Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The Aquarium of Seattle

We went. We had fun. I recommend it.

So here is the Seattle Aquarium.

It took us about 2 hours to go through it. So it isn't too big. It was just a very cool in the salt water tanks. The cuttlefish was really cool, but I was afraid to snap its picture for fear of scaring him. Also I starting talking to the Aquarium staff about how often they clean the tanks and their water filtration method and they allowed me to feed some of their fish. Again I wish I would have kept notes, but they were fast. Put the chunk of fish on a stick and BAM it snapped it off. Pretty cool stuff.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

PAX visitation

Dude! So I went to the Penny Arcade Expo on Saturday with Karen's husband Ben. It was a blast. Basically we started the day early by standing in line for an hour. Of course it wasn't really that simple. We ended up walking around the place for a while trying to figure out which line we were supposed to stand in, but got lucky by accidentally going into the building to see about buying a pass. That was what we were supposed to.

I was amazed at the amount of people that were in there. We ran upstairs to sign up for the Double Dash tournament, and headed over to the PC freeplay room which had a single PC left so Ben and I traded off. What was weird was that the immediate line for the exhibit room ran all the way up to the top floor and then down the hall (hence why we avoided that room right away.

After each of us taking a turn at Battlefield 2 on the PC (great LAN experience with the folks there). So now we found our way down to the exhibit room which had quite a few cool things but for the most part it wasn't that exciting minus the Nintendo exhibit. The were showing off the new Dungeons and Dragons online game which has some potential, but we will have to see how much they are going ot charge per month. There was another booth for Red vs Blue, Anime stuff for sale, America's Army (complete with recruiters), XBox playtest crew, PAX gear for sale, Card Games, and some other misc booths.

Ah but the Nintendo booth which was by far the biggest. They had tons of games out to see what is coming up. So really I will center on the ones that I was most impressed with. First off we have Fire Emblem for the Gamecube. Phenomenal graphics teamed up with some solid well tested combat creates a great combination. The second game that impressed me was a new Mario Soccer game (I think it is called Strikers) was there. Ben and I had a quick match against each other (which he won) but it was a blast to play.

We then got in some Double Dash practice since we were on standby for the tournie. So after a little practice (and a realization that we would lose) we took a trip up to the table top game rooms. After rounds of Super Munchkins, Chez Dork, and Illuminati we had then missed our standby time and only ten minutes to make it to the gaming controversy round table.

Lots of good points were made but I found the Q&A painful since all the gamers felt a need to preach to the choir instead of asking the panel about any initiatives toward working together to create a new gaming environment.

We made a final round to see if we could pop into some freeplay rooms but they were loaded to the gills so we went home (it was 9:00 anyway). And you may notice that there was no eating. That would be correct and a horrible decision. We could have easily made it for more game playing, but I was worn down.

Anyway it was so damn cool. Definitely going next year. Way to go.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Skycity

Well, we have finally tried Skycity for dinner. In a way, kinda wish we hadn't. For the price we could have had a few trips up. So uh, just do the trip up. It is spectacular.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Great restaurant and neat museum

I have a couple of recommedations for those visiting Seattle. First off, I was under the impression that food in Seattle is overpriced and underspiced. I recently found a place 2 blocks away called Cafe Amore that beats them on both criteria. My wife went with the spaghetti and meatballs and I devided to try the osso bucco. Both were excellent and didn't break the bank. The service, although slow, was still great. The chef was a joy. I highly recommend it to anyone. You can find it in the 2200 block on 5th ave in Seattle.

Yesterday we visited the Pacific Science Center which was a blast. It reminded me of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago only smaller. Michelle's favorite room was the butterfly room. I personally liked the risk exhibit. Basically it was an exhibit concerning probability of death. Kinda neat. Also covered the various safety enhancements that have been made over the years. This museum is totally geared towards 8 - 12 year olds but there is plenty of fun for curious adults.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

I put up some pics

Feel free to check out my website for some pics of the region.

album

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Days in the northwest

Well, we are progressing through the purchase of our second home and I think it is going pretty well. Thank goodness that Michelle is not working and can take care of alot of this stuff. Work is good and I really like what my department is targetting. I have to say that this was just a great idea moving out here. I recommend others doing it. I will be adding some pictures in a bit once I set up my main PC.

Plus I have gotten a chance to talk to some folks from home which is nice as well, although now that I write this, the word home is definitely going to change. :)

Sunday, August 07, 2005

One week in Washington

So, I am living in Belltown in north Seattle. Weather here has been awesome . . . if you don't live in an apartment, then it is too darn hot. And now Michelle has joined me out here so she gets to complain about the apartment as well.

I finally get to write an entry as I finally have gotten some internet in the apartment (hence the hiatus). Just glad to finally be able to do alot of my searching again without going to the coffee houses.

Here is the big news: We have put in an offer on a house and they have accepted. Now we have to go through the mountains of inspections and paperwork to make it possible. Of course we still own our house in Michigan which makes things uncomfortably tight, but we should be able to squeak through till someone buys our old adorable house. If you know someone who wants to live about 1 mile from the beach and downtown St. Joseph, let me know...