Even as I write, our computers are having a hard time. I am on Josh’s work computer (shh, don’t tell) because my laptop’s space bar is off duty and the desktop keeps crashing. The technology can’t take it.

So our challenge and priority this week is to keep cool. On Monday, a friend invited us over to her condo’s pool and we stayed there for almost four hours. On Tuesday, Nora and I went to a lakeside beach with some ladies, then wandered around some of the local stores.

Wednesday was the projected peak of the heat, so we had a full day planned. A big chunk of time was devoted to shopping venues, since retail places do have air conditioning. Costco was the recipient of about an hour of our time and all I really needed to do was return a pillow. Once you braved the heat to get in, you want to stay for awhile.

Then we headed over to the library. There was gridlock in the parking lot as people fought for spaces. I say “fought,” but it was more like just waiting in line because hey, the cars have AC, too. So after 30 minutes of circling and stalking people who were heading back to their cars, we headed inside. One of the librarians announced that they were opening up another area to accommodate the growing crowds.

After two hours or so, Nora was getting a little antsy so we went to the biggest, coolest place I could imagine. Da da da daaaa- the mall! More craziness. The parking deck was almost completely full. We were able to get a covered space (victory! victory!) and followed the lines inside. All the chairs and waiting areas were packed with people trying to recover and regroup. The food court and all the coffee places were overflowing. And so many strollers! These poor kids were just so done and sleeping in all sorts of crazy positions. One lady was even pushing her dog around in one of those rented strollers. (I am so serious.)

We meandered and browsed and bought very little, just like most of the people there. Afterward, we met Josh at his air conditioned office building so Nora could take a break from the car seat and stretch out on the floor. All of us came home, checked on Remy to make sure he was alive (he was and is), refilled his water bowl, and went right back out to the nice, cool coffee shop downstairs.

Later, after we returned home, it happened.  Our huge fan that has been going almost nonstop, the fan that we move with us from room to room, the fan that has been so trusted… for no discernible reason whatsoever, fell off its perch and lost a blade. It still works, though it’s louder and moves across the floor if you don’t put it next to a wall. But it works!

The good news is that the worst is supposed to be over and it will begin to cool off starting today. I’m really proud of Nora. She hasn’t been having decent naps at all but still finds a way to smile and be sweet for us. We’ve also had some really thoughtful people include us in their plans to go to pools and beaches. Our community group even encouraged us to bring Remy along with us so he could roam in their shaded yard. We’re so grateful for these friends and the fact that we live in a country where being this uncomfortable isn’t the norm.

For now, the entire city is eagerly looking forward to our next rainfall. Isn’t it ironic?

As you can see, baby’s growing. I’m still feeling great! Everything is going very well. Lots of baby movement, which is still fun and exciting. A consistently active period includes Sunday morning worship. Last week, I almost had to sit down during one song that had a loud drumbeat. Baby was either terrified or praising God with all his/her strength.

Meanwhile, Josh and I have been blessed to meet more people, especially fellow Mars Hill attenders. And as we interact with local Seattleites, we’ve come across some interesting differences. We present…

Cultural Differences Between the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest.

1) The Unspoken Shoe Rule. In most households, you remove your shoes before walking inside. We figured this out after we were some of the first people to arrive for community group. As the others trailed in, everyone paused in the foyer to take off their shoes. I’ve never been so embarrassed to be sitting in a circle of chairs. It was like Duck, Duck, Goose, only it was Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks, RUDE SHOES!
The next week, I learned my lesson and kicked off my slip on shoes as soon as I walked in the door.
And was the only one with bare feet (and embarrassingly chipped toenail polish.)
Exception to the rule- if you’re not wearing socks, you keep the shoes on. (There were two other girls who kept their slip on shoes on the whole time. Where were they the previous week??)
And yes, it’s due to the rain. Since it’s so common to have rain and mud on your shoes, people are in the habit of taking them off regardless of the current weather conditions.

2) Clothing. It can be 50 degrees out, raining, and you’ll see guys walking around in short sleeved shirts and girls wearing flip flops. As I’m wearing a sweater and coat and carrying an umbrella.

3) Political conversations. At first we thought it was due to the election, but that’s over and there’s still a lot of politics being discussed. Most recently, a group of about 15 people launched into a spontaneous debate over the merits of public and private schools.

4) Less sports, more technology. Let’s say there’s a group of 5 guys. Three of them will work for Microsoft. 1 will work for IBM or Expedia. And Josh, the Googler, is the other guy. Most likely, they’re not talking about college football, which is just NOT as big a deal here. I don’t even know the names of University of Washington’s Big Rival. Or if they have one.
Here, if I overhear a group of guys talking, it’s a given that the words, “iPhone,” “app,” and “launched” are going to be in there somewhere.

5) Straight talk. Seattlelites tend to speak their mind more. It’s not offensive, just very straightforward. Hence the political discussions. (If you’ve heard the Mars Hill podcasts, you get an idea based on the preaching style.)
Similarly, I never realized how often I’ll make a general invitation that I don’t follow through on, though I plan to. “Let’s have lunch sometime,” or “We should go out for coffee,” and it never happens. Or it happens weeks later after an email exchange.
Here, it’s more “Let’s have lunch on Thursday. Does noon work for you?” and that’s that.

6) Communal umbrellas. There’s Forum/Avenue style outdoor malls here. How does that work with the massive amounts of rainfall? How about yellow golf umbrellas that magically appear outside your store? Each mall has these umbrellas that you take from the parking lots and leave outside the store. The only downside is that you have to really consider if it’s worth going inside each store, because there’s a chance your umbrella will be gone by the time you come out. Then you have to find an umbrella to steal from a shopper in the next store. I tend to feel pretty guilty participating in “Musical Umbrellas.”

7) Dogs. We’ve already kinda covered this one, if you remember Doogler Day. But wow, people love their dogs here. There’s just so many of them. Remy’s actually a great conversation starter. People on the sidewalk and in the elevator love asking about him and then telling me about their dog. And it’s really common to see dogs tied up outside a Starbucks or restaurant. It’s hard to know who the owner is because everyone smiles and stops to pet them.

So there you have some of the differences we’ve learned so far. Granted, nothing too drastic. =) Hopefully, after things are a bit more settled in the spring, some of our Southern folks can come visit! We’ve been keeping a list of “Places We’d Like to Take People” and then you can experience Seattle for yourself.

Pictures to hopefully follow- still looking for the cord that inputs the pictures from the digital camera to the computer.

The first week actually went by pretty fast. Josh being Josh made sure we had internet access four days after we arrived, and me being me (and newly addicted to Jon and Kate plus 8) begged for a new tv and cable access. Missions accomplished. We could email, twitter, keep in touch with everyone and enjoy watching the twins and sextuplets. 

We attempted to buy some cheap camping chairs or bean bags to use as temporary furniture until our stuff arrived. Four hours and five stores later, we had discovered the world’s most crowded Walmart (seriously, it was so insane we walked in the door and right back out when we saw the lines.) But we did not find any chairs. Josh had a brilliant solution and moved the air mattress (which we brought on the road trip with us) into the living room. Our bed/couch.

The second week was when Josh went to California for training. Since we didn’t have any of our kitchen supplies, I spent that week eating microwaved meals from Trader Joe’s. I recommend the potstickers and chicken/bean burritos. 

Oh, another thing that stands out from that week was when I was watching a late night movie on T.V. All the sudden, as the credits were still rolling, it cut to a preview of the next show. Which was about children who claim to be psychic. One kid was saying how he could see shadowy figures around him that no one else could see. The t.v.  showed their version of hooded figures  standing in a room. I was fumbling in the dark hitting every button on the remote except the one that could change the channel. I wasn’t fast enough and the words/images made their way into my brain, officially creeping me out.

It took everything I had in me not to move Remy’s bed right next to the air mattress. I was thanking God for not only his protection, but for providing us with a Jack Russell who yaps and barks if he hears anything that sounds remotely like someone trying to come into his territory. Including shadowy figures, I presume. All in all, that was a fairly slow, relaxed week.

Then a whole bunch happened all at once. Josh came home on Friday. Yay! The movers called Saturday morning and said they were downstairs WITH OUR STUFF. Yay! OUR STUFF ARRIVED! The first boxes I unpacked were anything marked “kitchen.” I missed home cooked food so much. It was beautiful when I made that first meal. I could have wept with joy. The joy of cooking- I finally get that title now.

And just as our third week was about to get underway- da da  da da daaa !!! We had our first guest! Beau was in town due to a work related trip and we got to hang out with a family member! Then- ta da!!! Jeanne came the next day. We got to go out to MEALS with PEOPLE we KNEW. It was awesome. And we felt our first pride in our new town as we got to show it off.

The rest of that third week we were able to have a few more meals with Beau and Jeanine. Jeanine was even nice enough to spend a whole day helping me unpack and organize our new closet.  Josh started working at the Seattle branch and of course, loved it. I continued to unpack and organize. Which is pretty much how we spent the next two weeks. Josh going to work, me unpacking, cooking, (Hooray!) and exploring the area.

Then…this past week…the Heat Wave hit. The good people of Seattle don’t believe in installing air conditioning. “It’s so cool here, you’d only miss it a few weeks out of the year.” Well, this past week was one of those weeks. We’re on the fifth and top floor of our apartment complex and it was like an endurance test every day from about 11 am until 6 pm. Yesterday, which was a Sunday, Josh and I left the apartment to go for a long drive just to feel the AC in his car. By the evening, half the traffic lights were out in the city due to power outages as every store in the area cranked its AC up. The city is not prepared for hot times such as these.

A big part of the heat wave is the fact that despite my expectations, it’s barely rained here at all. The rainy months aren’t expected until October or so. I’ve been watching the weather reports like a hawk. And today, wonderful today, the predictions came true- it rained this morning and the temperature dropped into the low seventies. I am so happy I wanted to write and let everyone know. Everyone- I am so very comfortable right now.

So that’s about it. We really like our new city and all the parks here. We’ve met some amazingly nice and friendly people through the church.  All in all, it’s been a great month and we’re really close to being settled.

But we’re not ready for pictures of the apartment yet. They are coming. =)

However. There are those that game the system. Not Googlers, as it turns out, but other taxi drivers. Rogue taxi drivers–that in my case posed as the car service Google has arraignments with. Here’s what happened…

Leaving my desk for the day, I received a phone call that a driver was rolling up in a white town car. I walk downstairs, see a car of that description driving up, approach the window, confirm my name, the driver confirms, and I hop in. Moments after settling in, I realize through a very confusing, and twisted discussion with the driver, that I’m in the wrong car — not the one that I had called. The quickest way to realize this was to ask if at the end of the drive I’d have to pay. “Yes, yes, yes. YOU WILL PAY.” I told him that in prior rides I didn’t have to pay, but he nodded and insisted again: YOU WILL PAY — 3 DOLLARS A MILE. He went on to lecture to me that I should “never ever” call the other people, that they only do local drives, but he will go anywhere in the Bay Area, and offered me his phone number multiple times.

At this point, we weren’t quite off the campus but we were still driving and, at this point, far from where he’d picked me up. I suggested that he should take me back. He refused. Really. He did. A quick glance at my door I noticed it was locked, and briefly went into MacGyver mode thinking I might bail out anyway. I decided to stay the course and just be driven home. Shortly after crossing the freeway, I received a phone call from the original town car service, “Josh, the driver is waiting outside, can you give us an idea how much longer you’ll be?” After a quick explanation, they expressed their sympathy and told me not to worry.

Moments later I arrived at the curb of my hotel, and paid the driver sans tip.

Today, a week later, I took the local bus system to the campus up here in Kirkland. No issues as of this morning!

Sadly, I had to leave Lauren in our as-yet unfurnished apartment for a week of training and orientation in Mountain View, CA. At the Seattle airport as I was boarding I noticed a guy wearing a bright yellow Google t-shirt, and hurried off to me seat in 18c. I was in the aisle, and next to me, in the dreaded middle seat, was a lady perhaps in her late 60s / early 70s. As I got my things in order and sat down, she gave a welcoming smile and friendly nod. Moments after buckling in, she began making a myriad of oddball comments about everything from the volume of the flight attendant voices, to “I wonder how many times that man has given the safety demonstration” kind of things. She was looking for laughs, not solely from me, but from any innocent passer-by. I meanwhile was looking for just a little quiet reading time before the crazy week began. The man to her left, near the window, was a bit more gracious to her conversation attempts and generally played along. That was until he got the 10,000 foot all-clear for electronics usage, as he whipped out his iPod headphones, turned up the volume and zoned out (we would never hear from him again). I was getting to that point myself as I fiddled with my iPhone, trying out a few new games only to realize that my neighbor-in-flight was committed to talking the entire way. No big deal, really — typically I try to talk with who’s seated next to me at least a little. I’m fascinated by the amount of travelers and what journey they’re on. I fully appreciated and enjoyed sitting next to her, although this was just one of those times I wanted to sit in quiet.

We talked. And we talked. Actually, she talked and she talked. Politely I’d ask a question here and there, but you get the idea. Eventually my reason for travel came up and I told her it was for work… “what kind of work are you in?” “Internet… Google. I work for Google.” Everyone’s got something to say about Google — makes for a really fun topic. So she told me everything she knew about Google. Friends of friends daughters that work there, stories of the same people who eventually left, etc. We quickly jumped back into discussing her art collection and her history of growing up in San Francisco — she’s lived in the city for close to 50 years now. She’s got a lot of art — we perused the in-flight magazine as she pointed out what she liked, didn’t like, the whole kit-n-caboodle. Overall it was time well-spent, just a bit different from what I’d pictured heading to the airport.

At some point just after we landed I reached for my phone and I must have made some off-hand remark along the lines of “Guess it’s about time I figure out how to get where I’m going.” Unbenowst to me she would made note of that. We said our goodbyes, nice-to-meet-yous and parted ways. Five minutes later, we’re all waiting for our baggage to roll up. She rushes to me out of nowhere as I’m on the phone, checking in with Lauren, and interrupts to happily tell me she found “another man on the plane that works for Google! He was wearing a yellow shirt and I asked him and well, he works at Google!” She scurries around the corner to get him, and up he walks with a slightly confused look on his face. “I thought you could get a ride with this man, perhaps! Maybe you can ride together wherever you’re going!” It actually was a pretty great idea, however he’d had his own arrangements and itinerary and I had my own and it just didn’t match up.

In the end, I ended up getting towncar service to the hotel and met a Googler in the process. Funny note: Our luggage was taking a little while to show up and fellow co-worker whispered to me that perhaps we should build Google Search for Baggage in our spare time. Har har har…

To see the entire album from each day, click on the Destination photos.

Day 1
Destination: St. Louis

After shoving two huge suitcases, our airbed, feather mattress, my terrarium, four pillows, a dog bed, a bag of books, Josh’s laptop, and of course, our car sick prone dog, Remy, we left Mom’s house and took off on the beginning of our great Road Trip ’08.

We got one block away before we had to turn around and go back to get some stuff (yup, even more) that we realized we forgot. So we were only an hour late meeting our Tennessee friends for breakfast. Thanks Davy, Emily, Kirby, Kristin, and Robbie! These were the guys (sans Kevin) with whom Josh won the trip to Paris a while back.

Several hours later, we did get to see some of flooding in Illinois that was all over the news this spring. It was so sad to see the tops of soccer goals and baseball field lights peeking out over feet and feet of water.

After driving about 6 hours, we arrived south of St. Louis- a whole hour earlier than we thought we would!! Our Garmen GPS didn’t include the time zone change when giving an estimated time of arrival. We were so excited — we were able to take a NAP before sightseeing! Luxury, luxury.

We then went down the famous arch. The Gateway Arch. There’s a really pretty park that we walked through. And three guys that I’m pretty sure were smoking marijuana. Either that, or they just wanted gullible people like me to think they were smoking marijuana. Hmm.

Anyway, we didn’t go up into the arch because it was going to take an hour and well, we were too hungry for that. But we did get to see the museum underneath the arch. There were some creepy animated “people” that moved around and told about the Lewis and Clark expedition. I didn’t like those guys. And, there wasn’t one for Sacajawea. My first disappointment of the trip.

 
Day 2
Destination: Sioux City, Iowa

Probably the coolest thing that happened on this day was upon our arrival in Sioux City. When we got to our hotel, Josh went in to check us in and came back saying the room was “pretty rough.”

Now. Family. Friends. If Josh, thinks a room is rough, well, then I wouldn’t be comfortable walking around in it. Let alone using their supposedly laundered sheets. Turns out, they wanted to place us in a dimly-lit smoking room at the back of the motel. No thanks.

So being the good husband that he is, he agreed to drive around and see if we could find a better room. The tricky part: finding hotels that allow pets. Consulting Garmen and the iPhone, we found a Regency Inn nearby that allowed dogs. Well, we found where it was supposed to be. Actually finding it took awhile.  When we did… Yikes. Nobody could be serious about it being a hotel. We were about to call it quits and go back to the Pretty Rough Room when we saw a Marina Conference Center. It looked gorgeous.

Not only did it allow pets, and not only was there a room available, but it had the nicest staff who checked in with us every time we walked by the concierge. And the room was fancy nice. Easily the best place we stayed in the entire trip. 
 
Day 3
Destination: Buffalo, Wyoming

The highlights of the drive this day were Corn Palace and 1880 Town. We saw a lot of billboards for it when we were in SD two years ago, and this time, I was determined to check it out.

It’s a building with sides that are decorated with murals made of corn. They change it every year. When you go inside the Corn Palace, there’s a photo history that shows the themes for each year (2008-Everyday Heroes). There’s also vendors selling souvenirs. But the town also using it as a community center — basketball games, meetings, even proms. We really couldn’t figure this place out. Is it supposed to be serious? It seemed like more of a funny landmark than a historical one. We were laughing the whole time. I hope that wasn’t rude. Is this how people who are visiting Georgia feel about The Big Chicken?

1880 Town has a two prong approach to nab tourists’ attention. 1) A museum of memorabilia and props from the film Dances with Wolves. 2) Original buildings from the frontier that have been preserved and moved into one location. It did feel weird when you caught your first glimpse of the town. Like a ghost town — only one that has been pieced together manually.

 
Day 4
Destination: Bozeman, Montana

This was the best day on the road. We left early so we could get to Yellowstone with time to look around. On the drive towards the park, Remy started making some gagging sounds.

By the way, Remy was a trooper on the trip! He only got sick one time, when weak Lauren fed him a french fry. But other than that, he just dealt with the long hours. He did crack us up with his sitting habits. He rarely sat in the bed we put in the back seat for him. No, Remy preferred to sit on the armrest between Josh and I. He’d gradually push himself back until he was blocking our view of each other. He also liked sitting on top of the luggage we had in the back seat. Or laying on the floor behind the seat. But no matter the place he choose, the position was the same — face the back of the car. It was like he was on timeout the whole trip. But it worked. 

Anyway, so he was making gagging sounds and Josh decided to pull over at the next side road. Which happened to be at the most breathtaking mountain lake shore we’ve ever seen. Remy was magically and instantly cured when we stopped the car. He took off and got to explore the water and grass and wildflowers growing. It’s just impossible to describe how absolutely beautiful this place was. The pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice. It was the best part of the whole trip.

Then on to Yellowstone! Yellowstone was of course, incredible impressive. Just driving through it was amazing. Waterfalls on the side of the road and lakes and snow we could get out and touch right there next to our car. One area we were looking forward to seeing was this trail that led to hot springs. I had Remy on his leash and heard two different people whisper, “I didn’t think you could have dogs on this trail.” Josh was off getting close-ups of a bison — that people were literally running to go see. I started waving him down with panic and gestured that we had to get out of there. Sure enough, there was this dopey little sign at the very beginning of the trail that showed about 6 things that shouldn’t happen on the trail — including dogs. I felt so guilty. I mean, Remy’s not exactly the kind of dog to take on a bison (the reason behind the rules), but still. I would have cried like a kindergartner if a Park Ranger had reprimanded me.

As we drove to Old Faithful, we were thrilled to see a crowd building. The geyser goes off every 90 minutes or so, so if we’d missed it, we’d be there until almost nightfall. There must have been 300 people there. It was crowded. But we got to see it go off in all its faithful glory after only waiting about 10 minutes. 

On the way out of the park, Josh lamented that he hadn’t seen much wildlife. In front of us, traffic slowed and people were parking their cars and running to the side of the road with cameras. I can empathize with people who live near Loch Ness. Of course, we parked our car and Josh took his camera. Guess what it was? We’re actually not sure if it was a deer, an elk, or a moose. But he  some good shots of whatever it was.

Then there was a second traffic jam. The one was caused by a herd of buffalo. There was a river on one side of the road and a mountain on the other, so I have no idea where they came from. Perhaps they just traveled down the highway for awhile. But that was a fun adventure. And even Josh’s expectations for wildlife spotting were met. He didn’t even slow the car down when we saw some deer a few minutes later.

That night was the most interesting (and by interesting I mean depressing) night in terms of hotels. It was our last night on the road, and the only other time that booking online meant getting stuck with a smoking room. It seems that when you book online to get a the better price, you also agree to getting whichever kind of room is available upon check in. And let me tell you — it was horrible. The room itself looked fine, but REEKED. We were too exhausted to search for another room and decided to deal with it and sleep. But both of us had a hard time sleeping and breathing the stale air. So. Let that be a warning to everyone who books online — always call afterward and confirm that you are a nonsmoker. Unless, I guess, you’re a smoker. It was the only time I busted out the sheets I’d brought to use in the new apartment. And our (personal, of course) pillows still smelled the next day.

 
Day 5
Destination: Seattle!!!

Not too much to report from this day. The last hour of driving seemed to take longer than the rest of the trip combined. But it’s amazing — even a short half an hour away from a bustling city, and you’d never know. It’s just trees and ice capped mountains and pure nature. 

Then we finally arrived home In Kirkland. Our new home and a new start.

It was a great trip.

As of last weekend I’ve officially accepted the job, and this weekend we’re off to visit the area for the first time, complete with an arranged housing tour and a dinner with the future co-workers. Everyone up there has been overwhelmingly welcoming, and I’ve already worked with a few of them from this past summer.

Below is a box of swag they sent along (as if we didn’t have enough already) and a picture of me signing the documents to make it official.

Logos everywhere!