Seattle ? Arne Wespestad plunged his fillet knife into the eye socket of a fresh Alaskan king salmon early Monday, flicked his wrist and pulled out the white eyeball with unusual glee. He was hoarse, he was dragging, and he was halfway through de-eyeballing an order of 20 fish heads behind a counter at Pike Place Market.

But he was smiling, it should be added, somewhat maniacally.

“We got our eye on you, Pittsburgh,” he said, holding the gooey eyeball. “I’m just so happy. It’s like Christmas morning here today.”

Sort of.

In bold “WAR IS OVER” type, Seattle newspapers exclaimed “SUPER BOWL!” and “SUPERHAWKS” to trumpet the Seahawks’ appearance against the Steelers in Super Bowl XL, Feb. 5 at Ford Field.

But there were few other overt signs of the city’s unprecedented entry into the national sports spotlight Monday. The day after its uncharacteristically boisterous street celebration of the Seahawks’ first trip to the Super Bowl, Seattle got up early, cupped a venti nonfat latte, and went to work.

“I woke up and wondered, ‘How much more of this face paint do I have to get off?’ ” said a grinning Sharon Gard, who rose at 5:30 a.m. after a few hours sleep to be on time for her job as a gym teacher at Asa Mercer Middle School. “I had my coffee and my Red Bull, and I’m here.”

If ever Seattle needed its 95 Starbucks, it was the morning after Sunday’s game. The city known for its polite and laid-back manner awoke good-naturedly sluggish, but determined to get on with the day with as little fuss as possible. Indeed, the only sign of exuberance downtown was a small but raucous gathering of pro-choice demonstrators.

Aside from some school employees like Gard wearing freshly minted “Road to the Super Bowl” shirts, it was business as usual even at Seahawk Leadership Academy, an alternative school affiliated with Mercer and the Seahawks. School officials were more focused on preparing for a school assembly in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

At Microsoft headquarters in nearby Redmond, Wash., it was just another day of world domination.

Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said he noted hoarse voices and some “hallway chatter,” but nothing unusual. He speculated that while the natives Seattleites are excited, they’re holding back until the Super Bowl. “Everyone is saying, ‘There’s still one more to win,'” Gellos said.

A few miles away at Qwest Field, epicenter of the Seahawks universe, there were small tremors and bursts of excitement Monday as season-ticket holders chosen at random in a lottery system and notified that morning rushed to the box office to buy Super Bowl tickets – giddily laying down $640 for tickets, in cash.

“Awesome!” said 59-year-old R K Lee, a season ticket-holder since their inaugural season in 1976, when he was handed his envelope with two Super Bowl tickets inside.

Nearby, the Seahawks pro-shop was crammed with fans, many from nearby offices on their lunch hour. Racks were stripped of sweatshirts, as the lines stretched 40 people long.