Hutchbec's Musings

Furlough Friday

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:53:00 +0000

I had a furlough day on Friday ("Furlough Friday") and have started a small tradition of doing something relaxing on FF. It sort of balances out the anxiety of the economic collapse that led to FF and all that stuff.

So, I took a little road trip up to Whidbey Island. First off, while waiting for the ferry in Mukilteo, I wandered over to the Mukilteo lighthouse. It's been around a long time and has a bunch of historical markers. But what always amazes me is how green their lawn is, and how the grass is edged along the sidewalk (no one edges in the northwest - I mean, no one. Just grows willy nilly everywhere) and how super white they've kept the lighthouse all these years.

Jump forward a bit - I took the ferry, got off, and drove about 8 miles to the "Earth Sanctuary" - filled with replicas of stonehenge, an Osprey nest (indeed, it was mating season), a labyrinth, a Native American Medicine Wheel, Tibetan prayer wheels, among others. It was like an amusement park of spiritual stuff. Just without the cotton candy.

There were also some really pretty hiking trails. And I forgot that this is the time of year that the dive bombing bees or horse flies come out. So I spent most of the time on the hike waving my arms frantically over my head to keep the frickin' things from hitting me. Kinda takes away from the whole serene hike at the Earth Sanctuary feel. Although I suppose dive bombing bees are also in need of spiritual rest and contemplation.
After my time at the Earth Sanctuary I headed over to the Whidbey Institute. I forgot to take pictures there. Actually, I didn't forget, I got lost, so actually didn't find what I would've taken photos of. I imagine there's some metaphor in there somewhere.

So, at this point I decided I'd had enough gloomy, rainy Whidbey, and got back on the ferry.

And we left.
A desperate northwesterner sailing no matter what, dammit, it's spring. It was 40 degrees, raining, and totally overcast.
I love ferries crossing on the sound.
Then I got home, sat in traffic for 2 hours on the way back.

Pics from Dallas

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Hi there,

Well, long time no blog. It's been hybernatin' season in Seattle.

I went to Dallas last week for a visit w/Max (and Lissa & Alex, of course), got a chance to see some of Dad's relatives, and then went to an, uhm, leadership training. 30 hours in a hotel room doing soduku puzzles was more like it. It was a test run for the training, really, er, rough draft, and they paid me to be there, so I didn't feel too bad... and I do now know what an innovator and early adopter are. And how very, very many fast food and chain restaurants there are in Dallas.

Here's Max being his cute and active self in the hotel room.
And being his cute and active self at a playground. One of us said "wow" when we got out of the car (it was one of the best playgrounds I've ever seen, really, Dallas does do things big), and Max spent the better part of the 30 min or so we were there saying "woooowwwwww" in the most adorable way ever.
Of course, Lissa got it on video... see her blog for more details.
Max & I spent some time roaming the halls of the hotel, some running, some pushing him around on a luggage cart, some making a b-line for the elevators to push buttons, and mostly heading straight for the business center where he could watch Abby videos on Sesame Street.com. I think that's where we were headed in this photo.
And here's Marlene from Philadelphia. We were a bit slap happy by this point (it was "graduation") and she was decked out in "quality gear" and doing a little dance I like to call "Quality Aerobics."
Now I'm recovering from whatever bug I picked up on the trip. Not sure if it was the guy hacking next to me on the plane there, Max's runny nose, the pollen in TX, or the norovirus going around the hotel.

Random Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:29:00 +0000

Topic 1:
Between the deaths of Betty Page & Van Johnson this week, people considered to be heart throbs in the 1940's & 50's might want to wear some garlic for a few days until the week ends.

Topic 2:
Our snow/winter storm advisory was changed to a wind advisory. Which is a bit of a bummer because it's kinda pretty around here with the snow. And as we all know, wind storms here can mean weeks w/o power and people barely holding it together w/o their triple venti lattes.

Amidst the weather notice, the following was mentioned:
"The Coast Guard is warning boaters and beachgoers in the Northwest to be cautious in and around the water". It's 30 degrees outside. I am not sure who would be laying out on the frigid rocks, with unnecessary sunscreen, with the 14 degree ocean spray coming down on their bikinis. Although I guess if there is someone willing to do that, they probably do need a weather advisory.

Topic 3:
The former hill is now a partially constructed building. They've started hanging pre-fab granite and stone siding, and ultimately will be hanging floor to ceiling windows. One might question the logic of this given we are prone to earthquakes. Details. But my main concern is now that the winds are kicking up, these poor construction workers are literally holding on to the metal guard rails to keep from flying off of the unfinished floors. Really, I think they should come down.

Topic 4:
I'm starting to think the 10 days of forced furlough in 2009 is a blessing in disguise. I like the idea of 10 days off next year w/o having to take vacation time. Now if they would only change the "unpaid furlough" part to include pay, it'd be even better.

Okay, back to work.

Post Election Life

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:29:00 +0000

The Onion rocks...
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Let There Be Light

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:44:00 +0000

I've been working in the same building for the last 7 years. It's an old building - once the police station, and a TB sanitorium, and who knows what else. But now it holds community probation, various county offices, our HIV program, metro bus folks, civil rights, the auditor, and some human resources offices. Kind of a mish-mash of people. But compared to the other county sky rise office buildings, our's has character.

The county is facing a 90 million shortfall this year, and another 90 million projected for next year. They announced the closure of several public health clinics and the layoff of 255 people this week. Possibly 400 by next July. Luckily my job is federal grant funded, so it isn't affecting me directly. But things are pretty dire for the rest of the county. Last I heard over 40 sheriffs will be laid off. Given there weren't enough to start with, the impact of this alone is hard to fathom.

However, the county invested in one thing this week... after 7 years they FINALLY replaced the flourescent bulb in the women's bathroom. Frankly, it's always been dark, so I just figured that's how it was supposed to be - I didn't even realize there was a bulb to replace. Among other revelations, I had no IDEA how putrid yellow the bathroom stalls and floor tiles are. Nor how much easier it is to stay awake during the day with light in the bathroom. I was trying to imagine the installation today - I was wondering if in the early 70's these faint yellow floor tiles (you know, the 1x1 inch type, solid color, covering the floor and 6 inches of the walls where they meet up with the brown and orange striped wallpaper) were really cutting edge in design, or if they were just what was on sale at the time.

Rumor is we'll be moving to the building which opened last year - otherwise known as the cube farm. No one has doors, the cube walls are low, and no one has more than 5x7 feet of space. But on the up side, the tiles are not puke yellow and the bulbs all work.

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:40:00 +0000

So, it's been a while. Or is it "awhile"?

Okay (or OK?), restart.

As most/all of you know, mom's had a long road these last two months. Soon after their trip here she had a routine CT scan which showed the tumor had grown and eroded more of her spine. Based on the amount of pain she was in while here, this wasn't completely surprising, but it was heartbreaking. She made it through the 10+ hours of surgery and the two weeks of inpatient recovering and rehab, and started chemo again a couple of weeks ago, which she has tolerated pretty well. I am very proud of her for her strength and hope through all of this. I am hoping the chemo is able to interrupt the tumor's growth and give her years to do the things she wants to do in this world. Hi Mom :)

I've been traveling a lot - (or alot?) since my last update. I was in Austin for almost 3 weeks - given the nature of my trip I didn't really think much about taking photos, but I did manage to get a few of Max before I left. (How could you not?)

Sleepy in the car:

Playing with Mama in toyland, aka the living room:

While I was in Austin, I learned I was going to receive an award from HRSA, so before returning to Seattle I frantically bought a new outfit (thanks, Mom!) and flew up to DC to attend the ceremony. Here's a pre-ceremony headshot...

The ceremony was nice - I stood up in front of about 50 of my peers from throughout the country, the NQC manager said some nice things about me, and then I shook hands with two men in sharp suits and a public health service woman in full white military garb. I didn't catch their names. They then gave me a nice inscribed plaque that now sits on my bookshelf at work. Here's kind of the best I can do to get it on film (sorry, just tilt your head or the screen):

I flew back to Seattle and was back for a week before flying to Boston to visit my cousin and go to the wedding in Provincetown of my friend Jenny and her (now wife) Kate last weekend.

Provincetown is a very pretty town - on the cape, with lots of flowers and water and sand dunes. It is also a very, very gay town - and it happened to be leather weekend - which meant there were a lot (alot?) of gay men walking around everywhere in leather outfits. All I can say is I'm grateful that it was 40 degrees out, because otherwise there would have been more skin sticking out of the leather outfits - which, depending on physique, can be interesting or traumatizing.

Anyhoo - so there was a dinner at the Lobster Pot, a long walk through the dunes and trees to the beach, the ceremony in the afternoon, some shopping, then a reception on the beach - complete with clam chowder on the beach to watch the sunset, then a lobster dinner across the street (which I found out I just can't deal with the brutality of eating a lobster), then a return to the beach for s'mores, which doubled as their wedding cake. It was a gorgeous weekend, with lots of sun during the day and stars at night. Here are some photos from the weekend:

Rissa, me, Helen

On the way back, I had a 90 min layover in Dallas (yep, Boston to Dallas to Seattle) and it just so happened that the Cowboys were playing. I have never been in a more quiet airport in my life. All 3,000 televisions in DFW were showing the game and every single person there (well, excluding TSA staff) was watching it.

So I've been back less than a week and am starting to get back into my routine. It went from summer to fall while I was gone. I'm a little overwhelmed with how behind I am at work, but it'll all come togehter.

Last night my dear friend J'May threw me a dinner party to celebrate the award. It was great to have people from different parts of my life in the same room, enjoying one another.

Me & J'May
John, me, Frank
Kim, me, Michael
me, Ray, Frank
Taryn, me, Cindy
So, that's it for now!

Not so Easy to Put Lipstick on a Pig

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:14:00 +0000

Goodness in the World

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:40:00 +0000

This is why I love living in West Seattle. Thank you, West Seattle Blog, for giving people the chance to show the good they carry in them.

Ominous

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:13:00 +0000

The first college football game is a week from Sunday. And with it comes 9 months of drizzle and darkness. Sigh.

Amazing, Simply... Amazing

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:52:00 +0000

August Updates

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:37:00 +0000

It's been sort of a busy month so far. My folks came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we went up to Victoria on a sea plane... quite an adventure!

I got to see the famed Butchart gardens, adjust to using $2 coins, eat some great food, stay in a really nice hotel, take some long walks, enjoy time with my parents, and take the clipper back. We did one of those carriage ride tours, which was fun (although "Judy" the horse was clearly not so interested in stopping at the appropriate times) and it happened to be BC's 150th anniversary- so they had all sorts of concerts and festivals going on. It was great to see them.

My mom's pain got progressively worse while she was here, though, and has continued to do so since she got back home. We're all hoping that her CT results this week come back okay, that they can determine the source of her pain, and find something effective to treat it.

The following weekend I went to Melissa & Kate's wedding.

Melissa was my student intern - twice actually - so if she ends up to be a shitty social worker, you know who to blame. They got married on an old ferry boat with the city in the background. Kate happens to be a former pro basketball player - and my boss happens to be one of those over the top, verging on stalking, women's basketball fans. Go figure - kinda not stereotypical for a gay man. So he was a bit like a kid at disney land seeing mickey and minnie and pluto in person. Or a rabid Lost fan getting into the cast wrap party. He was SOOOOO excited. In fact we had to shush him a few times because he was naming off all of the names and stats and memorable plays of her friends at the wedding who had played with her at Stanford. Like I'm sure they're used to it by now, but still - most of us who were semi-star struck tried to pretend we weren't. He's the one on the left.

Anyhoo - after the cake was cut and the dancing started, some of the Stanford players came up and danced with him - probably because he was so fun to watch dance - and frankly, I think that hour of dancing will go down as one of the best hours of his life.

Then the Olympics cable disaster happened. So I've spent all week mooching off of friends' cable to see the gymnastics events.

This weekend I had a supervised visit with my former dog, Nicki - well, her name is now Molly and it's not so much supervised as, well, she lives with this family now and, well, they tend to be there when I visit. It's an open adoption. I love how they've cared for her in the 5 years since I gave her up. She is just doted on and cared for - pampered and loved. And I love how she remembers me - she meets me at the door and as soon as she sees me, she plops over for a belly rub and after a good 5 minutes of that, she takes off running in circles for a long, long time. Then we go to their living room and I pet her and chat with her family for an hour or so - catch up with how things are going at their church, how their pet octopus is doing, how the grandkids are, etc.

After that I went to a friend's birthday party. She has a 3 year old who is just happy as a clam nude. He LOVES to be nude. So, while at home, he pretty much is nude. As he was during her birthday party. And all of their friends are liberal, pro-kid self-esteem folks, so they just smile at how free he is in his body and how cute he is peeing in the bushes.

Finally, this morning I had the friends I made in grad school over for pancakes (Kerbey Lane mix is awesome!) on the rooftop. If it weren't for the 80+ degree weather w/o AC, cooking 50 pancakes on the stove would've been a breeze. But once we got up to the rooftop, it was pleasant. Afterwards we took the older kids down to the beach to make sand castles. Your's truely forgot sunscreen so is a little beet red.
And now I'm going to meet a friend for dinner. We're going to a Mexican restaurant I have not yet tried - which is a rare thing. I am not so sure about it. It's in the bottom of a motel and has sort of a yuppie sign out front. But, I could be very wrong and it could be worth of the Tex Mex label. We can always dream.

curious

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:15:00 +0000

How is it that I can wake up 27 times an hour, on average - enough to warrant sleeping with a Darth Vader like contraption on my head - and never wake up when we have the rare super loud lightening and thunderstorm? For the second time this summer I had several people ask me today if I woke up during the thunderstorms last night, and I'm like, uhm, no - was there a storm?... and they're all, like, what, you didn't hear the storm?? It was SO loud - you must be a really deep sleeper and I'm like, well, I didn't think so...

But you know... perhaps this means the $4500 sleep study was WRONG and if that's the case I can STOP wearing *&$#! binkie and return to the nights of whoosh, whoosh, whoosh free sleep - where I don't struggle to fall asleep against the air seeping into my eyelid and out around the mask onto my chin. Where I don't spill water all over the kitchen floor trying to clean out the air tube so it doesn't grow nasty stuff that will get into my lungs and cause me to hemorrhage in my sleep. (Okay, so I made up that last part)

It's a little like the time I missed the earthquake.

I was out on a run after a couple of weeks of sloth, and thus running wasn't as easy as usual. So I put on my headset (it was pre-ipod days) and turned on the radio and was sort of trying to get into the run and then was a little off balance and it felt like I was running in sand - so I was kind of chiding myself for having gotten out of shape and then the headphones went dead which irked me because I'd just put in new batteries so I figured the damned thing had just died and now I had to run with this stupid looking headset on my head without any real benefit - and then I ran past these people standing outside of their condos looking kind of perplexed - so I had this little dialogue with myself about hmm, maybe they're looking to buy a condo - but then there are other people standing around looking a little freaked out - and just when I started to come up with a story for them the radio came back on to a live feed from a news station- which by the way was not what I normally found inspiring to listen to on runs - so it quickly became clear that we'd had an earthquake. And my stumbling, off balance start had nothing to do with my lack of fitness. Well, at least it wasn't 100% due to that.

It simply begs the question: Am I destined to miss all of the interesting weather in this region?

Potty Logic

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:49:00 +0000

As it finally made USA Today, thus our civic shame exposed, yes, Seattle's great Outhouse Experiment officially failed. So much so that the 5 million dollar investment sold on ebay for a whopping $12,459. I'll let you figure out how much that depreciated.

So, here's the thing. I like the fact that the city was trying to provide options for homeless folks and tourists to pee. That was pretty decent of them. There aren't a lot of options for said activity in the major tourist areas (which happen to also be the major homeless areas) and in theory, the self-cleaning toilets would meet the needs of both groups.

However, here's the issue. You take this pod that fits 2 people and closes to give privacy for approximately 10 minutes and plop them down in the middle of the most drug and sex work heavy areas of the city, and, well, what do you think is going to happen?

Of course there's the whole tourist clientele - but given the doors on the pod had a tendency to malfunction and open at rather inopportune times, this wasn't so popular with the tourists.

Imagine, if you will, you're here from Idaho, you need to pee. You are wandering around Pike Place Market with a camera hanging around your neck and a map in your hand, and you look up, see a large crowd of homeless folks milling around a pod. Sure, the first thing you're going to think is, wow, I want to use that toilet. So you make your way through the drunk and high folks and get to the pod, wait for whatever is going on inside to end and the pod to rinse itself off, you go inside, start to do your thing, and then the doors open - exposing your butt to the entire homeless and tourist population in Seattle. Not to mention the line of drug dealers and prostitutes waiting for you to finish so they can go in. Not exactly a memory you want to take back with you from your trip to Seattle.

Back to the drawing board.

God's sense of humor

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:22:00 +0000

So, you know I love the Olympics. I look forward to them for a year beforehand and have a period of grief after they're over. A former co-worker actually gave me a "sorry for your loss" card after the 2000 games ended. I guess it's one of those rare rituals in our world - there are traditions and surprises and old things done anew. And it happens infrequently enough that it never becomes rote.

I woke up on Friday and was still feverish, so I stayed home and got to watch the opening ceremonies on the Canadian channel. I have no idea of how they got all of that Tai Chi synchronized, well, aside from it being the only thing those 2008 people were preparing for during the last 12 years of their lives. Which begs the question - how on earth are they going to reorganize their identities now that the performance is over?

Anyhoo. After my fever subsided and my nose stopped running (for a brief time) I went to Melissa & Kate's wedding and had a lovely time - all the more knowing when I got home I'd be able to turn on at least the Canadian channel and catch basket weaving between Croatia and Latvia or something. So I enjoyed the ceremony on the water, the food, the wine, the toasts, the cake cutting, the first dance, and then headed home for the long awaited Olympic fix.

I got home and turned on the tv and... it was pitch black - with a "signal not received" in the middle. Hunh? So I flipped through all the channels. All were the same or static except the plain old regular channels - which are all fuzzy. I figured, (denial), it'll all be okay in the morning. I'll wake up and it'll All Be Okay.

This morning, first thing, I tried again. "Signal not received" glared back at me.

This is where God's humor (or vengeance) comes in. About 14 months ago I moved into this condo. I went to plug in the TV and lo and behold, I had cable. It's not a building amenity, so I figured they hadn't turned it off after the last owner left. Same thing happened with my internet. I turned on the laptop and, viola, internet. I went back and forth and back and forth on the morality of using these w/o paying... with the TV I figured (with lots of support from the peers I consulted), well, it's their responsibility to come turn it off- so once it turns off, I'll call and start paying. A month went by, then two, then six, then a year, then 14 months. Then they turned it off. Last night. The night before the actual sports were broadcast. Right at the exact moment I actually wanted - no, needed - cable.

I keep hoping that if I give it a few hours, it'll come back on. So far, no luck.

Well, at least NBC is showing live video on the web. Thank goodness I still have the int

New Favorite Quote

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:55:00 +0000

As I was driving this afternoon I was being a good liberal and listening to NPR. After the usual 20 minutes of Iraq, they happened to be doing a story on the backlash movement against the Barnett Shale gas drilling in Tarrant County in TX. Given my dad and Uncle Barry (shout out to you both!) both have property that is involved in this project, it peaked my interest.

I could go into all the details, but you can read it here. More important is my new favorite quote, spoken by a Fort Worth contractor with quite a thick drawl (Dan Roberts). He said:

"Doesn't matter how much lipstick you put on it, it's still a pig."

I love that. I really do.

(fyi, the transcript doesn't get it right)

Exciting Day

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Today I opened my mail box and was SO excited to find my voters' pamphlet (which is more like a booklet, but why be picky)!!! You may be thinking, wow, she's really taking her right to vote seriously, or, wow, she's easily amused, or wow, that must be some pamphlet.

Well, of course all of those are true, but what I really look forward to in each pamphlet is the Candidate Statement from Goodspaceguy Nelson. And this time he is the FIRST candidate listed!!! He runs for office every time there's an election. He stands for space colonization. Check out his blog: http://colonizespace.blogspot.com

Among other things he describes his significant career experience that would give him the clear ability to serve as our Congressman as "Goodspace guy became an amateur jack-of-all-trades and astronomer and economist and wants to advance rejuvenation and medical technology and wants tall buildings and more movies to be made in Washington state." I don't know. I was on the fence, but knowing he is as passionate about rejuvenation as I am... I can't see how I'd live with myself if I didn't vote for him.

Not to mention reading his candidate statement is enough to make me cry. I mean, to have someone who so completely speaks to my hopes and vision and experience. Read it. Like poetry to my ears.

"Goodspaceguy wants Orbital Space Colonization to be one of the great tasks for our new 21st century... after profitable success in Earth orbit, we should then build additional profitable colonies in orbit around the Moon and Mars, where solar power is also plentiful."
"Goodspaceguy believes that the number one problem on Spaceship Earth is the tripling of people during the last 100 years... we should use nicer methods (head tax and birth fees and study and work and social security) to decrease the number of people boarding Spaceship Earth."

I don't know about you, but I haven't heard a peep from Obama or McCain about space colonization. Where do they stand? I think this really could be the swing issue this election year...

Another Sad Day at Admiral Condos Nursing Home

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:09:00 +0000

In case any of you had doubts about my assessment that 60% of my neighbors are quite advanced in age (and the obituary in the lobby, the woman who fell and broke her hip down the hall, and photo of Max with the guy in the walker in the hallway weren't convincing enough):

A little context...

A titch more context...

Here you go.

May she rest in peace.

It's that time again

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:11:00 +0000

the Seattle corpse flower is about to bloom. Don't all of you rush to get your plane tickets at once, now, and end up hurt from trampling one another. It'll bloom again next year. There's time.

rorschach test

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:10:00 +0000

About a month ago the group of friends I have from grad school threw a "green" baby shower for one of the members. People in this group seem to pass through developmentally appropriate stages in a particular order. Aaron & Suzanne were the first to get married and then first to have a child, Jen & Vince were second to get married and second to have a child, Michelle & Jim were the 3rd to get married (but as yet no child), then Shelly & Norm got married and they recently had a child. Along this line Renelle should be the next to marry and likely have a child, and then I suppose it'll be my turn. Okay, stop laughing.

However things are all catywampus what with Jen and Vince getting pregnant for a 2nd time - before Aaron & Suzanne. Although I suppose they got to skip a turn, given they don't really want a second kid.

Anyhoo - so here's Jen, very pregnant, and it's her baby shower. Instead of subjecting her to another round of the guess-the-baby-food game which she didn't seem so thrilled about at her first shower, we decided to put the attendees to work at developing a piece of art for Jen and their family - out of recycled materials, of course. So, we provided everyone with a piece of glass and a bunch of colors of recycled glass. The only stipulations were 1) they needed to develop a design to reflect their hopes and wishes for Jen, the baby, and their family, and 2) they needed to use some form of blue in their design - so the pieces would go together and fit in with the color in the nursery.

So, with that, folks got creative. Then I took them home, grouted them, and put them onto a frame - which with any luck will stay intact. So, here's the rorschach part... and it's up to you - you can try and learn more about yourself from what you see in these pieces, or try and analyze the mental state of the women who designed them. Take your pick.

Against a solid background:

The view from a window (which is the intended location... sorry the lighting isn't so great)

I can't remember everyone's - but mine is the one on the top, Jen's is in the middle (had to be, right?!?.. and that red thing is apparently the Canadian leaf - she was trying to create the Canadian flag in honor of Vince's home country), Michelle made the swirl, I think Suzanne had the flower on the 2nd row, and the rest, I'm not sure.

So, interpret away.

Deadline Passed

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:25:00 +0000

I guess 2005 was a little too ambitious for eradicating polio.

(It may be hard to see, but they used a purple marker to change the 5 to an 8. Please, someone, donate to the Rotary club so they can buy a new sign, or at least a black pen.)

Squeaking for 600, please

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:55:00 +0000

I squeak when I walk. Not intentionally. If my shoes are too loose, the squeak comes from the shoe, if it's too tight, it comes from my orthotics. Sometimes they happen at the same time, causing a cacophony of squeakage.

After several stints in PT I know my pelvis is slightly rotated, which probably accounts for the slightly higher pitch squeak when I step with my right foot than with my left. And the orthotics give off more of a squelching sound. So any given day you can have 3 tones as I walk down the hall.

I have been a little more paranoid of it lately. I mean, really, my coworkers must know me by the sounds I make walking by now. These new Keens (I heart keens) are particularly squeaky and I'm a little concerned that I'm frightening my neighbors. So I'm a little more cognizant of it than usual - and paranoid - so perhaps that's why I noticed today that just walking on a flat surface basically takes you through an entire refrain of the Jeapordy song. squeak, SQUEAK, squeak, SQUEAK, squeak, SQUEAK, squeak... squeak, SQUEAK, squeak, SQUEAK, SQUELCH, squeak-squeak, squeak-squeak, squeak. (I tend to do a little skip dance after every 12 or so steps (heck, why not?!?), hence the faster part at the end...)

I suppose there could be worse things to be associated with. I mean, my squeaks could sound like some horrid kill-your-*(&$! rap song, or a deeply twangy country song, or a 6th grade beginners' concert band, or Barry Manilow's Mandy.

Travel from Hell

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:55:00 +0000

It's 10:55am. I just woke up.

I went to DC for work on Wednesday - then due to some inane rules from my government employer worried about how tax funded employee stays beyond the end of an official meeting may look to the voting public I was required to return to Seattle last night. The meeting ended at 4pm, my flight was at 6:30pm, with an expected arrival in Seattle at 11pm.

I had 4 flights in that time - first went to Denver then DC, yesterday to Chicago then Seattle. Every single one of them had some major issue and delay. Let me detail them for you.

Seattle to Denver: plane arrived an hour late due to "weather in San Francisco" - which given my connecting flight was 45 min after landing, this made me bite my nails. But not too much.
Denver to DC: I made it to the next plane with little time to spare. It was on time and I was feeling oh so hopeful. We then taxi'ed out, sat on the tarmac for an hour, then taxi'ed back to the gate. There was some kind of mechanical issue with the plane. Slow as molasses the news trickled out that we needed to wait an hour to see if they could find the part... then after that we learned we needed to wait another hour to see if the part would fix it. Given the flight was full of folks who had been rebooked to this flight after their earlier flight was cancelled - this news didn't go over well. Luckily it did eventually get fixed and we left. I got to my hotel at midnight and had to get up at 5 for the meeting. Between that and the fact that I sleep like crap the first night at a hotel, I wasn't real coherent at the actual meeting.
DC to Chicago: After getting through the rather sad, delapidated Dulles airport, their kind of tiny, hot and overwhelmed security checkpoint, and riding the sort of freaky people mover transport bus/tank thing, I got to my plane. Which was on time. A big plane, lots of empty seats, with the little tv screens on the back of each seat. I Love those. I was thinking, this was going to be different - a nice ride - and it was, except for the hour wait on the flight path (along with all other planes leaving Dulles) due to concerning weather. Again, not a big issue except for the fact that I only had a 45 min layover in Chicago.
Chicago to Seattle: So they made up a little time in the air and we got to Chicago with 15 min to go - so I b-lined it to the departure screens and there was a "delayed" by my next flight to Seattle. That doesn't bode well. Not even an estimated time of departure. So I wandered over to the gate to find a lot of people looking surly. The plane was having mechanical issues and they were not sure it'd leave. Eventually we were told that we'd know by 10pm if the part would fix it. The flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30pm. Around 9:30 they told us they found a different plane for us - so we needed to go to a different concourse and gate. So, we all went over there, got on the plane, it taxied out, then sat on the tarmac for 1.5 hours while they tried to figure out some discrpancy in their fuel readings. Then, because we sat there for so long the weather in Seattle deteriorated so they needed to return to the gate to add more fuel in the event they couldn't land in Seattle and needed to be diverted to Portland. So we returned to the gate for 45 minutes while they added more fuel. Then we taxi'ed out again, waited 30 minutes on the flight path for some other issue, and finally left DC at 11:30pm. I got into Seattle at 1:45am, home at 2:30, and was asleep by 3. The whole thing ended up being an 11 hour process.

Now, I don't want them flying in broken planes or bad weather, and the United staff were really great, but to have this happen on each flight seemed a bit odd. I have stuff happen on American every now and then, but never to this extent.

Well, I guess I should be grateful I 1) got to the meeting and 2) got back home. I could've been stuck in Denver or Chicago or Portland overnight, but wasn't. So, now I just have to readjust this sleep-disordered body to regular life. Until we have to do all of this again when I go back to DC for a longer meeting in August. But that will be on Alaska. Direct. In theory.

Chairless in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:12:00 +0000

It's the end of another fabulous Seattle summer weekend and I'm simultaneously pleasantly tired from being out and about in the SUN and 75 DEGREE weather all day, and a little antsy because it's ALREADY getting darker earlier. A couple of weeks ago it was sunny until 10pm or so - tonight it's 9:15 and I think we may have 15 more minutes before it's dark. Funny how that works around here. By the time we finally pass that hump of summer and get some sun, we cross that solstice hump and start losing daylight. I guess it's yet another example of the life/death cycle thing manifesting in nature, heavy on the death.

I also took another nesting step this weekend and put together the furniture that I ordered. I think 99% of the furniture in my condo is from West Elm. Each "room" in my condo looks like a page in their catalogue. Anyway - I got an ottoman/storage cube, nesting tables, and a table... yes, I finally have a "dining room" (aka dining corner) table! Well, actually to get something small enough I had to buy a "mini-desk" which, when turned to it's side with the desk drawer facing away - looks and acts just like a dining table.

The only problem is I don't have any chairs for it. So as lovely as it would be to sit and eat at a real table for the first time in 16 months, at the moment I am just staring longingly at it. I just, for some reason, can't stomach the idea of paying $175 (minimum) for a chair. Much less two. But that seems to be the lowest out there, aside from going to Ikea. Which I may ultimately do. I don't know. It would ruin the vibe. Not that West Elm is fine wood craftmanship, but it is a step up from Ikea. At least in the sense that it's not all made of plastic and/or particle board. And the furniture all have names I can pronounce.

But can I tell you how nice it's been to sit on my couch and be able to put my feet up on the ottoman, and sip from a glass of iced tea waiting for me on my nesting tables?

On another note, my knee is still bugging me but the rest of me seems back to normal. Make of that what you will...

Injury Update

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:33:00 +0000

I'm happy to say I appear to be on the mend. My knee was much better this morning and improved as the day (and advil) progressed, and aside from getting up and down stairs and in and out of the car, I don't seem to have any major problems. And even those are starting to improve.

My chin/face will soon scab over which will not be a very pretty sight. My knee is also going to look pretty gross, but luckily it's rarely warm enough here to wear anything but pants. My left arm has a wallop of a bruise that is getting more robust by the minute, but that should fade eventually. And my hands are tender and it hurts to twist my left forearm, but those, too, seem to be getting slightly better - so hopefully isn't serious. I feel lucky, actually.

And folks apologized all day for the strangers who didn't stop to help. Which in an odd way made it all better.

I hope you are all well -

In honor of the Tour de France

noreply@blogger.com (hutchbec) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:16:00 +0000

I decided to crash on my bike today. Well, "decided" carries connotation of intent, and there wasn't much in the way of intent on my part. Just sort of stupidity, probably. I was riding home from work, along one of the more industrial roads, and decided it was probably best to get up onto the sidewalk - you know, to be safer away from those cars - so I started to turn my wheel to go up a driveway to get on the sidewalk and as I did, I thought to myself, hmm, I probably don't have enough angle to pull this off... and simultaneously literally didn't pull it off. The tire caught the lip on the driveway and the bike just kind of toppled over - going at a pretty decent clip - with me on it. I toppled into the driveway, filled with yucky, gritty rocks and gravel. My left knee took the brunt - I am hoping it's nothing more than some severe bruising - because I was able to walk and even ride a bit afterwards (I was quite a ways from any bus stops) so at least initially I had range of motion. Now not so much. It's got a lovely set of cuts that bled like crazy for a while, my hands are sore (hopefully that's all), my left arm is going to be quite bruised if the soreness is any indication, and I have a rather ugly patch of road rash on my left chin. And based on the damage to the helmet, I am glad I was wearing one.

So, all of that was kind of frightening enough. The salt in the wound was that there were about 5 other people riding bikes at the time who saw me go down - and not a single one of them stopped to see if I was okay. Nor did any of the 10 or so bicyclists who rode past as I was getting up and trying to see if I could walk. No one asked if I was okay as we waited for the bus - with blood streaming from my chin and knee - not even the bus driver. I don't get people in this city. I just don't. I would've stopped.

So I finally got home, washed off the dirt and dried blood, doused the cuts with polysporin, took ibuprofin, iced and elevated.

It seems as the evening goes on the throbbing gets more intense and my ability to put weight on my knee and bend it is harder. Maybe that's just par for the course. You know, at 36 falling off a bike isn't as simple as when you're 8. Will I be able to drive my stick shift car to work tomorrow? If not, can I step up and down to get into the bus? Sigh.