03/27-04/08: USA! Flight, Seattle and Spokane

Much overdo, I will finally try and start putting together my posts from my 3 weeks back home. Boy, since that trip things have been crazy. Well, the trip itself was rather crazy as I came over intending to grace the good old U S of A with my presence for only 2 weeks. But more on that later.

03/27:
My winter and early Spring was a decidedly uninteresting time. After Courtney departed and my weekend in Paris followed by time in Sweden with my mother, my days more or less progressed in the following:
7:00 AM - Talk to Courtney on the phone every other day or so
10:00-10:15 AM - Arrive at work. Stare at computer screen until ...
10:15-10:45 AM - Fika. Coffee and bread
10:45-12:30 AM - Try and work but inevitably just stare at computer, check fantasy sports results until coffee kicks in.
12:30-1:00 PM - Lunch
1:00 - 5:00 PM - Work on thesis
5:00 - 6:00 PM - Go home, cook, eat.
6:00 PM - 0:00 - Write thesis, drink wine.

So yeah, my days started slow but with my imminent return I was rushing to get my thesis finished enough to defend. By the time the day of my flight came I had a weird feeling of excitement to get home but panic that my thesis was not where it should have been. Getting to the airport went smoothly enough, and I was delighted to have 2 seats to myself, which would allow me a lot more room to work. Right before take off a dude came over and asked me if he could sit next to me, explaining that he was in a middle seat and he was claustrophobic. I really wanted to tell him to shove it but I just without saying anything slid over, hoping my passive aggressive tone at least got the point across.

In the end, I had a really nice chat with the guy. He was originally from Ireland although he is a music producer in Seattle. He was a sharp guy. The type of random person who when they ask you what you do, they really mean it. And when you tell them what you do, they follow it up with questions and comments showing a greater amount of broad understanding than you usually encounter when I talk about buildings, concrete and earthquakes.

So we chatted about the various things we do, undoubtedly politics, and he frequently went to the back of the plane and stole booze for me, so yeah ... in the end he was a pretty cool dude.

The flight was also incredible as it was clear and we got incredible views of Greenland.







Although the flight takes forever, I landed without incident, and despite some confusion I was finally able to find Courtney in the airport.

04/01:
Knowing how tired I was of flipping between channels showing soccer and handball (seriously its the lamest sport ever), Courtney surprised me with tickets to the Mariner's second game of the season. We started the party at Hooverville down by Safeco and were joined by some familiar faces:


Courtney I believe was behind these photographs and so I'm stealing them directly from her. But Tricia, Grant, Kyle and Brian, Meghan, Lisa, Kyle, Vik, Courtney and I all joined up to get fueled for the game.




We came to find out that the second game apparently lacks the excitement of Opening Day. The day before was sold out, when we were there it was maybe a third full and fucking cold.


Vik as usual looks like someone's special sibling that we bring around with us to help his self esteem while also fulfilling court ordered community service obligations.


The game ended with J. J. Putz blowing his first save of the season resulting in a disappointing loss. I did randomly run into Jamie Magnusson, Ryan Thody and Pete Carney and got to catch up with them for a couple innings.

04/04-06:
My goal was to come back to Seattle, give Laura and Dawn my draft of my thesis, then go to Spokane, come back to Seattle, defend, then go to Detroit and leave from there. However, when I met with Laura and Dawn they basically were sounding tones saying that oh, I should have gave them more time to review it and blah blah blah. Basically all these things were things they should have communicated to me weeks if not months in advance. Perfect, thanks a bunch.

In the end I changed my flight to extend my stay in Seattle for another week (at a cost of $600 out of my pocket). At this point with my thesis out of my hands and another week to spare Courtney and I spent a weekend back with dad in Spokane. Mom was currently in Guatemala, and so we spent the weekend basically just lazing around the house with the dogs letting dad cook and clean up after me. It was as it always was ... fantastic to be home.

Unfortunately we had to roll back to Seattle that Sunday because Courtney had to be at class on Monday for the geology class she was TAing.