Tag Archives: Seattle

1 Million Miles = 1 Smile

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The Silver Sea

I’d go a million miles for one of your smiles, My Annie!

Anne left in the morning to campaign for Senator Claire McCaskill (D). I busied myself with arranging stuff and setting the basement back up the way we had it before the big dig. I had finished up with that and had just changed to go bicycling, when Anne called. She had locked the keys in the car. In my bike duds, I drove out to way west county (east KC) and rescued her.

Returning home, and still being dressed to go cycling, I went for a ride in the park. It was a bit on the cold and raw side of things, a true late fall or early winter ride. The park was relatively empty, except for the rugby players. I guess that it was their kind of weather too, a leather balls day.

I rode alone, the way that I always used to. I rode today with earbuds in, listening to podcasts, lost in my own little world. I know that biking with head phones is a safety concern. I knew that before I read about it on Slate this week. Full disclosure requires me to say that last weekend’s three vehicular near misses did involve earbuds. In my defense, I was always aware of the offending vehicles. The problem was that either they didn’t respect my road rights or more generously weren’t aware of me. I saw them, but they didn’t see nor hear me. This Vimeo movie, “3-Way”, gives an interesting record at just one NYC intersection of the interplay between cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles.  This video is kind of a non sequitur, but I loved its video game graphics.

Bathroom Humor

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Pike’s Place Public Restroom Mosaic

I immediately loved the humor in this public works artwork. It advertises this particular Pike’s Market public restroom. All the way on the right, a father is rushing to the bathroom, carrying his infant child with arms outstretched. Presumably the baby is already a leaky vessel, hence his hurry. On the left-hand side of this tile work is another father with another child, his knock-kneed son. Here too time is of the essence. Center stage in this mosaic is a mother and daughter pair. Each one is portrayed with one foot popped, this also speaks of haste. Is there a common theme here? Finally, all the way on the left is this restroom’s maintenance man, toolbox in hand, this is the guy that keeps everything else moving.

It was no laughing matter in our bathroom on Sunday afternoon. After spending all week having our main sewer line replaced, I was in no mood for any additional plumbing projects. Our toilet had another opinion though. Its ballcock had been steadily showing increasing signs of senility. Our hard water takes its toll on all plumbing fixtures. As failing patients tend to do, it went quickly at the end, right after we returned from our Riverlands adventure.

After we got home, I almost immediately turned around and headed out again to Home Depot. Per Anne’s instruction, I bought a dual flush system. This system has one lever with one water drop on it and another with two water drops on it. Number one and number two, get it? Getting the old ballcock off was difficult a bitch, even with Anne’s helping hands. Afterwords though, getting the new hardware up and going again went lickety-split.

Maybe I made a poor choice of terms there? I guess that plumbing, is like child rearing, a job that you never get finished with. Anyway, I think the Pike’s Market photo is the more arty choice, rather than a look down shot of our toilet tank’s new hardware, but that’s just me.

If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches

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If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches at the EMP Museum

The massive sculpture entitled “If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches” was conceived by UK exhibit designer Neal Potter and developed by Trimpin and made largely out of musical instruments, especially guitars. While different types of guitars placed together in what looks like a still tornado is something worth checking out, there’s more to this musical tribute than meets the eye. Yes, while it might seem impossible looking at it, the guitar tornado actually plays music. Among all the common guitars, there are some robotic ones that actually pluck the guitar strings, thus playing the tune visitors choose via a remote touchscreen. The only downside of the guitar tornado’s robotic arms is that they can only play one string at a time. So how does it replicate a whole song? By plucking a single string of multiple guitars in the installation. The amazing guitar tornado is an interactive tribute to the history of American music, and features various genres, from early acoustic folk music, to rock and punk.

The Fremont Troll

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The Fremont Troll

Hulking beneath the Aurora Bridge, in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, squats the Fremont Troll and his small snack, a VW bug, which he snagged before being turned to stone. Historically, trolls are part of Scandinavian folklore. They were found either as dwarfs or giants and lived in caves by the sea, in the forest or under bridges, like this one. Most trolls used to dwell in dark places because they cannot tolerate sunlight. They are usually grey or green in color, and sometimes scaly. Trolls are described as having monstrously ugly faces and enormous noses. This Troll was created by a team, calling themselves the Jersey Devils and were led by sculptor Steve Badanes. It was commissioned and created in 1989. Taggers from time-to-time paint the Troll, but it is soon cleaned up again. This particular tagging is actually somewhat artistic. Carl toured us by the Troll on our visit to Seattle last month.

Aimee’s Dahlia Flower

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Aimee’s Dahlia Flower

Isn’t this a beautiful flower? Isn’t it a marvel of technology that I am able to share it with you, no matter where you are in the world? This beautiful miracle though almost didn’t come to pass. Our eight year old AT&T DSL modem up and died last night. I first slogged through AT&T’s automated help process. The computer’s voice on the other end would ask multiple choice questions. Its voice recognition software was pretty good, but occasionally I had to repeat myself. Once it sent be back to the beginning of our ‘conversation’. All the while it was running tests. Eventually, the one test that really mattered, is it working, failed. The machine gave up and I was kicked over to a human, I mean tech support. 

The tech support guy, Mike, was immediately rather nonplussed about the age of my DSL modem. The timber of his voice and some of his speech mannerisms led me to believe that he was young. Eight years ago, when George W. Bush was running for his second term, maybe Mike was still in college? Maybe he was even still in high school? His final diagnosis was that my modem was kaput.

This led me to run out in a pouring rainstorm, the same one that delayed the Cardinals vs. Giants playoff game. I did get wet, but at least I didn’t miss any of the ball game. The Red Birds won and went up 2-1 in the series. I picked up a new modem at the local AT&T store and a Whole Food supper at their take-out bar, a bit of a treat for us.

Returning home, I found the easy to follow instructions and successfully installed the new modem. I had everything up and working again before AT&T placed their callback, to help me do what I had just done. We are all back up and running again and I am only out the price of a new modem, plus the outrageous 10% Brentwood sales tax. Still, it is a beautiful flower and it is a marvel that I am able to share it with you. Will miracles never cease?