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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Sat
30
Aug '08

Day On The Road And In The Air.

Nothing like a little roll in the hay to send you off into vacation land — with less sleep than I’d like.

This evenings report is from the charming basement piet a whatever (apartment in a city that you don’t consider home) of Mark and Onyx though only Onyx is in attendance as Mark is in Fort McMurray which is not quite as far north as the DC-3 that I want to take. With me so far?

Great Art Party work in the morning — and yes, go buy a ticket — they need to sell tickets — yes, go buy a ticket. Got the catalog posted in PDF form — 20 megs worth uploaded over a slow EVDO cell phone connection, twice.

Eleven in the morning saw my rescue by Lynne for my morning flight to the Bay Area. The gods smiled on me with lunch in the Board Room for Alaska Airlines and an upgrade to First Class from United for the flight down to San Francisco — and more gods smiling because I’ve secured an upgrade for the return flight as well. These days what an upgrade means is that you get the snack mix and a free cocktail or two. And for you fans (or non-fans) of United, there are precisely two minis of Chivas Regal Scotch in the First Class cabin and one in the rear — which means that once again, I drank an entire plane out of Chivas Regal.

Onyx was (as is) a sweetheart for picking me up at the airport. I’m guessing he won’t be so sweet when it comes to my early return on Monday.

If you have been following posts you know that I haven’t actually fessed up to any of my other friends in the Bay Area that I’m actually here. Most of my previous trips I’ve taken over Mark and Onyx’s house and entertained my friends (and Mark and Onyx) with dinner parties — and they have been wonderful, but I do feel like a roll into town like a tornado and roll out just as quick. This trip has no plans and will unfold as Allah wills.

And what is Allah’s will today? Home for cocktails and then off to pick up Mouse (whom I had a crush on years ago when he had long hair) before heading to the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco for dinner at Pinnochios— an Italian restaurant.

Tips for finding parking in San Francisco — have the guy in the car who doesn’t own a car go hold a table for you. Everyone else pray for parking. And for us, on the next block after Mouse went to get a table totally worked. The fact that we were seated immediately made up for the crowds waiting to get in.

So Onyx had the veal — and Mouse and went for variations on the pasta, clams, and mussels — I should have gotten the pasta as well, but live and learn. We actually got after dinner drinks and a couple of desserts of which I preferred the poached pears smothered in semi-sweet chocolate — and I’m not even a chocolate fan.

Mouse went off to an Industrial Rock concert, Onyx suggested a movie, and I suggested home (away from home) and bed. A fine evening all the way around, but the hay is calling. Tomorrow there is something about Eldergerry Mead in the works.

[217.9]

Sat
21
Mar '09

Happy Birthday, Alicia.

What started out as a calm morning… with Raf and his girlfriend showing up to paint, at noon turned a little crazy.

As I’m trying  to pack to leave at one, a knock comes on the door from the neighbor — over spray on their cars. Shit. At least Raf was there to deal with his mess before Jeremy got home to discover his pride and joy with over spray on it. Maybe I should give him the cover to my Jag.

Finished packing with Raf cleaning up the mess, or so I hope. I’ll need to drop MaryAnn a note on my return. Oy Vey. Just what I need.

Left on schedule for the airport and by 1:30 was sipping a drink in the Board Room. And worrying. Detailing for two cars… let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Three drinks later it’s off to the North Concourse. Alaska Airlines has outgrown it’s space in C and D terminals and is now encroaching on United’s N Terminal.

Flight left a couple of minutes early — and could have been more than that considering we started boarding 45 minutes prior and it’s only a 737-700.

My seatmate in 1A was travelling with a baby less than a year old — she looked relieved when I pulled out my Bose noise cancelling headphones, though in general the kid (Nash, as in the automobile) was a pretty good flier. I’ve had worse adults next to me.

Flight landed on time (amazing with the head winds) and by 6 I was at Mark and Onyx’s place unpacking dinner. Yes, I packed dinner in my carryon:

  • two containers filled with shrimp stuffed with crab rolled in Procuitto (6 each)
  • one container of croutons
  • one container with seven baby orange bell peppers (which I then stuffed with goat cheese and broiled with the seafood bombs)
  • one bag of romaine hearts, 3 heads, two for tonight, one for tomorrow

From Mark and Onyx came the salad dressing from my last visit, and cocktails (scotch for the Marx and Devon when he arrived, pomegranate margarita for Onyx and the girls, Birthday Alicia and Devon’s daughter Maggie). From Alicia and Devon, a couple of bottles of red wine.

The only thing missing? A picture of the before and after:

  • in the container
  • on the broiler pan
  • done
  • served

Oh well. It was a stunning dinner. Not bad for a 50th birthday dinner. The birthday guests left around 10 to head back over the bay, and Mark and I chatted away until well past midnight. Onyx had the sense to go to bed at a more normal time.

Happy Birthday, Alicia.

[216.4]

Thu
11
Jan '18

Home Report: Home For The Holidays

Yep, it’s already a third of the way through January, and I’m finally documenting my Christmas/New Year fun.

After visiting friends in Forks the first two days of Mark and Onyx’s visit, I returned home to a full holiday feeding schedule. Look at the Beef Wellington that Onyx (and Mark) made for a group dinner at his cousin’s house in West Seattle:

I brought a 3-liter bottle of Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volante Blanc – a replacement for a bottle that died a year ago Thanksgiving. We put a good dent in it!

Talk about a WONDERFUL meal:

Next up on the holiday parade was dinner up north at mutual friends, Seth, and his daughter Maia. As you can tell, it was a mess of wrapping paper:

More dinners with friends but no photographs….but I did get photos of Mark helping me with making some pillow covers at xMess presents:

And, mind you, I’m also working the shop in the holiday season:

Christmas Eve dinner found me working until five, while Onyx and crew worked on a Beef Bourguignon
in my kitchen:

It was a nice hearty meal to go with our Christmas Eve snow…

And it’s not the holidays unless the plumbing goes south, first it was the dishwasher not draining, and then all the connections to the kitchen sink dripping…

As you can tell, this isn’t the first time – the above is with all the racks ripped out. And below with a heater drying everything out:

Having the Ford Escape DOES help in the repairs:

I used basement subflooring turned the wrong way to give the cabinet a waterproof base:

And because of the cold, the outdoor icemaker stopped working….

Between Christmas and New Year’s, more Bay Area friends showed up – and out to lunch we go, to try the new Mexican restaurant on 14th:

Excellent food, but a bit on the pricey side….

 

And for dinner, Roxy and his boyfriend showed up for shrimp fried rice:

Eating well this holiday season!

Trip Advisor sent me this little video about my 2017 Travel:

And the plumbing issues continue…, now the washer/dryer combo is washing, but not drying – time to rip that apart when I start running out of clean clothes. Oi!

[218.0]

For more posts from the blog, CLICK HERE.

Wed
11
Feb '09

Paging Seaside.

Oh, the pain of an early morning after entertaining.

Alarm at 7am — the theory is out of the house at 8am to drop off the computer for MB’s son in Tacoma, then to pick up friends at the airport — the Portland Airport.

The reality of this morning was more like 8:30am with the windshield wipers frozen to the front window of the mommy van. It would have been more fun in the Jag, but with snow possible in the mountains, not the best move. Years ago I rented a Jag from Budget and went for a ride in the Colorado mountains and came VERY close to getting stuck — tires spinning for MILES to get back over the pass from the first turn around.

The boy’s (Mark and Onyx) flight was early, and I was late. Still slightly addled from the night before I missed the correct turnoff and headed us up the gorge instead of the the coast — bonus was a beautiful view of Mt. Hood without clouds.

Got to the WorldMark Seaside at around 1:30 — to find our room READY — amazing.  My guess (from the amount of ice in the freezer) was that the room was vacant last night as well.

Lunch at Girdles. We all ended up with variations on a theme… French Onion soup and a crab laced salad for Mark, Clam Chowder and a crab laced salad for Onyx, and Shrimp Bisque and a crab laced salad for me.

Dinner tonight is yet another rack of ribs (this time with Arthur Bryant’s sauce rather than last night vinegar based wash), salad, grilled asparagus, and a loaf of sourdough bread (from last night’s dough). Wine, of course (red for the Marks, white for Onyx.

Dessert – yes, courtesy of the other Mark. Chocolate… maybe we should open one of the bottles of port tonight.

Tonight’s free movie (courtesy of WorldMark) is Burn After Reading. I understand it’s a comedy.

[217.8]

Fri
6
Oct '17

Trip Report: Birthday By The Bay

Another weekday, another trip – this one to the Bay Area to visit Mark and Onyx, and celebrate my 61st birthday!

It’s always lots of luggage when I visit – bringing wine to the boys. A lot of stuff for three nights!

Another early morning flight….

And no upgrade to first…

But plenty of room in the overhead!

Onyx was a saint (a hungry saint) and stopped at a small burger stand on the way home.

Pretty good stuff (even if the staff is a little surly).

Got settled in and took a nap before getting rousted for a dinner of take-out Ethiopian which, for some reason, I don’t have a picture of, even though the boys had company over – must have been having too much fun.

Was up late (Mark [the other one] was up until 4am working), so slept late. Hit BevMo in the afternoon for bourbon, rye, and ginger – because at 6pm we are due at Rosenblum Cellars on the Oakland waterfront for the start of my birthday (61) evening:

Devon is a member so the first flight is on the house….

A good time was had!

Even the hipsters who are playing Giant Zynga on the lawn:

We had some little nibbles, but it was off to dinner at Marica, starting with a Beefeater Martini in honor of Pucci:

It was a fine meal…. with free mussels for the birthday party!

Followed by swordfish for several of us:

Meatballs for Devon:

Salad and Calamari for Mark (I thought about those, almost wish I’d ordered them):

A damn fine birthday meal!

Friday was a laid-back day, I took BART into town to hook up with Rache who as on a day trip to the Brazilian embassy for our upcoming trip to Uruguay in November.

Takes about 15 minutes to walk to the station, and 20-30 minutes later, you are in downtown San Francisco. I found Rache in the Ghirardelli chocolate shop having a coffee:

We headed out for an afternoon of drinking, starting at The House of Shields:

Next up is the Pied Piper (which didn’t open until 4pm):

The Pied Piper is the home of this WONDERFUL mural by Maxfield Parish:

Just the three of us having scallops and Brussel sprouts as our dinner.

All the fun came to an end with an early Saturday morning run to the Oakland Airport for my return home. Had enough time for a real breakfast at Chili’s…

Which, as it turns out, sadly I wouldn’t need when I heard my name called:

But really, all I wanted was a place to sleep, not a huge breakfast burrito and a fruit place (though it looked REALLY good).

Next week is Kansas City, and the completion of my quest for Alaska MVP Gold 75K!

[? ? ?]

Mon
26
Jan '15

Trip Report: CanadaLand With The Boys (And A Little Girl)

This week’s adventure involves LOTS of people (well, for me). First through the door are Seth (31) and Maia (the little girl – 5½ years old). They drove up from Corvallis for our little adventure. Before long they set off for the airport to pick up Lunetta and Onyx who flew in from San Francisco.

Dinner for five – rib-eye steaks, saffron rice, salad, couple of bottles of Bonny Doon wine…rice instead of bread as I broke yet another bread machine a couple of weeks ago – probably should say “wore out” rather than “broke”.

And a good dinner it was…finding places for people to sleep was a little more problematic.

  • Maia in the single bed in the office so we could chat into the evening
  • Lunetta and Onyx in my bed
  • Seth and in in a double sleeping bag on the living room floor (until he couldn’t take it anymore and crawled in with the boys)

Up at 5am so we could get out of the house by six to catch our 8AM Victoria Clipper to Victoria, British Columbia.

At least it was a “pretty” early morning:

A pleasant trip north after a take-out breakfast at the Clipper Café (who also does the catering for the boat as well), though I’ll admit to sleeping through most of it – even forgoing my usual mimosa.

Wrangling a child means you are the last people off the boat and near the end of customs/immigration – which went smoothly as I’d warned Seth that he needed at a minimum a letter from Maia’s birth mother authorizing taking her out of the country. Seth made EXTRA sure and brought the custody agreement with him. Good boy.

Walked to the WorldMark Victoria, expecting to stash are luggage because it was noon, and check in is 4PM. To our surprise, our unit was ready – which rarely happens that early, but often does more in the winter than summer. Dumped everything in the room and headed out to Moka for Grilled Ham and Cheese with Potato Soup – seriously, we all got the same thing (limited menu). Thanks Lunetta for treating!

After the early morning, it was nap time for Maia, Onyx and myself – we send the engineers to the store for supplies that we didn’t bring. I’d packed:

  • 4 racks of lamb
  • 2 packages of shrimp (meant to bring the white fish to be breaded with the Panko, except for Maia who would get corn meal)
  • 2 cubes of butter
  • 1 pound of bacon
  • Artichoke Bruschetta
  • Cornichons
  • Corn and Bean Salsa
  • Panko Breading
  • The WorldMark Bag (pre-packed olive oil/balsamic, curry, brown sugar, flour, skewers, birthday candles, McCormicks Steak Seasoning, coffee meat rub, Korean hot sauce, etc.)

But you also need:

  • Salad (and dressing)
  • Bread
  • Eggs
  • Mixers
  • Cheese
  • Gluten Free Crackers (Maia goes bi-polar when she has gluten)
  • Corn Chips
  • Portabellas (to stuff with the Artichoke Bruschetta and top with the Panko Breading)
  • Etc.

Of course when you sent two engineers to the store, you get MANY more things in addition to those on the list. Take the generic category “Mixers”. They came back with:

  • 12-pack of Tonic
  • 12-pack of Diet Ginger Ale (mostly for me)
  • 6 pack of tiny Cokes
  • 100% Cranberry Juice
  • Handful of limes

Why so much? Did I mention what we picked up at Duty Free on the boat?

That would be 4 liters of hard liquor for a party of 9 adults tonight and 4 adults for the second night – and those Canadians like to drink hard at Duty Free prices ($85 for all four). And the guests are showing up with wine to go with dinner. And what a dinner it was:

In the foreground, the racks of lamb, Then the Stuffed Portabellas – which were a HUGE HIT, not just with the Vegetarian and Vegan guests (one each). For Maia it was an “adult night” when she was allowed to stay up until she collapsed.

Good food, good conversation (though not around the dining tables since it seats 6, not 10), good hot tubbing after dessert (thanks RobinHood and CrowDog!)

A late night, but luckily not an early morning – Seth was reading the schedule I sent out a laughed when he got to the first morning there, where it said brunch at noon:

The Boys Go To Victoria 

     

20-Jan 

12-4PM 

Seth arrives at UncleMarkies

 

4:16PM 

Lunetta and Onyx arrive at Sea-Tac. Seth picks them up

   

UA 492 

 

6PM 

Cocktails 

 

7PM 

Dinner 

21-Jan 

6AM 

Out of the house

 

6:30AM 

Check in and grab breakfast at the Clipper Café

 

8AM 

Clipper leaves for Victoria

 

8:15AM 

Order Mimosas and Duty Free 

 

11:45AM 

Clipper arrives Victoria

 

Noon 

Out of customs/immigration 

 

Noon+ 

Drop bags at condo and roam the city like a pack of dogs

   

Or grocery shop for the items we didn’t bring 

 

4PM 

Check in at the condo — 

   

Could be early, they will have my number 

 

6PM 

Cocktails with RobinHood, CrowDog, Royce, Kyle, + 1

 

7PM 

Dinner with same Royce = vegan)

 

8PM 

Hot-tub Party 

22-Jan 

Noon 

Sleep in, make brunch, explore 

 

6PM 

Cocktails 

 

7PM 

Dinner 

 

8PM 

Hot-tub Party 

23-Jan 

10am 

Brunch 

 

Noon 

Check-out, leave bags at desk 

 

3:30PM 

Check in for Clipper to Seattle

 

5PM 

Boat leaves

 

5:15PM 

Order cocktails and Duty Free 

 

7:45PM 

Clipper Arrives Seattle

 

8PM 

Pick up car from garage and head home

 

8:30PM 

Cocktails 

 

9PM 

Late Dinner if we didn’t eat on the boat 

24-Jan 

6PM 

Cocktails with Bliss

 

7PM 

Dinner with same Royce = vegan)

25-Jan 

3PMish 

Boys Uber to the Airport

 

4:21PM 

Lunetta and Onyx fly home

 

Yep, guess that makes me anal retentive in my planning – but that’s how it worked out.

The boys and Maia set out to explore the city while I stayed home for some quiet time (much needed after all the excitement). My job was to fill in the gaps in the night’s meal (smoked fish, more cheese, and chocolate) and to grab a little lunch snack for me at the food truck in front of “Finest At Sea” a local fish wholesaler that has a small retail shop in the back:

I got the special – three rockfish cakes with hot dipping sauce. I had one, saved the other two to share with tonight’s pupu platter. After the shopping, NAP TIME!

Tonight’s menu (after the pupu platter):

  • Curried Shrimp Skewers
  • Salad
  • Bread (not for Maia!)
  • 3 bottles of various BC Red Wine

Life is HARD on the road.

And before you knew it, it was time to check out – this is what we put in storage since the boat doesn’t leave until 5PM:

Not like we pack light. The plan for today:

  • Store luggage
  • Head to the Royal BC History Museum and watch an IMAX film (mostly to entertain Maia)
  • Have lunch
  • Go to the boat

Here is a great picture of Seth after the movie (in the gift shop):

Lunch was at Santiagos, which is close to the ferry terminal (though we had to backtrack to grab out luggage). I’ve eaten here often because they always have muscles on the menu, AND they have HUGE drinks by Canadian standards, and cheap ($11) – again, but Canadian standards.

I had the Thai Mussels, Seth and Maia the HUGE nachos, Lunetta and Onyx the Ceviche and the quesadilla. We ended up taking a bunch of the nachos for the boat trip home.

Did I mention the pitcher of Sangria? And my favorite shot of the lunch:

Yes, they supply crayons, which was great for entertaining Maia.

Got to the terminal later than I wanted, but we were already checked in and had our boarding numbers, it was just the line to check in luggage that was a pain. And luggage we had – four checked bags.

But we did get a table for all of us. Here is Seth sating his Solitaire addiction:

Technically that’s 8 seats, but on the inner section so less coveted.

Three hours later and the last people through customs and this is the scene:

Four and a half people and their crap in a Saab. Tight quarters, luckily for only 20 minutes.

Once back to the house, an exhausted Seth and Onyx claim the big bed, Maia in the small one, and the Marks (Lunetta and UncleM) on the floor after staying up for hours beyond the others.

Seth /Maia/Lunetta/Onyx were out of the house before I was up – Seth /Maia headed home and dropping Lunetta/Onyx at the Rental Car Center at Sea-Tac to pick up a car for the overnight.

Work until 4:30 for me, then back to the house to prepare dinner for the boys, Bliss and myself for the final night of the CanadaLand holiday. Tonight’s menu:

  • Little lamb chops (LOTS of them)
  • Salad
  • A Spanish Red
  • MANY COCKTAILS

After another late evening – it was time for me to head to a real bed, albeit a tiny one in the office.

I was out of the house for work before the boys were out of bed, feeling a little spent. While fun, it wasn’t one of the more “relaxing” holidays I’ve had recently.

[226.8]

Wed
23
Nov '11

Not Exactly A Day Off.

The morning was spent redoing all the bookings for the WorldMark Santa Fe for the second week of December. Why use points when it’s available cheap at the last minute.

And then came the panic.

The call from an unknown cell phone number with an area code I didn’t recognize — turned out it was Jim calling from the shop where we had internet service, but no phone line. Panic. No phone line on the day before Thanksgiving — one of the big wine shopping days of the year. Yikes.

Trip number one to the store: On the phone to Qwest. They confirmed no dial-tone. Escalation to the switching office. Right, no dial tone. Escalation to the programmer. Yes, the phone is programmed correctly, but it doesn’t have a dial tone. I head back home to put up my MajicJack — which is a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) device since we have internet service. Add a stop for ribs at the BBQ place on Cherry where a ½ pound of pork ribs is $7.50 and I swear it weighs in at over a pound. Several more calls from CenturyLink while I was driving home.

Trip number two was interrupted 2/3rds of the way back by…  a call from the shop (Madrona Wine Merchants came up on caller ID). The phone is working. Jim got a call from CenturyLink and the rep said, “Well, it’s working again, and I have no idea why, but we’ve cancelled the service call for Friday.”

Needless to say I installed the MajicJack and trained Jim on it just in case. The thought of not being able to run credit cards for three days was unnerving. Maybe we should get one of those wireless merchant machines.

Done with the panic I went home and tried to relax. Should have had a nap, but it didn’t happen. Instead are started worrying about the Hawaii trip at the end of March to the south end of the Big Island. At the summer gathering I bought 3 nights in a three-bedroom three-bath house a couple of blocks from a clothing-optional black sand beach. The plan is to split the place ($350 for the three nights split three ways, and an extra $150 [again split] for an extra night) with Solus+ from Vancouver and DancingBear who has a boyfriend in Hilo, about 45 minutes away.

I’m feeling poverty stricken so the goal was to use as few as miles as possible while still flying First Class and not missing any days of work (since I’d like to actually take off the Breitenbush weekend in February). I was successful, but boy to I have an odd routing:

  • Sunday, after working until 5pm, fly from Seattle to Oakland, arrive 10:30pm, have a night cap with Mark and Onyx
  • Monday morning at 11am, fly from Oakland to Kona (direct on Alaska Airlines)
  • Friday afternoon fly back to Oakland and have a night cap with Mark and Onyx
  • Saturday morning at 9:30, fly to Seattle with enough time to show up at the 2-4pm tasting.

Whew!

Solus+ is now looking into arriving/leaving Kona the same dates using miles since he is going to the faerie gathering in Thailand at the end of January and is counting his pennies. It was made easier now that he doesn’t need to add a side trip to Maui onto the trip. Now I just have to get DancingBear on board since the dates we picked match when his boyfriend is out of nursing school on spring break. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow night when he meets up with Swanda and I for my Thanksgiving Number Two.

Nothing much to say about dinner other than a stir fry of ginger pork with a side salad. For once I missed rice.

[210.7]

Mon
16
Feb '09

On The Road Again.

I think is the act of traveling – feeling movement in my body – that I care more about than the destination. It’s a thought that I keep coming back to. Maybe I should have been a pilot, a train engineer, or a bus driver.

The plan is to leave after lunch today, with Mark and Onyx being dropped someplace in Portland – plans unknown at the moment as we’ve left them to the last to not feel like the end is near.

With the occasional flurries turned to sunny days, the roads are good.

As luck would have it, we are out of the parking lot before 2pm — which is amazing for the boys. With stops at Starbucks (coffee and sandwiches again for me), Fred Meyer (to return the coat Onyx didn’t end up needing), we head to Enterprise so the boys can pick up a car for the day (using Mark’s frequent renter points).

I’m at home by 7:45pm after a stop in Olympia for groceries and gas.

It’s kinda nice to have a quiet steak and salad dinner.

[? ? ?]

Sat
4
Sep '10

Longer Distance Travel Day.

I got the upgrade to First on Virgin America – or shall I say, I paid for an upgrade. $70, which is a bit steep considering that I only paid $78.60 for the whole round-trip ticket – but it is 55 inches of seat pitch, and the seats are damn comfortable.

Notice the mood lighting? Gotta say, they got cool interiors — lots of full spectrum lighting, leather seats, the works.

Good thing I got the upgrade – we sat for 45 minutes on ground delay because of fog in San Francisco… at least I had a drink in my hand.

I had a bagel and cream cheese in the Board Room at Alaska before walking to the other end of the airport for my flight – and the flight itself had a small breakfast of exotic fruits (more than your standard melon and strawberry) and a slice of cranberry bread – but it did leave me a little lacking – I was starving by the time I got to Mark and Onyx’s place in Berkeley. Luckily, I’d texted for a pick up and breakfast was in process when I arrived —- and what a lovely way to arrive it is.

The afternoon was given over to napping and runs to Costco, Marshalls, Ross, BevMo (twice) for various weekend supplies.

The evening started with this:

A combination scotch/bourbon tasting for the benefit of Onyx, who was confused on the differences in what makes something a scotch as opposed to a bourbon, or a sour mash. I love being teacher when this is the subject.

My apologies for the quality of the photos — it’s the camera in my phone.

Dinner and a movie afterwards – yes, I went to a movie in a real theatre… a 3-D movie – Despicable Me. It was amusing, more so to the boys who were howling.

That made it a late night for me.

[228.5]

Sun
28
Jan '18

Trip Report: Hiding Out In Berkeley For A Couple Of Days

After a week of work and crazy travel, I’m taking off a couple of days to visit the boys in Berkeley.

I was pleasantly surprised the morning of my flight to get an upgrade after checking in last night, but before heading out to the airport – means I’ll eat less in the lounge before the flight.

And it was a good breakfast considering it was a 2 hour flight:

The yellow stuff is a sliced egg salad – went on the warm croissant with the lettuce and actually ripe Roma tomatoes.

After my week of flying I set up my computer at Mark and Onyx’s place, and tucked in for a three-hour nap – which I seriously needed.

This trip is all about hiding away in Berkeley for a couple days so I can catch up on the blog, and more importantly work on my taxes.

Well, that, and stocking up the suitcase with Bourbon for the return, and enjoying some FINE meals out of their kitchen.

The first night was bacon-wrapped filets with roasted potatoes and a lovely Peruvian Tannat that I brought with me from Seattle:

The next (and final) night Onyx made these massive meatballs to go with a wee bit of pasta and a lot of peas! The meatballs are a day-long preparation in the crock pot and are the size of a hardball baseball – but much tastier.

I did get my tax preparation done for both the shop and my own business – so mission accomplished. And on the flight down I made Alaska MVP status through 2019.

Lunetta ran me to the BART station hours before my flight so I could hang out in the Cathy Pacific Lounge while they still had their noodle station open:

Sadly, I got their at 10:30am and they started shutting down noodles at 10:45 and the hot food was taken away by 11am – I got a round of noodles and two hot plates:

That said – it is a nice lounge:

After the hot food went away, it was just green and pasta salads – fortunately the left the bar out!

The current downside to flying Alaska out of SFO is that they are spread between two terminals – that aren’t connection behind security. While I have access to most American Lounges, it doesn’t include the one in SFO since there were too many Alaska people using it (and it’s the terminal with the domestic Alaska flights). So, after the food, it’s back to the other side of security, catch the train to Terminal 2, then go back through screening.

At least there is a great bookstore in Terminal Two – Compass Books, which always has a good selection of “remaindered” books:

They also have this great “typewriters through the ages” exhibit as well:

Before I knew it, I was back in my comfy seat with a snack in front of me:

Hours later I was home in time to make myself a little dinner – for tomorrow I’m working the shop.

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

Wed
19
Sep '07

RRR (RedNeck Riviera Review).

A fine breakfast of leftover pork products from last nights dinner. Oh, and coffee that I brought.

Next up was an “owner re-education” $50 AMEX meeting in the morning. Looks like if I want “TravelShare” which gives me a 3-week (rather than 2) for Bonus Time (4.4 cents per credit) and “Fun Time” (6 cents a credit for last minute booking, not using points) is to sign on for another 5,000 points — but the better deal is 6,000 points which gives you another 6000 bonus points in March, plus another useless RCI exchange week — though that would give me two weeks for some massive holiday off season somewhere. Tempting, and I got them to hold it until tomorrow — will have to look at the numbers again. Want the benefits, don’t want the added liability — of course, considering I sold Microsoft stock at the height of the market for my original points (and then the stock market crashed) — it’s like they were free, or at least 50% off.

Winery tours for the afternoon. First Tulip Vineyards, just down the road. Then Ceago — almost across the street (and recommended by the front desk, but no free tasting coupon), and then, my favorite — Steele. God, I love Jed’s wine — and his son’s (Writer’s Block branded) aren’t bad either. Signed up for there club (which I used to belong to) and got the 20% discount on their wines — and think I talked the tasting room into signing up for the WorldMark discount program — since the three people tasting when I was first there, we were all staying at the WorldMark Clear Lake.

Here is the wine list:

  • Tulip — a Magnum of 2002 Cabernet for dinner at Mark and Onyx’s
  • Ceago (where there were two really cute organic farmer boys from Hood River, OR — see picture link) — a bottle of Savignon Blanc for Onyx to have (loves whites)
  • Steele — a Barbera, a Aligot, a Franc, and a strange, but lovely Sparkling Syrah. One or two of them will die in Berkeley as well.

The afternoon snack was a couple of tacos from Jack In The Crack — 99 cents plus tax — and what I realized is that they are incredibly close in composition to my mother’s recipe which is half inch of oil in cast iron pan — pat half moon of beef in corn tortilla, pop in the grease, fold over the top, then turn over, pull out and put on paper towels, personally fill your own from bowls of cheese, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa. Mind you Jack has preformed pockets that they quickly (a minute, maybe) drop in the vat of oil, then stuff with the fresh stuff — OK for takeout — much better than those pre-formed hard shells.

Dinner will be a total repeat of last nights dinner. Boring, but it’s what’s in the fridge.

Thu
20
Sep '07

Bay Area Bachelor, Tonight.

Checked out at noon — jut under the wire.

Curvy drive back to 101 south — stopped in Santa Rosa (or there abouts) for Carne Asada in a strip mall (how appropriate since it’s strip steak in Carne Asada) — which was stunning good, or I was stunned from hunger.

Gassed up — 20.5 mpg on the last tank — it seems to be going down.

Hit Berkeley about 3:30 — and really needed a nap, from the lunch, but didn’t get one. Unloading, catching up, stuff.

At 5 killed the rest of the GlenWhatEver before catching up on business work, then making dinner for the boys (Mark and Onyx). Tried to replicate the carrot recipe from the Basque restaurant in Gulf Port that Dan and I escaped to during GeckoFest. My version was baby carrots sauteed in butter, a little olive olive, frangelico, touch of nutmeg, touch of pepper. The boys loved them — and they were good, not as good as the Basque place, but not bad. Rest of the meal was an Indian spinach dish, and pupu platters of leftover warmed up bbq’d pork (from last night), cheese and avocado. Damn fine snacking (but filling) menu. Steele’s Shooting Star Black Bubbles (sparkling syrah) was the dinner drink.

Immediately after dinner we are all back on computers — Onyx has a build due, Lunetta is helping, and me — no bedtime until blogtime.

The evening drink is more scotch courtesy of Lunetta.

Night all.

Tue
29
Oct '13

Dinner In The Bay Area.

Up and out the door lugging a 6-pack of wine for the boys.

Got upgraded on the flight down – still no word on the return flight which means it doesn’t look good.

This isn’t my plane, but it is one of the newest in the Alaska fleet – dedicated to their employees:

Uneventful flight down (just how we like them), easy transition to BART into the city. Stopped for a dog at the dog stand at the Ashby station – damn those are good dogs – before walking the ten blocks are so to Mark and Onyx’s place. Normally I would have gotten picked up since I have the wine with me but Mark was on a conference call and, well, business does come first.

For our dinner tonight with Alicia (no Devon, he has a colonoscopy planned for the morning) I brought down some smoked black cod from the Port Chatham Smokery, now part of Trident Seafoods in Ballard.

Because Alicia has clients up until 8 – we ate a little later than usual… and started with a lovely Sparkling Rosé Cremant that I brought down on a previous trip. In addition to the cod, some fingerling potatoes (also from a previous trip) and a huge mixed green salad rounded out the meal service.

Needless to say I didn’t get to bed early.

[208.0]

Wed
28
Oct '09

Dinner For Three At Eight.

Up in the air again… a 12:30pm flight to Oakland to see Mark and Onyx on one of my three cheapie tickets. How cheap? $101.20 each, and I got upgraded to first class on the way down.

I like that noon flight — in First they actually still serve you food (a light salad with chicken on the top) unlike the earlier and later flights that they just pass around a snack basket filled with fatty, salty, snacks. Let’s hope my luck holds on the return flight — won’t know that until tomorrow.

With a big tail wind the flight time was a record (for me) 1 hour and 18 minutes — hard to suck down a lot of free booze in that amount of time.

Mark met me at the airport to provide shuttle service — I, in turn, brought a bag of meat for our dinners during my visit. Tonight’s meal is lamb chops in a Bombay Curry and a simple salad of spinach, tomatoes and blue cheese.

Nothing worthy of a photo today.

No word from my Bangladeshi Hottie — guess that flame has gone out.

[219.6]

Fri
8
Oct '10

Of Publications And Poker.

Wow, my first “in-print” travel review – OK, it’s a long quote in an article on the WorldMark Victoria.

My portion is the red box on the right hand side which reads…

Year-Round Appeal

Of the 49 WorldMark resorts that owner Mark Souder has visited so far, he says WorldMark Victoria remains his favorite — winter, summer, spring or fall. “I love the Victoria resort in winter — I’ve been going there for the last several years during January when it is on inventory special. And special it is — the two-bedroom penthouse units are the tops as they come with their own private hot tub and barbecue, with stunning views of the Victoria Harbour no matter what floor you are on. The sounds of the seaplanes landing, the Coho and Victoria Clipper horns, the water taxi ballet — I never get tired of it.” With its mild year-round climate, great hiking and cycling, theatrical and music venues, golf, spectacular gardens and attractions for every age, Victoria has all the ingredients for a great vacation in any season. But winter brings an added bonus — it’s less crowded. “You’ve got the place to yourself. In summer, it’s elbow-to-elbow,” says WorldMark Victoria Resort Manager David Martin. Another plus is that some attractions lower their prices during low season.

 

That’s always a nice was to start the day… finding yourself quoted in a magazine that you are reading with your eggs and toast. If you want to read the whole article, you can find it here: https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/destinations/pdfs/DESToct2010.pdf

Headed to Olympia mid-day for the monthly poker game – which I missed last month because I was somewhere else. Oh—that’s right, it was at Lake Cushman a weekend early, when I was in the Bay Area visiting Mark and Onyx.

Dinner before the game was a peppered beef loin, asparagus, salad, and because it’s Curt’s house, lots of wine (like that’s different than my house!).

Did so so in the game. Converted change into folding money – now there is room in the container for the rest of the change sitting around the house.

And a moment of silence for my dear friend Jamshed, who passed to the other side at 3am this morning.

[228.7 really need to drop those cruise pounds]

Wed
19
May '10

Politics Intrudes On My Trip.

So, last night, I posted a status on FaceBook:

Mark Stephen Souder is wondering what I’m going to do now that I had to resign my day job in Congress because I’m:
a) Heterosexual
b) Married
c) Right Wingnut Christian Republican (and some of my friends are former Republicans, now Independents, and Christian)
d) Cheating on my wife with a part-time staffer

and look at this woman, so not my type:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/tracy-jackson-mark-souder_n_580144.html

And then I posted a response on the Huffington Post:

As someone who shares the name Mark Souder — I consider him my doppelganger. He is as far right as I am far left. That said — after 15 years service in the congress… let’s talk about his retirement package (rather than the package as a gay man I don’t want to think about when I think of him):

  • Best three years salary: $165,000 a year
  • 15 years of service
  • 1.7% of the total
  • $42,000+ a year — AND he can collect when he turns 60, which is July 18th. At 68 he can collect his social security as well since he joined congress after 1984 when they required congressman to pay Social Security.

This for a man who has disgraced his wife, his party, his religion, his country, and my name.

Should you want to explore Mark EDWARD Souder, rather than Mark STEPHEN SOUDER, check out the WikiPedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Edward_Souder

The only bad thing about this is that the Bing/Google search on me will be easier.

And now onto our regularly scheduled post:

My day from an email to Debbie in San Diego:

Greetings from West Yellowstone. I think Angelica would have enjoyed my day today – I saw buffalo, elk, deer, trumpeter swan, and one nasty fat raven – and almost ran out of gas – the trip computer said I had 15 miles left in the tank, and there are only three gas stations in Yellowstone. Part of the day we even had the top down. The we? I picked up an vegan Israeli girl hitchhiking by the front entrance to the park and squeezed her and her pack into the car – no small feat it being the Jaguar and the fact that the passenger side seat was forward almost all the way because of the kneeler wedged into the back seat. Just dropped her off back by the highway after a full day of touring, chatting, photographing, walking trails etc. I offered her the other bedroom (I’m in a two-bedroom, two-bath unit so there is plenty of room) which if she doesn’t get a ride back to Rexburg (she is http://www.couchsurfing.com on a Mormon couples couch) or it starts raining, I told her where the condo is (half a dozen blocks from where I dropped her) so she can crash here as a backup plan.

Not a bad day (except for that panic about the empty gas tank). Here is a great photo of myself and Zuphit, the vegan Israeli hitchhiking couch surfer:

So, I guess the only other thing to add is the scroller bar with the rest of the pictures:

Dinner tonight is a filet mignon, baked potato, salad, wine… hard life.

[? ? ?]

Tue
17
Oct '23

The End

When I got the diagnosis of colon cancer that had spread to the liver on April 22. 2022 it was a shock, but it had taken weeks to get to that point, and I got to this Zen place. I’ve lived an amazing life. I haven’t worked a desk job since I was 43. I’ve traveled the world. My heart goes out to those people who put that off until they are 65, and then they get my diagnosis. Also, VERY glad I took social security at 62!

Handed a statement to my doctor to that effect and his response was, “fine, you are at peace, let’s talk treatment”. I love you, Doctor Gold. I couldn’t have wished for a better oncologist, and after a year and a half I feel that we have become friends and I see your pain in my decline. You used every tool in your belt, but my disease was a willy one, changing courses, blowing out colon, ballooning my liver tumor.

Eighteen months later I still have that Zen feeling, albeit they are more intense on hospice meds. Today we received that last piece we need for me to get the prescription from Death With Dignity. Those who need to know the date will know. Not making it public incase that nutcase from Topeka wants to turn up and protest.

This is the last formal photo from the boat — getting dressed up and ready cost me that day’s energy, sending me to my stateroom for the remainder of the trip, but it is a great one to remember me by.

This is what I was able to complete in the 18 months of cancer and chemo:

18-Months Chemo Travel
146,253 Total Travel Miles

Air: 124,834          Drive: 3,289          Boat: 12,645         Train: 5,485

I started this blog in August 10th, 2008 after a trip to China with The Colonels – our first trip together since the 5-week Lisbon to Antarctica trip in 2004-05.

Saturday, my priest/friend/Solus flew down from Vancouver to perform last rites. While I’m not overly religious, it is an important part of Solus’ life and by extension, of his 40+ year friend. We both needed closure. He started the service with this piece, Kontakion, by Rupert Lang, composed in Vancouver, and this staging was at the main Cathedral where I was last year for The Eucharist with MaryBeth after a train ride across Canada.

Going Forward

Please feel free to comment on this page, which I will monitor while I’m still here, though likely won’t reply due to energy levels. After I’m gone comments will be moderated by someone else to keep out the haters.

Peace

Out

Fri
8
Dec '06

Work, work, work, makes Mark a dull boy.

Too much work. Brain hurts. Make it end.

Well, that ain’t gonna happen so I just have to suck up and get it done. Did take a lunch break and go buy some more pieces for my dining set at the church from John Weber at Sugar Run Clayworks. I left the ten black seconds, but picked up five yellow, and four black dinner plates, and two yellow and two black tumblers (which I never had any of). This is the pattern than John did specifically for me.

Jonathan is coming to dinner tonight after he gets off work. Of course, it being Microsoft, when exactly is after work. Steaks, salad, asparagus is on the menu.

What work I don’t get done today will be waiting for me on Saturday and Sunday. I find it easier to spread the work over seven days rather than the traditional five. It may kill me.

 

Mon
5
Nov '07

Mark and Jill Go Snorkeling.

Butt early call from the front desk. 5am. Ick. Need to be at Maui Dive at 5:45 for equipment fitting, and 6:45am at the boat ramp for our 2-for-1 snorkel trip that I won my first trip to Kihei, Maui, WorldMark.

Continental breakfast — sweet bread, donut holes, etc — followed by fresh fruit — and lots of waves on the way out to Molokini Crater for our dive location — it was a 4.75 hour tour rather than 3 hour (Gilligan) tour because of harbor dredging. Even had a vegetable and dip platter late in the morning plus all the soft drinks, water, etc.

Here is a shot of Jill and I on the boat:

P1010002

I spent an hour or so floating around with the viewing boogie board — I just can’t do the snorkel — I start gagging, which really isn’t a good thing to do in the middle of the ocean. Saw lots of fish, a few sharks, and a bunch of divers on the sea bottom from another boat. On the way back in we saw bunches of big turtles — even got a shot of one!

P1010016

Jill spent about half the time (if not more) feeling like crap (and hurled at least once) — turns out she doesn’t do the sea very well. Or because of her stuffed up head, who knows — but she ain’t drinking tonight.

And two makes twelve. Left Jill at the condo and returned the gear, went to the post office for stamps, had lunch, and went to… wait, hold it…. Hilo Hatties — twice since Jill wasn’t with me. Got one, then took a walk around the complex, then got another — the last one I bought a $9.99 beach bag — big enough to hold a beach towel, some sodas, reading material, glasses, etc — and small enough to pack. And it matches my duffel bag — black and white hibiscus pattern. Very Hawaiian.

We checked in for our flights tomorrow. Need to cook dinner, though we’ve laid out too many pupu’s AGAIN so I’m not sure how the steaks and potatoes will work out — maybe we’ll just eat late especially since my clothes are in the dryer and I want to do the steaks on the grill — guessing it’s a no-no to BBQ naked at WorldMark.

Out of the house by 7:30 for Jill’s flight at 8:30 — I’ll return the car and fly out at 9:20am — planning on meeting at my office in Honolulu (hint: see previous post).

Thu
22
Nov '12

How I Spent My Turkey Day.

By Mark Stephen Souder.

Well, Turkey Day is a working day for me – well, at least from 11am-3pm. Not expecting huge sales (last year $350), but people do really like it that we are open for those last minute wine emergencies.

Jim came up around noon to hang our new sign banner:

It’s still got some wrinkles, but it needs to stretch out a bit before we can tighten it – and it doesn’t help to have that damn garland in the way.

While Jim was doing that (sometimes with help from me), I was working the counter and putting in the new shelf unit into the bathroom/storage room to make more space available. Here is the end result:

The new shelves are to the right, above the toilet. The shelves to the left are reorganized so that it’s easier to see the “wines on hold” names for quick access. With the microwave moved to the shelf it gives us flat service to stack extra glasses on (bottom right). Still to be done is the stand to the right of the sink to hold the icemaker (lower shelf) and provide a little counter space to prep the cheese and crackers for the tastings.

A last minute rush of customers meant we exceeded last year’s sales, and made me a little late getting to Suze’s place for a turkey day dinner. There was a little “competition” over what kind of gravy to make, and I must confess that I would have preferred both of them a little thicker:

I left around 7:30 to get back home safe and sound. Longer I would have stayed around, the more likely to be sleeping on somebody’s floor.

Happy Turkey Day.

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