Category: Seattle and Beyond

Fundraiser for #Edmonds Church of the Beloved on October 24th

Carl Setzer
Church of the Beloved’s boiler has broken and “winter is coming!”

They have an offer of free labor, but need to raise the $8,000 to buy a new boiler.

So they are hosting the following fundraiser:
Sound of Music Sing-A-Long
and
Octoberfest Events
Saturday, Oct 24
Movie Showings at 5pm & 8pm
Song lyrics provided!
Doors Open at 4:30pm
$10 Adults; $5 Kids
$3 Lagers, Pretzles, & Brats!
Church of the Beloved / Rosewood
8104  220th Street SW
All proceeds go to replace the broken boiler at Rosewood. Tax deductible donations gratefully accepted at belovedschurch.org/give

Changes Afoot In Lynnwood

Carl Setzer

Over the past few weeks, major construction projects have started which will significantly impact Lynnwood. In particular, there are three large multi-family projects in process. 1) The CityCenter apartments on 196th & 36th, right across from the Convention Center, 2) the Lynnwood CityCenter Senior Living Apartments just north of 196th on 40th, 3) Lynnwood Place, next to where the new Costco is going and the 4), another round of apartments across Alderwood Mall Boulevard from the Alderwood Fred Meyer. Lots of construction, lots of new people, and with that, cars. This is the most concerning piece. Traffic around Lynnwood will be getting dramatically heavier over the next few months.

In most respects, I think the coming changes are positive. I like the mixed-use design that’s been incorporate and am looking forward to seeing the new businesses that rise up to support our new neighbors. But there are some costs, and it’s best to be prepared.

What do you think? Are there issues I’m missing? Let me know!

A Few Thoughts About Marysville

Carl Setzer
Marysville Clock

Most of my life has been spent in Snohomish County, thus I’ve had some familiarity with Marysville. Usually it was the Marysville-Pilchuck high-school football team destroying my Meadowdale team (back then we were the Chiefs). Besides a dominant football team in the 1980s, I otherwise thought of them as a place that had a Burger King right off the freeway on the way to Bellingham and Canada. However, a few years ago (2011) I stumbled into a job located up here and I’ve worked in Marysville ever since.

I’ve been amazed by a few key details. Second only to Everett in population, it’s host to a number of interesting events and activities, as well as shopping. I’d never heard of the Strawberry Festival, for instance.

Here’s a page I whipped together for my real estate blog which goes into greater detail. Take a look and let me know what you think. And please point out anything that should be added. Always seeking to make things better.

Site Updates

Carl Setzer

I wasn’t very happy with the layout and design of this site lately. After spending some time perusing the mind-blowing array of themes (it’s one of the things I love about the WordPress ecosystem: the huge number of options available), I opted for this new one: Catch Responsive. Looks cleaner and more elegant, to me at least.

Anyway, it took me some time and thoughtful planning, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Capitalist Based Issues with Tech Tools

Carl Setzer

I hate, hate, hate feeling beholden to one entity. That feeling of helplessness; ugh! When it comes to tech tools for the business world, Microsoft and Adobe created great tools. However we’re stuck with whatever price they want charge. Take a look at the current shift to a subscription model.  Anyway, I feel a need to find alternatives. I like the thought of open source as well. Software built free of the constrains of corporate agenda. Or, more specifically, the agenda of ONE specific company. Competition is a key element for capitalism to be successful. Breaking free from proprietary technologies is important. Then we’re paying for superior quality and/or innovation, not just to maintain access to our files.

Open-source has some challenges. Many of the tools are hardly “plug-and-play”, and pretty much inaccessible to the average user. Compiling code is outside the skill-set of many users, even power-users. If the goal is to facilitate wholesale adoption, these issues must be dealt with.

So I’ve been building out a list of open-based tools. I’ve tried to find ones that are ready to go for the average user (come as a .exe that you can install like any software you’d buy at Costco or Office Depot/Max/Staples). Hopefully, we can slowly build a suite of affordable yet innovative tools, creating a more accessible marketplace. An ambitious goal, perhaps.

 

HOV to HNWI Lanes

Carl Setzer

I have misgivings about shifting 405’s HOV lanes to the premium priced lanes. I’ve taken to calling them HNWI (High Net Worth Individual) lanes. Maybe it just offends my democratic (please note the lower case “d”) values. But the purpose of the lanes was to encourage more carpooling. Is this change acknowledging failure of this idea? Or just a drive to increase the state coffers? Yes, this has activated my cynicism system.

Actually, as I think through it, perhaps this is an effective new direction. Those with High Occupancy Vehicles still get to ride in these lanes for free. Maybe this will encourage more combining of forces. Maybe. Anyway, Seattle’s high density traffic issues are only going to grow. We need to get more people out of their cars unless we want to emulate Los Angeles. For me, there’s a resounding “no thanks”. Personally, I wish we’d embraced the original Sound Transit plan, with its aggressive rail system. But we couldn’t get past the price tag. And here we are. Here we are.

A Local Music and Arts Guide

Carl Setzer

Well, I just pulled together this list of regional arts, music and dance organizations. Not close to comprehensive (yet). It shall grown and expand, though.

Any additions you recommend? Ideas to make this better? Please let me know.

Driving Past Naked People – An Update On A Weekend

Carl Setzer

My weekend was quite calm for a change. Spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the house and watching movies. Finally got to see Age of Ultron (on the Apple TV).

Sunday was the most eventful. Went to pick up one of my son’s friends, with the plan to then head to the Edmonds Car Show.  As he wasn’t feeling up to going out, and then starting to rain, my son and I opted to just drive home and chillax (as the kids say).  On our way home, I chose to drive through Woodway and, right about here,  there was a middle-aged fellow jogging down the street dressed with only a few leaves held carefully over his nether regions.

Such causes me to wonder about stories. How does someone end up in a state of undress, in public, running down the street in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the region? One does wonder. And what might the exchange have been when he got to chat with Edmond’s finest (two cars passed me heading in his direction).

Otherwise, a quiet and calm weekend in Edmonds by the Bay. Bummed I missed the Car Show, and could’ve passed on the “other” show, but it’s a great little town.

Lynnwood Traffic Work – 68th by Edmonds Community College

Carl Setzer
City of Lynnwood Logo

If you’ve been anywhere near the community college, you’ve seen the massive re-do of the traffic flow. I’m so glad to see the nasty bottle-neck that was 68th & 208th taken care of. I think the roundabout at 204th & 68th, with the new intersection at 204th & highway 99, will really help with the traffic flow of the area. The whole project is nearly complete, so the worst of the disruption should be past.

Some #Geektastic Updates

Carl Setzer

You might have noticed I created an Events section of the site (if not, here it is). I’m slowly adding in my Geek Events to this really cool calendaring tool.

I discovered Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman’s cool project, Tested.com, while looking for video of Adam Savage’s No Face creation. I can’t remember where I’d heard about it, but I really wanted to see it. So, I didn’t find the No Face performance from 2011’s Comi-Con, but this is from 2012 and No Face is there at 2:54.

And this video below shows Adam and Norm discussing the creation of the costume.