Road rage and Hoo Hos.

Road rage: Saturday was my company Holiday party. I told the Pretty Girl I'd pick her up by 7:30p in Seattle. I thought I'd get off work by 5p, head home to change, go to Bellevue to run the errand, then head to Seattle and go back to Bellevue so we could go straight to the party.

It was a smooth idea. The reality was a nightmare. I head into downtown Bellevue and travel near Bell Square. Traffic was insane. I had to move one lane over and not one of those miserable SUV driving soccer moms let me in. Not one.

No big deal I thought. I'll just go around the block. This is the block of Bell Square mind you, the yuppiest mall in the Seattle area. There were armies of Christmas Shoppers trying to get out of the mall parking garage and into the street. One area was so bad there was a cop directing traffic to let people out of the garage. Yes the city had the police force out to accomodate the consumers. Total time going around said block: 40 minutes. Yes 40 minutes, 20 of which were spent at one stop light. I'm glad I don't carry a gun.

Uhg. I tried to finally get to the street I needed, but they had it closed for what seemed like some impromptu parade. I gave up and headed to Seattle on 520 only to face a parking lot. I then turned around and headed down to 1-90 and then finally made it in Seattle.

The errand had to wait until we got back.

Hoo Hoes: The Pretty Girl and I head into the Holiday party. It was packed. There were what seemed like thousands of people all jammed in the Bellevue Hyatt. There were many rooms filled with all sorts of interesting activities. They had crafts such as making tea, stockings, and candles. They had four bands in different areas and three places to eat.

The Pretty Girl and I went and ate on the main floor. There was a long line of people and I started to wonder if we were even going to run into anyone we knew. AG showed up and cut in line with us. She bragged about her new dress which did look good. She was accompanied by EB, who was nowhere to be found at the time.

The line went right in front of the stage of a horrendous rockabilly band. We stood in front of the speakers listening to ridiculous covers of Johnny Cash hits. I almost lost my appetite.

After dinner we meet up with MH, JL, EB, MH's sister, and Donna. All of us headed to a place called the Peppermint Palace, which was an outdoor heated tent. They had a great bar and couches to sit in. The big bonus is it wasn't jam packed with people. There was actual elbow room. A jazz band showed up and they were extremely talented.

A couple of strange thing happened while we were there. A drum band came marching through the place for what seemed like no apparent reason. I still haven't figured out what their purpose was. I laid eyes on a guy who looked exactly like an evil twin of Russ. This guy really looked like he was plotting to take over the world. I wish I took a picture of him.

The there were what I call the Hoo Hoes. The party had a Grinch theme and they hired what seemed like a bunch of teenage cheerleaders and dressed them up in skimpy Hoo outfits. They handed out fliers and passed out various other party amenities. The Pretty Girl was extremely annoyed by them.

All in all a good party.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." - Dylan Thomas