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Heidi & I have two things in common, we both love a good breakfast and we both love a good bargain (although Heidi’s bargain love is more towards clothes than anything else) so if you can combine the two, well that is a sure fire win. There had been many Groupon etc deals floating around for a restaurant on Capitol Hill called Manhattan but after further investigation, you could get a pretty awesome deal without the need of the Groupon. On Saturdays & Sundays for the first hour of their Brunch service (10-11am) it’s classed as “Happy Hour” and they give you half off your Brunch meal. So as long as you order by 11am your main entree portion (sides and drinks don’t count) are half price… Freaking Win! So off we went to check it out.

From Life in Seattle 2014

The restaurant was a little bit tough to find at first as it was fairly non descript on the outside, but on the inside it is definately fairly eclectic. A steakhouse for lunch and dinner, and a unique one at that, the decor was unique alright including the lovely Ram’s Head decoration above the bar.

From Life in Seattle 2014

I forget the name of the Rams Head (bar tender told me) but they refer to it as the “12th Ram” (damn Seahawks fans are everywhere) and yes, those are AR-15s on the horns (not an M-16 as i reffered to it as and got corrected but they are essentially the same thing, don’t get me started). The Menu was all southern inspired and I was in a sweet mood (as usual) & Heidi just could not overlook anything with the words “Sausage Gravy”. So I ended up with the Chocolate Chip Pancakes

From Life in Seattle 2014

Heidi had the Country Fried Steak

From Life in Seattle 2014

And we shared a side of Jalapeno Corn Bread and some White Cheddar Grits

From Life in Seattle 2014

Service was pretty good and relatively quick, although I didn’t get a 3rd refill of coffee (yeah I really shouldn’t complain about that i know, but i <3 my coffee so kill me) that was about the worst complaint. The food was REALLY good and the grits were delicious. The pancakes were not really huge and giant like I expected but a good mix of both thin & fluffy at the same time, plenty of chocolate. The steak that Heidi ordered was HUGE for a breakfast portion and extremely tasty (it was apparently only 5oz... but I don't believe that at all). The breading on it was crunchy and spicy at the same time and the gravy was pretty darn good. Mixing the Grits with the Cornbread made for some really good flavor combinations and i felt that if the Sausage gravy had been replaced by Grits on that steak, I would of inhaled Heidi's plate for her. Some ladies at the table next to us gave us one of their Beignets and they were pretty good (would of been better warm no doubt) and they were as impressed by the food as we were. All in all my pancakes cost $5 and Heidi's steak was $7 thanks to the happy hour pricing and if we had not of had sides or a cocktail/liqueur coffee it would of been a pretty cheap morning! So if you up for a good breakfast that has an amazing deal... well I would definitely go for Manhattan. While it may not be the Best Breakfast in Seattle, it is definitely the best Breakfast DEAL in Seattle

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This is not the post I wanted to make while giving updates about my Half Marathon training. Im screwed 🙁 My injury from last year has come back to haunt me and i have strained the same muscle i did in Hong Kong. It’s crap and I have only myself to blame but right now, I am stuck.

I have already paid for the entry fee to the Vancouver Half and now I 100% know I won’t be ready. Right now I don’t know if I should just keep training towards running the half still or training more towards getting myself recovered from the injury. I know that if I try to run the half, things are probably not going to end well (and a big part of me is saying that I should just suck it up and take it like a man) with possible further injury. But then I would be wasting all that money I have already paid for the entry fee.

Unsure what to do about the race right now I need to try and at least get back to running out right. I tried running this morning, was aiming for a good 1km run just to get myself back after a week off of running (not training) but i got about 500m in and the muscle started to fight back. I was able to walk still and it was a bit stiff on the way to work, but it’s not to bad now.

I know I need to work back towards actually being able to run, but at what point do I give up on the half? Should I still stick the half and just do what i can in a Run/Walk mix? Do I just go balls to the wall and go for the run? Should I just give up entirely of this half marathon challenge and stick to 10ks?

Should

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It is week 3 of training for the Vancouver Half Marathon, it is all paid for so there is no way out of this without losing a whole lot of cash. The training is going well and I have started my distance increases. Week #1 saw a 10km run

Then the week after (last weekend) I did 11km

Then yesterday morning before starting work in Vancouver for the day (well a few hours anyway but that is a different story) I did a 12km run.

Now the ones on the Burke Gilman trail (10km & 11km) were so much easier than the run yesterday. The good thing with running on the Burke is there is no stopping and it is mainly flat. The trail makes it easier to keep on pace. Running around the streets of vancouver was tough. There was a lot of height changes and a LOT of stopping for the first half as there was a lot of roads to cross as I headed out over the Granville bridge into the city. But there was many times during that run I just wanted to end it early and give up, but I kept going. It was only 1km more than the last run but, damn, it was tough.

The longer I keep running each week means the easier it is going to be on race day, but the more I run now, the harder it is on my body. Yesterday I could barely walk up steps after the run and that was only 12km! I have to add another 9km for that day. I sure as hell am not driving back from Vancouver on the day of the race (someone else can drive me!) as I have a feeling I will be barely able to walk. But I am in this now and I am going to keep at it.

In the famous words of Yoda, “Do or Do Not, there is no try”.

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On Monday I got the great experience of indoor Skydiving down at iFly in Tukwila. It was something I had wanted to do again after experiencing it for the first time in New Zealand and at least once more before my goal of jumping out of a plane later this year. With a lovely discount through HowaboutWe a new website for discounted “dates”, why the hell not (big props to Heidi for finding it!).

We got two 1 minute flights each and it was a different experience compared to the outdoor one I experienced in NZ. The biggest difference other than indoor/outdoor was the fact that in NZ the fan was below you and pushed the air up, where as at iFly the fan was above you and circulated the air down through ducting to then below upwards from there. How it all worked or which one was better, I have no idea. What it meant was that it was not as frightening to think that below this flimsy mesh net was a giant cicrulating blade that would cut me in half at any time. It was still a bit nerve racking the way they had you entering the slip stream and I think that freaked me out a bit more than I thought. If you check out the videos you can see I look pretty nervous. But once in the stream, well judge for yourself

From Life in Seattle 2014

For what we paid ($20 for the two of us after the $50 joining credit came off) it was a pretty decent bargain! Now of course what you really want to see now is the videos.. well here are my two flights and the one the instructor did for us as a demo

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Ok well a lot of you know that I am here in the USA on a work visa, well that visa is fast approaching it’s end. For the last 6 months I paniced and worried if I was going to be sponsored again and then when I was told it was all good, it was then hoping to get the visa appointment in time before it expired.

Good News! My Visa appointment is on Tuesday!! so the day after Aviation Geek Fest finishes I am driving north to Canada for a few days while I get my Visa renewed!

YAYAYAYA for 2 more years!

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So back around Christmas we got a nice dumping of snow and the city freaked out. Well after walking out of the movies on Saturday night in Southcenter I was greeted to a bit of a site… falling snow. I was spending some time down around the south end that night so there was going to be plenty of snow on the ground and it was coming down hard! Not just snow that didn’t stick but lots and lots of pretty heavy snow flakes… as you can see… there was quite a bit:

From Life in Seattle 2014

Wake up Sunday morning and low and behold there is plenty of snow on the ground… several inches worth

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

With that much snow on the ground it did mean that there was lots of problems with cars on the roads and abandoned cars etc

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

After a nice morning, Heidi & I decided to go and play in the snow a little, to really get to enjoy it (and also dig the truck out). How do you clean out a truck full of snow… By building a snowman (or Woman in this case). Turning this

From Life in Seattle 2014

Into this:

From Life in Seattle 2014

We then proceeded out for a walk amongst the streets for a bit of a stretch and some exercise

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

Before returning back to some warmth!! Crazy Crazy amount of snow! The drive home that afternoon was pain free and by this morning most of it has been rained away, When I left the truck this morning, the Snow Woman had lost her head from melting 🙁

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One of my goals for 2014 on the fitness side of things is to run a half marathon. Thinking it would be smart to find one around here (rather than have to travel halfway across the country like I did for the Marine Corp 10K), there was a number of options I could run. The two big ones in Seattle are the Seattle Half Marathon in the first weekend of December and the Seattle Rock & Roll Half Marathon which is generally around late May/June. Now let’s look at those dates. December in Seattle, freezing cold temperatures, possibility of rain.. let me think for a second…. PASS! May/June the weather would be much better. Looking at the course (since both are exactly the same apparently) it is fairly hilly so if I was going to run it, I would definitely be doing the Rock n Roll since it would be in better weather (I hope).

But The Seattle course has some pretty decent inclines in it, and if I am going to run double the longest distance I have ever done, I would prefer it to be fairly easy. Nice and flat like the Gold Coast Marathon would of been nice, but can’t have that. So I started to ask around and get opinions from others about what a good run was. In the end I took some advice and just ran with it. I decided to do the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon. What I didn’t expect to see when I decided to do it was the date.

The BMO Vancouver Marathon & associated events (Half Marathon & 8K) are both on the first weekend of May (may 4th to be exact) so that means I have about 3 months to train for this. It scares the crap out of me that I now have to REALLY start training to get this done. It will not be easy and I should have just enough time to start increasing my runs each week by an extra km up to the 21.1km mark. I can’t believe how soon it is but will have to live with that decision. It will be a much easier course compared to the Seattle courses:

Vancouver Half Marathon Course Map - Image stolen from BMO Vancouver Marathon Site

Vancouver Half Marathon Course Map – Image stolen from BMO Vancouver Marathon Site

I am looking forward to a new challenge but it is going to be not that easy. I need to really get my butt in gear and get training and think smart about this. This is not some little 5k where I can just shrug it off if my time is not so great. This is going to require discipline, dedication and some good old luck to keep myself injury free between now and may as the entry fee is paid for ($130!) and since I am paying for a weekend up in Vancouver as well (though thankfully I can drive up and the accommodation is already booked, but doesn’t need to be prepaid) I kind of need to be smart about it.

I don’t know what times or anything to aim for and frankly I will be happy with just finishing. This won’t be an easy challenge, but I guess there is no turning back right now, at least i know I am a glutton for punishment!

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Today is Superbowl Sunday and I get to go to my first real Superbowl party and I am pretty excited. Although my team did not make it into the Superbowl (sadly) the atmosphere here in Seattle has been pretty amazing. So much so that everywhere you go here in Seattle right now, it is Seahawks everywhere. One thing you need to understand is that the Seahawks fans think of themselves as the 12th player, also known as the “12th Man”. Everywhere you go right now it is 12th Man everything…. Exhibit A:

From Life in Seattle 2014

Boeing even got into the superbowl fever and made their own Seahawks livery, also known as the “12th Plane”. It looks pretty awesome!

From Life in Seattle 2014

Future of Flight got into the act yesterday and had a rally up on the Stratodeck and it was pretty awesome to see everyone up there. The crowds didn’t seem to mind the cold at all, but the blue sky was amazing. I did manage to get a photo right before I got suckered into holding a ladder for someone:

From Life in Seattle 2014

All in all Seattle has been pretty fun the last couple of weeks, I am looking forward to the game today and meeting some true Seahawks fans. While a lot of my friends get fully into the game today, for me it is going to be more about relaxing and soaking in the atmosphere. Weird american food traditions, lots of football and some velveeta (its cheese apparently), sounds like a good idea to me. Who know’s maybe I might even go for the Seahawks….

Go Hawks?

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Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. It was a day full of fun and adventure, sunlight and good food, albeit really cold for part of the morning.

Started off the day in a fog filled Auburn where my friend Heidi had decided to take me to the best banana bread in Seattle. I was up for that, I do like banana bread (haven’t made any in ages and I needed a good bit to enjoy). What I was really looking forward to was a good brunch as it had been a while. We were having breakfast at the Sunbreak Cafe. A Fitting name considering there was no sun out down that way (up my end of town there was).

From Life in Seattle 2014

Portions were huge but the Banana bread was the star of the show. Soft & pillowy, delciously sweet yet not overpowering. The best part of it though was the fact that it was warmed and they cut a little slot down the middle and dumped in a nice little knob of butter, good delicious salted butter. So when you hit that middle portion as it melted into it, it was warm, and soft and buttery and bannanery (yes I am making up words).

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

Add in good coffee (small cups though… come on!) and it is obvious why they had such a line up on a Sunday morning. We didn’t wait that long so I can’t give them bad marks for that. The company was good and I enjoyed it (even though the view out the window was all fog). After breakfast we hit the road to enjoy some of the sunshine that was out. While driving north on the 405 and contemplating plans, somehow it came up that I had not been out to Snoqualmie Falls. I had always told myself I would go up there, but it just never happened. The sun was out, the sky was blue, I had good company, why not go up there. So off we went.

From Life in Seattle 2014

The falls were really nice and I enjoyed seeing it for the first time. The falls apparently were not at their peak (At least from what I was told today) but it looked pretty good and powerful to me. Plenty of photos taken and time to do some more exploring. On numerous times I had to stop Heidi from venturing off to explore places we shouldn’t (maybe i should of let her loose?) and there was plenty of places where you could of walked off the track to find some small animals to hunt (but you can’t hunt up there can you?). By the time we headed off, it was warming up a little so we had to get rid of the jackets and wave bye bye to the falls as coffee was calling out!

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

It was a great day and I had a blast spending time with Heidi. I see some more Breakfast/brunch adventures coming my way soon so I can’t wait to get that back rolling again, especially since I need new brunch buddy.

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Each year I set myself goals for the year ahead. These are not “resolutions” as that is just a way of saying “i should do this” where as a goal to me has an end and feels more like an achievement. I tend to set two different kinds of goals, I have my fitness goals and I have my travel goals. In 2013 my travel goals and my fitness goals were fairly ambitious (at least to me). Some people may not think so but well, they are my goals anyway.

So for 2013 I set my goals and to be honest I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I didn’t complete all my travel goals but i did complete everything else.

So for my Travel Goals I did requalify for Virgin Australia gold, and managed to do that after 2 mileage runs and a trip back to Australia. I did get to spend a good amount of time at OshKosh and I am extremely happy with that week off in July. A truly happy and amazing experience.

Then there was the goal to explore more of my own new home state. I did this in two parts with a trip out to Yakima with Dan & Shawna to go cherry picking and also the last minute (like on Monday) trip on the ferry to the Kitsap Peninsula. I did also drive down to Portland for a weekend back in May but that doesn’t count cause it is technically another state 😛 But it was fun none the less. The only Travel goal I didn’t complete was to use up the remainder of my Qantas points. I had been banking them for something I have planned this year hopefully but time will tell.

I did however complete all my fitness goals for 2014. I had set myself the goals of competing in two 5ks here in Seattle, the 10k at the Marine Corp Marathon and also the Triathlon. All were completed successfully and I was impressed with my times for each and every single one of them.

My two 5ks in Seattle:

Then there is the Triathlon

And the 10K for the Marine Corp Marathon

But what about my goals for 2014? Well that is pretty simple, but I am going to break it down to 3 parts this year Personal, Fitness & Travel.

My Travel goals for 2014 are:

* Return to Japan
* Visit Maho Beach
* Singapore Suites
* Lufthansa First Class

Ambitious for the last one, but I have enough points to do it, it is just going to be a matter of timing.

My Fitness Goals for 2014 is just one:

* Half Marathon

It’s a big one, and I am sure I can do it, but anything else will just pail in comparison. Essentially doubling my longest ever run and more will be nuts, it is going to take a lot of preparation for it, but I am in for a challenge. Not sure which one I am going to do yet (depends where I am I guess) but I will do it!

My Personal goals for 2014 are where what would normally been mixed into one of the other two categories I want to do this to challenge myself some more I guess. These goals are also something that I think if I put them out there it makes me more accountable. So my personal goals for 2014 are:

* Jump out of a plane
* Go on at least 1 date
* Get my weight back to pre USA levels and keep it there!

The first one is pretty crazy but I have been working towards it. I don’t really want to do it as a tandem but I will do what I have to do. I would rather do it as a Free Fall and deploy my own chute (my friend Dan has done it that way) but I will take it anyway I can. The other two are definately something I wouldn’t normally put out there but I need to make myself accountable for it!

So there you have it my goals for this year are out there, I can’t go back on it now!