Where were we? Ah, yes . . .

I have to apologize for the lack of updates. I was a little bummed that I had not yet found work (note the past tense teaser), and wanted to avoid the keep-your-chin-up comments you would feel obligated to provide. As I am about to reveal, that is no longer an issue. In the past couple of weeks I've received a lot of encouragement to continue updating, and so now I shall.

I'm going to be working at Cancer Research and Biostatistics (cleverly abbreviated to C.R.A.B.) as user support technician. I'll be one of three providing desktop support for a staff of about 85. The organization is a non-profit but is very well funded. They've got a huge inventory of cool technology. Being part of such a small team will offer a lot of chances to get experience with all of the systems. They stressed that they don't have experts of certain domains of knowledge and try to spread it out across the team.

The office is located on the 19 and 20th floors of the Metropolitan building. There they have a deck which offers a grand view of the Seattle skyline, the bay, and the Space Needle. Even better, they're a seven minute walk from our apartment. Some how we've found an apartment that is within walking distance of both our jobs and almost exactly in the middle.

Some other happenings I'd like to keep you apprised of:

1) Elizabeth has worked two days in the hospital as a doctor. She already has a lot of stories, but I'm still in awe every time I hear, ". . . and as I was writing a prescription for Tylenol. . . " Even the mundane parts are just too cool. When you, dear friends, get a chance you should ask her about her very first solo decision. It involves a mysterious-sounding "CODE GREY" for which she was the only physician to respond, and how she dealt with the very psychotic 70 year-old attempting to walk out of the hospital a few hours after his surgery.

2) We had a dinner with one of Elizabeth's friends from MUSC who is an anesthesia intern at the University of Washington in Seattle. We prepared a meal of salad, salmon, green beans and rice. It was really tasty, if a bit cold, largely due to the fact that we started cooking a 30 minute meal about two hours before he arrived. I could blame this on Elizabeth's desire to be early in everything she does, but truly it was my desire to hide my inadequacies as a chef.

3) We went to the tallest building in Seattle, the Columbia building, and saw the most amazing view. Our weather has been very cool (highs in the low 70s) and we're having more clear days than overcast. We picked a good one, though and could see for miles and miles.

4) We followed this up to with a trip to Safeco Field to watch a Mariner's home game. We played the Cincinnati Reds (an interesting rematch of sorts from the days finalizing our residency Match rank list) and won. We had cheap seats in the left-field bleachers, but they still gave us a great view. The pitcher, the soon-to-be traded Cliff Lee, threw a complete game shutout 1-0. In typical M's fashion it was a low scoring affair, but at only a bit over two hours, it suited Elizabeth just fine. Well enough even that she might go back again at some point.

The Post Dedicated to TG's Dad

We went to the park yesterday with Copper. He has a good time.

A Look in the Past

Getting Our Assess Out of the Apartment

We went to our branch of the public library yesterday. It's incredible. 10 stories, crazy architecture, coffee shop, RFID enabled self-check out. It would certainly be on my list of places to visit when the deluge of visitors (hopefully!) come and visit later this year. Elizabeth pointed out that they have a lot of books, too.

Elizabeth just noticed an embarrassing misspelling in my resume's cover letter. You know, the one I've sent to a few dozen prospective employers. ". . . to asses and repair unruly technology." The blame lies solely on Copper, who proof-read that three times. We need to do something about your dang illiteracy, Little Dog.

Update to the Latitude Badge

Originally, I intended the location badge at the top of the blog to let you follow along while we drove. The vector of displacement is now zero, and thus it's time for modification.

For now, I've decided to make the map showing our location a little smaller and more finely detailed. It's going to show us at Minor Ave quite often, but if we're out and about in the city, it should follow us around too.

The Pledge™ Pledge

We're starting to formulate a routine. Of course, it'll be thrown out as soon as E begins work, but for the moment we're both enjoying our time together.

If you visited us in Charleston, chances are good you just caught us in the midst of one of our cleaning binges. The house wildly vacillated between cluttered-but-straightened to a state of all-out disarray. We've made two pledges to change that here in Seattle:

1) If we don't love it, we won't spend money on it. I think we were both buying things that were a little bit cool, but not planned for. We ended up with a lot of stuff that was thrown away or donated during the post-match purge. Sure, the Mario paper-craft models were neat, but I don't think I got $6 of enjoyment from them. Our mantra is "purposeful spending." We're going to try our very best to just not buy a bunch of impulse stuff. This is natural for Elizabeth but not so much for me. I am excited to have nothing but things that are seriously useful or bring me lots of pleasure, though.

2) A clean house requires a million little decisions. Mom, I know you have spent many, many hours telling us to put things back when we're done. I know you may think this message, as self-evident as it seems now, was lost on me. Hopefully, I still have time to show you I was listening.

The house is still clean. Frankly, this is a little embarrassing to write as a 26 year-old married man, but I wanted to openly state our goals so that we might feel we owe it to you, our dear readers.

Settling In

Elizabeth and I have spent the week actually living in our new city. We are past the stage of running to Wal-Mart trip for a shower curtain so we can clean ourselves. We've got the basics down and it no longer feels like we're living in a hotel.

Here's a few excerpts:

On Tuesday, we went to a concert. It was the best. We saw mc chris and two openers, MC Lars and MATH the Band. It was certainly more of my scene than Elizabeth's, but I have it on good authority that she enjoyed the show.

We got our Washington state drivers' licenses which was much easier than anticipated. After all the preparation, the law governing what was required changed on June 1. We were allowed to submit our old SC licenses as proof of identity and were in and out in a few minutes.

Elizabeth has been stalking used bookstores to fill up our new bookcases. We've been to three and found another eighteen or so to go to. Finds include a dozen new Agatha Christie mysteries she's never read, and even better are the Holmes pastiches and Nero Wolfe novels she's missing from her extensive collection.

We found an off-leash dog park a few blocks over. It's friendly and populated by a lot of cultured and urban dogs so Copper feels a little out-classed by the shar peis and pugoodles. Unfortunately it isn't grassy; it's this loose gravel-stuff which reminds me of walking around in a giant litter box. This may indeed be the point. I'm going to reserve judgement for a second trip.

Coming up, we were considering celebrating Caroline's birthday (6/18) by going to a Mariners game. Incidentally, they're giving away Griffey and Ichiro best-buds bobbleheads to the first 30,000 fans. Now that we have our drivers' licenses we look forward to such mundane activities as getting a library card and registering to vote! Stay tuned for those exciting stores in the near future.

Potential Dinner Party?!?

Uhoh - we're in trouble! I invited the program coordinator to a meal, and it's turned into a dinner party for four people!

We have only three chairs, so that's not great.

Here's what we're thinking for the meal:

- Artichoke and spinach dip (thanks, Mom!)
- Simple salad (spinach, carrots, turkey, cheese, balsalmic vinegar)
- Chicken breast
- Flavored rice
- Green beans or steamed broccoli
- Some sort of cobbler for dessert.


Where's the fourth chair coming from? What serving dishes will we use? What's her husband like? Is Copper going to behave?

To say nothing of the potential ramifications of a bad dinner party with the surgery department.

It's the Small Things

I don't notice much different in the day to day life here. It's the same people, the same stores (though the name 'QFC' really trips me up), the same food. The really weird quotidien thing that I notice is that the radio says 'Northwest' instead of 'Southeast'. It comes up more than you'd imagine.

I'm officially hooked on Mario Galaxy 2. It's a good thing, since addictions will be disallowed starting on June 17.

Alec is in bed after a late night playing computer games with friends.

Just A Typical Wednesday Night

We're headed out to the rooftop deck on the fifth floor to see exactly how correct the pitch was:

How 'spectacular' is the view?
Are there a million of our fellow apartment dwellers up there?
Is there really a hot-tub?

I have also finished 'Salem's Lot, so I feel a lot more confident about exposing myself to the potential vampires out there.

Quiet Afternoon

We went on our first major shopping trip to the QFC (similar to Publix) about four blocks away. Surprisingly wide variety, though hot sauce is regrettably scarce here. We found a decent thrift store about five blocks down, and while their books are way too expensive ($4/book my ass!) their clothes are very reasonable. Alec has his first pair of non-threadbare shorts in years!

We watched a documentary on the serial killer HH Holmes (no relation to my idol, though they did debut in the same decade) and are heading out the door to Seattle Center, to see the Space Needle and the Science Fiction Museum. Pictures to follow!