现在我在美国已经完全失去目标了。下周二，我定的ThinkPad Advanced Mini-Dock（250410U）就要送到了，我在美国已经没有任何可以盼的东西了，至少现在没有了。
第二次来美国完全和第一次不一次，该去的地方都去过了，没去过的地方又不想飞去。Kamel倒是邀请我去NYC，说“You are always my guest.”，但目前NYC的trip还早着呢，而且也不是特别想去NYC。（如果真的去，就考虑在9月3日Labor day的时候好了）
最近的一个月，每周都有个盼头，所以时间过得也显得挺快的。可现在没什么可买的了。Dealsea现在不思进取，给的deal都不值得买。buy.com的hot deal，也一天不如一天。看来夏天是西雅图最好的旅游季节，却不是西雅图最好的购物季节啊。
在美国待了（以及即将待到） 11个月，对美国的新鲜感已经几乎完全不存在了。不知道传说在Moutain View拿H-1B签证的同事会不会有这样的感觉（反正我以B-1身份进来，是够了）
今天是世界地球日，西雅图地区提供了当日免费乘坐King County的公交车的活动。当日无论何时，只要你在King County内，乘坐公交车一律免费。为的是让人们体会公交出行的好处，减少自驾车的污染。
To show how important public transportation is to improving health and air quality, King County Metro Transit offered free rides on all its buses on Sunday, April 22 to celebrate Earth Day.
不过这一天我哪儿也没去~~~~
我在离开Redmond之前的预言终于变为了现实。我们组的5个成员是分3批离开Redmond的。
当初Allan第一个走了以后，第二周，就出现了4年一遇的大雪，而且是在感恩节期间（难得啊）。
第二批的小白和Xiao走后的1周，出现了13年不遇的飓风，导致大西雅图地区全面停电，长达48小时。
接下来是我和Selina离开的日期，在我离开Redmond之前，我就预言：我们组每批成员的离开，都会导致怪异的天气发生。第一次是4年一遇的大雪，第二次是13年一遇的飓风，第三次会是什么呢？
果然，不幸被我言中了。Redmond的1月11日，大雪，比上次还大。再次导致Microsoft Campus全面Close一天。
本次飓风是1993年以来Inauguration Day Storm以来，最强烈的一次。
来自Seattle Times的消息：
Fierce windstorm headed our way
By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times staff reporter
Hang onto your garbage cans and stock up on batteries.While many folks are still mopping up from Wednesday’s big blow, an even stronger windstorm is headed for Western Washington tonight.
Or as University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass puts it, we’re about to be stung by the “poisonous tail” of a nasty low-pressure system.
“There’s absolutely no doubt this storm will happen,” he said. “The only question is how strong will it get.”
For the Puget Sound region, the National Weather Service (NWS) is forecasting sustained winds up to 40 mph, and gusts up to 65 mph. For the Strait of Juan de Fuca, winds will average 50 to 60 mph and gust up to 90 mph.
The highest gusts in Seattle on Wednesday were 47 mph, according to the NWS.
“It has the potential to be a memorable storm,” said NWS meteorologist Dennis D’Amico.
Inauguration Day storm
On Jan. 20, 1993, the day Bill Clinton was sworn in as president, one of the strongest storms in recent years lashed Western Washington.• Winds reached 88 mph in Seattle and 95 mph in Hood Canal.
• Six people were killed.
• 700,000 utility customers were left without power.
• Damage was estimated at more than $100 million.
Source: Seattle Times archives
The winds should start picking up this afternoon, and peak overnight.
The winds will be significantly stronger than those that swept through the region Wednesday, disrupting power to thousands, uprooting trees and slowing the morning commute.
In fact, the low-pressure system approaching the coast is forecast to be more intense than the one that triggered 1993’s Inauguration Day windstorm, which left six people dead, knocked out power to 700,000 homes and did more than $100 million in damage throughout the region. But this time the storm’s path is slightly different, which might weaken the winds, Mass said.
It all depends on where that tail hits.
It’s not the center of the low-pressure system that really kicks up the air, but the long tail that drags after it, Mass explained. Pressure changes rapidly in the tail, which creates the most powerful winds.
With the center of the approaching low projected to pass slightly to the north, the tail is well-positioned to lash the Puget Sound region.
“The path is crucial,” Mass said. “It has to go north of us to get the strong winds.”
While any forecast comes with uncertainty, all the computer models agree that winds are coming, D’Amico said. “But there’s still a little leeway on the timing and position of the storm.”
Though 40-mph winds are sufficient to cause considerable damage, this week’s winds have already knocked most of the remaining leaves off the trees, Mass said. Bare trees are less likely to be uprooted. Weak branches have also been “pruned” by previous storms.
Tree branches downed by high winds on Wednesday were responsible for numerous power outages, mostly in North Seattle, said Seattle City Light spokesman Peter Clarke. As of 5 p.m., only about 200 City Light customers were still without power, down from the 13,000 customers affected by outages earlier in the day.
Northgate Mall and several Seattle schools were without power for at least part of the day.
About 22,000 Puget Sound Energy electrical customers were without power in scattered areas throughout King County at the peak of the winds, but the number had been halved by the afternoon, said Dennis Smedsrud, Puget Sound Energy spokesman.
In Snohomish County, about 6,000 utility customers were without power at the height of the winds, mainly in parts of Bothell, Maltby and parts of Monroe and Clearwater, said Snohomish County Public Utility spokesman Neil Neroutsos. The number was down to about 200 by 6 p.m. Wednesday, he said.
In the Rose Hill area of Kirkland, a fallen power line ignited natural gas in an underground pipe, pushing flames about 10 feet out of a utility-access cover. The Kirkland Fire Department had to be called to control the blaze, said Smedsrud.
Also on the Eastside, at least two homes were damaged by falling trees, one in the Juanita area and one in Sammamish.
In Tukwila, a 70-foot evergreen tree fell onto a school bus on Highway 99 south of Highway 509. No children were on the bus. The driver, a 31-year-old Renton man, swerved to miss the tree and lost control of the vehicle before coming to rest in a ditch, he said. He suffered minor injuries and was taken to Swedish Medical Center, said State Patrol Trooper Jeff Merrill. The driver was cited for driving with a suspended license and for failing to have the proper license for driving a school bus, Merrill said.
In downtown Seattle, a chain hooked to a tower crane at a construction site spun in high winds, smashing glass panels on the adjacent Bank of California building, said Scott Holbrook, operations manager for Turner Construction. The crane is designed to spin in the wind to lessen wind resistance, Holbrook said, explaining that the brakes were intentionally left off Tuesday night. But the chain should have been removed, he said.
“I saw it actually whack the building … and I could see debris fly off,” said Frank Cordell, an attorney whose office is on the 40th floor of a building at 1001 Fourth Ave.
Harbor Patrol officers rescued a windsurfer from Lake Washington after heavy winds snapped the mast on his sailboard, according to Seattle police. The man, who was windsurfing east of Magnuson Park, was pushed about a half-mile north by the wind just after 1 p.m., said police spokesman Jeff Kappel. The man was swimming toward Kirkland when he was pulled from the water by police, Kappel said. The man was not injured.
来自CNN.com的消息：
Unrelenting wind, cold whip Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE, Washington (AP) — Residents of the Pacific Northwest struggled to stay warm Saturday after the worst windstorm in more than a decade knocked out power to more than 1.5 million homes and businesses and killed at least six people.
Nearly 700,000 customers in Washington and Oregon still had no power Saturday, and utilities said some might have to wait into next week for their lights to go back on.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency, and with temperatures expected to drop over the weekend, officials warned people not to use outdoor grills, propane heaters or other carbon monoxide-producing equipment indoors.
Firefighters in Kent found 33 people from four families suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning Friday night, fire Capt. Kyle Ohashi said. They had taken their barbecues inside to cook or heat their apartments as temperatures dipped into the 30s.
All were expected to survive, Ohashi said.
In Oregon, a family of six was sickened by carbon monoxide from a generator set up in a garage in Gresham, police said. Three children were hospitalized in critical condition late Friday, while one child and both parents were listed in good condition.
Wind gusted to a record 69 mph early Friday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Wind was clocked at 113 mph near Mount Rainier.
Power was knocked out at one of the airport’s concourses, canceling dozens of flights. Flights were also canceled at Portland International Airport in Oregon, and Amtrak canceled service between Seattle and Portland because downed trees and mudslides blocked the tracks.
Two people were killed in Washington in traffic accidents involving windblown trees, while one died after getting trapped in her flooded basement. A fourth person was killed in his sleep by a tree that fell on his home. On the Oregon coast, an elderly couple died in a fire caused by candles they were using for light.
Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s largest private utility, had restored power to about 260,000 customers by Saturday afternoon but 440,000 others were still without power, according to the company.
It would be “several days — definitely through the weekend,” before everyone was restored, PSE spokeswoman Martha Monfried said. The utility had lost more than half of its transmission system, and crews struggled in the mountains to reach downed lines that carry the electricity from Columbia River dams.
More than 57,100 customers of Seattle City Light remained without power at midday Saturday, down from a peak of 175,000, and 15,000 were still blacked out in the Snohomish County Public Utility District north of Seattle.
In Oregon, Portland General Electric said it had about 82,000 customers without power Saturday morning, and Pacific Power said about 32,500 of its customers still had no service.
The storm was the most intense to hit the region since the Inauguration Day storm of January 20, 1993, which killed five people and caused about $130 million in damage, said Clifford F. Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
在度过了一个漆黑的夜晚后，周六的早上，依然是没电。
我们决定尽早去SafeWay买点吃的，本想顺路去Leasing Office问问是否有来电的消息之类的，刚到门口，却看到一张通知：Puget Sound Energy does not know when the power could be resume. Over 700,000 people without power。完，也不用进去了；看来不止我们关心什么时候来电阿。
在SafeWay买了几瓶罐头，然后回来就无聊的待着，因为天冷，我早在昨晚，就把同事（他们已经回国了）的被子也盖上了。回来也只能在被子里面待着，因为即便是在屋子里面，也是很冷的。
回来的路上，经过银行，居然里面的店员说，Redmond Downtown已经来电了。真是幸福。
直到晚上5点，天已经黑了，我在即将想进入梦乡的时候，突然，来电了。 欣喜若狂阿~~~
今天是停电的第二天，风和雨都停止了。一早起来看到还没有来电，也没当回事，就准备上班去了。
看到小区里面的景象，真是惊人。满地的松枝，树被连根拔起，车被砸坏，小区围挡坏了好几块，地下的柏油路面也被树给掀了起来。小区里不少工人在忙着清扫大块的树枝和树干。
半路上，碰到一个开车回来的美国人，问我：
- Are you going to Microsoft?
- Yes.
- You don’t need to. The campus is close.
- Really?
- Yes, because there is no power.
我这才注意到， 连公路上的红绿灯都已经不工作的。
扭头回来，去楼上找同事。才意识到，没电对于我们这样地区的人，以为着什么：
看着小区里面的人，他们都去SafeWay买了不少薯片之类的。我们也决定去采购一点儿，总不能饿死。
本以为SafeWay开门，Top和QFC也应该开门。结果Top门口写着“Due to the power outage, we are closed”；人家QFC更简单，就一个“Closed”。
没辙，跑去SafeWay买东西吧。人家还好，虽然店里的照明不是很好，人也不少（看起来这是附近唯一一家开门的超市了）。买了点儿饼干、罐头之类的，先凑合吧。
很强的是，即便是没电的情况下，人家居然还能用电脑收款，还能刷卡。
今天晚上的雨格外的大，风也格外的大，是我在美国生活的半年里最大的一次。似乎预示着什么不好的事情的发生。
晚上吃完饭，在电脑前看着电影，突然觉得屋子里面的灯一明一暗的。开始以为是眼睛有问题了，后来听楼上的同时说他也是如此，就放心自己的健康问题了。
接下来在一个居住在西雅图的华人的Blog（Andy的西雅图垃圾堆）里面，看到说即将到来的Storm的消息，说：
今天傍晚至明天早上的 Storm 將是自 1993 年 1 月 20 日 (Inauguration Day Storm) 以來最強的 Storm.
郊區要有可能斷電的準備. 要注意安全哦!!!
在接下来的时间里面，我先后两次看到瞬间断电的情况，第1次是1秒，第2次大约是5秒左右。问题在于，这个时候，我正在看《咒怨》（啥叫一个恐怖啊）。
后来想，早点儿睡，即便停电，也和我没关系了。就在11点多的时候早早的睡觉了。
我的习惯是不关Restroom的灯，所以会有灯光从Restroom里面照出来。但……我半夜醒来的时候，却没有发现这个灯光。意味着……停电了。Okay，既然停电了，就老老实实地睡觉吧。
今天从下午开始，就是持续的雨，很大的风。在我这次的美国行之中，还是第一次碰到。
据称，今天傍晚到明天早上的Storm将是1993 年 1 月 20 日 (Inauguration Day Storm) 以来，最强的一次Storm。
另据从RPIN（Regional Public Information Network）上得知，SR-520高速公路Evergreen Point bridge段封路。
在美国的这半年里，感受了西雅图至少最近4年最坏的天气（提早的雨季、11月的大雪、10多年一见的Storm）。
美国人真是疯狂。在美国生活的5个月，让我真的觉得美国是个无聊的地方，美国人的生活是非常简单的，几乎没有什么娱乐活动。在第1个月，我觉得美国人竟每周出去玩儿，湖边，Camping，但后来觉得美国人真的是没什么可做的，才会去这样玩儿。
我们在town里面，自然更是无聊的要命。几次去Downtown，都觉得他们的商场人真的很少。11月5号去KeyArena看球的时候，发现Seattle Downtown的大街上已经没什么人了。
Thanks Giving之后，当我再次去Seattle Downtown的时候，却发现不同的景色。晚上的时候，Macy’s、Nordstrom等大商场人头攒动；路边促销的广告牌，促销人员也很是积极；路 边的彩灯、马车，都突现节日气氛。美国人在节日的购买力貌似很惊人的，每个人手里都是大包小包的。看着我手里的Macy’s和Nordstrom的小袋 子，好像蛮小的~~~
Bill SPEIDEL’s Seattle Ungerground Tour（西雅图地下城之旅）的观光是从Pioneer Square（先锋广场）的Doc Maynards Public House酒吧开始的。票价11美元。
1889年西雅图大火之后，为了解决下水道和地面陡峭的问题，市政府在旧路面上重建了一层新的路面。换句话说，原来建筑物的2楼变成了1楼；1楼则成了地下室，也就是所谓的“地下城”。
地下城部分仍然保持了以前西雅图的景观，很多地方还可以看到以前商铺的门窗。
导游不仅介绍了西雅图的拓荒史，也风趣的介绍了Seattle下水的问题，说Seattle冲厕所的水会随着水流流向位于南侧的Tacoma居民~~~
西雅图地下城之旅全程有非常风趣地英文导游（有翻译，但没有中文；进门的时候，导游就热情地告诉我们是否需要翻译，估计是看我们是Tourist，但我们没要）。
花絮：在地下城，还见到一个Microsoft New York的人，和我们聊了半天。
今天和同事一起去Downtown Seattle。以为Downtown了，就会看到繁华的景象。结果繁华是看到了，也看到了另一番景象。
遍地的烟头、垃圾，像电影里一样带有垃圾桶的脏乱的小路，满街的乞丐（也没有满街那么夸张，但绝对不少），还都说着英语要钱。还有像北京一样闯红灯的行人。
这就是Downtown Seattle？
比来比去，还是我们Bellevue好。人Nice，环境也好，大家也都遵守规则。
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