August 2018

For some time now, I have been making a small difference in the world, and I figured it was about time I “came out”.

  • I have multiple loans to people all around the world via Kiva. I have 12 loans that have been repaid in full and another 7 loans currently active. One of those is to an artisan in Indonesia, where I am loaning to him for the second time, and I have also purchased one of his products.
  • I also have a monthly donation of just $10 to Donor See, who have a unique way of ensuring that donations actually get to the people in need.

I am happy to recommend “passing it on” through either (or both) of these organisations.

For a while now, I have been using a RainX product for the Windshield Washer fluid in the truck. You can see in this clip that it really does cause the raindrops to run off, especially at 70 mph. On a dark freeway (without any lighting as in the clip), I can see quite clearly without needing to use the wipers.

After the previous assembly of the one hockey goal at practice, a lot more development has gone into it. The side boards were assembled with the side corners and posts in place, so that they will go together easily on the next assembly. The back boards were assemble with the side corners in place, and the slide connectors were trimmed and adjusted so that they slide together easily and the posts will fit correctly. Then all of the top structure were put together to ensure that they would fit next time.  All of the joins were colour coded, to make it easier to see which bits fit together.  And here it is:

Pieces laid out:

Back boards together:

Rear frame together:

Side boards in:

Frame waiting for the crossbar:

Standing up:

Finished with net in place:

This cat is just SO laid back. While winding the cuckoo clock, I dropped the chains on him and he just sat there!

Nasty piece of work on the freeway today, delaying all traffic for about 15 minutes.

For the social tournament, I took both goals out there in the truck. They occupy such a relatively small space that it was hard to find anything to strap down.

There’s a high speed video of me assembling the orange one here. And here they are, ready to go.

The tournament was a HUGE success. We had teams from Hawaii, California, Oregon and Canada, in addition to 4 full teams of our own. Each of our players, myself included, played on a men’s or women’s team plus a mixed team. At one point, we were chatting to the folks from Hawaii at half time, who were saying that they had been thinking for some time about running something similar. We assured them that if they did, we would be there!

That was the same game where I was playing at right wing, and not once but twice in quick succession, had the ball, looked up to see a white shirt right there in the circle, and passed it to them for a goal. And not long afterwards, found myself heading in with the ball, went around 3 defenders (I only remember one), into the circle with the goalie coming at me, thought “take the shot”, and did, just left of the goalie, with no idea where the goal was. It bounced off the far side post and went in!  Man was I stiff and sore on the Monday afterwards.

There has been a LOT of smoke in the air lately. This is from the Ship Canal Bridge looking towards the downtown area.

A short time later on the same day, I pivoted the phone around for a quick picture.

Still a lot of smoke in the air the next day. This is early morning, heading into what would normally be blinding sunlight over Lake Washington, recorded by the dash cam.

In the same location, almost a week later, The sun is higher, just left of centre, and is reflecting off the camera lens, giving the impression of me pointing a laser beam at the car in front.

For a long time, I have been listening to The Wolf country music radio station. I recently took the opportunity to meet the people on the morning Wolf Pack segment, Matt McAllister, Emily Raines and producer Slow Joe (taking the picture) at a pit stop at a location that was on the way home.

Ever since we lost Angel, Buddy seems to have been a bit more clingy. Here he is sitting on Julie’s lap!

Duncan’s birthday with Mike and Mike.

At a job site in the Interbay area, a stone’s throw from the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal, where there were 3 ships berthed.

Buddy hiding in plain sight, again.

One of my tasks at the Funeral Home is going over there each weekend to put out the trash into the dumpster and the cardboard into the recycle bin. After several attempts, it seems that I have finally get though to my colleagues that if they are not prepared to break down boxes to my standard, then “don’t”. That suits me, because I don’t have to climb into the bin and pull out stuff that has been badly packed. As a result, we get a seriously packed bin like this, which actually closes!

This picture just in from Adelaide, where I attended University all those years ago. The hockey team, of whom I am an honorary member, won the Masters Division.

A background task in my day job is to drive past new job sites to familiarise myself with the location and likely access route for future reference, and also to gather pictures of completed jobs for the annual calender. This one was a combination of those two. It’s the historic Saint Edward Seminary, now administered by Washington State Parks, which is scheduled for conversion into a conference centre and lodge. I an keen to see how this one gets done. Given that they intend to use post tensioned concrete on the floors on each level, it’s hard to imagine any other process than a careful demolition while saving the bricks, roof tiles and arches, before completely rebuilding it.

As I walked to CenturyLink Field past Safeco Field, I noticed this and thought, “Ah, I know someone who would have enjoyed this picture.”

That was probably on the way to work a concert. At the end of the concert, it appears to be our job, because we’re already there, to break down the rows of chairs that have been zip tied together. Actually the process, while exhausting after a full night, can be quite cathartic. It entails folding one chair, and then smashing the bottom rung of it down between two chairs to snap the zip tie. Get your rhythm going and repeat ad nauseam. I though this was a nice touch a few weeks later from the Guest Services Assistant Manager, hand delivered to our break room before the game.