Hello.

Hello and welcome to What's Good CATL? Spell/sound it and it comes out like 'Seattle'. Too cute?  I wanted NewKidOnTheBlock but that was already taken. Chances are that you are already a friend of mine, else why stumble upon some random ass blog, so hello friend.

The genesis of this blog (in addition to the preceeding 36+ years) was simple enough. Sent a pretty easy email to some friends in Chicago letting them know that I made it out to Seattle in one piece and two of them told me that I should write more. Well a little ego stroke and a second cup of coffee and I am now a blogger.

Figure this will also be a great way to keep everyone updated on the comings/goings of the Lipskys as we figure out our new lives here in the Pacific Northwest.

To that, here's the email that was initially sent:

Subject: The West

Good morning gentlemen, hope all is good in the Chi.

Have landed safely in Seattle, quite the past couple of days.

Left the Bluff last Saturday at 3:00. Northwest to the Dells and then into Minnesota. Spent night one somewhere on 90 in MN. Sunday was through Minnesota and then into South Dakota, Wall Drug (not to be missed) and Mt. Rushmore. About 100 miles before Mt. Rushmore things start getting very mountain-y and the cruise control was disengaged. Mt. Rushmore is huge. Much, much bigger in person than I expected. Proud to be an American! No dogs allowed so I couldn't do the full tour but plenty of places along the highway to check it out. The surrounding town is a hoot with water & alpine slides and everything having a president's name (Lincoln Best Western, Teddy's Deli). Keep driving west into a Wyoming sunset and then Montana where the mountains and vistas continued. Spent night two somewhere in Montana. Day three was into Washington past The Gorge and into Seattle around 9:00 p.m. Monday night. Roll on!

Have spent the past couple of days drunk as Comcast and our movers don't come until Tuesday so I've been going to different bars watching the Rangers games.  West Seattle is amazing. It is a SoCal/beach vibe up in the PacNW mountains.

How did anyone get around new towns before Garmins?

- JLips

So there you have it. Worthy of a blog from just that email? We'll see . . .

So what's good Seattle? I can tell you what isn't. Getting into town a week (actually two weeks for Julie (the Mrs.) and Samson (the boy)) before our furniture. "So we'll sleep on our aerobed for a week, it was fun that one night we went camping." Yeah, not so much. One queen-sized aerobed is not big enough for four Lipskys. Even more so as the boy and the dog (Roscoe, 3) have developed quite aggressive sleeping behaviors and think its their mission to conquer the entire bed every evening. So we're in the hotel (w/ a king-sized bed AND a breakfast buffet!) until Tuesday (estimated) when our furniture is set to arrive. Living between a hotel and an empty house, very much has the 'stranger in a strange land' feel to it. But the house is pretty great (and it has a hot tub) and these are all very short term problems. Will plan on taking some pictures and giving a tour through house on a future post.

That pretty much brings us up to now. Tonight is our first Friday night in Seattle as a family. We're looking to hit up Chinatown/Int'l District for dinner. Very excited for that. We'll let you know how that goes.

Speak soon.

- JLips