We've got spirit.

For my 31st birthday, $ treated me to an evening on the dinner train. We started south of Seattle in Renton at the Spirit of Washington depot. Our final destination was Woodinville, where we visited the Columbia Winery for a cellar tour and wine tasting. The ride was extremely relaxing with dinner (and a bottle of wine!) served along the way. Complete with nice views of Lake Washington, the ride also provided a look at Bellevue's skyline, which looked surprisingly similar to that of Indianapolis. The ride back was a little bumpier, but we were able to indulge in an amazing chocolate paradiso cake in raspberry sauce. Yum! The night was lovely, though... couldn't have asked for a more unique and fun way to celebrate!

Life in a duplex.

It's sort of weird living in a white-walled place that isn't our own again. At least we have flowers...

Goodbye Mom.

Mom left today after a fun, sun-filled five days. We did so much! We wandered around Fremont and saw the troll (photo album forthcoming), ascended the Space Needle, shopped at Ikea, and went to the Chittenden Locks to see boats and salmon transitioning between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. We set up two beds in the bedroom since the stuff hadn't arrived and we couldn't figure out how to work the heater. =) We also watched "Sleepless in Seattle" - and it didn't have much Seattle in it! The last two nights we discovered beautiful Alki Beach just down the street from our house. We watched the sun set over the mountains both nights. Pretty great way to end her stay... can't wait til she comes back!

KF-Suck.

My coworker Mike was waxing philosophic on Kentucky Fried Chicken today: "I used to like to dine there, but now it's not so good. I think maybe the people don't care." Too true, man, too true.

Commuting.

Today it took about 40 minutes to get to work, whereas on Friday around the same time it took me about 15 minutes. Hrm, I'll have to figure out what's going on there. It seems that rush hour traffic tends to get lighter the farther in the week you get. I like to think of it as "commuting by attrition".

Nathan's Floor.

It's funny how you can get used to circumstances so easily. My sleeping routine at Nathan's involves dragging the blowup mattress out of the closet, blowing it up with the little machine, arranging blankets, turning on the noisemaker, and negotiating lights out. At some point during the early morning I'm typically awakened by 1) Molly the Cat meowing or jumping on the mattress, 2) trash and/or recycling trucks, 3) a crow that apparently lives outside Nathan's window (the crow is definitely the worst...who knew that crows lived in Seattle? I'd take the seagulls and pigeons over them any day.) Upon awakening I'd look out Nathan's right window that has the shade pulled up about 1/3 of the way (the other is always down), and see the cloudy sky that would usually turn to sun by late morning. I got really used to all that, and now I get to learn another routine at my new place...pretty exciting!

The Asher.

So you know the person who keeps ashing and throwing cigarette butts out the window onto Nathan's car? Well, today I came back to his place and parked in the spot for about 20 minutes. When we came out there was a bunch of flowers and a note attached to my windshield..from The Asher! Apparently her name is Melanie and she's "sincerely sorry" that she threw the butts on his car, as she didn't realize that there was a parking lot below her window. I think the real question is why would she be chucking her butts and ashes onto the ground anyway instead of throwing them away like a normal person? Anyway, we're not sure if she had a change of heart because Nathan wrote a letter to the apartment complex last week, or if she saw us hanging around the lot and realized that we were actual human beings. We prefer to believe it's the latter.

Teriyaki Again.

I stepped in teriyaki in the Target parking lot today.

I'm Going Mobile.

So today my car arrived on the moving van. Nathan graciously agreed to drive me to Tacoma (actually Lakewood) to get my car, which arrived last night from Dependable Auto Shipping. The estimate called for it to arrive on Sept 28, so it was 10 days early, which was a nice surprise. The drive took about 50 minutes, but it was quite lovely out, and Tacoma was very pretty from the highway. They have this gigantic "Tacoma Dome" right off the highway, and their city is also on the water. The car was located at a place called Lakewood Towing, which isn't the nicest sounding place to pick up a car. Fortunately it was all in one piece, and was looking quite dapper from a wash and vaccuum. Actually it looked nicer than usual.

Nathan let me park my car in his parking spot, which is kind of a double-edged sword. It's pretty safe and convenient, but will most likely be covered in ash and cigarette butts from the jerk living above the lot. Normally that wouldn't bother me too much, but right now my car looks pristine. I tried parking far back in the space in hopes of avoiding an ash attack.

Introducing Chop Suey.

On Saturday we went to my first Seattle club, Chop Suey, to see Stellastar. Chop Suey reminded me a bit of the Lava Lounge in Chicago, probably because it was almost completely red, but with lots of Asian accents. The bar was exceptional, and featured lots of local brews, along with the evidently required PBR on tap. I'm pretty amazed how often you see that here...it's really become quite a phenomenon. Of the local beers, the best seems to be Mack and Jack's (African Amber). There's just a certain flavor quality about it that is really remarkable. None of us can seem to put our finger on what it is. I'll have to bring some back to Indy sometime, if I can find it in bottles. Apparently it's a Redmond company, and they do offer tours; I'll definitely have to track them down. Anyway, Nathan and I had a couple of these, and I also had a Dick's Danger Ale, which I bought for the great name alone! Fortunately it was quite tasty as well.

The two opening bands were pretty awesome. The first was Joy Wants Eternity, an instrumental band who combined the best of Mogwai and Spiritualized, but added a keyboardist. They were very mesmerizing, and featured a plastic model wearing angel wings, a tv for a face, motherboards for a skirt, and Christmas lights. Definitely a band to watch out for (they informed us that they were local). The other band was Every Move a Picture from San Fran, who obviously need a new moniker. They were an excellent band, however, with kind of a Britpop-meets-The Faint sound; sort of a fresh take on 80s and 90s retro combination. Their singer reminded me of Gene's Martin Rossiter. Stellastar was pretty good, although I only recognized a few of the songs (I need to listen to them more, certainly). They put on a good show, but made us wait until the very end for "My Coco", dammit.

More Seattle Charms.

Washington Mutual (aka, "wamu") ATMs are really chatty here. Nathan says it's like "you're having a conversation" with them. They even open with "What language would you like to speak?". It's a little weird, but charming.

Have I mentioned the teriyaki places here? My god, they're everywhere. I'm sure I don't get it. By the way, this is called "foreshadowing".

We went to a store called REI, which was this absolutely massive outdoor equipment store. It's like if you combined every Dick's and Galyan's into one place. They even have a massive climbing wall that has to be 100 feet tall! You can literally get anything outdoor-related here; it's like its own little city.

Buses and Wildlife.

I keep trying to snap pictures of the local squirrel population, but they always seem to sense what I'm doing and escape. Generally the squirrels here are slighly smaller and grayer than the Indiana variety, and even more skittish.

As advertised, the bus system seems quite efficient here. So far they've all been clean and on time. Even odder, though, is the level of politeness involved. Most of the bus drivers seemed positively excited to be driving, giving directions, and announcing stops. Stranger yet, many people give them a "thank you" when exciting the bus! I've never seen anything like it.

International District Oddities.

On my way home from Loudeye, I spotted a Vietnemese gentleman with a load of soda cans walking down the street. This was unusual in that the man was wearing a classic Vietnamese wide-brimmed straw hat, and was carrying the cans in large bags attached at either end of a bamboo pole. Safe to say that this isn't something you'd see in the midwest. :)

Near Safeco Field I spotted a car with the following bumper sticker: "Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial."

On Roosevelt street near Nathan's apartment there is a gigantic video sale/rental store called Scarecrow. You could literally browse this place for hours. Not only are videos organized by title, but there are also massive sections organized by country, director, and even by famous quotes! Very impressive. You'd certainly need a region-free DVD player to get the most out of the place, however. One such quote posted under its relevant title: "It's a shame what happened to your mother. She was a very handsome woman." -Royal Tenenbaums

Coffee and a Hair Cut.

Today Nathan and I hung out at a cafe called Zako all morning. These people definitley know how to make a cappuccino/latte...it's damn close to as good as Italy. They even make little brown and white designs in the foam. The U of W football team was playing at their stadium sort of close by, so we ended up getting a parking ticket on a residential road. Apparently there was a sign at the end of the block, stating in tiny font the game days that you could not park there. Sigh...

We walked over to the "punk rock barber" on University Street (which everyone calls "The Ave" for no obvious reason). This place is a hoot: a bunch of punky looking guys and girls giving funny haircuts, and they also sell concert tickets. Unfortunately it turned out that they were selling tickets with an un-punk-like $4.25 service fee. We ended up driving over to Neumo's, where I bought Idlewild tix at the bar, sans fee.

Charles.

Ever since I got my new cell phone number I've been getting calls about every other day for a guy named "Charles". I've got the routine down now:
"Is this Charles?"
"No, he doesn't have this number anymore, but if you find out what it is can you call me back so I can give it to everyone else who calls for him?"

So far no one has taken me up on that.

The weirdest call I got was this one:
"Hey Charles, this is your laser hair removal madam! Are you ready for your next session?"

Being Tom Robbins.

Nathan and I attended a reading at Elliot Bay Bookstore, a super-cool place, with an extremely old school vibe and groovy cafe in the basement. Here we watched Tom Robbins read excerpts from his last book of short stories and essays. It didn't seem to be his best work. Fortunately he made up for it in the Q&A session, in which his answers were very funny and informative. He was especially great while telling a story about how he quit his job at the Seattle newspaper to write novels full-time, all because a red-bearded wino laughed at him while he was wearing a suit (apparently he's a Seattle local, who knew?). Apparently he'd given the following advice to a guy in the audience sometime in the early 70s: Find your own red-bearded man.

Vacation Is Over.

Today was my first day of work at Loudeye. When I first walked in I met Craig, with whom I'd had the ridiculously long tech interview over the phone. "So you really exist!", he said. He proceeded to show me around the place. The server room was absolutely massive, not to mention the CD depository; I'm pretty sure they have a copy of every CD ever created in there! I was finally sold, though, when I saw that not only did they have free sodas and water coolers, but there was a Tornado foosball table in the break area. Life is good.

To celebrate my first day, Nathan, Auri and I adjourned to Hale's Brewery. Of the many, many brewpubs and beer joints I've visited in the last week, this one was definitely my favorite. Of course I ordered the beer sampler ("the wheel"), and was delighted by the creamy cask ales (blonde and porter), and the grapefruity seasonal ale. The food was terrific as well, especially the fluffy sandwich buns, which tasted like English muffins, and the "Jo Jo Potatoes", which were like a spicier Rally fry. Yum!

According to Peet's.

Today I used my last day before my new job starts at Loudeye to drive around the city some more and get a feel for the highways and 'burbs. I started out by driving to the nearest Peet's Coffee, which turned out to be a bit tricky to get to. By the way, I recently learned that Peet's is a Berkeley-based company, not Seattle as I'd previously thought, and that there are actually only 2 in this city..one in Green Lake and one in Fremont. Anyway, once there I ended up buying a bag of the House Blend, and got a free cup since the woman misunderstood my order. After sitting down, I overhead a conversation between several people debating the merits of Seattle versus Chicago. The former Chicago dweller was adament that out here people are nicer, more laid-back, and less aggressive. The woman concurred, and also mentioned that Seattle sells more sunglasses per capita than any other US city...probably because people get excited when the sun comes out. Although, I must say, I've seen the sun every day since I've been here. I have been warned, however, about the impending "rainy season", which I'm not really looking forward to.

The BrewHaHa

Today I drove to Magnolia to submit the application for the rental duplex I found. I took a seat in the coffee shop next door to the agency while they checked our references. It turned out that the shop, with the somewhat unlikely name of BrewHaHa, was a real find. It was tiny, offering only 3 or 4 tables and a couple of easy chairs, but the proprieter, a soulful fellow named Patrick, was an amazing guy. After getting a coffee and donut and having a seat, I was regaled with an inspiring array of political philosophy and observations, all in an impressively articulate manner. The only other seated customer, a semi-blind pigment-less lady called Melinda, happily agreed with each assessment, often throwing in semi-relevant examples from her career as, apparently, an "alternative-product" pet food salesman. Patrick kept putting on cool vinyl albums, like old ragtime, Brazilian, and other odd genres..it definitely added to the ambience. I'm definitely going to have to return here when I turn in rent checks.

Motorin' West.

I checked on the progress of my car on its car-toting truck this evening. Oddly enough, it's currently residing in Albert Lea, Minnesota, which happens to be the town in which I was born. I haven't been there since I was two, but apparently my car has returned for a visit.

Pizza and Colts.

Sunday night we went to have a Zeek's Pizza accompanied by a Mack & Jack's beer, which turned out to be quite tasty. The Colts were on the TV, playing in their season opener at Baltimore. Watching it was very surreal, and made me feel a bit homesick. It was kind of like watching your friends play somewhere far away. Very weird.

Irish Pub Night.

Today day Nathan was kind enough to drive me around the city for apartment appointments (or as I like to say, "apt-appts"). The first thing we did was grab a latte (my first one in Seattle!) and donut in the cafe at Metropolitan Market in the Admiral area of West Seattle. What a beautiful grocery! This was to be only the first of several amazing groceries I've visited. Never thought I'd get this excited about those. :)

That night, while walking around the University ("U") District, I noticed a restaurant called My Sweet Lord. Thinking that this was an odd name, I inquired to Nathan about it. Apparently this joint gives away free food! However, once you've eaten you're forced to listen to a sales pitch for Hari Krishna. Kinda of like getting one of those free trips, but instead of a trip you win some mediocre vegetarian fare.

Later we ended up at a pub called The Galway Arms. Nice selection of beers, of course. We both imbibed a Manny's, while sitting outside by the sidewalk. For some reason everyone seemed to think we were an Information desk. First an obviously wasted wino came up and asked "where can I get a beer around here?". I guess he didn't notice he was standing in front of a pub. I wanted to tell him he should probably try wherever it was he had his last 10 beers, but Nathan was kind enough to point out the local package store (or "bodega", if you're from the east coast). Another guy walked by several times searching for a particular bar, but couldn't seem to find it in either direction, no matter what instructions he was given.

Across the street, another pub, The Dubliner, was featuring a ridiculously loud cover band, who proudly covered such noteworthies as Jet, Franz Ferdinand, and others in an extremely ham-fisted way. One guy kept wankily solo-ing over everything. It reminded me of Blueshammer from the movie Ghost World ("I been pickin cotton all day long!").

Welcome to Seattle.

As of Friday, 9/9/05, I'm an now an official Seattle-ite! I've been having a lot of thoughts and observations about the area..and then I remembered that we have a blog. What a nice coincidence!

The first thing I did upon arriving in the city is visit Pies & Pints, a small beer and food joint that specializes in savory pies and beers on tap. I got the Mediterranean pie and a pint of Stella (since I didn't recognize many of the other beers, a problem which I hope to rectify soon). We explained to the waitress, Emily, that I had just moved here and that her pub was the first place I went. I think she was impressed (she gave us all of our drinks for free!). She was a somewhat recent transplant from Austin, TX, herself, so she had some encouraging remarks.

I'm staying at Nathan's studio apartment that he owns in the University District. It's small but cozy, and we're sharing the place with his two kitties, Twinkie and Molly. Nathan's condo/coop is called "The Wayfarer Cooperative", and notes "Make sure that the door clicks behind you before you continue your journey." That's pretty great. Even funnier is the the apartment building next to Nathan's, called Rivendell. They describe their condos as "Enchanted Rooms". Apparently the owner wants to open another place called The Lothlorian, although it's up in the air whether he will be allowed to do so by the town elders. That's pretty geeky, but I love it.