Seatown

Hey folks,

I'm about settled in here in the Emerald City, so I figured I'd give everyone an update on what I've been up to.

As some of you know, I'm out here to do an internship with 710 ESPN Radio Seattle, which I started on Monday. It's been a lot of fun so far. There's not a whole lot for us interns to do while the games are on. While I'm on call in case any of the producers, soundboard operators or talent need me to do anything, my primary responsibilities during the game are to watch baseball and go on food runs. This works out nicely because eating and watching baseball are probably my two favorite things to do. Before and after the games I transcribe interviews, make rejoiners (basically the thing that's like "You're listening to Mariners baseball!...on the Mariners radio network!") for the postgame show (this skill is still a work in progress. Adobe Audition has supplanted Final Cut Pro as the editing software most likely to drive me crazy), send off highlights to our affiliates and answer phone calls from listeners. Things get sort of hectic after games because most of the workload comes in all at once, but I think I'm learning to adjust a little better day by day. I'm confident I'll be able to do everything smoothly in the very near future.

The station itself is pretty sweet. There's lot of cool memorabilia and it's pretty neat being in a working radio studio after watching Mike and the Mad Dog on YES for all those years. The people have all been pretty friendly thus far. The other intern working on 710's Mariners coverage is a pretty solid dude. I like him because he does play-by-play of everything he sees and does, and has a deep, dark past in professional wrestling fandom. Plus, he's a Catholic, which has always been my favorite Christian sect. We get along swimmingly.

Shot of the 710 Studio and Matt, who runs the soundboard

When I haven't been working, I've been spending my time watching the West Wing on my computer and exploring the University District and U-Dub's campus. I'm pretty comfortable exploring the Ave by now and have found a good gyro place, my new coffee spot and several really good places to get chicken teriyaki, which seems to be something Seattle specializes in. The U-District is cool because it's sort of like a traditional college town the way Chapel Hill is, only it's nestled inside a major city. There's also a really awesome ice cream place around the corner from me that was featured in the New York Times. I'm not sure whether it's just because I associate her with ice cream or not, but I have a pretty massive crush on the girl that works at the counter. I'm not really sure what to do with this, but I think finding out what her name is strikes me as a necessary first step.

The Varsity Theater...Seattle

Campus itself is really cool, and sort of reminds me of UNC a little bit. They even have a sunken brick courtyard that serves as the center of campus, only it's called "the Red Square", which is infinitely less cool than "the Pit". They have a long bike/running trail I've been (slowly) making my way through the past few days. It's really pretty, but has taught me that I am woefully out of shape after avoiding physical activity for the past two months. I also went to a softball game for the Daily Tar Heel since UNC was playing at UW. Both the UW softball park and the football stadium (Husky Stadium) have a pretty incredible view of Lake Washington.

The view of Lake Washington from Husky Stadium

I also snuck into the UW sports hall of fame inside the basketball stadium and saw one of Tim Lincecum's Cy Young awards and an exhibit on my main man and three-time Slam Dunk Contest Champion Nate Robinson. I very seriously considered dropping $60 on a Robinson Knicks jersey I saw in a store on the Ave.

Tim Lincecum's Cy Young

Because I know the vast majority of you are curious, I've also gotten a taste of the nightlife here in the U-District. I went out with a couple of my housemates and a friend from UNC who was in town to a bro bar called Dante's. Dante's is really awesome on Thursday nights because they have beer pong, air hockey, foosball and $2 pitchers of Miller Lite. There were very few females around, so I decided it would be a good idea to drink two pitchers and see how drunk it would make me. In case you were wondering, the answer to this query is "very drunk". After a fairly successful outing at the beer pong table, my friends and I decided to move the party to Earle's. For the Tar Heels reading, Earle's is the U-District's answer to Players. For those of you who've not had the pleasure of visiting Chapel Hill's #1 nightclub, Players is a poorly-lit establishment where people go to listen to awful top-40 music, grind up on drunk girls and make generally poor life choices.

By the time we got to Earle's I was not quite out of the game, but the pitching coach was definitely at the mound telling me to settle down and throw strikes. Unfortunately, Earle's' signature drink is its infamously potent Long Island Iced Tea. Perhaps more unfortunate is my habit of, as I'm known to tell people in a drunken stupor, "repping Strong Island, son!" I'll refrain from further detail on the evening's events, but I will continue the poorly constructed baseball metaphor from earlier in this paragraph and will say that I did not have a relief liver warming up in the bullpen and the results were most unpleasant.

Anyway, that's about all I've got for you guys right now. I'm planning to put up a post of "Sports Thoughts" at some point of the near future. For those out of the loop, we're about halfway through a week of monumental importance to a certain baseball team I'm known to be fond of. If you're one of the people who reads just to check up on what I'm doing with my life, you're totally free to spare yourself and skip that one. I won't hold it against you.

I can't thank any of you enough for reading, and I hope y'all are having excellent summers wherever you're reading from. Feel free to e-mail me any comments, questions or concerns at aaron.p.taube@gmail.com . I'd love to hear from you.

Stay fresh,

Aaron