Happy Halloween! A good thing I stocked up on candy to hand out, because my doorbell rang numerous times tonight with trick-and-treaters. Lucky for them, there was a break in the rain.
Wednesday/ Happy Halloween!
Tuesday/ the storm aftermath
I really shouldn’t have said (in yesterday’s post) ‘the worst is over’ as far as the storm goes. As someone said tonight : with any storm there is the storm itself, there is the immediate aftermath, and then there is the long-term to consider. The NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/ reports that 8 million people were without power by Tuesday afternoon and that the recovery will be daunting. The US Army Corp of Engineers has sent their ‘National Unwatering SWAT Team’ to help rid the flooded NYC subway of its water. This team typically operates in the New Orleans area. It is the worst disaster in the 108-year old subway system’s history.
P.S. I made it as far as Chicago, and then learned that our workshops in Pittsburgh for Wednesday and Thursday had been canceled. What to do? I could continue on to Pittsburgh (my flight was still on); or I could have stayed over in Chicago for a night or so. But United Airlines had a Boeing 757 three gates away, scheduled to depart for Seattle in 45 minutes and with a first-class seat they could put me in for no extra fee. So it was an easy choice, and Tuesday night found me home in Seattle, very grateful that I have a home with electricity and no flooding to deal with.
Monday night/ Sandy is ashore
The hurricane is now a ‘post-tropical cyclone’ and the worst seems to be over now that it has made landfall – but there is still a lot of wind and rain associated with the massive storm sytem. United Airlines have not canceled my flight out to Chicago (and on to Pittsburgh from there) so I will try to get to Pittsburgh tomorrow. Pittsburgh is right outside the white cone in the rectangle that where it says 8 PM Tue! And no, I’m not stubborn : I have client meetings to go to that have not been canceled.
Sunday/ ‘the plot to destroy America’s beer’
I helped Anheuser-Busch put their SAP system in (this started in 1995). A major article about the company and its beer just appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek. Taken over by InBev in 2008, the A-B company, its iconic Budweiser beer and its packaging have been targeted with cost cutting by 52-year old Brazilian-born CEO Carlos Brito. As far as investors are concerned Brito has done extremely well. For beer-drinkers and traditionalists, it’s a different story. No more Hallentauer Mittelfrüh hops from Germany for Budweiser, no more whole grain rice (broken rice will do), and out of business goes one of its two beech wood chip suppliers in Tennessee. Check out this cool ’99 Beer Facts’ chart from the Bloomberg Businessweek’s on-line issue.
Saturday/ 10-9-8.. Windows 8
Check out the commercial (I like it) that runs here on TV for Windows 8, officially released on Friday- http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/15/microsofts-new-windows-8-commercial-has-lift-off/ . The Microsoft entry into the tablet market is called the Surface (go ‘Wikipedia Surface’ to check it out), and is now on sale as well. The Surface gets Windows 8, as do Windows smart phones and all new Windows computers. I wouldn’t spring for the Surface since I already have an iPad, but I would like to have Windows 8 for a new desktop computer or notebook computer. It has been three years in the making : development on it started even before Windows 7 was released in 2009. Which makes one wonder what those legions of Microsoft programmers are working on today?
Friday/ fall-ing leaves and rain
The maple tree from next door is shedding its leaves the way it always does in fall. I run out and sweep them up every other day or so, when there is a break in the rain. I’m also keeping an eye on Hurricane Sandy that is moving up on the East coast. I am scheduled to fly out to Pennsylvania on Tuesday, to the projected eastern edge of the hurricane.
Thursday/ Columbia City Alehouse
We went to Columbia City Alehouse in the south of the city tonight for some beers and food. Check out the cute white pup outside patiently waiting for its masters inside.
Wednesday/ campaign frenzy
Less than two weeks, and we will know the outcome of the 2012 US Presidential election. It is safe to say those of us that care about politics are a little on edge, given the razor-thin margins in the polls. President Obama’s stop at The Tonight Show (hosted by Jay Leno) was part of a 48 hour whistle-stop tour around the country. (OK, so he flies on Air Force One and does not go by steam train). He was very well received, and poked fun at Donald Trump’s supposed ‘bomb-shell’ announcement that was to upset the campaign*, and at Governor Mitt Romney forgetting his own long-held positions in the final weeks of the campaign (it is ‘Romnesia’ : a pre-existing condition and Obamacare can help out with that).
*Trump pledged $5 million to a charity of President Obama’s choice, provided the president makes public his college applications and transcripts and releases his passport history. Trump is a ‘birther’, refusing to believe Obama is an American citizen.
Tuesday/ the little rice cooker that can
Don’t be too shocked, but I have never owned a rice cooker! So I picked up this little Black and Decker model that can cook all of three cups of rice. It went for only $16 on a department store sale.
Put the rice and water in (a cheat sheet tells you how much of each), and switch the machine on. And 25 mins later you have perfectly cooked rice. How easy is that?! And how does the cooker know when to switch from ‘cook’ to ‘warm’? Well, water boils at an even temperature (and the steam escapes through a hole in the cooker’s lid). As soon as the water is gone, the temperature of the rice rises, the signal to the cooker’s thermostat to turn off the heat and switch to ‘warm’ mode. And there it is, waiting for you – warm fluffy cooked rice.
P.S. And here is the most famous South African brand of rice that I remember from my childhood. ‘It’s so easy, a child can do it’, said the commercials on TV back then. It is parboiled (partially boiled) in the husk before packaging, and takes less time to cook. About 50% of the world’s paddy production gets this treatment.
Monday/ the longcat meme
The word meme (pronounce ‘meem’) was coined by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene (1976). Wikipedia says a meme is ‘an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture’. An internet meme spreads via the internet (Facebook, Twitter, blog reposts, e-mails forwarded, web sites). So as I looked up ‘horses and bayonet’ memes from tonight’s third Presidential debate already circulating on the internet, I stumbled across the longcat meme. I think it is very funny. Check out the pictures!
Sunday/ Bellevue Square
I stopped at Bellevue Square today. The Apple store in there has been moved into a bigger space. Weather-wise there was some nice sun breaks and blue sky to be seen today, but it was chilly outside, in the 50s (about 10 C).
And here is an ale named for Ebenezer (Scrooge), the character in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Friday/ new substation
Seattle City Light (electrical utility company) is moving ahead with plans for building a new substation in the city, the first one in 30 years. The site used to be a Greyhound bus maintenance facility a long time ago. Early planning is that 115kV or 230kV transmission lines will come into the substation. The three alternatives under consideration are:
– A downtown underground route, primarily along Sixth Avenue
– A route that utilizes the downtown Metro bus tunnel
– An aerial route that crosses I-5 twice and traverses Capitol Hill << this does not sound good! Yes, it’s cheap, but unsightly and not nearly as safe as an underground route.
Thursday/ Washington State is already voting
Washingtonians vote by mail only. So we have no walk-in polling stations where get ink on your fingers and go into a little voting booth. The ballots arrive in the mail, and you mail it in, or go put it in a designated ballot box in your area. I got my ballot in the mail as well, on Thursday. I don’t think it’s legal to publish a picture of it, so I won’t. We have lots to vote for! Of course there is the President to vote for, but we also vote for a Governor, whether to legalize and control marijuana sales, whether to legalize same-sex marriage, and if charter schools should be funded by the state, among other things.
Wednesday/ the ‘eagle’ has landed
My new refrigerator arrived early Wednesday morning. The Sears delivery truck blocked the entire street in front of my house. Oh well. And the monster made it through the front door, but only with a special trick : sideways and tilted with the top doors completely open. The door handles are very stylish and nice to use but they stick out a few inches. And there it is .. what is this gleaming thing? I still think for a split second when walking into my kitchen. Oh, it’s your new fridge, silly. And I am so thrilled to close the fridge door and know it is frrosty inside!
Tuesday/ Romney’s ‘binders full of women’
It was the second Presidential debate last night and President Obama was FIRED UP. He won the debate, even though the Republicans say it was a ‘draw’. Uh-huh.
Asked if he would support equal pay for equal work for women, Romney didn’t really answer the question, said he had ‘binders full of women’ (their resumes, that is) when he was governor of Massachusetts. But he didn’t solicit the resumes. It was given to him by an equal opportunity group. He did appoint lots of women to the state government and would have done better to just say that. Instead the blogosphere and twitterverse lit up with the phrase ‘Binders full of women’.
‘Binders full of Women’ STORY HIGHLIGHTS from CNN
- NEW: Barack Obama, Joe Biden take on Mitt Romney’s ‘binders’ comments on campaign trail; Romney responds on Twitter
- Romney’s comments on using “binders full of women” in hiring; contraception could hurt his standing with some women
- Obama and Democrats rush to paint Romney as someone who doesn’t have the best interests of women in mind
- Romney will now have to score messaging points on the economy while clarifying stance on women’s health issues
Monday/ got my shot
Flu shot, that is
. The 2012-13 Northern winter season’s flu shot offers protection against three strains of the flu : two strains of human flu H1N1 H3N2 and one of swine flu. (Sounds like pig farmers should still not get too close to their piggies!). Here’s a nice YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug-M1nIhfIA that shows how flu viruses mutate, and explains where the H1N1 and H3N2 numbering comes from. P.S. Got to love those words hemagglutinin and neuraminidase from the video .. sure to leave your Scrabble opponents in a ‘dase’ if you build one of those bad boys!
Sunday/ under the spell of Spelltower
Alright, so I never thought I’d find a word game to seriously challenge the fondness I have for Scrabble, but Spelltower does. (Check out the video at http://www.spelltower.com/). It is very addictive. (‘A great time waster’ says one reviewer. Aw. Is that a way to compliment a game that makes you think hard?). It reminds me of a little bit of the ’80s classic Tetris. In Spelltower you cannot move the tiles around, but you can build words forwards, backwards and diagonally. Any which way you can, as long as the letters are directly connected.
Saturday/ big buy at Sears
And what did I buy? Why, a new LG refrigerator. Yes, it’s a lot of money – but I cannot go on with my old fridge that has been repaired a few times before, and is again on the fritz.
Friday/ all things pumpkin, and Sidney Montana
There was a little bit of rain in the city on Friday, more on the way Saturday night and Sunday. Friday night found me at the Elysian Brewing Co. on Capitol Hill. With Halloween looming and Thanksgiving after that, the pumpkin ales come out, in the same way that Starbucks is offering their pumpkin spice lattes. (Horror or horrors : there have been reports of Starbuckses running out of pumpkin spice lattes).
One of our regular waiters at the Elysian is packing up and moving to Sidney, Montana to start a food-serving truck business with a business partner. It is all part of the North Dakota oil boom : http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/apr/29/north-dakota-oil-boom-provides-hope-and-prosperity/. They will serve up gyro sandwiches to the oil industry workers there. (A gyro is a Greek dish of meat roasted on a vertical spit. To make a sandwich, add tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce, wrapped in pita bread).
Thursday/ here comes the rain
Alright : barring a cataclysm of some sort, some serious rain is finally on the way for the Puget Sound region. We have only had 0.03 inches TOTAL in 80 days! The air here smells dusty and of the dry leaves I swept off the garage roof and cleaned out of the gutters today. And is that smoke I smell in the air? .. from the wildfires on the other side of the mountains that are still not completely out. All of that will be cleaned out with the rain.
