"I pulled into Nazereth, was feeling 'bout half past dead
 I just need someplace where I can lay my head
 'Hey mister can you tell me where a man might find a bed?'
 He just grinned and shook my hand. 'No' was all he said."
    The Band, The Weight

I have found a place to live, and I move in tomorrow. Unfortunately I didn't bring the address with me so it'll have to wait till my next trip. Its a nice little split-level house that's almost entirely furnished with the exception of my bedroom. What really sold me on the place is that I will have four really terrific roommates: Susan, Carl, Penelope, and Samantha. Susan is 31 and works as a training sepcialist at Nintendo. She's super friendly and is also a big fan of dancing. Carl is also in his early 30s and just finished up an associates degree. He now plans to go for his Electrical Engineering degree at U. Washington. He's really into hiking and rowing. Penelope and Samantha are much younger than the rest of us, and frankly appear to be troublemakers. Then again they're also cats :-)

I went hiking yesterday to a place called Rattlesnake Ledge. I'll have some pictures up in a week or so, but its really a poor substitute. Yall have no idea how beautiful it is out here.

So all that's left for me to do today is find something to sleep on and find out when my stuff will get here. Everything else is on hold until Monday when I find out what working for Microsoft will really be like. Nervous doesn't even begin to cover it.

Me: "This reminds me of when I first moved to Seattle"
Clerk: "Oh really? When was that?"
Me: "Twenty-five minutes ago."

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest! I'm on a computer in the beautiful Bellevue Public Library. I'm taking a break from my rommate search. So far I've talked to a bunch of people on the phone I don't care to meet in person, "interviewed" with two roommates who are renting a house and looking for a third, and I am about half an hour from visiting another "nerd commune". Its a five bedroom place near Lake Washington that the owner rents to Microserfs. Tonight I hope to go visit a four bedroom victorian built in 1903 that's in want of a fourth roommate. Looking for a place to live is actually pretty fun.

So aside from the house hunt and a short list of errands I'm pretty free to explore. I got lost yesterday trying to find the best view of Mt. Raineer. This afternoon I plan to go downtown, and tomorrow I'm going on a day hike to rattlesnake ridge. My first day of work is still scaring me silly, but everyone I meet is very reassuring. Ever forward!

"I think it started with driving
 More speed, more deals
 More sky, more wheels
 More things to leave behind
 And now its all in a day for the modern mind
 So I am travelling, again."

Bad news for some travelers. Good news for others. I went to pick up Diesel and prepare him for his journey today. He was staying in a house about two blocks from Longwood Gardnens. The only problem was that the house was lock up tight as a drum. The arrangement had been that the side door would be left open and I would lock it after I left. Jen's brother, Chris, forgot to leave the door unlocked so unfortunately Diesel will not be traveling with me.

Its probably for the best though. It seems that Jen and Vick blew a transmission in Kentucky and have been stuck there for three days. They won't be on the road again until Tuesday. If Diesel went out with me he'd wind up spending upwards of two weeks in a kennel. Maybe its fate.

So with that detail out of the way there's nothing left for me to do, but get some sleep before my 6:20am flight. Wish me luck.

And away we go...

"Alissa, I know what I'm getting you for your birthday. I'm getting you another pillow because by my count YOU ONLY HAVE NINETY-SEVEN!!!"
    Shauna, On packing Alissa's bedroom

One day till departure. This will be my final entry dated "BC" (Before Cat)

I would like to think of yesterday as a trial run for my own moving-in experience which is coming in the not to distant future, but who am I kidding? It took two guys an hour and a half to pack all my things. It took nine of us using two minivans, a pickup truck, and two more cars three trips and all day to move Alissa. It was also pouring rain. I'll never get the Shmoo stains out of my shirt.

It was all worth it though. Alissa, Harlan, Angie, Heather, Gwen, and Shauna I love you all. It was great to see you guys one more time.

"You take it on faith
 You take it to the heart
 The waiting is the hardest part"
    -Tom Petty

"Come Monday... It'll be alright"
    -Jimmey Buffet

Three days till departure

When you think back on all the new beginnings in your life I'll bet you realize two things:

1)They really weren't such a big deal in hindsight
2)You were always better off for having gone through them.

However, if you can remember how you felt just before you went through these new beginnings I'll bet that you were ready to crap yourselelf over them. Every time I try to imagine what things will be like I always imagine the worst. Monday can't come soon enough.

In the meantime, I'm reading The Catcher In The Rye because I never got around to it before, and tinkering with this webpage. Incidently, the Find Scott link is now working.

"Let me know when you get it up."
-Chris McGlaughlin, Refering to my webpage (I think)

All I really wanted to accomplish this week was get two things working on my webpage: Blogger and my photo album. Check and check. I guess I can turn my attention to less plesant things (i.e. making arrangements for Diesel).

I would very much like to head out to the park and play some frisbee golf, but I'm stranded at home with no car. Screw it... there's only so much technology a person can stand. I'm going for a walk!

"The best laid plans of mice and men are often laid to waste"

Especially when there's a cat involved.

Five days till departure and everything is looking good. All my belonings (minus a weeks worth of clothes) are in boxes on a truck headed for the pacific northwest. My car was shipped out the same day , and it was tough saying goodbye to it... mostly because I still haven't bothered to think of a good name for it.

So all that remains to be taken care of is Diesel. Diesel is a cat who belongs to my friends Jen and Vick (Just Married, May 29th :-}). They're driving out to Seattle via the scenic route. This is not a good arrangement for poor Diesel so he has become my road buddy. My only problem with this is that I love cats, and I have to play the bad guy for this chapter of diesels memoirs. For the rest of Diesels life he's going to remember me as the guy who shoved him in a crate, treated him to a five+ hour plane ride, and topped it all off with a weeks stay in a kennel. I'm sorry Diesel!