A few highlights from life on the road this week:
Dinner: Cafe Presse in Seattle. Anywhere that the appetizer is beer with fries and mayo can't be all bad. Cauliflower soup was nutty and good. I confused myself by ordering the beet salad because I don't like beets, and it was kind of just a plate of beets with some blue cheese on the side. I confused myself further by eating a number of said beets, which were not horrible but were still beets. When I commented "whoa, that's a lot of beets" it prompted one of the clients we were having dinner with to say "Remember that you've eaten a lot of beets. Tomorrow when you go to the bathroom don't freak out. No need to schedule an appointment with your doctor. It's just the beets." Um, thanks.
Rental car: PT Cruiser. Emerald green. It has the turning radius of a cruise ship and when my colleague and I took several wrong turns on our way from dinner to the hotel we learned quickly that attempting tight u-turns was only going to result in multiple humiliating three and four-point turns in the middle of the intersection. I'm driving without my glasses but haven't admitted this to my colleague yet. I think she just thinks I am a total jerk driver because I keep having to get over for exits at the last minute and cut people off; but then people expect that when you drive a PT Cruiser. This morning parking at the client's offices we were very satisfied to park next to an identical PT Cruiser. Good stuff.
Breakfast: Cruising downtown Bellevue for a spot to get a quick bite for breakfast, we spot Blazing Bagels. Exactly what we wanted! I pull into an awkward driveway that leads down a hill to an empty lot with uneven pavement and confusing signage. It's empty and early in the morning so I leave the car parked somewhat haphazardly and we walk to get our blazing bagels. Within 45 seconds a grumpy old man is chasing us down (I remember him waving a rolled up newspaper over his head but that's doubtful) saying if we don't move the car immediately he's going to have it towed. Fine then. Colleague goes to get the bagels, I go to get the car. It is at least 15 minutes before she emerges and I see no one else enter or exit, but there's nowhere to park the car so I wait. As she gets into the car, coffees and bagels in hand, she informs me that they're not open for business - they officially open this weekend and they are doing a "soft" opening a few days this week to start getting operations ramped up. Apparently no one knew where anything was, they didn't have most of the things they were supposed to have (eg, bagels) and the woman cursed violently at the toaster most of the 15 minutes that she was in there. The upside: our coffee was free.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Everybody's living for the weekend
It was such a good weekend that it gets two blogs.
To make sure that we had a little extra fun, in addition to all of the other fun we were having, I made up a game where we would write haikus every now and then throughout the weekend to capture a particular moment or experience.
For example, when we took the bus to downtown from the airport we had a moment that was captured thusly:
On the slow bus. Yeah.
Hmm. I think we hit something.
It’s so northwest here.
Eric got something in his eye while waiting in line for coffee at the Peet's in SFO. It was still there several hours later when this game was invented. The result:
Irritated eye
I see and I do not see
A new perspective
Profound, no? This next one was in honor of our flailing tour guide, and it is almost verbatim:
Here’s some good advice:
Have fun...as much as you can
Oh look! Cute puppy!
Another highlight was inspired at the lobby bar at the W where we spent more time than I will admit to not under oath. I was entrusted with ordering us drinks and managed to quite unintentionally get one that tasted like grape flavored Big League Chew, but not in an awesome way like you might expect. It was called "A Currant Affair" and was the impetus for this late-night haiku:
A currant affair
Made my tastebuds unhappy
Took one for the team
To make sure that we had a little extra fun, in addition to all of the other fun we were having, I made up a game where we would write haikus every now and then throughout the weekend to capture a particular moment or experience.
For example, when we took the bus to downtown from the airport we had a moment that was captured thusly:
On the slow bus. Yeah.
Hmm. I think we hit something.
It’s so northwest here.
Eric got something in his eye while waiting in line for coffee at the Peet's in SFO. It was still there several hours later when this game was invented. The result:
Irritated eye
I see and I do not see
A new perspective
Profound, no? This next one was in honor of our flailing tour guide, and it is almost verbatim:
Here’s some good advice:
Have fun...as much as you can
Oh look! Cute puppy!
Another highlight was inspired at the lobby bar at the W where we spent more time than I will admit to not under oath. I was entrusted with ordering us drinks and managed to quite unintentionally get one that tasted like grape flavored Big League Chew, but not in an awesome way like you might expect. It was called "A Currant Affair" and was the impetus for this late-night haiku:
A currant affair
Made my tastebuds unhappy
Took one for the team
And on your left, a naked pig
Eric and I spent the weekend in Seattle. I have to be here this week for work so we figured we'd make a trip out of it. That seemed like a great idea until we were getting on the plane Saturday morning, leaving sunny and 75 degrees to head to rainy and 37 degrees. Perhaps this was not the most logical weekend getaway one might have planned.
Our only real plan for the weekend was the Savor Seattle tour, a must-do according to Trip Advisor. Seven stops for fresh, local, organic, sustainable and seasonal food and drink sounded like a delicious way to spend the afternoon.
Our guide, Eric, started off the tour by announcing that this was his first day following a minor format change and he might stumble a little. He appreciated our patience.
It is hard to imagine what sort of "minor" format change would have left him so completely unprepared for the afternoon.
In addition to the niggling sense I had that he made up most of the "facts" that he shared with the group, he, more than once, completely ran out of things to say. At one point, walking from one location to another, he literally resorted to "um, and over there are some apartments, and, hmm, yeah oh look a pigeon!"
All in all it was a good experience and it did include a lot of delicious food, though not all of it quite as local, sustainable and organic as it was made out to be. (During the tour of the "all local organic gelateria" we spotted industrial-size cans of Libby's pumpkin and sacks of coconut from the Philippines on the shelves in the storeroom.) I suppose to them local means it comes from the storeroom, which is right there, after all.
Oh look! Cute puppy!
Our only real plan for the weekend was the Savor Seattle tour, a must-do according to Trip Advisor. Seven stops for fresh, local, organic, sustainable and seasonal food and drink sounded like a delicious way to spend the afternoon.
Our guide, Eric, started off the tour by announcing that this was his first day following a minor format change and he might stumble a little. He appreciated our patience.
It is hard to imagine what sort of "minor" format change would have left him so completely unprepared for the afternoon.
In addition to the niggling sense I had that he made up most of the "facts" that he shared with the group, he, more than once, completely ran out of things to say. At one point, walking from one location to another, he literally resorted to "um, and over there are some apartments, and, hmm, yeah oh look a pigeon!"
All in all it was a good experience and it did include a lot of delicious food, though not all of it quite as local, sustainable and organic as it was made out to be. (During the tour of the "all local organic gelateria" we spotted industrial-size cans of Libby's pumpkin and sacks of coconut from the Philippines on the shelves in the storeroom.) I suppose to them local means it comes from the storeroom, which is right there, after all.
Oh look! Cute puppy!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Golden Beetloaf Sandwich Saga Ends Happily
We've probably been to Atlas Cafe for live bluegrass Thursdays at least fifteen times now. It's fun, cheap and tasty.
It was on our twelfth visit, when Jamaica and Nelson joined as well, that we stopped regarding the Golden Beetloaf menu selection as just another reason to make a funny face.
Jamaica was so demonstratively satisfied by her choice that it left all of us feeling as though we had missed out on something big. She literally at one point said to all of us including Nelson "I can't share this with you - it's too good. I can't spare even a single bite."
Well. That's quite an endorsement for a sandwich.
On the thirteenth visit we were devastated to learn: out of beetloaf. Eavesdroppers on our previous visit must have gotten to it first.
Fourteenth visit: again - out! Do the laws of supply and demand not function at Atlas Cafe?!?
Fifteenth visit, last night: sweet beety success!
And I'm already looking forward to visit sixteen, beetloaf number two.
It was on our twelfth visit, when Jamaica and Nelson joined as well, that we stopped regarding the Golden Beetloaf menu selection as just another reason to make a funny face.
Jamaica was so demonstratively satisfied by her choice that it left all of us feeling as though we had missed out on something big. She literally at one point said to all of us including Nelson "I can't share this with you - it's too good. I can't spare even a single bite."
Well. That's quite an endorsement for a sandwich.
On the thirteenth visit we were devastated to learn: out of beetloaf. Eavesdroppers on our previous visit must have gotten to it first.
Fourteenth visit: again - out! Do the laws of supply and demand not function at Atlas Cafe?!?
Fifteenth visit, last night: sweet beety success!
And I'm already looking forward to visit sixteen, beetloaf number two.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Dietary time travel
I went back in time last night for dinner. Dietarily speaking. I went to Millenium, a wonderful vegan restaurant here in SF that used to be the "special treat" destination restaurant whenever I or a fellow vegan had a reason to celebrate.
I have to somewhat ashamedly admit: I wasn't that excited about going because I was worried that the food wouldn't be very good.
This is where my former vegan self slaps me. Hard.
For shame! How can I say such an outrageous thing? Questioning that vegan food not be the height of deliciousness? That's not fair! And also not true.
I was relieved and thrilled to discover that it was delicious. It also brought back a flood of vegan memories that ranged from having my grandmother think I had joined a cult* through the years of always carrying food in my purse for fear of going hungry at day-long events and business trips to the south to the guilt of secretly starting to eat cheese again. It was quite an emotional journey, that happily ended, like the meal, with vegan chocolate bread pudding and peanut butter ice cream.
I think I might even go back some time.
*This is true.
I have to somewhat ashamedly admit: I wasn't that excited about going because I was worried that the food wouldn't be very good.
This is where my former vegan self slaps me. Hard.
For shame! How can I say such an outrageous thing? Questioning that vegan food not be the height of deliciousness? That's not fair! And also not true.
I was relieved and thrilled to discover that it was delicious. It also brought back a flood of vegan memories that ranged from having my grandmother think I had joined a cult* through the years of always carrying food in my purse for fear of going hungry at day-long events and business trips to the south to the guilt of secretly starting to eat cheese again. It was quite an emotional journey, that happily ended, like the meal, with vegan chocolate bread pudding and peanut butter ice cream.
I think I might even go back some time.
*This is true.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
TTFN to Gerri
Last night was my fourth and final improv class with Gerri, for now. With the works demands of actually having a job, and the fact that I'll be traveling some over the next few weeks, it is time for a break in spite of the fact that improv might be the most personally insightful and developmentally beneficial 3 hours of my week.
Four sessions is not very many, but they are intense enough that the group to got to be pretty well gelled which allowed us to take more risks and experiment more in our scenes. I had a couple of great scenes and couple of horrible ones. In one of them I attempted to continue working on using accents and I committed to a southern black accent which was great except that it sounded a lot different from my scene partner's. This would have been fine until he declared that we were twin siblings, necessitating the further clarification that we had been separated at birth and raised on different continents.
I also had an entertaining and emotional scene where I was a high school tennis star and my coach showed up to practice with me drunk. I got to yell. It was fun.
I think this break will be a great chance to take what I am learning in improv and experiment with it in real life. You know, like active listening and reincorporation of ideas, or taking on different accents in meetings at work.
I'll let you know how that goes.
Four sessions is not very many, but they are intense enough that the group to got to be pretty well gelled which allowed us to take more risks and experiment more in our scenes. I had a couple of great scenes and couple of horrible ones. In one of them I attempted to continue working on using accents and I committed to a southern black accent which was great except that it sounded a lot different from my scene partner's. This would have been fine until he declared that we were twin siblings, necessitating the further clarification that we had been separated at birth and raised on different continents.
I also had an entertaining and emotional scene where I was a high school tennis star and my coach showed up to practice with me drunk. I got to yell. It was fun.
I think this break will be a great chance to take what I am learning in improv and experiment with it in real life. You know, like active listening and reincorporation of ideas, or taking on different accents in meetings at work.
I'll let you know how that goes.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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