06-07-26

Xander and I enjoyed Frida and unpacking it on our walk to Happy Lemon.  I liked the theater so much that I will go to more of their plays in the future.

06-06-26

Light rail adventure to Bellevue for dinner.  As we waited for our train I pondered this very strange art work.

06-05-26

Really looking forward to seeing the Friday play.  And someday going to Mexico City to see her Casa Azul.  It will be great going with Xander and checking out a new theater.

06-04-26

I love our apartment and our view, but I do miss seeing the ferries come and go.  Last night we were at a friends condo and they have the ferry view.

06-03-26

Oh what a great sunrise!

06-02-26

Moving Poppy day from Wednesday to Tuesday.  Today was a hot one!  Couldn't get into the aquarium but still had a great time.

06-01-26

Enjoying homemade overnight oats in my fancy new jars.

05-31-26

PB (I guess that is Pastor Brice's nickname in Belltown) giving a tour of the new church building we just purchased.

5-30-26

Poppy girl is waving at airplanes, and there are a lot of them.  Fun at a new to us park.  I like the dandelion statues behind her, my reminder for my 2026 word, whimsy.  Playful, spontaneous, childlike wonder,.... explains our outing wonderfully!

05-29-26

 

Unimpressed with the revamped Westlake Park ahead of World Cup, but digging this new mural in SLU.

05-28-26

 

Tried out my meditation candles for the first time this week.  The idea is a candle that burns for 10 mintues while you meditate or pray or hold solitude.

I worried about setting off the smoke alarms but enjoyed the calm of the flame a lot.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine!

One of my prayers on repeat:

Let people recognize my faith, let me be a connecting point, let my character reflect godly values.  I am a light of the world, don't hide it.

05-27-26

Our last trip up to the top of the Space Needle for awhile, which has become an almost weekly routine.  Poppy was determined to careen around/through the growing crowds but not post for a photo Grandpa really wanted.  Persistence pays off though.

05-26-26

At 7:30 this morning the world changed forever for many people.

A huge tank of white liquer imploded, burning and killing several employees on the Longview plant site where I used to work.

My Facebook and even the NYT are fixated on the news as we watch the tragedy play out.  It's a very heavy day, prayers out to the entire city and beyond.
 

05-25-26

Our winter Space Needle membership, expiring at the end of May, includes one visit to the Chihuly Garden and Glass.  I finally cajoled Bruce into going.

Such whimsical and fun colors and contrasts.

This photo reminds me of my first trip there in 2024 with another Fischer guy:

 

05-24-26

All retreats much eventually end.  At least we still have plenty of time until work officially starts again.

DAY 3:
Vagabond Coffee: plant love, pour joy
Happy Gilmore II in room
Visit Nikki at her vintage store

Get sandwiches for train ride

Train home, on time, but not seated together

Back to reality

05-23-26

Today was a movie and theater heavy day in Centralia.  If a froyo dessert in the corner of an old theater counts.  We had brunch before the movie, not realizing we could have food during the movie.

DAY 2
Coffee at The Station
The Internship movie in our room
Brunch at Berry Fields
Mandalorian and Grogu movie at McMenamins Olympic Club
Walk around town
Reading time
Dinner at Juice Box Public House
Froyo at Holley’s Place at Fox Theater
Spiderman movie in our room

05-22-26

Greetings Centralia!  Love murals, love small towns (to visit), love all the brick and old buildings.  This one is fun because I can look at it and say I recognize it all from memory, then turn my head and see it all in person.

DAY 1
Lunch at Mr Saigon in Pioneer Square
Train ride to Centralia
Digital check in to the Centralia Square hotel where Anastasia & Jacob got married
Digital scavenger hunt and walk around downtown

Explore the Amazon returns store.  Friday restock day, everything is $15.
Dinner at Azteca (meh for service, food, and fellow diners)
Skyking documentary

05-21-26

Vacation mode!

Watching the sun setting without a panic about needing to get to bed.

Funny how early in the week you want to wrap things up with a nice bow, and by the day of you just want the heck out of dodge!

05-20-26

Poppy has a new hedgehog toy but she wants to play with Grandpa's headphone jack.  She's a little slower today with being sick but still got the floors matted with glass noodles.

05-19-26

More and more things are pointing toward a major event next month...  I was hoping to take some time off to enjoy World Cup, but work is so crazy!
 

05-18-26

MAVen book club discussion of Lessons in Chemistry tonight, with take out from Tai Tung.  Good book, good food, good company, a little quiet and contained with no Poppy.

05-17-26

 

My last SIFF movie was after church, with Bruce before he rushed to a Mariners game.  A documentary, Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero.  He seemed so normal at the start and so unhinged at the end.

Of the 12 movies I saw for SIFF this year, six were documentaries and five were US based  movies.

05-16-26

I have the most movies at SIFF Uptown, the furthest theater away.  Getting lots of steps in along with lots of sitting! 

05-15-26

 

Tongiht was one my favorite films of the week.  made extra special by the Q&A.

Jaripeo

Uptown 5:30pm

Mexico | 2026 | 71 min. | Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig

Set amid Michoacán’s electrifying bull-riding celebrations, Jaripeo uncovers queer desire within a fiercely hypermasculine world—blending music, dance, and intimate stories into a vibrant celebration of sensuality, joy, and the freedom to live openly in one’s own skin.

Directors Efraín Mojica  Rebecca Zweigh and Producer Sarah Strunin scheduled to attend.

05-14-26

 Tonight is my only movie at the SIFF Film Center.  The tiny theater nobody knows about.

05-13-26

 

Space Needle, MOD pizza, playground... it's Poppy night!  She went to town on my salad and Grandpa's pizza.

05-11-26

Back to the IMAX for tonights movie.  Might be a favorite, gorgeous art and great story.
 

05-10-26

Mother's Day at Seattle Harbor.

Photo credit to Grunkle.

05-09-26

West Seattle Garage Sale fun!

Poppy enjoyed sitting in the wagon and getting all kinds of goodies packed along side her.  The first stop, when she was in a very bad mood, was a ziplock back of free plastic animals.  The llama, panda bear, and moose were her favorites.

Then came books and Christmas puzzle oranments and cups and trucks and clothes and magnets and an airplane.

Fun day!

05-08-26

TGIF and the start of SIFF!  First film was Nuisance Bear out of Canada at the IMAX theater with Bruce, Xander, and Alison.  It was about Polar Bears encroaching on towns near Hudsons Bay.  Very cool footage, moving story, difficult to take a side.

05-07-26

This was my only photo for today.  Slow morning reading on the roof.  Really slow morning, staying home from the office to wallow in not feeling great.

05-05-26

This is a silly whimsical slow morning photo.  I have had a pile of costume props in my closet for ages.  Step 1 is photographing them, step 2 is asking AI to help me work them into potential Halloween costumes.

I did step 1 today, taking selfies on a timer.  The hat is the custume part.  I'm in my Zozofit suit, which measures me better than a scale every few weeks.  Ironing board in the background waiting for energy to de-wrinkle some tops.

Slow morning weird fun.

05-04-26

The first week in a LONG time where I could get some time off because I wasn't prepping for or in a testing phase of some sort at work.  I decided to take mornings off to be able to enjoy a slower pace without getting as behind as taking a full week off.

This morning I fasted and got a WHOOP blood draw.  Afterwards I visited a coffee shop I have been curious about.  The service was bad, the coffee was meh, but I enjoyed some time to read and liked the dandelion art on the wall.

05-03-26

Some time at the park before Poppy and part of her entourage jets to Disneyland. 

05-02-26

Windermere Cup!  The UW men won again this year, this time with a tighter race against Great Britian.  Such great weather for such a fun day!

05-01-26

Virtual Happy Hour on Teams today.

The message that went out:

Hi Extended Core HR team (sans Matt Smith),   ** DO NOT TELL MATT SMITH or Forward Him this Email**

 

We would like to invite you to join the Virtual Happy Hour on Friday on video and with your “Favorite Anything But a Cup Vessel.” What does this mean?? It means, plan to use any drinking vessel other than a cup and discretely drink from it during the HH. We will wait to see how soon Matt Smith notices.

I chose to drink my NA cocktail from a floor cleaner bottle.  Matt asked right away why another team member was drinking Listerine but it took a half hour to get to "are we supposed to use weird drink containers?!?"

04-30-26

A new sticker for my laptop, Core HR was my part of the Aspire project.  This week we have a  celebration lunch and happy hour of a job well done.  After a year of daily meetings with this team, feels weird to be scattering.

04-29-26

Poppy girl living her best life on top of the Space Needle.  She may miss our winter pass when it expires soon.  We sure will!

04-28-26

The gal who won the World Cup poster hung it at work, so now I get to enjoy it whenever I head to the restroom.

04-27-26

 Monday walk with Mom in Amazon land.

04-26-26

 Exploring a new park with Poppy.  It's a hit, lots for her to explore.

04-25-26

Axe throwing with Diana and Nathaniel, cashing in on Christmas gifts.

04-24-26

 TGIF!  Off to Meany theater for a very odd rendition of Alice in Wonderland...

04-23-26

Poppy time!  Nice weather, we explored a new park and enjoyed the slides and swings. 

04-22-26

Back to our favorite bar seating at Climate Pledge Areana for another Torrent game.  Late night but lots of fun.

04-21-26

My little testing team often gets forgotten.  So I did not get to choose my box lunches for this week, I am stuck choosign the best of the extras.  

04-20-26

On 4/20 you might expect to smell some things, but all I smell is chicken.  The apartment and the whole hallway smells as Bruce cooks down a rotiserie chicken.

04-18-26

 

Loved the mural at the Mexican restuarant we tried tonight.

04-17-26

 Love the bouquet at the concierge desk this week.