Let's go fly a kite ...

A noteworthy post

New M's and Old M's ...

Seattle Mariners 8
KC Royals 4
08-29-09 Safeco Field

A team loaded with new Mariners beat a team loaded with old Mariners ...

On a night dedicated to the ladies, the M's got a batch of early runs, paid tribute to the old Seattle Pilots, and won a game where both Junior and Ichiro sat out with nagging injuries ...

I am the egg man ...

From the boxes of stuff in the garage project comes this little ceramic craft I made some time in elementary school ...

Yes, more crazy stuff I still have ...

I need to golf more ...

Since the surgery in 02 I have only got out and really golfed a round once ... I just putt around in my apartment these days ...

I wonder if they do this stuff ...

Recently, ... I posted a photo of a shadow image from around kindergarten. Here is another little item from the same era that my mother has floated back to me recently. I wonder if they do this stuff any more, either???

They don't do this stuff enough any more ...

I remember back in 88 I went to a concert and got a nasty scoff from a vendor when asking about tour programs for an artist apparently not big enough to warrant a tour program. Silly me. Years later, I still like to get these programs from time to time at shows. This is the greatest one ever though ... the Duran Duran 2005 reunion tour pop up program with all sorts of little goodies in it.

I have always been accident prone ...

I often joke about how accident prone I am. Well, it started early apparently. I was about 9 months old when I rolled off a changing table and ended up with severe spine damage and a brain hemorrhage. To this day I have a nasty little scar on the inside of my right ankle where the feeding tube was ... and I still have the teddy bear the baby sitter brought me.

Famous Athletes (Ephemera Project)

The Ephemera Project has been fairly comprehensive about the games and teams I have managed to see. This list is about athletes of not and is taking into account the great local athletes and teams I got to see along with those that have passed through ...

Basketball
There have been some great Sonics players like Jack Sikma, Gary Payton, Fred Brown, Shawn Kemp, Sam Perkins, Dennis Johnson and others ...
I have also been able to see John Havlicek, Magic Johnson, Kareem, Hakeem, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Bill Walton, Bill Russell (on the streets of Seattle in a suit), and John Stockton (at a Safeway in Spokane shopping for groceries) ...

The Storm and Reign have provided me with opportunities to watch Sue Bird, Lauren Jackson, Swin Cash, and Sheryl Swoopes ...
Also, I have been able to watch Cynthia Cooper, Jennifer Azzi, Becky Hammon, Lisa Leslie and others ...

Football
I have been to far more college than pro football games.
The Seahawks I have watched basically is their entire Ring of Honor, plus some of the current players at a scrimmage.
I have been able to see a lot of Pac-10 greats like Keyshawn Johnson along with Cougar greats like Bledsoe, Rypien, and Mayes ... plus some noteworthy Huskies like Chandler, Brunell, and Emptman ...
In the Kingdome era I was able to see Elway, Marino, and Leaf ...
I met Alan Page at a lecture and also got to listen to Rocky Bleier give a speech in college ...

Baseball
There have been some great Mariners players and I have seen virtually them all a number of times. I also have been able to see a number of HOF players like Ripken, Fisk, Brett, and Ryan. Other greats and HOF players include Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, and Thurman Monson ...

Golf
I went to a Senior PGA event once and got to see Chi Chi and Arnie, amongst other older greats ...

Hockey
I have never been to an NHL game, but there have been numerous WHL players go on to be significant NHL players. At the 2002 Olympics Mike Eruzione and Jaromir Jagr were in attendance at a game I was at.

Soccer
Sounders games have allowed me to see World Cup winners suit up for Seattle like Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore. Current Sounders FC players like Ljungberg and Keller also are noteworthy.
The Tacoma Stars had some greats like Zungul and Preki and played teams that included Tatu and Johan Neeskens.
However, the NASL era allow me to see many all time greats and my travels in soccer to multiple World Cups for both men and women have allowed me to see many other noteworthy players and virtually all noteworthy American men and women of the past few decades. Players include Pele, Roger Milla, Diego Maradona, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Beckham, Sun Wen, Birgit Prinz, Paulo Maldini, Ryan Giggs, and many others ...

20 questions from shows I watch(ed)

Actually, I have shelved this quiz for the time being ... It was a good idea that was simply unwieldy and so instead of the entire 20 questions I am only going to list a couple sample questions and possibly revisit this idea in the future.

Here is what the instructions would have read:

Use the following list of shows to answer the questions below:
Firefly (Serenity), Dark Angel, New Amsterdam, Birds of Prey, Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, Heroes, Lost, The Tick, & Dollhouse

Questions
1) Match the bar to the show:
a - Quark's
b - Ten Forward
c - No Man's Land
d - Omar's: Bar–Grill
e -

2) Match the symbol to the show:
a - Bar Code on back of neck
b - Helix
c -
d - Red, yellow, and blue hurricane swirl
e -

3) Match the character with a designation instead of a name to the show:
a - X5-452
b - 7 of 9
c - Echo
d - 6
e -



6) Match the mystery to the show:
a - The Final Five
b - Rambaldi
c - Reavers
d - Jacob
e - Alpha

7) Match the comic relief character to the show:
a - Sketchy
b - Hiro
c - Hurley
d - Batmanuel
e - Neelix
f - Marshall

8) Match the sinister organization to the show:
a - Manticore
b - SD-6
c - Section 31
d - Bue Sun
e - The Dharma Initiative

14) Match the key phrase to the show:
a - "So say we all!"
b - "Save the cheerleader, save the world"
c - "Walt!"
d -
e -

------

email me for answers ...

My neighbors are not bothered by fire ...

I leave the apartment at almost exactly 8 this morning. As I loop through the parking lot I notice a little smoke from the island down below in the common parking area.

Not being a morning person, I am often not exceptionally observant about things that happen when the time reads AM, but the smoke does not seem like the steam that sometimes rises after a damp morning when the sun rises.

No, there is a black spot, the kidney shape of a swimming pool and maybe a foot wide and two feet long where the smoke is emanating from. There is also a smoldering cigarette butt. I park.

The shovel in my carport is handy so I start to shovel the charcoal to the pavement. A couple scoops in and I realize that under the visible bark there is some charring as well. It is clear that it is smoldering a couple inches below where there is hard pan.

Carp!

911 is dialed.

No, I tell the dispatcher, there are not visible flames. She agrees that a truck should come out anyway. I keep scooping and make a circle 3 to 4 feet in diameter. I am not aware of a hose that can reach to where I am scooping.

I call my boss and leave a, "I might be late to work this morning, I am putting out a fire in my parking lot," message. It was true, but now I can never use that excuse again.

A couple minutes later the fire truck arrives, thankfully not with sirens blaring ... there were not visible flames after all and I would not want to disturb my neighbors.

Actually, I wish I had disturbed the neighbors. Two different neighbors drove through while I was shoveling smoldering charcoal from our parking lot and neither seemed worried ... or helpful. A third neighbor actually walked through while the fireman were hosing down the area - just in case since the smoldering could have hit a bush and then blown up a couple cars - and did not even slow down to really look at what was happening. (Thankfully, my landlord is bothered by this and expressed thanks at me handling it.) The Lake Ballinger island fire recently was a smoldering in the ground one like this.

And, then I made it to work on time anyways ...

Rockin' Stan Records 4 Band CD Release Party

August 22, 2009
Tiger Lounge - Georgetown
Rockin' Stan Records

The Wrecked Chords
Blue Ribbon Boys
Neon Nights
Rat City Ruckus

These are some pics of the bands, the scene, and whatever else I ended up with photos of last night. I am tired, so this will be short and sweet.

I should have taken a picture of the rooster down the street, too.

Garage days revisited ...

I finally have finished cleaning out the boxes from that garage. It took 4 years. The carport in the current place is organized too ...

192 Square Feet

Seattle Sounders FC 0
New England Revolution 1
August 20, 2009

The face of the soccer goal is a 8 feet high and 24 feet wide. The soccer ball is 9 (or so) inches in diameter. If a goalie is roughly able to be a mobile 40ish square feet with arms and legs moving (picture a guy doing jumping jacks) then there should be a certain percentage of shots saved. But, when only 36 feet from the goal the ball should virtually never miss the goal itself when kicked from a stationary starting position by a well trained professional. Neither Seattle PK this year has managed to find the 192 square feet when both have been taken by the Freddies ... just a thought.

Another thought is that too many crap teams playing crap soccer get rewarded for my tastes.

Banana Bread for Scrabble Night

Ingenious Basterds

I have had to rehang the bird feeder with metal wire because it came down. It turns out because these guys have found a way up there and broke it off with their weight ...

LSDiablo at Flights Pub 081409

Live at Flights Pub in Everett, WA on 08.14.2009
LSDiablo
They played with H.M.P. and Culling the Weak.

Some recent random pics ...

This is a photo update since I haven't been posting as regularly and these are some pics that I have mostly posted on Facebook but not here.

The pics include the face on the tree near my apartment, Magnuson Park for some Shakespeare, my lack of remorse over taking Tiger off my pillow, the fire on the island in Lake Ballinger, and a bus that is a route to the "future" ...

I don't think they do this any more ...

Me ... circa Kindergarten 1972 ...

... my daughter thought it was a fish at first ...

While we are still in the hottest stretch EVER ...

It was time for a day trip up to deception pass in order to need a sweatshirt.

Then, a slow drive through various towns on the island - with a winery stop of course - including driving past my old soccer camp that I had not been past since something like 1981 ...

A lovely day that started with a cool breeze and fog and ended as hot as it seems to only be right now.