In a previous post, I mentioned a local phenomenon that still amuses me. Today, I finally got around to taking pictures of it.

In WA, there are no dunkin donuts. Only Starbucks... and liiiiiittle, teeeny independent drive thru espresso huts. These huts are generally located in the middle of the parking lot for some other establishment that has NOTHING to do with coffee or donuts.



Like an oil change place.




Sometimes they have a "theme" - this one apparently has hot chicks serving up the cups of Joe. This one also has a fancy drive through- with arrows and everything.




Most of these huts just require you to pull up to the window. I dunno about you, but I find it amusing to see huge macho trucks pulled up to these cutsy establishments. i like this one i saw today because the view was so pretty.

So this is an East Coast post, with a West Coast twist. This weekend I was in Syracuse, observing Easter with my family. Traditionally, our Easters have been Ukrainian, which, among other things, involves lots of kielbasa. One of the traditions we take seriously is to get our food for the Easter lunch blessed in the basement of the church the day before Easter. This essentially involves filling a basket of the "normal" food eaten by Ukrainians on Easter - babka (sweet breads), kielbasa, eggs, butter, horseradish - and having it sprinkled with holy water. "Sprinkled" is kind of a relative term. Sometimes the priest invisions himself a bit of a Jackson Pollack, making wearing protective eyegear seem like a good idea. See video below:



In the past, my mom and grandmother have been in charge, and quite honestly, somewhat possessive of the contents and aesthetics of our family's basket. This year, I decided a West Coast contribution was required. In Seattle, there is a cheese shop that is extremely popular, so I brought some of their cheese to be added to the basket. Needless to say, my mom was quite horrified, claiming that Beecher's cheese would "mess up her basket" and insisted that it be hidden.

As a result, this is what was visible during the blessing:



And this is where the cheese was hiding:



In case you were wondering, yes, blessed cheese does taste better.

For those of you keeping track, this is post 100!! Surprisingly, it is being made from Portland, not Seattle, where I've been for the past three days for a Technical Communicator's conference. I've learned a lot while here about my industry as well as my collegues, so to speak. Here's some more i've picked up this week, in no particular order of importance:

1. Portland's weather sucks. Seriously, way worse that Seattle ever is. For some reason that makes me feel a little superior.

2. Portland is completely void of people. It is really quite remarkable. I have no idea where everybody is. No matter what time of day it is, the streets seem to be totally empty.

3. Those who do live here, must be really short. Because the street signs are so low, at first, I couldn't find them. I think they would smack anybody over 6 feet in the head.

4. It is possible to get to Vancouver and Portland while going in the same direction. This was momentarily confusing to me until i realized that there is a Vancouver in OR.

5. An 'austrailian cultural evening" is actually a pub crawl. This was pretty entertaining. Everybody had vegemite and aussie flags as we paraded through the city in search of an appropriate establishment. We landed in the basement of an irish pub, the irony of that was not lost - since austrialians were originally convicts from Ireland. No shocker that they stuck us in the basement.

When I lived in NJ, I had a roommate, and I miss her. And not just because I spend most of my day completely alone. When we lived together, I got to hear great live opera for free on a regular basis, her being an aspiring opera singer and all. Recently, I got a new neighbor who has clearly just started to learn how to play the saxophone and now I miss her on a whole different level.

More flowers. They are literally EVERYWHERE. These were all taken yesterday within a block of my apartment. Please note the blue sky as well.

Did you know that Seattle has earthquakes? As in, there is a vault line right under the center of Downtown. I didn't know this until last week. I thought only CA had these things. Apparently there was an earthquake here in the 90's that was pretty trippy. I'm not saying I'm getting nervous or anything, but it does make me think. I mean, I live on the 4th floor of a building that is built half way up a very steep hill. Hummmm....

Do you ever wake up and feel like your head is in a fog?

Dance Instructor: "So how do you get the girl to stop moving forward in the dance?"

MY Partner: "Trip her."

Spring has definitely sprung in the city. Flowers are blooming everywhere. These, are just outside my front door. Sorry, Dad, i don't know what flower this is, but it sure is pretty.



I also got to ski Crystal Mtn yesterday, where the conditions were variable, but the view was fantastic.