Raincharm’s Weblog

The cold that was stalking me through the warm weekend has settled in.
And worse yet, I think I gave it to Carl.

I did manage to get through a public hearing last night with just some coughing (into my shoulder). Now the kleenex boxes are going to be my companion.

On the other hand. It is only a cold. An annoyance.
I may get sent home from work today (policy to not be at work when you are sick).
That would be just fine with me. (I am going in because my car is there. Oh, and we might need to debrief from the meeting last night.) If I come home, I should be able to get some work done … without exposing everybody else.

Hopefully it will not hit Carl hard.
This will be one of the few times the colds have gone from me to him. Usually it is the other way around. Or most of the time, he gets a cold, and I don’t. 

OK – I guess I know what is on my mind this morning.
If I had blogged last night you would have heard the post meeting mortem.

Today started the third nice weekend in Seattle in a row.
That should have given us an inkling that the day would be different.

And I am trying to stop a cold from taking hold.
I don’t get sick, so it was the second sign.

Took Carl to his baseball practice, went to work for the 2 hours he would be involved, finished the three small tasks I had assigned to myself, and left work at the appointed time to fetch Carl. The third sign. (I am not always prompt for picking him up.)

So off to the Mariner game. There was also a moto-cross in the adjacent stadium, so parking was at a premium. And yet, we found a free place. The fourth sign.

Once inside we found a seat at the bullpen in the sun. Carl got four White Sox pitchers to sign a baseball for him. One was Juan Nieves. He threw a no-hitter on April 15, 1987. Nice guy. Chatted up a young kid getting an autograph who did not even know who he was. The fifth sign.

The sun was inching toward our seats, so I took a scorecard and pencil (and two compost bins) and headed to right field. Carl eventually showed up and hung out a few rows back, chatting with friends.

So here is the set-up. A nice weekend, sun to heal a sickness brought on by too many cold nights out in a row, on time, parking found, good people, and the  perfect temperature.

THE GAME.
The Mariners lost to the White Sox 4-0. The game went relatively quickly, 2-1/2 hours. A good part of this was due to White Sox pitcher Philip Humber, throwing a no-hitter. My first in-person no-hitter.

Chicago

Chicago Batting (and scoring) 4 Runs

Seattle

4/21/2012 - 27 Mariners up, 27 Mariners down.

Did you notice it was a PERFECT GAME?
All those zeros, and steps in the scorecard. Three up, three down, x 9.

It is a rarity. 21 perfect games in the modern era. The 21st on the 21st.

Perfect.

Not much to talk about today.

In a word – WORK.

I don’t even remember everything I did, because very little of it was what I planned to do.

The last bit of work that I did was to attend a Public Hearing on a vision for the redevelopment of a nearby city center. I did not provide comment, and actually worked on reviewing some other information as I listened to others talk. (I had provided my comments in writing – very bland.)

And then I glanced under the chair in front of me.
I could not figure out what type of adornment was on the shoe/boot of the person in the row in front of me. A circle of sorts. Finally I discerned that what I was seeing were the holes in their socks, with their heels lifted just out of their shoes.

Well, I found it mildly amusing.

The weekend was glorious, and because the Mariner season started on Friday, it really felt like a 3-day weekend. I made it to two of the three games. My ticket for Sunday was destined for a friend, who then had to work. But by then I was happy at home, wasting the day away. Carl went for both of us.

The kids both tend to follow the comings and goings, winning and losing of the Ms. Ashlan probably more than Rey, just due to time. But I may be dissing Rey with that statement, so I will let it ride.

Anyway, there was an e-mail sort-of from Ashlan, tagging Carl in a Facebook post. With the attached statement, “Hi Dad“.

I guess I would have been surprised too. (You have to click the link to understand)

What was funnier was that on the way to the game on Friday, a workmate asked me what Carl was doing to get on the TV for opening day. I replied that Carl didn’t do things to get on TV, he just seemed to end up on TV more than the average fan. And then this. What can I say, he seems to be a camera magnet. And I can vouch that he does not go looking for cameras.

Well, maybe the Ichiro’s Bleacheros was looking, or expecting, a bit of attention. But not normally.

And today it was back to work, in the rain. But I am not complaining, because we had the weekend. In fact, the radio DJs were discussing whether Seattlites, who were sooo happy over the weekend, were in fact happier than San Diegans who have sun all the time  – and take it for granted. [I could have called in and told them that in Boulder (300 sunny days a year) we used to call it, “Another boring beautiful Boulder day. Except I was driving.]

Ice Cream Soup is a well-worn kids book living in our house.
It is a Learn to Read book, with lots of repeated words, and a story that might be interesting to kids. It follows the adventures of two siblings as they go out on an errand to buy ice cream, but get sidetracked on their way home stopping at several local stops. When they finally return home, the ice cream has turned to soup.

Carl & I spent a day out on the town yesterday.
It was a gorgeous day! Probably made it into the 60s, and the sun was in evidence from dawn until dusk. We even used sun screen.

So, here is our ice cream soup like story for the day:

• We started our walk about 9:45, heading in a generally south direction.
• First we went to the University Bridge. (You do have to choose a bridge in Seattle if you are crossing from North Seattle to downtown.)
• Then we discovered a new 190 step staircase (for us)  to Capital Hill.
• Then we went to the Starbucks. (It is Seattle after all. This one was on Broadway at the north end. Restroom Code 154.)
• Then we went to Chase Bank. (Carl chatted amiably with the teller about our plans for the day, and the teller’s plans for after work.)
• Then we went to Dicks.
• Next was a stop at Panera’s for a loaf of bread for later. (Asiago cheese focaccia)
• Then we stopped at the Jimi Hendrix statue.
• Then we wound through the many hospitals of First Hill (aka Pill Hill).
• Then we lost all of the elevation that we had gained descending Yesler.
• And we arrived at the first major destination – Qwest Century Link Field for the Sounder’s game. SOUNDERS WIN 1-0 over Colorado Rapids.
• Waited through the post-game rituals, and got to see Zach Scott, the scorer of the Sounder Goal, up close taking his kids onto the field for a few kicks.
• Next it was a hotdog (actually 2 for $5 – one for each), and out into the changing crowds. The change was from Sounder Green to Mariner Blue.
  Cross the street to the gates of Safeco Field.
• Hang out with the other fanatics for about 15 minutes waiting for the gates to open.
• Then we hang out with a few pitchers warming up. Luetge and Ramirez in this version.
• Leave to hang out at “our seats” for batting practice. Basically bask in the sun with a glove for protection if a ball should happen to find our seats. (Actually almost got a bounce up, but didn’t shift enough to the right. OK – Carl snagged it in the next row back.)
• Head to our seats for the day in the Center Field Bleachers, having sold our seats to a friend.
• We spent several innings with added entertainment from a group next to us. At least a few had apparently spent the pre-game warm-up with alcoholic beverages. One reported that another of their party had been taken away by the Police because she was too drunk to fend for herself. The group as a whole lasted until about the 7th inning.
• BUT – the strangest coincidence – probably the soberest of the group, sitting directly next to us, was none other than the teller from the Capital Hill Chase earlier in the day!
• End the game back near our seats, so we could snag a ride home from our usual seatmates.
• MARINERS WIN 4-0 over the Oakland As.
• Returned home about 12 hours after having left. Sun baked, twice winners, and having discovered a bit more of Seattle in the process.

  No ice cream melted, and there was nobody waiting at home for us to share our story with. So here it is – in pictures (at least a few pictures).

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Today is shaping up as another nice day, but I have to do at least a few things indoors. Carl? He is out playing with his playmates, and then heading to the game.

The anticipation!
Almost like Christmas morning. (Well, not really. But Carl did receive a postcard a few days ago from Jay Witasick, a pitcher for the A’s at the time, that said, “My first win was a lot like finding out what was under the tree at Christmas.”)

And the game finally arrived.
Full of the normal pomp and circumstance, and the usual between inning shenanigans. The best shenanigan from our vantage point was the second base steal. They bring out a kid from the right field hole in the wall to run to second base, “steal the base” and run back to the outfield fence. [They change the bases at this halfway point in the game.] It is a long run, so the kids have to be at least elementary age. In this particular version, when the kid picked up the base at second, the umpire accosted him. Turns out the “umpire” was his dad, home from Afghanistan. The kid was shocked, his mother/the wife, completely in tears at the right field fence. They took a little longer than usual getting the kid off of the field again. (Should have known it was a set-up when there were 3 cameras instead of just one.)

In the end the Mariner’s lost 4-0 to the Athletics.

But the best part about opening day is seeing the people we primarily see at the ball park. Here a few shots from the day. (Dennis could not make the game, but his hat did.)

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Did anybody think the words in the title were “fling”?

I just noted the similarity as I typed.
In some respects that is what I have been doing a lot lately.
I file, and as I file I fling. Shred, recycle, and a bit of trash to boot.

The preceding pretty much describes both my home and work life.

I have a database I am dying to dive into as well.
But there are a few customers that are waiting for answers that I should attend to first. And then there was a reporter this afternoon. Hope that one ends up OK, since he was called by somebody else (not us). Never know what sort of spin will be placed on a story.

All I have on my plate for tonight was two sources of filing.
House project stuff, which is finally getting to be enough to sort successfully.
(I know it will get much more in-depth, so now is the time to set the stage for files to fill up as we move forward.)
And some bank/investment paperwork that I have tried to tackle in the past, but it tends to just grow in a bin. But it has forced the lid off of the bin, so must be tamed once more. And because we have flung a fair amount of paper, I actually have a file bin that is available to accept a new set of paper.

How exciting is my life!

Carl should get home tonight – after just one more game.
His baseball team is watching the Rainiers tonight in Tacoma.
This is the last stop on the start of the 2012 season road trip.

Of course there is still the Home Opener to come. This Friday.

It is a good thing he is coming home.
I am almost out of food for lunch.
I could go a long time with dinners out of the pantry, but lunches are generally based on fresh foods.

He suggested that I could go to the grocery store!
Harumph!
I almost did, just to show him I could do it.

But then work went really long, and I wasn’t going to get home until about 7 PM, and I was hungry. (Remember, dinner stuff is plentiful.)
So I am trying to do some cleaning, to somehow make up for the lack of fresh food. Hey, I even washed the vegetable crisper since it was essentially empty. (That has to earn a point or two.)

Back to doing what I can to make it look like I didn’t while away the last 5 days eating bon-bons.

(And it's dark chocolate!)

My husband is such a sweetie.
He left me to fend for myself for a few days.

Before he left he filled up the refrigerator and cupboards.

And this morning he called to tell me to go on my Easter hunt.
I do love him.

Happy Easter. May your baskets be full of love.