We are loosing our lease for the store. I don't know the details but it sounds like a large company wants our space and signed a big multi-year lease.

The mall says they want to keep our store and will offer us a good terms on the replacement space. RO learns the details on Friday.

My parents, RO and I went on a wine tour around Yakima. There are dozens in wineries in that area. We tasted at four before we had enough. Some of the wineries had beautiful views of the valley. It was nice to sit down, drink some wine and watch the view.

Dad, unfortunately, doesn't really like wine. He did enjoy a tour a vineyard though.

A raccoon died in the front yard. Not sure why. This morning we saw it hiding the garden. Occasionally it would move around-- walk a few feet and then curl up in a ball.

After an hour of this, it stopped moving. RO poked it with a stick and it didn't react.

I picked it up with a garden fork, carried it the bush at the rear of the property and flug it into the bushes.

May parents are in town for the week. It's nice to see them. They are doing well. We are puttering around and spending time together, chatting, odd jobs around the house, the Kirkland Classic Car show and such.

Lately when we see each other, the conversation eventually comes around to their will and specifically, what to do with their home. My parents own a maple sugar bush and make maple syrup there every year. They have a lovely small house by the bush. It would be a shame to sell it.

It will be a struggle to keep it in the family. My parents live in the middle of nowhere. All their kids, my brothers and I, have long since moved away. The type of jobs we have are not to be found near my parents home.

If my parents live another twenty years then perhaps it could be a retirement property for my brothers and I. I could live there part of the year. I think my brothers could too.

Tommy! We'd fix you up with quality if you ever traveled this way.

Sunday, RO and I visited his family. His sister owns a house on a lake. The whole extended family gathers there on warm holidays-- uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers, cousins, inlaws, ex's and friends.

At any given moment through out the day at least four people are preparing, cooking or cleaning up after smoked roasts, burgers, chickens, corn, cakes, cookies, salads, hots, sausages. This goes on non-stop from dawn to dusk. These family events are non-stop all you can eat buffets.

A creepy closeted married guy has been hanging out at the store.

Aside from RO, the store has two employees who are both are gay. The married guy has been regularly dropping by the store, flattering and cruising them and then bluntly asking for sex. Both employees are put off by him and are close to telling the married guy to bugger off.

The big reorg at my day job is close to happening. We've been planning this for months-- February. It will still be three weeks before everyone will reports to their new bosses working on their new teams.

The reality of this is starting to hit home. Some teams are punting on hard work because soon someone new will take over. Others working hard to make sure the hand off is clean. Some people haven't even thought about that yet.

July will be interesting.

Good weather has finally hit Seattle. RO and I regularly enjoy wine on the deck while the sun sets.

Politics and Management II.

At work, one of the guys at my level knows he hasn't had a great year. I like this guy and don't want bad things happen to him, so I was hoping to put a good word from him into my boss.

When I started doing so, my boss quickly asked, "Who is more valuable to us, him or you?" I hate that question. It hints that unless I answer carefully, I'll be the one at the bottom of the list.

An earth quake happened near my home town in Ontario, Canada. It was a 5.0, small by west coast standards, but big for an area that rarely has them, nor is prepared for them.

No one I know is hurt. I've seen some photos of damaged buildings. Mostly it seems to be an opportunity to call friends and ask "Did you feel the earthquake!"

Two of our friends celebrated their birthday's last week, so that had a large birthday dinner on Saturday. It was a great experience. Expensive, but worth it.

Afterwards RO & I went to the local bars. RO ran into a man, visiting from Arkansas whose last name was Mathews. It just so happend that RO was wearing a sweat shirt with "Mathews Inc." on it. So, RO swapped his sweat shirt for the guys shirt.

Work has been very stressfull lately. It seams that everything important is due at once.

Yesterday and today, we are 'calibrating' our employees-- evaluating all the employees for bonus, raises & promotion. It's very contentious-- one of the managers stormed out of the meeting when the debate around a particular employee didn't go the way he wanted.

I suspect today will be just as combative. Rumor has it that one of the managers has been trying to hide a failure. I work closely with the manager involved so I have to investigate, have an opinion and ultimatly take sides. If I'm not carefull, the manager in question could make it difficult for my employees to get bonus or promotions, so I have to enter this debate with backup.

Rain, rain...

The weather in Seattle has been unseasonably wet. I know Seattle has a reputation for rain, but May received almost double the average May rain. June is on the same path. June usually gets 1.5 inches of rain. So far June 2010 has had 1.57 inches.

Tuesday evening, Clem & Bates were over for dinner. As usual we had a wonderful time even though we drank too much.

We all agreed that at somepoint we have to live where it's Sunny.

Tommy, how sunny is LA?

All is busy here. I know nothing about the arraignments for RO's sister's funeral. I don't think RO knows either. RO said that when other family members have died, they were just buried with no proper funeral. Maybe that's just the way his family operates.

It's the opposite of how my family operates. Everyone who died had a wake, a funeral and a post funeral reception. Death is very social. There is some grieving, but mostly it's a somber get-together.

RO's sister died about half an hour ago. RO said she was in a lot of pain and that it's for the best that she's gone. When RO said that I could tell he was on the verge of crying.

RO's sister has stage 4 cancer. She is refusing treatment and may be in the last days of her life.

RO is spending much time with her and trying to help in his own way. She can't chew food so he has been making her ever more elaborite smoothies with tofu and vitamin pills.

I think something has gone wrong tonight. Usually he spends a couple hours with her before he heads home. Tonight, it's getting late, and he's not returning his text's.

Be strong RO.

aex said...

That you are a solid rock in a swift stream. ... one needs solid rocks to cling
on, was the water of life rushes by.

Thank you aex, whoever you may be.

Yo won't be moving in with us. He's kept putting off his move on account of finances. RO asked for the key back. I finally found him online-- I didn't spell his last name properly. When you do that, you learn all the details.

The local newspapers used him as an example in an article about improper state oversight of sex offenders. Yo had a license for a job that allowed him to work alone with children. The state didn't revoke the license after Yo was found guilty.

I just realized that I've known Tommy Boy, ItsAllGrandLike & John for longer than all but a few of my friends. I can look this kind of stuff up with the blog.

I've known Tommy since 2001. ItsAllGrandLike & John since 2002. I've met most of my local friends since then. I think the one exception is Steven who I've known since 1999.

I still have all my old friends from Canada. But my Seattle friends come and go. Hmmm. I wonder what that says about me.

RO threw a surprise birthday party for me. It was very sweet of him.

I had worked all day and was heading home when RO called me "Come to the store" he said "my sister wants to have a drink with you." We argued for a while. I was tired and didn't want to go out for a drink, but he twisted my arm enough, so I headed back to the store.

When I got to the store, lots of people where there. It was a great evening. Too much alcohol was drunk. Other than that, everyone had a great time.

Thanks RO. Love ya babe!

Am fourth now. 40.

I wrote a long blog on the philsophy of being 40, but blogger ate it up when I clicked publish.