happyweasel

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Dirt

**wrote this January 15... still haven't been to the exhibit; dmon't worry, I'm patient and smooth.
I just listened to Black Crow Blues. I've generally liked this song over the years, but today it knocked my socks off. Unfortunately, this afternoon I'll not be making my planned visit to the Bob Dylan Exhibit @ EMP. Never been to the museum before, it costs $27.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Thrift Stores Are All For The Amish

Thrift Stores
You've all been to at least a Goodwill and likely Value Village or something like that, unsurprisingly so have I. In fact, I just may have a Thrift Store "problem". A week simply does not pass where I don't go into a thrift store. There is a 3 story gem of a Value Village(I think...I go there enough but don't know the name, whoa) a 15min walk from where I live. On 11thave E, between Pine & Pike. I think of it as an activity. With absolute certainty this Thrift Store is the best in the Seattle area. There is a giant Goodwill in the International district that can sometimes be great but is more often scoured raw by the ever present mob of old, Asian, super Thrift Store shopping queens. They're good, you hardly stand a chance. But the one in Capital Hill is different. Hip to homeless. The Basement is furnature, electronics, and stuff. The 1st is women's clothes. The 2nd is men's clothes, housewares, and books. The place is HUGE and somewhat trendy. Kinda trendy but this is 100% Thrift Store, things cost more than at those in Ohio but they're still cheap as hell. The employees are an unusual bunch that keep the store in generally very good order. I think the employees pick the music... cds are played over the PA. Music from a very wide spectrum of eras and styles... not matter what it is, it's likely fun or interesting to hear. Most visits yield a purchase but not all.

Thrift Store Rules
1. Be Open To What Is There: examine, recognize quality. don't be hung up on what you need specifically, determine what is available
2. Specific Items Take Several Visits & Patience: 2, 4, 5, 7, 6,000,000visits, I don't know. there's no need to force the issue, don't compromise. when you see the right one, you'll know it.
3. Think It Over, Make Sure You Really Want It: quite possibly the most important rule. embody this, think it over and make a rational choice.

Matched Double or Double Matched w/Milk
I don't know how you feel about caffeine, but I am quite attached to it. Since about 1998 I've started nearly every morning with a cup of press pot coffee and a gulp of whole milk. Seattle is known for rain and espresso. A Double Short Latte used to be my drink but tonight I discovered my new one. Pioneered even. A ccouple of days ago I was thinking that even the Short (smallest) didn't give a high enough concentration of coffee to milk, so why not just have it a 1 to 1 ratio? 2 shots espresso, and equivelant volume of steamed milk. It was a deep down, warm & tasty good. Of course the downside to this is that you're drink is actually quite small, 1.5inch shy of the top of the Short cup. Not to worry, it is more hearty and satisfying. Regardless, I recommend getting some coffee and becoming familiar with a onehitter before Thrift Store shopping.

THE AMISH

Devil's Playground ... This documentary took me by surprise. The closest I'll ever get to Amish life, and I've at times been not that far.. More important you'll witness Rumspringa (who knew???? not me). It's filmed over some time. One of the guys covered is particularly compelling. The whole, though, is incredible... but you have to finish it... the movie is not just Amish kids partying, only begins there. Whaatch it. *** oh, you know the Devil's Playground is? Our world, the nonAmish, English world.

Rumspringa:
NPR
"They live in a strict society, under tight control of their family and close-knit community. But when they turn 16, Amish teenagers are allowed the freedom to explore the customs of the outside "English" world -- including alcohol, drugs and sex -- before deciding whether to join the Amish church for life or leave the community altogether."

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Central Park 050101

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

I'll Be Working To Walk

These feet of mine take me where I need to go

ok, so after walking around NYC[Which, by the way, is great, really great. Going to move there. One major flaw, the coffee world is saddly quite poor. The city is great, the coffee is not (for what i could tell)] I've become reenergized to the walking way of life. Here's the big news, folks. I've taken pledge with myself to walk everyday to work, back and forth. No scooter, no walking to the free buses downtown. January 10th thru February 9th will be marked by this reasonable triumph of will. It is 1.8miles each way.
Ghandi on his time as a law student in London: "The new arrangement combined walks and economy as it meant a saving of fare and gave me walks of 8 or 10miles a day. It was mainly this habit of taking long walks that kept me practically free from illness throughout my stay in England and gave me a fairly strong body."
Ghandi was a wussily sortta guy and was able to walk, on a short day, 8 miles; surely I can do less than half that.
The walk takes 25minutes if I'm hawlin' ass. I'm late by nature, my mother bred it in me. It took 7minutes on my scooter + a cigarette and yet I managed to be at least 5minutes late everyday. Been only 5minutes late both days this week while walking. Plus it's different now... I walk in huffin'. Feels good. At the end of this month I'll reevaluate this method of travel.
How 'bout this for a theory? Pledges to oneself must be honored if that person wants to be an honorable person. Hmm, maybe. I'll do my best with this one.

Bit Mania

So do any of you pEople use BitTorrent?
I use it exclusively for music
Though, many people download tv programs and movies and other sorts of things
www.easytree.org
Great little BitTorrent site, but I ain't no expert.
It does require a regestration that I feel is painless
Live peRfOrmances and studio out takes
Of artists you liKe, your choosing by searching
Search 'Mermaid' or 'Tree With Roots' or 'Velvet Underground' or whatever
Yesterday's Seattle Times spOtlighted, Bram Cohen, the cReAtoR of BitTorrent. Sounds like an interesting guy...a locAl
The Seattle Times Article

BitTorrent.com

Bram Cohen, cReAtoR of BitTorrent

Thursday, January 06, 2005


NYC New Years Eve 2004

Wednesday, January 05, 2005


mOUNT rAINIER tODAY