My name is
David Robins:
Christian, lead developer (resume), writer, photographer, runner,
libertarian (voluntaryist),
and student.
This is also my son David Geoffrey Robins' site.
Avalon at Bear Creek apartments: shady dealings
News ·Saturday November 5, 2011 @ 21:19 EDT (link)
Honey writes:
We moved in to Avalon at Bear Creek on August 14, 2009. Our lease was set to end on August 13, 2011, and we renewed (for a third year). We ended up moving out November 5, 2011 and gave our notice that we were moving out on October 10, 2011, paying to break the least as in the contract. As per the lease we knew we were supposed to give 30 days notice.
While we lived at Avalon at Bear Creek, I thought that I had a good relationship with the management. I always called maintenance right away when there was a problem, and had good conversations with the maintenance staff. We had lots of problems with our refrigerator after move-in. They came over to "fix" it 3 times before finally replacing it several months later. Just to give some insight into the "relationship" that I thought that I had with the staff there. I spoke openly with Glenn Mason (manager) and Melissa Maxwell (and even Christy, who worked in the office) there. They knew when we went on vacation (so they could get our mail for us and keep an eye on things while we were gone). I was very open with them when I had family problems (I lost 2 family members back to back) and they pretended to care. I'll leave Melissa out of the equation, because she moved on to greener pastures after we renewed our lease the first time. On our first renewal our rent increased significantly. When we first moved in to Avalon at Bear Creek we were paying $1062 per month. We also paid a security deposit of $250. Included in the $1062 was an $8 trash charge. Our pro-rated first months rent totaled $617, we paid an application fee of $42 and a non-refundable Amenity Rent/Common Area fee. We lived there for one year and everything was fine; we were invited to continue to live there and were informed that our rent would increase the second time around.
After our first renewal our rent increased to $1251 which included the trash fee and a $30 parking fee for the carport that we were renting. This is the year that my family problems came up and I spoke with the people there and they pretended to care about me and my feelings. Also during this year we went to the barbecue they had for the apartment community and won a $100 gift certificate for the month of September, which we took in the month of October because we had already paid our September rent. I should also note that sometime during this year I overpaid by at least $100 (I think it was $129 because that's the amount they kept over the security deposit upon move-out). At the end of our lease term we received another invitation to renew and while we were considering moving out east (somewhere) we weren't actively looking yet, so we decided to sign our lease for another year. We knew that there was a good chance that we would have to break the lease, but we knew the penalty for that and were prepared to do that when the time came. We also noticed that our rent was to increase yet again to $1434 per month including our carport.
I'll also note that when we renewed our lease the first time David read through the lease, but when we renewed the second time it was my turn to read through and know the terms. While I was reading through it caught my eye that we only owed the apartment complex a 20-day notice that we would move out early. But when we signed the lease for our second renewal I asked what the protocol was for early termination of the lease. I was informed by Glenn Mason that it was 30 days written notice and a month and a half rent to get out of the lease. David started looking actively for a new job around September and we thought it would take a while to find one that would make him happy and a place that we would want to move to, but it only took a couple of months. As soon as David had his interviews and we decided on a place to move I informed the apartment complex that we would be moving out in early November. I was unsure of an exact date because we had to give the moving company a 4-day window to pick up our stuff. I gave them 30 days notice on October 10, 2011 and we moved out on November 4th (lease termination was November 5th). I should note that I paid through November 9, 2011 in full all at once.
We set the pre-move-out inspection and I discussed things with the maintenance manager. I informed him that we would not be cleaning the apartment or the carpet in the apartment (since they would charge for it anyway). I was informed that the prices for these items would be approximately $125 for cleaning the apartment and the carpet cleaning would be approximately $80 (they were actually $135 for cleaning the apartment and $82.12 for cleaning the carpet). I was told the final water bill would also be included in the move-out charges (this bill was $49.21). I was also told that if there was any paint damage that that would cost us as well, but he wasn't sure of the numbers for that. The maintenance manager informed me that as of that day everything looked fine and that painting shouldn't be a concern, at least as things looked to him at that time. I asked if I needed to touch-up any scuff marks on the walls and he told me "No, they are considered normal wear and tear." I asked this question twice and got the same answer both times. (Note: we filled out a paper when we moved in and a paper was filled out for us when we moved out that list all damage to the apartment). Now when we were moving out of the apartment the movers were very careful to not hit the walls or doorways. As they were finishing up the maintenance man came for our move-out inspection. He informed me that he could not do it (or any of it at all) because there was still furniture in the apartment. All the furniture was moved away from the walls in anticipation of the move-out inspection, but the man would not even do a preliminary walk-through with me because it was nearing closing time and he didn't want to "waste" his time. He informed me that he would do the walk-through on his own the next morning (he asked if I would be there to supervise, but I informed him that we had a long drive and would not be present). He told me that he would take pictures and let us know anything he found. I did my own walk-through before we left and saw no damage in the apartment (other than dirt and scuff marks that I had already been told not to worry about twice).
We did not hear anything from them for a while; then one day we received a phone call telling us that we owed the apartment complex an amount of $183.33 more on top of the $250 security deposit and the $129 I had overpaid sometime during the last year because they had found "damage" and had to charge us for four hours worth of painting. They sent us an itemized receipt that had a charge of $160 worth of painting, but there were no attached pictures as the receipt claimed. We called them back after receiving this statement and were sent the pictures via e-mail. We looked at the pictures and could not see any damage except for the dirt we knew we were going to have to pay for anyway, but on further examination of the itemized receipt we saw a charge for accelerated rent in the amount of $186. I called the office in Redmond, WA and was told that that charge was in error and they would inform corporate of this (I spoke to Christy). They did not "take care of it" as they said they would and so I made several phone calls to the corporate office and was told the same thing every time. This charge was not really on the receipt; it was just a separate way they inputted the rent that we had already paid. I knew this was bullshit. I went round and round with them and told them that we were disputing these charges (the accelerated rent as well as the so called damage they were claiming). I waited for weeks before I finally got a phone call saying that the dispute was overruled and they were not going to give us any of our money back. They also told me that they were sending this to a claims company and all our disputes had to go through them.
Out of the blue the next day I received a call from a woman named Jessica in the corporate office and she dealt with post disputes from customers and was the one to explain exactly what happened and try to reconcile with me. I told her the same thing I had told everyone else: I was told that David and I "left on good terms" and that we "should not be charged accelerated rent because we had already paid everything we owed them." She told me that "no, the accelerated rent was a different charge and that it was charged to us because we left earlier than we said and didn't really give a 30 days notice". I said "No, that is incorrect" (I got very angry), and I told her again "no, we left on good terms, I asked Glenn Mason and he was the one who informed me that we left on good terms". She said "the people in Washington are the ones who filed this additional claim against you". I said (in passing) "well, I read my lease and if I recall correctly we were only required to give a 20 days notice, but I gave 30 days to be nice and to make sure I had it covered". She said "You are exactly right, I don't know why no one caught this before, but in the state of Washington you are required to only give 20 days notice". She then said, "let me call the office in Redmond and find out why they are charging you for this and if there is any reason they have a right to, but if it's in your lease then I will personally take the accelerated rent payment off". She also was going to look into the so-called damage they were claiming. I had made the case to her that I could see one or two hours of painting but not four. I said "they could paint the entire apartment in 4 hours".
I received a phone call from her the next day and she told me that she was taking the accelerated rent payment off and that she was personally going to check into the "damage" to see if the apartment complex in Washington was just being petty (she told me that she wasn't able to get in touch with anyone at the Redmond office so she would look into the damage that evening and get back to me the next day). She promised me that she would do what she could, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to help me so that we wouldn't have to pay for the "damage". She called me back the next day and told me that with the picture number #299 showed wall damage and the other pictures showed scuff marks. She said that since that picture was in there there was no way she could take the damage off. She also said "we normally don't charge for scuff marks, but since there was 'proof' of them as well as the wall damage, [she] couldn't take that off".
I informed her that I suspected foul play on the part of the apartment complex and that "I can't prove it, but I think they took a sledge hammer and did the damage themselves". I also told her that I had nothing against her personally and that I appreciated the effort that she put into helping me when no one else would. I told her that when I told my story that I would not say anything bad about her, and I haven't. I also told her that she should have the corporate office look into the dealings of the Redmond office's business practices, because they are less than noble and I didn't want others to be treated the way that we were treated. She apologized and said "I'm sorry you feel that way, I hope this doesn't make you think less of our company." I told her I understand what you are saying, but I would not recommend anyone staying at any of their complexes around the country and that there was no way that I was keeping my story to myself. I told her that no one there could stop me from telling my version of what happened and also what I thought happened after we moved out. I made sure she knew that I wasn't threatening her or her company, but also made sure that she knew that our story would be made public. She told me that I was welcome to call her to chat anytime about anything and that she wanted to be my friend. I appreciated that because I opened up to her and told her what I felt had happened and how I had been treated after my family problems and that the office out there had treated me like I was some sort of criminal (at least in my eyes), and they were threatening our good names and our good credit when we did nothing wrong.
A few weeks later we received a check in the mail in the amount of $2.67! This just feels like another slap in the face after all we've been through because of them.
Books finished: The Golden Age.
Minor mechanical work
News ·Saturday October 22, 2011 @ 16:47 EDT (link)
Finally got the ABS sensor fixed on the Solara (brakes itself are fine, light has been on for a while); took it to Autosys as usual. Also needed one new tire, and got their oil change special. Autosys remains a quality place, with fair pricing (when the Microsoft discount is figured in), and I'd recommend it.
Books finished: The Moral Underground.
Lounge shoot the third
News, Guns ·Sunday October 9, 2011 @ 23:06 EDT (link)
We (Garrett and I, since everyone was technically our guest) took the lounge folk out to SVRC again; perhaps it will become a monthly thing, so long as codgers and sand and boards stay separate. I was there 1030 to a little past 1500; Garrett had to go a bit earlier. There were some other shooters there—didn't have the range to ourselves like before—but as seems typical with "gun people" everyone was for the most part polite and civil. Dmitry, who came to shoot my SCAR-17S (yes, I gotta talk about the SCAR always), asked about people leaving (expensive) gear and guns on the benches while we were at the far end eating, but I wasn't worried. Speaking of the SCAR, this was the first time I had stood next to it being shot, and it packs quite a wallop—but not to the shooter! There was much enjoyment of shooting it by Dmitry, Vu, Tim, and Max.
There was a good sized group, and several plan to apply for membership now, which will be nice; we need a better member-to-guest ratio. The food as usual was excellent—Max and Tim's sous-vide pork and various additions (Christine's brownies were also excellent). Jim's Mini-14 was much better to shoot; last time with different hardware the trigger was horrible; maybe it was cleaned this time (his theory). Tim's Remington 700 in 7mm, wood hardware, trigger job was a delight to shoot (I'm sure the meese will feel the same way), as was his SIG P226; I shot some clays at the end of the pistol range (thanks to whoever let me shoot their clays!); 5 shots, 5 hits, then I chased them around with the rest of the mag. I had been looking at the Elite Dark with the SRT, so may pick one up.
It was good to meet a bunch of people FTF for the first time: Christine's husband Kent; Haidle; I think I'd met Fritz's wife before but it had been a while; Dmitry of course, although he's not lounge; Ron and family; Ben again (new lounger, old shooter), and to see various others again. Although it was damp and drizzly a good time was had… as planned I shot some holes through my map of Manhattan and got some closure for that possibility. Had some feed trouble with my metal AR-15 mag (the one it came with, not a PMAG), but I suspect the AR just needs cleaning. As does everything else. Oh well.
Books finished: Robinson Crusoe, How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, The Jehovah Contract.
Interviews north and south
News ·Sunday October 2, 2011 @ 17:52 EDT (link)
This is just a brief note to file away dates, written 2012-11-27.
Monday: working on the "RT" (Render Target) abstraction for Word; checked in a fix for region performance improvements: regions should still use GDI for calculations even in D2D (v1), because they're massively faster.
Tuesday: Flying out to New York, NY for Bloomberg interview. Airports are as much fun as ever and I don't miss it. At least someone else is paying! Took a cab to the hotel, a small but clean place called the Da Vinci; it took the cabbie (from JFK) a little while to find it.
Wednesday: Bloomberg interviews. Actually headed over (by cab from my hotel) to Solomon-Page (technical recruiter) first to meet with Darren Ogoff, and then their tech director, Steven Wolff. The morning interviews at Bloomberg had fallen through—a principal had called in sick and they couldn't find a replacement—so I cooled my heels in a conference room for a few hours. Fortunately I had brought a book. Then I had a technical interview with Steven, which went well, although he noted I was almost a "low talker".
I had interviewed with Steven earlier via Skype (I had to create an account). I've still got my solutions to the longer exercises: there was a skills assessment (Excel worksheet), then a question to reverse the last five items in a linked list, implementing a stack then using it to implement an RPN calculator, and some shorter items, most of which were pasted to him over Skype: reverse a string, implement strcmp, reference-counted string, and binary search a string array allowing for empty entries.
For lunch, I went with Darren to a nearby deli and got a pita sandwich, which I brought back to "my" conference room to eat. I really didn't get to see much of the city, although I doubt it would have helped.
I took another cab to Bloomberg, went in, had my photo taken and a temporary ID made in the lobby, then passed a guarded turnstile (using the ID) to get to elevators. I was met on I think the 5th floor by someone from Bloomberg, allowed to stash my bags, and waited to be met and taken the rest of the way up to I think the 30th? floor. It's been almost a year, but I believe I was then taken to an interview room (small room, table, metal chairs, Bloomberg terminal, glass walls, very modern) and interviewed by two pairs of developers.
I don't recall all the questions, although I do recall one that took me longer than it should have: the old "use an array to count frequencies" trick (array[ch]++ rather than, say, using a hash or tree map). They were decently in-depth that I could tell they knew their stuff, but not difficult. Eventually a manager of the department (trading solutions?) asked me some questions then showed me around where I would be working if I got an offer. To be honest, I was unimpressed: I would have part of one long table in a room of such tables; little privacy and noisy. He took me past a display with old Bloomberg terminals, which was interesting, and past a "free food" area which rather put Microsoft's kitchens to shame, where I picked up some chips. I asked if there were any prohibitions on employees trading (outside work), and he said no.
Afterward, I took a cab back to Solomon-Page, since Darren was anxious to talk about the interviews; he was glad they went well (that I was there so long, past, I think, the scheduled time, was a good sign) but I couldn't stay: had to get a cab to the airport to catch my flight. (I was, of course, later reimbursed for all costs, except cap tips; there was a bit of a misunderstanding where someone in their accounting department dropped the tax on the flights, but it was eventually cleared up.)
Thursday: Wheels down, wheels up… I flew out to St. Peterburg (TPA), and was greeted by warmth and palm trees. Freedom Scientific put me up in a La Quinta (Ulmerton and 34th—with a Chick-fil-A right next door, which we couldn't get in Washington). It was a "regular" hotel, i.e., a room with two queens or a king and space to walk around in, not like the rather cramped room in NYC, and probably cheaper to boot. I was also given a rental car (Chevy Aveo). I settled in and ordered a wake-up call to be up in plenty of time for interviews the next day.
Friday: Someone let me in the door (swipe-card access, like most places), and I sat in a small lobby with only an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign keeping me from the offices. I think I met with Miguel first; he was my main phone contact. I was put in a conference room, offered coffee, water, etc., and then questioned by various interviewers. I remember I definitely talked to Sriram and Nataliya, and Glenn (CTO) over the phone (he works remotely, and is blind), then went to lunch with Rob (a director—manager/team lead anywhere else) and talked to Carl (the other director, both reporting to Miguel, VP of Software Engineering) after lunch. Sriram and Nataliya asked some coding questions, where I wrote up solutions on the whiteboard or paper (tree traversal, that sort of thing); the interviews were not quite as rigorous as Bloomberg, but certainly sufficient for screening (if the interviewers are listened to!; the area is a bit of a seller's market).
I recall Rob asked about getting things done, dealing with resistance to ideas, that sort of thing, and I talked about making a business case to build things a certain way to persuade that what I wanted to do was the right thing—which I've done a few times (yes, I accepted their offer; Bloomberg's was higher, but factoring in cost of living and having to live in NYC, not enough to persuade me to work there).
Saturday: They were kind enough to pay for me to stay another day to look around the area; so I went to downtown St. Pete's, talked to a realtor and learned a bit about homes and pricing, and generally explored the area. I was rather expecting to get an offer, and the warm and sun was pleasant contrasted with Washington's rain and perpetual cloudy gloom; and prices for houses and apartments were reasonable, and they were decent-sized, not cramped (or hours of commute away) like NYC.
Sunday: Flew back to Redmond, and made plans for breaking the news to my boss….
Books finished: The Myth of the Robber Barons.
Another lounge shoot, with food
News, Work, Guns ·Friday September 9, 2011 @ 23:31 EDT (link)
1030 - 1500. Ate around 1300. Shot the SCAR-H and AR-15 and Glock 34. Bipod is great. Need to get another one so both AR-15 and SCAR can keep one attached.
Books finished: The Bishop.
8th anniversary - Russell's, Olive Garden
News ·Sunday August 28, 2011 @ 19:06 EDT (link)
We went to Russell's in Bothell (1900) for our anniversary dinner; nice place, good food, then for dessert at Olive Garden in Kirkland the next day.
And so it goes: leaving the west coast
News, Work ·Tuesday August 23, 2011 @ 01:37 EDT (link)
We have been planning to leave here, to go back east to be closer to our parents, to find a place (hopefully in Tennessee or another friendly Southern state) with some space to settle in (and for a range, perhaps, even), and have a family, and reconnect a little perhaps. It has been isolating out here, especially for Honey since she doesn't work and have the connections I get from that (although some CLAMS folk wrought great evil; although I have forgiven, it remains, but I think the positives outweighed). We have been planning to leave here for over a year, but I wanted to finish my Master's degree; and it was finished in July, so now things are beginning.
Speaking of mailing lists ("DLs" or Discussion Lists, in MS-speak), I have been unsubscribing (and deleting folders) of ones I don't really read (e.g., Canucks, Investment, Litebulb); CLAMS has been archived, and others will be closer to the date so I don't miss much (especially msgun and prepare). This is the beginning.
There's a lot to do before actually packing and moving. Of course, first is finding a job, likely via Dice (since I don't want to let contacts on, e.g., LinkedIn know, so I can't leverage them, which may have been helpful); so I'm dusting off my resume (luckily I have a fairly recent one since my Master's program required it, so I'm just cutting and trimming and doing a little reformatting).
We need to get rid of whatever we don't need, either selling if we can get some money (like the DVD cabinet, since they've all been ripped to an external HD), any books we don't need, files and papers and (ancient) journals that aren't needed or can be recorded electronically (with backups), and so forth. There will be more to move than when we arrived in the state (treadmill, set of living room couches, maybe a bookcase, a bed after a tree fell on the first one, although it's still usable; we just got rid of the side cabinets, piano, and smaller items), and this time I expect we'll be loading a truck again rather than having commercial movers do everything (help appreciated!)
It's been an interesting time; worked with and interacted socially with a lot of good people; came into libertarianism, fully—anarcho-capitalism, principled respect for self-ownership, reading the great authors like Rothbard and Bastiat and newer ones like Molyneux and Kinsella. I learned about shipping (shrink-wrap) software: shipping is a feature, and we deliver. I learned that "Micro$oft" isn't the big bad, nor incompetent; it's a great group of smart people that accomplish diverse goals (which may not make everyone happy), although I remain a Linux and open source software user, contributor, and fan. I got to do a lot of fun, interesting, and globally useful development in Word, from the object model to OfficeArt to co-authoring, the drawing abstraction layer, D2D printing, and immersive commenting.
I learned some of the things I want in life and how I want to obtain them and what I will and will not do; I gained confidence and skills, and perhaps learned a little about people, too. Facebook arrived, and we finally hopped on board, and I got to know some people that I'd never met. We want a quiet place to live and grow in a quiet part of the country with friendly but not nosy neighbors, not too close, with fast Internet and not too far from both sets of parents—or from work, if I can't telecommute (which is down). I want to continue to develop the 7 habits.
This stage is done; the next beckons.
Books finished: Liberty Defined.
Deciding against a doctorate
News ·Thursday August 18, 2011 @ 20:38 EDT (link)
I entertained for a while the idea of going on and getting my Ph.D, most likely in Computer Science, but possibly—due to the influence of various articles by Dr. Walter Block—in economics; the math wouldn't be a problem and I could pick up the undergrad econ courses fairly quickly.
I looked into various schools, general admission procedures, and talked to a few kind individuals to gather information, among them DP and AS. I became confident that I could put together a good application with sufficient references (from professors from project courses or those with paper or presentation components primarily, to avoid the damning "did well in class" faint praise), and grades and GRE scores are not a problem (they also apparently don't count for much, to the point that it seems surprising they even bother asking for them).
Ultimately I decided against it for a combination of reasons: the long (5-6) year program with low pay and (potentially) miserable hours; the extremely poor job market for teaching or research (even privately), and I learned about the "postdoc treadmill"; I like reading, but there are limits, and this might push them!; earnings tend to be no higher, or even lower than a Master's degree holder (in science fields); I can learn most items of interest on my own while working a good job (the Internet, and accessible school libraries and online journals, are wonderful things); I can probably teach (adjunct professor?) without a degree if I want to give it a try; I can live without being called "doctor"; and while I would have liked to get some of my tax money back in the form of the paid tuition and stipend, I wasn't looking forward to being perceived as a parasite; basically, I want to move on, find a place and a bit of land to settle down on, not take a long timeout like this. I should note that Honey fully supported me doing a doctorate. But it does not seem like the right thing at this time; I may revisit the possibility at a later date.
Books finished: The Declaration of Independents.
A tale of four mailing lists
News, Political, Work ·Sunday August 14, 2011 @ 01:22 EDT (link)
The first list presents itself as an out of the way park. On the front gate, the company logo—it's clearly company property, but there's also a little plaque saying that the opinions of the park maintenance staff do not reflect those of the corporation. The hedges are generally well-trimmed, the grass manicured to within an inch of its life, and signs direct people to stay off it. Upon someone new entering the park, one of the fussy groundskeepers hangs up his rake and scuttles over, demanding the credentials of the individual that would dare seek admission. They are grilled as to how they found this secret park, assured that their association with it will be kept secret, and their bona fide adherence to the groundskeepers' (professed) creed is examined. Many are found insufficiently pure, and asked to leave. Others may enter, and converse with the other people in the park, although the groundskeepers are always listening in on the conversations and sometimes stamp their feet in rage and scream at the conversationalists if they are unhappy with what is being said. Although imperious, they can sometimes be calmed down and then they go back to their raking and clipping. Except sometimes, they get so angry at conversations others are having that they go home to their parents' basement, return with their father's shotgun, and violently drive the hated speakers of logic out of "their" park.
Our next is a park without gates (but a quiet sign lets entrants know they're still on company property, and again we see the plaque noting the opinions of the individuals within are not official Microsoft policy), and where the lawns and wild gardens may sometimes get a little unruly. But people speak freely; nobody monitors them; the groundskeepers keep the lanes clear, but on nice days people just stroll across the grass. People know the groundskeeper will stop any physical altercations if any should arise—none ever have, but he keeps the lawns and path free of damage and disease, and can sometimes be seen hoisting a mug with the others in the park and engaging them in fervent, even heated discussion.
The last one doesn't actually have any boundaries, exists outside of corporate property, and people are frequently seen beating others to death with shovels. They tend to come back as zombies and do unspeakable things to their attacker's pets, although at the end of the day they present very tasty-looking meals.
(I know I promised four, but the second park is really a two-fer.)
The interesting thing was that the last park made a change this year to move its users off of corporate property; so it is in fact two parks next door, one being the old corporate park which is sometimes still used, and the other the new private one (owned, not merely raked and maintained, by individual denizens). I haven't seen much of a difference, but I suspect HR is much less concerned with what goes on in the private one. It might be worth privatizing a few other parks, too; but the selected management would have to be a laissez-faire crew, not prone to bringing their shotguns around when their betters are having a discussion. That lesson has been learned.
Books finished: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, How Capitalism Saved America.
Pollocks, zoo, Mars Hill
News ·Sunday August 7, 2011 @ 20:45 EDT (link)
Honey's uncle and aunt and cousins from Pullman arrived Saturday afternoon (they stopped at a hotel half-way); we went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We were going to drive there but were saved the trouble by taking the free shuttle from the South Kirkland Park and Ride (@ 1415) across Lake Washington.
Unfortunately I didn't have my Microsoft Prime Card, which would have gotten us a substantial discount, so we ended up paying something like $35 for two tickets (even with a coupon that Aunt Lynn gave us). Oh well.
It was a beautiful day; the zoo was fun, lot of walking, glad I brought a water bottle for us. We took the second to last bus out, the 1745, heading back to Redmond. We stopped for teriyaki (I had chicken katsu) at Niko Teriyaki on Redmond Way; the Pollocks kindly treated us. That evening we played Scotland Yard—they caught me—and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1, which was quite good.
In the morning we got up early (for us) and went to the 0900 service at Mars Hill Bellevue. We had sandwiches here for lunch (toasted banana!) and I talked to uncle Dave about doctoral programs, admissions, the process, etc. They left a little after 1330.
Books finished: A Patriot's History of the United States.
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