saturday

i fell in love this week. seattle in the sunshine is a place you can’t help but fall in love with. it’s a place where a 25 minute walk to the baseball field for a game is a lovely adventure. where you can pretend you’re kurt cobain, and maybe even sound like it. where going to the market means being greeted by the most beautiful and diverse floral displays. where the breakfast entertainment includes watching ferries come and go in the harbor. and, among other things, where ‘going to the top’ takes on a whole new meaning. sunny seattle dares you not to be completely entranced by it.

with 45 minutes of sleep and a 3:30am wake-up call to make my 7am flight, the trip was off to a slow start. melissa met me at the airport, and after boarding the plane, we took advantage of empty rows to catch a few more winks. little did i know that that restless plane nap would be the only rejuvenation for the day.

we had expected to arrive at the convention center to find the booth installation well under way, and to ultimately end up spending no more than two – three hours getting everything taken care of for the following day. we were completely shocked upon arriving to find that literally nothing had been done, short of uncrating some items. electrical wasn’t laid, nor was carpet, and none of the structure had even been touched. needless to say, the next 6 hours of idiocy and incompetence did not make me very happy. i’m certain the lack of sleep played a role, but even had i been fully rested, i would have been in awe of the sheer stupidity. typically, i don’t even have to be there for booth install. usually it goes up without a catch, and i’m only there ‘in case’ something goes wrong. i’ve faced minor glitches before, but this was the biggest mess i’ve encountered. graphics were missing, the install team couldn’t read the schematics so they created an ad-hoc build from the pieces they had, which meant that the graphics we did have no longer fit. they spent a great deal of time searching for things that were quite literally in front of their faces, and weren’t remotely embarrassed when i pointed them out. they wanted to position the kiosks backwards, forgot about the lights, etc., etc., etc.

eventually we all hit the point where we just had to call it good and deal. it was a rough start for the trip, but it had nowhere to go but up. i made it back to the hotel with just enough time to take a very quick shower before hopping in a cab to go meet jesse and his family.


they were in town doing a little sightseeing before boarding a cruise ship bound for alaska on the following day. jesse had invited me to come join them for the seattle underground tour, and i was excited on two counts. i’ve known jesse for some 3+ years now but never met his fam. it’s always interesting to see where a person comes from. i was also excited about the tour itself. the history of seattle is actually very interesting.


as for the tour, i won’t spoil it for you, but if you’re ever in seattle, it’s a must do. the tour guide was excellent and even though i knew some of the jokes she told were getting their fifth or sixth retelling of the day, she still managed to make it fresh and make us laugh.


after the hour and a half tour we walked for a bit and found a mexican place to enjoy dinner. i called melissa and she hopped in a cab to join us. it was a great, random, find and we enjoyed both the meal and the conversation. we walked back to the hotel, and melissa and i decided to take advantage of the jacuzzi on the top floor of the hotel.

the view was spectacular, and if only they had dimmed the glaring overhead lights a bit, it would have been even more so. the jacuzzi was broken (no bubbles) but the water was warm, so we decided to relax for awhile anyway. i knew dylan and kelly would be arriving anytime, having made the three hour drive from portland, and i was extremely excited to see them.

we let the stress from the day slip away in that hot tub while we listened, fascinated and entertained by the word association game going on around us. a group of ladies sharing the water with us, kept taking turns saying things like ‘pepper. chives. dill. cumin!’ i never really figured out the objective of the game, but before long, i was freed from the need to do so by kelly’s arrival. i made sure to give her a soaking wet hug, and she then informed me that dylan was going to stay in the room so he wouldn’t get wet. ha ha.

i haven’t seen dylan and kelly since last year at this time when i was making regular visits to see spencer, so i was super excited that they were willing to come up and meet me. also super excited that this show is a little different than usual and i would actually have a little time to spend. not a lot, but a lot more than usual.

kelly and i said goodnight to melissa and headed back to the room to meet dylan. we talked for a bit before calling it a night, and i slept like a rock.