I've been in the States for 3+ weeks. I haven't been homesick for Canada or anything. But as soon as we crossed the border it was this comforting world of familiarity. Do you know why? The brands. Rogers Video, Tim Hortons, Chapters, Roots, Esso, TD, Wendy's... It made me question my national identity. I guess the comfort-in-brands and a weekend of questioning Francois (origin: Quebec City) as if he were a cultural specimen from half-way around the world have been kind of disconcerting.

I went to Vancouver this weekend and it was too much fun. BUT. I was on the freeway for less than 5 minutes when I was pulled over for speeding. A $133.50USD speeding ticket later we were on our way. (FYI, I was going 77 in a 60 zone.) Rumour has it that Pat was pulled over in (possibly) the exact same trap on Friday night and got a ticket too.


Saturday night we left the rental car in a parking garage. The next morning there was a note in the windshield wiper. It was from the parking garage and all it said was "Call Police". No joke. The car looked fine except there was a really big scratch on the top of the trunk and a small scratch on the driver side door. I call the garage. I call the rental company. It seems like someone tried to break into the car. So I called the police and filed a police report for the crime of "scratching my car" (the rental company told me I should file a police report). When I finally returned the car the woman working looked at the scratch and said, "Well, it *could* have been there before". And I went along with it although I think she just didn't want to do any paper work for a stupid scratch.


Also, Kevin and I did the Grouse Grind in 1 hour 2 minutes. I carried my fleece up and cursed it the whole way. But at the top it was absolutely freezing. And all of my sweat just turned to freezing cold dampness and I was so glad that I had it. I really want to make it out to Mt. Olympia this coming weekend.

Liz Phair played a lunch-time show for Amazon employees yesterday. It was really random, and in a meeting room. She played about 4 songs. At the beginning of the show she was making fun of "More than Words" by Extreme (remember that song?). After the show she signed posters and took pictures with everyone. She autographed a poster for me, and I think that she mentioned "More than Words" and I told her that it was the classic 'Pressuring my 15 year old girlfriend to sleep with me' song and she LAUGHED and said that she never really paid attention to the lyrics.


Here are the lyrics. And Jenn Schach will be happy to know that Ms. Phair was wearing an army-print mini.

The most bizarre thing I've seen all day…


I rode the bus to work this morning. The bus system here is really impressive and the city on the whole seems very wheelchair-friendly. There was a homeless man waiting at the stop with a wheelchair full of belongings, all bungie-corded in. The bus driver stopped and lowered the wheelchair ramp (beep beep beep), the guy got on, raised the ramp and then the homeless guy strapped the wheelchair into that wheelchair section at the front (by raising 4 seats that weren't in use).


So wheelchairs are the new shopping carts (because you can bring them onto public transportation).

• I'm working in a 'two pizza team' (couldn't find a link - maybe it's just an Amazon thing?) that does all of the gift-type stuff at Amazon.com. We're in charge of WishList, Baby and Wedding Registries, ecards, gift certificates etc.
  
  
• It seems like everyone at Amazon is having their first baby. And everyone has funky glasses. One of the things that I haven't experienced before is the level of respect everyone has for everyone else. It's like when someone is speaking everyone acts like it's God speaking. Or Jeff (Bezos) ha ha. I think it's because everyone is really smart so they assume that everyone else is really smart. Maybe it's a laid-back-West-Coast thing. I'm describing it badly. There just seems to be a lot of respect.
  
  
• American's are not as scary as I thought. Really.
  
  
• I can't say enough good things about Seattle. There are a lot of little neighbourhoods with personality. It has a good public transportation system. The architecture just *seems* organic because of all the hills. My place for example - the main entrance is on P2. You then go up two stories to our apartment which is on the first floor. Ooooh, the apartment… we have 2 tvs and vcr, dishwasher, washer/dryer, big dining room table (which just gets in the way of our bikes). We also have things that are really weird. Like a garburator. I figured out how to turn it on, but what do you use that for?? There's also an automatic-ice maker in the freezer. We have ice so it must be working. When the bathroom fan is on, so is a weird tanning light, like in a hotel. Is that a real tanning light? Do I have to choose between cancer and a clear mirror?
  
  
• I've been going to the YMCA which is this great building. Here's my current schedule. I think I'll keep it up. Sunday: swim and then sauna. Tuesday and Thursday: yoga with Lola (the yoga class has about 3-5 people in it. Lola is like Gumby and she doesn't know the difference between 45 degrees and 90 degrees but she is too fantastic). Monday and Wednesday I run on the treadmill between 6:30-7:30 and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I really look forward to the Buffy days.
  
  
• There's an espresso bar downstairs. The last couple of days I've been getting drip on my way upstairs. But today the woman in front of me got a "tall skinny vanilla latte" which sounded really good so I got it too. People are really serious about their coffee! It's intimidating.