It’s almost like being there.

Carl (and Dennis)

That was last night. A screen clip – not sure why Carl looks so serious.

Some of the Boys (Dennis, Tom?, Mark & Carl)

This was even before last night. Tom provided a place to place one’s head. Dan (the photographer) is missing from this shot, as are Chris, Mika and So, who were waiting near San Francisco, er Oakland, er Palo Alto (somewhere there).

It sounds like the boys are having a great time.
Mariners are 3-1 on the season, all against the A’s.
Next up, some other team.

Also had a chance to chat with Ashlan while watching the Sounders (on TV and some computer feed), and following the Mariners on Gameday. Almost like she was home.

So, it is finally the Mariner’s Stateside Opening Day.
I followed the game on the computer.

In an early inning I was getting dinner.
I came back to the computer and the bases were loaded with Mariners!
A good start.

And the game progressed, with mostly good things happening.

Getting close to the end of the game, and the phone rang.
I really expected it to be Carl.

Instead, it was a friend, saying he had just seen Carl on TV.
Since we don’t have cable, no luck  on this end.

Just spoke with Carl (hour later). He said Jason had tossed up the last warm-up ball to him, and apparently that was camera-worthy.
Not as dramatic as catching a home run, but then they were not sitting in fair territory tonight.

My day? You don’t want to hear about it. It maddening, boring, frustrating, and then a spark of light. Followed by a slog home, and a Mariner win.

Carl is.

And I am home, except that I can’t seem to get home for as much time as I might like.
Two days, and two late nights at work.
Yesterday was due to a last minute project that required a little bit of research.
Tonight was to go to a different agency’s planning commission meeting.

Not as bad as it might sound.

But not as good as an evening at home would probably be.

So, now I am home, and finding what my spovely louse left to keep me alive in his absence. Boy, I hope I am not this boring when he is around. I guess that must mean it is bedtime.

Or maybe raincharm.

It did rain during the day, but had cleared into a sunny late afternoon.
Spoke with Carl and arranged to take a walk when we both got home.

Left in the sun. It was raining lightly when I hit the bottom of the hill.
Continued as I got on the highway.
Turning into Bellevue, the sun came out, through the rain, and I actually thought, “I should be in a rainbow.”

[Of course the whole rain charm, rain stripe thing is always around.]

Anyway, the sun was streaming through the raindrops, and then it started raining harder. Top wiper speed harder. Hard to see through the sun, er rain hard.

And then I looked into the rear view mirror and it was all

RAINBOW.

From one end to the other. No cars, nothing but color.
It was intense, and beautiful, and a bit distracting for that moment as my brain tried to understand what I was seeing.

Then it moved to the side view mirror, and we exited the rain for a dry spell.
Actually, it rained on and off the rest of the way home.

It's obviously springtime

Traffic was unusually light this morning, and light this evening as well.
I believe some of the school districts have dismissed their urchins for the week.
The several school districts in our area all have their own idea of when spring break will fall. With Easter in the coming weekend I think many will be this week or next.
Seattle does not get out for another two weeks.
Hopefully this staggering means that traffic will continue to be manageable for April.

I was doing quite well on the way to work this morning, until I was fairly close to work.
Then I happened upon the road closing type of accident that can plague 2-3 lane roads when somebody is not paying attention. I have no idea what really happened. I am not sure how many cars were involved, at least four from what I saw. I got within about 5 cars of the accident. No flashy lights had arrived, and there were a fair number of people wandering the scene to help. So I figured I would be in the way if I found a place to pull over and got out. After about a minute of deliberation I did a three-point turn and headed back down the hill. When I reached the bottom, and set off on my alternate route I could hear the sirens. [One of my workmates coming a different route altogether, was entering a roundabout when the fire station next to the roundabout disgorged its truck. She was not sure what to do at first. You can’t pull over in a roundabout, and she did not know which exit the truck planned to take. So she just kept driving around the roundabout, until she was behind the truck instead of in front.]

AND

Jay wins the family final four. Or rather, Kentucky wins, and Jay gets the prize.

2012 - Kentucky and Jay win

It did rain today.
In the early morning, and a few spits here and there, and it may rain again tonight.

I did check the Weather Underground at one point.
It was sunny out, and we had not gone out for a walk yet.
[Carl walked about 9-10 miles yesterday, and I wasn’t sure whether he wanted to walk again. But it was sunny!]
The Wunderground hourly report said 100% chance of clouds, and 90% chance of rain.

But it was sunny. So we took our chance and set out.
4.5 miles later and it was still sunny.

We did not do much else today to speak of.
Finished the last of the taxes.
Finished a crossword puzzle.
Spent a bit of time cleaning up here and there.
Met with the architect for a bit more discussions.

And then the day was dark and done.

Saturday Nights Alright!

We have a pretty light social calendar right now.
But we did manage to be double scheduled tonight.

So we split up to our respective shows.

Carl took in the Sounders game.
He walked to the match, stood for the match, and then walked back to the Seattle Center.
The Sounders lost 0-1 to San Jose on a questionable penalty kick (the guy tripped himself over the Sounder).

I got to go to the Seattle Men’s Chorus show all about the Beatles.
It was great. Really. They had a handful of dancers that really added to the songs. Free Love style dancing. When they were singing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds the dancers were slowly gyrating, and the entire men’s chorus was swaying as well. Not normal back and forth swaying, but as a whole looking like an anemone in a tide pool.

And dinner (great lamb burger). And the view from Kerry Park, in the sun after a rainy day.

Kerry Park in a Sun Break

I am watching it hail.
Small hail, but coming down hard. With a vengeance almost.

It almost feels cleansing.
I have had some hard thoughts running through my brain the last 24 hours.
The type of thoughts that you don’t want to think, but you have to.
Because you know stuff you don’t want to know.
But you do.
And it is hard to get them out of your brain.

Watching the hard rain, it seemed that maybe that could wash, or rather, beat, the thoughts away.

And we are here at Safeco field with several other fans. Currently in the 10th inning, tied 1-1.

Got up at 2 AM for the 3 AM first pitch.

A few offerings from this AM.

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The Mariners opened this opportunity for Season Ticket Holders, and let the first 170 that responded in. I think most of the major TV stations had people there. Channel 13 caught Carl on the way out. (That’s Channel 22-2 for us still on the rabbit ears.)

 Time for work. We’ll see what 3 PM feels like.

I went to work as normal, but flexed some of my extra time to take care of personal phone calls today. I actually let the receptionist know, so it ended up being a fairly relaxed day. The time spent on the phone today was actually pretty intense, but since I was initiating the calls, it was not that stressful. Except sort of.

Not making much sense today, so perhaps it was good that I didn’t try to give them a full 8 hours. And I did get to check a few things off of the work list. Good day all in all.

Time for bed. Hope to sleep soon.