Washington!

I keep wanting to say that I am in Seattle, but I'm actually in Redmond, Washington, the headquarters of Microsoft. I ate way too many cherries for dinner and a handful of MSG-filled shrimp flavored chips, but I'm glad day 1 of vacation did not end in excessive gluttony. Wait, why am I talking about food?

The trip to Oakland airport was stressful but I ended up having a good ten minutes of downtime. Air Bart on the weekdays is the best because there are very few people riding it, so it's like you have a personal shuttle. Flew to Seattle - really weird to fly north instead of south from the airport. For the additonal 30 minutes of flying, you get refills on drinks AND Wheat Thins! How luxurious. My flight arrived just ten minutes before Andria and Christina's and we met up with each other in the airport. SO CUTE! I love it. We hugged in the middle of the walkway and all. I love doing friend things in otherwise mundane places.

George is our host and is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He is an RCSA scholar from UC Davis, and I assume that the people in excom met him through one of our inter-UC events. So those things are worth something after all! He is letting us stay in his swanky apartment, paid for and furnished by Microsoft. He also gets free car rentals, so he kindly rented a car and we'll be able to drive his car tomorrow. Which is probably the craziest nicest thing a host could ever do.

Tomorrow we are going to Seattle, eating with Andria's friend, exploring, then the Microsoft Visitor Center. George has a employee discount, and he said we could buy things like Microsoft Office for 10% of its retail price. Damnit, I bought Microsoft Office a month ago. He bought his Xbox for $40. I need to make more friends in higher places. I am going to buy a mouse and a laptop carrycase. And I think we're going to eat crab tomorrow at The Crab Pot and explore a popular Seattle marketplace, where I will probably eat fish. THEN Canada! Which I will research in the morning - I'm certain I will be the first to wake up.

Kristen also arrives tomorrow. I love this awesome logistical vacation, people flying in from everywhere and getting together, and I love the idea that after not seeing each other for about two months, we meet up with each other in a completely different state and travel together for a weekend. I want to do this every year with my friends! But I do not know of any more George-like people in America.

SLEEEPPYYYY. Hopefully tomorrow I will have amazing Seattle pictures