Over the past few weeks, we've been attending a small group meeting with people from the church we go to. We meet weekly at someone's home and each of us talks about how things are going personally and then we read a Bible passage and discuss.

We're currently meeting in Pioneer Square, one of my favorite parts of the city, so I've enjoyed being able to go there regularly. I've also really enjoyed getting to know and socialize with other people. The discussions that we have related to the passages can be interesting as well.

Anyway, we've enjoyed our weekly small group meeting and it's been worthwhile.

My cousin and her husband are coming to visit us in May! He will be here for a conference the week of May 11th and she'll be coming in to meet him on the 15th. So we'll get to spend a few days with them over that weekend. We'll definitely show them our apartment and our view, as well as show them around our city. We can also take them up in the Space Needle for free with our annual passes. They'll be the first people from my family to visit us, even before my parents in July, which is kinda funny. It'll be nice to spend some time with them.

Last week, new Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC won their inaugural game 3-0 in front of a sold out crowd. Last night, they won again, 2-0, in front of another sold out crowd. We were fortunate enough to be able to go to the game last night and had a good time.

We participated in the March to the Match before the game, walking a few blocks to the stadium with a throng of loud fans.

The crowd at the first game was impressively passionate and the crowd tonight didn't disappoint either. It's much more fun to enjoy a game when the crowd is into it. Unfortunately, our section seemed to be less interested than many others.

Real Salt Lake was playing pretty well, but we had more scoring opportunities than them in the first half, and went ahead 1-0. In the second half, Real Salt Lake played better and had quite a few chances. However, Fredy Montero scored his third goal in two games to put us up by 2-0. Celebrating the goals was a lot of fun and it was an exciting game overall.

I can't wait to go to another game and sit in a more passionate section. Hopefully the W's will keep coming, too.

We're going to our first Seattle Sounders FC game (against Real Salt Lake) this Saturday at Qwest Field. Last week we watched the first Sounders game ever, and it was completely sold out. It looked like the fans were having a blast, so hopefully the crowd is just as loud this time. We took some pictures of the stuff we bought to wear to the game. I'm sure we'll post pictures from the game afterward.

With suburban sprawl reaching into the foothills of the Cascade mountains, the previously natural habitat for black bears has been taken over by roads, houses, and people.

In 2008, state wildlife officials fielded 881 calls about bear sightings in King County alone, and sent officers out on 260 calls. That's up from the year before, when officers received 679 sightings and responded to 202 bear calls.

This article in the Times talks about how a service dog is being used to chase these black bears away in their quest for food so that they learn to stay away from populated areas.

We were running errands tonight in Tukwila and were just about to walk out of Target when we ran into our friend from church! Totally random! She's the (pregnant) one we had dinner with when we first moved here and the one that sent us Texas BBQ after taking care of her dog Benji. We just happened to be there at that exact moment when she was at the front of the store. I think she asked us what we were doing there and I don't think we ever really gave an answer. We should have said we were there to buy toilet bowl cleaner, which was the truth! That would have been funny. Anyway, it's kinda crazy how we've run into so many of our church friends in just a few months in totally random places. It's a small world after all I guess.

It's been a while since I posted, so I figured I'd write about what we did so far today. This morning we road the bus up to Capitol Hill to eat bagels at Noah's. We don't normally buy drinks when we eat out, but we had a coupon for 25% off our order, so this time we bought a watermelon strawberry Nantucket Nectar drink.

I ran out of bus tickets today, so we stopped by QFC to get a new ticket booklet, then headed downtown on the 49 bus. After the bus made it's last stop in downtown, we walked the rest of the way to Qwest Field so we could go to the Pro shop. We wanted to buy some Sounders gear for the game we're going to next Saturday against Real Salt Lake. Unfortunately they didn't have much selection for women's apparel, especially long sleeved shirts. We ended up buying me a white t-shirt with the Sounders logo on it and Troy got a green long sleeved shirt. We also bought a scarf that looks pretty cool.

After that, we walked back to downtown and the waterfront where we took a few pictures of the Olympic Mountains. Then we stopped at Pike Place Market to eat at The Confectional, a place that sells mini cheesecakes. We tried the plain cheesecake and it was good. I want to try the raspberry white chocolate or the caramel next time.

We ran a few errands downtown and made our way back to the apartment. I put a roast on this morning in the crock pot for us to eat tonight, so I'm looking forward to that. Overall, a fun day so far.

Since we're at such high latitudes, the position on the horizon where the sun sets shifts significantly between the seasons. In the middle of winter, it sets far south, behind the buildings in Belltown that we can see from our window. Yesterday, for the first time this year, the sun passed north of the Space Needle. It will keep setting farther north until, in the middle of summer, it will set behind the north part of Queen Anne Hill.

The first ever Sounders FC soccer game is tonight. Tickets for this game sold out and were reselling online for $85+ per ticket. We couldn't get tickets for the game so we'll be watching.

One of the most common internet searches that brings people to our blog is "how expensive is it to live in Seattle?" We've talked about this before, but figured we could do some deeper analysis than what we've offered before.

The short answer to the question is: go to Sperling's BestPlaces Cost Of Living Comparison, enter your current salary, and compare your current city to Seattle to see how much your salary would need to increase to maintain the same lifestyle. Overall, the cost of living in Seattle is 32% more than the national average. We've found the difference to be less, but we've also made adjustments in our lifestyle to minimize the higher cost of living here. Keep reading for a more detailed analysis of how expensive it is to live here.

Job Market

The first thing many people interested in moving here would want to know is how the economy is doing. Seattle has a strong, diverse economy, compared to the national average, with major area employers including Boeing, Port of Seattle, Alaska Airlines, and Microsoft. The unemployment rate in Seattle was 6.3% in December 2008, compared to the national unemployment rate of 7.2%. Seattle is one of the most-educated cities in the US, with industries including aerospace, computer science, and biotechnology.

Housing

The median home price in Seattle is $591,000, which is 172% higher than the national average of $217,200. Trulia has a real estate overview of the city. As a compliment to the city, some people would say you get what you pay for. Seattle hasn't been hit as hard by the housing bubble as other cities, though home prices have still fallen some. Speaking from experience, the high cost for renting here impacted us more than any other increased expense. Also, based on my observations, while houses here are more expensive than in other places, they're also more modestly sized on smaller lots.

Also, from what I've observed, most condos start at around $300,000, though some start in the mid $200,000s. Also, apartments in the inner city without income restrictions start at around $1,000/month + parking costs. I'm sure rates start lower farther from the center of the city. To get a better idea of what you'd have to pay for housing, you'd have to do a more specific search.

Food

Food here costs 11% more than the national average. There is also more tasty, local produce here than in many other parts of the country. Still, since we've moved here, we've been paying a lot more for groceries than we did in Texas, partially because they're more expensive here and partially because we've been buying more groceries instead of eating out because eating out costs more here too. As we mention here, there just aren't as many places to eat for cheap, and it seems like the places here that are labeled as "$" cost as much as the places labeled as "$$" in Dallas/Fort Worth.

Utilities

The WhiteFence Index has details on utility costs in 21 major cities and the costs for utilities in Seattle are below the median of these cities. It estimates an average utilities bill of $274 and even breaks down costs by categories - phone, electricity, natural gas, etc.

From an anecdotal perspective, electricity costs here are lower than what we paid in Texas. We're paying a quarter of what we were paying in Texas per kilowatt and we're actually paying much less than that - like $10/month - because we don't have to run air conditioning (in fact, we don't have it). However, water costs are higher at about 35 hundredths of a cent per gallon. The two of us pay around $65 per month for water. Cable TV seems to cost more here, too, with basic cable costing $55/month through Comcast. We pay about $40/month for DSL internet, which also seems like a lot. Of course different companies offer different levels of service so utility costs will vary.

Transportation/gasoline

The price for gasoline in Seattle tends to be about 10% above the national average with gas prices in the area being among the higher gas prices in the nation. However, due to higher density than many cities and a well-used public transportation system, I would estimate that people in Seattle drive less than people in many other cities, so the monthly cost of gas here is possibly lower on average than in other parts of the country.

Taxes

Different places assess different taxes in different ways, but overall I'd say the tax burden here doesn't seem too bad, since Washington is one of the seven states that doesn't have personal income tax. Sales tax in Seattle is a bit high, ranging from 9% - 9.5%. Property Tax $10.17 per $1,000 of home value, which is 23% below the US average of $13.28 per $1,000 of home value. Overall, taxes here don't seem bad to me.

Summary

There is no single answer to the question "How expensive is it to live in Seattle?" because expenses are different for everyone. Many things do cost more in Seattle than in other parts of the country, but how much more depends on you and the choices you make. The higher cost for housing will be the most immediately noticeable for many people, but other things like food and gas cost more as well. To get a better idea of what it would cost for you to live here, you might want to start by looking for a home you might want and see how much it costs. For us, the cost increases were minimized because moving to Seattle allowed us to make lifestyle changes (selling a car and driving less) to save money. If anyone has any more questions, we'd be happy to answer in the comments or by email.

One of our two local daily newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ceased print operations today. The owner of the PI has been looking for a buyer and decided to go to an online-only version.

The PI has a great article about its history, tinged with the feeling of mourning that many of its employees and readers must share today.

I've always been kind of ambivalent about having two newspapers here, not really sure and kind of confused about which one to read. However, both have been struggling lately, with the Times laying off quite a few people over the past year. The end of the printed PI will probably be a good thing for the Times, at least in the short term, and it will be interesting to see how the online PI plays out.

In any case, it's a historic day for the city, and not really in a good way. Lesley brought home the commemorative section from today's PI. It's the end of an era for the city and a sign of things to come in many cities as print media continues to struggle in response to the popularity of the web.

When I started work, I enjoyed being able to ride the bus, but wasn't totally comfortable with it at first. However, now that I've been taking the bus to work regularly for six months, I've gotten comfortable with taking the bus and enjoy it more than ever. Here's why:

1. Having time to read - I've always had a hard time finding time to read at home in the evenings or on weekends, so I haven't read much. However, I do really enjoy reading. When I take the bus, I have 30 minutes available before and after work and have been able to read more books over the past six months than I had in the previous few years.


2. Being able to walk - I love to walk but, like reading, it can be hard to fit in time and a reason to go for a walk from home. However, I get to walk every day when I take the bus. If I don't want to walk far, I can take a route that goes by where we live, or if I want to walk longer, I can take another route and have a 10-15 minute walk home in the afternoon. There's another route that takes me by Pike Place Market and gives me about a 20 minute walk home. It's a great time to get outside, see the city, talk to people on the phone, and get a little exercise on my way home.


3. Environment - By not driving, there's an extra half ton of greenhouse gases that our car didn't release into the air.


4. Money - Over the past six months, I've saved about 1000 miles of wear and tear on our car and about $100 in gas. Not a ton of money, but it adds up.


5. Less stress - Seriously, people here drive so slow and are always in the way. That just doesn't bother me on the bus.

In fairness, riding the bus isn't perfect and it's not for everyone. Here are a few of the things that annoy me about it.

1. It's slower - It takes about 40 minutes to get to work by bus, including walking time and I can drive to work in less than 20 minutes. I don't see the extra time as wasted, though, since I can spend it reading or walking. But, it is nice to shorten the time spent in transit. Sometimes I'll drive if I'm running late and some days if I just want to get home at the end of the day I'll wish I'd driven.


2. I can miss it - This doesn't happen nearly as often anymore, now that I've found One Bus Away, but I sometimes try to catch the bus from work and don't give myself enough time and end up missing the bus. Usually this isn't a big deal, but it's especially frustrating if I'm working late when the buses don't run as often.


3. I don't get it all to myself - When I first started riding, it was always full and I always had to stand. However, after gas prices dropped, seats opened up and I can always find a seat. Just, sometimes, it'd be nice to have the whole row to myself.

One neat thing about living in the city is that there are a lot of things nearby. For example, there are 8 hotels within a half mile walk from where we live. This means that if anyone wants to come visit us, they can have a place to stay within walking distance.

Here's a list of places 1/2 mile away (or less), ordered from roughly the most to least expensive:

• Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle


• Residence Inn-Seattle Downtown


• Springhill Suites Seattle Downtown


• Holiday Inn-Seattle


• La Quinta Inn-Seattle Downtown


• Best Western Loyal Inn Motor Hotel of Downtown Seattle


• Sixth Avenue Inn


• Eighth Avenue Inn

There's a lot to see from atop the Space Needle. With mountains in practically every direction, one of the best skylines in the country, shimmering Puget Sound, historic Queen Anne Hill, and Lake Union, most people probably hardly notice the South Lake Union neighborhood. However, after living in it for more than a year, I've gotten to know it more than is possible from a 520 foot high view.

I took the picture below from the Space Needle looking east and decided to literally highlight various things in the South Lake Union area.

Use this color code as a key:

• Purple/fuchsia - residential


• Pink - hotels


• Green - parks


• Red - churches


• Orange - miscellaneous (news media, research centers, etc.)


• White - roads


• Yellow - arterial roads

A few weeks ago, we saw something from our window that we didn't want to see. A new crane has gone up and has blocked our view of the Space Needle a few times. But what's worse is what the crane means - a 13 story building for Amazon will eventually be there, probably completely blocking our view of the Space Needle.

I knew this day would come, but I didn't think it would be so soon. Hopefully nothing will be in the way when my parents visit this summer, so they can still see the view as we've seen it all this time. They just barely broke ground on the building's foundation, so it should be a while before we actually lose our view.

I started my new job in downtown Seattle exactly a year ago today. Time sure does fly. I've gotten to know my co-workers pretty well and enjoy talking to them. I'm still walking to and from work every day, which really saves time and gas by not driving. It's nice living so close to work. I really have a great view of the city and Puget Sound - although we lose more and more of our view every month with buildings being built.

One of the tricky things about taking the bus is timing when to leave home or work so that you can make the bus on time without having to spend much time waiting. I've posted before about MyBus.org, but since then have found an even better resource for Seattle transit users: One Bus Away.

In addition to being available via phone and text message, the interface for One Bus Away allows you to search for where you are, click the nearest stop, and click to bring up real-time arrival information for that stop. The interface is clean yet informative and it's a great way to see how much time you have before the next bus arrives, although I always have to remind myself that it's just an estimate, since the actual arrival time could be a couple minutes earlier or later than indicated.

My parents will finally be visiting us this summer for a week, we're so excited! They will be arriving on July 23rd and staying through July 31st, the day after my 26th birthday. I know my Dad already has a list of things he wants to do so we won't have to come up with all the ideas. They've been to Seattle a few times before and loved it, so it should be a lot of fun.

We'll have a few suggestions for places to go eat (Red Mill Burgers is a must) and parks to go to, like Gas Works park and possibly Seward Park. I know we're going to a Mariners game too.

We're also planning to go to the Olympic Peninsula for a few days, so that will be really fun since we haven't been there before and it's really pretty over there. I think we'll also fit in a trip to Mount Rainier and maybe Deception Pass.

It'll be nice for them to finally see our apartment and where we live and what's around here. I know they'll also want to watch the sunset from our apartment, ride a Ferry boat, and go to Pike Place Market. We're pretty excited about them visiting and doing fun things in Seattle with them.

This post is for our friends in Australia!

Two snow leopard cubs, one male and one female, were born in the Melbourne Zoo recently. They are the first cubs born in the Zoo in 20 years. I think it's cool that they were born shortly after our friends moved there. I found out about it because I subscribe to the Snow Leopard Trust's blog.

Seattle is getting a new Major League Soccer team, Seattle Sounders FC and there has been a huge response to the team locally. Sounders FC already has more season ticket holders than any other MLS team. I really wanted to go to their home opener, but tickets have sold out even though seating capacity for the game has been expanded twice, up to 32,400.

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I've become a casual fan since several of my friends are big fans and I went to a university with a great soccer program. I thought it'd be cool to get to go to the first-ever game, and I really wanted to go, so it was surprising and disappointing to find out about the sell out.

Fortunately, this game should be on TV, so I'm planning to watch it, and have already purchased tickets for the next home game on March 28. With such a large fan base, it should be a lot of fun.

I didn't used to like wine at all, but after trying several different kinds the last two years, I've grown to like it more. I used to only try white wines, but recently Troy wanted to get a red wine, so we got one and it was alright. I don't really have any idea what labels are best or what's a good wine for the price or anything.

I'd like to learn more about wine and so we recently bought a book from Half Price Books all about wine. It talks about the grapes used for different kinds, how to taste it and drink it, where wine is made and how, and what wines go best with certain foods.

Going to some wineries in Washington would be fun sometime. I'd also love to go to Napa Valley someday.

Every city has a few buildings that stand out and each interesting building is usually surrounded by lots of buildings that just don't get noticed. I've at least noticed most of the buildings in our neighborhood, but sometimes I'll look at one for the first time.

There's a building nearby that's about three stories tall and two of those stories are made up of dull wood paneling. This ugly building doesn't add much to the neighborhood, but it's kind of interesting in some ways, like: what were they thinking when they covered so much of it with wood? I used a retinex effect to bring out some of the contrast in this photo. The large surface wood surface area is kind of unusual and it's kind of neat how the diagonal pattern interacts with the horizontal roof line and clear sky. One neat thing about living in a city is that there are plenty of buildings like this that have their own undiscovered charm.