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As I was driving back to the hotel on WA-99 last night, I saw a familiar sight: the stadium of the Seattle Seahawks (known formally as Qwest Field). I hadn't seen it before in person; the reason it was familiar is because it's featured prominently in the Gran Turismo series' Seattle track. This got me thinking, "Is the track actually real? Could I bring up Google Maps and find the same streets you travel in the game?" The answer, it turns out, is yes... and no.

First, here's the map I came up with. The satellite data was ripped straight from Google Maps at great effort. You can, of course, click on the image for a (much) larger version.

And here is a (possibly inaccurate) map of the GT version:

The first obvious difference is that the switchback on the south end of the track is now covered in a parking garage. My guess is that when the track was designed, that garage was simply a lot that the track wove through.

Perhaps more subtle, though, is the minor differences in scale. The actual route has considerably longer straightaways. You can see this in the position of the chicane just before the start/finish line. The track was probably shortened so that it would fit within the confines of GT2's engine, which ran on the original PSX (It only had 4MB of RAM).

I may have gotten the length of that lower left leg wrong, I chose that length based on the diagonal parking you can see underneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct (which, by the way, is also WA-99, the very road I was on when I made the connection).

For those of you who want to travel this route yourself, here is an (unverified) itinerary:

• Start off going north on Alaskan Way S. somewhere between King and Jackson
• Turn right on Marion St., then immediately right again under the Alaskan Way Viaduct (Google tells me this is a one way street, so that's probably not possible)
• Turn left on Yesler Way, heading east
• Bear left onto James St (This is the fun uphill section)
• Turn right on Fifth Avenue, which will veer to the right
• Turn right on S. Washington St.
• Bear right onto Prefontaine Pl. S. (not onto 4th Ave.)
• Bear left onto Yesler Way, heading west
• Make a hard left onto 2nd Ave Ext S., which bears right gently onto 4th Avenue S.
• Turn right onto S. Royal Brougham Way
• Turn right under the Alaskan Way Viaduct
• Chicane back onto Alaskan Way S. just past Dearborn St.

I must reiterate that these directions have not been tested in any way, following them may involve illegal traffic maneuvers, and I will not be held responsible for anyone who follows them. :)

It was a fun experiment in digital travel, anyway. Some day, when I'm bored, I'll try and travel this route myself.

On election day (you voted, right? I didn't... but things turned out better than I'd hoped, anyway.) I went down to Uwajimaya, a large Asian everything store in Bellevue. It's very similar to Mitsuwa back in Arlington Heights, but a little less nice-looking. They have a large grocery store, fresh seafood, a small food court, and a bookstore. Unlike Mitsuwa, which caters mainly to Japanese tastes, Uwajimaya sells foods from all over Asia. I bought a stack of ramen and a new flavor of pocky (Goka [五果], five fruit), then had a kitsune udon at their food court. It's definetly a place I could visit often.

I got kicked out of the place I was staying, so I'm currently staying at a Red Lion Hotel by the SeaTac airport. It's shabby, but more on that later. The good thing is that it's only a couple of miles from Acme Bowl, the one place in town that has a IIDX machine. It's an 8th style like the one on Colorado Springs, but this one is hooked up to a flat-screen TV, putting the screen a good 8 inches further back. It's a huge improvement.

Yesterday I went to Fremont, a very quirky, artsy section of Seattle. It calls itself the "Center of the Universe," and has such interesting things as a statue of Vladimir Lenin (the town has historically had socialist leanings. At one point it was called "The People's Republic of Fremont." This has died down in recent years), a ferroconcrete troll under a bridge, and a rocket. The town's motto is "De Libertas Quirkas," or "Freedom to be Peculiar." It's my kind of place. :)

When I got there I ate at Blue C Sushi, a conveyor belt sushi bar. A conveyor belt winds its way through the place, carrying sushi and other dishes around on little plates. You simply take what you want off of the line, and when you're done, your plates are counted and you pay based on the color of the plates. It's fast and tasty, plus you never have to worry about getting enough to eat or having leftovers. I've got pictures of Fremont up on pix, too.

So this hotel room lacks the minifridge and microwave I've become accustomed to, and I've been pondering ways to cook all this ramen I bought. It occurred to me today that the room does have a coffee maker, and that a coffee maker is really nothing more than a machine for making boiling water (and running it through some coffee grounds). So what you do is run two cups of water through the coffee maker, throw that in your bowl of ramen, cover it for four or five minutes, and it's done. Moral of the story: If you have boiling water, you can cook anything.

I'll be heading back home for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I know it's still a couple weeks away, but I'm giving myself some extra time in case I get stuck trying to cross the mountains. Right now, I think I'm going to go play some more IIDX. :)

Some people will tell you that biting into a grilled portobello mushroom is just like biting into a steak. Despite the fact that these people are obviously huffing kittens, a portobello is one of the best non-meat foods you can put on your plate.

Why am I telling you about portobello mushrooms? Well, I bought some, and didn't have a chance to cook them, so I ate one raw. They're not nearly as flavorful this way, but they apparently only have 30 calories. (Though probably not with the butter I put on them)

Some of the best portobello I've had?

• The portobello mushroom sandwich Esquire in downtown Champaign. A grilled portobello is placed on an onion roll with pesto sauce.
• The chicken portobello at Macaroni Grill. It's a chicken breast topped with a portobello mushroom, cheese, and served on a bed of spinach orzo.

If you haven't given portobellos a try, then look for it on the menu next time you walk into a restaurant. Even if you're not a mushroom fan, I think you'll be surprised at how tasty they are.

On Saturday, I got a call from Kan Kan. She was in Seattle for interviews, and was going out on the town with some friends she met on the plane. I drove into town (about a 20 minute drive), found a place to park, and proceeded to roam the streets looking for Kan. Of course it was raining. You don't even need to ask that.

We finally met up, and Kan took us on an impromptu tour of downtown. We walked through Pike's Place Market, where we witnessed live street performers and merchants throwing fish. We saw the original Starbucks, which was... well, I don't really like coffee. We finally stopped in at Fadó, a Irish American pub, as in "they serve corned beef and cabbage" Irish American. I had a Guiness chicken and bacon sandwich and a Bass ale. I picked up the tab, and we stopped at an ATM inside a strip club before heading back to the hotel.

Refreshed, we walked to àmbər (pronounced "amber"), described to me as "the yuppiest bar in Seattle." Proof of this was in their beer selection: Heineken, Corona, and Bud Light. These people would apparently not know a good beer if it slapped them on the ass and called them Alice. Their mixed drinks were quite good, however. Kan's mojito had actual mint leaves in it. Most of the crowd we met there, it seemed, worked for Microsoft. One familiar face I saw there was Pete Sliva, who was starting his actual full-time work with Microsoft on Monday. We stayed for a while, chatted, then left.

Fun Fact: 'ə' is called a "schwa."

Out on the rainy streets again, we stopped at a hot dog stand and I got one of Seattle's unique specialties: A hot dog with cream cheese on it. It was interesting, but nothing to shout about in the taste department. As we stood there, eating our hot dogs, polish sausages, etc., a man walked out of the nearby apartment building, a man I can only describe as the Man With No Pants. He came out in a T-shirt and what looked like a loosely-wrapped scarf covering his naughty bits. He was apparently drunk and quite talkative, expounding about his need for pants, but "it's OK, you can keep your pants, I'll be fine. With no pants."

Our next stop was Twilight, a lounge club described to me as "an upscale version of the back room of Joe's." Upon entering, I understood the analogy: The music was loud, the DJ was mediocre, and the songs were awful remixes of recent hip hop songs. We didn't stay too long there before Kan headed back to the hotel, and I headed back to Redmond.

Today I went to go meet Kan and friends at the Space Needle. Miraculously, I found parking on the street about four blocks away and found Kan as I walked up to the ticket counter. I love it when a plan comes together. The Space Needle was cool, if a bit overpriced at $14. The view is amazing, although the long-range visibility was hampered by the typical Seattle weather. As a tribute to Starbucks' enterprising capacity, there was a little Starbucks at the top of the Space Needle.

I said goodbye to Kan and friends, and met up with Pete to go on a tour at the Red Hook Brewery. (He's already been twice, but who can pass up beer for $1?) I got to try four of their beers: ESB, their original ale; IPA, a smooth India Pale Ale; their Blackhook porter; and Winterhook, a seasonal ale with a nice toasty flavor. Afterwards, we ate at their restaurant, where I had a ESB-soaked bratwurst that hit the spot in an amazing way. The tour only costs $1, and you get to keep the small glass you drink beer samples from, so I recommend it if you're a beer fan at all.

When I got home, I got a manilla envelope from mom with some letters for me in it. Two important things came in it. The first was the validated registration information for my car, so it's now officially licensed in the state of Illinois. The second was an invite to a reception celebrating the marriage of Scott and Yana. No big surprise there, except that they apparently didn't have a ceremony. I seem to recall that they were planning on going to Vegas, but I'll have to get the details later.

It's been a long weekend, folks, so I'm going to bed. g'night.

I spent two days in Portland so that I could catch up on my rest and see the sights. I had planned to sleep in, but due to the time change and moving west a time zone, I woke up just before 10am. I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out where I wanted to go, and decided on three places: The Japanese Gardens, the Rose Gardens, and Powell's City of Books.

The Japanese Gardens are west of Portland in Washington Park. It costs $8 to get in ($6.25 if you're a student), but it's worth it. The brochure says it's the nicest of its kind outside of Japan. It's hard to describe its beauty, but I've got some pictures of it up on pix.

The Rose Gardens were just next door. The full name is the "International Rose Test Gardens," and it's not just a pretty display of fine flora. It's actually a testbed for new hybrids to gauge public reaction. Many of the hybrids on display, the park says, are under commercial patent rights. I've also got some really good pictures of the roses on pix, as well.

Powell's City of Books, as its name suggests, is an enormous bookstore, filling a whole city block and billing itself as the largest independent bookstore in the world. The store is divided up into several rooms, each one large enough to be a bookstore of its own. They even have their own parking garage! I bought a used copy of the 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" novel adaptation, which I read over a ham and gruyere sandwich and an orange Crush in their coffee shop.

Another thing I should mention is Shari's. It's a diner of Oregon origin similar to a Perkins or Denny's. I ate brunch there twice, and the service and food were excellent both times. If you're in the northwest, give them a try. Oh, another thing about Portland: no sales tax. If it costs $9.98, you pay $9.98. I guess... they make it up with property taxes? I don't know.

I traveled west out of Portland, over the river and through the woods to the ocean. This was my first time really seeing the ocean. Technically, I flew over the Atlantic when I was two, but I don't remember. There's nothing I can say about the ocean that hasn't already been said, so if you want to know more, I guess you'll just have to go see it yourself. :)

Several hours of wandering along the coast and through the sloughs and trees, I finally made it to Redmond, where I'm currently crashed at Arun's place. It's so close to Nancy's place that she has no TV, internet, or computer in her place — she simply hangs out here and steals it from Arun.

Something has popped in my clutch, leaving lots of dead travel in the pedal. I've got to figure out what's going on there if I'm going to look around, as I'm not sure if it will get worse or not. In any case, I'm tired, so I'm heading to bed. 'night.

I woke up Sunday, eager to do a little sight-seeing before heading up to Boise. I searched out the nearest Wal-Mart, but due to a mistake in the listing, I spent an hour searching the north end of town only to find that it was actually south of the hotel by about half a mile. The Wal-Mart was unique; due to lack of space, the parking lot was a bi-level garage. The entrance had an escalator to the upper parking level, and even a conveyor contraption for hauling your cart up. I played a game of Crazy Taxi before entering, too, but I'd forgotten all my moves and did poorly.

$3 sandwich and 89¢ OJ later, I was heading east on I-80 to see the lake, salt-flats, and a curious palace-shaped building by the lake. I saw the lake and the palace, but I realized about 50 miles out that if I wanted to see the salt flats, I'd have to travel another 50 miles to see them... and then keep going to the border because there was 60 some miles between exits. I decided to head back and make for Boise.

Parts of Idaho look very similar to Illinois — flat, full of corn and bean fields, and boring. Chrissy called at one point, and I was thankful for the relief from boredom. I stopped in Mountain Home for a quick bite from Arby's. My Dad was stationed at the Air Force Base there for four years. Finally making it to Boise, I checked in and ate two cup o' ramens (much to the detriment of my intestines) before going to sleep. But wait, why are my clocks off? Oh, right, I missed the time change yesterday, which means I could have slept in yesterday morning! *@(&#$.

The next day I found Wal-Mart much easier, got my food, and headed to Oregon. To my surprise, the welcome rest stop just across the border offered wireless internet. I-84 in Oregon is a beautifully scenic trip, winding through the mountains before joining up with the Columbia River on its way to Portland. There's rest stops every 30 miles, mostly, and plenty of other opportunities to stop and appreciate the scenery.

I ate at a C&D Drive In in Boardman, where I got a hamburger curiously adorned with nothing but lettuce, pickles, and mayonnaise. It was good. Further down the road, I stopped for gas, and to my surprise, an attendant came out to fill the car for me. "Oh shit, it's true," I thought as I gaped at her. Stumbling through the motions, I filled up and got back out on the road without leaving my seat, forgetting to get out and stretch or use the restroom. I did get out and stretch just past The Dalles, which looked amazing lit up at night.

I finally made it to Portland and checked in at 7pm PST, exhausted after nine hours on the road. I snagged a Sourdough Jack from Jack in the Box, and went to sleep.

It's really hard to write when you're tired, that's why I haven't written about yesterday (and why I won't be writing anything about today right now). A few quick things, though:

• It's true. You can't pump your own gas in Oregon.
• James has a new daily clip blog called brainharm, in which he scours each and every one of the internets for things that will break your mind. Less AIM spam and a browseable archive means everybody wins. Except for your brain.
• Nerdcore Hiphop is the new webcomic. It takes so little talent that anyone can do it — even people who shouldn't.
• Which would you rather do: a) Drive for eight hours by yourself in a compact car with a manual transmission, no cruise control, and no radio, or b) haul a bed (mattress, box spring, and frame) up three flights of stairs? (PROTIP: The first one was my day, the second one belongs to Jen)

'night.

I woke up this morning at 10, packed up my stuff, and helped myself to breakfast leftovers. This particular hotel seemed to be staffed rather lazily, as breakfast was available all day (yay!) but I and a group of other people had to wait quite a while for anyone to check us in yesterday (boo). I filled up down the road a bit (42MPG against the wind), and ate lunch at an Arby's in Rock Springs.

Another hour and a half brought me to the first rest/information stop in Utah. Utah takes their tourism seriously, I guess, because this place was like a small museum, with all the information you'd want about hotels and local attractions. I also have to say that I-80 in Utah is a lot more scenic than I-80 in Wyoming. It curved around the mountains leading up to what was probably ten miles of downhill 6% grade. I put it in neutral and coasted for most of it, it was great.

I wound up in Salt Lake City around 5pm, and found the hotel easily. SLC's streets are set up in an easy-to-navigate numbering system, measured in the number of blocks away from the Temple in central downtown. The hotel I'm at right now is on the corner of 600 S. and 200 W. Some streets have names, but only the really large ones. The streets adjacent to the Temple are North Temple, South Temple, West Temple, and (just to make sure you're paying attention) Main.

With the daylight left after checking in, I wandered around downtown. It's a typical downtown, with lots of expensive places to eat, plenty of window shopping, homeless people, etc. They do have a on-road train system, which was something new to me. I ate dinner at a Macaroni Grill, and had half of an excellent Chicken Portobello, the remainder of which is sitting in the minifridge beside me.

It seems I've left my cellphone charger at Ashley's, but I've rigged up a replacement involving my 12V jump starter (which has a convenient 12V car socket) and my car charger. Phone plugs into car charger, which plugs into jump starter, which plugs into wall. Voila, phone charger.

I was wondering when I reserved the room why it was cheaper than Super 8 motels much further away from downtown. Well, it's because it's a run-down piece of crap, that's why. The room is small (but still larger and more functional than a dorm room), the walls are thin, the cable TV sucks (not that I watch TV, anyway), and the "high speed" part of the free high speed internet is largely fictional. UDP and ICMP packets are getting delayed by something on the order of seconds, but TCP seems to be unaffected. Oh, well, being this close to downtown is worth it, I think.

I've always been a little bit dyslexic when reading, but I think that whatever bits in my head make sure things get parsed in the right order are futzing out one by one. There's a cardboard information standup on the table, which says "Shop 'til you drop with TripRewards." I read it as "She'll drop you with TripSticks." The really scary part is that my "reinterpretation" makes logical sense, in a bizarre, twisted way.

Next stop: Boise, Idaho. 'night.

I woke up at noon today... then hit the snooze button for another hour and a half. After packing up my things, I got a $3 Wal-Mart sandwich and a sprite and headed out on the road again. *hums Willie Nelson*

The trip was windy, but boring. That's a good thing, folks, I don't want to tell you how I hit a patch of ice and flew off the road into a buffalo. :) Due to my late start, I got as far as Rawlins before the sun set. I called Super 8's number for reservations, and there was nothing available down the road, so I decided to stay the night in Rawlins. If it sounds like I'm becoming a Super 8 fanboy, it's probably because I am. They've got that sweet spot between dirty hovel and luxury that includes wifi without breaking my budget.

Rawlins is a smallish town, six thousand and some. It doesn't even have a Wal-Mart. After I got settled into the hotel, I decided it would be a good idea to check the car. I popped the hood, pulled dipsticks and such, and found myself to be half a quart down. "WTF!?" I exclaimed, and made for the local Pamida.

"Pawhutuh?" Pamida. A general store, somewhere in scale between a Wal-Mart and a Dollar General, with the organization of a Big Lots. There used to be one in Rantoul a long time ago.

$2.50 poorer and a quart of oil richer, I got back to the hotel and began explaining my predicament to Erickson when I realized that I wasn't in the flatlands anymore. My car was parked on what was probably a 10° upslope. "Duh," I thought, "Of course it looks like it's half a quart low. All the oil's in the back of the drainpan." Huh durrr...

Yeah, that's a poor story, but at least my car's OK. Oh, Yan got a DS. Here's the Nintendo viral mindshare scorecard:

• Jen: White DS Lite
• Kan Kan: White DS Lite
• Nancy: Onyx DS Lite
• Yan: Onyx DS Lite
• Me: Electric Blue DS Phat

Yeah, I had to be the oddball. :) Anyway, I've got to make it to SLC tomorrow, so I'd better get some sleep. 'night.

And the award for "Cutest Rendition of an American Tragedy" goes to:

You can see the whole thing over here. It's cute and educational. I've learned more about Afghanistan from this than I ever learned in school.