A new member of the family

And no, I'm not pregnant.



We adopted a dog from People United for Pets, a nonprofit that rescues dogs from shelters and helps find them forever homes. We are very excited to welcome Waffles into our lives. She is a 6 year old pomeranian, and is super chill, love peanut butter, and also loves curling up around my boots after I take them off. A girl after my own heart, because shoes are AWESOME.

Outfit of the day

So, I wanted to let you all in on a new little obsession of mine. It's the Fatshionista Livejournal community. Lovely people of all shapes and plus sizes post thoughts and ideas, and also pictures of what outfits they have worn and where they got them. I've posted a few OOTDs (that's "outfit of the day" to you) myself, and wanted to cross link them for posterity:

My first OOTD post

OOTD: vintage dress from etsy seller Thrush

That is all.

Housewifish

So, I'm baking bread tonight. I found this awesome recipe via my fat-blogging friends at Random Quorum. The bread recipe was made last night, and is currently rising in a bowl with a cute dish towel thrown over it at home. I will "punch the dough down" and let it rise for 2 more hours, then bake it and enjoy delicious bread with butter and all manner of toppings on it.

After that, I'll churn some butter and darn Bob's socks. (hint: I've done one of these already in my married life).

Update:

A surprise trip

From Portland july 4th 2009

To portland! I tasked Bob (ok, I nudged him, much gentler than a tasking), by saying "plan a surprise weekend trip for us for the 4th". And he did! We woke up earlier friday morning (we both had the day off) and set off in Bob's car. I had no idea where we were going, he said to pack an overnight bag, that I didn't need a bathing suit or a passport. So I knew we weren't going to canada, and was pretty sure we weren't flying because he didn't mention it. Once we got on I-5 heading south (Actually, a little before that), I guessed that maybe we were going to Portland.

We had such a great time - we stayed at the Ace Hotel, which is where we stayed on our road trip up, in a really sweet suite room (see that, sweet suite? huh?). Bob planned an awesome itinerary that included the Escher exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. We also went to this really cool museum of forestry in the middle of this huge park/arboretum. We also hit up Powell's city of books, which was total sensory overload for a book lover like me. We were lucky to escape with only $100 spent. I'll write up the books I think as I read them. Because I'm so good at updating frequently :).

It was so much fun - my husband is the bestest. I love you baby!

Oh canadia

We went to Canada this weekend! Our first official international trip as a couple :P (not that the 3 hour drive to vancouver really counts as a foreign country, despite the ketchup chips and smarties).

We had such a great time hanging out with our old friends from atlanta (old as in know them awhile, not as in "old") Norm & Diane and their daughter Robyn and her husband Neil! Thanks guys for putting us up and showing us a good time!

If I Had a Blog Then: Yuri's Night

So, I was reading this post on Gizmodo the other day, and it reminded me of something I wanted to share. I had thought to myself and Rebecca on the topic of blogs that I would blog about things that happened in the past that were worthy of talking about in a blog. This is the first in a most likely short series. However, I'm not quite sure how to start. I think I have to take you back to April of 2008.

Well, some more background information. Rebecca and I had only been dating (again) for about 2 months or so. She had a plan up her sleeve for a surprise for me. She had sent me a package in the mail, which detailed a time and place to be for the next clue. She sent me on a scavenger hunt.

Originally she was planning on us ending at La Bodeguita del Medio in Palo Alto, but she changed her mind when she heard that Yuri's Night was going to be at Moffett Field. Now, Yuri's Night is a big worldwide party that celebrates the day when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, and promotes a greater interest in space travel. Apparently they have held some big parties in the Bay Area, and the one for 2008 was going to be pretty cool. Rebecca got us tickets, and that was the end of the scavenger hunt. But her plans were almost ruined. I had read about Yuri's Night Bay Area happening on Wired and told her about it a few days before, completely unaware that she had already bought tickets. She was worried that I had figured out her scheme. Acutally, I didn't realize her plan until the end of the scavenger hunt when I was with her, and she told me the coordinates of our last stop, Moffett Field.

Well, it was going to be a very fun evening with my Rebecca (which it was). We arrived at parked the car near Hanger One. We started taking pictures of everything immediately. There was so much visual stimulation, from the airplanes on display, the art and computers, and even a Lego display from the Bay Area Lego Users Group. There was even an acrobatic airshow that we stared at for almost an hour, and attempted to photograph.

There were many big adventures during the day. I think we almost got caught by security for hiding in the main landing gear of a C-141. Will Wright gave a talk about space travel, promoted Spore by providing copies to demo, and urinating on fans. Also worth mentioning is the fact that there was a beer tent. If I recall, I believe they had a special where one could get 5 tickets for $20. A pretty good deal for good beer, considering I had a designated driver. I was reminded there were other drunkards wandering around in various costumes. I believe there was a man wearing Sputnik on his head.

Overall, it was a really awesome time with my then girlfriend (now wife!). For me, there was a defining moment where I knew this was the woman I was to marry. I wanted to demo Spore while we were there, however there was quite a line due to the large amount of people. Rebecca did not want to wait, as she had little interest. I however waited, but she had decided to go explore a bit. She comes back with a beer for me while I continue to wait! After cringing watching children destroy precious computers, it was my turn to play. I was able to enjoy a demo of Spore while drinking a beer. My Rebecca loves me very much! She planned this entire surprise for me, and even gets me a beer. It was an evening filled with some of my favorite things.

After Spore we ended up eating some food, and listening to some of the musical performances before heading home after dark. I think we even met the guy who does the Achewood comic while wating in line for food.

It was a great date with my now wife, and I still appreciate the planning and care that she puts into fun trips for us. We hope to have more adventures like that in the near future, and I'll try to share about more of them.

First class baby

I flew to SF this week for work. I had never flown Virgin America before, so I thought I'd try them out, hearing good things. When I checked in on my SEA->SFO leg, the kiosk prompted me to upgrade to first class for $50. Hey, I'll pay $50 for that kind of new experience! It was awesome! Fully reclining seats with footrests and my own tv and full meals, free games and movies and booze (though none for me at 10am).

I also upgraded on the way back, this time with a jack and coke.

Late Sunday Night, No Time for a Good Title

It seems I haven't blogged a lot in the last few weeks. No real excuses here, but blogging has not been on my priority list. I think it's got something to do with Rebecca's macbook being busted and her using the battery from my macbook, because her battery is officially dead. My macbook has sat for a few weeks, and I still haven't set up my desktop. I've been stewing about a few things to post, and I guess I'll write about that later.

Rebecca mentioned that we joined Twitter. Yeah, we'll see how long this lasts. I already have one random follower after a day. Hopefully it won't be a complete waste. It's interesting so far, but I don't think I'm qualified to pass judgement on it.

McDonalds... like a Baobab tree. Yeah.

Really?

Like the unique African Baobab tree, which nourishes its community with its leaves and fruit, McDonald's has branched out to the African-American community nourishing it with valuable programs and opportunities.

Twitter quitter

You know what the kids are doing these days. Well, I don't either, I'm way old and almost 30, but I heard that Twitter is something that is popular. Bob has been wanting to sign up, so he did last night, so I did too.

Being in the internet marketing space, I know a few things about Twitter already - namely, that it has an abysmally low retention rate. About 70% of people that sign up don't return the next month. For comparison, Myspace and Facebook have about a 60-70% retention rate. This is all according to Nielsen.

So, will Bob and I join the ranks of twitter quitters? Unsure. But you can follow us:

Bob @jimmythesquid
Rebecca @neffbot

Cooking?

So, again with the time intensive hobbies in fits and starts (I'm sure one day, I will take up large loom weaving or something like that).

We acquired, through the generosity of Macy's gift cards as wedding gifts, a Le Creuset dutch oven. I really want to use this beautiful piece of cookware.

However, over the past few weeks I have attempted to "throw together" some recipes in the slow cooker from leftover ingredients. Let's just say that I do not have the necessary cooking chops to throw together anything. Or at least anything edible.

So, tonight I strictly followed this recipe for potato soup. It just finished simmering for 2 hours, and we tasted it... and honestly I don't think it is very good. I think I put too much onion in it. I don't know how much onion 1/2 lb. of onion is. Apparently it is not one whole huge onion. Probably something between a whole huge onion and no onion at all.

Also, 1% milk is not the same as heavy whipping cream. That is all.

Update: Letting the soup sit has made it more delicious. With tons of cheese and sour cream (which is how I'd eat it anyways), I say it is definitely edible.

Star trek! And crafting!

Bob and I are, courtesy of my employer, going to see Star Trek this afternoon on the big (imax) screen! Yay for a free movie at a better theater than we'd go to ourselves! We'd, of course, be going anyways.



Also, last night I indulged in some time away from the computer and instead made a new shirt! I followed this wonderful tutorial and it turned out exactly like the picture - but coral colored instead of white. It was lots of fun!

If you don't have a sewing machine handy, I would still recommend to you this tutorial on how to make a beautiful chrysanthemum-type flower brooch/pin/whatever. You can also just stop at step 3 and end up with a cool, messier-looking flower. All-in-all, a wonderful crafting evening with the gratification of a finished product that I'm wearing today :)

Posting need not be well thought out

So much has happened these past few weeks that was bloggable, I just haven't gotten over the hump of "I need to blog this... and this... and this... and now it will take too long to do it properly so I'm not going to post at all..."

Anyways, this weekend Bob and I went to Macy's and used our gift cards we got as wedding presents to buy some awesome houseware stuff. The reason we went this weekend was the friends/family sale, which gave us 25% off of nearly everything, so we were able to stretch our gift card money further and get more fluffy towel/sharp kitchen knife/small kitchen electric goodness.

Then, to celebrate, we cooked for most of our meals this weekend!

On top of the normal excitement that I get from buying things, the shopping trip was just a big blessing to us. We felt so grateful and blessed that people thought about us and gave us gift cards. We got to shop without spending any of our actual money. It was so awesome.

Sunday farmer's market finds

Today Bob and I went to the Fremont farmer's market. It's so awesome, every neighborhood in the city has its own (really big and well organized) farmer's market. Last week, we went to the one a few blocks from our house and bought most of our groceries for the week. Fremont's market is more of an arts/crafts/antiques/and also food type of market.

Anyways, we were on the lookout for a hutch/sideboard for the entryway, and also a kitchen table. We don't really want chairs to go with the table, we have one cool light green metal chair (that was really an outside chair) from ikea, and a stool. We did want to get one or two more chairs eventually, but today we found an awesome, many-times-painted red chair:



FOR TEN BUCKS.

It has an awesome patina on it of places where the (no doubt lead based) paint has chipped off, revealing an orangy coral, and some spots where the paint is gone, showing the wood underneath.



I had to do some work on it, the legs all had metal endcaps that we were worried would scratch our floors. Don't want security deposit taken out for scratched floors :). Upon closer inspection I found that it was all crumbly wood glue holding on the metal caps, so I pried them off with a screwdriver and sanded the ends (Bob had sandpaper. Not that I probably don't have it somewhere in a craft box too), then applied little felt thingies:



I also found, at one of the many booths that were like miniature thrift stores, an "all jewelry this table $1". There was this beautiful brooch there!



Yay for farmer's markets! Or is it farmers' markets?

The package!

So, the package that Bob mentioned that came today is our wedding proof book! Yay! It was so cute, the UPS guy delivered it to the apartment office since we weren't there. I went to get it today, not knowing what it was, thinking it was some posters I ordered off of etsy. The girls in the office were almost as excited as me, and we looked through a good portion of it together before another resident stopped by needing their attention. It was kind of awesome. I felt like I was really girly, and a part of the girl club of loving weddings.

Of course, I loved our wedding, but before getting married, I wasn't really into hearing about other people's weddings. Now, I'm totally jazzed to hear about any wedding plans. I wonder if the ladies in the office are married, and that's why they were so excited to share the pictures with me?

Our new apartment!

Bob and I are settled into our new place! Well, mostly. Still hanging pictures. When professional movers pack your stuff, rather than your friends helping you load up some storage crates, you end up with quite a bit of paper and boxes. They wrap EVERYTHING. We found wrapped boxes of kleenex. Each pair of shoes was wrapped (in some cases, each shoe). A wrapped bottle of syrup? Check. Bags of chips? Yes. I couldn't believe how carefully done it all was. Also unbelievable was the amount of paper left once we unpacked.



I kid you not, that whole dumpster is full of bags of newsprint-like paper, all from us. But the apartment is shaping up really well!

Interesting Music Phenomenon

Okay, so for those who may know me, you should be aware that I am interested in the musical genre known as ska. You may also be aware that I have many t-shirts that feature ska bands or concerts that I have attended. So, I've warn these shirts in many times everywhere I've lived, and no one as really ever said anything.
So, we were out in Greenlake, a neighborhood in Seattle, shopping for antique furniture. Yes, I know, antiquing. Apparently it's something you do with your wife when you want furniture, but this post is not about that. So, in Greenlake, we ended up at this chocolate shop where we got milk to drink, and the barista girl made a comment about my shirt. I happened to be wearing my Ska is Dead tour shirt from 2005 that day, that features zombies. Very hip indeed.
Later that day, we went to Urban Outfitters in the University District to buy ourselves a coat rack for our new apartment. A girl who worked there was helping us, and she made a comment about my shirt too. She went into some story about how she helped with the tour, and knew a guy in The Toasters. I thought it was a funny coincidence, and that it had something to do with being in the college part of town. I didn't think much of it after that. Honestly,I thought the girl may have been flirting with me, but I was with Rebecca. And that was the end of that.
Until today, when we were out in West Seattle at the West Seattle Bowl for an event with Rebecca's coworkers. When we were getting ready to leave, a gentleman came up to me and ask if I was from Michigan. I happened to be wearing my Mustard Plug t-shirt, so this question wasn't completely out of the ordinary for me. He asked if they were still around, and made some small talk. He also made a comment or two about how he saw them in really small clubs back in Michigan.
Now, people commenting about t-shirts I wear really isn't that weird, I do tend to wear crazy t-shirts often. The fact that three people in Seattle have made comments about ska band t-shirts I've worn is odd. Considering how popular ska is what makes the situation odd. And this happens in the town that has a Science Fiction Hall of Fame and a Laser Dome for the Laser Rock Shows.
I'm beginning to think this is the town for me.

The Tubes

It's official. This is my first post from our new apartment in Ballard. It's not that we just moved in this weekend, no. Today we got TV and Internet installed. We've actually been here since the 4th of April. It's just that it took a little time to get cable figured out. There are not a lot of choices here, but I'll elaborate on that much later. A package came today that Rebecca is excited to share.

Not the "princess" kind of crown

Did you ever notice that, when you go to the dentist, you always end up needing more than you thought you needed in terms of dental work? It's like going to get your oil changed on your car and being told you need a new filter, new tires, and a new transmission. Plus belts or something. So, anyways, here's what happened:

- I enjoy Hot Tamales candy.
- I was enjoying them yesterday quite vigorously in lieu of dinner while Bob and I were finishing up moving in.
- I felt a crunchy bit in one of the pieces of candy I was chewing (I think you know where this is going).
- After that bite, while chewing another piece, my gum/tooth hurt a bit.
- So, I finished that piece and found a gaping hole on the right bottom side in one of my molars.
- I thought a filling had fallen out, because I had one there before. I made an appointment with a dentist around the corner from our new place for today at 2.
- At the appointment, an x-ray is taken, and the dentist determines that it wasn't a filling that fell out... it was a piece of my tooth that broke off. I ATE THE PIECE OF TOOTH. How meta is that?
- So, I don't need a filling. I need a crown. This makes me a sad panda. I've never had a crown before, and they were ready to prep the tooth and put on a temporary crown today. Let me tell you, I was NOT ready for that jelly. I have pretty mild dental anxiety, and I really need to research and prepare for something new and invasive and expensive like a crown. So, the dentist just put filling material there for now. They were sweet people, but I really want a second opinion. I don't want a crown, mainly because they have to shave down my tooth to put one on, and if "shave down your tooth" doesn't induce paroxysms of terror... well, I just can't relate to you. Additionally, let me share with you that sometimes root canals have to be done after crowns are applied because of damage to the nerve. She showed me a chart of what a root canal looks like, and the middle image, the cross-section of a tooth with a thin metal drill snaking down into the root, will haunt me for the rest of my life. I'm sure that isn't allowed under the geneva convention.

camping out

Tonight we're going to move for real into our new apartment. We've been sleeping in our corporate housing place even though we moved in this weekend. The reason - we have no bed. But we'll have a bed tomorrow, after the nice people from Sleep Country deliver it.

Tonight: a slight chance of blanket forts and air mattresses!

Radio

I was going to have a fancier, more humorous title, but I could not determine the inventor of radio from wikipedia.

Anyway, for those who want to know, I have not listened much to the radio since I lived back in New York and listened to EQX. There were some stations in Atlanta that I liked, but they eventually changed formats a few times. I found ones in LA I could tolerate, and one I could only get when I was in LA on the other side of the mountains. My main complaint with radio, besides all the advertisements, is that they overplay the same songs and don't play actual new music. For example, turn to your local alternative station. Have they played Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sublime, Everclear, 311, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, or any band from the mid nineties in the last hour? I'm not saying those bands are bad, but there is so much more music out there that they are ignoring. I do understand that the stations have rules and playlists that they have to follow, and these are all factors that drove me to listen to my mp3 player, or burn cds for my car. I even tried XM radio for 3 months when I bought my car, but I was overcome with an overabundance of choice that I couldn't pick one station to listen to. Not to mention annoying djs, and actual commercials on satellite radio.

So, I have now found myself in Seattle, and without my computer to burn new cds for my car. I have tried a fm transmitter with my ipod in the car, but we all know how well those work. Don't worry, this post isn't completely negative. I actually turned on the radio for the first time in almost 2 years. There are actually good stations here in Seattle that I am enjoying that do not play the same crap as most of the commercial radio stations. Now, keep in mind, no one gave me any suggestions for radio when I got here, and I never did a google search for radio stations until I started writing this post. I found these stations the old fashion way, by pressing the seek button on my radio while driving.

The first station I found and liked was 89.5 FM. They play dance music, like the type you would hear in the clubs. I know, an interesting choice for a radio station, but it is enjoyable on my commute, they are commercial free, and I think they even have an 80s show in the morning. Then today, I checked out their website and found out the station is run by high school students in the Seattle area as part of a class. That blew my mind.

The second station I found and liked was 107.7 FM. It's a pretty standard alternative station, but they claim to be "world famous" and play a lot of Death Cab for Cutie. The station seems to have been around since grunge started, so there is some history there. They do play new music, but suffer from the usual corporate radio station problems. I've been looking past that, because it provides a good change from dance music.

Then today, I landed on 90.3 FM, while driving home and hitting the seek button again. This station inspired me to write this post. The first song they played that I recognized was Are You Receiving Me? by XTC, mostly because that was the first song that Shazam on my iPhone could determine. They continued to play music I had never heard until the dj came on and mentioned My Bloody Valentine, who I swear I've heard heard before. Apparently the station is public or something. I will be listening more to this station.

The last thing is a interesting thing I mentioned to Rebecca a day or two ago. Driving to work in the morning, I was flipping radio stations again. I landed on a morning radio dj who I feel ended up spoiling the end of Battlestar Galactica for me. Just think about that for a minute and all that I could mean about the Seattle area.

I have more radio stations to find and listen to, and lots of music to discover. I'll also have to tell you later about the concert Rebecca and I went to last Sunday.

We've got to get moving now.

The story so far...

So, my first post.

I told Rebecca before we got married that we should start a blog. Then she finally goes and starts one, and it takes me almost 5 days before I post for the first time. Then I looked over all of her posts so far, and realized she never really introduced herself or us.

I'm Bob, and I'm an engineer. Rebecca is my new wife, and she has a job too. We just moved to Seattle from the San Francisco Bay Area, Mountain View to be exact. I've lived 5 places in the last 6 years. I'm originally from Upstate New York. No, not Westchester County, actual upstate, like the Albany area. It's easier to say the "Albany area" because not many people have heard of my hometown unless you're from the Northeast and have driven the Northway a lot. I went to college at RPI, which the important people have heard about, not that you're not important. You are important! After graduation in 2003, I moved down to Atlanta, and was there for damn near 3 and a half years. I met Rebecca there, but due to some uncertainties in my life at the time such as turning 25 and my job security in question, I made my way West. I ended up in the Southern California desert, which I told everyone was Los Angles because no one really had ever heard of the place I was living. I was in the depressing desert for a year before opportunity knocked, and I got a transfer up to the Bay Area, or Silicon Valley, or whatever you would classify Mountain View as. That is where Rebecca and I rekindled our romance, got engaged, and decided that marriage suited us. Then again with the job, I managed a sweet new deal for us in Seattle.

That's where our story begins. We've barely been here for two weeks now. I like my new job, I like the weather here, and I love my wife. We really like to take adventures and we think we're hipsters. I'm really into gaming, music, technology, cars, and a lot of other random things. I have a fierce beard and glasses. My wife is smart, sarcastic, funny, witty, and beautiful. I'm pretty sure we've both had blogs before that are now long dead. I'll probably write at length about all of those things, and of course about random things too. I just realized it's 12:30 am on a Sunday, and I gotta be up at 6. There will be more later.

Stay tuned. Same time, same channel.

Snow?

I promise the titles of every post won't be about the weather here in Seattle. I'll get used to it eventually! But today there's a chance of snow! I'm going to keep watching the weather and head home if it looks like it will turn icy and dangerous to drive. That's the Southerner in me :) - believe me, you don't want to be ANYWHERE near me if I decide to drive in any kind of inclement weather other than rain.

When I used to blog (oh the many, many poor blogs that have been abandoned), I would never be able to pick a subject line for my posts, so I'd always leave them untitled. Untitled posts, however, look ugly in feed readers because it pulls either as much of the first sentence from the post as it can fit, or it just says "Untitled", which sounds like a painting or poem by a lazy artist to me. So I'm trying to title my posts now.

Speaking of art (and maybe lazy art, who knows), tomorrow is First Thursday, which means that a bunch of the art museums in Seattle are going to be open late and free. Bob and I are going to go to the Seattle Art Museum, which is across the street from our temp housing. In fact, I look down at it every day from our 17th floor perch. Here's to cultural enrichment!

The sun came out today!

I foresee many posts with that title. Bob said that sunny weather will be much more appreciated now that it is rainy/overcast much of the time. I agree - seeing the sun today was awesome!

One of our friends had a goal - to try one new thing per week for this year. I think I want to do that too. Last week is set - we did pack up and move to a city neither of us had even visited (hey seattle!). This week we went to a Catholic mass. The Cathedral for this area was really nearby (well, not as near as we though, as we trudged uphill for about 30 minutes), and it was an interesting and beautiful experience.

I think I've never really appreciated how intimidating it must be for someone to come to church for the first time. How you don't know where to sit, what the order is, the words to the songs, and how you don't understand what's going on because you have no context or experience. I grew up going to church, so I've always at least known what was happening at a high level no matter what church I go to. But this experience was very different. I had no idea what to do, what words to say... people kept singing responses back depending on what the guy singing would sing... and I realize I don't even know the names of the people that are involved in a Catholic service. "The Singer Guy" is probably not his real name. I didn't know how to take communion, how to cross myself, what words to repeat when everyone else seemed to know what to say, despite it not being printed anywhere in the bulletin (there was, of course, no powerpoint defiling the really beautiful cathedral).

So, to all of the people that I've invited to church with me before, to all of my friends that came to church for the first time as an adult - I really feel like I understand now how uncomfortable that must have been!

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