Two months has passed since I moved to Seattle, and after some elbow work and a lot of restless waiting I have landed a job and an apartment. I spent October on Whidbey Island where my good buddy and fellow '07 grad Nate Mullendore has taken on an Americorp position. Whidbey is a beautiful island in the Puget Sound with surprising amounts of rural land, and plenty of small farms. I arrived just as the farmers markets were beginning to close for the season, but still had the opportunity to savor some of the local food - breads, cheeses, cider, heirloom garlic, and pumpkins. Speaking of pumpkins, check out my Halloween tribute to Clint Eastwood.

In addition to eating and pumpkin carving I was also job searching. Whidbey is a ferry ride and a forty minute drive from Seattle so I averaged one trip a week into the city. I investigated a lot of options, applied at a handful of interesting places, and followed up on as many leads as possible. The most frustrating aspect of the job search is waiting. I'm used to being proactive, and seizing opportunities, but after a certain point all thats left to do is wait for a call. That drove me crazy. I read a lot. Hiked some, biked some. Then finally lined something up. Although there were rumors among my close friends that I was off to Egypt (yes that was an option however it didn't pan out), it turns out I will be remaining stateside for the time being. I've secured work at Puget Consumer Co-op (PCC) Natural Markets. While this work is not my life calling I think it will give me a good foothold in the city. The opportunity to learn more about the local and organic food movement appeals to the green in me. There are lots of environmental and social issues bound up in what we eat, and the cool thing is we eat everyday, so we are constantly making powerful purchasing decisions through our diet. I'm looking forward to learning more about this is the coming months.

I'm living and working in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle which is an ideal locale. I'm two blocks from a beautiful park, a library, a community center, two bike stores, several grocery stores, numerous restaurants, and to top it off I'm a five minute bike ride away from work. I've got two roomates who are both great guys in their mid-twenties, and although I've only been here a little over a week I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm excited to settle in and get to know the area more intimately.

Over Monon Bell weekend Nate came into Seattle for an environmental educators conference. Saturday morning we took the bus from my place to The Ram where we met up with the Seattle alumni contingent to watch The Bell game. The loss was certainly disheartening but it seems the team it using it as fuel to fire their playoff run - Go Bash! On the upside, I met a good number of guys who live in the area several of whom are younger grads, and I've got to say its crazy the connections that arise out of a small college.

I returned to Whidbey for Thanksgiving to spend to time with Nate and all my new found friends up there. Nate happened to be farm sitting at a small scale organic farm with a beautiful view of the Puget Sound and the Olympic mountain range, I enjoyed the opportunity to soak up the scenery. On Thanksgiving day a group of us gathered at one of the middle school teacher's houses for a wonderful dinner. Most of us were far from our families, but we had plenty to be thankful for with great company, a bounty food, and a beautiful home to enjoy it in. I baked two pies for the dinner (my first attempt at pies) and while I was quite happy with the pumpkin pie I can't say the same for the my second creation, chocolate mush on a pie crust.

I'll leave you with that. Chocolate mush. Think delicious thoughts and have a great day.

Nic