Raincharm’s Weblog

It is raining in Seattle. That is as it should be, and while we may complain, we really are accepting. Last winter was dry. This winter is wet.

Both of the kids, on the other hand, are having snowy winters. Knoxville has had some snow. A few inches here and there. Not anything to write home about.

Ashlan is in the midst of the NYC snow. The early afternoon report was, “At least 3 feet and still coming hard. Can’t open the door (to the deck) and can’t get a good picture through the screen on the windows.” And then after the requested pictures were sent, “You can see the top corner of a chair.”

Deck, with the top of a chair visible, maybe.

Window pileup

I found a normal view – where you can see what is beyond the deck.

And now for a little ditty. This is from a moment in my 112 hour pay period.

My new work mantra for 2016, Focus, Focus, Focus
But competing priorities are creating a fracas
This makes me feel feckless
Hey, I think my office could use a ficus.
What was I working on?     Oh, f*** it.

Enough fun for now. Puttering through some chores before we head out to meet some friends for dinner.

I saw an article over the weekend that predicted Rey would be a popular choice for baby names in the next few years. This is due to the Star Wars heroine. (If they won’t make Rey action figure toys, we will make live action models.) I don’t think Rey is too worried about sharing his name.

Yesterday was MLK day, and most government offices were closed. Not ours. A rather skeleton crew, but in operation. And all managers, including me, had a most of the day retreat (meeting). It was supposed to be offsite, but at the last minute our proposed venue was unavailable due to the flu. Okay for me because we had a Board meeting after the retreat. Not normal, but one of our board members has a problem with Tuesdays, and we rarely have the public in attendance.

On the positive side, there was hardly any traffic. Similar to the pre-Microsoft buildup 25 years ago, when the reverse commute was a real thing. (It still is, just not as much.) I made it to work in 30 minutes! That is, I made it to the vicinity of the office, and then had to wait more than 2 minutes for the green turn arrow. The clock said 7:32 when I arrived, and 7:35 when the light changed. With not much other traffic around. In the old days there was no signal at our office, although it is needed most days and much safer. Before they widened the road from 2 lanes to 5 lanes we could wait 5 minutes for an opening in traffic. Patience was our safety word. I think there have been at least 8 traffic lights added to my route since I started.

On the home front we are moving on the backyard recovery plan once again. The big move has been contacting the landscaper that helped with the path along the side of the house during the remodel. Now we need to figure out what we want. We have a few ideas, but not what I would call a vision.

Rey is popular.
Reverse commute of old.
2 minute traffic lights.
What to do with the backyard.

I just checked out my last post, from last week. My last weekend goals? None achieved. Just move them forward to this weekend.

I ended up working both days last weekend and on into this week. I had my 40 hours in by Tuesday. But I was ready for a meeting and sent a database out to a consultant. I have realized that many of my work priorities are based on not holding up somebody else’s schedule.

This weekend will not be spent at work. And I left relatively on time the last few days.

The late afternoons have been noticeably lighter. Spring is on the way!

Without really believing the last statement, it has provided a boost to get home and out of doors. Of course, by the time I get home it is dark. But we did take walks the last two evenings. Wednesday we headed to a hair cut joint, but there was a long wait, so we just walked home. Yesterday we headed to Rositas, a Mexican restaurant near Green Lake and had dinner.

And if any of you read the NY Times a few days ago, there was an Erin Brochavich (sp?) type story out of West Virginia and Ohio. The story referenced a city where we provide water to a small portion of the city. It generated a few calls. Waiting to see if this blows up.

Griffey did not get the vote of 100% of the baseball writers to join the hall of fame in his first year of eligibility. 3 writers left him off their ballots. (I will let you do the math on how many did put him on the ballot.) Nobody has ever received 100%.

Carl and his best baseball buddies had an impromptu gathering to watch the announcement. I had to work.

I am hoping this week at work is not the model for the rest of the year. I have a big project to work on but I have not been able to give the project the time it deserves. Interruptions from other work related bits and pieces. And this is after reading an article about Focus, Focus, Focus – How to be more productive. It is hard to say no to people at the front counter, trying to get their 2016 plans and goals underway.

WHAT ABOUT MY GOALS?

Pictures on the wall, grease the elliptical, make a bed or two, and move forward on the hall of fame vacation planning. Goals for my weekend. And start on taxes if TurboTax arrives.

GO SEAHAWKS

(On our way to work.) It’s all about the 12s. And it is Blue Friday. All Seattle things. Per Carl and football, “Scream Really Loud!” (Stolen from Pee-Wee Herman.)

Next stop, so Jim can get his coffee. (I bring drip from home.)

This seems to have morphed into a going to work blog. Which it is. And we’re off again.

Many years we hem and haw about taking Christmas and holiday decorations down. This year the timing of the long weekend and garbage/yard waste/recycle day helped our decision. But another big influence was the pending announcement of Ken Griffey Jr’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Carl is a shrine Zen master, and the mantle is never clear for long.

Zoom in to find your favorite bits. Bumper stickers to squeeze cheese. I don’t know whether we still have the chocolate bar wrappers. The chocolate disintegrated years ago.

Our HOF vacation planning has already begun. A few months ago. To get a hotel room for the HOF weekend is helped by forward planning. We are a few miles out of town.

We are also still on a waiting list for a room in Cooperstown. This particular proprietor does not take reservations until the elections are announced. He is a character, apparently. Recommended to us by a friend who is also a character. I checked his reviews and they are pretty consistently low, with details provided. I guess if you know what you’re getting.

This next picture is for Ashlan, who did not see the Mountain while she was home.

The Mountain is out. (Local parlance.)

Not much to report for the new year. Lots of puttering.

There was a lot of activity in the week between Christmas and the new year. Both kids returned to their respective homes. Ashlan got off on time in the wee hours, but was delayed in Chicago. Rey one upped her a few days later by leaving Seattle the day after the original schedule, and then enduring a delay in Atlanta.

You may notice that certain presents you receive you may not initially rank at the top of the list, but it turns out they are really useful. This year that gift was a Sounders blanket from a friend. It was opened and in proximity when I got cold and pulled it over my legs. The next day I reached for it again, and while arranging and rearranging discovered it was a snuggie, with arms. It has not left the couch since.

It’s cold enough today to warrant some extra covers. We went out for a walk as the weather started to get less sunny. As the walk progressed it started to snow. At some point it got a bit wetter, and colder. There is some speculation that tomorrow will start with snow on the ground.

During the walk our Certified Public Counter saw 63 North Face jackets and only 37 people with Seahawk apparel. To prepare for the last mile we stopped in a Starbucks for a warm up.

And a flock of wigeons, some coots, mallards, Canada geese, and Green Lake hybrids. Did not count dogs today, but there were several. The most interesting was trying to pick out things that were probably Christmas presents. The most obvious were bicycles, slightly too large for the kids trying to reach the pedals. I am sure most will fit perfectly by the spring.

Not the white Christmas we hope for. But just in time for everyone to return to work. (I have really been enjoying the lack of commute traffic.) At our house we have taken down the tree and the lights that could be seen from the sidewalk. And the Doris wall of ornaments. I have retained the lights over the front window and in the kitchen. They continue to brighten our dark days and nights.

On a more mundane note I have started the annual compiling of the past years expenses. Nothing too surprising. Less in entertainment and medical than expected. The entertainment reduction was simply the result of paying for playoffs in 2014 that never happened and then using that credit to pay for 2015 tickets. The 2015 medical expenses will come home to roost in 2016. Taxes in the offing.

It has been by all of my measurements a very good day. Family together, good food and lights abound. Some good treats, but really the best part has been hanging out with our kids.

And the lights.

And these don’t include Candy Cane Lane. The traditional lane walk is on Christmas Eve, but it just didn’t happen this year. Instead we went to the Star Wars movie (3-D Imax), a candlelight church service, and to a friend’s house for dinner and conviviality.  And it was raining.
So the walk happened today, between linner and dunch. Or the main meal and whatever comes next.

Our meal included some apple rosettes. I had made these once before. Ashlan did a generally better job of putting them together than I had. Tasty addition to our ham, potatoes, asparagus and rolls. Pie for dessert is awaiting more room at the inn.

And finally, our new display for Carl’s mom’s ornaments. We have so many they would need several trees. So we tried a new technique. I rather like how it turned out.

Close up of a few.

Merry Christmas

Carl often attributes his love of numbers to his mother. She was a math teacher and number tricks were part of her education of the boys.

I am not sure how spatial awareness fits in with strict numbers, but Carl has a knack for space as well. One of the traits he frequently notes about his kids is how well they know the space their body and movements take up with respect to others.

Today is the day our new couch arrives. So we needed to make room. The morning started with a box breakdown exercise in the garage. I may have done more exercise breaking down the box than I have with the recumbent bike that came in the box.

With space in the garage free it was time to move the trundle beds out of their room, to the garage. (Craigslist beckons.) Four trips up and down the driveway – and no rain. Now we have another guest room.

Next up was moving the futon from the living room to the indoor heated guest room/study. The futon has a moving part for changing from couch to bed. And big rounded arms. And it had to negotiate three turns in quick succession. There were several pauses to reconfigure the futon frame, and a brief suggestion to take it apart and rebuild it in the room. That’s when Carl took a moment to size up the situation and found the key position to make it through three doorways at once.

No doors were removed, ceiling fixtures damaged or walls marred. And Rey should have a place to sleep when he arrives.

I am assuming the couch activity will be a piece of cake. Especially since I won’t be doing the lifting.

Next up. Decorating the tree.

These past few days my life has been dominated by work. But I did manage to get one large project on the road, or at least up for sale. See http://www.spwsd.org, at the bottom of the home page. Surplus property.

I have been at work way to late every day. I would not have stayed that late on my own, but my carpooler has been in the mode of trying to get everything done before they leave on vacation. On the positive side, it has been productive time for me, and the properties are out for bid.

As noted in the title, there have been holiday moments here and there.

And we had our holiday lunch at work today. It was catered and the food was good. I found out later that what we ate was not what we ordered. The delivery driver mixed up the orders. I only found out because I have to do a second petty cash check. I am curious to see whether it is discounted.
It is raining to beat the band. Last night I had to scrape my windows after work. Next week is supposed to be colder, with even a chance of snow on Christmas.