Back to the Grind

My break from the hustle and bustle ends on Thursday, and my brief foray into unemployment comes to and end when I dive into my first day at a new job.

I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to get out of town during my hiatus from workaday drudgery, and visit Charleston, SC, a place I have long loved. My regret is not having a couple of weeks to linger there, stay at an inn and wander the cobblestone streets and sample the famous low country cuisine from many of Charleston's great restaurants. One of these days I'll have to do something like that.

This morning I slept in, rose late and didn't bother to shave. Tomorrow morning I am up early with razor in hand. It's time to get back to work.

A Brief Trip Back East

My advice to anyone planning to travel 3,000 miles to visit one's family unannounced is this: call ahead.

I did just that this week, flew from Seattle to Columbia, SC, to see my family, and elected not to inform them of my intentions. I let a few pals know before I left and suggested lunch one day while I was home, but my family was not told of my impending arrival.

After landing and picking up my rental car I drove to my dad's office to discover my family was preparing to leave town for a few days. Had my flight arrived half an hour later my father and sister would have already left town.

The upside was that I got to spend a few days in Charleston, enjoying the company of my parents and sister, and her darling daughter who recently turned two. She loves her uncle, and her uncle loves her, and we had a nice time with the Play-dough, though I am having my doctor call the kid in a prescription for Lunesta.

I did get to see two old pals, albeit briefly -- Mothy upon my arrival and Brother Todd before I flew out. My apologies to Rickwell, who apparently failed to retrieve an email letting him know of my diversion which I (think I) dashed off from the Treo before the battery died.

Being unemployed, I was for the first time in eight years ignoring my cell phone and not checking emails. It was a great trip.

Snow, Snow Go Away

My friend Mike, who lives a few miles away down in the valley, posted this:

"I can't believe it's snowing again."

10 AM Sunday: the thermometer on the back porch reads 50 degrees. The sun is out, yet snow and hail are raining down fairly hard this morning.

It's either snow and hail, or the fallout.

As we move toward May I am of a mind to seek out some Spring weather, even if I have to leave the Northwest for a while.

Brrr! I blame global warming. The people aren't paying their tolls!

Fireballs Emerge Victorious

A late April day in Seattle brought fluffy snow, miserable rain, pounding hail and blue-sky sun breaks all within the span of one hour during this week's soccer game. But that's the Pacific Northwest for you.

The Fireballs (1-2) won their first game of the season, outscoring the Bulldogs 11-6. The kids, to their credit were unfazed by the rapid change in weather. They played on, the good sports they are.

Resignation

I have resigned my job.

I had initially planned to present my resignation orally, in person to my boss, with the following words:

"General, I gotta leave. There's a price on my head and if I don't pay off Jabba the Hutt I'm a dead man."

I thought that would be going out in style, with flair, needed and missed. My boss would tell me I was a good pilot and "I hate to lose you."

Needless to say, it did not quite go off that way. I ended up presenting my resignation in writing, using a template Chuck and I have used for more than 15 years, a template provided us by our old nemesis and neighbor, a law enforcement officer named Tony:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I hereby resign.

Signed,

It is the perfect template for quitting your job. It is concise, clear, and doesn't send a mixed message with the inclusion of unnecessarily sappy "thank you"s and "it has been a pleasure to serve"s.

Feel free to use the Tony Resignation Template at no charge.

Seattle Sonics Playing an End Game?

The Seattle Sonics have lost nearly sixty games this season, which may be their last in Seattle as the team's owner wants to move the team to Oklahoma City.

Tonight's loss to the Rockets, 79-66, may have marked my last Sonics game at Key Arena.

It has been a contentious battle here between the owner and the city, end result is that the team may go and the name and team colors will stay in Seattle for a future expansion team.

Regardless, I rather like the arena, and though not an NBA fan per se, I enjoy going to the games. There is an exhilaration to sitting court side at an NBA game that one does not find elsewhere, except perhaps hockey.

So if this was to be my last Sonics game, it was, despite the loss, a good time.

NOTE: When I mentioned to my daughter that I actually caught the basketball during the game, she asked, "Did you dribble it back in?" I replied, no, that I had to toss it back to the referee, and she seemed very disappointed in me for not jumping in there.

Above: Ronald Dupree goes in for a layup; Steve (C17-Daddy) poses for a photo after the game.