The First Day

Well, I've been in Seattle for a bit over 24 hours now. Haven't done much that's exciting - I mean, I got my apartment keys, but that's about it. Really I've pretty much been apartment shopping, which is about the same here as it would be anywhere else in the United States - running around to multiple stores and then realizing you forgot a bunch of things once you get back to the apartment. But I'm going to share some things because I feel like I ought to.

Random observations:

• People here dress like it's 50 degrees even when it's pushing past 70. I mean, long sleeves and a jacket when you could easily be wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. And it didn't seem like it was just that one random crazy lady whose inner temperature is all messed up - quite a few people were dressed like that today.
• I'm not entirely sure that my definition of a mall is the same as Seattle's definition of a mall. There was a strip mall that then had an inside like a mall, but it was anchored by Safeway and Target - is it really a mall? Then there was the weird multi-story place that had like four big box stores all stacked on top of one another. And it wasn't really in the city, but north of the city - but then again, I don't know what's classified as suburbs around here. I don't know. Definitely not the wide expanses of strip malls and miles of big box stores that I'm used to.
• Seattle has a no plastic bag policy. And they charge 5 cents for you to get a paper bag in a store. I think that's pretty cool, but it means I definitely have to remember my reusable bags from now on.
• It's so green here. All around there are trees that are so lush and vibrant - it really is a pretty place.
• I have to brush up on my PAC-12 knowledge. A guy at Target saw my Hokies shirt and started talking about football to me - which was fine, but I realized I don't actually know that much about the Oregon Ducks, and I completely blanked on what he meant when he referenced losing the Civil War. (That's the Oregon-Oregon State game, for those who need to Wikipedia it). Although, now that I think about it, it's kind of awesome that a guy started talking to me about sports, regardless of what conference it was about.
• Comcast needs to make their cable internet directions clearer. Like, wait the whole 10 minutes for the modem to boot regardless of whether the light stays constant or not. And, yes, I realize that sentence didn't make a whole bunch of sense if you haven't installed something like that recently. But I needed to vent, so deal with it. 

And... that's kind of it, I think. Tomorrow is TV shopping which will be awful because TVs are far more confusing than they should be. Hopefully I'll hear something about when my stuff is going to get here - right now my apartment consists of luggage, an air mattress, a deck chair, a cable box, and Costco food. Not really the best setup.