UMTravels

Seattle fireworks under fog: Happy New Year. [205.2]

I think that would describe how the sales went today at the shop. Better than Friday, more like a good Sunday. But you have to be open. But it being the end of the month, its Wine Club time: Several hours of assembling boxes. Doesn’t Jim look happy? We LOVE our wine club members – […]

Half way through today I thought it was going to be another Friday of few sales – luckily the last couple of hours made up for the several chapters I read in my Sweden-based mystery novel that I need to finish so I can pass along to SalamanderHellbender. My goal is to finish it by […]

Still can’t motivate myself to look for pictures of Michael. I know where they are, just not quite ready to go there. Got a text from Dylan that all his old friends in Bangkok have been calling. I offered to invite Dylan to dinner when I’m in Berkeley (I think he is in Emeryville) early […]

My monthly Friday at the shop – a little late in the month, but all the other Friday’s I was out of town. On track to actually work 77 hours this month – might be a record. That said, it was a piss poor day sales wise – maybe I should have stayed in bed. […]

I got some bad news this evening. Another friend lost to depression. Michael’s roommate/ex-boyfriend called me tonight around 10pm with the news that Michael passed on Christmas day. Dylan came home to find him “asleep” in bed. When he went to wake him he discovered he was no longer with us. There will be an […]

My thanks to Ampersand Charmpop for the phase “xMess”. While not blessed with a totally dysfunctional family whom celebrate the holidays in a haze of drugs, booze, and over-eating, the Mess could refer to the roads, the shops, the mind. Here is the photo of the xMess haul: Presents nestled amongst Bacchus and Pan. Heavy […]

Another day of trying to get at least 12 hours of sleep – basically another day of laying low trying to get better. Got to the shop at four, expecting to work until seven… but as the customers slacked off it became apparent that maybe we should have closed at five on Christmas Eve. I […]

Slept in until 1 – feeling good enough to go work a couple of hours. Barely. Good day money wish – but one should hope so since its two days before xMess (a phrase I’ve adopted from a Portland friend). Headed home at 7 for a VERY quiet night – hoping this plague that I […]

Oh dear God I feel felt like shit today. Had the worst sleep in recent memory. But shop duty calls. To maximize the “bed” time I had Jack (as in Jack In The Box) cook my breakfast this morning – the meaty burrito which doesn’t have the potatoes in it like their larger version, so […]

That’s how I felt this morning… the head cold thing not getting better. Luckily I close rather than open. The tasting today was sparsely attended and not much of the tasting wines sold – could be that since we didn’t have a rep to flog the stuff with wonderful tales of eccentric winemakers, etc. that […]

Slept in late this morning – still trying to kick this head thing. The first meal of the day was lunch at Modern Eats in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles… I had the turkey pastrami Rueben with double cole slaw, Craig had the seared ahi tuna salad – both reasonable priced at $10 […]

Up at 7:30 and off to the dining car of an uninspired omelet and even odder chicken/maple sausage – I should have trusted the Aussie from the last trip and his comments about that particular style of “sausage patty”. Then it was back to bed until around 10:30 – trying to kick this head/sinus cold/infection […]

Minor issue with the cab driver this morning for my 8am Time Call… he called at 7:45… lost. At least I knew the cab was coming. Got to the train station an hour early as is my usual…and the station is looking good – you can now even get up to the second floor viewing […]

I was thinking about my travel plans for tomorrow while I was cleaning/organizing/paying bills/suffering from what I’m now thinking is an ear infection… If it weren’t the holidays and the DUI patrols I’d drive to the airport in the morning, put the car in MasterPark, take light rail back into the Amtrak station and head […]

The down side of all this travelling and then coming home to work the weekends is that… well, the house suffers. Eight different bags half-packed, half-unpacked. Today is about just getting organized and organizing the house a bit. First order (besides sleeping in since I think I’m getting a bit of a head cold) is […]

The regular day at the shop – a 6-hour shift – but its pre-xMess season so all bets are off. Memorial moments: 6-bottle case of 2002 vintage champagne for his direct reports ($50 each) and a 1996 ($64) for himself (and 4 other bottles) Pickup of special order of cases of Prosecco, also for employees […]

My turn to open the shop… and good numbers even before the tasting started – GREAT numbers for the day. Not a huge sellout of the wines though the Patricia Green Reserve Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley of Oregon moved fairly well: 2012 Patricia Green Pinot Noir Reserve $24Patricia Green is known for her […]

Managed to get to breakfast around 7:30 this morning. The Retired Ship Captain that I was seated with last night was just arriving as I was finishing my spinach/mushroom/cheese frittata with pork sausage on the side. I ignored the potatoes, but did have a glass of cranberry juice. I explained that I wasn’t very chatty […]

I love how Amtrak pads their schedules for the last stop of their long distance trains… Fullerton to Los Angeles they said it would take from 6:34am from Fullerton to arriving in Los Angeles at 8:15am. Round numbers an hour and a half… what their schedule shows for the outbound times…. 6:15pm LA, 6:50pm Fullerton […]