"Rainy" Seattle

I know, I'm tempting fate with that headline...but it's been sunny seven out of eight days since Greg and I moved to Seattle.

I'm currently sitting on the rooftop deck of Greg's apartment building, where there's free Wi-Fi and panoramic views of Puget Sound. I'd probably be drinking a glass of prosecco if it wasn't 11am. (No need to go the Hemingway route yet.) Once I've gotten my camera to cooperate with my computer, I'll upload photos of this view. Mount Rainier is off to the left, and it's unreal -- like it's painted onto the sky. I can't stop staring at it. I'm having a staring contest with a mountain, and I think I'm losing. This is probably the No 1 sign that I need a job -- but I've been pretty content writing and exploring since I got here, a bit every day. I have a meeting with the editor of Seattle Metropolitan magazine next week, and I've been working on some pitches, too.

Speaking of jobs: Greg's almost done with his first week of work at Amazon, and he loves it. He goes to work in T-shirts, and works a couple floors above the CEO, Jeff Bezos. And in the "small world" category, we had dinner last night at a Malay satay house with a Singaporean guy named JS who's 1) on Greg's team and 2) lives in his building. ha!

We've also spent some time at our friends Courtney and Joe's house in Maple Valley, about 20 minutes outside of Seattle. They've really made us feel at home since we got here. They also have Rock Band, so I will spend half of my time there perfecting my vocals on "Dani California." Courtney works for Microsoft, so I got to meet her for lunch at the "campus." It literally does feel like a college campus for thirtysomethings+ -- people were sitting around in shorts and T-shirts, eating from the brand new (awesome) food court, and playing basketball on their lunch break. Not too shabby.

The four of us also went to a Mariners game on Saturday night (hard to believe we waited two whole nights before going to a baseball game). Safeco (Mariners) and Qwest (Seahawks) stadiums are within walking distance of Greg's place -- granted, it's a 25-minute walk, but it's along the waterfront. You can stop for crab cakes along the way if you get hungry. The game was quick (efficient pitching?), our seats and the stadium great -- though the Mariners lost 2-0 to the Detroit Tigers. But at least we were getting an authentic Seattle experience (ohh zing!). We're already planning on going to the Yankees series in July.

Tonight we're having dinner and going bowling with Travis and his fiancee, Margot. Travis and I grew up together about three houses down from each other on Rosalie Ave (small world reference #2). And then tomorrow, all of our stuff comes! It's been on the road, being shipped, for about 10 days -- if anything happened to my bag of shoes, so help me...