Happy Halloween!

Evening on the Sound

A year ago today...

A year ago today I had my interview at VM. My first impression was of Fred coughing into his hand before extending it to me to shake and then asking me, "How do you feel about working with a long-haired eskimo who wears cowboy boots?" During the interview I was intimidated by Kari, but was comfortable with Fred, Richard, and Laurel. After the interview, Laurel took me on a tour of the hospital. In the pharmacy I remember meeting Scott, but everyone else was just a blur of names and faces. Up on the floors we ran across Dana working at one of the nursing stations. She was incredibly nice to me and I remember thinking how I would love to one day be doing what she was doing. We stopped by the OR pharmacy last where I met Chris who was very chatty with me and was completely ignored by the pharmacist there who I now know must've been Khue-Nhi. As the tour concluded Laurel said to me, "I don't know what anyone else thinks of you, but I think you're lovely." I guess it all must've gone ok, since they offered me the job the following morning! :-)

A year ago today...

A year ago today I flew to Seattle for some job interviews. I found myself checked into a hotel room with nothing to do until the following afternoon. But I had a rental car with a full tank of gas and an entire unexplored city just outside the door.

The very first place I ended up was at Green Lake (although I didn't know the names of any of these places yet). I saw all the people jogging, walking dogs, rollerblading, and pushing strollers and promised myself I'd join them someday. I had no idea how well I'd fulfill that promise. From there I somehow ended up in West Seattle taking in the view of the city and testing out a bubble tea shop (to which I haven't yet returned) on Alki Beach. I caught the sunset from Beacon Hill...

then drove up to Magnolia for more views of the Puget Sound...



and the city.

And don't forget the lunar eclipse that night!

Fall in Freeway Park

Fall at Green Lake

Rattlesnake Mountain

My day off this week just so happened to coincide with both the one day of sunshine we've had this week and Ryan's day off! How did I get so lucky? We ended up hiking up Rattlesnake Mountain, which is about 30 miles from Seattle on I-90. Here's a view from Rattlesnake Ledge looking east over Rattlesnake Lake:



A few more pictures here.

Kelly & Michelle visit Seattle

Kelly and Michelle came to visit me in Seattle this weekend. Other than the decidedly uncooperative weather, we had a really good time!

We went to the Market...

We went to Salmon Days in Issaquah...
And we hiked to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls...

More pictures from the weekend here.