After the Rain (Nelson)

Who would have guessed what was going to happen after all the rain fell in November? It's been a crazy, crazy autumn season: Record rainfall in November. Enough snow to close my work for a day. Windstorms that caused power outages to much of the Puget Sound area. Crazy, I tell ya!

Thursday of last week, on my way to the train station after work, there was torrential downpour. It was almost reminiscent of being in Hawaii on October 16th. I can't tell you how many of those running ballerina jumps I did to try & avoid the giant puddles that accumulated at the curbs. The water was so deep in areas that I couldn't tell where the curb was; water was in the road & up over the sidewalks. My umbrella was pretty much useless because it kept turning inside out in the wind gusts. Well, regardless of how much I tried to avoid it, I was soaked by the time I got to the train station. Then, before we got to Tukwila even, the conductor stopped the train for about ten minutes while they decided if it was safe to continue Southbound. Fortunately, it was & I got home at a reasonable time (that is, after I finished some Christmas shopping for my in-laws).

We were fortunate to not have lost power at our house. I can't say others were as lucky. The other four in my department had all lost power on Thursday. I know how much fun it isn't to try & get ready for work in the dark. On Friday, Steve & Airi were going to stay over at our house as they had lost power at their house. When Jeff called to find out what time they were coming, their power had just come back on. Kat, who lives not too far from Steve & Airi wasn't so lucky; her power has been out for the last 4 days & she's staying with us until it comes back on.

Work on Friday was a little exciting. The building hadn't lost power, but the air conditioning in our server room had broke at some point & our IS team was scrambling to get the temperatures under control. Senior management, at one point, had "closed" the Credit Union. However, while waiting for a ride home, they told us to stay for a few minutes. Then they said we would open at 10am, but since some had already left for the day, they gave us the option of staying or going, but if we stayed we'd get a comp day. I opted to stay, but was a little frustrated that I hadn't left while I had the chance.

On Friday, we were going to have our department lunch at 13 Coins, but since Faith chose to leave, we didn't go to lunch; we are going on Monday instead. I'm looking forward to it, for sure. Trina & I used to recommend the restaurant to the hotel guests when we worked at the Hampton Inn a decade ago.

Saturday, we celebrated Jeff's 33rd birthday at Famous Dave's BBQ Restaurant down in Puyallup with Steve, Airi, Kim, Kat, David & Katt. I'm not a huge bbq rib fan but that's only because I find them so messy to eat. These ribs at Famous Dave's were SO delicious that the next time we go there, I just may get myself some ribs. On Saturday, I had a burger & it was mighty tasty! The fries weren't all that great, but the burger... Oh man! Drool....

Afterwards, we had a group shopping trip at Target. In a rather weird way, that was kinda fun to hang out with everyone at the store with everyone doing their own shopping. Some shopped for Christmas gifts while other shopped for their own personal items they needed at home. After the group shopping, we all came back to our place and watched a little VH1 I Love the 80's 3D. Talk about memories. Poor Katt... Maybe next time we'll watch some I Love the 90's.

I'm going to finish up watching another episode of Grey's Anatomy here in a second so I'm going to finish this post.

Today, I am thankful for:
1. Gas fireplace
2. Indoor heat
3. Generosity
4. Trotters
5. Red Door Revealed