School Employees seem to have a lot more specialized financial services products than BECU. But no CD's? or did I miss them.

BECU 'neighborhood' centers seem to be popping up around the city. I don't know the extent of SECU locations. But equal amounts of ATMs, heh.

A personal anecdote: I had lost a debit card, and I found myself on the way to work with out any cash or lunch, I had left my money at home. I was able to stop by the neighborhood center in the U-dist and get a debit card on the spot. Not just an ATM card, but a brand new debit card with a PIN of my choice.

Two locations have been built within a mile of my house since I started living here years ago.

I kind of wish I had reason to check out this hostel: http://www.hostelseattle.com/

We've got a whole host of bars, cafes, and clubs with live music. Check out The Stranger music listings and KEXP concert calendar when your trip nears.

You know, I always feel the same way when I see parcel post as my only shipping method, but it's always fine. Like the others said, it's just USPS version of "ground shipping".

FYI - UPS stands for United Parcel Service. It's just an old word we don't use that much anymore.

Though, Miami is far away. You could use the UPS shipping calculator to give you a less vague estimate. I bet the timeframe will be similar.

I have a friend who puts the key differences of the two cities on Seattle living with the legacy of Boeing & Microsoft.

I've never spent much time in Portland, but I thought that was a neat perspective.

A while ago I got really into reading personal finance blogs. I loved those stories if people who pay off grad school & a house in ~ 4-5 years by extreme saving and extreme working.

What you can start doing is start living like you are paying a mortgage. If your rent is only $800/month and your prospective mortgage will be $1500/month, increase your housing expenditure right now to $1500/month and put the extra money toward your downpayment savings.

It could be prudent to add the cost of upkeep to your idea of the cost of home ownership per month:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/15/building-a-home-maintenance-and-improvement-fund/

Maybe downgrade your living situation for a year or two prior to buying to save money.

I don't think Home Depot puts their cheap outdoor furniture online. But what you don't see online is your standard patio furniture fair that you've seen all your life, something like this: http://www.marqueerents.com/sc_images/products/1619_image.jpg

I'd also pop into Costco if you have a membership.

If it is a total downpour you should do it in front of the Fremont Troll under the overpass.

mmmmm....not really a reason, but it's mentioned:

The Starfleet officers and crewmembers seen in The Next Generation wear a jumpsuit with a Starfleet communicator badge (or 'commbadge' as it was sometimes called) on the left chest and rank insignia on the right side of the collar. The uniforms' sleeves and abdominal area are colored to indicate the individual's branch, with red indicating command and helm; gold for engineering, security, and operations; and blue for science and medical (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"). The division colors for command and operations switched from those used in Enterprise and TOS as Benjamin Sisko tells Julian Bashir in the DS9 episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfleet_uniforms

Trials and Tribble-ations is totally worth a re-watching :)

Heh, I dunno but it brings to mind all the times in K-12 when teachers would tell us the calculator cannot do anything with out a human commanding it.