Panegyric Dissertation

Quite the word, eh?
Here we are again, posting my post to tell tales of the days of yore. This time, it's not five minutes before I have to work, though ;). 20, actually.

Yesterday, Lyd and I made a day of it (we both had the day off). I went up to her place, she payed her rent, got a phone call about her car, and we headed down to Aurora Village. As we were heading down there, we started to get some good snow! It didn't stick on the pavement, but it stuck a little in the landscape areas on the dirt.
We parked at the P&R (great spot too) and headed over to the bus bays to figure out how we were going to get ourselves to Seattle. We found the perfect bus (358) which ran from Aurora PR straight down to Seattle, made a pass on 5th, back up 3rd and came back to APR. After we saw our bus of choice, we went over to Costco (buses require exact change), used the restroom, partook of some samples and headed back to the bus, which we got on, sat down, and we left! The bus was waiting for us!
The ride down was mostly nice and quiet. There was only one small portion when a couple guys got on (one was Very talkative). They talked a lot about thrift-type stores all over. Now, the ride back is a different story. There were definitely some...interesting people on our ride back up. Funny thing is, they didn't get on in Seattle! Anyways, this one guy was throwing around all kinds of stuff. He was talking about born again Christians, Napoleon, the President compared to Hitler and all sorts of other daft things.
When we made it to Seattle, we decided to get off on 5th and make our way to Westlake. We got off, started on our way, and watched our bus make more stops on the same road...closer to Westlake... But no worry, we had more than time to spare and were enjoying the walk. We stopped at the Icon Grill and checked out the menu they had outside. They are expensive. I don't think any of their main dishes came with any sort of sides, and the sides were a variety of prices. Mac and cheese side? Like $11.50. Baked potato? Like $3.50 (so Mel can go ;).
We continued on our merry little way, enjoying the beautiful snow we were so blessed to have down there. There wasn't much of interest inside Westlake, so we headed out the far end and up the street to Gap. Gap has...employees... There was this guy (and I use the term loosely) named Oscar (sorry Jenny!). I definitely gave him more than just a double take to figure out what I was seeing. This 'man' was wearing a button-up shirt with a tight sweater over (women's?), Women's dress slacks and, get this, High Heels! For real! And this guy introduced himself to Lyd and helped her get a dressing room...Twice! If you could all see my Robatussin head shiver, this would be the time for it.
Anyways, no luck for Lyd's endeavor. I ended up with a christmas gift from my mom (teehee :D) and three pairs of socks.
After the Gap we headed up the road to Old Navy. Again, to no avail for Lyd. Though she did try on an army's worth of pants there. I ended up getting a long sleeve shirt for $4, and that was that for clo for the day.
By that time we were hungry enough for our usual fare of breadbowls and soup. On the menu of the place, you can get the regular combo, or the big combo (those are the only options). The regular is a bowl/cup of soup, caesar salad and a drink. The big combo is the same, with the addition of a peace of bread. This is exactly as the menu read. And this menu isn't like a chalkboard that gets erased regularly, this is their for real, painted on sign that isn't changing... So sad...
Breadbowls were good. Nobody too weird inside. There was a bird inside though, that was different.
After lunch was the hike down to Pike (rhymey!). We strolled through the market, I picked up something for my sister's birthday (I have to get her address!) from a bookstore that's in the under-part of the market (right down the ramp just past those bathrooms). The guy running the place was totally cool. We walked in and started browsing and then he announced the sale of a lifetime! "Everything double price next five minutes!" I was thril...oh wait. Hey! He was so great. Then I got my thingy, and he offered us this coupon for free parking saturday (but neither of us would be around, so he saved it for the next nice person to purchase something :).
Back up to 3rd to catch our bus back home. That's when we found President Napoleon, Etc. By the time we got back, snow had stuck! We had to crunch through the snow and slush back to the car.
We went over to Sbux to pick up the Seattle P-I, in case Lyd's internet didn't work at home we would still have a crossword to do. I ran in to buy the paper, and I ended up coming out with it plus the Charlie Brown christmas cd. Good stuff.
Summary time, since I have no time left:
Crosswords, Sbux winter celebration "party," Chad and Cindy's for dinner, dessert and Survivor. Another crossword, talking, almost died on the drive home.

Have a great day everyone! Happy birthday Rutter (like you'll ever see this...).
Time for work! My how 20 minutes flies...