Raincharm’s Weblog

This evening’s entertainment was provided by …
No, not the Last Comic Standing, but Ashlan.

Ashlan and Rey both learned to drive in our little manual shift Mazda.
But then the Prius arrived, and neither hesitated to make the jump to an automatic.
[Of course it was also new, plush, air conditioned, electric windows.]

Well, after a few years Ashlan has decided it is time to get reacquainted with a clutch.
This would have nothing to do with the Prius being in for an oil and water pump change!
To her credit we had talked about this being a good summer to redevelop this skill before putting the other car into the shop.

So – off to our old clutch learning haunts. Parking lots with reasonable slopes. A few hills on the way home.
No we did not attempt any of Seattle’s downtown monsters, that can come much later. I don’t even like to do those after decades of clutch driving. It was like deja-vu, but this time I was only having to pay attention to hitting the point, and good speeds for each gear, not – not so close to the parked cars, don’t hit the curb, that’s a stop sign. 

Carl greeted me with a drink. But tomorrow he has to accompany Ashlan on her first trip to work, just to make sure she is comfortable. The Mazda can handle it. This time there is only one of them.

Theme for the moment.

Ashlan’s soccer game was at a heavily used field not too far from our house. So Carl & I went to watch. It’s a fun team, dedicated to having fun while playing. But the field was so dusty last night, you would lose sight of the ball occassionally. After starting out slower than usual and going into a 0-2 deficit, they won 4-3. Woo-hoo.

Our house, in general – and yet I don’t grab a dust rag every time I see some.

My windowsill here at work. The excitement for the day will be when the maintenance guy cleans my windows. He asked that I clean my accumulated debris off so he could remove the screen to get to the glass. Wheee. And since our internal network server appears to be still sleeping, I’ll get to that now.

Today had a bit of everything, from moods to activities.
AM – way too early from a bit too late last night, but up and garbage out. Carl helps with lunch – mood, relatively good.
WAY TO WORK – traffic light, listening to a CD by the Frames that Rey checked out from the library for me.
{A bit of a trick since he is about 500 miles away, but he managed.]
But the CD makes me really happy, until I start thinking about the song’s words, about people leaving, which makes me sad.
ARRIVE AT WORK – Trying to get completed the work that I didn’t quite finish last night, really fast. Going OK until almost done and a meeting arrives. Quickly set up for the meeting, which went well, but had to be broken down fast because it ran 1/2 hour long, and another meeting wanted the room.
MIDDAY AT WORK – Continuing on the treadmill – no walk today. Scheduled picture break after most lunches, middle or beginning of others – trying to get as many as possible together for group shot. Check results – some hiding in trees from picture, others not really visible. Frustration and a bit of anger.
LATE AFTERNOON AT WORK – Trying desperately to finish a small portion of a project. Just one chapter, just one … FRUSTRATION, but at the last minute able to help two people on little bits of their work efforts – rebound.
LEAVE WORK – Hurry, hair appointment and traffic looks bad.
DRIVE HOME – Listen to CD some more – back to good feelings.
HAIRCUT – Went to a training salon. Reasonable results, since I am not too picky (I don’t think) and don’t use “product” or even a blow dryer. And the hair stylist said she needed a straight cut for her final review, so I let her make it straight. – Even Keel
DINNER – Hungry, – making turkey burgers for myself and Ashlan. Carl had mixed the breadcrumbs, meat, etc earlier. Interesting – it seems to be pulling back at me when I try to get enough off the loaf for a burger. Hmmm – smells suspiciously like the “Italian seasoned” stuff we got by mistake once before – wait – it is! Resignation. (Continued hunger for Ashlan as she does not finish hers – Hot dog and ice cream should fill the void.) My don’t we eat well.
NOW – Writing, not very well – oh well.
Oh – and one of the deer from yesterday. Apparently the phone thought the screen on my window was a better subject than the deer. (Actually two deer – the fawn is behind and ahead of the mother, giving the impression of a really long neck)

Jay's window with deer

I took some cell phone pictures of the deer outside my office today, so I could post them.

But I have to get Ashlan to show me how to work that part of the phone, and it is too late tonight.
Maybe tomorrow evening.

But they were there, mama and one baby. I had my window open a bit, and the mama looked over when she heard the camera noise.

Or is it lunch?
Ashlan is home from work, it is 5:20 PM, but I am pretty sure she called it “lunch”.
She has to go back until closing after this brief respite for food.

We will have linner together, but have spent much of today apart.
I walked 12 miles with two of my team mates – West Seattle, Alki along the Puget Sound, and the hills adjacent.
Carl went to see the M’s lose, again, but had a good chat with one of my workmates at the game.
Ashlan has been working.

A few chores remain, raspberries to pick, getting organized for the next week, go lay down – I’m tired.
Maybe after dunch.

Today C and I took a walk, interrupted by a baseball game. (M’s lose 9-6)

It started with a car that needed 4 new tires.
We drove it 4 miles to the tire store, where we left it in capable hands, and headed off on foot.

The walk was about 3 miles to the stadium, and about 3 miles back. Moderate distance.
Elevation changes

Start at 350 ft (above sea level)
Climb 75 ft in 5 blocks to 425
Descend 125 ft in 7 blocks to 300
Climb 50 ft in 3 blocks to 350
Descend 335 ft in 15 blocks to 15 (basically sea level)
Then walk along the waterfront to the stadium at roughly level elevations (if you don’t count potholes)

Pause for several hours of fun, friends, and sun after the 2nd inning.

Leave said stadium with one of said friends, and increase elevation to 40, over about 8 blocks where said friend decides to take a bus.
Climb 25 feet in 1 block to 65
Climb 105 feet in 3 blocks to 170
Climb 65 feet in 3 blocks to 235
Climb 75 feet in 2 blocks to 310
Climb and descend a bit each over the next 7 blocks with a high of 320, ending at 285
Climb 65 feet in 5 blocks to 350 (OK, there was a brief stop in this leg for a slice of pizza)
Descend 50 feet in 3 blocks to 300
Climb 125 feet in 7 blocks to 425
Final descent of 75 feet in 5 blocks to 350

Total elevation gain = 620 ft (total loss =620 feet too)

Car has four new shoes, and was waiting for us to drive it the 3 miles back home.

I was going to write this in the morning, but the car pool finally arrived.

It started really early in the morning, which was just an extension of the night before – I stayed up too late.
But I knew I would have trouble getting up in the morning.
So I did take a few more precious minutes to gather some walking wear (shorts and socks), think about what I would wear to work and then finally fall into bed.

Morning arrives, again.
Up and dressed
Put together a lunch of sorts, and ready for my pooler.

Now – my pooler is not what you would call a morning person,
so the time he chooses to arrive can vary a bit.
While I waited I put away the dishes, set up a coffee for C, got laundry from the dryer and folded it, put another load into the washing machine, took out the recycling, took out the compost,
and when I was ready to sit down and post – voila.

I think the chores probably helped me to wake up and be ready to roll when we finally arrived at work.
Ended the day with a five mile walk after work, drive into town (my car was at work), and another 1/2 mile to get to the M’s game (M’s win 8-2).  Actually nice to come home with several chores out of the way.

One of those days with a little of everything.
Main events –

Carl to the Occ Therapist, stretches done 3 times afterward
Jay – late to work (with C), but then to work
Ashlan – to work, not late

Fill-ins around the major events

Coffee shop changes – find another
Letters out
Raspberries picked
Carpooling
Gutter cleaner – roof walker
Leftovers for dinner
Biking for 1/2 hour (no miles though)
Late work (to make up for late to work)
Cat fight outside the front door

A little different than every other day, but nothing spectacular

GreenLake From Our House

Carl & I took a walk after dinner – 5 miles – to and from our house and around Green Lake. On our walk we saw:

Walkers
Runners
Joggers
Bicyclists
Rollerbladers
Skateboarders
Scooters
Golfers (putt-putt)
Soccer
Basketball
Softball
Volleyball – doubles and full team
Frisbee (ultimate short court – something with a big parabolic half-hoop)
Swimming in the lake
Canoes
Kayaks
Sailboats
Fishermen
Strollers
Breastfeeding walkers
Dog-walkers
Mallards
Mallards with mohawks (otherwise known as widgeons)
Pintails
Geese – Canada and hybrid
And Guys knocking frisbee rings out of trees – with a soccer ball.

It was and is a beautiful night. What we did not see was Ashlan – she was/is playing soccer.

It is the Baseball All Star Game tonight. Ashlan is off at a party to watch the game. Carl and I are watching it at home. It “started” at 5 PM pacific time. About the same time I left the office. Traffic was as bad as it has been in a long time due to an accident on I-90 that caused people to divert to several other routes, thus backing everything up. My normalish 45 minute commute turned into about 1-1/4 hours. With a normal commute I would have made the first pitch (45 minutes after it started). This was following a day that started with promise – write up my notes from last night’s meeting, work on a major project for the rest of the day. The day quickly diverted to customer requests on things not on my original agenda. But … I did make it through the day and home in one piece.  We had a good vegetable stir fry and rice. Dishes are done. Carl is writing some letters, and the game is still going. So I guess it is an All-Star Day all-in-all.