My Archives: December 2005

Friday, December 30, 2005

A producer at the History Channel found an article on lutefisk on Dave Fox's website, and decided to interview him about that food for a show called Weird US, based on the book of the same name. They sent a crew of six up to Seattle to interview him: "I fully expect those five hours to be edited down to two minutes of soundbites consisting of things I never meant to say." The show will air today at noon and six pm, EST and PST. You can join Dave at the Pig and Whistle for the six pm show.

I'm surprised to learn that the History Channel has original programming that doesn't consist of stock footage and lame narration! Seems like that's all I ever see there.

(tags: , , , )

Posted by Anita @ 05:13 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Next Tuesday, January 3, it's the East Side Weblog Meetup! Location is Crossroads Mall at 15600 NE 8TH Street, Bellevue (NE 8th and 156th Ave NE), start time is 7 pm. Weblog folks who live and/or work on the East side meet to talk about blog topics and whatever else strikes our fancy. Look for us between the main area by the stage and the giant chessboard -- there will be a sign. Free WiFi courtesy the King County Library branch. See you there!

Posted by Anita @ 04:27 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Monday, December 26, 2005

Nothing says Christmas Eve Dinner like fake mustachios! These were probably from Archie McPhee. Manuel of buffoonery.org posted these photos of what happened next: himself, host Dan in hat, another guest, and Taylor going samurai (note unusual placement of the fake mustache).

(tags: , , , , )

Posted by Anita @ 02:39 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Have a good holiday today, like these rats photographed by Luke McGuff and styled by Juliebata. Luke, next year you should get to Ratapalooza!

(tags: , , )

Posted by Anita @ 04:35 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Friday, December 23, 2005

We had a blast at the December Seattle Weblog Meetup, which was a bit of a Holiday edition. Jake of 8bit Joystick (his report) kindly put together gift bags (white elephants of a tech nature, games, DVDs, candy) and brought them along in a huge, heavy duffle bag. I wrapped some of our grandson's toys that I'd like to see the back of and added them to the pile. Everyone who attended either picked a bag or had one thrust upon them. Then, encouraged by Jake, we did some trading. I did a threeway trade, giving the complete proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2005 to Jerry Kindall in trade for two games (Star Tech?), then trading them off to Lion Kimbro for two DVDs of Dragnet episodes.

A special surprise -- Jeanniecool wasn't able to come to the meetup, but she'd dropped by Ralph's the previous day and convinced the deli guy to hold on to a big platter of her homemade holiday cookies for us. They were a hit!

Those present:

Posted by Anita @ 08:27 AM PST [Link] [1 Comment]

Jack has had a dream of living in a hobbit-hole type of house (but I don't think this is really going to happen for us anytime soon), so I was interested in these LJ posts from Suzette Hayden Elgin about the underground home she's been living in since 1980. (Via brisingamen's reading list)

Hobbitry: living underground, part 1 -- Light. "George built the house with a very open plan that had no hallways at all, with one huge central room and all the other rooms opening off that one, because in 1980 I was having to spend quite a lot of my time in a wheelchair. He had no way of knowing that moving to Arkansas was going to get rid of the need for that wheelchair, so he designed a floor plan that would let me get around in the house without having a lot of barriers to deal with. That turned out to be a good decision anyway. If we had the usual hallways and doors it would be much darker inside; with the open plan, the front window lights much of the house very well."
Hobbitry; living underground, part 2 -- Mistakes. "The worst mistake was failing to make the house big enough. We were trying for maximum efficiency and a simpler lifestyle, and trying to make our funds stretch as far as possible, and we achieved those goals. But we built a house for an image of our future based on two adults growing old together. We had no idea that several of our children -- and their children -- were going to move to Arkansas and join us, so that there was a serious need for a 'rec room' of some kind where the kids could hang out, and for a guest wing where people could stay while finding jobs and places to live."

(tags: , , )

Posted by Anita @ 05:26 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Jo Beverly, one of my keeper authors, has posted a Christmas page on her website and a new (free) short story, The Christmas Wedding Gambit. What a treat! I've also been enjoying her weblog where she posts tidbits that turn up when she is researching her novels. Want to know how to cook a calf's-head pie?

(tags: )

Posted by Anita @ 04:39 AM PST [Link] [1 Comment]

Monday, December 19, 2005

One evening last week Jack, our grandson R----, and I all went to the Bellevue Botanical Garden to see their holiday light display, Garden d'Lights. What fun! They get an unusual look by forming the lights into flower and plant shapes. The garden is open from 5 pm till 9:30, and it's free!

Now that I've seen their results, maybe I'll take a class with them and make some "flowers" for my own house.

(tags: , , )

Posted by Anita @ 05:08 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Next Wednesday, December 21, 7 pm, it's the Seattle Weblog Meetup! Location is Ralph's Grocery & Deli, 2035 4th Ave, in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, diagonally across from the Cinerama. Jake says he's bringing holiday giftbags -- last year he brought cool stuff!

Posted by Anita @ 04:44 AM PST [Link] [9 comments]

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Jack and I both laughed out loud when we read Gretchen Ledgard's post on the MS Jobsblog about what it's like to live on the East side. She and Josh Ledgard lived at Archstone apartments when first hired, across the street from MS main campus and just down the block from us at Harper Hill. "It was also humorous to drink beer on our balcony and watch the traffic in front of the Microsoft sign … tourists taking pictures, media setting up live shots, anti-MS folks, um, relieving themselves. Good times." Now, I've seen the news crews and tourists, but I never saw anyone pissing on the MS sign!

(tags: , , )

Posted by Anita @ 04:27 PM PST [Link]

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Going Jesus who brought us much joy in previous years with the Cavalcade of Bad Nativities, this year is working on Angels We Have Heard Are High, containing much angelic richness. I think my favorites so far are the scary big-headed angels she found at Bargain Clown. I wish there was a store named Bargain Clown around here! (Oops, she reveals that Bargain Clown isn't the place's real name, darn it!)

Posted by Anita @ 07:29 AM PST [Link]

Monday, December 5, 2005

If you'd like to add a Snowy White Owl to your life list, there are a bunch of them in the Seattle area right now -- weather? lemming population crash? nobody is sure of the reason. Doug Plummer has the details: "Two weeks ago an owl was seen briefly downtown at 4th and Madison. This past weekend there’s been one reported in my next door neighborhood, the U-District (around 17th and 45th, if you want to look--I haven’t been able to find it.). Today I saw the Discovery Park owl, which is a cooperative bird and easily found." (Via the Mysterious Traveler)

(tags: , , )

Posted by Anita @ 06:09 AM PST [Link]

Friday, December 2, 2005

I'd written previously about the Kirkland Pump It Up place being listed in this list of indoor play resources, so I decided to take grandson R---- there on Wednesday and check it out. What a blast! Six dollars per kid, no charge for adults. The kids are supposed to be five or under, but one mom warned me that on days when the schools are closed, there will be bigger kids there. We watched a safety video first thing, then found our way downstairs to two large "arena" rooms filled with inflated slides, bounce rooms, and obstacle courses. There was a good-sized crowd but there was room to play. R----- loved it! And it was great for him not to have to come out of the bounce room after five minutes, like he would have to do at a carnival or similar event. There wasn't a piece of equipment he didn't go on several times.

One drawback: there were two little tikes pedal cars, and many more kids who wanted to ride them. Taking turns was traumatic, but once R---- had taken a turn I steered him away. Why ride when the play equipment is much better exercise and not so widely available?

Adventure: Even though I'd seen R----- succeed on an obstacle course/slide, when he tried it again he was asking for help. I foolishly followed him in (carrying purse and wearing glasses). When I slid over a barrier I bent my glasses, and scraped my nose and forehead! I put my glasses in their case in my purse, then tried to get over the next barrier where R---- was already. I couldn't make it! too tall and slippery! R----- was offering his hand, "Me help!" I had to wait until another woman came in and gave me a boost over. We made it through the rest of the course, but I didn't make the same mistake again.

(tags: , , )

Posted by Anita @ 10:35 AM PST [Link]

[Archive Index] [Main Index]

Powered By Greymatter