UMTravels

A lovely night’s sleep, all snuggled under my blankets with a belly full of food and wine.
Out of the apartment at 9:45am to make the 12:35pm ferry with a couple of stops along the way. Lowe’s for a dog, Safeway for marked down meat and soda. To the ferry dock a little before noon. A [...]

A little brunch at the apartment with Pomegranate Cranberry mimosa’s, eggs and sausage, roasted squash, and marinated cucumber salad — and the Seattle Times and New York Times Sunday editions.
All that, of course, leads to nap time.
Tonight is dinner for five at the home of Anita and Lars. Anita runs cooking classes on Mercer Island. Chris [...]

Car in the shop today — 8:30 at the dealership, shuttle ride home and back to bed. Done at 3 — a hundred bucks cheaper than expected, but those damn foglight lenses are damned expensive at $192 installed. Errands and then home to fix the TV antenna issues.
Jeff (running late, but with plenty of time, [...]

Arrived at 10am for the 11am ferry –barely. Lots of Prioirty Loading trucks and buses. Advantange of being small, the center lane. At least I got off early.
 
Back in the city with a Woody’s dog on the way. Dinner tonight with Jimmy and Suze — and Chris since he’s in the apartment. Rum tasting — five [...]

Here’s todays tip – Vote Smart  provides a non-partisan review of all the candidates and issues in your area. Just type in your 9 digit zip code (look for the number on any bill) and up comes links to all the state and national offices, and state referrendums. Some of the candidates don’t fill out the [...]

Working, working, working. In the middle of an email, plonck — no power (no internet, no wireless, laptop still running). Always exciting on the island.
Find other things to do: load garbage and recycling in the mommy van to make a dump run when they open at noon (Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday 12-4pm), swing by Paper, [...]

Lots of work today — making it a SOB day, that would be Shirts of Bamboo. A nice misty day on the lovely isle de Lopez — almost makes me feel like I have a fall cold coming on. But a nice day to be inside working. Below is a new line of stickers I’ve [...]

Got my absentee ballot today in the mail. Like a good boy, I sat down with the voter’s guide and made my choices. Interestingly enough, earlier today I was having a converstation with one of my travel buddies (Eric, of Eric and Marty) who is a self described Christian conservative, both ex-Air Force Colonels, and [...]

Vacuums roar as I clean up a little for the apartment transition (I only have it 40% of the time) and get out of the place by 10am so I can stop at the Lowe’s in Smokey Point for a Woody’s Dog — they use all the Vienna Beef Chicago Hot Dog products. Not good [...]

God, I hate 6am flights. Especially when the car service shows up at
3:30 in the morning after a rocky sleep at an address that is more on an alley than a street, and not numbered well.
SuperShuttle sent a white towncar rather than a van. Much nicer. One
other passenger — headed to South Bend on the [...]

All this make Jack a dull boy. Thank god I’m not Jack.
Breakfast at the Chatterbox — had I been in uniform (military, not maid) I’d have eatin my Eggs Benedict for free. Can’t find a decent link to the place but it’s your typical long skinny diner with the oldest espresso machine in St. Petersburg.
Then [...]

Humid in Tampa, but at least I have clothes to wear made out of bamboo. Check out the link to the right to get your own clothes made from bamboo. Got a couple of pairs of the half socks, a casaba t-shirt, and one in black. Great stuff.
Breakfast at Cafe Dolce, good coffee, breakfast a [...]

Towncar service came and went. I slept. The SIM card was in the computer, not the phone, hence no phone service. I woke up at 4:45 in a panic. No shower, no shave, no clean teeth. Grab the breifcase, forget the clothes, and drive to the airport and park in the garage. Thank god I [...]

With the Founder’s Room closed for dinner, off to the Brooklyn which is right across the street. Oysters and Vodka sampler for my appetizer. For the main I just had two more appetizers — the venison wrapped in bacon and the scallop with foie gras, and shared the Roasted Beet and proscuitto salad with Kristina. [...]

The temperature is cool, the leaves are falling, it is fall on the lovely Isle de Lopez. Time to write those cranky letters to the Seattle Symphony in advance of tomorrows Visiting Orchestra concert by the Kirow Orchestra from St. Petersburg.

On just in time for fall — the postman delivers an unexpected present. Apparently I’m [...]

Rain, rain, rain. All the way from Seattle back to the island.
Stopped at Home Depot to check out fencing for the deck. They don’t have the square stuff, but they did have some 2′x8′ pre-made panels that were moderately priced. Would still have to get all the supports.
Stopped at Lowe’s, but only for a bratwurst [...]

Who would have thought it would take an hour and fifteen minutes to get from the International District to Wedgewood. Add one University of Washington Huskies Game (and they didn’t even win!). Thank god it was Jill’s Birthday/Housewarming and the good wine (and food) was flowing.
Met these two great guys there from Tacoma, who Jill [...]

Off the island and into the city and beyond to Olympia for the monthly poker game. First stop is for an oil change after listening to the mommy van clatter it’s way onto the ferry. Stumbled across this great place in Anacortes — Zap Pro Lube — for $38 and some change, they changed the [...]

Firm plans set for heading to Tampa next week on business. Not bad — got a $299.08 fare on Delta — downside is that coming and going are 6am flights. Ick. Still need a couple more flights this year to keep my MPV (Alaska) and Premier (United) status.
I get back with enough time to make [...]

With the hot tub at 104 degrees, it’s time for a little privacy from the road. Lumberyard here we come. Guess that, and this, is today’s project. That and some banner ads for Shirts of Bamboo to add to my site (and for their eventual affliate program). Of course, no good project goes unpunished… the [...]