I drove over to the Paramount last night at 11pm, all ready to slide right in to a opening act free show of the Arcade Fire, only to be greeted by swarms of mid-twenties hipsters gabbing on cell phones and dodging cabs. I had anticipated lengthy sets by the two opening acts, which in my mind I had starting at 9 pm. They must have started promptly at 8pm, and each been very careful to take only 45 minutes with 15 minute setup periods by the upcoming act.

That is the last time I try to sneak out of seeing the opening act.

I’m in Tigard, Oregon, sipping Boyd’s coffee at the Embassy Suites. I’m here on business. I never go on business trips, so this is kind of exciting.

The Embassy Suites is kind of the business travellers “I deserve it (and I’m not paying for it) hotel.” The rooms are sort of like sleeping inside a Peet’s coffee. Very brown and masculine.

The Boyds coffee is pretty thin. Not bad for in room courtesy coffee, though.

Here are a couple token shots of the room:

As I was telling Kate last night, I’ve gone tea. It’s really a cost saving maneuver, as I tend to go out to coffee at least once a day, and even Americano’s get expensive when you tip a dollar per cup.

So I went to Peet’s Coffee down the street and picked up a FORLIFE in mug tea brewer. It brews loose leaf tea in the mug. It is stainless steel, and includes a built in drip catcher that keeps the desk free from drips. Here are some shots of it in action:

As you can see it has a nice little handle for lifting it out. This also serves as a nice way to bang it against the trashcan to empty the used Tea bits.

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Kei and I travelled 250 miles to get some crab. While we were up there, we picked up her cat. Here are some photos of the meal. Kei was frustrated earlier because in the lobby, people were filing through to the dining room while we were waiting patiently. It was just like that Seinfeld episode! It was worth the wait, though.

The waiter was very nice, really took care of us. He fished out a giant 4 1/2 pound king crab from the tank, showed it to us, and delivered it back to the kitchen. There, they steamed half of it with loads of garlic, and deep fried the other half. I think I liked the deep fried better than the steamed, and Kei like the steamed crab better. They were both tasty. We also had a hot and sour soup, and chinese brocolli (which we had to box up because we were running out of time) and a red bean soup for dessert.

We had to rush out to grab Mao. Kei slept most of the way back, except for a brief moment of clarity at the border crossing. They didn’t understand why Kei would go up to get her cat in Vancouver, if she lived in Seattle. She explained that she got it delivered to by her housemate, which the guard mistook for “husband”, with hilarious border crossing consequences!

I took a picture of my favorite Thai restaraunt in Seattle “Sabai Sabai”.

Here is Joe and Wan. Their Pad Thai is the best in Seattle.