1. My soft, spacious bed. Couches, couch beds, futons, and childhood twin beds have no chance of competing. And good sleep—it's just so key.
2. Victrola Coffee, specifically their Americanos. I've been working here all day and it feels so right. And I just might be more productive here than anywhere else in the world.
3. My roommate, Sarah, who gave me a fantastic, smiley hug upon my arrival at the apartment last night. Master chef, apprentice seamstress, super master friend.
4. Friends, in general. I am already maybe a bit stressed out about seeing everyone in the ten short days I have before heading to Lei-Out and Costa Rica for the rest of the January. My Seattle friends are amazing and numerous, and I don't do them justice.
5. Local enjoyment. I walked five minutes today to meet Charlie Matlack for lunch today. FIVE MINUTES. (Suburbia, take note.) I live in a city and I love the convenience that affords, whether social, gastronomical, or…er, groceryomical?
6. Freelance work. Seattle is my professional home base and, for better or worse, I feel more focused and productive when I'm actually here. Except for Costa Rica—I'm sure I'll be super productive there. Right.
7. Ultimate. Winter evening pickup starts tonight and winter league (Canadarm!) starts on Saturday. Seattle offers great opportunities for play and the folks in the community are not so bad either.
8. Weather. I've actually gotten a bit used to Seattle winter rain and dreariness. The extreme darkness this morning at 7:15 was a bit of a shock but I've been quite happy with today's constant 54 degrees. Is it not 20 degrees out? No? AWESOME. Also, drizzle? Not such a big deal.
9. Home. Even if our Capitol Hill apartment was not such an instant fit, and even if we have not been so speedy to decorate and, you know, put up curtains, I feel at home there. That space is my space and our space. And our apartment is where all my clothing lives, like my socks. I really like socks.
10. Um, right. Did I mention my bed?

My roommate, Sarah, and I barely knew each other last June, and certainly did not a year ago. Now, I'd be hard-pressed to imagine a better friend with whom to live. The Saturday featured above found us sharing conversation over eggs and oatmeal and tea. The morning light was too good to ignore.

Did attempting to run the Fantastico Gallery2 updater overload my CPU quota and break my Gallery2 installation? Yes. Yikes:
500 Server Error
A misconfiguration on the server caused a hiccup. Check the server logs, fix the problem, then try again.


I went for a run this evening when I returned from work, clocking a fun 2.75 miles in 18:30 or so. After my return and subsequent shower, I accompanied Claire and Deirdre to Pasta Pallino to join Claire's family for a spot of dinner and conversation. Now, I am watching Touching the Void with the aforementioned pair while I wait for a manual upgrade of Gallery2 to upload. I just hope that this works. The WordPress manual upgrade was, in contrast, quite simple.

Silly computers. So I have not been in the mood to write about Regionals.

EDIT: From the server logs, looks like .htaccess and directory problems. Should have it cleared up soon.

I took this photograph with a 16mm fisheye I borrowed all week from my sister's boyfriend, Mark. The lens was way fun but I don't think I can afford one anytime soon. And I think I'd rather spring for a wide-angle without the distortion. The processing was all Lightroom.

I will have loads of photographs uploaded soon from my time with my family on the lake and from my hike up Mount Washington with my father. I had a wonderful time in the Northeast and miss my family already but am happy to be back in Seattle. And I am actually pleased to return to work, making progress on our new project.

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Joe Kolthammer makes an amazing face on my deck. I know exactly the cause of this face but I don't think I'm allowed to tell the story. Feel free to speculate in the comments.

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Sam Miner and Ashley Hovey offer some equally amazing faces at Magnuson Park.  I would love to hear any comments for this gem as well.

AC Scott and Liz Kassoff work on dinner at Matt and Liz's old house in Fremont.

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AC Scott and Amber Corfman on a bench at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

I am sad to say that I do not have any photographs of Matt Kassoff at this point and that my photographs of Zak are quite old.  I will correct this delinquency as soon as possible.

My Shadrach teammate Sarah Mc moved five blocks away at the beginning of the month. Huzzah! And then, this weekend, Amber Corfman, Liz Kassoff, Matt Kassoff and AC Scott transferred their material lives from nearby Fremont to a lovely blue house not two blocks away. If I could just cut through my neighbor's backyard, I think I could get to their house in under 30 seconds.

Further sweetening the deal is the transplantation of one Zak Andree, HMC CS '04 like me and drummer extraordinaire unlike me, from Boston to that very same blue Seattle house. I saw Zak for an evening last week when he was in town for an Expedia interview and had the chance to meet his future housemates. Coincidentally, Zak and I will be flying from Boston to Seattle the same day, September 5th---I am soon heading home for family time and vacation.

Word on the street, or IM on the tubes as the case may be, is that Matt Ferlo is heading from Socal to Seattle in September, hoping, like Zak, to procure one of the many tech jobs in King County. I used to call Matt and pester him regarding such a move quite regularly but apparently my inaction and his own faculties were more effectual. Who knew? I will now call and prod Matt to ensure he lives in my section of Seattle.

I am quite excited for all this activity and friendship in the area. Perhaps, when the Ultimate season has ended, I will actually have time to spend with all these people. Go Wallingford!

Our house meeting---Claire, Deirdre, RV and me---saw my worst ever Rummikub draw: 12 turns of drawing for 26 tiles before I had opening melds totaling 25 points. Notice the point at which RV only had one tile. The second photograph, as taken with my iPhone, was the turn on which I drew the Orange 10 to push above 25 points. After my first play, RV followed and placed her remaining three tiles on my new melds. Drat!

I have been practicing for a month and a half now with Shadrach, a mixed club team out of Seattle, and I could not be happier. Our team has some great talent and athleticism just waiting to coalesce, nearly ready to manifest as massive beatings. And I really enjoy the group as teammates and (drinking) buddies. We currently practice once a week and meet to condition one other day. I am more than ready to increase to two or three practices per week and three or two workouts.

Did I mention that we're Beastie Boys themed? Glee! Did I mention that I have had little to no free time with all the Ultimate and hanging out with related folks, not to mention my Ultimate housemates and their teammates? Glee!

My role on Shadrach, for now at least, is to run. I just cut and cut and cut and I love it. I like to score because then I don't have to throw. Seriously. I feel like I'm in great shape right now, approaching the speed and quickness I used to have in college, but I know how much more I can improve in the next two months until Regionals. Sprint workouts? Swimming and biking? Air Alert? Yes please.

This weekend is Kleinman Eruption, our first tournament and our first opportunity to play against other teams. Trial by fire! Wait, eruption... trial by lava? Regardless, I am expecting some eye-opening problems as well as glimpses of the quality team we can and will be. I will write up our results when I return on Sunday or Monday.