4 down, 5 to go

2008 has been the year of the ARE (Architecture Registration Exam), which is actually 9 exams instead of a single one. The ARE is similar to the P.E. or the Bar; after I pass the exams and finish my required experience credits sometime early next year I'll be able to legally call myself an architect.

Anyway, I found out yesterday that I passed my 4th exam. The frustrating part of all of these exams is waiting for the score. I took the 6.5 hour "Building Technology" exam on June 15 and stressed about my results for 6 agonizing weeks to find out that, by some miracle, I passed. I thought I had failed the exam since I made some pretty big errors on a few of the problems. I guess the mistakes weren't as major as I thought.

My next exam is on Saturday at 9:00 am.

Wish me luck!

Is Seattle in Europe?

It's official plastic bags at the grocery store in Seattle will cost 20-cents each starting January. It's about time the U.S. caught up with Europe in reducing the number of flimsy plastic bags floating around our landscape. It seems like most Seattle-ites support the new law, but there are some who claim 20-cent per bag is too expensive and is unfair to lower income people. That may be true, but luckily I am sure the City will be handing out free re-usable bags to people for January to promote the new law.

The hard part will be to remember our re-usable bags when we go to the store. Kelly and I have had a pair of bags for 3 years now. We remember the bags when we go to our weekly grocery shopping trip, but we often don't have them with us when we just stop at a store on the way home or whatever. I guess we'll just have to keep a bag in the car or pay the 20-cents.

Anyway, it's a good law in my opinion and about 15 years over due. Now we just need to get a better public transportation system.

ABBA

I think Kelly and I had our first brush with reality TV fame tonight. As we were entering Meridian 16 downtown to see Momma Mia (i'll review that later) we ran into Bryce from Project Runway Season 5 (he's from Seattle). I am sure most of you won't care, but in my office Project Runway is bigger than the Superbowl. In fact, I doubt anyone in my office could tell you who played in the last Superbowl, but we could give you a run down of all 4 of the past PR winners. By the way, there is a PR Season 5 contestant from SLC so you Utahns should be interested.

Anyway, on to Momma Mia. It was good. It started out as really, really, really lame. But once you finally come to grip with the fact that you're watching a musical based on ABBA songs, you realize that you shouldn't expect a cinematic masterpiece and the movie gets to be funny. Meryl Streep was the saving grace in the movie, without her it would have been an unbearable 2 hours of horrible scripting and awkwardly placed music. Pierce Bronson was just wierd, James Bond isn't supposed to break out in song, especially an ABBA song. Anyway, if you're an ABBA fan (and who isn't) you should check it out. Although, Kelly says the actual broadway musical is better.

OK, off to bed. We're going raspberry picking tomorrow....it should be fun.

Urban Horticulture

Our small garden:

Tomatoes, squash, and lettuce.



Kelly enjoying the garden.

This is such a beautiful time of year in Seattle that I thought I would share some pictures of it with everyone. This year Kelly and I have attempted to plant a small (emphasis on small) garden in our "yard". We have a 3' x 4' section for vegetables where we planted tomatoes, squash and 2 types of lettuce. Obviously we had to get a little creative in order to grow that many plants in our tiny space. It turns out that you can grow all of those plants on trellis. Well, except the lettuce, but that doesn't take too much space anyway. I was outside checking on the plants today and I noticed that we have our first squash and a few tomato buds. With any luck we'll soon have a bountiful harvest. Maybe we'll have a big harvest festival with square dancing in the near future.

Little Mathlete

Most of our blog readers will already know this, but Kelly and I are expecting a little Mathlete early next year. We are really excited and fairly nervous too. We are suddenly dealing with things we thought were out in the distant future like daycare, pregnancy, college savings, etc... All fun things to worry about.

We are thankful to all the support and well-wishes we have recieved from friends and family. Raising a child in Seattle is going to be fun. There are so many good things to do and take part in; we have great hospitals, good schools, a diverse culture, and we're surrounded by parks and activities.

We'll keep everyone posted as the blessed event draws nearer.

Confessions of a Metro Bus Rider

Riding the bus to work everyday leads to some interesting and someimes unsettling experiences. So I have decided to started this ongoing post where we can share our favorite bus stories.

I'll start us off....

About 4 years ago Kelly and I were taking the No. 358 (aka the Halfway House Express) to downtown for a Saturday of fun when we watched in horror as a rather sickly looking man sneezed and coughed a very productive cough into his hand and then smeared it all over the seat. Disgusting!!!

Tout le monde parle Francais.

Repete avec moi....

Kelly and I have been taking a French class with our friends Beep and Bop in preparation for our September trip to France. I wish I could adequately convey the choas that ensues during this weekly 2 hour torture session. The teacher, we'll call her Mdm. Bravo, is a FREAK! I am convinced that she did way too much acid in the '60s and is still tripping. For example, last night's lesson could have been taught in 30 minutes, but noooooo, Mdm. Bravo had to get off subject for about 1.5 hours and talk about her high school teaching job.

Anyway, I hope we're learning something so we won't sound like complete idiots. Our textbook comes with stickers that you use to label things around your house in French so our house now has these little yellow labels on everything...it's really classy. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the "le Chat" sticker on Scooter.

So far the class highlights have been:

Comment vous appelez-vous?

Comment allez vous?

Q'ess que c'est?

Q'ess que combien?

Le chat c'est griss.

As you can see, we have a long way to go.

A Brief Introduction to Scooter: A Cat

Name: Scooter le Chat

Age: 6 (we think)

Place of Birth: Seattle

Length: 3-feet from tip-to-tip

Fur Pattern: tan and black tabby

Favorite pastimes: climbing over Kelly and manipulating Steve, begging to go outside

Favorite nap location: a fresh pile of clean laundry

Seattle 4th of July

Kelly's sister and family are visiting from Utah so we have done some things that we don't usually do around here. For example, for the first time in 6 years Kelly and I watched the fireworks over Elliott Bay sponsored by Ivars House of Clams. We claimed a spot at the new Olympic Sculpture Park overlooking the bay and let the kids play for a few hours

Since the sun goes down kind of late in the Summer, the show didn't start until 10:30. It was really impressive and well worth the 2 hours of waiting/playing. We have seen the display from the distance in past years, but it was neat to see the fireworks up close. Watching fireworks over Puget Sound while standing next to a famous piece of sculpture with all kinds of people around us is the quintessential Seattle experience.

The 4th of July is the unofficial beginning of summer weather in Seattle. The 4th is always cold and usually rainy. We lucked out this year, it was rainy and cloudy in the morning, but clear and somewhat warm by evening. So, let the Seattle summer begin. We spent the last 9 months complaining about the rain and lack of sun. Now, after 2 weeks of sun and warm weather we'll start complaining about the heat and lack of rain.

That's Seattle.