He's Baaack!

Clay arrived last night and I couldn't be happier. Oh wait, I could do without the migraine.... But lots of rest in a very dark room later I'm a bit better and enjoying his company.


As for Clay's 10-day stay: so much to do, so little time! He's already ready to run down to Pike Place and recreate a fabulous fresh dinner, we OF COURSE need to do some apartment shopping, and I still want to see this city's green spaces! The only downside is that there is no doubt that I have a couple hundred emails in my work inbox - no lie :( I haven't quite yet caught up to the speed at which emails fly into my inbox on a second by second basis, but hopefully I will join the ranks soon (psst-don't tell Glee!). In the meantime, I have at least managed to LITERALLY sort through the 660+ emails that I STILL have in my inbox (all sent within the mesely 4 weeks since I've started, mind you) EXCLUDING the ones that I have already sorted away and/or deleted. WEESH!

Ok back to Clay - it's absolutely wonderful to have him here and I think he's getting excited to actually move out here too. So far we've pretty much just stayed close to the apartment but this weekend I'm taking him somewhere out of town...still a surprise for him so I have to keep it the same for you for now. While there is no need for you to hold your breath, you might want to scoot to the front of your seat until I fill you all in on Sunday - stay tuned! :-D

Neighborhood Tour #1: Fremont!

So I took a little drive through Fremont last week and wanted to share some pics... Fremont is the really artsy/funky district that is about 5-10 minutes north of where I am now, just north of Lake Union. The first pic is my fave - it's called the Fremont Troll - it's hard to tell size based on this pic but under the troll's left hand is an actual VW bug. Random, eh??







Next we have their "Center of the Universe" sign. I'm not sure but I think they might have come up with their city slogan after meeting one of the Crawford boys. Ha! I kid - but they really do like that phrase. Once again I'm sure it'shard to tell anything with this size of pic but it has all sorts of signs and directions pointing all of the place.







Pretty unique, right? So this, children, concludes your Seattle neighborhood stop #1 - stay tuned for more hood adventures soon! :)

So I'm in a big HR conference

I'm terrible with estimating crowds, but I'd say there are a good 300 employees in here. It's a huge room and EVERY person in here has their laptops up and are just typing away. I'm still getting used to being able to multitask in the open - I no longer have to hide it!

So as I multitask, I figure this is a perfect time to talk about the campus - needless to say I'm still drinking the kool-aid and the honeymoon has yet end. Campus is huge - it is so much like a college campus - have I told you about that yet? If so, jump down a paragraph; if not, listen up. (I can never distinguish when to use commas vs. dashes these days -,- email has completely ruined my punctuation and I rely entirely too much on dashes and ellipses these days but oh well.... Ms. Houghton isn't reading this, and even if she were, she can no longer make me stand up in my chair and repeat the grammar rules that I messed up to the whole class over and so hahah ms. houghton - I might even start setting off my one word appositives with commas or underline, italicize, AND bold my titles. Take that! I swear I have PTSD from her class...) Whew, so I digress...so campus is just like a college, in fact it reminds me of Georgia Tech - lots of grass but still a fair amount of streets, tons of brick buildings, intramural fields everywhere, people walking and biking around with backpacks, it's crazy. Add to that the guy to girl ratio of about 2 or 3 to 1 and the high percentage of asians - well it's exactly like Tech! The only difference I've found so far is that I've gotten lost on campus here several times but I don't think I ever got lost at Tech. Oh, and as much as I hate to say it, this campus is much more technologically advanced - well at least compared to Ma Tech back in my day.....

So each building has a kitchen on each floor with all of the free drinks, a large first-aid kit attached to the wall (which I first thought was for huge freak emergencies only, but it turns out it is a goodie box full of free medicine - oh the free advil and band-aids!), free girlie products in each bathroom, 2 locker rooms per building equipped with showers in case you bike to work and need to freshen up once you get to the office (or if your spouse kicks you out of the house and you need to live at work for awhile I suppose), and lots of break rooms with foosball tables and ping pong tables. Legend also has it that each desk on campus has a liquor license in order for anyone to have drinks in the building. In fact, last Friday I walked past the cafe around 3 and there were huge buckets filled with ice and beer...oh to be on that team....but then again supposedly that's not rare.

Even cooler is that our badge gets us anywhere on campus - ok I'm sure there are some places that we're not allowed - but for the most part you can venture anywhere. Coming from a stupid bank that won't even let you into floors in your same bldg that are other departments - this is way cool. So I've been doing a little wondering around campus for lunch - you can call a shuttle from any building to any other one whenever you'd like, so Joe took me to a part of the campus he used to work at last week. It was amazing! Each group has their own flavor and personality -this was an online group so it was really creative and so beautiful. 5 or 6 brick buildings with gorgeous landscape including a small waterfall and lots of picnic tables and green space. But the coolest building is the cafeteria - it looks like a huge ski lodge and inside is every kind of food you can imagine - all fresh and made to order and GREATLY subsidized. It is so cool! The only bad side is now my cafe feels lacking, but hey that's all the more reason to go venture out to all of the others on campus in the future!

Dang, I'm sorry folks, I promise to stop writing novels for each blog!!

Love you and miss you all, come visit and I'll show you around campus! :)
e.

ps-if you want to take it another step forward and REALLY join me - I'd be more than happy to sub resumes, they have a great referral program! ;)

Just found the downside to highrise living...

So admittedly I slept in a bit and that I take responsibility for...BUT taking an additional 30+ minutes to get to my car once I left my apartment - that is all the fault of the highrise!!! Want a recap? Oh you just try and stop me.

I finally get myself out of bed, shower and get ready - running a little late, but hey - it's Friday and my first meeting isn't until noon. Gather up my laptop bag and my diet coke, grab my keys and head out to the elevators. Now I've long since dreamed of an elevator call button inside my apartment or a graphical representation of exactly where the elevators are at any moment, but for the most part my lazy self feels worth it to wait a minute or two for moving transportation that will save me 24 flights of stairs. At least until this morning.

So as usual I hit the call button and wait for my chariot...and wait...and wait...and wait... Ok, I hear someone in one of the shafts so they're probably working on one of them so we're down to 2 ellies. Fine. I wait and wait - well, what the heck, I'll go ahead and put on my earrings while I wait...ok that's done. I'll open my coke - ahhhh the refreshment. Still waiting. Ahha! It's arrived! I guess it was worth the wait.

Now normally I'll make it down to the parking deck easily on the express - and occasionally I'll have 1 or 2 passengers join me along the way, so no worries when it stops on 19. Guy gets on. Ok, smile smile, still early - but don't talk to me because I'm not a morning person, so just look at the floor or at the numbers slowly decreasing as we plunge downward... What? Another stop on 17 already? Fine. Oh great, it's a maintenance guy with a cart - you know what that means - another stop in one more floor. Kriepe. 16 he gets off. Ok seriously?? Another stop on 14??? FINE. 3 more people, all carrying blankets, which begins a semi-conversation - "ah, had to wait so long you were afraid you'd fall asleep so you came prepared, eh?". Haha. Let's get a moving folks.

Seriously?? ANOTHER STOP? Ok people I could have walked up and down 24 flights 3 times by now. Whatever. Ok, this ellie is packed. No more stops, please no more stops. WHAT??? Another stop? We're already full!! "he, he", I think - I have control of the door close button and it's so full no one can see me discretely hit the button before the idiots can try to squeeze in. "he, he". WHAAAAAAAAAT? Thwarted by the friendly guy with the blankets??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Fine. Please be only 1 person, please be only 1 person - and for the love of the Lord above, please no dogs!!!

Dammit. A dog. A big friggin golden retriever. FINE. and 3 people - I mean does it really take 3 people to walk the dang dog?? You're all just testing me now people! But we're finally on 6 and I'm feeling lucky - one more stop and I'll be good to go.

Then just as I was starting to calm myself down with some deep breathing, it happens. You've GOT to be kidding me. I left my friggin phone in my friggin apartment. You've got to be kidding me! On a day with only 1 ellie working, 15 minutes invested in the process - seriously??? So I spend the next 5 flights debating the pros and 1 HUGE con for actually taking this entire rigmarole all over again.

P1. I'm finally here. What to do, what to do? Oh no, I'm supposed to go see a local band with Joe tonight and I'm sure to get lost and I'll really be kicking myself if I don't have my phone. Dammit. I've got to do it.

Wait for it - wait for it - deep breath, hit the button.

This stinks. Get on, press 23. Deep breath. Besides, surely everyone in the entire building who wanted to go anywhere was on the last train...... Fine. stop on the lobby level -that's to be expected. Fine, get in you apartment viewers and you leasing agents, fine. (I bet they even had an appointment - losers.) Ok another explanation about the ellies again - heaven forbid the potential renters think this is usual, so let's all laugh it off as you pull the curtain over their eyes wiz.... OH and did I mention another friggin dog got on at the lobby? Now you all know that I have a terrible dirty secret that could get me stoned in certain crowds - I'm not a dog fan. And you know what happens in highrises? People have to take their dog in the elevator and outside to let them take care of business. Well you know what happens in Seattle??? IT RAINS. Do you know how much I hate the smell of wet dog??? Now add that smell to the other 5 people trapped in a tight elevator with little to no air circulation and it's practically my hades on earth.

But I digress - fine. They're going to 6. I can deal with that. Of course we stop on 5 and another leasing agent with another looker. And he's the annoying one. Oh no, he tells everyone, "there really are 2 working -it's just that when 1 ellie is down, then one of the others only goes down and the other only goes up." "ahhh", the riders say. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? THAT REALLY MAKES SENSE TO YOU PEOPLE??? Guess I'll just stay on this one then because I'm headed right through the roof just like Willy Wanka I suppose. Idiot.

So 4 more stops and I'm FINALLY back on 23. I prepare for my takeoff and return - I cleverly hit 27, the highest floor in the building. You see that way, I'll run to my apt, grab my phone, and be back in time to catch it on it's way back down (assuming this ellie will actually come back down at some point and not fly out the roof). I'm so smart.

Ready? got my key ready.
Set? it's about to stop...
Go!

I run as fast as my heeled sandals will let me, trying not to spill my coke or toss the laptop in the wall - quickly stick in the key (leaving it in for efficiency's sake), grab the phone, run out, lock it, run back over to the ellies and hit the down button. Did I get it?? My heart is racing. Please, please, please let me catch it. DOOOOHHHH I hear it pass by. Dangit! My plan was missing one action item - I should have hit the down button BEFORE I ran to my apartment! Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Fine. I'll wait. I'll squat down on my heels, catch my breath and friggin wait again. Seriously people, it's taken so long my coke is almost gone. Dang I hate this place.

No less than 10 minutes later, my chariot arrives. 2 people already onboard complaining about the wait - if they only knew........

Now I won't put you through the entire rest of my trip - but needless to say it took me a loooong time to get back down.

Finally to P1, keys in hand, ready to bust this joint. What? Seriously??? ANOTHER guy jumping in front of me to get off first? Seriously. I miss southern gentlemen SO MUCH. Sure, the bank was a slow moving beast filled with old people and old technology , but I don't think I EVER had a guy leave an elevator or door before me. But that happens ALL the time up here - talk about rude! I swear the next time another guy jumps in front of me I WILL knee him in the nuts.

Seriously. Get some manners people! And I tell you what, if you could get all 3 elevators working while you're at it - that'd be great.

Your comments make my day :)

And I just realized that I should really be replying to them. This blog has made me so lazy about email and personal responses, so I have decided to be better. At least I'll try!! Thanks you guys - it sure helps me start my day right when I hear from my fam and friends 3,000 miles away....

Crap - a mtg with my mgr - I'll add more after the meeting.........

Wi-fi (aka "wiffy" for Ginny) everywhere!

#3 for the day - but I just had to tell you I'm now in a pizza joint and working online... I love this city ;)

Hey - it's not my fault you know - the bus drops me off right outside a pizza parlor - how can a girl resist?? :) :) :)

The wheels on the bus....

2 posts in one day is crazy, I know - but how can I refrain when I'm connected to free wi-fi on my free shuttle! Too cool. Just hope it doesn't get crowded - I need to spread out here..... I mean how is a girl supposed to play text twist without enough breathing room?? At least there is good people watching - I'm starting to notice the difference between the different orgs, the game writers vs. the hard core techies vs. posers like me in HR....

I feel short.

Boo-hiss. These crazy hippies up here don't wear heels!

Don't kid yourself - I still wear mine on occasion (because of course to leave them hidden away in the back of a closet would be nothing short of pure blasphemy) but have decided to join the crowds on occasion and get some (gasp!) flats. Not only do I have to get no-heeled non-sandal shoes, but it's very European up here so no light colored shoes allowed. Jenkies. So off to target I went (you see I'm a big spender now that I'm a softie) to get me some boring short shoes. What before my bright eyes do appear? Not just black, blue, and pink chucks...but CAMO CHUCKS!! Darn straight I got 'em! So no worries you southerners - I'm representing the dirty south even when up north. They may bend me but I will not be broken!

Speaking of turning granola, I turned another real corner this morning...besides officially being in town for a month and one day, I ventured on to mass transit for the first time. (Not the public bus yet but that will come next... baby steps needed for this Marta-traumatized Atlantan!) Today it was the company shuttle that is offered free of charge - complete with a charter-type bus equipped with wi-fi and a straight shot to campus. So up I wake this morning, put on my new camo shoes, my white jean jacket (which by the way is rebellious in and of itself in a sea of black coats swimming through the city), my laptop bag with zune in pocket and ear buds in ears to walk/bus to work. So Seattle! Well with one major difference - I sported a diet coke in hand instead of the uber-common starbucks cup. Just as I said - I'll bend but some items will always stay Erika!! (even if this Erika is 3.5 inches shorter....)

To market, to market...

Had SUCH a fab-tab day yesterday. I finally have a friend up here!! :) A co-worker came downtown yesterday to see my apartment and do dinner - we had such a great time. First of all he approves of the apartment and was super impressed at the location, views, etc. (and even the price) which was good to hear from a local. We then just started walking downtown and ended up at pike place to just shop around - we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day - slight breeze, around 70 degrees, sun shining and not a drop of rain in sight (although it did snow again on friday evening but nothing stuck). The food looked so fantastic at the market we actually ended up buying EVERYTHING for dinner there (2 kinds of handmade flavored pasta, fresh organic produce, fresh baked sourdough, and a delicious sun-dried tomato olive oil for bread dipping), and mom I finally bought my huge, beautiful, and way cheap bouquet of fresh flowers!! It was so super fabulous. We then stopped to get some wine on the way home and found pike place label wine! It was fate - we simply had to get it to finish off the meal. Back at the apartment I started to fix it for us, but it turns out his dad is a chef and he actually knew what he was doing unlike me so I even had dinner fixed for me! To top it all off it turns out we like a lot of the same music and shows on dvd as well so I have a music/tv buddy now too! (don't worry folks, before the rumor mill begins, I'm not his type without going through some major reassignment surgery...)

This all probably seems minor to you all but for a girl who hasn't had a local friend in a month it is the most exciting thing since the treasure hunt for black bean burgers....

ps-his name is Joe, hopefully you'll be seeing more about him in posts to come :)

Feeling the miles...

So last night was one of the first nights I really felt the miles between here and home. I was feeling pretty home sick - I didn't think it would bother me at all being in such beautiful surroundings working at such a great company - but I guess it does. Sorry mom, but apparently if you are born and raised somewhere and live there for 30 years, no matter how great or how bad it is, it's home. I guess I'm just a "GRITS" at heart ("girls raised in the south" - ala the bumper sticker that says "I love GRITS"). I've even found myself leaning on the girl from Florida as the only other southerner around (despite the fact that Floridians are just geographically confused yanks), and even worse reminiscing about Hewitt with a coworker who worked out in the Woodlands for 9 years. Now you know that's desperate!!

I would have never guessed how much I miss rednecks, jacked-up pick-em-up trucks, and all of the local jargon. I realized yesterday that it's been over a month since I've even seen a rebel flag and I made the mistake of mentioning that to someone in a meeting when I was immediately attacked by daggers shot at me from all around the room. Apparently if you ever need a way to shut up a room of washingtonians you just mention the rebel flag. I mean seriously people - it's just a symbol and you are all privileged whities so no need to be offended. I then mentioned to someone else that I haven't seen anybody wearing a single article of camo (besides the socks I was wearing yesterday) and they answered me in all seriousness that "over in eastern washington you'll find more hunters but the terrain is probably different so it will probably look a little different than what you are used to". I laughed at the idea of him only associating camos with hunters. Silly Seattlites - camo is for everyone, not just hunters! I mean sure the ugly "real tree" camos that DJ wears - well those can be reserved for animal killing trips but not the "good camo"! I swear I never imagined that moving north would make me more of a southerner than actually living there did. I actually wish my accent were stronger now!! Who knew.

Miss you all,
your southern belle e.
(ok well maybe not as refined as a belle, but at least a southern girl)

Lotion, Fingerprints, and a Gadget

What is stuff Erika needs in Seattle, Alex? You got it.

You see the good news is that humidity is not an issue up here at all, but the bad news is that my skin is absolutely parched!! I think I've used more lotion in the last month than in the last year, but I'd consider dry skin instead of the suffocating humidity a good trade off, so I won't complain. Not only that but my fingerprints have become my best friend as a password for EVERYTHING on my computer so I guess I should probably take care of them anyways... Both my laptop and my super-fancy phone have fingerprint readers so no more passwords needed for anything! It is so cool - I can even use any of my 10 fingers. I'm thinking about trying toe prints next but I'll wait to get a little more familiar with my coworkers before I start pulling out my calloused feet and scaring them all off just to login... But no fear - I will try it someday and keep you all posted. (Now for those of you who are thinking of chopping off my fingers to get access to my computer - don't even think about it - it must be a warm finger with active blood flow, so no Mission Impossible moves allowed kids.) They tried to enforce a retinal scan next, but I told them my one-eyed brother wouldn't approve of lasers coming at my eyes, not to mention how aware I am of a looming potential retinal detachment at any moment...

"But Erika," you ask, "what about the gadget?" Glad you asked. As long as you won't tell my employer, I will share my latest techie geek tool. Deal? Deal. Look to the left (not the left of your computer guys, the left of this text). You see the "Add me to your iGoogle Page" text? Hit the button below it. Really! Now! You now have my famous blog on your home page (assuming you're using iGoogle, which you really should be, but since I can no longer promote it ask Clay ;) ) and you'll see new posts there as soon as I post 'em. Cool, huh?? I thought so.

It's PAYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let us rejoice. A moment of silence please.

Now scream! Woooooohooooooooooooo.

Not a minute too soon - I had a dream last night that my credit score went down to a 282. Seriously.

Well if I HAVE to watch the 'mercials....

Ok, you all know by now how much I desperately miss my TiVo, so in the meantime I've decided I'll use this time to do some good (since I'm dying inside!!!). You see I've been looking for new music lately so here are a few songs that are surprisingly commercial inspired (way to sell out bands - thanks! no, really, make the mullah where you can!!)

• kia: here
• allshaft: (editor's note: I HATE allstate but I LOVE lifehouse so it's bittersweet as I post this) here
• bluegrass roots: (ok it's not a commercial per say but fills my young kid bluegrass familiarity and has been advertised as coming to sea lately) Woods Brothers - BONUS!! They're coming to SEA THIS WEEK! Stay tuned...hopefully I'll go :)

Random links I like:

• Beau/Elizabeth/Baby Jake - miss you guys!
• last.fm or 99x.com to listen to music at work
• amazon.com duh!! ;)
• Underrated music blog - she has lots of good lesser known artists/music to explore
• Text twist [ed. note this is a VERY addicting game so don't even start it unless you are ok getting hooked forever and ATTEMPTING to beat my 300,000 score...]
• Seattle Rentals - more than just the apartments, I like the overview of the diff neighborhoods in case you're curious about the local 'hoods...
• Piperlime - SHOES!! Free shipping AND free returns. It's like shopping in my living room. Also TrueJeans is cool for moving the dressing room into the comfort of your home - girls you can measure yourself in the privacy of a dark room and enter all your stats and attributes of pants you like and it tell you exactly which brands/styles/sizes will be good for you. Pretty cool! Also you can enter "truegenes" as a promo code and get 20% off! Wow. I should get a commission.

Ok I'm sure I'll add more shortly...stay tuned once again!

Pictures Finally - Maybe??

Hello my Blogience! (that's my clever name for you out there in web land reading this - get it? my blog audience. somehow "fan club" seemed slightly narcissistic, even for a Crawford)

I finally gave up on perfecting the picture slide show and adding music in the background - at least for now... in the meantime I think I've posted what I have so far to the left. I had to create a youtube account and post it there (yikes!!) but that's the only way I could do so without lots of trouble figuring out another way... So yes, I have a youtube account, but no, I'm not a perv or weirdo who posts random videos of me dancing to 80's music or performing stupid stunts, I PROMISE!

So as for Sunny Seattle, it actually got up to 70 on Saturday - it was absolutely beautiful! I had an old friend from Hewitt in town for a few days and we were able to do the touristy stuff on the most beautiful day I've had out here. The views from the needle were amazing: Rainier was as clear as the building next door and Pike Place Market was buzzing with activity and the most beautiful (and cheap!) flower arrangements and produce... One might even say it was a little slice of heaven (and by one, I mean my mom of course).

The only down side to the day was returning to the non-AC apartment that afternoon - it turns out the window method of cooling only works if there are breezes outside, and even then the breeze can't compete with the wall of sun shining in around every corner (I know I should close the blinds but I can't bear to block out the views)! It got so bad that even in shorts and a t-shirt I was sweating (not unusual, I know) so finally I dug deep in the closet to drag out the ghettoesque fan that was left by the temp housing folks. I know you all have visions of window units, ceiling fans, or even something that oscillates dancing in your head, but 'twas no such luck...not even close. Instead think back about 25 years ago to the oh-so-pricey beige plastic box fans that sit on the floor, sound as loud as a diesel F350, but produce little more air than flapping a piece of paper in front of your face: yeah, that's the one. [Sidebar: for those of you who were lucky - dare I say blessed - enough to know me and my bros as little kids, it is the same fan that we used to sit behind and talk into pretending we were airline pilots. I can hear it now: "this is the captain speaking...we have reached 30 million feet travelling at 5 miles per hour. if you look to your left you will see the washington monument and to your right the mississippi river...." (give us a break, we were just little kids! we didn't know how fast and high planes really flew nor had we learned our geography lessons yet...but flash forward 10 years and my german exchange student and I DID learn that even though the plane is landing in autopilot, you still need to operate the brakes yourself, else you'll end up in the potomac river - turns out THAT is the river in DC...stupid flight simulators (or shall I say "Flight Stimulator" like Jake used to say???)] But I digress....yes, that is the crappy fan I was reduced to and needless to say Clay and I are narrowing our apartment search to air conditioning units only!

Ok, back to work now.... KIT! :)

Well I do de-claaire....

If you'll allow me one more rant - this is getting ridiculous. Me talk English two u know. We live in the same country!! Stop pinging and syncing and hard stopping and dropping darn it. Enough about your "perners" (because apparently emplID's and empl stats mean NOTHING up here - literally blank stares as if one couldn't piece it together at all - it's all about personnel numbers). I mean no one has even used the word "personnel" since the more PC "HR" came along decades ago and CERTAINLY techies use ID's instead of numbers?!?! Furthermore, I know every company thinks they use a lot of acronyms and they all think they use more than the average bear (ie. Hewitt's acronym for their acronym dictionary, which thankfully I have forgotten), but this is over the top. ROM's are rough orders of magnitudes (I mean are they TRYING to sound intelligent??), they UAT instead of test, they have CSP's and JTT's and MMM's; SPSA's and IP SPSA's (and yes, they actually say "S-P-S-A's-AND-I-P-S-P-S-A's" because heaven forbid they just say STOCK even though it usually has to be said twice because the first time they said it they are bound to switch around at least one or two of the letters but can't let it go), I am working on CMAT, CBC, and even P@M which has nothing to do with email at all. Weesh! Well LMNOP people! Trust me people - you sound smart enough, start talkin' english like I like it!

My boss actually said to me on my second day here, mid sentence in one of our touchbases, "HEY! I just heard your southern accent! Have you been hiding it??". Umm. No? I don't have a southern accent, thank you. You should meet my friends from mac-rae and carpel-tunnel gaw-ga. THEY have southern accents. In fact - I'm thinkin' 'bout talkin' extra real southern just to prove me my point. Then it would be THEY who didn't understand ME! HA! "How'syourmomandthem?" "'djaeatyet?" "Let's go muddin' ya'll!" "I'm gonna put on my hills and go walk up that heel to buy me some whoopin' cream and me-elk" (I miss you Glee!!!)

I'm putting it on my agenda tonight to memorize every single line from each of the blue collar comedy tours ASAP. In fact, maybe I'll just play them in my office 24/7. See how it feels people? Don't feel like you're in your own country anymore do ya now??

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to the library to find Bre'r Rabbit.... because frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

Oh the shock and horror!!!

So now begins my grocery store tirade....and might I add that thank goodness I waited a day to make this post else I would have filled it with Seattle bashing and post-decision regret!!!

I knew moving out west would come with certain struggles and a few adjustments...but I never expected this. I really thought that core certainties in life would never be in question. Sure i have a roof over my head and a shirt on my back; lack of air conditioning was a shock to my system but I'm slowly learning the science of window-controlled temperature regulation; safety is an ongoing issue but I always watch my back and carry my mace; but THIS??? This is shockingly scary and absolutely unacceptable.

No Morningstar Spicy Black Bean Burgers and no White Cheddar????? Only Gardenburgers and Yellow Cheddar??? Not even not-so-sharp white cheddar?? What sort of cheese racists live up here anyways???

No Publix, no good cheese or black bean burgers, no Mellow Mushroom, no good generic tonic water, no liquor past 8pm even on weekends....I mean it might sound dramatic - but it's a good thing I didn't know about these things before I moved out here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Add to that Diet Coke 12 packs at $7.99 (REALLY!), a COMPLETE lack of anything even resembling an east-coast pizza or pizza joint (and no, the one that calls itself east coast but has no beer or wine or liquor or decent chairs is NOT sufficient), no Sweeetwater, and roads that are completely devoid of any jacked up pick-em-up-trucks or rebel flags, and - WELL - what's a southern girl to do??

Just as I was ready to pack my bags and return back south....enter Safeway. I call it the Publix of the north you see. I guess it only took 5 (!) tries to find it (I seriously checked out 4 different supermarket chains including fred meyer (aka the wal-mart on crack - more on that later) all to no avail (and no, mom, I didn't check out "Whole (Paycheck) Foods" or its more expensive cousin "PCC", but come on - I still haven't gotten my first paycheck so give me some time before I blow it all at a grocery store!)) I GUESS it was worth the wait. Very friendly staff everywhere (ala publix), plenty of beautiful produce, SEVERAL kinds of white cheddar including Cracker Barrel (yummy) aaaaaaaaaaaand my Spicy Black Bean Burgers!! I quickly bought every box they had. Now I'm stocked up just in case Safeway crashes to the ground at any moment. SOOOO much better.

Phew! Crisis averted. Guess I should can call off the national guard now. I feel better. Don't you?

Who knew I could write so much about groceries??? Guess too much computer time and not enough human interaction are starting to get to me ;)

...and then there was one.

I'm sadly back on my own again today, but the good news is that we had a great time and next time Clay comes back it will be for even longer! (Not to mention the added benefit for all of you now that I'm posting again without distractions ;) ) Bottom line though we really enjoyed the week - Clay got to see what it would be like to work from home and I it looks like it is going to work out well. Believe it or not he even actually got up from his work "early" (aka 4pm PST and 7pm EST) to walk around the city and venture out before I got home to see what the city had to offer! If you know Clay AT ALL this is VERY impressive!! ;) That said, I think we'd both agree that we are looking very much forward to living in the same time zone again. We looked at a few apartments/condos over the weekend - but would you believe that some of these snootie patootie leasing people actually expected us to have appointments??? For a friggin apartment??? Unless you're a doctor or a hair dresser then you best work on my schedule whenever I say whenever I want!! Snots! Their loss as far as I'm concerned - Clay and I would be the perfect renters and might even help fill their redneck quota......oh wait is that only at Tech?

HEY - speaking of which do you know someone at work actually had the nerve to not only call me a "hornet" (although I'm used to being called a "bee" by jealous friends back home so no skin off my back), but to tell me they had NEVER HEARD of Georgia Tech???? Clay says they're just ignorant so I'll go with that. My team made up for it though the other day when I found out that 3 of my teammates are vegetarians!!! Not only did the carnivores stay in the conversation after that, no one even asked me "do you eat fish? chicken? how do you get your protein?"; in fact everyone started giving me recommendations to lots of vegetarian and vegan restaurants all the while assuring me that being a veggie up here is nothing out of the ordinary!! WOW! Woohoo! :) Not that I ever mind the way things are down south, but it is pretty cool being in such a vegie friendly city!!!!


One thing I forgot to mention last week (I think?) - I got my escape back!!! She made it all the way across country, gimp hood and all. The tow truck guy delivered it to my work last Tuesday AFTER he fully washed and polished it - it arrived in better condition than I sent it off in! On the flip side, the guy said that I need to fix my hood - apparently it's a "safety issue" that I'll be ticketed for up here - I miss GA where it just made me fit in!! ;) In the meantime I'm hoping the GA license plate will buy me some time until one of my big, strong, brilliant brothers comes up to fix it for me.... (does flattery work boys? No? Ok I won't hold my breath I promise :)

Tons more to write but I feel like I should spread it out a little.... There's a video of my pics coming soon I promise <insert collective scoot to the edge of your seat here> but I'm just finishing up the last details before I post...

Love ya'll ;)
e.

You like me, you really, really like me! :)

Ok I think I finally get why people get hooked on this blogging thing. People are actually reading the ramble that I type and even posting replies! Woohoo! I feel so loved - thank you guys!! :)


Now on to the latest in not-so-rainy-Seattle....Clay's here! It's so good to see someone from back home again. Clay and I have been working during the day and then checking out the different neighborhoods and local haunts at night. I think we are both hooked on the idea of a high-rise, the views are absolutely addicting! It makes living in an apartment again so much easier, all that is left is to pick a neighborhood! Seattle has so many different neighborhoods, each with a personality of its own, the only problem is that there are too many good ones to pick from! Right now I'm in Belltown which is just north of (but still walkable to) downtown (very similar to midtown atlanta just without so many rainbows) and I think this is probably our #1 pick...but then again there's Eastlake right on Lake Union, so cute and active lower Queen Anne, the artsy Little-five-ish Fremont and next door Wallingford, or maybe even the way fun (but potentially more dangerous) Capital Hill. Decisions, decisions, decisions!


Wow this post is feeling boring...I'm even putting myself to sleep. Surely there is some quirky antedote that I'm forgetting about right now... Must be writer's block setting in now that I know you guys are actually looking at this! ;)

Tomorrow Clay and I are going to an 'open house' at work followed by a trip to the company store - I can't wait!! Then on Saturday we'll do more exploring of Seattle and hopefully check out some of the millions of parks around the area. I want to check out the downtown library that is supposed to be beautiful but it turns out Clay doesn't find that as interesting as I do - that will have to be something I do on a weekend when I'm here alone ;)

Later gators,
e :)