Bowling

Another long day, but it will be worth it to leave at noon tomorrow. We went bowling with Chris, Kristin, and Chris' friend Chadwick from work tonight. Oh yeah, we also had dinner at a vegetarian-friendly restaurant on Broadway: delightful. Anyhow, bowling. I love bowling. I used to be a decent bowler back when my mom and I bowled in a league together. Yeah, I wasn't very popular in high school. But, the mighty have fallen and I didn't even break 100 the second round. David, on the other hand, is an excellent bowler: he won both games. I am very impressed. While sitting and waiting for my turn, I was a little distracted by the Olympics (women's gymnastics, my favorite event) playing on the TV next to the monitor with the scores, but the Summer Olympics only comes once every 4 years, so it's ok.

My brother gets in around 5 tomorrow and I'm excited.

validation

Work was long today, but literally instead of figuratively this time: I worked an extra hour so I can take off an extra hour on Friday. Dave (the head honcho) liked the first draft of the proposal, which is good because now he knows that I can handle more than just reorganizing his desk. I think I even surprised him with what I wrote- not too hard since his expectations were probably low. Still, I'm hoping that in the future I'll get more challenging projects. It was the first moment of satisfaction I've had since starting.

David was sick today :( so he stayed home. He looks like he's feeling a little better though.

What a Wonderful Weekend it Was

So, as the title suggests, the past few days have been really fun. I will try to condense as much as possible. On Friday night, we went over to Chris' and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Not really much to talk about there. They were really well choreographed but I prefer to watch the actual competition.

On Saturday, we went to the island. It was David's folks' 29th anniversary, and Mollye and Dan had everyone over to their house, including a friend and her two kids. Dinner was really good- Mollye cooked up kebabs, corn, rice pilaf and pineapple cake (thanks Mollye!), and afterwards we played a game then hung out by the fire until dawn. Ok, not really, but it seemed pretty late because I'm getting old. I am a huge fan of their yard, particularly the view of the mainland.

On Sunday, David entertained Chet with "Land Before Time" and uncle stuff, then we caught the ferry back and had just enough time to spiff up the apartment before Jessica arrived. It was great to see her again. We chatted, got some coffee, shopped a little (not too much) and got dinner, then went to our favorite bar for some beer and Trivial Pursuit, the one board game I can win.

I took Monday off to hang out with Jessica. We walked downtown and I showed her Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on the waterfront, which I think she really liked; she really gets into things like shrunken heads and two-headed sheep for some reason. We had lunch with her "ex-paramour" Cyrus, who despite being 100% blind kept pointing out things for us to look at, such as the view from his office, which is on the 48th story of the Washington Mutual Tower and pretty spectacular. Lunch was architecturally significant, which makes me think that maybe I do want to be an architect; we went to a really well-designed restaurant (Purple) and then toured Rem Koolhaas' Public Library, which is apparently a big deal. (I like to drop Rem Koolhaas' name when I want to sound like I know a lot about architecture). It's a cool building, though I think that super-modern structures generally look out of place in their surroundings. We walked Cyrus back to work then took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. The ferry ride has stunning views of the Seattle skyline and is just about the best thing about going to Bainbridge Island. That's Jessica. We came back, caught the bus (easier said than done), debated for about an hour where to eat, then settled on the Mexican restaurant down the street. Conclusion: large portions, decent price, great soup= I'd go back. We debated for about another hour about what movie to rent, then got some fro-yo and watched "The Man Who Wasn't There" to show Jessica how awesome the projector is.

This morning was sad; we said goodbye and David and I left for work. David wasn't feeling well. I bought flowers to spruce up the office because the principal is in town, then cleaned what I think were 3 moldy taquitos, a green sandwich, a fermented carton of OJ, a shriveled... peach? nectarine? and various things ranging from 1 week to 1 year passed their expiration date out of the fridge so that if principal decides to chill something he won't have a heart attack. The day got better though: when I turned on my computer I learned that I've been assigned a REAL PROJECT! I am writing up a proposal asking a small town up near Bellingham to consider us the next time they need work done. That put me in a good mood. I am almost looking forward to going in tomorrow. Carol is letting me work extra in the mornings so that I can leave early on Friday to hang out with my brother. I think I have 2 hours of vacation time that I can take, so I will use those too if I need to. Sweet.

arts

I discovered a few new and exciting things today. Coconut yogurt: like regular yogurt, only made of coconut milk instead of regular milk. It has vitamins added to give it a little nutritional value but otherwise it's pretty much a dessert. I tried the raspberry flavor and it wasn't as coconuty as I would have liked but good enough.

The second new and even more exciting discovery is the First Thursday art fair in Pioneer Square. They have craftspeople and artists selling their creations. This one woman had a few really neat linocut prints, which I found inspiring. I went to the art store before the fair and bought some linoleum blocks and knives to carve the wood I took from work, so I'm going to do some arts tonight. I need to clean up a little first...

Work was uneventful as usually, I didn't mind as much today and it went by pretty fast. They've been dangling the carrot of getting more involved in Proposals, which recruit prospective clients, so I'm going to wait and see what that has to offer. Randy the marketing guy is in town, and that gives me hope too. I like doing the marketing mailings, even if they are just stuffing envelopes and looking up addresses, and it pleases me to think that I am at least getting something new to put on my resume.

BORING.

Carol asked me today if I was bored. I said yes. She said that's the nature of reception and that I'm just too darn fast with what she gives me. Plus, we're slow right now. I took that as an opportunity to stare into space instead of asking for more work. It's not that I didn't try: I had already asked for something to do at 8:30 (I think she thought the task would take all morning), and by 10 I was done. So then I tried to make work. I washed the dirty dishes that people leave in the sink because they're too lazy/self-entitled/still think they're in college to wash them themselves. I watered the bamboo. I cleared off my desk and set everything at a right angle. I updated the firm's address in every single document with an address (since we're moving): letterhead, labels, invoices, fax coversheets, etc. I stared into space. I cleared off the conference room table. I read through a book I cleared off the conference room table. I wikipedia'ed my new favorite architect, Ricardo Bofill, who was the subject matter of the book I cleared off the conference room table. I stared into space. I popped some popcorn. I ate it. I flipped through a design catalog and read every caption. I stared into space. Then, at 4, I caved. I asked Carol for something else to do. I did some filing but left a few juicy morsels for tomorrow morning. I left at 4:59. I ran into David on the bus. I searched for a new job. This has gone on long enough.

Crafty Cobra

I like it when I come home before David and The Cobra is happy to see me. Usually she uses my arrival as an excuse to make her escape. She's figured out that I get home 20-30 minutes after David, so when he comes through the door she knows that it's going to open again shortly. So, she waits. She's a lot smarter than I give her credit for.

Anniversary

David and I celebrated one year since our first date with dinner and a movie. We went to Il Fornaio (really good) then saw Stepbrothers (really funny). I recommend both the restaurant and the film. I especially recommend the film. I expecting a mediocre comedy like "Semi-Pro" or another one of Will Ferrell's recent pictures, but this one is hilarious. There are some classic scenes that will have me cracking up for weeks. I don't want to spoil it for you though. Afterwards, we went over to Chris' apartment to celebrate his birthday, since we didn't end up doing that on Thursday. I brought the pie. It was more syrupy than I would have liked (I prefer my pecan pies on the gooey and gelatinous side), but it tasted pretty good, and I guess that's what matters.