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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Sat
17
Aug '13

Closing The Shop Today

Weird traffic pattern at the shop today, but the numbers were there. Go figure.

On the way to work popped by the bridge site just in time to see a big chunk of it float down the river:

After getting off at 7 it was time for the American Ridge Re-entry Party at Magnatrious’ place. It started at five and there were a dozen or so people there when I arrived – spread from back yard to deck to living room (which to me was way too hot).

Stayed a couple of hours then headed home.

Gots to work tomorrow.

[205.8]

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Fri
16
Aug '13

First Full Day With My Polish Guest.

First off, let’s get a better picture of Koral, who at the summer camp in Flathead Lake in Montana, the staff referred to him as Charley since Carol is a woman’s name, unless you are a retired ex-Air Force Lt. Colonel who travels with me.

I called him Karol, with a more guttural East German accent.

The pic:

Guess I should have taken a second picture just to be sure. You can’t see the blue eyes.

He was up and out before I was out of bed – off to the EMP (Experience Music Project), Space Needle, Monorail, Pike Place Market…. Got a text at 5 saying he’d be back by dinner time – but he got a little lost and was back at 9 rather than 7, Mags and I saved him leftovers which he snarfed.

Pork loin roast over a bed of roasted root vegetables, a big salad, the left over bread.

A good time. Life is hard.

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Thu
15
Aug '13

Polish Couch Surfer.

My Polish couch surfer arrived today from Montana – he managed to get a ride all the way to the front door. Not bad.

Not the best picture of him – I’ll try and snag one tomorrow.

He’s around for a couple of days – leaves Saturday on the BoltBus for Vancouver. Tomorrow he’s off to the EMP (Experience Music Project), the Space Needle and Pike Place Market – being a good tourist is he.

Chicken in a garlic green onion marinade, with fresh bread, salad and a lovely rosé wine.

Fine time for all.

[204.2]

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Wed
14
Aug '13

My Day In Pictures.

I saw this when I was at Home Depot for some disposable long-necked lighters for the stove and BBQ. Eco-Container – undoubtedly made in China with steel produced in coal-belching plants, guessing it doesn’t make up for using a renewable resource for flooring.

Also swung by to check on the apartment building next to my old house:

Wow. Close to the lot lines, parking for ONE car in back (or maybe it’s the space for the garbage cans). Ouch.

Then it was off to see how the bridge is coming along…

Getting closer – still looking at Spring 2014 for opening (delayed from Fall 2013).

A quiet evening around the house… eating leftovers out of the fridge on top of a green salad.

[204.2]

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Tue
13
Aug '13

Nobody For Dinner.

Well, the long string of dinner parties is over until Friday when Magnatrocia (who is going on my birthday ramble with me in September) and Karol, a couchsurfer from Poland who sent his summer working in Montana on some work/exchange thingee.

A couple of weeks ago Dan (my ex who is my IT guy) got an email wondering if I’d consider selling the sott.com domain name for $1,000. SOTT was the domain for the archives of Sign of the Times, A Chronicle of Decadence in the Atomic Age that I edited and published for 12 years in the 80’s and 90’s. Considering I haven’t made changes to the site in years, it’s more like a time capsule. I moved the site to a sub-domain of unclemarkie.com. If you are interested in seeing the archive, you will find it at http://sott.unclemarkie.com/

Of course now I need to make changes to the PayPal code for it to still work. Oh well, a grand is a grand, and combined with the grand owes me from a friend, and two paychecks from the shop (quarterly interest payment, and counter hours), it’s not going to be a bad month after all.

And then this came in:

On the left is my old house on Boylston in the Capital Hill neighborhood (the gay ghetto)…next to it on the lot that had a house about the same size as mine, that Greg and I had the chance to buy at the same time as the one we did buy is what is lovingly called a “tall and skinny”. Might have to go take a look for myself tomorrow.

WOW. I think it’s just Karmic Revenge for Alan, who bought my house, and is a total pain in the ass (or was).

Steak and salad for dinner.

And an amazing weight number this morning. Credit it to dehydration.

[201.2]

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Mon
12
Aug '13

Another Day, Yet Another Dinner Party.

Slept in late (10). It felt really good. Luckily the BC Boys aren’t early risers either – but were up before me and had the coffee on. Nice treat.

They also made breakfast (and cleaned up). VERY good houseguests.

Did a little running around in their Tercel (since my wagon is with Mountainé), up to the shop so Hummingbird could buy a bottle of pear cider for the gathering, then a little sightseeing driver through Leshi to see the late, then back Yesler through Pioneer Square, down 1st to Peco’s Pit for a BBQ sandwich lunch, then home for a nap.

Tonight’s dinner party:

  • UncleMarkie
  • Hummingbird
  • Cyndi/BamBam
  • Roxy
  • JC (Hawaiian friend of Roxy)

A heavily fish-centric dinner since Roxy is a pescatarian (vegetarian who eats fish).

  • Pupu platter of summer sausage and cheese (neither of which Roxy could eat, but it’s what I had)
  • Shrimp ceviché gazpacho (recipe below)
  • Fresh bread (came out better than last nights, but still a little lumpy, and with water instead of chicken broth)
  • Big green salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, Brazil nuts
  • Grilled asparagus
  • BBQ’d halibut and salmon

Shrimp Ceviché Gazpacho Recipe

  • ½ pound shrimp ceviché
  • Spicy Bloody Mary mix
  • Vodka

In small ramekins split the ceviché evenly. Serving size determines the number of people this recipe feeds. Add ½ ounce of vodka over the top of each. Top with Bloody Mary mix and stir.

Well, that’s it for today – so far no dinner party guests for tomorrow.

Whew.

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Sun
11
Aug '13

Another Day, Another Dinner Party.

The boys from BC (Hummingbird and Cyndi/BamBam) showed up a day early – and way before I got off work so I had to talk them into how to get into the house in my absence (combo for gate lock, combo for key box by the back door.

Meanwhile back at work it was a pretty good day for a Sunday – helps make up for the lackluster week.

Rushed home (again) to start work on the bread. Tonight’s menu is the bread, a big salad, and a bacon-wrapped pork loin – after the remains of last night’s pupu platter.

One additional guest showed up – Mountainé, formerly of Asheville, NC, now of Short Mountain, TN spitting distance from the faerie sanctuary. He’s headed to the coast on Tuesday and is planning on borrowing my station wagon for the trip.

Today’s lovely photo – a stunning sunset. Not bad for a camera phone pic:

Another late evening – at least this one I get to sleep in!

[205.2]

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Sat
10
Aug '13

Dinner With Russ And Missy.

Slow for a Saturday at the shop… Dog Days Of Summer? Final number just OK. Let’s hope better for tomorrow.

Big event of the day is dinner with Russ and Missy – which means rushing home from work to get the bread going.

On tonight’s menu is a pupu platter of smoked salmon, brie and salami, then moving into a meal of shrimp ceviché gazpacho, salad, homemade bread, and main course of BBQ pork on the grill

And smoking some Mexican cheese for another evening:

Big evening of chatting away –meaning another late night.

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Fri
9
Aug '13

Monthly Work Friday.

Opened the shop at noon – and for once there weren’t delivery guys stacked up waiting for me – didn’t get my first delivery until 2pm – very odd.

Slow day of sales. Damn.

At least Jim showed up in the afternoon to try and troubleshoot the dishwasher which hasn’t been draining completely and is leaving the dishes water stained with a little residue left behind. Not good.

An hour of mucking about with the answer being crimped hose.

Off at seven and home for dinner which is what I was working on when Russ showed up with sushi for himself – had he texted he could have had the other chicken breast. Oh well.

And today’s humorous picture:

Another late evening.

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Thu
8
Aug '13

Houseguest Arriving.

More cleaning and running around as Russ arrives in the afternoon, has commitments, but will be back for a nightcap with Missy and I – seems they have known each other longer than I’ve known Missy, a fact that we only noticed because of FaceBook.

A braided meat loaf of pork and bison for dinner:


And a not quite clean house:

And my lovely guests with a little bottle of wine:

Was up WAY too late catching up – and I work tomorrow.

Ouch.

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Wed
7
Aug '13

Project Day.

Today is a project day.

Fixed the back automatic gate – needed to rebolt everything. Still need to trim it down a little more:

Then it was back in the house to see if I could get the “shoebox” that came from the shop to work since it has two long runs which means I could have a second multi-line phone that the lights work on:

Ultimately the answer was no – my guess is that I’m no good at using the punch down tool and don’t know enough about the wiring to make it happen. Might be time to talk to someone from the telephone museum in Georgetown that’s only open Tuesday from 8:30-2. I’d love to get a couple more runs added to my working shoebox for fully functioning phones in the living room, kitchen and office.

Rest of the day was spent cleaning and tidying in preparation for Russ’ visit from New York tomorrow.

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Tue
6
Aug '13

Running Around

My day:

  • UPS to drop off a pre-posted toner cartridge for recycling
  • Young’s Market (wholesaler) to pick up some pricey Vermouth for a customer and some for me (retail, $17 a bottle)
  • Post office to put Jon and the boys packages in the mail
  • Home Depot for bolt/nuts to pix the back gate – turns out I need two more sets, damn
  • The shop to drop off the Vermouth and leave a sample for Jimmie (he said it tasted like those root beer candies)
  • UW Surplus to see if I could find an organizer – I did, but it was in the hands of a women who had just bought it. Damn
  • Burger Master for my occasional diet slip – patty melt

Home and worn out. Tried the Vermouth in a Manhattan with Even Williams and Jim’s marinated cherries. Tomorrow I’ll try it with the moonshine.

And now I have a favor to ask – anyone know what kind of car this is? It has a firebird/thunderbird like logo on the trunk.

If you need a larger picture happy to email you one. If it just weren’t red – can’t abide red cars.

[206.4]

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Mon
5
Aug '13

Back To Cleaning.

If it’s Monday it must be time to return to cleaning and organizing, but not until a complete breakfast:

Seriously, my omelets never come out this pretty – they usually look more like scrambled eggs.

One more load to the curb…

And in two hours all that remained were the soaker hoses.

Boxed up my pasta maker and rubber mats for my brother:

Talk about protective padding for the pasta maker! Wrapped up a book to post tomorrow to friends as a belated wedding present, assembled the base of the hot dog cart which I’m not using, turning it into a side table for the deck:

And even had time to cook a meal for Whoretense and myself – a rack of ribs in the convection oven with a side of slaw.

After dinner drink?

The one on the left is my shine that has been sitting in a cask since the first of January, the one on the right is chip aged. Both tasty.

Off to bed.

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Sun
4
Aug '13

Sunday At The Shop.

Hectic day at the shop with multiple events – the French Sunday Sippers with a kicker of Italian box wine from Tuscany that ran from 11-5 and the last two hours there was an artist reception for the two artists currently hanging in the shop. That part of the day was truly odd… they brought lots of food, and none of their friends showed up. Part of the deal is that the artists are supposed to promote the hell out of the event since we don’t take a cut of their sales (in exchange for said promotion).

Oh well, still turned out to be a good day at the shop. Had a regular customer (a transplanted New Yorker) come in for as he said, “A mixed case of red, and another mixed case of whites and rosés, all under 13% alcohol by volume.” Easy enough to do. We list the alcohol content on our wine cards if it’s less than 13%. Unfortunately, that’s a manual process since it’s not in our database (yet).

Speaking of databases – last Sunday I finally got the database cleaned up so that the record number is the print number – saves me a ton of time when doing the print merge for new cards or cards with corrections.

After work it was off to Fluffernutters to drop off a hot dog cooking machine (think two slots for buns, two slots for dogs that works like a toaster). A regifted Swanda present from years ago – yes, I’m still on that slow cleaning binge.

A cocktail there and then he followed me to the house for a printing project for his upcoming wedding which I’m forbidden to spill the details of.

I’d stopped at Safeway on the way to his place and found some 50% off chicken/pesto puffs in the freezer section so made a tray of those. Turned out that was my dinner.

A fun evening all around.

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Sat
3
Aug '13

No Cleaning Today.

Nope – garage/office cleaning is on hold until most likely Monday – that work thing.

Good day at the shop – till wise – and July was a great month till wise, up 62% over last year. Yea!

Bliss, Diego and Dustin stopped by the shop for the wine tasting – and an invitation to come to dinner which is good because I didn’t have anything thawed.

The flowers on Bliss’ rooftop garden:

I was trying to snap a picture of the hummingbirds that were hanging out on the 14th floor of an urban condo building.

And Dustin with red wine and Mahi Mahi Picatta:

All and all, not a bad day.

[208.0]

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Fri
2
Aug '13

When Cleaning Your Garage Turns Into Cleaning Your Office.

Why, you might ask? So that I can get this into the office and out of the garage, and start getting some use out of it:

Yes, that is one HONKIN’ big printer. It will do 32 pages a minute letter size, and duplexes up to 11×17 paper (specs here).

To make room for the beast I had to consolidate some things in the office, like mothballing my last Windows XP machine (will give to a good home), a bizarre monitor/Windows CD tablet (hopefully Damon will want – don’t tell Swanda) and cleaning up a bunch of cabling.

The row of printers:

Lexmark 8 ½ x 11 Color Letter Duplexing printer on the left, in the middle the HP4550 8 ½ x 11 Color Letter Duplexing that belongs to the Cascadia Radical Faerie Resource and the HP8500 11×17 duplexing color laser printer. No inkjets for this boy.

And all the cables and equipment I pulled:

I did get some work done on the garage as well – put this out on the sidewalk and it was gone in 15 minutes:

The next stack which was 2 four foot florescent fixtures and extra bulbs took a couple of hours to move.

Hopefully more garage/office work tomorrow.

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Thu
1
Aug '13

Bye Bye Couch Surfer.

Departure day for the Dutch Couch Surfer… and in honor of his border crossing today he decided to shave his beard off. The before shot:

Halfway off:

And after:

Oddly enough, I’m liking his better with the beard – shows off his ginger.

Dropped him off at the Bolt Bus stop in the International District then headed to the shop to pick up packages.

The afternoon was a little more cleaning in the garage – something I’m trying to do a little of each day, and got the rest of the “trip books” printed and bound:

Followed by a quiet evening at home… a nice change.

[204.6]

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Wed
31
Jul '13

Another Couch Surfing Day.

Been staying up later than usual which means getting up later than usual. Must be the couch surfer.

A late breakfast, a Safeway run, and at three it was off to pick up the ragtop from the collision place. How’s it look now:

Sort of odd shadows on it but it’s a good as new. Of course when I took the bus to the repair shop we got stuck with the bridge up. Can’t wait until spring when the South Park Bridge reopens.

A bacon-wrapped pork loin, salad, fresh bread – that was dinner.

After dinner it was time to book Tim an $18 Bolt Bus ticket to Vancouver tomorrow – he tried and failed to get a ride share. But $18 isn’t too bad for a ticket. And since I had to use my credit card (it wouldn’t take his European address) I think that means that I get the credit for the trip, not unlike the time that I wasn’t able to use a ticket (and they don’t offer refunds) I got a trip credit for that one as well.

And finally got the numbers back on flying to Stewart Island – not cheap:

Seats

One-Way

Roundtrip

Per Person

3

$ 782.00

$ 1,564.00

$ 521.33

6

$ 1,221.00

$ 2,442.00

$ 407.00

10

$ 1,965.00

$ 3,930.00

$ 393.00

 

And when you figure you’d need to give up one of those seats for food and supplies…. Even further ouch.

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Tue
30
Jul '13

Couch Surfer Sightseeing.

As I often do with guests I give them the “loop tour” – down to Tacoma, across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to Bremerton then catch the ferry to downtown.

Some pictures:

Dutch Tim on the right. A birthday boy who bought him a beer on the left.

Uncle Markie on the car deck.

Dutch Tim on the upper deck.

And a wonderful view of the city. Nice way to spend a couple of hours. Dropped off the Couch Surfer at the Space Needle for some tourism – he opted for the 2-visit day/night ticket.

Another steak for dinner. He finally made it home a little before the 11 o’clock news.

[204.2]

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Mon
29
Jul '13

An Early Start For Me.

Up at 7:30 – which is early for me, but probably not for the rest of you. Car needs to be in the shop at 9am.

And it was – as was Jeff’s Lotus as seen below:

Dropped the car off, then walked the six blocks or so and caught the number 60 back home. Easy, pezzy – much easier than the shop I used the last time in West Seattle.

And even though it’s not until September I bottled up some bourbon in wine bottles for the cruise.

Had a nice steak dinner before the Dutch couch surfer showed up at 10:30.

We’ll see how THAT goes.

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