Andrew Walker

We first met Andrew when he came to crash at the BnA hostel back in August 2001. For some reason, I was very surprised to see him at the book event in Seattle, even though I knew he knew we were coming. After the event, Andrew spent some time talking to Jen Leo but I was kept busy talking to folks about travel. Since he couldn’t stay afterwards, we arranged to meet for brunch the next day.

After finding our way back into town from where we stayed, Jen and I met Andrew at his work. The Production Network (TPN) is located in the Freemont area of Seattle and a very cool area it is too. Lots of funky cafes, shops selling stuff you don’t really need but would look cool, interesting statues/street art and lots of Thai restaurants.

TPN is a company you would call for corporate events, trade show exhibits, permanent exhibit installations, and special events. Just walking into the office, you can tell creative people work there. The building is a converted warehouse with lots of old wood, now mixed in with colourful walls, an open floor plan and high speed internet access. They have a special room just for brainstorming (I thought it was a creche at first), called the Lightbulb Lab. When Andrew interviewed for the job they asked him what he wanted out of this job and he replied he wanted to work for 5 years, then take a 12 month sabbatical and be able to return if he wanted. They said…ok, we can work with that.

Andrew took us to brunch at the Longshoreman’s Daughter which was awesome (Yes, they had green sauce). The food was great, the coffee just what I needed and apparently they do a mean Bloody Mary if you’re nursing a bear of a hangover. We talked about Andrew’s upcoming trip to Thailand with his wife and Jen offered some tips from her visit in 2001. Andrew’s written some articles for us before so hopefully we can twist his arm to send us something on Thailand on his return.

Jen & Andrew

After saying goodbye to Andrew (and Lenin), Jen and I drove back to the highway through another cool area of Seattle called Wallingford. Next time I’m in Seattle I wouldn’t mind wandering around here some more with its Blue Star pub, old cinema, the burger joint that was packed, and let’s not forget the Erotic Bakery!