New Years 2004 in Seattle
As most of you know, Dan and Shank moved to Seattle in September of 2003. A few weeks later when Dan came back to DC to pick up Shank's car and drive it out to Seattle, he had an interview with my company about possibly doing some contracting work (which would be more steady than working with his dad, and he would be doing what he wanted to do). IDSI loved him and wanted to hire him full time, but that wouldn't be possible if lived in Seattle. As karma would have it, that same night Dan took Shank's car to pick something up in Springfield, and right at the "mixing bowl" (one of the worst traffic interchanges in the country) the car broke down, and would not be repaired for at least two months. That's what Shank gets for ricing out his car ('92 Accord with a '98 Prelude engine swap).
	I realize that the story is a lenthy one, so I might as well use the caption space for these images of the Space Needle to tell the rest of it. So because Dan will be in town for a while and needs to make some money, he calls IDSI back and accepts their offer to work as a full-time employee with the stipulation that after his 90-day trial period, he can telecommute from Seattle.
	Since Dan had been hoping to live in Seattle for as long as he could remember, and couldn't live there for the next few months, for Christmas I surprised him with a trip for both of us to celebrate New Years there.
	So on New Years Eve, Dan and I took a non-stop flight to Seattle and had the last two seats on the entire plane. I think our seat assignments were 36E and 36F. If you can ever help it do not sit in the very back row, you can't even recline your chair, and on a 5-hour flight, we wish we could.
	Because Dan and I didn't arrive until about 7pm on New Years Eve, it was up to Shank to make all of the arrangements for the festivities that night. We were supposed to go to this place called the China Room or something like that right on the water, but they sold too many tickets and the bouncers weren't letting anyone else in. With half an hour till midnight, we rushed to make other plans.
	Knowing a friend with one of the coolest penthouse apartments in town certainly has its perks, especially when she is throwing a party on New Years Eve with a clear view of the Space Needle. All of the above pictures were taken from her apartment and balcony. Here's Dan, me and Shank.
	On New Years Day Shank wasn't feeling well, so Dan and I went to the Space Needle's revolving restaurant for dinner. For $14.95, we got this touristy picture. In Seattle, where apparently it never snows, it was snowing at the top of the Space Needle, but the snow evaporated about 40 feet above the ground according to our view from the elevator on the ride down.
	Shank and Dan's apartment was in Silverdale is about an hour away from Seattle across the Puget Sound. The Puget Sound has a pretty reliable ferry system so Dan and I took a ferry from Bremerton to Seattle to start our Ferris Bueller Day (doing everything there is to do in a major city in one day). Notice the clouds? That's a typical Seattle day. Oh, and we missed our ferry because all of the roads had iced over, and for being as far north as they are, the entire Seattle area is completely unprepared for snow or ice. So we had to wait around for another hour before the next ferry to take us to Seattle.
	First stop was the Seattle Aquarium, home of a Pacific octopus (which we saw at feeding time), a fish ladder, and lots of sea otters, seals, and river otters. I want an otter, they're so cute and smart. Well, I'll take any marine mammal. They are all pretty smart and adorable.
	Second stop was the famous Pike Place fish market. Here are the guys that toss all of the fish around. And if you buy something, they'll let you catch fish. Tempting, but I didn't want to smell like them the rest of the day.
	Pike Place is more than just a fish market. There are tons of kiosks with neo-hippies selling hemp necklaces, tie-dyed clothes, and artsy tchotckes. Being a girl that prefers to shop at Ann Taylor Loft, I didn't buy any souvenir t-shirts here.
	Seattle is filled with sculptures everywhere you turn. Even that underpass that homeless people would populate? Get the homeless people out of there, and let's put up some environmental art and funky lighting. No joke, Seattle spends a lot of money on homeless shelters, and doesn't want its homeless hanging out in said underpasses.
	Dan and I made a quick stop at the Wallbeds Northwest store to get some ideas for the wallbed that I would one day like to build. I've got the mechanism, just need to get around to building it. This picture isn't from that store. After the wallbed store, we went to the Pacific Science Museum, which is really for kids, but who says the grown-ups can't have fun too? Here's Dan at an oversized table.
	They had a huge insect zoo, an enormous robot that could play you in tic tac toe, and lots of other cool exhibits. I've never been a big fan of science, but when it is presented in a fun and interesting way, like it was at the Pacific Science Museum, who wouldn't love science?
	We had dinner at the Experience Music Project (picture borrowed from the Alaskan cruise album—taken from the top of the Space Needle). The museum was pretty cool. Dan and I learned all about the music of the Northwest, namely the grunge movement, and even had time for a jam session. Since neither of us plays an instrument, the noise we made was pretty terrible.
	What better way to end our day than to take in a game? The Lakers were in town to play the Supersonics at the Key Arena, and dammit, I was going. Who cared if it was sold out? That's what scalpers are for. So for $100 Dan and I sat about as high up as we could to watch the game.
	It was a great game, the best NBA game I've ever seen in person. That isn't saying much since it was the first one I had ever been to. It was also Gary Peyton's first game back in Key Arena after being traded to the Lakers. Seattle was happy to see him again, and he was the only Laker they cheered for when he did something good. Kobe was booed constantly which was understandable at first (for the rape allegations against him), but even I got sick of it after a while. Shaq hurt his toe midgame and and was out for the next several months. The Sonics won 111-109 at the buzzer. What a game!
	On Saturday, January 3 Dan and I did absolutely nothing except watch movies all day on the Starz! network. We needed an entire day to recuperate from Ferris Bueller Day. We flew back to DC on Sunday, and from the plane I finally saw Mt. Rainier. Prior to this, I was convinced that Dan was making this mountain up, because it was so cloudy the entire time I was there. Apparently from Seattle, Mt. Rainier is only viewable 90 days out of the year. I was blown away by how high up we were and we could see this mountain, which is the fifth tallest mountain in the US.
And remember how I was complaining about the last two seats on the plane? We got stuck with them AGAIN coming back. Beware of cheap tickets on extended domestic or international flights. You don't want to be stuck with the crappiest seats on the entire plane. All in all, a great trip, but sorry Dan, you haven't convinced me to move to Seattle. I'm afraid I still love DC, the sun, and the east cost too much.