Lightness

Up here in Seattle, we have pretty significant swings in the number of daylight hours over the course of the year, compared to most other parts of the country (except, of course, Alaska). The upshot of this, for me, is that certain parts of the year are marked by odd behavior on my part. The most alarming one is that in the summer, when it doesn't get dark until the 10:00 hour, I frequently forget to eat dinner at a normal time, since the darkening sky is a cue to me for most of the year. More pertinent to this time of year, though similar in mechanism, is that I tend to work much later in the evening when the light/dark transition moves later and later. At some point towards the summer, this stops, because even I can tell that it's time to go home before 10:00 (usually). But right now, when the sky is staying dusky till nearly 8:00, I find myself looking at the clock and being amazed at how late it has gotten and I'm still at work. This effect is made possible by the fact that we have windows in our lab and offices, a feature that was completely foreign to us just over two years ago when we still worked on main campus and were imprisoned in the center of the building, the lab completely window-less. In the winter, though, the reverse effect doesn't seem to happen quite so much. Unfortunately, one can't justify going home at 4:00 just because it's dark outside - on the contrary, since it's already dark, you just end up working till you're done and then go home. But in the spring, it's always like this, and it always catches me off guard.

FTV

Somehow, despite being out of the country (and away from internet) in between the final two "sweeps" weeks of our most recent fantasy teevee league (and thus unable to update my lineup for the 2nd week), I managed to pull out a win in the end. Roomie kc's boyfriend came in at a veeeery close 2nd. I think the surprise showing by Sam Winchester of Supernatural helped me immensely. Last season I came in second to kc. We're already setting up a new league, so we'll see if the Seattle contingent can continue to do well or whether totoro and his contingent will dominate this time. One of these days we'll get a second league set up so my sister can play - she's dying to have her own "fantasy" league since her boyfriend loves to play all the more traditional fantasy sports (baseball, football, basketball, whatever).

Busy March

Well, I returned from a great trip to Germany and Austria, was home for a few days, and then turned around and went to a conference in Canada for a few more days. I plan to eventually blog about both trips, but in the meantime, you can check out my flickr set as I slowly add more pictures from Europe.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I'm off to Germany (Munich as the hub) for 8 days, traveling with roomie AS for 6 of those! I'm pretty excited, especially now that I'm done packing. Hopefully I'll be diligent and post interesting photos from the trip in a timely fashion when I get back!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Valentine's Cactus?

After three years of careful watering (well, most of the time), a bit of fertilizer every now and then, and not much else, my Christmas cactus really came into its own this year. Last year it bloomed with just one flower. This year I came home from the holidays to find it chock-full of beautiful pink flowers. Then, a week or so later, another flower bloomed. I should explain that my plant has two different types of "Christmas cactus" in the same pot. The second type has a much redder and more dramatic bloom. Then, lo and behold, just the other day, I got yet another bloom! Perhaps it should be called a Valentine's cactus or a President's Day cactus?

Actually, it looks like the one that bloomed first is a "Christmas cactus" and the one that bloomed a bit later is a "Thanksgiving cactus" - backwards! The main thing to getting them to flower (besides overall age) is to make sure they're exposed to increasing darkness in the winter (no problem here in Seattle), and I think colder temperatures help too. In some climates this can be achieved by placing the plant outside, but my kitchen windowsill seems to work just fine. My plant was made by taking cuttings from other mature plants - one from a coworker, and the other from (I'm a bit ashamed to admit) the floor of the garden center at Home Depot (I asked if it was ok to take it). Now I guess I just need to add an "Easter cactus" to the mix and I'll be all set!

Seattle Symphony goes high tech

I went to Benaroya Hall this evening to hear the Seattle Symphony perform Grieg's Piano Concerto and Bruckner's unfinished 9th Symphony. I liked the latter more than the former, perhaps due to my partiality towards wind instruments, which were much more prominently featured in the second piece. The audience, on the other hand, disagreed with me and preferred the former piece. Having not been to the symphony since the end of their amazing 100th anniversary season in 2003-2004, I was amused to see their new way of reminding people to turn off their noisy electronic devices. I snapped this picture right before I complied. I've been so spoiled with Seattle Symphony's Campus Club tickets ($10 for a ticket right before the show, best available seats in the house, for currently registered university students) that I worry I might not want to pay full price when I become a non-student someday. Tonight I was in the Founder's Tier, where the tickets normally go for $75 each. Had it not been for the fact that I wanted to sit on the left side of the hall so I could see the pianist, I could have had a seat in the Founder's Tier Box section, which is normally $99 a seat. 90% off... not bad!

Update... Amante is already open

Well, it turns out Amante is already open, and has been for 3 weeks. I stopped by tonight to find out when they'd be opening and was greeted by a bright neon open sign. Stopped in and decided to order a salad to go for dinner, since my rations at home have been dwindling. The people were very nice, but I was the only customer. I think that location tends not to do well - it's right next to the Greenlake Bar and Grill, but you can't even see it or tell that there's a restaurant right next door. On the other side is Super Jock and Jill, and beyond that there's no more retail. The space has recently been occupied by a noodle restaurant and later a teriyaki place, neither of which did well (obviously).

As I waited for my salad, I looked around the interior. I really liked their light fixtures, though you can't see them in this crappy camera phone picture. The fake tree in the middle was a little weird. Otherwise, though, it was nice enough. Took my salad home to eat it, and it was pretty good! I only had half of the half-size salad, so I'll be eating the rest for lunch today. Next time maybe I'll get the full-size salad and make it into three meals...

Those of you who know me know that I tend to keep things, things that don't seem to be keep-worthy, for reasons only known to me (and sometimes not even me). Some people call me a pack-rat. I don't disagree. Anyway, so funny story. A few years ago I was house-sitting, and I wanted dinner, but didn't feel comfortable trying to cook in the kitchen there. I was tired of pizza, so I found a flier for a place that delivered and ordered some tortellini alfredo and a salad. I liked the meal so much that I kept the receipt, thinking that I'd call them again someday. I never did call them again, but I happened to look at the receipt last night and realized it was actually Amante! I guess I can shred the receipt now.

Update 02/08/07:
I forgot to post the picture of my Crispy Chicken Salad - it was quite tasty! (The lettuce is hidden underneath the chicken pieces... :)

Coming soon... new restaurant in town

Spotted this sign the other day down on E Greenlake Dr, near the Greenlake Bar and Grill. I'll have to check it out when it opens and report back! The pizza prices seem to be on the higher end, but it is nice that it's within walking distance. Back when current roomie kc and I lived two blocks away from each other in Wallingford/Fremont, we'd sometimes walk down to the Pagliacci on 40th and Stone and pick up pizza for dinner. Of course, if we still lived there, we could go to Tutta Bella on Stone and 43rd as well, which would be even closer. But apparently proximity of restaurants has not encouraged me to frequent them - there are several decent places near my current apartment and I almost never go to any of them. Well, maybe trying out this new place will motivate me to change that. Stay tuned!

Raindrops

Sparkly
Originally uploaded by gecko_12.

Went out to my car today and noticed that the water from the recent rain had beaded up on the newly waxed surface. It was the only car on the street that still had visible water on it - kind of eerie. I like how the water droplets magnify the sparkles in the paint in this one.

Ferries and Grey's Anatomy

Apparently the next 2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy will feature the WA state ferry system prominently [psbj]. I am a big fan of the ferries (much like the show's characters, I guess), so I'm pretty excited about this. In case you didn't know, Washington has the largest car ferry system in the US and the third largest in the world [wikipedia]. You drive your car onto the car deck, and then you can go upstairs to enjoy the ride. They used to serve warm food in a small cafeteria, but they discontinued that service back in 2003 [p-i]. Ironically, I remember reading a story not too much later saying that the ferries were making more money from the vending machines than they did from the cafeterias. Lower overhead, I suppose. Anyway, I love going to the front or back deck of the ferry and watching the mountains and water from the middle of Puget Sound. One of the most interesting routes is the Seattle-Bremerton ferry, which takes you into the channels of the Kitsap Peninsula. I'm excited to watch Grey's to see how they portray the ferries in these episodes!