Foggy Notions: 12/01/2006

Bye, Bye, Kitty

It's weird. I walked into the house yesterday and there was no greeting. I didn't get a furry wake up call this morning either. I keep looking over my shoulder and having the urge to call Darwin even though I know he isn't here. I know it's a bit weird to obsess over my cat, but I am pretty attached to the big, furry guy.

Yesterday morning we packed Darwin up and took him to the airport. Grandpa Jack has agreed to give him a good home so that we can go and travel the world. I called Grandpa today to see how everything was going. It seems that after traveling for 12 hours in a crate and being set loose in a strange apartment Darwin did not want to make friends.

He is still growling and hissing and hiding under the bed, under the couch, behind the TV, and even on the counter behind the coffee maker. He also has yet to eat or use the litter box. That is one pissed off cat. I just hope Grandpa can stick it out until the real Darwin finally emerges.

Way Better Off

There is still no power in approximately 700,000 residences in the area.
The pictures and stories from around Puget Sound are alarming. A house that had 10 trees fall on it, a woman who drowned in her basement, a couple who died when a tree hit their car (on the highway), people dying or getting very ill from running generators in their homes, a large group of Somali immigrants who got carbon monoxide poisoning from using charcoal grills inside their apartments to keep warm, fights in lines at gas stations that are 2 hours long...and more. This is all happening not even 10 miles from us, yet our power never even flickered.

There are parts of Seattle that are still without power, but mostly it's the outlying suburbs east of the city and the areas on the peninsula that were the hardest hit - the areas where there are LOTS of huge trees.

The Long Ride Home

Last night it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home. Normally, the drive from Redmond to Seattle is about 37 minutes. In bad traffic it can be up to 1 1/2 hrs...but 2 1/2!?!? It wasn't just me, on the way the traffic report included: high winds, heavy rain, huge puddles on the highway causing stalls, downed trees (on the highway!), accidents, crazy Seahawks fans trying to get to the game, a power pole on fire, a guy getting out of his car on the highway and wading into waist deep water...it was nuts.

When I woke up this morning I heard that the 520 bridge was closed, Redmond, Bellevue, parts of Seattle...ONE MILLION PEOPLE have no power. I am working from home!

Canasta

That's right - Canasta. John and I decided to go get a game this weekend and after shuffling around the game store came out with 2 decks of cards and a book on card games. We spent a joyful Saturday trying to decipher the "official rules" which are horribly written and not meant to be used as a "how to play" book as advertised. We were triumphant (at least until someone who really knows how to play comes along) and now have a new pastime.

It's really quite sad that social things such as boardgames and cards are so out of the ordinary now. People don't get together to play such games anymore and I for one say bring it back - bring back the game day!

Falling Ice

So I was in Chicago this week doing training at a client site with one of the other trainers based out of Dallas. We were walking back to the hotel from the client site and spotted a sign in front of a jewelery store that said "Caution - Falling Ice". Neither of us being indigenous to a big city in a cold climate - we thought this was rather odd. Maybe it was an advertisement for a jewelry sale - maybe they had ice pellets sometimes drop from above - we didn't know what to make of the sign, so I had Heather stand beside it and I took a picture. (Wouldn't it be nice if I could display it here - email from phone is not working.)

It turns out this is actually a dangerous thing - BIG CHUNKS of ice falling off of high-rise buildings and hitting people in the head. A guy apparently got killed 12 years ago by a piece of ice from the Nieman Marcus building. The things you learn in a new city. By the way - I would never ever want to live in Chicago. The high temp one day while we were there was 9* and they don't call it the windy city for nothing.