Apartment

Well, you are looking at the setting of my life for the past week or so. I was sitting outside the Apple Store using their AirPort network when an employee came out to have lunch. We talked a bit and he recommended that I talk to one of the other employees who had moved here from Chicago. I did, and she gave me some recommendations about neighborhoods to check out. I ended up wandering around Ballard, an old Scandinavian fishing town that has been assimilated into Seattle and has even turned semi-hip. I bumbled into an open-house on the third floor of this little building on an out-of-the-way street, took one look at it, and phoned the manager, who as it turns out was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Chicago. Within two hours I had the key in my pocket. After two trips to the hotel to move stuff and one trip to Ikea to pick up essentials, I was as settled as I’ll be until Hiroko is here. This is my life now. I’ve jumped through a couple of more hoops for Omni Group, and am still awaiting their decision. Piroko and I talk on the phone for several hours each day. Most of the rest of what’s been going on with me can be illustrated by purchases I’ve made, so I’ll list significant purchases I’ve made since arriving. * Dawkins’ _The Blind Watchmaker_, Luk Chun Bond’s _The First Sixteen Secrets of Chi_, _Fuyu Monogatari_ volumes 1 and 2, and (major score) the first two _Sakura Taisen_ comics, at Powell’s in Portland. * _Inside Bjork_ DVD, at the record shop across from Powell’s. * Comcast cable internet service. I could complain about their crappy service but I’m tired of complaining about big companies’ crappy service. * Futon, sheets, shower curtain, and wastebasket at Ikea. * _Shinseiki Evangelion_ vol. 8 comic, and _Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou_, at Kinokuniya in Seattle. * A Giant Cypress bicycle, which has helped me discover just how hilly Seattle really is. * Buckwheat-husk pillow, at some new-age bedding shop. * AirPort Express, at The Mac Store. Uh, I think that’s it.