Just in time for the holidays, Starbucks is teaming up with Costco to offer gift cards at a 20% discount: five $20 cards for $80. Regular gift cards in the Starbucks stores for 10% off. USA Today notes that it's high time Starbucks did something to reward its core customers, especially in these tough times. Shelling out (coughing up?) $4 for a double-tall may not be a whole $700 billion, but might cause some hesitation. Promotion starts November 4th; company announces third quarter earnings (losses?) a week later. more ›

We’ve spoken highly (sparking some debate) of Pagliacci as our place for pizza by the slice—at least locally. But imagine our surprise while reading a recent USA Today and seeing the Queen Anne location listed as one of the country’s “10 great places for solo diners to pull up a chair.” (The article was put together in celebration of National Singles Week, which started Sunday.) more ›

Vitals: Scott Edward Kazmir, 23 yo LHP. Born in Houston, Texas. 6-0, 170. 24-22, 3.75 career. 2-2, 3.83 in 2007. $424,300 salary. more ›

Before we get to today's boat, there's a half-assed explanation of the Empress of the North's Alaskan accident online as of yesterday--apparently they were making a turn and hit a rock... Well, cruise passengers should certainly slumber easily in their berths now that that whole thing has been exposed. There's also (another?) entirely fictitious accounting of the accident at The Spoof. more ›

--Your office may be nicer than Steve Ballmer's. more ›

All-everything Husky recruit Spencer Hawes is having arthroscopic surgery tomorrow. Something's floating around in his knee. From the UW press release: more ›

College football coaches, who gave the Huskies their only National Championship back in 1991, have bestowed upon the current team a very special honor—Also Receiving Voteites. more ›

When he's not making doody in his diaper, Mike Holmgren is spitting up creamed carrots or screaming for his "binky." more ›

Former Mariner first round pick Ryan Anderson is out of baseball and enrolled in culinary school, we learned from U.S.S. Mariner today. more ›

USA Today reveals that America's next would-be culture czar is already enthroned as (gulp) the nation's barrista baron. more ›

If you want to avoid the media's glare, you probably don't want to beat an opponent by 84 points. But the Chief Sealth girls' basketball team did just that. And the Seattle Times fixed them in their sights. more ›

According to this USA Today story (hat tip to the Spurge), the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will attempt to reach a younger audience next year by publishing the Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges manga Peach Fuzz in their Sunday comics section starting early January. The comic in question (sample here) about a delusional nine year old girl and her pet ferret, was first published earlier this year by Tokyopop after the artists submitted the work to that company's Rising Stars of Manga competition. more ›

After years of insisting that “good citizens” were the key to winning ballclubs, the Mariners have hired one of baseball’s notorious bad guys, Carl Everett. more ›

Pac-10 Coach of the Year Jim McLaughlin and Pac-10 Player of the Year Sonja Tomasevic will lead the Husky women's volleyball team this weekend in Fort Collins, Co., where the Dawgs start the NCAA tournament as the top seed in the West Regional. more ›

After starting the season with four straight wins, the University of Washington men's basketball team snuck into the Associated Press Top 25, garnering one more point in the AP's voting/rankings system than Iowa State. more ›

On Friday, Issaquah High pulled off its second earth-shattering upset of the year, defeating Bellevue High's nationally-ranked football team. more ›

They crushed #3 Long Beach Poly Saturday night at Qwest Field, and today USA Today ranks the Bellevue High School Wolverines #12 in the country (and #2 in the West). more ›

Seattle-area high school sports teams are proving that they deserve to be considered among the nation's elite. Earlier this year, Bellevue High's football team defeated national powerhouse De LaSalle, which hadn't lost a game in thirteen years. And on Saturday, the Garfield High women traveled south and beat Piedmont (Oakland) High, ranked #2 nationally by USA Today. Garfield, though #1 in Washington's 4A classification, wasn't even ranked among the top 10 teams in the West. They surely will be now. more ›