Of all the not-cool things for a Sunday morning, a big water leak is at the top. A giant pipe broke on the 4th floor and the water made it all the way down to the basement where I live — raining in my house, right over the stove. Tea-coloured fluid of who knows what, coming out of the ceiling. I cleaned it up immediately, as I don't want my ferrets playing in that funky mung. The plumber said it had been leaking for a couple of hours. That's crazy. I am very lucky most of the damage went into the maintenance room next door. Eight units upstairs are yellow-tagged. My unit is in the best shape of the bunch, so I can stay. This building was built in 1908 — I sometimes wonder what happens to all these old pipes when the next earthquake hits.
Back to running — 10K along the Seattle waterfront. Late at night, not a soul out except a giant rat who jumped from the bushes and ran right in front of me. Time: 45 minutes. Heart rate a little high, but recovering. Plan: run this week, swim next week, mix training to get ready for the Vancouver triathlon in March.
Also: pierced my thumb on a loose spring on a room service table at work. The sharp end went right through and out the other side. I was doing someone else's job because management cut the busboy schedule. The hotel makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, and they are cutting labour at an absurdly low cost-to-benefit ratio. I filed a report. With the union contract coming up in a few months, this is exactly the wrong time to be pulling this stuff. Ethics must be paid in full.
The Winter Olympics opening ceremony was great — the crazy coyotes, the big snake, the 1980 US Hockey team lighting the cauldron. WOW. Now the games. I eat this stuff up.
Took my police scanner on my evening run down past Pioneer Square for the Annual Mardi Gras situation. Last year there was a death, and the police came down hard. This year: full platoons in place. I could see police and people just all over the place from my run route. Flashers, alcohol violations, J-walking tickets ($42!). Best I can tell it's become a holiday for settling scores before Ash Wednesday. I was agile enough to stay well clear. Came home, cracked a post-workout beer, watched the Olympic pairs figure skating. The Canadians were robbed.
Perfect day trip to the Olympic Peninsula. Rented a car, drove the coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca — like Highway 1 in California but very Washington. At Lake Ozette I picked up the Travel Bug I had dropped off in Amsterdam (it came back to Washington — a crazy story). Found my way to an abandoned homestead from the 1920s, nature completely reclaimed, had to crawl through shrubbery to reach it. Found the cache, dropped off the Anger Duck. Then walked to the beach for the sunset. A herd of beach deer — came within a meter of them and they didn't care. Jogged back to the car in the dark using my hiking poles. Nobody in my neighbourhood has any clue what I saw today. This is why I live here.
Day 6 of the water pipe saga: workers are coming to tear out a whole wall and redo the bathroom completely. The property manager stepped in ferret droppings on her inspection visit and ran out. I will be getting new carpet out of the deal.
Started a juice fast — carrot juice, green juice, the works. Day 3 was easier than Day 2. Broke on day 4 with chips, but still felt good. Cleaned out the system and have a healthy glow to show for it.
Team Canada won gold in women's hockey. I was at work for the third period and had to monitor it through the scanner. Everything worked out. The closing ceremonies — what a great escape from the real world this Olympics has been. And now we must return to that place. We will all have the flame inside though.
Broke the fast with sushi. Good God, that was so good. Five days of juice and then six pieces of sushi made me completely full. I plan to balance my diet going forward. Next week back on unemployment as it's slow at work, but that's fine — I will train for Vancouver. My only goal is to do better than last year.
My house is now obsessively, positively super clean. The bleach smell lingers. People might think it's the most sterile shooting gallery this side of Vancouver. No, just kidding. It only takes an hour when I finally do it — the problem is I put it off until I am disgusted with the filth, then give it everything. You can't really fight the second law of thermodynamics. Order always leads to disorder without energy input. I say use that energy for something else until you can't stand it anymore. That's my method and I am sticking to it.
Planning a trip to Hong Kong around my birthday in May. Leave May 1st, a week there, then back to LA, then up to Sonora for the Mother Lode Round-up out on the ranch. The weather should be good, and what better way to catch up with people you haven't seen in years than a fresh story from Hong Kong? More as details progress.