Seattle Sounders Game from the Hawks Nest

Ben's mom found a great deal off of Groupon for an upcoming Sounders game on a Wednesday.  Instead of paying $80+ for two tickets and two scarves, she only paid about $60.  This was before I knew about my job so I told Ben it was a good day to go.  He took a few hours off that day so we could leave around 3:30, enough time to get to Seattle, eat and participate in the march.  That didn't happen.  I started my job, I had training that day until 5:00 and to top it off the effing Chinese president was in town screwing up traffic.

I had Ben meet me at the L&I building as soon as he could.  I made sure I had all of my stuff packed in the car and that I went to the bathroom one more time just in case we were stuck in traffic.  I had to remind him where to come get me and he showed up down the other road I've never been on.  I guess there are three ways to get into the parking lot.  Haha.

I grabbed the stuff I would need out of the Escape and hopped in his car with him.  I saw the bag on the floor...he had gotten us sandwiches from Maconi's, just down the road.  Plus it would be a lot cheaper eating along the way then inside Century Link.  We have discussions about what way we should go because the effing Chinese president was in town to basically take jobs away from us and take them overseas.  I said we should just stay on I-5, every road was going to be horrible stop and go traffic anyway.  I thought we were late enough to where they had unblocked I-5...I guess I was wrong.  We sat in traffic for about a half hour right by the Tacoma Dome.  I was mad.  We could have made it to our game before it started if we wouldn't have sat in effing Chinese president traffic!

Around 6:30 we started moving again and somewhere around Auburn we saw the police motorcade not even a quarter of a mile in front of us.  There was no traffic and every on and off ramp were blocked by a Washington State Trooper.  It took us only a half hour to get from Tacoma to our parking spot a block from Century Link.  In a nut shell, we had a police escort all the way up I-5 into Seattle.  I changed my work clothes in to Sounders clothes about 15 minutes before we got out of the car.

We found the easiest and cheapest parking spot, grabbed all of our stuff we might need and hustled as fast as we could.  We knew we were going to be late but we were hoping it wasn't half time yet or we wouldn't be able to get our free scarves.

Here is some Marshawn Lynch street art we saw on the way to the field.

We walked/ran/jogged as fast as we could.  Meanwhile, Lance and his friend Shannon was texting me asking if we were there yet and I just found out Nick and Nickey were also there.  I tried to see where they were sitting and if they wanted to meet up at half time.  I needed to go to the bathroom as soon as we found a place to go.  We walked into the field house and found restrooms.  I got our tickets out and they were scanned.  We immediately rushed over to the North Plaza where our free scarves were being distributed.  I just knew we needed to get there before halftime.

We arrived out of breath but just in time.  There was only another 20 minutes left until half time.  They highlighted our tickets and handed us some white scarves with green lettering...interesting color combo.  I overheard some people talking about it later saying they gave these out because they were having a hard time selling them...which might have been true.  Either way I was pretty happy with a free scarf.

Then, we hustled to our seats.  I didn't realize they were going to be that high up in the Hawks Nest.  I felt like we were climbing a mountain!  Then again, my whole evening was rushed so I was pretty warm and frazzled anyways. It felt good to sit.  We watched the Sounders score 2 goals before the half and believe me, it was much different sitting there than the ECS section.  Ben felt left out as he saw the flags waving and the chants being yelled in on the other side of the field.  I got a hold of Nickey and we were going to meet them outside their section in the concourse.  Ben stood in line for beer, which we really didn't need but we felt like it anyway, while I looked for Nickey and Nick.  I hadn't seen her in almost two years.  It was fun to catch up with the little time we had.  They met Ben and he exchanged a few brief words while he watched the beginning of the second half on the TV.

...and we scored another goal!  We led the Whitecaps 3-0.

We said our goodbyes and we hiked back up to our seats.  We watched the second half without any distractions.  We did take a few GoPro pictures and they turned out pretty good.  The view was great from up there but we missed out on all the action in the lower section chanting with the ECS and the 253 supporters.

We did get a picture with the group after the game. (Will post as soon as I get a copy.)

Ben knew some of the people so we stayed for a few minutes chatting.  I did remember a couple of the people but it was so long ago the last time I saw them.

I wanted to stop by the team store and look.  I finally found a Sounders beanie hat that I liked so I got one of those, the cold weather season is creeping up quickly and can never have too many hats, and I bought 3 Super Bowl XLVIII Champions Seahawk flags because they were $3 each!  A screaming deal!  They were probably originally $30 each at one point.  I paid for my treasures and we walked back to his car.

He dropped me off at my car inside the L&I parking lot and then we drove our separate ways towards our homes.  I got home after midnight.  I was going to be tired the next day.  I sure had fun with Ben!

Next Adventure: Lunar Eclipse

A Better New Opportunity with the State

I lost my job last May so most of May and June I frantically updated my resume and cover letter, applied for unemployment and started looking for some jobs through the state.  I was sure I would get the one at the supply warehouse but turned out my application sucked.  I called the gal who did most of the hiring through staffing solutions and asked her how my application could be "beefed" up without putting unnecessary information in it.  She gave me some pointers and some key words to add to it to stand out from the others.  I also talked to Laura, a gal that my dad knew that worked in L&I.  I gave her a call one day and she said to email her my resume because there is always someone who goes through them to have them come in for an interview.  It could be anywhere from a few weeks to about 3 months.  I was patient and waited.

In the meantime the next challenge now was to find a job to apply for that I actually qualified for.  I filled out almost 60 of them from May to August.  I was turned down from all of them.  I felt like it was getting pretty hopeless.  Until I got a phone call from Laura saying that they went through my resume and wanted me to come in for an interview for a senior secretary position.  This might be the "foot in the door" that I needed.

I went in for the initial interview at the end of July.  I talked to Laura and Gina.  They asked me a few questions about my past work experiences and the skills and applications I learned from those jobs.  They really liked my Linfield and Yelm Dental experiences.  They thanked me for coming in and they would call me later on during the week.

I got called in on Thursday for another interview and to fill out a background check.  I got to meet Melanie and Linda and they basically asked me what I did at Linfield and Yelm Dental and had a couple other things to say about the job I interviewed for.  I thanked them and walked back out to the parking lot.  There, I talked to Trish and my grandmother.  I thought it went well and it sounded promising.

So I waited.  I emailed Laura after a few days because I didn't hear back yet.  She said the job went to the other person who interviewed because she had more skills with family to leave stuff.  I said okay, was there anything I could have done differently?  She said, you had a great interview she just had that one up on you.  I said, good to know I guess.  She then added, there is another job we would like to you do, it's also a project job and would end, however it's got to be created and approved.  She asked if I was interested.  I said sure!  Anything to get my foot in the door with the state.  Melanie emailed me a few days later and gave me more of the details.  I was stoked!

The whole month of August and a few weeks of September, the job was created, approved and I got my call finally, after being patient for a very long time, on September 15th.  They wanted me to start the next day but I had to have a login for several programs I would be working with on the computer and my own ID number.  It would start on Monday, September 21st.  This could be the break I was finally waiting for.  Now, I could follow through with the rest of my plans.

September 21st:  My First Day

I left my house around 7 in a frenzy because my alarm didn't go off and I was thankful for dad stopping by my room this morning to ask if I was still going to work.  I was very lucky.  I got to work around 7:45 and went in and checked in at the lobby as a guest.  Linda came down and got me and we walked upstairs into the customer service area.  I was greeted by Melanie and she gave me some paperwork to fill out as we visited.  She gave me the tour of the building, library and the cafeteria. While I did that I met Joe, the guy I was going to work on the project with.  Turns out he is Nick's dad, a guy I basically grew up with and went to school together.  I am not sure he remembered who I was.  I have seen and been around him in the past briefly. Small world. At 9:30 I met with my payroll and benefits lady, Tao and we did that for about a half hour.  Melanie was in a meeting so I hung out with Linda while we waited for the meeting to get over. I went into her office and filled out more paperwork until lunch time.

I was sent to lunch for about an hour and I met up with Lindsay, who was trying to get a hold of me but my phone doesn't get very good service inside the building so I called her as soon as I could and we decided to meet at Meconis, the sub place down the road.  She works in the other L&I building.  We got our sandwiches and sat outside and chatted until we both had to go.

I got back to the building and waited for Melanie to arrive.  Joe intercepted me and we both drove over to the warehouse so he could show me what I would be doing.  I learned the reason why this was needing to get done before the beginning of next year, they would be destroyed.  My job was to update them,  by separating the non retired and retired, give them a new content sheet and add a new code to the box because some get destroyed in 25 and the others in 60 years.  I will be doing years 1996 thru 2011.  He was very informative and precise.  He made the job look easy and all I needed to do is to put it into practice.  We did that until 4 and I stayed a half hour later and worked on my own box.  I drove back over to the building and met with Melanie about getting set up for my log in and email.  We ran out of time so we would work on it the next day.  Laura took me downstairs and helped me get my parking pass.

I had a great first day and I learned a lot.  I hope with some hard work I could find myself in a permanent position there some day.

Next Adventure: Seattle Sounders Game in the Hawks Nest

Doing the Puyallup

Since we had so much fun last year we decided to do it again this year!

I wasn't sure if we would have enough time or the opportunity to go this year.  I heard mom talking to Doug one day about all of us meeting up at the fair.  Now we actually had to plan it out and find a day and a time that worked for everyone. I talked to Jen a few times and we settled on Sunday so Ben could go.  Now we wait until Sunday.

In the meantime, I invited grandma, Trish and Amy if they wanted to go with us and told them roughly when we were going to leave the house and be at the fair.  Grandma met us at our house, Trish and Amy met us at the fair and Jen and Doug met us at the fair as well.

We made dad some food that morning to bring with us since he could not eat the fair food because it's so bad for you anyways.  Ben called in sick and made it over after shift and made us all pancakes for breakfast before we went.  Grandma showed up just before it was time to go.  Everyone got their stuff together and off to Puyallup we went.  We drove out towards Spanaway and took Hwy 7 to 512.  Ben took us the back way after stopping at the bank.  We parked in the red parking lot and walked to the gate.

We tried to find out how far out Doug and Jen were and if Trish and Amy were already there.  None of them were even close...still about a half hour out.  Ben paid for everyone to get in.  Everyone parted ways and went and saw the things we wanted to see.  We tried to get a hold of Josh and Sam but struck out both times we tried to meet up with them. We wandered around the FFA area to try and find Sammy's pig and to say hi but she wasn't there.  Eventually we found Trish and Amy and decided to go on a ride while everyone else tried to assemble as a group.  We went on this ride that was four to a cage.  We were locked in and the thing took us up and spun us around and turned us upside down.  Ben was sitting next to me giggling like a little girl with glee; I laughed the entire time.

We walked over to the FFA area again to see if Sammy was there and this time she was.  I introduced Amy and Trish to Mike and Christina since they were there.  We chatted for a bit and then mom called and told us it was time for lunch.  Trish and Ben decided to stay at the hypnotist show while the rest of us walked over to the food area.  We found burgers and fries while dad ate his food that mom prepared that morning.  We all chatted and asked how everyone was.

Ben and Trish met us after we were done eating.  We all walked over to the cows, chickens, ducks and rabbit barn.  There were lots of turkeys and geese but no ducks and four chickens.  I was very disappointed.  I wanted to get pictures and videos of us going down the giant slide so we all walked over that way.  I was so excited to get videos and pictures of us racing.  We waited in line and then they closed it.  I was angry!  Why were they closing it?  We walked away and Trish and Amy went to the Star Trek exhibit and we stood in line for the scrambler because that was the only thing Jen was willing to go on with her fear of heights.  Ben didn't want to go on it but I convinced him.  We didn't get to go on the same ride with Doug and Jen so we laughed at them as they went round and round.

After the scrambler, we used the restroom and walked back over to the slide because they opened it back up.  Doug, Ben and I grabbed a pad and walked up the stairs with all the little kids.  We were helped set our pad on the slide and we got on.  I heard a "GO!" So I went.  I got down to the end and accused of cheating.  I didn't cheat; I went when I heard go.  Haha!  Ben was bent out of shape about losing.  Doug and I went across the finish line just about at the same time.  

From there we all went and did separate things.  Ben and I stood in line for the wooden roller coaster (I've never been on it), Doug and Jen got food and mom and dad walked through the hobby building.  Mom told me to call when we were done with the roller coaster.  The line was huge but we seemed to go through it quickly.  We got the GoPro ready to wear as we stood in line.  When it was our turn we asked if we could sit in the front and they let us. I wore the camera and we were off.  We screamed the entire time to make the video more authentic.  We had a great time.  Afterwards, we stood in line for the other roller coaster, this one had an upside down loop.

The line was big but not as big as the wooden roller coaster.  This line also went pretty fast.  We may have waited for maybe a half hour at most.  Then there was a situation once we go to the front of the line.  Apparently, a girl was not tall enough to ride the ride and the carney woman taking tickets told her she couldn't ride the ride so she went and got her mom to yell at the carney woman.  We didn't actually hear what the woman said but she was angry her daughter could not ride the ride.  The carney woman told her it is a safety issue and her manager even got involved.  The man told her the same thing, it is a safety issue, and that they have rules in place to keep fair goers safe.  The woman did not like that answer and yelled at the two carney workers, F YOU and flipped them off right in front of everyone.  It made her look absolutely stupid and ignorant.  We finally had our turn and we managed to sit in the front again.  Ben wore the GoPro this time.  We had fun, screamed and carried on.

We called mom and no one answered.  Then we called Doug and got a hold of him, he and Jen were eating some food.  A little while later, I got a hold of mom and her and Trish were waiting in line for scones.  Ben was finally hungry so we took him to the BBQ place.  I was kinda hungry since we've done a lot of walking today.  I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and he ordered the meal, which came with corn, beans and coleslaw.  It hit the spot.

Then mom called me asking where we were and I told her we were on our way.  They were over by the Chevy trucks display near one of the gates.  On the way back we stopped to get a fair souvenir since we did not win one when we tried our luck at the games.  I bought a square-shaped goat.  Trish and Amy had already left.  We found them sitting on the bench in front of the hobby building waiting for everyone.  Dad had finally had enough and was tired.  We needed to get him home.  Meanwhile, the Seahawks had started their game with the Packers.  We waited for Doug and Jen to finally make their way towards us too.  I ate a scone and grandma and mom went and got a free Chevy T-shirt from the vendors.  Finally Doug and Jen arrived and they showed us their monkey they won at the games.  Then Jen wanted a bigger one so she got her monkey souvenir and Doug joked that his monkey wasn't good enough.  We took a few pictures of everyone before we left the fair.

We parted ways and headed home.  We listened to the Seahawks game on the radio and heard some great stuff.  We got home and they fell apart in the fourth quarter.  We were disappointed.  Ben stayed for a little bit as I got ready for my first day of work.  We hope to make it to the fair next year!

Next Adventure:  A Better New Opportunity with the State