PNW Blue

As I type this, I’m at work sitting at the public desk in the guest relations lobby. It was about 7 degrees on the commute in, and I doubt it’s gotten much warmer. There’s also a light snow falling…but hey, at least the sun is out! About 20 people have actually ventured into the zoo today. Every time somebody walks by the sliding doors open and a blast of cold air gushes in. The maintenance staff here can’t seem to figure out the heating in this building – I worked in this same lobby last night, and it was freezing out, but I was still comfortable for the most part. It’s pretty cold in the lobby this morning, and my typing is the one thing keeping my hands from going numb. Maybe it’s time to round up one of the space heaters…

This is all a bit jarring, as the li’l woman and I just spent several days in the Seattle area. Granted, the weather there wasn’t that great. For the most part it was typical PNW winter weather – cold, drizzling, and overcast. But there was a day or so of sun, which is always a nice surprise.

This was my second Seattle visit since leaving 2 years ago. I had a long visit last December and a weekend this past June (my old employer wouldn’t allow Fridays or Mondays off, no joke, so it wasn’t even a long weekend). Due to all of the changes that have occurred there in the time I’ve been gone, I felt a bit out of place at times. Its funny how just 2 years later, it really doesn’t feel like “home” anymore in some ways. Everywhere we drove, new high rise apartment buildings were going up. We drove by my first Seattle apartment in the Ravenna neighborhood, and across the street a grotesque new apartment building had replaced the little diner that had been there for years and years – a bit sad, really. The traffic situation has gotten noticeably worse, and the promised monorail expansion hasn’t materialized despite being passed in 4 elections. (Who knows if they’ll ever get around to making any progress with that? Hopefully, it’ll happen eventually. I, for one, am not holding my breath.) Still, in other ways it felt like we had only been gone a few days. Overall, it was wonderful to be back and the time flew by. Thanks to everyone who made an effort to see us. Very special thanks are due to the following, if they’re reading:

Todd and Naomi – for their hospitality, letting us crash at their place, inviting us to Mia’s birthday party, and for friendship above and beyond the call of duty

Scott – for the Sgt Major vinyl, and for not setting the dogs on us when we dropped by stately Superfan manor unannounced on our first night in town

the Van Zuylen family – to Marcel, especially, for spending time he really should have been catching up on his sleep visiting with us and filling us in on his new business venture (check out his new espresso/wine spot, World Cup, on Roosevelt near Scarecrow in a few months)

Rob “Captain” Morgan – for an advance promo copy of the Squirrels’
Rock Polisher cd, and for putting us on the guest list at the Xxxmas show (too bad we didn’t check on that before we paid, arf!)

Pete – for dragging his butt off the couch after working an eleven hour shift to have a little beer with us

And a very special thanks to Mr. Juanish, house and pet sitter extraordinaire.

Happy Holidays!