Good day

Today is setting up to be a very good day. The last few weeks at The Company have been an experiment in focus and behavioral modification -- care less, do more. It's beginning to pay off as I am returning to the center of action without any tangential antagonism. Today a conversation with the Boss Man left me feeling empowered and appreciated. Also, my directs were supportive of my plans, which in this environment has been an ongoing challenge. Also, folks really love my charts and data visualizations -- adoption rates are increasing and productivity is, at least on paper, getting better. The phrase "better living through reporting" has been circulating. Love it!

To top the workday positive changes, I'm buying a new-to-me truck today. Pictures to follow, of course. It's a red 2002 Ford Ranger. Quincy and I decided that the new house expenses squashed the hopes of a new Toyota Tacoma, so we went for the inexpensive, reliable, frill-free used Ranger option. The pickup will come in extra handy in the Biggest Move Ever coming up in a couple of weeks.

And really, we're moving into our dream home. We spend a good part of last night pouring over graph paper sketches, trying to fit couches in rooms and fences in the yard. So much fun. We close on July 2nd; we have July 3rd off from work; we scheduled the movers to come to 906 on July 11th. I'm picking up boxes from coworkers this weekend and next week -- with my new truck.

As for the drop-in buyers of 906, that's all still pending. There has been considerable interest, but I think I might end up listing with an agent once we move. If that fails, renting is still a very viable option -- especially for just a year or 18 months. Worst case, we'll rent and rescue some of our plants to the new place as the front yard fills in more and more.

I went for a run yesterday. Only 2.5 miles of run/walk, but it really raised my spirits. First real outdoors exercise in a while. Considering Seattle just tied the all-time record for consecutive days with no rain (in May-June) at 29-days, it's hard to believe I haven't been running more.

But we have been eating well. Our garden has produced an outstanding amount of snap peas, which are just as good as a snack as they are in a stir fry. We've probably eaten three pounds in total, with many, many more on the vines. Strawberries are starting to ripen, as are the raspberries. The tomatoes are bushes with many small blooms. Our garden will be missed!

So, that's my news. I'm going to eat some gluten-free quinoa pasta in peace (most of The Company went out for a goodbye lunch at a Jason-unfriendly restaurant) and work on test plans.

Long story short: 906 is on the market

As all of you know, Quincy and I are buying our dream home (all is going well) and selling or renting our house in Greenwood. Until all the deals go through, I'm not going to blog about it. You'll hear plenty of stories later.

But, we did post our house in Greenwood on Zillow. From that early posting, we had a buyer drop in and ask to see it. Today they viewed the house. Today we upgraded the listing on Zillow to "For Sale" (from "Make Me Move") with more photos. Redfin picked up the listing as well. Already over a hundred views have been logged.

Check it out. We're really pleased with the way the photos and listing turned out.

More later!

Duck Dodge

Quincy gave me sailing lessons at the Center for Wooden Boats for Christmas, and Rishi and I have so far taken four lessons and one classroom session. We've been up and down lake union practicing our tacks and jibes, heave-to's and man-overboard drills. Tonight was a special challenge. Our lesson was during Duck Dodge!

Duck Dodge is a post in itself. Check out this page for the lowdown on this crazy, crafty, close-quarters, three-class sailboat race up and down Lake Union. When I told our first instructor that I wanted to learn to sail mostly because of Duck Dodge, she thought I was a little nutty and certainly an adventure seeker.

We went out for the fourth time in a Blanchard Jr Knockabout. The winds were between 5 and 11 mph the whole time we were out -- the best wind we've had so far. We got out to the middle of the lake by about 6:30 when our of nowhere dozens of boats, many with pirate flags on their masts (the theme of the evening) sailed around us. Our instructor Scotty had us sail up even with Gasworks where we worked on our jibes and tacks in close quarters with a rowing crew, jet skies, kayaks, sailboats, a tug pushing a barge of dirt, and motorboats. It was by far the most stressful of all our sailing lessons.

Twice we came pretty close to much, much larger sailboats. We did good, though, and kept our paint to our own hull.

I highly recommend Sail Now! sailing lessons through the Center for Wooden Boats. This has been a trip! We have one more lesson next week, then we'll do our "check out" and be ready to rent and sail out on our own.

Thirty-eight

On Monday we saw a home up in Meadowbrook, a neighborhood we've been considering for a while, that made our heads spin. It was outside our price range, but we made an offer Tuesday anyway. Today, after a lot of wringing of hands, we heard back from the sellers with a counter-offer. We accepted!

There's still inspections, final paperwork, and probably 30 days of more hand wringing. But the biggest hurdle has been cleared: we've found a dream home and have an accepted offer.

Of course, I am presently posting over a hundred photos of the place. Mom, check out those windows and floors! Dad, check out the 6' spaced outlets, modern wiring, and sturdy stairs. Rishi, check out that entertainment space. Megan, check out the massive gardening opportunity. Baba, check out that kitchen! (we'll have to replace the range, it's actually a commercial unit that shouldn't be in there.) Regina, check out those subway tiles!

It's a dream home for us.

Please have positive, house-closing thoughts for us over this month. If all goes well, my fourth-annual Dependence Day BBQ will be at "Thirty-eight." And, just for kicks, we're pretty certain we're going to have our wedding in the back yard!

Goodbye Subaru

Cars are like people and pets. As they get older their flexible parts become less flexible and require expensive maintenance or replacement.

Cars are not like people or pets. They are replaceable themselves, and often the newer models get better gas mileage.

This past winter the great mechanics at Smart Service Subaru predicted that my car would die on a hill or mountain soon if expensive maintenance was not performed. The price of the work was more than what the car was worth. Add to that our thoughts on getting a new car for Quincy, and I was really wondering if I wanted to keep investing in the car.

Well, sure enough, driving around in Normandy Park pushed the eleven year old wagon to the edge of brokenness. The engine temperature spiked a couple times -- the mechanic's prediction of final death throws. The next trip up to Woodinville left us stranded in a place called "Thrasher's Corners." Here's all the photos from my last minutes with her, while we waited for a tow truck to save us. (Jeff, Maggi and Scooter saved Quincy, since the tow truck was not dog-friendly.)

Following the advice given to me by Rishi a while back, I decided to donate the car to charity. There are a couple places you can work with to get the money to any charity you want. I used V-DAC because their website was easy and linked from Goodwill, a charity I had considered supporting recently. I would have used Feed the Children or KEXP or KIVA, but they weren't in the V-DAC database. They get my money anway. Oh, I digress.

So, the car is gone. I don't really miss the Subaru wagon, per se, but I do miss having a hauling car. Rishi and Jamie want me to get a luxury car. Quincy would probably be happiest if I bought her car from her. I want a small, electric pickup -- sadly those don't exist. I am thinking about a used Toyota pickup or, my dad's favorite, a Ford Ranger.

What do you think, internets?

Elsa Hotel

As most of you know, Rishi has been working on a big project the last few months. He's puting together a business plan for a small, boutique, budget hotel in Capitol Hill. The hotel is named "Elsa Hotel." I've been blogging a bit about his experiences so far at www.elsahotel.org. I'll admit, we haven't hit the really juicy stuff yet, but if you're into following Rishi's progress on his dreams, I suggest subscribing.

The most recent update highlights some of his Google SketchUp drawings of some of the rooms. He's super excited to be able to play around with this. It's a great break from grinding out number on water usage and P&L and marketing strategies.

So, check it out! I try to get in a post a week or more; I'm sure as things heat up I'll have more to write about.

www.elsahotel.org

Whidbey Island Dog Parks

The dog parks of Whidbey Island are legendry around these parts. Maybe it’s the crowdedness of in-city parks that drives us all to dream of acreage. I’m always a little hesitant around dog parks, not being a natural dog person, and wide open spaces don’t really add to my comfort. A dog near me is a dog near me – the only thing space might add is a the distance between the dog and its owner. But, so far, at all these dog parks we’ve only run into the sweetest dogs ever. Maybe city owners are just not as careful about socializing their dogs?





We took two trips to the expansive Double Bluff Beach Dog Park. It located in such a way as to point back to Seattle, this two mile stretch of wide, open beach is a dog’s dream. We played some long-fetch with the dog both times. Grete loves the tennis ball more than anything, and flying disk/Hurley action just didn’t cut it. She chased a couple big birds, one of them a heron, but being a city dog she never gets close before they take flight.





At the end of the second day, Quincy and I tested Grete’s desire to swim out to sea. I think she just doesn’t swim. Eventually, we were able to goad her out as far as she could touch; but once the ball was thrown farther than that, it was lost. It was a little sad to see our dog hunting around for anything resembling a tennis ball on the walk back to the car. Maybe this will help her learn?



My new favorite dog park is Patmore Pit, about half way up Whidbey Island, near a huge naval air station outlying field. It’s touted as about 40 acres of wide open space, and it certainly is! There are tress in the middle of the park, and a small agility field fenced off in one corner, but other than that, it’s just wide open, flat, grassy field. Grete fetched like there was no more tomorrow. She jumped, bounced, ran, flew. Man, it was fun. We all had a great time in the sun. The park was nearly empty, too, so we had our pick of the most scenic fetching field. Even when other dogs strolled by, it felt like we were just passing in the Plains. (In the photo below, Grete can barely be seen in the center.)



We didn’t hit up any other dog parks on Whidbey. I don’t know why they have more! With the expansiveness of both, a dog owner can choose between clean dry fetching or dirty beach romping. Either way, on our last day of the trip, Grete was so tired (and I imagine sore) that she wouldn’t run even a tenth of a mile with me in the morning. She was still smiling from the day before!

www.tweenbots.com

I happend upon this little social experiment via rebel:art yesterday. I have to admit, and maybe it was from being in the sun all day, it kinda brought a little tear to my eye. I find it a very reassuring note on humanity -- especially the humans that live in big cities.

From the site: "Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal."

Love it.