On Thursday, the manager of one of the on-site departments sent out an email alerting us to President Biden’s visit to Seattle on Friday. Their email advised everyone to flex their time and leave before four.
The email, I guessed, was directed to drivers. I didn’t think my commute on underground light rail would be effected much. Still, flexing my day on Friday did seem like a good idea.
As I mentally planned out when I should start and end my day, it occurred to me to simplify things and just take the day off.
I didn’t want to take Friday off. I’d taken the previous Friday off to go ride the Link 2 Line. (Nobody would, or did, say anything negative about me taking two Fridays off in a row, however.) I didn’t think it would be necessary, really. Most of all, I just wasn’t in the mood to stay home.
Still, I took Friday off.
I didn’t do anything productive. Maybe it was my mood. Maybe it was the hot apartment.
I did consider, once or twice, paying a visit to the Downtown Library. I hadn’t been there in while. But each time I’d consider it, I remembered that the whole point of taking Friday off was to avoid Downtown Seattle.
I didn’t leave the apartment at all on Friday.
On Saturday, Phillip and I walked up the hill to have dinner at La Cocina. Before we left our apartment, we started the UV disinfectant going, and I set a timer for 70 minutes.
We both had salads at La Cocina (taco salad for me, pollo salad for Phillip) which meant our dinners came quickly.
After dinner, we walked over to QFC for sodas and alcohol. As we left, Phillip asked me how much time we had left (on the timer). (In other words, when would the UV disinfectant be done?) 25 minutes, I replied. (It was a quick dinner!)
So what do we do now? Phillip suggested a visit to the library, adding that it might be closed.
The Seattle Public Library has had to close some branches until June, citing budget overruns due to digital book licenses.
The Capitol Hill Library was closed. So what do we do now? One of us suggested a visit to Tashkent Park.
We had a pleasant sit-down visit to the park, watching crows, people, and dogs go by.
The timer ran out and we walked home.
Neither one of us could get to sleep on Saturday night, because of the heat. Phillip suggested that I take my phone (which has a camera that takes excellent nighttime photos) and see if I can get a photo of the northern lights. There’s too much light pollution around here, I protested. Phillip pointed out he’d seen some great photos people had taken in other cities.
I noticed that Phillip didn’t offer to come with me. I sensed a trap, but I walked outside anyway.
There wasn’t a trap. (At least none that I’ve discovered yet.) And there weren’t any northern lights, that I could see.
I walked around the neighborhood, snapping nighttime photos. (Yesterday’s Randomness photo, for example.) Then I returned home.
Today, we had a late dinner at IHOP. It was only eight, or so, which might be a normal dinner time for most people, but for us, who usually go out to dinner before five, it was a late dinner.
IHOP was mostly empty. (So maybe it wasn’t a normal dinner time for most people.)
Years ago, Phillip and I used to enjoy finding weird things on the IHOP menu. There would be two items on the menu, for instance, with the exact same ingredients, but worded differently. IHOP has improved its menu (but made it less fun) since then.
Tonight, we found something weird on the menu. Phillip wanted blueberry pancakes, but didn’t want to pay $15 for four of them. Then he discovered that he could order an omelette and get three blueberry pancakes on the side for $2. (They were regular, plate-sized pancakes covered in blueberries.)
After IHOP, we stopped off at QFC for a six-pack of Diet 7-up. That’s all we got. We avoid self checkout, on moral grounds. We took our place in line at the one staffed checkout. There was one person ahead of us, unloading their cart.
A QFC employee approached us, and said that, if that’s all we’re getting, they can check us out over there.
We followed the employee over to a self checkout station. They checked out our Diet 7-up for us. That was nice.
Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work 