Results tagged “miscellaneous”

This Seattlest took one look at the weather forecast and headed to sunny Florida yesterday. Now here we are in our hometown of DeLand, population 24,375 (per 2006 census). Our mother doesn't have wireless at the house, and is operating off a 1997 iMac. It's cute and compact, but slow as hell, so we headed out this morning for the one source of public wifi in town: Boston Gourmet Coffeehouse.

Hello out there in Seattlest-land, this is your friendly editor Seth.

We're not sure exactly what this is...seems like it's some voice software reproducing some of the comments Amanda Knox has made in relation to the slaying of her roommate in Italy. In Italian. With English subtitles. And music. And slides.

We appreciate your patience while they re-implement the SQL coding process for optimal FTP performance or whatever the hell they do.

The way Seattlest's routine works out we're afforded precious little time down in Tacoma, so we're particularly unqualified to speak to the panhandling scene there as opposed to here. Maybe someone more familiar with the City of Destiny can explain the need for the panhandling ban there, though? We do spend a significant amount of time downtown Seattle, and there are panhandlers around, but they tend to either be so consistently present as to become familiar (hey "smile" guy) or passive almost to a fault. Or both. Still, hardly ban-worthy. Seattlest does have a slightly different experience whenever we happen to be downtown on a weekend. Around Westlake--particularly now, holiday shoppers--the crush of people makes it hard to identify panhandlers that aren't ringing a bell and standing next to a cauldron of some kind. In Pioneer Square when there aren't many people around, you can get approached somewhat aggressively by people asking for money.

This weekend Mr. and Mrs. Seattlest drove out to North Bend to cut a Christmas tree down and haul it back to Seattle. No, we didn't hike up Si with an ax and harvest a sapling, although that does sound fun. There's a tree farm out there by the name of Crown Tree Farm. It was our first time getting a tree from anywhere other than those road-side dealies or the enclosures that pop up in big parking lots this time of year, or so we thought until we got on the phone with Dad in Illinois afterwards. "You don't remember when you and I and your brother went to cut down a Christmas tree?" he said. "So much for making childhood memories." We thought this was a Pacific Northwest thing, but apparently you can cut down your own Christmas tree even in the Midwest.

The glorious fall sunsets have disappeared along with the mouldering husks of Halloween pumpkins, and according the weather report, we can all expect a long, cold, wet weekend. But this being the Northwest, that's never stopped us from getting out and about; here's the weekend plans of your intrepid Seattlest contributors:

Here are three vaguely computer-related crimes taken from recent headlines in Seattle, Chicago and New England.

Unconfirmed reports from Halloween night place a Peet's "Coming Soon" sign at Broadway and Denny. Maybe a scary mask obscured someone's vision? Dunno, but we're interested to find out. A Peet's at that intersection would be a preemptive strike in anticipation of a Broadway light rail station.

Today we'll be playing the part of a slobbish, washed-up Seattle Police Detective. Our character has spent years busting pimps, dopers, gangbangers and the occasional Amish fellow. And for what? A goddamn string of broken promises, broken bones, two ex-wives and a bad liver.

In central Illinois in the 1990s Seattlest was a wee little college freshman exploring the twin wonders of new music and new drugs. Nirvana, for example, was making some music we got really into, so much so that we learned of Aberdeen, WA, even though we'd never been to the West Coast, much less the Pacific Northwest, or Washington, or Seattle. At nearly the same time we encountered our first vanity steroid users. Some guys in the dorm--non-athlete guys--worked out a lot and then sat around in front of mirrors with their shirts off. "Steroids" they whispered to one another, "I'm starting a cycle." It went around the building like a bootleg tape. "So-and-so's hooking me up." And by second semester there were a lot of little, big men lurching around, popping zits and raging from time to time.

Adult gorillas aren't cute. The last time we saw one at the Woodland Park it climbed a tree and crapped a giant turd into its giant hand. Parents were shielding their poor children's delighted eyes.

Hello all--

This company pissed us off with their graffiti-esque chalk attack advertising recently in Downtown Seattle, but as far as we know not much came of it. Well, an anti guerrilla advertising site was created, but to our knowledge the city of Seattle didn't hold the company responsible for all their visual litter.

We'd like to take a brief moment to thank this week's advertisers on Seattlest

We knew that last winter's windstorm was a boon to salesmen of propane and propane accessories, but now it seems like it gave a little nudge to young lovers as well. Apparently there was a "baby boomlet" this September, nine months following the storm and mass power outages. This is always the cool part about big weather events: they bring people together. My roof is fucked up, my neighbor's roof is fucked up--we can set aside the fact that he brings his dog over to crap on our lawn and he can temporarily forget that our non-starting car has been collecting leaves on the curb directly in front of his house for some six months. There are shingles everywhere! Let's have a little solidarity over that! Who cares that they're mostly his and he's never going to come around and clear them out of our bushes! The same holds true inside the house. The generator only puts out enough wattage to run the space heater, the plasma and the wine fridge so there's no question about whether the Xbox is going to get any play tonight. That's a recipe for love.

Last night, we trekked over to Madison Market to get our favorite toothpaste. (Yes, it is strange to like a toothpaste enough to go out of our way for it, but the stuff widely available does not make us want to stick it in our mouth and brush away.) The store is always insanely packed, and we dread going there because the lines, oh the lines. But yesterday found the store a relative ghost town, and we slid right into line behind an older, sixty-ish man as he unloaded his cart to be checked out. He was sporting a magnificent salt-and-pepper mustache atop his scraggy beard, and we guessed that he was perhaps Greek or Turkish but we really weren't sure.

Someone buy one or several of the supposedly many 747 hulls that are about to come on the market and drop them in Seattle somewhere, please. Seriously, there is a dire need. One, they're cheap and you've got a bunch of software money to burn. It'll be like recognizing the old masters, but, you know, demeaning them at the same time...like when you bought your old man a house and then attached all those crazy conditions to it. Two, it's an airplane town, still, but looking around you wouldn't really know it. Three, whimsy is on life support in Seattle.

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods.

Sorry, "Guest," you're on your way out. Seattlest loves you--For the most part you who forgo the site's great commenter profile system to add your wisdoms to our posts are well-behaved and interesting, but our brothers and sisters across the country (heathens, apparently) are of the mind that people act differently when their words are attached to a name, any name, and that all commenters should be logged in. Starting today "guest" comments to Seattlest posts are hidden by default and soon it will be impossible to comment anonymously at all. We didn't want it this way, but it's register or perish. On the positive side, registered users can now upload a 100x100 avatar by clicking "Edit profile" way up at the top left there when you're logged in. Soon it'll be attached to all your comments.

The past two days, contributors Jeremy "The Seattle Samurai" Barker and Katie "The Kalama Quickdraw" Tiehen debated the age-old question of whether Seattle or Portland is better.

You asked for it, and now you got it.

Seattle. Portland. Which one's better? You may say: "How can you choose? Each has their good points. It's like asking which religion is better." Guess what, asshole, that Negative Nellie attitude is the reason nobody ever asks for your fucking opinion. Jerk. Yesterday, Jeremy Barker advocated the pro-Seattle position. Now, it's Portland's turn.

Seattle. Portland. Which one's better? You may say: "How can you choose? Each has their good points. It's like asking which religion is better." Guess what, asshole, that Negative Nellie attitude is the reason nobody ever asks for your fucking opinion. Jerk. To the debate! First up, it's a pro-Seattle opinion.

Yesterday at about six o'clock in Westlake Center square there was a protest going on. Matching shirts, coordinated singing and sign stamping; it was the most together group we've seen demonstrating since...ever, probably. Westlake's mix of teenager hanger outers, office workers and shoppers gave them a wide berth, hanging out on the fringes as if gulping a huge breath of air before darting for the entrance to the mall. Don't look, don't acknowledge, don't--for god's sake--stop when one of them has you in their sights. Dammit, Lush is right there! Is there another entrance?

Is the office slightly quieter today? Were there fewer parents dropping the little ones off at school this morning? Were there a lot more parked cars in certain spots around Wedgwood, Seward Park or Mercer Island?

We're starting to think that it's not just the Wedgwood Safeway that's a bit odd. We've started coming to the conclusion that it may the whole dam neighborhood.