Raincharm’s Weblog

So – yesterday I worked.
Except when I was in the kitchen.
In the kitchen I put away groceries, made lunch and cooked dinner.

Carl had shopped, and got some coffee, which he ground at the store.
It shaves off several minutes to have the coffee already ground, and we go through it pretty quickly, so it does not get stale. (Seattlites, and not coffee snobs – quite.)

This morning I was starting to make coffee, and asked Carl where the coffee scoop was.
It is normally in the jar that we keep the ground coffee in.
He  said, “I don’t know, didn’t you put the coffee in the jar yesterday?”

Well, yes I had.
And then I recalled I just poured it in without thinking about the scoop.
And there it was at the bottom of the jar, under most of the coffee.
I was able to use a fork to retrieve it, and got the coffee made.

And the day has now begun.

I sent off two e-mails this evening.
One had my final chapter to complete and additions to a section in a separate chapter.

The second had updates to information about each of our wells.
Unfortunately my access to pump and motor information was limited, so I could not call these absolutely complete, but they were as complete as I could get them.

And so my BIG PROJECT is off to press, with a few known corrections to be made.
And while it feels “done” for the moment, I have to put together a powerpoint presentation for next Monday, so it will barely be a quiet day or two.

So, tomorrow I get to work on a slightly smaller (shorter) project with a new program.
It involves flow charts, so it could be fun. But the software we are using to create the flow charts is new (yes I can do them in Word, Powerpoint), so it could have some frustrating moments.  Then there is the whole budget thing …. and the annexation public hearing to get the word out on …

Well that’s whats on my mind.
But I am really happy because :

I sent two e-mails out today and shifted a big burden to a new phase.

And I got to video chat with my girl for about an hour.

But it is getting closer.

I am hopeful that sometime tomorrow I will push the “Send” button and clear it off my desk.
Until the next question.

But at least it will be responding, not creating.

Amoung the other things I do at work, I participated in a group that put together a team-building / retirement party. Our boss is leaving after almost 30 years. We have hired the new boss. Our old boss really didn’t want a big fal-de-ral, and we wanted to have as many of the District employees participate. 30 years is a long time, so you want it to be worthy. But we are a public, government agency, so we can’t just throw a bunch of money at stuff. We put together a team-building exercise – to get some HR funding (a small amount), and then got donations.

And – it went great.

We went to the Museum of Flight.
This being Boeing country, there is a lot of history and they have a lot of planes.

Museum of Flight

Bus ride there, scavenger hunt, paper airplane contest, lunch, passing of the plunger (sewer work you know), and general getting to know each other a bit better.

I am actually proud of this effort. The fact that eight of us pulled it off without everybody knowing where we were going or what we were doing, and that people really seemed to enjoy themselves. But most of all – we have 52 employees, and 50 participated.

50 emplyoees, and a sunny day in Seattle - priceless

I actually just feel really satisfied right now. And exhausted.

Which means that it is Halloween today.
It was a gorgeous day in Seattle today.
It was supposed to be rainy on and off, but it was sunny from the get go.

When you are making costumes for your kids in Seattle, rain/weather proofing and warmth are always considerations. But today, just a little warmth, and that was all that was necessary.

For us, we did not hang around the neighborhood to greet our 0-10  trick-or-treaters.
We went to the Sounders game.

This was the Sounders playoff game in Seattle, against the 1st seeded LA Galaxy.
Can you say Beckham and Donovan and Buddle and the biggest center back I have seen in a while. It was an end to end game.
The Sounders scored in the first minute! But then they called it back on offsides.
In the end they came up on the short end of a 0-1 score.

Donovan (10) and Beckham (23)

But wait, this is really just the first half of a game of two cities.
They play a game in each city, and the aggregate score decides the winner.

Beckham (from the front, I usually only get his backside) and Sanna Nyassi

The game ended at about 7 PM.
So we moseyed across the street to a bar called Sluggers, to check up on the World Series.
It was the 6th inning, and we watched until the end of the 7th.

We had parked at the Seattle Center, north end of downtown.
Qwest Field is in SoDo, South of Downtown.
So we had a bit of a walk, basically uphill.
We put a good pace to it and got the the car about 45 minutes after we left the bar.
There were a few slightly shady areas to cross, but the people that we met up with were at least polite when we turned down their requests for money. One even told me that I did not need to be sorry for the circumstance he had put himself into.

We listened to the last bit of the ninth on the radio, and the game ended as we arrived home.

Carl has been decorating.
And watching the World Series.

Fear the Beard

Brian Wilson for those out of the baseball loop.

And on a much cuter note.

A good witch and her cat

Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Baseball game
Work
Work
Work
eat
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work

I can’t hear that, or even write it, without hearing the Saturday Night Live version with Jon Lovett as Picasso.

Carl & I went to see the Picasso Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum tonight.

Picasso is undoubtedly a genius.
The shear number of different styles he could use was amazing.

There is quite an interesting assortment of pieces in this exhibit. They are on loan from the Musee Picasso in Paris, while that museum is renovated.

I will admit my favorites were the pencil and pen works. And the “studies” from which the large finished works arose. Thankfully we will be able to go back again – at least once more.

So – I blogged this morning about yesterday.
Closing on how it was time to get back to work.

Well it is just past noon and I have

• moved a few folders around,
• logged on to the work site
• balanced the checkbook
• filed bills and bank statements (no, I do not bank or pay on-line)
• played around with coffee-makers

Coffee-makers.
I feel we only hoard mildly.
You can generally find paths through the house without too much trouble.
[I will confess that one of my early clean-ups this morning was to remove a table we had set up in the kitchen to help out with T-Day space requirements. In the intervening weeks it had gathered a coffee maker box, fan, easel, paints, paper and a bag of brown rice. And it’s location made it almost impossible to get into the storage shelves (brown rice on the table). It also made it difficult to reach the microwave and toaster oven.]

Since we got the Mr. Coffee out for T-Day timing we have taken to using it on the weekends. We usually use our one-cup makers for the cup or so in the early morning during the week.

I am sure they still make Mr. Coffee machines, but mine has travelled from the late 70’s in Michigan, through the decades and Colorado, to land here in our home.

Mr. Coffee, circa 1978. Looking strangely at home in our kitchen in 2010

Note that the machine is plugged in, and yet, no lights on the front are lit.
That’s what we noted. I figured the machine had finally given its last gasp.

Jokin' Joe has gone away

I thought I had seen a different coffee maker earlier in the morning. Carl pulled a white machine out of a lower cupboard. Funny, I thought it had been green.

We plugged the much newer white machine into the outlet. No lights, bells or whistles.
Hmmm. But then, why were we always going to the Mr. Coffee. Because the newer machines tended to fail. And then we failed to fix or dispose. Our hoarding generally starts with good intentions to try and fix something. (Not that we are especially handy with small electrical appliances.)

Determined to not continue this trend I went to retrieve the Mr. Coffee box from its high storage location. And what else did I find? The green newer coffee maker. Well, let’s see if we can chuck that one too. Sure enough, plug it in and no lights or sounds. Three for three. Christmas ideas?

Hoarded Coffee Makers

Since we still had coffee in the pot, just no longer warm, I poured myself a cup and headed for the microwave (which I had made accessible earlier). What – no lights sounds or spinning trays??? [The microwave is circa 1985, and doesn’t have anything that lights up.]

WAIT A MINUTE. No kitchen outlets appear to have power. GFI switch – reset. And voila.

All makers have lights. So we still have three that may function.
I don’t feel like trying to drink three pots of coffee today, so determining the workability of these pots will have to take at least a few more days. I am suspicious that the Mr. Coffee may be the source of the GFI tripping. So it may yet be ready to move on.

And, it provided a true project avoidance of grand nature.

Is it time for lunch yet?

I don’t have anything earth shattering to say today.
In fact I really don’t ever.
Unless there has been an earthquake of note.

But when I try to remember why I started blogging, it was in a large part to let my family know what I have been up to. And Carl. What he is up to that is.

Yesterday was a home day, and a work day. All long day.
But I did manage to review 3 or 4 chapters of my major, major project.
Today will be more of the same, but the focus may shift to not the major, major project.

I actually did some house clean-up centered around the kitchen. Just your basic trash, recycle, compost stuff, but it felt good to clear a path. For the next half hour it should not look like we are totally behind on that room.

And, being Sunday AM, the newspaper can be an added distraction.
But that means it has to have been delivered.
There was no little bundle of information sitting on or near our steps this AM, so I called the paper. They only give you until 10 AM to request a redelivery, and it was after 9 AM. I hope it does not cause any grief for our delivery person, and I half expect we will end up with 2 papers.

Yesterday? A few rain showers, but not too bad outside. Although I did not participate.
Today? definitely raining. I went out to look at the mushrooms that remain in the corner of the yard that Carl left for me to clear (he wants me to feel included I think). They require more attention than I can muster, and the pelting of the rain sealed the deal (to go back inside).

Yesterday the Giants beat the Phillies, so our World Series teams are set. Carl will get our decorations all together and we will be ready to start watching on Wednesday.

The Seattle Sounders played their last regular season game yesterday as well.
We wanted a win, but they lost. Some really suspect officiating on a few calls as well.
But Rey was actually rooting for a tie or loss. This will improve the chances that the Sounders will play a game in Cleveland, and he may have a chance to be one of those crazy fans that travel to see the games.

I would comment on yesterday’s college football, but all I know is that UW lost. No Big Ten news at all yet.

So off to work on not the major, major project.