UMTravels

Up an out by 9:30am for the 11am ferry. Got all the junk loaded and out the door with coffee infused madness.

22 cars (or car length units) and we were about 15 until two more trucks showed up. Trucks, trucks, and more trucks. Only four trucks got on, so they snagged a boat heading from Friday Harbor to Anacortes what was only half full.

So, not off the island at 11 (which was running late so it was 11:30), but more like noonish.

A thousand dollars worth of tires later (two front steering tires, 14-ply Michelin), a lovely lunch at the Greek Islands (lamb salad for me — ate half, half I had for dinner), and we are on the road at 2:30 for Seattle. Arrival time was 5pm, just in time for the news. And a drink.

Kept Bob running at 50-55mph and he seemed to like that. Tomorrow the hopeful buyer arrives in the afternoon. MoonSong will be doing a massive cleaning from 8 to whenever the guy from Flagstaff arrives.

Bob is parked out front, and that leads us to today’s picture:

[223 but on the church scale]

Well - finally got a link to the MLS listing for the church:

http://locator.nwmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Locator&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=I9xUF6hi%2BAmcF%2B8gU%2BqONutqjsaOQ22bZH7sFiNToZo%3D&KeyRid=1

It’s a long one, but hopefully the link will work.

Headed out to the island this afternoon get get Bob off the rock and get new steer tires put on him. Wonderful is going up with me, we’ll have dinner, disconnect the beast, coil up all the cables, and prepare to head home on the 11am ferry Wednesday.

Lots of stuff to unload. Moonsong coming by on Thursday to give it a good pre-sale cleaning. Guess I’d better not forget the power washer at the church.

Rest of the day up until ferry time is filled with work, work, work. SOB, ThinkAct, Sigler, the whole shooting match. Last of the eBay packages ready to mail. I think I’m done eBaying for a while, what a pain in the ass way to make a few buck. Upside? Great way to clean out the garage.

And for today’s usefull or useless graphic, we have the KPLU (NPR and All That Jazz) coverage map.

[225.1]

So — it was just ONE of those days. Things not going right.

Labels, not centered, meat left in the freezer (note to Chip and Linda: CHECK YOUR FREEZER, the lamb should be really good in a meat loaf mixed 50/50 with either veal or pork or both).

So, driving home in a fog — I miss a critical turnoff. Paging Shelton. Shit. How many miles of 101 with construction did I just do when I didn’t have to?

Don’t know - can’t tell, Streets and Maps won’t start and this late in the evening I don’t even care — I assume a couple of hours.

Dinner with Swanda. Steaks and salad and vodka and wine. And after dinner, after Swanda left, I went out and mowed the damn lawn — in for a penny, in for a pound.

Think I have Bob figured out — Wonderful and I will drive up late tomorrow, have dinner on the island and head back Wednesday morning ont he 11am ferry. Headed for Les Schwab for two front tires for Bob so that I know he’ll get to Tukwila on Friday. Pucking up the potential buyer Thursday at the airport and all other situations looked like they were cutting it way too close if he wants to leave town on Saturday.

Go Bob Go! And if it doesn’t sell, Go Bob Go To The Longhouse Gathering.

[???]

What a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day if you can’t be around your mother — be around someone elses.

Greetings from outside lovely Forks, Washington. Today’s picture is of the suite that I’m staying in here at the Quilayute River Resort – number 3:

But that doesn’t really give you a feel for the place — the long shot down the lawn is much better for that:

It’s so lovely to be sitting inside where it’s warm and working of stuff for the resort (signage, note cards, etc.) and presentations for ThinkAct. I could get spoiled by this — and the fact that my hosts are cooking all the meals (usually I cook at least one dinner). All in all, a good way to work.

Dinner was a stunning lamb dish — something about 8th day lamb — an italian recipe from when the author had been their eight days and to food was going more peasant style stew than fancy dishes. If that’s the way the peasants were eating, sign me up.

Back to the city tomorrow to finish up the ThinkAct stuff, deal with the hopeful sale of Bob, and generally hit the ground running.

[???]

Today’s adventure takes us away form Olympia and onto the Olympic peninsula to visit my friends that run the Quillayute River Resort outside of Forks, Washington. I’ll be working out here for a day or two on toilet signs, notepads, postcards, you name it. It’s a nice exchange gig in a lovely suite right on the river.

But on the way to Forks, I stopped by the Hoh Rain Forest which is 15 miles south.

Would you look at the elk I saw mere feet from the visitor’s center:

According to the ranger, it had just dropped it’s antlers last week.

Yet another chance to use my Annual Pass to the National Parks — adding $15 to the total dollars I’ve received from my $80 purchase. Which if I could find all the entries is now well over $100. Now that Steve is back at Deer Lodge, maybe I can use it for Yellowstone before it expires at the end of June.

Now, onto the resort in Forks. Below is the room that I’m staying in.

Chip and Linda cooked an amazing meal and only to the end of it did we start talking about the graphics business that will pay for my stay. Maybe I’ll have pictures tomorrow when I’m coherent. Or not.

[no scale]

Well, my nun — who holds my poker money, spent all night pooping it out, and not much time putting back in. And here is the nun — she might be going into retirement if my luck doesn’t change.

On the upside, the flank steaks that I’d marinated for dinner before hand were stunning. The marinade is pretty simple:

• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sake
• 3 tablespoons Schezwan Sauce
• 2 tablespoons greated ginger
• couple of cloves of minced garlic

Put the mess is a sealable container, add flank steaks and marinate overnight. Broil at high close to the element for 5-8 minutes a side or until done.

[225.4]

Bob may be going bye-bye. Got (another) call this afternoon from Leancy from Flagstaff who called with his flight information. Thursday early afternoon. Which means that we should be able to get to the island directly from the airport. Guess I’d better take the van so I can unload all the stuff in the bus.

But until the money is in my bank account, it ain’t over till it’s over. He has requested the VIN so he can get insurance for the trip home, called Les Schwab about tires, called NC Machinery about a dynamometer test and complete fluid change — hell, once he’s done with that I’d want to keep the thing.

And for me, got off the island on the 11am ferry and back into town at 2pm. I really need a nap. But, not time. Swanda coming for quick cocktails, and then Lynne is showing up at six for dinner. If I had more food I’d invite Swanda as well.

Don’t forget — postage rates go up May 12th.

Upcoming adventures? Tomorrow poker in Olympia, then out to Forks to visit Chip and Linda (and do some work) for Saturday and Sunday night.

[222 on church scale]

Lovely Sue from BlueToad Design has a suggestion for BOB, the Big Old Bluebird…. mobile theatre. Guess this means she’d love to sell me back the video projector I sold her. But it’s a lovely story, and does give me some ideas:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article3845822.ece

But that isn’t likely to happen since I got a call the other night (actually two of them) from a guy in Arizona that is talking about flying up (one-way) from Tucson with the intention of driving Bob home.

And speaking of Sue — had dinner last night with her and Don — a FABULOUS healthy meal.

News from today is that I signed the listing papers for the church, and it should be on the market in the next couple of days. Wish me luck. I will miss the island, but as Lynne says, “I now have invitations to every guest house on the island.”

[223.8]

Well — what a day!

Talking points emailed to Sigler and then off to this weeks listings. That would be phones, phones, phones!

Here are some examples of the wonderful 70’s and 80’s phones I have on the market this week.

And here is the link to the full list: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmarksouderQQfrppZ50QQfsopZ32QQfsooZ2QQrdZ0

I’ll be adding some wall phones later this week, so keep checking back.

Dinner tonight with Swanda while watching the election returns. It’s not looking good for Hilary. And speaking of elections, responded to a fund-raising party for Darcy Burner. When I sent this to Curt to see if he would be my date for the event, his response was quick and to the point:

Yes … $%^# yes.  Even though this is the worst e-invite I’ve ever gotten for an event (….bad formatting), I’ll go with you  because Reichert needs to go bye-bye.  I’ll be at your house by 4 pm on May 31.  I’ll contribute a max of $XXX, depending on how well they pitch the cause.

Well, that’s it for today.

[224.3]

Lots of auction items shipped out today — and starting to work on the next set of items — Phones, Phones, Phones! Get’em here.

All the sudden it’s dinner party week:

• Tonight — Helene here
• Tomorrow — Swanda there
• Wednesday — Don and Sue there
• Thursday — Lynne here
• Friday — Curt, Brandon, Dave there, but I’m cooking

Wow. I guess I won’t starve.

House news: meeting with the realtor Wednesday at 2pm and expect the house to list by the weekend.

Job news: I have the outline of “negotiation points” for Sigler, need to flush out tomorrow and submit.

Free-lance news: Got another bit from ThinkAct for working on their “decks” — read that as PowerPoint Presentations.

No rest for the wicked.

[225.4]

Open admission — I use child labor.

Knowing teenagers always need a few bucks — I pressed Alex and Thomas into service moving lumber out of the attic into the van. One more step on the way to getting the place listed. We were all on the 1:40pm ferry back to Anacortes — and the line is long. Luckily the ferry holds 150 cars, and there aren’t that many even on a Sunday because it’s still off season.

For those who have know me for awhile — MaryBeth bought my 1975 Checker Marathon. It was fun to see it again even if I don’t agree with the forest green new paint job (means the door jams don’t match), but at least all the dents are out of it. Maybe I should find a set of seat covers for it since the ones I put in 20 years ago have failed.

I stopped for groceries and MaryBeth and the youngins’ must have stopped for junk food, because we hit Seattle at the same time:

I could have cropped it, but I love the mirror from m MPV in the photo. No viewfinder, just randomly pointing and clicking.

Marinated chicken thighes and salad for dinner tonight. Nothing fancy, just healthy.

Working on proposals for Sigler and ThinkAct tonight.

[223 on the overly friendly church scale]

Up at 5am — and you know how that makes me feel. That makes Paul a saint for making the early morning airport run.

Routine check-in, flights on time or early, which continues my record this year of not having an itinerary fucked up by cancelled flights, missed connections or airline bankruptcy. My rules?

• try and get two hours between flights
• fly at off-peak times, like Saturday
• scam your way into first class so if there are problems, you’ll be the first to be dealt with
• have energy bars in your carry on because that connection may be so close (even with two hours) that there won’t be the chance for food
• assume that your flights will be late.

Arrived close to on time, but waited forever for luggage, reclaimed the car from MasterPark and figured that I actually had time to swing by the house to pick up food for dinner. Guess I should have saved the $$$ and taken the bus to/from, but I didn’t know how late the flight would be be (see above).

I made the 3:30pm ferry which put me on island at about 4:30pm — just in time for cocktails.

MaryBeth was there with her two kids (Thomas and Melissa), and Thomas’ friend Alex (who had such long dark hair that he reminded me of my dead brother). As it turns out, Alex’s nickname is IRF, which stands for Invisible Rabbit Friend. For a couple of 15-year-olds (the boys) and a 12-year-old (Melissa), these are highly socialized children, and good fun to be around.

As host, it was salad, high-heat-roasted Albino Asparagus(TM), bread, and a stack of huge Safeway Organic Steaks (thanks to the 30% off bin). There were four steaks for five people — would have brought another had I known about Alex, but no one starved and there was no food left.

The movie of the night, Nashville (chosen by MaryBeth, but my mother’s favorite) wasn’t that bid a hit with the kids, and even I lost patience — but there was fresh made popcorn.

It was basically a giant slumber party with all the men crashing in the living room and the women crashing on the bed in the kitchen.

[227.5 — but that was a noon after flying — I blame water weight gain]

Well — it was an interesting meeting this morning with Ron. I think the phrase is “blind sided” was how he described my request for a job. Nothing like showing up for a friendly chat about frequent flier miles and strategies  only to be hit up for a job.

Many things to discuss, like compensation — commission, guaranteed draw against commission, salary [doubtful], access to Sigler group health care, a ton of questions — but he wants to explore, and the President of the company got excited and wants to explore, Jill and Larry would love working with me again (VP operations and the head of estimating). I got positive feelings from all concerned. But, as they say, the devil is in the details.

Left Ames a little before eleven and headed south back to Kansas City. I noticed that there is a bit of a border war breaking out on the Missouri/Iowa border — for who has the nicest rest stop/tourism center. It will be a draw once the Missouri one’s grass grows in.

The fine ladies at the Missouri on recommended a really nice (and fast) route to Weston, Missouri, home of McCormick Distilling. They used to have distillery tours (until 1995) and now just have a store in town. It isn’t as good as the oldest distillery at the same site (notice the wording — the still is still there, but hasn’t bee used in twenty years). Think lots an lots of flavored booze crap — flavored tequila? why?

The guy manning the store was nice — tastes were .25 each for a maximum of two and he didn’t charge me when I bought a six pack of minis as a surprise gift — hell, he even gave me 10% off for buying a “6-pack”. It was he who offered to take this photo on one of the two “walls of booze”.

Damn — looking at the picture reminds me I still need to loose weight.

Up early in the morning to head back to Seattle, pick up the car and instantly head to the island for dinner with MaryBeth and the kids. 6:50am flight — ick.

Taking off in twenty minutes or so for a surprise visit this afternoon. And on the off chance any of them read my blog, I’ll just keep it a mystery, though if they know that I’m in the Midwest, and that there is a surprise visit planned — that would be enough to tip my hand. Oh well.

But for now, a recap of last nights dinner party — big fun for all.

and now, it’s time to hit the road. Hopefully an update later today.

THAT UPDATE LATER:

Well, it was an interesting afternoon. The surprise was, indeed, a surprise — and I was greeted with what I would consider a hero’s welcome. It amazes me the “pedestal” than Ron has put me up on with regards to his companies history. I wonder how he will feel when I ask him for a job tomorrow.

It was a good visit — the whole production floor was open, with all the equipment running – with wine and beer stations in each department — tables of food. I sort of hid in Jill’s office since every time I came out I was lauded with “he was our original Microsoft client and look where we are now.”

My plan was to go back to the motel, dress down, and head to Maude’s for dinner at the bar. What happened is that Ron and his woman-friend Becky (and joined by the delightful daughter Nicole [Nikki]) ended up at Maude’s with a pre-ordered bottle of Dom Perignon leading to appetizers and dinner (Printer’s Salad for me — apparently named for Becky). It was a good time, but left a little rattled. THAT certainly wasn’t the time to say “I’d like a job”. At least I made a good impression on Nicky — and apparently it was Becky that was pushing for dinner the minute I showed up unannounced.

9:30 and I’m back at the functional Motel 8 — and at $48 + taxes for the night which includes a continental breakfast — it’s got to be the cheapest thing in town. In theory there is wireless, but it was easier to get my EVDO card to work rather than the freebie wireless.

An appointment at 10am in the morning with Ron to “ask that question”.

Kansas City, home to Bar-B-Que and Paddleboats in the same block.

Had lunch today at Winslow’s Slow BBQ in the City Market. $4.99 for the regular size pulled pork sandwich. Damn fine BBQ. Gots to love dem pickles on the side.

My plans were to head to the Steamboat Arabia museum after lunch. I was there five years ago and it was a cool place, but when it came time to plunk down the $12.50, I just bought the hat pin ($3.00) instead.

Plans tonight are for a potluck party at Paul and Gail’s place in the “Helping Hands” building in downtown Kansas City — their condo is the corner one on the top floor (closest to the center of the photo). Two bedroom, two bath. Nice. I went on-line and looked up the cost of the last unit available in the building — 1A — which is the unit closest to the center of the photo on the first floor (Paul and Gail are in 5A). Here is the link. $299,000 for 1352 sq ft.

Guess I’d better get the church sold before I look at anything else. And speaking of that, spoke to a real estate agent in Friday Harbor that I’ll meet with next week to get the listing started and hopefully the church sold and another 1000 permanent yearly WorldMark points in my account, plus a bundle of cash. Why is it that I always look at real estate where ever I go?

Tonight’s crew: Paul, Gail, Wendy, Rhonda, and Dottie. Well, and, of course, me. Maybe I’ll remember to get a group picture of us all.

[clueless, no scale, but my body wasn’t happy with me after yesterdays food intake]

I had the most amazing flight this morning. The flight attendants were HAPPY. They were joking, they were enjoying their jobs, they were making EVERYONE feel welcome. I have not had this on a flight for YEARS. Congratulations to the flight crew of UA958 on the Seattle to Chicago run — when I get home I’m going to have to send in one of those KUDOS certificates they send me as a frequent flier. That’s how good they ALL were.

Now I’d like to apologize to the crew of the Chicago to Kansas City flight — you were good, but those gals were GREAT. Yes, I’m gushing.

And now for the photo of the day.

Well — I was going to have a photo of the day, but the card is being cranky — guess I should check the camera. Well, it was the computer needing rebooting. Try this:

Tulips from my garden. How cool is that.

Had dinner tonight at Aixois down in the Brookside Neighborhood of Kansas City where Paul and Gail used to live before moving downtown. Paul had shrimp and pasta, I went for the half dozen east coast oysters (good, but a little larger than I like) and the duck confit with spinach salad (I though confit was off the bone — but I basically got a duck leg). Maybe I should look up the definition….

Confit of goose (confit d’oie) and duck (confit de canard) are usually prepared from the legs of the bird. The meat is salted with herbs, and slowly cooked submerged in its own rendered fat, in which it is then preserved by allowing it to cool and storing it in the fat. Turkey and pork may be treated similarly. Meat confits are a specialty of the southwest of France (Toulouse, Dordogne, etc.) and are used in dishes such as cassoulet. Although confits are now considered luxurious, these preparations originated as a means of preserving meats without refrigeration.

Damn, you learn something new each day — thanks to wikipedia for that definition.

Thinking of a repeat visit to the Arabia Steamboat Museum tomorrow since it’s about one block over. Maybe I can get some good pictures. Basically it is a musuem built around a steamboat that was plying the Missouri river is 1856 and is filled with all the “stuff” that was on board, which was enough to stock a general store. It sunk, the river changed course and was buried in sand and muck for a hundred years, then was dug up.

[clueless — was too asleep to remember to weigh]

It must be eBay day since I’ve managed to get 20 items listed in the last couple of days. Here is what the back hallway looks like now:

Wanna see what’s on offer (all twenty items): http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmarksouderQQfrppZ50QQfsopZ32QQfsooZ2QQrdZ0

Now I’m out of boxes, I’m out of packing materials — in fact, I had to shred documents to get the last of the packages done.

What I didn’t get done is to find the extra material for the curtains at the church meaning I may have to find some other fabric for the new curtains in the attic to shield the water heater from view (and maybe the area over the closet as well.

What I did get done was contacting WorldMark about finding a real estate agent for the church sale.

Now it’s off to get the packing done, and get ready for Lynne’s dinner appearance. Why yes, I am entertaining the night before I fly off to the Midwest (not to be confused with the Mideast which is like, Ohio).

[224]

As Jimmy said yesterday afternoon, relaxing with Scotch on the patio, looking at the garden… “You sure are travelling alot for someone who said they had a ban on travelling for economic reasons.”

What can I say. He is correct. In my defense, I’m trying to use frequent flyer miles and cut corners where I can. And the trip next Tuesday has a possible job connection.

But today is all about finishing those eBay listings. And maybe week whacking the fence.

Hopefully dinner with Lynne tonight at my place (rather than showing up empty handed at her place!).

For a silly Sunday night video, check this out (thanks Curt):

[226.8]
 

How odd it is… last night I’d planned to cook a steak, eat a little salad, drink a little wine, watch a little tube, and head to bed. Minutes before I’m to marinate the steak Swanda calls — want to do Chinese with Mick, Wonderful, and me? Off to the International District I go — it’s also an excuse to return his second fixed laptop.

Today was filled with errands, napping, mowing the lawn. Iguess I’ll need to weed eat tomorrow since I didn’t get to it.

Got email from Lynne that she was settled in (well, the liquor was unpacked) so wondered over there at 5:30, only to be invited to dinner with Deb and her — great pork pasties — or as I called them, Little Debbie’s Cakes.

Rest of the evening was spent photographing and listing eBay items — tomorrow when I’m done I’ll post the link to what’s for sale this week. Over the last weeks plus I’ve sold about $1100 worth of stuff on EBay and to friends. Now if I could just give away that gas dryer in the garage!

[227.1]

The bathroom is all painted. 75% of the lumber is out of the attic. The list of remaining items before listing is:

• install corner moulding on new bathroom walls
• install baseboards on new bathroom walls
• mount towel hooks in the two nooks
• mount second towel bar for hand towels
• clear out the rest of the lumber and junk in the lower attic
• vacuum lower loft
• move bed from vertical to horizontal and dress up as bed (sans mattress)
• make chandelier for over the kitchen table
• mow the lawn
• remove pots from front sidewalk
• patch holes from where artwork was
• do a deep clean for the house.

Got back to the city with time to swing by Portlock for a present for Eric and Kate. Going to just be a quiet evening at home working on three design possibilities for 7RadLLC. That, and a little TV.

[223 on the church scale]