Fall Colors

Fall here in Seattle has been excellent. It's still very warm out - all last week it was sunny with highs in the 70s. And now the leaves are changing colors and starting to fall to the ground and it's spectacular. I think fall is going to last a bit longer here than it ever did in Iowa or Minnesota, the trees seem to be taking their time and dropping leaves whenever they want instead of all at once. To the left is a pic we took Thursday night of a tree just outside our front door (literally, I took the picture from our doorway). It was already dark out by the time we got home (we get home around 7 pm) and we were heading out for a run. I can identify at least three different primary colors in those leaves. I hope they hang on for a few more days so I can continue to have a breathtaking scene on my first step out the front door.

By the way, the roses in our front yard are still blooming happily.

Urban Legend... or a True Story??

All this talk about dog-sitting brought out a good story at work yesterday. A friend of a friend was dog-sitting for a Great Dane (these are BIG dogs - compare with a chihuahua, left). A few days into it, the dog died of old age. She called up the owners, who weren't upset, but she needed to find something to do with it because they were going to be gone for a few weeks. They made a few phone calls and then told her that the best thing would be to take the dog to the vet so the vet could properly store it. The problem was, this dogsitter didn't have a car. As you may imagine, it's very difficult travelling around with a giant dead dog, especially without a car. So she brainstormed for a bit, and finally decided to put the great dane in a giant suitcase and carry it with her on the bus to the vet. So she lugged the suitcase onto the bus with her and sat right by the door of the bus, so that she wouldn't have to carry it very far. Then, at one of the stops, a guy in the back of the bus jumped up, ran over and grabbed the suitcase, and jumped off the bus with it before she could stop him.

Oh, what I would give to be a fly on the wall when that guy opened his stolen suitcase, expecting all kinds of treasures.

Pig Dog

In the name of dog research, I am dog sitting for a co-worker this weekend. The dog is a 13 year old Schipperke (right), with attitude. She calls him Pig Dog, but his real name is Max. I guess his wide shoulders and frequent snorting noises make him pig-like. I think he's very cute. She's afraid he's going to drive us nuts, so she has set up a back-up plan for us in case we need to get rid of him - a kennel at her place. Also, he's known to bark frequently so we're giving him to another co-worker during the weekdays so he doesn't bother our neighbors. So, we'll just have him Sat-Sun. I consider it a treat. It's like baby-sitting for a cute niece. Only it's a dog that looks like a pig and barks a lot.

Toilet paper and paper towels

My Studly Hubby gets all upset when I put new rolls of toilet paper and paper towels on the holder "backwards" - he claims that there is a correct way to put rolls on (so that the new sheets are on top) and I can't seem to remember what that is when I am in the middle of doing it. He claims that the user-interface of these paper towel and toilet paper rolls is important (his words, this is what you get when you marry a web designer), and that when this user interface is flawed it can really mess someone up. I don't know or notice the difference. I also don't really notice different kinds of tea or good food vs bad food so I'm not sure if I'm much of a judge on this whole deal. All I know is that I'm incapable of creating a good user-interface with new paper towel and toilet paper rolls and now I get all nervous whenever I put one on because I'm sure I'm going to do it wrong.

Good news for this week:

1. I'm making progress on a paper I'm writing up from graduate school. It was pretty hard at first trying to remember all that confusing stuff, but then I realized I can copy most of it from my thesis and it got better after that.

2. We have three friends in Seattle now! Last weekend we went out with some people from Derek's school and one of his new co-workers, and even though all the school friends are moving away the co-worker was great and I claim him as my friend now. Then on Friday night we went out with two of my co-workers who are not only great but live next door so we will most likely be going out again (the bar we went to was two blocks away, too - it doesn't get much better than that!). I was so excited to have friends I could hardly sleep. Plus they have cable.

3. I have unpacked all of our boxes from our move. I have not yet put it all away yet, or hung pictures, but my nesting instincts tell me that it's definitely getting better. Now that we have friends I am newly invigorated to get it all finished and invite some people over. Plus there is a beer store down the street where I can get stocked up.

4. I have discovered a new favorite kind of beer, called Pyramid Hefeweizen. It is so good! It is like Blue Moon (one of my former favorites) only even better. And did I mention that there is a beer store just down the street? Pyramid is apparently a local brewing company near the Safeco (Mariners) field downtown, and they sell large volumes of beer in reusable glass jugs for all your party needs - now that we have 3 friends, and a cheap but good beer supply source, we could have a whole party! Or we could just go there for a tour and beer tasting sometime, that would be fun too.

Running in the dark and the rain

My Studly Hubby and I haven't joined a gym here yet in Seattle - so far it's been working out to go out running every couple of days and go to the occasional yoga class (one yoga class so far, but hoping for more...). The weather has been great so far and when the weather is great it's easy to get myself to go out for a run. But, when it gets dark... and rains... I'm not so sure. So tonight, it was dark. And raining (my Studly Hubby claims it wasn't really raining but it was drizzling and I think we can count that). And we went out and ran. And it was good! So, we win.

Screech

For those of you who are part of my generation, you have to have watched Saved By the Bell. And if you did, then you know who Screech was. He was the comic relief on the show - the nerdy, annoying, and funny-looking kid that somehow fell in with the "cool crowd" and provided entertainment for all (as long as the laugh track was working). Well, apparently Screech now lives in Wisconsin and is about to have his house foreclosed - so he tried to sell T-shirts to raise money to save his house. When that didn't work, he made a sex video.

Can you imagine? Let's not.

Donuts...!

My Studly Hubby and I moved into a place that is only THREE BLOCKS from a donut place called Winchell's Donuts. To make things worse, they are open 24/7, so that they can tempt us constantly.

We've been very good so far and have only gone there two (maybe three) times. Across the street from the donut place is an even worse place called Dick's Drive-In, which supposedly has the best hamburgers in town (though not quite as good as the good ol' Hamburg Inn #2 in Iowa City) and also serves up a killer strawberry shake. To make things worse, they are cheap, and fast. Tonight we went to the donut place. I had a dream last night about fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and have been craving chocolate all day because of it. If you have any idea why I might have a dream about chocolate chip cookies, please lete me know because I am clueless about it. The donut satisfied my craving - and it was much closer and easier than going out to find (or actually baking - gah) a decent chocolate chip cookie. Besides, it was kind of fun walking through our neighborhood after dark and peering into everyone's houses. I am in the midst of Interior Organization and Decorating in our new apartment and am very interested in fresh ideas. Plus, I am a nosy neighbor.

Happy donuts everybody!!