++ SO IT SEEMS or (h)rumor has it SARS has reached the seattle area through some (dirty) sailors who just sailed from hong kong. although i haven't heard anything about t recently. maybe they died or or it went away? yeah i'm not sure.

work is well. a bit quiet. i've been here for a week now and feeling alright. not too rushed to get anything done, but not sitting around surfing the internet either. and i've been on two site visits, in the first two days. i think thats about as many as i have gone on in all my other co-ops combined. its really relaxed. sometimes i feel like i'm over-dressed. maybe i should stop wearing a three piece tuxedo to work everyday. people wear jeans and t-shirts to work everyday or at least someone does everyday. and they don't have casual fridays, because pretty much everyday is casual. its a nice atmosphere. and i have a skylight over my desk. how nice is that. (except for the afternoon glare...which is not really a problem seeing as how its mostly been overcast so far.)

there is a western union a little ways on my walk to work. i pass by there about 7.55 every morning and every morning there is a different person waiting at the door for it to open. and never the same person. never the same crowd. one day a homeless man, the next day two mexicans, the next a guy well dressed in a business suit and tie, the next day a middle class soccer mom in sweat pants. i don't get it. does the western union here give free handouts. where do i take a number? maybe a raffle? guess my number just hasn't been called yet.

oh yeah and the mist, seattle has mist all the time. its not an outright rain all the time (just to dispell the rumors and folklore.) it is rain sometimes, but most of the time it is a mist or a light drizzle. but its enough to piss you off and make you want it to stop. and here's why, the amount of moisture collected on my shoes runs off onto my car mats after i get in the car, right? not a problem. except that every day there is a little bit more moisture and so the other day i stepped into my car and there was some standing water where my car mat was. granted it was avery small amount of actual standing water, but there was accumulated wetness there. there was always just enough rain there (and it hasn't been warm, so none of it evaporated or dried up obviously) that it just keeps getting more and more, so i had to spend a half hour slamming my car mats down on the pavement drying to flush all the water out. i must have looked like an idiot beating a car mat against the sidewalk. its still not dry. ++