The Rabbit Hole…

Tuesday we went back to the New Orleans to hear the Holotradband. This time there were a couple more dancers there too – we made some new friends. The band was sweet. I think if I were to move to Seattle after all that bar/restaurant would be my favorite. The food is tasty, drink selection is good, and the music is fantastic.

Wednesday was our last day in town. We didn’t do much till the evening. We spent the day hanging out at home and getting ourselves organized and ready for the next leg of our trip. Mike (our host) took us for a brief driving tour of Seattle’s other neighborhoods (the ones we couldn’t easily walk to from his place), and then we met up with Alison (from RPI) for dinner. She took us to this awesome Indian restaurant (I believe the name was Taste of India). She told us she had only been there once before but that the food was good and they had a bottomless cup of chai. We thought “awesome, free refills of chai”… but it was really more literal than that.   We actually had races (that perhaps only we were aware of) against the waiter to see if we could actually finish our (tea cup sized) cup of chai before he came by to refill it. Same with the water. I swear they re-filled my water when I had taken no more than a sip from the full glass. Well, aside from fun with our drinks,  the food was delicious, but I swear we were all full from the many, many refills of chai we had had by the time the food was served (and oh man was that chai amazingly scrumptious too).

After dinner Brooks and I went to Century Ballroom for the dance. Oh yeah, did I mention it featured the Loose Marbles? Hell yeah, it was a great night of dancing.

Tomorrow we head to Portland, OR.  More adventures to come.

Today was nice and relaxing overall. We slept in, went for a walk, got some coffee (yum!) and got NY style pizza (double-yum!). Later on we walked from Capitol Hill (where we’re staying) to Pioneer Square to go to a bar called the New Orleans. They had their house band playing some some sweet trad jazz. Then we walked over to another bar, Buckley’s, to hear the Syncopators. It was a good fun day.

Tomorrow we’re headed back to the New Orleans for the Holodtradband. Yay!

• I went to a college-town dive bar on Friday night and had a killer Mai Tai (still felt it the next morning).
• The Olympia Dixieland Jazz Festival on Saturday was frickin’ sweet! I wish more dancers would have come out. The music was fantastic. Met some cool Seattle and Portland dancers there too.
• Went to the Redhook Brewery and sampled about 5 of their brews for $1
• Danced at Century Sunday night

Today we headed to Bellvue, WA (just outside of Seattle) for some Dixie’s BBQ and its famous “Man Sauce” (yeah, it sounds wrong).  The “Man Sauce” is super hot (spicy). I had the tiniest taste of it and it made m eyes water and my nose run for half an hour. It was fantastically hot. To quote one of the guys we were with, “it’ll knock you on your ass.”

After lunch we went in search of Fry’s, a tech-super-store. Beats Best Buy any day. I got a RAM upgrade for my macbook for under $30. And yay! My laptop is no longer horrifyingly slow.

Seattle: Day 1

We landed in Seattle around noonish (Pacific time) yesterday. As we were landing and I did my usual stare out the window to take in the scenery I noticed I felt very at ease. Normally when I fly in somewhere I’ve never been I have butterflies in my stomach. I’m taking this as a good sign.

We stayed up the whole night before – packing and, in my case, cleaning my apartment. I passed out on the plane for a couple hours but that’s not a very comfy way to sleep. So, when we got to our host’s house we passed out on the couch till dinner time. Then it was time to go out dancing at Century Ballroom.

Met up with Corinne briefly before the dance (sadly, she couldn’t go because it was a 21+ night at that venue). It was good to see her even if briefly. The dance was sweet. Music was good and there were lots of people on the floor early in the night. The crowd only grew denser. At some point Falty showed us to the bar across the hall. We hung out there for a while (good drinks and good conversation) before heading back to the dance. On a side note – my drink was surprisingly potent.

That was a good first night.

Seattle: Day 2

My phone rang at 5am… it was my mom. I was pissed she wouldn’t think of hte time difference and was calling me so early so I let it go to voicemail and went back to sleep. I wasn’t annoyed at her anymore once I heard why she was calling. Lets leave it at that.

Today was a day to explore the city. We walked from our host’s place in Capitol Hill to Pike’s Place Market downtown. Corinne told us she was working at this mobile restaurant in the shape of a pig… had to see it. Yup. It was a big metal pig on wheels… and it wore shades.

Pike's Place and 2nd

We decided to come get her after she got off work later and we continued wandering. Pike’s Place Market was really packed. I think it would be a foodie’s dream. Fresh fish markets, fruits and veggies, bakeries, and foreign foods (I got a sweet bean mooncake – oh how I miss my Chinatown sometimes).

We met up with Corinne again later and made our way back up to Capitol Hill to check out a vintage shop and a music store. They were fun. And, we got bubble tea on the way! I was so excited for bubble tea but this one was really not at all what I’m used to… kind of a disappointment. It was a sugary slushy mess. Bubble tea should be tea-like. Anyway.. I hope I find a better bubble tea place while I’m here.

We were exhausted after about six hours of near non-stop walking so we took it easy in the evening and just hung out at the house. Later on we went to a local bar with our host and some of his friends who live nearby. That was a fun time. I forget the name of the bar, but they had Lindeman’s on draft. Yum!

Tomorrow… we’re off to meet the Man!

I heard this  discussion on NPR this afternoon regarding sidekicks and thought it was pretty special. Here’s the article covering the subject:

Ed McMahon: The Greatest Sidekick of All Time

Brooks and I have set our travel plans for the Summer!

Some of you know we are planning on moving out of Atlanta at some point (hopefully) by the end of the Summer. We just don’t know where we’re going yet. This is the point of the trip. We are visiting Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Austin, and Denver all in hopes of pinning down the city with the best employment potential for us and as well as overall living enjoyment.

The trip begins in just over a week, starting with Seattle. We’ll spend about a week in each city and end the trip in Denver for Swingtime in the Rockies before heading back to Atlanta. I’ll then be picking up again and heading to Buffalo, NY for some friend’s weddings. I’ll be there for three weeks before I head back to Atlanta again (hopefully to pack up and be ready to move). Well, I hope it all works out well. *fingers crossed*

And it’s fun to make!  Ginzy got this and has made me many tasty tasty cups of coffee with it. Who knew a toy company could make such a good cup of coffee?

It’s tough to get your shit together when you have no job. That is, it’s tough to pay your regular bills, enjoy going out with friends, etc… basically anything that costs money becomes stressful.  So, until I get a regular flow of income (which I’m still hopeful of), I decided it was time to take a closer look at where my money was going.

Ginzy recommended I read a few blogs as well as I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi.

So far, I have to say, I’m loving this book. I feel as though it’s a good friend teaching me about personal finance – not holding back in favor of politeness. Ramit is blunt, honest, straight-forward, and funny. It’s geared to help my age group understand their finances. More so, he acknowledges that not all readers will be able to follow all of his advice. He just urges that you do as much as is reasonable for your own personal situation. For me, without regular income, I can’t hope to do about half of what Ramit suggests, but I can (and will) set up my accounts so that when I do find work, my finances will more or less take care of themselves.

If you’re a student or recent graduate wondering if your finances are in good order for the future you should check this book out.

She also wrote this book on cadavers, which I highly recommend. Odd subject, I know, but it’s a great read.