We were walking on a Pacific beach when we got the call. We now have a written offer on the house.
Is it what we were asking for? Well, no. Of course not. But, I think it’s fair.
I know not to count chickens before hatching, but this is well into the incubator to keep with the metaphor. 
So far, so good!
Of course I’m not going to give away secrets here. But there is plenty of public knowledge about some of how Amazon works.
The thing that really impresses me is how much of a tech company it really is. When you think of Amazon you think of the consumer shopping site. Maybe you even think about Kindle. What you typically don’t think about is how much tech goes into making all that work.
With the tech comes developers.
With developers comes tools. If you’re lucky at least.
So far I’ve been learning the tools that come with the Amazon tech stack. The tools that solve the problems I’ve seen everywhere.
Not everything has an awesome solution… but it seems that a boatload do have good solutions.
It makes me happy! 
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Oh, and the people here are great too!
A few things happened today. Good things.
First, and biggest, it seems that we’re going to be able to move the Solon house pretty quickly. It’ll be a big mental weight lifted off our minds (and wallet). It’s a double-good thing: cashflow wise it’ll let us afford the next house and we’ll be able to get a much better down payment as well.
On the down payment side: it looks like we might’ve found a house! Well, we thought we found a house last time, but going back today with more time to look we found some structural issues. The issues aren’t a good thing, but finding them is. But we found a different house we seem to like better! It needs some updating, but it’s also a lot less money. That’ll buy a lot of updating.
All in all: good day!
This applies to Seattle along with many other big cities, but I’m going to concentrate on a comparison between Seattle and the greater Cleveland area.
Seattle, without a doubt, is a real city. Real, in this case, is a city that’s healthy and viable. Other cities that are similarly real include places like Chicago and Columbus. (Plenty more cities would qualify, but I’m picking normal midwest towns)
So, what’s a big difference between Columbus and Cleveland? (I would actually argue that this is the defining difference)
Size. Unification.
Columbus grew by annexing outlying cities and bringing them into the fold. Seattle did the same thing early last century. Cleveland, on the other hand, is surrounded — and locked in — by suburbs. The suburbs battle amongst themselves and with Cleveland for revenue and prestige.
A big city can define itself. A city like Cleveland is defined by others. Columbus can afford to do big things. Columbus can make globally sound decisions.
Cleveland and the burbs, in contrast, bicker. A great example is the Walmart in Cleveland Heights. The next town over, South Euclid, has a defunct golf course. So, what’s the plan? Let’s level the greenspace to move the Walmart over half a mile.
What’s that going to do?
Nothing.
No, wait. I lied. Instead there will be an empty space in Cleveland Heights and less greenspace in South Euclid.
How is that a win?
No doubt S. Euclid lured them with taxes (or, abatements). Cleveland Heights loses. S. Euclid doesn’t really win. The community as a whole loses.
Why?
Because no one is steering the ship. Everyone is arguing.
Now, I’m not saying Columbus or Seattle is perfect. Far from it. What I am saying is that a city that’s not busy fighting its neighbors can afford to make longer-term decisions. That long-term thinking is what can make a city thrive.
Does anyone else have any thoughts?
One of the first things we noticed about Seattle is that it’s quiet. Sure, there is a train that run right next to our apartment which makes about as much noise as a train would make. But everything else around here is quiet.
Cars don’t see to honk their horns very much.
People don’t seem to have loud conversations on the cell phones.
Most cars seem to be tuned correctly to not make a crapload of noise.
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I had a conversation with a co-worker and she way saying — as a Seattle native — that this isn’t a friendly city. I don’t think that’s really the case. I think that Seattle is just an introverted city. People don’t go around with a “hey look at me” vibe to them. People go around minding their own business for the most part.
That’s my initial observation at least.
It went well.
It’s public knowledge that Amazon is growing by leaps and bounds. All it takes is a look at their filings.
Today I witnessed it first-hand.
Day 1 for a new “class” of Amazonians.
Big.
The first half of the day was orientation. We went over the benefits. The values. Got our badges and computers. The standard rigmarole.
The last half was starting to get set up with my computer.
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Amazon, like any big company, is imposing to walk into. Big. Smart.
But it’s filled with normal people. (Ok, I guess based on the interviewing they weed out people that aren’t bright) Normal people.
I think I’ll fit in there just fine.
Tomorrow is my first day on the job in three weeks. Tomorrow is my first day working in Seattle. Tomorrow is the first day I’ll be working at Amazon.
The last time I worked — for pay at least — was three weeks ago.
Those three weeks feel like a lifetime.
In the three weeks we’ve packed up a house. Taken a trip out here for house hunting. I’ve driven across most of our continent.
The past seems so far away. Contrast that to the future which is so close.
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I’m not scared. I’m looking forward to it. (I’m also looking forward to getting paid… this hemorrhaging of cash is getting old)
We got my sister-in-law an iPad for mother’s day. She needed something that would be able to access all her computer needs, but small enough to be able to pack into a diaper bag and talk to the cell network when she’s at the karate class with her daughter.
But I had a deeper ploy in there as well: Facetime.
Facetime is Apple’s video conferencing system that works on the iOS devices. The beauty isn’t that it’s Apple or that it’s video conferencing. The beauty is how simple it is to use.
Chatting with her and the kids made it worth while. Alaina was a bit spooked at first, but quickly got the jist of how things were working.
Then, an hour later, my mom Facetimes with her new iPod touch.
Win.
Epic win.
Simple to use and tends to work. That’s what I like.
I’m sitting here in Seattle with a house that we would like to put a bid in for. The bank that we started to get the pre-approval with two weeks ago still hasn’t come through with anything. Positive or negative.
Grrr…
I sent a polite but scathing email to my contact there tonight. I know I won’t hear back over the weekend, but suffice to say we’ll start the process with other banks on Monday. It seems they don’t seem to want our business.
Whatever.
After the better part of a week driving on my part and work packing the house on Ennie’s part we are back together again in a small apartment in Seattle Washington.
Me and Ennie are here. The kitties are here as well. They are busy exploring the new place.
The thing living in the city makes me realize is that I want to be outside the core of the city. The apartment is on a busy street in the Belltown neighborhood. It’s like living in the center of the sun.
But we’re here.
Now I have to start getting to know people and start a new community of folks here.
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I was on the phone with a friend on the way to the airport to pick up En. She noted that the GPS was being really chatty. One thing I noticed is that this city is very road dense. Ergo, very direction dense.
Just sayin’.