1,001 Words

I can’t sleep, so I figured I’d post some leftover thoughts and pictures I have.  Hope you enjoy.  If you haven’t read the big recap of my big trip to the Pacific Northwest, well you should.  Just scroll down.

·I think I came off liking Vancouver more than I actually did.  But it was still awesome.

·I think I came off hating Seattle more than I actually did.  But it was still awesome.

·If you read in the newspaper some day about a man going to Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia and setting fire to the place while laughing maniacally, I only ask you use the giant donut photo when making a fullscreen of me for the 11pm news.

·Do you think MLB’s collective head would explode if the World Series was Tigers vs. Padres, or Twins vs. Padres?  That would be awesome.

·I’m looking forward to Halloween Bash 2006 not for my costume, but because of a certain person’s costume to which a bunch of us look forward to each year.  It’s awesome.  And those of you who know who/what I’m talking about, well then you know.

.Sometimes I dislike my profession, and then I realize I am qualified to do little to nothing else that would pay me as well.

·Nothing makes a 7-3 Nats loss to the Braves better than sitting in free seats, eight rows behind home plate.  Thanks, Mom’s boss!

·I forgot if I mentioned this, but mad props to my dad for letting me use his camera for my vacation.  He doesn’t know he’s not getting the camera back until after I demand a new one from Santa Claus at Christmas.

RANDOM ASSORTMENT OF PICTURES (First captions, then photos in order)

1. September 8, Alki Beach, Seattle WA: Every now and then, one of those postcard pretty pictures you go for works out.

2. September 9, Queen Anne Ave, Seattle WA: Heh heh heh.  I am 12 years old.  However, this was the entrance to a great local burger joint.  Oh, and nothing beat having Lex scream out "I love Dick’s!" to a bewildered me.

3. September 10, Pike Place Market, Seattle WA: I look lost in thought.  I think I’m just lost, standing in front of the oldest Starbucks.

4. September 11, Seattle Center, Seattle WA: Do you see what I was going for here, but didn’t quite accomplish?  Art!  Bonus points if you notice the reflection before reading this.

5.  September 12, Stanley Park, Vancouver BC: I have no clue what these rock things are (the vertical ones, not the regular ones) at Stanley Park.

6. September 13, Gastown, Vancouver BC: Me and a Mountie Moose.  Perfect together.

7. August 19, Fenway Park, Boston MA: Hipster glasses, gazing out from the bleachers.  Bonus points if you know who’s in the glasses.  Thanks to Fernando Chris for letting me use his camera on this one.  I have no idea why it’s black and white.

Title is from the song "Promise" by Eve6.

Monday, September 11 thru Wednesday, September 13 - Vancouver, British Columbia

By now, let’s assume you’ve read Part I and Part II of my trip to the Northwest.  If you haven’t, you’re slow and the rest of the class is ahead of you, and they’ll probably beat you up for lunch money later.  Since I’d never been to the Pacific Northwest, I figured why not extend my visit a little bit.  Everyone I know who’s been to Vancouver raved about its beauty.  So, since I was a mere three hours away, I figured why not.  Always good to explore a new place, and it’s even better to explore two in one trip. 

For all those people who raved of Vancouver’s beauty: your words couldn’t do it justice.  Vancouver is wedged between mountains on the north and east, the Strait of Georgia to the west, and the US border to the south.  It is a city which is quickly growing up as it is much easier than growing out.  The skyscrapers reminded me of an Asian city (of which I’ve only seen on TV), with stunning glass tower after glass tower reaching into the sky.  Yet, unlike Manhattan, you could still see the sky and the mountains in the distance.  It really was breathtaking, and upon looking at a map, I only traveled in the City Centre, never really going outside the downtown core.  Which is fine by me.  The mountains, the water, the trees, the buildings, the people: all of it beautiful in Vancouver.  Of course, having sunny weather in the 70s never hurts.

I was told repeatedly to check out Stanley Park and the sea wall, which runs the length of the park, protecting it from Coal Harbour and the Burrard Inlet.  I rented a bike, and took a jaunt along the seawall (which had separate bike and walking paths, which is a stellar idea).  It took me probably 30 minutes to go the first mile because I just kept taking pictures.  The view was stunning, as you can see from the photo to the left.  The sun glistening off the water was awesome, and it was amazingly warm - especially after biking in the shade was quite cool.  There were huge barges in the distance, tons of people (for a Tuesday morning, no less), and just amazing site after amazing site.  It seemed like I was keeping pace with the people who rented bikes at the same time as me (the family from New Zealand, the woman with her businessman husband from Montreal, the couple from the UK) - and they kept taking just as many pictures as me.  Good times.

Vancouveriteianers would like you to think their city is in the A-List.  It’s not, sadly, up there with New York, London, and Tokyo.  But it’s rapidly approaching the top of the B-List with Toronto, LA, and Sydney.  The city is strictly a Canadian place that’s bursting at the seams.  You don’t need to look much further than the picture of the Team Canada bear, standing in front of a Tim Horton’s, no less.  The bears were part of a public art project, which I believe Chicago kicked off years ago with its bulls.  Every place I went, Canadian locals were more than happy to regale me with tales of how great their town is.  At Dix BBQ & Beer in Yaletown, the bartender and another regular told me about how it’s quickly becoming an expensive city, with plenty of movies and TV shows filmed there, and it has a good mix of a younger, brash side along with the older, stodgy Canadian side.  The bartender and another regular at the Loose Moose were happy to talk politics, sports, and how they really don’t hate individual Americans, just the idea of the ugly American in theory (which is so true - go to a bar in Montreal and try not to throttle the UVM freshmen who are bleepfaced and so happy they touched boobies at a strip club).  The guy sitting next to me along trendy Robson Street was happy to talk about the weather, and how Vancouverianiters swear they’ve seen the effects of Global Warming in spades over the last ten years.  Friendly people, with a dry wit, and plenty of self-effacing humor, all surrounded by kindness.  Clearly Canadian.

Spurred on by a diatribe buried inside SimCity 2000, I always like to think of big cities as people at a fancy party.  London is the old guy in a grey suit who’s been around forever, but still knows how to have a good laugh.  San Francisco is the loud older lady who may not still have the looks, but knows how to use what’s left to flirt with the young boys.  Washington is in a charcoal suit, looking down at the likes of Baltimore and Pittsburgh, joining in put-down jokes with New York.  But when New York walks away, they make fun of each other.  LA and Tokyo are the super trendy people with cell phones, busy lives, beautiful but fake.  Boston is a bit standoffish, loves when it gets attention, and can bust out the off-color joke when needed.  So what, you ask?  Vancouver is the young kid who is good looking, has a lot going for it, and is demanding attention.  It’s trendy (but not as much as Toronto or Hong Kong), it’s busy (but not as much as LA), it’s got cash (but not as much as New York or London), and it’s growing fast.  It’s demanding attention because it knows it’s got the goods.  And I’m glad I paid attention to it, if at least for 36 hours.

Seen below: another lame self portrait, taken at Second Beach in Stanley Park.

Title is from the song "Life Is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane.

Friday, September 8 thru Monday, September 11 - Seattle, Washington

This is part two in my big adventure to the Pacific Northwest.  If you haven’t read Part I yet, scroll down you lazy bastard.  The whole point of traveling to Seattle was for Cary G & Becky G’s wedding.  Of course, the wedding wasn’t everything.  I like doing plenty of exploring, and since I had never been to Seattle, I figured I’d bum around.

It’s funny how you go into a place with certain expectations; media-fed images of what a place is going to be like.  Most of us East Coast kiddies expect Seattle to be rainy, grungy, lots of coffee, and lots of tech-heads.  Most people have the image to the left there of the Space Needle, built for a World’s Fair or Expo or something.  Do they even hold World’s Fairs anymore?  Most of us our age (this blog has a very narrow age demographic, I’ll tell ya) remember Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the rise of Starbucks, and that loser slapping the bitch who deserved it on The Real World.  That’s Seattle.  And I gotta tell ya, it’s not too far from the truth.  Apparently in September, rain isn’t all that frequent.  Although after a week without rain, I think people were starting to wig out.  They had to drink more coffee than normal.  That stereotype of the over-caffeinated Seattleriteian is true.  You can’t walk a block without stumbling over a place to buy coffee.  There’s Starbucks, Tully’s, Seattle’s Best, and Peet’s.  Then there are plenty of smaller places, most of which carry a "you’re not cool enough to buy coffee here, but we’ll let you just this one time" attitude.  And while I’m not cool enough for much, I do know I’m cool enough to plunk down $2 for a small regular coffee.  So bite me that coffee place on Mercer by Seattle Center.  Bite me.

Here on the left, you’ll see the Seattle Skyline.  Here’s how I got this shot from the top of Queen Anne Hill.  I wanted a good skyline shot, and while I’m sure the views from the top of the Space Needle are awesome, you don’t get to see the Space Needle from inside of it.  It’s science.  So I climbed the hill (on the north side of downtown, near the quaint hotel at which I stayed).  It was San Francisco-like in its steepness, and my legs had fun flashbacks to climbing the steps leading up to Coit Tower with Andrew back in 2003.  The problem with this hill is that people live on it, and they bring with them power lines.  Every shot I took, had power lines running across it.  Sure, the view rocked, but I wanted the good photo too.  So I took a stroll along Ward Street, trying to find a good spot.  I stumbled on a very nice house under construction which has a very nice deck.  I said hey to the foreman, and asked to take photos from the deck.  He was more than happy to oblige after I said my parents are in construction (fortunately, there were no follow up questions from him).  He gave me a tour of what will likely be a $2.5M house with some spectacular views.  So the skyline shot you see above is from the house under construction on the north side of Ward Street.  Give my best to the filthy rich owners.

Another thing one thinks of when one thinks of Seattle (and how often are you NOT doing that?) is the Pike Place Market.  This is the place seen here on the left, where they throw the fish.  It’s the Pike Place Fish Market, I think.  Because there’s another fish market here, where they make you think it’s the fish throwing place, but it’s not.  It’s the City Fish Market, or something like that.  If you go to Seattle and see this one, spit on their wares and say "Good day, Sir!" and take your leave.  Because there will be no fish throwing.  The good fish thrower place amuses its clientele by throwing fish.  It’s pretty cool, but pretty smelly.  Apparently this place is the latest corporate jingoism model for a good workplace, and at the very least, they have my Aunt Karen on board as a disciple.  We throw lots of stuff at the station, but most of it was never alive.  I don’t think.

Here’s what they don’t tell you about: giant donuts.  That’s right.  Donuts the size of your head.  And twice as tasty.  To the left, you’ll see Justine, Lex, and I chowing down on a giant donut.  They’re sold right next to the fish throwing place, which ensures you’ll go somewhere else to eat it.  The donut cost $4.50, and they had a few different types.  And let me tell you, this may have been the best donut ever, easily rivaling the excellent LaMar’s in St. Louis or my first ever Krispy Kreme, consumed in Anaheim.  Needless to say, it’s fun to eat this donut in the most obnoxious way.  Instead of sitting down and breaking the donut into parts, we walked down the street, taking bites as someone held onto it.  And we giggled like little bitches.  Endless fun.  People walking buy were amazed at the donut, the three laughmonsters eating it, and the fact that we kept flinging chocolate at each other.  This may very well have been the highlight of the entire trip.  And no, we weren’t drunk.  Here’s another fun picture of Justine scarfing the Greatest Donut Ever, Lex with a faceful of chocolate teeth, and a passer-by wondering WTF.  Tell Homer Simpson he can take that to the bank!

So in closing, here are my parting thoughts on Seattle.  It was a great place to visit for a long weekend, especially with something to do.  I nailed out the tourist spots in one day, including the awesome-but-poorly-photographed Underground Tour, where you learn Seattle was build by profiteering idiots who founded the town on a tidal mud flat with sewage problems.  The people where I visited (non-tourist areas) seemed to be either 20-somethings or older empty-nesters.  I’m sure if I were some tree-hugging, granola-munching, backpacker, I could have made more of the nearly Olympic Mountains or lakes and rivers.  But with the exception of checking out the Experience Music Project and Safeco Field, I got to see everything I wanted.  The people were mostly nice, however service is extremely crappy.  Seattle has the same problem as Boston and DC, where people are well educated and well to do, are over-demanding and totally rude to service industry workers, and the service industry has trouble finding quality workers.  While Seattle doesn’t go on DG’s A-List of Cities (Rome, Montréal, Boston, Chicago), it might squeeze its way onto the bottom of the B-List with San Francisco, New York, and Toronto.  Which isn’t too bad.

Title from the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

Saturday, September 9, 2006 - Seattle, Washington - 3:00pm

A wedding brought me to the Northwest for the first time in my life.  Like a little kid, I eagerly checked off "Washington State" on my list of states visited.  I think I only have eight left, most of them useless places like Wyoming, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas.  No offense.  My old roommate Cary G got hitched to a girl he met weeks after moving to Seattle back in 2002.  Becky (now Mrs. Cary G, officially, since he owns her and all) really is perfect for Cary.  And what more could you want from a friend’s new spouse than someone to make them happy for the rest of their lives?

To the left here you’ll see a blurry photo of Cary G, taken just before the official ceremony.  Here’s a little background.  Cary G has always been the kind of person to say "Bah!" to tradition.  And to a certain extent, he’s always right.  Why do brides and grooms constantly do things in their weddings and leading up to their weddings which are done simply because that’s what you’re supposed to do?  I’m talking about things like tissue paper in the invitations, save the date reminders, engagement parties, big cakes, a trite band, etc.  Cary G has always said "No thanks!" to this.  Needless to say, all of the above were part of his wedding, save the big cake (instead, a bunch of cupcakes) and a band (instead, Cary’s crappy taste in music).  The happy couple was married in their Seattle backyard, which they completely redid after moving into the house.  The first picture there is right after Cary has seen his bride for the first time.  I don’t know if you can tell, but he welled up a little bit.  Cary has always been short on squishy emotions, but it was amazing to see him get misty eyed while seeing his beautiful bride for the first time.  And it got me all swelled up inside, because, frankly, it was beautiful.  The couple walked down stone paths to this archway thingy (I’ve been told it’s called an arbor or a pergola, but that sounds like crap homeowners make up to justify spending money on stuff).  A friend, who was licensed over the internet through some bullshit church that’s recognized by Washington State, performed the ceremony.  The couple promised to be each other’s "love monkey" for all time.  And that’s pretty damned sweet.  The ceremony lasted a total of eight minutes, and everyone in the party just stood around as the vows were given.  Everyone also had a drink in his or her hand, truly indicative of a wedding held by someone from New Orleans.  The second picture is of the happy couple, just moments after their nuptuals.

Allow me, for a moment, to bloviate on the friendship that is mine and Cary G’s.  We met the first week of RAdom at Warren Towers in 1997.  He was interested in dating this girl with whom he was friends, and wanted an outsider’s opinion.  Maybe it was the common last initial, or the love of The Simpsons, but we hit it off.  We had a blast as RAs.  There was a rough transition from that to roommates, and that time in a friendship when you suddenly can’t stand all the things that make that person your friend.  It’s usually not a permanent state, and it’s bad when it comes at the same time for both people in the friendship.  Although when I had to front him $1,650 for rent money when we moved into an apartment with another guy, it made me realize not to associate friends and money, because when you’re 21, $1,650 is a big deal (not like it isn’t at 28).  Cary and I left Club 81A (our apartment in Cambridge) on the same day, with me going to St. Louis and him going to Seattle.  We kept in touch over the years, him being one of the first people I told about some new directions in life.  And it’s sometimes amazing, someone I befriended randomly in the Warren dining hall all because I wanted to go to Late Night, nine years on, is interested in my life and I’m interested in his.  It was great to see a lot of people at his wedding, old poker night friends and such, but he was the best.  Because all those things which annoyed me about him make me like him just as much this day.  Plus, I’ve gotten better at calling him out on his crap.  But let’s just think of it in the Hallmark way instead, okay?

Title from the song "Rest Of My Life" by Sloan