take me out to the ballgame...

what a great weekend. matt came to visit from spokane. and alan came in from vancouver to catch a phish-of-sorts concert friday night and crashed at my place.

not even a full week and i managed to catch a mariners' home game at safeco field downtown. we're only about four miles from the stadium, so it wasn't a bear to get down there, at all. plus, we lucked out and someone pulling out let us have their spot, so we didn't have to pay event parking of ten bucks (it just went towards overpriced, but definitely apropos, beer)!

but, to re-cap: friday was a day of shopping. REI sale (the biggest REI known to mankind...it has a frickin' rock wall to climb...), ikea (a monstrosity of stores, save for the fact that they have everything i need to accent my room/life), and then getting lost on the 405 because i didn't see the seattle exit. i did way overspend at REI, but i got effing marmot hiking pants for 11 dollars! i mean, c'mon, that's insane. but i did get a helmet and then a desk and mirror and such at ikea, so it was still mission-oriented and mission-successful. caught up with alan, then matt and i went for sushi four blocks from the house at nishino. delicious house sake and sashimi that was heavenly.

saturday was comprised of a tune-up of fluids for my car (much needed after the alcan), lunch in u-village, and shopping at j. crew et al. this shopping district has freaking everything: restoration hardware, crate & barrel and pottery barn all in the same complex...unnecessary, but i guess that's consumer U.S.A. makes my life easy, though. and then the mariners vs. oakland game. man, i missed the nostalgia of baseball--i felt far removed from this americana sport in alaska for some reason; i guess it was more about the hockey up there. i don't think it does get more american than our beloved pasttime, though. plus, wash the footlong hotdog and nachos down with a beck's and a heineken and life really can't get much better. beautiful seattle summer-evening weather. mariners lost, of course, as if that's really a factor in going to the game.

matt had to leave early this morning for more orientation, so i'm going to take it easy, organize some more, and take it easy some more.