Extended Stay America Olympia Tumwater

What a wonderful evening last night. We had a great little going away party last night hosted by Tony and Kelli at their beautiful home. We had plenty of food and laughs, familiar faces and some great weather. I have to thank Kelli and Tony for the gluten/dairy free spread of food and everyone else for their additions. Sean's salmon was tasty.

Of most surprise was the arrival of Nate (Fleischman AT'99) and ...

Yesterday afternoon as we (Abbie, her mother and I) were driving around
Seattle when I spotted a beggar on the corner of the intersection.
Beggars in Olympia and Seattle are not uncommon, and sometimes I feel
something when I see them--"something" like pity, a degree of
compassion, resentment or irritation, but this guy really wrapped
himself around my heart and constricts it. He was Caucasian, probably
early 40's and his ...

... Starbucks has fan-damntastic marketing; that's it. (I hear they used to offer decent employee benefits, but that's neither here nor there.) I tried to let Starbucks redeem itself at my expense, but it failed and I feel repulsed that so many people subject themselves willfully to ****; to each his own, however. I wish there was a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf here, but alas, I'm in the state of Washington. There's a thousand ...

... with many misconceptions. I was able to still see many things (the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Emperor's summer palace, and Tienanmen square to name a few). however, most of my time was spent sitting at bars. I did meet many people and had many good conversations but I feel I squandered many days. I want this trip to be different. To that affect, I am going to do something I am typically against. I am going to make some plans ahead of time. My Plan ...

... dry and warm. We were always pleased to find some place to have a cup of coffee and get out of the weather briefly. That evening, about four blocks from our destination, the cart hit a bump and, much to our dismay, the center support post snapped from metal fatigue and we couldn't go another step. Fortunately, our host was at home and very willing to come and rescue us and our gear. More good fortune was just around the corner because Michael Hanway, our new host ...

Like the mighty Colombia River, we meandered our way across the Washington landscape from Spokane to Seattle along scenic highway 2. Myrtle (our minivan) ran like a dream, although she was not quite aerodynamic enough to miss a small bird that lingered one moment too long on the road. I imagine that more than one animal will suffer her wrath before the trip is over. The weather was foggy and typical for Washington in ...

... trip is Ben, Jake Demming and myself.)I'm really excited, even though I'm not the biggest tool fan in the world, I can tell that they are one of those bands that will be awesome live, and at the gorge, one of the best outdoor venus in the west. It should proove to be an adventure, I'll add pictures soon. Next Tuesday the Army comes up to demo their system that I am building. check the pictures area I will post some pics of what I've been working on the last three weeks.

From the alcoholic excess of Napa we headed west via Santa Rosa (to write the last couple of travel pods) and on to highway 1 probably one of the most famous stretches of bendy tarmac around. We hit Highway 1 and proceeded to travel north and the scenery was every bit as spectacular as we had hoped. It was very strange driving out of wine filled valleys into what is most easily described as a more beautiful version of the cornish moorlands really. We drove through ...

... sure if he was checking e-mail. Then, as I was presenting my poster Tuesday afternoon, both my advisor from the NIH and the PI from UMICH met at my poster, talked about me and my hopeful job prospects. Todd and I then talked with the PI from UMICH.. and badda bing, badda boom. Everything being equal, the job opportunity, prospect for much better career development, with more options at future opportunities coupled with heading back to Ann Arbor. It was a clear win on ...

... Christmas Eve was spent at Jen's sister's where we had a fabulous Christmas dinner and later attended a true 'American style' Christmas Eve service. The following days were pretty relaxed and we didn't really do that much. We walked around the nearby Green Lake a couple of times and went downtown where we visited the Klondike Museum detailing the events of the Gold Rush in Alaska, Seattle being the key port from where eager prospectors set off. We also did the Seattle ...