October 31, 2004
Right down the street from my office is the 911 Media Arts Center, a non-profit group the Krekow Jennings has been donating to by helping them renovate their new office location. To celebrate the opening of the new space Krekow Jennings threw a Halloween party there. There was live Reggae music, catered food, free alcohol, strange live performance art, and lots of great costumes.
Kim found a dress at the thrift store that she immediately knew she wanted to be part of her Halloween costume, she just wasn’t sure exactly how. She put on some face makeup and a black veil and looked pretty spooky, although I’m not sure what she was exactly. The pumpkin on her head in the picture was just sitting around and was fun for pictures. I went as a three headed Republican. Now that’s scary, especially when you have cowboy Bush, ghoulish Cheney and hulky Arnold.
We ate, drank, danced and socialized until the party began to die down and then went home tired and satisfied. You can see all the party pics on Image Station (you’ll have to have an account but they’re free).
October 23, 2004
Kim’s Aunt Mary Anne has been visiting for the last four days. Kim and Mary Ann have been a whirlwind of activity, and have seen and done a LOT in four days: the zoo, the space needle, the aquarium, two imax movies, a trip to Mt Rainier, the science center, and more. I’ve been able to join them for some of their activities, but I’ve had to work during the day. I really need to find a way around that.
All this has been amidst Kim and I getting settled in our new house. It’s been busy the last few weeks, and I think this weekend it’s time for some rest. Thank goodness.
October 18, 2004
We have internet and TV at the new place. Of course the cable guy showed up late (you’d think the 4 hour window they give you would be vague enough that being on time shouldn’t be a problem, but no), but I’m happy as long as I have internet. So isolated without it, nerd that I am.
We cleaned out our old apartment and it was harder than we thought. Our apartment manager has changed twice since we’ve been there, so the current manager wanted to charge us for a bunch of things that were already problems in the apartment when we moved in like nasty baseboard heaters. We also forgot to clean behind the fridge and stove. Fortunately the manager was reasonable and let us go back in and clean a bit more and let a few things slide after we explained them to her. We got out with only about $70 in carpet cleaning fees and such.
It already seems like the unpacking will never be done, although Kim made a huge dent in the mess today while she was waiting for the cable guy. We ran into a problem setting up our tall four post bed. First we realized that the ceiling was too low to screw the posts on while the bed was already up so we took it apart. Then when we went to put it up we discovered that the ceiling is about a half inch lower in one spot so not all the posts fit so we have to leave the tip of one post off. Then the bed was super wobbly because we put the side slats in the wrong holes. We’re getting the locks changed tomorrow and we don’t know where we get mail yet.
We really haven’t had much time to enjoy the new house yet, but I can see that once things are in their place it’s going to be really nice. It’s a good thing that we don’t have other people moving in yet because it would be absolute madness I think.
October 17, 2004
A bunch of our friends showed up on Saturday to help us move despite the awful weather. With all the help we were able to move just about everything in 3 and a half hours. Thanks to Armin, Wentz, Gabe, Ramel, Cameron, Brian, Patrick, Preston, and Jacob. Kim and I had a LOT more stuff than we thought we did. It’s amazing what you can fit into an apartment over the course of a year.
Once the moving and the drizzle let up enough, we had a barbecue. Once again, everyone was very helpful: Travis was the grill meister, Cameron sliced and diced the cheese and onions, and Ramel even stayed late to help put away the food and dishes. Jim and Mel even stopped by, had a few burgers, socialized with the younger crowd and brought a birthday present for me. Most people left after a few hours, but a few people stayed around to sit in front of our new stove and enjoy the new house. This mostly involved sitting around in front of the fireplace and drinking beer and talking about math and politics. The pellet stove makes a really nice atmosphere.
We’ve still got to move a few random things out of our apartment and clean it for the inspection on Monday.
October 13, 2004
This last week or so has been insanely busy getting everything in order to close on our house. I always heard that closing takes a while, and now I know why. We did a fairly fast closing and it feels like we’ve had to cram a whole lot into a short period of time: insurance, utilities, renters, escrow, title, moving. We’re almost there though! We’re having a move in party this Saturday and anyone is invited. I’ve sent out emails to people I know live close by, but it’s possible that I forgot someone. Sorry if I did. People who have time are helping us move at 1 PM and then we’re having a barbq at the house at 4 PM. I can’t wait to be moved, but what a pain moving is.
October 10, 2004
Kim, Brian, Bridgid and I went for a hike in the Cougar Mountain area. It’s only about 15 miles from Seattle so it was close enough that I didn’t have to drive too far. Now that I have a car I’m really tired of driving. The weather was perfect for a hike. It was sunny and the air is just starting to get chill.
We hiked about 6 miles in a loop around the Wilderness Peak area. Bridgid and Brian hiked fast and far ahead while Kim and I took a more leisurely pace and enjoyed the views (I’m being sarcastic because there weren’t really any views).
After hiking through a lot of dense, wet, northwest style forests we arrived at Wilderness Peak, which is just a bench at a high point in the middle of the woods with no view. We stopped here to have lunch. We ate the biggest apple that I’ve ever seen. It was so big that it was hard to get your mouth around a piece of it to take the first bite. It fed all four of us and there were left overs. That’s how big it was.
On the way down we found a really odd shaped tree that was just asking to be climbed and straddled. So I did. Then we went home and the weekend was over. I want more weekend.
October 7, 2004
There’s a nasty cold going around Seattle and I was lucky enough to get it. I was miserable all weekend and then stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday. A lot of people have been getting it and it’s a royal pain to recover from.
October 3, 2004
Kim surprised me with an early birthday present yesterday. Sometimes I think she likes my birthday as much as I do because it gives her to opportunity to keep a secret and surprise me. First we went to Toyoda’s, a sushi restaurant in Lake City. Everyone says it’s really good, but we thought it was just okay and rather expensive.
Finally, after taunting me with it for days, we got to my birthday surprise – a couples massage class! I volunteered to be demonstrated on and that was wonderful. We had a lot of fun, even though we’re both getting colds and feeling kinda crappy.