The following is a brief summary of the events as Natalie and I experienced them from our vantage point at home. More pictures can be found at www.andyandnataliepics.com.

SUNDAY 12/14: This started on Saturday with the rapid drop in temperatures. Finally on Sunday we got a bit of snow, which was little more than a dusting mostly affecting east Portland. West Portland was slammed with a couple of inches and ice, but once you crossed over the river there was nothing, very disappointing.

THURSDAY 12/18: We finally got a good inch in the morning. I woke up around 6:00a and there was nothing, but after the shower and some breakfast it was accumulating fast. Natalie had to work from home, I was not so fortunate.

FRIDAY 12/19: More ice accumulating than snow, it was not a tough drive to Beaverton for the Gingerbread Party.

SATURDAY 12/20: Oh wow, now the snow came down, and it did not give up all day. We have 4-5 inches on the ground by the end of the day.

SUNDAY 12/21: The snow kept going through the night, but later changed to freezing rain leaving a 1/2 inch of ice all over everything. Took about 30 minutes to de-ice the truck. Definitely enjoyed driving in this! Kept snowing into the night.

MONDAY 12/22: Got a few more inches of just snow during the night. Surprisingly the commute to downtown was not too bad, did I mention my truck rocks? Natalie headed out in the afternoon to build the snow bear.

TUESDAY 12/23: Well the roads have greatly improved, of course still have not needed chains. The downside is that everyone decided today was the day to go to work, made for a bad commute.

WEDNESDAY 12/24: Well it is snowing very heavily again, nice for driving and snow creatures. Going to make Christmas more interesting though.

THURSDAY 12/25: Started out warm, but the temperatures dropped quickly and we received at least an inch of fresh snow right before the Christmas party.

SATURDAY 12/27: The great thaw has begun, the temperatures have increased to 48 degrees and the snow is rapidly disappearing. Too bad!

This is part one of our recent trip to Seattle, WA. This trip was a two-fold trip, visit and hang-out with Scott while he promoted his new book “Infected“, and take the opportunity to dive Edmonds Water Park.

We arrived in Seattle around 3:00p and had plenty of time to kill. Seattle is notorious for it’s horrible traffic, especially on a Friday afternoon. One would have to be mad to voluntarily enter Seattle on a Friday, but there we were. Much to our surprise we had no problems, and ended up having the time to walk around downtown Seattle. We went to the typical places like Pike’s Place Market, the downtown mall, and the lower east-side. Finally around 5:00p we were starting to get hungry, and for a lack of other things to do, Natalie sniffed out a great restaurant called “The Taphouse Grill“. Now I can’t say enough good things about this place, and a restaurant that boasts having over 160 beers on tap can have the worst food and service, and still be a winner in my book. Fortunately, the “The Taphouse Grill” had neither, the food was delicious and service was excellent. This was one of those places that could sucker me in every week if it was here in the Portland-area.

Finally after some great food and beer, we headed to Barnes and Noble were Scott was the guest of honor. Scott started out reading the prologue and first chapter of his latest book, “Infected”. This was especially important tour since this was his first book to be published by a major publisher, Crown. Scott found popularity in his work by starting to first podcast his books free to the public on PodioBooks.com, which is a totality kick-ass site. His following exceeded 30,000 with his latest release. Most publishers do not take podcasters as serious authors or artists, mostly from their lack of understanding about the medium, unsure of how to capitalize on it. Much of the same can be said for the RIAA, but that is another topic. Crown was wise enough to see the potential and signed a 5 book deal with Scott, that may even transition to a movie deal at some point.

After getting anyone who has not read the book hooked on it by reading the first few pages, Scott spent the better part of hour responding questions from the audience. His pasted along great advice on how to get started, explained where the industry is with its view on podcasters, his evil plans for world-domination, and what his fans could look forward to in the future.

A large group of his followers, ourselves included, headed off to a bar to celebrate and hear the stories that would get us thrown out of B&N. Unfortunately the woman that put together his post-signing celebration I don’t believe ever went to a bar. The Comet is a shit-hole tavern a fair walking distance from B&N. Not normally a problem, but it broke two rules: 1) it was uphill and 2) not within stumbling distance of the hotels. So to the woman who planned this, we offer you “EPIC FAIL!!!”.

Anyway the bar was shit-hole, it made our old hang out of the T-Room look like a 5-star establishment. We took over the back room and were treated to over an hour of stories from Scott. Unfortunately, around 10:30p, a band started playing and drown out Scott. Normally this would be fine, go and enjoy a band for a bit, by they really sucked. If you needed a good example of off-key, look no further. For the band, we also offer “EPIC FAIL!!!”.