C Note(s)

Bye Bye Summer With August 2017 in the books, and September just starting, it's time to say goodbye to summer. How are you going do it? Here's a few ideas on How to Enjoy The End of Summer, as far as I'm concerned. Once again the 3-months afforded to us, Washingtonians, has evaporated. But we have one last chance before summer is officially over, and the kids have returned to school... that is known as Labor Day Weekend. One glorious 3-day holiday weekend for last hurrah. I know it's difficult to wrap your head around summer being done like dinner. How to enjoy the end of summer can be done. I read various articles on ways to rock the ending of summer. I quoted a few, added some myself, and here we go: How to Enjoy The End of Summer Geocache ! That's right, y'all. It's the worldwide sensation; either continue or start it. The GPS-based, scavenger hunt game is awesome way to celebrate. I realize I've written about this before but it's pe...

The summer of 2017 in Seattle has been a scorcher! If memory serves me, we had 100 days of no measurable rain. So we had to find ways to #beattheheat ! There are obvious ways, and then of course, creative ways to cool off. We'll quickly go over the more obvious ways, then on to the fun ones! Captain Obvious Ideas : Drink Water - Good old fashion water consumption is the best way to beat the heat. Your body uses that water to cool off like the water in your vehicle's radiator. And you should drink plenty of it! Air Conditioning - In your vehicle usually has air conditioning as a standard feature. And some homes, in the Pacific Northwest have it installed. I had a heat pump installed in my newly purchased home which will provide cold and hot air. Based on my experience at Costco, the portable air conditioning units (window installed too) and fans were the first to be sold out. Be In The Water - Wanna beat the heat? Hit the beach! Go to the lake, river, pond, or any body...

I love playing the drinking game, Never Have I Ever , while sitting around a campfire or in a conversation circle at parties. Especially, the parties I'm hosting! It's best played with a mix of long time friends and newly established friends. Never Have I Ever: Summer Fling If you're not familiar with the game, here a quick review of it, which also can be found in the Wikipedia entry. "The verbal game[1] is started with the players getting into a circle. Then, the first player says a simple statement starting with "Never have I ever". Anyone who at some point in their lives has done the action that the first player says, must drink.[2] Play then continues around the circle, and the next person makes a statement.[3][4] An additional rule – uncommon, but beneficial to the game – is that if there is no one taking a drink, then the one who said the particular "Never have I ever…" must take a drink. This rule often forces the players to strateg...

Paris, "The City of Light". Despite that light, I still had a lost American in Paris that I needed to find. It was in 2004, I was in my 2nd year at Costco Travel. In those 2 years I had accomplished so much in such little time, I had the biggest task assigned to me. To travel with and escort as a Costco Travel representation for the Kirkland Signature European Cruise Tour. I wasn't the tour guide, per se, but more like an assistant to the tour guide assigned by Princess Cruises while holding the best interest for the Costco Members and Costco Travel. And somehow I had on the first real day together ... Lost American in Paris Before I left the office, I had several meetings to prepare me for the 12-night Cruise Tour. The overall message that I detected was my primary responsibility was all Costco Members were to be protected. Thankfully, I would be meeting up with the Princess assigned tour guide to speak the various languages, be knowledgable about the countries, and...

So, my manager and friend, Mari, managed to lock herself out of her house on the day of a gig. A gig, she and I, were working together for the first time in a long time. It reminded me a "getting locked out of your house" story that wasn't my doing. When my sister isn't living with me, she usually finds trouble at some point. And I mean big trouble. Then she'll call me. When I answer, her greeting is the tell-tale sign that's she's in trouble: "Big brother, are you sitting down?" At the moment of the call, so many years ago, I wasn't, but I quickly made myself to a sitting position. "I am," I replied grimly. She blurted out, "Pumpkin (her cat) locked me out of the house!" My eyes furrowed, "But you called me from Dad's home phone. So you're not trapped outside of your house is not a possibility at this point." "True. I'm in the house now, but it took me a few tries to get in. Are you busy...

A couple of years ago I had the rare opportunity to visit the Central American country of Costa Rica. It was strictly for business, but hey, a trip is trip and for a guy who loves to travel - I wasn't gonna say no, let's be honest. There were many stories that originated on the trip. However, the one I'm focused on today is the Bye Bye Costa Rican Birdie! Bye Bye Costa Rican Birdie One of the last days of the business trip was one of adventure seeking, and boy did we get it! This story is part of a larger tapestry of fun. The entire day was spent at Adrenaline Adventure Tours. Our tour guide, Arturo, and his trusty sidekick that drove the bus were fantastic. The "bus" was 15-passenger vehicle with large windows to ensure everyone had a great view of the passing landscape and animals. For example, birds in the tropical forest. As in, bye bye Costa Rican birdie . Speaking of windows, whenever the bus was stopped we would open the windows to cool off sin...

Hot summers like this one in the Seattle area always reminds me of the summers I spent at the Fire Mountain Boy Scout Camp . My favorite memory is the... Canoe War at Fire Mountain that broke out between Boy Scout Troops. Camp was only a week long but for a young teenage boy it seemed longer. While there was several entire camp involved activities, you were mostly on your own. In other words, you decided how you spent your days. The activities were geared toward earning merit badges. There's a man-made lake as a centerpiece of the camp. It's obviously the location of all the water activity. One of the merit badges available was canoeing. I knew this would be my only opportunity to earn this one. First, I must confess at the time of this story I swam like a 40 pound anvil. Honestly, still do. Â As you can imagine, that water safety was the top priority of the staff. Thankfully, life jackets were on hand for our use. The culmination of the canoeing merit badge was to p...

I wanted to preface this post with the fact I'm not a father myself. I would gladly fulfill that role if need be, but I'm not currently. And I realize that everyone will exclaim that I have the best father ever. Well, my retort is to say I have the best father for me. What Father's Day Means To Me is to pause and give thanks to the man I proudly call my Dad. Being raised by Charles C Bayne was an interesting experience to say the least. As I innately knew that his love for his children, consequently me, would drive all his decisions about my upbringing. What Father's Day Means To Me Growing up I would ask my Dad all sorts of questions because he was the closest adult that I knew, and frankly, he knew (knows?) everything! And looking back, many of the things he taught me and said to me were ... genius. When I parrot any of his thousands of sayings, the listening audience either acknowledges the truth in it or accepts it as fact. I just didn't realize it at th...

In the early 2000's, I attempted several times to establish myself as a professional photographer. My friends and family were concerned with the developing technology on cameras on mobile phones would mean the death of the professional photographer . I even started off leveraging my photographic retouching skills that I had learned and practiced with my mentor, Juan Aguilera.   And so I attempted to grow of Keeping Digging Workshop , which was the first incarnation of photography, video, and music for several years. During those early years, the exponential pace at which mobile phones did to develop their camera technology, basically meant the death of the professional photographer - like myself.  Once I was playing a more active role with A Amore' Events & Entertainment , the role of photographer on events diminished. The demand for Master of Ceremonies (MC), Disc Jockey (DJ), Host, and Ordained Minister was more so than the professional photographer - at l...

The following is the next installment of a series honoring 20th time for not having my Mom around for Mother's Day 2017. 
 Part II: The Middle The US military did eventually station my Dad in Long Beach. Mom's citizenship was granted with the marriage. However, my Dad made a promise to return Mom back to the Philippines within 5 years to visit as condition of having the blessing of the union. The 70's was still a tumultuous time for the amount of civil unrest throughout the United States. Can you imagine uprooting your entire existence, move to another country, that you barely speak the language, but look relatively like a person that the US Military is embroiled in a foreign, controversial conflict with? You either must be crazy or brave. So thank you, brave mom! I wouldn't exist without your bravery against the harshest circumstances.  Eventually, and luckily, Dad and Mom moved up north to Washington State in the Green Lake area. Then my mom was soon pregn...

The unfortunate events on 4/9/17 on United Airlines flight 3411 which was departing Chicago to Louisville, got me to thinking after several friends asked me questions regarding actual travel policies since they knew I was in the travel industry for 20 years. United still stands, divided we fly. In summary, the common scenario of passengers being bumped from a flight escalated into a physical altercation with aviation authorities which have mostly been confused with United employees. You can read the blow-by-blow, very detailed account of what happened on Wikipedia - click here . I first learned of the incident on my Facebook News Feed by reading status updates such as, "I'm never flying United again" or "United's actions were horrible". My eyebrow raised as my interest was piqued. Especially with the hashtag of #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos as the Twittersphere was absolutely relentless on their trolling for United Airlines. Before the facts were establ...

My most recent visit to the iconic fast food restaurant, In-And-Out Burger, in San Jose, CA reminded me how I was in-and-out of trouble one particular sunny day in Las Vegas ... I love In-And-Out Burger, but none are in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Seattle area. So it's an absolute foodie treat to consume it, because I'm usually on vacation at some sunny destination that has it. For example, Las Vegas. That's right, Sin City! My crew and I traveled down for our annual "brodown", which always includes at least one stop to In-And-Out Burger. The location of the restaurant is off-off Strip, so that means a pain in the ass to access, the parking lot is not big enough for the demand, and it's popular to boot. Coincidentally, a couple of female co-workers of ours were in Vegas as well. We arranged to meet up there at the In-And-Out Burger. All was well, right? Nope. After we purchased our food, we withdrew to the outside patio area to nosh tough...

Happy Easter from the Evergreen State which is Washington State (NOT to be confused with Washington D.C. which is the acronym for District of Columbia) While watching the final minutes of the movie, Logan , as the main character Logan aka Wolverine using his Adamantium claws, brute strength and healing power to berserk his way through enemy soldiers to get to his daughter who was being hunted like a dog in a thin forested area, I was reminded of an #Easter memory. It's a day in Bayne history as the one "that Los went ALL Wolverine" (or Hulked out, or full-potato or well, you get the picture) Lemme explain further, and in more detail. Growing up in the modest city of Mountlake Terrace, my family was lower to middle, middle-class. So while we had money for a roof, food, and clothes, beyond that there really wasn't much to spend needlessly. Which meant no extra expenditures on toys! As a child, I had to be resourceful in securing new toys. Well, the City of Mou...

Everyone loves pie, but do you enjoy Raspberry Pi ? Yeah, I didn't think so... Several weeks ago, my girlfriend invited me to tag-along with her to her son's S.E.A.M. Workshop (Science, English, Arts, Music) at his school. One of the science stops was the Raspberry Pi presentation. I didn't know what it was, or ever heard of it so that automatically piqued my interest! After listening a grip, and taking photos, I researched it further on the ye old Internet using my Goodigilence (yes, that's an Urban Dictionary word) Here's what my research yielded. The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing countries. The original model became far more popular than anticipated, selling outside of its target market for uses such as robotics. Peripherals (including keyboards, mice and cases) are not included with the ...

I learned many life lessons while working at Costco Travel. One of which was being ... Showtime Ready! A couple years ago I was still working at Costco Travel therefore sometimes I traveled for business. And even while traveling, especially on behalf of Costco, you should always be Showtime Ready! One of my last business trips was to Puerto Rico and Aruba. In order to appreciate this story, you need to know that Costco will maximize their investment in you. That translates into full itineraries from sun up to sundown on each day of travel. Honestly, I would do the same. A typical day is a group breakfast, followed by a full day of 5 to 6 hotel site inspections, and finally a group dinner or activity. Of course, nothing that involves humans operates exactly on schedule like a Swiss watch, so adjustments are required on-the-fly. One particular day in Puerto Rico we were terribly off schedule due to unforeseen events. Like I said, not perfect. Our group leader, also my manager...

I've experienced karaoke cheers and jeers over the years. While I've karaoked a few times in my teens and early 20's, I really only recognize my early 30's as my start to my karaoke "career" for lack of a better term. And what I meant by "career", I included time behind the mic as well as in front. That's right, in the early stages I was karaoke host with the most at Malarky's. When I wasn't working, I was singing at the same place. Once I was established and comfortable hosting karaoke, I was encouraged to tour the surrounding area including Seattle to observe other karaoke. Not necessarily to compare myself but know how other DJ's do it. See what their strengths and weaknesses are, and see how I can apply that to my show. Karaoke Cheers and Jeers All and all, I've had an awesome time singing, and drinking beer with my friends while waiting for my turn. I've learned my vocal tone range, and the songs that fal...