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It was just over a month ago that Brooke and I returned from a mini-vacation to, as the above photo's climate hints, Seattle. Besides being a relaxing long weekend in a new city, it was especially fun trip because most of the major expenses were covered by the good people at Evite.com.
Back in January we used Evite to alert friends of a small gathering for the Super Bowl. As Brooke was sending the invitations (which included this gem), she was prompted to click a box and be entered into Evite's Big Game Sweepstakes or some such. She clicked as instructed, figuring it probably wouldn't hurt to give away our friends' personal email information, and promptly forgot about it.
A couple weeks later, Brooke got a call saying she won second prize in their drawing: tickets to any regular season NFL game as well as the associated airfare and hotel. After making sure it wasn't a prank and weighing the tax consequences we eagerly accepted the prize and set about choosing a destination. Ideally we'd love to cheer on the Bears at a road game, but didn't find any destinations on their away schedule that tempting. After some discussion we settled on Seattle ("seattled"?) since neither of us had been there but were eager to see the place.
It did not disappoint.
We got one full day of the stereotypical Seattle rain we expected but then two unseasonably sunny days which made for great sightseeing. We indulged on great seafood from local restaurants, great coffee from the birthplace of the stuff and, consequently, the great kindness of establishments with public restrooms.
It was the sort of satisfying vacation that you leave feeling like you saw and did more than people who lived there for decades. Packed with planned activities, but not too hectic. The perfect way to shift from an eventful summer into a busy fall.
Feel free to experience the memories in this photo video (with soundtrack by an up-and-coming Seattle talent).
We had a fire drill at work today. That's not meant as a dopey corporate euphemism for some urgent project – I mean an actual practice for exiting the building in case of an emergency. It was a surprise drill for most people, but not me since I am our floor's fire warden.
This duty was bestowed upon me recently when Jennifer, the former warden, moved to new position on another floor. A few months ago Jen did a great favor by recommending me for my current job. So when she asked if I'd be interested taking over the role, I felt more than a little obligated to help her avoid the task of convincing someone else.
While I prefer to think my proven leadership skills and ability to remain cool in a crisis helped me earn the floor warden position, I think the primary qualification was being tall enough to see over the rows of cubicles. Also my voice has been known to carry amazing distances when others' safety is concerned or when I've had a few belts of whiskey and need to share something "hilarious".
Please don't misunderstand – I accept and perform the fire warden duties with all the appropriate seriousness. Perhaps more than most places, we in Chicago are exceedingly cautious when it comes to the dangers of fire. But I also I consider the role to a bit like the hall monitor in grade school. There's no extra material reward for going above and beyond in this case, but we're here 40 hours a week anyway so I might as well wring a few drops of recognition and authority wherever possible, right? Plus, yeah, it's a flattering charge to think that people would actually depend on me in a real emergency.
At the very least, I expect this job will be an interesting test of the belief that ladies love a man in uniform. A tall, boisterous lout in a DayGlo cap and vest is a far cry from the traditional knight in shining armor image, but it'll do for now.
[Note: Alternative hacky title for this post: "Orange You Glad I Didn't Take Another Month Off?"]
