Not Pine Country

Did you know that pines aren't native to the Northwest? If you just said yes, remind me to to reprimand you the next time I see you, because no you didn't. Kirsten's grandpa (and I get to call him Grandpa too, which is great, because it's been a while since I've had one of those) told me so, so I know it's true. The evergreens you see here are mostly firs. I was surprised and intrigued.
Anyway, pines or no pines, this area is beautiful this time of the year. It's been overcast maybe four days since we've been here, and it's gotten up to the low 80's a handful of times. For the most part, it's just paradise. And there are parts of the year with a fair amount of rain, but for the most part, it just gets grey a lot, so we're really happy to be here.
We've both been around the house quite a bit, because I still don't have a job, and we don't know many people. We've been reading a lot (Kirsten sat down the other night and didn't get up until she had read The Great Gatsby cover to cover), and we're both getting pretty good at Guitar Hero (I'm two songs away from getting five stars on every song on hard on GH2). But it's not like I haven't been doing my best to become employed. I make daily checks to the careers section of Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Nordstrom, as well Careerbuilder, Monster, and Craigslist. I've also made three trips to Seattle to make a big resume blitz and cold-call a bunch of businesses. If you can think of any resources I'm not exhausting, I'd love to hear about them.
In the mean time, it sure is nice to have someone like Kirsten's dad. He's letting us stay with him, and we buy some of the food, do some cooking for him, keep the house nice and tidy, and hang out in the evenings. It's a great provision. All the same, it is going to be nice to have our own place and feel like we're really settled in. More news as it unfolds.