Month: May 2017

American Girl Hotel Package In Lynnwood?

Carl Setzer

Poking around the internet I found this fun piece:

American Girl Hotel Stay Package at Homewood Suites Lynnwood, WA

Though I have a son, and wouldn’t have been much in a place to take part in such, the writers do point out that the hotel is pretty kid friendly.

I just love that the American Girl store at Alderwood Mall and Homewood Suites thought to build something like this. I think it’s actually quite brilliant.

Love my little town. Well, I guess Lynnwood isn’t that terribly “little” any more. But that’s another blog post.

 

Memorial Day, 2017

Carl Setzer

An amazing weekend. First, perfect weather. Which seems to turn off tomorrow. Giving a more divine feeling to the holiday weekend. Also, though we had plenty of activity, we were able to get quite a bit done around the house. 

Saturday and Sunday were filled with concert preparation and performance in my church, Trinity Lutheran Church by the Snohomish County Youth Chorus. Not only was my son singing, but I ran a PowerPoint and helped with sound. 

We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Edmonds Farmers Market, and a couple of walks in. Met my Fit bit step goals every day. 

Today was mostly home centric. Finished cleaning out the garage, more cleaning around the house, that sort of thing. Then we wandered down around Edmonds beaches, enjoying the low tide. It never ceases to delight me how opened up the beach becomes. We can walk around the jetty, and under the ferry dock. 

Watching these clams (I presume) feeding through their siphons delighted me. 

Journeying up the hill to Revelations Froyo is a must on warm-to-hot days in Edmonds. Other days, too, but it’s especially welcome in the heat. 

Then we ended with the first salmon of the year. Just splendid! 

I hope your Memorial Day was reflective and refreshing. Of course, tomorrow we’re back into it. 

With the Summer Weather, Please Watch For Motorcycles

Carl Setzer

A few days ago, while driving down Everett’s Broadway, I saw a car on the side with a large dent. With it, a motorcycle, parts scattered, and, fortunately, the driver standing beside. 

So, my friends, please be cautious, check blind spots and all that. Motorcycles are out, and forget how to share the roads during winter’s dank darkness. 

Memorial Day Weekend + Great Weather = Traffic

Carl Setzer

This morning I heard a brief blurb about this weekend’s traffic. It’s going to be lovely, and there are some great events like Folklife going on (besides Folklife, my favorite so far is Tankfest in Everett at Paine Field.

Everyone will be on the roads!

Expect horrible traffic throughout the Puget Sound region, and plan extra time to get to whatever adventure you’ll be taking.

Looking for something to do (besides one the two above)? Here’s a few lists of events and activities out there.

Just a small sampling of all that’s going on around here. There’s also all the mountains, beaches, parks…outside stuff!

No reason to be on the couch this upcoming long weekend!

 

Aviation Film Festival: We Should Have One In The Seattle Area

Carl Setzer

My son discovered this film festival hosted by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Film Festival

Now I’m wondering, with such amazing institutions like Boeing, the Museum of Flight, the Future of Flight and the Museum of History and Industry, why we don’t have a similar film festival here in Seattle. I really think we’d get great traction on something like this.

What do you think? Would you go?

Let me know!

 

The Story Of A Neighborhood Eyesore

Carl Setzer

A few blocks from my house in Lynnwood there’s this beat up home that screams bank-owned to me. The front window is broken out, there are two abandoned vehicles in the front yard with their windows broken out. However, this is a decent neighborhood, close to Daleway and Lynndale parks. The main drawback to the house: it sits on a busy street. Outside of the recession, though, this is quite an unusual state for houses around here.

The homeowner on this one, Marcos Santiago, struggled quite bit. Per county records, the house was in danger of foreclosure, but, if you review the court records, it looks like he managed to negotiate a loan modification back in 2010/2011. Now, though, they received a notice of trustees sale back on November 4 of 2013, which hasn’t been released.

Sadly, Mr. Santiago passed away just a few weeks later on November 20, 2013. The closeness of his death to the foreclosure made me wonder if his death was a suicide, but I don’t see any information supporting that. And I’m not feeling curious enough to pay for a copy of the death certificate.

Another tidbit about this home: Marcos’ son, Marcos Jr., a level three sex offender, actually had a community meeting to address concerns about him living at this home. Shortly after the meeting, he ended up in trouble with the law again. Clearly, a troubled young man. I’m not sure what happened to him after this. He didn’t appear in the sex offender database.

But back to house. It’s again in distress, with a sheriffs levy filled at the end of 2016. US Bank is the entity acting here. I wonder if this will come on the market as an REO (stands for Real Estate Owned, the accounting description for an asset owned by a bank). It was sold with a conventional loan, I don’t expect it to come on the market as a government held one, either. It could sell on the courthouse steps, too. Hard to gauge at this point.

I know how slow these processes can take. As the property is vacant, I expect the heirs don’t feel any great motivation to engage with the process. If so, it’ll be protracted. But, someday, it will be sold and someone else will take this home’s story and make it there own. I hope it will be a happier one.

Working in construction, this horrified me

Carl Setzer

I subscribed to Gizmoda ages ago, and enjoy the articles. However, this story both fascinates me, and frightens me a bit.

Fortunately, we don’t have any demo projects that are this tightly packed. But, still, I’m quite glad that this wasn’t a project I had any involvement with.
Here’s the video, if you don’t want to head over to Gizmodo:

Seattle’s narrow comfort band

Carl Setzer

It’s pretty funny. Seattleites have a very narrow band of comfort, temperature-wise. Looks like the range is about 65 to 72. Today hit about 75 in places, with complaints about the heat ensuing. 80 brings about fears of heat stroke, and 85 is the realm of demons. 

For me, I’m delighting that I’m finally able to wear shorts and flip-flops. And, well, that my taekwondo school is air -conditioned. Yeah, I’m not immune to Seattle’s proclivities. 

Yesterday we went to Everett’s Farmers Market. I’m quite fond of it, especially with the “new” location. It didn’t move far, if you don’t know where it moved to. 

My first love is the Edmonds market. It’s great to have s Saturday and a Sunday choice, though. 

This weekend had perfect market weather, though above the temperature band. I heard many complaints about the heat. 

For though of us adapted to Western Washington, decent weather brings us outside. Even amidst our complaints and discomfort. Between the markets and getting my Fitbit steps in, I got my outside time in. 

For that I’m grateful. And glad. I do adore this region.