It's HOT HOT HOT for Seattle today. The temps are in the upper 80s. I'm suffering! Stop laughing all you people in the South. It's hot here! I know it's in the 100's there, but that's why I don't live there! So there :p I can tell the kitties are suffering also.

I went to Staples last night and got a new chair for my desk. I'm still not sure if I like it. I need to make my desk more ergonomic. As it is right now, my keyboard and mouse are too high. I should get one of those under-desk keyboard trays, but those things can be just as expensive as getting a new desk! Maybe I could find one that's used...

I tried to register my car today, but their computers are down. I will definitely call tomorrow before I go down there. Once I get that done, I will have all of those errands taken care of. I got my driver's license in the mail today. I don't think the picture looks like me. Oh well.

Bob Hope died today at the ripe age of 100. I just can't imagine living to be that old.

I went to a joint called Hattie's Hat last night. I had been there before with Teresa. Good food, good drinks and good crowd. It's in Ballard, so I do have to drive. I need to find a local pub in my neighborhood. There are like, two places or something. Wallingford isn't a big going out neighborhood. It's very family-oriented. I do need to check out those few bars though.

We are supposed to have a heat wave this week. I'm not looking forward to it since I do not have air conditioning. Having a fan does help, but it could get into the 90's. I think I need more coffee today. I'm tired.

I dyed my hair all by myself this weekend. The color actually turned out and it's even! Yeah! I've already gotten many compliments on it. Moreso than in L.A. even though it's the same color I had down there. I think people here just talk to strangers a lot more. I don't mind talking to people I don't know. It's fun as long as they don't get too friendly.

I uploaded some more pictures, so go look at them. One of the pictures from when Dad, Carolyn and Leslie were here. The others are from when i went to Gasworks the other day.

There was a little get-together at Christine and Lyam's house last night. It was great to get together with everyone. We played Cranium which was a surprisingly fun game. Took Anna to the bus station. She's headed to Oregon for a month to learn how to build bicycle frames.

Dad, I did what you suggested to the freezer and now it smells funny. I do hope it goes away because it's just weird.

I've been making SLOW progress on unpacking the rest of the boxes. I get distracted very easily. Obviously. I'm writing this, aren't I?

This is a special post for Jenn & Duncan.

I went to Capitol Hill this morning to get a massage. Afterwards, I decided to have lunch at Saigon Pearl. Guess who was there? Henry! I was surprised that he recognized me since it has been over 3 years. Anyway, he asked how you guys were doing and asked how many kids you have now. Heh. He even remembered my usual! I don't know if you knew this, but he had moved away from Seattle shortly before I did. Come to find out that he was in Orange County and moved back to Seattle last September. Unfortunately, the cause of his move was divorce. He has custody of his son right now. He's looking forward to seeing you two again when you come for a visit :-)

p.s. You know why the bun at the Vietnamese place in San Diego makes me feel sick? It's made with CHICKEN BROTH. D'oh!

Call me soon!

Things are in a strange state right now. Last night (actually, around 4:30 this morning), I woke up in extreme pain. I had this unbearable pain in my lower back. It didn't feel like muscle pain. Maybe it was my kidneys? I tossed and turned in agony until I fell back asleep. I was in so much pain that I was seriously considering getting up and going to an emergency clinic. When I awoke this morning, I was still in pain, but not as much. I am still experiencing discomfort, but nothing I can't handle. It's very strange and disconcerting.

The other thing that is really messing with my head right now has to do with work. Damn. I can't write about it here. Anyway, it's a sticky situation and is freaking me out.

I just got off a business call. While I'm trying to talk to the person, Screech is in the kitchen trying to get into the cabinet where his food is stored. He's knocking stuff down and making a mess of noise. I just don't know what to do with him. First, he was climbing up on the counter by using the drawers as a ladder. Now, he's figured out that he can jump. I think I need to go shopping this weekend to get a microwave stand to put beside the fridge. Gotta figure something out.

Whew! Tired. Just got back from washing my car. I took off work early today to go get my driver's license. Because it had been less than 5 years since I got my last Washington State d.l., I didn't have to retake the test. Now I have to go somewhere else to register my car. Why can't they be in the same location? Tomorrow I get to take Persephone to the vet. I want these errands to be over soon.

I finally got my futon cover. It's much more of a purple wine than deep burgundy. When I was putting it on, I experienced another instance where living alone is difficult. It's those little things - futon covers, assembling futons, carrying big things, back rubs - where having someone else around would make it much easier. I'd still rather live alone than have help :p

Oh my poor back! The other night, I slept on a pillow that is too high and now my shoulders have been hurting for the past few days. I made an appointment with Stine, but the earliest I can get in to see her is Saturday morning. Ow!

The color turned out even, but it's just not my color! It's much more copper than I'm used to. I think I'm going to have to go buy some of the color that Riley put on last time she did my hair. There is a place in Belltown that sells the brand. Maybe I go tonight after work.

The report I'm pulling is taking a day and a half! The VPN is now configured properly as of yesterday which is cool. I need to install some firewall software. Zone Alarm maybe? It's free. Or, I could buy Norton and write it off when I pay my taxes. Decisions, decisions.

I'm dying my hair myself for the first time in about 3 years. Much more difficult with it being longer. When it was short, no problem. I miss Riley! I hope it turns out OK. The color isn't going to be the same, but what can you do?

After I finished working today, I went for a walk down to the park and read for a bit. I was hoping that I could see Mt. Rainier from the top of the hill, but no luck. I did take some pictures - I'll upload them later. I'm going over to Teresa's on Wednesday - she has a fantastic view of the mountain from her rooftop deck. I really need to pull out one of my SLRs, get a new battery and some film to take some quality photos. Not that the little digital camera doesn't take quality pictures, it just doesn't work so well for landscapes.

My scalp itches but I can't scratch it. Ack.

My god is it hot in here. I've been quite the unproductive snake today. Sitting in front of my computer since I rolled out of bed around noon. No, I wasn't sleeping that late, I was just lazy. I did make hard-boiled eggs for the first time and poached an egg also. Overcooked the poached egg. Oops. There's a learning curve, right?

I took Screech to the vet on Thursday. He is very healthy. I was worried that he had lost weight because he had worms, but it was a healthy weight loss. I suppose the lo-cal food really does work.

Just uploaded some pictures. Go take a look.

Good day. Good day it was. But now I'm kinda too tired to post. I suppose I should do a bleary-eyed post.

After running an errand this morning and doing stuff around the house, Sandi stopped by and scooped me up to go to a classic VW show. Too many cool cars. Boy, there was this one Ghia that was for sale - she should have been mine. I had some people trying to convince me to sell my Saturn to buy her or another. One day, I will own a Ghia. But not today.

I just got back from a gathering at Teresa's. It was a poetry party. There were 7 of us there; we sat around on her rooftop deck, drank wine and read poetry. Also discussed it a bit. Good time had by all. Something I could never see myself doing whilst in L.A. Didn't have enough friends that read. Got to hang out with some pretty fantastic people, eat some good food and drink some good wine. Tired now. Must go to bed.

*yawn*

I shouldn't be tired. I just had coffee.

Yesterday morning, Screech knocked over my coffee cup onto the floor. Coffee everywhere and very broken cup. It made me sad cause it was the one that Leslie just gave me :-( It was not a good way to start my day. He made up for it this morning though, by getting under the covers and snuggling right up next to me. Too cute.

I went out and bought the coaxial cable and adapter to hook up my tv and stuff. Still putting it off. I only have one outlet that is 3-pronged in this whole place. That's what I get for moving into an older building. I don't really mind, though.

Spiders everywhere! Ack! Last night, as I'm doing my dishes, I notice a large spider hanging from the ceiling in my bedroom enjoying easy catches. I let her stay there until I went to bed. She was pretty easy to catch. When I first moved in here, I noticed that one of the corners in the bedroom wasn't a complete corner. Like it had been patched or something. I thought it strange but thought nothing more of it. Well, since I've been noticing the plethera of spiders hanging out in my place, I took a closer look at it last night. It really looked like a web, but I wasn't going to deal with it then. I did, however, remember to deal with it about an hour ago. I was gonna just cut it down, but what if there was a bunch of little spiders in there? Mr. O suggested that I spray window cleaner on it (I don't own bug spray) and vacuum it down. I tried just that, but the thing was so strong it wouldn't vacuum up! With vacuum in one hand and long knife in the other, I proceeded to cut the web down. Fortunately, it wasn't full of little spiders, but there was one spider in it. She survived the ordeal, but her eggs did not.

Wasn't that a fun story?

I went to the Fred Meyer superstore last night. It was fun! They had all sorts of stuff that I needed which totally rocked. I've been supporting the economy a lot lately, but I think I'm done for now.

Went yard sale shopping with Sandi and Jim on Saturday. Annalicious was having one and I picked up some clothes and great books. Such a steal! We also got to cut some fresh lavender at another. We went to 5 and skipped others that we drove by. Crazy yard sale heaven!

I still don't have my futon cover. The place was supposed to get a tracking number for me today, but I haven't heard back. S'ok. I'm gonna rearrange my bedroom tonight. I got to do 4 loads of laundry today while I worked. So productive am I! I also just installed the latch for the kitchen cabinet so the kitties can't get under the sink anymore. No more garbage can on top of the refridgerator! I had to keep it there cause Screech was getting into it. Now I get to keep it under the sink like normal.

I haven't been very good about taking pictures. I forget to take my camera when I walk out the door. Must be better about that!

Argh! Pttth. So I got my USB cable last night and i still can't get this freaking thing to work. The machine does not want to stay powered up long enough for me to install in on my computer! What's up with that? I keep thinking "That's what I get for buying the cheap one" but should it really matter? Come on! Work! Work! Argh.

*sigh*

This day has not been going as planned. Not at all.

I shopped a lot this weekend and one of the things I bought was a printer/copier/fax machine. I neglected to read the box to see that the USB cable was not included. I need to print out and fax my W-9 and timesheet into work. *sigh* It will have to wait another day.

Work was a bit crazy. The agents were having issues with logging on to the network and it took up a lot of Sonia's time. Needless to say, we were not able to get the reports out on time. I had to work 2.5 hours extra, but they are done and sent. I have got to get out of this chair and do other stuff before heading to bed. Just needed to vent. Weekend update will have to wait.

You know, I thought I did an update here yesterday, but I guess I only did it in my head. Heh. Hate it when that happens.

Yesterday, I went to the bank to open a checking account after I stopped working for the day. Afterwards, I went and got an awful drink at Tully's. Ick. Won't be getting that one again. I have 3 chain coffeehouses in my neighborhood (walking distance) - Seattle's Best, Tully's and Starbucks. The one local joint closes at 3. What's up with that? Where was I? Oh yeah! I was walking home from the Tully's and heard quite the lovely sound. Tree leaves rustling in the breeze. Music to my ears. It was such a gorgeous evening, so I decided to walk down to the park and explore around there. One of the things that amazed me were all of the people who had their front doors wide open to let the evening breeze in. In L.A., you couldn't leave your front door open like that b/c of fear of crime.

Bad things about hardwood floors and cats - they track litter dust everywhere. Especially on my new futon and desk.

I went to Home Depot last night. Needed to get a latch so the kitties stop going under the kitchen sink. I was hoping to find some inexpensive plastic shelves for my storage room, but they only had pricey ones. I did get a new toolbox since my current one is too small. And, I got to use self-checkout for the very first time. It was pretty nifty.

Time to go to work!

My futon came today! Yay! It sure is pretty, but it was quite difficult to put together by myself. I was too impatient to call someone over for help :-) BUT, I did get it together after making much noise. My downstairs neighbor didn't complain. It took so much work that I felt like I build it from raw wood. If anyone asks, i built it all by myself. Yep. That's the story. I didn't get the cover, though. Waiting to hear back regarding that. It's a bit too big for my space (I'm gonna have to rearrange things) and a loveseat would have suited the space better, but I felt that I should get a futon. Why you may ask? Well, I got it for you for when you come to visit me. You need something comfortable to sleep on, right? And what if there are two of you? It's queen size for extra room and comfort. Want to come visit now? Sure you do! It was much more affordable compared to a sleeper sofa and I believe it should be easier to move. Anyway, it's time for me to start investing in furniture I actually plan on keeping for some time (unlike the Ikea crap that fills some of my house.)

One of the reasons why I started this blog was due to so many people asking me why I was moving to Seattle. Of course, I really only got this from my L.A. friends (I miss you guys!) because anyone that's known me longer knows why I moved back here. I went to my local coffee joint during lunch today to grab a latte. I must admit, it's difficult to resist this urge everyday. It is just so gorgeous here. So many trees and flowers. The smell is sensational. I am very sensitive to my environment which is one of the reasons i disliked L.A. The beauty here almost brings me to tears on a daily basis.

I just uploaded some pics. Bookmark this album - I plan to add to it. Snake in Seattle

Feel free to check out the rest of the albums. Thanks to Doug for hosting them all for me :-)

I woke from a strange dream this morning. I was getting married. It was my wedding day. Very strange it was. My soon-to-be husband was very rich - an inventor of some kind. All I remember was all the hecticness going on before the ceremony. I was also trying to frame this old-looking portrait of him. I just couldn't center it in the oval mat properly. When he would try to frame it, it would be a portrait of me. I woke up before I actually got married, so I'm OK. Heh. And my hair was blonde. I suppose I'm safe as long as I stay a redhead, right?

I made some progress last night on unpacking. Also moved some stuff around in my bedroom. I still have about 7 more boxes to contend with. I love the fact that I have a huge storage unit in the basement. I worry about bugs getting in my stuff if i put it down there.

The bugs like to come visit me at night. I had to remind a medium-sized spider that he lived outside last night, but maybe he should live inside my apartment to eat the bugs that visit me and my lights. Both Persephone and Screech got a late-night moth snack. What a fate for a moth.

It's sunny here again. Where is my rain? I know, I know. I'll get plenty of it soon enough. I'm going to take some stuff downstairs and start my laundry before I start working at 9. Fun stuff, I tell you.

So I finally get connected to the VPN at work and it goes down. PLUS, it disables my home internet use. *sigh* I need to get this resolved so I can do my work! But, this also means that I will not be working until midnight again.

Persephone is having a staring contest with a squirrel that's outside the window.

I got a call today that my futon will be arriving tomorrow! yay! I have sooooo many boxes to unpack tonight to make room. I need to get my tall bookshelf fixed so i have a place to put the majority of my books.

I really should go outside. It's been overcast all day and quite lovely. When is it going to rain? I want rain!

Happy Birthday, Doug!

I try to unpack. Really, I do. I just don't know where to put all of my stuff.

Had to work for most of the day playing catch-up. I still can't access the network via VPN, so reporting has been a pain in the ass. These long days are throwing me off. It's after 9 and still light out. It cannot be after 9! So my coworker was talking to me about the whole drama going on at work. It reiterates how lucky I am to work from home so I don't have to put up with that. There are just too many clashing personalities in my department.

Although I cannot figure out where to put all of my crap, I'm really liking my new apartment. I get great morning light - Screech is loving the napping in the rays of sunlight. This is the first time in years that I have a decent apartment managers. The building is owned by a wife & husband that look like they are in their 50's.

I meant to go out for a walk today but got caught up in work. At least the view is nice.

Should I go to the kaitO show tomorrow night? I just can't decide.

My goodness where did this day go. Made a trip to Ikea and scored the stuff that I wanted. I now have a place to sit down and eat and a place for my TV. I needed something inexpensive for now and Ikea furniture will do. I finally made it to Trader Joe's yesterday and stocked up on food. It's so nice not to have to eat out every meal. That gets old after having to do it for 2 weeks.

My house is an awful mess and I must get stuff done. I've uploaded some pics, but don't have time to post right now. Sheesh.

Damn did this week fly by. My family just left this morning and now it's time to get down to business and unpack. First, a recap of this past week:

- Last Saturday didn't go as planned. Spent most of the day packing and waiting for U-Haul to call me to tell me where to pick up the rental truck the next morning. I called them around 4:30pm and they said someone would call me by 7:00pm. By 6:45pm, I still hadn't heard from them so I gave them another call. After waiting on hold for 25 minutes, I was told that I would have to call back the next day at 9:00am because the office had already closed. This pissed me off greatly because I had put off having dinner with Doug to wait for this information and I was supposed to pick up my truck at 9:00am! Went out to dinner with Doug at the Spaghetti Factory. We said our goodbyes - I insisted that he go out with Lyssa and F because I would rather imagine myself hanging out with them instead of packing. Plus, having him there would have made everything harder emotionally. I got back home and started packing again. Ran out of boxes before I was done which totally sucked. Too tired at this point to go get more boxes, so I went to bed.

- Woke up at 9:00am on Sunday and called U-Haul. I was on hold for 30 minutes until someone picked up and put me back on hold. On hold for 5 minutes and then the phone started ringing and ringing and ringing. No one picked up, so I hung up. Called some local U-Haul places but they couldn't help me out. One place did give me the local number for the regional office (the place that tells you where to pick up your truck) and so I called that number. On hold for another 30 minutes. Finally talked to someone and got the location for me to pick up my truck. By this time, Adam was there to drop off his TV that I was buying from him and take me to get the truck (heh- he forgot the TV and had to go back later in the day). He was also a sweetheart and got me food and coffee. After eating, we head out to get the truck to find that my family has arrived. They went upstairs to wait for us to get back. Go to U-Haul to pick up the 10-ft truck and some more boxes. The truck is pretty old and running hard, but I figure that's typical and drive off. We get back to the apartment and everyone gets to work. Packing and cleaning ensues with the help of my dad, step mom, sister, cousin and Adam. It was pretty nuts. We didn't get finished and on the road until 7pm. This was not the plan. We were going to leave so much earlier, but I just couldn't get everything packed on time. Next time I make a move, I must take some time off from work to prepare. Everyone was such a big help and really helped my stress level. Granted, Dad & Carolyn were disappointed that we didn't head out until 7, but they didn't complain or make me feel guilty one bit. We drive up to Bakersfield and stay the night. We also discover that the U-Haul is horrible. Dad had to put 2 quarts of oil in the thing!

- Monday morning we get off to an early start. The truck is running a bit better this day, but Dad insists that he be the only one that drives it because it is so difficult to drive. The traffic isn't bad and we had no mountains to deal with. We drive all day with no incidents and stop in Yreka, California for the night. It's a little gold-mining town close to the CA/OR border. Quite charming.

- Tuesday is a short driving day, but not easy on Dad & Carolyn. By this time, we are driving through the Cascades in Oregon. Although the drive was rough, the scenery was breathtaking. Absolutely gorgeous. We stop in Portland mid-afternoon and spend time with Dad's longtime friend, Maggie. We went out to dinner with her family and had a nice, relaxing evening.

- Wednesday was a quick jaunt to Seattle. Traffic stayed moderate and we made it in by 12:30pm. Got to the apartment and met up with my new manager, Lance. He and his daughter were finishing some last-minute things on the apartment. Did a walk-through with him and then Dad, Carolyn, Leslie and I went to lunch at a lovely bakery/cafe in my neighborhood. I really enjoyed it, but it wasn't for Dad & Carolyn. We went back to the apartment and unloaded the truck in less than 2 hours. Much easier than packing it up! We literally had to throw everything in and leave to go find D&C a hotel and get cleaned up to have dinner with business friends of D&C. We ate at a seafood restaurant on Eastlake called Duke's. They were very good about my non-meat eating habits and even made sure I wasn't vegan. One of the reasons why I love Seattle :-) Dinner was lovely. Dropped D&C off at the hotel and Leslie and I came back and sorted through the boxes. My phone was meant to be turned on by now, but I still didn't have service. What's up with that? Anyway, found the sheets, made up the bed and went to sleep.

- Thursday, Leslie got up early and went to a tai-chi class in a park that wasn't too far away. I had to stick around for the cable service person to connect my internet. Since my phone still wasn't hooked up, Leslie planned on calling Qwest when she got to D&C's hotel room. I did a bit of unpacking while I waited. Leslie got back around 10:30am with news that there was a problem with my order but they would expedite my order and I would have service by 5pm that day. Cable guy comes at 11 and hooks me up. Sweet! At least I can now communicate to others somehow! After cable guy leaves at 11:30, we head out for lunch. After lunch, we go to my local used bookstore and peruse the selection. Great selection! I even have a comic book store and a couple of record stores within walking distance. I love my neighborhood. We go back to the apartment and plan to head over to the hotel to coordinate dropping off the U-Haul. D&C had lunch plans with a friend. They got back around 3:30pm and we take off to our destination. Unfortunately, they weren't really clear on the location and we got separated for a bit. They did make their way back and we got rid of the truck. We head out to Northgate for a Target shopping trip. I needed stuff like broom, mop, microwave, phone and then some. Spent a lot of money, but it's stuff I'll have for a long time. Filled up 2 baskets. We head back to town and grab some dinner. After dropping D&C off at the hotel, Leslie and I head to Capitol Hill for a quick trip to Payless Shoes and Fred Meyer. She picks up a couple of pair of cute sandals (I also got a pair) and I get a mirror and water filters. Head back home and unload my shopping booty. Find that I still do not have phone service. Another long day.

- Friday was a fun day. We got to sleep in! Got up and head over to the hotel to pick up D&C. We had to go to Mae's on Phinney Ridge for a yummy southern breakfast. I had biscuits and gravy! After brunch, we go to Seattle Center and visit the Space Needle. It was my first time. The views were great since the day was mostly clear. We were then going to go to the Experience Music Project, but only had an hour left which would not have given us enough time. We did walk through the inside and sat in the restaurant for a bit before heading out to the airport area. D&C were worn out from the long week and needed to rest. After we dropped them off, Leslie and I headed to Teresa's to see what she was up to this weekend since I could not call her. Fortunately, she was home and we made plans to make an Ikea trip on Sunday. We then head back to my place to drop off the car. Things were going to be crazy around my neighborhood that night since I live 4 blocks from Gasworks Park, where the big 4th celebration is based. We drop off the car and catch the bus to the International district. We walk about the I-district for a couple of hours, but most of the stores are closed for the holiday. We do get a bit of shopping in and Leslie finds a book that she has been searching for but could not find. We head back to Wallingford and have Indian food for dinner. After dinner, we go to the park for the fireworks display. It was pretty impressive. I can't believe the advances that have been made in fireworks! We head back to my place and go to bed so we can get up early the next day.

Well, that's the recap. Took Leslie to the airport this morning and now I must get to work on unpacking. Lots to do ahead of me. Today is the first overcast day since I've been here. It's lovely! I will upload some pictures later and post the link here, so check back. I would like to thank everyone again that has helped make this move possible. It would have been so difficult without you!!