UMTravels

Slow day at the shop and I’m blaming the sun. With the first rainless day in a week, everyone was home mowing their lawns before they get out of control – I know because mines on the edge of losing control but 8pm isn’t the time to start mowing your lawn even with the full [...]

Up and out of the house for my monthly Friday workday (first Friday of the month for those keeping track). Not a bad day at the shop for a Friday, barely had time to finish today’s Wall Street Journal with all the deliveries coming in, stocking to do, customers to call with their special orders. [...]

Out of the condo at 11:30, just before the noon deadline. Out into the pelting rain. Many stops later looking for Alli I came away unfulfilled, a.k.a. no Alli. Apparently there IS a serious shortage. Might try CanadaLand next week. Out of lettuce – and I stopped at three Safeway stores – I text Swanda [...]

As you can see from the picture below, it’s not too sunny in Seaside for my visit: Which is OK since I’m mostly in the condo and not out sightseeing. The boy returned this morning at 9 to spend the day before heading back to his Uncles for the evening. His Uncle, not this Uncle. [...]

It was an alarm day. Enough said. Brother was out of the house at 9:30, me fifteen minutes later. Corvallis for him, Seaside for me. I ended up in Seaside a little before 2pm,but with the rain and wind howling, so much for a little fun at Fort Stevens with the SeasideBoy. Fortunately the room [...]

  It’s always amusing to try and coordinate your morning routine with other people in the house. Sometimes you just have to crash in while the shower is going. Brother’s quest this morning is a cast iron wok as he and Norma are moving to all cast iron cookware in their kitchen. Mission not accomplished, [...]

Left Brother to his own devices today while I worked the store. Odd day. Little traffic, but that traffic was generally spending at least $50 a crack. By the end of the day, it was a decent Sunday. Lots of slow time for me to fix the typos on wine cards, read magazines and format [...]

Silly me rushing around the house to open the shop on time – only to realize it was my week to CLOSE the shop not OPEN it. Left Jim in charge and went and took a nap on Swanda’s floor – seemed simpler than going home. Brother got to the shop around 3:30 for the [...]

Today’s major event is a Vodka and Grappa tasting with Ms. Jill out in Woodinville – another Groupon tasting coupon. That would be Matthew, the master distiller and sole full-time employee of Soft Tail Distillery. For the “barrel tasting” it was actually a unlabeled (unless you count blue painter’s tape) of a Viognier Grappa. Damn [...]

More running around town today – Swanda’s to drop off Handicap Placard, Jim’s in install DropBox that didn’t install yesterday, liquor store for Swanda, Wonderful’s to pick up an item of clothing for next week, and then home to start marinating the boneless country style pork ribs for dinner tonight. Today’s humorous picture – Jim’s [...]

The day off errands and organizing: Apartment to drop off wood for chair support Shop to drop off foam to keep gate next door from banging Jimmies to attempt to install DropBox (failed, will return tomorrow) Two file drawers of jumble hardware and cables dumped on bed Cables bagged and separated by type Hardware bagged [...]

Elkerton and I didn’t get the scanning done until after 1pm when it was time to break for the taco truck. Torta for him, three fish tacos for me. For some reason (like looking for a pcmcia card) I decided to sort, organize, and bag all there various computer cables and small bits of hardware [...]

With the sun out it was time to knock back the lawn. While I was at it, I dumped four wheelbarrows full of gravel in the ruts down the alley a bit. Trust me, four is about sixteen too few. Did a little shopping in advance of Elkerton’s visit, Safeway for meat, Liquor Store for [...]

Opened the shop this morning and we were pouring four wines in honor of Earth Day, and on the way out I packed out some of the excess boxes – a constant problem. What you can’t see is that the front passneger seat is full of recycling as well. Tonight’s dinner is with Mr. Bliss [...]

Opened the shop this morning, pretty slow until about 1:30 when things started jumping. Got out of the shop a little after 4 so I could pick up packages at the apartment and have dinner with Swanda and Helene who is in town for ballet performances. A little low-carb Chinese food and a bottle of [...]

Never again will I take that red-eye flight – it just ruins the next day. I slept most of the way back from Bellingham. CaddyDaddy would have liked to, but alas, he had to wait until we were back in the city and I was on my way to the shop. The first hour and [...]

Nothing like checking email and the standard morning sites to stumble across a friend of mine on CNN: But the rest of the day is just hanging around waiting for the red-eye back to Seattle. My form of amusement is taking the Hilo Hattie Trolley to “go shopping”. Nothing is on sale, but I got [...]

Well, I needed something with a W for Wednesday, since Tuesday was Tanks. The big goal today is to tour the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island, which is located on Pearl Harbor. Click on this for a 10% off coupon. Here are a couple of pictures to give you the feel of the place. [...]

We still haven’t left the grounds of the hotel. With 72 acres, why bother: Here is CaddyDaddy on the beach: And if you look closely in the background you can see one of the “Koa Beach Services” guys. Full service? And, of course, beach volleyball: Next up we are off to the US Army museum, [...]

A lazy morning around the house, well, not really. While CaddyDaddy made breakfast, I worked on: Making the Madrona Wine Merchants flyer for Children’s Trust two-up on 8 ½ x 11 Printing out 80+ copies Making the review forms for the scholarship reading Printing out the review, tally, and financial needs form We got out [...]