26 June 2006

The Jetlag Blues

Last day in Seattle was really nice. I met mharder and his fiancée in the hotel lobby and we walked to a pretty swanky restaurant for dinner. I was glad to be back in a country where I could safely order a martini and expect something drinkable in return. Putz alums will be happy to know that Harder still likes umbrella drinks, as he ordered a drink called "Shakespeare in Love". For dinner I had some tasty mussels and a piece of halibut that was good enough for Jehovah. After dinner we walked down to the hip Pioneer Square district and checked out Marcus' Martini Heaven. It was a little empty on a Thursday (read: we were the only customers when we arrived) but they made a good dirty Bombay martini (mharder went with something called "The Key Lime"). I have to say that knowing a local or two makes all the difference when visiting somewhere.



I had a few hours to kill on Friday morning, so I took a cab up to the UW campus to check out my possible future surroundings. I haven't spent much time on traditional American University campuses (since MIT is so integrated with Cambridge and the lines between town and University at Oxford are blurred to near nonexistence). I do like the feel, though of having a big sprawling campus that's distinct from the city around it. I also like the idea of being affiliated with a University with some big time sports teams (I won't even bother to explain how MIT lacked these...). The weather was goregous that morning and it was a really nice walk around the campus.


Unfortunately it was nearly impossible to get a taxi in that part of the city, which was a bit worrisome; even after calling a cab it took them half an hour to arrive. Despite having the most inept cabbie ever (he kept yielding at bizarre moments, like going straight halfway through a green light and then abruptly stopping when someone was waiting to turn left across our lane) we made it to the airport in plenty of time. Now I'm hoping to be able to overcome jetlag enough this week to get some work done before flying back across the Atlantic to Boston on Saturday.


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