richpurcell.com

So I got an email from a friend recently.

RE: ok, you need to update this thing. How about a shout out for your friends from PA that moved to New York when you decided to move to PA from New York from PA from NY, yeah… that’s it, something like that.

In response to that I just want to give a big shout out to all of my friends on the East Coast. Especially the ones from PA who moved to NY when I moved from NY to PA. Yes, Its true. I was in New York last weekend. Believe me I wish I had time to visit.

I hope you enjoy these shots of seattle. Check them out in the richpurcell albums page.

So last weekend I took a trip back to my old stomping grounds. As I pass through the filthy streets and the dark dull grey buildings, and ponder on how they starkly contrast the colorful clean beauty of Seattle, I start to wonder: “How could anybody miss this?” How could I possibly miss being in this tangled mess of corruption chaos and crime. New York City, the place that some people call the greatest city in the world. The place where people come together to be free, where people come to expand their horizons. The place where people come to ferment with the dregs and feast on their regurgitations. How could I possibly miss this? And yet…

Music: OrtoPilot, “Shiver (dance mix)”

Whats with this insatiable human desire to choose favorites? Is it the way we define ourselves or is it the way we find our place in this vast cosmic sea of possibilities? I don’t know maybe its just me. Anyway since moving to Seattle I have started collecting quite a few favorite things. For instance, my favorite radio station is KEXP, my favorite coffee shop is Cafe Ladro, my favorite lounge is Mona’s, my favorite eat-in pizza place is Talrico’s, my favorite takeout pizza place is Papa Murphy’s, my favorite West-Indian restaurant is Pam’s Kitchen, and now my favorite Greek restaurant is Kokora Greek Grill. Is this what it means to settle into a place?

Music: Muse, “Feeling Good”

I haven’t listened to the radio in literally years. So Imagine my pleasant surprise while trying to find an empty frequency to broadcast my iPod to my car radio, I found a cool station. Now I’m not talking about the dime a dozen carbon copy radio stations that stick firmly to their prescribed formats. You know the type I’m talking about. You can find almost identical copies in just about every major city in the US. No this station is cool and listener supported so the commercials are few and far between. Now don’t get me wrong this isn’t your parents listener supported radio with classic music, long awkward pauses and seldom heard strange Irish and Celtic folksongs. No this is Arctic Monkeys, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, !!!, Dandy Warhols, Berg Sans Nipple, and Bob Marley all rolled into one. Did I mention its listener supported. It reminds me of a college station but much cooler. Its KEXP, you can listen to them on the web at kexp.org and if you’re wondering what song that was, that they played yesterday at 4:15 PM, they have a complete track listing. They play tons of local bands and Seattle has a lot in just about every genre you can imagine. This radio station has turned me onto more cool music than any other station in the last 10 years. Now, I have pretty normal dreams, but I have never dreamed about a radio station before. I kid you not, I actually dreamed about making a contribution to support this station. So you can imagine if it makes that much of an impact on me it has to be good. KEXP is my only radio station. Thanks for turning me on to radio again.

Music: CeU, “Véu Da Noite”

Today I received an email from a coworker in Spokane asking if everything was business as usual, here is my reply:

“Business as usual?” True, if “business as usual” means going home with head aches because you are learning more stuff each day than you can stand. All in all I’m doing fine. Don’t be alarmed by my ranting. “New experiences?” Last week I ate at not only a Vietnamese place but also a Mediterranean place for lunch. Did I mention this is a neat little city?

 

Glad to hear that everyone is still operating within normal parameters. Wow, I had no idea I would miss everyone’s little distinguishing quirks. I can just see it now, Mark is ranting about some new or old intolerable situation, Jarom is teasing you and Debbie, Kirk and Brent are looking at the latest interesting video, and making funny sarcastic remarks about Mark’s ranting. All that you need is a dweeb sitting in the cube next to Mark banging away at some script with a few spare coins sitting on the cubicle divider and the picture is complete :-)

As you can tell I’m loving it here. I find myself sitting in a coffee shop on Sunday evenings, sipping some great brew and reading a novel or some technical book for work. All that I need now is an eco friendly vehicle and a neat looking townhouse and I’ll be an official Seattleite.

Well after a year in Spokane we are finally in Seattle. We are all moved into our new apartment, well at least we only have a handful of boxes left to unpack. I’m getting settled into my new job and I’m pretty fortunate that I’m working with some really good people. I’m learning lots of kool new stuff. And, actually I’m surprised that no one has yelled at me: “No, no, no, that’s all wrong”… yet. You know this is really a neat little city. There is so much to see and so much to do, I’m trying not to walk around gawking like a country bumpkin, bein’ I done moved to the big city from Texas and all. So far, we have found Indian restaurants, a Caribbean restaurant, and Mexican restaurants. There are so many choices here that I don’t know what to do with myself. I guess at heart I really am a city boy. the weather here isn’t so bad. I’ll tell you it sure is a lot warmer than Spokane. Anyway got to run now, I’m about to check out the movie Breach, hope that it’s good.

Music: Nina Simone (Verve Remix), “Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair”

I’ve just gotten back from a trip to Houston. I really had a good time. We went to Houston for the weekend because a friend was getting married. And as weddings go, since he was busy with the last minute details, I didn’t get a chance to hang out with him much. So, I did the next best thing, I hung out with some of my other friends who came for the wedding and even some that didn’t. We had a great time. I hadn’t seen Matt and Talmon since moving from PA, and it was great to hang with them again. It was even better because now they are best buddies since I moved from NY. So, what does it mean that my friends start liking each other after I move away? (I try not to think about it.)

In the process I discovered that Houston is almost a brand new city. For some time I have been hesitant about moving back to Houston because it would feel too much like moving back home. You know that feeling, been there done that. I never wanted to move back to what would feel like the same old dead end. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Houston. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good place to live. I guess I’m sort of like the small-town boy who leaves home to see the “Big Beautiful World” out there and is not sure he’ll ever fit into that small-town life again.

However, I was somewhat surprised to find that Houston is more than I remembered it to be. For instance, we went out to a small mostly outdoor cafe for desert and drinks and I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of hanging out at cool little places like that in Manhattan or out in Queens. The strange thing is that the cafe or at least something like it may have been there before I moved away from my small-town Houston life. So, this of course begs the question: Did Houston really grow and change or was it I? Maybe a little of both. In addition to all the new neighborhoods I saw popping up around town, I also saw quite a few new buildings down town.

Quote: “See that nice tall domed building over there, Never seen it before in my life.”

And what they did to Main Street is amazing. I remember Main being a congested street with plumes of black smoke pouring out of the myriad city busses that reside there. But now there are slick new trains that run up and down the beautifully cobble stoned expanse that is now Main Street. All I could say is Wow!

I could almost see myself living in a cool little condo near down town riding my scooter to and from work on beautiful warm days. But then there is that fear again. What if I got there and the newness lasted for all of one month, and I start feeling like I’m suited for something… more… Whatever that more would be. How could I possibly go about extracting myself from the boredom of a hum drum life? I mean, do I remain safely away from my small-town and keep exploring and discovering life out in the “Big Beautiful World” always coming back to visit with friends that I miss? Or, do I settle down back home with the people I have come to know and love, yet long for the adventure and discovery that was part of a life gone by. There in lies the question:

To be [home] or not to be…

Music: Brand New, “I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light”

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of drum and base music. Most notably Pendulum, a band out of Perth Australia. I think I especially enjoy the juxtaposition of my mild mannered personality against the hard reality of my music.

Music: Pendulum, “Essential Mix 18-09-2005″

Yesterday I was having a conversation with Lee, a friend in NY, and I was raving over the fact that in eastern Washington for the most part we had no snow. Well it seems I spoke too soon. This morning while leaving for work I was rather surprised to find that the ground was covered with at least three inches of snow.

Next time I should just learn to keep my mouth shut.

Music: Eric Morillo, “Fascination”

So it’s almost been forever since I went to a decent mall. The mall out here isn’t that great. Not that it’s bad or anything it’s just not great. I found the one Express store in town but couldn’t find an H&M. Then I found out through a quick web search that H&M seems to be more of an east coast store. The closest store is in San Francisco. Bummer. Not that I wouldn’t want to go to SF, it’s just that it’s such a long drive for one store. The only solution, of course, is for me to find more things to do in SF to justify a trip.

Speaking of SF, I got a chance to talk to Aaron yesterday. It was good hearing from him again. As a matter of fact, this past week I also spoke to Tal, Matt, and E-Man. Good to hear from them all. It’s funny how you can take your friends for granted when they are close by. And it usually takes something like moving to the opposite side of the country for you to realize how good you had it when they were right there. This leaves me with the enormous task of trying to convince them to come visit. I mean, I could play the guilt angle, but if I got them out here I’d want them to come back again. I’d even play the excitement angle, but there isn’t anything that exciting happening out here at the beginning of February. So I guess I’m stuck here with out any of my old buds at least until spring. God I hope this place comes to life in the spring.

I just got through watching the Super-Bowl over at a friends house. It’s been about two years since I’ve watched the Super-Bowl, not that it’s my thing. The last time I did, I think Tal came over for the game. He reminded me of it just recently. The main reason I went was to hang out and get to know a few more people out here. It was funny listening to the P.O. talking smack. But I have to agree with him, the officials were clearly on the side of the Pittsburgh team. Wow what a rip-off.

Work has been giving my brain a work out, which is totally cool as long as I’m still finding solutions. It’s when I start getting stumped or start feeling like I’m way out of my league that it starts getting bad. And I haven’t been getting that lately so I’m still stoked. I just hope that they’re still stoked with me.

Music: Underworld, “Two Months Off”