More Comparisons

Getting back to SF vs. Sea comparisons

Attended NAAAP http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=2655752138&ref=ts social mixer last month and helped out to clean up Chinatown in downtown Seattle. Turns out every month they have a mixer and they have a Chinatown cleanup sort of thing (I think). This was the second time in as many months I volunteered to clean Chinatown's streets. The people here are so much nicer and down to earth compared to San Franciscans it's not even funny. The difference is very VERY palpable.

So the last social mixer was in Bellevue at a Korean restaurant called 2AM. If you name a restaurant the worst thing you can do is give it a generic name like 2am because you just killed any chance of finding your restaurant easily on the web. Do a search on Google for "2am restaurant" and you'll get a listing of restaurants open until 2am in San Jose as your first search option.

Anyways, judging purely from body language and blatant stares from attractive females, I'd say the girls here are just as hungry for attention as the guys. I've never been looked over by so many females in my entire life in one night. I didn't meet any single girls on this night, but I still found the experience very enriching and enjoyable and I was the very last person to leave.

I'm actually truly looking forward to the next social mixer in May. I've actually built up a little bit of confidence living here in Seattle area. Yesterday I went hiking to Serene Lake: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/lake-serene

It's a very steep but rewarding hike. I went with a group that I met on Meetup.com. The leader was Jewel, a woman with two kids and a dog. Unfortunately our group was so fragmented I wound up hiking with Jewel and her kids (and dog) pretty much by ourselves the entire time. Everyone else went in front of us. We were the last ones down by a good 40 minutes.

I did get some nice shots of the Lake. It was all iced over so it wasn't the beautiful blue emerald color it should have been, but you could see little places here and there where the water was in fact blue in color where the ice melted away. There were little avalanches happening all during our hike. They sounded like gun fire or firecrackers in a row. "Pop", "pop", "pop", they would go. Little bits of rock and ice tumbling down the tall, almost sheer cliff. The place was very tranquil and peaceful. There was still quite a bit of snow at the top.

I wish I had brought my spikes (metal shoe clipons) so I could navigate over the ice without fear of slipping. I had purchased these spikes because it seems there is a lot of snow up in the hills of Seattle's backcountry. They are almost a necessity if you hike in April in the higher elevations. I'm actually starting to get comfortable hiking in the snow after brutal Mailbox peak. I'll never forget that hike, so steep and so icy, and crazy.

I'll try to get our leader to goto Ape Cave next time. It's a 3 mile long lava tube that takes 2 1/2 hours to get to. It's near Mt St Helens. It's a tourist attraction so it's not too dangerous but you do have to watch your step. Basically Ape Cave is a lava tube that formed a long long time ago during an eruption. Somehow the cave maintained it's shape and people like to explore it's long, dark, creepy innards.

Love the outdoors

I'm back! And I'm getting my full dental hygiene license, yay! Been a while. Been recovering from my late Jan ordeal, that is, my last licensure examination. I have been recovering. Until you take one of these exams you have no idea how stressful they are.

Hiked Lil Si and Mailbox few weeks ago and it was beautiful. The Seattle area has some of the best hiking anywhere. Too bad it rains so much, or I'd get out more often. It's simply not safe to hike in cold and raining conditions sometimes. Besides, there's no view to enjoy when you get to the top.

The number of outdoor outfitters here is insane. Thermarest, REI, Outdoor Research, etc. all have headquarters here. Some of the biggest names in the hiking clothing industry are in the Pacific Northwest like Arcteryx (Vancouver), and I guess you could include Nike (Oregon) although they're not really hiking per se. If you want a technical jacket or waterproof pants, Seattle area is THE place to be.

I did pickup waterproof jacket by Outdoor Research at REI (the Revel). It's ok, does keep water out, but it feels clammy against my skin when my skin gets a little sweaty. Not good for warmer weather, but then again, why would I need to wear a jacket when it's warm? I was hoping to use this jacket as an weather jacket but looks like it will be a little more limited to cold weather. I'm still happy with it.

Mom and Dad came over couple weeks ago and I made egg rolls and sushi for them. It was nice. They got to see everyone up here so it was good. Next trip back to Bay Area probably Sept.