musings.schelley.org

Last weekend, I hit my one-year anniversary of home ownership. Until yesterday, it was good. Then the water happened.

First, Pete, carpool driver for the day, forgot me, leaving me stranded at work. I took the Connector (Microsoft's superb employee bus service), but to get to the pickup stop, had to slog through gushing rain. I was soaked when I reached the bus stop. Ironically, I took my umbrella out of my bag that morning, thinking that it was too much dead weight.

Then, a few hours later, while talking on the phone, I heard a weird dripping noise. It took me a few minutes to realize that it wasn't nature, but inside my home. Drat, I thought. The damn windows are leaking again. Then I realized that the sound was coming from the bathroom. Water was pouring out of the ceiling fan. My home had turned into the final chapter of Solaris.

As a positive, I met my upstairs neighbors, who are very nice and friendly. We think we've figured out the problem, which while it's going to need to be fixed, isn't one of those "uh-oh, we can't use the shower for days and days" types of problems.

All night, I dreamed the sounds of gushing water. That may have been the real rain, playing with my dreams.

This morning, halfway through my shower, the water suddenly stopped draining. For. No. Reason. Whatsoever. Jiggling the plug did nothing. Now, I own a plunger and half a bottle of highly corrosive and toxic drain unclogging agent. It turns out that dropping little nubs of soap down the drain is not a good idea; we theorized that the little bit of thin bar that I dropped yesterday wedged itself horizontally in the drain, the perfect size to completely block all water flow.

Is it just me, or has water been a theme over the past 24 hours?

My brother and sister-in-law had planned an outdoor wedding, but at the last minute, moved inside because of dark and menacing clouds. That was a wise decision, because we could hear the mad pounding of raindrops throughout the entire ceremony. I remember the rabbi saying that in the Judaic tradition, water is a sign of luck, happiness, success.

Hmmm...

About the lack of blogging. I have sooo much to write about, and I don't know when it's going to get done. Really, it's been work. I've been on a project that has stretched for eons, and lately, has caused me so much gray hair and angst and upset, that bad feelings have spilled over into all parts of my life. Things have been better over the past week, in part because my very understanding manager, who realized just how bad it has been when I said, "I have not been this bitter and cynical about anything related to work since I left IDC", made an executive decision that I am to transition off as soon as possible. Happy days will soon return.

Perhaps the water is bringing good tidings.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About a year ago, my friend Jason, a designer of the clothing sort in New York, officially launched Linoto, selling linen bedding. I finally took the plunge and bought myself a set…and am kicking myself for waiting so long. The sheets are absolutely beautiful. Soft, comfortable, delicious to sleep in and elegantly crafted.

When I was in New York a few weeks ago, Jason, Gabe and I talked about the sheets. I never realized, but quality linen sheets are pricey (Jason’s are fairly affordable, and considering the time we spend in bed, shouldn’t we have nice sheets?). And linen sheets tend to be frilly, with scallops and embroidery, things that make them appealing to only a very small demographic (i.e., women in the 50s and 60s). In retrospect, there is something timeless about linen; Jason pointed out that it’s not a coincidence that tablecloths and napkins are referred to as “linens”, because in the not too distant past, we were surrounded by linen. After looking at what was available, hating the quality and the price tag, Jason made a set for Gabe’s birthday, and Linoto was born.

Jason runs Linoto with a strong emphasis on quality and experience. My sheets took a while to arrive - the fabric quality did not pass Jason’s standards and we had to wait for better quality fabric. Carefully packed, the sheets were washed and soft and ready to go on my bed.

Fabulous!

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Note: This entry has nothing to do with food and wine and alcohol. It's about life. Although, the one roundabout allusion to cooking is well played.

My six-month subscription with eHarmony ends today. Despite the recent flood of messages from the uber-religious people with new matches (!) and offers of discount renewals (!), I'm ending my relationship with eHarmony. In fact, I'm ending my relationship with all online dating sites as of today. I took this vow when I turned 34, and stayed away for a year. Then, 35 hit me and I decided to try the online thing one last time. Obviously, six months later, it didn't work out.

Over the past ten years, I've dated many of the sites: Match, Yahoo! Personals, Nerve, Lovelab and others that I've forgotten, probably on purpose. It seems that my relationship with those sites mimics many real life relationships. A roller coaster of happy and sad, huge emotional investments that sometimes do, but often don't pay off, disappointment, rejection, broken promises. Second and third chances. Stories, mostly bad, with relatively few good ones.

Nothing would make me happier than to have a sous chef in my kitchen (food allusion!). But, the reality is, that despite my many-pronged efforts, mine is a solo life. In a twisted way, the end of online dating is a sad end; most practically, I'm cutting off an area that blatantly promises a bright and shiny future with the love of my life, only to be found on this site!

Before I become tempted once again by someone's story about meeting their significant other on an online site, I'll think about my history with the sites: a relationship of give and take, which by the end, consisted of me doing most of the giving and the dating site, most of the taking.

PS - For all of my blog readers, please no more advice. Trust me, I've taken your advice, repeatedly. If you want to help me, find me a date with someone who not only has a pulse, but can carry on a conversation, likes to drink and isn't a picky eater.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just wrote about being hit by the flu while traveling for business. It happened again, this time in Sweden (on the second half of the Europe trip).

Although, I didn't as much get hit by the flu as pummeled, flattened, destroyed.

A sore throat on Tuesday morning, which by mid-afternoon, had transformed into a near death state. I think my co-workers were a bit alarmed when I said, "I feel funny" while waiting for the train, and later, when Tracy asked me if a beer would make me feel better, simply said, "no". All know that if I'm not drinking, something is wrong.

After what seemed like a 3 mile trek to the hotel in the lovely city of Helsingborg, (which later, I discovered was about 3 blocks away), I collapsed in my room, only emerging Friday, 2 1/2 days later. And that was because I was determined to visit H&M (really, seriously, how could I not go to the store in the country from which fabulous clothes come) and buy chocolate. A more minor, albeit important, reason: I had to check out of my hotel and move to our prepaid hotel in Copenhagen. I got it together - sort of - for a weekend in Copenhagen before flying home on Sunday.

It's now the following Friday, and I've only left my house for food, the library (overdue books and it is next door) and yesterday, the doctor's office. I thought that I would make it to the office today, because I actually felt a lot better yesterday afternoon...and then I woke up this morning and realized that I wouldn't be going anywhere.

I think my out of office message sums it up nicely:

I am still sick.

Never fear, I am alive and not being held hostage in my house against my will. After visiting the doctor yesterday, I now have some antibiotics and should be back in the office Monday.

I'll spare you the gory details, but thought I should point out that I'm on my third box of Kleenex, I have new cough muscles and my kitchen counter is beginning to look like an apothecary (my new favorite fever induced word).

If this is urgent, please try...

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It suddenly dawned on me as I was flying to San Francisco that it’s been two years since the big move to Seattle. In those two years: many new and wonderful friends, too many hangovers, a home purchase, much needed career growth and somewhat addictive Top Pot latte and Venus Café mimosa habits.

I still miss San Francisco, so much more than I ever thought. For the official record, I’m now on the 2 ½ to 4 ½ year plan. I don’t know where I will end up, but I do know that it will not be as the cat lady of the Vertigo. I would rather a pack of wild dogs make a treat of my body, which somehow seems a bit more dignified than becoming cat food.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most of you probably know that I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day. Significant periods of my life have been spent single, and Valentine's Day always functions as a painful reminder of my status; really, I have to struggle to remember the last time I actually had a nice Valentine's day. So, as I approached the 2008 Valentine's leap year, I had absolutely no expectations that the day would be anything other than, well, another bad Valentine's Day.

This year turned out to be a bit different.

For the first time since I was a senior in high school and a (male) friend sent me a flower-gram, I received Valentine’s Day flowers. The bouquet actually arrived the day before, when I happened to be working at home. Thank you Pete, my very amazing friend.

Tracy and I carpooled together on THE day. As we reached the 2nd floor landing of our office, we were stunned by the sight of many of the men on our team gathered in the copier nook/calorie corner, bubbling enthusiastically amongst themselves. They saw us, “there’s Tracy and Schelley!" We stopped, stunned…and made our way through the gauntlet. I tried to ignore the “Happy Valentine’s Day!” greetings, and then realized that something else was going on.

Mid-afternoon the day before, the Planner guys decided to surprise the girls on our team with breakfast. And by breakfast, I don't mean donuts, but freshly cooked pancakes, topped with syrup, whipped cream and strawberry hearts, delicious croissants and juice. On a tray. With Valentine’s candy. Wow. Double Wow.

Later than evening, after yoga and watching some couple fight on the street while driving home, I hit the anti-Valentine’s Day party at Neumos. It was a nice reminder that compared to others’ heartbreaks, mine could be so much worse. We, as humans, can be excessively cruel to one another. Then, a very excellent late night drink and hamburger at Quinn’s (more about Quinn’s later).

For the first time in a long, long time, I had a very nice Valentine’s Day.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been trying to blog since I got back from vacation, and well, I just haven’t been in the blogging mood. I guess technically, it’s called writer’s block; I throw words down on the page, and they sort of but don’t quite seem right. The posts are just not ready for the blogosphere primetime.

January and February are traditionally tough months, not from a food perspective, but from a life perspective. First, there’s the weird post-holiday period, lasting through mid-February. And the Seattle weather. Before Sunday, I had last seen the sun while on vacation in Brazil. Life has been perpetually overcast. The sun broke through on Sunday, beams of bright light waking me out of my hung over state. Sun can be such an amazing thing. Later, I noticed the early signs of spring around the neighborhood – green shoots emerging from the dirt, spring and summer beers appearing in the grocery store.

I now need to return to and clean up half written entries. Even though I haven’t been posting much, I have been cooking and eating. So more to come.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I realized that I'd never posted pictures of the newly painted walls. So far, I'm partially there.

Here's the living room. This is exactly the color that I envisioned when I first purchased the unit. I found a very cool color wheel tool on the Miller Paint web site: it allowed me to input the primary paint chip number, and then spit out various combinations of the complementary colors. It doesn't really show in the picture, but the claret/plum has a lot of blue, so the color scheme is set for the rest of the place.

And here's the entry way, in blue green.

I'm going to paint the kitchen with two different shades of blue. And, I think I am settling on a patterned backsplash tile in blue, green and white, for contrast. I'll probably fill in many walls with a combination of accent colors and soft white, something that has a bit of blue in it. I'm quickly realizing that I dislike the toasted almond color that came with my unit. Color is so much more fun.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few weeks ago, I found myself sitting next to three friends and surrounded by 200 strangers, watching porn. Not just any porn – Hump 3, The Stranger’s third annual amateur porn contest. Several very brave and some incredibly creative (and some not so creative) people penned scripts, set up cameras, took off their clothes and well, humped on screen.

Hump was fascinating – what could have been an hour and a half of hard core porn was actually an hour and half of pure entertainment. It was fun, one of the events that made me think, “Wow. This is excellent. I’m so glad that I came. And I can’t wait to return next year!�? The experience could have been titillating, tinged with shame. Instead, it was a moment of, well, niceness. No one tittered or jeered – the audience laughed at humorous moments, cringed at cringe worthy moments, and behaved as if we were watching a series of art films. Because really, we were watching a series of art films, only films deserving X ratings.

I categorized the shorts into two categories: hard core, of the been there, seen that type, typical of most available porn; and humorous, clever vignettes that rather than focusing on sex, featured a real story, with actual plot and character development and acting. The sex was really an element of these stories, the pleasure was in the veiled references and symbolism.

It’s probably best not to go into all of the gritty details. But some highlights for all of you, because I know that you are curious:

--My two favorite videos: The Room, couches creatively humping and caught in the act by the cuckolded coat rack; and Queer Safari, a Steve Irwin rip-off set in Woodland Park, all about searching for queers and ending a la Blair Witch. I loved the mating ritual, the dancing “fag hags�? and final shots with some objects that were, well, awe inspiringly big.

--The hardest of the hard short was split between multiple vignettes , going for an amazingly long period of time and counting us down to the end of the festival. Thank God the Audio Works, indeed.

--Sex on Roller Skates, which was um, exactly what the title says: sex on roller skates. With a great song.

--Lauren Likes Candy made me cringe. A lot.

--I will never look at a bowl of Ivar’s clam chowder, or Ivar’s bobble-head, with any type of innocence ever again.

--It’s good to know that the sculptures were properly cleaned after filming at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

--And the food link, for the spirit of this blog: Zombie Tapioca Lovefest 4000, which featured a bathtub of tapioca. And Ivar’s chowder. As mention, I can no longer look innocently at the chowder. Nor tapioca pudding.

After Hump finished, Dan Savage (a personal hero) destroyed the DVDs, and we filed out of the theater. We talked about our favorite videos. Someone noted that “It seemed weird to sit in a theatre and watch porn with other people.�? I pointed out that not that long ago, our only video option was the theaters, surrounded by strangers. It is amazing in how 20 years, an activity that was seen as shameful and smutty is actually accepted as mainstream and artistic. At least in Seattle. I can’t speak for other parts of the country.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This isn't necessarily related to food and drink. Something kind of fun that didn't take long to write, from jennidallas.

BTW, I have a couple of half-written entries and a fairly open weekend, so should be posting stuff soon. Including a pic of my newly painted living room - hurrah!

1. your rock star name (first pet & first car): Star Sentra

2. your gansta name (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Mint Chip Chocolate Chip (that is the ice cream and the cookie)

3. your “fly girl"? name (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): SOlh (which makes better sense than my work alias, schellol)

4. your detective name (fav color, fav animal): Blue Dog

5. your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born): Marie Napa

6. your Star Wars name (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): Olhsc (how do you pronounce, Ohl-shick? That sounds slightly dirty)

7. superhero name (the? + 2nd fav color, fav drink): The Pink Cosmopolitan

8. nascar name (the first names of your grandfathers): Dooly Leo (technically, Grandpa Luttrell's first name was James, but he always went my Dooly. Both grandpas would we proud to know that they make up my Nascar name)

9. stripper name ( the name of your fav perfume/cologne/scent, fav candy): Vanilla Maltball

10. witness protection name (mother’s & father’s middle names ): Jean Leon

11. tv weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Ingalls Istanbul

12. spy name (your fav season/holiday, flower): Winter Gerber Daisy

13. cartoon name (fav fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie" or “y"): Rhubarb Raincoatery (this office is cold)

14. hippy name (what you ate for breakfast, your fav tree): Scone Japanese Maple

15. your rockstar tour name (the + your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “tour"): The Baking Rainstorm Tour

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my opinion, one of the coolest things about my condo is the murphy bed. It's given me some flexibility - mainly that I don't need a true second bedroom and still have a real guest bed. Also, the idea of a murphy bed is really cool: the bed folds up into the wall. Really, is there anything better than that?

The builders supplied the enclosure; I had to purchase a mattress. And in a hurry - I had been out of town, Rachel was coming in a few days, so time was not on my side.

First stop: Sleep Country, which was closed for "Employee Appreciation Day". The purchase was put off for a day.

Second stop: Costco. While prices were great, I only needed the mattress, not the box springs, and in typical costco format, I would have been forced to over buy.

Third stop: Sleep Country. This time, I met up with a the quintessential sales guy: "hey, I'm going to sell you and while doing so, completely BS you 'cause that's my MO." One question yielded a five minute answer, of which four of those minutes were spent repeating what he'd said in the first minute. I learned that Sleep Country isn't too flexible with the delivery schedule, but they also haul away the old (and stained) mattress to donate to children's charities. "We donate the highest number of mattresses to [insert name of favorite children's charity]". Right. Somehow, he mistook me for caring about the children. I couldn't deal with him, plus Pete convinced me that first, this was a guest bed, so not used a lot, and second, I would most likely sell the mattress with the unit in 3-5 years, so why spend a lot of money?

Pete can be cheap at times, by the way.

Fourth stop: IKEA, despite my better judgement. But, I did find a mattress that I deemed to be good guest quality (i.e., I would sleep on it) and that wasn't too expensive. I asked about delivery, and when we discovered that it would be $50, Pete convinced me that I could save myself the money and "we can tie it to the top of my car." The oh-so helpful sales guy chimed in, "Yes, and we have guys with twine that will tie it to your car. Our service to you." I guess he wasn't paid on commission.

We wrestled the mattress onto the cart, paid for it, stopped for soft ice cream (delicious and btw, IKEA does have good food. I'm especially a big fan of their meatballs and from their food store, pickled herring and mashed fish paste in a tube) and then wheeled the mattress to the loading area, where the youngish twine guy set to work tying the mattress to Pete's car.

It turns out that the twine guy didn't really know what he was doing.

About a mile down the freeway, the mattress started to dance in the wind, supplied by mother nature, the semi trucks and natural drag on the car. We opened the sun roof, trying to hold on to the mattress with the twine, completely useless. Finally, Pete pulled over, we opened the windows, grabbed onto the handles on the side of the mattress, used the GPS to find a route home that didn't require freeways and drove 12 long, very long, miles back to my house.

It must have been quite a site: two people, driving a low-end luxury car, with the windows open, grasping tightly to a mattress haphazardly tied to the top of the car.

I couldn't stop laughing the entire way. About 2 miles in, I turned to Pete, giggling: "we are now one of those people".

Pete's car sporting the matttress:

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was recently culling through some work data, and discovered a statistic that bloggers wish that they had more time to blog (or something like that). I completely feel that way; the blogging has suffered a lot over the past month.

But never fear, my home PC is assembled (for now, until I need to move it again, or until it gasps its' last breath and bursts into flames), and I've uploaded all of my pictures. These aren't the most current - I've started acquiring a few new pieces of furniture, have hung stuff up on the walls, rearranged a bit. But, this gives you an idea of how my place looks. I also have a bunch of entries that need to be written and will fill in with more pictures over the next few days (Labor Day, yeah!).

The kitchen, all important:

The living room. I'm wavering between painting the fireplace wall a dark plum with undertones of blue OR a burnt orange. Thoughts, anyone? Eventually a flat-screen TV will replace Audrey above the fireplace.

And, the night of move in, standing on the roof top deck, holding the all-important bottle of bubbly, with the city view behind me. Unfortunately, it's a bit dark and you can't see much of the view. The next two pictures, with sunset as a backdrop, show off the view quite nicely. Alan is in the first one, Aaron and Pete (who obviously weren't paying attention when I said, "hey, look, I'm taking a picture") are in the second, nicely framing the Space Needle.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Announcement: I am now officially a homeowner.

Inspection and closing day started smoothly, but by 10AM, had turned into a high level of stress that only ended when I walked into the title company's office to sign a 2" stack of papers. Because of pain and suffering, BofA ended up waiving my closing costs, a nice surprise that's going to result in a nice monetary return. Hello Crate and Barrel steamer bar cabinet.

I get the keys today. I move Friday. I'll post pictures soon.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 06:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Closing is very, very near. Tuesday is a big day: I'm scheduled for a final walkthrough/inspection, followed by paper signing and check writing with the title company. I close on Wednesday, which I think is the day that I get my keys and take possession. The movers arrive at 8AM on Friday. I think I'm ready on my end. Thanks to Pete, I'm about 75% packed. I've transferred all of the utilities and changed my address, with the exception of the broadband service. I've transferred money around, so barring any banking disaster (eTrade makes me nervous), should be set to go with the funds. (A note about the writing process - I have to pause and take a deep breath each time I reread and edit this paragraph).

Construction is almost complete. Considering how fast this has gone, it looks like the various contractors have done a fairly good job and I didn't notice any real problems. We'll see what comes through in the inspection. The one big item to date - the builder hasn't replaced all of the windows. After Jeff explained the mechanics of construction loans to me, it makes sense - the builder is strapped for cash. This was made glaringly apparent when it looked like they weren't going to close on Wednesday, but then promised they would once the realization that they'd have to pay me $1,400 set in.

Some updated pictures. I hope that the next ones are of the completed unit, and then of my new home with my belongings and personality.

The kitchen - yeah!

My bedroom:

The dining area, note tiled with lighting fixture:

And finally, the murphy bed enclosure, sans murphy bed. I like this picture, as it shows off the floor quite nicely.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

They still have a lot to do before closing, but it's very cool to see actual progress.

Color has now been splashed on the wall.

Cabinets are installed in the kitchen:

The flooring has arrived, and is ready to be installed:

And here's the living room. Behind the washing machine (!) is the dining nook.

I am really, really excited. It's all coming together. I am also incredibly stressed - I've only had a good night's sleep once in the past 10 days because I took a sleeping pill. Trouble with sleep is always the first sign that I'm stressed. My teeth are starting to hurt, meaning I'm clenching my jaw while I'm sleeping. The last time I was this stressed about anything was more than a year ago, when in the space of three weeks, I resigned from a job, moved to a new city and started a new job.

I describe this process as akin to spinning six different pieces, four of which are controlled by others and need to stop at the right instant and click into the correct place for this closing and move to happen on time. It needs to - I've given notice, booked movers, started moving money around and arranged for a final cleaning.

I'll be very glad when I'm ordering pizza and opening a champagne battle on July 27.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My closing has now been delayed by two weeks, to July 25. It looks like things are moving along - dry wall was put up last week, texturing and taping and primer this week. I'm hoping that by next week, I'll see some paint up on the walls, cabinets delivered, appliances appearing, etc.

New pictures:

The kitchen. Imagine cabinets, counter tops and appliances.

The fireplace. The wall above the fireplace has been future proofed for the flat screen TV, with power and cabling for cable, HDMI and the videogame systems run through the walls. Pete and I got to punch a big hole in the wall for the cabling, which was kind of cool. In about 60 years when several owners from now punch through the walls, they are going to wonder who was stupid enough to stuff 25 feet of cable in the walls. Let them wonder, I say, let them wonder. I am also now the proud owner of an electric stud finder.

Finally, the murphy bed enclosure, which is where all of you who come to visit or pass out after the excesses of Cap Hill will be sleeping. Note the big windows from the living and lanai in the background. If light bothers you, you've been warned: bring a sleeping mask.

More pictures as it comes along!

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my former life as an analyst, I'd often be asked to discuss technology convergence, in essence, mashing together several seemingly separate and unrelated features in one device, a conversation that almost always centered around the cell phone. Convergence rarely works, I would explain, and really, only a handful of consumer electronics products have succeeded with any degree of success: the clock radio, the camera phone, the PC (for all that it's worth).

But, it could work, right? I'd patiently continue my explanation. BOM costs would be fairly high. The device would be the size of a brick. Explaining/marketing the value prop would be fraught with difficulty. And perhaps the biggest problem, the one most difficult to overcome, was the complexity of bringing a product of value to the market, one which in the process of combining disparate features, didn't result in a device in which none of the features worked particularly well because too many concessions had to be made to fit everything together, reduce BOM costs, take advantage of existing manufacturing processes, etc. The history of consumer electronics products bears this out: the N-Gage (crappy phone, crappy game player); PSP movies (proprietary format+small screen+bad audio); combined TV-VCR (I can't even believe a market still exists for that product; one component always breaks); the all-in-one set-top box (a DVD player+DVR+set-top+router+coffee maker sounds great, but...); the ROKR (seriously, how bad was the experience of getting music to that phone?)...and the list continues. And, while the DVD functionality of the PS2/Xbox was good, Sony and Microsoft were smart enough to design the DVD experience as secondary to the gaming experience - they never billed the consoles as DVD players.

Usually, by the end of this rant, I'd like to think I'd convinced the client/colleague/friend/reporter that the reality was, maybe someone, someday could pull off a great converged device, but for the time being, we (consumers) were willing to carry around multiple devices. If I wanted to play great games, I didn't look to my iPod, rather it was all about music. If I wanted to communicate with others, it certainly wasn't with my N-Gage or my Nintendo DS, in the case of the latter, it was only about great game play.

So after all of that...I'm now ready to admit that I was wrong. Completely. Wrong.

The iPhone has changed my mind. It is the perfect example of convergence working, and not only sort of working, but working in a completely seamless and well integrated way. The overall software design is amazing, and the little details are well thought out (the phone automatically locks! the activation experience is easy and simple!) The phone is great - fabulous sound, easy to make calls, a huge leap forward in managing voice mail. Texting takes a little getting used to - but I love the threaded messaging and am getting used to tapping, rather than typing. The iPod works - the design and usability differs from the iPod, but not in a bad way (I like being able to "flip" through my albums). Most importantly, the music experience is well integrated with the voice experience. If I'm listening to music on my headset using the iPhone earbuds, the music automatically stops, and I can talk via the speaker built into the earbuds. Wow. And the web experience. Resizing pages and pictures by "pinching" the screen. All amazing.

That's not to say that it's perfect. I really want to use my own music as a ring tone. I had huge problems initially, mainly because my PC wouldn't recognize the iPhone (I have a feeling that this was more of a PC issue than an iPhone issue). I'm still not able to import my contacts from Outlook into the phone. And, I'm not sure that I'll be able to plug the iPod part of the phone into my car's iPod connector and still be able to use it as a phone (currently, the phone switches into airplane mode, but still plays music in my car). Maybe soon that scenario will work, although I'm certain it will cost me money. No games, but then, it's likely that some casual games (and only casual games) migrate to the device in the future; Bedazzled on a touch screen would be fun. Finally, it is expensive - I could have picked up a Dell Inspiron for the same price; but to be fair, the iPhone price will go down.

The more I've used and played with the iPhone, discovering new features, figuring out how it works, the more impressed and excited I've become. In my history of consumer purchases/acquisitions, I've only felt this way about a few products: my Kitchen-Aid mixer, Lolita (my Mini Cooper), my Nintendo DS, and a certain device that uses electricity rather than batteries.

I'm really excited to see how the iPhone changes my behavior. I know that I'll still use the shuffle for running/the gym. And, I suspect that I'll continue to use my iPod for music in the office and at home. I have 20GB+ of music, and the iPhone only has 8GB of storage, so in it's current form, the iPhone isn't a perfect substitute to carry all of my music in my pocket. I am excited about using the iPhone for on-the-go directions, traffic and weather checks. And, maybe I'll take more phone pictures, since now I can easily send pictures from my phone to the PC.

I was wrong, and I'm not feeling bad admitting the truth. Convergence can work. Sometimes, it feels good to be proven wrong, especially when the end result is so delightfully right.

PS: Pete, thank you for buying me the phone, and to Richard & Melissa, Gavin & Elaine and whoever else waiting at the UVillage Apple Store, thank you for agreeing to help me move so that I could use my mover money for the iPhone. I'll be sending you date/time/place information shortly.

PPS: Just kidding about the moving thing ;) You all know I'm not that cheap. Or crazy.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I ran the Fremont 5K Friday night, reaching my personal best time, 36 minutes, for a 5K. For those of you paying attention, this was about 3 minutes faster than the St. Paddy's Day Dash, although about flat with the Beat the Bridge Race a few weeks ago.

A few things about the race. It was an evening race, so very different dynamic than the usual early morning start. It was also on the smaller end, maybe 350 runners. And, the planners also sponsored a briefcase relay, which meant that I got to see teams of people dressed in wacky clothes, including riffs on the office worker garb, with a few carrying briefcases.

The race began/ended at Adobe Plaza, where a too small beer garden had been set up. Sadly, garlic was roasting in the oven and we had to skip the beer garden, but I was treated to a delicious spaghetti dinner after.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since moving to Capitol Hill, I've wandered past the Vertigo Building, a building distinctive enough to stand out and make me wonder about the inside. I probably would have missed it, except that it's located next to the Cap Hill Library, where I get books and admire the architecture.

In mid-March, I noticed a sign in front of the Vertigo building announcing that the building had turned condo, using the clever tagline "If the City is Your Game of Tag, This is Your Base". I wandered inside, took a look at a few of the units and instantly fell in love. A few weeks later, after many discussions, hours spent at the building and friends/family drug along to look, I made an offer, on April 14, to be exact. The offer was accepted. Not only am I moving once again (number six in slightly less than nine years), but taking a huge life step.

On July 11, after an extended escrow period, I am going to be homeowner.

Exciting, fabulous, terrifying and just plain "wow" can only capture my myriad of emotions.

The Vertigo isn't exactly what I thought I wanted. Originally, I described my perfect home in terms of old warm charm, built from the 1900s through the 1920s, with a brick exterior, creaking wood floors, high ceilings, built-in glass cabinets and other characteristics of that era. The Vertigo is none of that, rather a hulking mass of concrete circa 1961, but still with character. However, in this case, it's reminiscent of shag and kitsch and modern, before that era turned cheap and tacky and Sputnik modern.

I've always loved that early 60s feel, even driving a car that smacks squarely within that era. As I thought about my life, particuarly having hit my one year mark in Seattle, I realized that since 2001, I've lived in old warm charm houses and apartments, some nicer than others. And decided that it was time for a change.

Even though I haven't yet moved, and July 11 is only a fixed date that can easily change (in the process of condoizing the building, units have been gutted and completely remodeled, so yes, I will have granite counter tops and dishwasher and washing machine), I've already begun to think about the housewarming party. Food from the 1950s era will be served, although in my fashion, updated for 2007. Already, I'm thinking martinis, deviled eggs, onion dip, meatballs. Any other ideas?

The most important room, the soon-to-be kitchen.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m not really surprised that time passes so quickly – we all acknowledge that in a seeming blink of the eye, a day, a week, a month, a year goes by. In this case, March 26 marks my “I can’t believe it’s been a year�? moment, the day that I moved to Seattle and began working for bill.

I’ve been toying with this blog entry for a while. Part of me thought about writing the self-reflective “how I’ve found myself and grown as a person�? piece. But that would, well, not be right. Life in Seattle isn’t dramatically different from that which I left behind in San Francisco. I still go out with friends, I still cook, I still go to the gym in the mornings before work, I still linger over brunch and mimosas on the weekends, I still do many things on my own. The people and location and job have changed (as I knew it would, and in the case of my job, needed a big change), but I’m not sure how much I, and the basics of my life, have changed. Honestly, the one part of my life that I thought would be different by now, has remained steadfastly the same.

Don’t get me wrong – Seattle has been fabulous and while I miss San Francisco and my friends in the Bay Area, I have no regrets about moving here. It still feels good to go to work, and while my job isn’t perfect, it makes me much happier than the one I left behind. I have made fabulous friends, all of whom bring new experience and stories and make me laugh. Seattle has many wonderful qualities. Despite the fact that the weather has been horrible this winter, I really, really like living in this city and it does feel like home. Importantly, summer is around the corner. Which means more sunshine and warmth, something that I feel like I’ve almost forgotten. I’m not joking when I say that it’s been a hard, hard winter.

I can’t write about everything that has happened to me in the past year – that would be impossible, and probably ruin the spirit of this blog, food and drink. And besides which, much of the year is in this blog. So, I thought that highlights of my unique to be in Seattle experience would be best. I know I’m leaving things out, but really, that’s why I have a blog. Anyways, here goes.

--The Rise and Fall of Coco La Ti Da. I absolutely adored Coco and talked it up to everyone. I patronized as much as I could afford, bought two cakes and generally loved everything about it, the food, the atmosphere, the desserts. Three months after opening, co-owner and chef Sue called it quits, possibly suffering some sort of breakdown. And now it sits empty, a giant “retail space available�? sign in the window, silently mocking me.

--Running. After years spent ellipticalling, the lure of Guinness finally made me step into running. I’ve surprised myself by how much I enjoy the activity. While I’ve never been a big slacker when it comes to the gym, I’ve found that running has given me a new excitement for exercise. I love Green Lake (thanks Jill, for organizing) and think the little races are fun, fun, fun. Plus, food and/or drink (as in Zoka coffee) is a reward at the end.

--Venus Café. While I do talk up Venus Café, it is generally only to select individuals. Purposely, I haven’t written much, if anything, about Venus, mainly because I don’t want to give anyone any ideas of going there. Seriously, stay away. Don’t go. But if you do insist, their brunch is fabulous, trust me. And the mimosa comes in a pint glass, a bundle of fabulous goodness, that as Carrie says, “takes the edge off�?. Kudos to that.

--The Park Rose Terrace. I believe that after forcing me into three unexpected and hurried moves, the housing gods have blessed me, not once, but twice. First, I found an amazing apartment in San Francisco. And then, I found the Park Rose Terrace in Seattle. It’s in the perfect neighborhood and an incredibly social building, probably the first and last time in my life that I’ll know my neighbors as intimately. We hang out, we have real conversations, we eat together, we celebrate together, we generally have fun. This is especially true in the summer, with the patio and the bbqs. I met my realtor, John, through a neighbor; John refers to my building as Melrose Place, which I think sums it up nicely, only sans the back stabbing and pool of death.

--My Liver Hates Me Again. It’s a fairly well known fact that my social life was sucked away in the five years that I lived in Silicon Valley. The one real exception was roommating with Dan, which consisted of an extremely well stocked liquor cabinet and too many lemon drops, cosmos and margaritas. Then I moved to San Francisco, where life morphed into a great and fun party. Despite my intense unhappiness with my job, I was extremely lucky to have the flexibility to work-at-home on limited sleep and/or a hangover days. When I moved to Seattle, I joked that “the partying is going to end for a long time, maybe forever, which will be good because my liver needs a break.�? The partying ended for about two months, and once again, my poor liver is suffering just as much as ever. However, I should point out that the excellent fruit-based cocktails at Sun Liquor provide me with vitamins and minerals.

--Coffee & Donuts. Joe Bar is my favorite coffee shop. Great coffee and when the kitchen is open (although after almost a year, I still can’t figure out the kitchen schedule), produces fabulous sandwiches and crepes. Top Pot has inspired me to love donuts. Cafe Vivace makes my favorite latte. Which reminds me – my coffee consumption has increased, a very Seattle thing, I’m sure.

--Dodgeball. I think I was accepted as one of the guys when a teammate standing next to me mooned the other team during the highly charged semi-finals round. It really doesn’t matter though, the game is fun, fun, fun. And when I say “highly charged�?, I’m referring to the other gender’s general worked-upedness about winning or losing the game.

--An Appreciation for Software Development. While not related to food (notice that the work cafeteria has not been mentioned on this list), I have gained so much knowledge about the inner workings of the software development business, how and why decisions are made, which to the outsider, can be puzzling, at best. I can honestly say that I would have been a much better analyst with even a year of the experience that I now have (not to mention the immense learning about research and problem solving). The Office productivity suite is not perfect, but considering so many factors, it truly is an amazing product.

One year. 365 days. Wow.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm in whining mode right now. After spending two glorious weeks in warmth and sun and warmth, I came home to cold and rainy Seattle, flew to Vegas for a few days (it was cold there too) and now, back home for less than a week, have had two snow days. It's in the teens and 20s, and if I'm lucky, the temperature will climb into the 30s.

Snow evidence for all of you who care. The first two pics are of the patio on the Park Rose Terrace, my apartment building.

This picture is the view of the water (Lake Union) down the street from my house. It's very pretty, framed by trees covered in snow. Unfortunately, you're not able to see that car on the right is the first of four cars that slid into each other.

And this picture is of the Park Rose Terrace from the sidewalk.

Now, for those of you that live in places with real snow and are now hilariously laughing at how a few inches could bring a city to its knees and turn me, normally sunny and cheerful, into a whiney mess, I need to point out a few things. First, I've been told that this is a freak weather year, a fact that I may or may not be around to verify in future winters, but still, highly unusual for a city that deals well with rain, but not snow and ice. This is compounded by knowing that until less than a year ago, I had lived my entire life in a geographic area where snow was a destination to be driven to and frolicked in, not a fact of life. Thus, I'm somewhat unequipped to deal with snow (as you may have already picked up in previous blogs). And finally, some evidence of the good life in Panama a short time ago, where life was glorious and the weather was warm. (BTW, Panama write-up will be posted soon).

Panama was warm. I had beaches (Isla Contadora and Red Frog in the Bocas Islands).

I had verdant jungle (Parque Natural Metropolitano, a national park within the city limits).

And palm trees (this is outside of my hotel room on Isla Canerero in the Bocas Islands).

I'm not bitter or anything. Really, I'm not.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I drove home from work last night with trepidation.

And was greeted to the sight of the Christmas lights twinkling on my building's front door.

The power has been restored.

A big thank you to all that offered your heat, homes, company and support over four very cold and depressing days and nights.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When deciding whether to accept the job and move to Seattle last February, I had many conversations with the recruiter and my manager about, well, everything. Including the weather, which I was told “is great. Mild weather, and while it rains, it’s really more of a mist and the once a year if it snows, its flurries and gone within a few hours.�? Considering the few months of winter thus far, somebody lied to me, big time.

I have yet to witness what the Seattle natives call "mist"; it rains just like in the Bay Area, big buckets of rain. The Seattle snow flurry that looked so charming became a nightmarish few days of snow, ice and bitter cold in the 20s and the low 30s. The Bay Area girl in me had a hard time – I’m not a cold weather person, I don’t know how to drive in the snow (in fact, snow driving scares me), and the heat in my apartment kind of sort but not quite works. Campus was shut down for two days, although I didn’t know about the shut down the first day, but did wonder why the gym was empty and only discovered when I sat in an empty conference room for 20 minutes and finally read the e-mail announcement. The roads were icy and slick. Luckily, Lolita is fundamentally a German car, so did quite well on the icy roads. Regardless, it was a crazy few days. By Thursday, life - the weather - settled back to normal.

And then this week happened. My week has been bizarre, for many reasons – lost cars, showers that didn’t take, odd meetings, two sleepless nights in a row, issues with the holidays, important items (such as wallets and cell phones) left at home, and a power outage Wednesday morning that caused me to oversleep by two hours (figures, that was the night I took a sleeping pill). By Thursday afternoon, I felt like things had sort of returned to normal. But alas, a giant rain and wind storm and flooded streets turned my commute into 1 ½ hours of hell (Lolita does well in floods, too). I got back to Seattle in time to meet Asra for the end of happy hour at Sun Liquor, and when I finally made it back home at 10:30, the power was out. I slept to the sound of fierce winds and it turns out that the storm was one of the most powerful on record.

Two days later, I still have no power. Luckily, not all of Capitol Hill is affected; the areas with restaurants/cafes still work, and thankfully, the gym still has power, so at least I’m able to take a hot shower (I couldn’t help but notice that many others had the same idea this morning).

Joe Bar has now become my second home. I’ve made new friends, bonding with other refugees using the café for sustenance and warmth and the Internet connection. As someone noted, it could be worse. At least I live in an urban area and can walk to the grocery store or café or whatever, unlike those that live in the middle of nowhere, or what I refer to as “the eastside�? (snicker). I don’t think that we’re being neglected – according to their website, Seattle Power and Light is doing the best that they can:

“Emergency shelters open as City Light crews restore power to more than 10,000 customers on Saturday. Currently, the Utility has approximately 39,974 customers without power, down from a high of 175,000 on Friday morning when approximately 50% of our customers were without service. A total of 65 feeders in our above-ground system went off line. Currently, 37 feeders have been restored, or partially restored. Feeders are the lines that bring electricity from substations to neighborhoods. Feeders can carry 2,000 to 4,000 customers each.

City Light crews are working continuously on rotational shifts throughout the weekend, day and night (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. However, after the weekend, a small number of miscellaneous outages will remain, or trickle in, due to the severity of the wind damage. Unfortunately, some customers may be without power for 48-72 hours, and others could experience extended outages of up to four (4) days. They should plan accordingly. The utility estimates those continued outages will be scattered throughout the city in isolated areas.�?

Almost everyone I talk to tells me that this winter weather is highly unusual. It never rains buckets and buckets. Wind storms are rarely occurring instances. Blackouts don’t ever happen in the city. The weather is really wonderful and mild. Right. I’ll keep that in mind when I go back to my cold and dark apartment tonight.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I expected Carrie to do a drive by pick-up when I flew down to the bay area for Big Game weekend. I stumbled across Nilay instead, just on the other side of the security area. “What are you doing here?�? I said, in my half awake state (It was 11:00, I’d been up since 5:30 and I’d had enough time to try Vino, the new wine bar at Seatac before the flight, which by the way, was decent). After chiding me for not being happier to see him, he explained, "we have a surprise for you."

After a slight snafu with directions and restaurants, Carrie and Emil greeted us at Cesar in Berkeley. “Happy (late) Birthday Schelley!�? A bottle of Moet and desserts (pots a creme, bread pudding and goat cheese drizzled with honey, my favorite) decorated with a festive candle and a Happy Birthday song. We caught up on life, details, made fun of each other.

Surprise!

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a rainy November in Seattle. And today, very cold. Actually, let me restress how cold it is. While I'm in doors, my heat is only working about half power, so it's fairly cold in my apartment.

But it did get very quiet in the early evening, and when I looked out the window, I noticed that the rain had frozen into snow. I took some pictures and spent some time sitting on my patio. For the first time, I'm actually living in a city with snow. Picture of the Park Rose Terrace patio below.

View image

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thus the title of a little invitation to a few good friends in Seattle. I threw a party to celebrate my 34th birthday, because after all, a birthday requires a celebration. And I felt the best celebration for me, this year, involved champagne and cake (from Coco, of course) and some food, to tamper the effects of the champane.

Using Cooks pizza dough recipe as a base - which required a certain amount of thought around timing since I was dealing with yeast - I made several varieties of pizza. Truffled mushroom, potato and garlic, margarita, sausage, caramelized onion and red peppers, and mushroom and caramelized onion, I think. It was fun - throwing ingredients together and tasting the results. I had a slice of each, my favorite was the truffled mushroom. Plus, there were some appetizers of the cheese and olive variety and Lee's dainty little sandwiches with avocado mousse and tuna spread. (Cheese was the always excellent Arina Goat Gouda; sadly, the Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk was spoiled and did not have that pleasant cheese smell, but something unpleasant best not explained).

Dessert. I was so enchanted by the Loveless Cake at Coco la ti da, I ordered one for my birthday. Sue made a fabulous cake, three layers of chocolate cake, with a layer of strawberry buttercream and another of vanilla buttercream, encased in pink fondant (with specks of gold!), and decorated with three marizapan strawberries. (pictures posted someday. maybe). The cake was beautiful, elegant and delicious.

Champagne flowed freely. We began with Freixent Brut, then moved to a Domaine St. Michelle from Columbia Valley to a Cristallino Rose Brut to a Rive Della Prosecco to a Lucien Albrecht Cremant d'Alsace Brut Rose (my favorite, I discovered in one of my SF adventures and have a funny story that goes along). I was going to open a bottle of Sofia (also available in dainty pink cans with straws!), until Jill wisely pointed out that we'd had a lot to drink and best to go with less expensive alcohol. Thus, some port.

In a side note, Lee goes down in history as the first of my friends to spill drink on my couch. Luckily, quick blotting action and clear colors meant zero damage to the couch. I always thought that Carrie would be the first, with a bright pink cosmo, but alas, the award goes to Lee. Congrats!

Thank you Jill and Jamie, Asra and Hani, (the newly engaged) Gavin and Elaine, Lee Dicks and Alan for a fabulous birthday party! I can't think of a better way to start 34.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A friend of many years sent me an e-mail, wishing me happy birthday, on the day of. A "happy birthday and hope you have a great day" followed by a couple of happenings in her life. Her final line, "Anyways, I know our birthdays aren't as meaningful anymore..." I instantly felt like I had been punched in the stomach - the excitement of having a day that was, in that birthday sort of way, my own day, completely deflated. Thirty minutes later, a co-worker sang me a happy birthday song at the staff meeting. Birthday wishes floated around. Coincidentally, someone brought Top Pot donuts, and I found two with pink frosting and sprinkles (which I took to be a sign and ate). A few others, when I related the story, gave me a funny look and said, "No. Birthdays are very important. That wasn't a nice thing to say."

I agree. Birthdays are meaningful. A birthday always, instantly, justifies some sort of celebration. My birthday is really the only celebration I have that can be publicly all about me, a distinct difference from the private smaller ones of "oh, I got a new job" or "I finally finished that project" or "hey, it's Sunday dinner!" And, as I told Carrie "It's only me - I have to celebrate when I can".

I think that birthdays are meaningful in another way: it's a milestone, of sorts. It signals that you've survived happy and sad and difficul and exciting and the flatlining moments of life for another year. And, it is always a time for reflection, how life has changed (or not) and how I have changed (or not) since the last milestone. Two years ago, things were going badly, and I remember crying in my office on Caroline's shoulder in mid-October, an event prompted in part by pre-birthday reflections (I still listen to the excellent mix CD she made me to reflect that mood). A year ago, for number 33, I was in London, celebrating with lunch amongst the tragic upper crust at Harvey Nichols, a massage, the world's best martini at the St. James Hotel (so good, I had two) and amazing Fahlkredine dinner, surrounded by Nilay, Gabe and Carrie. I was desperately unhappy in my job and knew that I needed to make a change soon, before I lost my mind. And, I was chasing after someone who completely failed to notice.

A year later, I've moved to a new city, made new friends, deepened friendships with many of the old ones and am now in a job that makes me so much happier (and I'm not just saying that, Jeff). This past year has not always been easy - but I can honestly say that I've learned a lot about myself and what I want and set some goals for where I should be. Balance, peace, things that are personally fulfilling are more important than ever. I have stopped chasing.

Because it's my birthday, I will celebrate. I've planned a quiet little gathering, involving cake, champagne and some food. Because, it is a birthday and it means something to me and to my friends. (Apologies to friends that can't be here. Let me know and I'll drink a champagne toast in your honor).

So what about the comment? Likely, my friend would be shocked if she knew how much those words stung. It could have been a meaningless comment, something to fill the space of a four paragraph e-mail message. It may also have been driven from a much different perspective, of the dramatic differences in our lives and the paths we have taken over the past ten years. The differences and the comment don't invalidate the relationship we have, in fact, I like hearing stories of her life, and I suspect that she likes hearing my stories. The right thing to do is to go forward.

Just as an aside, my birthday falls on Muerta de las Dios, the Day of the Dead, a holiday to honor our deceased ancestors in the Mexican/Latina tradition. I'm still not sure what to make of it, although it is kind of cool that candy, in the shape of skulls and skeletons and other ghoulish stuff, is distributed. The date is November 2, for all of you not familiar with the holidays of our friends who live south of us.

And, to talk about food and alcohol, the themes of this blog. Tony sent me a very excellent "tapas" package from Dean and Deluca, with clay tapas dishes (the kind that a bar in Madrid used to cook me gambas), marcona almonds, black and green olives, chorizo, piquillo peppers and tuna in olive oil. Mom and Dad sent a set of beautifully decorated martini glasses, from a company named "Lolita" (!) and sporting the "Cosmopolitan" theme. The cosmo recipe is hand-painted on the bottom, in case I ever forget. And yes, the glasses have already been baptized.

Birthdays do have meaning, after all.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)