Lately

Turkey day was great.  It was nice to have a day off between setup and the expo, greater to eat some home-cooked food, and greatest to catch up with relatives I haven't seen in a while.  I saw my Great Aunt Annie (who hosted), and Ashley (second?) cousin who I hadn't spent any time with for probably a decade, plus other semi-distant relatives.

The last two day have both been long expo days, particularly with reduced staffing available for the event.  I did, however, have time to venture out into the fray of Black Friday.  My theory regarding Black Friday is that it originally started out as a popular shopping day, but is now actually a manufactured marketing ploy.  Companies and the media have repeatedly reinforced the idea that you're supposed to shop the day after Thanksgiving to the point that it's almost becoming a tradition.  Not that I have a problem with that - I think it's good marketing.  Just realize that if you're feeling compelled to shop it's probably because some company paid money to put the idea in your head.

Friday night I took a stroll to check out the lights after the official Christmas tree lighting.  The most impressive has to be the 5 story star on Macy's.

With the long expo days, it's been nice that we're provided with VIP passes that get us into the hospitality room on the top floor of the hotel.

There were all sorts of sandwiches and munchies.

Load-out from the expo tonight went fairly smoothly given that there was one freight elevator for dozens of vendors and very few parking spaces.  I made my own parking space.

After packing up, we went over to the Seattle Center and set up most of our area for tomorrow's finish line.  We finished by 10, which isn't too bad considering there are only two of us.

A Little Lot Better

So today has pretty much been awesome. After my last post, I headed out. I

- Got to know Ryan from Crocs a little better

- browsed at J.Crew, Gap, and Nordstrom Rack for a while

- Unintentionally wore the perfect conversation-starter: my Oregon beanie. Everyone wanted to talk this upcoming weekend's civil war game.

- Met a guy named Jeff who talked to me for a while about savethechildren.org

- Headed to Pike Place Market



- Listened to a guy play "Oh, Chrismas Tree" on a saw. Oh, the irony.



- Got to throw a crab!



- Watched the sun set



- Met a one-armed guy named Elvis and gave him my remaining 57 cents in change.

-Browsed books at Elliot Bay Book Company



-Gave directions to a lost couple

- Had a peppermint mocha at the original Starbucks



- Tried out the Blackberry Storm. It's absolute crap - the touchy-click screen thing feels cheap and the user interface is disappointing at best



-Talked to my parents on the phone. Happy 31st anniversary Mom and Dad!

And to follow all that fun up, I had pretty much the perfect workout in a really nice hotel gym.



- 30 minute run
- 15 minutes stair climb
- 15 minute elliptical
- 15 minute arm/shoulder weights
- 15 minute core workout
- 30 minute lap swim
- 15 minute hot tub soak

I feel good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Sign

Though the Westin Seattle is a nice hotel in general, the best feature of the room by far continues to be the excellent view. I like sitting at the desk doing work just for the view.



Anyway, so far today has been a fairly typical expo set-up day, only with less staffing since it's just Molly and I from Q now. Lots of rides in freight elevators...



And walking around back rooms in the hotel...



I haven't had the best day so far... not that there's anything in particular wrong. I'm just a little sore, cut and bruised from set up. I wasn't particularly looking forward to this afternoon, partly because I don't have a whole lot going on and I feel like I have already explored much of Seattle in the past. I'm also feeling the fact that the end of the tour is very near, partly because there's no longer really a team to hang out with, and Molly just took off until Friday with her family. So anyway, all that added up to me being a little downtrodden on the way up the elevator to my room after set-up UNTIL....

BELGIAN CHOCOLATES!



I don't know where/who they came from or why they are in my room, but I found them nicely wrapped sitting on the desk when I came in. Houskeeping hasn't even gotten to cleaning yet, so it couldn't be them. They are delicious! And now I feel motivated to go out and do something fun. Yeah, it was probably just hotel hospitality staff doing their job, but don't ruin the moment! As far as I'm concerned, they showed up magically as a sign that I'm stupid for being down about nothing. Now to go conquer the world!

Seattle Evening Stroll

I took advantage of clouds lighting the skies above Seattle combined with some recent rain to go take some pictures at night. I continue to be impressed by this camera, and I've found I really enjoy shooting in the dark. There's something about the warm colors you get from a slight overexposure that is very satisfying. The first photo is the view from my hotel room. Pretty spiffy.