December, 2003

Posted on 30th December @ 11:19pm @ melanies hosue

It just started snowing here at melanies place! Wooohooo! Missed a white christmas by only a few days… oh well, thats ok. Maybe there will be a white new years

Posted on 30th December @ 8:58pm @ melanies house

Went sledding in the snow yesterday with mels uncle and two of his kids. It was great fun!. I got some cool video of it as well.

The comedy was pretty good in redmond as well. The first dude kinda sucked, but the others where ok. On the way back i actually drove for a small bit, only like 1 block to melanies house, but still i drove. It wasnt that much different. I guess im used to being on the other side of the road and everything now. Anyway – it was fun.

Tomorrow is new years eve in America, in Australia it would be today. Ill have to try and call home around midnight to say hi, hopefully Ma will be awake still

hrmm, i cant think of much else really. Head is all light and fluffy cause of the pills i took for a headache. Things are good though.

righto, im going to post some more pictures a bit later on.

Posted on 26th December @ 11:29pm @ Melanies house

Well Christmas has been and gone. The last few days have been pretty cool. Christmas was as expected, lots of people, lots of great food, etc etc.
Christmas morning we (me,melanie and mels brother tim) went around to mels grandparents place for breakfast/lunch. We had yummy chinese food. Her grandparents cook great chinese food. From there we headed back home and got ready for that night when everyone was coming around to have christmas night.
Everyone started arriving around 5 and dinner was at around 6. Food was good and it was fun. After dinner we did the ‘opening presents’ thing. Everyone got a little somthing which was good. I got a few gifts as well which was nice.
Ive got so many cool thigns while ive been oevr here, most have been books and one of the presents i got was a bonsai book which is really cool. Other things i got include a wallet, books, leatherman tool, pen, cool washington jumper, shirt.

Today, we all went to Dim Sum for breakfast/lunch. Had nice chinese food again. Left there and went to frys tyo see what was on sale. I almost bought a dvd burner but then decided against it. Left there and Tim dropped me and Melanie off at the cinema cause we where going to see Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. We got there at the arranged time but all the tickets had been sold out. Anyway – Melanies aunty brought everyone tickets for the 5:05pm show and we basically decided to hang around for an hour to beat the line ups.

While waiting me, mels aunty Doris and her husband Tim (another tim), went for a walk over to a bike place. It was basically a big ol shed that had a motocross track inside. From the look of it people jsut bring there bikes along and have a ride / race. Anyway we watched that for a while then we went next door and looked at the bike shop. That pretty much took up the time we had there so we headed back to the cinema and went in to watch.

Movie was pretty good, im a little dissapointed as apparently the ending is different in the book, so maybe ill have to wait till the books are selling real cheap and buy themt or ead it how its meant to be. *shrugs*

From there we went out to eat and then came back home.

Mels grandparents are here playing Mah-jong (spelling?) and things are cool.

We are off to the comedy again tomorrow night which should be good. hrmmm Ive got pictures form christmas and the motocross today but ill post them later when i feel like it.

righto, time to go back downstairs and see whats going on.

Oh a side note – i got paid again from the uni! WOOHOO!!!

Posted on 23rd December @ 9:31am @ Melanies house.

Some more piccies!

The first few are from Leavenworth. I think i forogt to write about Leavenworth but basically its a small Bavarian village about 3 hours away. We went for a drive there last week and had a look. It snowed a lot and fairly heavily. See if you can spot the picture of the Australian shop where i picked myself up some smarties and a violet crumble.

The next few where taken when we went to the glass museum and stuff. Photots wernt allowed to be taken inside so i took some outside. They are mainly jsut piccies of Mt Rainier, some colorful glass and some buildings. The main building shot is of the Central station, it used to be the main train station but is now a federal building with a courthouse and stuff.

And lastle a few from LA, me in front of the hollywood sign, the chinese thearre and a few stars. I didnt take many pictures in LA. Mainly becuase there wasnt really that much to take pictures of. *shrugs*

So here they are!

Posted on 22 December @ 10:50pm @ Melanies house.

Just back from LA. Heres what went on.
Friday we flew out of Seattle to LAX. Got there in the afternoon – the flight was around 2 hours. Melanies friend holly was there to pick us up and went went back to her place. The drive was fairly long – it was in the arvo so it was busy. Drove past Malibu and the beaches and stuff.
Got back to Hollys place and met Luke – her husband. We ate and slept an that was friday done with.
Saturday we got up and went or a drive around with Luke. Holyl had to work in the morning. So Luke took us back down to the Malibu area – gave us a tour of the Uni he is going to – its really expensive looking. Picked Holly up on the way back to their place. From there, Luke headed off to do some other stuff so Mel, Me and Holly went down to the water. IM not sure what the name of it was but it had a lot of boats and stuff. There where a few shops and stuff around there so we had a look at those. After looking round there we headed back to their place via the fish and chips shop.
Ate tea and watched a dvd and slept.
Sunday we got up and all headed into LA – or more precisely – Hollywood. didnt take long to drive there in Lukes car. Found a parking lot to put the car in and started walking. Went to the corner of Hollywood and Vine streets where the ‘stars in the footpath’ start and followed it down form there. It was a great sunny day and we spent the whole day in downtown hollywood. Saw a few landmarks and visited the touristy shops and stuff.

Yup – thats me with the hollywood sign behind me – it is.. really… it is behind me… its just a little small Ive got a bigger picture that shows it better.

We ate lunch at a food place – i had mongolian grill which was really good. After lunch we headed down to street level to where a lot of busker type people where doing stuff. One of them was this big ol african american dude with a huge hat on that was rapping to peoples names as they walked past. It was really funny. Anyway he made up a rap for Luke and Holly which i got on video – also made on up fopr me to which also got taped. Ill try to put some of it up for download – the dude was funny.

We continued to walk up and down the main street. Saw the Chinese theatre and the ‘footprint / hand prints in the cement’ section. There where people dressed up in that area as batman and superman and stuff for pictures.

By the time we walked up and down the street it was getting dark and we all kinda wanted to find the car before it got too dark. Hollywood apparently gets pretty seedy after dark – who wouldnt have guessed huh?

So yeah we walked back and found the car then drove back to Luke and Hollys place. All in all it was a good day. 1 day doesnt do the place justice though. Youd need at least a week in the area to get around everything and see all the stuff, but the time we had there was good.

Monday we spent the day organising our stuff and packing up. Somthing interesting that happened was that there was an earthquake during the morning!. Yup! and earthquake!. I was sitting on Luke and Hollys lounge, holly was in her room having a shower and mel was in the other toilet. Anyway the lounge started wobbling! I didnt know what was happening and though i was giddy or somthing until the cupboard on the side with glasses in it started shacking too and the glasses touched each other. It was kinda strange. It wasnt until after it was done that i thought “wow that must of been an earthquake!”. Lukily it was that bad in the area we where. The news showed that some other places had building doen but it wasnt that serious or bad.

So yeah, Left luke and hollys and headed to LAX and flew out at around 5:18pm. Got back to Seattle at around 8pm.

So the weekend was good . Got a quick but decent look at LA. Its definately somthing to see at least once. But yeah id like to go back again someday and do the other touristy stuff.

Its kinda ‘dreamy’ being over here and seeing places / buildings / stuff that ive seen in movies and on tv. Its like its not all real or somthing – kinda hard to explain. I guess being in Australia makes everything on tv and the movies seem so far away – yep coming over here its like they are in your back yard. *shrugs*

Anyway – im about done for now. Christmas is in the next few days – wont be long and we will be on the plane back to Australia. Time has flown. Ive had a blast being over here and seen so much cool stuff.

Posted on 18th December @ 10:28pm @ Melanies house

We are off to LA tomorrow. Going to see another of melanies friends who lives down there. So yeah, we are flying down tomorrow afternoon and spending the weekend. Apparently we are going to Malibu one day, but imj not sure what else we will be doing.

Today Melanie and i went to her old school again to pick up some stuff. That pretty much took all morning. IN the afternoon we headed over to Tacoma and went to the Tacoma art museum and also the Tacoma glass museum. Every 3rd thursday or somthing they are free entry so we took them up on that offer. The museums are pretty cool. The glass one had a live demonstration of them blowing glass and making stuff which was neat.

I was kinda amazed at the price of some of the stuff they where selling, i guess they class it more as ‘art’ then jsut a piece of glass. One glass ‘thing’ had a price tag of $12000 – yup thats 12 thousand american dollars. *shrugs* I guess im jsut not that arty.

We also dropped by the Wasington State History museum. That was fun. Had a lot about the early times and the indians. There where different sections – environment, explorers, mining, war, etc etc. We didnt have much time there as they clsoe at 8pm, but that was ok.

So yeah, was a pretty casual day today jsut looking around at stuff. LA should be good on the weekend and then its pretty much christmas time.

Thinking about it, its not that long till i head home again. Time sure does fly. I jsut have to cross my finegrs that the pants im wearing to mty sisters wedding still fit me – damn ive gotten fat over here

Posted on 15th December @ 8:59pm @ Melanies house.

Yesterday (14th December) we got up early and drove to Portland. Its about 2 hours (maybe a bit more then that) away form where Melanies house is. Its also in another completley different state – Oregan. That means ive been to a total of 4 states in America! woooohhooooo!

So yeah, Mels dad drove and we got there pretty early. First stop was a shopping mall in Portland. Portland doesnt have any tax, so whereas Wasington adds on a tax when you go to buy stuff, in portland the price shown is what it costs. Anyway i didnt find anything to buy, we spent about 2 hours at the shopping place and it was pretty cool.

From there we went and had some lunch. I had a really tasty Club sandwich – it was really really good. We all finished eating and wouldnt fit dessert in so we jsut went onto the next stop.

Powells book shop was the reason we went to Portland. It is a HUGE bookshop abd ahs a techincal book section in a completely different building. I never thought id say it but there where too many books. Yup – too many. I mean in the techincal section there is jsut too much to choose from. You really gotta research the books and jsut go there to buy them. There are shelves upon shelves of anything cpmuter related you could think of – it was very cool. I ended up buying an Applescript book – ive always wanted an applescript reference type book and the new version for pantehr has jsut been released.

After the techincal section i went back to the main book building and got lost in there for an hour or so. Theres books on everything you could ever want. Its somewhat exhausting….

From there – it was back in the car and hit the road. We stopped over at another shopping mall on the way for a look but didnt stay that long. We also stopped at a restarant for somthing to eat on the way back – about 1.5 hours away from Melanies house.. I didnt get much cause i was pretty full.

So yeah, thats about it for Sunday. Powells is amazing – so big! But like i said, unless you live nearby and are jsut using it as a library – your probably betetr off researching what you want on their website. *shrugs*

Today (15th) we went to SEA-TAC mall – i got Melanie to ask one of her old students to suggest some music that i should get. Anyway he got back to ehr and i lashed out and got some cds – thought id broaden my musical horizon As yet i havnt listened to then cause i had to fix up my iPod cause i wanted to load them on it. So yeah thats all done and they are all loaded, i might listen to them a bit tomorrow – depending on what we are doing.

Also finished the Linus Torvalds book today – its not a bad read but thinking about it now its more of a ‘Im Linus, you should use linux and stuff should be opensource’ rant. *shrugs* The history behind Linux though was interesting and there area few cool insights into Linus that are interesting.

So yeah – thats about it. My stuff i ordered off the net came today. Whilst in america do as the americans do – so i bought melanies christmas present online and got it shipped here – cool huh?!

Righto – im done for now. If i think of anything else ill add it later.

Posted on 12th Dec @ some crazy hour of the night….

So Yeah.. bore … ummm Should be sleeping but im not that overly tired. Got a book to read tonight form the half price book shop – “Just For Fun” the book about Linus Torvalds – ya know? the dude that made/wrote/created Linux. Not that im a big Linux geek or anything – but it seemed like an interesting read in the bookshop and it was only around $4 *shrugs* maybe if i read that ill get tired.

Doing more stuff tomorrow, im not entirely sure what, but ill go along with it. We had indian food for tea – VERY spicy stuff but it was ok. I was way too full at the end though. Ive been eating way too much over here.. ill go back to Australia as a fatty

Conan Obrien isnt that funny – ive come to realise he is possibly funny only when he actually acts stupid… *shrugs* whats it matter right? bleh bleh

‘Fosheezy’ dev has started again. Fixed a few bugs in it the other day which was good. I realise i know more about Cocoa then i thought.

done. Everyone else has gone to sleep so i guess i better to… or at least pretend to go to sleep… or somthing… ???

Posted on 12th December @ 6:18pm @ Melanies House

Went for a drive to snoqualmie falls today.

Mels dad, Mel, and me ventured up there. Its a pretty big waterfall. Had to walk a fair way down a steepish path to get to the bottom viewing deck thing but it was ok. Rained for a breif second but then cleared. Took a few pictures while i was there which ill put up at some stage.

After we looked around there we had a bit of browse round the shop then headed off. Went to a place called ‘XXX’ for lunch. No its not some dingy porno bar with cheap women and drinks – before you ask. Its a diner type place with a big 60′s type theme. Apparently there where a few of the XXX diners around the place but now there is only 1. Anyway – orderd a burger and it was THE BIGGEST burger ive ever seen! (and eaten). Bigger then a normal persons face! – this thing was HUGGGGEEEE!.

I struggled with it though

and finally got it down.

*WHEW!*

After getting through that we headed home again. Now we are waiting for Mels mum to get home then we are heading out for tea. Its Mels mums birthday soon so she gets to pick.

and on a sad note – my good ol shoes have run there last race i think – the ‘small’ hole in them today caused a bit of water to get in and wet my sock, so i think its time to retire them *sniff*. Its a good thing i have already visited the NIKE outlet store and havea new pair ready to go! *woohoo!*

Pictures are here

NOTE the bend water bubbler drink thing that got hit by a falling tree in last weeks wind storm

12th December @ 9:51am

ummm Is this for real? Barbie OS
I started reading this and couldnt help but laugh. They seem to be aiming this at young girls who are unhappy with windows. umm hello? Has anyone ever heard a young girl complaining about their installation of windows? WTF? IF a young girl was that into computers then they sure as hell wouldnt want a damn barbie OS…

*shrugs*

Posted on 8th Decemebr @ 9:20pm @ Melanies House

Been spending today reading. Melanie has been wrapping christmas presents.

I got myself a copy of ‘Learning Cocoa’ and ‘Learning Carbon’ from a bookshop overhere, they where really cheap. Ive got a decent cocoa boopk already but i thought for the price it was a good reference book. Anyway, ive been going through those. About 1/2 way through the cocoa book, havnt touched the carbon book yet though. The cocoa stuff is pretty straight forward so im getting that done first.

I think ill try to use the carbon stuff for fosheezy to try to speed up the volume cataloging, im not sure it will make much of a difference but its worth a try. I also have to read a bit about how files are stored on disk and see if there is anyway of ‘fast reading’ a disk. One of the toehr cataloging programs did it really fast, im not sure how it did it though. hrmmmm

Anyway, thats about it. Also bought my first thing off Amazon today. Being in the US makes it so easy as i can get it sent here and not pay overseas postage.

righto, time to get off this laptop and get ready for CSI

Just a little reminder now that ive got a few different categories on this blog. Its possible to just read the entries from a particular category by clicking the category name over on the right in the menu. i.e. Clicking the ‘America Trip’ category name will show only the posts in the ‘America Trip’ category. etc etc.

Might save some time… might not *shrugs*

7th December @ 11:53pm

Found this too – again, i dunno when i wrote all this down in the first place…

Thanks for being you.
Thanks for letting me love you.
Thanks for having long hair.
Thanks for letting me play with your hair.
Thanks for smelling so good.
Thanks for smiling at me.
Thanks for having sexy eyes.
Thanks for being cuddly
Thanks for having a cute pudgy asian nose.
Thanks for being short.
Thanks for being with me.
Thanks for wanting to be by me.
Thanks for cooking brownies!
Thanks for making icing for the brownies!
Thanks for putting up with my geekyness.
Thanks for my mac posters.
Thanks for talking to my family.
Thanks for being so excited.
Thanks for reminding me that its fun to be silly.
Thanks for the surprises you give me.
Thanks for staying with me.
Thanks for being down to earth.
Thanks for your great accent.
Thanks for telling me stories about your family.
Thanks for telling me stories about your friends.
Thanks for being easy to get alone with.
Thanks for being so damn cute.
Thanks for getting dressed up somtimes.
Thanks for being curvy.
Thanks for wanting to do stuff with me.
Thanks for appreciating the little things i do.
Thanks for wanting me to be a better person.
Thanks for making me want to be romantic.
Thanks for making me remember how to be romantic.
Thanks for giving me inspiration.
Thanks for putting up with my stupidity.
Thanks for letting me do geeky stuff.
Thanks for letting me take care of you.
Thanks for knowing how to take care of yourself.
Thanks for being my friend.
Thanks for laughing with me.
Thanks for laughing at me.
Thanks for blowing in my ears.
Thanks for washing up stuff.
Thanks for cooking stuff.
Thanks for letting me be annoying.
Thanks for reading to me.
Thanks for teaching me card games.
Thanks for making me play cards with you.
Thanks for paying attention to me.
Thanks for letting me be a boy.
Thanks for being girly.
Thanks for painting your fingernails.
Thanks for being feminine.
Thanks for letting me perv at you.
Thanks for letting me hold you.
Thanks for being trustworthy.
Thanks for tilting your head to the side.
Thanks for making pigtails somtimes.
Thanks for being able to read my messy handwriting.
Thanks for writing me little letters when i went away.
Thanks for knowing what to do
Thanks for knowing how to do it
Thanks for being everything i could ever ask for.
Thanks for being more.
Thanks for sharing your grandfathers funny emails.
Thanks for playing games with my cousins.
Thanks for liking flat coke.
Thanks for wanting to look pretty.
Thanks for being adorable.
Thanks for being shiny sometimes.
Thanks for making me squirm inside.
Thanks for letting me roll over by you.
Thanks for letting me distract you.

hrmmm this will get added to….

7th December @ 11:52pm – Its late, someone cant sleep

Found this in a folder on my laptop. I wrote it a fair few months ago i think, im not totally sure… hrmmm

The phone rings and it is her.
Days of waiting patiently are rewarded,
with her soft accent flowing through,
and exploding on my eardrums with joy.

Apart for days – longing to be by her again.
Missing her touch,
her talk,
the sway of her walk.

The olive skin and almond eyes,
with flowing hair – soft to the touch.
Her unique smell,
alluring gestures greeting my inquisitiveness.

Missing the shape of her body,
moulded into mine with warmth.
Being able to hold her – for no reason,
enjoying the generosity of her giving.

Hearing the words “i have to go”
Wanting to say something lasting –
longing and meaningful.
Yet only ‘Righto’ comes out – *sigh*

Im left holding the phone – with silence,
Feeling bad for not getting more out,
Hard on myself and disappointed.
Hoping she knows what i really mean.

Thinking – only days left,
Her smiling face awaits me.
Ready to hold her again and look at her,
engulf her and surround her.

Yup, a new category dedicated to ‘the one’ Dunno just yet what ill put in this category but i just got the urge to create it. Probably be thoughts and general stuff on/about/in relation to her. *shrugs*

Posted on 7th December @ 8:14pm @ Melanies House

Ok, piccies are up.

First lot are from the Seattle christmas singing thing we went to, followed by a few from asian art museum (buildings and stuff). After that are some pictures i took while we where walking to the IMAX movie. The cinema is right near the space needle. Some of the pictures are blurry and dodgy – im staill playing around with settings. There is a lot of christmas lights up around the place at this time of year, it looks pretty cool. The last picture is of the Dennys we stopped at and had a feed at 1am in the morning.

Pictures from Friday

Next lot are from the Bonsai garden. That was really cool. I like bonsais and the ones there where really cool. Some where up to 900 years old! and had been in traning for 30-40 years!

Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection Pictures

enjoy…

Posted on 7th December @ 12:47pm @ Melanies House.

Ok, for some reason i forgot to write about what happened on Friday. So ill start there. The main thing that happened was the trip into Seattle to see the ‘figgy pudding’ – dont quote me on that, thats what it sounds like but ill probably get laughed at.

Anyway – it is a one hour show where people get togehter and sing chistmas carols in the main Seattle downtown area to raise money for charities. There where lots of people there. The traffic was crazy so we (Mels Dad and Mum, Mel and Me) ended up parking a fari way from the actual place. We walked for a long time, mels little legs had trouble keeping up with the fast pace. Ive come to realise that she has two speeds – normal walking and running. Seems her little legs cant handle a fast walking pace. hrmmm But yeah, we got there and watched a few and then it pretty much ended. From there we walked down by the waterfront wchich was cool. Along the waterfront is a lot of little shops selling all sorts of stuff – not too bad. We dropped by another bookshop and had a look around then pretty much headed back to the car. That was Friday.

Saturday (yesterday) we headed off to the Asian Art Museum. We had arranged to meet up with Augustina there which was cool. Got there and i scored myself some betetr pictures of a squirrel!

He was actually pretty friendly and came up real close. Wouldnt hang around for me to try to touch him though.

Inside the museum we walked around and looked at the stuff. There was a lot of stuff about ancient asian gods and stuff which was interesting. A lot of the objects had tags saying what they where but there wasnt really anything saying what they where used for so we where left looking at weird objects and wondering. One of the guides told us that they where pretty much jsut religious objects used on ceremonies and stuff *shrugs*. Anyway – we walked around the statues, objects, plates, jars, furniture etc etc and all was good.

Got out of the museum and got to sit on a cool stone camel!

We walked from there down to a little green house thing that ahd flowers and stuff in it. Wasnt bad to look around. Had some really colorful plants and stuff. Coming back from that i took some photos around the museum and stuff. From there we said goodbye to Augustina and we headed off to a shopping place to chew up some time.

The shopping place was ok. This time of year they jave lots of lights and stuff up which is cool.

We wandered around in there for while and ahd somthign to eat. Then it was time to head up to the Washington University. Melanies brother Tim sings in an accapella group and they where putting on a show. It was really good. They sang lots of well known songs and was cool.

We had arranged to meet up with one of Mels teacher friends (Bob) to go see the last Matrix movie (Revolutions) at the IMAX cinema. We drove over to the Seattle centre and walked to the place. The Seattle centre is where the space needle is and around it is a lot of rides and stuff and it also has the cinemas. Got our tickets and lined up.

Matrix IMAX was amazing!!, the first 5 mins of the imax movie jsut blows you away. Its HUGE! and the sound is brilliant!. The big screen makes it sooo good. Parts of it made me shiver cause it was that good and i found myself holding my breath in some of the action scenes. I had to say that normal movies on Imax is was better then the 3D ones. I think mainly because the 3D ones tend to be computer generated and kind of kiddy, but anyway.

So yeah… The movie was amazing. *whew* I got lost a few times in the storyline but ill pick it up when i watch the trilogy again when its released.

From there we headed back. Was about 1:30a, when we got back to federal way, and we stopped over at Dennys for something to eat.

Its cool over here how many places are open at weird hours of the night. At Dennys you can order and kind of food at any time. You could have a big breakfast feed at 3am in the morning. Its very cool. There tends to be a lot to do over here at anytime as well. You can pretty much go out at anytime and find somthing thats open. A big change from Rockhampton where most of the shops close at 5pm in the afternoon. I got a plate of fries covered with cheese and bacon with Ranch dressing on the side. It was really good. Ive grown to like ranch dressing since ive been over here.

Anyway, Today is Sunday. We just got back from CostCo again. Went there to pick up some more stuff. Had a big ol piece of costco pizza again – damn it is good. Pretty soon we are heading off to the bonsai garden so that should be neat.

Ive got lots more pictures from the last few days which ill put up here later. probably get more at the bonsai place today as well.

hrmmm thats it for now…

Posted on 5th December @ 10:33am @ Melanies house

So – back from Redmond again. Didnt do al that much while we where there. Had a look around the redmond town center for a few hours, went out to the Outback Steakhouse for tea. They had good steak – wasnt too bad. The next day we where going to go to a movie, got halfway through the first preview and there was a power outage. So that ended that idea. Went back to Chip’s place and watched some tv.

There was bad wind storms around the redmond area yesterday. Trees knocked over everywhere, power outages, etc etc. There is meant to be more today but outside here at Melanies house looks pretty calm.

Not sure what we are doing today, no doubt somthing will come up.

Ok, Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

First few are form the flight museum – outside, indside, the concorde, and inside the ‘red barn’ which was the original boeing barn that they used to make planes in.

After that are a few of me with the troll under the bridge, this thing was pretty damn huge.

A few of seattle buildings.

The ‘first starbucks’ plaque and building.

The ‘Public Market’ sign from out of the movie “Sleepless in Seattle’.

And the sign from the Bruce Lee exhibit.

Go here

Posted on 2nd December @ 6:23 pm @ Melanies house

Today we (Melanies Dad, Melanie and Me) went and had sushi for lunch with her uncle william. He works at a place called REI – which is basically a HUGE outdoor shop where you can buy everything for hiking / snowing / bike riding etc etc etc. The sushi was pretty good – better then the stuff i had at the gold coast back in Australia. After lunch we dropped Mels uncle back at work and had a look round the shop. We then headed down to the markets on the seattle waterfront. Me and Melanie wenbt there before but it was late and everything had shut up for the day. Today was better – everything was still open and there where lots of people.

I got to see the very first starbucks coffee place (see photos). Its kinda oldish inside. We also visited a cheese making place – it smelt really really good and we got to watch them making it for a bit. We walked around the markets a bit and bought some chocolate from the chocolate factory.

From there we headed up to get some fortune cookies and also stopped by the Bruce Lee exhibition. I only realised when we got there that burce Lee spent a lot of time in Seattle – he had his studio here and stuff and went to the univeristy of washington. The exhibition was great!, i was impressed. I couldnt take any photos inside but i took one of the big sign out the front. All in all a really good day.

Tomorrow we are going to Renton Redmond (where microsoft are) again. One of Mels friends has flown in and is staying there for a little bit so we have to go see her tomorrow. Apparently we are going to one of the Outback Steakhouses for tea tomorrow so that should be interesting since they are supposedly ‘Australian Steakhouses’

Also planning on going to see Augustina on friday. She is having a house warming party tomorrow night but we cant make it cause mel has to see her friend before she heads off to the Tri-Cities – its all good.

So yeah, thats about it. Constant problems with my website dont help matters but ill battle through. The trip so far has been way cool and better then i could ever imagine. Meeting all Melanies family is really neat and they are all really nice people. Still got a month and a bit left which is good. At some stage we are going to LA for a few days to see another of melanies friends so that should be cool. Keeping busy and seeing lots!