It's Official: Cupcake Royale Opening Third Store In West Seattle

Supreme cupcake bakery & coffee shop Cupcake Royale is opening a third store. This one will be in West Seattle. Joy!

Their web site is markedly brief about the announcement, other than saying the opening is "a month or two away". They do have a form you can fill out to receive information about their grand opening party.

Granted, we're usually not in West Seattle unless we're visiting Alki beach to walk or bike, or eating at a restaurant in the neighborhood. But hey, now we have one more excuse.

Very important note: if you've never been to Cupcake Royale and live in the Seattle area, drop everything and go. Now. Seriously. Oh, and let me know when you're going.

Howard Kaloogian's Web Site Lies About Supposed Iraq Picture

Gotta love the Internet for the way information travels. Take this case, for example: some sharp-eyed surfer noted California Representative Howard Kaloogian's web site had a picture of Baghdad, Iraq along with some text indicating how "calm" and "stable" the city was.

This picture was posted on discussion forums along with questions about its validity. Pretty soon, the puzzle was solved: this wasn't a picture of Baghdad, but of Istanbul, Turkey.

My first reaction was to think "mix up", but with a picture lauding the "calm" of the scene, on a page discussing Iraq & Afghanistan, how did a picture of Istanbul get in there?

Smooth move, Kaloogian campaign team. Way to score one in the integrity column.

Sometimes We Go Out For Lunch

The PM team had lunch not too long ago in order to send off Ryan, one of our PMs who was heading off to Vancouver. Dave took some pictures of the event.

This happened a while ago but I didn't post about it - better late than never, right?



In case you're wondering, no, we didn't request the room with the most alcohol in it, though it did make for nice decor.

Hey Kids! It's The Federal Reserve Board!

And now, a transcript of how this Federal Reserve Board for kids web site was designed:

-------------------
Bureaucrat #1: You know, the Federal Reserve Board is filled with stuffy old men who talk economics. How are we going to get young people engaged in the work that we do?

Bureaucrat #2: I know! Le'ts make a web site!

B1: Yes! Kids love the Internet! Just look at MySpace. They just love that web site.

B2: Great! First, we need some sort of character. Cartoon-like.

B1: How about a stuffy old man?

B2: Hmm...nah. How about an eagle?

B1: Yes! The Fed just screams eagle! How about this one?



B2: Perfect! Now...we need something interactive. Kids have a short attention span.

B1: How about a quiz? That way they can test themselves to see how much wonderful Fed Board knowledge they attain using our web site.

B2: Brilliant!

B1: Wow, our site kicks major butt. I can't wait to see the kids visit it and laud our efforts.

B2: From now on, the Federal Reserve Board is way cool. Groovy, some may say.

B1: Right on, my man.

-------------------
You have to love the way image alt text is spelled on this site. "Governers" is systemic throughout all images' alt text, even though it's "Governors" in the regular text. For example:

Cherry Blossoms In Bloom At The Quad

I've added some pictures of the University of Washington Quad with its cherry trees in bloom on flickr.

Capitol Hill Shooting Shakes Up Seattle

Seattle's a relatively safe city. So when a gunman kills 6 people and then himself in a residential neighborhood, it naturally grabs people's attention.

This is scary stuff, especially when the motive (at least at this point) isn't clear. We were just in this neighborhood last night, visiting some friends and watching a movie over at their place.

News stories:
Seattle Times
KOMO
KIRO

I plan to go by the scene and see if I can learn anything more, and maybe take & post some pictures.

Update @ 4:30PM : we went by the scene around 12:00 PM today. Here's what I saw:

• The police had taped off the street starting at 21st and Republican. The house in question was in the middle of the block on Republican between 21st and 22nd.
• Video cameras and photographers from what appeared to be news agencies were lined up at the traffic circle of 21st & Republican, just behind the tape.
• Police were apparently going door to door in about a one-square-block area around the scene, talking to neighbors and gathering up information.
• At the time we arrived, the medical examiner was packing up and getting ready to leave.
• Several men and women in white coverall suits were entering and exiting the house. My guess is these were crime scene investigators, and the suits were to both protect them and to avoid contaminating the scene as they look for clues.
• There were almost a dozen police cars on the scene, not counting the police bus, medical examiner, or unmarked detective cars.
• There were about 20-30 people behind the tape. Some were talking to the residents of a house in the middle of the 20th/21st section of Republican. Others were talking to residents in the house just across the street from the scene?

So what happened here? Piecing together information from the above sources and The Stranger blog:

• A group of friends went to the Capitol Hill Arts Center's Better Off Undead party last night, where electronic music, dancing, and dressing up as zombies were the main theme.
• This group returned to their house to have an after-party. You can see the house here - it's just northeast of the "1" on the map - just east of the large white house with the brown roof.
• At about 7:00 AM, the alleged gunman exited the house and returned soon after with weapons and began shooting.
• Some managed to hide in the bathroom and avoid the gunman. Others ran out and took shelter in bushes or in a neighbor's house.
• When a police officer arrived at the scene, the gunman exited the house. The police officer ordered the gunman to drop his weapon. The gunman then committed suicide.

This doesn't appear to have been a random shooting, but at the same time the motive of the gunman is not clear, nor how well he knew the victims, and how premeditated this act was.

The people in the neighborhood we saw were cooperative, calm, but also visibly surprised. This kind of thing simply doesn't happen that often in this town.

Update @ 3/26 11 AM: KIRO is reporting that an arrest has been made in connection with yesterday's shooting. A search warrant was issued for a North Seattle apartment, and police handcuffed and took away one of the twin brothers that lived at the apartment. It's unclear what the connection is yet.

Update @ 3/27 9:00 PM: The Stranger is doing a great job keeping up on this story, both through an article on their site and on their blog. I'm going to defer to their reporting and stop posting any more updates here.

If folks feel like they want to do something in response to this tragedy, I'd suggest two things:

• The surviving housemates have set up a paypal account for the families of all the victims. You can donate to the e-mail address 2112relief@gmail.com.
• Call or write the city council and county council expressing your views on the matter, whatever they may be, if you feel there's a policy decision that needs to be made here. I think there are some changes that need to be made, but I don't want to turn this event into a grandstand for my opinions.

Our New Attempt At Getting You To Visit Washington State: SayWA?

Washington State has a lot to offer. The mountains, the sea, the cities, the culture, the coffee...but our friends at the Department of Trade and Economic Development feel that we need to stand out somehow and attract some tourist dollars. What better way than an ad campaign, right?

And the winner is... "SayWA".

Say whaaa?

According to the Department, "WA" is the sound of jaws dropping when an emotional experience is had. Of course, WA is also the postal abbreviation for the state. When I've heard it pronounced, however, on the radio and television, I've heard it in the interrogative, as in "Say what?"

Turns out we're spending $442,000 for ads in various magazines (Sunset, Travel and Leisure, Smithsonian), click ads on the Internet, and TV ads.

Is this really the best slogan we could come up with? What about:
- "Washington: It's not all Birk-wearing granola-eating hippies anymore"
- "Come to Washington: we have live volcanoes!"
- "Washington State: bringing you endless coffee options"
- "Discover Washington wines. Just as good as Napa, without the stuck-up people"

Or hey, how about something already on the Experience Washington tourism web site: Endless Discoveries? That sounds much better to me.

Gorditos Coming To Queen Anne

We were visiting the 5 spot today for a leisurely brunch when, just across the street, a bright new yellow sign was posted in a retail space: Gorditos! Greenwood purveyors of "healthy Mexican food" (they skip the lard and grill their meat instead of frying it), are bringing their burrito grandes and such right on the main Queen Anne Ave. strip.

Today, the windows were covered with plastic, but the space was lit from the inside, and two people were working near the doorways getting things fixed up. Expect a grand opening in the next month or so, just in time for spring.

GetHuman.Com

GetHuman is a great little directory of phone numbers and techniques for how to bypass those automated phone systems and get at a real, live human being. Great for avoiding the dreaded "30 minutes on hold just to get a return mailing label" experience.

Online Pug Sightings

We have two cats, and no dogs, but we still really like pugs. While we won't get one anytime soon, we encourage all of our friends to get one so we can dog-sit for them. All the petting and none of the clean-up, right?

Regardless, I recently spotted a couple of pugs online that were way cute and deserved mentioning:

• Nickey the Pug, over at Google, has a little first-person write up.
• Lil' Sophie, from CuteOverload, has a great close-in picture.

There's quite a few pugs in our neighborhood. Everytime we spot one getting walked we go out of our way to pet them and chat up the owners. The pugs are always eager to interact with us and receive lots of petting.

Bible Cliffs Notes

Now there's a 100-minute Bible for those who want the super-abridged version of the Old and New Testaments. I'm guessing the good Reverend cut out the "begats" and such to keep it short.

Watches For Lawyers, Psychiatrists

When I first saw these watches for lawyers, which keep time in six-minute lawyer-friendly billable increments, I laughed. Then, I remembered reading about psychiatrists' use of the fifty minute hour for patient consultations. Fear not; there's a gag watch that keeps track of the fifty minute hour as well. Then, of course, you have the geek way of measuring time.

I never realized there's so many novelty clocks and watches out there. And to think I was going along this whole time with my boring 60 minute analog watch.

Ricky Martin Must Never Be Allowed To Attend The Olympics Ever Again

I'm sitting here watching the closing ceremonies of the Torino Olympics, and out comes none other than Ricky Martin. He proceeds to sing not one but two songs, and worse than usual I might add. What is up, Torino? Why are you obsessed with bad latin disco when your country has produced so much good music?

Ricky better not come to Vancouver in 2010. We need to start the letter writing campaign to the Vancouver Olympic Committee now.

Food

Here's a post that will link to posts I've written than have to do with food. I'll link to it from the home page, and update it as I write more.

• For Those Too Lazy To Fill Their Ice Cube Trays
• Water + Juice Box = ... Water!
• Cafe Metropolitain
• Guinness Mid-Strength
• Starbucks Punts Chantico Chocolate Drink
• Chipotle Is Even Less Healthy Than McDonald's
• Starbucks Short Cappuccino
• GiveLobster.com: In The Running For Worst Christmas Present Of All Time
• Guinness Is Made Of Isinglass!
• Thanksgiving Baklava
• Fish Flavored Ice Cream
• Salmon Flavored Soda
• So Long, Vanilla Coke
• Southern Smorgasbord: The Dan'l Boone Inn
• Waffle House, 50, Needs To Come To Seattle
• Lappert's Ice Cream May Be Diseased
• Chocolate Chocolate!

Seattle

Here's a post that will link to posts I've written than have to do with Seattle. I'll link to it from the home page, and update it as I write more.

• The KUOW Fundraisers Are On Drugs
• The Red Line Is No More
  
• The 5 Spot Visits Alabama
  
• Dixie's BBQ Is More Show Than Substance
  
• New Restaurant "Fork" Closing Its Doors
  
• Fremont Fair 2006
  
• Cal Anderson Park Images
• Seattle Pug Gala
• SIFF 2006
• Gay Bingo Part Two
• West Seattle Cupcake Royale Grand Opening
• Seattle Immigration March
• Stop The Duck
• Like Clockwork
• Santino's In My 'Hood Tonight
• My Take on Seattlest's "43 Things Seattle Is Missing"
• Save B&O Espresso!
• I'm A "Gay Bingo" Virgin No Longer
• West Seattle Cupcake Royale Opening "Sometime In May"
• It's Official: Cupcake Royale Opening Third Store In West Seattle
• Capitol Hill Shooting Shakes Up Seattle
• Gorditos Coming To Queen Anne
• I'm Addicted To Cupcake Royale
• Tim Eyman Stands Up For The Discriminators
• Seattle Rain
• The Day That Didn't Break The Record
• Rainy Seattle
• King And Bunny's: The Worst Local Commercial
• Seattle Voting Guide: Web Site Showdown - King County Council District 3
• Seattle Voting Guide: Web Site Showdown - Seattle Mayor
• Seattle Voting Guide: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Votes
• New Commerce Arrivals
• Seattle Monorail: Piñata, Anyone?
• Doing The Puyallup Fair
• Turning Off The Tap
• Volunteer Farming
• SIFF 2005
• Fankick vs. Streetbeat
• Seattle, California
• From The "Too Much Time" Department

Water + Juice Box = ... Water!

Do your kids have problems drinking enough water? Well, why don't you get some Wateroos! It's water...but it's in a juice box! Your kids won't know the difference! And for the smart ones that notice something's off, there's apple-flavored water.

I love the site's pitch: "No sugar, no sweeteners, no artificial ingredients...". They go on and on about the wonders of water (which is pretty wondrous, I agree). But all they're really selling is the packaging.

What gives? Why not just fill a juice cup with water and go with that? Why is a cartoon penguin and a wax paper box that compelling?

Cafe Metropolitain

Seattle's got a new cafe/dinner/dessert/beer/wine spot on Capitol Hill: Cafe Metropolitain. Situated on the first floor of the Villa Marjorie apartment building, I was at first worried about its proximity to B&O Espresso. Two coffee and dessert places practically across the street from each other? Can we stand for such a thing? Fortunately, a visit to the Cafe this evening assuaged my fears: Metropolitain has a very different feel and menu, and fills a different niche on the Hill that should be compatible with other night nosh spots like B&O, Dilettante, and Cafe Septieme.

The first thing that strikes you when you enter the Cafe is its interior decor. It feels as if you're in a kitschy version of a French street, with a bar, cafe, wine shop, house, and square. Fake doors and windows line one wall, fake gas lamps line another, and fake trees and flowers make it feel like you're out of doors. Despite the falsehoods, the look works quite well, or at least it did in the low light at night.

Cafe Metropolitain's menu isn't extravagant. They have a handful of appetizers, sandwiches, entrees, and desserts. Four of their eight-page menu is devoted to alcohol, with a nice selection of beer and wine and some unexpected touches (Lindeman's Framboise lambic ale on tap!). The food and dessert selection spans enough tastes to please most. Sandwiches and appetizers for the day time, and dessert and alcohol for the evening. Add to that free Wi-Fi and the Cafe very much encourages you to chill out with a laptop or with your friends on one of their comfy red couches or next to their indoor fountain.

Cafe Metropolitain hasn't been open for very long, but they seem to be running smoothly and are drawing a fair crowd. I expect them to settle into a rhythm and then start experimenting with some additional food and beverage offerings.

Free Music!*

*Mostly classical, mostly public domain

In case you weren't aware, Mozart turned 250 a few weeks ago. Salzburg, if not all of Austria or Europe for that matter, has been throwing a lot of festivals, symphonies, and parties for the occasion. And, a Danish web site is offering nine Mozart symphonies for free.

Prefer other composers? Wikipedia's Sound List has a list of public domain music, most of which is classical, in .OGG format (there are converters out there if you want MP3).

What other public domain music have people found?

Lousy T-Shirt

I recently visited LousyTshirt.com. I was expecting a great web site. A web site with fresh content. A site with an interesting perspective on life, and articles and commentary to prove it. A discussion forum to converse on the day's events, even.

Instead, all I got was an image of a shirt I could buy. A shirt that says "I went to lousytshirt.com and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!".

Oh well, at least you can wear it.

Guinness Mid-Strength

Looks like Guinness is toying with the black stuff, and testing out a "mid-strength" version with 2.8 percent alcohol. The press release claims people participating in blind taste-tests typically couldn't distinguish between the regular stuff versus the mid-grade.

Still, I do hope this doesn't become a trend, with "lite" or even "alcohol free" versions coming out. Sure, there's a market for those. But is nothing holy from the pursuit of watered-down, low-carb, low-alcohol craze?

And, the question remains: will Guinness Mid-Strength still give you strength?