Seahawks Finally Bring it Home

Still euphoric.

Vindication.

Years of demeaning trash talk by the national sports commentators who are now forced to eat their words (with the exception of Howie Long and Michael Strahan, 'cause defensive players know what's up).  I love seeing them finally have to admit that it wasn't just about Denver not showing up - it's that the Seahawks showed up as a well-oiled machine (in every way) and took Denver behind the shed for a beating. 

Those of us who have followed the Seahawks through lackluster seasons but have seen the reconstruction of a great franchise under Allen, Carroll and Schneider knew what was up.  I get that unless you live here you don't truly appreciate the significance of what it means to the region. It's easy to dismiss a team with a lackluster history prior to the 2002 conference switch (into a division they would own to this day).  It's easy to dismiss an entire region because they don't represent an east coast media market.

But the stats don't lie, and the Hawks' performance last night was living proof that defense wins championships.  Manning is one of the best QBs to play the game, but no matter how good, quarterbacks don't single-handedly win games, especially when rattled.  And in both the preseason rout and the Super Bowl, it's clear that he's not used to what the current NFC West - and specifically the Seahawks - bring against him.  That said, the man is a class act.  One of the first things he did after the game was go to Richard Sherman and inquire after his injury.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the next few seasons shake out.  With competition hot and heavy between Seattle and San Francisco, it will only raise everyone's game in the NFC West - and continue our division's dominance nationally.

For now, I'm just savoring the collective joy exuded by my adopted hometown (where I've now lived half my life), and breathing a sigh of relief that the team we've invested so much time, energy, faith and money in executed their objective as expertly (and more so) as any in the game - and who do so much off the field for their fans, community and region. 

Well done, Seattle Seahawks!  Way to bring the Lombardi home.

It's One Louder, Innit?

Many thanks to This is Spinal Tap for all the great references to eleven we can make regarding the new year, including the title of wifey's current blog entry.

It's been a busy holiday season, hence the whopping TWO entries for December.  Let me fill you in on what's been going on:

• Opened and closed It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Kenyon Hall, which I've talked about extensively here.
• Finished and submitted our Airship Daedalus feature for the debut issue of Mash Tun, to be released at ECC this year.
• Christmas was low-key and we did zero traveling, which led to a much nicer, calmer and less stressful holiday within the immediate family unit.  I got some DVDs (including the out-of-print Dead Can Dance Toward the Within live concert, taken from the tour Sam & I got to see in the front row on our anniversary when they played the Moore Theatre in 1993) and some cool books and some very useful gift cards, with which I got this, and this, and this.
• Hosted my family for a post-Christmas Christmas gathering on the 29th.  I baked a ham, roasted potatoes and made my specialty salad (mixed baby greens, red grapes, dried cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese with a raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing).  My stepdad brought homemade orange cheesecake.  You know you're jealous.
• Got to have drinks with Muriel, who has the distinction of being the catalyst for Raechelle's and my meeting.  Rae tells the story in her post, and of course the whole thing is laid out in our blogs.
• Spent New Year's Eve at dinner with Steve, Steph and Isabella, followed by drinks and snacking and general merriment at Dan & Trish's with some other friends as well.  The kids went to spend the night with Uncle Gavin & Aunt Michelle in Poulsbo, playing boardgames and having fun.
• Seahawks second string QB Charlie Whitehurst (aka Clipboard Jesus), in combination with a fired-up defense and the loudest fanbase in the NFL, led our rather pitiful 7-9 team to a wildcard spot in the playoffs over the shellshocked St. Louis Rams.  Although it's great that we got the division title, here's two things to consider: 1) winning that game reduced our 7th round draft pick for next year to 21st at best; 2) Even if the Hawks can overcome New Orleans this Saturday (which is actually a possibility, given home field advantage, the aforementioned loudest fans in the NFL and a seriously injured New Orleans roster), it's doubtful.that the first team to clinch a division title with a 7-9 record can compete against the eastern division teams with their 12-4 stats and their serious-football-playing.  I hope the division title is worth it in the long run...
• Got turned on to Pomplamoose, a duo from San Francisco.  You've seen them on the Hyundai commercials.  I've been seriously inspired to record again.  Thanks a lot, you talented cuties.
• Took the kids to see Tron: Legacy.  Pros: decent follow-up to the early '80s classic, amazing visuals, good cast, amazing visuals, and amazing visuals.  Cons: major plot holes, jarring CG in the flashback scenes trying to "youthify" Jeff Bridges, major plot holes, cheesy Neo/Matrix finale... and did I mention the plot holes?

So that's pretty much how I spent my holidays.  If I have a resolution for 2011, it's to post a bit more often (and have interesting things to post about!).

Moment of Zen

After several days of giving each other this look...

TFMD and I began to talk about the housing options available to us. There is one property where we liked everything about the exterior, but the main floor would have made us miserable. The other option is actually on the same street; it's a 1940s build instead of a 1920s craftsman, but the interior would work so much better for us "right out of the box", as it were. Better flow. Less work to make it work.

And suddenly, the stress lifted away. It's not completely gone, but at least we're not scrunched up wads of nerve fibers spewing fiery hatred. Honestly, we never were spewing fiery hatred, but it's something I aspire to avoid anyway.

So the rest is really in the Universe's hands (if the Universe actually has hands - big strong hands). Domines have been lined up. We're just waiting for things to fall into place. Or not.

* * *

I must say, even though it doesn't count, I've been enjoying the NFL preseason this year. Having a new coach doesn't seem to have handicapped our Seahawks, who are 3 and 0. And Thursday they face my old Raiders, who just got their asses handed to them by New Orleans. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Big and Strong

By the time I finish writing this, a bazillion-six bloggers will have blogged about Superbowl XLIII. But because I absolutely do not care about either team, I thought I'd make an observation.

I think John Madden might have a secret.

First of all, it was a much closer, much more exciting game than we thought it might be, going in. This year our division sucked harder than a Venezuelan call girl, evident in the Cardinals going to the big game with a winning record of... 9. Ugh. That's the best the west could do this year. Not a great showing. We didn't think the Steelers would have a particularly tough time beating them, and were honestly amazed that the spread was something like 6.5 points.

But it was a white-knuckle game, despite our pessimism. The officials were not calling for Pittsburgh all the time (a pleasant surprise as a Seattleite), and Warner statistically outplayed Roethlisberger (who is apparently the earthly avatar of the god of football here on Earth, according to the commentators). In all fairness, Pittsburgh's 100-yard end-zone interception return was a truly amazing play -- overall, they actually earned this victory*. But it was because Arizona made them earn it.

Maybe because I really didn't care about the outcome (except we did root for Arizona simply by virtue of them NOT being Pittsburgh) I found I was picking up a lot more of the commentary chatter, and for some reason it took on a distinctly homoerotic dimension. Perhaps it was repeated use of the terms "penetration", or how every goddamn time Madden commented on a play, he would refer to the player thusly:

"He's a big, strong guy, and when you're big and strong..."
"He's got big, strong hands..."
"He's absolutely huge..."
"A big, strong player..."
"Big..."
"Strong..."
"Big and strong..."

Swear. To. Gawd. It almost became a drinking game. Of course, the "big and strong" commentary was inevitably followed by Madden drawing two circles on the screen, followed by an arrow thrusting through the middle -- perhaps to illustrate the tight-end penetration he was talking about. In any case, it made me see John Madden in a whole new light, and made for some entertaining living room commentary of our own.


* As opposed to it being handed to them by officials.

Anniversaries and Birthdays

Paul Newman died, and today would have been my 18th wedding anniversary. Yeah, I'm a bit down (I'm allowed, thank you), but I'm also not so focused there anymore. A lot is going well in my life, and I choose to focus on that to a great extent. So while I raise a glass in spirit to Samantha on this day, she knows I have good things in front of me and don't need to dwell in the past.

TBGE wrote up her experience of hosting 11 year old girls for a slumber party, so I won't duplicate. But I will say that it was pretty much my experience from the last 3 birthdays (and she did an awesome job being the mom/host). This time, however, I got to go downstairs with a Guinness and my painting supplies, and transform the bedroom while I watched football. The Stanford-UW game was sufficiently close enough not to be an embarrassment (Card won). Saw some of the WVU-Marshall game highlights (WVU won), and probably the biggest news in the Pac 10 was that Oregon State beat USC for the first time since the 1960s, and University of Oregon slaughtered Washington State 63-14. Oregon has come to kick some ass and chew some gum, and apparently they're out of gum.

Sunday started with the usual coffee-with-Ron tradition (the lady at the check-out counter at B&N recognized us as we entered - "Wouldn't be Sunday without ya!"), but we'd arranged to cut out early so that Raechelle could take off for some Kim time. While Raechelle was gone, I took the opportunity to paint the last wall in the bedroom, catch the Kansas City-Denver game (while painting), and do some yard work in the front. I felt very industrious.

(Two shades of tan now compliment the steel blue carpet
and oak Mission furniture)

Raechelle came home and oohed and ahhed at the progress (which is why I do it, ya know). We cuddled up for a bit (between the painting, yard work and not hydrating, I was exhausted), watched some of the Chicago-Philadelphia game, made some dinner, watched some Buffy season 1, then put the kids to bed and collapsed.

It was a good weekend. Barriers were crossed, strides were made. Raechelle gave me a huge validation in her blog which actually made me a bit misty. Things are good.

This week, we have much to celebrate. Happy hour for Rae's last couple days in her old job, Kayleigh's actual birthday and family dinner Tuesday night, and on Friday, I'm taking Raechelle to Port Townsend for a weekend at the Ann Starrett Mansion. Look at us go.

...And They're OFF!

Monday didn't disappoint. Raechelle got off to work early, I got the kids to school on time, and that fortunately set the tone for the day. Any morning when I don't have a major battle with one of the kids is an achievement.

Got a bunch of busy work done, and crashed for a cat nap before Raechelle and her cousin Butch (husband of Tricia - I'll get all the players down*, I swear) came over. Katherine made dinner with the kids while I drove Rae & her guest downtown to Pike Place Market. We grabbed dinner at The Pike, and walked Butch around a bit. I think he likes our town.

We came back and showed him OA, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and the two of them headed back to Ballard. I have a Duo script conference tomorrow night, and seeing OA again has jump-started my creative impulse. I sense a return to the OA series pilot tomorrow.

*Speaking of players, Stanford beat SJSU on Saturday, bringing them to 2-2 nationally and 1-1 in their division. I would have liked to watch the game (as they are both hometown schools) along with a few others, but with moving Dan & Trish, that wasn't "in the cards" (get it? The Stanford Cardinals? "In the cards"? Sigh).

Before the kids and when they were very young, we could watch a couple games a day, or at least have them on in the background while we were being productive. Sam & I used to follow Stanford, Cal, and UW college ball, the 49ers, Raiders, and Seahawks (and Mariners, on the baseball side), and could spend a whole day in our PJs watching double-headers. The Olympics were sacrosanct. I could waste an entire day watching World Cup soccer or Irish hurling or lacrosse (anyone else feel a promo for The Ocho coming on?). But for the past several years, there has always been something to do, something to clean, some disaster to confront, somebody to care for, as much as we would have liked to just veg out in front of sports for an entire day (or weekend).

I long for the ability to just veg out in front of football for a whole day and not feel guilty about it. I freely admit it's old conditioning, and I'm working on overcoming it. Maybe Thanksgiving weekend. I'm sure Rae would be okay with that.

Sigh. I can dream, can't I? Fer gawd sake, let me have my dream!

This is a bye week for the Hawks, and the weekend after that, they're in NY to face the Giants. Let's hope they can build up their 1-2 record a bit. We'll be in Port Townshend that weekend, but I'm sure it will be viewable/audible in some fashion. And I think I'll ask Rae to bring her TV over next weekend so I can watch the Stanford-UW game Saturday night while she and Kayleigh are girling it up with the birthday slumber party.

Tomorrow I have another doctor appointment, and then Wednesday Rae & I celebrate 4 months together. And on we go...

Normalcy

I forgot to mention in Saturday's blog post that when they took my vitals at the doctor's office, my blood pressure was in the normal range and I weighed in at 247, which is 45lbs down from what I weighed at the time of Sam's death. Yeah, do the maths if you want, but I was 292. That sounds like a lot (and it is), but I carried it well on my 6'4" big-boned Highland frame. Regardless, I can feel a huge difference. 10 or 20 more pounds and I'll be in my perfect zone. And I'm gonna do it, not by re-joining my gym or doing any funky diets, but by maintaining healthy habits.

And maintaining healthy habits is a lot easier to do when one has a partner to help monitor stuff like that. I'll get back to that in a sec.

Saturday we curled up in our jammies and watched a couple movies. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer film, followed by Reign of Fire, which is an underrated post-apocalyptic fantasy with Christian Bale and an almost unrecognizable Matthew McConaughey. But not really up Rae's alley. Ah well. My record is still pretty good...

Sunday was a nice sleep-in, followed by organizing the dining room. Craft stuff: organized. Piles: gone through. Old dining chairs: out of there. We watched the Hawks beat the pants off the Rams. Apparently we should not wear our Hawks fan gear when watching from now on.

We showered and headed up to Ballard, stopped in at Archie McPhee to look for Kayleigh's party favors (and maybe some decor for our Halloween party). Then up to Rae's apartment so she could grab a few necessities. Then home. We put the kids to work with some chores while we beat the hell out of some chicken breasts and made schnitzels (like my dad loved to make, only with lime instead of lemon). Add steamed veggies and a side of mac & cheese, two kids and some festive tableware, and you've got an actual honest-to-God sit-down family dinner.

How cool is that?

Rae brought over season 1 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and we caught the first episode before bedtime. It was a good finish to a good weekend.

Dinner plans tonight, and a busy week ahead. Back on track with both Duo and the OA series. I can feel my block lifting. It's a good feeling. It's nice to have a muse again.

A Good Weekend

We had a pretty good weekend...

Except for the part where we were glued to CNN and The Weather Channel, watching Ike updates. And waiting for any communication from Rae's folks (they survived - their roof didn't, but they did - we're so glad they're okay!).

And the part where the Seahawks sucked and got beaten at home by the Forty-Friggin'-Niners.

And the part where we went to the Bamboo Grill for dinner last night, and our server dropped off the food and immediately went to attend to the large party next to us without finding out if we needed anything else and I waited for fifteen minutes for anyone to check on us but no one did and finally as Kayleigh and Raechelle were almost finished and my burger was getting cold I went to the bar and got my own mustard thankyouverymuch, only to find out that the burger was totally undercooked and I ended up sending it back and having it comped on the check.

[deep breath]

So yeah, when the manager is busing your table and apologizing for his shite service, you know they're having a rough time. I didn't raise a fuss, nor did I leave a tip.

Friday night was a zombie movie fest, with pizza and wine. Fun times.

We drove up to Bellingham on Saturday to drop an old family gate-leg table at my sister's home, then went to Greek food and window shopped awhile. Then we dropped by my grandparents' place on our way out of town. Great visit, a nice drive, phenomenal weather, good bonding time with my girls.

Raechelle has indoctrinated Kayleigh into the COJ (Cult of the Organizational Junkie), and the two of them overhauled the front room last night. Earlier that morning, we'd gone to Home Despot and pulled some paint samples for the master bedroom. We settled on a two-color scheme (opposite walls). All day long, Rae planned Kay's birthday party with her.

With all of our tales about Raechelle getting more comfortable in our situation, I sometimes forget that I'm still out here on the path myself. And I did something symbolic today that was kind of a huge step. For the three-plus years Sam's been gone, I kept my old wedding band on my keyring with my keys. This morning, as Rae was getting ready for work, I removed the ring from among my keys and put it away.

Apparently, I no longer need the security of that symbol on my person at all times.

Methinks this is getting serious.

And, surprise surprise, I'm okay with that.

Oh, the New!

I invite my loyal readers to check out Raechelle's post (with pics) about our massive cleaning/organizing effort in the master bedroom. It's a totally different space in there now. And since I hate the wall color (not the color I thought I was getting when the house was rebuilt), I'm going to do a different scheme in there altogether.

Okay, so, backing up... Friday night vampires. Good stuff. Saturday morning, up early (bleh), took the kids to meet Katherine, and they went camping while Rae and I rolled up our sleeves.

I really should mention what a huge thing this is for me, sorting through not only fire salvage, but old files and Samantha memorabilia. And I got through the whole stack of boxes in my bedroom. Every now and then, I'd get a hug and kiss from Raechelle, and would continue purging. I got rid of a lot of junk (literally and figuratively) from my old life.

Raechelle took off in the afternoon for a celebratory lunch with Jamie (congrats!), while I ran errands, took boxes of stuff to my brother's house, and put up Halloween lights on the front porch area. The girl got back and we chilled awhile, then went to dinner and headed to the pie party. As Raechelle stated, we made three pies, hung out and socialized a bit, then took off home.

Up relatively early (what the hell is this pattern?!), prepped the house for our first brunch of the football season. Had a house full, with some good food and (thanks to the lousy performance by our Hawks) lots and lots of mimosas. After everybody left, we went back to cleaning, moved the cleaning out into the carport, then picked up the kids from camping. Dropped Tyler at home (by his request) and had dinner down at Bamboo Grill on Alki. Got back in time for jammies, tea and Family Guy.

Back to a normal schedule this morning. Dropped Kayleigh at school, then took Tyler to his first day at West Seattle High. They have some really great folks there. And he got the same web design elective that he had at Sealth! And to top it off, now he'll be a Metro veteran (Meteran?).

Orchestrating yard service and office tasks today. Since I'm not playing taxi all day, I'll hopefully be somewhat productive, although I've got an inflamed ear canal and a headache to match, so I may need to have an "old man" nap in the afternoon. Fortunately I have my first physical in over 5 years coming up this week. Raechelle was snuffly and a bit warm last night - hope it's not a cold (which would suck).

That's all for now... I know, aren't you just on the edge of your seats??

An Eighties State of Mind

I didn't mean to be in this headspace, but when I booted up this morning and opened my playlist, it just happened to be my '80s playlist, which just happened to randomly start on Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better, which just happens to have pulled me out of more than one pre-suicidal depression, especially the bridge:

And do you feel scared (I do)
But I won't stop and falter
And if we threw it all away
Things can only get better

Go HoJo.

Which reminds me, I saw the Dream Into Action tour at the Concord Pavilion in 1985. Marshall Crenshaw opened. Crazy, the stuff you remember. Mind like a steel trap, that's me.

Which reminds me, the movies on the bill tonight make an '80s vampire double feature. We're screening The Lost Boys again (for Trish's benefit, and because it makes my woman go all squishy), and following it with Tony Scott's The Hunger (which makes me go all squishy, especially when Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon throw down). Another full house for movie night.

Then I get to take the kids to Northgate to meet Katherine at 8:30AM Saturday so they can go camping. It's a job I'm willing to take on, however, as it will mean Raechelle and I can have a full Saturday night to ourselves. Never a bad thing, that. We have a "pie party" to attend with Rae's work friends. Fruit, knives and alcohol - a delightful combination.

Sunday morning we are hosting a football brunch for the Hawks/Bills game, with a bunch of friends. And there will probably be more organizing and cleaning in there. It's really amazing how much fire salvage I can get through when I have a caring partner there to back me up.

And I just checked Rae's blog to see if I could track down a link to her pie party post from last year, and found that she's pretty much wrote the contents of this post. How's that for sharing a brain cell?

Weekendus Updatus

Friday 8/29

Big football get-together. Raechelle, Kayleigh and I hosted some friends from each of our crowds, thus beginning the cross-pollination process. Seahawks steamrolled the Raiders. I thought my loyalties might have been somewhat divided, but although I don't mind seeing the Raiders do well, I'm not sad watching them suck. There was much pizza, beer, and/or margaritas. Ay carumba!

Saturday 8/30

Raechelle stayed Friday night, and we headed out early (for us) to check out a house owned by Raechelle's ex's girlfriend ("Programs! Get yer programs! Can't tell the players without a program!"). Then we went to Doug & Ann's engagement party at Gillian's at Lake Union. A nice buffet, arcade tokens for the kids, a car made of chocolate and tiramasu, and plenty of pool. We took off a bit early due to fatigue and a bit of "buyer's remorse" from Friday's margaritas. So of course, when we'd dropped the kids at Gavin's for their Star Wars RPG, where did we go for dinner? Maharaja. Yeah, a little Indian food really settles the stomach.

About then, we began to get a bit of a second wind, and walked across the street to The Corner Pocket, where Travis bought us a round and Raechelle and I played another 4 games of pool. We picked Kayleigh up at 11PM and Tyler stayed at Gavin's overnight.

Sunday 8/31

Sunday morning, I left Raechelle to sleep in while I had coffee with Ron. Came home in time to chat with Rae before she left to have lunch with Val. I got some school shopping homework and scheduling done, and when Raechelle came back from lunch, we headed out for school supplies and clothes. We returned in time to get started cleaning and organizing the master bedroom, then reheated some pizza and watched Cars and Raising Arizona.

Monday 9/1

Labor Day! We slept in, then went to Home Depot to pick up a hand towel ring for the half bath and a bath towel rod for my bathroom (because some chick has been hanging her towels over the shower curtain and they're getting in the way). We met up with DJ at Noon to look at three houses. Still no luck. Then it was Thai for lunch and a mad whirlwind of cleaning and organizing. Lots of triggers, but I did really well, if I do say so myself. we finally got to a stopping point at dinner time, and went down to Southcenter for dinner and a quick trip to Guitar Center (as this time, not only my capo disappeared - it seems to have taken the tuner with it).

Home just in time for the train wreck that is Gossip Girl (similar to the feeling I get when I watch old Ed Wood movies), then to bed.

It was a productive weekend, not just from cleaning and sorting and organizing, but from some really positive relationship steps. Whodathunkit?

Bullets

• Tried to stay off the leg today. Didn't really work too well. I'm a bad patient, especially when I'm also the doctor.
• I was supposed to get a doctor's appointment and a dentist appointment today. I did neither, completely distracted by my stupid leg. I suck.
  
• Supposed to go to a meet-n-greet for our realtor (my mom and stepdad are coming down for it) but between the thunderstorm and the leg, I think I may just hole up on the sofa and watch the Hawks/Chargers game. In any case, it's a literal pain to drive my car right now because of the multiple muscle strains in my clutch leg. I thought it was just a twisted ankle initially, but driving to get coffee this morning told me otherwise.
  
• Watched The Audience Strikes Back, and fielded a couple phone calls from Dan, apologizing. It's a good premise that is unfortunately haphazardly directed and goes off the rails halfway through. It was really fun watching Dan, and surreal seeing OA's Brittany Quist as a blonde bombshell.
  
• Did I mention thunderstorm?
• Feeling really "bleh" and I need to see to some food for the kids if we're not going to the meet-n-greet.
• Big stuff coming up this week, like an OA series dev meeting, a school meeting regarding Tyler, and a big football party.
  
• Did I mention "bleh"?

Wonder Weekend

Holy crap, I'm exhausted.

Friday night, Raechelle and I hosted the football game at my place (good win, guys!). Ron, Dan & Trish came out and we had pizza and beer/wine. Kayleigh and her fanbear partook of the spectacle while Tyler hung out at Uncle Gavin's. After the ballgame, I showed Near Dark, which has been a cult film staple since college. Everybody was kinda "meh" about it for all the reasons I like it - it presents a unique (and uniquely American) take on the vampire movie without ever saying the V-word. We've promised to show Trish The Lost Boys next. Made in the same year, yet a very different vampire film (and shot in Santa Cruz, where we will be hanging out in less than a week).

Saturday, as Raechelle mentioned in her weekend wrap-up, we went to IKEA and were in and out like a surgical strike team made up of greased ninja. Then it was organization to the extreme, which meant Kayleigh's bedroom and my office. And organizing my office meant sorting a lot of papers. A lot of documents. Official documents. Like Sam's death certificates. And Raechelle had the patience of a saint, helping stack the various piles and being quick with a hug when needed.

We went to dinner at Spiro's, then headed over to Crazy For You. First summer show by Twelfth Night I've had absolutely nothing to do with (not even poster, program and/or video) since Bye Bye Birdie. While Raechelle reports only the Twelfth Night gals shouting my name and running up to hug me, what she fails to mention is the sheer number of burly guys doing the same. Guys like Raff, Mark Wissing and Travis Pavey (not so burly, but man can he French kiss... wha-??).

And how is my crowd (formerly Sam's crowd) accepting Todd's New Woman?

My observation was that people were either very outgoing and engaging, or very nonchalant (so as not to make a big deal about it), but nobody has displayed Bitter Beer Face or given any indication of dislike in any way - quite the reverse. They all want to see me happy, and if Raechelle makes me happy, then they LOVE her. Simple, really.

Plus, I found out that the aforementioned Mark Wissing is cooking down at the Swell now, so we will be having lunch there more often. And of course, Travis tends bar at the Corner Pocket - and since Raechelle is no longer going to the Lock-n-Keel, I feel obligated to take her to a happy place where we can play some pool and where I've known the bartender since he was Tyler's age.

We got home and it was straight to bed. Sunday morning was a quick home tour of a place near the Junction with some great views and a lot of great character. For the first time in the process, both Raechelle and I could see ourselves living happily there. It's still early on, and I told our agent that I want to look at more homes like this before making any decisions, but that I was interested enough to bring the kids back for a look.

We got home and had some breakfast. Raechelle and Kayleigh went to take Tyler over to Gavin's to hang out while we continued cleaning. After four hours of looking at the fire-damaged family photos featuring Sam or the kids when they were younger, and the copy of our first mortgage on the house, and a bunch of joint account information, I ran across a newspaper insert that said in big letters "Give Grandma What She Wants!" and I was done. You never know what triggers are going to finally ignite the bullet. The physical sorting is really a great metaphor for the sorting I'm doing emotionally (and I'm doing great!), but sometimes you just have to take a break.

By that time I'd really not eaten much, and 6'4" + not eating + sitting on the floor for long periods + standing up quickly = dizzy. So Raechelle offered to take us to Mexican food for dinner. We piled in Sportacus and headed down to the Guadalajara cafe down by Fauntleroy, then came home (with a brief stop at Target) and watched Blazing Saddles, which Raechelle had never seen. I'm doing a good job getting her all caught up.

And she spent her third night in a row here. I gotta say, it keeps getting easier and feels more natural all the time. And Kayleigh has been bonding with her like crazy. While she was in the shower getting ready for work, I walked down to Westwood and grabbed some coffee. Unfortunately mine took a header in my front yard, so I only got about 1/3 of my latte. Crap.

If and when we do move, I will miss walking a block to almost everything I need. But as I said back at the start of this new blog, it's time for new.

And now we start the countdown to California.

Pre-Season Begins!

Blogger has a scheduled outage coming up this afternoon, so I need to get this up real quick...

Yeah, I know it's not the first game of the pre-season, but it's the first pre-season game for our Seattle lads. Like many kids growing up in the Bay Area in the '70s, I was raised on the Raiders and 49ers, and went to my share of games at the Oakland Colosseum and Candlestick Park, followed the winning record of the mid-'70s/early-'80s Raiders, and then continued on with the golden age of Joe Montana's 49ers. I even went out for High School football at Aptos, and briefly became a Li'l Vike mascot for the Palo Alto Vikings.

Then I moved to Seattle, home of the Seahawks, longtime rival of the Raiders. Or as "longtime" as the relatively new Seahawks actually went back (which is, I believe, 1974). I felt like a double agent. It was years before I felt comfortable enough to truly cheer the home team. But a couple things made it easier: 1) the Raiders became a shadow of their former selves; 2) Raiders fans (who I'll grant you have always had a "boisterous" reputation) became out and out hooligans.

And about 10 years ago, I finally got comfortable and avid enough as a Washingtonian and Seattleite to root for the Seahawks with a clear conscience. About 4 years ago when we still had Grant Wistrom, he and his foundation worked with Gilda's Club, and we would often get tickets to Hawks games at Qwest Field. The Hawks are generally engaged with the community and many of the players and staff are involved in a multitude of charities. And in 2005, they proved to be not only the best team in the NFL, but much better sportsmen than the team that was handed the Superbowl.

So while my particular wheelhouse of geekery is not the brand of fanatic who memorizes stats and plays fantasy football, I am a Roman spectator at heart. I love myself a good bloodsport, and American football is among the most violent recreational war simulations still played. It's good, wholesome, uniquely American violence, and I can't say I don't get a visceral thrill from watching. Just like those few NASCAR fans who aren't in denial and admit the reason they watch is for the crashes.

And now, I'm dating a woman who is probably more fanatical than I ever was about football in my teens and twenties. Which is really mind boggling, because Sam was also a pretty avid football fan (49ers all the way), and that's relatively uncommon. How cool is that??

So, with the Hawks about to face off against the Vikes (sorry, Mike Berg, I love ya, but I gotta support my boys), I have my screening room set up to watch the game in 80-inch wide glory, food ready to go, pizza on order, friends jumping in to cheer with us. I have my Hasselbeck jersey and Kayleigh is already in hers (plus, her new Build-a-Bear is wearing a Hawks sweatshirt and will apparently be watching with us). Even the weather was a bit overcast and cooler today - almost a bit autumn-ish.

Time to go finish cleaning up.

Go Hawks!