thomsen.

An chance to live life. An opportunity. Should be not taken for granted. Every single day. Without regret.

That should be the goal for every human being in the world.

Today, I got to witness one of the most amazing experiences every human being should experience.

The ability for two people to share with their friends and family the beginning of a new life.

An experience when two hearts come together on a special day to become one.

I had the honor, at the last possible minute, without any previous knowledge, to attend one of my closest friend’s brother wedding.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go, but a day after the conference, yesterday, I met up with one of my closest friends in Seattle, WA along with his adorable family. On the waterfront, outside Starbucks, for the last time while I was in Seattle, sipping my Passion Iced Tea Lemonade, my phone rang and I was notified that they were being the pink tour bus. I gathered my laptop bag and walked behind the pink bus. Within a second later, a green Toyota van approached. He jumped out of the car and got reacquainted.

Ten minutes later, we pulled into the Seattle Mariners parking garage and headed over to SafeCo Field. At first, we weren’t sure we would  be able to get tickets because an hour earlier I had gone online to see if I could be able to purchase online; after searching, all tickets were no longer being sold online since most ticket agencies tend to close the venue either one or two hours before the venue starts. Nevertheless, as we approached the ticket booth, I was quite pleased to discover that there were plenty of tickets and got four tickets for everyone (kids under 3 is free!).

I must say that the staff are terrific when it comes to making sure that families are accommodated. As we walked to the line to enter into the gate, we were approached by a staff member that allowed us to enter through a different gate since we had three kids with us. The staff were so good…they were getting spoiled by baseball cards! Gate 329. That’s where our seats were, so while my friend took the kids to get a quick restroom break, I entered the gate a spoke to an pleasant gentleman who appeared to be well past his prime. He gave me some excellent advice as to check at the guest services to check in my friend double stroller and then since it was the kids very first game, that they would create a memorabilia to commemorate their first baseball game, free of charge!

San Diego Padres vs. Seattle Mariners. Honestly, as I write this I still have no idea who won. When we left in the top of the eighth inning, the Seattle Mariners were ahead by two. As much as I love the game of baseball, normally, I would of stayed until the game ended, but this was far from normal circumstances. Three kids. One three. One two. One six months. They were bound to become a nuisance for the parents; besides, they’re just doing what kids are suppose to do. Nevertheless, we decided to leave early since the kids needed to sleep and my friend had some major responsibilities as the Best Man for the wedding.

Bellevue, Washington.

From what I’m told, the most famous person in Bellevue, Washington is Bill Gates. Not is only the most famous person, but most likely, the most richest man in Bellevue, and for sure, one of the most richest man in the world. Now if you did not know that, well, for sure you learned one new thing by reading this blog. I’ll admit, I had no idea that Bill Gates resided in Bellevue, Washington, since most of his work has been done in Seattle, Washington, but I did know that he, for a long time, has been one of the richest men in the world. Plus, I’ve always been a big fan of his since college because of my background working with computers.

Forty-five minutes later, I was in an apartment with my friend’s family, the future bride-to-be, and with two other bridesmaids. What conspired in the next twenty-four hours turned out to be an adventure that I would never forget.

This morning the sun shined its ray through the hostel window and started to annoy my eyes, yet, I knew that it was more than that, it was time for me to wake up early in the morning. 6:09. That's the time that my phone indicated and I just couldn't help rolling my eyes and stare at the ceiling in utter disbelief. You see, I couldn't sleep last night. Just tired as hell, but my mind was utterly unstoppable. I'd probably burned more brain cells than fat alone altogether last night. Is that even possible? If some scientist is reading this post, could you please inform me and my audience?

Nevertheless, the morning is now back to normal since I have my favorite Starbucks coffee fix! I can take on anything now! First to business, I entered the hotel and immediately took the elevator stairs down to the courtyard room and meet up with Terry to get my receipt to prove that I paid for the conference in cash. Nothing felt better than having that piece of paper to make sure that I got reimbursed by my employer. I, then, headed to grab some food for breakfast. This morning, I surprised myself by only eating fruits for breakfast: banana, strawberries, and grapes (along with grape fruit drink!). After about ten minutes of enjoying my breakfast along with my coffee, I was surprised to have company at my table. :-) 

Such a beautiful day today. What can I say? This day is off to an excellent start. Right now, I'm sitting in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, WA. First word that comes to mind: fancy. You know if I was rich, then that would be a different story, but guess what? I haven't gotten there yet ;-) Even with a discount, the cost a night for a room at this hotel is around two-hundred a night. Some of you are wondering, "Why are you in Seattle in the first place?" To be honest, there's two reasons: first, I missed the city and always love being anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. Second, there's a conference that I have to attend to help me improve my already amazing skills teaching American Sign Language.

I still haven't decided which session I want to go to...there's so many great options! I guess I'm gonna go with these two: Assess Student ASL, HOW? presented by Kim Pudans-Smith and Overview of ASL Teaching Methods presented by Dr. Keith Cagle and Kim Brown Kurz. However, before I went their presentations, I decided to go check out National ASL Standards Overview that was being presented before those two sessions. I think the National ASL Standards Overview was extremely informative since they simplified quite a bit from last time and the 5C's made it that much more to understand. I'm not really going to elaborate too much, but if you want to learn more, feel free to check it out here.

Of the two sessions, I really found that Kim Pudans-Smith to be much more engaging. It seems that many ASL teachers were having a difficult time finding ways to assess the ASL skill(s) level of their students. Kim believe that having a well-organized rubric is the key to making not only the teacher job easier, but as well as it gives students a better understanding of what the teacher expectation(s) are. 

Although, I do wish that the question(s) should have been saved for the last half an hour of the presentation because she was still unfinished with her presentation when we were running out of time. Again, it just strictly time management that could and should improve for next time. 

Lunch: Ivan and Starbucks. No additional comments! Check the photo! 

Again, the presentation, Overview of ASL Teaching Methods (actual presentation, part 1, part 2), was informative, organized, and extremely detailed. Almost too detailed. Yes, it is true that we read faster than when we're listening, but when you have that much information, it's easy to get distracted. I noticed that some of my colleagues were getting bored, lost, or trying to catch up to be engaged in the presentation. Again, it's a matter of personal taste and your learning style. As for me, I typed notes in my laptop, when that died, I took out my iPod Touch and continued to take notes to help me remember and recall what I learned. 

Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience and I'm looking forward toward to learning more tomorrow! It's gonna be a long day too! 

The last three days has been incredibility insane. Last night was the first time that I was finally able to get some sleep and man, did I need it! With all the last minute packing, until 4:30 in the morning and then zipping (literally, since I drove a Zipcar) to San Francisco transfer to BART headed for the San Francisco Airport for a flight to Seattle. Honestly, I have no idea how I was able to stay up for 48 hours without a single drop of REM! 

The adventure did not stop when I got to SFO, it where it started. When I checked in Alaska Airlines, I found myself disappointed because I would have to pay $20 bucks to check in one bag. All I could do was mutter under by breath that "God damm, I wish Southwest agents would arrest those sons**bi*ches!" Now, after checking in, you know that most people when they write about their travels would share insane stories about their experiences going through airport security. I guess for me, I got excepted from that experience. Quite frankly, I'm stoked about that. 

My first flight leg was from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon. Portland has a special place in my heart and will always have a special place in my heart. I've had some many amazing experiences, many amazing friends and the city itself is that awesome. Yet, I was bummed since I was only going to stop there to wait for my second leg flight to Seattle, WA. Nevertheless, the landing brought back some good memories and of course, PDX is, in my opinion, one of the best airports in the United States. 

As I exited the gate, I headed to the mega-huge flat screen televisions that would inform me where my departing gate for my flight to Seattle, WA. Terminal A5. Of my years of flying in and out of PDX, I realized that all that time, I've never been to Terminal A at PDX. Strange, yet, I was excited to take a peek. As I took the elevator stairs down to Terminal A, as I reach the bottom and as I walked towards the terminal, my eyes widen when I saw one of my favorite places to go on earth, Starbucks. 

Of all the airports, this one has been by far the best experience, with only one person in front of me, I decided what I wanted to order. Which, by the way, is never that difficult because I always know what I want to order for coffee, however, the difficult part is ordering food. No breakfast sandwiches available. No Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake available. The choices were starting to get daunting. Now, I'm up to order, shoot. The one last glance to the top left corner, obviously, out of the corner of my eye, I knew what I wanted to order. 

Grande Toffee Nut Latte and a Banana Nut Bread. 

The lady took my order with pleasure and not only that, she gave me a dollar discount. I'm not sure why. I think maybe because she loved my charm. Or maybe she found me attractive and loved my smile. Or maybe she just loved the way I was so nice and charming when I ordered what I wanted. Whatever the reason, I only had to pay five bucks for an excellent coffee and for an very good Banana Nut Bread. I think we both totally made each other day without really knowing it! 

My flight to Seattle was not very pleasant. Blunt, eh? Well, you have to admit, that being in a somewhat tiny plane with small chairs, with very limited legroom, isn't exactly what I pictured when I flew from Portland to Seattle. Plus, my chair-mate, started to get on my nerves after the flight attendant ask all passengers to off their cell phones for the fourth time and he was still on his Blackberry. I started to have all these imagination of myself turning next to him to ask him with a stern voice to turn off his cell phone. Then I started wondering what I would do if he said something, well, not very nice. My mind started really started to get into it and remembered about that guy that smacked at 12 year old kid for not turning off his cell phone. Yeah, I thought to myself, I can take him on. 

He turned off his cell phone. I took a s big breath and sighed in relief. 

Rough landing. I jerked myself upright and griped the handlebar with my left hand. As I exited the plane, the first thing that I noticed that, boy, it was windy today! I entered the terminal and suddenly, my stomach growled at me. I'm starving badly. My body told me it need a sandwich badly. I walked up and down the food court, but to no avail. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Alaska Lounge. Not even close to the food court, but it looked like the place for an excellent sandwich with chips! I sat myself and took a look at the menu...bingo! Turkey and bacon sandwich with ciabatta bread with chips! So good! My server, Ann, was excellent! 

Afterwards, since I did take longer than expected to finish my lunch/dinner, I headed to baggage claim and knew immediately to go to the Alaska Airline office to claim my bag. Once secured, I headed out of the terminal to go Seattle newest transportation attraction, Link Light Rail. Extremely modern and sleek. The light rail took me straight from the airport to downtown Seattle in less than 45 minutes. Not bad for paying less than three bucks. Actually, I think it's downright awesome! 

Arriving in downtown Seattle via Link Light Rail, you could say, pleasant. Love being fifty feet off the ground and seeing the city and beautiful view of scenery of the Seattle/Tacoma area! Just breathtaking. As I took the elevator stairs up to ground level in downtown Seattle, all I could think about was the last time I was here with my brother and his wife. I headed towards the hostel I booked a month ago: Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle. 

One of the best hostel I've stayed at so far in the United States. 

Best price ever. Smacked in the middle of downtown Seattle and next to the Pike Place. Free internet. Free meals.  The double bunk bed are sturdy as a oak tree and they have curtain to ensure you privacy. They have plenty of electricity plugs everywhere in the room and even by the top bunk beds! They have excellent storage lockers in the room as well. Huge enough to fit two large travel bags! Love it! 

After checking in, I decided that I needed to kill some time since I did not want to crash too early (it was around 3pm). Give it a guess? Yup, that's right, I decided to look for the nearest Starbucks. Plus, I got some unexpected news and needed to get some coffee, a place with free wi-fi and a place for people watching. I tell you not, there's no better place than Starbucks. 

I lasted as long as I could and then crashed on the top bunk bed at the Green Tortoise Hostel.