Something I found irritating:
Something I crocheted:
Something I was given at work:
Something I went to see:
02Apr
[I heart Ballard]
Filed in life | music | photos | seattle 5 Comments
Yesterday evening I trekked over to Ballard for a concert. Trekking indeed. It takes an hour to get there from my office. North Seattle Community College is the halfway point, and I finally managed to take a picture of these sweet little houses across the street from the college.
If only Ballard were a little more accessible, I would be very tempted to live there. But then it wouldn’t be Ballard. Also it would be nice if they had a grocery store walkable from the heart of the neighborhood. Though, the QFC is coming back in that condo development, yes?
More after the jump. Continue Reading
05Mar
[February]
Filed in knitting | life | photos | seattle | travel | work 1 Comment
I walked home from the movies one day mostly so I could get a picture of this Obama Lincoln mural…
…and took the opportunity to get pictures of a few other signs too, including these two:
& 
More February after the jump. Continue Reading
17Feb
[In the last month and a half I...]
Filed in life | movies | photos | seattle | travel | work 2 Comments
…went up to Canada for New Year’s. (This is a bit of a tradition now, and this year was particularly great because I wound up having a five day weekend, and thus a nice long visit. It also snowed every single day I was there, which was pretty ace so far as the puppy was concerned.)
& 
…got a new camera and had to test it out. Much more after the jump. Continue Reading
27Dec
[Axial tilt is the reason for the season]
Filed in life | photos | seattle 3 Comments
This has been a really odd December. I have succeeded in not working a single Wednesday all month. The first two fell to a death cold, the next two to snow days (yes, really, more on that later), and the 31st I’ll be in Canada, as is my New Year’s tradition.
Christmas is frequently weird anyway. I don’t really celebrate it anymore since my family moved away, plus my job is very holiday-intensive. My office, eaten by the holidays (and many more photos after the jump): Continue Reading
03Nov
[Today I...]
Filed in knitting | life | photos | politics 4 Comments
…am wearing these shoes
…am already this far on my February Lady sweater
…cast this vote for President
…and am on my way to Ballard, where I saw this last week on the new release whiteboard at Sonic Boom
26Sep
[Shotgun wedding]
Filed in life 2 Comments
Last night my bank, teetering on the edge, was eaten by JP Morgan.
It’s weird, though, because I’ve been banking there since I was a kid. I think I opened my account with money I got for 8th grade graduation. They gave me a debit card with a Visa logo when I was in high school.
I’m glad this part is over. I think I can stop worrying for now. I trust that the transfer will be seamless, and if it’s not, I have a safety net in the credit union. It’ll be a pain, but okay.
WaMu was a local bank that exploded. But they were a good place to work for, and a good place to bank with. I had three strange things happen to my account in the 15+ years that I banked with them. Checks were stolen, and they noticed the inconsistency and called me before letting anything hit my account. A weird charge showed up from an online gambling site, and they reversed it immediately. And when a major purchase I made wasn’t delivered before that division of Sears went bankrupt, they reversed that charge as well. They seemed psychic about what was an accurate transaction and what wasn’t. I never had my account frozen during international travel, for example, or had to argue that no, really, I did intend to buy that MacBook.
I’ll be the first to admit that I know nothing about finance. But I know that the customer service in the retail centers was ace, and I thank all those folks on the ground for over fifteen years of worry-free banking. I kick all the executives in the shins for making me do all fifteen years worth of worrying in the past month instead.
Please, enjoy your multi-billion dollar signing bonuses while your underpaid tellers and I fret about if we’ll have access to our rent money or not. No problem. Friends of the family indeed.
30Aug
[Standing on the corner, waiting for a bus]
Filed in life | seattle 1 Comment
I have had a ridiculously busy August. I had dear friends visit, I went to Canada, I knitted a LOT (Ravelympics! Go Team Junkie!) & I worked even more (hello, beginning of event season). I only went to one movie. Please contain your shock. I also only went to one concert, but I’m sneaking in a second on Sunday (the Satellite Riders, an Old 97s ‘cover band’. You’d swear you’re watching the real thing, or so I hear. *cough*)
I do have a whole whack of pictures to edit and upload and spam you with. Next week, maybe. Until then, allow me to vent about a fellow bus patron on Friday night: Continue Reading
29Apr
[Let us not talk falsely now]
Filed in derby | life | photos | work 3 Comments
I did stuff lately that I didn’t really take pictures of, or, if I did, I took crap pictures. Let’s talk about them anyway!
Earlier this month I went up to Vancouver, a whirlwind weekend trip that included sushi the size of my head, gelato, knitting, sunshine, friends, and roller derby, which was the excuse for going up at that particular time. Terminal City is a really young league (this is only their second season), but they already deliver awesome derby action. I opted to cheer for the Riot Girls, using the time honored pick-the-best-uniform method of allegiance, and they took an early and commanding lead, but I was happy to root for the Faster Pussycats at the end, when they got in some awesome jams. I hope to be able to come up for more derby action this year! Hint, hint, Vancouver friends.
The next weekend, since the new hangar meant that the Rat City bout sold out CRAZY EARLY, I went to see Ellis Paul out at Youngstown. (I was maybe a little grateful that derby sold out, so I didn’t have to make that decision myself. I am possibly ridiculously fond of Ellis.) Antje Duvekot opened, and was lovely, and of course Ellis was great. He had just got a new guitar in Oregon, and he was maybe a little infatuated.
The coolest bit, though, was when he took requests, and someone asked for “Trolley Car”. He admitted right off that he couldn’t remember it well enough to do on his own, and asked for audience support. Eventually, he wound up calling a guy from the front row to help him out. Between them they could woodshed about 75% of the song, which was really great, actually. But what makes this particularly awesome, is that I am pretty damn sure that this fellow’s girlfriend/wife/partner-person is the same woman who got called up several years ago, when Ellis played Phinney Ridge, to take the Patty Griffin part of “Conversation with a Ghost”, and was amazing. I also have a feeling that they drive from Spokane/Idaho/some great distance to see Ellis in the first place. So. That is all just wicked cool, so far as I am concerned.
Finally, I trekked up to Lake Forest Park Town Center (the name that means nothing) to see the Yarn Harlot and a bunch of knitters at Third Place Books. Where I did not buy her book, but I did finally buy Tam Lin, and I also scored a copy of Once Upon a Time in the North, a pre-His Dark Materials story featuring Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison. I am enjoying it much more than Lyra’s Oxford. Plus, it comes with a game! Sweet.
After the jump, a few things I *did* take pictures of. Continue Reading
01Feb
[Wee paws for station identification]
Filed in life 5 Comments
It’s the first of February, and I am decreeing this the official start of 2008. Happy new year!
I didn’t get anything done in January; the first half was dedicated to clean-up from 2007, and the second was dedicated to vacation and then the plague (thanks, London Underground!), so any attempt to start fresh on any front was doomed to failure. We’ll see if it goes better in February.
There will be vacation posts happening early next week, complete with more pictures than you could possibly want to see. In related housekeeping news, I’ve changed the RSS to pull the summary rather than the whole feed. I thought, since most folks read this on LiveJournal, it is kind of cruel to inflict a page full of photos. This might cause the feed to barf at some point today, and I apologize for that in advance.
In spite of the plague, I had a marvelous time. It is nice to be home, though. My bed is amazing, I saw two Decemberists shows this week, and my mocha at Monorail Espresso Tuesday morning was darn near a religious experience.
I hope you all are well.