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Earlier this week we enjoyed the October cupcake of the month, Carmel Apple. It is fabulous, and it comes on a stick, what’s not to love?
I went to the Mariners game tonight (a work function). It was an exciting game! The Mariners won!
But more exciting – the moose came up to our section to dance during the 7th inning stretch!
I also rode my scooter to the game – man that is a convenient way to get places. Easy to park free and close. After the game, you can zip right out of there.
We had a pretty busy weekend. Saturday we went to the Sounders FC vs Chelsea FC game. It was a good match, but the Sounders lost 2-0. After the game, we rode the new light rail (on opening day) from the international district to the airport, and then back to downtown. It was really crowded, but fun. More importantly Seattle is finally catching up to the other major cities of the world. Here is a video I snapped while waiting for our train to arrive.
Very exciting – our light rail service opens in 6 days. Unfortunately, the route means that I won’t be riding it very often. The trains will initially run from downtown to 2 miles from the airport (opening to the airport before the end of the year). They are offering free rides next weekend (for the opening), maybe we’ll check it out.
The reason that I’m posting – the Seattle Times has a cool photo gallery of the train, the stations, and the artwork along the route. So – next time you visit, we may be picking you up at a train station, or meeting you at the airport and riding the train together. We’ll see.
View the gallery at the Seattle Times.
Exciting weekend coming up… I’m on-call support this weekend (was last weekend too). 2 weeks at a time, 4 times a year. It isn’t too bad, but it is disruptive. I always have to be somewher in cell phone contact, and have to lug my laptop everywhere I go.
So – tonight I have my every 4 to 5 weeks haircut. I’ve need to update the frequency as I get really bad helmet head if I let it grow out too much.
The more exciting thing… we are planning on trying one of the new Ballard restaurants tonight, Bastille Cafe & Bar. The pictures all look like they have done an amazing job with the interior, and the menu looks yummy.
We’ll let you know how it is… unless of course we can’t get in tonight because it is too busy. We shall see.
That sums up the exciting plans for the weekend…
Next weekend, however, will be very exciting. A sounders game and an inversions workshop!
Monday we drove the entire Olympic Peninsula loop. We loaded up the dogs for the trip. The dogs did not like the first part of the trip and really really really wanted to play with the bomb sniffing dog at the ferry terminal. After that they settled in and were pretty good.
Our real destination was Ruby beach, out on the Pacific Ocean side of the state. We went up to Edmunds, across the ferry to Kingston, and then drove highway 101 through Port Angeles, Forks (of Twilight fame), and over to Ruby Beach. After that, down south around the mountains, through Olympia. The rest of the trip was highway, up I-5. We made a special stop of UPS (to pick up Cortny’s new iPhone) and then home. Fun trip.
And… (if you click continue reading) here is a video of Matilda meeting the ocean for the first time. Ruby had been to the Atlantic ocean, so she wasn’t quite as funny this time.
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This is the first in a series of blog posts about our Alaskan cruse. We traveled with Celebrity Cruises on the Celebrity Infinity, round trip from Seattle. The cruise took us to to port stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Victoria BC. We also had 3 days of cruising, in the Pacific Ocean, up to Hubbard Glacier, and through the Canadian inside passage (east of Vancouver Island).
We departed on May 22nd, from Seattle. This is the first Seattle round trip cruise of the year for the Infinity. Since we followed the repositioning cruise, we actually were not scheduled to depart Seattle until 11:59pm. Our cruise documents said not to arrive at the port until 7pm. Because of bus schedules and us being ready way ahead of time, we arrived at the pier around 7pm. The ship actually wasn’t there yet! (Not that I was surprised). So we dropped off our luggage and filled out our health forms and got the boarding information. Since the ship wasn’t going to board until 8:30 or 9:00 and we had a high boarding number (#29), we decided to get dinner elsewhere. (All of the pictures from day 1 are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.helmick/AlaskaCruise2009SeatteDays12.)
Amazon Fresh ( http://fresh.amazon.com/ ) has been around Seattle for over a year, but the recently expanded service to Ballard.
Last Sunday we decided to give it a try. We ordered our regular groceries for 1 to 2 weeks (a good amount of stuff). This included frozen meats, fresh produce, canned, and dry goods. Everything was top quality – the produce and meats were great.
The most impressive part of this service: We placed our order around 9pm on Sunday night, and out groceries were on the front porch before 6am. I brought everything in when I let the dogs out and then put the totes back on the porch. When I got home from work at 5:15, the totes were already picked back up. And this awesome delivery service is free when you spend more than $70 (for our zip code, some zip codes are $30).
The weekend is half over, and I need to catch up on blog posts
On Friday night, we went to mioposto for dinner. It’s a cute little pizza place in Seattle’s Mt. Baker neighborhood. (South of I-90, on the shores of south lake Washington.) It also happens to be not too far from where I work (in Beacon Hill), so I had been there several time, but it was Cortny’s first time. Mioposto has all wood fired pizzas, with a very tasty thin crust. If you’re around, it is worth checking out. Of course, we can get some of the same pizzas in Ballard at hi-life (same owners), but the menu is much smaller.
Saturday was a pretty lazy day. I did some Web site building work that I’ve been needing to do. We tried the 4:30pm Saturday yoga class. It was good, but I (personally) prefer going at 8am.
Saturday night, we dined at Luisa’s Mexican Grill. It’s actually in the same zip code as us (I learned that on the Web site). Good standard fare Mexican food.
oh, and also on Saturday – We were watching Netflix streaming to Tivo. That’s a pretty darn cool feature. And then after dinner we watch Be Kind Rewind. When the movie was in theaters it just looked like a silly Jack Black movie, but it turns out it is a pretty good movie. It has humor and heart.
So it tool me about a week, but I have settled into riding the bus to work. It’s a good thing that I have the unlimited ride pass, because I end up going through 3 zones on the way to work (less than 3 miles). I get on the bus 2 stops short of Seattle’s downtown “ride free” area, head into the free zone, and then 3 stops outside the free zone – I exit the bus. For a while I would leave the bus and be like “I paid on the way in.” Now I just scan my pass on the way in and the way out, the equivalent of paying twice, but I have a free unlimited pass, so no loss .
I am hopeful that the longer bus ride will work for me (about 40 to 45 minutes each way). Actually it must work because we are a 1 car family now.
Today on the way home, the bus was very crowded and there were people standing. There was one empty seat – next to me. So I’m wondering, am I that scary looking that people would rather stand than sit next to me?
My Bus Stop
