Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Oddities of Washington

As many of you know a few months ago I took a new job that required me to move to Washington state. One of the first things I noticed when I moved out to Washington was the complete and total lack of "southern" anything. Now many of you will say "well duh", you don't live in the south anymore. This is true.

I have lived in the south most of my life, and after being in the south for that long you get used to certain things. The corner stare that has been there forever, and everyone remembers your name. Not that I would ever eat them, but you get used to grits beings served on every breakfast menu. Speaking of breakfast lets not forget
Bo-jangles biscuits. Rednecks, and Rednecks being proud to be called Rednecks. Southern hospitality. The Bible Belt. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is, out here those things that I am used to are just not present.

Now that does not mean that Washington is "normal". Hardly, but I am having an interesting time getting used to Washington's oddities.

Today I was in a repair shop getting my truck looked at. At first all seemed normal. A normal auto repair shop, with mechanics in blue uniforms, the smell of engine oil, and the sound of air powered tools. The radio played loudly in the corner, and after a few minutes the song "I heard it through the grapevine" started to play. Without warning or any signal that I could see every mechanic in hearing distance of the radio started to sing along with the radio. None of them stopped what they were doing. They just started to sing. Some sang with passion and volume, and some just sang quietly to themselves.

I must confess it took me off guard. The singing continued for the rest of the time I was there, and the songs includes works by The Beach Boys, and selected works from the movie Grease.

Now this is only one example of Washington Oddities, but I am happy to report that I am not the only person to have noticed this. One of my coworkers, Lisa, writes about a recent trip she took to Lacey Washington.

I dont want to write about every oddity I have seen out here, because I think I will spread some of them out for future posts.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Dragon*Con 2009

Well anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to my Facebook page or Twitter updates saw that I was doing my best to keep the world up to date on all that happened in Atlanta over the weekend. I would rather not go back through all my updates and blog on the same things so instead I offer a few highlights from the weekend.

Highlights from Dragon*Con 2009
1. I got to fly first class - one of the few good things to come out of my time at Healey was my travel status. I can fly almost anywhere now and get upgraded to First, which normally I don't really care about. However when flying from one coast to the other...It makes a huge difference.

2. I hate and am jealous of PAX at the same time! - PAX was another Geek convention taking place over the same time as Dragon*Con. I have reviewed some of the activities offered at PAX and must confess I am jealous. However PAX also stole a great deal of celebrities away from Dragon*Con. This year I saw less celebrities then ever before.

3. While I saw less celebrities then ever before I still got a healthy does. - Some of you will remember that we ate dinner next to Charisma Carpenter, Lou Ferigno, Spike and Darla from Buffy and a few other that I forget. We almost knocked over Charisma on one occasion, and when we found ourselves in the Hall of Heros decided to go back three times for three separate autographs by her. Lou Ferigno was in the parade, and the guy who plays clark kents father was as well.

4. I did not go to a single panel this year. - But I did get to watch Patrick Stewart's, Leonard Nemroy, and Captian Kirks panel on Dragon Con TV.

5. I got to go to the CruxShadows concert and found myself only a few rows from stage. - Best concert I have ever been to. If you are not familiar with them you should become familiar with them.

6. Brought new friends to Dragon*Con and now they are hooked.

Over all it was a good weekend, and I am looking fwd to next year!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Update on my Upstairs Neighbors

So Terra and I were talking about my upstairs neighbors the other day, and she suggested I turn in a noise complaint. At first I really didnt think I would do that until one night they woke me up 3 times. So I walked into the office looked up, and you will never guess who was sitting behind the office desk.

IT WAS MY UPSTAIRS NEIGHBOR!!!! SHE WORKS FOR THE APARTMENT COMPLEX!!!!

Now what?