My remaining time in Florida was wonderful and the Sousas were absolutely wonderful hosts. We were fortunate with the sunny 70-degree weather and spent most of it eating, taking walks, shopping, napping or playing games (I’m addicted to Catch Phrase now). We got some great food in as well–from Italian at Carrabba’s to a Spanish dinner (I had the Arroz con Pollo) at Columbia Restaurant and to delicious Ipswich steamers at Crow’s Nest in Venice. Matt’s dad spoiled me with a yummy egg muffin sandwich and french toast for breakfast every morning. As I know they read this, I’ll give a shout out–> George & Sharon, Thanks so much for…

There’s a house around the corner from Matt’s parents that has an insane light display (seems to be a trend here in Florida)–but this one is over the top. Check out the rest of the photos I took of this display.

Oy vey. My first 24 hours in Florida was hilarious. After arriving from a red eye, I sleepily picked up my bag and headed north with Matt’s parents for a bite to eat and then a nap back at their house. After waking up from my nap, I opened up my suitcase to brush my teeth…only to realize that the clothes in the bag were not mine! Now–this was approximately 8 hours after leaving the airport! I checked my phone messages and found that JetBlue had called me 3 times urgently because the woman whose suitcase I had picked up was leaving for Jamaica the next day. We drove the…

I leave on a flight in 3 hours to head to Florida with Matt to spend Christmas with his parents. This will be the first Christmas ever for me without my parents–kind of a big deal. But then, this relationship is a big deal…so I can’t wait. Matt’s parents are so warm and inviting and I’m just looking forward to a week of hanging out and chill time. I’ve got about 2 hours to kill before my ride (thanks Tim) comes to get me. I think I’m packed. I just really need to change and then pack all the little tiny stuff (magazines to read on the plane, ipod, chargers,…

You remember the video of those 2 random Asian guys making a video of them singing to a random song? Now there’s one with 2 Asian girls (Thanks Asayo)–what’s with Asian people and making the most random videos?

Seattle was named the Most Literate City in the U.S. for the year 2005—one major difference between this year’s study vs. last’s was the introduction of the factor of number of books bought online. Hmmm. The least literate cities (#51-69 on the list) mostly fell in Texas and California—L.A. being #60. Fascinating.

Windows Live Local just launched and it’s super sweet. Why? Well, it has all the basic features that you get with Google Maps–map view, aerial/satellite view, pushpins, directions, etc…but they added a Bird’s Eye View which gives a really awesome perspective. Even cooler is the fact that you can change the orientation around and get many perspectives of a given landmark or building. They don’t have bird’s eye view images everywhere but for a good number of cities, including Seattle, L.A., Boston, San Francisco, Vegas, New York, etc.–check them out. Below is a comparison of a satellite image vs. a bird’s eye image of my condo: