Spent the afternoon with a shirt and tie on pitching to the decision makers in Long Acres. Good meetings, ran long, but none the less good.

Stopped in Ikea on the way home, this is somewhere I rarely visit, I can’t stand the crowds and the slow “Ikea shuffle” as everyone winds their way through the store at the pace of the slowest.

At 7 O’clock on a Tuesday night it’s more my scene, almost empty, staff with time to answer my dumb questions about cut outs, TV weights and so on, as I try to design the perfect media wall and take notes. Help was rendered, decisions made and I came home with a Land Rover full of good stuff, the house is starting to come together.

The F1 silly season seems to be over earlier and earlier every year, seats are sorted and out of work drivers need to find somewhere else to race. Over the weekend one of the mid-field drivers was involved in a rally accident and unfortunately a seat at Lotus-Renault is available.

The casual fan may have heard of Robert Kubica, Over the last couple of years with Renault he has made many people take a little notice of his speed. Despite his relative anonymity when compares to Lewis Hamilton and Seb Vettel he’s thought of one as one of the faster drivers out there. A few months ago I said “Kubica has shown he belongs at the sharp end of the grid with some great drives in mid-table machinery”.

He got his break in 2006 when Jacques Villeneuve left Sauber and Kubica stepped in. He turned out to be substantially quicker than the former world Champion, being a lot cheaper probably helped him stick with Sauber too.

Despite being new at this level he was far quicker than his teammate, the experienced and highly regarded Nick Heidfeld. He finished on the podium in only his third GP. It’s wrong to say that he’s been “discovered” over the last couple of years, since that first half-season with Sauber he’s been touted as a future world champions, with the huge caveat – if only he could get the right equipment.

He often beat Lewis Hamilton when they were both racing carts. Hamilton has consistently been very complementary about Kubica and once called him a future World Champion.

In the sport there are dozens of drivers that were good enough to have been world champion,  except they were missing the right car/engine/team/luck and so on. There are lots of little indicators that indicate someone might be a little special, and most of them are present for Kubica.

Top three qualifying performances at the three best drivers circuits last year (Spa, Monaco and Suzuka) show that maybe the machinery was slower than he was. His reputation is as a fast driver, I found a quote from the technical director of Renault (or Lotus-Renault now) “You know that if the car is not running at the front, it’s because of the car, not him.”

A lot of speculation surrounds who is going to replace him at Lotus-Renault. Indications are he will be out for the year, F1 drivers are motivated men and history says he could be back sooner than that. The reserve drivers are Bruno Senna and Roman Grosjean, both would see out of their depth in the car, especially with Petrov only in his second year of racing.

Nico Hulkenberg seems the obvious candidate to me, he is Force India’s reserve driver, but I imagine they could find a way to get him in the car. He had an impressive year with Williams and I believe he only lost the drive because he could not match the millions brought in by Pastor Maldonado.

Pedro De La Rosa seems another solid choice, he’s been testing for Pirelli for the last year and has plenty of miles under his belt as a driver and test driver for teams like McLaren. Plus he’s probably got more miles on the new tyres than every other driver combined.

Who else is there? There are plenty of experienced hands out there. Nick Heidfeld seems to be the most often mentioned, Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi had some good moments for Force India last year and is without a drive. Kimi Raikkonen, Christian Klein, Jacques Villeneuve and (this has to be a joke answer) Piquet Jr have all been linked to the drive somewhere on the rumour friendly internet.

A massive blow to Kubica, a huge loss for Lotus-Renault, here is hoping he will be back with his old speed sooner rather than later. However, I bet Renault will not let him go rallying again any time soon.

The now long gone Highfield road, The Recreation Ground, Qwest Field, Kingfield and White Hart Lane all have on thing in common, I know for a fact the are all football grounds with in an easy walk of the town centre (the grounds are in Coventry, Aldershot FC, Sounders, Woking FC and Tottenham respectively if you are keeping score), I’ve been to them all more than once.

Then there is The Home Depot Centre in LA, The Ricoh, Madejski and The Reebok. They are in the middle of nowhere, miles from anywhere and the fan is kept captive.

Lets take the HDC, home of LA Galaxy and Chivas USA. It’s a 27,000 seat stadium surrounded by acres of car park and that’s about it. It’s located in Carson, 17 miles from Downtown LA. OK, it’s a little unfair to choose LA when talking about walking anywhere; it’s a target rich environment. But the HDC is surrounded by a few houses, a 7-11 convenience store and a lot of industrial units. There is nothing there.

The clubs seem to like this, take the Ricoh (replacing the much loved, if in a dodgy part of town, Highfield Road in Coventry) as an example. It’s a different world compared to HIghfield Road, a huge supermarket sits next door amid seemingly endless car parks.

Pre-match at Highfield was easy, get up, shower (we were students, so the timing is for a late afternoon game), wander to the Star pub, have a pint or two, maybe a pie and then about 2:40 wander up the road and into the ground for two hours of typically mediocre football.

The Ricoh on the other hand requires a little more planning. The stadium website contains driving directions form all directions of the compass, but one line about getting there from Coventry Railway Station, take a taxi and it will cost about 10 pounds.

There are no pubs near the ground and there are few houses within in walking distance. The website says there are 40 acres of car parks around the stadium, but no pubs. Seen by many to be an essential part of the match day experience.

But Coventry likes it that way. The club enjoys a monopoly on refreshments. The food may be unhealthy and unpalatable; the beer may be over‑chilled and overpriced (and all over your legs when the plastic glass splits); but when you’re miles from civilization it’s the official stadium bar or nothing.

It’s easy to suggest all modern stadiums are built this way, but it’s not the case. Exhibit A is where I’ve thought of as my home stadium for the last couple of years; Qwest Field in Seattle. Just south of Downtown surrounded by bars and a few minutes from Pioneer Square and even more bars and restaurants. Yes parking is a little more of a lottery, especially when there are almost 70,000 there for a Seahawks game.

Walking to the game is possible, a couple of friends live with in walking distance. From Everett I can take the train to King Street Station on game day, from there it’s five minutes to the stadium and Elysian Fields with the great food and even better beer.

In six weeks I’ll be taking part in a game day tradition that untold millions have done over the last 100 years and more. I walk to the stadium with the optimism of a new season, the potential of winning it all, of mowing down all those put in front of us.

It’s going to be awesome.

Finished work a little early to get a chance to burn through a little of my “to do” list before doing something fun. As soon as I got out of the car to head into the courthouse it started heaving down with rain, I mean windscreen wipers on full coming down.

So another grey day in Everett, but it was a productive afternoon.

After that I went and played a game of tennis, my first few a little while, and I sucked. With my new knee brace I looked like robo-cop, but it seems to have held up just fine.

I don’t have much of a forehand, my backhand is atrocious, we won’t even talk about my “so called” serve and certainly let my partner down on the court. But I had fun, swore a lot and it did feel good to sweat that much.

I’m going to be stiff in the morning, but so worth it. Time to take some lessons I think, I managed to find many, many ways to miss a tennis ball or put it out of play. It was fun though and appreciate the patience of those around me.

OK today is another gratuitous cat photo. I’m still recovering from last night, the second part of the heavy metal double header. This getting old thing sucks, two nights where I get back in the early hours and I’m done.

Last night was the prince of darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, at the Tacoma Dome. For a 62 year old who has done enough booze and drugs to have killed anyone other than Keith Richard, he put on a good show. I was warned before hand by a friend that we could be seeing good Ozzy or crappy Ozzy who can’t get through a full set. Last night we got good Ozzy.

A very different concert than Motorhead on Friday night, a huge venue and not nearly as loud. Ozzy still brought it, put on a great show and was wonderfully supported by Slash. Great stage craft, looked good in a crucifix covered suit and again they played the songs everyone came to hear.

Fun couple of nights of concerts. Huge contrasts in the staging and venue, but both put in good, if radically different shows.

Time for a Superbowl party, I wonder if Rob’s got somewhere I can sleep…

As time goes on it keeps getting more and more ridiculous. We’ve been through the car insurance drama (apparently my fault) and so much more (also all my fault), and the latest is my ex deciding not to provide medical insurance for her kids. Over the last year I’ve heard the “I’m just being a great parent” or “It’s for the kids” or some other version of this so many times in response to decisions she has made

Living in a house she can’t afford – it’s for the kids… … Not paying for medical insurance… Deciding she does not have to make the car payment… Not paying the loan she took out back…Leaving the house a total shithole… Spending $1900 playing poker in Las Vegas while out of work… You get the idea, except for the last couple; those are total white trash…

Yet time and time again her actions have not actually matched her “it’s for the kids” words. The kids were allowed to live in that place with dog feces in the living room and so on (the photos are on the site). She spent years putting down their father because he was deadbeat, and then she spent months doing exactly the same things she condemned him for. It’s the hypocrisy.

I knew she got the job in Renton before she did. Did she really thing HR would not at least make a courtesy call before employing someone with a current employee has a restraining order against? I know what she said in November about unemployment running out and not paying the mortgage for the house was total bullshit. Just so many lies and excuses time and time again in an attempt to justify her decisions. One thing work is good at, following processes.

A lawyer put it best and said “when you keep score with money you would be surprised what people can justify to themselves.”

I get the commute from Snohomish to Renton is crappy, but to use that as an excuse to your friends for the house being a total shit hole? Really?

The latest in the long line of lies is over the kids again. She got put onto her own medical insurance on the first of January, this took her by surprise and from conversations from her friends I understand her plan was for me to continue paying her and her children’s medical insurance.

Unfortunately with the insurance at her work if you do not nominate the policy you wish to be on the company assigns you one. It’s all clearly laid out on the benefits website.

Not only does it give you 31 days from the date of eligibility to decide what policy you want to be on, it also clearly says “and your dependents”, what’s more it clearly lists dependents as including (drum roll) kids!!!

So of course one of the questions between lawyers was why her kids are not on her insurance, after all remember being a providing parent is so important to her after being so critical of their deadbeat dad… She had the option, and because it’s all about money for her she thought she would get a win by stuffing me with the bill. Has not quite worked out the way she wanted. She had the option, it was even open for 31 days, but decided not to take it.

There are other lies and marginal truths in the letter to my lawyer, and we’ll get into those some time. Her family read this blog, I get a regular visitors from Castro Valley (I love analytics) and a couple of her friends have contacted me worried about her and her state. She is lying to her lawyer, extensively to her family and friends.

She is not about being an involved parent, she is the selfish, self absorbed individual more worried about being right than a good parent or person. Being called a hypocrite is one of the worst things you can call her, but it’s so true. She just has to think about which of her friends are no longer returning her calls and hopefully she will understand how lonely her life is.

We make our choices and live by the consequences, hers are starting to spiral further and further out of control. I love my life; rediscovering this incredible journey and I have some wonderful the people in my life. It’s a shame she can’t find the same.

Among those consequences is this post, she decided to have this play out in the public and I feel I have no choice but to respond in kind. If she wants this to go away then it’s really simple, all she needs to do is take responsibility for her actions and deal with the issue. She can live in the web of lies, she can make me out to be what ever she wants, she is doing that anyway and I’m a big boy and can handle it. I’ve been far from perfect and I’m owning and dealing with that, I just want her to do the same.

Edit – I had a couple of details incorrect and have corrected that, sorry about that.

Motorhead were exactly as I expected, Lemmy walks on stage, plays 90 minutes of really good bass, sings into the microphone and them Lemmy walks off.  It’s not changed much in 26 years, and that’s what I liked about it.

The band knew what we’d come to see and while the new album made a brief appearance, they played all the classics. Ace of Spades, Overkill and Bomber were all in there, and they were played loud (my hearing took another small step to deafness last night, there were a few came prepared with ear plugs in), just as it should be.

The place was packed with people in their 40’s, this is my demographic! I did not go with the black t-shirt and denim vest look last night that many sported. I decided to skip the headbanging too, it would just give me a headache now.

The show was full of 70’s and 80’s rock clichés and that was just how it should have been. Lemmy may be 65 now, but still pats a great speed bass. It was a loud, fast and exactly what everyone wanted.

We went out for a drink after the concert and it was deep into the morning before I made it home.  I met at home by a pair of hungry cats (and to continue the theme of the night, loud cats) pissed off that evolution never gave them opposable thumbs and looking for a little help in opening a tin of cat food.A few minutes later and they were happy, I was happy and that’s the important part.

Was in Everett dropping some paperwork off this afternoon after work and parked outside the Flying Pig restaurant. It used to be a microbrewery until a few years ago and did a couple of really good beers, I recall an excellent IPA. When the brewery part closed a few year the bar still had a decent selection of interesting beers on tap and the food was pretty good, but certainly a step down from what it was.

Today I discovered it’s closed for good. Downtown has changed and there is a lot of competition in downtown Everett now that was not there 10 years ago, but it’s a shame to see a place I’ve been going to since I moved here closed.

Onto more important things, tonight is part one of the heavy metal double header: Motorhead at a sold out Showbox.

I last saw Motorhead play live in 1985 at Hammersmith Odeon in London. They were one of the first big concerts I went too. I think they were my second big gig, ZZ Top were the first. I do recall Motorhead had one of the worst bands I’ve ever seen as support, Death Angel from LA (they were so bad that stayed with me). The only thrash metal band I’ve ever seen with a drum machine, they were horrible.

I have been rather excited about tonight since it was announced, this is going to be fun night of metal.

I spent an hour or so in Lowes tonight looking at flooring options and trying to deal with the sticker shock. The piss soaked carpets need to be changed out and I really like hardwood flooring. Unfortunately it’s a huge space, almost 800 square foot, and it gets rather expensive. There is an overwhelming choice of finishes, textures and colours that I really need someone who can match colours and help me with this.

An artist with an eye for colour and texture would be nice. I’m colour blind, but I don’t have a clue when it comes to this, do I match the kitchen cabinets? Do I go for a contrast? What is a contrast for pine? I am hopeless.

Just got back in from what was a beautiful evening downtown with friends. I do love living here, I really will miss Seattle should everything come together this spring.