Walli Corn, rest in peace

I was in Denver last week, and while I was there, I found out that Walli had lost her battle with cancer.

Walli was a huge part of my life when growing up. She was our youth leader for the church youth group. I became very close to her during those years, mostly high school. I spent many an afternoon at her house eating grilled cheese sandwiches and drinking coke.

What I remember the most about Walli is that she never got angry, and she should have many times, and that she never judged us. I would tell her things I was doing, most of them were not very good. I was experimenting with alcohol and was dating girls. She would listen to everything I said and then she would point out that some of these things could cause long term problems if I wasn't careful. She never said, "don't do that", she would just explain the consequences to me, like I was an adult or something.

I remember when I got busted for driving without a license. She knew I was doing this, and cautioned me against it. When I finally did get in trouble, she was there. She helped me by allowing me to work off my community service at the church.

I remember another time in which she showed more restraint that any person I have ever seen to this day. She took us to a weekend church retreat, we were getting kinda old for this stuff, we were probably 16 by now. We did nothing but get in huge trouble the whole weekend, I know we embarrassed her and our church. She never got mad. She was quiet on the way home, but she never blew up at us. We knew we had let her down, she didn't need to say anything. That was how Walli was, you always knew where you stand, just by her actions. She didn't need to yell to get a point across.

I knew she was battling cancer for some time, and I even moved into her neighborhood last summer. I just couldn't get the courage to go see her. It was just too hard for me to see her vulnerable, she was the last person in the world I would expect to be in her position. It just isn't right. It was selfish of me, and I will regret it for the rest of my life.

If I had have found the courage to see her, I would have told her how much she meant to me in my life when growing up. I needed her and she was always there for me, or anyone for that matter. I hope she knew how much she meant to me and I can only hope that my kids will have someone like Walli in their lives when they are teenagers.

Last Sonics game... ever?

We went to the final home Sonics game of the season. Dallas was the matchup.

It was pouring rain when we left, the weather was appropriate for the somewhat solemn event.
wet


I wanted to be upbeat and have fun, this was my birthday present to myself, but, it was hard to look past the signifigance of this event. This very well may be the final game in Seattle for the Sonics franchise. There is a court case in July, but with no plan by the city or state, there seems little hope of any solution. I try to be optomistic, but there is barely a pulse left.

As I prepared for the game at home, I decided that I wanted to relive as many memories as I could for this game. Ivars on the waterfront, then cab up to Jaliscos, finished by a walk up the alley by my old office and the Sonics headquarters.

We walked down to the boat in the rain.

After we got off the ferry, we headed for Ivars. Ivars was a place we often hit after the ferry ride for a quick meal and a few beers. We used to get the "bar plate", which was a plate of fried seafood. Cod, prawns, scallops and clams was what I remember was on the plate. Back in the day, it was $5.00. Over the last 20 years we watched the price go up and the plate shrink in size.

We sat in the empty bar and watched the end of the Mariners game. The waitress came by and gave us the menu. There was no 'bar plate" on the menu, or anything equivolent to it.

After some food and drink at Ivars, we headed for Jaliscos. Jaliscos is a few blocks south of the arena and was a regular spot for our friends back in the 90's. I haven't been there much since. The place was famous for its "Rally in the Alley" back when the Sonics used to flourish in the playoffs each year. They would put up a tent and barricade off the alley in back and have a big party thier. Kevin Calabro and other sports personalities would often drop in. It was a great atmosphere.

The place was packed. There was no Rally in the Alley tonight. We worked our way through the bar and found some standing room. We ordered and soon after the manager came and told us he had a two person table. We grabbed the table and soon our waiter showed up. We remembered each other from way back in the day and had a nice chat. There were three employees still there from the 90's!

We finished up and had a chat on the way out on the fate of the team. Obviously, that place will be impacted by the loss of the team. He was pretty hopeful of one more year at least.

Up the alley and on in to the arena. We made it to our seats quickly and prepared to watch the introductions. We saw Kevin Durant recieve his Rookie of the Month award. The National Athem was sung, Introductions were done and we were playing.
Opening tip


I went down about halfway through the 1st quarter to grab a beer, figuring the line was died down now. The line was still huge. I waited for few minutes, going no where, and decided to try my luck at another location. I walked past one closed down concession stand after another. I believe they had two open on the second level...

I envisioned Clay Bennett sitting at home saying "why are those people STILL there?" it is clear he does not care one bit about his legacy fan base. Well, for a team that no one is supposed to care about in a record losing year, 16,272 fans came to see their team beat the playoff bound Dallas Mavericks.

closed for business


I thought about so many things while at this game. So many memories, back to the 70's, when my grandparents took me to my first game at the coliseum, to the playoff runs of the 90s. We went to almost every home playoff game during that run. Many memories of time spent at the games with family and friends who are no longer with us. It was hard at times to keep the tears back.

I pulled it together during the second half. The camera on the scoreboard showed Gary Payton in the stands! It was unbelievable, the fans gave him a thunderous roar and then stood for many minutes giving him a loud ovation. It was just awesome. It was so great for him to be here with us for this night. The camera came back to him after the next stop in play and again the crowd roared. GARY - GARY - GARY! the crowd roared.. It looked as though he might get choked up. It must have been very emotional for him.

The game ended in victory. A bittersweet victory. Atleast I can say I saw Durant slam dunk in person.. perhaps there will be more to this story. I can only hope.

History hangs from the rafters

B says "take a picture, it will last longer"

the final seconds tick away for NBA in Seattle

Dalai Lama in Seattle! - A Call for Compassion

The Dalai Lama is staying across the street from my office. Its been quiet an interesting time around here. When I came to work this am, he we getting ready to leave for his speaking engagements. The streets were all closed and the sidewalks jammed with on lookers. I saw some men in robes enter a vehicle, but am not sure if it was his holiness or just members of his entourage.


He spoke at the University Of Washington today and here is a recap of one of his topics:

The Dalai Lama says the difference between limited compassion and unlimited compassion is that the first is biased, the second is not.

His point is that you can't be compassionate only toward people you like, or toward people in your religion, or toward just your countrymen — that's cheating.

You must be compassionate toward people you don't know or even like. You must be compassionate toward people whose ideas you don't agree with, toward people whose lives you find abhorrent, he says.

If you limit your kindness and compassion for people with whom you already have something in common, than you're weakening yourself, he says.

When he finishes speaking, there is silence in the pavilion. None of the six experts sharing the stage speak. The Dalai Lama laughs.

"I don't know, is that right or wrong? Please make correction," he says, to the laughter and applause of the audience.

Day Four - time to go home

Its still raining...

I awoke at 7:30 am to the sound of kids running and jumping in the room above us.. ahh spring break...

My gang is still asleep, at 9 am. I will probably take another rain walk out to the beach. If anything picture worthy appears, I will add later. I have seen enough rain soaked beach pictures myself... time to go home.

Day Three - an unexpected twist...

Day Three started with my sister coming into my room to announce that her, her husband, Mathew and Shimmy (little wiener dog), were leaving today. They would leave James with me. I can only hope they were leaving early to get Mothers house finished..

We decided this was a good thing cause now the kids can move into the other bedroom, with two beds and a tv. Perfect, the kids moved in before my sister even left and set up their room.

I had promised the kids a Crab feed, even bringing my crab pot from home.. The kids went to a movie, I went to go get crab. I had hoped to take the little ferry from Ocean Shore to Westport, to get my crab fresh off the boat. The ferry is seasonal, and doesn't start up again until May.

I went to Mikes Seafood, which I have heard is very good for fish and chips. They did not have any crab in their seafood market. I ordered fish and chips, and asked what was up with the crab. The man explained that he had gone to Westport to get his crab, but the fishermen had doubled the price. So much for our crab feast..

We were bored, it started raining around 1 pm and I am not sure if it will ever stop... We took a drive up the north coast. On the way back, it was time for some adult time, so I stopped in at my favorite tavern on the north Coast, the Green Lantern. I ran in for a quick refreshement and to check the NCAA tourney scores.

Back home, we decided to walk up the street to Dugins Pizza. I met a local earlier who said it was the best in town. By the time we walked the roughly two blocks to get there, we were soaked.. All the kids had stepped in deep puddles. I tell ya, for a place that gets 100's of inches of rain a year, the roads and sidewalks, (or lack thereof) seems odd. Water doesn't drain anywhere, it just pools up..

The Pizza was good, and then it was time for Rock and Bowl! For anyone who doesn't know what Rock and Bowl is, its a late night bowling thing for the kids. They turn down the lights, turn on the disco balls, strobes, black lights and fog machines, and, oh yeah, CRANK the music! It was wild, it was fun. We bowled till 11:45 and headed home. At home the kids demanded we rent a movie.. at midnight.. no.



I call this "the bowl". Its in the middle of the dunes, a natural bowl. When you walk inside it, it


Sunset???



R

Day two at Ocean Shores

day two. We stayed around the condo all day. Swam and walked the beach.

our room is in left building, bottom right, corner.

back to the Pacific Ocean

its hard to believe its the same ocean...

we arrived around 5pm on thursday. The weather was nice, light wind off the ocean and partly cloudy. The kids headed straight for the indoor pool! We went down for sunset, but it wasn't very dramatic...