There's been quite a bit going on over the past few days -- and it makes me think I should update more often than I have been lately.

My regular Thursday game was cancelled, so I had that evening free to spend some time with Seth and Chris. We headed down to the Ballard Locks where we walked around and saw the sights. It was a cool area with boats going through, bridges over the waterways moving around, a "fish ladder", schools of salmon, a seal or two, and a nice botanical garden. After taking all of that in we went to eat at Anthony's Homeport. It was okay. The view was much better than the food and a whole heck of a lot less expensive.

Friday I went to dinner at the annoyingly-named (really, I hate the name and I think the owners should be killed) Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It wasn't my choice, Chris wanted to go and it was one of his last nights in town. We had a nice meal and Chris paid dinner as a 'thank you' to Seth and I for letting him stay with us.

After dinner we went to the SeaMonster Lounge on 45th for Shana's congratulatory night out in honor of her new job. It started out a bit slow, but by the high-point of the evening more people had shown up than we had planned on, so that was a nice surprise. I'm very happy everyone could make it out to congratulate her.

I had some drinks, but unlike some of my recent nights out, the alcohol didn't really seem to get to me too quicky (maybe because of the big dinner I'd just had?). Anyway, apparently some people were very concerned by how much I'd had to drink. The funny thing is I wasn't drunk. I could tell I'd had some drinks, but that's all. I didn't even feel buzzed. I think everyone was concerned because I haven't really done any drinking in the time that I've been out here, so they have no idea how much I have to drink in order to actually be drunk. I may have to (not drive and) actually get drunk some time with some of these people.

Saturday I played Tigris and Euphrates, a boardgame, over at my old boss'. It's a very good game and I look forward to playing it again. I am once again amazed at the abstract nature of some of these boardgames. It's crazy.

We finished the game mid-afternoon, so I picked up Shane and Cathy, then met up with Seth at Xanadu to pick up comics. And as an extra-special treat, we went over to the new library. It's impressive. The building itself is more impressive than the selection of books appears to be (Seth commented that he owns more Jules Verne), but I think it's a damn fine place . . . if a little whimsical at times. (I still have no clue what the big, red section of the building is for. I'll have to go look some more. I did appreciate the design of the "spiral" that runs the heighth of the building. Each leg of section of the spiral is a floor on a slight decline that leads you down and around through all of the sections of books. Pretty cool.

Saturday evening Seth, Chris, Matt, and I went to Kevin and Kim's (although Kim was out for a bachelorette party) for a night of grilling and video games. The grilled chicken was great and it was fun to check out some of the console games that I rarely see.

Sunday I met Seth and Chris across from the Space Needle because Chris spent part of the morning on the radio on a call-in show. That seemed to go well and hopefully he'll get some work out of it. It's certainly good promotion for what he's trying to do. We spent the afternoon getting some lunch, then walking about Pike Place Market and the surrounding area. After a coupld hours we dropped Chris at the AmTrack station and now he's headed back to Madison.

This evening I went to dinner with Shana, then met up with Shane and Cathy to see Shrek 2. Very entertaining. I don't think it will be something I'll purchase on DVD, but it was fun. The best part of the movie was the guy (who'd come to the movie alone) sitting a couple of seats across from me who laughed at the weirdest times and made a number of comments throughout the film. No, not so much comments, they were more like he was actually talking to the film. Things, like, "You'd better hurry up, lady," or, "Whoah, look out."

Oh, I nearly died everytime he said something. It was a little annoying, but it was too damn funny to really be bothersome.

Thanks to everyone who commented on, or emailed me with comments on the fact that I asked my co-worker out. It's nice to know you think it was an okay thing to do. I still have some doubts, but I think Scott's right, you only really regret the things you don't do because you never know . . .

Now I have to box up Mom and Dad's computer so I can send it off this week. Hopefully tomorrow.