[5.1] Vegas!

Dave & I went to Las Vegas for a few days on business (me) and pleasure (Dave). I've never been much of a gambler so Vegas has never been a "destination spot" for me. We landed around noon on Sunday and headed to the Bellagio hotel. We decided to walk down the Strip to see if there were any shows that still had seats left. "O" is playing at the Bellagio but was sold out. I told Dave we should see Celine Dion since she's ending her 5 year run soon but he wasn't interested. The Venetian had seats left for the Blue Man Group so we bought two. There was a brief discussion regarding which section we should sit in. Starting from front to back, there were seats available in poncho, none in front orchestra and then more in back orchestra. Dave picked two seats in poncho (more on this later). After securing our evening's entertainment, we went to the Stratosphere to ride the roller coaster. I wasn't sure what the ride was, but has heard it was fun. There are three rides at the top of the Stratosphere: Insanity, Big Shot, and Xscream. We bought tickets for Insanity and Xscream. The Insanity ride is nothing spectacular--it would probably be in the kiddie section of a typical amusement park. What makes Insanity so special is the fact that the entire ride takes place about 110 floors above the ground. The ride edges out over the top of the building so we can see all the cars that look like tiny dots below. I'm not sure we will do that one again. It was probably one of the scarier rides I've ever been on. The second ride was the Xscream. After Insanity, it was a piece of cake. We scoffed at Xscream and its pathetic attempt to scare us. All it did was zoom out over the edge a couple of times. Dave & I were in the front to get the best view.

Our next stop was the Blue Man Group. Turns out Dave had seen Blue Man Group more than once. I've only seen a few clips on television. The poncho section is the closest to the stage. I got a little nervous when I realized there were actual plastic ponchos on the back of every chair. I got even more nervous when I watched people put them on and completely cover themselves including wearing the hood. White crepe paper is passed out to the entire audience who come up with all kinds of clever ways to "TP" themselves. The act goes through A LOT of paper at the end. It was a great show. Next time we go to Vegas we'll have to book O ahead of time.

Monday night Dave wanted to gamble so we went to everyone's perennial favorite, Blackjack. Dave did well but I barely broke even. The gambling bug hadn't struck yet. I went to bed but Dave went to meet his good friend, Mike. I didn't see Dave again until the following morning--and he smelled like booze and cigarettes. Tuesday night we gambled some more. We played Blackjack, Caribbean Stud Poker and Let it Ride. I ended up Tuesday night about $275 ahead. The urge to gamble was getting stronger. Dave flew home Wednesday morning with a massive hole in his wallet. I played blackjack every chance I got on Wednesday. I wrote a little cheat sheet on what to do when I got an 11, A's and 8's, and when to hit a 12. I called my dad for more tips on doubling down and splitting. The morning seminar let out early -- I was up to $800 by lunch. When I started losing I forced myself to go peruse the shoe store. (Let me tell you, there were several pairs of $600-700 shoes that wouldn't look appropriate anywhere other than wrapped around a pole). The afternoon seminar was horrible and I was forced to leave after the first break -- up another hundred. My coworker met me for dinner at 7 pm -- I was up another two hundred. All in all I made about $1,100 in a little over 24 hours. When it was finally time to go I felt like Fred Flintstone--Bet! Bet! Bet! Bet! Bet!!!

Until next time.

[5.0] Eins, Zwei, Zuffa!!

Hey, all. Sorry about the break in delivering the best of the Northwest, but we've been in Vegas the past few days. Forsaking the advice in the latest Vegas tourism campaign, we'll fill you in on all the frivolity in the next post. But this stanza is dedicated to the beer drinker's favorite time of year, Oktoberfest. Last Saturday, we attended the Fremont Oktoberfest with Lisa's friend from work and her husband. Luckily, both were savvy beer drinkers. [Apologies in advance for the photos in this blog as they were all taken with a camera phone as the dolt author of this blog forgot the camera]

While Fremont's celebration fell a bit short of its namesake in Munich, it was far superior to the Wallingford Wurst Festival that we attended a few weeks prior. First of all, there was beer, and lots of it. This is a critical element of any Oktoberfest celebration and this one did not disappoint. Fremont does something a bit different, though, that was a bit of an annoyance. Fremont's Oktoberfest is more of a tasting festival, so instead of the traditional BSOMS (Beer Steins of Massive Size) associated with Germany, we receive a small mug of only about 4-5 oz in size. You can see one in the photo of Lisa with the bratwurst. Revelers were encouraged to try samples of many different beers. Having the small mug gave one access to about 70 or so microbrews...Ach du lieber! There were beer gardens where you could sit and enjoy a full beer, but the selection was limited.

The people-watching was fun, but there were far too few people sporting lederhosen. I vowed that I would purchase a pair in time to "authenticize" next year's event. The winner of best costume goes to this gentleman who sported a blond wig with braids and a t-shirt with a design of the torso of a german beer girl. The thing that made his outfit though was not the image of ample cleavage on the front of the shirt, but rather his hairline. Though the picture is not great, you can see said hairline on his back about three inches above the collar of his shirt and a few inches below the bottom of the wig. We had to avert our eyes and these lovely ladies provided a much better view, er, had on much more authentic costumes.

Unfortunately, as our flights to Vegas were early on Sunday, we missed many of the events on this penultimate day of the event. I missed playing in the Beer Pong fundraising tournament. And there were several other events that seemed like they would be a blast:

• The Brew-Ha-Ha 5K: A road race that included the Beer Belly Division for men over 200 lbs and women over 160 lbs


• Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving Contest: Self explanatory


• Street Scramble: A neighborhood scavenger hunt

More fun coming up this weekend with the Red Bull Soapbox Derby. Look for an update of that next week.

[4.0] Lisa Breaks Her Silence!

Hi everyone! I am finally breaking my silence to fill you in on my view of all things Seattle. It has been an interesting 8 weeks thus far. I've learned that it's okay to walk from place to place even if the destination is over 3 blocks away. I've learned that commuting by bus isn't as horrible as I've always imagined. I've learned that it's possible to arrive at work before 9:15 am. I've learned that Dave looks great wearing spandex shorts!

That's right--Dave has finally succumbed to the call of the bicycle and has been riding with me. As he mentioned in an earlier post he is planning to buy a road bike. I think he is tired of losing sight of me as I pull away on the climb back up Fremont Ave. I've joined a very large cycling organization here called the Cascade Bicycle Club. This club sponsors the annual Seattle to Portland ride (AKA the STP) every July. My sister, Margaret, and her friends do it every year. I'm hoping Dave & I will be in good enough shape to ride next year. It's 200 miles over the course of 2 days. I haven't ridden 100 miles in one day (AKA a century) in a very, very, very long time. I've been riding with the club pretty regularly since we finally moved into our place in Fremont. It's a great way to learn new areas. In fact, there are places that I know how to get to by bike that I'm not sure I could find by car.

Today I became an official Washington resident. I marched right into the downtown Seattle DMV and took number 266 so I could wait alongside every other person unlucky enough to need a new driver license. The number when I sat down was 215 so I thought I was in for a long wait but it wasn't that bad. There were several discarded magazines laying around so I was able to catch up on Britney Spears' custody battle and Lindsey Lohan's DUI troubles. $45, an eye test and an hour later, I was the proud recipient of a temporary license. There was one terrifying moment when I realized WA requires height and weight on the license. Since I didn't see any scales around ....

Dave promised that I would write about Margaret's visit over Labor Day Weekend. She showed up. We drank. We rode bikes. We went to dinner. We drove around the city and took pictures. It was great. Thanks for coming. Oh, and thanks for taking one of the TV's. We have two more that could use a good home. Dave installed a new flat screen in the master bath. Apparently, it's kinda loud if you're trying to sleep. Guess who gets up at 5:30 and guess who doesn't?

Okay--I think that's enough for my first post. I'm struggling to come up with things to write. Besides, I need to save something for the next post. Hopefully, it won't be in two months but no promises. We're still busily working on getting the house in shape. Dave's parents, Ray & Phyllis, are visiting in October. My mom is coming in November. Dave conveniently forgot to mention that when he was listing who was coming to visit in a previous post. Perhaps, it was his subconscious?

Toodles, lah

[3.7] East Meets West (Part Two)

[Update on Lisa's first post: No progress. She promises to do it this weekend. I'm skeptical.]

Earle and Kelli blew back through town late in the week after a few days in Portland and a night at a B&B across the Sound near Olympia. I picked up Lisa at work and the four of us (plus Foz) enjoyed a picnic lunch at a sculpture garden on Puget Sound, right near our old apartment.

Always prepared, E&K had a bottle of wine from a winery visit in Portland, but we were not sure of the open container laws. So we wrapped the wine in a paper bag and poured it into opaque plastic cups while constantly swiveling our heads to see if the bicycle cop was about to cruise past us again. We spent most of the time enjoying the day and our lunch while E&K shared the stories of their adventures the prior few days. We learned that E&K were "retiree magnets", but these folks love Kelli and her stories.

Thanks to E&K for the visit, we hope you can make it back soon.

Quick wrap on the rest of the weekend: Earle and Kelli left Thursday afternoon after lunch and on Friday after work, I met Lisa and her co-workers for Happy Hour. Lisa may have had one appletini too many. She did not, however, have enough to prevent us from going on a 35-mile bike ride on Saturday, which took us over Lake Washington and around Mercer Island, which is a small, upscale neighborhood in the middle of Lake Washington. I'm tired of trying to do these rides on my mountain bike and will be buying a road bike this week. After the ride (and a nap), we headed out to the bike shop to look at bikes and then to a local Wurst Festival. The festival was more of a mini-fair and there was little wurst to be had and even less beer, so we said, "this festival is the wurst" and left to have dinner elsewhere. On today's agenda, we're going to have a Dim Sum brunch with some folks we've met here, and then some shopping for blinds. I know you're all dying for an update on the blind situation.

[3.6] Happy Birthday Justine

September 13th, 2007: Happy B-day Justy! Life's so much better once you get that first year under your belt, isn't it? Enjoy your party this weekend. We miss you.

Love,

Uncle Dave & Auntie Lisa

[3.5] The Sunshine State

[Update on Lisa's first post: No progress (poking it to see if it is still alive). Back to the living blog]

It was overcast this morning. I mention this because it is quite the rarity thus far. I figure that we've been here in Seattle for almost two months, so that is a sufficient amount of time to undertake a preliminary update of the local weather situation, as always, for your information.

Every time I speak to Dad on the phone his first question is "How's the weather?". We'll get to my standard answer shortly, but first, I mention this because it's an intriguing phenomenon. I don't think there are many places in the US where everyone is hung up on what the weather is doing on a regular basis and the weather defines the area. Sure you get the hurricanes in the Southeast and the random blizzard that dumps feet of snow up North; these surely elicit curiousity from many people. But outside of Seattle, I'm not sure people are that consumed by what the weather is like, outside of maybe Phoenix in the summer, just because temperatures there more resemble those of a slow cooker as opposed to a major city (word from Dave and Linda and Scott is that 115F - 120F were pretty common this year). Darnit if people aren't just curious what happens when the temperature is 30 degrees more than your body temp.

Anyway, I bring this up because my typical response to my father is "75 and sunny". Now I harbor no illusions that I'll be spitting out this pat response come November, but the fact is, summer is absolutely amazing here in Seattle, especially for someone coming from the sauna that is the east coast summer. In two months, it's been clear sunny skies for about 85% - 90% of the time. We've had one day where it rained for a sustained period of time (that day cleared up and was sunny in the late afternoon) and about three or four days where it's been cloudy most of the day. Sometimes we'll get an overcast morning like today, but it will end like this (see right). And the locals are all complaining about how crappy the weather has been this August/September so I'm really curious how much better it can get.

Now again, we're just preparing ourselves for the Seattle "winter". Six months of gray, misty days that last from November through March. But hey, if that's the price for the amazing summer weather that we've been experiencing, sign me up. One of the local radio stations back in NYC used to label the "10 best days of the year". Days with low humidity, manageable temps, and glorious sunshine were so designated. We've had conservatively 25 of those since the begining of August. Now I know this is not LA and in a few weeks, I'll have constant drizzle to slap my face and remind me, but I'll relish it for now.

Finally, check out the average annual rainfall in Seattle versus other cities. Seems we have much lighter, albeit much more frequent, rain here. Check back for my next two month weather update in November. And then deeper into the winter, we hope to be enjoying lows of 35 - 40 degrees while those of you back in the NE are wading through feet of snow in sub-zero temps.

[3.4] East Meets West (Part One)

[First an update on Lisa's first post: No progress. We now return you to the blog]

It's tough to say who our first visitors were in Seattle. With so many folks clamoring for the right to lay claim to that title (at least we'd like to think people are clamoring), we may have split the rights:

• Scott (old friend of Dave) wins "First Out-of-Towner To Visit", but we were not in our new home yet.


• Margaret (Lisa's sister) wins "First Seattle House Guest", but she only came up from Portland and we anticipate many visits.

But this weekend, Earle and Kelli, long time friends and carousing companions from the old stomping grounds in Hoboken, paid us a visit. We will give them the title, "First Guests To Plan A Visit". They were actually the first people to commit to a Seattle visit, having planned to be here anyway for the wedding of Earle's friend from college, Kaiser. Kaiser, now also a Seattlite, is a former big man and all around gunner for the b-ball team that Earle and I played on in NYC, the Bob McAdoo All-Stars. As I understand it, JJ, the team's founder, player, coach, and social coordinator is struggling to keep the McAdoos in the NY Urban Professionals League due to aging, failing bodies and the fact that the Seattle area leagues keep plucking players.

E&K had wedding activities on Friday and Saturday, but we met up on Sunday morning and as she usually does, Kelli had our itinerary planned out in advance. We would have brunch, then go on the Seattle Underground Tour, and then head back to our neighborhood for a few pre-dinner cocktails while we decide on a place for dinner. So after a delicious brunch at Cafe Campagne down by the Pike Place Market, we walked over to Pioneer Square for the tour. Lisa and I had seen the tour advertised and it interested us as well. It is 90 minutes and gives a good history of Seattle. The bulk of the tour, however, weaves the group through the underground sidewalks of downtown Seattle. The story, in brief is that originally Seattle streets down by the waterfront were not far enough above sea level, which caused problems back in the late 1800s with water/mud in the streets and sewage problems at high tide. So they basically raised 30 square blocks of the downtown area by around 12 feet. This means that most of the older buildings have their second floor now at street level and the old sidewalk still exists underneath the current one. The picture of E&K above shows them below one of the skylights that looks up to the current street level. Fun tour, but it was time to head back to our neighborhood where we gave E&K the grand tour of the house and lavished some attention on the animals.

Since Kelli is allergic to cats, we made our stay brief and wandered downhill for dinner and drinks, not necessarily in that order. Earle wanted to see our local British-style pub, so we flattened our butts and filled our pints at the George & Dragon, a very authentic pub experience. They show the English Premiership and other soccer matches on the "telly" there and the replay of the USA/Brazil match was just starting, so we watched that as Kelli pulled out her trusty deck of cards and we played a game of "Oh, Hell". Not that it's important to mention, but I won.

After the G&D, we walked across the Fremont Bridge to a restaurant that we'd been hoping to try. Ponti's Seafood Grill is right on the water next to the bridge so we got a seat out on the balcony and enjoyed a great seafood dinner (thanks for treating, E&K). Unfortunately we lost Lisa after the appetizers as she had not been feeling well all day and walked home to lay down and wait for us. After dinner it was already late and I had to get E&K back to their hotel, so we walked back uphill, stopping at one point to enjoy some local Fremont shrubbery art. Apparently one of our neighbors got bored while trimming. Sort of looks like Easter Island meets the botanical garden meets the Three Stooges. Yes, we live in a neighborhood that is a bit "different".

Earle and Kelli are now off to Portland for a few days, but will be coming back through mid-week, so look for part 2 to this post later in the week.

[3.3] Have You Seen This Woman?

I apologize if you've been looking for a post for the past few days. I was holding off mainly because there's been a bit of pent up demand for a feminine viewpoint of Seattle and I was hoping that Lisa would come through with a post to silence the cries of the masses. Readers have been clamoring with questions: "When will I see some black text?", "Did I miss Lisa's posts?", "Can Lisa actually write?", "Are you guys still married?"

She was charged with bringing everyone up to date on our Labor Day Weekend activities with our first Seattle house guest (spoiler alert: it was Margaret), but obviously that has not happened yet so please feel free to pester her via a comment to this post or a personal e-mail if you want the poop. Truth is, Lisa started the post, but has yet to finish it and put it up for your reading pleasure. So I'll just have to pick up the slack. I do, after all have a few more hours each day to write while she wastes time with trivial stuff like commuting and working. But watch this space and we'll try to get her to finish the post before our next Seattle house guests (Earle and Kelli) show up in a couple of days.

I don't really have that much to write about today since I don't want to steal Lisa's thunder and write about any of the fun weekend activities. I did manage to get a picture of the Cuban Roast sandwich from Paseo that I drooled about in a prior post. I don't know if I described it previously, but it consists of slow-cooked pork, very large and extremely tasty fried onions, romaine lettuce, jalapenos, and an awesome aioli. The pork, onions, and jalapenos are fried up in a skillet and dumped on the baguette with the lettuce and aioli. Mmmmmm...Cuban Roast Sandwich. I actually had to take a lunch break to go out and get this baby since I've been gainfully employed for the last week. While I still have some ongoing work with my former company that requires a day's work here and there, they contracted with me to do a short-term rush job that kept me busy for several days over the last two weeks. I'm just trying to earn my keep here.

For various reasons, we've been missing a few of the neat summer activities that Seattle has to offer such as Seafair (several weeks worth of various events) and Bumbershoot (several days worth of music and entertainment festival). But we have a number of exciting things in September and October including Fremont Oktoberfest, a soap box derby on the main street near our home, and Trolloween, where the locals (Fremonsters) dress up and try to bring the troll under the bridge to life. I'm imagining we'll get a few good photos of these events, particularly the last one. We stopped by the Fremont Arts Council that sponsors the event and took a shot inside so you get some idea of what we're expecting of Trolloween. The council is housed in a non-descript brick building on Fremont Ave. It's basically just a warehouse, but it's a world of wonderment inside where all of the colorful masks and puppetry that are used for the annual Solstice parade in Fremont are housed. I think that some of these make it out for the Trolloween parade. Watch this space for more details.

[3.2] Dog's Eye View

Dave took the weekend off from blogging and Lisa has been MIA since this blog started, so it is I, Fozzie Bear, to the rescue, bringing you up to date on all things Seattle. Things have been great here in Seattle so far. I lost my big backyard in CT where I used to enjoy running around, but Dave has been good about taking me on walks and to off-leash areas. The walks are fun because I love checking out the daily news and there's a lot to check out in our new town as you can see in the picture. As for the dog parks, I've met a bunch of new friends like Raider, Bailey, Aristotle, and this dog that looks exactly like John Candy's character in Spaceballs (I'll try to get a picture of him next time). The Seattle dogs are more liberal and laid back than I am, but we get along well enough. They give me good tips about bringing my arch nemesis to his knees. Just look at how smug he is sitting up there on the back of the chair. You're going down, Nigel.

Seattle is more dog-friendly than the other towns in which I've lived. Lisa, Dave, and I went downhill the other day for a few afternoon cocktails. Most times this means that Lisa and Dave sit outside and have cocktails and I get tied up outside a railing and maybe if I'm lucky I get a bowl of water or if the stars are aligned, a treat. But Dave and Lisa took me to Norm's Eatery and Ale House. We sat outside, but I got to hang out with Dave and Lisa INSIDE the railing. When they got their drinks, I got a big bowl of water. Now this made the place cool enough, but then we saw a dog bringing his folks INTO THE BAR. Suffice to say, we WILL be going back to this place.

So, that was a fun day, but while the walk downhill was great, the walk home took a lot out of me as you can tell by the way I crashed almost immediately upon our arrival back home.