You know what sucks:

This...

Before you filp out (Keith) I didn't do anything. I live across the street from a grocery store, and apparently last night one of the delivery trucks backed out and into my car. I walked outside at 7:20am to find...

Twisted metal and a note on my windshield. I was literally sick to my stomach.(I hate seeing her like this.) I called the number and they are fully insured and will be taking care of it. It's just a huge pain in the ass.

Parts to replace:
*New Grill
*New Hood
*New Fog Lamp
*New Light Facing

Potential Problems:
*Bent Hood Arms
*Bent Lamp Housing
*Bent Grill Brackets

So much for the nice new paint job.

The Last Three Days in Chihuly Land

The first few days at Chihuly has been pretty awesome. The people have been great, the work is satisfying, and their budget is almost comically large. It's like a kid in a candy store. Every tool/ material you need is there. The attitude in the shop is so similar to that of the Wash U art school it's uncanny. The only difference is that they have an HR department and I'm getting paid for what I do.

I've now gone through the first three days of Chihuly training. Day one I toured the building and met every person there, then promptly forgot all their names. Each department had their time (way) with me and showed me where to go, what to do, who to talk to etc. (Free sodas in the break room!) Then I was introduced to Quality Control. This is where Mock-up people like myself look at the glass on light tables and check for flaws. After that they are wired and set aside to be installed.

Day two I continued with QC. The best part was the dumpster. I got to take all the flawed pieced and huck them against the back of it. If they didn't break on the first try I'd take a long steel prod and smash em up good. I was literally asked to break Chihuly glass. Never in my life would I have thought I'd be taking thousands of dollars worth of glass and smashing it with a steel prod. Fun times.

We also had a company wide harassment lecture yesterday. It was held in the Boathouse, where the hot shop is and Dale lives. The building was cool, but the lecture was not. The woman that gave it had the worst sense of humor of anyone I've ever met. When ever the phone would ring she said "we have to pause for station identification." Dumb, but made it through.

Today I finished up the QC and Tom, my boss, took me back over to the boathouse. This time I got to meet the hot shop crew and watch them make one of these:



It was the largest, most involved glass working I've ever seen. It took about eight guy, three furnaces, three benches, and a lift to pull it off. Their coordination was mind boggling.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing random tasks.

There is a ton to learn, but I think I'm really going to like it. There are some downsides, like the 7:30 start time, but also a lot of benefits. I've been assigned to take down the New York Botanical Gardens show in late October. That means I get to be in NYC for nearly two weeks and have a sweet per diem while there.

We'll see how the next few months pan out, but for now I'm pretty damn happy.

I start work tomorrow....wish me luck. (I'll probably end up breaking a $5,000 something or other.)

I went into Chihuly Inc. today to fill out all of my accounting info. I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement with them saying that I would not speak of anything that goes on inside. It was pretty absurd. Plus I had tons of other papers to fill out. I'm sure I was there for a good hour and a half.

Sitting in the accounting office for that long I realized how glad I was not to be working at a desk. I would fall asleep all the time and likely consider suicide. I don't know how the women in there could stand doing that day in and day out. I can't sit in one place for that long.

I read through the employee manual which contains both good and bad news. The good news is that if I want to buy a Chihuly piece I can get what is normally a $5,000 piece of glass for $600. (In the accounting office one of the ladies was using a sea form as a paperclip dish) The bad news is that I only get 10 days of vacation time. (Damn it!) So much for going to Burning Man next year... No beach trip, and certainly not a lot of ski time. The good times are definitely over. I have to work there for 5 years before I get it upped to 15 days. (hooray!) Maybe I'll sell black market Chihulys, retire early and go on all those desired trips. (Israel, Russia, Antarctica, etc.)

PHOTOS!!!!

I posted the road trip photos on Facebook. Here are the links (Too many photos for one album.)

Album One
Album Two

I think that Facebook kind of down graded their photo quality, so here are a few of my favorites:

New(ish) Month... New Monkey

Okay, okay, okay.... I know it's 12 days late, but come on King Kong attacking the Space Needle. You gotta admit that's pretty good. Plus, in my defence I haven't had Internet all week and I was on the road the week before that. Now I'm good and the updates/pictures will flow out ASAP.

New digs are awesome and are just about done... I start my job on Monday. (Looking forward to gaining money rather than spending it all the time) We scored some 9th row behind home plate Mariners tickets from one of our neighbors, so this afternoon will be spent there. Seattle is great, and pictures soon I promise. (I'll make it all up to you Keith.)

In Seattle Now

Hey everybody,

I'm now living in Seattle. I will be going over my week in a series of parts, along with all the insane photos that have been taken. The road trip was amazing and there is a ton of good news here. A ton to cover so keep watching for updates coming soon.

(New monkey ASAP, sorry it hasn't been on the top of my list.)