May 2001 Archives

So we're on a houseboat on Lake Union, looking across the lake at the Space Needle and the rest of downtown Seattle. We're halfway to Victoria, BC, where we'll be hanging out over the long weekend.

Kevin's dad bought the houseboat in the 60's, when the joke went, "too poor to own any land." Now his "poor house on the lake" is probably worth half a million dollars.

It's small, but it's cozy. And there's a loft where Amy and I will be sleeping for the night. Not a bad deal.

Anyway, we're off to sleep. We've got an early morning ferry to catch. Have a beautiful Memorial Day!

We spent the weekend in Seattle, with Ryan and Heather. They invited Amy and me up to celebrate our year anniversary at Assaggio Ristorante. We dined there Saturday night, and the food was wonderful! It has been a good while since Amy and I went out for food as good, and it was a pleasure to be there with Ryan and Heather.

We took Ryan's canoe out on the water, through Montlake Cut and into Portage Bay. We were mostly looking at houseboats and dreaming of living in them. I had this clear vision of rowing across the bay every day on the way to MFA classes at UW. Not a bad vision.

It was clearly the perfect weekend, though I am a bit sore in the shoulders.

I don't want to get into the mundane details of my daily commute on public transportation, but I can't help it. I spend roughly 10 hours a week on the bus. In a way, I guess I've got to just get some of the experience off of my chest before I can write about other, seemingly more important, things.

This morning, I jumped off of the bus early. I realized that I could ride MAX up to PGE Park, and then take an easy ride downhill to work on 18th. In a way, this is the best way for me to get to work in the warm months. It's easy, MAX is fun to ride, the newly remodelled park is a beautiful sight in the morning, and the trip though the old neighborhood gives me a good bit of joy.

Waiting for the MAX in Pioneer Courthouse Square this morning, I heard an older gentleman talking to his wife. He was explaining how to use the ticket machine to her, in German.

When they walked by, after she understood how to purchase and punch her ticket, they smiled at me, and I brought up my courage to say, "Guten Morgen." They smiled, and he said, "You speak German, then?" I replied, "ein bisschen."

They were from Stuttgart, in the South of Germany. I told them that I was recently in Konstanz for Lars & Anne's wedding. He translated for his wife (I heard "hochzeit," and nothing else).

For some reason, meeting them for a moment--as kind as they were, and as happy to hear me speak my very poor German--made my day suddenly better.

What was once "Civic Stadium" is now "PGE Park." The Portland Rockies (a single A baseball club) have been replaced by the Portland Beavers (a triple A baseball club). (Actually, the Rockies replaced the Beavers, so the Beavers are just back.)

Libby has season tickets, just behind the plate, on the third base side. And she needed folks to go with her, so Amy and I happily obliged. We haven't been to a baseball game for a couple of years now (we used to sit in the "rock pile" at the Rockies games -- the upper deck behind right field) and we've never had such great seats.

Someday, maybe, Portland will get a major-leage baseball team. Until then, though, I think PGE Park and the Beavers will do just fine.