It sounds better

Recently listening to Don't Look Back on vinyl, because it sounds better ... with apologies to Nicolas Cage in The Rock for stealing this line.

A Sign That Can Lead To Bad Jokes

Thanks, Shoreline. Presented without further comment.

Maybe you should stretch more

This post is a collection of odd notes and stories that I did not get around to doing anything with over the past few months that I have typed up so as to not lose forever. These were potential Facebook status entries or possible blog posts that never got beyond a line or two.  Every once in a while I do a post like this and here is another one. A few of these might have made it into a substitute teacher related post that i have not done in a while.

If you cannot sing silly opera versions of camp songs with kids then you should not be working with them.

The stream of consciousness some kids speak is awesome.

Usually Guinness to me is a meal, but at one event it was an actual world record attempt. 

No one gets to decide how others look. Holding someone down to cut their hair is assault. 

The rare feats of 2012 in baseball included a Figgins GWRBI. 

With Spain winning the Euro again the USMNT win in the 2009 Confederations Cup looks better every day. Before Euro final I joked that they should just line up for PKs and skip the rest.  No One saw THAT coming. 

Potential David Bowie tribute band name: The Rise and Fall of SYZYGY Stardust. 

I wonder how many people ranting on The Internets actually took the time to read the SCOTUS ruling on health care. It's not that big a document not that tough a read to follow since it turns out Justice Roberts writes really clearly. Just do not impose the tax in 2014 if you have the votes.  Just saying. 

"Dude, are you drinking coconut water?" said one young man to another as they exited the QFC.  I cannot adequately describe the shock/condescension in the tone of voice in type. I recently have tried coconut water when it was what was available and ... it's tolerable.

If I am sick pass the plate for research, not for any other group. 

I know I probably misheard, but it sounded like "Jesus on Astroturf" during that song.

There I was up in the tubes with all the 5 and 6 year olds at a play place.  This is a place I am not designed to fit into.  One little boy, bless his heart, squeezes down next to me as I am slowly working my way through and asks, deadly serious like, "You okay? Maybe you should stretch more?"

Whiskey is a great intro

So there I was making bacon at a party.  Yes, "making bacon" was my role. I embraced it.  But, my hands were sort of bacon grease covered and it was making it hard to do much of anything else.

In walk many people to the kitchen, but since people are coming and going and I am cooking bacon it is all sort of a visual white noise.

I turn and place the bacon plate on the counter and realize a woman is standing right there.  I do not bump into her or drop the plate, but as I am setting it down I realize that she is very close to me and a bottle is coming up towards my face.

"Thirsty?" (I am paraphrasing because her exact wording is not relevant or available from my memory)

I do not actually respond, but I open my mouth and a half shot or so of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey is poured directly into my mouth.

Good whiskey.

That was her hello.

A fella can fall in love in a situation like that pretty darn easy.

Paint Me Like

A week or two ago in my martial arts class a few of us guys totally finished off and destroyed one of the heavy bags.  It became entertaining and has happened a number of times and we are developing a bit of a reputation for it.

After class we posed with it as a group like we were big game hunters.  It's a fun group pic.  I also was screwing around and posed on the broken bag like I was a calendar model.  After weighing the pros and cons I went ahead and posted the pic on Facebook knowing that some of my friends are smartasses and would have some fun.  I can laugh at myself so I went with it. 

Not long after the pic was posted a friend of mine from the martial arts school posted this doctored up version.  It is so awful that it is awesome.

Fast forward a few days and I actually make it to sparring class.  The meme perpetrator is there and I believe I kind of made him nervous being there so soon after he posted the above meme.

I would never intentionally injure anyone.  Sparring is about skill and control and never should be for anything other than testing one's self.  However, it is also supposed to be fun, so having a little fun with my friend and then posing for the below "after" picture is a nice little punch line to the entire situation.

It still means volunteer

Over the past few years I have given a good deal of time in both paid and unpaid (read volunteer) capacities to various events.  When I look to do up my resume to account for these events I came up with the notion of "Professional Event Volunteer (TM)" to indicate that this is one particular skill set and that I should place that skill set as an umbrella over the collective events.

I post this here in order to place one giant disclaimer to the part that reads "Professional" and the part that read "Volunteer" and how those two things work together so as to not hypothetically violate any tax or labor laws for the events or for me. The word professional does not require payment for services as it is also an indicator in our language of a standard of quality.  I bring a professional standard of quality to the events I work whether I am being paid or giving my hours as a volunteer.  The slogan or catch phrase I am trademarking here is only used under that premise, and really should be protected under free speech anyway.

It would be sort of awesome to live in a disclaimer free world.  I should trademark that too ... "Disclaimer Free World (TM)"

News, tragedies, and turning it all off

There are tragedies.  They can be newsworthy.  But, in a 24/7 news cycle it seems like it is necessary to fill time so simply rehashing and speculating the same details ad nauseum is mistaken for actual reporting.

This is why I no longer turn on the news very often.
About 2007 I turned off talk radio (including NPR for this purpose and both liberal and conservative commentators) and with the conversion to digital I lost easy access to most local channels (do not get me started on the quality of what I have lost, it is not important that I lost sucky news since I do not have cable) and more or less stopped looking at web sites that were commentary or news based.

Facebook is not the refuge it should be. I am constantly being asked in really irritating passive aggressive ways to endorse (mostly reasonable, but not the point) causes.  I have online friends that constantly post updates and rants.  It is really easy to just "unsubscribe" to the irritating posters without having to "unfriend" them and explain why. I still have a few friends that forward the odd psycho email about some topic, but that seems to be fading.

Given all the headlines I get logging online, and the headlines that come across in normal radio listening, and some online postings, I still have a general idea of what is going on in the world.  I am no less informed in that sense since I do not think that TV news or talk radio provides much depth beyond those headlines.

Ranting and repetition have no value to me. I will gladly stay the TV news and talk radio free course.

Central Washington University Wildcats 41

Azusa Pacific University 17

Pop Keeney Stadium

September 22, 2012

GNAC / DII College Football

Due to the smoke and air quality in Eastern Washington this game was moved the 115 miles or so to an available high school (but awesome) stadium on very short notice.  The crowd was pretty good.  The number of local players on the field was very high.  The game was pretty entertaining.  And, since I could not be in Pullman for Homecoming and one of the single most awfully awful losses in Cougar football history (or at Uproar) this game was a nice substitute.

The Greater Snohomish County Multiplex Preservation Society

Back in 2006 an old bud of mine was waxing philosophical about the demise of the Grand Cinemas Alderwood. For those blog readers not familiar with the Alderwood Mall region of Lynnwood in Snohomish County in Washington State there is a Kohl's there now.

Basically, he wrote a really amazing piece about it, some others of us chimed in, he got some last minute pics from the inside prior to demolition, and then wrote and performed a song about it.

I made some comments about how we should form "The Greater Snohomish County Multiplex Preservation Society" as part of a reading performance (I instead reviewed the original Red Dawn) during a Paul's Basement event.

The Aurora Village theater (and the stupid stuff we did there) and the Aurora Cinemas (where I saw Return of the Jedi on opening day after school) are long gone.  Combine that with the huge and also demolished old Northgate Theater and my childhood movie experience places are all gone now.

Fast forward to this past week and another of our childhood theaters has been demolished ... goodbye Lynn Four. You sucked.  The sounds from one theater could overwhelm another next to it with paper thin walls.  But, we miss you nonetheless.

http://www.thefifiorganization.net/history/fifi/grand-cinemas-video/

Of Course She Is

Formal Tolo 1985 I went with a girl a grade younger than me that was in my accounting class and also a soccer player like me.  Nice girl.  Bright.  Cute. Nice evening.  Only time we ever went out.

Over the years I have caught up with a lot of old friends, but never heard of or from her. Bearing in mind she was from another class that is not entirely surprising since we would be in different reunion pools.

Of course, she is my ex-wife's neighbor and mother of one of my son's best friends and teammates.

Of course, I would discover this during the 4th quarter on a Friday night during a football game when the ex and the tolo date were sitting next to each other and sort of put two and two together and I confirmed it when I went home and dug out the pic and texted it along for confirmation.

Which boy is more horrified is a matter of debate.

Another Job Where I Am Called A Wrangler

Mobile Food Rodeo

September 15, 2012

Seattle, WA

Cell phone photo by Mayor McGinn from his bike via Twitter.

Obi-Wan's Failure ...

Obi-Wan's failure is even more complete, my journey to The Dark Side now includes Twitter.

So, a smart phone and now this.

@shotgunprose

I am working now to connect all this stuff together.

Suntory Time is coming ...

I loved the movie Lost In Translation and recommended it to a friend. As a result, my buddy Jorge and I have used "Suntory Time!" as a greeting and voice mail message for the past few years.  We have looked into getting some Suntory as well. However, only a few stores in Seattle carried it and I have never quite prioritized it enough to do much more than a Google search.  Recently, I went to a couple contract liquor stores and checked with a few grocery stores about it, leading to finally finding it and getting a smidge of sticker shock.

Then, just the other day my mother drops an empty bottle on my lap she got for 50 cents at a garage sale, correctly remembering I was looking for Suntory.

Sadly, the bottle was already empty.

Suntory time needs to happen, but there needs to be some actual disposable income first.

A Thermos Is Still Nice

KISW Rock Out Hunger
Harris Ford - Lynnwood, WA
To Benefit Northwest Harvest
08-29-12

Stopped by with a bag of food - they reportedly got almost 18K pounds - and rolled the dice for a car.

I did not win the car, but it was a full house roll in Yahtzee ... so I won the thermos. 

Pic is me and fellow ECCC enthusiast BJ Shea.

They won what?

What has the USADA won?

What did Lance Armstong actually lose?

By not contesting the charges Lance Anrmstrong did not admit guilt, he essentially plead No Contest.

To those who believed him guilty, nothing has changed.

To those that did not, nothing has changed.

Race results may or may not be changed from 13 years ago.  Wow.  A guy who is over 40 and retired is now banned from racing, a sport he is no longer a part of. Wow.

The USADA has now successfully punished a man that never tested positive.  This is a huge distinction, since no athlete should ever trust them again. By not contesting the charges Lance Armstrong has essentially called the USADA bluff and by punishing him they have to accept that athletes reasonably should never trust them again since their own tests do not matter. Tests are more important than testimony of other cheaters. Time will tell, but I believe Lance may have gotten back at the USADA by not contesting charges and done more damage to them than they possibly realize.

I work on the playground, and a bunch of kids pointing at another saying that the other kid did it too is not the way I handle things, but it is the way the USADA apparently does. The USADA must now live with winning. Lance Armstrong's life goes on exactly as before.

Placing the caveat in here that I am not here to apologize for Lance Armstrong.  If he cheated he should be punished.  But, he has never tested positive.  That matters whether people like it or not.

The current version of the rival now seen

Seattle Sounders FC 2

Vancouver Whitecaps 0

August 18, 2012

CLink Field - Seattle, WA

MLS Regular Season / Cascadia Cup

With this match I have now seen the MLS Whitecaps in person, leaving me only the MLS version of the Montreal Impact to complete MLS.  That will happen next season when they actually play here since I did not see them in their other Cascadia trips either. Almost 56K for a league match, meaning that Vancouver and LA are bigger draws in Seattle than Chelsea is.

Sounds around my apt

A week or two ago there was a loud noise that shook my apartment.  This is the culprit.  It is sort of awesome.

Waffle sandwiches can be controversial

The two pics in this post were posted a couple weeks ago on my facebook page.  Together, the two of them got a few dozen comments and likes.  I see people continually post all these serious things that get no responses and yet waffle sandwiches and my comments do.  Save your friends on social media from all that political and religious crap, just have fun.  That is the lesson learned.

It has been one month

It has been one month since the Seattle Mariners traded Ichiro Suzuki to the New York Yankees.

Ichiro said all the right things, making good sense, and then we all said goodbye to one of the greatest athletes we will ever have in Seattle.

The Mariners season was clearly over, Ichiro joined a contender, and we will never see him again.

However ...

Since the trade Ichiro has played well and the Yankees will be post-season bound. Could Ichiro be back in right field in Seattle this October?

Since the trade the Mariners have become the hottest team in baseball and are now almost at .500, 7 games out of the Wild Card, and suddenly there are delusions of grandeur amongst M's fans.

Sometimes there is a sea change that happens when an organization makes a huge move.  It appears, at least in the short term, that the Mariners young players have truly taken to the notion that it is now their team.  The young guys we hoped would all get good together might actually be doing that.  It all could unravel.

But, September could be interesting in Seattle for Baseball for the first time in a decade.

Off and running in the CCL 2012-23

Seattle Sounders FC 3
Caledonia AIA 1
CONCACAF Champions League Group Phase
CLink Field - Seattle, WA
August 2, 2012

Recent Trip To Deception Pass

On July 22, 2012 the local and out of town relatives piled into three vehicles and headed out for a day trip up around Deception Pass and back with a stop at Mt. Erie and Camp Casey for good measure.

The Avengers versus The Dark Knight Rises

In the spirit of AvX ...  and because both movie franchises completely rock I look at ten categories after watching both films:

Whedon v Nolan
Battle of the directors. Nolan had three films and a decade with an Oscar dream cast.  Whedon had a stellar cast too, but had to take from five films and multiple directors and juggle a true ensemble.

Scarlet v Anne
The battle of the extraordinarily hot women in black catsuits. This is like choosing between Strawberry Cheesecake or Dulce do Leche ...

Loki v Bane
A good villain is essential, but cannot ultimately be more important than the hero. Loki seems to be channeling one part Zod and another part Joker, with a dash of insecurity neither had.  Bane is just a force of revenge and violence, yet still with personality. In the end, the Loki insecurity draws you in far more.

Billionaire v Billionaire
The greatest superpower is apparently money. With proper funding I could be Batman (so the joke says), but the tech needed to be Iron Man is not within reach, even with billions.  However, both Bale and Downey are totally convincing as The Smartest Man In The Room, which is hard to do.

Costumes v Costumes
Batman's costume as long been established as cool black in the movies.  But, how on earth did they make Thor look cool or Captain America not look dorky? Iron Man completely rocks and looks like the costume jumps right off the page.

Jarvis v Alfred
The voice versus Michael Caine. I do like the voice and the tech, but the humanity of Alfred wins out by a long shot.

New York City v Gotham City
Both cities take a beating.  Both cities are the same city.

Culmination v Culmination
The DKR is a trilogy finale. The Avengers is the end result of 5 previous films coming together spring boarding into more films..

Stark Tower v Wayne Manor.
In essence this is The Batcave versus The Avengers Mansion. The A on the building at the end of The Avengers is cool, but The Batcave is far more iconic.

Casting v Casting
This is a push.  The acting talent in these films is strong. There are Oscar winners and nominees in those tights and behind those masks.

Because They Made Us Get Off The Boat

As part of my "Home Town Tour and bucket list of local things 2012" (TM) I checked off "taking a ferry through the San Juans" for a day.  This is something to do over and over again. Even in Summer the day starts foggy, and let's face it, the wind is cold even when the temp is 75, but it is still sort of awesome and beautiful ... unless you are one of those people that gets on beautiful non-commuter ferries and sits in an inside booth and plays cards instead of looking out the window.

 I found it amazing just how many people could not be bothered to enjoy several hours of beautiful views.  Sitting inside and looking out the windows is totally cool, but how can one not enjoy this.

Did not have a lot of time to do anything other than ride the boat back and forth, so we got off the boat and went through both Canadian and US customs real quick.  "I am in Canada because they made us get off the boat for customs."

Brains!

Red, White, and Dead Zombie Walk 2012

July 7, 2012 - Seattle, WA - Fremont

What do we want? 

Brains!

When do we want them?

Brains!

Days like this are a lot of work, but actually pretty cool.

It was a long day in the hot sun on pavement with thousands of people. It was also an opportunity to be a part of an event that was an actual Guinness Book of World Records attempt.

Oddities of your home town

Actual statue from the old USSR of Lenin in Seattle in front of a gyro joint.

All sorts of random thoughts and images ...

... since I have not been using facebook lately due to the grounding - and also not bothering. I found myself not on fb at all for a couple weeks and - oh no - I was behind on my memes. Once out of the habit, it has been hard to get back into it.  I am mostly just not bothering.  Weird.

Basically, these notes and photos are the sorts of things that would be status updates or short blog posts.  I found I had a couple pages of notes and a bunch of pics so I decided to do a cleansing post that more or less is referencing the past month or so.  I did already have a couple of posts set up in advance so those got a brief amount of info and the pics loaded in order to clear out the queue.

As I look through the notes I realized that there was some clustering about a few topics that might normally make some separate posts, but I just am not going to bother here.

Today is July 1, a noteworthy day of anniversaries in my life and the start of the second half of the year.  It is also another dreary day in Seattle when it should not be so.  Yes, the weather here is temperate, but it has gone beyond that this year.  No more talking about the weather. Instead, let's talk about the Euros.  I decided to root for Italy.  I love that country and have many friends from there.  Also, many years ago I spent a good amount of time playing shopping charades with a truly beautiful girl in Bologna while waiting for a friend.  I was rooting for Italy today for her.  It didn't work.

I recently blogged about the NBA team that used to play here.  I wore my Sonics jacket as a sort of political statement and protest. Basically, I had to root for the Heat, even one year after rooting so hard for Dirk.  I joked with friends about a Kickstarter for a Heat parade in Seattle. LBJ was outstanding in the postseason and watching him turn from heel to face, at least in Seattle, was sort of interesting.  It was more like it was Cleveland's angry fans against Seattle's angry fans.  Since Cleveland got to watch LBJ fail miserably last year it was our turn. In the end I really wasn't that excited for the Heat per se, because I was still mostly rooting against someone else and that sort of feels empty as a sports fan. Eventually Cleveland fans will get to where Seattle fans are on ARod; we boo, but he has been gone longer now than he was here. I understand fans in OKC wanting their city to be known for something else.  LBJ lost his monkey, seems to genuinely get it that he screwed up, and apparently owns a small piece of Liverpool ...

Some random notes of what could have been fb status updates include:

- Cumin and Cinnamon are on the same shelf and alphabetical, but not the same thing.

- No Jedi has triceps, they have "do"ceps.

- Star Wars prequels are the Nickelback of Scifi and the reason I am not getting the Watchmen prequels.

- My job involves dealing with 5 year old streakers.  Not kidding.

- Bus rides are shorter when 7 year old boys entertain you with a Katy Perry medley.

- I need a girl who can kick a little ass.

- Sometimes it seems like I am in a time warp, a girl singing "Shout it out loud" or a kid in a "Saved By The Bell" tee shirt doesn't happen in 2012 often.

- It is absurdly satisfying to blow shit out of the sky with a shotgun blast.

- Classes going well when you are subbing is only surprising because the bar is not very high.

- Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face ...

- Can't you see I've waited long enough ...

- Kids on a bus handle being stuck in traffic better than adults do.

- Just like one of the kids, I too am sometimes surprised mick Jagger is still alive.

- Kids think it is funn when adults fall off of big toys at parks.

- Driving to work feels much longer in traffic when you can picture that leftover pot roast you packed for lunch sitting on your kitchen counter back home.

- It feels good to have my martial arts respected.

Golden Gardens on a walk up into the woods during a field trip.

Another field trip, this time to the PSC.

Timon.

Pumbaa.

In the tunnel from I5 North exiting to Mercer Street, someone wiped the grime off the wall into this drawing.

A solid Friday afternoon lesson plan for Summer Day Camp.

Summer Projects.

The space heater should be long put away this year, but it still has been needed from time to time.  Tiger sort of worships at the altar of The Great Space Heater God.

Steve Buttle, RIP.

Jenny & The TomCats at The Hen.  It had been far too long and was a fun time.  I sort of expected more of the old crowd and some comments on fb when I posted this pic, but nothing of the sort followed.

Some Football on a Saturday Night

Snohomish County Vikings 12
Yakima Mavericks 46
June 23, 2012 - Edmonds, WA
Edmonds Stadium - NWFL Regular Season

WNBA completed

Seattle Storm 72
Washington Mystics 55
June 24, 2012
Seattle, WA - Key Arena
WNBA Regular Season

I have now seen all 12 current WNBA teams play. Current is the key word.

I have to admit though, the crowd size worries me these days.