Dreaming of lime gerbils in a cheese sauce

Does anyone in Seattle want to join me for a spontaneous photo walk in Pike Place Market this afternoon?

I took a friend to brunch at The Georgian Room in the Fairmont Olympaian Hotel, one of the swankier places downtown. The price matched the swank but the quality and assortment were closer to Holiday Inn. Disappointing, won't be back. :-(

I had a great time at Seattle's pride parade this year. I marched with UW's QFS (Queer Faculty and Staff) group. I took pictures of people along the way and for once really felt connected. The 'audience' really seemed to grove on someone in the parade taking their picture instead of the usual other way around. I got some amazing shots of smiling/happy/friendly faces. Two shots even made it into my 5-star collection.

I plan to do this again next year. The only thing I think I'll do differently is to organize a post-parade dinner. The way the parade kind of petered out as the car went one way and the walkers went a dozen other ways left me just kind of lost. I wandered around the festival but didn't find any of the people I'd marched with. There was no closure, as it were.

ljtourist came over for dinner tonight. It was my inaugural firing of the outdoor gas grill for the year (actually, the first time in a year - I ran out of propane at last year's Memday grilling party and didn't get around to getting a refill until this morning.) I made a t-bone I'd bought at the Farmer's Market (yay, grass-fed beef!), grilled asparagus, and some baked potatoes and he made a salad.

As we were finishing up dinner were talking about dessert and he mentioned he'd meant to stop at Peaks Frozen Custard (caution, flash) to pick up some for us to try. After a few minutes of discussion he ran over there while I cleaned up the kitchen a bit.

Oh. Dear. I am in so much trouble. They're much too close to where I live for as good as their frozen custard is. Thankfully it isn't walking or biking distance or I'd be dooooomed.

I walked by Trabant this evening and one of the owners was there. I spoke with him for a bit about the problem with the smokers on the chairs at the door and he said he'd start discouraging it, put up signs, and talk with the baristas about it.

So, if that happens, I can start going back there. This is good.

As many of you know, I am allergic to cigarette smoke. On top of that, I detest the smell. I consider smoking in public to be a very rude "fuck you" to the non-smokers who are forced to breath the stuff. If people wish to kill themselves that is their business but they have no right to take others with them.

When the state of washington had a very strongly worded non-smoking law on the ballot I (and a large majority of the citizenry) voted for it. This law includes a provision banning smoking within 25' of air ducts/doors/windows of any public building or space (as in, stores, restaurants, bars, etc). This is to allow patrons of those buildings to enter or exit un-molested as well as to make it much more unlikely the smoke will get into the building.

Most of the businesses in Seattle flaunt this part of the rule - badly. There are bars on 2nd Ave that have smoking areas right outside their door, for example. Since the law is enforced by the health and safety people, not by the cops, there isn't a lot that can be done about it except to file complaints and hope the businesses will be cited.

I have long had a rule that I would not do business with companies that allowed smoking at/near their entrances/exits. You want my custom, you'll make it possible for me to enter (and exit) your store without having to deal with smoke.

Sadly, one of my favorite places to go - Trabant Coffee and Chai - has decided to allow smoking at a seating area just outside their door. In the past I've asked people to move away from the door and usually had success. However, today one of the baristas was outside sitting and talking (and possibly/probably smoking) with a regular customer (and regular jerk who has refused to move in the past) and when asked to move they declined. edit: I should state for the record that I did not directly observe the barista smoking. I didn't check. I saw her sitting and talking with the (male) customer who I did see smoking. My request was made to the other barista on duty and she (the other barista) went outside to talk with the smoker(s).end

In the winter this isn't as big an issue because their doors are mostly closed (though today the smoke got in even with the doors closed which is why I asked that they move). However, in the Summer they prop the doors open and I know from past experience (before the law was passed) that the shop will reek of the smell fairly quickly. This, combined with my not giving money to places that flaunt the smoking law has caused me to decide not to return to Trabant until the smoking by the door stops. This also means I won't be scheduling any more mah jong games there.

I'm torn. I'm a regular customer there and I feel that I should tell them why I'm discontinuing my custom. On the one hand, I don't want to come off as giving them an ultimatum - "follow the law or else" is just not a good way to go. On the other hand maybe they would do something about it if something were said. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who doesn't like having to deal with smoke when they are out at a coffee/tea shop.

So, how should I approach the owners of the place?

I've seen a lot of people following the lead of the Seattle Times (a so-called news paper) in bitching about how "badly Seattle handled the recent snowfall" wrt street cleaning.

We get snow like that what, once every 10 years? Storing and maintaining the equipment and supplies needed to deal with that at the same level as towns who get that (and more) yearly would be outrageously expensive! The Seattle CrimesTimes is famous for muckraking - for example, when we had a huge power outage caused by a wind storm they were at the front screaming about how long it's taking to repair it and then they had the balls to bitch about how much overtime the crews who were busting their asses to fix the problem were paid. They will bitch and complain about anything they can because it sells papers. They don't actually care about any of it, as long as they push pulp with ink stains on it.

However, the residents of Seattle really have no excuse. You want low taxes? You want to keep government lean? Then don't bitch about a lack of rarely used equipment and supplies! If you really want Seattle to be able to handle this kind of weather then pony up and pay for it.

If you aren't willing to pay up, then kindly do the rest of us a favor and shut up.

Today I valiantly ventured forth to meet Matthew for dim sum at Jade Garden. We planned to meet at 10am and since I was completely unsure of the bus system I got up at 7am to check the metro web site. It said the 71 was semi-running, taking 35th Ave instead of 40th. I'm glad I didn't believe them. It was taking 35th to go North but was taking 40th to go South. I'd have been very sad if I'd walked all the way in the snow only to discover I missed it.

So, to avoid being late I caught a bus that was ... early. As in, I got to the International District about 09:30. As luck would have it, Matthew was only 1 or 2 buses behind me so he also got there early.

After brunch we wandered over to the spice shop at Pike Place market where I replenished my tea supply and had a fantastic chat with a (very cute!) guy who's been working there for 4 years (but I only met today. How did that happen?) about what tea to serve with chocolate. Then we headed up to Cap. Hill for a some errands and then back to my place to get the car.

I drove to Whole Foods for groceries ($110, it hurts to replenish such a denuded supply). This was the first time I've driven the car since the snow fell. The roads are mostly passable, at least the main ones are. The one I live on is a bit of a challenge but not horrible anymore. This is a huge relief.

Matthew came back with me, I tossed a fire in the fireplace, and we watched Hairspray and Moulin Rouge while dining. I then took Matthew home and realized that I really needed to get gas. I stopped at my favorite station where I paid just slightly over $2 for mid-grade. Gas really has gone down in price. Wow. Last time I was there it was almost $4/gal.

Since that station is so close to Silver Platters I went over there to get a copy of Mama Mia! and a couple Death Cab for Cutie albums. Now I am home and relaxing with a cup of egg nog.

For the first time in my life(?) I shoveled snow this afternoon. I think I was out there for 30 minutes but I can't really be sure. It might have been an hour, it might have been 10 minutes. It sure felt like it was 3 hours or so. I was going to take a picture of the wandering path along the sidewalk (I didn't even try the driveway which is still a good 6-8" deep) but by the time I had the sidewalk mostly shoveled (I say mostly because there's patches I just couldn't get with shovel or broom. It's going to be badly slick tomorrow, damn it) I didn't even have the energy to hold up the camera to take a picture.

I had the perfect caption for the photo too, "I can't even shovel straight."

Oh heck, I'm going to go put on fake-ugs and take a picture. I just have to.

The canvas & aluminum (but nice looking) gazebo that has protected my hot tub (and the people in it) from the elements met its DOOOOOM this morning. The 5+" of snow complete with ice cap cover was just too heavy for it. It inverted itself like a very large four-poster umbrella. Wayne and I just finished removing the snow from it and tilting it off the hot tub so it wouldn't actually collapse into the cover of the hot tub. The gazebo is a total loss.

Still, considering how Seattle isn't a snow city, I've been pretty lucky. I think that's the only damage my property & being has suffered from SNOWPOCALYPSE 2008. I fervently hope that continues to be the case.

Oh, and to give you a measure of just how not-snow-ready Seattle is, I'm told JetBlue has declared "Weather in SEA has deteriorated below operating conditions & the airport has run out of deicing fluid required to support operations". Well now, there you go.