An American banking experience...

The other day I dropped by the Seattle branch of "the worlds local bank" HSBC. I had discovered the previous day that many American ATMs charge you to make a withdrawal if you don't bank with the owner, either my Scottish or Yorkshire blood had kicked in and I resolved to avoid this in future and a quick google had revealed the presence of a branch of my aforementioned UK bank. Anyhow I went over during my lunch break, and sure enough I could use the ATM for free, happy days indeed. While I was there I decided to cash a travellers cheque so I wander over to the cashier's desk. Now this bank looked pretty much like a UK branch of HSBC, same posters, same glass booths and roughly the same layout, except for the cashiers. This did not dawn on me till an hour or two later but it was basically an open desk; no bullet proof glass, no silly little draw, no tinny intercom. Yes I could lean over the desk chat and chat with the cashier, answering the inevitable questions about where in England I was from (and no, I'm not Australian!). Heck, I could have reached out and touched her computer! So I go through the rigmarole of ID, and debit card, and double signing the cheque and she gets out the cash. Now you'd think given the lack of the glass, draw and intercom she would have to go into the back to retrieve the cold hard cash from the safe, but no, its in the desk draw. Again, I could have reached out and grabbed.
Now I would never claim to be an expert on American history or culture but I do know they generally have a bit of a crime problem, and I've watched a few westerns, I know they know how to rob banks. So where on earth was the security? I just don't get it. I genuinely wish I could go back and take a few pictures but I think they would probably be a bit suspicious of some bloke taking photos of their security arrangements, or lack thereof.
Coming up next week: My boss is on vacation so I'm house sitting for and looking after her dog.

Finally enjoy a couple of photos. Until next time...

 

Day Tripping on Mount Rainier

A couple of folks from the lab were heading down to Mount Rainier on Saturday to do a bit of hiking; I'd mentioned I enjoyed the outdoors so they invited me along. Mount Rainier at 14,411ft (4239m) is the highest summit of the Cascade Mountain Range and in fact the state of Washington, as well as being an active volcano. Needless to say its quite a challenge to climb the glaciers, snow fields and rock bands so we weren't going to summit it in just a day! Instead we settled for hiking a few trails at slightly lower altitudes, but with stunning views nonetheless. Matthew and Jing-Ni from the lab were the ones who invited me and we were driven down by Dr Takeshi, an immunologist from a different lab at the research institute and our notional guide for the day (in that he'd been there before!). Despite being visible from Downtown it takes three hours to drive to Mount Rainier from Seattle so it required an early start. Our first destination was an area called 'Sunrise' on the East side of the mountain; at 6400ft this is the highest point that you can drive to.

 Matthew, Jing-Ni and me with the summit in the background.
Despite being so high it was surprisingly warm up there, probably about 24C and not a cloud in the sky! I felt rather over-packed having put in a couple of extra jumpers and a spare baselayer expecting it to be rather cold (as I'm sure those who climbed Ben Nevis on King's On Tour will understand). We decided on hiking up through the alpine meadows along a ridge to the 'frozen lake' for a picnic lunch.

 

Takeshi, Matthew and Jing-Ni tackling the snow bank

The Not-so-frozen Lake provided a great spot to perch on a few rocks to share a picnic of noodles (Takeshi's secret recipe, and chop sticks provided!)
We headed down and set off to drive around to the South side of the mountain to the most popular "Paradise" area. On the way we stopped by the 'Reflection Lake':

We arrived at Paradise mid afternoon and set off up the Skyline trail to view the glaciers. We were soon above the snow line, and loving it! Cue photos:

The stunning glacier cascading off the summit.

^Arty shot, couldn't resist.

Other than the glaciers, we could see Mount St. Helens of 1980 " deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States" fame (thank you Wikipedia):

More wanton artiness: this guy proceeded to put on a fedora so I guess he's a bit of a poser...

 

The ubiquitous Japanese school group really enjoyed the snow:

This quote, on the steps leading up to the trail at Paradise, really sums up Mount Rainier as a place and should serve as a great reminder of a brilliant day out!

NB. Well done for getting this far
NB. NB. As ever click any of the photos if you want to see them a bit larger.
P.S. (or is that NB.?) I know I don't have to stack "NB."s but its ironic or something...

Freeway Park

The other day I dropped in at another of Seattle's many parks. This one is tucked away around the Interstate 5 freeway in the heart of downtown. It is an impressive fusion of the concrete and metal of the city and the bright colours of nature. It was a great place just to hang out, read, and sunbathe.  All through the summer there is a daily used book fair here and on the day I went a company was teaching parkour on the steps. Otherwise life is good here and I'm enjoying the lab still, even if I hate the sight of pipettes. I'm attempting to eat my way through as many cultures as possible just now, as Seattle has a brilliant selection of international eateries; I particularly enjoyed the Vietnamese dish "phở" pretty much a chicken noodle soup but very tasty indeed! Anyhow enjoy some pictures of the park:

A dally around Downtown

I caught a bus downtown today and spent a couple of hours wandering around see a bit of the heart of Downtown Seattle. The bus system over here is pretty good: they use ORCA cards (pretty much the same as London's Oyster card), there's a plethora of bus routes to get you pretty much anywhere you need to be, and most importantly the buses run pretty much on time! The Lab at which I'm working is just on the outskirts of the main high rise downtown area. I work on the 7th floor and on the top, 11th, floor there's a gym and balconies with roof top gardens. Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute Building One:

 A short walk towards the harbour from the lab is the Seattle Monorail which runs from the Westlake Shopping centre (lots of great international eateries for lunch!) to Seattle Centre and the Space Needle:

Right on the coast is Pike Place market, known for its fresh fish, this bustling market has stalls of just about every type imaginable. More importantly the first ever Starbucks opened there! Now I have to admit I forgot to go to said mecca of the coffee drinking world while I was down there today; however, I intend to go after work one night when hopefully it'll be quieter than it would have been today on a sunny Saturday in summer.

Other highlights of my ramble round this area of downtown were the moving sculpture outside Seattle Art museum:

This rather poetic war memorial:

Some examples of the street art scattered around downtown:

And finally the beautiful 1930's Paramount theatre, a music venue situated across the intersection from the bus station near the lab - when I first noticed it the other day Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube were playing there!

Inaugural post and Gas works park

Hello world!
I'm writing from my room in Seattle. I've been here almost a week now, I hoped to have posted before now but was foiled by a catastrophic computer failure. I am, however, now up and running (on my shiny new MacBoor Pro, how I love it so!). More about my first week later, for now enjoy some pretty pictures which I took on a walk to Gas Works Park on my second night here (click on the images to see them full larger):