The Pumpkin Patch with Mom, Erika and Brian

Mom wanted to take Brian to the pumpkin patch now that he was a little older and walking around. Last year when we took him, he was literally a potato actively wondering what we were all doing. It was fun but we knew the next year it would be more fun.

I took the Friday off, so I had a three-day weekend to do whatever I wanted. I slept in, because I really needed a good sleep, and then I got ready and met up with Erika and Mom in Tumwater at Meconis for lunch. I had my usual. Like always, my sandwich hit the spot.

We drove over to Rutledge Family Farm off of 93rd in Tumwater. We were hoping since it was a weekday, there wouldn't be that many people there. Last year we went on a Sunday and boy, was that a mistake. We pulled in and it was a little less busy than last year which was great to see. We found a close parking spot, grabbed what we needed because it was a little chilly and wandered over towards the pumpkins with a wheelbarrow and Brian's wagon. I was kinda excited to see if he would put pumpkins in the wagon.

We started walking around the pumpkin patch looking at the pumpkins we'd like to bring home. I called Ben to ask what shape of pumpkin he would like to have, and he told me to send him some photos and he would choose one. I sent him some pumpkins that fit his profile and he did end up picking one he liked. I put that in the wheelbarrow. We got into some of the little pumpkins and watched Brian pick them up, set them down and he did put one in the wagon. Mom and I tried putting some in his wagon and he would grab them and toss them out. We laughed hysterically.

At one point, there was a little boy, his mom and his dad picking pumpkins and he was interested in Biran's wagon. We told his parents he could push it for a few minutes. The little boy didn't want to stop, and you could tell Brian didn't want this little boy touching his wagon anymore. His parents told him to give the wagon back to Brian and they thanked us for entertaining them by sharing.

Once we found the pumpkins we wanted, including Brian, we wheelbarrowed them over to the cashier's station to be weighed. I had four smaller pumpkins and three larger pumpkins to carve at some point later on in the month. We took them to the cars and Brian got to ride in the wheelbarrow. We took the wheelbarrow back and Mom and Erika decided that we should take Brian into the kids' area to play with the available activities. We each paid an entrance fee and went in.

I bought an apple cider slushy because it looked good. We wandered around with Brian for a few minutes until he found something that interested him. Erika, Brian and I took our shoes off and bounced on the bouncy mat. It was funny watching him jump on it. Then he fell on his face. He was okay. 

Erika and Brian waited their turn on the tractor ride and went around the pumpkin patch two times. Brian was having a good time unlike the other small children; they cried and wanted off. We walked over to the bubble making station and spent a good while making bubbles for Brian to poke. He and Erika swung on the swings and then he saw the talking tractor, and we watched the tractor for a bit. It made Brian smile.

It was getting late and Erika needed to take Brian home so he could get in a nap. Erika thanked us for coming out and getting pumpkins with them. I got back into the Escape and Mom followed me in her Expedition, we hit up the Walmart in Tumwater, drove out to Lacey to check out Hobby Lobby and Michael's for a couple of things. I headed home so I could make dinner and Mom drove back out to Rainier.

Next year, I am excited to see how Brian is at the pumpkin patch. We will be weeks away from meeting the new baby at that point.

Next Adventure: Mom and Dad's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving with Liz, Maddy and Isla

Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I had planned on going to the Pullman/Moscow cache machine and taking Friday off but then Mom asked me what I was doing on October 5th. I told her we were thinking about driving over to Pullman for the cache machine. Why? She said that Randy gave her tickets to the Seahawks game. I immediately checked to see what team we were playing that day. The Buccaneers. I wrote it on the calendar and told Mom to send me the link so I could download the tickets when it gets closer. I guess we were not doing the cache machine, which was fine, the Seahawks game would be cheaper than staying in a hotel for a couple nights and driving all the way across the state.

I looked up the stats of the game, it was going to be a 1 o'clock game, both teams were going to be wearing their "throwback" uniforms, we were going to be on the party bus, which was nice, I didn't have to worry about driving to the game or finding parking and a Mariner playoff game started at 5, Sodo was going to be insane.

As it got closer to game day, I made sure I got our tickets into my Google wallet, so they were easy to access when we were entering the facilities. Mom met me at my house, and we drove the Escape to O'Blarney's, parked and when the party busses arrived, we found out which one we were supposed to be on. That was bus #2. We climbed aboard, found the seats we were assigned to and got comfortable.

We got up I-5 and the emcee started in on the raffle, the 100 square and the checklist game while we drove north. Mom and I got a few raffle tickets and participated in the 100 square and the checklist game. We were hoping we win. I even had a blue Jell-O shot that were being handed out for free. Why not, right?

Just before we got into Seattle, we did the raffle. Mom and I didn't win. Oh well, however, we did get into Seattle in less than an hour and a half. That was pretty good for a busy game day on the freeway.

Mom and I got off the bus and walked towards the field house on the west side of the stadium. We went in, got through security and had our tickets scanned. We received a deck of playing cards and we got some free pretzel bites from King's Hawaiian.

We walked around the fieldhouse, got our picture taken, watched a presentation of the 50 best players in the past 50 years (this season, the Seahawks were celebrating their 50th Anniversary) and then moseyed over towards the stage to watch a miniature Sir Mix Alot concert. Yes, he sang Baby Got Back for us.

Mom and I went into the stadium and made our way up to the third level. I asked if she wanted food and she said yes.  I knew where the Ivar's was and thank goodness the line was short.  We got our food in minutes. We made our way to our seats in Section 316. We sat down and ate while we watched the pregame activities including a nod to all the cheerleaders who have cheered for the Seahawks since 1976.  Today was throwback night so both teams were wearing their throwback uniforms. The field was even painted like it was in the Kingdome.

I asked Mom if she had ever been to a Seahawk game in the Kingdom and she said she had with her dad, but never went again until the early 2000's. My first Seahawk game was in 2016 because we could never afford the tickets.

The first quarter was awful. Our defense struggled this game after allowing the third fewest points in the NFL going into game 5 of the season. We did have some key defensive starters who were injured - DeMarcus Lawrence, Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon. We allowed them to keep the momentum running wearing out our players. Luckily, only a field goal was scored on the Buccaneers behalf.

Tampa Bay was able to capitalize on our mistakes and ended up taking the lead 13-0 late in the second quarter, however, Jaxon Smith-Njigba was able to score a touchdown for us just before the end of the half. We went into halftime down by 6.

We started out with a touchdown at the beginning of the third quarter. From there, it went back and forth, each team matching with a touchdown and a made field goal. The defense on each side was nonexistent. The Buccaneers had an advantage at the end of the quarter, leading 28-21.

We took the lead after two touchdowns (AJ Barner and Tory Horton) and two field goals in the fourth. We led 35-28 with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. Then we let Tampa Bay march down the field to tie it up with 2:10 left to go in the game. I was so disappointed in our defense. They were letting Baker Mayfield do whatever he wanted. We got the ball with just a couple minutes left of the game. If we did this right, we could march down the field and kick a field goal leaving the opponents with no time to spare. That, unfortunately, did not happen. Sam Darnold, in Darnold fashion, threw an interception. All the Buccaneers needed to do was waste enough time and kick it in for the win. That is exactly what happened. We lost 38-35. I was so angry because it was a winnable game and we had the advantage at the end.

We waited until the clock hit 0:00 before we grabbed our stuff and shuffled out. It took a while to get to the bus because there were sooo many people everywhere because of the Seahawks and the upcoming Mariners playoff game. The streets were filled with tons of fans! We got to the bus, and it took a while to leave but we eventually made our way out of town. We had to stop in Fife and JBLM for traffic problems.

We got back around 6ish and I asked Mom if she had to go to Fred Meyers she said yes. I tried stopping at Office Depot first to get a calendar, but they were closed already. We got our things from Fred Meyer and went back to my house. I talked to Trish about the game, took a shower, talked to Mom and Dad and made Spam rice dish for dinner.

Ben had met up with Jericho for the rental kitchen cupboard, went to Rochester to look at flooring and did a couple things at the rental until about 7. We watched the end of the SNF Bills and Patriots, Bills lost - there are no more undefeated teams this season. The 1972 Dolphins record is still intact until next season, when it is threatened again.

We did some chores and got ready for the work week. Mine was short since I had a 4-day weekend coming up.

Some Game Notes: Darnold went 28/34 for 341 yards and four TDs. Smith-Njigba had 132 yards with eight receptions and a touchdown. Jason Meyers went 5/5 on extra points but had no field goal attempts. We possessed the ball seven minutes less than Tampa Bay, but we had more total yards than they did 463 to their 426.

Next Adventure: The Pumpkin Patch with Mom, Erika and Brian

My 10 Year Workiversary

Here we are.  Back then, 10 years was something that you had in the back of your mind and a day I always thought would take a long time to arrive. Time is a funny thing because something that is far away isn’t really that far away in the scheme of things. We all perceive time differently even though each day is the same amount of time for everyone. The question is - do you use your time you have wisely?

I am thankful for the people that helped me get my foot in the door 10 years ago.  I remember going in for my interview in late July.  It was a hot and sweaty day. I parked in the guest lot in front of the building and made my way in. I was so anxious I could not determine if I was sweaty from the heat outside or nervous for my interview.  Probably both, if I am being honest.

That interview went well and I heard back several weeks later that they created a job for me working with human resources, records and the records center. That first day, 10 years ago today, I did my best to learn as much as I could and ask questions.  I knew it would be a marathon being brand new in the state government.  I impressed my team and others around me so much that they kept extending my time I had there. Unfortunately, it did have to end. They wanted me to succeed within the agency that they even spent some time helping me look for another job.

That landed me in the mailroom after another nervous interview. I dove in and learned as quickly as I could. There was a lot of memorization, sorting and learning a routine. Once I got that down, the job was easy, but navigating personalities took a little bit longer to figure out. I was able to learn the building and meet different people throughout the various program areas.

Within the year, I applied to a non-permanent job in retro so I could gain knowledge on two of our widely used computer programs. I figured that the reason why I was not being picked for jobs was because I had no experience using those programs. That year was probably the most taxing one I had because the unit was so different from the previous ones I’ve been in thus far.  I met some great people there that I still talk to even to this day.

I left my agency to another agency for a month before coming back to the agency I was familiar with. I started in another business area within the office of the medical director. I had no experience with any of that sort of work, but I am a person that learns quickly and uses what I learn to make my job as easy as I can make it. I am thankful they brought me back to the agency where I felt like I belonged. I was there in office for eight months before we were forced to work from home due to Covid, and that is where I stayed for almost seven years. We adapted to our new normal and working from home was odd at first but after almost five years I couldn’t imagine going back into the office and being around people again.

Then what seemed like out of nowhere - last fall I was offered an opportunity to do a developmental job assignment with another business area I was unfamiliar with. I did not hesitate, I said yes without even hearing what they had to say about it. It was worked out with both program areas, and I was doing two jobs at the same time for five months. I never thought I would have a chance to do a DJA.

That DJA brought me back into the building and let me tell ya, from a person who used to go to work at HQ to see how life was before 2020 – it was so busy with people all over the place, it was noisy, the cafeteria had a line, there was always something going on in the many training rooms, the rotunda was buzzing with activities, you didn’t dare leave at lunch time (unless you had your monthly lunch meetings with friends) because you would lose your parking spot and have to hike when you got back and most of all you were able to network with people. It’s much harder to network with people when you are at home.

Post 2020 – I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone every time I came in. It was so empty, entire floors were moved around, the bank of elevators were updated, there were a lot of new faces I didn’t know because a lot of them got jobs after 2020, I felt like I was one of the old people when I learned how young these people were, the parking lot was virtually empty, the cafeteria will never be the same, the cubicles and working areas are so quiet but it was nice to meet new people and network with them, even the technology was different.  However, I still enjoyed working from home.

A position opened up and I applied for it. I believe I needed a change and I could not pass it up. After another nervous, sweaty interview (this was my first virtual interview) and several stress-riddled weeks later, I found out I got the job. I was excited to start my new work journey. Job transitioning is never easy especially on the unit losing the teammate. I enjoyed the time we all spent together.

The first four and a half years seemed to go by slow because I was going to work every day at HQ and in that span, I held five different jobs in five different capacities and moved around a lot in the building. I had to learn a new job almost every year up until 2018 (if you broke it down with the actual time, I was in each job). It was difficult to be the “new kid” every time I changed jobs and had to be trained on how to do the job just to turn around and have to learn a new job a year later. It was wearing on me and stressful.  While that was happening, I just didn’t understand why I was always being passed up for that full-time permanent job. Was I not worth taking the risk? I applied for at least 70-80 jobs during that time frame.

The next four and a half years went by faster than the first four and a half. I enjoyed the extra hour to sleep in, I could wear sweatpants all day, I had two fuzzy coworkers who kept me entertained, no commute, I could make an actual lunch during my lunch hour, no one interrupted me and I was able to get my work done efficiently. The best part is that was able to get more personal stuff done with those extra hours I saved not getting ready or commuting. I learned a couple new skills like learning how to cook better, and I had more time to exercise. I loved being able to do chores during my breaks or lunchtime, that also saved me time during the day.

I do believe that I was in the right place, with the right people, learning what I needed to know at that point during my career.  I was supposed to learn those certain things, meet those particular people and learn those specific lessons for reasons beyond me, however, if you are not being challenged there is no personal growth.

Was every day perfect? No. 

Were some days harder than others? Yes.

Were there days I didn’t want to get out of bed and go to work? Yes, but I did anyway.

Did I want to do better than the day before? Yes.

Will I ask you questions? Absolutely. 

Will some of them be dumb? Maybe.

Did I learn something new every day? Yes, and I will always continue to do so.

A huge thank you to those I have met throughout the years without you, your advice, stories, support and expertise, I would not be where I am today.  I appreciate the time and effort you put into me.  That does include - the ups, the downs, the teamwork and collaborations, the miscommunications, the successes, the failures, the learning moments to do better, to be better, the education and training opportunities, celebrating the victories, giving and accepting feedback and most of all being human and giving me that chance.

Here’s to the next 10!

I received my 10-year certificate about a month after my anniversary date during a quarterly program virtual meeting. I also received a pin and a $50 gift card to Amazon.

Next Adventure: Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers