Crazy Snow!

So tonight as Glenn and I were working on our puzzle of none other than the Seattle Skyline, he noticed that it was snowing outside. A LOT. It seemed like a blizzard just came through town. Kind of weird if you ask me. We knew it was going to be snowing this week, but I didn't really expect much. It's all good though since we don't have to worry about driving in it. We took Rally outside to let him play in it and he just loves snow. Let me clarify, he loves snow but does not like snowmen. At one point he noticed a tiny snowman on the ground and he ran over to it and completely bit his head off. Ouch! Enjoy the pictures!

Happy New Year! (almost two weeks late)

Wow, I cannot believe that we are already almost two weeks into 2011! That just seems crazy to me. We celebrated the new year in a new and exciting way. Every year Seattle shoots fireworks off of the Space Needle to ring in the new year. Lucky for us, we had the best seat in the house. Our third floor deck offered us a perfect and unobstructed view of the Space Needle. It was fun getting to participate in all the excitement that the new year brings. The air was practically buzzing with excitement.

The fireworks show was absolutely beautiful and it was a great way to celebrate the end of a year and the dawning of a new one.

The year 2010 brought some really big changes for us. Obviously, Glenn was offered a fantastic opportunity with a great job here in Seattle and we took a huge leap together by moving up here. Not only did we leave jobs that we were very happy with in Phoenix, but we left behind our family and friends, and our wonderful home in Downtown Phoenix. It was an incredibly difficult move, for me especially, but I can honestly say I don't regret it one bit. We are loving everything that Seattle has to offer us and still enjoy exploring new places to go and eat on the weekends.
I'm not big on making lists or resolutions for the new year, but I do like to set some realistic goals for myself to aspire to. This year, my goals are pretty simple. First, I would like to get a job. Sleeping in, playing video games, and hanging out with the dog every day have been fun, but I would like to find a better way to spend my time. Second, I would like to get a large chunk of money put away so that I can pay for school completely when the time comes. This June will make it a year that we have lived here so that gives me residency status here (hooray in-state tuition prices!) Thankfully, if I complete my first goal I will be well on my way to the second. They pretty much go hand in hand. Third, and this one is probably on most people's list, but I would like to become healthier and more in shape. That goal is without any specifics, other than I would just like to feel and look healthier.
I would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year. I hope that 2011 brings you plenty of happiness and success. Love you all!

Christmas Tree

Wow, so I am kind of embarrassed that I haven't written anything on here in so long. Life gets a little complicated sometimes and you have to set your priorities. I'll just leave it at that.

We got our Christmas Tree over the weekend! This is our 4th Christmas together as a married couple and in all that time, we have never once had a real tree! Honestly, I'm not really sure when the last time I had a real tree was, but I know it was a while ago. I definitely understand and appreciate all the benefits of a fake tree, but there is just something magical about a real tree.

While we were shopping for our tree I recalled some fond memories that I had with my Dad when we used to go looking for Christmas Trees. It always seemed like such a big ordeal. We used to do it as the whole family, but not everyone enjoyed doing that, so it ended up to be just me and my Dad. It always felt like we were on a special mission to bring home the most perfect, beautiful tree to Mom and Jeff. When we first started out, we would go to the lots closest to home but nothing was ever "just right." Finally we discovered a particularly Target that was a little bit, but not much, further from home. This Target had the best selection with the most beautiful trees. We would always go in and find exactly what we were looking for. While Dad paid for the tree and got it up on the car, I would run in the store and buy a new Christmas Music CD for us to listen to on the way home. I know this isn't some crazy big event or anything, but sometimes there are just memories in your mind that stick out profoundly. This one just makes me smile.

Before Glenn and I went out looking for trees we were interested in buying a live tree that could be replanted after the holiday. That idea appealed to our "green" sensibilities but it required too much green to sound like a plan. $125 was not exactly the price range I was looking for. Cut that into thirds and now we're talking. We decided to forgo that idea. Then Glenn found out that a local charity/foundation/support center would be selling trees and that all the proceeds would go directly to them. The place is called the Dunshee House. They are also known as the Seattle AIDS Support Group. It was really nice to find a great tree and support a great cause at the same time. It definitely put me in the Christmas Spirit.

The lot was full of beautiful freshly cut trees at really reasonable prices. Neither of us knew what kind of tree we wanted so we were mostly just browsing until I found the most perfect tree. This lovely little Douglas Fir is close to 6 feet tall and is as bushy as can be. It is very fragrant and has sort of a citrus smell to it. I absolutely love it!

Glenn thought he would attempt to tie the tree to the roof, but considering he had never done it before, I advised him to wait for the "professionals" to do it. He did. The guy tied our tree snugly to our compact little hybrid and down the hill we went to bring it home.

Getting it inside the apartment was surprisingly easy, but we did almost take out someone while turning a blind corner. Now the tree is nestled snugly in a corner of the apartment. We had to move Rally's bed, but he doesn't seem to mind.

I started decorating the second I had finished straightening the tree. Of course we were about two boxes of lights short so we had to go to Target. When we came home for some more decorating, I took out the new lights and noticed they looked a little funny. They had some weird box attachment on the wire. Crap. They twinkled. I hate twinkle lights, they drive me nuts! We returned the lights and I got a new sparkly pink stocking while we were out.

Now our tree is all decorated and pretty as can be. We bought and built a lego train about a month ago and decided to have it go around the bottom of the tree. I think it looks really cute there.

I just love the way that LED lights just light up the room. They leave the coolest looking patterns on the ceiling at night. They're so bright we can turn off all the lights and still read just fine. That's all for now, but hopefully I can stay a little more on top of the blog than I have been.

Love to all!

PAX '10

So I know Bri already had some things to say about PAX but I thought I would put some pictures up.

Here is Bri at the EA booth playing Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. She got First Place.

This would be the EA Sports booth that featured NBA Jam for the Wii. Just like the old one but using the Wiimote controls. Very cool. Bri and I got killed by some dudes.

This is Settlers of Catan on the Microsoft Surface platform. It is basically a multi-touch table that allows multiple users to interact at the same time. You roll these fake dice and the table recognizes them as dice and displays the numbers rolled. Those little shields that are on the table are used to hide your cards. It is really impressive gear.

This is us waiting in line for Bri to play Gran Turisimo 5. She can't wait for this game.

Here is a giant Ticket To Ride USA board. This thing was huge! Very cool.

I didn't take any pictures of the crowds or anything but some of the lines were crazy. The last day was actually a great day to go because the lines were shorter and we got to do a ton more.

Anyways, that's all for now.

PAX 2010

You might be wondering what PAX is. For the un-informed, or rather the non-nerd crowd, PAX stands for Penny Arcade Expo. The expo was created in 2004 and is held in Boston and Seattle. It's basically a big giant nerd-fest where gamers of all types (video, PC, and tabletop) come together and check out the latest and greatest their chosen outlet has to offer. This year, since we are conveniently living in Seattle, Glenn bought us tickets for one day.

I have to say, it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me, so I have no pictures to document the experience. Glenn probably has some on his phone. The first place we stopped at was the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit booth. There were ten or so stations set up so you could try your hand at the new and improved, and very good looking, NFS:HP. The last time I played this game was back when I still had a PSOne, so that was a really long time ago. I loved the new version of the game, and it's graphics are really nice. I might even say it rivals the hotly anticipated Gran Turismo 5. I even got 1st place.

After that we checked out the NBA Jam on the Wii. I wish I could say I liked it more, but basketball is just not my thing, and the two other guys we were playing with were playing dirty so it stopped being fun pretty quickly. Glenn really liked it though, so I guess we'll have to add that to the ever growing list of video games we want.

We wandered around some more and got to see all the cool things that Sony and Microsoft are working on and the main battle between the two is who is going to have the cooler "Wii-Like" gaming experience. Microsoft has the Kinect and Sony has the Move. Kinect seems to be the winner though, especially because it doesn't require controllers. Glenn played a demo of the Kinect and really seemed to enjoy himself. Honestly, anyone playing Kinect seemed to be having a great time, whereas people using Move mostly seemed confused.

I also got to play Gran Turismo 5. I absolutely cannot wait to hold my very own copy of GT5 in my hands. I can do that on my bday :o) The graphics are stunning, the cars are awesome, and the courses are complex. It is definitely a racer gamer's heaven.

We also checked out the tabletop gaming portion of the expo, but I really wasn't impressed with it. This is very much a PC/video game heavy expo. It terms of board games, there weren't any new exhibits, just stores with booths selling you their stuff. We did however see a giant version of Ticket to Ride, and that was pretty cool, but again, nothing else new.

I definitely had fun at PAX, but I'm not entirely sure I would go again. It was a cool experience, but the majority of the booths were just not my thing and most everything else I had already seen or demoed myself before. Now we just need to find a board game expo to get our nerd on in some other way :o)

View at Pt Defiance

Took our Tatanka over to the picnic tables in Pt Defiance. Here's our view at lunch.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

View tonight on our way to dinner.

Here is the amazing dusk view on our way to dinner tonight.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre