Megan, my long time friend dating back to middle school, is coming up to Seattle to visit this weekend! We haven't had visitors since my parents came last July, almost a year ago, so it will be really exciting showing her around. We'll definitely go to Pike Place Market, maybe ride a ferry, go to the Northwest Folklife Festival, and eat at our favorite restaurants. She's not sure if she'll leave Monday or Tuesday, so we'll see how long we have. I think the weather should be pretty good on Sunday, so that would be a good day to go to Snoqualmie Falls and Kerry Park. It should be a lot of fun!

Note: This post comes from my Walking in Seattle blog.

University Way, known as "The Ave" is a busy pedestrian street with many shops and many more restaurants. It's a good walk if you want to take in an active streetscape and find somewhere new to eat along the way.


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We've basically had the same decorations on the wall since we moved here, so we thought it was time for a change. In addition to hanging up the Hawaiian hale drawing that Troy had framed for me for Christmas, we changed out all of our other frames that had our own photos in them. We bought new 8x10 and 5x7 pictures, which include some from Australia, some of flowers, and some of our top 10 pictures from the last two years, which are mostly of Seattle.

For the bathroom we have the Volunteer Park water tower with greenery surrounding it. We also have a view of the Olympic Mountains from Hurricane Ridge. We also have some pink tulips from the Tulip Festival, as well as bluebonnets, and a pretty purple daisy we saw in Melbourne.

We put our wedding and engagement photo frame in our bedroom, along with two night time photos: one of Pike Place Market, and one of Seattle from Kerry Park.

In the entry way, we hung up a picture of Mount Rainier from Seward Park (which also happens to be our blog banner).

Our two 5x7's from Australia include the beach bathing boxes in Melbourne, and Bondi Beach in Sydney.

The main addition is a poster we bought in the U-district of the Space Needle. But this isn't just any old picture of the Space Needle. It's a painting that looks almost exactly like the view we had for almost two years from our window. I like it because of that, and because it's a painting print rather than a photograph, so it's different from all the other stuff on the wall.

We had the poster put on a wood board by Museum Quality Framing and picked it up today. They were out of the blue marble wood board we had wanted, so they gave us solid blue instead. I think it looks almost as good.

We still have a wall of CDs in the living room, but we'll probably replace it with a new piece of art or a mirror or something large in the future.

Here are pics of our newly decorated apartment:

Note: This post comes from my Walking in Seattle blog.

The Central Waterfront is a fun walk on a clear day, though it can become crowded with tourists. It offers good views of the mountains and the city and shops to browse and places to eat.


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"Carbon footprint" is a phrase commonly heard around here as people here often consider impacts to the Earth and the environment when making decisions. So, that's why it was not surprising that the church we go to recently had a sermon series on environmental stewardship.

In my time attending church in Texas, I don't remember the environment being mentioned. The difference is probably not in theology but in how culture affects what aspects of theology are emphasized. The environment is an important issue here, so God's call for Christians to be good stewards of the Earth may seem more relevant to people here than in Texas, where, for example, it can still be controversial to allude to global warming.

Our church encouraged congregants to take alternate forms of transportation to church (carpooling, walking, taking the bus, etc.) and many people participated. Anyway, it's just kind of interesting.

We had been paying $30/month for cable, but then our cable provider almost doubled our rate, so we decided to cut our service back.

For the last four months, we got by okay with just local channels. We did wish that we didn't have to miss out on some sporting events on cable, but we weren't about to double our cable bill just to see a few games.

Then, late last week a Comcast representative knocked on our door and offered us the same deal that we'd had in the past. It, again, is just an "introductory rate" for 6 months, but last time that 6 month introductory rate lasted for a full year.

We'll have our service set up next weekend and are excited about getting to see some playoff hockey, regular season baseball, and world cup soccer.

The University District Street Fair was this past weekend and we decided to go. The weather had been very nice, so it was nice to go out to the fair.

The bus took us pretty much straight there and our first destination was food. There was a variety of food available. Lesley got a gyro and I got chicken on a stick with rice and chow mein. We ate our food while listening to a rock band. After we ate, we headed up and down the Ave, looking at the arts and crafts. Nothing really caught my eye, though some of the art was kind of neat. Later on Lesley got some corn on the cob and a bratwurst and we watched a juggling street performer. Then we listened to some more music before leaving.

Anyway, it was fun to go. The weather was pretty nice, the food was good, and the music was enjoyable. This kicks off the festival season here, so there are quite a few more similar festivals to look forward to over the next few months.

We went to the Cheese Festival at Pike Place Market for the third year in a row this past Saturday. We wanted to get there early so we could beat most of the crowd. Some of the stands weren't even completely ready yet when we got there at 10. We learned from previous years that we should bring some water with us because eating so much cheese makes you thirsty. The weather was really nice - sunny with temperatures in the 60s.

We tried free samples of lots of different kinds of cheeses including goat cheese, gouda, cheddar, and cream cheese. Thankfully the lines weren't too long so we probably tried at least 30 kinds of cheese. I don't like blue cheese, so of course we didn't get any of that. We ended up getting 4 kinds of cheese to take home:

Cougar Gold Cheese - a rich white cheddar made by Washington State University

Sierra Nevada Cream Cheese - a very tasty, sweet cream cheese from Northern California

Bergenost Cheese - an interesting Norwegian style cheese made in New York

Tournevent Chevre Noir Cheese - a subtle goat cheese from Canada

I'm looking forward to eating all our cheeses! Yum!

Note: This post comes from my Walking in Seattle blog.

The tree-lined streets of historic First Hill are great for a pleasant walk, though the steepness of the hill can make walking here a little more difficult for some.


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This past Saturday we ran several errands. First we started the day with our usual bagels. Troy got two asiago bagels and one super onion and they were all really fresh and soft, which was excellent. Then we walked to a framing store in our neighborhood to have a new poster framed that will go in our kitchen. It's not an actual frame though, more like putting it on a thin block with a small border. It will be ready to pick up in two weeks, so we'll take pictures of it then so it will be easier to understand what it looks like.

After that, we walked to a few stores including Whole Foods looking for some natural air freshener. While at Whole Foods, we also picked up some wine and strawberries. Those strawberries were so sweet, probably the best I've had in a while. I'm looking forward to getting more berries now that they're almost in season here.

We watched the Sounders game and then went to a place called Foot Solutions to try to get some kind of inserts to help my plantar fasciitis go away. They have machines there that test where the pressure points are on your feet as well as the high of your arches. I told them I'd had heel pain for a few months. I knew I had high arches, but mine are extremely high. The inserts I got from Academy a few months ago were really just pads and didn't offer any arch support. Apparently my arches (especially on my left foot) have been collapsing and stretching that muscle that attaches to my heel, causing it to hurt. So they recommended I get some special arch supports to help. They also have a metatarsal pad on them to help with some calluses that have been building up slightly on the balls of my feet.

I'm not sure why I'm having this problem at such a young age, but I guess my arches just haven't had much support for years probably and since we've been hiking and walking much more the past two years, it's just gotten worse. Hopefully these inserts will help my heel get better and prevent further injury.

Anyway, after the foot store, we went for a short walk in a park nearby and then stopped at Kerry Park on the way to dinner. The weather was awesome on Saturday, (and Sunday for that matter) so I couldn't resist going to Kerry Park to take in the view. I don't think I'd ever seen Mount Rainier more clearly. We got several nice pictures too. Don't miss the panoramic picture at the end of the photo album!

We had dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Djan's in Wallingford. We tried the tom kha soup and it was really good. It had tofu, mushrooms, green onions, onions, and coconut milk in it. I had the pad thai, which I was actually a little disappointed with because it tasted a little sweet, as if it had ketchup in it. Troy had some kind of stir fry with rice.

It was a nice, busy weekend. I'm looking forward to next weekend as well; we'll be going to the Cheese Festival at Pike Place Market and U-district Street Fair.

Note: This post comes from my Walking in Seattle blog.

The Burke-Gilman trail is 27 miles of a former rail line that has been converted to a pedestrian and bike path. We'll be taking the relatively short walk from Fremont to Gas Works Park.


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Over the last several weeks at work I've been busy working on a project to integrate to various building systems at a new data center. My work has been in the office gathering information, building and reviewing web graphics, and coordinating any site work that needs to be done. I've occasionally had to go on site, but not often.

We're nearing the end of this phase of the project, though, and my presence has been requested on site to help coordinate. Since it's a construction site, hours are from 6 to 2:30. This week, I've gotten up around 4:45 every day to make the 45 minute drive to the site location in one of the exurbs south of Seattle.

I had hoped that my time on site would be limited, but right now it appears that I could be out here for the next couple weeks. I dislike driving so much, and working at a construction site isn't the best environment, but I suppose it's not all bad. So far I haven't minded getting up early too much, and I've been working until almost 4, so I've sometimes been able to pick up Lesley from work on my way home. And, since I'm working longer hours, I won't have to work a full day tomorrow, which is something that I'd like to have more often.

We were forunate to have had a warm winter. However, unfortunately, summer is late to arrive.

It's already May, yet it was 42 degrees the past two mornings and the high temperature has been only 52 today and yesterday. There was also a lot of clouds and rain during the day today.

And, while it's overall less windy here than in Texas, it has been very windy lately. Since it's colder here overall the wind seems more annoying because it makes it colder.

The wind speed yesterday was around 20 mph with gusts up to 35, and has been up to 15 mph the last few days.

These temperatures are lower than average - normally it would be getting up to the low 60s, which isn't warm but can be comfortable. This cold weather makes me even more excited for summer weather, which is normally very pleasant and should be here soon.

I had a couple of bad public transportation experiences on Friday, including missing the bus home from work and being passed by a full bus after the Mariners game. That didn't keep me from taking the bus the next morning, when getting around the city by bus was quite helpful and convenient.

Normally on Saturdays Lesley and I take the bus up the hill to get bagels, but her foot has been hurting so I went out by myself. I also needed to return a book to the library, so I took a bus downtown, walked a couple blocks to the library, dropped off my book and got another book.

Then I walked a few blocks to catch the bus that would take me to bagels. I made that bus without a wait. And, though the bus was kind of crowded, I found a seat next to a talkative fellow who was excited to show me the 40 of beer that he had with him. He was a friendly guy, so I got over my discomfort, and after just a few minutes I got off to go get bagels.

Just half a block away from the stop was Noah's bagels, where I got what I needed without much of a wait. Usually after we get bagels, Lesley and I just walk down the hill back home, but this time there was another bus arriving shortly, so I waited and took it back home. When I got to the apartment, the mail had already arrived for the day and we had received the new photos we had ordered to put on the wall.

I felt super productive having gotten a new book, picked up bagels and cream cheese, and our mail and all within just an hour. There's plenty to complain about regarding the urban environment and public transportation here, but I am happy when I'm able to take advantage of living in the city.

We took public transportation to the Mariners game on Friday, as we normally do. It's normally convenient enough to take a bus to the game and it isn't worth paying to park or take a cab.

We caught the bus a block from our apartment, got off downtown and went into the transit tunnel where we caught light rail without having to wait at all. Once we got off the train, we had to walk a few blocks to the stadium, but that gave us a chance to buy some cracker jacks and water for pretty cheap from a street vendor.

However, getting home after the game has always been a bit of an issue. Due to gameday traffic, bus routes around the stadium are rerouted, as we discovered one time after the game. There used to be a special bus that ran from Safeco Field to the retail core downtown, and it was easy to get home from there. However, that bus doesn't run anymore. In the past we've also just avoided the hassle of the buses and walked home since it isn't really that far, but that's an option I like more than Lesley does, and since her foot has been hurting, that wasn't an option Friday night.

We had planned to take the same way home that we had taken to the stadium. After the game, we had to wait several minutes before light rail arrived, but we were covered from the light rain, so it wasn't too bad. We took light rail into the tunnel and got off to transfer to one of three bus routes that would take us home.

Since it was late at night, buses weren't running very frequently anymore, so we had to wait a while before the next bus came. For some reason though, it was very full of people, maybe people from the game, though I'm not sure where they got on the bus. It was so full that it didn't even stop to let us on, unfortunately. That's happened to me a few times here, not very often, but it's always very frustrating when that happens. So, we had to wait another 10 minutes for the next bus to show up. That bus got pretty crowded after we got on, but it did take us home.

I'm not sure what we'll do after next Mariners game. I suppose taking a cab wouldn't be too expensive, but it shouldn't be so hard to get home from somewhere just 3 miles away. Unfortunately, the level of public transportation service here leaves something to be desired.

Lesley's parents gave us tickets to a Mariners game as an anniversary present, so this past Friday Lesley and I had the privilege of going to the game.

The visiting team was the Texas Rangers, so this game was between two of the three MLB teams that have never played in a World Series. Our tickets were in the lower level behind home plate and the section we were in was pretty full.

We didn't get to the game early enough to get one of the Felix Hernandez bobbleheads, but we were there to see J. R. Celski throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

This game happened to be Cliff Lee's first as starting pitcher for the Mariners. He was acquired in the off-season and has been injured lately, but he's been a very good pitcher, so we were excited to get to see him pitch. He pitched a very good game, but so did the Texas pitcher, and the game went into extra innings and stayed scoreless through the 11th inning. It was an entertaining game and the crowd was on their feet rooting for a Mariners rally.

The Rangers have done well at finding ways to lose games this year, but the Mariners outdid them. The Mariners had the bases loaded with only one out in both the 11th and 12th innings and failed to score. In one inning they hit into a double play, in the other they failed to bunt in order to execute a suicide squeeze that would've scored the winning run.

To add to the entertainment, Texas' manager argued with the umpire on a call and was ejected from the game.

And, near our seats, someone tried to steal someone else's bobble-head and was arrested for it.

To end the game, the Mariners had an error and then threw a wild pitch that allowed the Rangers to score two runs.

It was a deflating end to what had been an exciting game. Click here for ESPN's story on the game.

Anyway, despite the loss, I still consider the Rangers my second favorite team in baseball, and some of my friends love the Rangers, so I suppose I can be happy that they won. And I'm glad Lesley and I were able to go to a game together. Of the 9 Mariners games we've been to, this is the 8th time they've lost. Hopefully next time we can see a Mariners victory.