I am going to catch up the work week of May 7-11 in one post.
I really need to move on to other things, and it was a quick, long week.

Monday May 7th

Jay and Carl = regular work day.
Mariners = Tigers in town.

Work was work.
The Mariner game was a bit chilly, and it was slogging along.
They kept it close, but the Tigers were up 2-0 going into the bottom of the 9th.
The Tigers brought in Dotel to pitch the 9th.
Problem for the Tigers was that Dotel could not seem to throw a strike.

• Walked Ackley, man on 1st
• Walked Ichiro, men on 1st and 2nd
• Wild pitch, men on 2nd and 3rd
• Passed Ball, Ackley scores, Ichiro to 3rd
• Montero (Jesus – not Freddy) hits a double, Ichiro scores
• Seager sacrifice bunt, Montero to 3rd
• Jaso hits a sacrifice fly to shallow right field. Montero tags at 3rd and races home, barely avoiding the tag.
• MARINERS WIN!

Fans go home happy.

Tuesday May 8th

Work and a Mariner game.
Verlander started for the Tigers, but the Mariners were able to stay close. Down by 2 again as they entered the bottom of the 9th.

• Carp walks, man on 1st.
• Saunders walks, men on 1st and 2nd. (Pinch run Figgens for Carp)
• Ackley strikes out. 1 out.
• Ryan hits into a fielder’s choice 6-4. Men on 1st and 3rd. 2 out.
• With Ichiro up, Ryan steals 2nd. Men on 2nd and 3rd. 2 out.
• Ichiro is intentionally walked. Bases loaded, 2 out.
• Montero hits a foul pop-up, caught by the 1st baseman.

Mariners are not able to pull off the 9th inning heroics 2 days in a row.
Fans leave to find the warmth of their cars and homes.

Wednesday May 9th

Work and Mariners.
Only this time Jay goes home after work, and Carl shares the game with a friend.

As it turns out, this was the shortest game of the bunch. Just over 2 hours long, and a Mariner’s win 2-1.

Thursday May 10th

Work, no Mariners.
And an evening home to try to catch up on all of the things that have not been getting done.
And the architect and contractor spent a bit of time (during the daytime) trying to get an estimate put together for our consideration. This will be provided to us next Friday, so we can better scope the project design.

Friday May 11th.

Work and sunshine.
Jay finally saw the reported Osprey nest on the top of the cell tower located next to our office. There is an adult (or two) and a few juveniles. Could see the nest, and one bird on board, and hear them talking to one another.

Considered an early evening walk, but Carl had been on his feet most of the day, so instead tried to catch up on even more things left hanging.

I should note that this blog post has not noted all of the yard work that Carl has been doing. Weeding, mowing, cleaning, and he is out edging as I write. 

Weeding around the driveway – which does not show the relatively good shape of the lawn.

And it is probably a good time for me to stop now that I have reported on the last 8 days. I just wrote “wright” and “right” trying to get to “write.”

Sunday dawned early and bright. For Carl that is.
I decided to skip the first event of the day in favor of some additional shut-eye.

Carl launched for his old-man baseball game well before 8 AM.
I snored on.

I eventually rose about 9, and went about making myself feel human.
Surprisingly, this did not include coffee.
I did not feel I should make a full pot, and just did not do the one-cup maker.

A little work-out, a shower, a little breakfast, a few e-mails, and it was time to hit the road. On foot again, but this time heading for the bus.

The bus was not the express, and was also stopped by the University Bridge opening for boats to pass. [This should be expected as the Opening Day boat crowd was on the log-boom just the day before. I don’t think they were all able to pilot their boats back to their berths after a day of celebration on the water.]

I eventually arrived at the International District tunnel station near the stadiums. Carl arrived a bit before me and was waiting outside the Starbucks that is adjacent to and above the station. Finally obtained a cup of coffee, and a sandwich and yogurt parfait to boot. We sat in the sun for a few, and then departed for the baseball stadium once again.

The baseball game was enjoyed in the sun. The Mariners were playing the Twins, and despite Doumit’s 2 home runs for the Twins, the Mariners won 5-2.

Home again, and ready for the work week.

After Friday’s celebration, Saturday dawned late. Not too late, but not time to go to work early.

It may have been a late start, but it quickly picked up speed.

After Friday night’s rains, Saturday was clear and dry. So we took off walking.

The first stop on the walk was the Montlake Cut.
You see, the first Saturday in May is the opening day of boating season in Seattle. The Seattle Yacht Club puts on a boat parade through the Montlake Cut. This is the waterway that connects Lake Washington to Lake Union (which then goes through the locks, and out to Puget Sound).

The Cut is a cut. Manmade.
When the cut was made, it lowered the level of Lake Washington about 10 feet, and the Black River (the prior outlet for Lake Washington) ceased to flow. At least a good part of it ceased.

The bridge over the Montlake Cut is a drawbridge.
The days events start with the bridge down, but closed to car traffic.
It is instead home to folks that line the edges to watch the Windermere Cup.

The Windermere Cup is a series of crew races.
The University of Washington is always represented, and there are frequently invitees from distant ports. I am not sure who was in town this year, but we stopped by to see the set-up for the races. We did not stay, as our schedule did not allow for that and a walk.

So we continued on. Our next goal was to get up onto Capital Hill.
Capital Hill is a hill, and we were at water level at the Cut, so the question was which route to take up to the top.
In looking at maps I noted a trail through a green space that looked inviting, so we aimed in that general direction.

For those that know a bit about Seattle, our path took us past the Greek church on Boyer. (Home to the Greek Festival in September) We did not pass it on Boyer, but along its east side, and then crossed Boyer to follow 19th Ave, which is flat for about one house, and then goes straight up. (It seemed straight up, anyway.) We intersected with Interlaken Blvd for a bit, and then after a hairpin turn saw our trail to the south.

The boulder at the trail entrance proclaims it to be established in honor of Louisa Boren. The Boren family is one of the founding families of Seattle. Louisa passed in 1912. This trail is a path, rather than a wide trail, and winds through the woods and up the hill. There are indications of past attempts at definition of the trail and holding the hill. Pieces of concrete, logs, etc.

If you read the post for Friday, you might recall that there were record rains on Friday night. Saturday was sunny, but the runoff from the rains was still very evident along the trail. In a few places the trail could have been termed a drainage. Finding foot falls that did not sink in the mud was occasionally challenging.

In the end, we declared this a fine route choice. Good views, quiet, and very private (no other walkers). It also warmed us up in the morning chill.

Capital Hill provides many opportunities.
We started through Volunteer Park. As it happens, there was a Cinco de Mayo based 5K race on this morning. We picked up a free drink (Fuze) as we walked through. We enjoyed the views as we traversed this high point on our way towards the commercial center of the Hill.

Our two stops today included a Starbucks (first cup of the day), and Panera (home of loaves of bread – and a bathroom).

From Panera’s we started to descend towards downtown. We took Madison Ave this day. The previous week we went through Yesler Terrace.

Our first big destination was CenturyLink Field, home of the Sounders.
The game started with our seats in the sun, but by the end of the first half we were in the shade. The Panera loaf (Asiago Cheese Foccacia) provided sustenance. The second half included the Sounder’s scoring their goal for the day, and holding the Philadelphia Union scoreless. One game – one win. A good start. 

After the games (baseball, football, soccer), the vendors outside of the stadiums usually offer 2 for 1 dogs and sausage. It is interesting to me that they do this even when the post-game for one venue is the pre-game for the adjacent venue. But they do, so we grabbed a sausage on our short walk to Safeco Field. After about 15 minutes, we were inside Safeco, watching batting practice.

Since it was the “late game” (at 6 PM), our seats were already in the sun. Felix Hernandez was the pitcher for the game, so there was a buzz in the air, and yellow shirts in the left-field corner. The temperature dropped with the sunset, but Felix was hot – pitching 8 scoreless innings. The Mariners won 7-0.

We managed a ride home with Kevin.

Pictures from our day in the sun. A very happy, relaxing day.

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I know I have been absent for the past week.
Two words – Mariners and Work.

It has been a very busy week with little time spent at home.
And the evening I had at home, free to do as I please, I spent trying to get some basic paperwork wrestled into place.

So I am going to blog about the past week – a day or two at a time.
Some days may blend together, so forgive any inaccuracies.

Friday – May 4th.

I went with orange, because that is the color of the Giants (SF).
The highlight of the day was the Mariner’s game.

Well, not really the Mariner’s game.
They lost in a miserable fashion.
The M’s were up 2-0, and then with based loaded and one out, Wilhelmsen (pitching in relief), got a ground ball back to the mound which he fielded with his bare hand. But instead of throwing home for the force at home, he wheeled around and threw wildly toward 2nd base (missing). That started a 3 run inning, and ended up losing 3-2.

Additionally, it was pouring rain outside – a record rainfall for the day, as it turned out. Our right-field seats were getting wet, even with the roof closed. So wet, that some moved, and others raised umbrellas.

Luckily, we were not sitting in our seats that night. We were in the dry attic of the upper deck – row 11, even with 1st base.

The reason we were in the rafters is that we were with several other members of the PSSBL (Puget Sound Senior Baseball League) celebrating the induction of 6 new members to their Hall of Fame.

One of those 6 was Carl!

His reason for being there was not just for longevity, he has skipped some years, but for being a Manager for several, his basic fanaticism, and a few outstanding statistics. In one season (2000) he pitched 90 innings, and only gave up one walk. He is also more recently recognized as the “Pitcher in Hiking Boots.” (They support his feet better than regular athletic shoes.)

The pre-game ceremony took place in the centerfield (not-yet) drunk tank. Or party deck, or singles bar. During the pre-game this area was cordoned off, and they had barbecue and other food available for the attendees. We hung out there until about the 2nd inning, after which we climbed to our seats for the night. It really is a “scene”. A place to be seen, and not necessarily to pay full attention to the game.

The game was a hard loss, but the evening was a success.

I did my part for science tonight.
And they are asking for more.

This is part of a study that is as old as I am.
I have only been participating for over 20 years – if I remember correctly.

Every 7 years I get invited to take a test. It includes math (basic), word play, spatial recognition and comprehension. Kind of like an SAT lite. The fascinating thing (to me) is that they use the same booklets for the test that they have used since the testing started in 1956. Trying to keep everything the same. Their goal is to follow the same people over long periods of time. I think I have done this test 3 times.

To bolster the study, they have added a mid-life component that occurs every 2 years.
I think today was my third time on this as well.
This has a lot of memory testing.
They read you a list of numbers and you have to repeat them back. I think I got up to 9 digit numbers. Then they ask you to repeat the numbers backwards. And there are lists of words, and they go back to them a few times over the course of the evening. But my favorite is the blocks. Kind of like tanagrams, but different. They show you a picture and ask you to make it with the two color blocks. A couple of questionnaires, and the tester was on her way.

The last request they made was to consider offering them a piece of your mind after you have passed on. (That is a small bit of brain matter.)

I know how they try to track your whereabouts for these widely spaced tests. I get a birthday card every year.
But they need to get my grey fluff within 12 hours of me not needing it any longer. I am not sure how they would know when that happens.

We just got to spend a while chatting with our daughter.
It is so nice to be able to connect, at least for a bit.
She appears to be doing well, and making her way in the big city.

It is also her birthday, and from her description, probably about the quietest birthday she has spent. Being a working girl will do that to you sometimes.

It doesn’t seem possible that this was only one year ago. And in others it seems that this was so long ago.

1 Long/Short Year Ago

And it really doesn’t seem possible that this was her over 2 decades ago. Two decades?!? Time is flying.

Happy Birthday Ashlan.

Notice that you can’t see her shoes in either picture. But I’m sure they were perfect for the outfit.

Sunday was a relatively fun day, if you can ignore all of the coughing.
Carl had his team’s season opener.
He got to pitch.

He thought he was going to pitch the entire game when we arrived.
Then learned probably just 6 innings, and was then pulled after 5.
I think the manager was having trouble trying to figure out how to fit everyone in, except of course there were several that did play the entire game.

When Carl left the game, his team was ahead 10-2. When the game ended they were tied, 10-10. (Time limits – after 10 innings of play)

Not to say it was not a fun game, it really was.
Much better than last year’s start, and just overall fun.
Carl’s top play, in my estimation, was spearing a (s0ft) line drive, and then picking the runner off of second. The weather was cooperative, I got to walk a few miles before the game started, and the crowd was congenial.

After the game we came home, Carl changed, and we headed out to watch one of his former charges play soccer. Had the chance to catch up with the parents, and after the real game was over, Carl got to play with a few of the siblings and players hanging around.

He was a bit tired by the end of the day.

So was I, but I think we did a reasonable job of sleeping through the night.
(This is a cough related topic. Who is coughing. Who is waking up to cough. Who is waking up the adjacent sleeper by coughing. …)

Monday, Monday. Can’t trust that day.
Finally woke up about 6:45. Only a bit late, and proceeded to get dressed for work.

It wasn’t until a few hours after arriving that I glanced at my feet, and realized I had two different shoes on.

Not quite two left feet

I shared this with a workmate. It was her birthday, and I hadn’t anything to give, except a laugh. And so the story spread. I guess I am there for comic relief. As I was leaving at the end of the day, my boss said the first thing he was going to do in the morning was check my shoes. (I don’t think this qualifies as a foot fetish.)

I consider both of my parents to be linguists.
Dad was a foreign language teacher for many years (spanish).
Mom was a librarian, and an indexer, and who knows what else.

I also spent some time on the telephone with them this morning.
We all have our pet peeves when it comes to language, or more importantly, the misuses of language.

My pet peeve is “Realtor.” In my case it is not so much misuse of the word as mispronunciation. “ReLaTor.” The word is RealTor.” For gosh sakes, just look at the spelling. (I actually saw a business card with the word misspelled.)

One of my mother’s pet peeves is the lie/lay confusion. And of course I managed to get it wrong during our conversation. And I admit to being confused at times. Because the tenses (past in particular) come in to play, there is no clear “ONLY USE IS WHEN” criteria that I might be able to master. My ears betray me. But it is not only me. My poor mother had a yoga instructor that would misuse the word. How can you relax, when your ears are tensed up in defense.

My father shared that a well-known author he was reading was having problems with the use of spanish, er mexican, words in the book. (Well known to some. Elmore Leonard. I was not familiar, but as soon as I recounted the story, Carl perked up at the name he knew.) The book in question takes place on the tex-mex border I believe. Some spanish words in used the singular form were not correct. Example: Tamales = plural. Tamal = singular. Tamale = wrong.

I suggested my father should write to the author and offer to edit his books that used spanish. He laughed off my suggestion, but then recounted that when he took a post army service test to identify the type of work he should look for, the proctor told him he should go to the Denver Post and offer to be their editor. Apparently a natural talent.

Carl and I were exploring these topics as we wandered the neighborhood in search of toothpaste and a haircut. Three of our four parents had professions that involved language. (The fourth involved numbers.) Our kids both have an ability to string several words together in their own style. Carl has a quick way with words (in my estimation), and I am a mean red-penciler of technical works at work. [I can take it as well as I dish it out.]

In the end we decided that editors have a job to do. But in the end the editor could be viewed as just a professional complainer. With that, let us lay this matter to rest.

Over the last few days I have seen references to the “Costco Craze”.
I am not sure what it means. Costco appears to be a local Puget Sound thing. Their headquarters are now located in Issaquah, but I think it may have been in Kirkland for a while. (Kirkland brand name and all.)

And Carl went to Costco today.
Sunscreen, TP, peanuts, ….., and butternut squash ravioli.

Pretty good going down this evening.
Because there are only two of us, this pretty much makes the meal. (And dessert.)

Now to settle in to our plans for the evening.

• Carl is listening to some baseball game on the radio. (Not the Mariners. They beat Detroit earlier today. And yesterday. And the day before that.)
• I am, well, blogging.
• Later I intend to add some numbers in the checkbook. (whoopee)
  Then add some other numbers into our expense listing.
• Then, (drumroll please), I am going to FILE!

OK – now I doubt that many out there can match that level of excitement!

It’s OK. I am just trying to calm myself down from a stirring day at work.
I went in because I had a meeting. But then the meeting was cancelled.
But I did manage to provide a solution for an agitated customer, that worked for us, and solved his most immediate problem. In truth though, I did dodge calling another mad-at-the-world customer.  

I am only a so-so patient.
So it was just as well I spent the day pretty much by myself.
Carl was around, and then gone, and then around, and then …

I worked from home today, and by being silent could keep the coughing minimized.

What I don’t understand is why I can sort of manage the coughing during the day, but the minute I put my head on the pillow, there is no way to stop.

I am hoping for quick z’s tonight. I really should show up at the office tomorrow, or I will have to cancel a few meetings.