Sunday, April 15, 2007

Take me out to the Lexus Club



I'm not exactly what you'd call a rabid sports fan. Nor am I a loyal one. Perhaps because I've lived in so many places, I have a hard time relating to the concept of a city's team being "my" team. Furthermore, I've always harbored the type B, sappy wish for the winning team to be the one who needs the win the most. All that said, I do enjoy venturing out to the occassional sporting event. I like the festive energy of the crowd, and being Wendy Sue, yes, I like the food. When Dave took me to a Diamondbacks game a couple of Saturdays ago, I got very lucky in that department as he had VIP passes and we had lunch on the patio of the private Lexus Club. We stayed there from before the game started through several innings. It was the perfect way to watch the game.




Afterwards I felt the need to burn off some calories by climbing stairs. I'd love to say I'd climbed all the way from the bottom, but we only climbed from about halfway. The reason there are so many seats is this was a pre-season game (against the Padres).




I don't remember the name of the stadium (some corporate name of course) but it's a beautiful one. It's the only stadium I've ever seen that has a swimming pool.


Photos from Portland / Semiahmoo

I spent the night at my good friend Tracy's condo in Vancouver, WA. After the interview Tracy took me to lunch at McMenamins. This made me deliriously happy, as McMenamins pubs are one of my favorite things about the Portland area. Some of my fondest Portland memories are of being at various McMenamins locations, at windowside tables watching the rain pouring down. This McMenamins on the Columbia river always feels like being on vacation.
McMenamins french fries are the best on the planet- I won't waste calories on fast food fries, but McMenamins fries w/ malt vinegar? Gotta have them.
I walked the mile and an half or so from the interview (the interviewer was nice enough to drive the 20 minutes from Portland to meet me at a Starbuck's in downtown Vancouver, WA) back to Tracy's. I passed these purple flowers, which of course made me happy.
After Portland / Vancouver I took the train to Bellingham (closest stop to my parents' house). Here's my precious puppy in her special TV room chair.



























My parents like to sleep in on Sunday mornings. Brandy Joy does not care for sleeping in. I told my mom the night before to open her and my dad's bedroom door at 8 am and that I'd feed and walk Brandy so they could sleep in a little longer. The plan went fine except by 8:30 Brandy was bored and wanted them to get up. Here she is bascially saying 'C' mon, open the door dammit.' and "Ok, fine, don't open the door. I'll just lie here and pout." She cracks me up.

Portland / Semiahmoo / Seattle Trip

I'm obviously behind in my blogging, as this trip was in March. The purpose of this trip, in addition to visiting my parents and beloved wonder hound, was to interview for a UOP job in Portland. The Portland manager had been kind of vague saying the position wasn't open at the moment, but probably would be soon. I figured it was worth a shot.

About an hour before I left for the Phoenix airport, I was at work scrolling through the new job postings. I was excited to see that an enrollment counselor job had just been posted for Seattle. I quickly sent off my resume and a cover letter saying I'd be in Seattle that Monday and would be available to interview. Again, kind of shaky circumstances but worth a shot. Long story short: I had my first of the three Seattle interviews on Amtrak from Portland to Bellingham. I think Amy the interviewer and I called each other back a total of six or seven times as the connection kept dropping as cell connections on a train are known to do. The 2nd interview that Monday (March 26th) was in Bellevue, where I was told the job was going to be. When I first arrived, I was ushered to a computer to do some sort of personality test I've never heard of (and I've heard of most of them). At the end of the test I was informed that I'm a 'Blue'. Who knew? The interview went fine and was followed several days later by a phone interview in which I was asked to role play several student / counselor scenarios. Now normally I love this kind of thing. I did a lot of these when I worked for Together of Oregon, always delighting in playing the most difficult prospective member possible, and making that character as colorful as possible ("Ok, I'm going to be a tattoo artist named Lacey. I just got out of jail...")
Role playing in an interview was significantly less fun, but I got through it ok.

I'm going to post the photos from the trip separately, as the new Blogger format is driving me crazy by not allowing me to move around text and photos in the manner in which I'm accustomed.

One More of Sedona


When I looked back through my Sedona photos I found this one. I think I like it the best. As mentioned, I'd love to spend some time there. There are places there to stay that are right on the stream that runs through the town. I think sitting out on the patio, overlooking the red rocks and the water would be heavenly. I'd also love to hike around and take a million photos.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Er, Make that "Next Stop: Tacoma"

I sent out an email saying I was going to be working for UOP in Bellevue. Turns out I'm going to be in the Tacoma office instead. I'm excited about this since I haven't spent much time in Tacoma. It's new territory for me to explore, which I love. Also, rents are cheaper in Tacoma, so I'll be able to get a nicer place.

Still leaving Phoenix on the 18th and starting the new job on the 23rd.

I haven't posted any pictures lately, because something happened where I'm not able to upload the photos from my camera. I'll get it resolved. I have some final Phoenix pictures I want to post, and am looking forward to posting lots of pics of Tacoma and surrounding areas.