The Safe!

Yesterday I referenced that baseball had returned to the Emerald City and that Safeco Field is the home to the Seattle Mariners. Now many of you have visited and have full knowledge of where I am in relation to the field. Others do not and so here is perspective:

This is a picture as I sit at the computer and look to my right out the window. What you see in the foreground is a really cool glass sculpture I got like 6 years ago or so at the "Art in the Pearl" in Portland. It is an art festival that is held in the north park blocks on Labor Day weekend and I was able to get it for a song on the last day of the show from the artist and I have not a clue who that would be now. It sits on a lovely glass table I got when I lived in New York City and it has traveled across the country and is really cool with a sand blasted top. Also on the table is a very recent addition. It is a picture of Mom, Janet and me. This was taken my 50th birthday weekend by a dear friend, Sandy (who also does a blog), and was gifted in the lovely frame for Christmas. Now, if you look at the top of the glass sculpture, you will see the roof of "The Safe" and that is why I took the picture. Below is it in telephoto lens time:
This is the position of the roof when it is retracted. The roof can be moved over the field in about 10 minutes and is fun to watch. When in this position it is actually sitting over the railroad tracks. I remember way back when they were building the stadium and they were installing the trusses that hold the roof and I happen to be coming up to Seattle on the train and we had to sit and wait for like 2-3 hours while they put it in place. They would not let the train go under it until it was secured. OY!

Many of you know my friend Markie. Well, for the last week he has been on a tour in Panama. He loves to travel and well, if you ever want to visit his blog go take a look at UMTravels. He took this trip with like 43 others and oh my. The heat, the humidity! Zonkers! I would not be a happy camper, but it is fun to read of his tales and what goes on and he takes a lot more pictures than I do.

Speaking of which, I was dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age. Much like when I had to get a cell phone. Not a happy camper. Well, I am going to be taking the leap here in the next month and getting a new digital camera. The only I have is big and bulky and eats 4 double "A" batteries like they are chalk. It is fun and I think pictures add a lot to the blog. So while I still have not added internet access to my phone and do not plan to for a while I hope, I am getting to be hip so if there is anyone out there who knows someone who is ready to jump into the digital age and needs a camera, I have one free to pass along, in the next month or so.

Opening Day for Seattle Mariners

So now I get to begin living through 5+ months of games and weird schedules, but no matter how I feel it is the "national past time" and a lot of people have a good time. To honor opening day at Safeco Field, which is now referred to as "The Safe" by a lot of local media I present the favorte 7th inning stretch song:

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."

Written by Jack Norworth, copied without permission.

What can you do in 24 hours?

Happy Sunday to all,

Well I thought I was not going to get a chance to see Janet in Portland but amazingly I go to her place yesterday, here is a sequence of events and if you see an asterisk it means scroll to bottom for more details:

10:10am arrived at her place dropped my stuff and we chatted a bit

10:45am departed her place for lunch and movie matinee

10:59am found AMAZING parking spot in northwest Portland

11:05am sitting at Blue Moon Tavern enjoying lunch*

12:25pm Cinema 21 for Sing-A-Long "Mary Poppin's"*

4:05pm at her place relaxing for a bit and laughing a lot

5:07pm arrived Tad's Chicken 'N Dumplings for dinner*

7:30pm watch two episodes of Project Runway

10:15pm fell asleep watching TV

7:00am watch CBS Sunday Morning w/ Charles Osgood

9:20am Janet took me to breakfast at Black Bear Diner*

10:30am on the road home

So let's begin with Blue Moon Tavern in that I had the best chowder there all day. Now you might go "What is Chris saying? All day?" Well, I had chowder twice and this was the best. Went in thinking I am going to have either the Captain Neon Burger (blue cheese dressing & bacon) or the Beer Battered Fish & Chips (Alaskan Cod with fries and claw) and well, in the end neither. I opted for something I had never seen before. I took on Maria's Masterpiece which is a hot turkey sandwich with Swiss cheese, bacon, grilled onions and their secret sauce. Me thinks that is a peppercorn ranch dressing, but could be wrong. I decided to make it mine by requesting a side of cranberry sauce and adding that. The fries were a tad overdone and well, a couple of glasses of ice tea completed the meal. Janet enjoyed a BBQ Chicken Sandwich but at her request I am not going into all the details on her side.

After making our way to the theater we got in line for Sing-A-Long Mary Poppin's and it was a very festive feeling to be sure. Like Janet said "you are coming to see a happy movie and you know it" which is a quite true review. Once inside we were greeted by Mary Poppin's herself and handed a lovely little blue bag containing things to make the movie more fun as you can see.

Mary came down to the front of the movie house spit-spot and showed us a bit about the songs and then went over the items:

*The Fan - is to be used to blow away all the applicants for the nanny position so that it opens the way for Mary Poppin's to arrive.

*The Umbrella - is to be used when Mary Poppin's arrives and leaves. I also used it in the chalk drawing.

*The Champagne Popper - had multiple options. Any time Admiral Boom set off an explosion (3 times) to announce the time or when he set of the fireworks during the Chim, Chim, Cher-rey sequence.

*The Coin - represents Tuppence (equal two pennies) and was what Michal was to use to buy crumbs for the birds, but his father wanted him to open an account. Quite significant item to the movie overall.

*Kazoo - used when the penguins enter the chalk drawing scene with Mary and Burt.

*Pink Piece of Paper has on one side Supercalifragilistic (another group of bags had the rest of the word) and on the reverse side had Um Diddle Lee Um Diddle Ay so you could be more participatory through the movie!

There was then a costume contest and it dragged on way too long, especially when Mother's began to see that if kids went up to be "Jane and Michael" from the movie they got a candy bar. So at first there were 4...then 8...then 15. It got to be very sad and Mary put a stop to it Spit-Spot! And the movie began. It was a delight to see again and while I am a pretty bad singer, oh well, it was a lot of fun. Heck, where else can you lean forward and ask the lady in the next row if she would trade her purple fan for your blue one since well, I love purple. Long movie at over two hours and a lot of the little kids began to get tired and a few cries began, but overall, not bad. But whoever thought to do Kazoo's at a matinee with kids...I want to meet that person!

We decided to make our way out towards Troutdale in eastern Portland on the early side and went to Tad's Chicken 'N Dumplings Restaurant which is right on the Sandy River and a delight. They have three seating areas and once you are seated they bring water and a vegetable tray to start. I decided to enjoy a Thomas Kemper Cream Soda with dinner and then had the chowder. It was a bit runny for my taste and salty, but you knew it was home-made. I decided to splurge and have an appetizer of sauteed chicken livers and they were a delight. So moist and tender. Our dinners arrived and if paired up it would have been a classic of Surf 'N Turf, but instead we each too a half as Janet went with a lovely steak and I opted for Batter Dipped and Fried Prawns. While I had initially asked for a potato I decided to change it to coleslaw and in the end got the potato, it was the only mistake of the evening and not one to complain about at all. We both opted not to have dessert there as Janet had a treat waiting back at the apt. for us.

As we enjoyed the two episodes of Project Runway and some British Comedies Janet sliced up strawberries and served them with some lemon yogurt. Just delicious. It was the perfect night cap to a lovely day. And oh what a good sleep it was. Janet was up and out the door for church early and I had a chance to read the paper. Upon her return we decided to head to the Black Bear Diner in Beaverton. Mom and Janet found the Black Bear Diner a few years back on their way to Eagle Crest. Known for their cobblers, they have grown now into a chain of 42 diners and boy do they serve a great meal. We have gone for all three meals and rarely is there a bad time and I have never seen a glass go empty. Today I decided to go a little different and tried their Tri-Tip Scramble w/ hash browns and a biscuit. Coffee of course and well, I am not going to order again. Not bad, not my thinking for breakfast, but it was good and the biscuit was moist and with jam on it, well, I was in heaven. Janet shared some of her pancake so I could taste the hint of vanilla in them which really added flavor. After a quick gas up in Oregon (where you do not pump your own gas, only one of two states left that do not allow you to pump your own) I dropped Janet off and headed back to Seattle. Some traffic glitches here and there, but nothing that could not be worked around and a quick nap and well, here you are. Hope the week ahead is a good one and if you have not filed your taxes yet, get to it, they are due Thursday!

What to call a day like this...

ok, so a week...the weather...the office...funny how you can get into the whole blog thing. So on that note, I shall leave you with a thought:

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Gary in Africa

You know sometimes things happen and you just have to pause and be thankful. Gary, a gentleman I met online a few years back was a gorilla keeper for a zoo in Canada. We got to know each other and when he came to Seattle we got to meet and have dinner. It was cool. Going to Africa several times a year was part of his work. I found out today that he died recently. He was in Africa doing what he loved with a band of gorillas and suddenly started having horrible pains. Within minutes he was gone. Have not heard more than that from his partner. In his memory, here are a few of my favorite photos from a trip that he sent me:











Now going has taken on a whole new meaning. It is one trip I have been wanting to do since I began working at Events & Adventures. If not with them, I still want to go and see all the beauty that is there to be enjoyed.

Kind of a New Routine

When I get home at night, I now grab a beverage and head over and catch the headlines on PBS. Watch some and then take a few minutes and gather my thoughts and poof, a new entry is born. There is something comforting in routine. The one routine I REALLY need to get back into is watching my weight and oh, how about some exercise. But, hey, baby steps people. As many of you know I am staying put in my apt. and quite content in that decision. Watching the planes land and take off from Boeing Field and Sea-Tac is part of a routine as well. The ability to look out and see what the traffic is or being one of the first structures to get hit by a storm coming from the south has a certain comfort level. All part of routines. My morning has taken on a very predictable routine.

Here is what usually happens - wake up, NPR goes on, coffee going, shower and get ready for work, breakfast (coffee, cereal, banana) and watch local news & weather. I have tried to add a little extra to this by completing a task each morning:

laundry
bills
packing away a holiday (like Easter)
writing birthday
cards and/or notes
sorting a drawer or tub

Something to keep moving forward. It is all about perspective. The way I look at it is that I have been in this place now for 4 years and well, if I have not used it or opened it, now you have to earn staying with me. Why? Well, knowing I am moving next year most likely is one thing and if I stay here, well the space is full. Sure there is some white space around, but you need that. I love, love, love living simple. It is what it is all about. So I am going to tackle a few projects in the coming months:

selling off the roster dishes and giving Mom the money as they were hers
getting a new box spring and mattress
sorting out all the crap under the sink in the bathroom
getting some new accent pieces in the kitchen to use for dinners here
changing out at least 3 of the dining chairs with different ones for interest
letting go of at least 20% of the stuff in the apartment

Initially, I thought the last entry would be 10% but anyone can do that. I really enjoy a sense of simple living and letting go of stuff has proven to be so much easier than I ever thought. It is freeing and cleansing and it also puts the spotlight on me. If I can do this to my environment, then I can damn well do it to me as well. It is a challenge and so I am going to march on. We will keep you updated on this.

Not a lot more to be said the the night as it is raining outside and I am going to have a favorite dinner of mine, salad and a couple of baked potatoes. Love them with some cottage cheese plus salt and pepper. Delicious. Have some apples that are crying to be enjoyed as well. Tomorrow will be breakfast at dinner to finish up some stuff as I am still on target to head to Portland on Saturday to see Janet. Cheers!

Tuesday Mixmaster

Good day to one and all,

Well, Trista gave her notice last week and so interviews have begun. Interesting lot this day = 8 different interviews and tomorrow another 8. Mark arrives Thursday and is here for a day to get things focused forward. I think it is more than interesting that in the two days we have had this week, yesterday one accounting staff member took a "personal" day and today another got hives supposedly while a third got sick during her shift. One must wonder if Cassie will be ill before the end of the week and heaven forbid if a full plague hits before the end of next week. Don't get me wrong, I will miss her a lot, but life goes on people. I do think at least two will find jobs elsewhere as soon as possible while a third could lose her position. One thing I do know is that Trista has been quite lax in their being on time and that will likely have to change.

OK, so enough of the work stuff, I got home and with gray skies overhead I decided to do something comfort. It is the classic "Betty Crocker Goulash" dinner of ground beef browned and then add a bottle of Paul Newman's Marinara sauce and a bag of frozen petite peas and cook that up and stir into a pot of pasta for a meal with a bit of Parmesan cheese added for flavor. There is enough for dinner plus a couple of lunches and that is good in that between yesterday and today I spent nearly $30 on lunches. Granted, yesterday I treated Curtis to lunch, but still, it can be expensive and this will take me through the end of the week. Plus I have several meals on tap using up the stuff in the frig as I am on target still to go see my favorite sister in Portland this weekend.

Last week I posted about some trips I have taken and France being a favorite destination. Well, Easter Sunday I mentioned my dear friend Ani and how we were in Turkey in 2004. That was only half the trip. The second half was going on a two week tour of France with a gentleman I know by the name of Michael B. He so wanted to have the next big touring company. Sadly, he made a huge mistake, It was all about him and not his guests. I know I have a whole summary somewhere and will pull it some time and post over the course of several days because never in your life have you been on a trip where so much could go so wrong and yet you kept finding ways to make the best of the situation. That one experience has kept me always thinking about the rest of my group when I lead tours. Here is a picture she took of me at the Eiffel Tower:

Is that not just a great perspective shot. I love the Eiffel Tower almost as much as the Chrysler Building, but don't go getting all crazy, it is still my favorite. I just feel so fortunate at times at all the travel I get to do and even after my initial trip in January and February, I am still thinking of where I am going for the rest of this year. Going to likely stay in the USA. That's cool, but then next year I do sense a trip overseas again, have given myself some motivation for that. Anywho, I do think a few more call need to be made and so will close for now - Cheers!