Here’s 15th Avenue at 4.20 pm today.
Tuesday/ 15th Avenue
Monday/ there goes the Space Needle
Here is another entry for the category ‘Then and Now’.
Jul. 2005 : The unobstructed view of the Space Needle from the top of Denny Way, where it crosses over I-5.
Dec. 2019 : The giant 41-story apartment towers at 1120 Denny Way are now squeezing out the Space Needle views that had remained. If one stands in just the right spot, the Needle’s top can still be seen — between the tree branches and the apartment towers.
I marked up just a few of the new South Lake Union buildings that had filled in the cityscape since 2005.
Sunday/ all my little LEGO houses
Let me see how many little LEGO houses I can build, I thought, using a 4×8 base plate. Here is the result — each brings its own little charm.
P.S. The little windmill is exactly the same as a set sold by LEGO in 2018. the Classic 60th Anniversary Limited Edition Windmill.
Saturday/ low on snow
We had relatively warm weather here the last week or so. A massive warmer-than-normal blob of water in the Pacific Ocean off the Washington coast may be to blame.
We also had the driest November in 40 years (only 1.71 in. of rain at Sea-Tac Airport, 26% of the average). That also means that the snowpack levels on the mountains in Washington State are lagging far behind the normal levels for this time of the year.
Friday/ around Denny Substation, at dusk
Here are a few pictures I took around Denny Substation at dusk on Thursday.
The surrounding scenery along Denny Way is changing rapidly, as three really big construction projects are gaining steam.
Thursday/ cosmic & crisp
Let me buy a pair of these Cosmic Crisp apples, I thought, to see what the hullabaloo is about. These apples are a new variety, 20 years in the making, by the University of Washington. The first harvest hit the shelves in grocery stores just recently.
Well, the apples are heavy: they feel like little bowling balls in one’s hand. The flesh is very firm and at the same time, quite juicy. The taste is crisp, a little tart, and a little sweet.
My first impression was that they are not as sweet as the popular Honeycrisp from Minnesota (1960), and not nearly as sweet as Washington State’s Red Delicious (originally recognized in Iowa in 1880). The verdict: I am still deciding which one I like most, between the Honeycrisp and the Cosmic Crisp.
Wednesday/ choosing my weapon
My Wilson tennis racquets are more than 10 years old, so I am getting new ones.
I tested out a few ‘demo’ racquets that I had loaned from the pro shop at the Sand Point Tennis Center. The Wilson Clash 98* felt really nice and I am going to buy one. (They all have dramatic names. There is also the Wilson Burn, Envy and Blade).
The Wilsons still have graphite in, a long-standing material used in frames. There is a new Head racquet called the Head Graphene. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon: a sheet of a single layer of atoms in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. It is impossibly light and incredibly strong .. but it’s not cheap, and just much of this stuff had made it into the Head racquet frame, and how much is just marketing hype, is hard to say.
*Graphite frame that is heavier than most, but the balance is head light; 16 mains and 19 cross strings allow for more spin, but not quite as much control.
Tuesday/ the Trump Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report
The House Intelligence Committee’s Impeachment Inquiry Report was published today, and handed to the Judiciary Committee. President-That-Never-Should-Have-Been-President Trump is surely on his way to impeachment by the House of Representatives.
The only remaining guessing games towards that state of affairs are:
1. How many articles of impeachment will be put forth by the Judiciary Committee, and
2. When the House will vote on those articles (the plan is to do that before the year is out).
Here is the index of the Impeachment Inquiry Report. It’s high crimes and misdemeanors, every step of the way.
1. The President’s Misconduct: The President Conditioned a White House Meeting and Military Aid to Ukraine on a Public Announcement of Investigations Beneficial to his Reelection Campaign
• The President’s Request for a Political Favor
• The President Removed Anti-Corruption Champion Ambassador Yovanovitch
• The President’s Hand-picked Agents Begin the Scheme
• President Trump Froze Vital Military Assistance
• The President Conditioned a White House Meeting on Investigations
• The President’s Agents Pursued a “Drug Deal”
• President Trump Pressed President Zelensky to Do a Political Favor
• The President’s Representatives Ratcheted up Pressure on the Ukrainian President
• Ukrainians Inquired about the President’s Hold on Security Assistance
• The President’s Security Assistance Hold Became Public
• The President’s Scheme Unraveled
• The President’s Chief of Staff Confirmed Aid was Conditioned on Investigations
2. The President’s Obstruction of the House of Representatives’ Impeachment Inquiry: The President Obstructed the Impeachment Inquiry by Instructing Witnesses and Agencies to Ignore Subpoenas for Documents and Testimony
• An Unprecedented Effort to Obstruct an Impeachment Inquiry
• Constitutional Authority for Congressional Oversight and Impeachment
• The President’s Categorical Refusal to Comply
• The President’s Refusal to Produce Any and All Subpoenaed Documents
• The President’s Refusal to Allow Top Aides to Testify
• The President’s Unsuccessful Attempts to Block Other Key Witnesses
• The President’s Intimidation of Witnesses
Monday/ we will see if WeWork works out
The transformation of the Kelly-Springfield building on 11th Ave in Capitol Hill into a modern office block is complete. Will WeWork move in, though — as advertised on the windows and doors?
WeWork is an international shared workspace & real estate company, and it is turmoil. It recently canceled its IPO, and is laying off thousands of employees (20% of its workforce). Bankruptcy loomed in October, and the start-up was rescued by a huge bail-out/ investment from Japanese company Softbank.
Sunday/ it’s December ..
.. and so here’s a nice picture of the Christmas tree at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle, being lit up on Friday night.
There’s somewhat of a shortage of Christmas tree this year (the real ones). Millennials prefer to buy real trees, and in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008, tree farms cut back on the planting of trees that take 6 to 10 years to mature.
Saturday/ Steller’s jay
The neighborhood’s pair of Steller’s jays visited my backyard this afternoon.
Black Friday/ dead?
No, not dead, but it’s bleeding all over Thanksgiving week and into Sunday. Some retailers already offered Black Friday sales last week.
There is Black Friday backlash as well. Seattle-based outdoor goods store REI closed its doors today. The company encouraged people to go outside, instead of going to the mall or shopping online. (Yes, I agree outside is better! It was sunny today, but too cold to spend the whole day outside, though).
Thursday
Wednesday/ clear and cold
The Pacific Northwest is not plagued by any of the large storm systems that are sweeping over the continent*, but it is chilly outside. We are at that point where one opens the front door and go: Whoah! Feels colder than my refrigerator! The high was 42°F / 5°C today.
*Making trouble for Thanksgiving travelers and Black Friday shoppers, alike.
Tuesday/ a train car with a snarl
I made my weekly jaunt up to the University District today, using the the light rail train to get there, and the No 48 bus to get back home.
Monday/ here comes Mike Bloomberg
plu·to·crat
/ˈplo͞odəˌkrat/
noun (slightly derogatory)
a person whose power derives from their wealth, as in “If only the plutocrats can afford to run for public office, are we still a democracy?”
Similar: rich person, capitalist, tycoon, magnate, nabob, billionaire
So three-time New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg (77, net worth US $58 billion) is joining the Democratic field as a moderate candidate for President 2020. Umm. He’s late, and the race is still crowded. And do Democrats want or need a plutocrat to join the race for the Democratic nominee for President? I think not. In so many ways, America is already a plutocracy (run by rich companies and rich people, that have wa-ay too much power).
There’s another problem. Here is what Matt Yglesias of explain-the-news website Vox says:
‘The key is that in recent years, moderates who’ve successfully fended off the left wing of the Democratic Party have done so with the support of black and Latino voters, who tend to be more moderate on the whole than white Democrats. But Bloomberg’s specific political career gives him little access to this constituency and thus little hope of securing the nomination’.
Sunday/ winter tennis: has to be indoors
It’s winter (well, almost) – so the days are short and cold, and it rains a lot. Luckily for me, the Amy Yee Tennis Center has opened its doors after it had been closed for 6 months.
The courts themselves have not changed much, but insulation was added into the roof and walls. (It used to feel like playing inside a giant refrigerator in winter time). A new fire alarm system was installed, and the locker rooms were improved as well.
Saturday/ I want my marmalade
I was out of marmalade (for my peanut butter-and-marmalade toast), and I found a can of the good stuff at the British Pantry store in Redmond. (Redmond is across Lake Washington from Seattle, and is where the sprawling Microsoft campus is).
Marmalade has a centuries-old culinary history. The word first appeared in the English language in 1480, borrowed from the French marmelade which, in turn, came from the Galician-Portuguese word marmelada.
The preferred citrus fruit for marmalade production nowadays, is the Spanish Seville or bitter orange, prized for its high pectin content, which sets readily to the thick consistency expected of marmalade. The bitter taste comes from the peel [all this information from Wikipedia].
Friday/ the door is: red
The exterior paintwork for the house on my street block, is done.
Now I can stop wondering what the colors would be!
Thursday/ the sun is out, and the Mountain
On Wednesday and today, it was sunny, with lots of blue sky — a high of only 48°F/ 9°C, though.
