Category: Seattle and Beyond

Some considerations on the “Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act”

Carl Setzer

So, I read this article “Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act” over at KNKX and have a few concerns.

Mainly, we do so much more with our phones than just call/text. Will this bill make using GPS illegal? What about radios? I often use my phone to play music. Where does that fall?

Now I haven’t had a chance to look into this deeper, and it might be simply too late to really impact the legislation. However, I still see value in bringing up the concerns.

I do see the value in what they’re trying to do. Just need to make sure it’s thought through enough so that it doesn’t cause too much “unintended consequences”.

I guess we’ll see what comes of it.

 

The 2017 Skagit Tulip Festival Is In Full Bloom

Carl Setzer

For those of us who deal with life north of Puget Sound, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is on. That means extra volumes of traffic around Mt. Vernon and the surrounding south Skagit County Communities (La Conner and Conway, I feel your pain…).

Here’s some guidance, straight from the experts at WA Department of Transportation, to help minimize the aggravations increased traffic causes.

 

Tulip Watch 2017 & we’ve got blooms!

We’re about halfway through this year’s Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, and the tulips are finally here. According to the Festival, more tulips are blooming each day! With the weather on tap to be decent this weekend, this might be as good a time as any to head up to Skagit County.

Now that color is popping, expect the roads to be busy:

  • Come early, before 10 a.m. on the weekends (especially sunny ones) to avoid backup.
  • Consider SR 20 instead of the exit direction into Mount Vernon city streets.
  • SR 9 is another northbound alternate into Skagit County.
  • Remember these tulip fields are along 2 lane county highways and when you’re out there:
    • keep moving
    • don’t stop in the road (including parking over the white line)
    • obey no parking signs
    • don’t block driveways
    • be cautious if walking/taking pictures along the road
  • Consider stopping at a WSDOT safety rest area to use the restroom before you hit the fields.

Some changes in Everett

Carl Setzer

A few months ago (well, maybe a bit longer) Everett’s Trinity Lutheran College folded up shop. We have a new tenant moving into their old space: Funko, formerly of Lynnwood. 

 Looks like they’re taking the whole building, which, if true, will be great both for Funko and Everett.  That’ll be a boon for the local businesses, restaurants and such. 

I’m excited to see this change, though Lynnwood will certainly miss a great company that’s up and coming. Such is the way of things, I guess. 

Memories of Pike Place Market

Carl Setzer

Walking past the stalls

Early morning at Pike Place

Tourists were absent

I lived in downtown Seattle for many years, though it’s been awhile. Many memories of walking through the Market on my way to work, grabbing coffee and a pastry for breakfast. Many fond feeling flooding through me. 

Enjoying the cherry blossoms at UW 

Carl Setzer

We wandered around campus last weekend. Stunned by the masses of tourists…I heard that there were tour buses. Very cool l guess. But out wasn’t the most lovely thing. Still, the blossoms were a lovely site. I always enjoy walking campus while they bloom. 

Another thing I enjoy about the U district: food. An interesting blend out food types, styles, ethnicities. No matter what you like, some one the ave,  most likely,  serves it there. 

I experienced so much life there, learned so much. A let part of development centred there. And I didn’t study there much. Yet I still love it, and expect I says will. 

Seattle, Life Twists, the Navy and Home

Carl Setzer

My life has taken a few strange twists. One of the strangest: my time in the Navy.

I joined the Navy, ostensibly, to get away from Seattle and western Washington. Most of my life was spent here, and I missed the journeys to more exotic locales. With my early childhood spent wandering the US, along with a stop at two different Navy bases in the Philippines, there was a certain attractiveness to wandering inherent in the military.

Goal # 1: extensive time in Europe. Other global stops would be welcome bonuses. When I was stationed in Orlando for bootcamp, I thought I was well on my way.

One of the training steps for the nuclear power program is to spend six some-odd months at a prototype facility. An actual operating reactor based on the specs of fleet deployed reactors, it’s a great place to get real-world experience without the distractions of normal ship-borne life, and the life-and-death risks inherent in being at sea, on a combat ship.

When I was in (a couple of decades back), the prototypes were in Connecticut, New York, and Idaho Falls, ID (though the prototype in South Carolina had been established, hurricane Hugo knocked it offline for a few months). Well, when I was sent to Idaho Falls, I was a bit nervous that my European plans were messed up. My final orders to the fleet: SUBBASE Bangor. At that point, with a 30 minute ferry ride, I was less than an hour from the house I grew up in. I was rather frustrated.

At the end of one of my patrols, though (it might well have been the first one…which is how my memory portrays it…but I’m not sure), I had an epiphany of sorts. I had a break while we were transiting in through Hood Canal, so I popped my head up top side (at that point the sub was on the surface). The weather was classic western Washington, high grey clouds and misty rain.  Mesmerized by the mists pulling through the fir trees, the strings of the fluff pulled apart by the brushing branches. I had visions of cotton candy. A sense of connection, of belonging, of love washed through me. I deeply felt my connection to this region then. A full spiritual awareness; hauntingly beautiful. My relationship with the region changed at that moment. This became, in a richer, fuller sense, home.

That feeling’s only grown over the years. Studying my family’s history in this region, exploring the arts and culture, the natural history…all that’s connected me deeper.

Even with years of dedicated work to learn the region better, working at key Seattle area institutions (Starbucks, Amazon and Microsoft being the biggest ones), and exploring my region, I still feel weak with my knowledge. I’ve never set foot on a San Juan Island, nor been to the Petrified Forest, nor seen the Grand Coulee Damn, nor…well, you get the picture. There’s so very much more I have to explore.

With the above, I’m starting to plan out my summer. I’m thinking about hikes and areas to explore. Considering:

  • bike/walk on to Friday Harbor (San Juan Islands, fyi)
  • Hiking Mt. Pilchuck – great photo opps there
  • A long weekend to Spokane
  • Definite: a weekend camping on Camano – this is a yearly thing we’ve done with dear friends
  • It’s been a few years since I’ve been down to Portland.

So, what are some unique and delightful trips I should add? Comment below with your ideas.

The view from the bluff above Everett: a haiku 

Carl Setzer

Looking to the west 

Down upon the marina 

Also two islands 

The Evolution Of Everett 

Carl Setzer

Funny ol’ Everett. When I was a kid, I didn’t too highly of the town. Downtown felt so run down, south was over cluttered with bad signage. Not am interesting nor inspiring place. Well, it was fun to come up on the weekends and cruise. Yes, it was me and my cohort that got the cities of Everett and Edmonds to institute cruising bans. 

Today I was in the northern part of town. I now love those old homes, even with their crazy, quirky problems. 

But the town has changed, well since my teen years. That should be expected over a couple of decades. Id argue that it’s for the better. Personally, I believe Everett’s Navy Homeport is the root. Also there’s been serious effort to bring up the buildings in the downtown core. 

Seems that it’s a much more dynamic and interesting city now. Maybe not as funky and hip as parts of Seattle. And it’s a rather quiet place, especially after normal business hours. 

As I noted earlier, I think Everett has a lot of potential. There are a number of challenges ahead, but I think the city is well suited to not only “weather” them, but to thrive. 

Current Career Iteration: Q1 Complete

Carl Setzer

Currently, I’m working in the residential construction sector. At the first of the year, I shifted over from real estate. It’s been fascinating to apply my project management skills in this setting. Now, it’s only been a few months, and I’m only just getting my feet under me.

It’s been great to see several of my interests align. Some of my work at Starbucks encompassed green building, and here’s an opportunity to take that to a different level. Technology and the tools therein there have some powerful implications, opportunities that I don’t see leveraged well in this industry…yet.

Finance within this sector has been one of my learning that I didn’t expect. The was money moves is a bit different than with larger companies. And within other sectors.

I really appreciate the opportunity to take in something so dramatically different. Yes, there’s a lot of layering my old learnings, lots of synergies. But this sorts of shifts really provide an opportunity to grow.

I’m looking forward to getting to grow past learning and into making a difference, into effective leadership. It’ll continue to be a hoot.

My curiosities, buildings, real estate and Everett

Carl Setzer

I noticed a classic older building in downtown Everett the other day. The building doesn’t look bad at all, but it’s completely vacant; not even the storefront spaces are occupied.

These are things that capture my attention.

I’m pulling a blog post together about this particular property, as it’s pretty interesting. Well, to me, at least.

Buildings and the politics around them fascinate me.

With this, Everett has begun to  intrigue me. There are some very lovely structures and neighborhoods, with some significant regional history. With these sorts of buildings, a thriving arts scene and solid proximity to Seattle, we have some amazing potential up here.

Around 35 miles north of Seattle, with access to the Sounder Trains and buses, along with Snohomish County’s CT bus fleet, centering from the Everett Station, accessing Seattle is pretty easy and convenient. The Eastside is a little less easy, but not too much so. Microsoft’s Connector buses make their way up here (Snohomish and Mill Creek…maybe with enough lobbying, the Everett station can get a stop, too), and there’s Sounder and CT buses that head to Microsoft’s Commons and the Overlake Station, and downtown Bellevue. Within a few years, and the lightrail system gets fully launched, Everett’s interconnection with the greater Seattle economy will be solidified.

Everett does have a lot to offer, and the way the region’s developing, it will be far more interconnected and accessible to the rest of the region soon.

There’s a lot of opportunity for the forward thinking folks.