Wednesday, July 30, 2008

July Rain


I don't know what came over me. I chose to ride my Harley to work yesterday when I knew it was going to rain. Looking back, I'm sure it had to do with the sunrise yesterday morning. When I came downstairs to get my second cup of coffee at about 5am, I saw a glimpse of beauty that eased any doubts I had about riding to work. By the time it was time to leave and I rolled the bike outside I was greeted with one of the most dramatic orange and pink sunrises I have ever seen in my life. The sky was so bright and so brightly colored that it was tinting me and everything around me as I stood there. As I rode to work I seriously considered making myself late for work and going up on the west hill of our valley and watching the whole sunrise. Yes, it was that nice! In retrospect, that old adage, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning" comes to mind...

Anyway, the sky belayed all of my doubts about rain that day. I also had confidence in the fact that if it did rain it wouldn't rain all day. For the most part I was right. It was showery, so it rained off and on pretty much all day. By the time 2:30 came and it was time to leave it was not much different--It was lightly sprinkling. I guess my attitude towards rain has changed a little since that soaking I endured last year coming over the mountain pass because I didn't really care at all. I just carried a paper towel out with me and wiped my seat off. I enjoyed the ride home enough that I threw caution into the wind. I was going to go up to Suzie's house for the evening and decided to ride there as well. After all, it gets a lot better mileage than the car does and it's more fun too.

I made a stop at Fred Meyer for a loaf of french bread first, and looking toward the "weather direction" I noted how it seemed to be clearing up. Good. Sure, it sprinkled a little while I was locking the bike up to go in, but that wasn't much different than it was when I came home from work, and that ended up being okay. When I came out of the store the sprinkling had stopped and I smiled to myself and hopped on.

I had just rounded the corner at the outskirts of town when I ran into drizzle. At that point I was about halfway to her house. The rain got heavier quickly, and at one point I was afforded a view of the valley in the direction I was going and it was solid gray--The gray of rain. Great. In retrospect I guess I should have at least had my windshield on. The rain tended to sting the face at the speed I was riding, so I just put one hand over my lower face when I could and plodded onward. When I got to Suzie's house I wasn't soaked by any means (she's not all that far away after all), but I definitely had wet pants everywhere my chaps weren't covering. That of course included the illusion that I had peed my pants.

We had a very enjoyable evening together. Her son Dane was there, and we were also visited by her daughter Rachyl at one point. We were both surprised when Dane did a little "show and tell" with some math he was working on. He came out of his room over to me and proudly showed me what he was helping someone with. See, Dane is the only one of her kids that is not very happy with "us". It's not me that he's unhappy with, it's what I've done to disrupt the normal flow of life in their family. He's very religious, and his mom being disfellowshipped while we are dating still makes him mad. So to have him talk to me like that is a good sign that he's slowly coming around.

Anyway, I digressed. Back to the rain. When I left her house it was raining. It was light rain, but solid nevertheless. And I was finally getting dried out too. Oh well. It wasn't nearly as painful on the face as it was on my way to her house, nor did I get as wet, but I definitely appreciated being able to strip down and warm up when I got home last night.

Hey, it's almost time to go to work. I wonder if everything is dry down there yet...

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Harley Shocks and Alki Beach


I had been dreading it. As much heartache as I've had in the several times I had the shocks off of my Harley, I had been dreading doing it yet again, but yesterday I finally got it done. It went much smoother than previous times--Partly due to the fact that I've done it so many times, and partly because Suz was here to give me a hand a couple times when I needed it. The whole thing only took me about 3 hours. During the time I was doing that she did my dishes and bagged the pile of trimmings that I had heaped on my patio. I was so happy to have the original shocks back on the bike! I bounced up and down on it and was overjoyed with the smooth feeling and the lack of squeaks and squawks. I was very happy at that point, and in a mock ceremonial manner I dropped the "new" shocks right into the garbage can. A lovely waste of $200 bucks, but it was a learning experience. Add to my glee the fact that the day ended up being much nicer and warmer than "they" had predicted, and there was only one thing to do: Take a ride!

We took a meandering ride up the Puget Sound, going from Des Moines to Alki Beach, where we stopped and enjoyed a beer along the walkway. Neither of us had ever experienced a Bud Light in an aluminum "bottle" before. That was quite the strange thing. Who knows, that may be the wave of the future. Frankly, I don't get it--It's the same thing as a can only you can wrap your lips around it. What's the point?

There was some sort of big art fair going on all along the waterfront there, and we spent some time investigating all of the offerings there.

At one point we came across a lady sitting by herself on a bench. She sat quietly facing the water, taking in all the activity and the surroundings. She had kind of a regal quality about her--Kind of an air of smug indifference. At times she seemed to have a sort of a smile and other times not. Sitting there enjoying the weather and the people she didn't seem to have a care in the world. I would have loved to have captured a better picture of her, but I didn't want to bother her.

Suz took a couple from the side though. Here's one of them:

We finished our ride with a stop off for dinner at a local sports bar. By then it was getting to be early evening. We managed to get home just as it started to sprinkle a bit of rain on us.

The Harley rode like a new bike. It's funny how you think you're "trading up" when you change something. It's new so you figure it's going to be better for whatever reason. When you have problems as I have and finally end up returning it to what it had previously you realize you should have left it alone to begin with.

Anyhow, it was a great day!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Saturday Morning Report


Not much has happened this week really. It was a very eventful week as far as Suzie goes because Monday was her last day, but not much for me. I'm still having trouble grasping the fact that she's not at work, but I'm sure I'll get over it eventually.

She has been really enjoying herself these days. No more griping about work (which provided a lot of ammo--believe me) or having to worry about getting up at an early hour. Although she is officially a "non-earner" now, she at least does have the advantage of not spending much on gas any more. That's a major deal these days. If need be, I'll drive her anywhere she needs or wants to go.

We talked some heavy stuff this week: Marriage. Yes, you heard me right. I didn't say we were getting married yet, but we both discussed a lot of aspects of it a few nights ago and agreed it's inevitable. We are the most compatible people that I have ever met, seen, or heard of. For us to ever part would be a grave mistake in my opinion. Anyway, most of what we discussed revolved around me and my cautiousness. We discussed all the things on my mind, such as how I would feel like a roommate because I would be fitting into an existing household instead of starting from scratch. The fact that I'm scared (my words) and having a hard time making up my mind. The fact that the 2 ½ years I've been divorced have went by so fast that it doesn't feel like it's been long enough (long enough for what?). I over-analyze things and we both noted that. My heart tells me one thing and my brain usually concurs, but sometimes the brain steps up and says, "But what about...?" or some such thing. We talked of the logistics of combining households and both agreed that that would be the funnest part. We talked of the family members that still live there and whether or not Dane would "run screaming" if we got married. We decided that yes, he may not scream, but he would run. We talked about the differences of Witness and non-Witness people living combined. It would only affect birthdays and Christmas basically. I would just do that portion on my own as I saw fit, and I'm fine with that. The bottom line: Plan on us being together for the rest of our lives because we do.

I had a crock pot fulla pork roast yesterday and came home to the delightful smell of dinner. I rode the Harley to work as I usually do, and I could smell it when I raised the garage door even. I tried out something new this time: Crock pot liners. I hate having to dispose of the "junk" left over inside the crock after the meal is all done, and now I don't have to worry about it. I just gather the sides together and pull the bag out. Pretty slick! Suzie came over looking all summery in a sexy sundress and was lying out in the sun while I was finishing up the dinner preparations. It was very hard to keep my hands to myself. Oh wait... Scratch that--I wasn't able to quite accomplish that now that I think about it... By the way, the dinner was delicious!

The Harley is up on the jack and its shocks are coming off today. I'm going to put the originals back on and throw these "new"' shocks in the garbage can with flourish. If I had a shotgun I'd probably blast the hell out of them just to make me feel better. The weather for this weekend is iffy for summer so I figured it was the right time to knock that job off the list. I've been meaning to do it for quite a while now.

I guess when I look at it, a lot did happen this week didn't it?

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Working Without Suz


When I was at work I would only usually see fleeting glimpses of Suzie, but I sure enjoyed them. Occasionally she would come out to the shop and we would get a chance to talk for a minute. Obviously, those times were the best.

Yesterday was the first day at work with no Suzie. She was home in her robe enjoying her first day of freedom from the struggles and mind games of LaCroix Industries. It was weird. Although I knew she wasn't there, I still found myself looking for her. I noticed throughout the day that I was somewhat "off my game" because of it. It was obvious that I missed seeing her. Try as I might I couldn't shake it. All day long it was there--Sometimes worse than others. When I would slump down into my chair at break time for a little "shut eye" time, every time the door to the office opened next to me I found myself still listening for someone walking behind me as she would occasionally do when she needed to use the paper cutter that is kept in my work area. Then it would hit me. "Stop thinking about it," I would tell myself.

It's hard to do.

Because she was working there when I hired on, she has worked there the entire time that I have. To me, it was like she was practically part of the company. Back when I was still married and I had not yet been severely impaled with cupid's arrow I still looked forward to the times I could interact with her for whatever reason. I just always liked the little exchanges we would have.

Sure, I know I can see her every day regardless of whether I see her at work or not, but it's just so different now. I was so struck by her absence yesterday that I couldn't wait to run up to her house after I got off work.

I hope I get over this aching at work soon, but you know what? I hope I never stop missing her when she's not around me.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Seeing Washington on Two Wheels


I'm pretty sure the motorcycle ride that Suzie and I took yesterday didn't cause my sore back (I was a little sore yesterday morning too), but it certainly didn't help any either. I failed to write down our starting mileage when we left here yesterday morning at 8am, but based on our gas stops and trip resets, I figured that we had ridden about 320 miles or so when we finally rolled up into the driveway at 11:30 last night.

Yep, I woke up pretty sore.

It was a previously-planned trip of sorts. We were going to Mt. St. Helens for something to do. Sue's daughter Rachyl and her husband Tony were at the controls of their Tahoe, and riding passenger with them was her son Denny, his wife Heather and their son Hunter. Suz and I opted for a two-wheeled adventure. It was supposed to be a nice day and we wanted to take advantage of it.

It seemed to take almost forever to finally escape the holds of civilization--To finally put the stoplights and traffic behind us, but it felt good when it finally got to that point. The weather was cool and overcast still, but it was good to be out on the bike nevertheless. We headed south out of Puyallup, continuing down through Eatonville and on to Morton. When we made a "butt stop" there in downtown Morton the weather was looking good. The sun was coming out and it was getting warm. We hooked a left on Highway 12 and continued on to the town of Randle, at which point we turned south. That's when the trip really got nice. Traffic was thin and the sights were many, even though at that point it was mostly farmland. There were closures in effect from recent weather-related events of the past that put us onto an alternate path. Lucky that Rachyl had a good map from the web printed out because we never would have found our way. The road we ended up on was a paved, single-lane road that meandered through the dark woods, intersecting with a river here and there. It's roads like that that make you appreciate riding on a motorcycle. We had the sweet smell of pine needles constantly tickling our noses as we rode, and had the benefit of a 360-degree view. When the road finally intersected with the little highway again we started the curving climb that eventually was to have taken us to a lookout area called Windy Ridge. Unfortunately it was closed a few miles in, still afforded us good shots of the mountain. Here's one (click it):


The ride took us on a loop that went south around the mountain, through the town of Cougar and down along the Swift Reservoir where the road finally intersected with I-5 once again at the town of Woodland. There's a decent little online map you can check out here if you want. While in Cougar we all sat down and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. It was funny that the digital age still hadn't touched the only gas station in town. Their gas pumps were the old analog kind, and they had a notice on the gas pumps explaining that because their pumps wouldn't go any higher than $4 a gallon the actual price would be automatically doubled when you went inside to pay. We said goodbye to out travel partners in the SUV at that point because Suzie and I were planning a stop in Chehalis where I could introduce her to Melinda and Danny.

After a butt-numbing ride up Interstate-5, we arrived there about an hour before the sun finally dropped. We wandered around their farm for a while and had fun taking pictures of all her critters. Their farm has recently gone the direction of miniature donkeys and we loved them. I'm not sure how many she had (old guy--Bad memory) but I think they have 7 of them. They are the most friendly little things! Add to that the chickens, horse, dog, kittycats and who-knows-what-all, and it's a pretty cool place to visit. We had a great time there and would have loved to have stayed longer. They loved Sue and she felt the same way about them.

Our trip back home was in the dark, but fortunately wasn't all that cold. It was actually a pleasant ride--Albeit the previously-described boring freeway riding. We were however blessed with the cool sight of a full moon rising over the horizon on our right. It was so big and so yellow it looked like a slightly-distorted egg yolk or something. It was very cool!

There will be pictures of our trip posted on our picture site soon. Keep checking it!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Repair Mode


Here we go again. I went to the dermie doctor yesterday to take care of business. The bump on the side of my face that had been fixed a month and a half ago had grown back as big as it ever was. It was big enough that I was starting to think I should name it. It's awful embarrassing to have something on your face. After all, it's the place where you can't hide anything, and it's where everyone looks when they're talking to you. It's the place where first impressions mean the most. It made me cringe inside when I would be talking to someone and I would see them glance at it.

Okay, now I've got a flat, black circle on the side of my face where it used to be. I keep thinking, "Okay, although it's black, it's at least flat now, but even if it doesn't grow back, what will it look like?" Truthfully, I wanted it completely gone. Cut and stitched. Besides, Harley riders look better with a scar here and there don't they?

But that's not all. I also had them address two teeny warts that were bugging me. The trouble is, one of them was right below the bridge of my glasses. The other was safely tucked away under my arm near my elbow. Technically, they're still there because they've only been frozen with liquid nitrogen, but I use the word was optimistically to describe them. Now I have one big, black dot on the side of my face, and an inflamed red spot under the bridge of my glasses. Sigh.

I hate stuff like this. When people's bodies are in "repair mode" they often look worse than they did beforehand. I just hope everything works this time, because I will probably end up just repeating it at a later date if it doesn't.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A Replacement for Suzie


Duh... At work!

Yes, a gal showed up yesterday morning to take Suzie's job when she leaves. Sue will be training her on all the aspects of the "LaCroix Way" of doing things. It's good that they have some overlap time, but it's probably not a whole lot to help her out. She'll be there only today and tomorrow and won't show up again until after Sue is gone. Suzie's last day is Monday and we're planning on riding in on two wheels that day. It's pretty weird around there at work--The frenzied action comes and goes. My job has been very slow the last few days. I wish it would pick up because it's hard to look busy when you're not. The bright spot is Suzie--She has been on top of the world lately, and to add to that, everybody has been treating her like they should have been all along. I'm sure going to miss seeing her at work every day, but at least I can see her after.

I'm still futzing with my truck off and on, but not making much progress. It runs now, but not well. I'll keep futzing because that's what I do. I lack direction so I futz. Can you tell I like to futz? Or is it that I like the word? Futz, futz, futz, futz.

I installed my new wireless router last week and it works flawless. It was Thursday when I put it in, and I've suffered no dropouts or problems whatsoever since that time. It seems faster as well. See, when I have a purchase that actually works out (as opposed to one that is a waste of time and money) it tends to overshadow one or two bad ones. I guess that means if I make some bad purchases I need to keep buying stuff until I have a good one? Sounds costly to me...

Friday, July 11, 2008

Clothing and Comfort


Yes, it's time for my annual commentary on nudism. You know it was bound to happen soon didn't you?

I love this time of year. It's the time of year when clothing is optional. Many people don't like summer because it's simply not comfortable. Their clothes stick to them, they have trouble sleeping, they are constantly wiping their foreheads, and they find themselves irritable and short of temper. For me, it's the time of year when the clothes fall off. They have a tendency to disappear when I get home from work. It's the time of year when the neighbors could get an eyeful of me in the kitchen making my lunch every weekday morning (if they were foolish enough to be awake at 3:45am). Yup, it's summer.

Comfort is all in how you dress (or not) and where you place your fans. Yes, fans. I don't like air conditioning. Air conditioning lowers the temperature to a level that requires you keep your clothes on, and allows you to still be able to sleep under the mountain of covers and blankets you're used to sleeping under.

Where's the fun in that?

A fan just creates the necessary breeze to make the current temperature enjoyable without lowering it. The more skin you bare, the better they work. Many times I go to bed lying on top of the covers with the fan on low, doing its quiet, slow sweeping action back and forth. Many of those times I awake the same way, still comfortable, and still lying on top of the covers.

Comfort is not easy for many people. It's really that there are two kinds of comfort: Physical and mental. It's easy to drop your clothes and enjoy the freedom of being bare, but most folks can't do that. It's either that they don't have the freedom to do that in their home, or it's their mental comfort level. Maybe they can't be bare because they are brought up with the notion that bodies are meant to be covered. Even if they want to, they just can't do it--It just doesn't feel right. There's not much anyone can do about that. To them I say: Go buy an air conditioner. I wasn't brought up as a nudie, but neither was I brought up believing that I needed to stay covered. It simply was never really addressed one way or another. It's something that I discovered on my own, and you know what? I like it.

I'm staying bare.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Hey, Look--It's Thursday


Was that supposed to be and amazing revelation? Nah... I just needed a title is all. It's just another day.

Yesterday morning I seemed to be just a little ahead of the game as far as my morning routine went. I went down the stairs after finishing my last cuppa coffee and stopped at the window that looks out into my driveway. Hmm... The sky looked very interesting, and I could tell by the way that the sky was looking that the sun was going to light up Mount Rainier with interesting colors. That put me in motion. I hurriedly gathered my work stuff together and sped for the Harley. On the way I grabbed my camera. Racing up the hill I got to a favorite vantage point just as the sun was starting to peek over the mountains. I stopped in front of another guy that happened to be thinking the very same thing--Also there on his motorcycle to catch the sun coming up. The shots weren't very good because I was in a hurry, but here's a sampling of what I got (click for bigger):




It really helps to have a tripod and use nice, slow settings, but I didn't have that luxury. One of these days I'll get up on a weekend with the intent of catching the sun making its appearance.

Work was uneventful. Suzie was in a very good mood yesterday, because as she put it, "It's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." When we got together after work she noted that the demeanor in the office seems to have a slightly different feel to it. Maybe her departure is starting to sink in? I'd say a week after she's gone it's going to be HUGE. I do not envy the folks that work in the office that don't really understand how much she does for that place. There will be a vortex behind her when she leaves.

I'd better chain myself to a post or something so I can watch safely...

We went out on the Harley last night to cap off the evening. It was an excellent night for it. Without an apparent destination in mind we just went south toward Sumner, thinking we might stop in at a tavern that looked interesting (i.e. with Harleys parked outside). Instead we ended up in Puyallup at Steve's house. As we pulled up in front of his house, there he was in the street, talking with his niece and her husband or boyfriend or whatever. They were there to show Steve his new Harley (nice bike!) and left shortly after. Suzie and I enjoyed a nice driveway chat with him for a while before heading home. While I did put the windshield on for our ride, I didn't put a backrest on. The result? She hung on real tight! :-)

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Suzie Stuns the Crowd


Who would have thunk it? That someone that seemed like such an integral part of the company--Someone that had been there so long--Would quit her job?

Well that's what she did.

Not many people know about it yet, but those that do are probably pretty surprised. People always "talk the talk" but seldom follow through with their "you know what I should do?" remarks. She's very excited about what lies ahead, even if it's relatively unknown. She hasn't got a replacement job line up, but intends to work on some other splinter projects that she has kicking around to see what kind of cash they generate. There are lots of people looking for people that do what she does, so she's not too worried. Good for her! Although I'd like to quit too, I haven't got anywhere near the reasons that she had to justify it. I would much rather find a replacement job first before I make such a move, and I'm going to continue looking for one. It will be very interesting to see what kind of turmoil arises from her departure. Rarely is someone afforded the luxury of being able to monitor such a thing after they quit like I will be able to do for her.

In other news, I saw a dead guy the other day. Okay, I didn't really see him (which is good) but I saw the sheet he was lying under. I was on my way home after doing some grocery shopping on Monday, and I was on a road I usually use that parallels the train tracks. As a matter of fact, it's the same road that we watched fireworks from a few days ago. Anyway, as I neared one intersection a saw an Amtrak train sitting there. I thought that was odd--You never see them standing still. I noted the only reason they would ever be stopped is if they derailed or if they hit something, and it was sitting on the tracks perfectly. As I got a little closer I saw some police activity at the street that crossed the tracks right behind where the train was sitting. By that time I had stopped, about a dozen cars back from the traffic light. As I surveyed the scene, my eyes fell upon the white sheet draped over something--Still on the raised track bed, but off the side of the rails a few feet. It was right even with where I was stopped so I had plenty of time to look it over before the light changed and traffic started moving again. For some reason it didn't quite look human, but was about the right size to be. In retrospect, it was probably because it was "broken" and not lying like a human would lie any more. Eww, that's creepy. Sue came by the house later and said she had taken the same route, only she saw legs and boots under the sheet where I did not. Apparently they had moved some things around.
I searched the news and found it online later, but as it appeared to be a suicide (a motorist witnessed it) no story was ever generated. I guess they have a rule about sensationalizing suicides in the media now. Good for them. I'm glad I wasn't driving the train though--I would totally hate for that to happen to me. That kind of stuff is very disturbing to me.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Monday Blahs?


I dunno... Maybe it's not Monday blahs. Maybe it's just the fact that it was 3 days off. Maybe it was that I didn't sleep very well last night.

I took Sarah home yesterday at about 3. I told her to be nice to her ma--That she was going to ask her a million questions, and rightly so. "Just answer them," I said, "She has been away from you for a week and a half and you are her life. She wants to know everything. Just be nice." I wasn't there long after dropping her off, but she seemed to be trying to be civil. I didn't detect the usual flustered air of teen angst that she usually projects.

Before I took Sarah home I was doing a little housework. Just a little. I took the flannel sheets off my bed and included them in a load of laundry. When I remade my bed I used my standard, smooth, 400-count cotton sheets and left the comforter off. It's the first time in quite a while I haven't had flannel sheets on the bed. Perhaps that has something to do with my not sleeping well? I think I may have to at least put the comforter back on though. Our weather has taken a bit of a turn once again.

I finally got to the end of my rope about my internet dropping out all the time and ordered a new wireless router. The sporadic condition was worse when Sarah was here because her laptop was on all the time downstairs. I was constantly having to reboot the router to get my internet back. I found a good deal online on a router that is highly-regarded within the computer geeks' circle. It should be here Thursday.

I went to Suzie's house after dropping Sarah off. She has been with a cold for the last several days and was feeling less than 100%, but was happy to see me nevertheless. We hung out for a while at her house but ended up coming down to my place to watch a movie. I hope she gets better soon.

According to some news that Sue just heard from one of her friends, the Renaissance Faire may not happen this summer. Apparently there are some land-use issues that are causing some sort of problems or disagreements. After all, it's not just anywhere you can host a big event like that and have it run for 3 weeks. Maybe that's the problem--Maybe they should just make it one weekend. I hope they get it figured out, because I've never been to one. Even Sarah expressed an interest in going.

Well, back to work in a little while. I'd like to take the Harley to work, but I have to stop at the grocery store on the way home.

Oh yeah, and I have a lot of dishes to do...

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Quite a Weekend!


This has been a very full weekend, and it's not even over yet. Actually, it started before it even was a weekend, with Thursday night fireworks!

Every year the folks at Emerald Downs sponsor a giant fireworks display, and this was no exception. Because I live so close to it, Suzie and I pedaled our bicycles over to the show. A great deal of the populace seems to go, and that can create quite the traffic jam getting out of there at the end of the show. Not if you're on bicycles though! Most folks just view the show from whatever vantage point they can, choosing to just sit on blankets or in chairs along the city street next to the track. We went to take pictures!. We threw our cameras and a couple beers into a bag and grabbed our tripods (having learned our lesson with our dismal fireworks failure in Walla Walla a few months earlier). The weather was perfect! We each took lots of great pictures and had a great time. Sarah didn't go with us because one of her friends invited her along with them to go inside the track. The three of us had a good time going over all the pictures before we went to bed, a lot of which are on our picture site.

The next day was July 4th, and that brought plenty of activity. Suzie was having a big family bash up at her house, and was expecting all her offspring and even a few others to show up, so she had a lot of preparations to do. After she left here that morning to head up to her house, I got busy making a killer oriental chicken salad. Sarah was going to spend the day with her boyfriend's family up at a Riverside Park in Renton. Apparently, they had quite a bit of traditional Cambodian food ready for the grill. Suzie's party wasn't due to start until about 2pm but I wanted to go up a little earlier and help her out. At about noon I took Sarah up there where she met a couple of the folks that were already there helping out. I spent a little while mowing her back yard to get that ready for the fiesta. At that time I took Sarah over to her boyfriend's house as their departure time was getting near for their whole family to caravan to Renton. When I got back we finished getting all the stuff set up. As I said, the party was due to start at 2pm, but it really didn't get started until about 5pm or so as I recall. It was a great event! Lots of gabbing, eating, and drinking, punctuated with the occasional firebug moment involving fuses on fireworks (the 3 F's?). When the daylight waned, everyone migrated a few houses down to her son Denny's house for the "middle-of-the-street" fireworks that lasted the rest of the night. At one point Suzie and I took a walk around the block to check out the activity on the next street over. What a war zone! The street was so littered with paper and shrapnel you had to be careful where you walked. They apparently knew they were going to be going overboard with their pyrotechnics, as they had tarps over 6 vehicles parked out front of their houses! When Suz and I finally retreated back to my house to go to sleep, we were OUT. It was a good night's sleep. Sarah came home shortly after we did, and also had a good time.

Yesterday we went to see the annual event in Tacoma, called Tall Ships. It was pretty impressive! We paid for the "premium" wristband that granted us boarding privileges to the best of them, and that included The Bounty. Yes, that was the one that was made famous in the movies. I believe it was used in Pirates of the Caribbean too, but I'm not sure. At any rate, even including the drizzle that we endured a couple times, the weather was just about right for a clustered, crowed event--Not too hot, not too cool. We got lots of pictures as usual. Check em out!

I'm not sure what today will bring. Teresa got back yesterday, but Sarah opted to stay over one more time last night. This place is sure in turmoil--A far cry from the way I usually keep it. It will be good to have "my" place back. A place where I don't have to dress if I don't want to, and a place where I know I won't find something sticky on my countertop or floor when I least expect it...

I'll probably go up to Suzie's place a little later in the afternoon (I just love that woman!) and maybe we'll go over some pictures or website issues or some other low-key thing that we enjoy doing together. She also expressed a desire for us to get going on making costume parts for me to wear at the Renaissance Faire that's coming up later this summer. That should be a hoot!

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Plotting and Scheming


Suzie hit her breaking point yesterday at work. I started getting more serious about moving on and finding a new job a while back, and now she is joining me.

When I say we are surrounded by complete chaos at work, it's really she that is in the thick of it. Working in the office, she is completely immersed in what has become total madness. I'm the lucky one--I only go in and out of the office in the performance of my daily duties. She has to live in it.

If there ever was an office of people that was one step from "going postal" ours would be it. It has been going on for some time now, and shows zero sign of abating. There is a never-ending circle of lost paperwork, misplaced paperwork, wrong paperwork, no paperwork (when there should be), incomplete paperwork, duplicate paperwork... It's got nerves frazzled beyond belief.

They keep accepting the jobs for parts that comes down from Boeing because that's what we do--We make parts. The trouble is, we have far exceeded our capabilites. We are having to "farm out" work to all corners of the area. We are so overloaded that there are at least 4 different machine shops in the Seattle area that are doing work for us full time. Okay, the shop has exceeded its physical capabilities and the result has been having every Tom, Dick, and Harry that owns the right machinery to subcontract for us. That works for the shop. What about the office? The paperwork can't be farmed out to anyone else. We have to to do it. We have no system in place whatsoever to track the flow of parts and/or paperwork. No barcode scanning system--No "system" of any kind to enable us to keep up with our workload. As I've mentioned before, they are pencil users in a computer world.

The brothers La Croix can't be totally oblivious to what's going on--They must have a reason for not doing anything to rectify it. I have been speculating that perhaps they plan on selling the company in the very near future? There is no indication of such a thing, but if they were planning to sell, what better time than when business is climbing at a dizzying rate? They are both old and there is nobody to succeed them. It's an interesting notion...

Although Suzie has been affected for some time now, she has finally reached her breaking point. Time and time again it has made me sick to watch what was unfoldin in the office. The tempers flaring and flying accusations are hard to ignore. I'd pop into the office for just a minute or two sometimes and leave in a whole different mood than I entered with. I felt like I had just been chewed out, when in fact, nothing had even been said to me--It was that bad. I can't imagine having to sit in there all day long, ducking and dodging.

Suz stopped by my place on the way home yesterday for a much-needed hug, but I was out on the Harley doing some errand work. When I went up to her house a little later I found her working in earnest on her resume. On the verge of tears, she shared with me all the things that had happened to her to push her over the edge. It's good that she has finally had enough. We have had enough. We both agreed that it used to be such a good company. Yesterday for example, there were people in the shop building shelving, sweeping floors, and washing the company van, while in the office there was more work than we were equipped to handle and people were having meltdowns.

After listening to her day unfold, we started romancing the notion of quitting--This time as a team. Sure, the proper way to quit a job is after you have found a suitable replacement, but what if that keeps you there past your limits of endurance? I'm not saying that will happen, but it's very possible. We can both afford to have a lapse of job for a little while. We talked about taking a couple weeks off and taking a road trip. Yeah, just talk, but stranger things have happened... There is no problem with finding a job around here--This area is ripe with jobs they can't fill, and there are "help wanted" signs out all over the place. She will most likely get a job with more money and I will probably get one with less.

I predict that one way or another we will both be out of there in a month.