> > I went to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving weekend. They live in Spokane, Washington. Having lived in southern California my entire life, I had a slight bit of trouble adjusting to the radically different culture (although I had trouble at the metal detector in both the San Diego and Spokane airports). Some weird things about the region include:
> >
> > -AT&T is also apparently a cable TV company.
> > -People wear shorts outside when it's sixty degrees out instead of, like a rational person, locking themselves in the house in front of the fireplace in three-inch-thick clothing.
> > -Sometimes, cold, white stuff falls from rainclouds, but it isn't hail. It blankets all the exposed surface areas, but melts quickly if you catch it on your bare palm.
> > -Basements actually exist and, even more startling, are quite commonplace.*
> > -Houses are actually made from brick and not just partially decorated on the outside with them.*
> > -I've heard that, sometimes, colored lights appear in the sky and dance at night.
> > -The grocery stores (or at least the one we went to) are part department store, although they're admittedly mostly grocery store.
> > -Weather in the high twenties ("high twenties" being ane xtreme oxymoron) is nothing out of the ordinary unless it appears in July.
> >
> > And, of course, there's nothing stranger than relaxing in a hot tub turned up to 102 degrees, leaning past the edge, and seeing your breath. Truly odd.
> >
> > -eric "Brr" sleator
> > Sun 26 Nov A.D. 2000
> >
> > *This, I believe, has to do with the building codes and the fact that Washington is not all that susceptible to earthquakes.
>
> Here's the rundown on our basement. It is divided up into several rooms. I am now in the den, a windowless room with a TV set, three computers, two couches, a pool table and a carpet on the floor. There is also a "freezer room" Which contains two chest-type deep freezers and is also used for storage. Then there is the water heater room which is about four feet by 20 feet with a water heater in one end and the rest is lined with shelves. Next is the "junk room" which is a former bedroom that is now used for storage. Outside the original foundation, underneath the new addition, is the "scooter shop." This part is mostly above ground because the lot slopes from front to back. I spend more time in the basement than I do upstairs. Oops! I gotta go upstairs. Lunch.
> Howard

I love our basement. It's shrunk over the years, though.... when we moved in 10 hyears ago, it was large and empty and had a scary concrete floor and low ceilings. We stuck a smallish room in a corner (for the first four years of its existence known as the "guest/TV room") and nice foofy brown carpet on the floor and closets along a wall and a bathroom in another corner and another closet under the stairs. I still remember launching myself off of the steps onto the soft foofy brown carpet when we first got it. After four years, the "guest room" became "Alonzo's room" and remained so for several years. The TV moved to another area of the basement. At some point, we got a nice couch. At some point, computers became normal and a series of computers has moved on and off of a table in the basement. Two years ago, the area directly in front of the stairs became another verysmall room - "Juliet's room" for a year, and now "guest room". This summer, "Alonzo's room" became "Lynette's room" and it's nice and lavendar and green now - plus the computer is directly outside of it. Mmmm.... so our basement has become smaller but softer.... the ceilings haven't changed though. I can touch them without standing on my tiptoes or streching very much.

Ki"mmm... foofy..... was i supposed to have a point?"ki