Snow in Seattle

It's snowing in Seattle again. Of course that means that local residents are freaking out because of a little frozen precipitation. There's only an inch or two on the ground and nothing has stuck to the roads. Yet everyone still drives at two miles per hour. Stranger still, they manage to get into wrecks at these slow speeds. Strange place.

Sat

41°F | 34°F

Acapulco Fresh

I almost never eat breakfast. It's a bad habit, I know. Nevertheless...

After a long day of dealing with moving and apartment issues, I was extremely hungry. Mexican sounded good, especially after missing lunch as well. Off to Acapulco Fresh for a fish burrito or two.

I walk in. A woman with a couple of kids is eating dinner off in one corner. I order. I start loading up on salsa and pico de gallo at the salsa bar. About this time, the woman approaches me. Her young boys are hovering several steps behind. She walks right up to me, dangerously close. I have just enough time to notice that she's very pretty and dressed in very sexy business attire. Then, she accosts* me.

"My four year old is having a melt down while we're eating our dinner in the corner over there. Will this bother you while you're in here?"

"What?", I mumble.

She repeats herself.

"Uh... No?", I stammer. Avoid confrontation. Don't make eye contact. Grovel.

"Are you certain you won't be bothered? He's making a big fuss. Yelling, screaming and throwing a tantrum. That won't interfere with your meal?", she asks.

"Nope. Not at all.", I say looking at the two kids who haven't made a peep during this entire exchange. "My order is to go."

Just then another customer walks in. Guy. Maybe mid-forties. Hearing him enter, the woman turns, muttering something like 'Ahh, someone else is here to eat!' She marches uncomfortably close to him. He receives a quick recitation of more or less the same thing she said to me. I watch the initial confusion and then the reluctance to get involved spill across his face. Glancing at me, he quickly reassures her, "No, my meal won't be affected by your child's tantrums."

Once satisfied with our responses, he and I being the only other patrons, she hurries back to her booth in the back, kids in tow.

The new customer and I look at each other, shake our heads and stifle our laughter.



* The third definition is not one I was familiar with before looking it up just now. Now the verb seems all the more appropriate.

NEW New Apartment

After checking out of corporate housing this morning, I went in to work for just a few hours to read email and take care of anything urgent. Around noon I left for the new apartment complex. Once there, management informed me that our expected apartment had been flooded when the water heater in the apartment upstairs failed and dumped its contents. Luckily, they had an identical apartment ready as well. I quickly scrambled to call the moving company and Comcast to rearrange their appointments.

Comcast nearly ruined my day a bit more. The operator there told me that because of the address change she would have to delete the old work order and enter a new one, despite the fact that it was in the same complex about 300 yards away. That of course meant that I might be waiting to get internet service on some other day. She managed to get the appointment for today despite everything. I thanked her and asked her nicely to pass on a suggestion to management that their scheduling system be updated and revamped to eliminate such stupidity in the future. We'll see.

After all the boxes were in, the internet installed and everyone had left, I went to Acapulco Fresh to get some Mexican food. And that is another story...

New Apartment

Signed the lease to my new apartment today. I get the keys and move in on Wednesday. Comcast installation is scheduled for the same day. They're bringing by the rest of my stuff sometime that afternoon. I've got to have all my stuff cleared out of corporate housing that morning. Should be an eventful day!