UMTravels

Lots of email back and forth this morning with Jill… with the subject line “Shit”.

The Victoria Clipper IV was having overheating problems and a full boat of passengers…. 35 minutes out they turned around. By 10am they were headed back north, but at a lower speed. Turned the normal 2 hours 45 minute trip into a 4 hour trip. When they sailed again, they sailed with a reduced load, kicking all the day passengers off since they would only have an hour in Victoria. They were good to those who did make the trip:

• free breakfast
• free soft drinks
• $1.50 champagne and grapefruit juice
• 20% off duty free
• 50% off your next Clipper ticket

Not sure whether they were able to restock for the afternoon return trip since they went through all the breakfasts and most of the lunches.

I was hoping to spot Jill on the back railing, but alas, she was inside and warm, arriving just in time for the SuperBowel (yes, an intentional typo). Saw the game, but with Canadian commercials — guess I’ll have to look at them online tomorrow which raises the question, then why watch the game. Go Saints.

PooPoos this afternoon of stinky cheese from Salt Spring Island courtesy of the boys (who I need to visit one of these trips) and a loaf of bread out of the oven. Dinner was skinless-boneless BBQ’d chicken breasts with salad and wine. Dessert of a chocolate bar in the hot tub.

Life is hard.

[? ? ?]

Up at 6am to be out of the condo at 7am and onto a train at 8am. If Jill hadn’t been coming in I would have taken the Sunday train which goes at a much more respectable hour of 10am (though it returns at 8pm rather than 6pm).

The single car train (is that even possible?) is from 1957, it was born a year after me. While it is possible for the train to go 120 miles per hour, the tracks limit it to 40 miles per hour on the straightaways. Hence, the 150 mile trip in each direction takes just shy of 5 hours. And as for Courtenay there isn’t really anything there with the exception of the station where they hold the local AA meetings.

My recommendation for anyone doing the trip is to either go as far as Qualicum Beach which gives you about two hours to poke around — downtown looks walkable, or better yet, just get off in Nanaimo which gives you almost 5 hours to poke around.

Here is the famous scroller bar of shots from the trip so far:

Walked home from the train so I could pick up some wine for dinner — which was a salad and a rack of lamb ribs that I came close to incinerating on the grill. No movie tonight, just getting a little work done after dinner with the TV going in the background.

[? ? ?]

Here is the view from my temporary office…

That would be the Victoria Clipper IV in the background, headed back to Seattle. That would mean that it was taken at a little after 5pm.

Today was a walking day… to the train station to see how long it will take in the morning (I’ll be cabbing it — 25 minutes, might walk home), and back through town stopping to see how much the cute Olympic dog-flap hats were ($20, $30, more than I wanted to pay), to the Heron Rock Bistro for halibut and chips, then to Thrifty for more groceries (and a panicked call from a client), and back to the condo.

Turns out that little walk was like three and a half miles… no wonder my dogs are tired:

And speaking of dogs — I’m cooking Caribbean rum dogs for tomorrows train trip along with the some for tonight’s dinner as well. Must be junk food day - fish and chips, sausages… but at least I’ll be having a big salad tonight as well.

Quiet evening at home tonight, just sitting around watching the tube and tubbing.

[? ? ?]

A lazy morning of eating, working, doing a shopping run.

Today’s video will probably only be of interest to me… some early inside shots of the Boeing 787 including the crew rest area (which you never get to see).

And the other news of the afternoon is that I’ve finally found someone to go to Mexico with me — you wouldn’t think that it would be hard with First Class in both directions for 8-nights in a one bedroom deluxe condo for $760 each…. hell, airfare is basically at $500 round-trip because it happens to be spring break when we are going.

Dinner is with CrowDog and RobinHood — who are spending the night so they can hot tub and go out dancing after dinner. Dinner:

• warm bread from the oven (par-baked, not mine)
• green leaf and yellow tomato salad with chunky blue cheese dressing
• grilled asparagus
• three beautiful wild coho salmon steaks with smoked salt glaze
• three little heart shaped chocolates for dessert

Yum. Nice to have the boys over for a pajama party — OK, it’s really a bathrobe party.

[? ? ?]

Up at 4:30am… laid in bed until 5am… was still cranky after coffee and leaving the house at 5:45am to go leave the mommy van at the apartment and catch the 6:45am waterfront bus.

I hate early mornings. But there is only one ferry in each direction to Victoria this time of year. That would be the 8am sailing that you generally clear customs a little before 11am… WAY before the check-in time at the WorldMark (or most hotels) of 4pm.

And now we get to the luck part. The room was ready. Checked in at 11am! Got settled, went next door to the Blue Crab for an upscale burger and salad and glass of celebratory champagne, went shopping for groceries, and had a nap — all before 4pm. Heavenly.

Dinner tonight was a steak off the grill after a hot tub.. salad, baked potato, wine.. too bad I can’t live here full time.

That would be me toasting the Irish with a glass of Jameson Irish Whiskey from duty free.

[? ? ?]

Morning sucked up with the (now for me) bi-weekly marketing meeting. Swanda called in from the car on the way to the Grand Canyon — he’s on his “I must visit ten places I haven’t been before” tour to knock off five of them… Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Palm Springs, the Grand Canyon, and some small down in Nevada with a name I can’t remember, but I think the room price was $29 a night.

Early afternoon was filled with a nap to make up for some lost sleep last night.

Late afternoon run to the apartment to pick up two toner cartridges for “the beast” — the 11×17 printer in the office. Might actually get some postcards printed for the Big Joy Project.

Dinner was some bargain Kobe Beef (is there such a thing?) with a salad and some leftover Pinot Noir from last night.

Post dinner was cocktails with Tony Morgan of Gun Baby Graphics — and a viewing of his collection of thirteen bound prints in a folio edition from the book Throwing Bones. He really needs to get shots of the folio and the individual prints up on his website.

And then packing for Victoria… to save the $10 a day in parking for the Victoria Clipper terminal I’m stashing the van at the apartment and hopping the waterfront streetcar replacement freebie bus. I’m hoping that if they break a window that they go for the drivers window since the mechanism is already cranky.

Sorry, no pictures today.

[222.1]

OK — I couldn’t help the pun. Suit. Suite.

But the highlight of the day is a cocktail party in the Nimbus Suite at the Camlin in Seattle. At the Camlin, all the suites are on the 11th floor, home of the Cloud Room years ago — I have fond memories of listening to whiskey throated torch singers before it was a WorldMark property.

The Nimbus Suite is their “2-bedroom Deluxe” unit. Only one in the whole property, there are 3 of the “penthouse” units which have private roof decks (but no hot-tub or BBQ). Here is a video tour of the unit:

And no, we didn’t get thrown out. Heavy appetizers helped balance out all the cocktails, complete with whiskey sours made in the traditional method… with egg whites. Thanks Jeff.

And thanks to the rest of the celebrants… Wonderful, BBHa, Belle, Salamander, Graf, Maloney, Ross.

[222.6]

Well, technically not a suit — the plum sportscoat. The occasion today? The President’s Scholarship Day Reception at The Evergreen State College. I’m not sure how you are supposed to have people pay attention to speeches when you hop them up on coffee and sweets, but they managed.

Next stop — Dwight’s new house… maybe I should just refer to it as LegoLand… oh, that’s after he gets them all unpacked… I’ve never see two spare bedrooms filled with unassembled Lego Bricks… apparently the basement of the place he is moving out of has dozens of assembled creations.

Grocery store run on the way back north and home for dinner. Chicken Cordon Bleu (pre-prepared, so-so) and working on tomorrows cocktail party at the Camlin. Got Filet Mignon to braise and cut, bags to pack, and the trunk to load.

Today’s photo is of bad ideas for packing for a trip. The concept was, roll the t-shirt tight, then vacuum seal it so it would take even less space:

I’m thinking, really wrinkled.

[224.2]

Opera night tonight… which means out of the house 5-5:30 for dinner on Queen Anne before the performance. After Jeff’s choice of Thai Food the last time, tonight we went to my Thai choice — Tup Tim Thai– which SpaceOtter turned me onto. Great service, servicable wine list (alas, no cocktails), good food:

• Tod Mun Pla
• Pineapple Duck Curry
• Basil Scallops

And then onto the opera… La Travatore. Verdi.

Swift action, intense pathos, and more hit songs than any opera but Carmen combine to make this hot-blooded story of love, hate, revenge, and death a grand warhorse of sound and spectacle. A gypsy mother’s love clashes with a dark secret from her past in this suspenseful romantic drama. The entire final act is considered an opera highlight. Swordplay, poison, late night abductions, and a gypsy curse add to the overall intrigue. The score boasts a very high quota of recognizable music: rousing choruses, lilting gypsy tunes, and familiar crowd-pleasing hits that had audiences shouting “Viva Verdi!” after its premiere.

And a publicity shot…

As with most operas, pretty much everyone ends of dead in the end, but there were some really cute guys in the chorus.

[222.3]

You ever have those days?

Thought you were going to do one thing, then ended up doing things totally different.

The plan was work, putz, go to a party at Jacobs at 7:30… in reality, it was work, spend the afternoon rehabbing a computer, and the early part of the evening freezing and sealing chicken stock pucks in 1/2 cup size. And I still have a few more to do but ran out of freezer space for the containers… ah, tomorrow such fun things to look forward to.

1/2 cup is the perfect size for my bread recipes. Yes, I’m weird.

And in the spirit of cleaning and organizing, eat the last of the chicken stir-fried up with the leftover beans and tofu from Shanghai Garden before having a nightcap with Kevin who swung by to pick up some videos.

May tomorrow be more exciting.

[221.2]

I don’t know why it throws my whole day off to have an early dinner (like at 4:30)… changes the schedule on the rest of the day. I must be too much of a man of habits.

Of course, on the positive side it means that you can do multiple things after dinner:

• Business chat with your boss
• Have drinks with your co-worker and a nice young man he needs a place to stash
• Rip the seams out of the fur you bought over Christmas to enlarge my wolf jacket for the Olympics

Now if I can just get the machine to sew it all back together… might have to pay a visit to Fork and borrow Lindas’s machine and skills.

[222.3]

Well, it didn’t really arrive, I had to go down and sign my name half a dozen times to pick up the “registered letter” from WorldMark with my VANOC Permit.

What the hell is a “VANOC Permit”?

It is the permit issued by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to get north of Squamish on Highway 99 known as the Sea to Sky Highway and the only way to get to Whistler for the 2010 Olympics. It’s big, it’s plastic, it has a hologram:

I’m assuming the CRK portion means we are staying in Creekside and they won’t let the MommyVan past the second checkpoint… which is at Creekside.

That was stop number one on today’s errand run. Other stops:

• Cleaners to drop off all the shirts from the last couple of trips to be laundered, folded and bagged for the next trips
• Apartment for VCR, dead laptop and package (movie for cocktail party on Monday at the Camlin)
• Groceries (picked up a ton of marked down Kobe beef and tenderloins at Uwayjamaya)
• Jimmies to drop off some oak chips I found while bug bombing the pantry (moved before the bug bombing)

Dinner tonight was a whole roast chicken (45 minutes in the convection oven) and because broadcast TV was so shitty, it actually got me to do all my tax season filing (well, at least stacking the papers I need by category and filing the ones I don’t need). Hell, maybe I’ll just send it all in and skip the appointment with the accountant — oh, but I need the number so I can contribute to my Keogh account.

Speaking of Keogh accounts — you can start drawing them down at 59.5 years old. That would be at the end of March 2016. Think I can make it?

[220.2]

that’s why I like flying… I get the chance to sit around and read all day. Here is the list for my return home to Seattle via Portland:

• Financial Times
• USA Today
• Boston Globe
• New York Times
• Wall Street Journal
• Oregonian

 and the magazines that I didn’t get to:

• Global Traveler
• Entrepreneur
• New Yorker

but I did watch a couple of movies:

• All About Steve
• Juno

and a couple of TV shows:

• CSI: New York
• Everybody Loves Raymond
• Shark

Flight got into Portland half an hour early so I went to the Board Room for a glass of wine (no hard liquor in Portland room) and got them to move me (and my bag) to the earlier flight to Seattle where Brian (flight attendant) made me feel VERY welcome. I might have to start taking that shuttle more!

Home = start laundry, collect/open mail, have a glass of scotch, watch the 11 o’clock news and go to bed.

Speaking of bed, I was laying there pondering if I should take an Ambien to reset my clock to West Coast time… I guess not. Fell asleep only to wake up at 3am with the TV on.

[? ? ?]

Swinging into a routine around here… Pucci goes to the gym, I sleep in, get up, shower, and get a little work done before he returns.

Today’s adventure is thethe MFA (Museum of Fine Art) to see a little art, have a little knosh, see a little more art, hit the bargain book rack in th store and finish shopping for tonights meal.

The exhibits we hit (in order) were…

Nov 21, 2009 - Aug 8, 2010
Café and Cabaret:
Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris
Just a nice long hallway with lots of his cafe prints.

Then a swing by the Sargents form the regular collection on our way to grab a little lunch. Cobb Salad for me, Lentil Salad for Pucci. Damn there food is good. Then it was back to the art.

Nov 21, 2009 - Jul 3, 2010
Harry Callahan: American Photographer
Pucci was hot to see this exhibition, it left me a little cold. I don’t think he was as impressed as he hoped he would be either.

Nov 21, 2009 - Jul 3, 2010
Albrecht Dürer: Virtuoso Printmaker
This exhibit knocks my socks off. The intricate lines that this guy could pull off using a woodblock are amazing. One of the night “educational” items in the exhibit was a side by side (actually top/bottom) display of two prints from the same plate, one very early and one much later — you could actually see how the image became more muted over time.

Oct 18, 2009 - May 16, 2010
The Secrets of Tomb 10A:
Egypt 2000 BC
More interesting that I thought it would be — growing up the the Nelson-Atkins extensive Egypt collection I thought I was done with it. The highlight of this exhibit for me was all the miniature boats for the after-world, must have been a hundred of them.

And then it was onto shopping. Pucci got one book (a Tachen edition on Album Covers), and I ended up getting five books (lucky he’s a member so I got the 10% discount), two fiction, three non-fiction. Looks like I’m checking my bag on the way home since that just added 10 pounds to it.

The rain greeted us with more intensity on the way from the museum to the car — maybe we should have grabbed umbrellas.

Next stop Wholefoods and Cambridge Spirits — mussels for tonight’s dinner, and scotch to pack back to Seattle since the Maccallan is on sale for $40.99 rather than the $54 at home.

Stunning meal of muscles, portuguese sausage, tomatoes, onions over a bed of linguini with spinach on the side… and a lovely Languedoc to wash it all down.

Yum.

[? ? ?]

So much for working this morning — the warmth of the bed held me firmly in it’s grip.

Pucci slept in a well — trying to escape the cold which is holding him firmly in it’s grip.

Out of the house at noon because the 19th Boston Wine Expo starts at 1pm and runs to 5pm… though we don’t make it that long.

Highlights of the freebies:

• The 6-bottle holder bag from Gorden’s Wine
• The entire range of Chateauneuf-du-pape that we started the afternoon with
• The crew from 4-Vines (www.fourvines.com) for amazing wines and the really cool temporary tattoo that they put on my forehead:

• Dustin from MichaelDavidWinery, home of 7 Deadly Zins (a favorite of my mother) along with their more upscale EarthQuake series. I think it was his first trade show — sounded like his first trade show for his uncle’s winery, but he was great, if a bit shy.
• Nick Doughtery of Sarah’s Vineyard outside Santa Clara who offered a private tour to or from my next sex date in Santa Cruz (OK — he didn’t quite put it like that).
• JK Estates and their WildFire and Stray Dog series — no web information available — small winery $11 retail in Massachuetts.
• Truchard Vineyards — by appointment only. Good wines, owners a little stuffy, but they had been pouring wine for 3 hours before we got there and for the “trade” before that. I’m surprised anyone was smiling.

And after all that — off for Dim Sum at Gitlo’s Dim Sum Bakery in Allston. Damn good. Damn cheap. No booze, but Louise brought a bottle of Belgium Ale which we split — three people, stuffed, $32 with tip.

Home to PucciHouse for scotch and football. You can’t imagine my mother’s surprise when I called home to talk to my father about football.

Man, what a night.

[? ? ?]

Slept late… Pucci was already gone for his first gig this morning… auditions — sounds like i didn’t go all that well. He was judging, not the judgee, but with a late night gig last night that meant four hours of sleep — and house guests. Rarely a good combination.

Got some work in before it was time to start prepping for diner for five at eight. Luckily I was just the roast searer and equipment rustler.

• Cheese and crackers before
• Five Star Pork Roast
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Salad
• Excellent Wine
• Seriously good cheese and baguettes after.

And then the clean up began. How quick the good times come and then recede. All worth it for tomorrow is the 19th Annual Boston Wine Festival.

[? ? ?]

What a day all about food…

Well, not breakfast, that was a toasted English Muffin before heading out to three stores for various groceries, and two more for booze.

Big Food Stop Number One:

RedBones BBQ on Davis Square. Four different sauces… ask for the sampler of all four sauces. Regular, Hot, Sweet (dark from what looks like molasses), and Vinegar — each good which is hard to find. Both Pucci and I had the pulled pork sandwich plate which comes with beans and slaw (all three HEARTY portions). Sandwich plate is $5.99 at lunch — and if you are seriously hungry, or just want to box up leftovers for dinner, go for the combo, which is whatever ribs they have handy, chicken, sausage, beans, cole slaw and dirty rice. It is a heaping plate of food. Excellend beer selection

Big Food Stop Number Two:

Minado — Japanese Seafood Buffet Restaurant. $29.95 on the weekend evenings for all you can eat (cheaper during the week and at lunch). The picture below doesn’t even show the other two lines (deserts and hot dishes).

I was gobbling down oysters on the half shell, mussels, clams, sushi, sashimi, asparagus wrapped in beef, rare koke beef, dumplings, tempura, octopus salad… and then there were the things I passed on… whole king crab legs (too much work), a hibachi station, soups, desserts, salads… five locations on the East Coast.

Dinner was with Netta and the three kids — oops, I mean Netta, her husband and the two kids, along with two friends of their and their kid. A full table with eight, but the place is huge.

Got a ride home from Netta after she dropped the rest of the family off — even got a little quiet time with a nightcap (scotch for me, rum toddy for her).

And tomorrow the food continues with Pucci making a pot roast. Think I’m coming back to Seattle larger than I left.

[? ? ?]

 The things I do for a First Class seat… like getting up at 4am. Did get a nice surprise when  checked in… I had reserved First Class using one of the four coupons per year that they (Alaska) give their MVP Gold fliers…  but when I went to check in, they had converted it to a complimentary upgrade so I didn’t have to use my coupon. Nice. Who knows, maybe on the way home I’ll be equally as lucky.

Breakfast was a choice of either the sun-dried tomato quiche with turkey sausage (I remember the luke-warm one from last week and pass) or the Northwest Benedict with Smoked Salmon. That would be the main to follow the starter of a fresh fruit plate with scones or rolls. The Benedict could have used more hollandaise, but then, is there ever enough.

Got into Boston on time, took the Silver Line (bus) to the Red Line (subway) to Harvard Square where I called Pucci to come fetch me… could have taken the Blue Line to the Green Line to the Red Line and been on the subway the entire time, but went for what showed up first.

A quick early dinner of chicken piccata before we headed to his gig which he was going to try and sneak me into… Sleep No More, produced by Punchdrunk (British) and the American Repertory Theatre. Alas, seems they had run out of masks so I had to spent all night in the bar that was part of the theatre production (which Pucci was playing in a trio with an occasional singer). The basic idea behind the whole production was “Shakespeare Meets Hitchcock”. I think I was lucky to be marooned in the bar listing to good live music and only paying for one drink in three hours (and having many more than one).

Back home around midnight for a little cheese, crackers, and cocktails.

[220.0]

Amazing how quick a day can go.

Topic: Party Planning, Seattle

February 1st, top floor of the Camlin in downtown Seattle. 6-10 with possible sleep over. I’m providing the booze absorbents, BYOB on the booze.

Topic: Party Planning, Whistler

Ordered t-shirts this evening for the folks going to the Olympics…. I feel, oh, so, Swanda. Here is Mick’s T-shirt (luckily I know he doesn’t read my blog!)…

Yes, I know, it’s sick and wrong… shit… I have to pack furs for all of us to wear to the medal ceremonies!

Quiet dinner of pork at home. No looking forward to 4AM when the alarm goes off to get my ass out of bed and head to the airport.

[219.7]

Meeting in the morning — running around before trying to get Cathy’s wedding invitations in the mail to her.

Next up was the UW Surplus Auction Store… only one item was tempting… a 2×2x6 bread cart… I resisted the temptation. Found cartridge for Wonderful, and sports uniforms for Fluffernutter — don’t know if either of them made it to the store before it closed at 6.

Just enough time before Rich arrives to sneek in a half hour nap — needed it.

Rich and more work in the afternoon. Did some more research on the Olympics trip to Whistler — things like medal ceremonies, public transit from Creekside to Whistler proper — looks like we’ll need a roll of Twonies (the Canadian 2 dollar coin)!

An early dinner at 6 so Rich can make it back to Olympia tonight for his early workday tomorrow… he was up for the interview to get his Nexus card — and he ran into one of his customers who is border patrol but lives in Olympia.

Steaks off the grill, baked potatoes out of the convection oven, and salad out of a bag.

After dinner it was time to finish packing for Boston. Flying to Portland on Thursday at 6am (ick) so I can catch the Portland-Boston flight. Why not fly direct? Guaranteed First Class seat at time of booking. Looks like I’ll be able to catch up on my recent movies with the Digi-Player. I’ve packed some goodies for Pucci - can’t show up empty handed!

[220.7]