Huh? But it's just November

What's that you say? It can't be. No, I thought she said the spring!

Actually, it's true. Whatever the little birdie or the butthole pixie told you is in fact the truth. I'm returning to Seattle. And soon, I might add - I will be back before December, although barely. And yes, for all of you naysayers - to stay.

How'd this come about?
Lots of things contributed to it, but many of you read my Manhattan Project e-mail from late summer and knew it was coming. I was just ready to come home, and when the right offer came along I took it.

What about JetBlue? What about your friends in NY? What about all of that?
I love JetBlue. This is a fantastic company, I wholly believe in the product, and I hope to support it for as long as I can. I'm even offering to work on projects for them on the side. But this isn't about work and it's not about friends. It's about me being happy where I am living, and frankly New York just wasn't doing it for me. I've spent a lot of time elsewhere in the last few months - on a kayak in Florida, hiking on property outside of (gasp!) Waco (actually, double-gasp - it was outside of Crawford), even in Seattle. The more time I spent in New York the more I realized there were things about it that would never work for me, and I just didn't want to do it anymore.

And what about school? Weren't you starting this fall?
I was scheduled to start a Masters in Gastronomy program this fall at Boston University. I was working through my financial aid forms and thought, 'hmm - 5 years to finish the program and I'll be 40, $35000 more in debt, commuting weekly to Boston and I'll have lived 5 more years in a place I can't stand. Is this a good idea?' Just because it didn't work for me here doesn't mean I can't make it work somewhere else.

When's this all happening?
I'm leaving New York early in the morning of 11/23 and my good friend Tanarra and I are driving Grendel across the country. We should arrive in Seattle somewhere around the 27th or 28th.

Where are you going to live? What are you going to do?
Not to worry, I have got a cunning plan. I turned to my good friend Holly for the answer to the housing question...I'll be back on Capitol Hill beginning 12/1 in yet another unit in the kidney (for those who don't know, that's the Malden), my fourth apartment there. For work, I got a contract gig in Redmond.

Are you baking?
Well, not really. After some really difficult baking jobs over the last year, I'm taking a break from the whole thing. I'd like to get back to doing it because it makes me happy, not because there's a deadline or a paycheck at the end of it. For now, I'll bake for friends and just little things, but no more formal affairs. Sadly, that puts me out of the running for Bethany's cake in February, but I'm hoping to make amends to her and her lovely husband-to-be by baking something just for them.

Are you bringing any other baggage back with you?
No kids, no men, only a new mattress. Movers will pick that up sometime at the end of December, along with a few other things I accumulated. For now, only personal effects and the dog. So no, no new baggage. Oh yeah, and the random brick-throwing habit I picked up when I'm honked at by a car. You have been warned.

So what's your plan?
For now, get back and get comfortable. Pay down debt, think about buying. Yes, that means laying down roots. Get more dogs. Find someone. You know, all of the usual things. But working to live, not living to work.

When can we get together?
Give me the first week of December to get my bearings, to buy some things for the empty apartment, and to figure out much money I'll have left in my account. And then, I'll make soup and whomever wants to come over can come and sit on my wooden floors and visit. And for all of you who haven't lived in NYC, the send-offs are long and liquor-filled. I've already sworn off drinking for the rest of my stay here after a little game of dodge-car and getting-to-know-your-vomit-container. So forgive me for my teetotaling. It won't last forever.

Much love to everyone and have a happy Thanksgiving. I'll see you soon.

Thawing Out

The last week has taught me something about myself. I can't live here forever. New York had its first miserably cold days this season, just well-timed to catch me on my return from a snow-blanketed but slushy Seattle. Two nights in a row we hit 0 degrees here, with a wind chill of -10. Jessica (my college roommate), here in town on business, put me up at her hotel and we stomped around the city during this blight. She grew weary of my complaints of frozen thighs and an icebox butt, offering to buy me long underwear to combat my chill, but finally relenting to the cold, we headed back to a noisy steam radiator-warmed hotel (those of us from the Malden know this phenomenon well, and as I had grown used to the anvil chorus in my room, this hotel didn't bother me a stitch!) and watched movies and planned our next culinary adventure. One of the places we discovered is the Doughnut Plant, with its 4 flavors only - big soft pillows of fried dough (no cake doughnuts here!) covered with vanilla bean glaze, Valrhona glaze, pistachio and (the WINNER!) fresh pear glaze. Flavors change seasonally - I bet the pistachio and pear are exchanged for fresh peach and spring strawberry during warmer months. For any of you who want to try one, I promise to take you upon your next visit.

The time has also brought a few welcome changes - today was my first day of work at what seems like a wonderful little company called JetBlue Airways. Sure, there was lots of logo wear and fawning over a brand well-branded, but maybe this little company has got it right. I can't begin to tell you how many people came up to me during orientation and said, 'it sounds too good to be true, and I didn't believe it either. Just wait and see for yourself.' If you haven't flown them, check them out sometime. And don't be fooled by the Direct-TV at every seat/in-flight yoga/healthy snacks/one-class airline marketing hoo-ha. They've got a good business model, they seem to be genuinely eager to make an impact, and hell, I found out today that the CEO only pays himself $200k annually + profit sharing of $85k last year, which certainly smells of balance, even if it's not the real thing. Besides, anytime you can get 2 jaded ex-Microsoft employees in the room together (a former MSFT consultant heads up part of their IT group), giggling with delight and saying they might actually wear JetBlue logo wear, either someone's spiked the punch or they're doing something pretty cool. Now if only they would make JetBlue mittens...

Last night was also my first night in my very first New York apartment. Well, it's really just a tiny pass-through closet I'm renting from this German filmmaker chick, but it's a bed, and she's not my elderly aunt. The whole room is about 7x8, with the 'hallway' taking up about 1.5' of the 7' space - leaving me a twin futon and a shelf crammed with my clothes in about 5'. I had a nice, big room rented near the Museum of Natural History, but the guy (Woody Allen-type neurotic older OCD-sufferer) gave my room away during the holidays, and then jerked me around when I offered to rent his larger room. So I'm living in the E. Village, about 2 blocks from my great aunt's place, and about an hour commute from work. It's tiny, but I'm only here until the end of April when she goes to Germany, and I start looking in earnest for a place to share with Tyler and the dog.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year! If I didn't get a chance to see you, perhaps I will in the spring or summer, once I have a little vacation time saved, and I can begin to use those flight benefits of mine. And feel free to write or call, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth!

Take care, avoid the flu (we had it over the holidays, the ass-kicking variety), and remember, check out Tyler's band!! They're an awesome little trio with some crazy surf/carnival/jazz influences, and they're trying to get shows set up in Seattle. They're known as the Diminished Men, and you can download their music from http://www.diminishedmen.com! Play it loud, and pass it on!!!