Despite nearly getting stuck in Seattle for Christmas, I’ve decided that I love the heavy snow. With Safeway, PCC, and my office within walking distance of my house, I really don’t need to drive anywhere. Apparently others in my neighborhood felt the same way, because after the recent snowfall, the streets in Queen Anne were empty of cars but full of people. There were people walking up and down the streets, filling the bars – all of a sudden I lived in a walking city!
There were snowboarders riding down my street, snowmobiles and cross country skiers zipping around my neighborhood, and the south side of Queen Anne hill was full of sledders. It seems like everyone in Seattle turns into Macgyver on snow days. I saw people sledding on cardboard, rubbermaid lids, recycle bins, trash can lids, and even tables. I’m actually a little sad that I’m now in Maryland, missing the tail end of it all.
The snow was just beginning to fall when I drove my roommate to the airport at 4:30 am. When I woke back up for the second time, there was a good two or three inches on the ground and Seattle had shut down.
I tried the “working from home” thing, realized I couldn’t live without dual monitors, and headed out the door to walk to work. It took less than a minute for me to discover the layer of ice underneath the snow, resulting in me sliding a good 200 feet down my hill. (Mostly on my feet, but not entirely.)
The situation hadn’t changed much by the time I left work, so I ended up walking to the top of Queen Anne hill to meet a friend for happy hour. The roads were still covered with ice and empty of cars. But people were out anyway – walking their dogs, carousing at pubs, or just wandering around the frozen winterscape. All of a sudden, I lived in the middle of a walking city. It was fantastic.
I also took this opportunity to sled down Queen Anne hill, one of the longest, steepest hills in Seattle – now closed to traffic for the night. We tried cardboard boxes from Trader Joe’s to start, but found that the trashcan lids from Kerry Park made much better sleds. Hot cocoa followed and I’m now typing away in front of a roaring fire. A good day, overall.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The last few months of my life have had their ups and downs, and the last few weeks in particular. But I’ve definitely come out ahead over all, and with my job going well (more on that in a future post), I have a lot to be thankful this year. I’m thankful that I’ve avoided any major financial crises during my leaner times this past year. That includes being thankful for my health, my home, and my car. I’m thankful for my family and their on going well being, and for a supportive network of friends who have been there for me when I needed them. I’m thankful for my personal relationships, which have brought me more joy and more pain this year than I’ve ever felt before, and I’m thankful that I had the chance to experience both. This year taught me how important the little things in life can be, and I’m thankful I had the chance to learn that lesson.
And finally, I’m thankful that I had the chance to celebrate the holiday with a group of wonderful friends. Wonderful friends and a deep fat fryer, which produced the most tender, juicy, delicious turkey I have ever tasted. Not to mention the Oreos, Twinkies, Snickers, bananas, ice cream, cranberry sauce, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pickles that we fried up later.
Scientists announced today that they’ve succeeded in retrieving most of the woolly mammoth DNA sequence from frozen hair samples. I’m predicting now, on November 20, 2008 (actually I predicted it yesterday, but just got around to posting this), that I will see live dinosaurs before I die. We have most of the genetic information, the technology will come, and the monetary incentives for bringing a dinosaur back to live are just too high to be passed up. It’s a shame Michael Crichton isn’t around to see this. Jurassic Park, here we come.
It’s been almost a year since I’ve been in the bay area. But I had a chance to sit in on three classes on high speed digital design taught by a very highly esteemed Rice alum. The classes have been great (Howard Johnson is an amazing teacher), and it’s been a fun opportunity to catch up with old friends. I do have more friends here than I’m going to have time to see in a day and a half, but considering that I lived here for four years, I feel a little weird that I don’t have more. I feel like I’ve been a a stronger social circle during my one year in Seattle than my entire four years in Berkeley.
No time to worry about that today, though! It’s Halloween and my royale with cheese costume is calling…
