UMTravels

Up at 9:30… 4 hours after Johnnie – a.k.a. SurfBetty… named after the label on his surfboard from www.girlswhosurf.com.

Thankfully he left the coffee going.

Bagel and cream cheese for me for breakfast, and hanging around the room… 45 minutes by the pool with the tradewinds….

Who would be thinking I’m reading the Thirteen Petalled Rose by Adin Stiensaltz – A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief.

When SurfBetty came back from the beach, we were off on the “efficiency run”… take the Hilo Hattie shuttle to the main Hattie store, drink the juice, cruise through the store, out the exit, down the Nimitz two blocks to hit, first, the Salvation Army:

• 3 quart Pyrex Dutch Oven
• Blue Tag 50% off 100% silk Tommy Bahama second label pea green shirt

Then, off to the Kmart across the street for:

• Microwave omelet cooker
• Tons of groceries

Back to Hilo Hattie to catch the shuttle back to the hotel.

Got the call from Darcie and Jeanne who are staying in a condo over Hulu’s – which is the gay bar in Waikiki – that’s nice. Apparently a good bar with a view of Diamond Head.

Within the hour they are over for a poo poo platter which then turns into a light dinner… don’t we look slightly out of focus on the balcony?

Looks like we are going on a road trip tomorrow. WooHoo! Darcie and Jeanne’s friends have a car to loan us tomorrow so we can take the island tour… something about a shrimp truck somewhere. It’s Darcie – I’m signing on.

After the girls were gone, and the dinner dishes cleaned…. It was time to put the Dutch Oven to use… making chicken stock in a microwave. Who would have thought – less than an hour later, we have eight cups of chicken stock (complete with using the left over lime rinds from our drinks, but only a couple, to give it a little zest). The quest is to figure out how to cook decent meals in a limited kitchenette – trust me, at the Salvation Army I was looking for 1-2 burner electric grills/griddles/burners which extended into the Kmart camping section looking for camp stoves, etc. In the end, we are making do with the microwave and the Pyrex Dutch oven…. I hear you can do Prime Rib in one.

FYI – it’s about 40 minutes to make chicken stock from bones and water in a microwave.

Hell, we even recycled the upper plastic cover from the grocery store roasted chicken into a fruit bowl for the bar.

Who would have thought that Darcie and Jeanne would have booked a trip in September and SurfBetty and I booked in December without any communication would have resulted in being a block and a half away from each other somewhere in Hawaii.

Damn… I’m having fun.

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Wait… we are on holiday… why is the alarm going off… we just got here!

Oh, right. Johnnie has a date with Miku – the www.girlswhosurf.com instructor who what the Japanese 2010 Longboard Champion (born in Tokyo, but raised in Honolulu).

Out the door at 10:45am, and I’m starting to feel a little better – ate the rest of my ham roll-up from last nights’ dinner after catching up on the blogging.

Got to the beach and I was issued my lawn chair (I’m just along for the ride)… funny that the beach she is teaching from is the one closest to two of the hotels I’ve recently stayed in, next to the “Gilligan’s Island Marina” as I refer to it (also just behind the “Hawaii 5-0” building). The ratio of tourists to locals is about 10-90, and of the 90% locals, a good 60% of them seem to be homeless guys camped out under the palm fronds.

Here is the start of Johnnie’s lesson – he hasn’t surfed since he was 13 years old (I saw the picture from the Royal Hawaiian with his father from the early seventies). The instructor is the one who is bent over – honest, Johnnie is paying attention to the lesson, and not her ass. Right.

The squid in the background is the class photographer – he got one good shot of Johnnie up and boarding, and a couple of small videos – not much, s he got a big discount on the DVD ($15 vs. $60), which at that point, he went for it. I have a video of them coming off the surf, but tethered to my cell phone, I can’t post those yet.

Of course if you look at the blowout of one of the pictures, it seems he is getting some special tutoring…

Looks sort of “dirty” to me, but with all that spandex and water, it must be “clean”.

After getting back to the condo I’m famished – which is a good sign in light of the recent self-food poisoning… and Johnnie got this great shot of me at lunch, having my first “phoo-phoo” drink.

Yeah, it looks like I’m feeling better.

Back to the room for what turned out to be a post lunch food coma nap, then off to the Food Pantry for supplies and cocktail materials. Bags later – thanks Johnnie for bringing the backpack, we are set up with cocktails and dinner/breakfast/lunch supplies. Ice is on the 3^rd floor by the pool – five ice machines lined up in a row. Impressive.

Dinner was a roast chicken, a side of marinated sweet onions, and a Caesar salad. We forgot to pick up wine, so we just continued on with cocktails (gin and tonic for Johnnie, whiskey and coke for me – both with lime to keep the scurvy away).

Nice to have my stomach back in one piece.

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It’s never a good day when it starts at 3:30am hurling your guts out and by the time everything is cleaned up you are back in bed at 4 to be up at six to catch the train.

And speaking of the train, it changed to a bus… mudslides north of Seattle. Oh joy.

And speaking of joy – nothing like hurling in the bathroom of a moving bus. That nailed it – yes, I’d managed to give myself food poisoning, and most likely Jill which, confirmed later via text, she kept hers down, but was seriously uncomfortable all night.

I arrived in Bellingham looking a bit “under the weather” – luckily Johnnie picked me up and put me to bed where I zonked out for the next two hours fully dressed (minus shoes) under the covers – park of that was that the heat in the bus wasn’t working for most of the trip, and Johnnie being the frugal guy he is, keeps his place a wee pit chillier than I keep mine.

I did manage to eat the other half of the sausage breakfast burrito (I left the first half on the bus, if you know what I mean) and some goats milk yogurt, sliced banana, a little honey and vanilla before the cab took us to the airport around 3:15.

Must say that the Bellingham Airport is a dinky little thing not nearly big enough to accommodate all the flights going in and out. Horizon, Alaska, and Allegiant fly out now – with Alaska and Allegiant flying full sized planes in – needless to say, the check-in and security area was a zoo, especially since Allegiant caters to the Canadian tourist headed to Las Vegas (which Alaska also serves with a big jet – it’s the other two flights that the Hawaii plane makes in a day) and all the Alaska travelers are on packages…. Basically, it was Johnnie and I in the MVP/1^st Class line. I overheard one guy saying it had taken him an hour and forty-five minutes to get to the counter and through security. Ick.

And no, they didn’t take my coupons so I can call and try to upgrade my Chicago flight in early March. This was reinforced when in the waiting room they came on the intercom and started selling upgrades for $150 a person. Mid-way through the flight I asked “Tim”, our cabin boy about the numbers of Golds and MVPs on board – the Gold would be me, and a handful of MVPs that were travelling with other people who didn’t want to take the upgrade – he said after the 24 hour cut-off that they had 5 people in 1^st out of 16 seats. Nice.

During the flight I took nibbles of the meal (which was really quite good) to put something in my stomach, and even had a little watered down scotch to kill the parasites in my stomach (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) and watched the end of Willy Wonky and the Chocolate Factory (from the Boston trip when I didn’t get to finish it), some lame movie about adults and children, and some junk TV reruns – there goes any fresh material for the return trip next week!

With the Pepto Bismal caplets I’d been taking all day, everything seems to be staying in place.

The shuttle from the airport, while cheap ($15 round-trip) is not quick. Got to the hotel around 11pm and we were both hungry again… hello ABC Store, those ubiquitous convenience stores on every corner in Hawaii. We stocked up on large sandwiches (large enough to have the other half for breakfast) and soda, ate, and went to bed.

For tomorrow we have a 10:45 surf lesson from www.girlswhosurf.com – with the Japanese 2010 Long Board winner teaching Johnnie how to surf again after a thirty year absence.

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More errands – like swinging by the apartment pick up the new “travel” cell phone (Dual SIM model). Odd thing is it took me almost an hour to figure out how to get the back off… this from a 10-year Microsoft veteran.

An unexpected call with Jill means I have a dinner party (of two) on a night before my flight – how unusual for me!

Also booked the train for tomorrow’s run to Bellingham to get the flight – since Johnnie’s driving back down to Seattle the day we get back, it seemed the logical thing to do. It will be nice to have a little quiet time before the early evening flight.

Jill was over at five for cocktails, chat, and return of the MP3 player she borrowed on the Boston trip a couple of weeks ago.

Dinner was my wine, Jill’s much better wine, lobster tails, scallops wrapped in prosciutto, grill asparagus, a nice salad.

And today’s funny incident – just before Jill arrived I was thinking about what I’d packed for the trip – and realized I’d totally forgotten any shorts. Two pairs of Speedo’s, but no shorts. DUH! Better to remember today rather than running up plastic on the trip.

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Nice to have a day off to calmly pack for Sunday’s trip to Hawaii.

Nice to be able to run a couple last minute errands.

Nice to have a small steak and a salad and just spend the evening chilling out.

Nice to remind myself that everyone isn’t so lucky.

And today’s oddity — I checked the open seats for my Hawaii flight… after all the MVP Golds have been upgraded. There are 12 seats in 1st Class left, all the exit row seats are open, and the first 8 rows of coach (MVP seating) are empty (and the back of the plane is full). Chances are good that they won’t be taking my upgrade coupons on the way to Honolulu.

[228.7]

Spent the day puttering around the house trying to get ready for this evening (and finishing the “Memory Book” for the cocktail party) and planning for the next couple of upcoming trips – Hawaii and the Trans-Canada ViaRail trip.

Started running pre-party errand a little before 3pm – and the first one was a bust – Trident Seafood, former Port Chatham Seafood which I had a nice coupon for, had a sign on the door – back at 3:30… really, so much for you making THAT sale.

Next up, AAA for Hawaii maps, then Grocery Outlet for the poo-poo platter for the penthouse at the Camlin, the cleaners for shirts, the apartment for mice (computer, not live or frozen) – and a thankful ride from Swanda to the Camlin to I didn’t have to drive to the Camlin, dump my stuff, go back to the apartment, bus back to the Camlin… all to avoid $29 for valet parking. THANKS SWANDA FOR GIVING UP YOUR PRINCESS PARKING FOR ME!

My luck this month in WorldMark properties is still with me – the Cirrus Penthouse (part of the former Cloud Room) is I think the nicer of the two penthouses (or is it three)… nice walk around balcony, better room layout than the Nimbus next door, or was it the Cumulus… can’t remember – so I had to check, I was in the Nimbus on February 1^st of 2010 for yet another cocktail party.

Natasha showed up a little after 6, and was properly “wowed” by the suite. After an hour of cocktails and chat it was off to The Brooklyn for oysters and vodka… and whatever else we found…

But before I get to dinner, Natasha was in the loo when the waiter came by for drink orders… and I ordered the Vodka Oyster sampler ($13) for each of us, but before it got to the table, the waiter swung by to say that someone had bought us the first round of drinks! Nice! Only a couple of people knew that’s where I was for dinner, could have been someone on the staff knowing I’m a big spender when I’m there.

Back to dinner… after the Vodka Oyster sampler (four different mini-shots of vodka, paired with four different oysters), we order a couple of half dozens of oysters, before starting in on an ensalada caprese, tuna tartare, and a rabbit confit, which we shared, all of which are on the “small plates” section of the menu. Having polished those off, we added the Seafood Volcano before calling it quits. Yum, been a long time since I’d been to The Brooklyn, too long.

After waiting for security to let Natasha’s car out of the garage (missed closing by 30 minutes) she dropped me back at the Camlin where Fluffernutter and Josh were waiting for me. And the answer to the question of who bought the cocktails… Fluffernutter. Seems he a Josh were dining further back in the restaurant, totally on chance – they were driving by and were hungry, and The Brooklyn has valet parking. Mystery solved!

Since the penthouse includes robes – my first task (after fixing a drink) was to get comfortable… though apparently rather quickly…

Stayed up too late chatting, but it was good to see the boys.

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Out of the condo at 10:30, through the border with duty-free (and three people in front of me in line) by 11:30, stopping for gas and groceries at the Safeway in Mount Vernon – some of the cheapest gas in NW Washington, and an interesting set of items on the 50% off rack:

• Adhesive remover
• Maxum ultra thin condoms
• Boy Bleach Blonde kits

Maybe I’ll go blonde again, but I know ONE of my friends will want it/them – 50% off, couldn’t pass the stuff up. Also stocked up on protein.

The plan was a steak for dinner, but then I invited Dancing Bear… who then invited Maximus, so the final meal was a meatloaf made from ground lamb and veal (the veal from today’s shipping, the lamb from the freezer and another 30% off package), asparagus, salad, fresh bread (done as a standard loaf – figured if there were leftovers, sandwiches could be had).

By nine, the winds that had brought the boys, whisked them away, and I started on getting files together for the upcoming events and trips. My favorite find was for tomorrow night’s cocktail party (and sleepover) at the Camlin – this vintage postcard image. THANKS to http://www.vintageseattle.org for posting the image:

The image is from the remodel in 1960, done in anticipation of the World’s Fair in 1962. More information on the Camlin and it’s history on tomorrow’s post.

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Up late. Work. Lunch with Helene. Too much food, leftovers for the appetizer course.

Nap and then analyzing business plans. Questions, questions, questions.

Pulled the trigger… here is where I’m going…

Yes, I booked the Trans-Canada Rail from Vancouver, BC, to Toronto, ON in late March….4 days…. I actually reregistered a ViaRail Frequent Account to get the 500 point bonus – pissed away 78 points… I think it was worth it.

Damn you Helene for pointing out that it really 50% off the whole bill, not just the rail fare. Toronto here I come. Now, all I have to do is get home. Will wait for more mile in the United account before I book. We’d like a FREE ticket home. But $1150 as opposed to $2500….

Dinner tonight with two priest, a nice Jewish woman, and, well, one of the priest’s hottie boyfriends. Wonderful salmon, warm bread, salad, yellow wax beans – too bad it was just dinner for 3 with one leaving for class and one on the couch to “heal”.

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Out of the house around eleven to deliver the Accordion Babes Pin-up Calendar to the girls… it turns out we are going to be in Hawaii at the same time, and within a block or so of each other. How funny. How cool.

Got to the border about 2:30 after a nice little chat with the duty-free woman… when I travel with friends they are amused that she always recognizes me, but then again, I’m mostly headed north during the week.

Got to love that Truck Border Crossing in the Nexus lane… no one in front of me, and a 20 minute wait in the regular lanes. Think back to last week for a comparison.

Groceries at Safeway (forgot soda), wine and cider (for my guest tonight) at the liquor store, then off to the WorldMark at the Canadian for two nights of Canadian (not Club) R&R. I must do this trip a lot since the woman at the front desk also recognizes me and doesn’t even ask for photo ID when checking me in these days. This trips unit? One of the nicest as far as layout: 1907.

This unit just has a more spacious feel about it, maybe it’s the two entrances into the dining area.

Tonight is date night in the big city and the meal is fillets (2) of red snapper, that we really only needed (1), but they were two for one, so the remainder will go on the appetizer tray tomorrow, steamed snow peas, salad, bread and a nice bottle of 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau. Dinner guest was a Saudi Muslim, but apparently not strict about the alcohol since he had hard cider before dinner and a glass of wine with dinner.

Sent him on his way around ten.

NEWS FLASH: After I sent him home (which is about 3 blocks from the condo) I got online to book a cross-Canada train trip in a sleeper. Basically, fly to Toronto, get on the train, get off the train four days later. Needed to book by tomorrow to get 50% off the rail fare but unfortunately not 50% off the sleeper for one, so it was still just shy of $1200. The air wasn’t a problem, I could use miles for that on United. And I also needed to book a trip to Portland in mid-March before the 20% off sale on long distance trains ends (though I always get 10% off with my AAA card).

I couldn’t bring myself to do either one of them. Yikes. I must be worried about finances, especially if I’m about to invest in another business project. Now THAT’s a NEWS FLASH.

[228.8]

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]

The usual post trip errands…

• Drop shirts off at the cleaner
• Drop checks by the bank
• Do a Trader Joe run

Today’s humorous photo – made more humorous in light of yesterday’s post.

Totally stopped in traffic on 520. Notice the variable speed signs. Yeah, in my dreams. Seems there was a Huskies game or something. Odd that we are the 26^th largest city in the US but are tied for 8^th with Atlanta for the worst traffic mess.

The afternoon brought Rich up from Olympia in the mid-afternoon to hang out, chat about the Mexico trip in April, and kill time before heading over to Suze’s for dinner.

Dinner, you ask?

Appetizers:

• Dates stuffed with ricotta and wrapped in bacon
• Various cured meats
• Cheese
• Bread
• Manhattans
• Wine

Main:

• More bread
• Asparagus
• Buttered noodles with fresh parsley
• Stunning Osso Bucco (braised veal shanks)
• Four bottles of Italian and French wines

Dessert:

• A tart homemade raspberry tart
• Grappa from New Mexico but from Italian varietal grapes

YUM!

[230.5]

The Good…

• The view from the condo.
• Getting on the 1pm ferry from Swartz Bay.
• Finding a toy ferry with a working fog horn sound for Swanda’s office.
• Cheap 100 proof Canadian Club – even cheaper than the sign on the shelf said.

The Bad…

• The traffic being one of the last cars to unload from the ferry (car number 107 on, number 97 off – from the car deck, trucks below not counted)
• One idiot inspector at the border than delayed an entire line of cars from the 5 minute wait according to their signs to 45 minutes.
• Not having everyone in the car on the Nexus system which speeds US/Canada crossings.

The Ugly…

• Arriving in Seattle during Friday rush hour.
• A guy who jumped/fell off a bridge into I-5 northbound traffic snarling both sides.
• Having to decline an offer of Old Fashions and dinner from Dancing Bear due to said traffic.

I was so frazzled by the time I got home all I wanted was whiskey on the rocks and a cheese and meat platter for dinner while being a vegetable in front of the television… got home at 7pm – which on the bright side was several hours earlier than if we’d taken the ferry from Victoria at 4pm to Port Angeles, then driven to Bainbridge Island for another ferry and then home.

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Slept in… so nice to be able to do. Didn’t even get breakfast in, just the standard holiday morning Bloody Mary. Just waited for Helene to show up at 12:30 for the first meal of the day. Went next door to the Blue Crab, and as usual had a wonderful meal. Helene had the small fish and chips order, I went for the crab cupcakes with whipped blue potato icing… which I had no idea what it would be… but this is it.

The layers are:

• Tartar sauce
• Crab cake
• Whipped blue potato “icing”

A little top heavy, one had already fallen over by the time I got the camera out.

Back to the condo for a nap to get the energy to make dinner. And what a dinner it was. So much for seeing the Legends of Flight at the IMAX theatre down the road.

Slow cooked pork ribs and a little salad (and the last of the bread). Yum.

For tomorrow we head home.

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Up (5:30am) and out (6:15am). Ick.

On the ferry at 8am, after a Bloody Mary (from that same jug of premix from Thanksgiving!

Nap in the parking lot.

Duty free and a nap on the boat.

Off the boat at 10am.

Stop by condo – not ready.

Shop the fish store (salmon for dinner).

Shop the Thrifty for the rest of the meal stuff.

Drive around town for a bit.

Get call from condo – it’s ready.

Check-in, unpack, get settled (11am).

Relax.

Fix four seafood salads (Swanda, Robin Hood, Crow Dog and myself).

Much good conversation over a bottle of white wine.

Boys leave at 4:30pm

Helene arrives a little after five for dinner.

Drink, chat, eventually start work on dinner at eight.

More chatting, more drinking.

Then sleep.

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Spent the morning and early afternoon running errands before heading back to the apartment to await the arrival of Swanda – we are off on a mid-week holiday.

First stop, the WorldMark at Discovery Bay.

Out of the apartment at 3:15 or so, and caught the 3:45 ferry to Bainbridge Island – only had to wait about 15 minutes in line, which was nice since the next ferry wasn’t for another hour.

By five thirty we were checked into our “handicap” unit at the end of the resort.

That would be the unit on the bottom left corner of the picture.

By 7pm lamb chops salad and wine were on the table, by 9pm Swanda was out like a light.

[231.7]

Up at 8:30 to the smell of coffee, and the sounds of lemon blueberry buttermilk pancakes being made… that’s a treat, and stunningly good. As they say, restaurant worthy – light of fluffy from having the egg whites beaten folded in. Would I be that light if I were beaten and folded in?

No return 1st Class flight for this boy today… seat 13C, exit row (non-reclining) aisle. First was full, and I was 5th down the list for an upgrade – that will teach me to fly on a holiday Monday from SFO. At least the flight attendant gave me my free drink (as an MVP Gold) as a double.

Back to the apartment to pick up the car, some magazines, some groceries… and back home.

Quiet evening around the house, just me, a steak and a salad.

And since I don’t have a photo today… here is one from a couple of summers ago. Found it when I was looking for pictures for a website I’m creating… Damn I look comfortable.

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Today’s odd adventure starts at 2pm with the monthly meeting of the San Francisco Accordion Club at the Oyster Point Yacht Club. I thought it was going to be a concert with half a dozen performers… which it was, AFTER the business part of the club meeting with introductions of the guests…. Odd. It sort of felt like an AA meeting that had a bar attached to it. Actually I looked at the Yacht Club’s calendar, and sure enough, there is an AA meeting there on Wednesdays. As an aside, from the quantity of booze they pour into their drinks, I don’t wonder why they have that Wednesday meeting – there must have been three shots in my Jack Daniels on the rocks (and only about 4 cubes). The Colonel Eric would like this place.

My friend Skylar sent the invitation to this Accordion Event to here FaceBook friends – which might account for the LARGE turnout for a monthly club meeting, AND for the age range of the audience… 21 to 91. Here is a shot of some of the performers – Sklyer is the one on the ground:

She is also featured in the 2011 Accordion Pin-up Girl Calendar:

Needless to say, I bought the calendar… and got three of the woman to autograph their photos.

Next stop was dinner with Alicia and Devon – a wonderful meal of pasta with fresh homemade pesto, some wonderful cheeses, a nice salad, good wine, port and chocolates afterwards – and great conversation throughout…. Not a bad way to live.

Back to Seattle tomorrow.

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Man these boys don’t get up early… they work late, but not early… it’s catching.

Visits to M. Lowe and Company to get the bling cleaned… finally got the mustard acidization off the Brahma Bull ring I have (and found another one), no Western Electric phontes at the thrift stores, but a nice visit with Pat and Bry…. How many years have I known them? More than I want to count.

Today’s project… the Uncle Markie Laptop table… which could be used as a lap board, though I’m not sure the drinks would survive…..

I like the drink holder placements…. Diet Coke for one, Whiskey for the other. And with its items in place….

I like the phrase “Mouse Area 51″…

And then there is the dinner than Onyx made, a lovely veal picatta….. does the good food never end?

Good wine, good friends, what more do you need….

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Lots of running around today, but very little purchasing… was looking for a griddle that fits over two burners. No luck. Also checked out a couple of stores for pre-made bags to hold a battery pack. In the end, just ended up with three bottles of wine and a couple of bottles of whiskey. The whiskey is going back to Seattle with me, the wine for the dinners here in Berkeley.

Speaking of dinner, here is the before shot of “Osso Bubba” – Bubba because of all the substitutions I made with the recipe. At this point the veal shanks are braised and all the chopped vegetables and tomatoes have been added… now into the oven at 300 degrees for three hours:

And the after shot… must have been pretty damn good if this is all that’s left on the plates…

Life is so hard….

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Up at 6… shit/shower/shave, drive to the apartment, leave car in garage with forged parking pass, get on light rail to the airport, check in bag, breeze trough security, have a couple of drinks and a couple of bagels, settle into 1^st class sitting next to another gay guy… well I assume, and I think he assumed as well.

Circling SFO because of weather…. “Can I get another scotch on the rocks?”

Bart to Ashby station – emergency hot dog stop… the cheese and fruit platter on the plane was nice, but not enough.

Ride to the house – home again. I think they like me because I only stay 4-5 days, and then leave, rather than several months.

Unpack computer, log on, clean up, take a nap.

Tonight’s plan is eating out… I’ve brought frozen protein, but it’s a stretch for me to cook on my first night in town, even though the dining time at Chez Berkeley is 8pm… off to Pasta Premadoro in Emeryville for dinner:

Frankly, we ALL need to get out of the house, especially the boys who work from home. Thanks Mark for the great cell phone photo.

Stayed up way too late… good luck for me getting up early in the morning.

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