So this happened at recess one day this Summer

Presented without further comment.

TedxSeattle

Kind of a late post, but a shout out and thank you to all involved in producing, working, and attending this event.  It was an exhausting period, and one that led me to later take a break from energy drinks.

Random Summer Week Night Ferry Ride

For no other reason than I can, I did.

Two noteworthy M's games and events in one week

First pitch and sitting in King's Court.  Oh, and this pitch went way over the fence and the M's never caught up.  This was a Tuesday in early August with my son.

That same Saturday night my mom and I went and saw the M's play the (former) Pilots.  Griffey was inducted into the M's HoF and had one of the great entrances I have ever witnessed in anything.

Food truck events this year

Late night on Capital Hill in August.

Fremont on Cinco de Mayo.

Seriously dumb zoo patrons must exist

The Periodic Table

Root Beer bubble gum

Because it is only a quarter and it is root beer bubble gum.

Summer foggy morning

Recent Summer morning at the beach down the hill from my apartment.

Best day job ever

For one week I taught an environmental awareness or nature intelligence camp in the mornings.  We would discuss nature, but also, we would go and try and blend in for a while every morning at a local pond.

Twenty minutes of daily solitude in beautiful August weather.

Japanese Fashion

These are not pictures of the Seattle Art Museum Japanese Fashion exhibit. But, I went to that exhibit and they only allow pictures in certain places so I took these instead.

I have always had a fascination with Rapa Nui.

A portion of this painting is in a poster outside the Seattle Art Museum.  When I found the full painting I was excited because I enjoy paintings that appear to have movement.

My city in the fog

August morning commute.

It burns off and is beautiful in the afternoon in late Summer.

My city rocks.

Cheese distracts me

Walking down Pike Place a couple Saturdays ago and there is a giant vat of cheese being made.

This is all it takes these days to get me to stop and take a picture.

Of course I went in and had samples. Twice.

Shakespeare never dealt with planes overhead

One of the great things about Seattle is the abundance of art.  Free art, like Shakespeare in the Park, tours the parks of the area and productions like this one of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Greenstage make for a lovely evening. A few years back on this blog there are posts about this, but this one is at Seattle's Volunteer Park from late August.

It turns out that Volunteer Park is in the landing flight path for Seatac.

Planes. Lines. Planes. Lines.

My wood got wet

Fresh new stack of reasonably dry wood due to the backyard trees coming down.

Rain a couple days ago.

Flood type crazy thunder and lightning rain.

My wood got wet.

Blue trees

Recently, I was waiting for the bus down at Westlake and I swear I was there for twenty minutes before i noticed that the trees were blue.

It's Seattle, so all sorts of weird stuff is always around.  But it still took me a while to register in my brain that trees are not normally blue.

Pig Races

The Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington, is a fair I go to most years.

In fact, this fair is the reason that I have never "Done the Puyallup".  At least, in part.  Monroe is before school starts and once school started soccer was in full swing.  I generally hate traffic and have convinced myself that it is very, very far to go to drive all the way to Puyallup.  I live up in the North End and along with other best intentions I just never got down there.

This year, I did my normal scone binge and the like, but I also saw the Pig Races.  It is certain that I really should not be quite as excited by pig races as this, but I am cutting myself some slack on this one.

My team from GISHWHES 2013

A bigger post is likely to follow with all sorts of photos.  

MC sent me scarves

Michael Cepress scarf from supporting his Kickstarter earlier this year.  He is a fantastic designer that I know through a dance community and it was awesome to be able to help him out.

Like a Sounders game but all red

USA 2
Panama 0
June 11, 2013
Seattle, WA - CenturyLink Field
World Cup Qualifying

I sort of still wish they would have played Van Halen during the national anthems of the two countries.

meeting Marcelo

with Marcus

kickoff

Astros complete MLB for me

Seattle Mariners 3
Houston Astros 8
April 10, 2013

And with this game I have now completed all 31 of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball.  

These games have included games in the Kingdome, Safeco Field, (old) Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, The Big A, and two Spring Training ballparks. 

I call it 31 because I have seen both the Washington Nationals and the Montreal Expos.

Trap house hot loading

On May 18 I had the opportunity to work an event where I would stay in the trap house keeping the machines moving while the participants shot over my head ... really.

$4.19 on 4-19

Today's necessary morning caffeine total was the date. Receipt kept as potential good luck charm.

The Little Fuzzy Dude

Tiger
RIP 2003 - March 1, 2013

This is going to haunt me. I will always know I should have taken him to the vet. It's something I am very much ashamed of.  He deserved better and his 5-7 more years I thought he would have.  I knew something was very wrong or I would not have gone home.  I focused on his eating and litter box and failed to see he was not drinking either. Maybe he would have passed on and the vet would have told me it was necessary.  Maybe an antibiotic or something.  Maybe just more water in the event he was dehydrating.

Maybe, I will never know.  But, he could have, he at least could have.  That could have is all on me.

And so, I miss my little fuzzy dude.

The Sounders Istanbul Moment

Seattle Sounders FC 3
UANL Tigres 1
CCL Quarterfinals Second Leg
March 12, 2013

These are the notes on the Sounders Istanbul Moment I finally got around to typing up and posting.

I could not decide which song was more fun to sing Born In 1974 or We've Got The Biggest Johnson In The League.

I find it aerobic to do late game pogo.

I stood next to a guy that brings lozenges as a vocal prophylactic and by the second half took him up on having one.

I was very wrong about the touch of Yedlin, although in the first half it seemed a bit off on the overlap and rushed he really came through in the 2nd.

Traore played for Liverpool in Istanbul.  His shot looked to be going over and just dipped under.

I got downtown and marched, with really good timing to head to the stadium with the ECS.

I normally do not sit at the low angle, but all four goals were right in front of me.

Best post game comment overheard. "I will see you Saturday. I'll be drunk."

I was standing on the rail at the end, but I was okay with being thrown out at that point.  I still hopped down when asked, but there was a moment where I thought it might be worth it.

Upon further reflection ... in re old posts

Upon further reflection ...

I have recently commented on Lance and his admissions and in the past about roids and reports that dealt with testimony over tests.  In the end I prefer tests, but if guys are fessing up, let the consequences follow.

LBJ - I once wrote that when he joined the he was choosing to not be the guy and he became the guy anyways. Somehow the way things played out is that it became his team and he elevated his game to rair air sort of territory and became likable again in the process.  Nothing quite like a little humility to humanize a guy and bring him back to where his talent is taking him.

I said OKC would never win in the NBA in a bitter and lengthy series of posts.  Then KD re-signed. Levels and levels of bitter and wrong. I did say 2014 would be more important and big picture and that is correct, Sorry Sacramento, but Clay would be there now trying to take them because the problem is the ownership group not you.

The Seahawks needed a QB and should draft one.  I thought Sanchez was a good choice and his career got off to a nice start before completely derailing. I really thought Pete was a horrible choice. Then, we did not really notice when they grabbed a guy in the third round.  Awesome choices that worked out and problems solved.

I have drank the Ms Cool Aid a few times and maybe things will turn out in 13 post-Ichiro as I am optimistic about the direction again.

Old links really are expiring.  All links on the internet are subject to change without notice.

Sunil is on the hook now.  Completely. He got his guy and removed a reasonably effective guy in the process.  It's on you now dude.

I have railed that Lucas, Miller, and Lost all jumped the shark and that sequels and prequels and adaptations are no longer nearly as interesting for me. Disney cannot do worse with the Lucas material than Lucas has been for the past 20 years.

Winning this was a surprise

I have to admit, I sort of never really expected to win.  I just wanted to be competitive and win some matches.

In the sealed league I played in for the current release I was partnered with a guy and we won a Two headed Giant event on a Saturday night during the league season.  We won matches with taking the other teams cards, by extorting, and by just flat out overrunning them.

When the final match came up I realized I had never realistically even played a match to be in the prizes, let alone to win it.

ECCC 2013 - Stories are better than autographs

Emerald City Comicon
March 1-3, 2013

Leading into this year my personal situation was frantic, plus I got sick.  I seriously was about to bail, but stepped out the door anyways.

My minion job is a good one, and even though it is given a name and whatnot, it really only works because of the people around me.  Given that on top of everything else my cat Tiger passed away mid con, I am fortunate I work with so many great people.

So, instead of a huge write up, I have some short notes and can expand the stories as people ask me.

Day 0 ... sick, lozenges, met new minions, set up, and Jennie with Obby talking about shotguns.

Day 1 ...  here they come, but only half the celebs, WaRP, Jennie gave me vitamins, Bacon Doobage

Day 2 ... Tiger, Teammates, Picard, Rooker & Donuts

Day 3 ... Team hug and huggable, Bacon picture, the cart, Park, David and after seeing Marian Call

My Core Team time has passed.  My job is more operations and fresh blood is good.  Things change, and I might just buy a ticket next year anyways.

I Heart Pi

Cold Bus Stop

The following short was written Friday night 02-22-13 sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 PM.  It was a "half page hand written in between rounds of Magic on scrap paper" after a series of messages between myself and a friend who was sitting at a bus stop in the cold.  I suggested she listen to music and dance, but that was not apparently possible under the circumstances. I needed something to do since I got trounced in the first round so I grabbed some scrap paper and made a few notes. She inadvertently gave me the initial writing prompt which is used here as the first line and later the title. What follows is more of a setting or scene as opposed to a story.  As a springboard for actually writing a story I know that I would be able to take this and expand all sorts areas of this.  The way it is written is the way it is typed.  It would be simple to expand on the thoughts about music and passers by, the bus stop itself, the weather, television news, dancing in public, singing in public, cold, why at the bus stop, why no music, or even who the person at the stop is since it is not written first person per se. The stage has been set here, nothing else.  But, it was nice to do this as a writing exercise and prompt and to have a brief moment where my friend and her situation was my muse. Then I went back to losing at cards.

***

"It Was Frickin Cold"

Cold bus stop.

No music.

Shielded from the icy rain, or hail, or sleet, or whatever it is called on the news.

The lack of music is the worst part.

A loud moment of a song from a passing car or pedestrian's ear buds does not count.  Ever.

One can stay warm, or at least shield against too much cold or rain, but the lack of music is just sort of there.

Music to sing along to.

Music to dance to.

Even at a cold bus stop that would be enough on a dark late Winter's evening when the bus is late.