Amazon's construction has now begun to block our view of the Space Needle. During the past week, the construction crews have continued to add more and more floors of steel beams. We think at least another 3 or 4 floors will be added to what you see in the picture. We had an awesome view the past two years. It's really too bad we can't take any more beautiful sunset pictures with the Space Needle. I'll miss it. I guess at least we still have a decent view of Queen Anne Hill...

Belltown has an interesting history. It was once the site of Denny Hill, which was flattened early on the city's history, and for several decades had car dealerships and parking lots, and was fairly underused. However, now it is a neighborhood with office buildings, condos, restaurants, and clubs. Lesley and I spent the day there Saturday, checking it out.

We started with breakfast at Bang Bang Cafe. We both had breakfast burritos, which were pretty good and relatively cheap. I also had some good coffee there. From there, we walked northwest along Western Avenue and stopped at Canlis Glass, which had some beautiful glass pieces in its gallery. We also stopped by another art gallery before walking back towards downtown along 2nd Ave and stopping for tea. We walked around a bit and explored the area.

There are a lot of old, small commercial buildings, apartment buildings, and closer to the water there are lots of new, luxury condos. There are several parallel thoroughfares through the neighborhood and each has its own character. Western Ave is a high-traffic street with lots of clean, new condos and not a lot of street-level retail. 1st Ave has the most street-level retail and is one of the more enjoyable streets to walk on. 3rd Ave seems to have the least new development and the most low'rise old buildings.

Anyway, we then went to Olympic Sculpture Park, which is one of my favorite things in the city. After all that walking, we were happy to relax in a couple comfy chairs inside to sit and enjoy the view. We walked through the park and I walked past Alexander Calder's the Eagle, which is probably my favorite sculpture of any kind.

After the park, we went to Shorty's to have a hot dog and play pinball. It had been a while since I'd played pinball and we both had a lot of fun. We needed to kill some time then until dinner, so we stopped by The Yellow Leaf Cupcake to get a couple cupcakes for later. We had some tea there and played a game of Connect 4 that they had sitting out.

We then went to dinner at Tilikum Place Cafe, which is near small Tilikum Place plaza. Dinner was good. Belltown is most popular for its bar and club scene, but we'd had a long day and went home after dinner.

Compared to other neighborhoods, Belltown has lots of art galleries, trendy restaurants, and bars. There isn't a supermarket in Belltown, but there are lots of small corner grocers. And, I thought there wasn't a whole lot of retail shopping throughout most of the neighborhood. It's different from other neighborhoods because there aren't any houses. It has also gained a bit of a reputation due to the bar scene, homeless people there, and drug problems. Still, it's a good location in the city, close to downtown, close to the water, and flat, and is probably the best place for someone looking for urban living in Seattle.

Quick Belltown facts:

• Population: 10,871


• 2008 Median Condo Price: $388,250


• Cars per capita: 0.3


• 4th most walkable neighborhood in Seattle

Sources:
1. Seattle Metropolitan Real Estate
2. Walk Score: Seattle's Most Walkable Neighborhoods

This January was the warmest on record in Seattle. We started to notice a few weeks ago how we haven't had as much rain and how it's been a lot warmer than last year in January. It's definitely been great with highs most days in the upper 40s and lower 50s. It's made the winter a lot easier to handle. The National Weather Service is predicting a warmer, dryer weather through the rest of winter and into early spring, yay!

Here's an excerpt from an article on Komonews.com:

The average temperature was 46.97 degrees -- toppling the record of 46.56 degrees set in 2006, and a full six degrees above the normal average of 40.9 degrees. In fact, it's even warmer than a typical March! (which has an average temperature of 46.2 degrees.)

Persistent El Nino conditions were a factor for most of the month, which typically keeps the Pacific Northwest in a warmer air flow. In addition, an unusually strong and stubborn area of low pressure parked off our coast for several days, streaming warm, moist air from the tropical Pacific into Western Washington.

January 27th's 35 degree low was the only day the temperature dropped to 35 or colder. There were only five days in the month with a low below 40. We also had 9 days at 55 or warmer with a four day string of 59, 60, 57 and 56 degrees between Jan 18-21.

Here's a video from Komo 4 News about the first service in our new church building yesterday:



Here's the article that goes with it: Article about First Church

When we first moved here, we wanted to find a church home fairly quickly so we'd be able to make some friends. We started going to First United Methodist Church of Seattle, nicknamed "First Church," which back then was located at 5th and Marion downtown. We only went to a few services in that building before the church had to move to a temporary location while a new building was being constructed. The old, historic building at 5th and Marion had sustained over $600,000 worth of damage during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, and was beyond any affordable repair. We temporarily worshiped at the Seattle Children's Theater for almost two years. It was a decent place, but it certainly didn't feel like a church.

It's taken a lot of time, work, and money to make everything happen. Troy and I volunteered last Saturday to help move boxes and furniture to their respective rooms in the building. The moving company had moved everything into the fellowship hall, but everything had to be moved from there to the right place. It was kind of fun, I helped open boxes of hymnals and distributed them to the pews. The church provided Top Pot donuts and sandwiches and chili for lunch. The church still had another week to prepare for the first service.

Finally today, our new church building at 2nd and Denny opened its doors and we had our first worship service there. Everyone was really excited and dressed up more than usual. I'd never seen that many people at our church before. It was emotional for lots of people too. It's nice to have an actual church to go to now, instead of the secular Children's Theater. The building itself is very nice and the sanctuary has great acoustics. Everyone's singing just filled up the room, it was really nice. We sat in the balcony, which has three rows of seats. The ceiling is made of wood on the inside and has side windows for lighting.

The outside looks nice too, with red brick and titanium in the front. We also have our own parking garage, which is nice. After the service, everyone went down to the fellowship hall underneath the sanctuary and had snacks and desserts. It's very nice to have our own church building and I'm happy for First Church.

We take the bus about once a week, aside from when I take it to work, and the route we take most is route #8. We often take it to Capitol Hill (usually to get bagels on Saturday morning) and it also goes to Lower Queen Anne. However, despite being such a convenient route, it only runs every 30 minutes. Fortunately, starting on February 6, it will run every 15 minutes.

I think it's significantly more challenging to drive here than in Texas. Urban Seattle, a walkable, urban city is a much different driving environment than the open roads of sprawling Texas.

When driving in Texas, I hardly ever had to watch out for anything other than cars, but on any given street here there are lots of things to watch out for, like bicyclists and pedestrians. Many roads are used by bicyclists, so I have to give them room, especially when passing. And many arterial streets have a lot of crosswalks, so I have to watch out for people crossing the streets. And, aside from crosswalks, pedestrians technically have the right of way at any intersection. There are also relatively few protected turns, so when turning left, not only do I have to watch out for oncoming traffic, but once there are no more cars coming, I also have to make sure there are no bikes coming, and make sure there are no pedestrians in the crosswalk or about to enter the intersection. And turning right isn't that much easier.

Plus, on top of all that, there are many hours of darkness and frequent light rain in the winter, with the occasional snow dusting. And, there are also hills, some of which are really steep, which makes the whole thing more difficult. While Seattle follows a pretty standard grid pattern, a lot of streets are ended or diverted by hills or water, making it important to know which street takes you which way you want to go. And because many arterial streets aren't much wider than normal neighborhood streets, it's not always easy to figure out which way to go.

And the streets are pothole-riddled and loud. Plus some parts of the city have bad traffic (not that traffic in Texas is much better).

All these factors combine to make it challenging to drive around urban Seattle. Furthermore, with only a couple short driving trips per week, my driving skills may have declined somewhat. The good thing is that alternative means of transportation like walking, biking, and taking the bus are a lot less challenging here.

I mentioned before that my department at work had been eliminated and that I was looking for a new position at work. I had been staying busy with small projects for a few different people until recently when I was given a temporary position in another department.

While I had been enjoying the freelancing I'd been doing within the company, this new position has been good for a few reasons. Now I'm part of a team, and a team that wants to do a great job. I've also become much busier completing some relatively urgent tasks, which have made the work day more exciting because of their urgent nature. It sounds like I will get more ownership in this department and hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with and lead others on projects to improve processes and solve problems.

While this position isn't technically permanent, it's very possible that it could work out well for my boss and me, though I may have multiple opportunities with this company to choose from.

One of the things I love about my lifestyle here is how I have multiple ways of getting around. I love to walk and am glad that it's often a convenient mode of transportation. I've also come to really enjoy riding the bus - relaxing and looking out the window. And, I sometimes take the Streetcar, which is consistent, clean, and contemporary. Seattle also now has light rail, which is enjoyable to take. And, we still drive often enough, and I enjoy the freedom, comfort, and speed that driving can offer. I've also thought about getting a bicycle, which would give me another great way to go places.

I've realized that traveling by a variety of modes keeps each one a little exciting. There's not one perfect way to get around the city - it depends on where and when I'm going, how much time I have to get there, what the weather's like, and other factors too. It's nice having options, though.

I would become frustrated at being limited to one option, such as if I had to drive everywhere, or had to walk everywhere. It's tough to choose a favorite mode of transportation, they all have their advantages (and annoyances). While I have lots of options available, I'd probably say that walking is my favorite way to get around whenever it's a convenient option. What's your favorite mode of transportation if you could have convenient access to all these?

Though the days are lengthening, there's still a lot of darkness in the evenings, so I went out a couple days ago to take a few pictures. Our neighborhood is fairly quiet at night and there's not really much to photograph, but I took a few pictures that I'll share.

Looking south towards downtown from Cascade Park. The church on the left is Immanuel Lutheran Church:


Here's a nearby Indian restaurant:


The Seattle Streetcar, or SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley), as we call it:


Whole Foods Market. I'm not sure why the trees still have their lights on them:


Local movie rental:


One of several Amazon buildings under construction:

Since I posted about the 5 days of rainy weather in the forecast, we've had hardly any rain. So, I got all upset about the weather when the forecast was very inaccurate.

The day I posted, Friday, actually did have quite a bit of rain - over half an inch. But, since then, we've just had mostly cloudy skies without much rain. The weekend started with some fog, and there was a total of .12 inches of rain, which must have fallen overnight because I don't remember it. Then, yesterday and today there wasn't any rain (although it's raining some this evening).

It's interesting how the forecast so strongly predicted rain and we had hardly any, but it's not uncommon for the forecast to be wrong. The weather here is somewhat complicated and meteorology just isn't as much of an exact science as it tends to be in other parts of the country.

Or, maybe it's that during the winter, meteorologists join in with other Seattleites who like to perpetuate the kinds of myths that keep too many people from moving here. All that rain seems like a good way to deter too many prospective residents from taking over the city. But I think I'd rather just have an accurate forecast.

I had the day off yesterday because of Martin Luther King Jr. day. It was nice to sleep in a little and get a few things done. Troy still had to work though, so I woke up when he did at 6:30. I didn't actually get up until about 8. I cleaned up the dishes and also swept and vacuumed. Then I just played my video game for a while until lunch. I got my hair cut in the afternoon and then it was time for Troy to come home from work. The day flew by unfortunately, but at least it makes the week shorter.

This morning we awoke to find a lot of fog outside our window. This picture was taken around 9 am:



The fog cleared up though, as you can see in this picture taken around 10:30.



We went to the Space Needle later and took a few pictures from there. I was hoping to catch a few more pictures of the fog over Seattle, but as you can see, it had already mostly dissipated, though there was still a blanket of fog over Lake Washington and the Eastside. Click the image below for more photos from the Space Needle:

The weather we've had lately has been very wet. For much of the past week, it's been cloudy and rainy the entire day. And, unfortunately, it looks like it will be that way for at least a few days more.



Often we'll have several hours of sun on the days where the forecast expects rain, but I never know whether to expect the sun. I don't mind cooler weather and clouds, but I do get tired of consecutive days of rain. But, on the bright side, the days are getting longer, and I'm sure we'll see the sun on a few of these rainy days.

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will be here soon. We watched some of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) channel, which we thought had much better coverage than NBC. They showed more live unfiltered footage of events and they also weren't so biased towards US athletes.

Unfortunately this year, CBC won't be showing the Olympics in the Seattle area. We're only 140 miles away, yet we won't get Canadian coverage. I guess it doesn't matter much to us though, since we don't have cable any more and only get local channels.

An article from the Seattle Times summarizes it pretty well:

CBC, the Canadian network available on cable here, won't be carrying the games. Local fans will have few alternatives to NBC, which tape-delays coverage of most premier events for West Coast audiences. CTV, the largest privately owned network in Canada, outbid CBC for the broadcast rights in that country. But CTV is available almost nowhere in the state of Washington.

My sister Lauren and brother-in-law Adam are expecting their first child in about a month! We won't be able to be there when she's born in February, but we'll be visiting in March to see our little niece! It will be weird to be called Aunt Sissy (Lauren calls me Sissy) and Uncle Troy. Lauren and Adam have been working on setting up Evelyn's room and just need a few more things to be done. The baby shower is next weekend, so I'm sure they'll get some of the stuff they need. I can't wait to see my niece and take lots of pictures of me and Troy holding her!

Today has been a fun day so far. We started out by taking the #8 bus to get our usual bagels at Noah's. We brought an asiago and two super onion bagels back to the apartment to eat for breakfast. After that, we went downtown to go to Pike Place Market. The weather has been nice here the last few days with highs in the upper 40s and even the 50s today, which is much better than most of the rest of the country. It was nice walking around the market with such great weather. We got some wild blackberry honey from the Snoqualmie Valley honey farm stand that we've gotten honey from before. We also went to World Market where Troy found some red tea he'd been wanting recently and we also got some balsamic vinegar since some recipes we've wanted to try call for it.

After that we went to Gap so I could look for more winter clothes. I was surprised at how much winter stuff was on clearance and really cheap. I got 4 long sleeved shirts for $28 total! I should do all my shopping at Old Navy and Gap from now on. Then we walked all the way through Belltown and Lower Queen Anne in an attempt to eat at Tup Tim Thai that we'd been wanting to go to for a while. Unfortunately we found out that it's only open from 5-11 Saturday, so we went to a Greek place called the Athina Grill instead. Troy had been wanting a gyro for a while. We both got one and it was really filling and good. I got a salad with mine and Troy got fries with his.

We hung out in Counterbalance park for a few minutes waiting for the bus, which we took home. What a great day to be outside in Seattle! Pike Place Market is definitely one of my favorite places to go to.

When we signed up for cable with Comcast a little more than a year ago, we were offered an introductory rate of about $30/month for basic cable. We thought it was only a 6 month introductory rate, but it lasted for about a year.

Then, last month, our introductory rate ended and our cable bill more than doubled to $67. I called Comcast to see if we could continue our old rate, but supposedly they didn't have any deals available. I asked to reduce my level of service and they told me that I'd have to return my cable box to the service center.

So, Lesley and I decided to cut our level of service to limited basic cable, which gives us channels 1 through 29 and costs $13/month. Our TV antenna doesn't take an analog signal and we watch enough local TV to make it worthwhile to pay for it.

When I got home, I prepared to return our cable box. On the box, there was a sticker that said to call a certain number to return it, so I did, but I figured that I'd just have to take it to the service center anyway, so we left for the service center while I stayed on hold. I was on hold for about 30 minutes and almost made it to the service center before they picked up the phone and told me that I didn't need to call them and just needed to drop it off. Anyway, we got to the service center and there were more than 10 people in line in front of us, but it didn't take too long. We dropped off our box and will basically save more than $600 this year over what we would've paid if we kept our service at the inflated rate.

So, we no longer have ESPN or other cable channels, but fortunately there's nothing major on cable that we'll want to watch in the next few months. We will miss watching Mariners games on TV this summer, as well as the occasional soccer game. But you never know, maybe they'll offer good rates again.

The department I had been in at work is being eliminated. Nobody is losing their job, but I don't have another job yet, so I am in transition. I've been offering to help other departments and have come up with a couple projects that have been keeping me occupied. I'm still looking for other things to do in the short term so that I stay busy until I find another position. I don't know what my next job will be, but I've talked to various people within the company that I may be interested in working with. I don't know how soon something will open up, but I may have some options. I'll have to be patient for now, but I am looking forward to having some clarity on how things will go.

Here are our favorite pictures that we took last year. Vote on your favorite below.

Go here to see our favorite pictures from 2008.

Seattle was named most literate city in the country. Here's some about the study:

This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.

Based on my perception of the city, I'm not surprised about that at all. Bookstores are pretty common, though they've been struggling lately and the city's landmark Elliott Bay Book Company is moving from Pioneer Square to Capitol Hill. And many people here have graduate degrees - Seattle is a very educated city (almost to the detriment of diversity). The city also is big on libraries and overwhelmingly passed a measure in 1998 to improve all neighborhood libraries and build a new central library.

Lesley got me a few bottles of DRY soda for my birthday. DRY soda is very lightly sweetened and comes in a few unique flavors like "Kumquat", "Juniper Berry", "Rhubarb", and "Vanilla Bean". They're good carbonated beverages with subtle flavors that aren't overpoweringly sweet. The company is based in Seattle and has a retail store in Pioneer Square. It's nice to have something to drink other than water when I don't feel like something really sweet or hot tea.

I'm a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, as some of you may know, and I like to watch every game if I can. However, being in Seattle, the local attempt at a football team is often televised here instead of the Cowboys. I do like the Seahawks but they're terrible and get in the way of me seeing my team.

Last year we watched pretty much every Cowboys game that wasn't televised here at a local sports bar, which was inconvenient and kind of expensive. This year, we were able to find video feeds online to watch most of the Cowboys games. And, this year we were pretty fortunate, as 10 of the 16 Cowboys' games were broadcast on local TV.

The game this weekend is the last game of the regular season and is fairly important, as the winner of the game will win the division and gets a higher seed in the playoffs. Unfortunately, while much of the country will get to see this game, the game is not being televised locally. Fortunately, all playoff games are nationally televised, so we will at least get to see the Cowboys playoff game(s) on TV.

Merry Christmas everyone! We woke up early around 7 when Troy's parents called and opened their presents over the phone. We got Troy's dad some Tully's coffee and his mom some chocolate, smoked salmon, and a Space Needle charm for her charm bracelet. Then we opened our gifts from them. They gave us some windbreaker jackets that have the Olympic rings on it and say "Victory in Vancouver." I also got some Beatles magnets and Troy got a pocket knife.

Once we got off the phone, Troy and I opened the rest of the gifts. I got a gift card to Old Navy from my Uncle Bob and Troy got a gift card to Whole Foods from my parents. My parents also gave us a bottle of Three Rivers Malbec-Merlot wine that we really liked when we had it at Red Fin with my cousin.

Finally Troy and I opened our presents from each other. I gave him the Simpsons Season 5 on DVD. He bought Season 6 on Amazon since his brother gave him an Amazon gift card. And I gave him Season 7 for his birthday, so now we have Seasons 5 through 8.

I opened mine and there was a note in it from Troy saying he had to go get it from under the bed. He pulled it out and it was our drawing of the hale we stayed in on our honeymoon in Hawaii framed in a nice black frame with beige matting. It looks really nice! I had been wanting the drawing framed ever since we got it, so I was surprised that Troy remembered and actually did it.

Soon we'll eat more of our ham for lunch and maybe go outside later. Merry Christmas!

This year we're spending Christmas in Seattle. We've had our tree up since Thanksgiving and there are actually a few presents under the tree. I made an apple pie today when I got home and then we watched the SMU-Nevada bowl game in Hawaii. While the game was on, I made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes to go with our honey baked ham and Franz rolls. All the food was really good.

We also talked to our parents on the phone. Mine called us back after they opened their presents and were very happy with them. I got them a few souvenirs from Australia, including a Sydney calendar, a Sydney magnet, and a small wooden painted kangaroo. We also got them some mint Frango and probably one of the best gifts I've ever given anyone: a personalized picture frame with a picture of our cat Sassy in it.

We also went to look at lights at Candy Cane Lane in the neighborhood of Ravenna. After that we went back home and watched a Charlie Brown Christmas and ate a few pieces of my apple pie. I'm looking forward to opening our presents tomorrow morning.

When we moved here, I was kind of amazed by all the new building construction. We could see 12 cranes from our window at one time a year and a half ago. A lot of that construction has finished, which is nice, because now the sidewalks we use most are no longer blocked.

Still, despite the downturn in the economy, there are 8 cranes we can see from our window, and construction continues. There is a lot of underused land north of downtown in the Denny Triangle area as well as in our neighborhood. As Seattle continues to grow, these areas are prime targets for development.

We finally received our tickets to the two Olympic events we requested at the end of October last year. We're going to a speed skating event on February 13th at noon and a hockey game on the 16th at noon. The actual tickets are pretty cool looking and rather large.

I'm getting really excited about going to Vancouver and being a part of the Winter Olympics. The city will probably be very busy and swarmed with tourists and spectators. It also happens to be Valentine's Day on the Sunday while we're there, so maybe we can eat at a nice romantic restaurant or something. I can't wait!

Troy and I made chicken enchiladas last night for dinner from a recipe we found online. We’d had a hard time recently thinking of recipes to make that sounded good. Then Troy suggested we make our own enchiladas. It was a lot of work and took about an hour and a half, but they tasted really good.

We had to make the salsa verde mixture (onions, chicken broth, green chilies, and spices) and lightly fry the corn tortillas to soften them up. Then we dipped the tortillas in the salsa verde and then put chicken and cheese inside and rolled them up. We filled our 13 x 9 pan with 8 enchiladas and cooked them in the oven with green onions and cheese on top. We also made our own refried beans from a can of pinto beans and we made Mexican Rice-a-Roni. It was all really good and smelled and tasted like real Tex-Mex. Although, after making them ourselves, I realize how bad that kind of food really is for you. I was pretty full after eating almost two enchiladas and couldn’t finish my plate. Now we have yummy leftovers.

Troy and I went to my work Christmas party this past Friday night. The weather was actually decent for mid-December, so we just walked to it. It was held at the Hotel Andra downtown again, which is only two blocks from my building. Just like last year, we had food catered by the famous Tom Douglas restaurant called Lola.

We started out with appetizers and drinks as everyone mingled around. There was also a small live band that played music. Then we sat down for dinner around 7, which consisted of a salad with beets, fish with brussels sprouts (which I'd never had before), and some kind of steak with a vegetable I can't remember. Then they brought us a dessert plate with a small chocolate cupcake, a small coconut cream pie bite, and a small dish of creme brulee. All the food was good and it was fun hanging out with Eric and my other co-workers.

Downtown Seattle is a fun, exciting place any time of year, but it's especially festive right now.

We went downtown on the day after Thanksgiving for the traditional tree lighting like we did last year. Like last year, it was a huge attraction. Unlike last year, the sound system didn't fail and they were able to launch fireworks. The tree is lit each evening along with a large star on the Macy's building.

There is also a carousel across the street. And further down Pine, Nordstrom has a Santa, who is always awaited by a long line of people to see him.

A lot of the buildings have changed their lights to red and green and and the trees downtown are covered with lights. And Pike Place Market has a cool holiday light display near the main entrance.

All this makes going downtown especially fun this time of year. Now, if only Seattle homeowners were as festive in their holiday decorations...

I read this morning that a 104-year-old church building in the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff will likely be demolished so that a school can be built on the site. I suppose I've been living in Seattle for too long because I found this pretty shocking.

But now that I look back through the news at the recent history of preservation in Dallas, I remember how poorly the city and community treat historic buildings. A couple years ago, an 85-year-old East Dallas YWCA building was demolished. And last year, preservationists were shocked as a 1950s office building was demolished without warning.

Yeah, now I remember, this is how Dallas does things - it's in the name of progress.

One of the problems in Dallas is that the inner-city has been so neglected that anything seems better than abandoned buildings. But when you demolish a historic building, you destroy history, which is something that you can't get back, and one of the attractions that can help to revive and enliven the inner-city. That's not progress.

By contrast, Seattle recognizes that history and progress aren't polar opposites. New buildings stand side-by-side with re-purposed old buildings and the contrast adds further to creating an interesting and livable city, moving towards the future but respectful towards the past.

Heck, in Seattle, preservationists got landmark status for a former Denny's restaurant. The building was eventually demolished, but it came very close to preservation and was a top news story, showing the importance of preservation here.

Unfortunately, Dallas doesn't yet seem to know how to make progress while preserving history and in the process fails at both.

Four days last week had record low temperatures and temperatures barely got above freezing each day. But, on the bright side, the sun was out last week. Even though the days were short, the skies were clear and we were treated to a rare stretch of sunlight in December.

Because we're so far north and nearing the winter solstice, the sun doesn't get more than 20° high in the sky anyway. And unfortunately, this week it's cloudy again, and as the afternoon sun nears the horizon, the clouds make it get darker much earlier than it did last week. In fact, with the clouds dimming the sunlight, for a significant part of the day it looks as if the sun has barely even risen.

Fortunately, the winter solstice is in less than a week at which point the days will begin to lengthen and the sun will get higher in the sky. While there will still be quite a few more cold, cloudy days this winter, more sunlight will be very welcome.

Today is Troy's 26th birthday. This past Saturday we did several things to celebrate it. First we went to a restaurant we'd never been to before called Portage Bay for breakfast. It's only 3 blocks from us, so we walked there in the cold morning air. It was really busy, so we had to wait about 20 minutes. The food was good though and it was very filling. I got a ham, mushroom, and cheese scramble that came with toast and red potatoes. Troy got the breakfast sampler which came with eggs, toast, red potatoes, and his choice of bacon or ham. If we had gotten toast or pancakes, we could have used the fruit/topping bar which had several bowls of all kinds of fruits, butter, and whipping cream to put on your food. It all looked so good! We'll probably go back some time.

After breakfast, we walked to Lake Union and spend a few minutes there. Most of the park is blocked off because of construction and has been pretty much ever since we moved here. Hopefully it will be done soon. Then we went back home for a while before taking the bus to see a movie at the Varsity Theater in the U District. We saw Earth Days, a documentary about the history of the environmental movement. It was pretty informative and interesting because of all the archival footage from the past 50 years.

After the movie, we took a bus to the Space Needle to use our coupon for two free glasses of wine. It was dark by the time we got there around 5. We had turned our tree lights on before we left so we could try to see them from the Space Needle. Even with the telescopes, it was difficult to see our tree.

Then we rode the bus to Capitol Hill to try a Vietnamese place called Monsoon. Unfortunately we didn't have reservations and they were booked until 8, so we ditched that idea and went to Seastar near Whole Foods instead. Seastar is a really nice place and the food was excellent. I had a cup of crab and corn bisque and the penne with sea scallops. Troy had the mahi mahi with rice and vegetables and a glass of Riesling white wine. The bread was really good too. We had been planning to get cheesecake for dessert at the Cheesecake Factory downtown, but we were both too full, so we didn't get anything.

It was a pretty fun, full day. Troy has a few presents to open when I get home from work today. Happy Birthday Troy!

I love cats and wish I could get a kitten. I'd like having something to take care of and the company. It's been a while since I've consistently been around a pet, specifically a cat. I miss our old cat, Sassy, and think a new kitten would be so fun to watch grow up and play with.

Unfortunately I'm allergic to cats (allergies actually come from the cat's saliva and dandruff, not the hair) and don't really like all the hair they leave everywhere. I don't want to have an outdoor cat either because I couldn't stand the thought of it possibly being run over or getting in a fight with another animal. We can't have an outdoor cat right now anyway because we live in an apartment building.

I wish I could just get a shot or something so that I wasn't allergic to them and could get a cat some day.

Tim Tams are an Australian cookie that we had on our first day in Australia. We really liked them so we bought some to take home with us and sent some to my parents.

Ironically, just a few weeks after we got back from Australia, Tim Tams are now available in stores in the States. They're made by Arnott, but are branded as Pepperidge Farm here. We found the original and caramel varieties at QFC and supposedly Target has a dark chocolate variety.

Anyway, they're really good. We already bought a couple more packages. If you go get some, you have to try the Tim Tam Explosion (also known as the Tim Tam Slam).

Below is a list of cities that are farther south than Seattle, along with the average low temperature in the month of December.

• Boise, ID: 24 °F


• Fargo, ND: 4 °F


• Minneapolis, MN: 11 °F


• Duluth, MN: 9 °F


• Green Bay, WI: 13 °F


• Toronto, Ontario, Canada: 18 °F


• Buffalo, NY: 24 °F


• Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: 12 °F


• Bangor, ME: 16 °F

By comparison, the average low in temperature in the month of December in Seattle is at least 12 degrees warmer than all of those cities farther south - at 36 °F. Being close to the ocean, our weather is moderated by the moist ocean air that soaks the region every winter.

However, we've been under a zone of high pressure over the last several days, which has given us clear skies, as well as cold weather with lows around 22 °F until Thursday.

I'd never been to a foreign country before, not even Mexico or Canada. But spending two weeks in Australia makes me want to visit foreign countries more now than ever before. It was just so cool being in a different country and experiencing so many new things. I've already started a list of countries I want to visit some day. Hopefully Troy and I will be able to visit all these places.

• New Zealand - I've heard lots of good things about New Zealand. It has lots of natural beauty and is where Lord of the Rings was filmed. I'd love to spend a month there some day.


• United Kingdom (England & Scotland) - I've wanted to go to London for a while, probably since I first became a Beatles fan. I want to see Abbey Road some day. I also want to go to Liverpool to see where the Beatles started out and visit all the famous places, like the Cavern Club. Scotland would be cool too.


• Ireland - Seeing all the old castles and architecture would be cool. Going to Dublin would be the main thing to see. I don't know much about Ireland, but I think I'd like it.


• Italy - Florence, Rome, Venice, the list goes on. There's so much history in all of Europe, but I'd probably want to visit Italy the most, after England and Ireland.


• Spain - I'd like to see Madrid some day. I remember learning all about Spain in my Spanish class in high school and it seemed pretty cool.


• Mexico - Seeing the old Aztec ruins would be pretty neat, as well as spending several days in Mexico City. Maybe some day Sofia can show us around her home city. Cancun would also be nice and relaxing.


• Prague, Czech Republic - My cousin has been to Prague before and actually took her family there last month. She loves it and I think I would too because of all the cafes, shops, and cultural things to do.

We're very fortunate to have been able to travel to Australia. It was our first trip overseas and we learned a few things on our way to having an awesome trip. There were so many impressive sights, interesting scenes, and memorable moments that we brought back with us that it took us almost two months to share it all with you.

Our first day there was a lot of fun and our first night hanging out with our friends was possibly the best night of the trip, as we all had a great time together.

One of the best things we did was our day tour along the Great Ocean Road. It was nice to be taken around to all the sights and it the scenery was amazingly beautiful. We were fortunate to have good weather and be able to appreciate such wonderful natural beauty of the ocean, shoreline, hills, trees, and - most impressively - the rock formations in the water.

We had a great time in Melbourne. The whole city was amazing - the CBD, the neighborhoods, all the shops and restaurants, the tram system, etc. However, one of our favorite places was Federation Square in the middle of the CBD. It was a great location to see Melbourne's architectural history and to experience the city.

Sydney was great too. The harbor was beautiful and the very curvy shoreline offered plenty of scenic vantage points to see the skyline, the opera house, and the bridge. I also really enjoyed relaxing in the sun and watching the waves come in at Bondi Beach. And, I had a great time exploring some of Sydney's suburbs, which were historic and lively with lots of places to eat and shop.

Overall, it was a great trip and it's been a lot of fun reliving it over these past several weeks.

• Introduction


• Long Plane Ride


• Day 1: Seeing Adam and Sofia


• Day 2: Melbourne CBD


• Day 3: Como House and Shrine of Remembrance


• Day 4: Aquarium and Park


• Day 5: The Great Ocean Road


• Day 6: Melbourne Zoo and Thai food


• Day 7: Lygon Street and soccer


• Day 8: Last full day in Melbourne


• Day 9: Flight to Sydney


• Day 10: Gardens and Scenery


• Day 11: Neighborhoods


• Day 12: Blue Mountains


• Day 13: Paddy's Market and a few last things


• Day 14: Goodybe Australia... until we see you again


• Public Transportation in Melbourne and Sydney


• Things in Australia that I'd like to see in the US


• Things we missed while in Australia


• Favorite Australian Restaurants


• A few things we learned

Our trip to Australia was our first international trip and there were a few things that we learned from it.

We were a little intimidated by traveling internationally, but it wasn't that big of a deal. The worst part was connecting in Los Angeles, so I'll try to avoid flying through there again, if at all possible. Otherwise, it was fine.

We exchanged some cash once we arrived in Australia, and it was very helpful that we were able to use our friends' bank and avoid exhorbitant fees. Without that luxury, I suppose we would've had to use one of the many expensive currency exchange services. We realized a few days into the trip that we could use our Capital One card without any foreign currency transaction fees that many credit card providers charge, so we could've spent less cash if we'd planned for that from the beginning.

We also traveled at one of the worst times for the exchange rate. The Australian dollar was reaching record highs while we were there, meaning that every dollar we spent in Australia cost us more American Dollars than it would have if the exchange rate were a little more beneficial.

I'm really glad we went when we did, though. Being able to visit a foreign country, or anywhere new for that matter, is so much better when you know someone there who can take you around. That's what made this trip so special - that we were able to spend most of it with some of our best friends. Not only did their guidance around the city help us to experience the best of Melbourne, but we just had a great time hanging out.

Nando’s - Nando's is probably Adam's favorite place to eat at in Melbourne. It was nicer than a fast food place, but not quite a restaurant. They have "Portugese-style" chicken sandwiches. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but the chicken and fries have a special seasoning on them that makes them taste really good. I got the chicken sandwich on a ciabatta roll all three times we went there. The food there was way better than anything I’ve had at a fast food place in the US. They also have a special spicy “Peri-Peri” sauce you can add to your sandwich that isn’t too spicy, even for me.

Bob’s Kitchen - I don’t know if I was just especially hungry or what, but the food at Bob’s Kitchen was amazing. I talked about it the entire time we were in Australia. We all shared several kinds of dumplings, which are basically small pockets of dough that contain pork, crab meat, chicken, and other meats. We also shared a noodle dish with vegetables. I wish we’d had a chance to go back.

Max Brenner - This place was so good that we went there three times. Most, if not all, dishes have some form of chocolate with them. The chocolate soufflé was just incredible and probably really bad for you, but who cares! I especially liked the gigantic cinnamon roll with chocolate sauce for dipping. Why aren’t chocolate cafes more popular in the US?

Peking Duck place - I don't know what this place was actually called, but it was a good introduction to the Peking Duck dish that originated from China. We tried this place in Chinatown and the food was really good. We ordered one and a half ducks, which came with tortilla-like pieces of bread and plum sauce. It was a lot of food for the four of us and we barely finished it.

Ying Thai 2 - I had some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had here. The ambiance was neat inside and the portions were huge. The coconut jasmine rice was really sweet tasting and almost could have been a dessert. I had the Pad Thai, which was excellent and wasn’t too spicy at all.

Bread Top/Barby's - I really wish we had these places in the US. They sell pastries (sort of like dim sum) that taste so good and are pretty cheap. We ate breakfast at these places probably 4 times when we were in Australia. My favorite was probably the coconut bun or the blueberry twist. It’s just so hard to find good, cheap pastries here besides donuts which are too sweet sometimes.

Australia and the US are pretty similar, but in our two weeks in Australia, there were a few things that we were used to finding in the US that we missed.

• I mentioned how the pedestrian signals make sound in Australia, which is great, but they didn't count down. In Seattle, most pedestrian signals count down so you know how much time is left (though they often don't give you enough warning), but in Australia we didn't know how much time was left before the lights changed, which made it hard to judge if we still had time to cross or should wait.


• It's nice not having to tip at restaurants, but on the flip side of that, service was not as attentive. It wasn't negligent, but it was slower-paced. At times it would've been nice to have had more attentive service.


• Furthermore, when we went to restaurants, getting a big bottle of room-temperature water for the table to share was common practice. It was nice having water there, and I didn't mind not having ice. The only problem was that they hardly ever brought us more. As if four people are supposed to share a single 1.5 liter bottle of water throughout an entire meal after spending all afternoon out walking around the city.


• Furthermore, drinking fountains are uncommon in Australia. We often got thirsty and, well, there just wasn't anywhere to drink from or to refill our water bottles. How inconvenient.


• Credit cards were not accepted nearly as much. Some places didn't accept them at all and most places had a minimum charge of $15 or so. As someone who charges basically everything so that I don't have to deal with cash and can accrue points with my credit card, not getting to charge stuff like normal was an annoying adjustment.

Overall, though, there didn't seem to be that many things that we're used to in the US that we couldn't find in Australia, but it would have been nice if these few things had been different.