Archive for December, 2007

A room with a view

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

I’d have to say I never really understood the appeal of downtown office space until I got this westerly view from the 41st floor. Sadly I’m going to lose it in an upcoming move, but that’s probably OK as my new situation will have me sharing a desk with a designer and a Usability Researcher which ought to improve the quality of my work.

It’s getting to be a cold and wet bike commute, but with the right equipment it’s not so bad.  Riding bikes in Seattle for the last three years has made me many friends and today I got to ride for about 10 blocks with a guy I’ve biked and gone to school with.  Random meetups like that just don’t happen in cars.

Now that’s a day!

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

Friday night was the Zillow company holiday party. Held on a boat that just happened to be the same venue as my senior prom, it was a blast. The theme of “Casino Royale” did what a Black Tie requirement never does … it got people to dress up all fancy like. We enjoyed good food, great company and a few rather curious drinks made in pitchers. The cab got us home around 12:30 and we fell asleep almost instantly. I barely even brushed my teeth.

But at 6:00 I was laying awake in desperate anticipation. The car had been packed since Wednesday night, the coffee was on a timer and i had a bottle of water on my nightstand. It’s time for skiing.

Roommate Jessie and friend Derrick joined us and the Subaru was rolling at 7:01. The drive up to to Bellingham was quick and uneventful, but the Mt. Baker Highway had lots of unplowed snow and ice starting in Deming. By the time we made it to the National Forest it was nicely plowed, but the snow was piled high beside the road.

By the time we left the car it was already 11:00 and a 20-minute ticket line didn’t help things a bit.

The skiing was awesome, it’s still very much the early season and an additional few feet of snow wouldn’t hurt a bit, but the snow was light and forgiving. I’ve got faith that those additional few feet of snow will come quickly as it was dumping all day yesterday. In fact the drive from Baker back to Ravenna was in snow the entire way, and took almost five hours.

Amanda rocked her new Tru Luvs from K2 with style. I was on my Apache Outlaws which really shine in lots of tracked up soft stuff like we had yesterday.

Upon our return we got cleaned up and went out to a house warming party for some friends in West Seattle. They are in a truly weird new development out in High Point … very shiny and new.