UMTravels

It is nice to have a guest bedroom. I think I would miss that were I to live in a smaller apartment. That and the BBQ on the deck.

Also nice when the guest gets up before me and makes coffee. Not quite as good as getting coffee in bed, but close.

This morning’s breakfast was a nice scramble of ham, smoked gouda, and eggs – with a little sparking cranberry juice cut with seltzer water to cut the sweetness.

Did my quarterly taxes… I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that you made so little that the state rebates all your taxes. That and the fact that I grossed $24,000 less than last year means it’s time to get off my tuckus and get more clients, or goddess forbid… a… j o b.

But instead I was spending money on-line. For those of you with ATT or T-Mobile service, this will be of interest to those who also travel outside the US.

I’ve been looking at these phones on Geeks.com (see link in the right hand column) for several months… it’s an unlocked (means it can use anyone’s SIM cards) quad-band, dual-SIM phone. In practical terms that means that you can keep your US SIM card in your phone, but also pick up a pre-paid local SIM card for cheap in-country calls, and in most of Europe, free text messaging. Sort of like a two-line phone strapped to your thigh.

Or maybe I just got it thinking about the Colonels on Frog Hollow Farm. It will be nice to have an emergency spare again since I gave my Dash 2G to a pretty young man (and no, not in exchange for sex – though I certainly would have been willing). When I saw them at $99 (plus shipping) I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger… but apparently the white and red models weren’t moving, so they knocked them down to $59… SOLD. So, anyone who is headed overseas is more than welcome to borrow my new “space”, with the exception of when I’m using it… like Dublin from the 22^nd to the 28^th of February. And Mexico in April… and Lima… wait, I haven’t booked that trip, yet

So, tonight is dinner with Dancing Bear. We used to do this dinner on Friday after work, but we’ve found it’s easier on Sunday when his children (the dogs) have had is company all day, rather than him not getting home from work until much later than usual.

The dinner…

• Salad
• Fresh rosemary challah pull-apart rolls
• 1# + beef rib steaks – grilled
• Twelve Apostles Australian Syrah

But, of course, it being Dancing Bear, we almost booked a “cruise to nowhere” for May, when all the boats are repositioning from the Mexican Riviera to the Alaska summer routes. Well, we thought about it, but it hasn’t happened yet, the one I wanted conflicts with the one he already has. Now I’m thinking about inviting someone from the East Coast… just not going to happen tonight.

Cruise whores we are.

[228.8]

Sounds like a repeat of yesterday, just new people at dinner. Today I finished the stairs, now just have to decide if I want a railing …

Items remaining … built in bench seating with will be more stable. More work to be done.

Dinner tonight with the boyz – Swanda and Dancing Bear. A starter of sushi, then the main is a soup (chicken vegetable) and salad with a couple of loaves of home-made bread. Sour cream for those (like me) you like it in their soup.

[225.9]

The day started way too damn early. Had to be on a train at 7:40am which means to get a decent seat (we didn’t) it’s almost an hour before that. Totally full train, but at least the tickets were free because of my Amtrak points – still have enough for a couple more round-trips on the Cascades (Eugene to Vancouver, BC).

Train ride uneventful – read the paper, finished a New Yorker, napped.

Customs was a pain on the Canada end as ours was:

1. The last car to unload though we were closest to the station, and
2. There was a ton of luggage, another delay.

Train in the station at 11:40, through customs almost an hour later – totally amazing that we made it to the boat a little after one thanks to Sky Train (would have been earlier but one machine was broken, and one had a lady in front of it that had apparently never used any sort of mass transit automated ticketing machine.

Lunch on the Lido deck was uninspiring, even according to Dancing Bear, my partner in this adventure. The room, however, was stunning. No need to ever leave…

Wow, double doors opening onto the deck with two chaise lounges, a table and four chairs.

After the mandatory lifeboat drill, this one sans life vests… apparently a new policy, too many accidents on the stairs, it was off to the Crows Nest for the GLBT event – which for some stupid reason they scheduled in the same bar as the bon voyage party. No signs, and no sign of any gay ship board life.

We checked out some of the ship, did some duty-free shopping for booze for tonight, swung by the Neptune Room (the private lounge for Deluxe Veranda Suite guests, had some nibbles, and decided on what the dinner plan was going to be. Answer? A catered meal in the suite, lounging on the deck in our bathrobes. The menu:

• 2 orders of the Mariner Seafood Cocktail
• 1 order of the Captains Antipasto Plate (which was missing its Pate)
• 1 Gourmet Green Salad with Sesame French dressing
• 1 Caesar salad (for me)
• 1 Roast Tenderloin of Beef (Medium Rare for Dancing Bear)
• 1 Leg of Lamb (ordered medium rare, came medium, for me)
• 1 Yukon Sour Dough Bread Pudding (for me)
• 1 Upside Down Apple Walnut Tart (for Dancing Bear)
• 1 cheese and cracker platter (for me)
• 1 double espresso (had to throw it out it was so bad)

It took the waiter two of those huge trays to unload all the stuff onto the deck. But what a way to dine.

Didn’t make it to see the stage show… but did manage to go through $150 worth of room credit because it was use it or lose it:

• 1 welcome old-fashion for Dancing Bear
• 2 minis out of the fridge for me, plus 1 mixer for Dancing Bear
• 2 bottles of Absolute from duty-free
• 1 double espresso with Cointreau after dinner (for me – our concierge when down and got it for me personally)
• 1 bottle of 2007 Chateau Nuef de Pape with dinner.

Here is the scroller bar with all the pictures:

With the food and the booze we were in bed and snoring early.

[223.2]

Just a day of getting lots of things done… like additional birthday plans. The list is now:

• Seattle to Vancouver on the train with Dancing Bear
• Vancouver to San Pedro on the Carnival Spirit with Dancing Bear in a suite
• Long Beach to Seattle on the plane with Dancing Bear
• A couple of days later a Frequent Flier ticket to Santa Fe
• My actual birthday at the Dia Foundation’s Lightening Field site
• Fly back to Seattle
• Pick up Joe from Tucson the next day and check us into the Camlin Penthouse suite
• Return Joe to the airport following Monday
• Following Saturday fly to Tucson to celebrate Joe’s birthday
• Return following Tuesday.

Once again I’ve managed to turn my birthday (55) into a several week occasion. Out of pocket? Less than a grand.

And dinner — just a small steak:

And then onto getting the new wall mount for the TV as the stereo equipment stack keeps getting bigger and cutting off part of the screen when I swing it to watch from bed.

As you can see, to boost it up to bolt it I’ve got it stacked on a bunch of stuff. No wonder the installation instructions say to use two people.

But it’s all done. Now all I have to do is redo the table top making it longer. Might even move the bar to the living room in a final attempt to find a place where it works.

[229.9]

With the cabin to myself it was easy to sleep in past breakfast and make a pot of coffee at my leisure. Of course I should have done it on the front steps as I managed to momentarily set off the CO²/Smoke Alarm in the cabin. Being in the trees, the cabins that is, also means not a lot of direct sunlight.

Pre-lunch of cheese, lunch meats and marinated olives and mushrooms led to a lunch of a large plate of salad. A low carb diet at Breitenbush is a challenge — which my guess is that most of my meals will be pre-meals followed by salad.

Around two I wandered up to the parking lot to await the arrival of Dancing Bear with all of the photo directories stuffed into their envelopes with the bamboo towelettes. By the time he arrived several hours late at 4pm, I’d already checked in a dozen or so people, which would have been much easier with the packets arranged in alpha order. Oh well. Basically my job is done as far as organizing the gathering is concerned. Dancing Bear will be handling who does what for the fashion/auction/talent shows planned. My job is to sit and relax.

Sorry the photo is so washed out. I took this as a still picture from my tiny video camera, tried it with my phone as well, but it was as washed out as well. So much for leaving the decent camera a home.

Once Dancing Bear was set up at the gate I was able to get back to put the cabin together. I had to move out of B3 at 1pm and wasn’t allowed into B2 where I’m staying for the gathering until 4, leaving my pile of bags, blankets, coolers, electronics piled between the cabins.

Here is a shot of the cabin all set up:

With Mark and Onyx cancelling at the last minute, my new cabin mates are Hummingbird and BamBam. They arrived around 5 just as I was finished setting up.

Dinner was the same routine of pre-dinner meats and cheeses, but with more of a cocktail party setting. It seems that I have a reputation for breaking the Breitenbush rules.

More sticks and twigs (as they say) in the buffet line — I just headed straight for the salad.

After dinner was Breitenbush 101 (don’t plug in your curling iron, you’ll bring the system down), followed by Faerie 101 (what’s this all about) and finally the Opening Ritual, which I missed as it was a) really short and b) was waylaid by someone I hadn’t seen in a couple of years.

I’m already starting to get tired of all the “thank you for all your hard work” comments, and it’s only the first day.

[? ? ?]

Turns out had been almost exactly three years since my last trip to Victoria – and my favorite desk person was still on staff, now as the supervisor! She thought the last time had been for my birthday. I looked it up, that was three visits ago, but there had been three visits in a 4-month period, so understandable.

Travelling with Dancing Bear for this trip. And he is driving! And he’s fast. We had enough time for lunch at Milestones Tsawwassen Mills before we got on the ferry:

In addition to my Manhattan, I had the fish tacos with half/half side of salad/fries:

DancingBear had the Chicken Caprese Sandwich:

We had a reservation for the ferry, so we were one of the early cars onboard:

We were warm and cozy upstairs…

And with great views!

Yep, it’s a bit grey and foggy – welcome to winter in the Pacific Northwest.

Stopped for groceries on the way to the condo, where Nicola greeted us – I brought some candies for her.

Got settled into our penthouse – here are some random shots:

No pictures of the hot tub (which we used) and the BBQ (which we didn’t use). Dancing Bear did bring his sous vide:

We eat well on the road…Monday night’s dinner – fried chicken:

Lunch the next day was at the Blue Heron – a tad louder (atmosphere-wise) than I remember, but the food and drink was good…

Chicken Club for Dancing Bear:

And Crab Cakes and Salad for me

Running late to get back to the condo to greet Solus – but we left a key at the desk. He came over to pick up a cast iron pan from me and spend the night for dinner and a hot tub. Big garden salad…

And Mushroom Serrano Ham Risotto:

For lunch before his 1pm pick up for a 3pm ferry we were off across the park to Finest At Sea, a wholesale/retail fish monger that also has a food trailer in front.

We all had the Halibut & Chips, though next time might try the Tacos and Chowder.

Even breakfast at the condo is elegant! Potato cakes, sausage, and an over easy egg (and Caesar).

DancingBear discovered a new destination on Vancouver Island – the factory outlet store for Roger’s Chocolate, Victoria’s oldest manufacturer. His mother wanted chocolates, and he’s a fine son – the fact they were 50% off because they didn’t come in the fancy box just made them tastier:

And another fine meal in the evening… a bone-in pork chop roast…

Leftover risotto and veg, same scratch-made gravy – YUM!

But by Friday morning it was time to return home on the 1PM ferry…until it was cancelled due to high winds on the Straight.

We finally got the 4pm boat – and sprang for the quiet lounge with free coffee and snacks.

It was a long drive home in the rain. Originally expected to be home around 5pm – it was more like 9PM.

But, all-in-all, a great trip.

[224.0]

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I know, I was just at Filson’s last week – but they were having a Smokey The Bear birthday party complete with Smokey himself, mini-cupcakes (the kids were running wild), and for the adults – it turns out, real cocktails, served in Mason Jars with Smokey The Bear cozies.

First – the Smokey The Bear photos:

This one features the “hottie” tour guide from last week (in the plaid).

And, of course, Uncle Markie had to get his picture taken with the big guy…

But really it was all about cocktails and cupcakes…

And “real” designer cocktails they were:

I had the “Smoke But No Fire”…

Any they even were giving out Smokey The Bear cozies!

The one thing I passed on was the Union Pinot Noir in a can – I kid you not – an aluminum can!

I really wanted to pocket one – apparently they also had a white and a rosé that they were desperately to get cooled down (along with the beer) after a delivery held up my Seattle’s infamous traffic.

The timing was good for the SODO-area event – I had to make a run to the Post Office to drop a Priority Mail envelope – nice to have a cocktail and a cupcake (OK, two) with Smokey on the way home.

[215.2]

Too funny. Dancing Bear and I are sitting in First Class, side-by-side across the aisle (1C and 1D) as the rest of the passengers are boarding and I look up to see my friend Kaloha who lives in Santa Cruz. Once we landed we had some time to catch up while he waited for his friend on a United flight and we waited for Lightning to arrive from his direct flight.

It was also nice to be able to change into shorts, t-shirt, and sandals.

We soon realized that his friend’s United flight landed at the next terminal which isn’t connected and that his buddy was on the way to the Thrifty Rental Car counter, which oddly enough is where we are picking up our Jeep, so off we go and we’ll come back for Lightning. That and I seriously need a little food in my system, and now that we are beyond security, there are nothing up vending machines.

Down the road a bit we find a TDM as Dancing Bear calls it: Taco del Mar. Fresh Mexican in Hawaii.

A quick bite, and back to the airport to pick up Lightning: who try to his name arrives in the middle of a torrential downpour. I’m drenched just getting out to let him get into the back seat of the Jeep. It is then that we realize we maybe should have gotten a bigger car. Three big guys (four by the time we pick up BreticusMaximus in Hilo), all their stuff, and we haven’t even been to Costco yet for the supply run.

Speaking of this: this is what the Jeep looks like after said Costco run and picking up BM.

Not even any room for the boxes that things came in. But we are well stocked with food and booze and lots of fresh local vegetables that BM packed along.

We took the Saddle Road which is now legal to take rental cars according to the nice lady at Thrifty — even though the on-line contract I read said it was a no-no. Interestingly enough it used to be printed in big letters on the contract that you had to initial. Apparently (and it’s true) they have significantly upgraded the road. It was nice to do some driving on the island on roads I hadn’t been on.

By the time we got to our rental house it was after 5 and the owner was patiently waiting for us.

First order of business. Make more ice. Second order of business, make cocktails.

And then it was time to deal with dinner:

• Prosecco
• Caesar Salad (pre-made from Costco)
• Scalloped potates (pre-madefrom Costco)
• Filet Mignons wrapped in bacon (seems we ended up with 7 pounds of bacon for 4 days)

Luckily I found skewers in the kitchen drawer — actually the house is fairly well stocked with unusual ingredients like chilies, curries, etc.

And here is the gang in action at the kitchen table (the dining room table has been given over to flowers and electronic gadgets):

The only downside was the lack of propane for the outdoor grill (and the lack of cell service for T-Mobile, but the boys on ATT are fine).

Aloha.

[? ? ?]

Exciting news… might have located a yellow Western Electric phone to go with my Charlie’s Angel Speakerphone Set.

Today was scholarship reading at the Washington Athletic Club. Started at 11am on a stack of 35 applications, finished a little after two. Luckily lunch and soft drinks were supplied. At least two of the people’s applications I read had applied for my scholarship as well.

Other news… taking a hiatus from my major client. Guess I’d better get to work developing a new one (or two). Spent the afternoon and part of the evening after guests left working on the transition document. You know:

• Which passwords need changing
• Which email address need to be deleted
• Status of all the projects I was working on
• Unreviewed alerts that need dealt with
• Open issue on trademark issues
• Recommendations for the future

Tomorrow will be archiving all my working files and sending the off to the owner.

And speaking of friends for dinner – yes, again. Dancing Bear and a friend of his that was in town. No Old Fashions tonight, no orange. Just wine to go with the bacon wrapped filet mignons (yes, I know, twice in one week), salad, bread, roasted potatoes – Dancing Bear loves his starch.

Up too late, but what’s new about that.

[224.8]

After several weeks at home, it was time to hit the road again.

But first, it’s an 8am doctor’s appointment followed by waiting to new pills. The joys of being in a clinical study (no, I’m not dying, just trying to keep others from).

Pills in hand, headed north to hook up with DancingBear, and onto the road. Whistler here we come!

And into the condo I booked almost a year ago…

Threw the bags down and headed to Guest Services in the Village to pick up our season passes for the Peak-2-Peak Gondola. At the end of the day, no line at the counter – woohoo!

Grabbed some fill-in groceries to go with the quantities of food from Costco so we can make Costco roasted chicken pulled off the bone for a chicken Caesar salad – the Caesar also coming as a platter from Costco.

We actually made it to the mountain by noon after a nice “Mother and Child” scramble…

Lots of snow and eye candy on the mountain:

Up the mountain on the Whistler side – across the canyon on the Peak-2-Peak (above), and then down the Blackcomb side on the Solar Coaster, and open lift:

One of the reasons I opted for this first day is that if you are going to see Black Bears, you will most likely see them on the Blackcomb side – and we were lucky to spot one on our first day!

Apparently, “Hey Bear, Hey Bear” doesn’t get them to look up.

Back up the mountain we go!

For a lunch on the Blackcomb side – sadly, Christine’s, my favorite restaurant isn’t open yet for the season, so we are in the burger side of the place – at least they have wine.

Actually got done with lunch in time to grab one of the last busses to the 7^th Heaven run… another open chair lift:

Passing over a summer downhill ski run that ends up at the Peak-2-Peak terminus on Blackcomb:

Even snowboarders are using the run:

And they have cocktails at 7,500 feet!

And VIEWS!

Pardon my hand in this photo….

Soon enough we are headed back down…

Apparently, that is my post-cocktail look. STUNNING views – a reason I keep coming back year-after-year.

Back at the Blackcomb main lift area we ran into this really cute Whistling Marmot….

Sadly for us this trip, no Alpine hiking due to the amount of snow still on the trails – maybe next time.

Popped back on the Peak-2-Peak and back to the condo.

Sadly, there are no grills at The WorldMark Cascade Lodge. That said, DancingBear brought his Sous Vide unit to get the steaks to exactly 129 degree (F)….

And then finished in a grill pan (which he also brought), along with sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, and the “forbidden” backed potatoes (at least we split just one of them):

After dinner, we retired to the hot tub before turning in for the evening.

In the morning, another scramble, another ride up the hill and across the top.

Today, we take the Peak-2-Peak BACK across to visit the viewing platform to see how the gondola works:

And back to Blackcomb we go to hit the Upper Village at the base of Blackcomb for lunch. I’d picked up a 15% off coupon (in addition to the fact that everything in Canada is 25% off because of the exchange rate) for Merlins, but it is back down on the open lift, and another encounter with a Black Bear (sorry, no photo).

And lunch came with Old Fashioneds!

And WAY too much food for one sitting – we should really just decide on one entrée and split it:

And I had to have a Manhattan after the Old Fashion…

We decided to call it a day and walked back the condo, stopping at a lovely little park along the way:

Tonight’s dinner was the Chicken Alfredo from Costco, with a lovely dip in the hot tub after…

After an eggs scramble, back to the mountain we go – with a BIG surprise animal spotting in a place I’ve never seen one before; actually, NEVER seem a Brown Grizzly up here:

Pretty close to the lodge and headed to the kid’s inner-tubing area – like Kiddie McNuggets. Easy to spot one a big white snow field on the Whistler side.

Saw that bear on the Peak-2-Peak, and at the other end – a selfie.

We actually got a shot at the end of the Sun Coaster (on the Blackcomb side) of the crew adding a chair to the chairlift.

Next up is the Wizard down to Blackcomb’s Upper Village – where we saw a Black Bear:

Back up the hill for lunch – I got the Kiddie Hot Dog Meal with a little bottle of wine:

Before long, it was time to go down the mountain – with a little stop along the way for some reason, but great for taking a couple of pics….

Once back in the condo – we are in leftover mode for our last night at Whistler. Leftover rib eye, warmed by the Sous Vide, a little potato salad, some Caesar…

Like the white wine chiller – the top of blender…

Our Last Supper at Whistler – bought way too much food, so hopefully the staff will that it home because I’m not throwing it out.

We even ate leftovers our final morning….so we left four eggs as well.

Soon, we were on our way home…one of my favorite bridges even though it’s a toll bridge.

Traffic wasn’t that bad getting back to DancingBear’s place, it was me getting home from his house that took twice as long as usual…

Another week, another journey.

[? ? ?]

Only the day will tell what we need today with the snow last night in the Lake Chelan area.

Here is the travel route (if you don’t hear from me again).

The blue trail was yesterday, from Yakima to Chelan Shores, the green is the driving route for today. Pass conditions for I-90 Snoqualmie Pass: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/snoqualmie/ and Blewett Pass http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/blewett/ and on the off chance that I take US2 home, http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/stevens/ — although looking at the camera view from there, doubtful.

—- COKE REWARDS NEWSFLASH —-

Today is double point day according to an email I got a couple of days ago. Another one of these offers that is day specific (like the Van’s Turkey Day 25% off and free shipping). Must remember to get the cartons of Diet Coke out of the bimmer this afternoon and put in the cokes!

—- And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program —-

I’ll update this with travel details when I get back to the other side of the mountains. Wish me luck.

EVENING UPDATE:

Made it back safe and sound. Blewett Pass was compact snow with very light traffic, I-90 was just wet pavement with maximum speed limits posted.

Before I get to today’s workaholic post, here is a picture from yesterday when Jeffey stopped by:

With both of our toys out in front of the house. His is a little more expensive than mine:

And now back to the little afternoon party to fold, gather, stitch, stick and stuff.

Sorry it’s a little blurry, I was too by the time we were at this point. Dancing Bear showed up at 2:30, J.Steve and Brian about 6 and it was all done before a steak dinner for those still around. We had two people cancel on us, but not a big deal.

And now I just need to print the last 25 directories when the new black toner cartridge arrives on Tuesday, and then I’m done with 99.9% of all the work dealing with the gathering.

[224.1]

Well, we finally got into the space that the wine shop is going into. Wow. Stacked floor to ceiling with “stuff”. One the upside, there is more storage room than we expected in the bathroom, which means room for the dishwasher in there as well.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes him to clear out the mess so we can get in and sanitize.

After that adventure and a little fooling around with a rosè and the latest logo version it was off to the apartment to pick up three printer cartridges, the most important being the black one for the 4100 so I can finish printing, folding, and stuffing the directory.

Here are my merry little hands at work:

Too bad Dancing Bear won’t be by until Sunday to relieve me of all the boxes of gathering stuff that are starting to pile up.

[224.9]

Not enough sleep.

The 8:30am call from my broker’s assistant telling me how to fill out forms that I hadn’t even printed out yet was the second she had placed. Apparently I slept through the first one. Crisis number one. Non-savable encrypted PDF that I can only fill out and print, and I can’t even cheat and print it to a PDF file so that I can add my signature to the damn form electronically. A six page form, that I now have to print out, sign, scan and email back to them before I can leave town.

To do it I had to pull the scanner (which is actually a dead inkjet all in one) into the living room and hook it up to the machine that can actually create PDFs and my laptop’s ability somehow got scrambled. Oy!

Crisis number two… while having packed MOST of what I need, I haven’t packed the talisman and its box, or the ice box. And by the time you know it, SHIT, the trunk is full, the floorboard of the passenger side is full, the front seat is full. No picking up hitchhikers this trip!

The plan was to get out of the house by 10am. In reality 11:05.

• 30 minutes into the drive I realized I have forgotten my lounge chair for in front of the cabin
• 60 minutes into the drive I realize that I most likely have forgotten my good camera
• 2 hours in I stop for cheese to go with all the meat that I have in the cooler and realize I’ve forgotten the asparagus and the spinach/yogurt dip that I was going to buy dipping vegetable for. I leave the store with twice as much ice as will fit in the cooler, cheese, cheese/salami rolls and marinated olives.

After such a crazy morning I didn’t even bother to turn on the radio (other than a flashing traffic alert notice). It was just me and the purr of the engine and the whistling of the wind. Very soothing. Makes me not care about the three items above.

In my franticness of leaving I decided to skip Costco in Portland and cruise straight south through Portland and take the left at Salem, the high speed way since I was an hour behind rather than going the scenic back way. After being behind the wheel for an hour, the new plan was to skip Costco, but stop in Woodland at the just off the freeway Safeway for gas and cheese, which would be quicker than NY trip to Costco. That would give me enough gas to get to Breitenbush Hot Springs the back way, and still have enough gas to get me back to Washington on the return home.

Final remaining shopping item was booze since my order for $100 of brown liquor from California isn’t coming. Hail Estacada! It only took me 10 or 15 minutes to find the liquor store (damn state stores), but they had the Aberlour 12-year on special for $7.00 off. I should have stopped at the 2^nd Hand Store that looked heavy on the junk — hopefully they will be open on Sunday when I might have more room.

Contrary to Dancing Bear’s theory, I don’t think coming the back way taking longer. Caveat is… coming from Seattle because you slice off about a half an hour by bypassing the central route from Portland. It ends up being the same. I left at 11:05am, got to the front gate of Breitenbush at 4:10 with:

• The Safeway Food/Gas stop
• The wrong exit detour (damn Streets and Trips — really, get off the freeway, get back on the freeway, go two exits)
• The booze run in Estacada

Checked in, unloaded, iced beverage in my hand by 4:30. Set up the computer, charge the camera, charge the cell phone, blog, chill. Speaking of chill, the passenger side carpet got a chill from melting ice.

It was a nice hour and a half of being in the woods, scotch in hand, the sound of the river in the background before heading to the dining hall, wine in insulated coffee mug for what I rightly assumed was a carb heavy dinner. Two plates of salad later and with the wonderful company of Wind and Keystone we were headed back to the cabin to see if a last minute move could be accommodated. I begged not — it’s so tacky to have magic marker changes on registration envelopes.

My evening entertainment was pulling on of he chairs from the cabin and having an after dinner dram of scotch reading the Wall Street Journal. The alternative was waiting straight people “kelp dance”. It’s so odd being here when it isn’t a “closed camp”… I have to remember to:

• Keep my clothes on
• Not go into the woman’s bathroom because it’s more convenient
• Not just whip it out in the woods and take a leek
• Not swear as much since there are children around

My goal of keeping to gathering to 150 faded with heartfelt pleas, which I starting ignoring when we passed 180. Beyond that the kitchen can’t function. Feeding 180 men is twice as hard as feeding 180 men, women and children. We eat twice as much.

[223.5]

Drop by number one: Me

Reason: Dropped about 20# of frozen meat to Missy who lives on the corner. With her recent rounds of surgery she hasn’t been working. It’s easy to grow vegetables, it’s not so easy to grow veal chops.

Drop by number twp: Dancing Bear

Reason: To go through all the gathering registrations and make a list of who’s doing what (talent, auction, clean-up, love lounge, etc)

Drop by number three: Jill

Reason: To drop of a seriously cute salt and pepper set. Actually, they are both pepper grinders, I just put Kosher salt in one of them

I added a black dot to the one with pepper in it. She found them on some sale rack and instantly thought of me. And they are MAGNETIC which means they will stick to the range hood.

All I had for Jill was a handful of letterpress advertising slugs.

After all the company was on the road, so was I with a run to the Eastside to pop a check in the bank and grab some bottles of salad dressing at Trader Joe’s — my basket of dressing was down to three partial bottles and the basket holds six.

Quiet dinner at home, just me, some pork cutlets, a salad, and a couple of glasses of wine. It seems that I’m moving back towards an Atkins style diet — trying to cut out carbs, and still taking the Alli to stop some of the fat absorption. Seems like most people I know are headed that way, some because of diabetes, some just to shed pounds. Protein and salad, my kind of dinner.

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The boys (Hummingbird and BamBam) are up and out before I’m out of bed. Apparently they actually want breakfast though I hear the eggs were good, it’s usually just gruel, fruit and muesli in the morning. Not much in the way of protein, just carbs.

This morning I moved the propane coffee maker out onto the small front. No alarms went off. Whew!

Here’s the view from the front porch:

Actually, it’s from the path in front of the deck, but you get the idea.

Ran through the lunch line so I could get to Devil’s Hole before the sun shrank behind the trees. Here is a shot that I took years ago that we used for the publicity for this event:

The afternoon was spent in domestic bliss, i.e. sitting on the deck reading back issues of The New Yorker.

Usual cocktail party and protein load with the usual suspects before dinner salad. So far so good with staying on the low carb regimen.

Tonight is the Fashion/Auction Show, or would that be Fuction? One of the items being auctioned off is that stunning beaded red dress that I picked up in San Diego last year. It went for $75 which was a wonderful premium on the $7.80 cents that I paid for it. Unfortunately I succumbed to a little auction fever and ended paying $350 for several nights in a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house on the big island. I do need the miles and my guess is that Dancing Bear will split the cost with me. I left the auction before the all the items were sold, having spent my wad and more.

A little post-functioning back at the cabin and off to bed.

[? ? ?]

Met up with Jimmy at the apartment where I picked up the store copy of Windows 2010, some groceries, and Jimmy. I shaved about an hour off his commute from the Madison Valley to South Park.

Today’s chores for Jimmy, drill baby, drill. Many 1″ wide holes through ¾” plywood. Not an easy task at 16 holes completely through 17 shelves, 16 partial wholes through another bunch of shelves. That a whole lot of shoulder action.

While Jimmy made big holes, I made 1/8^th inch holes, lots of them but which much less effort using the flexible drill shaft attached to the old Kirby Home Butler unit. I finished drilling all the holes on the uprights and crossbars, and I have to say that I felt like an Elf in an IKEA workshop.

Next chore was to main (jet another) jig route the edges of the middle shelves. The top shelf will have a cap, and the bottom shelf will be covered by the wooden wine crates.

Between yesterday and today we kicked out the rest of the components to make about 60+ feet of the racking which will be about 5′ tall around the outer walls of the shop.

Whew!

My friend MB came by with her daughter just as we were finishing and moving onto cocktails. 30 minutes or so later, her laptop (actually, now the daughters laptop) is all fixed (again) and ready for action.

The plan for Jimmy to stay for dinner (if Dancing Bear showed up with a ride back to the city) or dinner at Shilla (Korean) if DB didn’t changed to just headed home on the bus since we finished early. What we have left is mostly sanding which I am waiting for my Kirby Sander Accessory to show up before I start that task.

DB did show up for dinner. It was a quick change from lamb chops to veal chops as it seems someone doesn’t like lamb. It is now in his contact information in Outlook — who knew, well, he says he told me in the past, but who knows.

I don’t know why it was a late night for me, but it was.

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Nope, just cross supports drying after getting sealed — we don’t want anyone getting splinters in the shop. In the upper left hand side you see the wooden wince boxes that we’ll be using for the lower display shelves.

So, you can tell how I spent my day; sanding and sealing, followed by a partners meeting at 4 and dinner with Swanda and Dancing Bear at 6 and more sealing (the other side) at 9.

And to think, I get to get up tomorrow and do the whole thing again, but with different parts.

I did get some good news after I got back in from the garage. My upgrade to First Class on my Tuesday flight to Honolulu came through, I’m now in seat 1C. Yahoo!

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By the time I left the shop at 3:30 this afternoon, all the wall racks were assembled leaving the floor racks yet to do, but now at least there is room to do it.

The floor rack pieces being used as a carrier for where I have waxed the floor:

Jimmy attaching the next section of racks to the wall — these racks aren’t going anywhere in an earthquake:

And the reason I left at 3:30, to back bread and grill ribs for Dancing Bear. It felt really good to be back in the kitchen, rather than too exhausted to cook:

Still no luck on getting an upgrade in either direction for my ed-eye mileage-run to Miami tomorrow. Wish me luck.

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It’s official, I’m now MVP Gold on Alaska Airlines for next year:

Member Name: MARK STEPHEN SOUDER MVP Gold
Mileage Plan Number: XXXXXXXX
Available Miles: 183,118

Elite Tier Status Qualification

YTD Alaska Miles

Flown:   40,232          34,768 Miles to MVP Gold 75K

YTD Alaska/Qualifying Partner* Miles

Flown:   40,232       49,768 Miles to MVP Gold 75K

YTD Alaska/Qualifying Partner* Segments

Flown:   24           66 Segments to MVP Gold 75K

* Air France, American, Delta, KLM, and LanChile

Not going to make it to MVP Gold 75K unfortunately with only one little trip to Berkeley planned on Alaska for the rest of the year.

But back to the shoes. Headed to the dentist at 11am for the thrice-yearly cleaning. Stopped by UW surplus on the way back across the bridge — the printer I didn’t buy two weeks ago was no longer there. Once I saw it posted on their site I knew it was a goner. So I bought shoes instead:

Nothing like a couple of pair of subtle shoes. Converse had a 25% off on custom shoes today only that will arrive by Christmas.

Dinner with Dancing Bear and Swanda, and talk of what we are doing for Turkey Day which at the end of the meal of steaks, pasta, and ensalada caprese still wasn’t resolved. Worse coming to it I can go to the Faerie Potluck Thanksgiving.

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