Some bonus spaces.

Some follow on thoughts to the last post...

4a. Bridget suggested a Murphy Bed.  Of course!  This is the obvious answer.

8a. Frame the north end Puget Sound nautical chart and hang it along with its south end counterpart on the back wall.

9. Backyard: Get rid of the gas grill.  Clean out leaves from the continuously shedding tree.  Find a spot for the snow tires under a tarp.  Probably get rid of the garbage can and its composting contents (preferably without dragging the whole thing through the condo).  Get after the hot tub... ???

Eight rooms in eight months.

So to *really* move back into the condo and properly make it my space, I have some work to do. That is to say, I never really and fully moved into it in the first place (I had only been ther for 6+ years before what we will call the Loft Haitus).

I think I can break the condo into eight unique spaces which will be necessary to work through them systematically and not get overwhelmed. Each one of these mini projects begins with a massive nano level cleaning effort.  The condo as a whole is something I'd like to be done with by the end of the year, so one space per month seems like a good pace once the ball gets rolling. A doable pace? TBD.

1. Master Bedroom: Move overhead light to center of room; add ceiling fan if space and structure allows. Move sconce lighting in alcove to recessed lighting in alcove and closet. Build bookshelf/tall clothes hanging space in alcove. Clear out filing cabinet and reduce papers to one or two pendaflex boxes (i.e. the shredfest). Purge shoes and clothes that haven't been worn in a year or more. 

2. Master Bathroom: Install wainscoting. Clean & grease shower controls. Possilbly repaint with a less abrasive white. 

3. Guest Bathroom: Replace drywall from where that leak was over the tub years ago. Probably a good idea to ensure said leak won't return once new drywall is in. Paint over the God Awful puke orange color. Fix the hinge on the cabinet below the sink. Secure sink faucet so that it doesn't twist (because it shouldn't).

4. Spare Bedroom: I don't even know where to start with this one. I suppose I'll be able to get a better vision when it's not the Gear Cave From Hell and one can actually enter without wearing an avalanche beacon and radioing for backup when one finds themselves lost two feet from the door.  I think I would like this space to be a classy combination of gear storage and guest accommodations -- if that's even possible... With the option to set up the bike trainer as necessary. Definitely need to move the overhead light to center and add the ceiling fan if I can. And paint. Paint well enough so that the bright blue that is below the glossy white is completely eradicated from memory. Otherwise this room is definitely the wild card. 

5. Hallway: Paint!! This glossy white everywhere has got to go. Frame some interesting Wine Folly prints to hang.

6. Living Room: Connect the "Drive In Theatre."  Get some small speakers to set up behind the couch for surround sound. Unpack more books for the bookshelf. Retrieve sewing machine from Chance's to put next to the fireplace. Paint -- probably just a matte off white (snooze, I know). Move overhead light from corner to center; add ceiling fan if appropriate. 

7. Kitchen: Other than unpacking my dishes and cookware and reorganizing the food cabinets, there's not much to do here I think. Maybe a bigger/better spice storage system. Paint... Although the color/finish isn't bad as is.

8. Front Entrance: Add a wine rack to the bar table. Add helmet and camelback storage to the bike closet. And paint.

2015 Goals

Well, there went 2014.  A year of changes for sure.  I've been thinking about high level goals for 2015, not resolutions per se, but some stuff I want to get done.

Still a work in progress...

1. Reduce debt and increase cash on hand.  Create a budget and stick to it.  Use historical data to accomplish this.

2. Adjust the alcohol to water intake ratio.  More water, less booze.  This should help me feel better overall, including improving sleep quality.

3. Really move back into the condo.  Create a room by room plan and time frame to get it done (a project plan, one might say).

4. Create at least one large quilt top a t-shirt quilt top; find a long arm machine to quilt it together.  Clean out and organize the sewing tubs.

So two lifestyle changes, one big ass project and a side project to fill in the gaps.  Between that, the management gig and the coaching gig this spring, I should have enough to keep me out of trouble.

Raisins & Sudafed

This morning I woke up with a sore throat.  The kind that you just KNOW isn't temporary.  Sure enough by this afternoon, my nose was running like a faucet.  Enter religious doses of Zicam every three hours.  And attempting to hydrate more than usual, because I feel like I read that once on the internet.  I did just find a secret stash of sudafed in my laptop bag, so I assume sweet relief is only minutes away.  And NGP promises to not tell any of my coworkers if I so happen to take a nap here in the motorhome while testing continues unaware.

Unfortunately, using the "WypAll" sandpaper napkins has already rubbed my nose raw.  Fortunately, NGP is entertaining me with a flashlight: pretending to be a lighthouse on his swivel chair, sending morse code distress signals, and pretending he's got a light saber.

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NGP fully distracted me for the last two hours, so no blogging was done, but lots of grand conversation and much heckling of the test director happened.  So, internet friends, we'll try this again tomorrow.

In fact, I have been so distracted over the last couple of hours that I can't find my Zicam.  Now is the time to panic.

2014

Consider this the unofficial return to the blog after an unofficial and unintended hiatus.

Current situation: noon to midnight GVT shift, moving into the condo and out of the storage unit, wishing for any amount of snow in the mountains, attempting to curb the holiday eating and drinking spree.

Much to update here.  Hoping to dig into it soon.

The Bullshit Free Motel in Paradise

Here we're are in Whitefish. Adam arrived safely home from Midway, and not 12 hours later we loaded into the Jetta along with Gaia and Chance and drove 8 hours to Zana's. Gaia housed a bag of crunchy curls and about two cups of cashew pieces on the drive, but stayed fairly calm. Chance insisted on stopping at a god awful burger joint to keep his daily French fry streak alive.

This morning we lounged about, got crêpes and coffee, picked up mountain bikes for the boys and are now waiting on Duie to finish my custom ski boot foot beds. The rest of the weekend promises many miles of single track, lots of coffee beforehand and good food an drink afterwords.

Midway II, Day 24

Another plane ride, another post. Leaving Bridget and Dylan was hard, but there's hope that more management nonsense will take me back to SoCal again soon. For now, lets recap:

Got in late Monday night. Trader Joe's run was a success and I am totally jealous of the wine selection in SoCal as compared to Seattle. Picked up more goodies than I ended up needing, but I like being prepared. Tuesday's wake up call came early and I met the boys in the lobby to carpool to the first day of fun. Four of us from Seattle, two from St. Louis, and a crap ton of folks that were local. Kelli, the main meeting organizer had hooked us up with a continental breakfast that included coffee, and more importantly -- a giant pile of bacon every morning. Between that and the sunshine, I decided the management thing wasn't going to be all bad.

The meeting was mostly learning to play nice together and with finance. The business ops guy somehow got the floor and talked about processes and procedures for infinitely longer than anyone was interested in listening. We went through the Meyer Briggs stuff; I am an ISTP, which surprised me a little. Not the ST data loving part, but the introvert and go with the flow personality part. Bridget assures me that those are correct and that I've grown into my "P" since Tom. The last day we did a C-17 factory tour which was kind of disappointing after working up in the commercial factories, since we didn't even get to touch the airplanes, let alone operate the ramp door.

Evenings were a bit more exciting. I missed whatever good times were had Monday night. Tuesday was the Huntington Beach street fair and margaritas with fish tacos. One too many margaritas, I'd say. The evening ended with me trying on a kids' hoodie that zipped all the way to the tip of the hood and gave me an alien head. Photo forthcoming. Wednesday dinner was at this posh restaurant within a restaurant which I was excited about until I realized they didn't know the difference between gluten free and cross contamination. Halfway through my fish I couldn't see straight and was headed for a full body meltdown. I guess that's about the time I accepted my introvertedness because all I really wanted to do was crawl into a bathroom stall until I could snag a ride back to the hotel. Mostly recovered by Thursday morning although I opted for a stroll on the beach instead of any kind of workout Thursday afternoon.

The Marketa Tornado rolled through Thursday evening, starting with a bottle of wine and no corkscrew. She attempted to pop it open using my black heel, but eventually took my suggestion to just open the screw top bottle in the fridge. Two pink solo cups and an hour in the jacuzzi and we were sufficiently dehydrated and ready to rock. Then she insisted we finish the other screw top bottle I had in the room on our way to Fred's for more margaritas and more fish tacos. The conversation was everything I hoped it would me and more. We rolled over to a high class establishment called Sharkeez (I think) for a Jell-O shot out of a giant plastic syringe and another round of booze while we watched the 20 something's do the dance club mating ritual. We stumbled our way back to the room where Marketa regrouped and headed home.

Friday morning wasn't pretty, but all I had to do was listen in on the communications meeting and complete couple of management clean up tasks for the week. A quick lifting session to try to sweat out the previous night and I was on the road bound for San Diego and best friend hugs!

The weekend was mostly just wonderful. Hung out on Friday and admired the enormous toddler that Dylan has become. He's walking and almost running. He never stops making noise or trying to climb things. The world is fascinating and sometimes scary at the same time. All food is good and he can't get enough of any of it. He prefers a bare bottom at all times which means some floor puddles, but apparently cleaning that up is easier than trying to change his diaper. I got to experience Mona training, which I think has been great for all of them -- the 110 pound Love Dragon is much more calm than she was a year ago. We spent the majority of Saturday at the future home of Dylan, et al -- just after Mama Webb and Matt move on to their sailboat. Lauren was there and recovering after her nearly 24 hours of Ragnar relay the night before. Ben was master of the BBQ and we ended up with way more food than we knew what to do with. Matt and Dylan had a noise making contest and Matt's snoring won over Dylan's pot banging -- at least in consistency. This morning Bridget and I attempted a TRX workout, but Dylan wasn't overly pleased so it didn't last long. We did replenish with a giant pile of gluten and dairy free biscuits and gravy. I spent some time rubbing Mona's belly before saying the goodbyes and heading back up to catch my airplane home.

Carla gave me some good insight on managing people and some reading material to check out. I think the most difficult part of this new gig will be to redefine the relationships I've known for the last 8 years. George is now my peer. The guys are now my minions... Officially anyway. I have some kind of authority. Stirring the pot may just be a bit more fun now!

Nearly to Seattle. I'm sitting next to a woman from Boeing procurement who might actually call ethics on me for putting six bucks on my corporate card for an airplane snack. But I did get EIGHT olives as part of my GF snack pack instead of five -- and they didn't taste like toothpaste -- so I think I'd still come out on top.