Raincharm’s Weblog

The English Premiere League came to town today.
The Sounders tied Tottenham-Hotspur 3-3.

In my mind the Sounders won because they scored two goals from the flow of play, and Tottenham only one goal.
The other three goals were scored from penalty kicks, and one was for a hand ball that really could not be avoided (hand already occupying a space when a ball was kicked into it from about 5 feet away).

They  even started the game with an 18-year old on a Make-a-Wish grant by starting for the Sounders. He took the kick-off down for a shot on net (saved by the goalie), and then was subbed out. It was  very nice and he had been able to spend several days training and hanging out with the Sounders as well.

I thought I might be able to add a little bit about Tottenham, like where they are located. Except that I did not know. So I went to their web-site. No real location information, but they did have a nice bit about the Make-a-Wish event with pictures of their players. Continuing on my quest, I put their pitch’s name, White Hart Lane, into Google-maps. It shows the site, and it is either in London, or north of London. I realize how little I know about the London area. Saw several other English Premiere League stadiums noted on the map as well.

Anyway, I feel like I am drifting away on a tangent – and am sort of tired.
So I will close with our close brush with an athlete of note.

Roger Leveque, retired Sounder, was standing at the front of our section during halftime.

Roger, close enough for my camera even.

Let’s call this first bit, before Carl left.

It is Wednesday.
Work / 2 because I left at halftime.
Drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive.
That is to work, home from work, down to SeaTac (airport), kiss-kiss-hug, home, down to SeaTac (errant cell phone in hand), home.

Let’s call this second bit, after Carl.

Life can sometimes seem focused on work and food, so lets stick with those.

Pizza
Juice (new day)
Pizza & Salad
Pizza
Broccoli (new day)
SALAD (as in big salad)
Stumbling Goat OMGood. <– Seriously, really, really good! both food and friends.

In the meantime, several states away, Carl is missing his work so much that he tries to become an ankle-biter himself. Something about a wine glass, not quite a catch, and 4 stitches in his ankle. Not sure I got the entire story, but I was just about to stumble out of the Goat, and a bit distracted myself.

I was checking off many of my many to-do items tonight.

Most of these included use of a computer.
There was a pile of to-do’s because we were computer-less this last weekend – as it went in for an upgrade.

It does seem to run rather seamlessly now – so thank you to my IT guru.
One of the minor items on the list was handing over some baseball tickets.
The recipient is originally from New York City, and getting ready to take a visit with his family to see more of his family and some sights.
I was trying to tell him where Ashlan’s store was located, and had to go to the Potbelly site to figure out which store was hers.

Luckily, once I have found the right store – I am sure I am in the right place.

GM and Perky too

Now, there was a bit of a name issue. But we will just gloss over that.
And for those that read last week – tomorrow I am first on the agenda.
Of course – this is during the All-Star game, but we all must make sacrifices.

I got bumped tonight by Big Rock Park.

My early evening was to be spent with a certain City Council.
I get to talk to them about sewers because a certain other government official tried to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Well, you just can’t control some people, or most people, and certainly not politicians.
Now my office is about as non-political as water and sewer can be, but electeds will be electeds.

Anyway, because of certain mouthpieces, instead of just a few staff members reading my work (actually my overseen work), the entire City Council has been given copies and I am to address them on some subjects they have an interest in learning more about.

So I stayed up late last night power-pointing, and a good part of today completing the words to go with the bullet points and pictures.

I arrived a bit early, and the meeting got started promptly at 6:30. Of course they said the pledge, listened to a few public comments, and then started in on the subject of Big Rock Park’s Master Plan. It was interesting – at least for the first 1/2 hour. And then it became apparent that it was going to be a while before they finished this subject, and there was at least one other subject after this before my turn.

Our consultant, who was also in attendance, noted  that the Councilmembers would be too tired to ask many questions by the time they got to us.

But it was not to be. After 1-1/2 hours they decided that we should come back next week – and be first on the agenda. I am not sure whether this is a good or bad thing. Theoretically I have completed the work, so I just need to wait a week. But I was ready today! (Sort of like cramming for an exam.) I am sure they would not have many questions, and I would not have to give up another evening.

On the positive side, I did get home in time to watch the Brazil v Germany semi-final match, and can still get to bed on time. Of course, the game was probably one of the worst of the tournament. [Note: I did not tell the score, or who won, so you can choose to watch a replay with only my words of caution.]

Here’s to a good night sleep. It is possible that City Council meeting is still in session.

One of the enduring memories of the kids growing up centers on Rey’s orchestra activities.
He took up piano sometime in early elementary school, and then added the cello when instrumental instruction was offered. The cello was eventually replaced with the stand-up bass, which is currently living at our house. (It did take a working vacation to Portland earlier this year.)
Each level of stringe ensemble had a uniform. The shirts were generally white, with additions of bow ties, cumberbuns, frills and tuxedos. The pants were usually black.
One thing you should know about Rey from is that he was quite slim during this time. Buying pants required finding slims, not as easy as it sounds.
Orchestra concerts happened a few times a year. More than once on the day before the concert we would be searching for his pants, as this was the only time they were worn. And on multiple occasions I would say, “No, those are the old pair, where is the newer pair.” Only to realize that these were the new pair, now high-water, and we needed to find a new pair in the next 24 hours.
One time, in high school, we just could not find a pair that fit. In desperation we put him into a pair of my black pants, with a big pin cinching in the waist. This became our solution for several concerts.
This story came to mind yesterday as we walked through the mall that was the sight of many of these last minute pants runs.

What we do to love and support each other

Carl pointed out, that on this 29th anniversary I have been married to him for more than half of my life. The actual date was a few weeks ago – he is the numbers guy doing the math, and I don’t know how he accounted for leap years.

And I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to my sibling and in-law with which we share this date. They were very accommodating and did not object to sharing their fifth anniversary with our wedding date.

As for your basic day-to-day activities, we are still actively watching all of the World Cup action. We have done this for years, with or without the US team being in the mix. And yesterday we went out and kicked Carl’s new Brazuca about the pitch. Of course it looked nothing like what we watch on TV except when the shots on goal went wildly wide.

I can’t believe I did not blog at all in June.

I put it down to being busy, less than creative, and perhaps just plain lazy.

Lately my “spare” time has been spent watching the World Cup. In past World Cup years we have obtained cable TV for the summer, since so little was on regular TV, and then ditched it at the end of the summer. When we moved back into the house last year we bit the bullet and got DirecTv with a sports package.

This year ESPN or ABC has carried all of the World Cup games. They are even on during the day in our time zone. Of course, I usually work during the day. That means my nights and sometimes mornings have been spent watching soccer, sleeping in front of soccer games, and then trying to remember who played whom.  The days when there were 4 games were especially tough.

Now that we are to the knockout round the viewing has slowed to a dull roar.
I did play hookey from work yesterday to watch the US vs Belgium.
It was worth it, even with the end result. A fun game. Howard (goalie) was phenomenal, and our hometown player, Yedlin, got to play a good part of the game and did very well. (So did Dempsey, also a Seattle Sounder, but Yedlin grew up in Seattle.)

Carl was in full Carl mode.

Carl’s Birthday Suit

If you watch any of the soccer, this is nothing. There was no face paint.

After the match, Dennis, Carl and I walked down to Ivar’s Salmon House for dinner. It was 94 degrees (hot for any day in Seattle, and especially for July 1). Carl declared that this is the last 3-sock day for four years.

This year’s Memorial Day weekend is aligned within the longest Homestand of the Mariner season.

It started off well, I got a ball tossed up to me in batting practice by the eventual losing pitcher. Yesterday Carl went to the throwback to 1979 game, and had some fun.
First we went to view some retro artwork, and came away with this gem.

Lockwood Dennis is the artist.
Then Carl decided to recall the days when his hairline was fuller.

The cameraman was involved in setting up at least one of these shots, but Carl went willingly.
Today I have been convinced it is Saturday. I put this down to work.
I think they need 2 of me. I have wondered if I did not take any new work, how long it would take to finish everything already in front of me, or more likely to the side of me in one of the piles of files.
As we were driving to the ballpark today, I was trying to come to grips with my day of the week issues and casually noted that I thought we were going out to Ivar’s  Salmon house in the coming week, and what day might that be. [This brings to light the loss of my weekly white board calendar to the remodel. With the schedules gone it seemed something we could do without.] Carl said he thought it was a weekend dinner, and could it have been Saturday? If I had thought it through it would not have made sense to be yesterday, as it was a night game, but I panicked a bit, because our current paper calendar was at home. Then I remembered the on-line reservation and confirming e-mail. Good thing the “Smart” phone doesn’t deal with aging memory issues. Turns out we are going out to dinner TONIGHT!
On the kid’s end …
Ashlan got an A from the NYC Health Department. (Note to all kids, the grading never ends.)
And Rey somewhere encountered a bug that would give a food establishment a failing grade. Some poor timing (is it ever a good time to feel poorly) added to his misery. He did get to try out his new health plan through Obamacare, although that final grade will wait for the bills to arrive. Good news is that, while some symptoms persist, he is feeling better.

Back to baseball. Today is a Little League day. Best team seen walking was from Nanaimo. Vancouver Island, from another country even.

Now to enjoy the rest of the game.

We walked down to the stadium today for the Mariner’s version of a day at the park. In addition to giving mothers a white baseball hat, it is little league day and the kids get rope necklaces (choke chains per one of the ushers).

I don’t think either of my kids are making a surprise appearance today. Rey showed up last year, complete with his arm in a sling. This year he is taking a day off in Tennessee. But I did get a ball tossed to me by Tim Collins (KC Royals)

Ashlan is heading to the Cloisters. See the May 1-2 post for a picture of her there last year with her door. I asked her to take another picture there today to see if she has grown any. (You know how you make notches in doorways to chart your kid’s growth.)

We upgraded our seats today and are directly behind the plate. The one drawback is that we will be in the shade on this sunny day.

I am almost tempted to suggest we walk home as well, going up the left side of Lake Union. A billionaire is refueling his ginormous yacht there. I did not take a picture of it from our vantage point east of the freeway this morning. (Is it odd that ginormous is in the cell phones dictionary of word suggestions?)

Carl has set a precedence by walking to the last two Mariner wins, and driving to the loss. He may get into really good shape if this holds true for a few more games.

Happy Mothers to all you mothers out there, but especially to Doris and Gene.

A weekend in Seattle!

Carl has been diligently trying to get some long walks in.
And the rain gods have been following his efforts closely.

Yesterday he got about 3 miles into a 7 mile walk and called for the support Prius.
It was dumping buckets.

Getting wet on a walk is not the end of the world (or we would rarely walk in Seattle) but this particular walk was to be followed by a 2 hour stand in the elements.

Yes, a Seattle Sounders game.
It is best to start these dry – just because it is more comfortable.

We spent the last few rainy hours before the game eating dinner at a nearby establishment, and then hanging around the interior of Century Link Field. That is the dry interior part.

the DRY part of the stadium

Which brings us to the game.
One of our rules about living here is to never say, “It could not rain any harder.” The rain gods only like to show you that yes they can make it rain harder. I am not sure whether either of us said these words before the game started, but one of the 38,516 in attendance surely did.

Luckily we had brought our 2009 vintage Sounders ponchos. That means that the third layer of clothes down stayed relatively dry.

The Sounders prevailed over the Philadelphia Union, 2-1, and all of the goals were scored in front of us.
That is to say at our seat’s end of the pitch, which means we can see what is really happening. Fun for us, except when it is the other team scoring.

And this morning, as the clothes from yesterday were drying on the rack in the basement, Carl set out again. Just a short 3-mile jaunt around the lake.

But the rain gods found him and turned him around, twice.
Instead of risking a 3rd wetting he made an executive decision and went to Starbucks.

I wonder if Starbucks makes more sales on a sunny or rainy weekend?

[Trying to make my peace with the weather, I read for a while in the car. Listening to the rain on the roof reminds me of the cabin. Car reading/working is an old habit of mine that started in at CSU in 1981.]