Cherry Blossoms

Local cherry blossoms reached peak bloom this weekend - and the most "famous" place to see them round here is on the University of Washington campus (the cherry blossoms even have their own twitter feed, plus a live cam!).  So I went for long lunchtime walk from work on Friday to see them (about a 45 minute walk away) - jeez was it busy.  Even with it being a weekday and during the spring break, so many people - kind of ruined the experience, which is a shame because the many blooming trees in the same quad was definitely very pretty.  With the nice weather over the weekend, I bet the crowds were absolutely horrendous.  I did take some photos, but not convinced they are particularly good and I haven't had a chance to go through them yet - I'll aim to add some to this entry sometime later in the week. 

15 Days

Jon Snow?  Nope.  Daenerys?  Nope.  Cersei?  Nope.  Tyrion?  Nope.  Jamie?  Nope.  Sansa?  Nope.  Arya?  Nope.  Bran?  Nope.  Euron?  Nope.  Davos?  Nope.  Gendry?  Nope.  The Night King?  Nope.  There is only one true pretender to the throne:

"May"hem

I can’t decide which word best describes the UK as it careens inexorably to a hard and messy exit from Europe: farcical, shambolic, muddling, embarrassing.  I don’t even know or care about all these stupid and inconsequential things that the MPs have been voting on this week – Theresa May has to step down now, period.  Bottom line – you have to admire Putin for just how effective and how much lasting damage Russian meddling has done in the US and the UK with Trump and Brexit.  Bravo.

Russian "Hoax"

Trump claims that the Russian hoax is dead and that he is totally vindicated - if that is indeed true, THEN RELEASE THE MUELLER REPORT IN ITS ENTIRETY.  If you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, then what have you got to lose.  Or maybe you have?  Even if the report didn't find him guilty of conspiracy or obstruction, it did not exonerate him.  Let's see the details.  After all, with the way the news cycle works with Trump this will be old news soon.   

Golf

US golf coverage:

Tiger Woods blah blah blah Tiger Woods blah blah blah Tiger Woods blah blah blah

The American sportswriter and sports broadcaster obsession with Tiger Woods is repugnant.  And relentless.  All golf coverage starts and ends with him – no matter how well or not he is doing, and definitely no matter how unpleasant a guy he is.  Which he is.  I hope he never wins another Major (particularly since I have a $500 bet with a friend that he won't).

Tax Break Broken

As someone who shops quite frequently on Amazon and eBay, I’ve noticed a big difference this year.  I’ve started having to pay sales tax on everything.  Traditionally, I only had to pay sales tax when I bought something direct from Amazon.  Which meant that I could save a lot of money by buying from either eBay or from the Amazon Marketplace.  No more – and I think this only changed this calendar year.  I always thought that if the company or individual selling the product didn’t have a store or physical address in Washington state, then I wasn’t liable to pay sales tax (since it was a “state” tax).  Apparently that is no longer the case (a quick google search suggests it might be due to a US Supreme Court ruling last year – so I can blame Trump).  And when we’re talking about a sales tax of about 10%, this is adding up to quite a big additional outlay.  What a swizz – I had no idea this was coming, and I’m really surprised it isn’t a bigger deal and people aren’t kicking up more of a fuss about it.  I honestly thought my PayPal account had been compromised when I first saw these extra charges appearing.  I need to move to the Oregon-Washington border – where I can work in Washington (no income tax) and buy things in Oregon (no sales tax)

True Detective Season 3

I finished binge watching the 3rd season of True Detective over the weekend.  This is a series that I have considered recapping on this blog - but not after the extremely disappointing 2nd season.  But this 3rd season was a definite step back in the right direction - maybe not to the level of the 1st season, but close.  And it definitely shared a similar feel to the 1st season - a good build up leading to an underwhelming payoff.  But it is the first TV show that I've watched in a while that as soon as I finished watching an episode, I had to go on the internet to read episode recaps to check if I missed anything and to see what kind of outlandish theories are being put forward.  Welcome to the internet age of telly... I'll be doing exactly the same thing when Game of Thrones starts it's last season.  Not long now! 

Lyrics

( Some warm up guitar solo )

Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol ldom-bam-ba
Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol ldom-bam-ba

AaaAaaa AaaaaAaaAaaaAaa AaaaaAAaaAaa AAAaAaaaa AaaAaaAa-AaaaAaaaAaa AAaaAaaAAaAAAaAaaAaaaAaa!!

( Blazing guitar solo )

Dik dik doe doe duk duk dik dik dik du lick dik duu
duk doe luk duk dik dik du du luk doe lik dik dik dok du
dik dik rok du dok dok dee, dok dokru deek deek dik dok doe
dok dork rok dik dik doe du lok dorok lik dik dik dik doe

brulalalee doe do, bruru le da do do
Aaaa aaaA Aaaa Aaa AaaAa-AaaaAaaaAaa!

( Flaming guitar solo )

Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol ldom-bam-ba
Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol ldom-bam-ba
Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol ldom-bam-ba
Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol Yoeelodol ldom-bam-ba

Ooooaa oooooough ooooeugh ooooaaah Aaaaaaaa AaaaaAaaaa AAaaaAaaaAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAaaaa...

( Burning guitar solo )

( Breath-taking flute solo )

( Guitar solo )

( Jaw-breaking whistling solo )

( Ending guitar solo )

( People screaming, yelling with applause )


That is just a classic Dutch 70's sound.  Apparently they had to fit a 7 minute song into 4 minutes.  Some of the best YouTube comments I've seen on this video (including the above lyrics).

Witch Hunt?

What’s the probability that the Robert Mueller report – supposedly completed and delivered yesterday afternoon – will never see the light of day?  I say high.  Nobody seems to know how much information will be shared and disseminated to the public.  I expect “confidentiality” will be the reason given as to why so little is disclosed, no matter how much it is in the public’s interest to see the full report.  And without the transparency, expect Trump to be all over it as “fake news” if it is particularly damaging to him (which I pray it is).  I predict a whole bunch of nothing, and Trump’s unpleasant presidency to continue unabated.  After all, I don’t think the report is going to tell us anything that the vast majority of Americans haven’t already presumed about their president.  That he is stupid, racist, sexist and corrupt – acting only in his own interests, and by whatever means, to line his own pockets and the pockets of his family and cronies.

3,420,787th Signature

As a British citizen (still), I added my signature to the petition.

Let's get statistical

90 per cent of the British public believe that the Government’s handling of negotiations is a national humiliation

No sh*t Sherlock.  It is an embarrassment, and I hate having to explain it away to colleagues who ask and laugh about it.  And that’s coming from Americans, who should be equally, if not more, embarrassed by their leader.  What times we live in.  Makes you wonder who the 1 in 10 people are that think the Government’s handling of Brexit negotiations is NOT a national humiliation.   

In other news, March Madness began this week – and my bracket was busted after just the first game (No 10 Minnesota beat No 7 Louisville) – so no big prizes for me this year, again.  I read somewhere that the odds of picking a perfect bracket are roughly one in 9.2 quintillion.  But I don’t think that is quite right, because I’m guessing those odds were reached assuming a 50-50 chance on each game – but with teams seeded then no game is really 50-50 and the odds should be less than that.  In fact, some Math(s) professor has come up with odds of one in 2.4 trillion.  No wonder no one has ever been able to prove that they picked a perfect bracket.  That’s why it was so funny last year when a 16-seed beat a 1-seed – that had never happened before (0/135) and ruined almost everyone’s bracket.  Ironically, the No 1 team Virginia that lost that game is the same team I’ve picked to win it this year. 

Floor Warden

With staff turnover, my section of the office is currently without a floor warden.  So we all got sent an e-mail looking for volunteers, with a $75 cash incentive to take on the role.  Tempting – it’s not exactly a demanding role, with some basic training and maybe 1 or 2 drills per year when you have to hold up a flag and account for everyone in your section during an evacuation drill.  The only problem – I don’t know everybody in my section.  Indeed, if I look at the list of people then there are several people who I have never even heard of before.  This, along with the increased emphasis on flextime and working from home, makes it almost impossible to accurately account for everyone during a drill.  So nope, I shall not be volunteering.  I see nothing but trouble.

Waste

Disappointed with myself - I've had a few days off work because I needed/deserved a break, yet despite having record warm temperatures (warmest day of winter ever recorded in Seattle at 79 degrees Fahrenheit today!) and gorgeous weather over the last few days I've done absolutely nothing constructive with my time.  I've not gone out much, I should have taken a mini-break somewhere (like by the coast) but I didn't, and I didn't even complete any of the most basic tasks I wanted to do - like get a haircut and go to Ikea.  This approach and this attitude needs to change - I don't like being this lazy and I don't think it's doing me any good to be quite so sedentary.  So with winter ending and spring officially starting tomorrow, so also the start of my trying to make better use of my spare time.  Of course I've said this before, so who knows how much of this is just wishful thinking rather than actual reality.     

Reading

It seems like a long time since I read an actual book or an actual novel.  And that is a shame, because there are a lot of classics and a lot of good reads that I haven't got to and that I would like to immerse myself in.  But in those spare moments, instead of reading I play games on my iPhone - and that can't be good for me or my mental health.  I've even fallen behind on my TIME magazine intake - as much as anything, the relentless and punishing news cycles we go through with Trump and Brexit and everything else going on in the world at the moment is just depressing and unappealing.  Even more reason why I need the escapism of a good book!   

St Patrick's Day

Since it's St Patrick's Day today, let me share some photos from a bizarre spectacle I came upon on a walk by Lake Union on Friday evening:

Yes, that appears to be St Patrick himself landing on the Lake Union shore.  I don't quite know how that fits into his history and lore, but everyone involved seemed to take it very seriously - complete with a bagpiper playing away during the whole proceedings (even with floating planes taking off and landing nearby!).  And then after he made land and after some ridiculous proclamations from some local "dignitaries", he got taken away by a bunch of pirates.  Weird.  Is this some convoluted reenactment with the "Emerald City" standing in for the "Emerald Isle"?

Taxes

So much for Trump's/the Republican's tax plan leading to greater savings on people's tax bills this year.  I did my taxes today and ended up owing $2000.  That's a lot more than ever before.  Not happy.

Bad Parking, Again

Wow, another example of some quality parking in the work garage this week.  Check this out:

Absolutely horrendous.  I don’t see any damage to my car (though hard to tell because my car is so dirty – I need to wash it this weekend), but I was so pissed off I left a very passive aggressive note in the driver handle of the other car (saying something like you should learn to park properly).  This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this in my work garage, and when I did a quick search on my blog I found a previous entry with a photo – and IT’S THE SAME CAR!!!  So this individual, I don’t know who it is, is either a habitual bad parker or for whatever reason is targeting me.  I suspect the former – because the spot was close to the elevator so I’m guessing he (or she) arrived late and parked in a hurry.  Again.  Still, to park as badly as this is inexcusable.  I didn’t complain to facilities this time, but it’s a second strike.  A third warrants action.  And I would threaten this person with not being allowed to park in our garage anymore – that will ensure they don’t do this again, since there is hardly any available parking outside our building thanks to all the construction going on.  And if I see this person parked over a line when I arrive, then I will try to park as close to them as I can to block them in and force them to enter their car from the passenger side.  That would serve them right.

Guest Speaker

We had another guest speaker at work today, and it was another member of W’s administration – Colin Powell.  I kind of liked him – a military no-nonsense type, but proved to be an engaging and interesting story teller.  Of course, lots of questions I wish that were asked but were not – in particular, concerning the Iraq War and the phantom weapons of mass destruction.  And other than touching on immigration (being an immigrant himself) his current political views were not discussed, which is a shame because I think despite being a Republican he supports many liberal and centrist causes.  He endorsed Obama and Clinton, and does not like Trump (a “national disgrace”, “no sense of shame”, “not qualified”).  Interesting fact that I didn’t know – he came third in the 2016 presidential election.

Trivia

Today there was another trivia event at work.  Great, I thought to myself, I’ll go because I love these kind of things and my team won the last time we did this.  Wait a second.  Oh no, it’s a black history month trivia event.  That’s a hard pass, and I’m clearly a racist (though it’s not so much about racism, but more about my complete lack of knowledge on black history)

Wait, what, is some country music good?

Well I thought this was impossible, but is there a modern country music star whose music I actually like?  Listen to this:

Not bad right?!  Naturally, the lines between country, soul and blues are very blurred in this instance – but I’ve been listening to some other songs from this guy and I like them (or at least I like his voice singing them).  And the last week is the first time I’ve ever actually heard of him or heard any of his songs – the first time I heard the audio above, I actually thought it was some classic country tune from the 70’s or something.  Not from 2015.  Mind you, it is probably a cover of a song that was written back then – but that doesn’t stop me enjoying it.  Next thing you’ll know, I’ll be wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat everywhere.

Just Deserts

I read some news today that a woman was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after being attacked by a jaguar at an Arizona zoo.  Should the jaguar be euthanized?  To answer that, you need to know the details – the woman jumped over a barrier and was trying to take a selfie with the jaguar, and the jaguar never actually left it’s enclosure when it dug it’s claws into her arm.  To me, the woman should be euthanized not the jaguar.  You get what you deserve when you combine stupidity with a brazen disregard to rules and commonsense.

Finding Neverland

Just finished watching the documentary Finding Neverland, a powerful and disturbing insight into sexual abuse of a couple of young boys by a certain King of Pop.  Very believable, very shocking.  It's the kind of documentary that can thankfully come out now, when hopefully nobody is too powerful to be brought to justice for the heinous criminal acts they have committed (apart from maybe if you're the President...) - think certain male celebrities, think Catholic priests (coincidentally I just watched the film Spotlight last week about this) and think Operation Yewtree.  You kind of knew that something was off with Michael Jackson in the same way that you kind of knew that something was off with Jimmy Savile - so the fact that he preyed on young boys and was more than likely a prolific pedophile doesn't really come as a surprise.  I guess being invited to spend a night at Neverland is the American equivalent of being told Jim will fix it for you.  I should maybe be grateful that I never got to play and beat Steve Davis in a game of snooker...   

Palace

You think you're comfortable after a decent run of form - then you lose to Brighton (again) in the early game and then see Cardiff, Southampton and Newcastle all win - so once again you can't get that separation between yourselves and the relegation zone.  Disappointing, and you're still looking over your shoulder and can't afford to relax.  At least your next league game is against Huddersfield - and even though it's at home where you don't get many points, you'll be disappointed if you don't get all 3 in that game.  But before that you've got an FA Cup Quarter Final - which honestly you shouldn't care about too much because league survival has to be the only priority.

What Am I Watching?

I'm looking at my DVR, and here is a quick rundown of everything I'm currently watching according to my scheduled series recordings:

The Circus: Inside the Wildest Political Show on Earth, American Gods, Family Guy, Black Monday, Shark Tank, Crashing, SMILF, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, The Passage, The Good Doctor, American Dad, Corporate, Miracle Workers, Survivor, Documentary Now!, The Goldbergs, Whiskey Cavalier, You're the Worst, Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Better Things, The Other Two, Speechless, Billions, Blackish, The Rookie, The Last O.G.

I would say a bunch of good stuff, a few great shows (I would particularly recommend the 1/2 hour comedies: Corporate, Documentary Now!, You're the Worst and The Other Two), quite a lot of generic shows, but nothing really must-see (we have to wait until the last season of Game of Thrones for that!).

Yet Again

Woke up this morning to a winter weather advisory and yet another white landscape - here is a different view looking back at my house:

At least this didn't last, it had mostly melted away by late afternoon - but still, enough to make me not drive into work this morning.  Jeez, it's nearly spring and we're still getting this winter weather - and potential for more this evening...  I took a sick day today, but don't think I can get away with this tomorrow as well! 

VAR

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I HATE VAR.  I'm not looking forward to seeing it, with all its flaws, in the Premier League next season.  The penalty that Man United got via VAR epitomized everything wrong with the system - that was in no way a penalty.  But despite all the time they spent reviewing it, they still shockingly gave the handball.  This is what I hate about it - it was an interminable delay at a critical point in the game, and they still gave the wrong decision.  Absolutely brutal. 

Citizenship

My green card expires in a few years' time, but I don't think it would be an issue to renew it for another 10 years.  But I have been giving some more thought to becoming a US citizen.  Or more specifically, as my internet research seems to tell me, I could become a dual citizen - so I could get American citizenship but I wouldn't need to give up my UK passport.  This would seem to be ideal.  But as with all these things, the application is a long and bureaucratic process.  And I would have to pass an English test (which I hope I would pass!) and a civics test (which I probably wouldn't pass right now not having done any studying on US history and government).  I was having a look at the online form, and some of the questions are as ridiculous as when I applied for the green card in the first place.

No, I have not worked for the German Nazi government between 1933 and 1945 (and I find it hard to believe that someone who did would be applying for American citizenship now!)

And no, I have never been a "habitual drunkard" (seriously, would someone actually answer yes to this?!)

Cold

We may not be having any more snow, but the wintry weather has definitely not left – it has been bitingly cold recently, especially overnight (I’m not looking forward to my next electricity bill!).  I’ve still got a big pile of snow near my carport left over from when I cleared my driveway – and what has been happening is that it slowly melts during the day and freezes up overnight, turning a section of my driveway into an ice rink.  So I ended up shoveling even more snow this weekend so that it would melt someplace else.  Crazy!  But as well as the cold weather, we’ve also had some startlingly clear skies recently – making for some great views over the water and of the snow-covered mountains around Seattle.  I probably didn’t made the most of this over the weekend (I honestly have no idea where all my time went!), but here are some views from the vicinity of my workplace.

Paine Field

In a welcome development, a new airport near me is starting commercial services tomorrow - called Paine Field (PAE) or Snohomish County Airport.  It's based in Everett, north of Seattle and north of where I live (which is also in Snohomish County!), and is hell of a closer and easier for me to get to than Seattle's main airport south of the city.  It was supposed to open earlier this year, but got delayed thanks to Trump's government shutdown.  It's not exactly a big airport - doing something like 25 flights a day, and absolutely nothing international.  But if I want to fly to a west coast destination - then it is definitely a viable alternative.  I was looking at prices to San Diego the other day, and it was really cheap.  Tempting.

Ring Entrance Music

Boxers have them, wrestling stars have them, even darts players have them - so I'm thinking I need some kick-ass music to pump myself up before key table tennis matches.  Here are some options I came up with - and with more time I'll probably be able to come up with some even better ones:

- Clubbed to Death, Rob Dougan
- Thunderstruck, AC/DC
- Enter Sandman, Metallica
- Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N Roses
- Right Here Right Now, Fatboy Slim
- Bentley's Gonna Sort Yer Out, Bentley Rhythm Ace
- Born Slippy, Underworld
- Go, Moby
- Two Tribes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood
- The Pretender, Foo Fighters

Finding these and similar long forgotten tunes was definitely one of the best YouTube music video dives I've been on for a while.

Turnaround

It’s that time of the year when people get their bonus and quit – and this year is no different.  Several people in my department have left over the last few weeks – nobody I was particularly close to, and sadly nobody who is going to open up a gap and an opportunity I can fill, but they will be missed.  Unfortunately I will probably never see or interact with these people again – they say they can be found on Facebook and LinkedIn, but I don’t even have a LinkedIn account and I haven’t used Facebook for years (a long time ago I had an account, which I think I tried to close, and then I created a new account for the sole purpose of tracking one person down and have not used it since!).    Most people are staying in the Seattle vicinity – so I guess there is a chance I might bump into them randomly, but I don’t exactly go out much nowadays to create many opportunities for that to happen!  And I probably won’t bump into them professionally unless something major happens with my company (think – merger).  So as they start their new adventures, I stay put on whatever path to nowhere I’m currently on - and it makes me reflect.  I’m happy trundling along for the time being, but my life does seem to be lacking direction and purpose.  Personally and professionally.  As they say in Shawshank Redemption, you can get busy living or you can get busy dying.  And it feels like I’m doing the latter at the moment.  Jeez, I’m sorry that turned into a bit of a downer at the end there.