90 posts
In December 2020, I posted Muscle Interrupted. > It has been 10 months since I last stepped foot in my gym due to the COVID lockdowns. Although my gym did reopen for a period during the late summer...
Read more →I began urban hiking in 2008. For a brief overview, read the introduction on my Best of Urban Hiking page. The way I urban hike has changed quite a bit since the early days. Because I now have a...
Read more →Back in 2013, I was having a discussion with someone about voting. I took the position that mathematically voting was unimportant. I went further to say that we confuse being an informed citizen with...
Read more →In May, I posted "Ballard Rents - Don't Believe the Hype!" in which I shared my thoughts on the rent situation in Seattle. Although I remain confident that the near-vertical increase in rents is...
Read more →Last fall I mentioned that I would be forced to move in mid 2014 due to the evictions. Well that time has arrived. The builders will start work on my apartment building on Tuesday. This means it is...
Read more →Very shortly after my neighbors and I learned the new owners were going to evict all the tenants, a group was formed to fight the new developers. I wasn't sure what the group was going to do. We were...
Read more →This weekend Seattle is hosting the SCAA (Speciality Coffee Association of America). This is the big coffee event for the industry. People from all over the world will be visiting Seattle. In...
Read more →This is a follow up post to Trying to Cheer Up an Economic Idiot. In that post I outlined my opinion of what was happening in the red hot rental market of my Seattle neighborhood of Ballard. Unlike...
Read more →Last October I posted about my upcoming eviction. I live in the highly desirable neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle. In the past few years rents have increased and developers have been responding to...
Read more →In 2012, I did something unique to Best of lists. I listed my biases, preferences and quantified my results. Check out the post 192 Espressos if you want to see how to do a Best of list properly. For...
Read more →My last post was about an amazing 17th floor view from the Russell Investments building in the heart of Seattle. This view isn't as high up, but is still an impressive find. During weekday business...
Read more →Ever since I arrived in Seattle in 2007, I have been an exploring machine. I've seen more of this city than many people who have been here since birth. But until one evening this summer I had no idea...
Read more →I've mentioned this offline to a few people, but I haven't discussed it here. About three weeks ago I got an official notice from my apartment complex that I and every other tenant was going to be...
Read more →In June, the Seattle PI put out the article "Where Seattle Walkers Get Hit". It pulled data across 3 years to show which were the most dangerous intersections. As someone who has been hit by a car in...
Read more →Found this street art near the Space Needle. !tv-says-sleep
Read more →Last year I bought a pair of minimal shoes that I loved immediately. The brand was Onitsuka Tiger. Super thin sole. The sole was actually too thin to do my uphill sprints with, but that didn't...
Read more →The weather in Seattle suddenly got really nice. This means I stepped out of hibernation and did some urban hiking. When it comes to hiking in Seattle, I take a unique approach. While everyone else...
Read more →Last year I consumed 192 espressos in Seattle area coffee shops. I detailed who was pulling the best shots in the post 192 Espressos - The Best of Seattle Coffee 2012. In that post, I described my...
Read more →I really dislike the Top Coffee Shop lists. They are cheap content usually written by people with minimal coffee knowledge. Hello Seattle Weekly! Rarely do I see a list where the author declares the...
Read more →Maybe it has something to do with the angle of the Earth to the Sun during the winter, but I've always loved the look of Seattle on clear days from November to February. Here are some photos I took...
Read more →This summer has been the 50th anniversary of the Space Needle, which debuted at the 1962 World's Fair. In honor of that event, they rolled back the admission price to just $1. I think it is normally...
Read more →It has been a long time since I did a Seattle specific post. Earlier this summer on one of my urban hikes, I made my first stop to the Kurt Cobain bench. How this landmark escaped me until recently...
Read more →A good snowstorm doesn't happen in Seattle every year, so I took advantage of the day and went for an urban hike. Three years ago, I did a 16 mile hike through the snow. Today I did 20 miles. My hike...
Read more →This year I drank a lot of espresso. The Coffee Club of Seattle visited 113 different coffee places in 2011. Some of the places we visited multiple times. And that doesn't count the places I went...
Read more →I'm back in Seattle and I've got a list of many things I need to do. However, I ended up going on a 7 mile urban hike when I saw the sky color this morning. !ballard-locks-orange-sky2...
Read more →On Pike Street between 4th and 5th Avenue, if you look up to the 6th floor of the Filter building you will see a Super Mario display made entirely of Post-It notes. I heard about this in the news...
Read more →The weather has been so nice in Seattle, that I feel more like exploring than blogging. Today a few members of the Coffee Club of Seattle walked over to the Lake View Cemetery and located the grave...
Read more →Today was another wonderful day in Seattle. I took some photos as I urban hiked from Upper Queen Anne to Downtown. !seattle-view Upper Queen Anne looking west to Magnolia !sculpture-park-tree...
Read more →Imagine you are driving through Seattle one morning. The skies are gray and there is a light rain. Up ahead you think you see a parking spot. There is a car coming up behind you. You glance over to...
Read more →I redeemed my 4th and last Seattle Disloyalty Card today. What is the Seattle Disloyalty Card? From my May 23, 2010 post: > Seattle now has something called a Disloyalty Card, which is idea to...
Read more →Yesterday morning a taxi ran into Rachel the bronze pig at Pike Market. From MSNBC's Taxi crashes into Pike Place Market pig statue (link now gone): > A taxi driver hit the gas when he was rear-ended...
Read more →Not only does Seattle have some of the best roasters, cafes, and baristas in the world, but we also have some of the best equipment. Seattle is the home to three unique coffee brewing systems that...
Read more →When I first moved to the Seattle area in 2007, I started out in Bellevue. Every weekend I would drive into Seattle and explore the coffee scene. It was like two different coffee worlds. Somehow...
Read more →Today I completed my second Disloyalty Card. In Round #1, my 3 favorites were Urban Coffee Lounge, Makeda and Tougo. Here are my 3 favorites from Round #2. 1. Trabant Coffee - I think the Epic...
Read more →I recently got an email from someone planning on visiting Seattle this summer. > We are planning our first trip to Seattle this weekend and obviously a trip to a couple coffee shops is in order....
Read more →This weekend the tide was at lowest level for the summer. It was so low, you could walk from Golden Gardens to Carkeep Park on ground that is normally covered with water. Below are some photos from...
Read more →If you live in Seattle or plan on coming here for vacation, I highly recommend taking the Seattle Underground Tour. It is 90 minutes long and full of fun history on how the city got started. Most of...
Read more →Last week I did an Urban Hike between the 520 and 99. Today I went a little further.  --- Comments Ed June 2 at 2010 at 4:37 AM Looks like a fairly long hike. Were...
Read more →Since moving to Northgate it has been a while since I've done a Seattle urban hike greater than 10 miles. Today I tackled one of my new favorite areas, which is the Seattle side of Lake Washington...
Read more →Last week I spotted a sign for corn dogs. Now everywhere I look, I see them. Then Friday, I walked past this corn dog and Lenin sign in Capitol Hill. Corn dogs, really? !corn-dogs --- Comments Joe...
Read more →Today the weather forecast for Seattle was for a 50% chance of rain. I liked those odds. !seattle-awesome-4 !seattle-awesome-3 !seattle-awesome-2 !seattle-awesome-1
Read more →Last Sunday the Coffee Club of Seattle visited Dubsea Coffee in the White Center area of Seattle. Dubsea Coffee opened in November 2009 and uses Stumptown Coffee. It is a beautiful location and they...
Read more →Monday I got a chance to head up with Jason Simon of Caffeinated Consersations to Everett, Washington to visit Velton's Coffee Roasting Company. Besides enjoying good espresso and good conversation,...
Read more →This book set a record for the longest I have ever had to wait for an on-hold item at the Seattle Library. Was the 4.5 months wait worth it? !Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise an...
Read more →I moved to Seattle in August 2007 and from the moment I hit the ground, I started my espresso quest. Since then I've been to many great coffee shops and met many great people. Although I loved my...
Read more →Here are some photos taken in Seattle today and yesterday. Got to love the clear skies. !seattle-clear-1 Golden Gardens Beach in Ballard !seattle-clear-2 Lake Union view from east Queen Anne...
Read more →I took this photo today at the Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park. The art piece is a stainless steel tree called Split. !metal-tree-sculpture-park --- Comments Security October 29 at 2012 at 1:58 PM...
Read more →In the past two years I've had many excellent espressos here in Seattle. However, not every espresso is great. Some have been lousy. Now on any given day, it is possible to get a bad espresso from an...
Read more →One of the things I enjoy most about Seattle is seeing what The Lusty Lady has up on their sign. Not as good as Indiana Moans and the Temple of Poon, but pretty funny. !lusty-lady-sign --- Comments...
Read more →I consider myself to be the self appointed Coffee Ambassador for Seattle. Having lived in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, South Florida and Southern California, I realize how much better the coffee is in...
Read more →At the end of August, I let my Glitter Gym membership expire. They didn't have any fall specials, so I decided to play Rambo in the park instead. I posted about my new gym in the Coffee Hero post...
Read more →Espresso Hike #1 was so successful that the Coffee Club of Seattle did a second one last Friday. If you wish to learn more about the background of the Espresso Hike, be sure to read Espresso Hike #1....
Read more →I admit that when it comes to cold weather, I am a nut. I went last winter without wearing a coat for all but the 2 week snowstorm. Everyday I take a 2-3 minute ice cold rinse at the end of my...
Read more →I only intended to do a 5 mile hike today, but decided to take a few different turns and I ended up exploring a new section of Seattle. I didn't know there was a beach with a diving board at Madison...
Read more →Today's Wall Street Journal has a story listing the growing number of coffee shops that have decided to end the always on and always free access to WIFI broadband. The story is No More Perks: Coffee...
Read more →Ever heard of the saying "Taking one for the team"? The Urban Dictionary defines it as: > The act of someone willingly making a sacrifice for the benefit of others. On Monday, I took one for the...
Read more →Last week, I went down to Pike Market to see the new 14 foot Coffee Drinking Man sign raised over the new Seattle Coffee Works location. I didn't hang around long enough to see it installed, so I...
Read more →As the organizer for the Coffee Club of Seattle, one of my roles is locating and trying new coffee places in the Seattle area. If the place serves excellent espresso, has enough space and isn't too...
Read more →Sometimes you just know with a coffee place. All my internal alarms were telling me that the Juan Valdez Cafe would not live up to my standards. Since people have asked me for my opinion on this...
Read more →During my Vancouver trip, I made a visit to the 49th Parallel Cafe. In addition to the normally served espresso drinks and a vat of brewed coffee, they also had slower brewed coffee options. The...
Read more →Most cafes have 2 espresso blends. One regular and one decaf. Espresso Vivace has 3. They have a blend for straight espresso and one for milk drinks, plus the decaf. Caffe D'Arte has 6 different...
Read more →Did you know Seattle has a 2nd Space Needle? This version of the Space Needle can be found at the corner of 2nd and Bell in the Belltown area, which is just north of downtown. Details on this art...
Read more →Earlier this week I found this statue hidden up off street level in the lower part of Belltown. Considering I've walked past this area several times before and never noticed it, I'd consider it...
Read more →When making the Seattle Whole Bean Espresso Prices list, I learned that Seattle Coffee Works was offering a full pound for $12.95 + a free drink. I had to take advantage of that offer, so last Friday...
Read more →When I lived in San Diego, I was interviewed about home coffee roasting from the local weekly newspaper. After the interview, the reporter asked if I was a member of the local home coffee roasting...
Read more →Monday I was heading south to Seward Park. Instead of using my GPS, I decided to just wing it and move my car south and east through the unfamiliar neighborhoods. My thinking was fuzzy. I really...
Read more →Even though it appears we have different tastes in coffee, yesterday I was inspired by Coffee Nomad to leave the house with my camera on a coffee adventure. There was a place in the Capitol Hill...
Read more →When my building decided to raise my rent 3.5%, I let them know that they were in denial on the current state of the Seattle rental market. This is not 2008. Rents are falling everywhere in Seattle....
Read more →One of the great coffee secrets of Seattle is a little shop in the Greenwood area called Makeda Coffee. This dog-friendly coffee shop uses beans from 7 Roasters. Even though Seattle has a lot of...
Read more →When I lived in San Diego there was one traffic condition I dreaded. It was the first rain during rush hour after a long dry period. The rain would kick up dust and oil on the roads and they would...
Read more →Last June I posted a Moving Scorecard where I tallied up 18 addresses in the last 20 years. Well, it is almost certain that I will be living at yet another address. My lease ends on May 1st and I'm...
Read more →It was one year ago that I did my first urban hike of Seattle. Why not turn Presidents Day into an Annual Urban Hike Seattle day? The weather was sunny and clear. Temperatures were in the low 40s...
Read more →Yesterday the weather was perfect, so I decided to go on a regular hike. Not an urban hike, but return to an actual trail. Seattle has great hiking, just ask anyone that lives here. They can't stop...
Read more →A friend of mine emailed me a link to some free software called HUGIN that connects multiple photos into a single panoramic image. When evening arrived, I decided to test it out. I'm using a Canon...
Read more →I just finished emptying my camera of more Seattle snow photos. I've hiked almost 50 miles around Seattle since the snow began. This is my idea of taking a week off from lifting weights. !snow-2...
Read more →Hiked another 15.38 miles today. There was a lot more ice on the sidewalks than on Thursday's urban hike. !dec20route
Read more →When I woke up this morning, I had no idea that I was going to do an urban hike. I looked out the window and the snow was pouring down. Oh yeah! There would be no stock trading today. It was time to...
Read more →Yeah, home prices are falling. That is old news. I'm more interested in what is going on in the rental market. When I went looking for a rental unit back in May, there was little offered and the...
Read more →Recently I learned that the TV show Fraiser not only took place in Seattle but in my neighborhood of Queen Anne. Based upon the view Fraiser sees it would place his condo just a few blocks from where...
Read more →Here are two photos taken of me last Saturday evening on the Pike Place Market Pig. The pig is in front of the area where the guys throw fish. This was after the market closed, which explains why...
Read more →On Sunday I talked to several people who were resigned to the fact the summer was now over. The school teachers would be heading back to work this week and the weather had started to cool. On Monday...
Read more →Just north of the Seattle Aquarium, there is a fountain sculpture of a nude man reaching out to a nude boy. Maybe I can't appreciate art, but to me, this looks like a prequel to an Amber Alert....
Read more →Before you head out to see Indiana Jones 4, make sure you've read the listing correctly. I'd hate to see you end up at the wrong theater. :) !indiana-moans Photo taken near Pike Place Market in...
Read more →Only in Seattle could a business this cool exist. There are so many quality roasters in Seattle it would be near impossible to run around town trying them all if one were on a short vacation....
Read more →Last April Kelli came down to San Diego and said some nice things about Seattle. Prior to that visit, I had never even thought about Seattle. After a visit and some research, we decided to move to...
Read more →Today was Presidents Day, which meant that I was off work and the stock market was closed. The weather forecast for Seattle was 57 degrees and sunny. Perfect conditions for an urban hike. I've urban...
Read more →Seems there are two camps of people out there. Camp one are fans of Seattle and believe that this blog has been too harsh on the area. One person wrote me and stated with the exception of coffee, I...
Read more →Woke up Sunday at 5:50 AM. Forgetting it was 4:50 AM due to the end of Daylight Savings, I proceeded directly to my espresso machine. Last week I started a 3 week coffee cupping program at Victrola...
Read more →As much as the people of Seattle rave about the hiking here, it doesn't even come close to the diversity of trails in the San Diego region. Outside Seattle all the hikes look pretty much the same....
Read more →Last weekend Kelli came down from Seattle. We went out for dinner and I got to hear great things about The Emerald City. I have to visit this place. If it weren't for the rain, I'd have my bags...
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