"What're Ya, YELLOW?"

Kayleigh had her first belt test last Friday, and was awarded her yellow belt at class on Wednesday. I could not be prouder. I even got to hold the board she split with an axe kick - on the first try.

Two open houses scheduled for this weekend. We had five agents at the broker's open yesterday. And next Tuesday my stepdad is going to come down from Bellingham and help me install a wooden railing on the front porch and pour a new concrete bottom step.

And last but not least, the heatwave broke last night. We awoke to overcast skies and a gentle breeze. In other words, the weather we Seattleites are used to. Back down to a nice, summery 82F.

Welcome, weekend!

[Witty Heat-Related Title Here]

Looks like Seattle's looking to break the all-time temperature record today. According to King 5 News (and other local sources), we're supposed to see 101F today. If we do it, it'll break the official record of 100F set in 1891.

Of all the things to take pride in, beating a heat record is not on my list of priorities. But I count my blessings, and among them are ceiling fans and a cool downstairs master bedroom.

Plenty of interest in the house listing, although no traffic. Maybe things will pick up when the heatwave breaks. We have a broker's open tomorrow, and open houses on Saturday and Sunday. Sounds like a good excuse to go mall walking or sit in an air-conditioned theater for a couple hours.

Muy Caliente

Sure, temps in the 90s are no big deal if you live in the Southwest. In Phoenix, for example, it's downright cool and breezy. But in Seattle, where the all time record high of 100 degrees was set back in 1891, it's pretty much as hot as we can go without getting pissy. Pacific Northwesterners are acclimated to colder temperatures as a matter of environment. When the mercury hits 60, we're donning shorts and flip-flops and shedding our layers of REI sweaters and Hanes hoodies (showing off piercings and tattoos - and fat reserves - that are often best left to the imagination). And home air conditioning is almost unheard of here.

Well, this week, it's supposed to get hot and stay there until we dip back under 90 for the weekend. Add the fact that Seattle is essentially an inland metropolis, despite its position on a large body of water. Socked in by mountains on either side, our air tends to heat up and stop moving, and when that happens, the air quality quickly goes down the tubes. And on top of everything else, Seafair is this week - a festival dominated by hydroplane racing and Blue Angel aerobatics, all of which add to the carbon in the the general breathing supply.

Short version: Seattle is one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities in the country when the air is moving. When it hits high summer and decides to stop, however, it's kinda lame. Not California or Texas stupid-hot, but lame nonetheless.

I think Robert Smith described the situation perfectly.

Of course, the moment it started to broil, I decided to get on the roof and start sweeping off the tree crap and moss that had accumulated in the last three years. It took most of four hours and ended with me getting dizzy and thinking that a pointy roof over a two-story drop was probably not the best place to be dizzy. But the roof looks oodles better, and Sunday our agent hosted an open house while TFMD went to a baby shower and I took the kids to the movies and lunch at Blue C. It was a first for both of them (the Blue C sushi, not the movies), and it was quite a hit.

Later on, Dan & Trish came over to talk shop and we ended up having a little "deli dinner" (french bread with deli meats and cheeses... and wine). Then we retired for the evening and tried to stay cool.

I predict popcicles will find their way into the grocery cart this afternoon.

Fog 'n' Sniffles

It's either a really depressing English pub, or it's what's happening in Seattle right now. We have an inversion layer over the city that has all circulation stopped. As much as I love the usually clean air and breezes coming in off the Puget Sound, there are times when Seattle becomes a really gross carbon layer cake. During these times - usually in the winter - the air quality approximates what I grew up with in San Jose, CA in the early 1970s. Cut-it-with-a-knife grossness.

And it seems everyone I know got (or currently has) The Bug. I've had a throat tickle and sinus congestion since my return from the wilds of West Virginia, and last night I felt like absolute crap, but I'm well on the other side of it now.

A few random blurbs:

Raechelle and Kayleigh packed away the Christmas ornaments last night. Today I will break down the tree and put it away until November 27th, 2009. I'm always sad to pack away the holiday trappings. But that just means we have next year to look forward to.

After months of very spotty checking-in over at the Deep7 forums, I finally announced my engagement to the fans and contributors. Huzzah!

The Stimson-Green Mansion was lovely, and they had an excellent showcase for various wedding vendors. We joked that we could just stay engaged forever and eat catered dinners for free at various wedding venues. However the facility is a bit too small for a wedding of the size we're thinking. Not huge by any stretch, but not tiny either.

Oh and apparently I am Ceiling Cat. Lydia Bruno pointed at the Which Lolcat Are You? quiz, and I took it. Silly me.

Post Ho Ho

So here we are, looking at the aftermath of another Christmas. The relatively warm rains came in yesterday and cleared away most of the snow, which by that point was looking like a sad, poop-flavored sno-cone.

Christmas Day was spent snowed in (since we couldn't get the cars out of the driveway before Friday). Doug, Ann, Gavin & Michelle came over for breakfast, prezzies and family time. Then our family visitors took off to other locales before the new snow came in. We just hung out at home, then Raechelle and I prepared a nice sit-down Christmas dinner for the four of us. Ham, broccoli and mashed potatoes. Yummy.

By Friday, being snowed in had lost much of its romance, and it felt more like being shackled to one spot with manacles of ice and snow (which would actually be pretty easy to break, when you think about it, but I'm not being literal). Fortunately, with some digging and some gumption (gotta love the word gumption), I managed to get Sportacus up the hill and onto the skating rink of our street. Once out onto the main roads, things were okay. I met Ron at Elliott Bay Brewery for lunch - it was just the ticket to be able to stir a bit less crazily.

I got back to find that Rae had been able to get Ruby up to the street as well, and she took off for a few hours for some dinner and Jamie time while the kids and I did an old-skool pizza-movie Friday night, just the three of us.

(The girl & me at Bamboo Garden, Seattle)

Yesterday was kind of a trial by fire of sorts. Up to SCCA in the morning so that Rae could show Dan around the shoot location for a PSA project we're working on. The shoot I will have to miss because I'm flying to WV to meet the future in-laws -- but more on that later). Then back home for a Goodwill run and grocery shopping for dinner. Then back downtown to Bamboo Garden for a holiday dinner with my stepmom, brother & SIL, siste, neice, and our four troops. Then Kayleigh stayed with the others for a production of Wizard of Oz at the Seattle Children's Theater while Tyler, Rae & I came back home to clean up and prep for company.

Is your head spinning yet? If not, it will be...

So at 6PM we welcomed Steve (Rae's ex) and Stephanie (his girlfriend) over for a nice dinner of pesto, salad, garlic bread and wine (and finished off with Jamie's cookie donations to our household - thanks Jamie!). We laughed, we chatted, and we all got along really well - they are both fantastic people and I'm happy to know them. How crazy is that?

At about 8PM, Stephanie left for home and Steve left to go pick up Heather from the airport. Rae was hoping to have had more time to visit, but Heather's flight from Tucson had been delayed. Meanwhile, Gavin dropped Kayleigh back at home. At about 9:30PM Steve showed back up with Ms. H. herself, and there was much rejoicing. The kids were really social too. It was good to finally meet after blogrolling each other and being Facebook acquaintances for so long.

At about 11:15, We packed Rae's bags into Sportacus, dropped Heather and Ruby off at Stephanie's (where H is staying), and I drove Rae to the airport for her red-eye to Houston. She texted me shortly after 5AM Seattle time to let me know she'd landed safely and had actually been bumped to First Class (no upgrade necessary).

After sharing my home and bed with my now-fiancée for the last 2 months straight, it was odd sleeping alone last night, but I will re-adapt to the state of temporary single-parenthood once again and have a nice holiday week. Already the calendar is filling up, so very likely the next six days will fly by, and by Friday evening I will be in Pittsburgh being retrieved by said fiancée for the three-hour drive into West Virginia. There I will spend another six days, meeting my future in-laws, helping unpack from their move, and likely having more snowy fun.

And that's just the opening salvo for our already-packed January calendar. It's not even here yet, and already 2009 promises to be a very active year.

Snow Day

Welcome to Seattle's SNOWPOCALYPSE '08!

Perfect!

Project Greenlight
Dec 11- Dec 20

This is it -- the perfect time to make those changes. No matter what they are, or what department of your life you're hoping to fix, it's all good. There. Now get busy and just do it. You can't hope for any better than this.

I did not make that up. First of all, let me say that on our first official date as a couple, Raechelle walked up to me at the Harvard Exit theater, kissed me, and said "green light". The term has become a catch phrase with us. Secondly, could that horoscope be more apropos considering the whole engagement thing?

This last weekend was all about being mushy, calling friends and family, and holing up with the kids while it proceeded to snow. Yesterday we found ourselves iced in. In fact, this morning is no better, but I have to get down to the Junction and get the kids to school (on the 2-hour late schedule). And I need to do it before Empire gets here with Tyler's new carpet! That's right, we broke down the loft bed and totally evacuated Tyler's bedroom. He spent last night on the pull-out sofa upstairs (with Elvis kitty for company).

Our street is still a skating rink. Raechelle got a ride in to work with another local (she wasn't about to miss another day of showing off the ring work). Now I get to see if I can find the snow chains for Ruby.

Yay.

Stay warm out there.

Back Out

Well, it's not out out. It's just that... well, let me start from the beginning...

Yesterday started with lots of driving around. More driving around than usual. Two round trips to WSHS, loads of errands, 'tis the season and all that. I dropped off a big box of stuff at Goodwill. Then I went to the local branch of a certain credit union and opened a checking/savings/line-o-credit combo. So by lunchtime I had twice as many bank accounts as I woke up having.

Then I headed to a certain local everything store and picked up a certain couple items for a certain couple children. And one of those items was stupidly heavy. And by stupidly heavy, I mean I was stupid to try to lift it into my rig, and then muscle it into the house by myself.

Stupidy, stupidy, stupidy.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent laying on an icepack on my bed. The upside was that I got to start reading John Steakley's Vampire$ again. It's probably my most favorite horror-adventure novel, because it's so easily accessible. Steakley knows how to write action and he plops the reader right in the middle of it. I rarely read a novel more than once. I think I've read Vampire$ a half dozen times. And this particular copy of Vampire$ is very special to me. It was a gift from my friend Dave Alpern (friend of Steakley and formerly a columnist for Gamer Dad), who sent it to me after the fire, when I'd lost all three copies of Vampire$ I'd had on my bookshelves. It's one of the original trade paperbacks, and inside Steakley inscribed:

For Todd -

Hear you've had one of those years.
I know I've had 'em.
But these times do end and Alpern, whose opinions I respect, says you have more than enough MAN to come back.

God Bless

Rock & Roll!

John Steakley

Now I've owned autographed books before, including a first edition hardcover of If Chins Could Kill, the Bruce Campbell autobiography (which said, "Todd - Stay groovy"). But this is so much more personal and has everything to do with my Year of Pain (April '05 - February '06). So it was a really nice experience to crack this particular copy of V$ and re-read.

Raechelle got home at the usual time and we got ready to attend the West Seattle Art Walk. We took the kids to Elliott Bay for dinner (loves me some seasonal Noale), then poked around for a few minutes before calling it a night.

It appears I will get far less done today than I'd hoped, given that the left side of my back feels like one of the tension cables holding up the Golden Gate Bridge. I wanted to string the rest of the Christmas lights on the front of the house before the arctic front moves in (we're supposed to get snow this weekend). But if that doesn't happen, I will have to be satisfied with the company of friends and some fine holiday movies and pizza. Drat.

At least I'll get some more reading done. ;-)

I (Don't) Like Ike

Just saw that Hurricane Ike picked up some mojo last night and is set to hit the Tay-has coast as a category 3 sometime tonight.

Best mind your manners, Ike. You leave my girl's folks alone, y'hear? And Goober and Miss Squeaky too. I don't wanna have to punch you in the face while drinking my kickass tea. I'm Scottish, ya know. We're a fierce and crazy people. The guys wear skirts. We play music that sounds like mating cats on a sheep's bladder with hollow sticks coming out of it. We eat entrails inside other entrails. Yeah, I know, you're a friggin' hurricane. You throw trees around because it's your nature. But we throw trees for fun. And big rocks. And each other. And we don't have the cushy benefit of 115mph winds to help us. You don't want any part of our righteous Celtic indignation.

You pussy.