bracket
Those that are astute may not that Green did not advance to the Final Four.
Yellow is guaranteed a spot in the Final Two, but prefers her #8 seed to her #3 seed.
Blue is still alive, barely, with a #4 seed.
Purple is hanging on with a # 11 seed. This must be everybody’s favorite team at this point. Come on, Virginia Commonwealth University? Except, perhaps there are some that are a bit perturbed at this bracket breaker.
I would be in their camp, except that for Purple to complete the Cinderella run they must beat my team. Not quite ready to go there yet. But if I am vanquished, I will root for them to take it all.
I know I have written this blog before.
Today’s trip particulars.
Not too bad, as trips go.
And Carl tried a new chicken recipe for dinner. Good to have home cooked meals after eating out so much this weekend.
NIGHT 1
We went to the Sounder’s game last night, and they did not lose.
At about 80 minutes (out of 90) the Sounder’s finally scored. The place went wild.
Fun game overall. Lots of action.
After the game we met up with Ashlan and her roommate at a restaurant where they were enjoying some nachos. Luckily the train station where they arrived is directly adjacent to Seattle sport’s stadium. So no problem there.
After some food, and convivial sharing, we wandered back to our car, their bags in tow. Dropped the girls off at a more interesting part of town and went home. At some point, later, the girls arrived home.
We awoke at the reasonable hour of about 8 AM, made coffee and started our day. By the time we were ready for night two, one of the bedrooms had this look.
Lego Bed
NIGHT 2
Really this started in the afternoon. Ashlan, roommate and Mom went to the Star Wars Exhibition at the Science Center. Interesting, and they tried to tie in what is shown in the film to what humans can and are doing now. We waited for a virtual reality experience in the Millenium Falcon as well. (In retrospect, we should have timed our tickets more closely, but c’est la vie.)
After a brief stint at home (at which time the lego were shifted to assist in drying), we all headed out for a Saturday night dinner. This time we went to another interesting part of town. And found that there were a lot of other people doing the same thing we were. At the 5th restaurant we looked at, we were finally seated. (1 had an hour wait, 1 had a private party, 1 had no tables for the rest of the evening, and 1 had an uninspiring menu.)
The restaraunt was Presse, a small french restaurant. Carl & I had Cote de porc fume et son ragout aux raisins et aux celeris – “Carlton pork chop, brined, smoked and grilled, on polenta with a creamy red grape, sage and celery ragout.” Ashlan and Caitie had Steak-frites, jus a la moutarde a l’ancienne – “Pan roasted Oregon Natural Beef hanger steak, with fried potatoes and grain mustard-rosemary jus.” It was really tasty. Very good, and worth the multi-restaurant challenge that started the evening.
And, as the night before, we left the girls to continue their evening, and went home. Wonder what toys will get cleaned tomorrow morning.
Have you ever noticed that when there is actually something at least sort of interesting to blog about – there is less time to blog.
Just saying.
Short version.
Met with architect last night. Reason for architect is direction, and their wider vision of possibilities.
The girl is arriving today. Very brief stay planned. Figure we may see her for all of 1-2 hours if her plans pan out.
We went out for a night on the town tonight.
The (off)Broadway show – Billy Elliot, the Musical – was in town at the Paramount. It looked interesting in the ads, so we decided to go for it. For $160 total, we now have a great Red cloth bag. Oh – and a great evening to remember.
It was a great show. We really didn’t know what it was about. We did not see the movie. And know precious little about the 1984 coal strike in Britain. Where was I then – moving to Washington. Carl put it (as only Carl can), “I never even came close to dozing.” (Reminds me of something my Dad said once about the Rackham Auditorium.) The story was compelling, dancing was great, and the music was new and fresh. A real mix of ages on the stage, throughout the show. And mixed in with the story, a few show-stopping – and really funny – scenes. A great mid-week outing. Actually, a really great show for any day of the week.
As we were browsing through the program before the show started we saw a familiar name. Todd Gowers – Rey’s bass teacher, was playing the bass in the orchestra. Unfortunately we were not in a position to have a chance at spotting him.
And the red bag – that was for a donation to the theatre program that raises money for the fight against Aids.
