UMTravels

Before starting on a work report (Year End Recommendations) I got a wild hair to continue the new hot-tub project by seeing if: a) I could make water tight connections to the tub (drain yes, though I need to pick up a flex connection to take strain off the pipe, in/out need work — like […]

Item One: An email from American Airlines about my flight on the 21st of December… Dear Mr. Souder: We make every effort to operate each and every one of our flights as scheduled. However, inevitably problems will arise in a business such as ours. Please accept my sincerest apology for the disruption of your plans […]

I have the feeling that this hot tub project is going to require at least ten trips to Home Depot. Two down, eight more to go. The basic problem is that I’m getting each of the sub-systems going separately before I even think about building up the frame — need to make sure the pump […]

A little (very little) work in the AM followed by a return visit to Home Depot. Time to get the pond liner: … along with 400# of gravel for the previous project that is still not finished. I got the liner unloaded (it weighs like 30#) but not the gravel before heading off to see […]

What a lovely relaxed day… puttering around the house, going through closets cleaning out unwanted clothes, setting up the sewing machine so I can use it (and the serger) easily, mounting the trellis’ for the rose bushes out front (though I need another rose bush, but it too early in the season to find one), […]

For the first time in years I’m actually around for the annual Faerie Gift Grab! Rules: everyone brings a wrapped present. They all go on a table in the middle of the room — someone starts by taking a present (this year I foolishly picked my nose which was taken for raising a hand to […]

With the Ortiz Gang arriving at 9am for breakfast I hauled myself out of bed before 8 so that I’d be caffeinated and clean. Breakfast was an overnight Strata from the Joy of Cooking — but here is a link to a similar recipe: http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg0997/strata.html Only a couple of presents for me to open, I […]

Twas the night before Package Day, and all through the delivery system, every elf was working his little red tattered nightshirt down to the threads… And the Head Elf was getting his pants hemmed and his merit badges applied, while the minions labored over soup pots and cookies. With the new Elfen Fur wrapped around […]

What a wonderful lazy relaxed day. Here is the scene that I woke up to: And most of the day it kept snowing on and off. Here is a video of the plaza…and Kate and Eric: Hopefully, that link will eventually be my normal video insert from Twango, which seems to be down at the […]

A fairly relaxing morning, up a little before eight, and by 9am I was at the airport. Shortly after — through security and looking for a way to get from one terminal to another without going back through security so I could use the Alaska Board Room for my every other week marketing call. The […]

When you get up at 4:30am, you’d really like your day to go well. It went well until I got to San Jose… then it started falling apart. Actually, it was a little sketchy at check-in when it took them 20+ minutes to figure out how to get my bag all the way to Santa […]

What a wonderful brunch with JSteve and crowd. Brunch at his place is always on a Sunday… and features tons of food, the star being Eggs Benedict from scratch… made to order, for a crowd of 10-15 people… seriously yummy. And seriously wonderful people as well… and the mimosas… From 2-6, I made it until […]

So, this post is about inviting people you know who never get invited to dinner — your friends who are chefs, cooks, bakers, caterers, teachers of cooking, etc. They don’t get invited because people are afraid to cook for “professionals”. Trust me. Invite them. They make great dining companions and they will be eternally grateful. […]

After getting mom’s old laptop all upgraded and updated… I discovered that there wasn’t much space left on that little 3 gig hard drive… damn. After searching around for a bit I discovered several things: A way to open most of the case of the laptop — though not enough to get to the loose […]

Headed off to the airport for breakfast (fish tacos) and a flight back to Seattle. Actually, I should really call that cranky Santa in First Class was fine in First Class — it was once I got on the ground that I started getting cranky. 15 minutes for the Master Parking shuttle to show up… […]

Workmen in the morning, so not much lingering in bed. I’ve found that if you use the whole twelve cup package of coffee in WorldMark resorts that you get a decent four cup pot. Should have brought coffee in addition to the two eggs and butter I brought (in addition to the left over garlic […]

The morning started with watching the firs flight of the new Boeing 787… not in person, via web-cast. Yes, in case you didn’t know, I’m an airplane geek. Good thing I didn’t have a marketing conference call this morning… the scheduled 10am take-off was 2.5 years and 27 minutes late. I split for the coast […]

Wow. No upgrade. Oakland. What’s wrong here. At least when I checked into the Board Room and asked… they moved me to a window seat in 6 (F) or all of row 12 (like that would stay open). Breakfast in the Board Room with a couple of drinks…. my days of trying to get 3-4 […]

A quite morning of puttering around the house waiting to get together withe Helene to see the Tudor Choir do Handel’s Messiah at Town Hall. Performance started at 2pm — got out of there after 5 in time for Helene to make her train to Vancouver and me to make dinner with Jim, Suz, Cedric […]

If it’s Saturday it must be time for the Swanda Birthday Party, Part Two. Venue tonight is Bizzaro, an Italian restaurant in Wallingford. Yeah, it’s a little dark, but it was a good crowd. I had the honor of holding down one end of the table, seated next to Lars and Anita who I invited […]