Blade Edge

So after my trip to Vancouver I had to shoot down to Seattle the following week for the LOGIN Conference, which you can read about in more detail over at my GDNet Journal. I arrived in Seattle Sunday just 11am and it was barely a 5 minute car ride to my hotel. After checking in and getting settled I headed out to walk around downtown and Pike’s Place Market – like I do every year as a matter of fact. Being that this was my 4th trip out to Seattle I hadn’t realized how accustomed I had become to the city. I’ve down the waterside parks, Pike’s Place, the local aquarium (that was recently re-done by my friend who runs Raleigh Aquarium Maintenance) and heck even the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra! I had not realized until then that I had pretty much run out of cool things to do in the immediate Seattle area!

So Sunday I spent all afternoon and into the evening chilling in the Sound View Cafe, which is a nice little restaurant in Pike’s Market that offers an unobstructed view of Puget Sound. It was a bright and clear day, so the mountains were easily visible offering a great view. Better yet I got the seat all the way in the back corner that offers the best view and most privacy. Some homeless-looking guy was in it last year when I first discovered the place and its yummy BBQ Salmon sandwich. I passed the time largely by studying the manual for my Grucci pyrotechnical license, which I’m set to complete this weekend.

Monday night I went out for my 3rd annual dinner with Steve Chiavelli (Snowblind), his wife Brittany Aubert (5th Cell) and our mutual friend Zach Peterson (Snowblind). We hit the Pike’s Place Pub (or Pike’s Pub?) and, having realized I had been eating rather exotically the past few days, decided I needed a nice juicy burger. We had a great time catching up, and they gave me several ideas for things to do on my next trip out.

Tuesday night was another special dinner, this one organized by my old friend Dave Weinstein (Microsoft, formerly Red Storm). For $70 myself and 22 other people were invited by him to dine in style at a chef-owned restaurant called the Art of the Table. Dave is a culinary aficionado, and so when he professes a place to be the best in all of Seattle, it piques your tastebuds. While the first two courses of the 4-course meal were a bit too fancy for my tastes, the king salmon was exquisite. For a private dining experience, this was certainly well worth the money, especially considering normal meals like this in places like NYC will run you hundreds of dollars. Dave, his wife and two others from the “Dining Cabal” went back on Friday for another round 🙂 Dave also gave me some leads for my next trip out.

While I was sitting in the Marriott lobby where the conference was being held, I was approached by one of the volunteers, who was a student at DigiPen. He saw my “GDNet” sticker on my badge and asked if I worked for GDNet. After confirming his suspicions he proceeded to tell me how much he loved the site and how he and his fellow DigiPen students used it quite often. He also talked about student meetings and made me realize that in the 4 years I had been visiting Seattle I had never once thought to visit the DigiPen campus.

On Thursday, before I flew out that night, my friend Rusel DeMaria invited me along to attend his Tai Chi class, which his wife instructs. This was yet another opportunity to delve a bit into an alternate style of fighting similar to the medieval swordplay and grappling I did in Vancouver. So I went, and pretty much just followed along (it was a small class of only 6 of us total) as we went through some forms. Luckily thanks to my previous martial arts experience I was able to think less of my footwork and focus more on what my hands, arms and torso were doing, since that was the biggest difference. It was a fun workout, more relaxing than taxing but I still somehow walked away feeling a little sore! Rusel was kind enough to drop me off at the airport to catch my flight, which ended up being delayed an hour.

So while I arrived in Seattle this year with nothing cool to do, I now have plenty of plans to look into for my next trip. One of my friends out there could take me up for a plane ride. Another owns a sailboat that we could go out on perhaps. I will definitely be renting a car, so I can travel outside the city to places suggested to me, like Snoqualmie Falls. I’ll be arranging a visit to the DigiPen campus to meet with the students there, maybe do a Q&A session on industry stuff. Brittany and Steve now have an awesome lake-side cottage and we’ve already decided we’ll be moving our yearly dinners out there for a lakeside BBQ. Steve and Brittany have also done some trampoline dodgeball, and I’m going to see if I can get in on a match while I’m out there. I might also partake in another Tai Chi class.

I’ve just gotten back from Seattle, and I can hardly wait to return!