RoCkInG The Boat

2010-10-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

And Life Was A Ball, And Wasn't It All So Cozy And Fine?

Bet you thought I'd forgotten all about you, didn't you?

Yes, I remember what I said several months back, about doing a better job of keeping track of things over here. Turns out, in the New Net Paradigm where TwitterBookSquare and its ilk rule, multi-sentence postings on a personal web site are just soooo 2007. But, since I'm coming up on the anniversary of starting this here blog, I figured it was time for a bit of a check-in, just to let you know the lights are still on, even if there's seldom anyone home these days.

2010-09-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Live Alone In A Paradise That Makes Me Think Of Two

Today is the 25th Anniversary of my arrival in Seattle (well, technically I spent a few months living in unincorporated Sea-Tac before officially moving inside the city limits in the winter of '86, but I worked in Seattle, so you know, semantics and what-not).

Hard to believe two and a-half decades have passed since I left the northern wilds of Bellingham, trekked south down I-5 in a 1972 Chevy Impala 4-door carrying everything I owned, to meet up with an ex-college roommate from Ellensburg, who had already secured us lodgings in what turned out to be probably the largest living space (as defined by total square footage times number of occupants) I've lived in during that entire time. We were both dirt poor, and knew probably only a handful of people in the city, mostly people with whom we'd gone to school, and had our sights set on breaking into the local theatre business.

And here it is, 25 years later: Kevin moved back to Shelton probably 20 years ago, bottomed out, and eventually got his act together, in the process becoming a substance abuse councilor (a subject he definitely knew a thing or two about, at least based on my own personal observations). Me, amazingly, I'm still "in the business", although not doing what I figured I'd be doing at this point in my life.

Funny how things turn out. At the age of 24 I was setting my sights on an artistic career (which has come true), but all the other more traditional goals: marriage, family, home buying, etc., etc. seem to have fallen by the wayside. And here I am on the cusp of 50, having to acknowledge that, barring some unforeseen miracle, most of those things are simply never going to happen. Not that I'm complaining - for the most part - because, all things considered, I've built a pretty good life. I live in a beautiful city (it has its problems, but what city doesn't?), have an interesting and challenging career, a passionate avocation, innumerable colleagues, and a handful of true-and-trusty friends, none of which I would give up for anything.

But still, one can't help but reflect, at least a bit, on what I may have missed in the process. For all intents-and-purposes, my particular genetic line ends here. That's a pretty sobering thought: I have several nieces, but you know, patriarchal blood-lines being what they are in Western Civilization, it means no more Comte's - at least on this branch of the family. Other branches will continue, but I'm not going to be contributing anything new to my own. I've become an evolutionary dead-end.

Do I regret it? Only slightly. I wonder sometimes about the experience of parenthood and the question not having been one inevitably brings up, namely, would I have been a good one? It's such an integral part of human existence that it's easy to take for granted, but for myself at least, knowing it's never going to be part of MY experience does make me feel somewhat, well, almost guilty in a way, like I've let down my genetic team somehow by refusing to get into the pool as it were.

But, one can only wallow in "woulda, coulda, shoulda's" for so long without risking becoming insufferably maudlin, and I don't have it in me to try for some ersatz emo/goth attitude, which would probably only end up making me even more insufferable, so there's that.

On the plus side, I've got some pretty good genetics working in my favor so far as longevity goes (three of my four grandparents have lived until well into their 90's), and therefore it's not unreasonable to anticipate I could hit that - or beyond. So, in a very real sense my life is truly only half over; with luck, I've got roughly another 50 years in me, which in and of itself leaves open all sorts of possibilities.

Although I seriously doubt shooting for "World's Oldest Dad" is going to be one of them. For one thing, what kid wants to walk down the aisle for their high school graduation to see some old geezer who rightfully should be their great-grandfather waving at them - unless of course he WAS their great-grandfather.

I suppose, in the end, there are some things you just can't quite let go of, regardless of the reality...

2010-08-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Anniversary Baby, Got You On My Mind

Yes, I know - long time, no blog. Frankly, things have been rather slow around the old moorage of late; life, work and art have all nestled into comfortable, albeit somewhat predictable ruts (not necessarily a BAD thing), and frankly, there just hasn't been all that much excitement going on to convey to the masses - or all six of you still reading this.

But, I do think it's incumbent to acknowledge a milestone that occurs today (well, technically it would have been yesterday but - ), that being the 5th anniversary at the job. Yes, five years in; hardly seems like the blinking of an eye, but there you go.

I wouldn't say things are at exactly a lull job-wise at the moment, but there is definitely a bit of a dip in terms of activity load, although I don't expect that to last for long. We've got a major internal organizing campaign just getting started, and between that, planning for our 2011 national convention which will be held in Seattle next summer (along with whatever other little projects come down the pipeline in the meantime), and I'll have plenty on my plate to keep me occupied; even if they're not the sort of exciting things I'll necessarily feel compelled to write about.

Still, hang in there with me, you never know...

2010-06-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Out Into The Cool Of The Evening Strolls The Pretender

If you're reading this, you probably already know that my Gmail account has hacked sometime early this morning and used to send out a Spam message saying I was stranded in London and please, please call the listed number to arrange to send me money to get home.

Would that I could fly to London for the weekend on a whim, but unfortunately, it's just some scammer in Nigeria "phishing" for a bit of cash from you-all.

My Gmail account is back up, but also unfortunately, the scammers stripped out all of my contact information, as well all the emails in my inbox. So, if you sent me an invite to a show or a social event recently, my apologies for the unsolicited spams.

So, if you get the chance email me with your current address.

And please DON'T send $$.

2010-06-13T23:31:00.000-07:00

And the 2010 Tony For Best Musical Goes To -

Memphis

Congratulations to everyone at The 5th Avenue Theatre!

2010-06-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Drivin' Home This Evening I Thought We Had It All Worked Out

Spent Sunday at the theatre helping to decide our next season of productions. This is an annual event that, over the years has come to be known euphemistically as "The Afternoon of The Long Knives" (which, despite the unsavory connotation, is actually a much older term than many might realize.

But, the desription is nevertheless fairly apt: after receiving and reviewing some two dozen proposals for productions, we go through a series of "pitch sessions" wherein the proposers are interviewed in-person, and at the end of that process members of the Company lock ourselves in a room for an afternoon and don't come out until we've reached a consensus on what shows we want to do. At times, it can get brutal - the first thing we do is scratch off the roughly 50% of the projects we pretty much know we DON'T want to do - and it can also be somewhat emotional, particularly for members of the Company submitting proposals for the first time. The end result, though, is that, by the time we're done, we not only have mutual agreement, but generally the shows that are selected are ones for which either the entire Company, or at least a significant majority, have some outright enthusiasm for doing.

Of course, this is no guarantee that the actual productions that result from these proposals will always meet our expectations; frequently, they don't. But, taking risks is quite literally part of our Mission Statement ("creating bold new work in an environment of improbability, resourcefulness and risk"), and it's one of the things that separates us from most of the other "fringe theatres" (and some would argue, successfully IMO, from most other theatres, period) around here: the willingness to take chances, to embrace uncertainty, and to nurture the new, the weird, and the unconventional. In short, it's what makes Annex, Annex.

2010-06-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

"E" Is The Ensign, The Red, White, And Blue,
"F" Is The Fo'c'sle, Holds The Ship's Crew

Took a couple extra days off to bookend the already extra-long weekend to get some very needed boat cleaning accomplished. I've been rather neglectful over the winter and things had gotten to the state that, well, three full days were required just to get the basics accomplished. But, she's now yare topside and below decks, replaced one battery, got the bilge pump switch problem figured out, and ordered a new hatch cover, among other things. Have to bring in a mechanic in a couple of weeks to suss out a recurring engine problem (which I hope won't be too costly), and then in a couple of months I'm hoping to get her hauled out and have some serious cleaning & maintenance done below the water line.

On the plus side, it was nice to spend a few days - and nights - aboard, something I really haven't had time to do recently. And who knows? Maybe I'll even find time to get her away from the dock a bit this summer.

2010-05-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Old Man Take A Look At My Life, I'm A Lot Like You

I've been thinking about aging a lot lately. My grandmother's recent passing was a major catalyst of course, but a few other events have kept the subject bubbling in the front part of my brain recently as well.

When my grandmother's memorial mass was scheduled, I got an email from my aunt informing me that I had been "selected by my cousins to represent the 'younger generation'." I'm turning 50 this year, and "younger" is not a term I would have used to describe my position within the familial hierarchy. I have younger cousins, I have younger nephews, nieces, second and third cousins. When your genetic heredity allows for five generations to occupy the room at the same time, you get a pretty clear sense of where you fit in age-wise.

Still, I got the point. We sometimes tend to perceive ourselves, not as occupying a present space, but in terms of occupying some former space, particularly as it relates to a significant individual or period in our lives, and for my cousins and myself Grandma was always the center of our family universe for so many years that it's natural to contextualize that relationship in terms of our formative years. So, okay, younger generation, got it.

But, I have to say, standing in front of a couple hundred people, roughly a quarter of whom were clearly younger than myself, brought home what should be perhaps an obvious point: every day I'm moving closer and closer to the older end of the spectrum. There are still quite few family members who, thankfully, continue to occupy the late middle-aged and elderly bracket, but I now find myself much closer to them than I do to the youngest on the other end; I'm somewhere just past the peak of the bell-curve and am looking at the downhill slide. I've got another 50 years, maybe more, based on genetics, health and whatever advances are made in the field of medical technology in that time, but the simple fact is that I'm on a cusp: at some point it will be an unavoidable circumstance that more of my life will be behind me than ahead of me. Which is not to say there isn't plenty more to look forward too (a half century is still a pretty long time!), but you can't ignore the reality, either.

This was brought home to me again just recently, when the son of a friend requested my presence at an "Elder's Tea" at his private elementary school. Meaghan and Ron have been friends of mine for more than 10 years, although I haven't really had much contact with their kids during that time. But, it turns out I'm probably one of the oldest people Owen knows aside from his grandparents, and since I'm more-or-less in the neighborhood, through some process my name came up to the top of the list of "elders" to invite.

Elder. I still can't quite wrap my brain around the concept.

A few days later I was chatting with my friend Molly about this, still trying to mentally reconcile myself to this inevitability. We'd got to talking about people moving away or traveling abroad for extended periods, and what sort of impulses compel people make such huge life-changing alterations in their circumstances, and I said I really couldn't envision myself living anywhere else but where I am. Travelling would be one thing, but I simply don't have any desire to pull up stakes at this point in my life and start anew in some strange place. After all, I said, everything - and just about everyone - I care about is right here; why would I ever want to leave that behind? Then I said something that resonated back to all this aging stuff: "I'm actually starting to look forward to being 70 or 80 years old," I said, "and since most of the people I know now will be in their 60's by then, that 10 or 15 or more years age difference won't seem very significant."

It wasn't so much the idea of being 70 or 80 that appealed to me as much as it was the idea that these people with whom I've chosen to associate would still be around, still together in some fashion, and that it was the security and stability of those relationships that attracted me more than anything. I suppose that's a very simplistic notion, but one I would imagine most people could embrace; the desire to maintain friendships over time, especially since so many of us seem to have had our lives uprooted in so many other ways.

My friend Stephen once said his dream was to make enough money to buy a huge house where all his best friends could live together. A few of my friends already live in similar group settings. But, it occurred to me that we're all already doing that right now - only the house is a city, and we can stay in it for as long as we choose.

I think I'm going to choose to stick around for a while...

2010-04-25T11:50:00.001-07:00

Eulogy for Justine McMenamin Comte (1915 - 2010)

Presented April 24, 2010, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Portland Oregon

When I was informed of my participation in today’s celebration I was given two specific instructions: One. Prepare something – which, as you can see, I have done - and; Two. Keep it short. I will leave it to your own judgment to decide whether I have accomplished the latter. If you find this too long, I hope you will at least not find it interminable. The words, except where noted, are my own. If they spark some glimmer of recognition within you, then I will have successfully completed my task; if they do not, then the fault is mine alone.

We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Justine McMenamin Comte. As the oldest child of the oldest child of Grandma Justine, who was herself an oldest child, I have been asked to speak as a representative of the “younger generation”. You will pardon me I hope, if I take note of the irony of this.

The task is a daunting one, for in her nearly 95 years of life, Grandma Justine was many things to many people: child, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great-great grandmother, colleague, acquaintance and friend. How can a mere handful of words possibly quantify such a life? The simple truth is they cannot, and so I will not presume to do so here today. At best, I can only offer a paltry sketch of how I saw her, and hope that will suffice.

The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said: “We do not stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop laughing.” In this regard it must be said that Grandma Justine was never truly old. For in my mind, laughter was at the core of her being and the key to her personality. Those of you not fortunate enough to have experienced that laugh have truly been deprived of something special. I will attempt, as best I can in these few words, to convey to you some small sense of what you have missed.

As a child, the sound of her laughter helped me in large measure to chart my way amidst the hazardous rocks and shoals of grown-up relations. That sound: high and brilliant, like the beam of a lighthouse piercing the dark fog of adult conversation. And despite whatever fears or uncertainties I might otherwise experience, her laughter reassured me that, for the moment at least, all was right with the world.

As I grew older, her laughter also became a sound of welcome, and over time I began to hear it in the way I’m sure many of you experienced it. For, if ever there was a person whose fundamental nature embodied the qualities of fellowship, goodwill, and hospitality, it was Grandma Justine. Whether at a large family gathering, or a one-on-one visit, she would welcome you with open arms, a gracious smile and that unabashedly joyful laugh. Her sense of taste and style was simple, but impeccable; never a hair on that radiant silver mane was ever out of place; dressed at least to the eights, if not always to the nines; the table groaning with food, whether it was an Easter rack-of-lamb or a bucket of chicken from “The Speck”. Friends were always welcome; family, from the oldest to the smallest, always had a place. Her love was unconditional, and her embrace of everyone who came within her sphere knew no bounds. She was a fixture of the northeast Portland neighborhood she and my grandfather called home for so many years, known as much for her gregarious nature as for her impressive memory: there was not a shopkeeper, cook, grocer, counterperson, waitress or customer from her many years working at the Rose City and Hollywood Fred Meyers whose name she did not know, and who in turn did not seem glad to see her. Anyone to whom you introduced her instantly became her friend. She was unselfconsciously sociable, a woman who loved the company of other people, and who naturally, effortlessly endeared herself to everyone she met.

But above even these admirable traits, Grandma Justine was a woman of fierce strength, conviction and optimism. When I last visited with her this past Christmas, she expressed a desire to see her 100th birthday, even despite the numerous recent close-calls, the increasingly frequent trips to hospital and the dire pronouncements of the doctors. She admitted to being frustrated that her body was slowly, inexorably breaking down, but the sheer force of her will was sufficient, for a time at least, to overcome the inevitable dissolution. A few weeks ago, when once again she was hospitalized and we were informed she was not expected to recover, she somehow found a final burst of strength, and her condition improved enough to persuade her doctors to send her home. No one could ever say “no” to Grandma Justine once her mind was set. And set it was. She was going home, and that was that. She died a few days later, peacefully, without pain, in her own bed and on her own terms. I can only speculate, but I can imagine that must have delighted her; she’d got the last laugh on them, after all.

I will miss hearing that laugh, but I am also heartened, because I do not believe it has gone from us entirely. I believe it still reverberates around us, echoing through our memories, resonating in the deepest spaces of our beings. One theory of Quantum Physics posits that everything we can perceive: from clusters of galaxies, to the smallest of sub-atomic particles, are created from the vibrations of infinitesimally small filaments of energy. These filaments in turn give substance to all matter, from quarks and muons, to atoms, to cells, to living beings, to stars; they form, in the most simplistic of terms, the basic, underlying fibers from which the entire cloth of the cosmos is woven.

If this theory is correct, then surely laughter is a vital thread in this perdurable garment, for what is laughter in its most fundamental aspect, but a vibration? Waves of sound we feel in our chests and hear with our ears and experience in our minds. But, I believe its influence goes farther even than this: all those joyful vibrations emanating from a single source for so long must needs resonate ever deeper into the unperceived weave of time-and-space. The thread of her laughter not only connects her to us, but to each other and from each other to all things; it sews us stitch by stitch, into the very fabric of the universe.

This is the gift Grandma Justine has given us. And it is the reason our memories of her will not be burdened with sadness and regret, but will be exalted by joy and hope. Because, so long as we remember, so long as that delightful sound still rings in our hearts and minds, we will be reminded that we are never truly alone, and once again all will be right with the world..

And so, at the end, this is all I am able to give you by way of perspective: a small, personal and imprecise accounting of the value of a single human life amidst an infinite cosmology. If my poor attempt at taking its measure has proven unsatisfactory, then let me leave you with the words of someone more capable than myself of expressing them.

The American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson described the successful life thusly:

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded."

And so, we gather today to celebrate this successful life. It is my hope each of us will leave this place committed to achieving the same success in our own lives she achieved in living hers. For that would be her greatest legacy: each of us harmonizing our own laughter with hers, encouraging others to do likewise, weaving together these threads of our own love and hope and joy binding us more closely to each other, and through each other to the very weft and warp of the universe itself. We can do her no greater honor.

2010-04-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Justine McMenamin Comte 1915 - 2010

Goodbye Grammy, I'll miss you.

2010-03-31T16:30:00.001-07:00

Should Five Percent Appear To Small, Be Thankful They Don't Take It All

Oy.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks up here. One of my co-workers has been on vacation since the 19th and, in addition to picking up her work-load, late last week I got hit with THREE major projects to clear all at the same time, one of which involved 60 actors and another 30. And of course, all the clearances (basically checking to see whether they're eligible to work on a union-contracted production) HAD to be turned in by Friday, because they were all shooting over the weekend. It was literally one of those situations where: I'd get a fax with a list of names, enter them all in my database, check their status, generate a report to fax back to the production company, and by the time I got back to the fax machine, they'd be sending through a new list of names. And on top of this, I have to deal with actors who are delinquent in their payments (they have to be "in good standing", meaning all paid-up, to be cleared), as well as those who are "must-pays" (meaning they have to tender dues and fees before they can be cleared). Finally got out of the office around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, only to look forward to a weekend that involved:

Saturday: Drove up to Edmonds to do a seminar on Tax Preparation for Artists at an arts business conference run by an old colleague, then had to hit the office supply store, then Costco to pick up things for the office.

Sunday: Week Three of income tax prep, starting with the first appointment at 10:00 a.m. and running straight through until about 5:30 p.m.

Monday: The normal busy work-load (co-worker is still on vacation), then more taxes in the evening, while there's another meeting going on next door in our resource room.

Tuesday: Work (still getting names from the producer of the big weekend shoot, which they neglected to send to me the week before), plus setting up for a social event for later in the evening at which I needed to run the A/V equipment. But, at least I could drink beer whilst doing it.

Which basically means that, between work and tax prep related activities, I put in a solid 34 hour work-week in four days, which included pretty much my entire weekend.

And although I only have about an hour of extra-curricular activity at the theatre after work tonight, and absolutely no after work things scheduled again until Friday night, it's going to be another weekend of the same this week, because I have a board meeting Saturday morning that will run until 1:00 p.m. or so, another full day of tax prep Sunday, more after work tax prep on Monday, meetings & tax prep on Tuesday, and then I think I get a teensy break on Wednesday through Friday evening before - oh, right more tax prep on the following Saturday and Sunday, and then more of same Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, which is April 14th, which is the END of tax season.

Which is good, because - I'm bushed!

2010-03-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

And The Wild Mountain Thyme Grows Around The Blooming Heather

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

2010-03-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

The Dark Days Are Gone, The Bright Days Are Here

Hi there, miss me? Yeah, I know. But really, I've been pretty darned busy the past several weeks, what with lots of extra work at The Day Job, gearing up for tax season, coming down with a flu/generic upper respiratory bug that kind of took me out of action for the better part of two weeks (although it was never bad enough to prevent me from going to work - I just slept a lot when I got home), plus a bit of a short-term family crisis, along with the usual mix of theatre things, miscellaneous after work meetings, and the occasional social outing.

But, now I'm feeling better, tax season is officially under way, I've gotten out from underneath some of the more pressing work-load, my 95 year-old grandmother is doing better, we've Sprung Forward - and what the heck, it's sunny outside, so what's not to blog about, amIright?

2010-02-28T13:25:00.001-08:00

There's Butter In The Milk, So There's Butter In The Pie

Because, one can't spend the entire weekend just doing tax work.

2010-02-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

2010-02-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Discipline Will Make Me Stronger, If It Doesn't Kill Me First

Seems like everything in my life has reached a bit of a plateau lately: work has been steadily busy during what has traditionally been a post-New Years quiet period; extra-curricular theatre activities have settled into a manageable cycle that hasn't required huge amounts of extra time; and the diet regiment has resulted in a (hopefully, temporary) equilibrium state. I'm currently running in the 191 - 194 range, bouncing between the two, with a once-in-awhile day of being either slightly over or slightly under that range.

Even though I'm averaging gym visits about two times a week, I've also been a little less disciplined about my intake, so I need to just knuckle-down and get that side of things a little more back on-track. Hopefully, with what looks like a return to unseasonably clement weather for the near term (anyone complaining that the blizzard conditions in the Northeast MUST be "proof" that Global Climate Change is a myth need only look at the fact that, in mid-February, the Olympics organizers up in Vancouver are being forced to truck in snow from remote locations in order to keep the slopes in good condition), I'll be able to increase my activity level even further, which should help matters somewhat.

I'm still focused on the goal of getting down to 180 lbs., but I just have to acknowledge the last 10 - 15 pounds are going to take a lot longer to shed than I anticipated.

2010-02-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Seven Miles To Travel Down A Twisting Track Of Gravel,
Seven Ragged Miles To Town On Unpaved Road

I had planned to get this up a few days ago, but frankly, the six days off rather ate into my ambitious plans. Plus, I think I caught some sort of low-grade cold, or possibly even a mild sinus infection somewhere early in and I've been feeling a teensy bit under the weather ever since; not enough to prevent me from doing things, mind you, but just enough to require prioritizing what sorts of things I was up for doing.

So, the mini-vacation turned out pretty well, with the sole exception of the speeding ticket I got in some podunk burg outside Bellingham on Thursday afternoon. 31 in a 25 zone, and me in the middle of a line of cars all going the same speed. Yeah, I know municipalities across the land are cash-strapped, but seriously, could you-all be just a little less blatant about hitting up us hapless out-of-towners to cover your revenue shortfalls? Especially, when it goes on our driving record? Thanks!

Otherwise, speeding tickets and stuffy noses aside, it was a pleasant time off. I spent two days in a very nicely appointed cabin just outside La Conner, overlooking Skagit Bay with Whidbey Island due west. The weather was a little chilly (although still rather warm for January), but not too cold that I was uncomfortable, especially during the occasional sun breaks. Spent pretty much spent most of the two and a-half days I was there sitting on the porch or walking on the beach. Lots of wildlife on-view: bald eagles, hawks, seagulls dropping oysters onto the rocky shore, little brown squirrels, birds galore - all very peaceful.

Except however, when the jets from NAS Whidbey did fly-overs, which on Wednesday at least was pretty much all afternoon. Mostly appeared to be EA-18's (a variation on the F-18 Hornet), along with what I presume was a large cargo jet, with a couple of air/sea rescue helicopters and some fancy close-formation aerobatics thrown in for good measure. I think they were just taking advantage of the relatively clement weather to practice touch-and-go's (simulated take-offs and landings) and turnouts into the Straight of Juan De Fuca, heading up the narrow gap between the U.S. and Canada that leads out to the Pacific Ocean.

The evenings got decidedly colder, but a very efficient wood-burning stove (and back up electrical heating) kept the inside of the small space nice and cozy.

I lolled around until about noon on Thursday then "broke camp" and headed north along the coastline to Samish Island a little spit of land that juts out into the Sound - with some insanely large (and presumably quite expensive) homes dotting the shoreline. From there I caught the scenic Chuckanut Drive, which hugs the shoreline and drove north to Larrabee State Park, just south of Bellingham, for a quick hike, then hopped back in the bus and drove north and east through B-ham heading in the general direction of Mt. Baker, whereupon I had my meet up with the aforementioned revenue enhancement official.

After that minor setback it was relatively smooth sailing: I took State Route 542 to S.R. 9, then turned south passing through Deming, Van Zandt, Acme and Sedro Wooley, before finally turning east onto Hwy 20, which leads straight into the heart of the North Cascades. I ended up stopping a few miles short of my goal for the evening, a campsite just outside Concrete, and found instead what turned out to be an even better (not to mention actually open!) location at Rasar State Park, where I overnighted.

The next morning I continued east to Concrete, then turned south to Darrington until I hit what's known as "The Mountain Loop Highway", which is something of a misnomer, since: A of all) it doesn't make a full loop without considerable effort, and; B of all) the middle 14 miles is in reality an unpaved single lane U.S. Forest Service road, which at certain times of the year (and generally that means now) is unpassable due to snow. But not this January - I checked at Darrington, which was the last place I could have gone in another direction other than back the way I'd just come, and was told the pass was clear, if somewhat muddy in places.

So, the bus and I trekked up the mountainside, following the Sauk River (and passing two trucks coming from the other direction on a muddy, narrow, one-lane dirt road - some days you just can't get away from traffic!) until we reached Barlow Pass, then cruised down the other side, making a quick rest stop at Big Four Mountain Viewpoint, before completing the long, meandering coast down out of the foothills into Granite Falls, then south through Lake Stevens, Machias, Snohomish, Cathcart, Maltby and finally into Woodinville, where I stopped for a quick snack at the local DQ, and where I finally, reluctantly, took to the freeway for the last few miles back home.

Whereupon I spent the remainder of the weekend doing as little as possible - with the exception of teaching a tax workshop and going to the gym Sunday afternoon.

But, now it's Monday again, and I'm back in the real world. Thanks Vacationland, it was nice visiting you - maybe we'll do it again sometime.

2010-01-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

Life In The Fast Lane, Surely Make You Lose Your Mind

Well, so much for that promise to maintain more regular blogging hours. It's just that work has been insanely busy, what with trying to catch up from all the short weeks since Christmas, including this past weekend, which, as seems to be the case lately, turned out to be rather less than the anticipated "three day weekend" for which I'd been hoping. Mind you, I got quite a bit done on Monday: did most of the taxes for my "second job", processed all the W-2 forms I need to send out, and got some filing done; but I really would have preferred to have not been there at all. And this week has just been more of the same, including the usual round of evening meetings, which generally leaves me only a couple of free nights at home, and those have been spent mainly trying to catch up on domestic chores. Plus, I've had to tackle a good portion of next week's workload on top of everything else, since I'm actually taking a bit of a mini-vacation.

Yes, you heard me: something vaguely resembling an actual vacation, although I'm not planning to travel any farther than La Conner (AKA "The town where that crazy writer lives"). Still, I've booked a little cabin in the woods next to the Sound for a couple of days, where I intend to do little more than walk on the beach and stare at the sky - maybe I'll take a book along, but that may be about it. The rest of the week will be spent (hopefully) just lounging around the home base, maybe get a couple of household projects done, but in general engaging in as few scheduled, structured activities as possible, which for me will be a pleasant change-of-pace.

On another note: apparently, the return to the gym, even though I've only been managing it a couple of times a week, seems to be paying off. I've initially been limiting myself to cardio work: half an hour on an eliptical trainer, half an hour on a recumbent bike, followed by fifteen minutes in the dry sauna, but I'm back on a weight loss track after several weeks of holding steady at around 195-197. As of today, I'm solidly in the mid 193's, and seem to be dropping roughly a pound every ten days.

So, definitely not losing it as fast as my previous track, but as someone pointed out to me the other day (and which I guess should have been obvious if I'd given it more thought) I weigh 30 pounds less than I did six months ago, so my body doesn't require as many calories to maintain the lower weight, which means in turn that the lower calorie diet I've been on is in fact no longer enough to cause me to lose more weight, just to stay at where I am; in short, I'd reached a state of more-or-less equilibrium. And in order to get back onto a weight loss regimen I need to do one (or preferably both) of two things: either further reduce my caloric intake (and I have managed to find a few ways to trim off a bit more without feeling like I'm sacrificing anything), and/or increase the number of calories I burn, which of course is where the return to exercise comes in.

The bottom line is that it looks like I'm definitely going to miss my mid-February target for hitting 180. But, the good news is that I'm still losing weight, albeit more gradually than before. As I continue, I think I also have a better sense of needing to ramp up the activity level accordingly, and with the (temporary, but timely) return of warmish weather (thanks, El Nino!) to the Upper Left-Hand, and a determination to increase my gym visits to three a week, I think I can still get there by maybe April or May.

2010-01-12T09:40:00.001-08:00

The Rain Falls On Everyone, The Same Old Rain

Being a native Mossback, I generally like the rain, whether it's drizzling down in a fine mist or pouring down in a deluge. But lately, rain seems to be a lot like that one guy who always shows up first to your party, and he's really funny and charming - for awhile. But, after several hours you realize he keeps telling the same joke over-and-over again, and he keeps hitting on everyone else's girlfriends, and he drinks all the vodka, even though he didn't bring any himself, and he tries to pull off some sort of stunt that goes awry and puts a scratch in your coffee table, and suddenly you realize it's 3:00 in the morning, and everyone else has left an hour ago, but this guy just keeps yammering on-and-on, even while you're trying to shove him out the door - and then he just suddenly passes out on your couch, but you're simply too exhausted to try to wake him up and make him leave, and the only thing you can think of as you close your weary eyes is: "I just hope he's gone by the time I wake up, and that my TV is still here!"

That's how I've been thinking about rain lately...

2010-01-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

When My Work Day Is Over I'm Too Tired For Havin' Fun

Dear Blog:

Hi! How've you been? Really? Sorry to hear that. Me? I've been really, really, REALLY busy - in like, too busy to log on and chat busy. Yeah, yeah, I know. I said I'd keep in touch, and I meant it when I said that, but c'mon, give a guy a break! It's only been - what? - ten days, that's not so much now is it? Well, okay maybe it HAS been one of the longest runs of non-posting since we started this thing together, but it was bound to happen sooner or later, right? Honestly, I promise I'll do better in the future - no, I mean it! I can change! So, no hard feelings, okay? Okay, good - whew! I'm glad we got that out of the way.

What have I been up to since the beginning of the New Year? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's see, first off, that four day weekend turned out to be really like just a two day weekend spread out over four days, since I ended up doing some maintenance work at the theatre one day, and having to also come into the office for a few hours on another day to get some prep work done for a board meeting on the 4th. But, I did also manage to get out to a show on Saturday night.

So, there was the board meeting on Monday night, and an Equity Liaison Committee meeting the following night, then on Thursday evening I went over to a friend's house and had dinner with her and her husband, then spent three hours doing some "table work" with her for a show she'll be doing in February. Friday I was supposed to work our monthly late-night cabaret, but I took myself out knowing I had to be up early the next day for the workshop. Instead, I walked down the hill five blocks to my new gym (which is HUGE, BTW!) and spent a couple of hours on the elliptical trainer & stationary bike, then a round in the sauna and the jacuzzi (the steam room, unfortunately, appears to be out-of-commission until the end of the month.)

As I expected, Saturday turned out to be a very LONG day: 14 1/2 hours, to be precise. Got to the office around 8:00 a.m. to prep food & make coffee, did the workshop, which ran until about 6:00 p.m., did some clean up in advance of the Sunday session, then went to dinner with the group at one of my favorite local restaurants. And since I was officially the "host" (seeing as I set up the reservation, picked the appetizers, etc., etc.) it wasn't all fun-and-games since I also dealt with the restaurant staff, the waiters, et al. Fortunately, I have a good friend who's one of the sous chefs there, so I knew we'd get exemplary service - which of course we did!

Sunday, I was back at the office at 8:00 a.m., and the session started at 9:00 and went until about 1:00 p.m., after which I spent some time cleaning up - and putting bits-and-pieces of things back onto Big Red, since most of my tools are still living at the office (installed a new turn signal switch, new radio antenna, new rear running light, and new front stereo speakers), so I didn't actually get out until around 3:00 p.m. by the time I cleaned up and the last of the workshop participants came by to pick up their luggage on the way back to the train station. I (very briefly) considered hitting the gym again, but by that point I'd pretty much hit a wall, and decided the best thing to do was to go to the grocery story, pick up a few sundries, go home, fix dinner, take a shower, and finish off the day with a DVD. By 10:00 p.m. I was ready to call it a week. Unfortunately, that was Sunday evening, and I was back in the office bright-and-early at 8:30 this morning.

This week it shaping up to be much quieter: I've got a small pile of work that got neglected due to prepping the workshop, but which should be fairly easy to get through. And, so far at least, I only have one evening event on my calendar this week, a financial health workshop I'm attending tonight (always looking for new information I can impart to my tax appointments!), and that's really it in terms of obligatory extra-curricular activities. There are a couple of social events I COULD plug into the schedule, but after the past few weeks, I'm feeling more inclined to not commit myself to anything, and if I feel like I've got the wherewithall to do it when it rolls around, then so much the better.

Next weekend is another three-day off stretch, and seeing as I didn't even get a two-day weekend this week, I'm also purposefully not planning anything more ambitious than a bit of yard work (weather permitting) and maybe whatever laundry I don't get done earlier in the week.

And, I'm actually taking something resembling a vacation the last week of the month: taking the 26ht through the 29th off and spending most of that time in a cabin on the Sound just west of La Conner where I hope to three days doing nothing but eating, sleeping, reading and sitting next to a wood stove watching the rain come down.

Not to toot my own horn, as it were, but I think I deserve it.

What? No, I don't know if they have Internet access there, in fact it would probably be good for me if they don't. I'll be back, I swear! You just gotta trust me!

2010-01-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

There'd Be No Distance That Could Hold Us Back

Rabbit, rabbit - as an old friend would say.

Welcome to the New Month, the New Year, the New Decade, the New Day.

Time to hit the Reset Button and start anew.

It's looking like a good day to stay inside, stay warm, and curl up with a hot plate of satisfying food and a good book.

Bon Chance, y'all...

2009-12-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

From Atlantic To Pacific, Gee, The Traffic Is Terrific

Well, that was a whirl-wind of a holiday visitation: nearly 600 miles on Big Red in four days travelling. Visited my mom, two brothers, two 90+ year-old Grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. But, man-oh-man - all that driving!

Day One: Seattle-to-Longview
Day Two: Longview, Kelso, Lexington, Castle Rock
Day Three:Longview-to-Gresham-to-Portland-to-Beaverton-to Longview
Day Four: Longview-to-Seattle

My Grandma in Portland (my dad's mom) is doing better than I expected. Although she's pretty much confined to a wheelchair, and her eyesight is almost completely gone, her hearing is still reasonably good (with aids of course) and we spent two hours chatting. She insists she's going to make it to her 100th birthday in 2015, and I have no doubt she's going to get there.

My other Grandmother in Kelso just turned 90 last month, and even though she had to move out of her house and in with my aunt and her husband, she actually looks - and sounds - better than I've seen in quite a few years. I think having the pressures - both physical as well as financial - of maintaining a home has taken quite a load off her, and she seems healthier, more alert and responsive, and just more energetic than she's been in ages.

(This means three of my four grandparents have lived into their 90's: so, I think I've got a pretty good shot at hitting that mark myself.)

Except for the white-knuckle trip across the Columbia River in 40 mph gusts on Saturday and the traffic accident on I-5 just south of Seattle that took over an hour to get through on Sunday the various drives were uneventful. But still, when you're the one doing ALL the traveling, it does get a bit wearying.

And aside from sitting in the driver's seat for hours on-end, that's about all I did for most of the rest of the time; I don't think I walked more than a 1/4 mile at any stretch during the time I was down there. And of course, the diet was completely thrown out the window - my mom's side of the family are strictly mid-western meat-and-potato types, and with the exception of boiled carrots with dinner on Friday and a canned fruit cup with breakfast on Sunday, I saw nary a vegetable for the entire four-day weekend.

So, needless to say, although I do enjoy getting together with family for the holidays, I'm really glad to be back home where I don't have to go anywhere that doesn't involve walking, and where most of my diet doesn't consist of dead animals and tubers.

2009-12-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

You Know What The Sun's All About When The Lights Go Out

Strange, intermittent power outages at work this morning. A transformer blew out somewhere in the neighborhood, and we've lost phones, along with some power and lights. But, other outlets & lights are okay, and I managed to reroute power to get our computers, printers and Internet connection back on-line.

And there's this weird odor of burning plastic or insulation or something wafting through the air; very unpleasant.

Oh, and we just discovered that the hot plates on the stove in the kitchen are working, but for some strange reason the oven isn't.

Like I said, weird.

UPDATE 10:40 a.m.

We're back. Phones, outlets, lights - and the oven controls - are all working again.

2009-12-21T10:49:00.001-08:00

And A Song Someone Sings Once Upon A December

It's now official: the days will get progressively longer for the next six months.

Couldn't happen a moment too soon - Happy Solstice!

2009-12-17T20:53:00.001-08:00

The Trees Are Up, The Lights Are Glowing

For the person who has everything: A genuine

"Fnarf Brand" (tm) mobile waste receptacle with

resealable disposal conduit! Makes a great

Christmas present!

(Courtesy of the 2nd Annual SLOG/Happy Gift Exchange)

2009-12-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Why Must You Live Out The Songs That You Wrote?

Generally, I'm not terribly big on "the holidays". I'm not actively against them, mind you, it's just that I feel a certain amount of ambivalence. Some of it may simply be due to the fact that, in this part of the world November and December tend to be dark, cold, dreary months which sap your enthusiasm for just about anything besides sleeping and sitting around in your bathrobe eating warm chocolate chip cookies and watching bad television. And since I don't normally do either of those, there's not much to motivate me to get out of the house. In fact, if it weren't for being surrounded by full-spectrum UV lamps all day at work, I'd probably have a case of S.A.D. that would make an Existentialist feel positively cheery by comparison.

The other part of it is that I don't have much in the way of family in my immediate vicinity. My closest relatives (aside from a cousin who just moved into town recently, but with whom I've never been terribly close) are just far enough away that I don't have a great deal of regular interaction with them. This compares with a lot of my local friends who truly are locals: they have parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins galore living within a few miles of them, so obviously there are a lot more opportunities to get together outside of the holidays.

Thirdly, I think I've just developed a stronger sense of independence over the years than some other members of my family. I'm the one who pursued a career in "the big city" away from the nexus of either side of my family, whereas many of them have maintained much closer ties. Two of my brothers live within a few minutes drive of my mom (well, one still lives at home - maybe someday I'll get into that), who in turn lives just a few minutes drive from her mom and sister. Two of my dad's siblings have side-by-side condo's in Portland, not very distant from their mother, and some of their kids and grandkids are relatively close by as well. In short, they're all pretty tight-knit. I'm one of the few notable exceptions.

In this respect I think I take more after my father (who just celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday - and who is probably reading this, "hi dad!"), and who I think in some ways got it from his dad. While each of us has exhibited varying degrees of sociability in our personalities, I think there's also been a tendency on all our parts to feel that we didn't really require the sort of close attachments that other members of our family seem to embrace. It's not that we're ANTI-social or ANTI-family, it's just that we don't seem to desire the constant contact with them that they do with each other. Also, I think each of us inherited a bit of the "wanderlust" that reaches back down the trunk of the family tree: the same urge to move that brought our ancestors here from Europe and Britain and who-knows-where in the first place. Maybe I'm off base a bit on that, but that's my impression anyway.

And it's not that we don't like our families, although I grant we've all had our portion of issues with individual members over the years (but really, what family doesn't to some extent?), and I think, at least for my dad and myself we genuinely appreciate the occasional opportunities to reconnect. But to some extent it's the fact that we don't see each other all the time that imbues those more infrequent encounters with greater meaning and significance; if we saw each other as frequently as some members of our family do, we might take it too much for granted and it wouldn't feel as "special".

2009-12-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

You Know We Said That You'd Do All The Work

Things are finally starting to wind DOWNWARD as I hurtle, like a snowball rolling down a ski-slope toward the Christmas Holiday.

We held our annual Open House on Monday afternoon, which was the main reason I was in such a frenzy to finish up some of the remaining remodeling projects. Spent the entire day cooking (thankfully we have a full-sized kitchen including a four-burner stove, dishwasher and TWO refrigerators): a 10 lb. spiral-cut ham, 5 lbs of Swedish meatballs, 5 lbs of Cajun shrimp, 5 lbs of pot-stickers, 5 lbs of roasted potatoes, 75 mini-quiches, plus prepping and laying out the obligatory cheese-and-crackers, fruit and veggie platters, cookies (made by my friend Leslie), and other assorted goodies. If that sounds like overkill, well in some measure perhaps. But, we had about 60 RSVP's - about twice the number we get typically - and probably had about 75 come through the door throughout the afternoon and evening, which is roughly half again as many as I've seen in the four years I've been participating in these. Had it not been for the incredibly cold evening temps (our office actually had no heat and was a chilly 49 degrees when we came in Monday morning!) we probably would have seen an even better turnout; that's the thing with these events - you just never know how many people are going to show up.

(Strangely, we had lots of fruit, veggies - and cookies - left over, but very little of the meaty snacks. Also, the three cases of beer remained veritably untouched, but the case of wine was completely emptied.)

Now, if the above sounds like a lot of overworking on my part, keep in mind we do adhere to the time-honored rule that, "those who cook don't have to clean", so I was excused from the post-open house clean up, which left me time to shiver down the hill to see some friends play their Weimar/"Cabaret" era inspired music.

After that, the rest of the week seems positively sedate.

Plus, it's really, really quiet now, because I'm the only one in the office.

2009-12-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Tired Of Playing The Game Ain't It A Crying Shame I'm So Tired

Things have been (relatively) quiet the past couple of weeks - at least the frenetic level of activity has been dialed down to a simmer, as opposed to a full rolling boil.

We're settling in to the new office, and most of the finishing projects have been completed. Spent 10 hours last Saturday wrapping up several of the remaining large projects: putting up drapes in the conference room, painting some kitchen cabinets, a bit of touch-up painting, leaving only one moderate-sized project to complete, plus some little things I hope to check-off this weekend - just in time for our annual Holiday Open House, which of course, I have to do all the shopping for. On the plus side, the other two people in the office are going to do most of the prep work itself, so I should be able to just sit back and enjoy most of the proceedings.

Have also been working on a few "beautification" projects at the theatre: carpeting our stairwell landings, stripping out and replacing some vinyl tiling in our entryway, and am about to experiment with stripping and refinishing some of the steps themselves. That's going to be a piece-meal project and will probably take me several months to complete, assuming I don't just chuck the whole idea because it turns out to be more hassle than it's worth. But, we'll see.

Otherwise, it's a slow creep-up to Christmas. Assuming we don't get snowed in again this year, which according to the usual sources may be a distinct possibility (can you say repeat of Snowpocalypse 2008? I knew you could), I'll head south on Christmas Eve and try to do the Longview-Kelso/Portland loop over the long weekend, and then MAYBE find some time after the New Year to take a little vacation - even just a few days out-of-town would be nice, because lately it seems that even when I get an extended weekend, such as last, I end up spending half my time working on some project or other.

Time for a little "me time".

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2009-11-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

And The Scary Man Who's Driving

Now that Thanksgiving is solidly behind us, most normal people can now contemplate getting in the mood for the next major holiday on the calendar.

And for many of us here in the Upper Left-Hand, particularly those with some sort of theatrical predilection, that means at some point attending a performance of The Dina Martina Christmas Show.

I've waxed - well, poetic doesn't seem like quite the right description - let's just say, I've mentioned Dina in the past, so long-time readers (all six of you) already know the score. But for the uninitiated, think of the most horrible, awesome, hilarious train-wreck combination of late vintage Judy Garland, Tammy Fae Baker, and Joan Rivers, with a generous dollop of Courtney Love, a bad drag show and the scariest clown you've ever seen, and you only begin to develop an approximate image of the sheer want-to-close-your-eyes-but-don't-want-to-miss-the-fiery-collision that is Dina.

Aside from the rampant malapropisms (Christmas gifts, when expressed by Ms. Martina become "Chreeshmesh Jifts" for example), wardrobe malfunctions of apocalyptic proportion, and inappropriate holiday song melodies that only your butcher could love, Dina's shows always include a little holiday hand-out. I've been going to these shows for about six or seven years now, and generally expect she'll single out some relatively nondescript person in the audience upon which to shower her largess. Today however, perhaps owing to the large contingent of local theatre folk in attendance, when she asked if anyone wanted some "jifts" and my hand went up, she picked me. It might also have had something to do with the fact I was sitting in the second row on an aisle, which meant I could get to the stage pretty quickly - whatever.

Below, you see some of my swag, which consisted of (from Left to Right): A package of Gummy Maggots, a package of Sour Cream & Onion flavored Crickets (they were crunchy, but not very flavorful), and the "pasty resistance", a coveted (no kidding) container of Cheetos Cheese Flavored Lip Balm (not shown: a five-pak of "Saved By The Bell - The College Years" bubblegum trading cards).

And that big, bloody looking smear on my forehead would be the remains of a wet one planted on my noggin by Ms. Martina herself - I'll probably need a Scotch-brite pad to scrub it off.

2009-11-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

We're Glad You Came, But Just The Same You Must Be Going

Sadly, it appears a few more friendly blogs have bit the proverbial dust; yet more casualties of the Facebook, Twitter frenzy no doubt.

So long friends, it was nice reading you. I'll keep the links alive, in hopes of your return.

2009-11-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

The Days Are Just Like Moments Turned To Hours

Walking back-and-forth to work these past couple of weeks has been an interesting experience. While on the one hand I'm traversing very familiar territory, on the other, the simple process of moving myself from Point A to Point B each morning and back again each evening has started to give me a little bit more of a solid connection to the neighborhood in which I spend most of my time.

Typically this time of year, the weather has ranged from bright-and-sunny and very chilly, all the way to rain blowing sideways in sheets - and very chilly. Having lived in this part of the country my entire life this isn't really a big deal; I've got enough foul weather gear to handle a trans-oceanic voyage, and I recently purchased a very cheap pair of velcro-strapped walking shoes, simply for the convenience of having something that is: comfortable, stays dry, and is easy to slip on-and-off once I get to work, where I keep two pair of "regular shoes" stashed beneath my desk. So, regardless of the weather conditions walking the route between my apartment and my office is relatively easy and doesn't result in my arriving at either terminus looking - and feeling - like a drowned rat.

I've tried to vary my route ever so slightly each trip, just to give myself some variety, as well as to get a little better sense of what sorts of things are around me that, in more than 5 years living in the same place, I perhaps have overlooked. I'm trying to be more observant, more aware of my surroundings, taking note of what's there, and more importantly what sorts of things are absent.

Seeing as my path takes me from the edge of the Central District (traditionally, the center of Seattle's African American Community) up over the back side of what used to be known as "Second Hill" ( a description that's long been in disuse), down into the heart of the Pike-Pine Corridor (a sub-district of the surrounding Capitol Hill neighborhood), generally past the Theatre, across Broadway, the major north-south corridor through this part of town, and finally the short descent down the front side of the Hill to where my office is located, just east of I-5 (Important Assimilation Tip: Washingtonians NEVER preface this with "the" as in "the I-5" or "the 5" - that's how we spot the Californians in our midst).

Of course there's the usual things I pass by nearly every day: the Ethiopian restaurant on my corner, the partially abandoned gas station, the bike store and yoga studio and coffee shop right across the street; the Lamborghini/Mazerati dealer; the police precinct, the soccer field, community college, etc., etc. But, if I veer off just a block or so at any point I find myself turning unfamiliar corners, or noticing an establishment that I didn't realize existed until just then: the wrought iron foundry, the hydrolics repair shop, the print bindery, the chiropractor, the auto detailer - dozens of small businesses quietly plying their trades in the back alleys and off-the-main thoroughfares where most of us seldom venture, or just completely overlook when we do.

There are a few places I wish I would discover: a really good deli/butcher shop, a full-service bakery (as opposed to, say, cupcake bakeries which seem to be sprouting up around town like mushrooms in a rain forest), a tailor's shop, a decent Chinese restaurant (Thai, Japanese/Sushi & Vietnamese we got plenty of already), a small electronics repair shop, a 24-hour diner (or at least one that serves after 10:00 p.m.), a greeting card store - just a handful of specialty businesses to round things out.

Maybe that's a little old-fashioned of me, but the whole idea of having the place where you live and work being within walking distance of each other seems like rather an old-fashioned idea that might be coming somewhat back into fashion - or at least seems like an idea that SHOULD come back into fashion.

2009-11-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

But Where It's Going No One Knows

No, no I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, despite what the near dearth of recent posting might indicate; I've just been really, really busy.

We've settled in to the new office space, but there's still plenty of work to be done to get the finishing touches in place, and I find inordinate amounts of my work day occupied with drilling holes in walls and ceilings, inserting anchor bolts & screws and hanging things (curtain tracks, roll-up blinds, brochure holders, coffee mug hooks, et al) to them; rearranging the contents of file cabinets, labeling key sets - all manner of activities that aren't directly related to my actual job description.

In short, on top of being the Membership Director, Office Manager and Bookkeeper, I've now also become the office handyman, due in part no doubt to the fact that I own a set of battery-operated power tools and have competency in using them.

On top of all of this, I've been spending a lot of my so-called "free time" (i.e. weekends and evenings) the past couple of weeks babysitting workshops, auditions and rehearsals utilizing our resource room - as I sit here there's a rehearsal going on down the hall for the Theatre; on Sunday it was a five hour camera acting workshop.

Part of our build-out for the space was supposed to include creating a security barrier between our office proper and the resource room, kitchen and restrooms precisely so that this sort of on-site supervision wouldn't be necessary. But, there's still a gaping hole in the hallway above the security door and until that's sealed up, I just don't feel comfortable leaving the space unattended, even when the people using it are trusted friends and colleagues. The maintenance guy from our old office was supposed to have come in on Friday to take some measurements for the framing of the sealing partition, but in typical fashion he never showed up. At this point I'll probably have to spend yet another weekend afternoon putting something in place myself if I plan on having anything resembling a personal life between now and Christmas.

And so it goes.

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2009-11-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

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2009-11-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

2009-11-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

At Least I Showed You How To Swim For Shore

Well, needless to say I survived last week. Despite the numerous rocks thrown in my path the office did get moved, the data and phone networks were eventually brought online and the unpacking is nearly completed. There will be plenty of finishing touches to complete, but these can be done at a relatively leisurely pace. But, at this point in time My office is basically set up with only a couple of boxes awaiting some sort of bookcase/shelving to come in before being unloaded. As I type, my boss is trying to assemble his Ikea window blinds (his office windows front right onto a sidewalk and he's becoming a bit bored already with feeling like an animal on exhibit at the zoo). The only pieces we're waiting on to complete the major load-in are our conference table, which will arrive Monday, and a buffet sideboard for our conference room, which is on back-order and may not ship until after the first of the year. Otherwise, we're more-or-less back to business as usual.

And I've walked to and from work three out of four days so far this week. Unfortunately, I also seem to have hit a bit of a plateau, and am struggling to get below 200 lbs. I'm holding steady, but haven't dropped any weight for the past few days.

The fundraiser went remarkably well; not as many in attendance as would have been my preference, but the staff was overjoyed, and despite the somewhat (IMO) middling turnout a good time was had by all. I've probably already mentioned it a thousand times, but one more won't hurt: my undying gratitude to everyone - performers, volunteers, artists, contributors - for helping to make it a success. I learned a lot in the process, and should be able to do an even better job of it next year - just have to figure out when to do it, since Halloween falls on a Sunday in 2010.

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2009-11-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Master Of Puppets I'm Pulling Your Strings

This is Francois McGuinness. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely intentional.

2009-11-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

We Got To Move These Refrigerators, We Got To Move These Color TV's

It appears I made it to 49 after all. The way this past week started out, I wasn't exactly full of confidence I'd survive in good enough shape to be more than a blubbery pile of goo on the floor by now, but despite the set backs, the delays, all the things that were supposed to go one way, but insisted on going the other, here I am.

The second team of movers proved more than equal to the task, even despite the fact that our massive main reception desk initially couldn't be maneuvered out of the old office. But, removal of a few drop-ceiling panels and brackets gave us enough clearance to just squeeze it out.

And the guy who did our data line wiring just happened to be available for a brief window and was able to come in and rewire the entire phone system on Thursday, plus fix a couple of boo-boos (totally my fault) that were overlooked during his first installation.

So, once again, just about everything came down to the absolute wire. But, the good news is the phone system was up and running on Friday morning, we sussed out our data network and all the various and sundry machines are happily beeping and booping with each other and - most importantly - with the outside world. The only negatives at this point are one network jack that seems to be on-the-fritz, and the fact that my boss picked up a virus on his laptop most likely due to the temporary jury-rigged Internet connection we set up earlier in the week (we ganged my co-worker's Clear Wire modem to my wireless router, but had to leave everything open and unsecured, because nobody else could get my WEP access code to work - the techno-geeks among you know what I'm talkin' 'bout).

Friday morning I rented a small storage locker and in the afternoon picked up a rental van, and we all schlepped over to the old office to clean out the last of the odds-and-ends, hauled it all back to the new office, emptied the truck, then filled it with about 60 bankers boxes full of old documents we don't need on-site, but aren't allowed to throw away, and my boss and I then took them over to the storage facility and loaded them in. Even though I rented the smallest space they had available, we still only managed to fill it to about one-third capacity, which means we can still get to things in the highly unlikely event we ever need to access anything.

The final bit of business was to contract with someone to clean out the detritus still left at the old space and haul it off to the dump/recylers. There's a company in the same building that does this, but their estimate was IMO somewhat excessive, so I contacted the building maintenance man (the same guy who drove me to distraction on the kitchen counter project), and he underbid by about $200. Plus, he would have had to check us out of the space anyway, so this way we don't have to worry about that part of things either. He came by around 5:00 p.m., we handed him a check and all the keys and access cards for the old building and parking garage, and so the moving part is now officially done.

There's still a huge amount of work to do: lots of re-arranging, moving things into place, getting rid of packaging, along with general clean-up and a final move in of a couple of items, most notably our conference table which is in the process of having its surface refinished. But that will happen next week - or beyond.

I finally managed to attack my new office on Friday, and even in the short amount of time I was able to devote to it, got it into workable shape; now it's just a matter of dealing with the finishing touches, and turning the place into our new home. We have about a month before our annual Holiday Party, which should be plenty of time.

So, tomorrow it'll be back to a somewhat normal routine, plus playing catch-up on the rather modest backlog of things that didn't get dealt with last week. It's just good to have it all over and done with - the scope of this project turned out to be akin to the massive build-out at the Theatre I managed in the spring of 2008; just as nerve-wracking, frustrating, but ultimately satisfying in its completion.

Now, all I have to do today is whip together a ginormous fundraiser for tonight.

Piece of cake - birthday cake, to be precise.

2009-10-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Good Ship And True Was A Bone To Be Chewed
When The Gales Of November Came Early

So, today is Moving Day. With the help of several over-the-counter pharmaceuticals (Thanks, VLW for the TheraFlu recommendation!) I managed 12 straight hours of sleep last night; not nearly enough to make up for three weeks continuous sleep-deprivation, but sufficient to get me through the day.

And I'm sure you're all sitting on the edge of your seats wondering how the day's been going, right? (Humor me, please. I could use a little levity right about now.)

Well, let's start with what's gone RIGHT so far - oh, wait. NOTHING has gone right so far.

Which leaves the following as "A Partial Listing OF What's Gone WRONG Today":

- The office movers apparently have never actually moved an office before, at least not one comprised of anything that weighs more than about 100 pounds. They can't take our regular household sized refrigerator or the largest pieces of office furniture.

- On top of that, the arrival time that I had scheduled for 9:00 a.m. turned out in actuality to be more like 12:00 Noon, which worked out somewhat seeing as how it was pouring rain for most of the morning anyway. The question now is, can they get back from the new site, pack up the remainder of what needs to go and then off-load it before 5:00 p.m.? My guess is, "probably not". So, how long in fact WILL it take them? Your guess is as good as mine at this point.

- As if that weren't enough, some of the pieces of furniture they were able to move won't fit through the doors to the rooms they're assigned (e.g. my new office desk). So, I'm going to have to disassemble a couple of pieces before they can be put into place, then reassemble them again. Not a huge task, just another thing to add to the ever growing List Of Things Still To Be Done.

- The phone lines went dead at around 9:30 this morning. That was expected, since they have to be switched off at one location before they can be activated at the other. Strangely however, the DSL line didn't go dead at the same time. When I called the phone company a couple of hours later, it turns out the service tickets for our three separate accounts hadn't been linked together, so the DSL switchover hadn't been scheduled until Friday! By the time I got that straightened out and got the deinstall/reinstall moved up to tomorrow, I got a call from our phone system tech who was trying to reinstall that end of things at the new location saying that: A of all.) all the phone jacks in our office need to be rewired because they're an old-style residential system that can't handle our multi-line system, and; B of all.) he doesn't have the equipment to do that kind of work, because it's going to require drilling through "hardpan walls" (there are no drop ceilings or fancy metal studs with convenient punch-outs through which to drop cable).

So, where did that leave me? The movers can't complete the move, the phone system company can't complete the install, my new office isn't even going to have a desk in it when I get over there, and I'm sitting in a half-empty office that currently looks like a complete and utter disaster area trying to juggle multiple calls on my cell phone - and it looks like it's going to start raining again any minute now.

Okay, maybe I exaggerated just slightly above; despite the continuous series of wild fires a few things have gone my way today: I found a professional office mover who, on less than 24 hours notice can pick up and deliver our larger items, and at the same rate as what I'm being charged by the other moving company. Also, after yet another call to the Business Services Dept. at QWest, I not only managed to get a second service order set up to install the DSL tomorrow, but they'll come prepared to drill in the additional phone lines as well.

As I write this, the movers are back for a second load, but they're going to leave behind most of the other file cabinets & desks. It's okay, I've already called the other movers and they can handle it within their window tomorrow morning.

And at least I've still got Internet access at work (that's also A Thing That's Gone Wrong, but one I can still use to my advantage.)

AND I haven't strangled anyone.

AND and I haven't gone completely bonkers.

AND AND after all the hubbub and insanity of the past several weeks I just now realized how quiet and peaceful it is here in the office right now.

Hm, maybe a little TOO quiet.

Like, the sort of quiet one might experience in the eye of a hurricane...

2009-10-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

'Tis The Song The Sigh Of The Weary, Hard Times Hard Times Come Again No More

I didn't think we were going to make it - and it did in fact come right down to the wire. As of 10:00 p.m. last night the kitchen still wasn't completely finished and it was another sleepless night filled with thoughts of dread and dire vengeance.

At this point I'm so sleep deprived I've almost completely lost all sense of time: I drove a few miles north yesterday afternoon to attend a party at a friend's house that was actually scheduled for this evening. Tonight, I went back, was there for two hours and it felt like I'd been there all day. It's now 7:30 p.m. and I'm fully intending to crawl into bed as soon as I finish typing this.

This is the lesson I've learned about contractors: if you give them a deadline they will push you right up to it, within hours even. I think they get some perverse sort of pleasure out of watching their clients squirm and fidget and palpably vibrate just for the thrill of enpowerment it must give them; why else put another human being through that kind of torture?

But, whatever. It's done. There are still a handful of tiny details to complete, little bits-and-pieces that only someone who's been staring at that same spot on the wall for three straight months would probably even notice. But, from a purely functional perspective, those can be dealt with.

It's done, over, finito and we start moving at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.
,
Only of course, it's not done, and probably won't be for weeks, for however long it takes us to settle in and work the kinks out of the new space, the ones I hadn't even thought of.

Enough from me. The TheraFlu is almost gone. Time for bed.

2009-10-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Get A Move On/Go With The Flow

Things are starting to get close to the wire for both of my major projects. The new space is maddeningly close to being finished; the kitchen sink, dishwasher & counters should be completed by tomorrow latest, then there are a couple of tiny build-out projects that - hopefully - will be done before the weekend. Then, I've got a small amount of touch-up painting and a couple of minor projects to complete this weekend before Moving Day on Monday. But as of now, we're about 98% of the way to having the new space completed.

I've finally begun packing up my office, which isn't going to take me very long, but there's also a great deal of sorting, trashing/recycling and packing up to do in the main office as well. Fortunately, my co-workers are handling most of this, but I still have to go through things in storage to decide what we have to keep (financial records mostly), and what we can toss. What's time-consuming is that I'm having to make some sort of trip - to the office supply or hardware store, over to the new space to deal with a delivery - just about every day, so between that and the normal day-to-day work that still needs to get done AND walking people around the office to show them what we have available to "take away" (e.g. the book case in my office that was moved out not ten minutes ago) I just haven't had much time to devote to this part of the move.

Still, things continue to move in a forward direction and despite the rampant insomnia that's been waking me up at around 4:00 a.m. every morning for the past week, I'm feeling reasonably confident that we're going to pull this off - not necessarily without a hitch; that would be too much to ask - but well enough that we should be more-or-less business as usual by mid-week.

At least, that's the plan.

2009-10-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Down Here All The Fish Is Happy As Off Through The Waves They Roll

Dear Bloggie Friends:

I'm afraid the time has come. I've waited, with patience and hope, but it's been more than three months now in some instances, and your blogs have remained un-updated. I know, I know, I've slacked quite a bit myself. "And besides," I hear you say, "all the cool kids are Twitting and Tweeting, and FB'ing like crazed hyenas, and the long-form blog has become so much work! All that typing! All those letters!" That plus your 587 "friends" have to come TO your site to read it, rather than you just thumbing what you had for breakfast and "KA-POW!" The entire Netiverse instantly knows what flavor Cap'n Crunch it was.

And so, it is my sad duty to inform you that some of you have been declared "Lost At Sea", and I've moved you to the bedrock sea bottom of Davy Jones' dead link locker.

I'll check up on you once in a while, just to see if you float back up to the surface. But for now, sleep peacefully with the fishes my friends.

2009-10-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Boy, You Got To Carry That Weight, Carry That Weight A Long Time

Stepped on the scale this morning and it finally registered below 210 lbs. - just barely, but that particular milestone has at least been achieved.

I've been on something of a plateau the past few weeks, with a bit of see-sawing to boot, and needless to say the frustration level has been palpable. I feel like I've cut out 90% of the bad stuff - leaving room for the occasional adult beverage, but skipping most other "treats" - I even turned down a Diletante chocolate truffle today, just on principle. And although I'm not keeping obsessively diligent records, I've feel reasonably confident I've reduced my daily caloric intake by roughly 25% to roughly 1,800 calories per day.

Not to make excuses, but, there are a few things going on right now: the office move (which has turned into a much bigger undertaking than I originally anticipated, what with having to be more closely involved in supervising the build-out of the new space than I had intended), plus simultaneously planning the fundraiser, among others, that have stressed me out to the extent that I've probably been somewhat less diligent about monitoring my intake as I should have been (I think that rack of short-ribs I cooked at the recent Theatre Retreat a couple weeks back was the harbinger of my temporary downfall).

I seriously doubt I'm going to hit the 200 mark by my birthday, as I had hoped (now projecting that'll happen sometime around the 18th of November - just in time for Thanksgiving, yay!), but at least I'm once again trending down.

And, as of today I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal, and actually still achieving a reasonably good loss rate of about 1 2/3 lbs. per week (slightly less than my initial goal of 2 lb. per week) despite the two week stagnation. So, if things remain on a steady course and I don't run into further impediments, I should be down to my overall goal of 180 lbs. by Valentine's Day.

Go figure.

Fire &

2009-10-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

2009-10-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

A Spur-Of-The-Moment Scavenger Hunt, Or Queen Of The Nile?

Only one month away...

(Click image to view the details)

2009-09-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

I'm Bound To Pack It Up, I'm Bound To Pack It Up And Go Away

Hard to believe the office move is a mere four weeks away. So far, things have gone relatively smoothly; the build-out is essentially done, with just a little bit of network cabling left to install, and what's turned out to be the most complicated project, tracking down a suitable sink cabinet to install in the kitchen.

Turns out that, because of the location of the plumbing and the dimensions of the room, a standard six-foot sink and counter won't fit - we've only got a five foot opening between the stove and a portable dishwasher we're bringing in - so after rather exhaustive research, it looks like we're going to have to have one custom-built; which is fine actually, since the handyman at our current location is willing to do it, and can get the job done a lot sooner than the 4 - 6 weeks shipping lag we've been given by other businesses, and for several hundred dollars less than the cheapest commercial estimate we've been given.

Otherwise, it's a matter of starting the process of packing what we're going to take, consolidating and getting rid of our excess office furniture, shredding no-longer-needed documents, and making sure all the little "i"'s have been dotted and "t"'s crossed between now and the 26th, when the move itself is scheduled.

Then of course, there's the "making sure everything ends up in the right place and that all the machines work like their supposed to" part that happens immediately afterward, at which point we can actually think about settling in, which hopefully won't take more than a few days.

Because I have a major fundraiser for the theatre happening the following weekend.

And a board meeting the following Monday.

And then, I think I'll deserve a bit of a vacation.

Annex Retreat 2009

2009-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Goin' Up The County, Babe Don't You Wanna Go?

2009-09-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

Get Your Motor Running, Head Out On The Highway

Heading out of town for a few days for the annual theatre retreat. Back on-the-grid Sunday evening.

Don't do anything exciting until I get back...

Badminton Royale @ OTB

2009-09-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Sat With Strawberries & Cream Listening To The Players Scream

Our local Performance Art presenting organization decided to host a city-wide badminton tournament yesterday, featuring teams from a whole slew of different arts groups (theatre, music & dance companies, art museums, funding orgs, pottery collectives, even a local weekly news-and-arts paper) as part of their Season Kick-off. What they expected to be a handful of participants turned out to be something like 26 teams, all vying for the coveted "Golden Shuttlecock on top of a bottle of Jack Daniels" Award (J.D. being sort of an inside joke among the org's staff).

The parking lot across the street from the venue was fenced off, four courts set up, plenty of beer was available, as well as hot dogs and great Hawaiian/Korean/Mexican mash-up comestibles (the kimchi fried rice was particularly delicious, as were the spicy pork tacos!), and teams engaged in ritual racket combat until darkness descended and everyone moved inside for the championship match played out on the venue's main stage.

In the end, the top honors went to Pottery Northwest(that's them in the photo above, on the far side in the pink-and-black outfits) who pulled off a come-from-behind upset over the heavily-favored team from Seattle Repertory Theatre. There was a slight bit of controversy attached to their victory, as no one could definitively say whether the twosome met the team qualifications (participants had to be either a staff or board member of the organization), but in the spirit of fair-play, they were allowed to take-court anyway.

A good time was had by all and the whole thing turned into a very unique and fun networking event. Unfortunately, "Team Annex" made a pitiful showing, being eliminated in the very first round by the team from the above-mentioned publication; a grudge rematch is already in the making for next year.

2009-09-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

Might As Well Be Walking On The Sun

According to today's local forecast, we should hit 91 degrees - that's as hot as it's supposed to be in Phoenix, hotter than Redding, CA. Portland? Eh, not even close.

So, for those of you who live in those other places - enjoy your chilly weather.

Happy Autumn.

2009-09-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yo, Ho, Ho - And A Bottle Of Rum

Yarr, mateys!

2009-09-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

I Want To Drive My Bus To My Baby Each Day

Last week "Big Red" went into the shop for annual maintenance and a complete rebuild of the front end: new ball joints, tie rods, linkage; pretty much everything but the steering box itself (which is still being contemplated, but may not be necessary.) At this point in time, I've now replaced all the major mechanical components with new or newly rebuilt parts: engine, steering, suspension, transaxle are all less than seven years old and have - at most - less than 50,000 miles wear.

Just to put that into perspective: when I replaced the engine with a new rebuild back in 2001 Red had about 190,000 miles under his wheels. Currently my odomoter is just over 240,000. Granted rebuilt parts don't have the same kind of useful life as new OEM parts, but they should get 75 - 80% of that, if not more with due care and regular maintenance. And, given that I'm only putting about 3,000 a year on it at this point (with an average annual mileage of only 6,250 over the past eight years), barring an unforeseen catastrophe, it's entirely possible I can keep Red in good running order for another 20 years.

Assuming of course that gasoline is still available in 20 years time, that is.

(Although secretly, I'm hoping mass-produced hydrogen fuel-cell conversion kits will hit the market in about 10 years.)

2009-09-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

I Have Missed Things And Kept Out Of Sight, But Other Girls Were Never Quite Like This

Dawn and Bob were married today. This was the first time I've actually met him; he seems like a nice guy, and you can see that they're truly, deeply in love with each other. So, in some respects it wasn't as hard as I thought, watching it happen, but it wasn't exactly easy either. I felt privileged to have been invited; I'm sure it's not common for ex's: boyfriends, husbands, lovers, get invited to the wedding, so I imagine it's indicative of a level of trust when it does happen, and I'm grateful and humbled to be found worthy of that degree of trust. And yet, while I'm truly happy for both of them, at the same time I can't help but acknowledge the tiny, selfish-sounding whisper deep down inside that taunts, "buddy, that could have been you."

As I was leaving, Dawn came up to me and asked if I was doing okay, as if, of all things on her wedding day she needs to be worrying about me. Of course I told her I was, and told her how beautiful she looked, because she did look beautiful, and that I was sorry we hadn't kept in better touch over the past few months. She rolled her eyes, "yeah, we've both been kind of busy, haven't we?" which is certainly an understatement. I reminded her that the wedding present I'd just delivered had originally been intended as a Christmas present, and later was repurposed to a birthday present. "I'll do better about that," she said and gave me a hug, which in hindsight was really what I needed at that moment.

So, here's to Dawn and Bob: may they share much happiness, peace and prosperity as they begin their new lives together.

Mille failte dhuit le d'bhreid,
Fad do re gun robh thu slan.
Mo ran la ithean dhuit is sith,
Le d'mhaitheas is le d'ni bhi fas!

2009-09-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Same As It Ever Was, Same As It Ever Was

Sooooo, I keep thinking there hasn't been all that much going on lately, and thus nothing of real import to convey, but then I realize the reason I think that is because I've been so darned busy of-late that I haven't had much time to think much about all the things I HAVE been doing.

A brief summary to-wit:

Although the office move is still a good two months away, there's been a huge amount of prep work involved: for example, I've been dealing on an almost daily basis with the contractors who are building out the new space, which frequently involves mid-day site visits to check on progress, answer questions, clarify where things are supposed to go, etc., etc.. Fortunately, we have lots of time to get this phase completed, and the contractors are making excellent progress, so that part of the job should be finished by next week, which will give me a little bit of a break before dealing with the second phase, namely, starting to get the current office ready for the physical move.

In addition to the above of course, I'm simultaneously identifying and implementing the various logistical elements involved with the move: securing the services of a mover, document disposal, scheduling with the phone companies, the post office, getting change-of-address info out to vendors, our members, and our national staff, getting bids on new signage, et al, along with starting the process of figuring out what we're getting rid of, what we're taking, and where it's all going to live once it gets there.

And of course, all of this is occurring in the midst of our normal, day-to-day work load, which has been much busier this late summer than normal. The TV series shooting down in Portland is winding up for the season, but because the last two episodes are being shot simultaneously (I'm guessing it's a two-parter), it's essentially doubled the amount of work we would normally need to do during an equivalent time-frame. Plus, they're adding and subtracting cast as the scripts and shooting-schedules change, so I've literally been on the phone with their Associate Producer and/or modifying cast clearances three or even four times a day. It's not a huge amount of extra work, but it is high-priority, so anything I happen to be doing at the time gets dropped; definitely messes up the "flow".

On the good side though, they've been renewed for a 3rd season, and it looks very likely they'll return to PDX for shooting next spring.

And in the middle of all of this, I'm well into week four of the ELDM diet. Haven't actually started weighing myself, as I thought I'd try to drop a few pounds before self-inflicting the dread of whatever scale number is going to come up, but I continue to notice a gradual loss of extra padding, to the point where a couple of days ago I could actually see something that vaguely looks like a rib beginning to show through; just one mind you, so I've got quite a ways to go before I have to start worrying about losing too much (!), but it's an encouraging start.

Things at the theatre are in a bit of a lull for the moment. We just closed our final shows of the season, and are officially on a teensy hiatus until the next show opens in late October, although we have a month-long "mini fringe festival" event coming in starting next week.

Actually, it's pretty exciting. Back in 1991 Seattle was the first U.S. city to put on a Fringe Theatre Festival (there had been several running in Canada prior to that), but it went belly-up in 2003. Still, a lot of Seattle performers have continued to ply the Canadian and eastern U.S. festival circuit, and they've frequently returned with reports of terrific performances and companies that no longer have an opportunity to be seen here. So, a bright, ambitious individual, one Andrew Connor, himself a veteran of the fringe fest circuit, has decided to do something about this, namely, to invite a whole passel of fellow festival acts to Seattle for a month-long "best of" mini-fringe fest, appropriately titled, The Suitcase Festival.

Annex has had an ongoing relationship with Andrew and his company for a couple of years now, and we've been kicking around ideas for some time as to ways we could collaborate, so this was pretty much a no-brainer so far as our Company was concerned. Several of the groups are local, but most aren't, so this will be the first chance in a long time (if not the first time ever) that Seattle audiences will have so see these companies perform.

And who knows? Maybe it'll get people here excited about the idea of reviving the now long-somnolent Seattle Fringe Festival...

2009-08-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

I Left From The Station With A Haversack And Some Trepidation

So, I decided to go on a diet a couple of weeks ago - nothing fancy; I call it the "ELDM" diet (Eat Less Do More), basically just being more mindful of what I'm putting down my gullet and making a point of actually getting out and moving around on a more-or-less regular basis.

I'm not experiencing any spectacular "lost 6 inches in two weeks!" sort of phenomenon, but at the same time, I'm not feeling overly compelled to sue somebody either. And it HAS made a difference; the pants are a little less snug than they were a couple of weeks ago, and the joints don't feel quite so creaky after a four or five mile walk. It hasn't required any major lifestyle changes, just a little adjustment here and there, so maybe I can even stick with it for a few months, just to see what happens.

Otherwise, not much else going on. I've been up to my eyeballs at work between catching up on the backlog from being gone for most of a week, to scrambling to get a few new projects booked for members, to starting in with the real nitty-gritty of the new office remodel and impending move. With my boss gone for the past two weeks, I've taken the initiative to pull all the pieces of the move together, of which there seem to be quite a few: scheduling movers, contacting the phone company, engaging a document disposal service, getting bids on signage, starting to contact vendors, coordinating with our national office, etc., etc.. Two months seems like plenty of time to get everything in place, but the way time seems to be flying by lately, it'll be mid-October before I can blink.

Oh, and did I mention I'm planning a fundraiser for The Theatre that - naturally - is happening at exactly the same time as the move? Of course I am.

Never boring around here. Nope. Not ever.

2009-08-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Got My Glass Of Water Cooling, Got My Shades Over My Eyes

Lack of posting this past week has been due to, well, lack of anything momentous about which to post. Work was quiet, with very little backlog from my absence the previous week and my boss taking a two week post-convention vacation (as I also make note of the fact that Saturday - not an actual work day - was my 4th Anniversary of gainful employment at The Job); the weather ranged from a bit of rain to mostly sunny, but staying in our "ideal summer" uppper 70's/lower 80's; no big events in the offing (with the slight exception of a late-night show opening, and Saturday's flaming tribal dance BBQ spectacular.

Sometimes, it's good to not have a full plate, you know?

2009-08-09T00:26:00.000-07:00

They've Burst Your Pretty Balloon And Taken The Moon Away

The 2009 AFTRA National Convention adjourned just after 1:00 a.m. Chicago time. Pre-planning for the 2011 Convention in Seattle began at around 1:15 a.m.

I guess I know what I'm going to be doing about this same time two years hence...

2009-08-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

Any Time Of Year You Can Find It Here

My local's delegation is caucusing right now, so I've got a tiny break before we go back into regular session.

Have seen very little of Chicago, except for the few blocks around the hotel and a brief glimpse of some of the waterfront on our trip to and from Thursday evening's social event. Fortunately, the weather has been mild, uppper 70's with low humidity; even rained most of yesterday. Today, temps are creeping back up and the humidity is also on the rise, as evinced by the mugginess I experienced on the two block walk to the deli for a sandwich a little while ago.

About the only perk so far this trip is that I was given a room (possibly the smallest hotel room I've ever been in - and I've been in some small ones) up on the "Regency Club floor", which apparently is reserved for frequent-stay guests. The Club itself is a rather nicely apportioned lounge where all manner of snacks and goodies can be had - for free - throughout the day. I discovered on Thursday that my room key-card lets me into the lounge, so I've been saving a bit of $$ on meal expenses by breakfasting there instead of going to a restaurant.

Turns out we don't have a session on Sunday morning, so it's possible I might have a slight window of opportunity to get out for a couple of hours to do a bit of exploring before heading to the airport tomorrow afternoon, but it really depends on how late things go tonight. I've heard that sessions can go as late as 2:00 or even 3:00 a.m., although nobody seems to be anticipating going much later than maybe 11:00 p.m. So, if I manage to get a good night's sleep (something that hasn't occurred so far), that might be a possibility; we'll see how things go.

Buddy Guy Plays Morgan Fairchild Eats

2009-08-06T18:19:00.000-07:00

Multimedia message

2009-08-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

2009-08-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Bet Your Bottom Dollar You'll Lose The Blues In Chicago

In Chicago for the AFTRA Convention, a bit of a challenge getting there though.

Got up at 4:30 a.m. yesterday, caught a bus downtown thinking I'd make use of our brand-spanking new light rail (even though it doesn't go all the way to the airport - yet), but we were kicked off two stops before the end-of-the-line because of a traffic accident on the tracks (no trains were involved, we were told). So, they put us on a bus to the last station, then we got on another bus that dropped us off at the airport. My impression of LINK: the trains are nice and comfortable, but even when the airport station opens later this year, I'm not sure it's going to be a faster trip than taking a regular bus.

Did the normal check-in, walk through security, then down to the departure lounge. My flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30 a.m., so I had just enough time to grab a quick airport breakfast (i.e. expensive and most reconstituted) before boarding.

We pulled away from our slot right on-schedule, but then sat on the taxiway for about 45 minutes before the pilot announced we were having a little mechanical difficulty and would be heading back to the gate. After another 15 minutes we were informed that a valve that feeds compressed air from the starter turbine to the engine turbines, thus starting them was malfunctioning, and that, because there was no spare in Seattle, they'd have to ship up a replacement from San Francisco, and that most likely the flight would not be able to leave until around 1:00 p.m.

Fortunately, they also let us know that, if we were travelling beyond the flight's final destination (St. Louis) we could call the airline and rebook on another flight. I lucked out and managed to get a direct flight to Chicago that left at 11;30 a.m. (by now it was after 10:00 a.m.), and I would actually get in an hour earlier than my original schedule.

Unfortunately, it also meant having to get my checked bag, getting back in the ticketing line to re-check it, then back through the security line, then back to another departure gate - talk about feelings of deja vu.

Long story short, finally made it to Chicago about 5:30 local, grabbed my bags, caught a train into downtown, then a taxi from the stop to the hotel, since I had no idea how far it would be, had just enough time to check-in, register my delegation for today's session, then meet them for dinner. Afterward, I took a brief walk around a few blocks of downtown, then crashed about 11:30 p.m.

The convention proper started this morning with a pre-recorded welcome to Chicago from President Obama (guess it helps when the POTUS is from the town where your holding your convention!), and all the usual housekeeping and committee reports that ensue during these things.

Highlight of the morning: during our mid-morning break I went out to the lobby to refill my coffee and while I was pouring some half-and-half into my cup this very soft, slightly southern drawl behind me asked, "excuse me, may I have a little of that?"

And that's how I ended up pouring cream into Morgan Fairchild's coffee.

Sonic $outh @ Capitol Hill Block Party

2009-08-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

It's Just A Jump To The Left

The above poorly rendered image of Sonic Youth was taken Saturday evening the 25th at the Capitol Hill Block Party. I have no idea why it took more than a full week for the MMS to send-and-upload to the site.

Time warps, that's the only rational explanation.

2009-07-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Back Of My Neck Getting Dirty And Gritty

It's hot today, I mean HOT! "Oh, pshaw!" I hear you scoff, "You people up there in your little green paradise don't know what hot is!" Don't believe me, just ask.

"Okay, I'll bite. How hot was it?"

It was hot, okay? Record-crushingly hot, not just the hottest day of the year, not just the highest recorded temperature for this date, but the hottest day EVER RECORDED in these parts since geeks with thermometers started recording temperatures around here about 118 years ago.

103 degrees Fahrenheit, to be precise.

That's pretty darned hot, by anyone's standards; just to put it into context, that's roughly 25 degrees hotter than the average this time of year.

And we're being told to expect more of the same tomorrow, another day in triple-digits, before it starts "cooling down" into the 90's and upper 80's for the weekend, where it will apparently remain for some time.

I never thought I'd say this, but being in Chicago next week is going to be an actual relief.

Congratulations Kelly & Dan!

2009-07-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

If I Am Dancing Roll Up The Floor

No, that is not me officiating, it's my Uncle Mike, Kelly's father - but we do look a lot alike.

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2009-07-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

I Have Only One Burning Desire Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

When a Goth, tribal dancer decides she wants a beach party for her birthday, she GETS a beach party complete with doumbeks, tambourines, and fire-dancing under the summer stars.

Too bad it also came with some jerk(s) raiding our picnic shelter for unattended snacks and beverage coolers. That's some bad karma they're not going to earn down for quite some time.

2009-07-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

We Could Walk Forever Walking On The Moon

July 20, 1969 was a few months shy of my 9th birthday, but I still recall that day vividly; actually a greater part of that week, since the TV networks pre-empted whatever was on at the moment whenever a television transmission was beamed down from Columbia/Eagle. It's something I think a lot of people born in the modern era of total global media saturation don't fully comprehend: the Apollo 11 mission was the first truly world-wide media event, with literally one quarter of the four-odd billion human beings listening to or watching every detail of the journey as it occurred in real-time.

Here in the Pacific Northwest it's still light at 8:00 p.m. in July, when Armstrong crawled out through the Lunar Module hatch and onto the "porch" just prior to the beginning of the live TV transmission. I was laying on the floor of our living room, watching one of those gigantic old color console TV's; my dad sitting in his lounger behind me, and my step mom and younger brothers sort of wandering around, maybe paying attention, maybe not. My entire focus was on that TV screen, so any peripheral activity going on around me was pretty much blanked out.

The landing itself had occurred some seven hours earlier, around 1:00 p.m. local time, so this had literally been an all day event, what with the CM/LM separation, the pre-burn visual inspection, then the actual de-orbit burn and landing. The networks had essentially cancelled whatever regular programming had been scheduled for that day (a Sunday, as I recall). Most of this of course wasn't seen by the television audience, but the network commentators (or, if you wanted the "real coverage", just CBS's Walter Cronkite - R.I.P.) were backed up by teams of reporters staking out every facility in NASA's network, from Mission Control in Houston, to JPL in Pasadena, even the contractors if I recall correctly, and of course everyone had some sort of model, or graphic representation, or animation available to illustrate every maneuver and activity.

So, we're sitting there, glued to the tube, watching the pictures come in from mission control, and listening to the eerie, occasionally echo-ey audio, when suddenly this ghostly, grainy black-and-white image pops up with a crawler scrolling across the bottom saying "Live From The Surface Of The Moon". Frankly, it was pretty hard to make out at first, since the LM had intentionally come down facing into its own shadow. But then, in that darkness, there was movement, and after a moment or two you could just make out the image of a puffy figure climbing down the ladder attached to the LM's front leg; Armstrong making his way down slowly, testing his ability to move in the bulky 300 pound space suit in one-sixth earth gravity; hopping up and down from the bottom rung to the landing foot-pad (because, as it turns out, he'd landed so softly, even despite having only a few seconds of fuel left, the shock-absorbing landing legs hadn't depressed as far down as had been expected), all the while describing his actions as we're watching them, which helped clarify things a great deal since he really was hard to make out in the low-contrast image.

Then, suddenly he gets still, and you can hear the tension in his voice: "Okay, I'm going to step off the LM now", and there's a slight side-ways movement; "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I've seen this footage literally scores of times since that day, and despite his intention of including that additional "a" before "man", I can say with full confidence that it wasn't there. No glitch in the transmission, no halting pause - he just forgot to say it, period. Don't let the revisionists tell you otherwise. It's not like he wasn't a bit preoccupied at the time.

And at that moment, I think the entire world must have let out a collective sigh of breath - I know I did. Because, as tension-filled as the landing itself had been, this was THE moment, what we'd all been waiting for since Kennedy's Rice University speech in 1962 when he made the challenge to "land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth" before the end of the decade. Like Columbus (or maybe Erikson, or some unknown Chinese sailor) setting foot in the new world, Amundson at the South Pole, Hillary on Everest's summit, it's that one step, that physical touching of the unexplored place that seems to matter most to us, and here we were watching the most important step to occur in our lifetime, perhaps in any lifetime, live in glorious black-and-white television.

Cronkite, removing his glasses and wiping obvious tears from his eyes, with a grin as wide as the moon itself is also a memory that sticks with me. Anyone who grew up in that era, in the States at any rate, recognized him as one of our most trusted authority figures. He was the one on the news every night, telling us about the world, about our own country, the daily body counts of U.S. soldiers killed, the protests and unrest, the triumphs and tragedies of mid-century America; and here he was, unapologetically shedding tears of joy and relief, expressing how most of us felt at that same moment TO us. So sad that he had to pass just a few days short of this momentous anniversary, of which he was such an integral spectator.

After that, the rest of the moon walk is a bit of a blur in my memory. Once Armstrong set up the second, tripod-mounted TV camera, things were a little easier to make out, since it was out of the LM's shadow and showing considerably more detail and contrast. There were images of Aldrin coming out of the LM, down the ladder and onto the surface; magnificent panorama shots of the desolate, yet surprisingly smooth lunar landscape; two marshmallow encased figures bouncing up-and-down on the lunar surface; the setting up of the U.S. flag; Nixon's telephone call to the astronauts (another now taken-for-granted notion, that one can just pick up a phone and call someone, not just anywhere on the earth, but on another planet as well!); the unveiling and reading of the plaque attached to the LM landing leg intoning a message of peace and unity, ironic for a mission originally conceived in an era of paranoia and military competitiveness.

And then two and a-half hours later, they were crawling back into the LM. The TV transmission ceased, there were a few final comments from the reporters, and it was all over. I remember my dad getting us ready for bed, but who could have slept after a day like that? I lay wide awake in bed for hours, while those grainy black-and-white images continued to replay in my head. staring at the Revell 1/96 scale Saturn V model that stood In the corner of the bedroom I shared with one of my younger brothers. My dad and I had built it together (well, he did most of the building!) a couple of months prior; at nearly 4 foot tall it was bigger than me, and it loomed there in the darkness like a protective totem. I imagined myself, as I had done numerous times before, occupying that tiny silver cone at the very top, racing through the inky black sky toward the dull grey orb that even now was visible in the darkness above, wondering what it must have been like to travel down to its surface. But, I didn't have to imagine - I'd seen it with my own eyes, watched two men from planet earth traverse its landscape as if I was there standing next to them as they shuffled and hopped their way into history.

Hard to believe it's now 40 years later. Even harder for me to imagine why we stopped going, just when we'd made those first few tentative steps out into the darkness. After a handful more missions - it all just ended. Sure, we had Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz (finally making friends - in space at least - with our Russian adversaries), but then another six years would pass before the first Shuttle mission - none of which has ever gone beyond 400 miles altitude above the earth's surface. All sorts of rationalizations have been put forth to explain the step-back: the public lost interest in the seemingly routine nature of the event (the near-catastrophic events of the Apollo 13 mission notwithstanding); politicians couldn't support the enormous costs, especially with a full-scale war raging half a world away; we'd reached the goal of beating the Soviets to the moon, so the race was effectively over. But, I'd seen the images of Von Braun and Bonestell, of Kubrick and Clarke; the moon was supposed to have been just the beginning, not the end. We were supposed to have giant space stations, and permanent lunar bases, and leviathan-sized ships traversing the dark solar sea to Mars - and beyond. By the first decade of the New Millennium going into outer space was supposed to have been as routine as taking a long plane flight; instead of a few hundred astronauts, there were supposed to have been thousands of us, perhaps tens of thousands, regularly leaving the surly bonds of earth and venturing out into the void. And yet, here it is nearly 2010, and we're only just now talking about going back to the moon, maybe, in another ten years or so.

I just hope to live long enough to see it happen again.

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2009-07-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

2009-07-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

And That's The Way It Is

Walter Cronkite (1916 - 2009)

What a sad irony; Walter Cronkite, the last of the "Murrow's Boys" and the literal symbol of objective newsreporting for the past 40 years died today at the age of 92, just on the eve of the 40th Anniversary of what was perhaps the greatest story he ever covered as a news anchor.

For those of us who grew up in the '60's and '70's Cronkite was the ultimate authority figure: wise, usually somber, but not afraid to let a wry delight escape when appropriate. He was on television just about every night for decades, reporting on tragedies and triumphs, showing us the good, the bad, and sometimes the horrifying, but always informing us, teaching us more about our world and our place in it.

I was going to save posting this link until Monday, the actual anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, but in honor of the late Mr. Cronkite, now seems like an appropriate time to put it up:

Goodnight, and thanks for everything.

2009-07-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Kiss The World Goodbye And Away We Fly, Destination Moon

Although there has probably been some lead-up to this, as of 6:53 a.m. Pacific Time, the 40th Anniversary commemoration of the Apollo 11 mission has officially begun:

.

For those of you interested, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has set up a terrific web site, wechoosethemoon.org to chronicle in "real-time" the entire mission, from lift-off to splash-down.

Celebratory events are being held across the nation. Unfortunately, only a few events are happening locally, but I would highly recommend checking out Monday's event at Northwest Film Forum, where they'll show the original televised EVA event at 7:00 p.m., followed by a presentation by filmmaker and sound artist Joe Militus.

In the meantime, for those of you who have never experienced this incredible footage, enjoy.

2009-07-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here Come The Skeletons To Say I Told You So Again

(Artwork thanks to Chromomatic)

A little souvenir from Saturday's All-Holiday Party.

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2009-07-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

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2009-07-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

Corned beef & cabbage mini-pasties

2009-07-11T00:12:00.000-07:00

Is That A Pie Fit For A King? Such Wonderous Sweet And Most Particular Thing?

(Corned Beef & Cabbage Mini-Pasties)

Don't anyone say I don't sweat and slave away for my dear little theatre.

I baked 50 of these little morsels, all from scratch. Mixed and rolled the dough, grated the meat & vegetables, stuffed, folded, & sealed each and every single little pie (and found the dough press I bought this afternoon to be completely worthless - good thing it only cost me $6) and brought them all to hot, flaky perfection.

All Holiday Party - I am for you!

2009-07-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride It Where I Like

So, I bought a bicycle a couple of months ago - nothing fancy, A used Raleigh Mojave 2.0 that a friend needed to sell for quick cash. But since then, I haven't really had time to do anything with it until yesterday, when I added a few doo-dads and gee-gaws to make it a little more road-worthy (pedal stirrups, mud guards, a new lock, & lights), and finally took it out for a test-drive down to the Theatre for our monthly late-night cabaret.

I'm still a little sore.

First off, I haven't been on a bicycle in, well, I'm not exactly sure how long, at least 9 years by my estimate. I haven't owned a bike since I moved onto the boat, which would have been back in July of 2000, and it was stolen right off the bike rack at the marina shortly thereafter. I can't recall having been on one since then.

So, there's that period of adjustment, getting used to the new center of gravity, and balance, and all that. Fortunately, several years of scooter riding helps somewhat, but not completely; you're much higher up in the air, so the center of gravity rises accordingly. Also, the balance feels very different because the bike itself is so much lighter in comparison.

Then there's simply the act of pedaling; getting the seat and handlebars adjusted to balance between comfort and efficiency. Right now, the seat feels about right, but the handlebars need to come up quite a bit, so that will get fixed today.

Seattle is a city of hills (seven, according to the local history, just like Rome; you can spot the newbies when they try to name them, and get into arguments with the natives over which of Seattle's currently existing and/or long-vanished promontories qualify as the "original seven") and I happen to live on the back side of one of the larger ones, while just about everything I need to get to is on the other side. Fortunately, I'm close to the top, but getting to the summit is a somewhat steep climb for those few blocks; going over the first time, I ended up switchbacking over a few side streets that have a little gentler slope than the main street, although I did manage to make it up Union on the return trip. Still, it was huffing-and-puffing all the way to the top; but then, that's sort of the point, isn't it?

Of course, riding on hills also means dealing with gravity - going both directions - and having prior experience in terms of being hit on these same hills on "Little Nellie", I'm just short of paranoid when it comes to traffic, particularly coming off side-streets, alleys, and driveways. So, I probably won't be doing any speedy descents anytime soon, given that I know what it feels like to fall off a scooter at 20 mph, and that I'm sporting even less in the way of protective gear (the obligatory helmet aside) which means I can anticipate major "road burn" - or worse - in the event of a crash. And it's a given that, until I get in better shape, climbing is going to be the hardest part of the deal for a while.

But, still, it's a start. I may not get up to the level I was at back in high school, when I could do 70 miles in a single go, climb two-mile long hills without getting winded, and looked not unlike those bike racers from "The Triplets of Belleville": legs thick as Douglas Fir trunks, and a toothpick-skinny upper torso (why, oh why did someone not explain to me the benefits of upper body training back in those days?). But, if in the process it increases my lung capacity, improves my cardio, and burns off a few pounds, well I won't be complaining.

2009-06-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm A Lover, I'm A Sinner, I Play My Music In The Sun

For some reason I completely forgot to bring a camera with me to the annual Artopia/Georgetown Music Festival on Saturday - not even my trusty low-rez phone camera. So, no pictures of the event, although it was fun, and a good excuse to get down into a neighborhood I enjoy, but seldom visit. The bands were ones I'd never heard of before, but that's sort of the point, since they're apparently all considered "up and coming", and probably not familiar to more than a handful of people who are much more connected to the new music scene than myself. And the art was interesting to some degree, particularly a couple of installation pieces.

I don't spend nearly enough time wandering through either of these particular communities; I have a hard enough time just staying on top of what's happening locally in theatre, so it's a pleasant diversion to spend a bit of time visiting some other artistic realm - and the combination of these two previously separate events provided an excellent opportunity to do so.

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2009-06-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

In The Midnight Hour, Babe, More, More, More

Horrible picture, I know, which does not come anywhere close to expressing the sheer, giddy joy of sitting around with a bunch of your friends watching puppet karaoke at midnight - and of course, the song selected was, as referred to above, highly appropriate.

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2009-06-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

And Even When I'm Old And Gray I'm Gonna Feel The Way I Do Today

Happy 100th Birthday, Moore Theatre.

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2009-06-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

In The Summertime When the Weather Is Fine You Can Reach Right Up And Touch The Sky

Summer officially begins today, and in Seattle that means the commencement of the annual Fremont Fair & Solstice Parade. I missed out on the parade (the only rule: no signage or printed words) due to a work teleconference, and got there just as crowds were heading away from the parade route, but did hit the fair itself, which is an annual fundraiser for Solid Ground (nee Fremont Public Association), a social services agency for which I worked back in the early/mid-'90's.

2009-06-18T22:14:00.001-07:00

I Think About The Implications Of Diving In Too Deep

I just finished putting 100 1 1/2-inch stainless steel screws into the marquee for the theatre I built last spring. The plywood facing is starting to warp just a bit, which is creating just enough of a gab between it and the plastic tracks so that the letters are falling through the gap between them. So, I ended up putting in a bunch more screws into the tracks, on roughly 2-inch centers, in order to push it flat against the plywood.

It sounds like overkill, I know, but I initially tried adding screws on 4-inch centers and found places where the letters would still slide out of position, so overkill it had to be.

Now, we'll see how long it lasts...

B-52s @ the zoos

2009-06-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

They Do All Sixteen Dances

2009-06-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Cheer Up Sleepy Jeanie, Oh What Can It Mean

Is there some rule that says crows will always wake you up at the earliest possible time of the day? Like, when the first glimmering of sunrise appears, say around 5:00 a.m.? I mean, it's not exactly like they have to get that early of a start on the day, right? The dumpsters are still going to be plenty full of last evening's fast food cast-aways, and not even the cats are out-and-about at that hour, so what's the deal?

Would it help if I hung a big "Do Not Disturb" sign on my front door?

Naw, didn't think so.

2009 Seattle All-City Scooter Rally

2009-06-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Get On Your Bad Motor Scooter And Ride

From yesterday's 2009 Seattle All-City Scooter Meet-up.

2009-06-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

On State Street, That Great Street, I Just Want To Say

So, looks like I'm headed to Chicago the first week of August for the Job's bi-annual national convention.

Never been there before (well, not counting a brief, hectic change-of-planes at O'Hare about 30 years ago), and I'm guessing it's miserably hot-and-humid that time of year, so I probably won't mind spending my daylight hours in an air-conditioned hotel ballroom for most of the time I'm there.

On the down side though, the Cubs are out-of-town the entire week, so no chance (probably my only) of ever seeing a game at Wrigley Field.

Good thing there's lots of theatre...

2009-06-06T17:46:00.001-07:00

Everything Will Be Alright When We Go Shopping

I must be a really weird shopper. Here's what I picked up on my rounds today:

- A 1957 edition of Willy Ley's "Rockets, Missiles & Space Travel"

- A 1973 Random House Book Club first edition of Buzz Aldrin's "Return To Earth"

- "Complete Guitar Course: The Definitive, Full-Color Picture Guide To Playing
Guitar"

- Two used tuxedo shirts

- A 1963 King-Seeley Thermos Brand "Orbit" lunchbox (I've had this on layaway for several months; I bought the matching thermos bottle on E-Bay a couple of months ago).

2009-06-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Might As Well Be Walking On The Sun

Yesterday we set a record high temperature for the date, and there's a strong possibility we'll break today's record as well.

And my relatives in Phoenix wonder why I don't feel particularly inclined to move to Arizona...

2009-06-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

I Gotta Get Out And Get Me Some Of Those Rays

My, how time flies and all. I thought it had only been a couple of days since my last post, but here it is a full week gone by instead.

So, let's see, what's new? Well, we spent yesterday afternoon at the theatre hashing out our next season, which is always an interesting process: basically, we lock ourselves in a room and don't come out again until everyone agrees on the shows we're going to produce. This is very different than how most companies select their seasons, I expect, but then again, we've been a consensus-driven collective for so long, we've got the process down cold. This year, there wasn't a great deal of controversy, so we managed to get in and get out in under 2 1/2 hours.

Official announcement will be forthcoming, but it's shaping up to be an interesting and eclectic slate of shows.

The only other item of note is that, apparently the warm dry weather followed me up from Arizona last weekend, because it's become increasingly, not to mention unseasonably hot up here, with temps expected to hit the mid-80's for most of this week, and stick around through the weekend at least. This is about a month earlier than the norm (we joke about it, but it's been pretty reliable in that our summer "officially" starts right around the 4th of July). I haven't heard any complaints so far, and considering what a miserable winter we had, I wouldn't expect any, but we can be a fickle lot up here, and four or five days of hot weather is enough to send SOME people into a curmudgeonly state.

Oh, one other thing. I've started on a first draft of a play. It's an idea I've had kicking around in my head for several years, but only literally came up with a suitable framing device for the piece a couple of days ago. So, I'm going to try to crank out something reasonably coherent in the next several weeks, then see what I can do with regards to getting it read and making some revisions. Not going to jinx things by revealing too much here, but will say it's based on one of my favorite subjects, and leave it at that for now.

2009-05-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

We Got To Move These Refrigerators

Would it be too much to ask that, just once, one of the eight gazillion variations of the Nigerian and lottery scams that show up in my inbox every day could be real?

Naw, I didn't think so either...

2009-05-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

I Went From Phoenix Arizona All The Way To Tacoma

Spent an extended holiday weekend with my cousins in Phoenix. We get together every few years for a bit of catch-up time, usually either down there or in Portland for family gatherings, but generally, I go down when the weather up here is a little cooler. Just my luck, after months of unseasonable cold, and seasonable wet, I pick the first really decent stretch of good local weather to go away for four days.

No matter. Things always turn into a bit of an adventure when we get together. This time around we'd planned to do some hiking up in Sedona, and after looking at the weather reports decided Saturday would be the better in terms of not being super-hot, even though there was "a chance of rain and thunder showers".

You can see where this is going already, can't you?

We set off around mid-day Saturday, borrowing Dave's (my cousin Kim's boyfriend) brand-new Chevy Tahoe (at his insistence), since we were heading for a hiking trail on what appeared to be a rather rough unpaved road just west of town. He also suggested a "really cool scenic route into Sedona with spectacular views!" and provided us with some easy-to-follow directions to find the road. I ended up driving, which was fine by me. I love driving, particularly roads I've never been on before, so I was totally up for the adventure.

Things started off pretty smoothly. Except for a bit of congestion just outside of Phoenix heading north on I-17, we managed the trip up in about two hours (AZ has a 75 mph speed limit, which helped), and the exit to the suggested road was clearly marked. Once we went off the pavement, however, Kim, sitting in the back seat grumbled, "this looks just like the sort of "road" Dave WOULD suggest", but it also looked reasonably well traveled, flat, and wide enough for adequate passing of oncoming vehicles, and in fact we saw several camp-sites with largish RV's parked, so I figured, if they could get in here it couldn't be that bad. And for about two-thirds of the 12 mile detour, that turned out the be the case.

The last four, on the other hand...

We came around a bend, and found ourselves on the top of a ridge with a quite spectacular view of the large mesas just to the north of Sedona. However, once we began heading down into the arroyo, things started to get a little hairy. The road narrowed considerably to a one-lane, heavily rutted and wash-boarded track with sheer drop-offs of easily 1,000 feet. After a couple minutes of this, we came to a lookout point, and Kim's quaivering voice came from the back seat, "do you want to stop and take a picture?"

I looked back to see she'd shifted from the right-hand to the left-hand side, as far away from the precipice as she could get, her eyes were both the size of silver dollars, and she'd actually turned a bit pale.

Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but I can tell when someone is scared out of their wits. Clearly discretion would be the better part of valor in this case.

"Naw, that's okay," I replied. "Besides, it's getting late, and we want to finish the hike before it gets dark, so why don't we just keep going?" There was an obvious look of relief on her face.

Meanwhile, my other cousin, Kristie is in the front passenger seat laughing like a loon at her sister's obvious discomfort; she's actually enjoying our predicament.

"Ooh, look at that one Chris, isn't it beautiful?" she says, pointing out a particularly interesting bit of scenery.

While from the back seat comes, "don't you DARE take your eyes off the road!"

So, I dropped the Tahoe into "low 4" and crept slowly down the oversized goat trail, honking the horn at each blind hairpin curve to warn anyone coming up the hill of our approach; which turned out to be a smart move, as apparently almost nobody takes this route INTO Sedona, but lots of trucks, tour jeeps, dune buggies, motocross cyclists, and a few genuine crazies in small passenger sedans do make the trek up FROM town, and we met at least a dozen of them coming up from the opposite direction, which forced me to edge uncomfortably close to the steep drop off in order to leave passing clearance.

By the time we made it down to the flats, I had one cousin bouncing up-and-down like an excited retriever puppy, and another quivering anxiously like a nervous chihuahua. I was just happy to be able to release my hands from the death-grip I'd had on the steering wheel for most of the previous half-hour.

So, Sedona. Not really much to look at so far as the town is concerned: pretty touristy, albeit in a very muted, earth-toned, new-agey kind of way; even the local McDonald's has begrudgingly caved in to the town's strict building regs by sporting teal arches instead of their standard mustard yellow (and of course, figured out a way to turn even that concession into a marketing gimmick: there's actually a big sign on your way into Sedona touting the fact that this particular location is "the only McDonald's IN THE WORLD with teal green arches!"). We drove through the central business district and headed west to the park entrance, paid our $5 parking fee and dropped the Tahoe back into 4WD for the kidney-pounding four mile drive to the trail head. At least this time we were on the flats, with only a couple of dry-fords to cross and some extremely bumpy spots to negotiate.

We finally got to the parking lot for the trail head, and literally at the moment we parked and got out - it started raining. Within 30 seconds the rain had increased to a full-on downpour, with the three of us huddled under the rear hatch door debating our options. At this point there really weren't any: the rain didn't show any sign of letting up, and it was already late enough that twilight was starting to creep up on us, even despite the hovering gray clouds. So, we quite sensibly decided to call off the hike, got back into the Tahoe and headed back into town.

And suddenly, it was like something out of a movie: the rain was literally coming down in sheets, like being poured from a gigantic bucket; at times it was so dense that the wipers, even at maximum speed, couldn't squeegee it off the winsdhield fast enough to be able to see through. Lightning was flashing all around, so close I could barely get to "two-mississippi" before it deafened us. Pea-sized granules of hail began pounding the roof and hood. The red desert clay of the road was splashing up to the doors every time we hit a puddle. The dry-washes had already become raging torrents, and we had to ford creeks that only a few minutes before were nothing but rocky indentations across the road. The outside temperature gauge on the rear-view mirror plummeted from 74 degrees down to 51 in literally a matter of minutes. I am NOT making this up, and NOT exaggerating either. I'd thought the earlier drive down into Sedona had been a bit of a nail-biter, but this excelled even that, and was literally one of the worst half-hours of driving through inclement weather I've ever experienced.

We finally made it back to the road. The hail had stopped, and the rain had let up somewhat. Strangely, the tourist jeeps were still coming into the park, passengers huddled under the open sun-roofed backs, cheap disposable plastic rain parkas clinging to their wet skin and clothing; they looked like they've just been picked up at the dry cleaners.

By this time, we'd pretty much called it a day, but decided to have dinner before heading back to Phoenix (we had - briefly - considered staying the night and trying the hike again the next day, but the weather report wasn't looking any better for Sunday, so that idea was scrapped rather quickly). I'd done a little research beforehand, and found a place that looked promising: Elote Cafe, just south of the center of Sedona, tucked away behind the registration desk of a rather nondescript local hotel. Online commenters gave the place rave reviews, so it seemed like the only opportunity we'd have to salvage something out of our day's misadventure.

We were not disappointed. The Carne Asada turned out to be the best skirt steak I've ever had: melt-in-your-mouth tender (which, with that cut is no easy feat), and with a generous dollop of blue cheese melted onto the top for good measure. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in that area, although get there early. We walked in the door right when they opened at 5:00 p.m. and the place (not big to begin with) filled to capacity within 15 minutes.

And of course, it continued to rain in torrents with lightening flashes illuminating the growing darkness outside, throwing the mesas to the west into sharp relief. When we left about an hour later, it was still coming down so hard that we were completely soaked by the time we crossed the 50 feet from the restaurant entrance to the car. The cousins had to crank up the heat in order to get warm - such a rare occurrence we actually had to hunt around for a few seconds to find the right set of switches on the dashboard to turn off the A/C and turn on the heaters.

The drive back was equally uneventful; the rain stopped almost exactly at the moment we turned back onto the main highway, and by the time we hit the outskirts of Phoenix about an hour and a-half later, the temps had gradually climbed back up the the mid-80's with clear skies all around. When we pulled into the driveway and got out, I noticed, somewhat to my dismay, that the intervening rain had washed away every trace of evidence of the rollicking four-wheeling we'd done earlier in the day. I didn't even have any pictures to show for our trouble.

Needless to say, Dave had a good laugh over it when we told him the story, although knowing Kim I have a feeling he didn't exactly get the last word in on the subject.

But still, an adventure is an adventure; you take them where you find them.

Multimedia message

2009-05-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

From The (Other) Land Where Palm Trees Sway

(My cousin's back yard)

Sunny & 95 today in Phoenix.

We Play "Rock Band"

2009-05-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

It's Only Rock And Roll, But I Like It

2009-05-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Faster, Faster, Faster Than The Speed Of Life

Here's a question I've been asking myself for quite some time:

Is personal blogging (like what you're reading right now) dead?

I've noticed a perceptible drop-off, not just in my own posting frequency, but in those of my compadres in the blog-o-sphere (e.g. those folks in the left-hand column) for quite some time. I realize many have not been very frequent posters to begin with, but even among those who are, sites that used to update once every day or every couple of days are down to maybe once a week, if that.

Now granted, there's been a slow-yet-steady attrition rate (as the number of dead-links down towards the bottom attests), just about since Day One, as people become either bored by the "novelty" of online posting, or else gravitate to more immediately gratifying sites like Facebook, or it's several (now mostly defunct) predecessors.

But, I also think a lot of it has to do with the increasing ubiquity of what pundits are calling "the Twitter phenomenon", which is itself an extension of the Instant Messaging craze from a few years back (and which is still very much all the rage among the under-20 set, apparently). Now, it's all about "micro-blogging": increasing compressing both the message format, as well as the medium through which it is transmitted and received.

Whereas blogging requires an honest-to-goodness full-sized keyboard (for those of us not particularly adept at thumb typing), a not entirely insignificant amount of time, and generally some thought or consideration in terms of preparing the content, Twitter, IM, M-B, et al, require almost none of this: they're fully portable, easily compactible, of nearly microscopically short duration, and yet in that time can convey almost instantaneous stream-of-consciousness iteration, and with very little in the way of actual cogitation involved. You just blurt it out over your cell phone, or Blackberry, or via your laptop keyboard, in nouvelle cuisine appetizer-sized portions, and then move on to view the 37 other, equally miniscule updates from your "friends" that have landed in your feed list in the six or seven seconds it's taken you to do it. It's sort of like we're all going through our daily business, but with the constant background buzz of other people's tiny, random thoughts popping up in front of our eyes in an unceasing, nearly continuous stream.

I'm not sure whether it has any appreciable effect on our already rapidly shrinking attention-spans, but considering just the number of people I personally know who seem, well, nearly addicted to "checking status" (and I admit to being somewhat amongst that number myself), there's clearly some sort of need being met by all of this. Are we that starved for intimacy that constantly checking up on the minute-to-minute minutae of our friends, colleagues and co-workers (not to mention complete strangers whom we befriend merely because they ask us to do so) satisfies some otherwise unmet yearning for actual human contact?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it; maybe it really is just as simple as providing a fast, convenient, one-stop shopping method for keeping track of people in our busy, busy world. But, there are times when it all feels a little TOO real to BE real, if that makes any sense. After all, by the time you read someone's update/IM, they've probably already read a dozen others sent their way, and are 30 seconds or so into the next thought that will soon be transmitted for consumption. It's like we're all just slightly out-of-sync with each other, and everyone is desperately trying to catch up to all be on the same page (or screen) at the same time, but we can never quite get there; Zeno's Paradox for the online set.

Then again, maybe all this is just another reason why the ephmeral nature of live theatre continues to appeal to me, where at least you're in a room with a bunch of other people sharing the same experience, live and in real-time, without all the pale little screens and twitching thumbs.

Although, I bet we'll start having to add "and please - no texting during the performance" to our ever-growing list of pre-show admonishments any day now.

2009-05-19T13:56:00.001-07:00

And If The Train's On-Time You Can Get To Work By Nine

Well, it's now official, so technically I'm not "spilling the beans" as it were.

My office is moving this fall, mid-October to be precise, to lower CapHill. I cut a check for the deposit late last week, and aside from a few details to hash out in the lease agreement, we're pretty close to signing. The landlord has been very accomodating, agreeing to some specific build-outs we've requested at no additional cost to us, as well as to holding the space for us for several months (which gives him time to contract the interior work), until our current lease expires at the end of October. And because of the super-depressed commercial real-estate market, we're getting a pretty good deal: a little over $12 / fs all-inclusive, which means once some additional costs of janitorial and parking are factored in we'll still be saving roughly $600 a month in rent. That makes our board happy, will no doubt make our accounting staff in L.A very happy, and should make our national staff estatic (once they hear about it), since they've been hammering the notion of "cost savings" into our collective heads in anticipation of the new Fiscal Year which started May 1st.

I'm particularly happy about the move, since the new space is less than a mile and a-half from my apartment, with the added bonus that the theatre is directly on the route at almost exactly the half-way point between the two, which means I'll be able to walk to work most days, although I figure it will essentially double my commute time from 15 to 30 minutes.

Can you say "ridiculously convenient?". I knew you could.

There is also the added benefit of actually being in the immediate vicinity of such basic amenities as: a post office (2 blocks), my bank (3 blocks), a branch of my office's bank (4 blocks), a grocery store (5 blocks), not to mention innumerable coffee shops, restaurants, book stores, and other retail establishments. In short, I'll be working in a real, functioning urban environment, making it a vast improvement over our current office, which, while located on a major arterial, is not really close to anything of consequence (aside from a 7-Eleven three blocks away).

The new office is also practically within spitting-distance of our TV news units, which are concentrated around the edges of the Seattle Center, and will also put us within a two mile radius of roughly half our membership, either from where they live or work, which means we'll be much more accessible to them, and as a result (we hope) we'll be able to attract many more members into the office for meetings, social events, workshops, seminars, and the like.

And for those not within close range, we're on convenient bus routes from downtown, and will be a mere three blocks away from the new Capitol Hill light rail station, which means we'll be literally within public transit distance from just about anywhere in the county by the time the station opens in 2016.

Scheduled move-in date is mid-October, and we hope to be fully up-and-running by November 1st.

Not bad so far as birthday presents from your employer go.

2009-05-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

"When I'm Not Thanked At All, I'm Thanked Enough.
I've Done My duty, And I've Done No More."

-- Henry Fielding

(Greg Palmer, 1948 - 2009)

I feel just terrible that I'm only now hearing of Greg's passing.

I first met Greg in 1990, when I performed in one of his plays, a silly little thing called "Betsy Green, The Mushroom Queen" at a mosquito-infested outdoor theatre literally within sight of Snoqualmie Falls (immortalized that same year as one of the iconic images from David Lynch's TV drama "Twin Peaks"), and later had the enormous privilege of directing one of his plays "The Big Bad Wolf (And How He Got That Way)" at the same location in 1997. As the playwright, Greg attended as many of the rehearsals as his busy schedule would permit, and was a gentleman through the entire process: generous with his time, judicious with his comments, encouraging with his criticism.

We stayed in touch over the years, and I always enjoyed our meetings, whether it was chatting with him and his son Ned (pictured with Greg, above) at opening nights at the 5th Avenue, or long telephone conversations brainstorming about a project he'd had in mind to archive all of the recorded footage of theatrical productions accumulated over the decades by the local TV stations.

Greg was truly one the "good guys", a singular, unique, intelligent, witty, outspoken, opinionated personality, a "lovable curmudgeon" of the sort that our modern era seems to be all-too-quickly losing (Not to mention his eerie "separated at birth" resemblence to Wallace Shawn.)

Here's a little sample of what we'll miss.

My deepest condolences to his family.

2009-05-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

I'm Not Gonna Get Too Sentimental

Just got off the phone with my friend Dawn, whose birthday is today, and she imparted a bit of, well, surprising news.

She's getting married in September.

Now, for those of you who don't know the history (all six out of ten of you): Dawn and I have been good friends for nearly 20 years. We dated for about five of those, lived together for four, I even proposed to her at one point.

So yeah, it's a bit of a shock.

I'm happy for her, truly I am. We wouldn't have remained friends this long, through all the changes in our relationship, if there wasn't the foundation of a genuine friendship and affection holding it together. All I've ever wanted for her was to be happy, and considering the rough turns her life has taken the past couple of years: losing one job, getting another she hated; her mother passing away - a year ago on Mothers Day of all days - after a long illness, if there's anyone who deserves some happiness in her life, it's Dawn.

I'm feeling a bit - I'm not sure exactly what. It's certainly not jealousy, not envy; even that feels like too strong of a word to describe it. (some I suppose would reverse the two, and consider envy the more destructive.) But, what's the next step down from that? Sadness? There's a little, yes, after all, at one time in my life I was hoping to be that "lucky guy" myself. But that too seems insufficiently vague. The French probably have a word for it - or the Germans. The Germans have words for all sorts of subtle, in-between-emotions emotions (we'd probably use more of them, except they're all 27 syllables long and require coughing up half a lung to pronounce correctly.)

The only thing that comes close I suppose is "ambivalence". I certainly feel a bit conflicted: happy-yet-sad, although definitely more the former than the latter.

It'll be a transition to be sure, no matter what you call it. For the longest time we've been the ones each of us would be the first to call or talk to when something good - or bad - occurred. Now, that's going to change, it has to change - and I guess that's where the "sad" part of the conflict comes in. It feels like a loss, a loss of some degree of intimacy with another person, one who's been an important part of my life for a long time.

Which is not to say we won't still be friends, of course. But I can't help but feel a sense of diminishment on the horizon. From here on out, I have to live with the knowledge that I won't be the first one to hear the news from her; and in the future, I'm afraid I'll be hesitant to be the one to share news WITH her, because, well, she has another life.

It's a hard transition to be downgraded from "best friend" to "friend". I'll get through it; I'm a pretty resilient guy.

But, it's still going to take some getting used to.

2009-05-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Get Me Back On The Earth, Put My Feet On The Ground

Normally, I get a bit of a post-tax season lull, but not this year; work has been super-busy what with April being the end of our fiscal year, and me having to prepare budgets for the next FY that started May 1st. Plus, we've have a TV series shooting in Portland (TNT's Leverage). PLUS, May 1st is also the beginning of our new billing period, and I had to generate a bunch of paperwork for our broadcast station Bargaining Units to calculate new dues amounts for station staff. PLUS, our national office needed information from us to complete THEIR audit and tax return (thank goodness THAT little task has been taken off my plate!). PLUS, we've been in negotiations with our landlord for a new lease.

So I don't think it would be an understatement to say things at work have been a bit busy as of late. Fortunately, most of the above has been dealt with, which means things SHOULD start quieting down - a bit - from here on out, at least for a while.

Fortunately, most of this coincided with a general slow-down in extra-curricular activities: things at the theatre are running pretty smoothly, and don't generally require huge amounts of my time or attention right now. And of course, with the intermittent improvements in the weather situation, I'm getting out more, getting a bit more exercise (I've managed one day - well, several hours in the course of one day to be exact - of hiking each of the past three weekends, and of course lots and lots of yard work. In fact, I've got several hours scheduled for this morning, but hopefully, that should put things in pretty good shape, and there shouldn't be much more to do aside from routine maintenance for the remainder of the summer.

So yeah, not much of this falls into the "that is SO exciting I just have to blog about it!" category; just normal, routine, day-to-day stuff.

Crack-aroni & Cheese

2009-05-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

When Mama Wants To Please Me, She's Only Got To Cheese Me

Going to a bar-b-que tomorrow afternoon, so decided to make some macaroni & cheese as my "hot dish" contribution to the masses. But, of course, I can't just make ordinary mac-&-cheese, I have to mess around with it. So, in addition to the Béchamel sauce AND the five cheeses (sharp Cheddar, Mozzarella, Monterey, Colby, and a bit of aged "Naughty Nellie" from River Valley Ranch), I added a half-pound of crumbled hickory-smoked bacon, and topped it with crushed Tim's Cascade "Original Style" Potato Chips, hence my decision to dub this dish "Crack-aroni & Cheese", since I'm guessing even people who KNOW it's not good for them will be unable to resist it.

And we won't even get into the "dork" I ground for burgers...

XXX Bacon Cheese Burger & Onion Rings

2009-04-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Like A Bass And A Fiddle, Like A Laugh And A Riddle

As a reward to myself for completing the 4.2 mile round-trip, 1700 foot elevation hike to the top of Tiger Mountain (an accomplishment of no small distinction, considering exercise and I have not exactly been on speaking terms recently), I treated myself to a XXX Drive-In "409 Tri-Power Burger" with a side of onion rings.

As Isaac Newton observed: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". The equally perceptive Taoists would see this as the logical, inevitable and necessary "Yang" to my hiking "Yin".

Regardless of your philosophical predilection, however, so far as I'm concerned, harmony has been achieved, and for a brief moment the universe finds itself perfectly in balance.

Paragliders

2009-04-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sing Your Secret Song Away From All These People That I See

Paragliders on Tiger Mountain

The View Today From Poo-Poo Point

2009-04-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

I Was Coming Down The Mountain, Met A Child She Had Pin Eyes

The view Northwest from the top of Tiger Mountain, looking toward Lake Sammamish

2009-04-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

And You Can See All The Stars As You Walk Down Hollywood Boulevard

A friend of mine stopped by the Los Angeles Actors' Equity Association offices today and spotted this plaque in the lobby:

Nobody ever mentioned a separate plaque, so I had no idea until just now this even existed.

Not quite the same as having a star on Hollywood Blvd., but then again, not a lot of people can claim to have their name engraved five stories ABOVE Hollywood Blvd.!

2009-04-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

Stick A Fork In Me Baby, Turn Me Over, I'm Done

...with taxes that is, for another year, as of 7:58 p.m. last night, two hours ahead of schedule.

In 16 sessions totaling 60 hours over a five week period I and my one volunteer (thanks Karen!) completed a total of 37 returns for 43 people, and checked the work on about ten more; not a record for me by any stretch, but we would have busted 40 returns, if there hadn't been a number of last-minute cancellations over the course of the season that couldn't be rescheduled because we filled up appointment slots so quickly. Still, I got in all of my "regulars", people who have used the program for the past three or four years, and had a lot of new faces show up as well, which is good. And even this relatively modest amount of activity still puts my site well above average locally in terms of number of clients served.

Even so, I'm still looking forward to having my weekends back again.

Now, if only the weather would cooperate.