More I Heart Seattle

rollerderby
Originally uploaded by sgoralnick

The fishnets! The girls! On rollerskates! The hot pants! The frills, the stars, ahhh my. Tonite was my first...roller derby! It was exquisite, in all its glory. I took my own really lame picture, which proves i was really there, but it was totally like this. Hot girls skating around in short skirts and hot pants. Plus, i had the bonus of a tour guide - one of my colleagues skates for Slaughter County (who were playing tonight: good job, ladies! well right effort!), and she was on the sidelines tonight so fortunately i had an interpreter to explain the rules. Its hardcore. Its awesome. Its sexy. Its fun. My new favorite reason why Seattle Is Cool!

I heart Seattle

Yesterday i went for Vietnamese fusion, at Made in Kitchen. All except for the name (where else might the food be made? in "bathroom"?), it was spectacular. Affordable, veggie options, many choices of bowls that become rolls. Perfect Jasmine Green tea served with the meal. It was sunny and lovely, and just then it was time to go see the Dalai Lama speak. HH Dalai Lama was visiting Seattle for a few days, and there was a ceremony and speech at the football stadium. Despite being in a stadium of 50 thousand people, i had the peculiar sense that i was sitting there, listening to the Dalai Lama in a dharma talk, not a few feet from him. He has a way about him that makes his messages so comfortable, so understandable. He comes across as the sort of guy you just want to go have tea with, and sit and talk for a spell.

After the visit with the Dalai Lama, i went to other locations downtown, including CyberDogs. Cyber Dogs is the most hilarious, fantastic thing since sliced bread. Its a vegetarian hot dog place, so you get these veggie dogs (more like big soysages - they're large) piled with toppings. And they have lots of fun names for the sandwiches and creative toppings. Incidentally, there's one called "The DoggiLama", which has Sag Aloo and an Indian curry leaning, and signs posted at the entrance of the restaurant taught me that if the Dalai Lama had turned up at Cyber-Dogs, they would give him a free DoggiLama. I also learned that if Bill Gates turns up at Cyber-Dogs, there are no freebies; instead HE must pay 3 times the amount for any item. This is why i love Seattle. Be warned: whatever clean, chic yuppie feeling you might get from the website is entirely absent from the actual restaurant. Its small, gritty, and glorious.

Also, you must check out Nanda acrobat and performance group sometime. If they perform in your area, it will be worth it. Its like kung fu fighting style, meets Bozo the clown. You will not be disappointed.

Lots of reasons why i heart Seattle, but one sunny, full day of Seattle goodness can seal the deal.

My favorite cafes

More Seattle is cool - i just moved to a new neighborhood. I have learned that this town does overfloweth with awesome coffee shops. Here's my brief list of favorites, so far. Also on this list are Josh's favorites (thanks JZ!):

Ballard Seafood Festival
The Stranger - (true, i should have said that one right off. move it to the top of the list!)

Cafes:

• Cloud City Coffee - maple leaf 4 life. my favorite drip coffee in town. and inexpensive!
• Cafe Zoka - free wireless, best working environment in town. have a Clover coffee brewer, and gajillions of amazing artisanal coffees.
• Victrola - classic. they are, along with Ritual in San Francisco, part of a consortium training coffee growers to cup their own coffee, empowering the farmer and cutting out middlemen (who usually take most of the profits anyway).
• Firehouse Coffee - in Ballard. accessible, have a drive thru.
• Cafe Fiore - Ballard locations. Organic, fair trade. Beautiful. Nice lighting in the shops.
• Fuel - lots of amazingly convenient locations. good name. good coffee (i've generally gotten espresso there).
• Cafe Trabant - was there a while ago, but its a cool dig in the u-district. very young, very angst.
• Cafe Verite - Ballard. what's not to like: cupcakes (Cupcake Royale operates out of here too), dang good coffee (i recommend the latte) and a good amount of seating.

There are more. I will tell you about them soon. But basically, i get excited that i live in a place that loves coffee so much, and has so many options to choose from. Good coffee, good food, free wireless. See this blog which is dedicated to the very topic.

Species list for the weekend

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, Saturday
Rainy. Cool. Spectacular.

Bald Eagles (2)
Mallard Duck
Canada Goose
Black tailed deer
Northern Flicker
Northern Harrier
Osprey
Bufflehead
Snow Goose
Common Loon
Steller's Sea Lion
Dark-eyed Junco
Great Heron

Golden Gardens (Seattle City Park, Sunday)
Partly cloudy. Cold. Teeming.
American Widgeon
Brandt's Goose
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Loon

It was a good weekend.

Randomness and chaos

I wait at the photo section of the store for a few minutes. No one comes. I fidget, look around, find other things to purchase. I check my watch. Finally, the clerk comes along, takes my film and my information, and sends me on my way. Then, i peruse the greeting cards for a while, and finally, i am ready to check out. I count my change, and make my way out the door. I walk two blocks to the bus stop, and find out that a bus is due to come soon. I stand back to wait, and just at that moment, someone calls out "Hello!". I look up, surprised (i don't know hardly anyone in this town, so i am never expecting someone on the street to be talking to me) - it is Peter - one of the ten people i know here! After we have a conversation, my bus comes and he goes on his way.

After this encounter, i realise that it is utterly amazing and beautiful to me that i can run into people i know, at all. It seems so unlikely that things would work together in just such a way, with just such timing (what if i hadn't have taken as much time in the greeting card section? what if i had driven to the store that day?) that i could see someone i know in a city of 3 million people. In fact, the knowledge that anything works at all, simply amazes me. The buses run, pick me up at relatively the right time (and i somehow made it to that place to catch the bus, pay the fare, and ride to my destination). So running into someone, in this world of seeming extreme busy-ness and crowded schedules, chaos and randomness, seems to serve as a prescient reminder that there is always the possibility of synchronicity and happy coincidence.

good sign

good sign
Originally uploaded by n_yoder

Another reason Seattle Is Cool. This sign was posted in a copier room.

Why Seattle is cool

I'm starting a list of all the cool places and things in Seattle. All the reasons why Seattle Is Cool.

Farmer's markets (year-round, marked with street navigation signs)
Vegetarian + local food restaurants of all ilks
Cinerama - huge movie theater, plays sci-fi geek movies
Bumbershoot - "how can you not?"
Shorebirds aplenty
Green Lake
Uwajimaya (largest bestest Asian supermarket)
Good beer
Good wine
Good coffee

This list will keep expanding.