Rather than piecemeal give you info on the ghost hunt via Facebook, I thought I would do one major update via Livejournal and you can read as you like. I tried to update FB as we went along but the blackberry photos were not being cooperative! 

For those who are looking for a quick fix of ghosty evidence, the closest we have is a video of weird reflections which may or may not have come from a large flag, in the windows of the house, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0VlsTkQs_0

You can see allllll of my photos from the day, including our Poulsbo adventure, in the LW gallery, here: http://www.littlewyng.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4571

OK, now, moving on.

Quick background for those just tuning in. Seattle actually offers classes in paranormal investigation. I couldn't POSSIBLY not take this class, and as it turned out, Lisa was interested as well! And she also brought along Gail, her boyfriend's mom, who is also a very cool lady. We have been taking these classes for the past two Saturdays, and the final class was a real ghost investigation, in the Walker-Ames house in Port Gamble, WA.

We decided that the best way to get a full ghost hunting day in was to leave early from Lisa's house, jump the Bainbridge ferry and then explore Poulsbo in addition to just Port Gamble, where we were scheduled to meet with our class at 5:30. We had been told that the museum and theater were also haunted, as well as the cemetery, and so it would be a great idea to just explore everything.

So I arrived at Lisa's house at 8ish, and was dismayed to find out that she had been burned on the stove the night before and in fact had not slept for the entire night. Eek. She bravely set off anyway, living all day on adrenaline alone! Gail arrived shortly after I did, and we trekked into the city to take the ferry. Luckily, there was coffee on board.

We arrived at Bainbridge, and began driving, really happy that it was an incredibly sunny day. We did see one of the casinos that Lisa works on, so that was cool.

Poulsbo was this quaint little town with shops, very Norwegian, and we began walking around. We found a beer store and a boat store so Lisa and I were both happy. There were some great antique stores and I managed to find a pirate shirt. Also got to see the waterfront, lots of boats. We did quite a bit of exploring and shopping, and then it was time to move along, since we were beginning to starve.

We were *cough* slightly lost getting to Port Gamble, but nothing we couldn't handle. The town was like driving through a combination of a little new england town and that weird super neat town in Big Fish... it was like everyone had rulers out to make sure the grass was all the same height, and the houses were insanely preserved. Very old! There was more than one haunted house in that town, I'd wager.

The town used to be an old mill town, and so the remains of the mill were still on the waterfront, with the town behind it. After a quick loop around town, we decided first to check out the General Store, which had reopened after a long period of being closed up. It had a lot of gifty stuff and candy and things... and upstairs was the Sea and Shore Museum- a lot of shells and sea life and things. We ventured on to the most important thing of all- LUNCH. First we tried what appeared to be the only restaurant in town, a tea house- but the pickings were slim and it wasn't really the sustenance we thought we needed for a massive ghost hunt. So instead we wandered around town, intending to head back toward Poulsbo, when we found Mike's 4 Star BBQ. Sold. 

Post-lunch, we continued our perusal of Port Gamble, and visited the most eclectic bookstore ever, the sea and shore museum, and the historical museum. We also spent quite a bit of time in the cemetery, where there were a number of very young folks and children that were buried there- later we found out 115 people. At long last, after a visit to the post office/haunted theater, our group gathered and we began the HUNT!

Basically the deal was that we had to be locked in the house for 3 hours. There were 16 of us, and 5 to a group... 4 floors in the house, no electricity and no plumbing. 30 minutes on each floor.

First stop for Lisa, Gail and I along with our new teammates, Kevin and Jennifer, was the attic. What we learned later was that there was presumably a ghost called the "Lavender Lady" who was sometimes seen looking out the windows. The thinking is that she is a governess/nanny, and there are also two children they think up there. What did we see? Nothing. Just dark. There was a corner of the room that everyone kind of shied away from, and later we were told that that corner for whatever reason tends to make people sad or start crying for no reason. Also there was furniture that had moved on its own. There was also in the one room a bare lightbulb, and the story is that the property owner would occasionally have to go out to the house and turn the light off, as there was not, as noted, working electricity in the house. 

Post-attic we went down a floor to the 2nd, where we really wanted to check out the 'yellow room,' which is where the windows were that we had seen the weird reflection in earlier. We definitely got a more stressed out feeling in that room than in the others- I know it sounds crazy, but we did. Kevin and Jennifer had a video camera with night vision- Jennifer thought she had seen something blue in the closet and got the impression that it might be a little boy... so they had the camera trained on the closet. About 10 minutes in, we jumped because the camera was beeping- guess what? Batteries were drained. We all looked at each other and then Kevin came back in to check since he had been exploring and had heard it. He turned the camera back on and found that the battery was at 75%. Creeeeeepy. Shortly thereafter, Lisa was trying to catch things on her camera, and the batteries died. Later on in the house? No issue with the batteries. After the appointed 30 minutes, we were off to the 1st floor.

Gail and I found a space below the stairs, Harry Potter style, and were trying to figure out if anything were in there- no dice, although the instructor said there was a lot of rat poison, so be warned. Then we explored the kitchen and pantry for a while, but nothing weird, just a lot of speculation about where things would have been placed, oven and refrigerator and the like. It was really reminding me both of Marsh Road and my old apartment on Park Ave., with the old style everything. Nothing mysterious on the 1st floor other than a really cold room- then on to the dark, dark basement.

The basement was the creepiest of all, even given the weird 2nd floor stuff. There was a step stool in the basement that in the beginning the instructor had told us not to move please. When we were down there, he told us that the group before us had experienced something... they were trying to use the electromangetometer thing near the stool, and it started shaking- two of them saw/heard it. So what did that mean? Yep, we stared at the stool for half an hour. Gail had given me a compass to use, and I tried putting it on the stool but it didn't do anything. The camera that Kevin & Jennifer had was trained on it as well but no dice. Later we learned that there was an angry guy in the basement that didn't like women- we were disappointed not to know this at the time because we would have messed with him.

After all the floors we reconvened and shared what we had learned. The one lady who ALWAYS experienced things in our class of course had seen a woman, unfortunately she also let it slip that the woman was wearing garb from the early 1800s, which #1) proved that she wasn't paying attention in class and #2) proved that she wasn't paying attention to the Port Gamble history, as the town was founded in 1853 and the house wasn't even built until 1888. Oops.

We had a brief mothman experience as the road we were initially trying to find INTO Port Gamble magically appeared on our way out, and we did make the next ferry back to Seattle.

All in all, a very interesting night, if a little unsuccessful as ghost hunting goes.

Current Location: Port Gamble, WA
Current Mood: accomplished

So as I am on the bus and some guy has his personal radio going for all to hear whether they want to or not, I have come up with a solution. I will create a website and also stacks of cards, one stack for 'the most considerate thing I am likely to see today' and another for the LEAST considerate thing I am likely to see today. The cards will direct them all to the website where the inconsiderate ones can take steps toward redemption by buying the considerate ones a cup of coffee.

Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

So after a VERY rough start to the day, I'm home and ready to have dinner and chill and sleep.

This morning I took a very big (and very delayed) step and actually went to the DMV to get my Washington driver's license.

They actually punched a hole in my NY driver's license- which was a little more emotionally involved than I care to admit. For the past year and a half I've had the feeling of this weird dual citizenship, but today was line in the sand day. I still didn't give up my plates though!

Which is good, because when I got back on the road, intending to have a day out, a warning light was flashing for the coolant temperature. Awesome. So I found the nearest Goodyear store (I've been brought up on Goodyear service stores) and the very nice people there told me it would take about an hour to check on the pressurization and see what the deal was. 30 minutes later, they told me they found a leak, but couldn't find where it was. 20 minutes later, I get the ominous, "Why don't you come out here and I will show you something." Which is where he showed me the leak, which as slow as it was had caused a nice rusty chewed up pipe, and then he explained that because the whole assembly was one piece, the part was going to have to be replaced. Any VW owner knows that the words "the part needs to be replaced" cause fear and panic, since the parts are expensive and specialized. Sure enough, the nearest part is in California, which could get there at the earliest on Tuesday. SO they called the Enterprise people, fixed me up a nice $15/day rate, and I was mobile but car-less.

So in my new PT cruiser, I did my adventure in Seattle anyway. I've really wanted to get up north for a while, and so I drove all the way the heck up to the border, and no further. Today was the day to think about all the crap going on, the arguments and the being away from home thing, and the what they heck are you going to do all winter with no boats to play with thing... and now the not actually an official New Yorker anymore thing. So I went for as homey as possible.

When I was little, my parents were big on not allowing us to play with a lot of electronics (video games, etc.) or watch television. So we did a lot of outside stuff. OR, sometimes, we would all go for "an adventure" which generally meant driving around in the country and looking out the window. Now driving randomly around still calms me down; that combined with being a tourist in my own city were my reasoning for the exploring.

Anyway, my first goal was to find fall stuff, which was difficult because everything is super green and the sun was shining and it was 60 degrees. Not exactly fall-esque. But I did find a cider mill. Not the awesome Schutz cider from Penfield or anything, but it was okay. It was so fresh that there were little pieces of apple in it- sounds gross but actually really good. Then I did my driving, some expressway, some back road. Lots of mountains! I finally found Bellingham and drove through there. Also found Lynden up north, this dutch town with lots of windmills. And I found a deer in someone's yard eating branches- really close-by! Of course my camera died like 1 picture in, so all I have are phone camera pictures.

Then eventually after my adventuring, I came back, went to West Marine to get some gloves (I'm firing the boiler on the little wooden steamboat again tomorrow) and now I'm livejournaling.

I don't know that I resolved any issues, but I've given them some thought if nothing else.

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: complacent
Current Music: Horseshoes- Moxy Fruvous

So apparently Mikey needs surgery. He has a hole in his intestine. OUCH. And also EEEW.

Also, the whole "off the grid" thing pretty much has gone to hell, as I was quoted in a business publication. Cool but not cool at the same time... but hey, who reads insurance publications anyway, right? Or... Googles?

Current Location: United States, Washington, Seattle
Current Mood: drained
Current Music: Working Ships- Christopher Shaw

dear lord has it been a long week.

i am too tired to use capital letters today. you are lucky you get punctuation.

So in the interest of reconnecting, here is entry 2 in 2 days. *SHOCK!*

Pretty crazy day today- I am just headed home on the bus now and starving because I missed all meals today (other than sneaking some skittles, but skittles and coffee doesn't really count).

Last night was fairly eventful- I have been volunteering at CWB and right before I got there, the mast on a boat had snapped. Then a half hour later, a rowboat was Tboned by a sailboat. CRAZY! The poor guy in the rowboat was a bit shaken up, and not just because of his waterlogged iphone.

Anyway, I am now home at last- time to veg!

Current Location: home
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: smi!

HI there,

Long time no post!

So I just rediscovered Facebook, which I thought I had shut down but apparently i just screwed with the privacy settings, so I will try to be on there now. Already reconnected with some people who are doing really well... I can't even believe it... it's like an online class reunion.

Let's see... recent(ish) developments include the following:

• Work got way better- issues were resolved, etc. (also the guy in the post below who wanted to hire someone to take over my department, is now gone- victory!)

• Still dating Nate- still with the two locations issue but we will see what happens

• Went to Outside Lands festival and got to see a number of bands including Pearl Jam, and also got to hang out a bit with my buddy and ex-boss Chris

(If you have issues with my geekiness, ignore the next bullet please... :-) )

• Went to PAX with Nate and met a pretty cool band (Metroid Metal) and some people who actually remember my Monkey Island days...including the fact that Chris and Joe (who I also got to visit with) got me a poster SIGNED BY DOMINIC ARMATO AND DAVE GROSSMAN which will hang on my wall as soon as I get a frame that is worthy of it AND Dominic Armato remembers mimayhem.com from back in the day... *sigh* (P.S. Played through the SMI remake... in my opinion they did a great job! Between that and the new Tales series, I'm pretty happy...)

• Volunteering with the Center for Wooden Boats out here- which if you've known me for any length of time is pretty much the best thing ever... I get to sail around on wooden boats for free...

• Discovered the zoo that is like 2 blocks from my house. (I know, it took forever for me to actually go there... but it's pretty awesome and I've gone there a million times now.)

So overall, life in Seattle is getting better; still need to find some more stuff to bite into, especially since I'm starting to be sucked into web design projects again (is my life a cycle, or what???), but overall I'm starting to grow some roots out here.

Current Location: United States, Washington, Seattle
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Jane- Ben Folds Five

Hi all!

So apologies upfront, but I am going off the internet grid. There is a really long explanation about why that I will work on posting once I get back to Seattle, but suffice to say I do not want any personal info out there on the web at all. And if you know me at all, it will be TRICKY to get all that stuff gone. But with the power of Google, I hope to accomplish it.

So from now on, all entries are friends only. And I've backwards changed everything I've ever written to friends only. But since you guys are the only ones that read this anyway, not a huge change. Just a little extra step to log in before reading.

Now I get to leave this post and make everyone wait for my dramatic tale. TTY Soon!

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: nervous

I'm TRYING to get back to checking on livejournal again. Things are, believe it or not, still crazy.

I've been in Seattle a month, and so far we've parted ways with one person in the department, and our two producers have given notice. NOT directly because I am there, but as a result of a lot of past wrongs. All I can do is keep working away and hope that some day we will stop having fires to put out. Last week I worked stupid hours and would get to work by 7am and leave after 7pm, but this week I'm trying to be a more normal human being so that I don't crash on the weekend. There is too much fun stuff to do here to be working so much. I stopped travelling to have a life.

In other news, Seattle is a really great city. I'm constantly amused. Almost every day, I take the express bus home, that skips Fremont altogether. Every single time, the same events occur. We hit the last stop before darting up to Phinney Ridge, and the bus driver very specifically points out that this is the express bus and there will be no stops between downtown and Phinney Ridge. Then we speed up Aurora, and someone ALWAYS hits the cord to try and stop the bus. At which point the same conversation happens every single time. Some nice person goes, "This is the express bus." Then the person who wanted to stop gets a panicked look and says, "OH- well where does it stop?" At which point someone will always explain that the bus stops at 46 and Phinney, but that they can just walk across the street and take the regular bus back to get to Fremont. I actually got to explain the whole getting off the bus thing to someone last week- I felt so much like a native Seattlite.

I did sign up for the Center for Wooden boats- apparently they have a lot of classes and will let you rent their wooden sailboats and rowboats and things down on Lake Union. AND one of the classes is how to build a boat. How great is that?

Well, time for work- more typing when I have time!

Current Location: Seattle, WA
Current Mood: working
Current Music: Northwest News at 6

I survived day one as the Marine Division Manager in Seattle! Woohoo!

Remember when I used to LJ about sitting at the desk and answering the phones all day? Wow.

I kept waking up all night last night... I had checked the bus schedule the night before and the two busses I was considering were at 7:01ish and 7:16ish. So I had this dream that I woke up at 7:17 and was cursing myself out... I don't think I actually slept much.

In my department, I actually have a team of six, which is a lot to handle and learn the insurance companies and all, but I am excited to dig in. I actually got to the office at about 20 to 8 (still some east coast timing in there) but nobody was there... whoops. I will probably go at the same time tomorrow though- getting into the habit of waking up at 5:30. Just pretend it's 8:30.

Love Seattle- still. There are all these flowers out... my landlord brought me Peonies! I'm excited to be here.

Tomorrow I can start to move my boat stuff into my office!

Sorry for the scattered thoughts- I'm all over the place right now.
As soon as I have a spare minute, photos will follow. Just have to keep unpacking- I have too much stuff accumulated!!

Current Location: Seattle, WA
Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: OK Go- House Wins