Seattle Day Two

Sunday in Seattle started out a little slow. I slept in and when I woke, we had a leisurely breakfast provided by the hotel. Sometime Saturday it occurred to me that the Archie McPhee store was in Seattle and I convinced Dad that we needed to go there. So that's where we headed after breakfast.

I'm not sure most of my readers will understand how freeking awesome this store is. Dave will, but I already geeked out about it to him (read: I gloated that I there). Spend some time on their website though. Now, imagine the store... it has all that stuff plus a bunch of bins of random.

Also, there is bacon:

After Archie McPhee we went to The Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. It's actually two different museums... sort of. They're in the same building, and you just get one ticket for both of them, but they're very separate. The music doesn't really have anything to do with the science fiction. Anyway, that was kind of interesting. the music part had a lot of stuff about the music scene in Seattle, which was interesting. It also had a hall of guitars which showed the evolution of the guitar. The sci-fi museum just had tons of stuff - from books to props in movies to models and Ninja Turtles.

Finally after the museum we headed to Quest Field for the Major League Soccer Cup Game - the whole reason we went to Seattle in the first place. Our little local soccer team - Real Salt Lake - somehow managed rally and make it to this game. RSL was playing LA Galaxy (David Beckham's team). It was such a good game!

If you don't follow soccer, you wont really care if I tell you all about it. If you do follow soccer, you probably watched the game and you know how kick ass it was. All I will say is Real won in sudden death PKs. It was totally intense.

After the game we headed out. We drove all night and arrived back home around noon. It was a really fantastic trip, but I was completely exhausted yesterday and today. And I'm having a hard time keeping straight what day of the week it is.

Here are a couple more pictures for you:

Me at the stadium before the game

proof that we were there

Seattle Day One

Trip to Seattle = Super freeking awesome! Here's what happened:

We left Friday around 2:00 and, with one hour long delay to check out a weird warning light, drove for the next 12 hours. Dad and I alternated who was driving and who slept. We finally pulled into Seattle around 3 in the morning, pulled into a random parking lot, and we both slept for about 4 hours. The car was not the most comfortable place for sleeping, but we managed.

Around 7 we went to breakfast, and visited out hotel. We couldn't check in until 3, but we got a parking permit so we left the car in their lot and walked down to the water front.

We started at Pike's market- you know, the famous one where they throw the fish around. I kind of failed at taking a picture of the fish flying through the air... but here it's about to happen:

really, anticipation is half the fun, right? Anyway, we walked around the market for a while - there were all sorts o

f little shops and fun things to look at. Then we walked along the water front a little more. We spent a lot of time in odd little touristy shops. At one point we past a little food vendor and decidedthat we really should get some fried clams while we were there. I mean, come on, it's not going to get any fresher than that.

they were delicious!

After chowing down our clams, we wandered up to Pioneer Square to take The Underground Tour. Seattle's streets were originally 8-35 feet lower than they are now. The underground tour takes you down to the original side walks to take a look at historic Seattle streets while the tour guides tell funny stories - mostly about shit and prostitution.

See, when Seattle started out people didn't really understand how tides worked. And they, just like we do now, occasionally had to go to the bathroom. These two factors meant that every day at high tide, downtown Seattle was flooded with salt water and raw sewage. The invention of the Crapper (flush toilet) made things even more fun. When everyone got their crappers, they needed a sewer system to hook them up to. So they built one, out of wood, that worked with gravity. That was fine, except at high tide water would flow back up the sewage pipe, pressure would build up and you can guess what would happen when you tried to flush you crapper.

One day Seattle burned down. All of it. It was a great time to start over and solve problems. City guys said "let's raise everything so it wont get flooded every day." Business guys said "I'm not going to pay for it." So the businesses re-built their shops pretty much the way the were before. The City guys raised all the land they owned... city land... so basically the streets. The streets were now 8-35 feet above the sidewalks. Having customers fall down onto the sidewalk, and having to climb up and down ladders to patronize your shop is kind of bad for business. So business owners raised their sidewalks and all the first floors became basements.

This is a picture of a skylight at a corner of the underground sidewalk. Up on the street it just

looks like decorative mosaic tile in the sidewalk. The original skylights were thick, solid pieces of transparent glass. This caused two major problems. 1 - fat people (or people carrying big loads) would walk over the skylight and fall through. 2 - they were transparent. Crowds would gather beneath them to... um... enjoy the views. Local "seamstresses" found them to be a great way to advertise their wares though. The gentlemen below got a sneak preview of what they were offering. They just wrote their prices on the bottom of their shoes.

After the tour, we wandered back to the hotel to check in. As soon as we got to the room, we both kind of crashed - although Dad only napped for about 15 minutes. He believes in the power napping thing. I slept for a good solid 2 hours. Between driving all night and walking around all day, I was pretty damn tired.

We went to dinner at a local pub, and then I went dancing. Seattle has some great dancers, so I thought I should check them out. Funny enough, I actually knew two of the guys there. One was a kid I met at Lindy on the Rocks this summer. The other guy I met last year at the Utah Lindy Exchange. He was just in town for the game too. I guess Disney is right, it is a small world after all.

I have stuff I have to take care of. I'll finish writing about the trip later today, or possibly tomorrow.

And Another Thing...

I was going to write about shoes today. I can see you rolling your eyes at me, but it was going to be pretty cool. But then I logged into blogger and it told me that Tim had blogged about the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book.

My first thought was: What? Douglas Adams is dead. There's a new Hitchhiker's book? WTF? Why did I not know about this?

My second thought was: I'm going to read Tim's blog.

My third thought (after reading the blog): Dude, I'm putting it on hold right now!

My fourth thought (after going to the library website and putting it on hold): Awww man, 24. That's not nearly as cool. Tim was number 42 in line. I want to be 42. Everyone should automatically be 42 in line for the book, no matter how many people have holds on it already. *sigh* Oh well, at least I'll get it faster this way.

My fifth thought: Hmmm I wonder if I have anything due soon... nope. Good.

My sixth thought: I'm so not going to blog about shoes anymore. Even though it was going to be an awesome post about shoes.

And that pretty much catches you up.

Naked Music

I had this song stuck in my head today:I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked by Ida Maria.

A few minutes ago, it occurred to me that it would be awesome if I made a CD (or a playlist, 'cause who really listens to CDs anymore?) of awesome songs that are about Naked.

I could think of three (including the one above) right off the top of my head. These are the other two:

Take Off Your Clothes by Morningwood
Buck Nekkid by ZZ Top

After asking Google and thinking about it a little more I came up with a few more:

Underneath Your Clothes by Shakira
You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker... or Tom Jones because Tom Jones = class
Naked by the Spice Girls

And that's pretty much all I could come up with. If you can think of anything that should be added to the list, you should probably share.

Magical Me

The Zed Word

If zombies attack, I'm pretty much screwed. Seriously, the three places where I spend the most time (school, work, home) are pretty much terrible places to be in a zombie apocalypse.

School is probably the worst. On a college campus there are lots of students, in other words, lots of potential zombies. Plus in any classroom there's pretty much one entrance/exit and nothing that would make a suitable weapon. If I could get out of the classroom and then out of the building, then what? I'd most likely be in the middle of campus. I don't drive to school, so I would be pretty much stuck there, unless I could find someone with a car who wasn't zombified.

My house is not very fortified. The doors would probably hold for a little while, but we have a huge window that would be a perfect entry point for a shit-ton of undead. I could probably barricade myself in the basement, but zombies could still get through the back door pretty easily. And if I'm stuck downstairs I'm pretty limited on my weapon choices and food (assuming they can't get through the back door and I have to wait them out) - we have a pantry downstairs, but there's not really a lot of food in it.

Work is probably the best of the three. No matter what library I'm at, I'm still at a library. That means there are lots of people around. There are usually several ways to get out (and in, unfortunately) so I could possibly escape out the staff door and maybe make it to my car. I would have a hard time finding weapons, but there are plenty of book-carts and other obstacles that could slow the pursuit.

Yes, I have gotten in the habit of scoping out any setting I find myself in and thinking to myself "What would I do if zombie burst in right now and started chewing on people." It's silly, I know. But it never hurts to be prepared. Not that it will really do me much good - if I survive zombies it will be due to sheer luck.

Who Watched the Watchmen?

I did, on Friday. I liked it.

There are enough reviews out there and I don't really feel like adding my own two sense. I agree with most of them anyway so I would just be redundant. I thought it was a good movie. It followed the graphic novel very closely, but a lot of what makes the novel so great just didn't translate to the film. Still, it was visually very stunning. I will probably see it a few more times.

For my friends who have also seen it, and read the book and are totally geeking out about it, I am about to blow your mind:



It makes me laugh. It also makes me scratch my head and say "huh?" My theory is that whoever decided to make this cartoon just looked at the pictures in the book and didn't, you know, read it.

My favorite parts:
Rorschach: "I'm nutty!"
"John can give you cancer and then turn into a car"
Remember how the Comedian is Silk Specter's father? That makes this little show even more disturbing.

Seriously! WTF

1. 2. 3. 4. a Follow Up

I refused to do the 25 random things about myself (I am working on 100 things though. I've gotten to 65... it's harder than it looks. I don't think I'm going to share that list with the internet). Shan left me this lovely gem in the comments though and I just couldn't resist. It makes me laugh.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, make up 25 facts, habits, goals, philosophical principles, recipes, shell scripts, sestinas, web comics, stained glass windows, or rotating bow ties. At the end, choose 25 people to “tag,” which is to say, draw on with cans of spray paint. When you have finished your “tags,” “Twitter” the results to your “Facebook” and run away.

1. You only give money to homeless people if they have an interesting sign

2. Whenever you eat broccoli you imagine that you are a huge monster and you are eating actual trees.

3. You sometimes will follow complete strangers in your car just to see how paranoid they will get about someone following them.

4. When you were six you got a carrot stuck up your nose.

5. You really believe that twisting off an apple stem will tell you the initial of the person you will fall in love with.

6. Your mother was once arrested for assault but the charges were dropped.

7. You eat onions raw, like apples.

8. You occasionally have psychic flashes, but they are always about useless and mundane things, like the color socks your best friend will wear on Tuesday.

9. You wore water wings at the pool until you were 8. When you finally took them off, you discovered you were actually an excellent swimmer and joined a swim team.

10. You spent the summer after high school "liberating" garden gnomes and flamingos. You still have them all stored in your parent's basement.

11. You read all the cartoons in the New Yorker even though you almost never think they're actually funny.

12. You're secretly a big fan of Rick Astley and get a thrill out of being rickroll'd.

13. You have a (very) irrational fear of wearing the color Orange.

14. You spent most of 8th grade wearing all black and listening to your walkman (because ipods weren't around then). People assumed you were listening to goth rock or something, but it was actually KC and the Sunshine Band

15. You have a collection of fast food kid's meal toys from when you were a kid.

16. You never get around to doing laundry until you only have one pair of clean underwear left

17. You are addicted to Barq's Red Cream Soda. You always have one box in your fridge and one in the pantry. When one runs out you start to panic a little and go to the store as soon as you can.

18. You cried when you got home after dissecting a frog in biology class because you felt like you were hurting the frog every time you cut into it.

19. You dyed your hair blonde once and did not have more fun.

20. You have the perfect murder all planned out, you just haven't found someone who deserves to die by your hand.

21. You don't actually see anything wrong with wearing socks with sandals, but you don't do it anyway because your significant other raved at you for an hour last time you did.

22. You were an extra in a Touched By an Angel episode that never aired

23. You don't have pets because you are allergic to dogs, always feel rejected around cats and iguanas are just not very good for petting.

24. You don't go on dates because you are allergic to girls, always feel rejected around boys and hermaphrodites are just not very good for petting.

25. You actually called a number you found written on a bathroom wall. The person didn't answer and you chickened out about leaving a message.

[tagged: Jeremy, Roy, Scott, Bags, Kate, Dave, Aaron, Meagan, Celcey, Doug, Claire, Shannon, Mike, Luke, Alex, Brad, Jake, Meghan, Vanessa, Talia, Sam, Ilya, Jennie, Nick, Alessa)

Burning Ring of Fire

I've had a crazy weekend, but I haven't had a chance to write about it until now. Friday night! I have a story! I even have visual aids. This is it:

First, a map. It's easier if you have some idea of the geography of my neighborhood.



Friday night I went to a "rubiks-cube" party (located at X). That should have been the most exciting thing to happen that night, but it wasn't. I left the party around 12:30 - didn't stay too late because I had work Saturday morning. Because the party was just up the street and around the corner from where I live, I had left my car at home. I set out walking home (along the path of the little grayish-bluish dots... which you may not be able to see very well). When I turned on to the pink street (point !), I noticed a few flashing lights. I was surprised, but not very concerned.

We continued walking. Yes, we. By the way, I was with my roommate and two of our friends. The closer we got to the Point ? the more lights we noticed. The entire pink street was blocked off at that point and we could see at least four fire trucks, plus a couple of cop cars and an ambulance. Naturally by the time we got to ? we were all turning to each other and saying "What the fuck is going on?"

There were 5 fire trucks total parked on the pink street. People were mulling about. Firemen and all the other emergency response people were all over the place. All this is a very strange sight for one o'clock in the morning. I walked up to one of the fire dudes (standing quite near to point !!!) and asked him what was going on. He pointed in the general direction of my apartment (Z) and said "Oh, some apartment building caught fire."

For a second, I panicked. Was it my apartment? Oh shit. I turned down the dark blue street, which leads to my back door, and noticed a crowd of people about where my apartment is. As I got closer, I realised that they were all looking away from my place (at Y). I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I was releived. Eventually I joined the crowd and saw this:


erm... sort of. I didn't actually take a picture Friday night, so this is a recreation, using photoshop, badly. There were some guys with hoses that I didn't bother putting in because I'm lazy. There was also no snow or tarps. But you get the general idea.

It was kind of crazy. I'm really glad it wasn't my place. I watched for a little while from my kitchen, then I went to bed because I still had to go to work Saturday morning. Here's what it looks like now:

















The one on the right is literally the view from my kitchen window. According to the newspaper there were active flames for about 2 hours and over 100 firefighters were there fighting it. The fire was caused by a cigarette butt and started on one of the 6th floor balconies. About 80 people now have to find new places to live. It's going to take about a year to get the apartments in that building repaired to the point that people can live in them again.

Come Up With Your Own Clever Title

Since Aaron gets all Whiney McWhiney-Pants when I don't update, and who am I to ignore my adoring public, I decided to jot down a few random thoughts today at work. I didn't blog in real time because... well technically I'm not allowed to while I'm getting paid. And that kind of makes sense, really, if you think about it. I also have to make it clear that the thoughts herein expressed are in no way representative of my employer etc. But you all know that.

The point is I now have two little pieces of paper with a collection of random things that came floating through my head. I am going to type them up now so that you can get a feel for what it's like being inside my head when I'm at work and it's really slow and I'm on desk all by myself. I present to you (in a bulletted Warhol Soup Canned list) the random thoughts from work today:

A lady was in here with puzzle pieces tattooed all over her head. Her head is shaved and the whole effect is really neat. I wanted to say something complimentary, but what does one say to someone like that? "Dude, sweet tats" is so cliche... not to mention stupid. The best I came up with was, "I like your head" but it amused me so much that I just sat silently laughing at myself until she left and it was too late. Which is fine. I didn't really need to talk to her anyway.



Skirts are fun. They are nice and cool in the summer. Much nicer than pants. Pants suck. If I swivel in my chair I get a little bit of a Marilyn Monroe effect from the fan under the desk. It's sort of fun. And potentially embarrassing. Skirts are fun, but risky.





According to the stupid book I'm reading (How To Make Someone Love You Forever in 90 Minutes or Less) the best and quickest way to connect with other people is simply by making eye contact and smiling. That was in the chapter that doesn't really have anything to do with making someone fall in love with you; it was about meeting new people. Anyway, people don't make eye contact much these days let alone smile. It's so simple, and no one does it. Just think about all the people you miss out on when you're looking down all the time. All the interesting people you could meet, or at least see. It's the simplest of connections, but I think it could be really powerful. I resolve to make eye contact with and smile at as many people as possible today. And tomorrow too. All week. Hell, It'll just be my policy to look up and smile and look people in the eye. Who knows, maybe that will lead to me making someone love me in 90 minutes or less after all.



There's a girl here with a bandage on her nose. She can't be more than 15 or 16. Nose job? Sad, if it is. She's way too young to be getting a nose job. That said, if I ever get Wegener's again (knock on wood - to not get it) I totally get a new nose out of it! Seriously, the chances of my nose collapsing if I have a relapse are pretty high. So I can get a new one. But who's nose should I pick???? Yours! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha. Just kidding. Your nose would look kinda funny on my face. I would probably just take and old picture of me and say "I want my old nose back please." It would be a picture from before I got sick the first time though. My nose is a bit wonky since then. You wont notice it unless you spend a lot of time looking at my nose, which I do, apparently.



I love it when guys try to show off and then fail. I just got winked at. Then the kid ran into a wall. Classic! And you thought that only happened in the movies! Yes, boys, I take much pleasure in your pain!






na-na-nana-nana-nana na-na-nana-nana-nana Batman! I'm totally going to see that tomorrow night. At midnight. Then I waking up at 6 to take the parents to the airport the next morning. And I have a paper due Friday too. Crap. And I'm working all day tomorrow. Hmmm I have some time between 6 and 8... or nine. Good thing it's a short paper.




The Batman theme song... the oldschool one from the TV show... is a traditional blues chord progression. Aren't you glad you know that now? So if you ever are with me and a jazz concert and you notice I am singing batman under my breath, it's only because I'm trying to determine whether they are playing blues or not. That's pretty much the only thing I remember from the Survey of Jazz (or whatever it was) class I took a year or so back. That and Johnny Hodges is an amazing sax player.

Slurpeeeeeeez

As many of you know, today is 7/11 and that means it is Free Slurpee Day!!!!!

Free Slurpee day is an event not to be taken lightly. It takes true dedication, endurance and awesomism to fully do this day justice. This year my friend, Nick, and I set off on a quest to hit as many 7-elevens and consume as many slurpees as possible in one afternoon. This is our story:















Slurpee #1- University of Utah Sev; My flavor: Coke; Nick's flavor: Coke
















Slurpee #2 - Sev by East High; My flavor: Monster Death Grossness (it turned my tongue black) Nick's flavor: Mt Dew
















Slurpee #3 - I told you the Monster slurpee turned my tongue black. Sev on 800S and 200E; My flavor: Mango Tea (so the mysteriously handwritten sign said) Nick had the same.
















Slurpee #4 - Sev on 800S and W Temple. My flavor: Pina Colada Nick's: Monster Death (doesn't it look gross?)
















Slurpee #5 - Sev by Liberty Park; I got Sour Apple Nick got Pina Colada.

Sev at 500E and 1700S failed. They were out of cups. Weak Sauce.















Slurpee #6- Sev 1100E and 1700ish S; Nick had Cherry, I had Banana.















Slurpee #7 - Sev on 3rd Ave; We both had Slurparita Pomegranite. It didn't taste like margarita or pomegranite. I think they mayhave lied to us.















Slurpee #8 - Sev on 300E and 100S; We both had Twizzler Strawberry. It was really sweet and since our teeth were falling out of our heads anyway at this point, really sweet was not so good.

Sev by the downtown library failed. They were out of cups. Sad day.
















Slupree #9- 300W and 400N; Both had Green Hulk whatever flavor. Nine slurpees = too many.

Nine 7.11 oz slurpees each. That is a lot of slurpee. That means we each had 64oz. All in the span of about 2 1/2 hours. This is what happens: