Here there be dragons,

and pirates that like to go bowling. Or at least guys that work for a company with a pirate mascot do. Last night five of us went to a place called The Garage that is part bowling alley, part pool hall. Its close to me and, at least during the week, is pretty relaxed. Whatever skill I managed to build in high school PE bowling class I have completely lost. My first two frames were gutter balls, but I managed to pull off two spares later so at least I redeemed myself. One of the guys actually pulled off the Fred Flinstone move where he walks on his tip toes up to the lane. His name is Biggie and he hit more pins than I did that round. I'd hold it against him but he's entirely too much fun. His wife is great too. She and I have a common understanding that Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is gorgeous. We only bowled one round. The game had started late and we all had work in the morning. I'm looking forward to doing it again though. Hanging out with pirates is fun.

Climb inside the purple sky

The sunset today was absolutely gorgeous. On my way home I was stopped at a light and when I looked in my mirror all I could see was this gorgeous view of the Sound. The mountains were varying shades of purple, the sky was shades of copper and gold and the water looked like silver. I love that every day on my way home I have a view like that. It won't last, I know. Eventually winter will set in and I'll be whining about how icky it is. For now though I'm thoroughly enjoying the view every time I come and go from home.

the title is from Painter Song by nora jones

Wandering close to home

When I first moved here there were posters and signs everywhere of a cute little goldfish with the tag line "let Leonard in." There is even a website that you can check out in support of Leonard. It is a fun campaign for the recently renovated Seattle Aquarium. After seeing the cute posters everywhere I decided I wanted to go and check it out.

I wasn't expecting much. I grew up fairly close to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and, at least to me, it is fairly impressive. Seattle Aquarium may not be as large, but it is fun. There is a huge tank just as you walk in that is filled with a number of different fish and has a volunteer standing next to it answering questions. Little kids were paying rapt attention as this woman explain in simple terms what each fish was and where it lived in nature. It was really sweet.


Just past that was a cool tunnel you could walk into and watch the jellyfish swirl around you. We stood there watching that for a while until we heard little kids shouting "WOW" and went to investigate. Right around the corner was a circular tank that was connected by a tube to a larger tank that held a rock reef. What had grabbed their attention was the octopus that was taking a walk from one tank to the other. Couldn't blame them for being impressed, it was really cool.


There were other fun exhibits including the very cool large clam that had neon blue strips. A cute one must have been designed with Finding Nemo in mind as it only had a "Dory," a "Marvin," and a "Nemo." There is also a tank that is built like an igloo that you can sit under and watch fish. One of the best was the otter tank. Not because it was any better than the others, but because they were adorable.


After exhausting the aquarium we we went for dessert (in lieu of dinner) at a cute local place called Dilettante. The truffle case alone is a very happy thought. The cappuccino gateau was just as great. Once we had gorged ourselves on chocolate we went in search of a book shop that no one we asked seem to have heard of. Wandering up Broadway I realized why people told me I lived in a great area. If the restaurants there are half as good as they smell I am going to go broke soon. All in all it was a great day and I can't wait to explore my own neighborhood soon.

Who needs a map?

I got to see the Ballard Locks this weekend. Ballard is an area just to the north of downtown Seattle, and used to be its own town. About a hundred years ago it was made a part of Seattle, but the area kept the name. A running joke in the area is a bumper sticker that says "Free Ballard." Anyway, a couple people I had told I was moving to Seattle highly recommended the locks as something to check out, so I was pretty happy to discover that where we were.
The Locks are where boats enter and exit Lake Washington, and in reducing the structural stress is how the city keeps the bridges up. Lake Washington is higher than Puget Sound so the boats use the locks as a sort of elevator between the two bodies of water. There is also a pretty park that surrounds it and it includes a steep hillside my nephews would love to roll down.
After wandering around the locks for a bit and getting a great education about them we kept on walking. Eventually we stumbled across Discovery Park and I got to see yet another great view. My tour guide was fantastic. He pointed out that to the right were boats, to the left were some islands, and straight a head was a container ship. I was with a native of Seattle and we had no idea what the view was of. I just laughed. We wandered a bit more, and without really paying attention to where we were going we eventually made our way back home. All in all it was a great day.

Same song, different verse

We had our weekly purchasing meeting today. I shouldn't have been surprised by it, my boss announced last week that we would be having them on a weekly basis. The problem is that my last boss claimed the same thing and never followed through. So this morning when my coworkers started heading towards the conference room I was a bit surprised. Sitting at the table though things began to seem more and more familiar. My boss began talking about the downturn in the market and that we should be pulling stock from our warehouses rather than buying from vendors. We have to do so without putting our warehouse's saftey stock in jepardy, or risking loosing customer orders. I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep from laughing. I can't begin to count the number of times I've gotten this lecture. It shouldn't be amusing, but it is. All I could think is "no, really? Cause I was going to pick up another container of stock just for fun." While my last boss may have let me sass at him in our small department meetings, my current one might have fired me on the spot. Still, all day the camp song kept repeating in my head,

Fried ham, fried ham / cheese and bologna / and after the macaroni...

Soaking up the sun

I went on my first ferry ride yesterday. It was a crystal clear day and barely in the 80's, which I was told is a pretty warm day for Seattle. We managed to show up at the ferry dock just in time to see it pull away. Since we had about an hour we decided to walk around the pier to kill time. That's when I was introduced to Sylvester the mummy. This wouldn't be so creepy if you couldn't see the bullet hole and the blood stained skin. On the up side I did get to see what I was promised was a real jackalope, and the remains of a mermaid and her spawn.
Soon after we discovered that we had to get back to the ferry. Its a good thing we booked it down there because we were at the front of the line, and they had started loading the ferry. They were actually having cars drive around ours. There was a guy in front of us that hadn't made it back to his car by the time we drove onto the boat. Once we were well on our way we realized that we hadn't seen him make it onto the boat.
We spent the day on Bainbridge island just driving around and checking things out. At one point we accidentally drove off of the island. No, not off a cliff. We just didn't notice the bridge. Goes to show talking while driving can be as distracting in person as over the phone. Anyway, neither of us had been before so we had fun wandering around. Took us a while to find somewhere we wanted to eat though. Eventually we found the Treehouse Cafe and had some really really good pizza.
The weird part of the day was that the smell of the trees was different. I can only guess that it was the lack of redwood trees on the island. Even so I had a lot of fun enjoying one of the last summer days. Between the company and the place I am absolutely loving it here.

Ready or not

Tomorrow I start a new job. I will once again be working in the construction industry, and this time I get to clean up a very big mess. No idea how to do it, but I'm going to get two weeks training- maybe. I haven't even started and I know I'm in over my head. The next few months will be interesting as I learn an entirely new system, memorize countless specs, and convince vendors that unlike my predecessor I'm not evil. Fortunately I have some experience with the last part, just not on this scale. I’m intimidated, and more than a bit nervous. I’m also looking forward to kicking butt.