Life In The Pacific Northwest
This looks like a freaking awesome party down in the Sierra Nevadas. But October is a hard time for me to get away, what with everyone else in school and all. Heck, maybe it will be a great time for ME to break away. Sigh, probably not.
|
I read Om Malik’s great piece today about winning. Chris Michel looks like a delightful person, and the tale of their friendship exemplifies the power and delights of networking.
In the course of their recent conversation, defining “winning” comes up. I’ve been pondering that myself recently. Well, I’ve been looking at “success”, but it’s really the same discussion. I love Om’s thoughts on questions: starting the day with more questions than answers, ending the day thinking of new ones. I have one key add: pride. I want to feel good about what I do, both in terms of ethics and in terms of quality.
So, how about you? Let me know in the comments, via Twitter or Facebook.
Hey everyone,
Did you know Not Just Seattle had a Facebook page? Come on by and say “hi”!
https://www.facebook.com/NotJustSeattle
Doesn’t look like I’ll be able to make it, but here’s a great chance to be “in the know”.
 |
 |
 |
You’re invited to join Mayor Nicola Smith on Tuesday, June 2 from 8-9:30am at the Lynnwood Convention Center as she delivers her 2015 State of the City Address. Mayor Smith will be joined by Emcee Jim Stephanson of the Economic Alliance Snohomish County, with remarks by: Jean Hales of the Economic Alliance Snohomish County, Lynnwood City Council President Loren Simmonds, Lynnwood resident and volunteer Ed dos Remedios, and Owner of Lynnwood Acura Jim Marino. This event is free to the community, but registration is strongly encouraged. Visit theEconomic Alliance events page to register. For more information on the State of the City Address, visit us online or contact |
A warm weekend, my window open.
Early morning coolness flows in
Birdsong drifting upon this,
Early morning sky, gentle growth
From deep blue, adding reds,
Purple highlighting the mountains
Slowly growing brighter.
Sunlight’s adagio
The Puget Sound region is set up for a lovely weekend. Temperatures are predicted to climb into the upper 70s and (*gasp*) low 80s. I figured out a long time ago that my Seattle area peeps have a narrow band of comfort: basically the 60s, plus/minus 5. Temps in the 40s get complaints of cold and the 80s are hot.
Most other places I’ve lived have a broader comfort range, but they also have a broader average temperature band. (Now, tropical islands tend to be more narrow. And they manifest the same behavior.) This small average range is a feature of temperate zones. Though folks from outside this region might just look at us as whiners, it’s really just a function of the environment. Sure, you might feel you’re tougher since you can put up with hotter highs and colder lows. But we don’t have too; our weather isn’t evil.
Yeah, I, too will be wearing shorts and sunscreen while languishing in the upper 70s. Happily so.
I appreciate the clever wit of our team at the WSDOT. They make the normally dry topic of traffic interesting. I heard about the the highway-line-painter blowing a line earlier this week, and I’ve seen the glorious yellow line as I drive by that daily. Though it’s a bummer about the broken painter machine, I was able to get some good Twitter tread from it. So much clever repartee. Anyway, their email is below for your edification and delight.
A few comments: the last bit is about this Sunday’s Sounders/Mariners games.  Since the games overlap, traffic will be awful. I lived that dream (nightmare) when I worked at Starbucks corporate in SODO (shudder). I recommend Sound Transit’s Sounder Train for these events. It’s slick and easy. If you live around Edmonds, Mukilteo or Everett, the stops are exceptionally convenient. Use it! Make your life better.
Paint cleanup on aisle four. …I mean on Sunday
Some of us paint outside the lines because we’re creative. Some – like me – because we aren’t good painters. And sometimes, your equipment just fails. That’s what happened this pastTuesday to one of our lane striping crews on southbound I-5 in Everett, when, during some routine work, a hose on their striping truck broke. This left a stripe of yellow paint in the middle of the HOV lane between about 112th Street Southwest and 128th Street Southwest.
We put up signs warning drivers and everyone seemed to handle it well, but we’re going to fix it all the same. So from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday, May 31, the two left lanes of southbound I-5 from 112th to 128th will be closed while we cover up the paint and get things back to normal.
Nighttime SR 522 ramp closure in Monroe this week
We’re getting oh so close. Our SR 522 widening project in Monroe is nearly complete (they’re mostly down to just final touch-up work) but we still have some closures we need to do before we can call it finished.
The eastbound SR 522 off-ramp to 164th Street Southeast/West Main Street will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly from Monday, June 1 to the morning of Friday, June 5 while contractor crews working for WSDOT do drainage work. A signed detour will be in place. West Main Street from Fryelands Boulevard to the roundabout at the bottom of the closed ramp will also be closed and drivers will follow a pilot car through the work zone.
SR 20 paving project starts in June
It’s not Snohomish County, but probably worth knowing about. As part of our SR 20 paving project between Anacortes and Oak Harbor that starts next month, we’ll be repaving the Deception Pass and Canoe Pass bridges sometime between mid-July and end of August. That will require the bridges to close to traffic for five nights (7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.) starting on a Sunday and ending on a Friday morning. The bridges will be open on Friday and Saturday nights. Stay tuned for exact dates.
Take me out to the ballgames Sunday
It’s going to be a traffic crunch headed to Sodo on Sunday as the Mariners play the Cleveland Indians at 1:10 p.m. at Safeco Field and the Sounders play the New York Red Bulls at 2 p.m. at CenturyLink Field. If you’re like me and you’re going to one of the games (I’ll have my scarf up for an Oba flip), you’ll want to leave really early, maybe consider taking transit (Sounder trains will be running to the stadiums on Sunday) and definitely pack patience. Have a great weekend!
Questions, comments, suggestions, favorite pizza toppings (I’m an onion, green pepper and tomato guy)? Send them to Mike Allende at allendm@wsdot.wa.gov
Are your kids in need of a bigger bike? Need to get a  bike out of your garage? You may be able to find one at the GayLynne Ullerich Bicycle Extravaganza at Seaview Elementary on Saturday June 6th from 10:00 – 1:00PM. GayLynne was a friend who loved the outdoors, especially cycling. Besides teaching, she taught all kinds of classes at REI. This is a perfect way to honor her. So, bring in a ‘too small’ bike to exchange for a bigger bike, if available. This fun event includes a bicycle rodeo, bike tune ups and helmets for sale. Please see below
for details.
Perhaps, like myself, you’d never considered Everett as a bastion of geek culture. But you’d be wrong! We might not match Seattle yet, but we’re moving in the right direction. First, we have Orcacon next January. And this weekend , Everett Community College will be hosting a Anime Arts Festival (a more detailed schedule is available here).  Looks like a fun event, especially if you’re a fan of anime. And, if you’ve either been on the fence or are just curious about this stuff, what a great chance to check out this part of Japanese culture (free…FREE!!).
I hope to make my way there. Will IÂ see you? Let me know if the comments.
Years ago I gave time to a veterans organization focused on helping vets struggling to adapt to civilian life. You see the military holds a social place in my heart. I was born in the Navy. I grew up surrounded by the unique pomp and ceremony of the military. Thus, it might surprise you that I never attended a Memorial Day ceremony until I joined the Navy myself. I, however, fully understand why. For my father, the “Fallen” are no academic construct, no series of historical events, not even somber photos of tombstones. They are faces, names, tendrils of conversation and relationships. And, as I know now, they burn.
Seatte’s Folklife held the favorite piece of my attention for this weekend. Music speaks to me deeply, echoing within my fogotten recesses. Songs, dancing, with a rich and inclusive mix of humanity. The diversity that is Seattle was on full display in it’s glorious beauty. This gives me great hope that humanity will move past brutality, at least on a mass scale.
Song might be the best way for me to express my feelings about Memorial Day. One, “And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” captures my sentiment well. Though, clearly, about Australians, really, war is war. It penetrates the myths of war’s glory, staring into the deepest costs of this human proclivity. Maybe, if we remember the deep and horrible costs of war, maybe, just maybe, war can become something studied by historians, puzzling children. And nothing more. These dreams of mine…
