Raincharm’s Weblog

August 2, 2008 – A full day of unexpected fun – included Carl being interviewed by the Mariners, along with several others.

Yesterday a promo with Carl ran during the pregame show on Fox Sports Network, and also at the ballpark. It was about 3-4 minutes long. Neither Carl or I saw it (no cable for FSN and Carl was not where he could see the big screen when it ran). But one of our friends said one of he things he talked about was taking Ashlan and Rey to a game when they were about 4 and 6 respectively. Ashlan asked to go home early in the game, and Carl said they could, as soon as someone on the other team got a hit. Well at the end of 9 innings, Chris Bosio had pitched a no-hitter, and Carl, Rey & Ashlan were still at the ballpark.

As it happens, Brandon Morrow threw 7-2/3 innings of no-hit baseball yesterday, in his first major league start. Pretty exciting (for those that get into baseball anyway). Our friend Kevin should have a promo running too.

State of the day is Distracted

My mind is planning for next weekend’s adventure. It is much like planning for a vacation; packing lists dance in my head, visions of walking (always in the sunshine), the feeling of tired but happy at the end of each day.

All I need to do this afternoon is finish writing about five paragraphs …. distracted.

How can this be?
I guess the holiday (when I did a fair amount of work reading), followed by a work day sans working computers (when I could have been doing the fair amount of work reading), followed by one more day means … NO – ONLY ONE MORE DAY TO FINISH 5 DAYS WORTH OF WORK.

Or is it 7 days of work, since I left early last Thursday to spend that afternoon and Friday with child before they departed for foreign soil.

I have made a great list of things to do to follow, always a planner.
Now it is time to be the doer … Ready, Set, COFFEE

to anymore assumptions of how the “others” are going to react to the latest bit of news about anything.

I think everyone should be allowed to state their own opinion of a situation, and not to launch into a discussion about how they assume others are going to react to the situation, and maybe not even to rebut others statements of opinion.

I am tired of this back and forth – state your piece as eloquently and persuasively as you can, and then let the listeners consider your argument in silence.

To be updated throughout the day

6:30 & 9 AM
First adjustments – turning off the alarms on the now vacated alarm clock.

8:30 AM
Caught self wondering if the noise upstairs was A stirring.

10:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Out walking, attending Church, a little work, no schedule to be back home or have a car available, …

Mid-afternoon
One phone call home from abroad. Missing paperwork?

5-11 PM
Not one, but two parties.
1st, a birthday celebration at an outdoor saltwater pool. Beautiful but cool weather, warm water (85 degrees), nice friends and good food.
2nd, a few friends from afar in town rather unexpectedly – sit and chew the fat.

For a family where the social life usually circles around the younger set – not bad.

Moving out, moving in, or moving around the city.

Up at 6 AMish.
Pack the car – Jay’s job.
J off to walk – 16 miles this AM, with a stop for crepes partway through.
C&A off to drive, unpack, etc (see yesterday) C&A made great time and were moving in by 10:30.
J was back by noon, C was back around 3-4, A is of course buying books, meeting new roommates, etc.

At 5:20 PM it would appear that J is the most tired. C is still focused and alert.
Of course we don’t know how A is faring.

Back to being empty nesters, at least until Canadian T-Day.
Settling in to watch MSU on the tube. – Go GREEN.

So, packing has morphed into sitting in front of the computer looking at details for arrival at UBC.
They have some good information about where to park, how to get your address, etc.

The biggest source of angst right now is trying to get into first semester spanish. There are now about 5 slots available, but that requires moving a physics lab and they are all full, so ……….

The boxes are pretty much packed except toiletries. Prepacking the car has been thought about, but it will probably all happen at about 6 AM tomorrow. I have to leave at 6:30, and of course I have to be involved in the packing exercise. But they will appreciate being off early when they hit the border before the rush.

So tomorrow – the 2
Pack, drive, passports in order, drive, register, move in, bank, tuition, books, say goodbye
C – drive, passport in order, drive patiently
A – room inventory, unpack, … SLEEP?

the 1
pack, drive a little, walk, walk some more, drive a little, wait for 1 to return.

Who will be more tired after it is all said and done?

Do you ever get so focused …
I am a detailed person. Each time a child started college I went into hyper detail, trying to check everything.
Even with all of that college in Canada was a challenge. Mostly along the $ line. It was hard to pay a bill.
They did not want my money, at least not in the US form, and sometimes not even through the credit card.
Credit card – 3% every time you say “charge-it”.

It was a learning experience. And I decided I needed to back off a bit on the detail and trying so hard.
So, I have not read everything, gotten on-line every day to read a little bit more.

Classes start Tuesday at UBC. Initially this had been thought to be Thursday, so we needed to bump up our timeline a bit.
So we needed to decide exactly which day to go.
Factors for consideration – 3 hour drive, border crossing, 3-day weekend in both countries, long walk on Saturday, party at dinner time on Sunday, need to open another CA bank account, …..
FRIDAY – Jay takes a vacation day, Carl is without kids, the banks in CA should be open, no conflicts.

PACK – PACK  – SORT – PACK – SORT – BUY – PACK …. Go through Ashlan’s paperwork for filing.

What’s this? A housing notice – Opening day is SATURDAY!
Thank god we found it before we were in CA staring at a locked up housing complex and trying to decide, Hotel?, Home and back tomorrow?, find Ashlan’s Vancouver friend and beg for assistance.
Disaster averted.

Bonus – since the packing is now underway in earnest, we will probably be ready to go.
And since Jay is walking on Saturday, Carl will be the only parental mover and we don’t need to try and fit three people into the car with all of the stuff.

I was on a roll today.
Getting through some needed information
Looking up past occurrences
Returned calls
moving along

3 – 3:30 PM
The bottom dropped out of my energy.
Not sure exactly why – but it is gone.

Ran some errands
Made it home
Bit of the convention
Writing a letter
Going to bed (that’s the plan anyway)

Night

Thoughts of packing are front and center this week.
Back to school & 1st time in an apartment – adds a few items not needed last year.
The decision of how many parents accompany the move may be made based on the space available in the car. Right now I believe the clothes are considered, “under control.” Maybe the kitchen will get there tomorrow.