This past Sunday, Troy and I were planning to go to the library downtown so that we could find a few books about home design and decorating. It started raining while we were eating lunch and it rained the rest of the day off and on. We didn't want to wait to get a few books because we wanted some for the plane ride to San Francisco. So we decided to walk to the library in the rain, over a mile each way. It was kinda fun walking in the rain with our umbrellas. The rain was nice for a change too since it hasn't rained much lately and it cooled things off. Now we have some books to look at to help us decorate our place.

The things that are in Dallas/Fort Worth that I like most are family, friends, and food. You can add football to that list too, since I'm a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I've been able to travel back a few times to visit with family and friends and to eat the food. However, I'm a little concerned about what I'll do once the regular season starts. Seattle Seahawks games will get local priority, so if the Cowboys and Seahawks are playing at the same time, the Cowboys game won't be on local TV. So, I'm trying to figure out what to do so that I can watch the Cowboys games, because not watching them is not an option.

There have to be other Cowboys fans up here, so I'd be curious to know what they do to watch the games. Unless I make friends with a Cowboys fan who gets all NFL games, I'll probably have to go to a sports bar to watch the games.

I'd like to find a sports bar that is close to downtown and thus, close to me. If I could walk to watch the game, that would be ideal, but I'm open to driving a few miles. I'd rather not have to go to the suburbs. Also, I'd like to find a decent place, nowhere too loud or rowdy, since Lesley will want to come along (to root against the Cowboys, unfortunately). But, I don't want somewhere very upscale or high-priced.

Anyway, I'm not sure how to find a place that meets those criteria, but I'll see if I can search online, ask around, and maybe find some kind of Seattle Cowboys fans group to ask. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

I've never been very interested in the Olympics until this year when Lesley got me interested in it. We got cable just in time for the Olympics and have been watching some every day. We only have limited basic cable, so we don't get all the channels that show the Olympics, but we do get the Canadian Broadcasting Channel, since Vancouver is nearby, and their coverage of the Olympics has been better than NBC's. But, anyway, watching the Olympics has been quite enjoyable, and a good way to pass the time until football season starts.

Troy and I leave for San Francisco in two days, it's coming up soon! I can't wait! I have a lot of ideas of things to do and places to go. My Dad gave us a few ideas for where to eat too. One main reason we're going is so we can hang out with our friend who goes to college there and have him show us around. We're going to a Giants game Wednesday night and then we plan on renting a car on Thursday or Friday to go to Muir Woods, Sausalito, Tiburon, Yerba-Buena Island, and the Marin Hills. We'll definitely ride a cable car at least once and I'm hoping to eat at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory twice. And of course we'll go to Fort Point, Alamo Square, Chinatown, Golden Gate Park, and Fisherman's Wharf. We'll probably run of out time to do everything we want to do.

It's weird that we'll be flying again so soon after our last trip, barely two weeks ago. It seems like I've flown more this year than the rest of my life combined. Here's a list of everywhere I've flown or will be flying this year:

Jan 08 - Flew to Seattle/Portland for interviews
Aug 08 - Flew to DFW
Aug 08 - Flying to SF
Dec 08 - Flying to DFW

Anyway, I'm looking forward to going to San Francisco, it should be a lot of fun.

For the last few weeks, I'd really been wanting to go for a hike. Lesley received a book detailing some nearby hikes for her birthday, so we decided which hike we wanted to do and set out to do it this weekend. I was afraid that the weather would be too hot again this weekend, so we set out early for us (10:00). Unfortunately, the trail we chose had water damage, so we had to turn around after about 15 minutes. So, we chose a second trail and went there. According to our book, there was supposed to be a good viewpoint. Unfortunately, we never found it. But, it was still a very good hike along several well-shaded trails. Also, we ran across an old, abandoned car, which was strange. Anyway, I was glad we went hiking again, and am looking forward to going back to look for the viewpoint.

As of today we have been living in Seattle for 6 months already. The time has flown by. As Troy mentioned in a previous post, we're very glad we moved here. We just love being in Seattle!

One significant difference between living in Seattle and living in D/FW is the cost of living. Things like rent and food do generally cost more here, however it hasn't impacted us.

Our rent costs 64% more here than it did in the suburb of Dallas we were staying in, however if we were staying as close to downtown Dallas as we're staying to downtown Seattle, the cost of rent would be pretty close. Continuing to live in a suburb wasn't an option, so our rent cost would've increased regardless.

And, we've managed our other expenses well. Groceries are a little more expensive here, so we've learned to shop for better deals and only buy things when they're on sale. Gas and parking are more expensive here, so we sold a car and drive very little.

Overall, our expenses have been a little higher on a monthly basis, but if we lived in Dallas and bought a new car, we'd be spending more than we spend here. And, with the new higher-paying jobs we've both gotten, our income after expenses is higher here. So, we're actually better off financially after moving here.

There is a lot of new construction in Seattle, especially near where we live. Most of the development is residential, as more people are drawn to city living for various reasons and as developers try to profit off of underutilized land. These new developments will be good for the area as they will provide more activity and convenience to people spending time in the city.

Unfortunately, while the construction is in progress, all these construction zones are annoying. Lesley walks by three construction zones, plus a scaffold, and street construction on her way to work. While it's not particularly loud or unsafe, it just makes it less enjoyable to walk. There are other construction projects in the area, too, some of which are just annoying whereas others are inconveient due to sidewalk blockage.

It will be good when these projects are finished, but for now, I wish they could do more to keep the sidewalks available to pedestrians.

Since we've been doing a lot more outdoor activities in Seattle, I've been wanting some hiking shoes. I finally bought some from REI last weekend with some of my birthday money. I initially was looking at some other shoes, but they didn't fit that well and I didn't know what to do. Then one of the store employees showed me another shoe that fit my narrow foot much better. I ended up buying the ones he showed me and they were on sale too. I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend on a new trail we plan on going to.

I also bought some winter clothes at REI. It's really convenient that REI is only 3 blocks away. We like some of the styles of clothes there, so we'll probably end up buying more stuff there.

Our home phone line is being disconnected today. I used it some for work, but now that I'm not working from home anymore, we don't really need it. We used it infrequently at other times, but it's not worth the extra whatever it costs. The only problem is that because we don't have a local number, now when a visitor gets to our apartment building, they won't be able to use the call box so that we can let them into the building, but that doesn't happen often enough to warrant keeping the phone line. Plus, now we can put away the phone that has been sitting on the counter. Anyway, I'm glad we could do that, I feel like we just simplified our lives a little bit.

The view from our apartment is awesome. We've added more pictures to our "View from Our Window" gallery:

Yesterday was my first day at my new job. Unlike my old job, I actually have to get dressed and go into the office for this job. Aside from that, though, things are going well so far.

On my first day, I got a new laptop, flat-panel monitor, and cell phone. However, the most exciting thing that I got was a FlexPass, which allows me to ride all local transit systems for free.

As for work itself, so far I've mostly been sitting at my desk and reading things. My boss has spent a lot of time teaching me things, and I've learned a lot so far. I'm very eager to start actually doing things and getting to know more people in the office.

I took a few more pictures in our neighborhood and have added five of them to the neighborhood gallery. I'm still not enthralled by the area, but I'm recognizing that it's better than I originally thought and is rather convenient to a lot of things, even if those things are not as close as I would like.

When I was back in D/FW last week, it almost seemed like I never left. Everything there was very familiar and rather uninteresting. Being there reminded me of why we left in the first place. While never leaving Texas would've been easy and normal, I am very happy with our decision to move to Seattle.

Driving around during our visit, I knew where every road went, was familiar with all of my surroundings, and didn't really miss any of it. I talk about the things I miss: family, friends, and food; but Fort Worth isn't on that list and neither is Dallas. While the cities have their advantages, along with the benefits of my friends and family, it's not enough to make me wish I stayed. Continuing to live in the same metropolitan area where both of us grew up and lived in would have been boring, routine, and tolerable at best.

However, Seattle fits our ideal lifestyle and interests better than any city in Texas does, by far, and moving here has offerend numerous benefits. Moving here has challenged us, the change of scenery has stimulated us, the things we've discovered here have been incredible, and our lives have been enriched significantly. There's no question that moving here has caused us to grow and mature like no other experience could.

It sucks that it's not as positive of an experience for everyone else as it has been for us, and it hasn't been without its sacrifices, but the great thing about being adults is that we can do what we believe is best and we believe it's been worth it. I won't comment on what the future might hold, but for now I must say that I'm very glad we decided to move. So far, it has proved to be a great decision and a highlight of our lives.

I saw the most ridiculous Chevy truck commercial ever last week. They were advertising some huge truck as being environmentally friendly because it got really great gas mileage - 20 miles per gallon. What the heck? How is that environmentally friendly? That would be terrible mileage. I just thought that was absurd. People in Texas just love their trucks. I don't think I'd ever see that kind of commercial in Seattle.

We went to Discovery Park a few weeks ago on a very nice afternoon. It was a nice day for a walk and the Sound was very blue and beautiful. Click the picture below to see a few others.

It's nice to be back in Seattle after being gone for 6 days. It felt like a long trip and I actually ran out of things to do. It seemed like I was just there in DFW, even though it had been almost 6 months. If my family didn't live in Texas, I don't think I'd have any reason to ever go there. I don't like the culture or the weather and I got really tired of driving everywhere. It was always muggy (humidity usually above 70%) and hot outside which made it miserable to do anything outside in the afternoon. Everything was so dry and ugly-looking and the water was very dirty looking from the plane. I noticed a lot of differences, mostly the same things Troy noticed. All the buildings are short, especially in Fort Worth. And downtown Fort Worth is very tiny compared to Seattle. There were very few people walking/exercising outside and I think I saw one guy on a bike the whole time I was there. It's just a totally different place from Seattle.

It was so nice to fly back and be able to see all the pretty mountains and trees and water. We took the bus home from the airport and then walked to the drug store and the grocery store downtown and then took the bus back to the apartment. All of that, without a car. We didn't use any of our gas and didn't have to fight traffic or anything. It was a relief to be back.

I'm also glad that Troy has finally quit his old job and now has a new one here in Seattle. It will be nice to finally have some stability and I won't have to wonder if his boss is going to call him and ask him to go back to Dallas any more. I'm looking forward to doing more things here in Seattle.

I arrived around 2 on Friday afternoon and we drove to my parents house and then went to eat at Uncle Julio’s for dinner. We all shared some queso and Troy and I shared the chicken fajitas. We each got our own Swirls, which were really really good. After that we went to the Kimbell Art Museum to see the current exhibit called The Impressionists. My parents wanted to see it since they went to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and saw a lot of paintings by Van Gogh and Renoir. After that we went back to their house and ate some chocolate cream pie from the Swiss Pastry shop and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Troy was also very intrigued by my dad’s iPod.

On Saturday, we went to eat at El Fenix with Troy’s parents and then played on their new Wii. After that we went to visit Troy’s grandmother, who was actually sick at the time. Thankfully we did not catch her cold. After that we met at BJ’s Restaurant in Arlington for my Uncle’s birthday and we saw the extended family. We visited for a while at my Uncle’s house and then went to hang out with Andy. We went to Dairy Queen and then hung out with Sofia and played a fun game called Taboo.

On Sunday, Troy and I went to our old church where we got married and we talked to our pastor after the service for a little while. He was very happy to see us and was glad we visited. My mom made a big meal for us that included baked ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, and rolls. It was all really good and Troy especially liked the ham. My dad showed us some photo albums from trip him and mom had taken to Seattle and San Francisco and he showed us some articles he’d kept that talk about things to do in those cities. After that we went to eat sushi with my sister at Edohana. It was actually pretty good. It was nice to hang out with my sister some. Then we went to hang out with Andy, Sofia, and Bryan and we made cupcakes and watched more of the Olympics.

I had a lot of time to myself on Monday and Tuesday afternoon since Troy had to work. I went to see my old co-workers in Dallas for a little while and they were excited to see me. They asked me all these questions about Seattle and how much we liked it and everything. It was nice seeing them again. After that I drove to Fort Worth and ate Perrotti’s pizza for lunch and hung out at my parents house until Troy arrived in Fort Worth via the TRE. We hung out with David and Andy Monday night and ate at Cousins for dinner, which was also very good. It was nice to see David since we hadn’t seen him in like 2 years. Tuesday I had lunch with Megan at Freebirds and then I hung out with Sofia at Hulen Mall. I picked up Troy again from the TRE and went to see my parents one last time. Then we went to Adam’s apartment to see him and everyone else.

Wednesday we went to the airport around 9:30 and finally landed in Seattle at 4:30. We took the bus to downtown and then had very good timing and caught the 70 bus that goes right by our apartment. We arrived around 6:15. It was a pretty long day and a long trip overall.

Click below for some pictures that we took during our trip to D/FW.

We were both a little hesitant about heading back to Texas during August, the hottest month of the year. But, the worst part of this visit back wasn't the daily 100 degree heat, as I thought it might be, but it was all the driving we had to do. Of course this was exacerbated by the fact that we stayed like 40 miles away from where all of our family and friends were, but still, everywhere we went included like 20 minutes in a car. In the week I was there, we drove 869 miles, which is more than the distance from Dallas to Albuquerque. I definitely got sick of driving, but even with all that driving, the large Texas sky wasn't as smoggy as I expected, which was nice.

The food was a highlight of our visit. It's been very nice to have a lot of very good food that many people have paid for. Unfortunately, the food is all so heavy and all the meals have been so filling, so I'm glad to be back in our own home again so that we can make healthy-sized meals.

My complaints don't overshadow how nice it's been to spend time here - though it was a very long visit for me (7 days) - but they underscore why I'm eager to get back to Seattle. Now that we're back, I'm looking forward to relaxing and getting some exercise.

Well, I'm done with work. After almost two years working for this company, I'm done. It's almost as if I quit a long time ago, since I haven't been in the office or making significant contributions since working from home. However, working ther was a very good experience and I learned a lot. If I'd stayed around, there would have been a lot of opportunities for me. However, I'm excited about my new job, which I think will be even better.

As I've said before, it's nice getting to return to D/FW every few months. Unfortunately, that has come to an end with this trip back. My company had been paying for me to fly back to visit the office, which was nice for them, I guess, but probably nicer for me because I could see family and friends.

However, now that I've found a new job, my current job is flying me back for the last time, which means that after this, I'll have to pay for all flights back to D/FW.

I don't want to move back, but I wish we could fly back every four months or so. However, that's somewhat impractical with airfare being so polluting and expensive, along with employers who grant limited days off.

We're planning to fly back for Christmas, though, and that's not too far away.

A couple weeks ago I went for a walk through the city. This was a much shorter walk than my extreme 17-mile walk and I was also more focused on taking pictures.

The city is full of things that are often observed as single items: a building, a car, a tree, however I tried to show something different with these photos. Each item in the city is part of the web of the city and fits in to the rich tapestry of urban life in an interestingly unique way. In these photos, I tried to highlight those relationships, specifically between new and old buildings, secular and spiritual buildings, and how a building's surroundings relate to the building itself.

Anyway, aside from all that, I like some of these pictures too. Click the image below to be taken to the gallery.

It's been really nice to be back in Fort Worth to see our families and friends. The biggest disadvantage of living in another state is being apart from these people. Now that we're back, it almost feels like we never left.

The nice thing is that when we come back, our time spent with everyone is more enjoyable than it was when we lived here, meaning fewer minutes of silence, staring at the floor, or trying to figure out what to do. So, it's been a real highlight to get to spend time with so many people we love.

I've been back in Texas for almost 3 full days now seeing friends and family. It's been great seeing people and eating great food and everything. But honestly I kinda miss Seattle. I miss the natural beauty, the weather, and the city in general. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my parents and sister and friends and stuff, I just miss Seattle. We'll definitely post more detail about what we did and everything when we get back.

Some evenings we're very fortunate and see some beautiful skies and sunsets. Click below for some pictures I took last Friday:

My flight leaves at 6 AM tomorrow morning to DFW. I still have some packing to do and a few last minute chores that need to be done. Waking up at 3 AM will be hard. The shuttle picks me up at like 3:30, so I'll have plenty of time to get to the airport. It'll also be the first time I've flown by myself.

This will be the first time I've been back in almost 6 months and the first time to see my family again. It's going to be difficult fitting in time for everyone. Most of the time we're going to be with my parents, sister, and extended family. I'm also going to see my friend Megan for lunch on Tuesday. We basically have everything planned out, even the places we're going to eat. In fact, we're having Uncle Julio's Friday with my parents, which will be really nice. I'm not looking forward to the heat at all, but it will definitely be nice to see my family and friends again. This time it will be me instead of Troy who has the culture shock. I'm betting I will think it's really flat, everything is too far apart, and it will be very smoggy and hot.

Good advice.

The environmental consciousness here has influenced us a little bit. We've been doing more lately, in addition to all the things we've normally done motivated out of environmental concern, such as driving less and using reusable bags.

• Rather than leaving my phone charger plugged in all the time, I only plug it in when I'm using it, since it uses energy even if my phone isn't plugged in.


• I've also turned down the fridge so it wouldn't have to run as much.


• I've also been timing my showers to save water - doing something that my parents could never get me to do.


• We've also been turning off the surge protectors for the computer, TV, modem, and router at night, since these devices use electricity all the time, and from what I can tell, it doesn't hurt to turn them off nightly.


• We've also turned off the microwave clock, since there's one right below it on the stove. Why have two clocks right next to each other?

Most of these changes won't make much of a difference in our monthly bills, but if everyone did little things like this, the energy savings and decrease in pollution would be significant. Hopefully we can find more little, easy things to do to save energy.

And it feels hot and uncomfortable outside.

It will be a bit of an adjustment to be back in D/FW for a week of projected highs around 100º.

It's kind of weird that five months or so of working from home comes to an end today. I will be leaving tomorrow to go back to the office for my final days with my employer. Sending emails in my pajamas, holding conference calls on the couch, and writing documentation by the windowsill has all made for a good experience, overall. However, while I will miss some of the advantages (15 second commute), I'm looking forward to interacting more with my coworkers and shouldn't have any trouble adjusting to a more typical lifestyle.

I turned 25 last week and had a good time with my co-workers and Troy. I received several cards in the mail which was nice and got a few presents too. With some of my birthday money I plan on getting some new hiking shoes and maybe a new purse that I've been wanting for a while. On my actual birthday, Troy drove me to work and saved me the trouble of walking. When I got to my desk, there were two presents and a few cards there. I got a book called "60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Seattle" and I also got a little dish to save my tea bags on. After about 30 minutes, Troy called and told me to meet him downstairs. He had bought me some asiago cheese bagels with cream cheese for breakfast!

For lunch, my co-workers took me out to eat at a sushi place called Red Fin. I got a Bento Box with a Seattle roll and a California roll. It was really good, but it was a ton of food! One of my co-workers made chocolate chip cookies for me for dessert too, so I was stuffed. Unfortunately I wasn't very hungry for dinner when I got home, so Troy and I waited to eat dinner until almost 6:30. He took me to an Asian place in downtown called Wild Ginger. We got three small dishes to share (family style): mushrooms with pea pods, duck, and mandarin chicken. It was all pretty good, especially the mandarin chicken. It was nice to go somewhere different.

That night we didn't do much since we didn't get home from eating until about 8:30. Troy made me a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (my favorite) and gave me some really nice flowers from Pike Place Market, a bag of honey roasted pecans from Chukar Cherries, and some nice fruit to eat that included a peach, nectarine, apricots, and a pineapple.

Then on Friday, he took me to see The Dark Knight at the Cinerama. I really wanted to see it in IMAX, but it was sold out until this week and I was tired of waiting to see it. I thought it was really good, great acting by Heath Ledger.

On Saturday, we drove to the Washington coast and saw the Pacific Ocean near Westport. We walked along the beach and drove around the scenic areas and saw an old lighthouse called Grays Harbor Lighthouse. We toyed with the idea of going to Portland for the night since it was just over 80 miles away, but figured it would be better to go some other weekend when we'd have more time there. On the way back we stopped in Olympia, Washington state's capital. We ate at an Asian restaurant called The Lemon Grass, which was pretty good, and then drove home.

It was a pretty good birthday, even though it was a little weird not seeing my family. I can't believe I'm already 25.

Click on the link below for pictures:


Video of the coast:

Starting next January, grocery stores and other stores will have to start charging 20 cents for each paper or plastic bag. The city is trying to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags to reduce waste and litter.

This new fee shouldn't impact us much because we've been using reusable bags since we lived in Texas. They were on sale for $1 each at the grocery store and have saved us from using quite a few plastic bags since then. Before we got them, I remember we accumulated quite a few plastic bags, so not having to deal with plastic bags has been nice.

When we used our reusable bags in Irving, it felt kind of odd, as hardly anyone used reusable bags there. However, here probably about 1 in 3 people use reusable bags, and that number will probably increase once this law takes effect.

One of the most interesting things about my recent visit to the Photographic Center Northwest was a photo I saw called The Real Dallas. I always find it interesting when Texas is referenced here, and so I found this photo very interesting.

It appears to be a picture of a mural at a Metroplex establishment (I wonder which one). However, I don't know why the photo is called The Real Dallas, when the mural, in fact, shows downtown Fort Worth. Regardless, it's always cool to see something from Dallas or Fort Worth here. If you're interested, you can go here to view the photo at the photographer's website.

I went on a 17 mile walk on Thursday, which was a very unique and enjoyable experience. I'd like to share some more details and highlights from the day.

When I set out, it was a cool morning, but I knew it would feel good once I started walking. I brought my camera with me, along with some water and snacks. I set off with a basic idea of where I wanted to go, but I wasn't in a big rush and I just wanted to see how things turned out. Here's how things went:

1. After walking Lesley to work at 7 am, I walked toward the water. It's common to see people in the city selling a newspaper called Real Change News, which offers local news with a different perspective. For each $1 newspaper the vendor sells, he or she keeps some of the money and the rest goes to the Real Change non-profit, which is working to end poverty. I only buy one if I expect to have time later to read it and this day I figured I'd need some reading material for relaxing at the park later. I saw a guy lightheartedly listening to his headphones and selling the newspaper, so I decided to buy from him. After buying the paper, he offered to tell me a joke and let me choose the type of joke. He was very thankful that I bought the paper and told me that he was the Vendor of the Week featured in the newspaper and that because of people like me, he was able to get a job.


2. After walking along the waterfront a little bit, I got some bagels downtown for breakfast. I sat by the window and was able to watch the people go by as I ate my bagels and read the newspaper.


3. Pioneer Square is one of my favorite parts of the city, and that's where I was headed next. I enjoyed walking around there and looking at the old buildings. Unfortunately, I was there too early in the day to go into any of the many art galleries, so I'll have to go back there some other time for that.


4. Seattle has made the news recently for its automated public toilets and attempts to sell them on eBay. But, walking around all day without them would have been a problem. Fortunately, the one in Pioneer Square was still working, but the toilet was locked for good the next day.


5. I walked through the International District next, then crossed over the freeway and caught a few glimpses of the Blue Angels practicing. After that, I made my way over to and through the Seattle University campus.


6. As I was walking along 12th Ave, I was stopped by some people handing out some information and I stayed to listen to what they had to say since I wasn't in a hurry. According to them, the banking system is collapsing and our whole economic system is doomed. They were "very serious" about it. They handed me some reading material, including the magazine "Your Enemy George Soros" and the article "British Agent Al Gore is Taking People's Food Away!" So, uh...moving right along...


7. A big highlight of my walk was stopping by the Photographic Center Northwest. I like photography more than any other type of art, and this place had some pretty neat photos. It was well worth my time to visit.


8. I decided to take a break once I got to Cal Anderson Park, which is a nice park with plenty of benches. So, I stopped and read the Real Change News that I had picked up earlier. As I read, someone was playing acoustic guitar a few benches away, which, along with the beautiful weather, made for a very enjoyable atmosphere. I could have relaxed there for quite a bit longer, but had to keep going.


9. I walked north through a quiet, upscale neighborhood before getting stuck on a busy street as Lesley and I chatted on the phone. Once I got to the University District, I walked up The Ave. It's a active, exciting place to walk, with plenty of places to eat, but strangely, I just wasn't hungry. Next, I headed west toward Wallingford.


10. After walking through Wallingford, another walkable neighborhood, and picking up a smoothie, I gave my friend, Andy, a call, and we chatted for almost an hour and a half as I made my way through Fremont and along the west side of Lake Union. Aside from the Fremont neighborhood, this part of the walk was the least interesting, so it was a good time to be on the phone.


11. By the time I got off the phone, the day was almost over and my feet were sore. I walked through the walkable Lower Queen Anne neighborhood and decided to take the Monorail back downtown, since I'd been wanting to take it and I was running out of time to walk. Once I got downtown, I picked up some movie tickets and met Lesley outside of her building at 4:00.


12. We walked home together, and once we got there, I barely got up for the rest of the day.

Click below for some pictures that I took during the day:

As we've mentioned a few times before, it's been really nice not having to drive nearly as much as we used to. It saves quite a bit of gas and frustration with traffic and annoying drivers. It's been especially weird for me though because I used to drive over 25 miles a day to and from work in Dallas and now I barely drive my car once a month. Usually Troy is the one driving, so I've driven my car here in Seattle probably only 4 or 5 times the past 5 months. The first time I drove it after not having driven in over a month was weird. It's like I forgot how sensitive my brake and gas pedals are and it was hard to drive the car smoothly. Anyway, I just think it's interesting that I don't drive my car anymore really.

We went to our 4th Mariners game this year on Saturday, July 19 with a group of people from my work. They were playing the Indians and the game started at 1PM. It was a really sunny day and I knew our seats would be in the direct sunlight for most of the game, so I put sunscreen on. Troy didn't bother putting on sunscreen and so his forearms got pretty red. I didn't have a cap on though, so the part in my hair got sunburned again, which was annoying.

Anyway, the game was terrible, the Mariners gave up like 6 runs in the first 3 innings. They lost again, which means we haven't seen them win a game in person all year. The highlight of the game was actually when a fan ran onto the field and got arrested. It was nice to talk to my co-workers outside of work and Troy was able to meet and talk to some of them. We hung out for a little bit after the game too. So, even though it was pretty hot and the game was terrible, it was nice to do something with my co-workers outside of work.

Electric cars aren't very common here, yet, but they would be embraced. On the other hand, I forgot how much different Texas is. I read an article about a Dallas businessman selling electric cars, which mentioned some of the reactions to electric cars in Texas:

"I was out riding in the GEM [electric car] one day," he recalled, "and this guy – I don't want to engage in stereotypes, but he was like this construction worker in a pickup – yelled out, 'Where'd you buy that? Toys "R" Us?' "

Obviously that's not representative of most people in Dallas, but I think that kind of reaction would be unheard of here.

When I rented a Toyota Prius last time I visited the Metroplex, I drove a few of my coworkers to lunch. They all thought the car was interesting, but most of them didn't take it seriously. They seemed to think that it was dorky and gimmicky, and wouldn't consider driving one themselves. Based on the number of Priuses I see here, I'd say the attitude is a little different.

Of course, it's a common assumption that people on the West Coast are more environmentally-oriented, and I've always fit into that mindset a little better. But, after just a few months of living here, I already find it almost shocking how some people in Texas act towards electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. I'm sure that attitude will gradually change, especially as higher gas prices shift peoples' ways of thinking, but for now it's very interesting.