August 5, 2000

I had to work today; still, I wanted to spend time with Pam. I picked her up at her place, and we drove back to my side of Lake Washington. It was a beatiful day today, it was too bad I would have to eventually head back to work. We went by one of the apartment complexes which she was interested in moving into. She was fairly sure that she would be moving into this apartment. The main problem was that she wouldn't get to see the actual unit which she would be moving into, only similar floorplans and color schemes, and although it would probably work out well, you just never know…

After all the little gymnastics of it will be this floor plan (plus a study, which you'll have to imagine…), with this color scheme, and this view. It was all a bit disorienting, but after much contemplating, she finally decided that she would move into this particular apartment complex. She wrote a check for the deposit. [Yay!!]

She seemed much more relaxed now that she had decided where she would be living. We went to get lunch. We debated where to go and finally decided on California Pizza Kitchen, commonly known as CPK. Frankly, I was in a bit of a sour mood. I had grown a bit weary of the apartment hunting and seeing Pam stressed all the time, not to mention the deadlines at work. Isn't that a bit of a morbid word, "deadline"?

Lunch was good. The one thing about CPK is that they're consistent. We had the chicken dumplings, which were exceptional. The sauce had just the right amount of heat to make it tasty but not overbearing. If you're ever in a CPK, you may consider trying them, unless, of course, you're allergic to chicken… but I don't really have to tell you that. Our entreés were good too, although not nearly as noteworthy.

There is one other strange thing about this particular CPK, or maybe all of them, though this is the only one I've been to. The bathrooms are downstairs. The reason why this is so strange is because this is a one story building, the restrooms are in the basement. Not that basements are that uncommon, I suppose I just find it a bit odd that's all. To their credit they do have an accessible unisex bathroom in the ground floor.

Again, I was in a bit of a sour mood. I suppose it was a bit inopportune that she was now feeling amorous. I suppose that I can't blame her, since much of her stress was surrounding her living arrangements, and presumably this had just been resolved. I just wasn't able to downshift that quickly, and if anything it made me a bit more irritated. [Sigh]

After lunch, we stopped by to take a look at one of the nearby health clubs and the surrounding shopping center. It was a very nice health club, and only a few blocks from her place. You do have to remember this is now the Eastside and parking is not really an issue the way it is in Seattle, so driving to the health club is not really an issue. Though it is not really within good walking distance, it is within reasonable biking distance. It had all the things that my gym had, although probably in less quantities. If the place got busy I could certainly see some fairly long waits for machines and/or weights. I will admit that the aerobics room was larger, though my kickboxing classes are rarely full.

The nearby shopping center was nice too, although admittedly a little too upscale for my taste. It set off my snottiness sensor, although to be fair, it is already very sensitive.

August 5, 2000