Raincharm’s Weblog

Yesterday was a pretty good day.
I worked basically 8 hours figuring out the fine details of some water rights.
Well more figuring out where the differences in what was reported appeared, where they started, but not why they popped up again about 10 years later.
I also got to sample some emergency rations we are considering for our emergency larder (3 year shelf life). They were reportedly much better than C-rations, but not something you would want to eat everyday.
Then it was time to go home, figure dinner, do a few chores and fall into bed.

Today is a big day for Carl. He is going to attempt to give blood for the first time. I am going along for support, and may give blood if they have open slots. If not I am scheduled on May 3rd. I started giving blood back at E. Lansing when I was in college. I wanted to know what type I was, and it was an easy thing to do. Except that to make the minimum weight requirement I would put weights in my pockets. (Note: that is no longer a problem.) My most frequent problem now is low iron content. But I get in there on a fairly regular basis. Carl has always had a little bit of a needle thing, so this is a big step. I’ll report on the outcome later.

He Did It!
The staff was very helpful and knew right away he was a newbie. Said he had that worried look. About halfway through the donation he said he felt faint. They brought him some juice and it all went well from there.
I am so proud – since he is usually the type they make lay lie down just to get a sample for a test.
I gave too – they were busy, but squeezed me in – and squeezed out enough to give me a 2 Gallon total for the Puget Sound Blood Center.

Took Carl out for brunch to celebrate.

Watched the second half of the Sounders game on ESPN360.
Great until the last second of extra time (well the last minute anyway), when a Dallas player dives – clearly – on the replay over and over and over again – in the box. Dallas is awarded a penalty kick and scores to tie the game. BS. I hope the referee is a bit concerned for his position after viewing the replay himself.

OK – now the workday has clearly receded into the past.

Calm, calm. It probably didn’t help that I was pedalling the bike as I watched, and all amped up …. Calm, calm, … bye

So I posted on Monday and it is almost Thursday.
I don’t know what happened, except that I have been going to work.

Oh, wait – the baseball season started!
But that was last week.

But it is still a homestand – when time stands still – or rather runs away and through your fingers like sand through an hourdayglass.

Mariner game tonight.
Felix Hernandez for the Mariners, and Millstone for the Orioles. (something like Millstone, anyway)
Mariners WIN!
More unusual news, both pitchers pitched complete games.

News that I got the headline only – garbage strike starts today.
Only Waste Management, one of three garbage haulers in Seattle.
But will other workers not cross a line, will the transfer stations still operate.
Inquiring minds need/want to know.
Our garbage day is Monday, so we will have a few days to figure out our impact. (Sign of the economic times – when they advertised for replacement workers a few weeks ago, they got several hundred applicants.)

Such are the questions that rattle around inside my head 5ish in the PM.

6ish was closer to the actual time my meeting got out.
Ready to go home – time to myself this evening.

Back in my office – 1 message waiting.
OK – check it out, it is only a message …..
From my carpooler (not today) telling me about an accident on the freeway home that had traffic wrapped in knots.

OK – maybe I’ll work a bit more, wait for traffic to die down.
Phone rings (cell phone – in my purse). Carl – can I please come home and give him a ride from his massage appointment to the ball game. He will be late anyway, and then won’t have to park.
So – agree, even with horrid traffic I can go ahead and leave now. Maybe get home in the hour before he will be ready.

Turn off computer, pack things to leave.
Phone at front counter is ringing. Another work person picks it up.
Do I want it at the front counter or in my office?
?!? Do I want it at all? Maybe it is Carl again.
Put it through to my office.
Customer that is not happy with a letter I sent out last week – stunned is the word he used.

I have not been looking forward to this call and now it is way past work time, and I am trying to leave.
But I let him say a bit, and then suggest we should meet.
Turn the computer back on, he does the same.
We settle on Thursday.

Computer off, pack up again.
But wait – why did his call come through to the front desk?
It should have gone to the overnight message center.
We can’t figure it out. Make a few calls, but not to the who really know.
Going in circles – nowhere fast.
Finally try calling in myself – and it goes to the overnight message just fine.
The customer must have just started pushing whatever he thought would get a live person. And because there was a live person in the vicinity of the front desk 1-1/2 hours after closing – he won.
[Really – glad I got the meeting set without phone tag – he will probably be happier for the less hassle factor]

Drive home. And happily, the only vestige of the accident by now is a motorcycle being loaded onto a tow truck.
And I beat Carl home, so am ready to whisk him to his destination – as soon as he arrives that is.

Isn’t my life fascinating!

So I mowed the lawn. I don’t think I did this last week, because it was really long in the back yard.
(I am not complaining.) It was a little more difficult to get started because the door to our garage gave out. Well, part of the mechanism is not longer attached to whatever it was attached to before. I can see where one piece pulled out of the drywall ceiling. But I haven’t cleared the space to really see what is not where it should be anymore. Then we can figure out what to do so the lawnmower does not have to take the long walk through the basement to the back door.

Other than mowing I did a little running this morning while Carl was whacking little round orbs around with some other older orb-swatters.  He kicked a larger orb with me for a while too. Then he went off to watch professional orb-swatters.

I thought I would go do some work in my car, gazing out over Golden Gardens. Nice thought – but everybody else in Seattle was there as well. I did manage to do a bit of work, but the car traffic volume was just too distracting. I need a nice cloudy Seattle day to really do good car work. This is a holdover from my graduate school days in Fort Collins, up on the edge of Horsetooth Reservoir.

Some mail-sorting/filing to round out the day should about do me in.

2010 Mariner's Opening Day

Update – picture – this is from a few days ago. The Giants shirt says Johnson – 300 on the back. It was in honor of Randy Johnson’s 300th win – which happened with the Giants. Randy threw out the first pitch for the Mariners at this game. The roof was closed when the picture was taken (raining), but they opened it up for the game (not raining).

Games — mostly baseball still.
Last night went to a packed house Mariner’s game. The draw? Detroit Tigers? More likely the first Friday night game. Oh- and they had Ken Griffey Jr. Bobbleheads.
We did not sit in our normal seats, but up in the left field bleachers.

When I put on my sweatshirt the man next to me asked if I went to CSU? (It was a Colorado State sweatshirt – just to clarify the CSU) I said I had, and it turns out he and his wife were both enrolled there at the same time I was, only as undergraduates. His family is from Loveland and still there. We had a nice chat. Carl came a bit later and talked baseball at them all game. It was rather fun. They may get some of our other tickets for some future games. As Carl was giving them our telephone number, a ball literally landed in his lap – or maybe breadbasket. He works and works (really plays) to get balls during batting practice, and now, in an inning change, while in the upper deck, one falls into his lap. We were in the 3rd row, and the guys in the 1st row had been begging for a ball from the bull-pen folks. They finally chucked one up, but overshot row 1.

Oh – and the Mariners won, 11-3. It was a fun game, lots of hits. A nice way for a big crowd to see their first (maybe) game of the year. Make them want to come back for more.

There is another Mariner game tonight. And we are NOT going. This is so the folks that think Carl is over the edge insane will have a glimmer of hope that he is not. And it is true. Baseball is a passion, but not the only passion, or the most important thing.

We are going to a Seattle Sounders FC Soccer game today! [But that is not what is keeping us from the Mariners. In fact the games follow one-another, and are in stadiums right next to each other. Very easy to do a double header – and we plan to do that on May 1st.]

What is really happening today is Carl is pitching practice for a high school baseball team, then the Sounder’s game, and then a birthday party for one of his charges. She is turning 5 years old. Graduating to kindergarten next year. Wow – time flies. We are actually missing the fun part of the party where they do crafts and stuff. (It’s for the kids!) But we are doing the get-together after the crafty bits.

Oh – and I rediscovered how to use the Metro bus application that shows where the buses are on their routes – basically real time. This should work for me today as I am catching a route at the end of our block, so it should be easy to predict the walking time. Speaking of which – time to go pack lunch.

Continuing on the start of the baseball season – because it is still fresh and new, and it is much more pleasant than other things going on.

Opening day. This is always a special day – full house and lots of friends that stop by. I also got my second baseball hit from home base during batting practice. (First catch here). Unlike the first one, this one hit in the row behind me, ping-ponged around the seats, rolled down the row behind me and dropped by my feet. I picked it up. Now I did beat somebody diving in from my side to the ball – but it was there – for me. [I later gave it to a workmate’s 4 year old daughter. They had come to visit our seats to see if they could get a ball – and they did. It was fun.]

I almost got a second one, tossed up by Coco Crisp. Only I wasn’t watching him, and Carl got it. Coco Crisp has a hurt hand and throws with his off hand – I don’t know if this impacted his throw – but he came back a few minutes later and apologized to me. He said it was good I had a mitt – shows I came prepared. Kind of funny. I didn’t think anything of it when I realized the ball was coming my way – just a toss up.

Randy Johnson threw out the first pitch – thunderous applause, and then five Mariners from the 95 season gathered on the mound – Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson (Randy’s catcher) and Ken Griffey Jr – the only one still playing.

Then the first home game was underway – and it went. The A’s won – but still nice to see everyone.

Carl and I both went to the second game. Many fewer people in the stands. But the Mariners won – 3-0. I have been keeping score, which helps me remember who the newer players are. Weather was a bit chilly – blanket chilly for me. Nobody else in our group seemed to mind the chill.

Game 3 was Carl on his own, or rather with 3 other buddies. Mariners win again 4-2. I slept in a nice warm bed.

Day off and then tomorrow once more to the game. Expecting a huge crowd.
3 down, 78 to go – and then On to the Playoffs. (Ok, so it is a little early for that.)

For me anyway, and almost for Carl.
He did have, “get a kid to school,” duty first thing yesterday morning.

After dropping said kid we started off on foot to a study appointment.
Three miles and a few vials of blood later we were off on our downtown segment of the day.
Great plan – go to the Seattle Art Museum. We had a voucher from a different museum to get a discount on a year-long membership. We go to the museum about once a year, maybe a little less. A membership would certainly raise that rate, and there is a big Picasso exhibit coming in the fall. Through downtown and down the hills to 2nd Avenue.

In Seattle, when you are downtown if the street number is higher, so is the elevation. Significantly higher. On other thing that we did not know is that the Seattle Art Museum is not open on Mondays. We walked down to the 1st Avenue entrance to see if the office was open. No luck – time for Plan B.

Plan B = Seattle Library. A real architectural marvel, and I had only just been in the front door before. Up to 4th Ave. At the Library we looked, walked, took the elevator up, walked down the book spiral to the 3rd floor, went up the escalator to the 5th floor, down the stairs through the red 4th floor (meeting rooms) and finally back down to the first floor where we got new library cards. Our old cards had not been used in a bit, and were no longer in their system. I think the last time I needed something Rey got it out for me.

Sidebar: I was wearing one of my 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk shirts, and in the Library gift shop (yes there is one, run by the Library volunteer support group), one of the volunteers asked me if I was a survivor. I said no, and she indicated she was and thanked me for fundraising and participating. That felt good. [And if you want to support me – look for the link on this page to donate to the 2010 walk.]

Onwards, back down to 2nd in search of a soap shop (for a gift – we weren’t that dirty). Carl couldn’t quite remember if it was near the Horton Building (one of his kid’s mothers works there) or by the Gold Rush Museum (a national Park in the middle of Seattle – one building big). We never did find it but we went up and down a few hills, always heading south.

Finally time to actually get to the ballpark. More and more folks in Mariner’s clothing. When we were further uptown we had more than one person say, “Happy Opening Day” to us. Kind of fun.

Must go for now – the game report later.

Went out to dinner and a show last night – the Seattle Mens Chorus. Their Ole-Ole-Ole show focused on latin music. Very energetic and lots of fun. Their choralography was especially good. They wore all black with short sleeved shirts. The arms showed up well against the black and they used this to make some stunning sights. They also managed to do the conga-line on risers. Very interesting and well done. A Mexican dance group performed with many of the pieces as well. They had a big dance afterwards, but I will admit that we bagged out and went home to go to bed.

Started yesterday doing basic household chores and cleaning. Seattle Mariners opening day is tomorrow, so house guests tonight. (They draw from far & wide.) Still have much to do, but going to be disrupted by a soccer game, and Carl got called out to a last minute baseball practice thingie. He was happy, so I am happy.

Go Mariners, and let’s keep the sun shining for another day!

I guess it would really have to be a Hail-Bow. We have had about an inch of hail, and as the last bit was falling – the sun came out. With the dark cloud in evidence to the east, somebody must have view of a bow.

Late work meeting tonight. Got to get ready, just starting now. Ive got 3.5 hours! But I really needed an energy boost to recover from the 4 hours of meetings that just finished.