Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Night

  • 1 pint Rainier - Hooverville
  • 1 bomber Stone Brewing Ruination IPA - home
  • 1 Wild Turkey bourbon - home
*****
I drove into the night, last night.
The dark was there, waiting.
Sky was tranquil.
Sounds were muted, but some; crystal clear.
Streets were my own, really.
Headlights led me.
*****

pebbles wash, pushing
bridge pa-tuts creaks ominous
sound, nighttime surrounds
*****

Gasworks Park ~ 2 am
I wanted a night picture of Seattle from across Lake Union and thought I could get the perfect picture from Gasworks Park. I arrived about 2 am, but the parking lot was closed. I could drive into it, but technically, the sign told me that the park and lot closed at 10 pm. To enforce this was the lack of lamps lighting the area. I could have easily parked there and walked up to the top of the Gasworks hill, however, or to the edge of Lake Union and had a beautiful picture of the skyline. Instead of parking in the lot, I parked across the street further down by new condos. Only the street lamps lit the area and as soon as I ran across the street, determined to get my picture, I realized that it was only the street lamps that were lit. The entire park was blanketed with darkness. And I got scared. I started to imagine people coming out from behind the trees, the bushes, the gasworks. And I didn't want to go into that park alone.

Seattle Arboretum ~ 2:30 am
There are few places in Seattle where you can go and be alone. The Arboretum is one of them. I wasn't about to get out and hit the trails and find bits of Lake Washington, but I did want to drive through the Arboretum to get a little slice of solitude. It was there.

Lake Washington/Madrona/I-90 ~ 2:45 am
Bellevue is beautiful nestled amongst it's greenery at night from across Lake Washington. The I-90 releases some creepy noises at this hour.

Jackson Street/International District ~ 3:00 am
There was a collection of cops and their cars on a corner on Jackson, but when I slowly passed them, they seemed relaxed, even though they were most likely there for a reason. No wonder the air smelled so delicious...Wonder bread was being baked at the factory.

Alki ~ 3:20 am
The seals were talking as I pulled over into one of the grassy areas off of Alki Drive. Further up Alki, I listened to the water shush-shush-shush over the polished rocks.

Home ~ 4:00 am


Bellevue and I-90


King Street Station - International District


Seattle Skyline (wished my camera was steadier)


Shangri-La along Lake Washington Blvd.


Police along Jackson Street


Telephone Poles along the waterfront


I-90 Bridge


Chelan Cafe (not open 24 hours)


Cadillac Hotel - Pioneer Square

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Gizzes

  • 12 oz. Port Brewing Hop 15 - home
  • 1 bomber Elysian Brewing Night Owl Pumpkin Ale - home
  • 2 Blackberry Gizzes (gin and an Izze) - home
  • 1 Clementine Vizze (citrus vodka and an Izze) - home
My friend Jeff invented a drink called a Gizze. It's gin and an Izze on the rocks. I also replaced the gin with citrus vodka and that was tasty too; like an Otter Pop. But you'd probably have to like Otter Pops to enjoy a Gizze.

Monday, October 6, 2008

London Wesley Stewart Lamb Barker

  • 1 Cadillac 'rita - Mission
London took us by surprise when he was born a boy. I was convinced that London was going to be a girl; I'm not sure why...maybe I convinced myself that was just the way it was going to be. I had put a lot of thought into how I would raise a girl. I even had the perfect name - London Yvonne Helvetica Lamb Barker. I wanted to raise her in a non-typical girl way (whatever that means.) I was hesitant to have a boy because, well, when I think of boys, I think mostly of sports. And I'm not really a sports person, nor what I would even consider a very masculine role model. I was afraid that my boy wouldn't have a solid sports/male role model to look up to. Isn't that what fathers and sons do? They play catch, watch football, grunt at each other, wrestle til they're sore and plan their next few months according to the weekend sports schedule?

I'm just not this type of guy. I do enjoy individual sports: rollerblading, biking, running and the occasional game of tetherball (but only if I'm taller and more experienced than the other tetherballer.), but organized team sports I never really got in to. Sure I'll watch games now and then and sometimes I can watch a sport, say football, and think it's the best game ever invented. And basketball, how exciting to watch the slam dunks and the steals. Soccer? Great stuff. But when it comes down to it, there are so many other things that I'd rather do with my 2-4 hours that it would take to watch a game. I never understood how (mostly) men can get so into sports; like, turn-red-in-the-face-with-anger or I'm-on-a-World-Series-high-because-my-team-just-won into it. There's a passion in them that I just don't have.

And that's why I was afraid to have a boy.

Susan reminded me a little while after London was born, that I have so much more to offer him, however. "Your mom raised you to do things that boys don't typically learn, and you can do the same for London." So what can I pass on to London? I can teach him the difference between a tablespoon (T) and a teaspoon (t); or why baking powder and baking soda are different, but both important; or how to do his own laundry; or plant dahlias; or sew a button; or to put the forks on the left; or to read aloud to his own children; or that wine makes girls googly. These are somewhat inconsequential things, as are sports, but I believe now that God gave me a boy for a reason, and I think that Yvonne Patricia Stewart would be proud of the things that I'll be able to pass on to London.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Pat(io) Party

  • Bud Light, Jameson's, Rainier, vodka punch - PK's house
I went to an honest to goodness birthday party tonight for a friend turning 40 years old. There was a karaoke machine, 80's playlist, 80's movies, a keg of Bud Light, vodka-spiked punch, and a birthday cake. The best part was that it was at his house. Perfect.

Friday, October 3, 2008

3 ay em

  • 2 pints Chopper Red Ale - Skylark, West Seattle
  • 2 pints Elysian Pumpkin Ale - Endolyne Joes
Suspended mist, clear dark sky. Silent neighborhood. 2:55.

Pod: Band of Horses. Sun(moon)roof open. Visit to Alki. Liberty: Blue glow. Alki Asleep. Only sound heard; water over rocks. Soothing. Sleepy. Further...

Lights deceiving. City sleeps. Alki drive. Up gully...

Lonely - longer. Couch! Stop. Snap. Gully, gone. Down Admiral. Solo. West Seattle Bridge (Freeway) 60 mph. Timberlake 90 decibels. 1st Avenue.

No one. Wait! Sanitation! Seattle Times! Through Pioneer Square. Contour >> people! Continue 1st. Lusty Lady - open. Hungry now. Beths? Hurricane? 13 Coins? WHYM? Never been. YNOT? Veggie scramble. Coffee (decaf). 76 mph, I-5 drive, 4 am; passing cars. West Seattle Bridge (Freeway). Off at Alki. Streets still. Sodium lamps lit. Walkers - 2, not together. Back home, Charlestown. 60 mph up, over, bumps, round corners, and down; left on 48th, right into gravel. 4:30. City Asleep.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

10-2=08

  • 1 can Tecate - Tacos Guaymas, Greenlake
  • 1 bottle of the High Life - MnM's house
  • 1 Jim Beam Black taster - MnM's house
  • 2 glasses Gnarly Head Zin - home

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Yay! October!

  • 1 can miller high life - home
  • 1 bottle Spaten Oktoberfest bier - home
  • 1 mango tequila - home

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Uncle Hal

  • 2 pints PBR - Uncle Hal's Tug Tavern
Ingredients:

One dilapidated house.
One outside patio.
One basement living room.
One bar serving beer and wine.
A coupla pool tables and dart boards.
Combine carefully. Drink at your own risk.

"I'm Renee. I haven't seen you in here before, so I'll need to check your id. What's your name? A mini-pitcher is a better deal than two pints of beer, except for today, when PBR is $2 for 'Cheapskate Tuesday'. Usually, order a mini-pitcher if you're going to get two beers or more."

I love you Renee.

Monday, September 29, 2008

nine twenty-nine

  • 1 Imperial pint Hobgoblin English Ale - home

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Solitude

  • 1 can mILLER hIGH lIFE - home
  • Sunday morning walk for 8 o'clock Mass.
  • Soaking under the stars solo - jets off.
  • 3 am drive.
  • Singletrack.
  • Empty house - nighttime.
  • Eyes closed; sound off.
  • Prayer.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Nine Twenty-Seven Sixty-Seven

  • 12 oz. Dick's IPA - home
  • 3 pints Bud Light - Emerald Downs
  • 1 pint Widmer Hefeweizen - Emerald Downs
  • 1 bottle PBR - Vermillion
Forty-one years ago my mom went into labor early in the morning on the 27th. I was two weeks earlier than expected and my dad was in Walla Walla for a work project, so mom had to have a neighbor (whom she didn't know too well) drive her to Lakewood General. She was surrounded by new people, in a new city, with a new doctor. At around 11:00 am, I was born - her first. Mom was 22 years old. It was difficult to contact my dad at the time because he was working "in the field". That is, he was in the Walla Walla countryside, sleeping in a truck with his other work partners, so he didn't know he had a baby boy until the next day, the 28th.

Witnessing (and participating) in the birth of London, and knowing what an emotional and painful and exciting process it is, I think about my mom in a hospital new to her (they had moved up from California just months before), lonely without her new husband, and going through the birthing process. I can't imagine how she felt having to ask her neighbor to drive her to the hospital and asking her to sit with her while in labor. There were no relatives nor friends to be with her in her room. There was no way she could contact my dad and I wonder if she was able to call her parents in California. I wonder how she felt when she found out it was boy. I wonder how long she was in labor. I wonder what she was thinking as she lay in her bed, knowing she had just had a son. I wonder if she had wanted a girl. I wonder how she got home. I wonder...?

***************************************************

I think birthdays get better as I get older. I have such great memories from my 40th birthday party last year. When I was younger, I had always looked forward to turning 40; I mean, I wasn't in a rush, but I was never hesitant about it either. I hadn't planned on doing anything for my birthday this year, but the planning just sort of happened. At one point I spontaneously decided that I wanted to have some type of get together. I guess it can seem a little self-important to announce, "It's my birthday and I want you to come!" but that's not the way I think of it. As I get older I realize how much my friends mean to me and how much happiness they provide in my life. Throwing a birthday get together is my way of appreciating the friends in my life.

***************************************************

This was the first year in eleven that I wasn't teaching school on my birthday. Students' exuberant 8:22 am voices greeting me with "Happy Birthday Mr. Barker!!!", sometimes leaving a gift on my desk, or in my hand, made me feel special. "How old are you?" "What are you doing today?" "What did you get for your birthday?" are questions of the day. Also, for the past six years, there has always been a 4th grade student with whom I share a birthday. I love sharing their birthday through their eyes. It almost makes me feel like I'm ten again. :)

Friday, September 26, 2008

Birthday Bowling

  • 12 oz. Dick's IPA - home
  • 1 can High Life - home
  • 1 pint Pyramid - West Seattle Bowl
  • 2 pints PBR - WSB
  • 1 tequila shot - WSB
  • 1 Bud Light Lime! - WSB
  • 1 Bud Light in the Bowling Pin Bottle! - WSB
  • 1 tequila shot - Yen Wor Village
  • 1 Jack & Coke - Young Whore Village

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Pumpkin Ale!

  • 2 cans MHL - home
  • 1 pint Mashing Pumpkin on nitro - Elliott Bay Brewing, Burien

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Twenty-Four

  • 1 can High Life - Barking Lamb Hot Tub
  • 2 margaritas - home

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Twenty-Three

  • 1 can High Life - Barking Lamb Hot Tub

Monday, September 22, 2008

Autumnal Equinox

  • 1/2 can High Life - home
As much as I love summer, I do love autumn in Seattle. The crisp air, the fallen leaves, the earlier darkness, the morning mist, the way the sun sits lower in the sky; all give me a special feeling that only fall can give. I've felt it since I was a boy and I wonder if it was my early years in Puget Sound that have shaped my feelings about fall. A person can't truly experience the fall in Southern California - it's still too warm (not that I have a problem with that - sigh). It's a beautiful time of year here in Seattle, and some of the best holidays are approaching - Halloween, All Saint's Day, and Thanksgiving, along with experiences such as finding the perfect pumpkin in the pumpkin patch, navigating my way through a corn maze, and putting together the perfect Halloween costume. I can't wait...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Fremont Oktoberfest

Beer: Good!
Wine: Bad! (Tasted like Hawaiian Punch with vodka.)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

OKTO

  • 2 bottles Widmer Brothers OKTO - LRobb's house

Friday, September 19, 2008

West Fest

  • 1 can High Life - home
  • several plastic pints Elliott Bay Brewing Hefeweizen & Pilot Light - HRS WF

Thursday, September 18, 2008

nine eighteen oh eight

  • 2 pints PBR - The Siren
  • 2 glasses Domaine du Grand Prieur Cote du Rhone red - home

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hot Tub!

  • 1 bomber 22 oz. Elysian The Immortal IPA - home
  • 12 oz. Deschutes Anniversary Wit - home
  • 12 oz. Snoqualmie Harvest Moon Ale - home

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

THE FAIR

  • 3 bottles Red Hook Summer Ale - Isner's house
Sometime from when I was 2 years old or so until 8 years old, I lived in Puyallup, a small town about 40 minutes south of Seattle. It's grown much since I lived there 32+ years ago, but Main Street is still the same as it was when I lived there. The Western Washington Fairgrounds inhabit much of the downtown area of Puyallup and it was here that I have many great memories. Riding in the backseat of the car down the steep hill of Meridian and into downtown, I never forgot to look into the fairgrounds, vacant most of the year, dreaming of the late summer days when I could finally ride the rollercoaster and enter baked goods for prizes. The wooden rollercoaster was my very favorite ride, and I still love coasters to this day. It would clackety-clack up the first steep hill; the large chain pulling it, pulling it to the top, where the sign at the crest read "Keep arms inside the car at all times." When the final car was released from the hold of the chains, the coaster would speed down, rickety-ricking over the steel tracks, shuddering the wooden supports below and securing my body against the boxed confines of the cart. I loved the roller coaster and looked forward to it throughout the year.

As much as I loved the roller coaster, I may have loved entering baked goods more. My mom taught me how to bake at a fairly early age and when I was five, she helped me with my very first entry into the Western Washington Fair: Hot Wheel Sugar Cookies. My mom was clever and Hot Wheels were those little metal cars that were very popular. She thought it would be a good idea to make sugar cookies cut in the shape of a car, and then use red hots to outline the shape of the car, hence, (such a funny word!) Hot Wheel Sugar Cookies! I won a blue ribbon (First Premium!) and a scan of it is shown above. It was September 15, 1972 - 12 days before my sixth birthday. I think it's funny that the category was "WOMENS HANDCRAFTS". Over the next few years I continued entering baked goods....Blueberry Coffee Cake (blue ribbon), Blueberry Pie (red ribbon (the crust burst and the pie spilled through)), and Nut Bread (blue ribbon). Later, when we moved to Kansas, I continued entering items in the fair - Finney County Free Fair - ranging from flowers, furniture, collections, my cat(!), my cat's cage, woodcrafts, fruit, and models. I won many ribbons, but it was my first one for Hot Wheel Sugar Cookies of which I am most proud.

Susan, London, and I went to the fair today and it is much like I remember it. I love going and it's amazing how much it's the same...the animals - cattle, bunnies, chickens (I loved watching the just-hatched chicks in the incubator when I was younger), sheep, goats, horses, cats, and dogs; the dairy room with the life-size butter cow and free milk; the collection of quilts, flowers, fruits, and baked goods; and the wonderful world of amusement park rides. The same roller coaster is there, but I didn't see it running. There's an innocence to the fair - so much has changed in 40 years - yet the fair exists on it's own timeline. Quilters will always quilt, bakers will always bake, vegetable designers will always lay out their prized vegetables in amazing arrays, and farmers will always compete for "Largest Squash". I look forward to the day when I can return with London, showing him the fair that I grew up with, and perhaps, just maybe, he'll enter his own version of Hot Wheel Sugar Cookies.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday

  • 1 pint Deschutes Inversion IPA - Duke's on Alki
  • 1 bottle Dogfish Head Immort Ale - home
  • 1 slow shot Corazon anejo - home

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sunnyday

  • 1 can mhl - home
  • 1 pint Manny's Pale Ale - Ama Ama Oyster Bar

Saturday, September 13, 2008

WABL Oktoberfest

  • 10 tastes x 6 oz. = 60 ounces (5 beers) Tastes included: Big Al Brewing Brown Ale, Elliott Bay Brewing Mashing Pumpkin, Georgetown Brewing Super Chopp, Rogue Ales Double Dead Guy, Schooner Exact Brewing 3 Grid IPA, Snoqualmie Fall Brewing Harvest Moon (delicious!), Two Beers Brewing Echo IPA, Widmer Brothers OKTO, among others.
  • 1 pint Rainier - Triangle Tavern
  • 1 pint Manny's Pale Ale - Owl and Thistle
  • 1/2 can(?) MHL - The Barking Lamb
What can I say? Fisher brings out the best in me.

We hit the WABL (just love that acronym (pronounced 'wobble')) Oktoberfest behind the Pyramid Brewhouse on Saturday. Sunny and warm day that it was, we arrived to find the taps covered by...

tents! Seattle just can't get enough of it's shade. Anyway...

tokens were purchased, plastic 12 oz. mug was seized, and breweries were found. Most were local breweries - I even was introduced to one located on the Admiral end of WS - and many gave us more than the allotted 6 oz pour we were supposed to get. Fisher and I found a spot in the sun, 'tween the shadows of the Pyramid building (and didn't that used to house an online porn company at one time?) and the viaduct. Ran into Michelle's sister and said hi. "You're ALWAYS at these events!" "Noooo, YOU'RE always at these events!" "Nooooooo, yOu'RE always at these events!" After a few hours our tokens were gone and we decided to "wabl" towards the water taxi to catch it back to West Seattle.

As fate would have it, we crossed paths with the Triangle Tavern, which is the corner of what is the only thing left standing from what used to once be a pretty tall and awesome brick building. You've probably seen it packed with Mariner's fans on gameday. Saturday it was filled with locals...that is, those of the street variety, or so it seemed. I was a little hazy at ths point...I don't even remember what I ordered. A PBR maybe? (It was a Rainier Fisher reminded me later.) I do remember using the bathroom however - those did make quite an impression. I'm not sure why, and I'm a little worried because of it. I also managed to rip off the Miller High Life beer code from an empty 24 pack, but my ripping skills aren't what they used to be because I missed the last of the 12 digit number. I can barely make the 11th out to be a 5, or maybe an F, or an E. Anyway...

Donna calls at this point to say that she is heading to our house. I think it was pretty close to 7:30 and we realized we missed the water taxi, so we decide to continue walking to catch the 8:30. As fate would have it, we crossed paths with the J&M, one of my favorite Pioneer Square bars. I think it was taking awhile to get served, so Fisher suggested we continue walking. I'm not sure if we ever did get served, but we continued walking. Thinking we still had some time to kill, I suggested we duck into the Owl and Thistle, which is a cool Irish pub in the shadow of Fado, or somewhere near there. It was pretty empty, but that didn't stop us from ordering a beer, of which I forget what mine was. Maybe Fisher remembers? (Fisher reminded me later that it was a Manny's. Manny's? At an Irish Pub? I really was drunk.) Around this time Susan calls and is very upset because apparently we missed another water taxi. We decide to take a land taxi home, which we do, but by then I don't remember much. (Fisher later reminds me that I demanded to sit in the front seat, so the taxi driver had to remove all his stuff from the front seat so I could sit next to him.) Too much beer in too little time on an empty stomach. After we departed the land taxi and entered the Barking Lamb, I only remember the following:
  • scarfing down two types of dip with any and every available cracker or chip
  • opening a High Life for Fisher and myself
  • hanging out in the kitchen wobbling back and forth
  • listening to Donna make fun of me (later she told me she didn't. I believe her.)
  • holding London in the bed room
  • stinking up the kitchen badly (sorry guys! that was horrible)
  • being confused that Jeff was there, but I didn't know where he was (with Hazen)
and unfortunately that was about it. Luckily I woke up Sunday feeling fine - thanks to consuming Advil, lots of water, and a gallon of spinach and artichoke dip with two types of chips before passing out. The interesting thing was, at the time, I felt pretty much in control and cognizant of everything around me. The next day however...things had been forgotten. See you Saturday at Fremont Oktoberfest!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Wanted

Impromptu visit to the Admiral Theater tonight to see Wanted. It was on my list of things to see/do before London was born. Bless the Admiral Theater.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Aunt Janice & Uncle Ken

  • 1/2 can mhl - home
  • 1 bottle Sam Adams Oktoberfest - HR Rectory
Tonight I visited with my aunt and uncle from Oakdale, California. They are heading out on a cruise tomorrow morning and were able to spend time with us...my aunt has been out since Saturday however, so I've seen her off and on throughout the week. I always have great memories of Aunt Janice and Uncle Ken. One of my earliest is when Michelle, Ken, and I (and mom and dad) visited them in Stockton one Christmas (this was back in the 70's) and we all slept in cousin Steven's (now goes by Steve) bedroom and we kept waking up and running to the living room to see if Santa had made his visit. The parents kept telling us "Go back to sleep!", but of course, we just couldn't. [I don't think cousin Andrea was born yet, but maybe she was a baby.]

They are all special to me for a few reasons: Andrea and Steven are the only cousins that we visited regularly (I've never met my cousins on my dad's side) as children, and, Janice is my mom's younger sister. There is no real resemblence between them (I leave that to my sister who is, now, more than ever, a ringer for my mom - both personality-wise and look-wise), but the fact that she is my mom's sister is special to me. Mom and Janice were very close to each other too, sharing many personal things. When Janice found out that our baby's name was London, she immediately thought that maybe that's where Susan and I conceived him (not true), and she said that if my mom had done that, Ken's and Michelle's names would be Hughson and Hughson. (Hughson is where her dad lived and we'd go to visit often). So I know there were many personal things shared. It's stories like these that I cherish hearing.

I can only guess that my mom and Janice were close because they were closer in age to each other than their youngest sister, Becky. I forget how much younger Becky was than the two of them, but it might have been around six years, which isn't much, except that Janice and Ken were married when they were 19, and Becky would've been 13 and my mom was 23, so in those terms, it's a big difference. Unfortunately Becky is in a psychiatric hospital and I haven't heard from, or about, her in years. She used to play with me when I was a baby though and I still have pictures of Becky as a young girl holding me.

A few years ago Janice and Ken invited us to their time share in Maui. It was a great time and they showed us my grandfather's, and great-grandfather's burial site. I also saw the house where my mom lived the first few years of her life. Even though Janice was born in Centralia (another coincidence), Maui holds a special place in her heart and they vacation there every year. I've only been to Maui twice, but I feel a connection to my mom when I'm there. It's where she began life and I like to imagine her as a baby sitting in her mom's arms in the hot, humid Hawaii'an sun with her dad and her grandmother, dressed in muumuus, sitting under palm trees, cooling themselves in the salty breeze.

Janice and Ken live in Oakdale, California, which is the only other place in the US where there is a Hershey Chocolate plant. We used to tour it as kids. Janice told me however that it is no longer the chocolate plant and some other company purchased it. I was sad to hear this! Driving to Oakdale, you drive through miles and miles of orchards; the air is dry and the land is arid. Every once in a while you might catch a whiff of a turnip factory, and do they ever stink! I like to think of it as Steinbeck country, but I'm not exactly accurate by saying that. There are many fresh fruit stands along the way and it's always fun to stop and get a couple of treats. At my mom's funeral, Uncle Ken talked about how my mom used to drive those dusty back roads through the orchards at top speed, scaring her passengers - he was terrified to ride with her - ...she didn't do it on purpose, that's just the way she drove. I like to think of her flooring that pedal and kicking up the dust as the orange groves blurred by.

Saying goodbye to AJ & UK is never easy...they're all I have left of my mom's family. The memories I have of cousins Steven and Andrea, of sisters Yvonne and Janice, of Ken and Michelle....

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A Georgetown Getaway

Oh did I have such a delly-i-shus sandwich today! It was a Philly sandwich with vegetarian Field Roast - grilled onions, peppers, swiss cheese, on a toasted french roll with horseradish sauce. I just {heart} when traditional meat sandwiches are made veggie-style. Yummmmmmm. And(!) there was a large patio with rEaL sUn and it was oh-so-hot and luscious!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Million $ Listing

  • 1 can mhl - my sub-million $ home
  • 1 margarita - my sub-million $ home
So I started watching this show on Bravo on Saturday when they had a mini-marathon, and I got hooked. The show highlights three very young (21-30 y.o.) real estate agents who sell multi-million dollar houses in the LA area. I had never seen it before and it was very easy for me to get sucked in. I'm not even sure why I got hooked. The season finale was tonight and it was left with somewhat of a cliffhanger and I'm anxious to see what happens next season! Will Chad really move in with his girlfriend, will Madison sell his first double-digit listing, and will Josh decide to stick with the real estate business??? I guess I'll just have to stay tuned.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Manic Monday

  • 1 can Natural Light - home
  • 1 bottle Fishtale Ale Organic Ale - home
Not really a manic Monday...I just needed a good title. Thanks Bangles!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Haircuts, Hot Tubs, Hoochies (and Herencia)

  • 4, maybe 5, cans of the High Life - home
  • 1 shot tequila Herencia - home
  • 1 glass Mt. St. Michelle merlot (delishy) - home
Hair was cut, hot tub gotten in place, hoochies were hollerin' and Herencia was shootin'.

Really, the big event of my summer was/is the hot tub I got for free! You can't beat free! (Unless it doesn't work, but still....) even if it doesn't work, things can be replaced...motors can be replaced, tubes can be replaced, heaters can be replaced, filters can be replaced, excitement can be replaced. So, this week:
  • get an electrician in...
  • get it filled with water...
  • turn on the jets...
  • check for workedness...
  • call a hot tub specialist to assess...
Thanks to everyone who helped move that sucker.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

FAQ

  • 0 drinks
Q: Why are you keeping a list of your drinks?
A: I guess I thought that it would be interesting. I've heard of other people keeping track of their food online, or keeping and tallying their garbage, or taking a picture a day. I like alcohol, so I thought a list would be interesting.

Q: How do you remember what you drank? Sometimes it seems like you drink a lot, so how do you remember all that?
A: Most of the time I just remember and make a mental note as I get a new drink. Each time I get a new drink, I review what I've had before that. Kind of like that game you played in school where a student would start with "A = aardvark" and then the next kid would be like "A = aardvark and, uhmmm, B = bronco" and then the next kid would repeat A, B and then add a C, and so on. So it's kind of like that. And I also use my phone. Some people think I'm texting, but I'm really typing a list on my phone's notepad.

Q: Do you think you drink more or less now that you keep a list?
A: I'm not really sure. I do know that I try to get out to more places to try a drink so that I can post the location. But really, if I was to search back through the past 8 months, there probably are very few new places that I've been.

Q: Do you list every drink?
A: Yes.

Q: C'mon, eVeRY one?
A: To the best of my knowledge that I can remember, yes. There are only two times that I can think of that I've left a drink or two off the list.

Q: Ooohhhh, what are they?
A: Not saying. There's a reason I didn't list them. :)

Q: What's your favorite drink?
A: I don't have a favorite, but I have been drinking much more beer over the past few months than I used to. It's kind of funny - I love cheaper beers...Pabst, Rainier, Oly, Miller High Life; but I love the stronger, well-made beers too like IPA's, summer brews, winter brews, Belgians, etc. I first remember tasting Miller High Life at Noc-Noc back in December or January. I bought it because it was only $1 a bottle or something like that and it tasted sooo good and refreshing. So I had another one. It's my favorite macro-brew right now. I especially love the bottles; the shape of the neck isn't that of a typical bottle. Plus, the glass is clear. I like that.

Also, I tend to drink heavier drinks in the colder weather, like whisky and wine and higher-alcohol beers. I was also drinking a lot of tequila in the spring. It might have been my trip to California that got me all excited about tequila, but I really haven't had as much this summer as I thought I would.

Q: What's your favorite bar?
A: Hmmm....? I tend to like more of the divey places...those with pool tables (even though I can't shoot worth sheet), dart boards, video games, pull tabs, remnant cigarette smell, carpet on the floor, karaoke, cobwebs, etc. Places that are broken in. The Cloud Room on top of the Camlin was awesome. A piano bar. To go out on the rooftop at night and look at the moon, or the array of clouds reflected off the Camlin's neon, was unforgettable. That's not to say I don't like the swankier bars either, cuz I enjoy those as well, although they're usually not the places I end up going back to.

LA has/had some really cool bars, both divey and swanky. I was in one a few years ago called the "Little Cave". It was designed to look like a bat cave on the inside - it was very dark and black with little coves and hideouts within. Check it out. It was cool because it felt divey, but actually it was very designed and planned. Tacoma also has/had some really cool bars. Magoos was a tiny bar around the corner from where Susan used to live and they served beer and wine and had a few places to sit and one video game. And if you tired of just drinking beer, you could walk next door and get a cocktail at a *really* divey bar.

Anyway, if I had to name a bar that I really like, it's Shorty's. They have tons of cheap beer, awesome video games and pinball, a swanky seating area in the very far back, a few seats on the sidewalk for outdoor looky-loo'ing, but the clincher is, it's the only place I can get a veggie chili cheese dog with my Hamms. I usually only get down there once or twice a year.

Q: What's the worst hangover you've ever had?
A: I can't think of any absolute killer ones I've had lately...usually I'm just tired the next day because I didn't sleep well the night before. I do remember one I had about 6-7 years ago. I went to the West Seattle Street Fair with a good friend, Matt L. whom I used to work with. I hadn't had anything to eat most of the day and we went to the beer garden and we drank a lot of beer; and that might have been all we had to drink, but I had a lot. A LOT. We were out most of the night and he dropped me off on my front porch with my pants around my ankles (not sure how THAT happened) and Susan pulled me into the house, or maybe I stumbled. Anyway, I was hung over for two days. Two days! The. Worst. Ever.

Q: Speaking of hangovers, what do you do to prevent one?
A: Well obviously drinking less isn't usually an option, but I try to drink A LOT of water (when I remember), eat a good amount of food, take ibuprofen before bed (I've been doing less of this lately because it's not good for your stomach), take a vitamin before bed, sleep with a damp, folded washcloth on my forehead, eat a good breakfast with protein, and also drink tomato juice, or V8 or something like that. I heard somewhere that tomatos can be good for hangovers, and I love tomatos anyway, so there you go.

Q: Bud Light Lime. Really?
A: Have you tried it? That's real lime in there my friend.

Q: One last question...can I drink with you?
A: Love to! Know of a good place?

Friday, September 5, 2008

tgif!

  • 4, 5, maybe 6(!?) cans High Life - MnM's house
  • 1 Creamsicle (deelish!) - MnM's
  • 1 shot Cazadores - MnM's
  • 1 shot Herencia with Squirt - MnM's
  • 2 bottles Bud Light - Yen Wor Village
Sooooo, I'm currently not working and all the days run into one another, and a weekend really isn't any different than a weekday, BUT, going to a TGIF party is the best! Everyone's happy, everyone's looking forward to the weekend, and everyone's reflecting and telling stories of the week's adventures. It was so great getting to hang out with the teachers and hearing about their week, even though I wasn't part of it - at least in person. :)

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Thursday

  • 2 Cazadores & Rose's Lime Juice - home
  • 1 bottle Deschutes Twilight Ale - home

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Wednesday

  • 1 can mhl - home

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tuesday

  • 1 can mhl - home
  • 1 Mike's Hard Lemonade (hey, there was one sitting around...) - home
  • 1 margarita - home

Monday, September 1, 2008

Laborious Day

  • 1 imperial pint Tetley's Cream Ale - Celtic Swell

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Funny in the Sunny

  • 1 shot Milagro Silver tequila - The Jeffs
  • 1 24 oz. Rainier - The Jeffs
  • 1 Deschutes Twilight Ale - The Jeffs
  • 1 can Natural Light (my first one evah!) - The Jeffs
  • 1-2 glasses red wine - The Jeffs

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Pubs & Taverns

I made an impromptu stop at the UBER Tavern (which could really be a pub....tavern to me implies that it's old. The UBER is a few years new and pretty nice. They specialize in specialty beers. It's very small, which was pretty cool, but off the 99, which isn't so cool (loud traffic).

Friday, August 29, 2008

The Siren

  • 1 bottle Bud Light Lime - Siren Tavern (and Cocktails!)
  • 1 pint PBR - Siren Tavern
Today I had a few drinks at a place I'd never been before, but had always wanted to go...the Siren on 4th Avenue. It always looked a little sketchy from the outside, but Brian assured me it probably wasn't that bad. Plus, we were in desperate need of (a few) drinks. So, we stopped in, had a few drinks, had a few baskets of fried food, and marveled at the amount of dart boards, darts, and dart paraphernalia that occupied the space. The place was cool. In fact, the whole building where it exists is cool. I've always liked the Kwik E Mart next door for it's bars-on-the-windows. I'm not sure if the area is *really* that dangerous, but it certainly adds a bit of verisimilitude. The 50's neon sign is also an original.

Oh yeah, Bud Light Lime - it's lost it's allure for me. Ugh.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Thursday

  • 1 glass El Felino malbec - home

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday

  • 1 bottle Mike's Hard Lime - home
  • 12+ oz. Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye - home
  • 12+ oz. Stone Brewing Chocolate Oatmeal Stout - home
  • 1 glass El Felino Malbec - home

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tuesday

  • 1 can mhl - home
  • 1 pint 400 lb. monkey ipa, Left Hand Brewing - Beveridge Place Pub

Monday, August 25, 2008

Monday

  • 1 can mhl - home

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Closer

  • 2 bottles Bud Light - home
Getting a baby to go to sleep can be an ordeal. It's only three weeks in and we already know this. I like to think of myself as "The Closer". The bedroom lights are dimmed, the tv is turned off, the cats are prodded out, and the shades are lowered. When Susan is done feeding London, he is handed off to me. He is newly diaper changed, given a short, oily massage with Burt's Bees apricot scented oil, swaddled (such a fun, satisfying word; kind of like 'bundled') tightly and then either rocked, held closely, or put directly into his bassinet if he is already nodding off. White noise is turned on near his sleeping quarters and he is gently rocked asleep. Sometimes I hum to him and other times I sing (he hasn't cringed yet). If all goes well, he falls soundly asleep. I am "The Closer".

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008

yardwork

  • 1 busch tallboy - home
Sun was out and the temperature was warm. Pulled some grass today where it didn't belong and reloaded the bark. Mowed and edged the grass. Felt so good.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Rain

  • 1 can mhl - home
  • 1 Cazadores & lime - casa de LRobb

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Monday, August 18, 2008

Blue Monday

Today I was getting anxious about not going back to work. I am excited about taking the next few months off, but today it really hit me what it will be like to not go back to work. There's always an excitement and freshness about beginning the school year. There's a rhythm to it....preparing the classroom, meeting with the staff for the first time after summer and going through inservices (everyone seems so familiar, but 'new' at the same time), doing last minute details before the first day of school, seeing your new students come down the hall, seeing your old students pass you by, facing your class for the first time and seeing all their faces as a whole, the first staff meeting after the Tuesday half day ("Share one thing about your day!"), Parent's Night and meeting all the parents, happy hour after Parent's Night, the magazine drive assembly, feeling exhausted but overwhelmingly excited about your year after the first week. There are so many emotions I go through over the next few weeks, but they won't be a part of me this year; or rather, I'll feel some very different emotions this year. How will it feel returning to my classroom in three months? Everything will be new to me, yet old to everyone else. I'm the type of person who likes to be in on everything....I don't like to miss anything, and it will be strange "missing" the students, the staff, the day-to-day ups and downs, and my friends over the next few months.

I am excited and thrilled to be staying home with my child - my son - and Susan, but I know I will have to get out of the house and live some of my "former" life once in awhile to keep from going crazy. Maybe my thoughts on this will be short-lived and I'm sure I will look back in December and know that it was the best thing I could have ever done, but for now; it's an adjustment.

I've always prided myself in my ability to adapt. I think it is most apparent when I travel. Going to Europe, Africa, California, Colorado, Hawaii, or wherever, I seem to make the transistion from one place to the other smoothly and I'm always ready to start activities NOW. I remember going to Africa and feeling nervous before and during the flight, but once there, I calmed down and though everything was so different and new, I thought I took it in well. "So we're sleeping on this cot with a mosquito net and no running water in the toilet or sink? Okay, cool." I love when I go to visit Christopher and from the minute I'm picked up from the airport, we're off to do something. I don't have to go to my home base to unpack, or rest, or get settled - I'm ready for adventure right away, and he's the same way when he visits here. I'm not sure why I'm this way, but I think it might have something to do with my moving around a lot as a kid. We moved from Washington to California to Kansas to Georgia and then to Ohio and back to California and I was never nervous or scared to do this. We were always exposed to new things and new places and were constantly going. I do wonder however if this has made me restless, and if I stay to long in one place or idea or situation, I need to move on, or try something different, or escape.

How does this relate to having a child? Staying at home with my child will bring a new surprise(s) everyday, but I'm not sure if this is enough to 'pacify' (haha) me. I know that I won't be moving London around as much as I moved as a kid, but I do look forward to taking him out on new adventures, and maybe this is my comfort and happiness.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

ink

I've been thinking a lot about tattoos lately. Well really, I've never stopped thinking about tattoos. You'd never know it by looking at me...I only have one and it's on my leg; not the most apparent spot. I got it 15 years ago at Sunset Strip Tattoo in West Hollywood. It seemed like the place to get one. In 1993, tattoo's weren't really common, although people were starting to get them. I was inspired by Anthony Kiedis' many tattoos and that's what prompted me to get one. I wasn't sure what to get - the tribal's were popular, as were the geckos and lizards (never really sure why on that one) - but those weren't my style. I've always liked cats and I was in a cat store one day and their business card had a simple cat design on it. When I went in for my tat, I took the business card and the RHCP CD of Blood Sugar Sex Magic because it showcases a lot of the band's tattoos. My tattoo artist liked the cat and redesigned it to what I have. The reason I got it on the side of my calf is that I wanted it to go in a place that would always have toned muscle and I figured that was a pretty good place. I also wanted it just lower than a length of shorts, but higher than where my rollerblades (I used to rollerblade constantly) fit.

It did hurt, but not writhingly painfully so. It took just over an hour. It cost $125 and a scan of the receipt is below - I've kept it. My artist had done one of Lenny Kravitz's tattoos and I thought that was pretty cool. I'm not sure which one, but I've always thought it was the cross on his upper right arm. Afterwards I went to Church's Fried Chicken with my girlfriend at the time. Some people mistake the design for "coathangers" and others call them "panthers". I just call them cats and I still love the simplicity of the design.

Once you get one tattoo, you invariably want more. I've wanted another one for a long time now. Before I left LA, I wanted a Japanese woodblock style tattoo because the woodblock style is a beautiful form of art. Lately I've seen an almost watercolory look to tattoos which I love. One thing has kept me from getting more however and that's what I want. I've been wanting my mom's name tattooed somewhere on my arm with a flowery design; maybe spelling in Hawaiian, which would be Iwone. Now that London is born, I think a large LONDON inked in Old English font would be cool, but maybe it's too gangster. I've played with the idea of having a picture of Susan done in the Varga's style on my shoulder. I even thought it would be cool if she designed a tattoo for me. I've come up with another idea that I'm going to think about for awhile as well. I like Johnny Depp's tattoos. They're not flashy, but each one has meaning. I think I'm more that kind of person.

What I've noticed in the past 15 years is that tattoos have become more common and aren't as "alternative" as they used to be. Practically everyone has a tattoo now, whether it be a tiny flower by an ankle, a sleeve-type tattoo that runs up and down the arm, or elaborate designs inked on the small of a woman's back. I definitely think Seattle has the largest per capita tattoo-wearing population out of anywhere in the United States. Even going back to LA and the OC this past spring, where many people did have them 15 years ago, not as many people seem to have them. Maybe because it's summer and more skin is being exposed, but go to any public event, or outside restaurant, or club, or beach, or sidewalky neighborhood, or coffee shop, or park, or bar, and you will be surrounded by tatted-up Seattleites. It's really hard not to be.


Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Taste of Wine

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Real Due Date

  • 1 can mhl - home
  • 1 bottle Longboard Ale - home
  • 1 pint Full Sail Limited 2 lager - Beveridge Place Pub
Today was London's original due date. Some of the places we had planned on going before this date was the Olympic Sculpture Garden (totally doable in a stroller however), the New Orleans restaurant in Pioneer Square, and The Saint tequila bar in Capitol Hill. I think there were a few others...it wasn't a very extensive list, and of course there were some bars I wanted to hit as well.

Tonight Susan's parents watched London as we ran off to B.P.P. for an hour. It was strange not having baby there as he's been a constant presence these 10 days. It definitely gives you a new perspective on life. What that perspective is, I don't know right now, or maybe I'm just not motivated to write about it. Or, just too tired. :)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Alki

  • 1 bottle Bud Light Lime - home
So in the past I've kind of made fun of Bud Light Lime. But you know...it ain't that bad...in fact, it's fairly darn refreshing.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

It's places like this that drive me to drink...

  • 1 can mhl - home
  • 1 pint Manny's - Duke's
  • 1 bottle Bud Light - Duke's
I'll just leave him here. Sign says 'CHILDREN'S STORAGE'.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Monday

  • 12 oz. Laughing Dog Dogzilla Black IPA - home

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sunday

  • 12 oz. Laughing Dog Dogzilla Black IPA - home

Saturday, August 9, 2008

pArTY!

  • 1 mhl tallboy - The Jeffs' birthday party at D & K's
  • 1/2 a bottle of MGD Light (never had that before) - D & K's
We'd been looking forward to going to the Jeffs' birthday parties for a few weeks now. Little did we know at the time we'd have a new addition. We were excited to get out of the house and bring London along and he handled it fairly well, I suppose. It was a good time, even though we were attending to London throughout the night. His first party and he was only four days old! Already a Socialite.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Vito's

  • 1 can mhl - home
Today I was thinking about what a great day our last day of "DINK-dom" was. The morning started with the concrete cutter cutting an egress window space from the foundation. Susan and I bolted some plywood over the situation and then left for Greenlake to eat at Taqueria Guaymas. It was such a beautiful day. After lunch, we walked to the lake, I waded in the swimming area, and then we walked a bit; talking about our plans for the next few days. For Wednesday, we were going to start the morning off at Pike Place Market for breakfast (before the tourists), then go to the Olympic Sculpture Garden, and then up to Greenlake for swimming and/or walking. We left Greenlake and went home to relax. Later, Jeff invited us to Vito's for karaoke, so we got dressed up and headed out about 8:30 and met the gang at the Hideout for a drink. Then we walked back down to Vito's (Susan thinks it was the hill climb from Vito's up to the Hideout that might have started things moving) for a few hours of karaoke. It was fun singing and hanging out with everyone; much better than if we had stayed at home watching a movie or something. It will definitely make a memorable story. Funny how things happen.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Hospital Leave

  • 1/2 glass of Cabernet - home

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Post-Partum

  • 0 drinks
London - We've always liked the name and the city.
Wesley - Susan's dad's middle name. A great name too.
Stewart - My mom's maiden name. The perfect middle name
Lamb - Susan's last name
Barker - My last name

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The First Day

  • 0 drinks
...at 4 am this morning Susan wakes me up, "My water broke." I wasn't hungover, although I did want, and need, more sleep. After it registered that this is it, I packed the car and we were out the door about 5, (it was so beautiful with the sun just coming up over the Eastside.), checked into triage at 5:30 and admitted into the birthing suite (sweet!) about 7:00 am.

It's funny because at Vito's I was giving everyone shit about having to leave "early" because they had to get up to go to work. Little did I know....

Susan had a smooth labor and a fast delivery. As Susan would get contractions, I held one leg, the nurse held the other leg, and Susan pushed. And baby appeared. A boy! What a surprise! 8:06 pm:18 inches:7.52 pounds. I rush out to tell Susan's parents who come in to visit. About an hour later when I go out again, Donna, Danielle & Jeff, Lisa, Constance, and Brian were all excitedly waiting to see baby. It was overwhelming and terribly flattering. Over the next few days we changed the name and configuration of it several times and finally settled on: London Wesley Stewart Lamb Barker.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Last Day

  • 12 oz. Old Viscosity Ale - home
  • 1 pint of some Weiss beer - the Hideout
  • 3 Maker's and soda - Vito's
Susan and I karaoked tonight with JRobb, LRobb, Dan, Brian, and Martha at Vito's until about 1:00(?) or so. We stopped by Jack in the Box for some food, but their shake machine wasn't working, so Susan didn't get the shake she wanted. Went to sleep about 1:30ish. The rest is history...

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Re-coop-E-LATED!

  • 12 oz. Port Brewing Old Viscosity - home
Feels so good to be 100%! This beer was delicious, although heavy.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Finally!

  • 1 pint New Belgium Mighty Arrow - Tour de Fat festival, Gasworks

Finally back on my feet after being sick for four days, but still a little shaky. Managed to get down to the New Belgium Tour de Fat and saw some really cool bikes. This is one of them. How cool is that? Very cool!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Sick Day II

  • 0 drinks
Being sick sucks. It's the absence of energy that I think I hate the most; or at least the second most. I'm usually a person who bounces around, runs my mouth, and moves until I drop; so when I suddenly don't have the energy, or desire, to walk across the house, or even talk out loud; it's a foreign feeling. The past two days have been a timewarp, where I've left the house once, but otherwise have been secluded in front of the tv as the day slowly goes by.

I rarely get sick and I haven't been sick like this for a few years. I've wondered these past few days if it's a reminder, or a suggestion, that slowing down could be a good thing. Maybe it's a suggestion for me to get a little healthier; start running regularly again. Regardless, it's the third day without a drink, and that has to be a good thing.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Sick Day

  • 0 drinks (2 shots of Nyquil?)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Flu-Like Symptoms

  • 0 drinks.
Too much late night partying these past few weeks. Tired and achy. Must get rest.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Corson Avenue/Michigan Street

  • 3 pints Lagunitas IPA - Stellar Pizza
  • 1 pint Roger's Pilsner - home
  • 1 margarita - home
  • 1 can MHL - home
The Corson Avenue S/Michigan Street exit is my favorite freeway exit! Driving north towards Seattle, it exits on the LEFT, where you get to drive on a narrow offramp at highway speeds before before warning you of a 25 mph speed limit for an approaching tight turn to the left. It's easy to notice the multiple skid marks on the road right before the turn. Awesome, dude.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Saturday, July 26, 2008

"I lost weight last weekend, I was in jail."

  • 2 bottles MHL - Corner Pocket
  • 1 bottle Rainier - Maharaja
  • 1 margarita - Puerta Vallarta
  • 1 Rainier tallboy - Poggie Tavern
Quote heard at Puerta Vallarta upon walking in.

Friday, July 25, 2008

it was that kind of night...

Capitol Hill Block Party:
  • 2 mini-margaritas - B's house
  • 1 m2go (margarita to go) - streets of Capitol Hill
  • 2 plastic pints MHL - CHBP beer garden
  • 1 plastic pint Mirror Pond Ale - CHBP beer garden
  • 1 PBR tallboy - Cha-Cha Lounge
  • 1 Busch tallboy - Wildrose
  • 2 Dick's Danger Ale - Chop Suey
mix the TJ's margarita mix with the tequila. throw in some ice cubes. quick, swallow. One for the road? Sure, why not. make another one. take it to the sidewalk. ten minutes...where's the entrance? found it; line not bad...crowd is. quick! retreat to beer garden. under 21's dancing to dj on stage. "Can I help you?" "HIGH LIFE! HIGH LIIIIFE!" She got the point, and I got the beer. Against fence, up front. (Molly) Shannon from Detroit. Kick your ass.


Les Savy Fav! Here he comes! Loud, don't remember much. Finish beer. Thirsty. Brian brings a pint. Whew! Les Savy Fav est ecouter.

Into Cha-Cha lounge. Cool, basement! Photo machine! Where to now? Wildrose!
Dancing. Small crowd. Women on women. Who cares? Sidewalk patio for fresh air. Spyed by former student. "So glad you said 'Hi'." Further...

Chop Suey: Cock Party?! How was I to know? Hott Summertime Action inside. Many more beers. Climb on stage. Dance nonstop. So many people. Such great music. Keeps going, and going, and going, and going....


2 am. Everyone out. Hot and hungry. IHOP! Famished - veggie omelet, pancakes, coffee - finished. Stumble to Brian's. 3:09 text to Susan: "Staying on brians couch call u tomorrow".

H2O saved me.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

twenty-fourth

  • 1 Busch tallboy - home

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

twenty-third

  • small Fosters

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Bonfire

  • 5 or 6 cans of mhl - Alki Beach
I love fires. I always have. It's mesmerizing watching orange/red/blue flames appear from wood or paper or FireStarter or briquets or marshmallows...

I love the warmth that fires bring. On a cold night or day, it's kind of remarkable how close you can get to a fire without burning yourself.

I love stoking. I wonder why it's called stoking, because really it's just poking with a long stick or something. And maybe that's how it came about - a combo of poking and stick (or something).

I love the burning. When the fire has gone on a while and the flames have died down and all that's left is the wood resembling tiny blocks of glowing cubes.

"Fire is Life"

Memorable fires:
  • Bonfire in Gonzales, Louisiana with my cousins and other relatives. It was a true bonfire; tremendous in size and heat; burning all day and all night.
  • All of the Long Beach fires we've had - both on the beach and in the yard.
  • Fire in Sleeping Lady's bar.
  • Fires in our fireplace in Garden City, KS. The fireplace took up the whole wall and was made of brick.
  • Fire in the room at Salish Lodge Inn.
  • Campfire in Eastern Washington with good friends from the MAT program.

Monday, July 21, 2008

twenty-first

  • 1 mhl tb - home

Sunday, July 20, 2008

twentieth

  • 2 bottles Corona - MnM's nH
  • 1 22 oz. bottle Bear Republic Racer 5 I.P.A. (delicious!) - home

Saturday, July 19, 2008

nineteenth

  • 1 bottle ice cold Pacifico - Slices Pizza, Alki
  • 1 bottle Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale - Villa de Rosier
  • 1 bottle Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - Villa de Rosier
  • some frozen blue concoction with tequila and gelato - Villa de Rosier

Friday, July 18, 2008

eighteenth

  • 1 herencia & rlj - home

Thursday, July 17, 2008

seventeenth

  • 1 Busch tallboy - home
  • 2 Smithwicks - Celtic Swell
  • 1 Manny's Pale Ale - Mission

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

sixteenth

  • 1 bottle Widmer Hefeweizen - Slices Pizza, Alki
  • 1 25 oz. mug Bud Light - Bamboo Bar and Grill, Alki
  • 1 pint Manny's - Ballard Loft

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

fifteenth

  • 1 bottle Bud Light - M&M's new house!
  • 1 bottle Corona - M&M's new house!
  • 1 bottle Bud Light - home
  • 1 bottle Bud Light - Lake Washington Ship Canal (heh heh heh)
  • 1 Foster's Oil Can - M&M's nh
  • 1 MHL tallboy - M&M's nh

Monday, July 14, 2008

fourteenth

  • 1 Pina Colada - home
  • 1 MHL tallboy - home

Sunday, July 13, 2008

thirteenth

  • 1 Busch tallboy - home

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Baby Daddy

  • Vodka-spiked punch
  • MHL tallboys

blue and pink napkins, forks, clothing, balloons, posters, stir sticks, cups, plates, cake. Mario Kart. ADORABLE PARTY!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Summer Olympics

  • 1 pint Pale Ale on nitro - Olympic Club, Centralia
  • 2 bottles Rainier - Olympic Club
  • 1 pint IPA - Olympic Club
The Olympic Club in Centralia is a very cool old bar that has been around since the early 1900's. About 10 years ago, the McMenamin brothers took it over and reopened it as a hotel and bar, but the best thing is that they hardly changed it at all. It still has the original tile floor, bathrooms (a man could fall and lose himself in the urinals they're so huge), skylights, bar, backbar, pool room, and cast iron stove (which is great in the winter as it heats the entire bar). It used to be a prime spot for bootlegging during Prohibition and the "secret" tunnels below the bar are proof. The Olympic Club even smells old, not necessarily of cigarette smoke, but of aged leather, worn wood, brick, dirt, and hard alcohol. It's not hard to imagine it being 1940 and setting yourself down on the brass bar stool, lighting a cigarette and downing a shot of whiskey followed by a beer, then hanging out and telling everyone about your day working in the nearby dairy. My grandpa John, (my mom's dad and my namesake) might have actually done this. They lived in Centralia for awhile - Aunt Janice was even born there and my great grandfather is buried there - and grandpa worked at the dairy. Their house is most likely gone now, but I like thinking about what it was like for them when they lived there. I also like thinking about how Susan's grandma lived there and how her parent's live in Chehalis, four miles away. That I've moved all over the United States, and my mom's side of the family retired in California, but that our relatives may have crossed paths a long time ago.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Forest Through the Trees

  • 1 Fishtale Organic IPA - Quinault Lodge
  • 1 Pyramid Hefeweizen - Quinault Lodge
  • 1 Dynamite Cabernet - Quinault Lodge


Today Susan and I visited Olympic National Forest and stayed overnight at Lake Quinault Lodge - "The Rest Is Easy" (haha, clever people they are). Two hikes took us through an amazing section of the rain forest and through a peaceful path of old growth forest. I forget how much I miss nature until I'm back in it. I loved the enormity of trees and it really only occurred to me on this trip that even the tallest, most solid tree in the forest, is still growing; that each day it's slowly getting wider and taller. And they're already so big! It's almost eerie, these massive wooden towers growing straight out of the ground into the sky for no other reason than to exist. I guess I've never thought of it that way before because urban trees are surrounded by buildings and there are so few of them in comparison. Trees in a forest stand together and they become the forest - they are the forest. And when you're standing at the bottom of them, at the point they come out of the earth, it's overwhelming.

The rain forest trail had many downed trees caused by last winter's storm. This gave a more personal look at the trees in the forest because I could walk along the length of trees that were hundreds of feet tall. The one pictured above was about three feet wide and easily a few hundred feet long, and it had to be cut at one point because it had crossed the trail. I walked along some of these trees and thought about the day they came down. What storm was powerful enough to take it down; after all, it had been here for a few hundred years already. Did it cause others to fall? Could anyone hear it when it hit? What will it look like a decade, or a century from now, after it's covered with moss, other trees, and other forestry things?

The Olympic National Park is home to six of the world's largest trees. The world's largest! No other tree of this type is larger! We visited the WL Sitka Spruce and the WL Red Cedar. The Spruce was easy to get to; it was more of an RV side-of-the-road attraction that was set out in the open. It was about 1000 years old(!) and was at the end of it's life and had started to decay. The Red Cedar involved more of a steep hike to get to and was definitely at the end of it's life. The inside was open so you could walk into the center and look straight up and into the sky. I wondered how it was found originally. Hunters? Hikers? High school students from the 1600's? Much to wonder...

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Riding and Swimming

  • 1 bottle Hale's Kolsch - Canal Street Cafe/Fremont
  • 1 bottle Miller High Life - Ballard Loft
  • 1 pint Olympia - Ballard Loft
  • 1 pint Hale's Mongoose IPA - Anthony's
  • 1 Mint Julep - Talarico's Pizzeria
There are a few things that I can do now that directly remind me of being a kid; riding bikes and swimming in rivers. Riding a bike reminds me of the true freedom that I had as a kid. I would just hop on my bike - no helmet, no special shoes, no "gear" - and pedal. The faster the wind hit my face, the better I felt. Riding no-hands also brings that feeling of freedom and just a small sense of not being in total control, which is important. Swimming in rivers is another special feeling - summer is here and I gots nothing to do! In Georgia, where I went to high school, there was a river about 20 minutes or so through the woods behind my neighborhood. When the days got warmer and the air more humid, neighborhood friends and I would walk the secluded and shaded leaf-covered jeep trail to the river. Not only was there a perfect swimming hole complete with a rope for hanging and jumping, but a gathering of boulders spaced perfectly so that it sent water shooting down river - a rock flume. We'd position ourselves above the flume and let the current catch us as we maneuvered in between the giant stones and let the powerful jets launch us through the narrow passage. When we'd had enough of this, we'd retreat to the rope and jump off the dirt edge, hanging on tightly and staring down at the cool pool of water at least ten feet below. Getting in a few swings back and forth we'd drop easily into the waiting water.

Today I did both of these things: rode a bike and swam in a river. A perfect summer day as a kid.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

the eighth

  • 1 pint Dos Equis - Cactus

Monday, July 7, 2008

July 7

  • 1 Busch tallboy - home
Nothing happened today. Nothing ever happens on a Monday.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Part II or is it III?

  • Zero drinks
Part II of yesterday's adventure:

After re-reading my earlier post, I realized I was more full of alcohol than I may have originally thought, so sorry about all the f-bombs there. Part 2:

So JeffF and I cabbed it back to West Seattle because sometime during the night I convinced him to go to the Yen Wor Village for karaoke. He agreed and I remember rambling and complaining pretty much the entire cab ride back. We get dumped off in front of Young Whore and enter and find that the place is pretty empty for a Saturday night. I managed to stumble through a few songs and I'm pretty sure that Leslie (I think that's her name - she has a beautiful voice btw) the host tolerates me, but is secretly filming me and if you do a search for drunken karaoke on YouTube, I'll be the first to come up. We stayed there until closing, but it someone's wise idea (mine) to go Jack in the Box for some food. The dining room is closed, so the only way to access the food is walking and ordering through drive thru. I've only done this a few times before, at other fast food places, in various states of disillusionment, but I've never been turned away. When we stepped up to the menu board, the drive-thru crew looked aghast that we were attempting said stunt. We were told that we couldn't walk through and I think I was telling them that I forgot my car at home and we were really hungry. Then JeffF goes on a rampage! "You mean to tell me that you'd rather me drive through here drunk than order like we are now!?" or something along those lines. About then a car pulled up behind us and we were still arguing with the menu board until Drive-Thru Crew ordered us up to the window, took our order, took the ATM card and promptly (and I do mean promptly - I think that's the fastest I've ever been helped there.) gave us our food - me with medium curly fries and Jeff with a Jumbo Jack. Satisfied, we walked home along California Avenue recalling the events of the day and the injustices of having your beer program notes confiscated, being reprimanded at drive-thru, being told to "get your ass up to the bar to order a drink (that's my favorite), the slow-bus to China, the off-key karaoke; but also thinking about the day's successes - just barely making the Scotch and ale keg tasting, two pints of Pilsner Urquell, the cab ride back to the Westside, pizza at the Seattle Center, many fine tasting beers, the music at the festival, getting into two bars without having any ID, enjoying Maker's and ginger ale, the jukebox at the Mecca, among others.

So about those stupid Washington State Liquor Laws: Why can't a parent bring in a kid if he/she obviously isn't going to drink? And those places that have a brass bar separating the bar from the restaurant? - what good is that? Silly, I say. Silly.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Beer! Part II

Today I returned to the Seattle International Beerfest because one full day of drinking beer simply isn't enough. Jeff decided to go with me because one day of drinking beer is better than no days drinking beer. It was a very long and eventful day probably best summed up by Post Number I; doggedly typed up at 2:47 am after a very full day of drinking, karaoking, taxi'ing, and bus'sing. As you will be able to tell after reading it, I was really worked up. Post Number II will come tomorrow. And here we go:

Okay, so much crazy shit today...and as you can see by the post time, it's 2:47 my time on Sunday morning, so this is genuine:

As posted earlier, Fisher and I went to the SIB via bus, and that was a hoot and a half. Took us 50 minutes to get from West Seattle to the Space Needle and we immediately got in line to taste the 4 oz of golden nectar known as ale soaked in oak Scotch barrels. The line was so long that we doubted we'd have a chance at it, but we waited anyway and low and behold, we made it just in time. The beer was delicious; a combination of scotch and beer. I was marking these down on my beer program that I had since Friday (more on this later).

Fisher and I stayed at the SIB the whole afternoon - children were not allowed, but dogs were - which really didn't bother me, except I've never had a child lick me on the leg, but many of these dogs did just that. Why is that okay? Not that I mind; but why allow dogs in so that they can lick legs, yet children are kept out? Fucking WA liquor laws (more on this later).

Around 5 or so we left and went to the Mecca Cafe for I don't know what reason other than I wanted to go there. We were sitting at the booth for awhile just hanging out not really desiring anything until the bartender guy comes around and tells us: "you want anything, get your ass up to the bar and order it." That was cool though because at least we knew where things stood. Not that we were expecting anyone to wait on us; we were just hanging out. Anyway, I went and ordered a mhl and a manny's, I believe, and then put some good shit on the jukebox (Pixies, Jane's Addiction, QOTSA, Ramones) and settled in. After an hour or so, we left and went to

Ozzies. Which is where I discovered I didn't have a spec of ID on me. No license, no credit card, no debit card, nothing. And it really pisses me off that I forgot all that shit at home too. I can't believe I did. But,

they let me in. I told them I was 40 and I showed them my SIB wristband. I didn't even have to show any leg. Fisher gets a beer and I order a Maker's and ginger ale (thanks Kevin) and then discover that karaoke starts at 9:00. It was 9:02. I down the Maker's and somehow another one appears while I'm off scoping out the giant encyclopedia of music, but can't find any Journey. Before the Ozzie's adventure is over, I sing "In My Life" and "Rebel Yell" to a small crowd in the bar, but many humans are filing in. Fisher pays the bill, but I hadn't quite finished my Maker's/Ginger and for some reason I wrap it in my SIB booklet in which I had taken all my notes in for the weekend. As I exit, bouncer guy deftly takes my booklet, looks at my somewhat filled glass (apparently this isn't Vegas), says "What do we have here?", takes it and dumps the glass, but TAKES MY BOOKLET! I protest to no avail as he throws the booklet in the trash! MOTHERFUCKER! Fisher goes back to get in to retrieve it but motherfucker doesn't let him in and says, "You're with that guy!" (Like I'm a negative example for barfly humanity.) and that's that. All my precious notes are gone! I was really wound up and for that reason thought it best to just leave. So many thoughts came to mind. I was so motherfucking pissed because this guy held all the supposed power and I couldn't do anything about it. here I am a 40 year old and this stupid ^&*%(#&()&# took away my notes! I wanted to go back and tell him off, but the sad thing is is that I knew he was just doing his job and they shouldn't have let me in in the first place without ID, but still. Urrrggghghghghghghhgh. Jeff and I hailed a taxi to WS and I complained the whole way there and we ended up at the Yen Wor Village and I'll tell you about that adventure (along with Jack in the Box) tomorrow. Good night: JON

Friday, July 4, 2008

Beer!

Today I went to the Seattle International Beerfest; a celebration of all things hoppy. It was a delicious affair in which I toured the grounds of the Seattle Center with my 4 oz. taster glass enjoying the hard work of brewery laborers. Some of the beers I tasted were: Port Brewing Hop 15, Dogfish Head 120 IPA (20% alcohol!), Stone Brewing Double Bastard 2005, Full Sail Top Sail Bourbon Aged Imperial Porter (awesome!), Port Brewing Judgement Day, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, something called "reissdor", a Kolsch, Rogue 2007 Brewer, Oska Blues Ten Fidy, Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, Stone Arrogant Bastard, and a Busch Tallboy (this was consumed after the Beerfest at a 4th of July party. btw, it tasted terrible).

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Drinks on the Links

  • 1 pint Roger's Pilsner - Foster Golf Course
  • 1 PBR tallboy - FGC
  • 1 MHL tallboy -FGC
  • 1 bottle Henry's Summer Ale - FGC
  • 1 bottle Bud Light Lime (yes!) - Admiral Pub
  • 1 pint Coors Light (a mispour, so I got it for free) - Admiral Pub
I lost so many balls today, (but I only broke one tee!) Bad golf, bad.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

'Cause I gotta have faith...

  • 2 pints Rainier - Solo Bar
  • 1 Maker's and ginger ale - Solo Bar
I had always been a WHAM! fan in high school; I had all three of their albums, including Fantastic, which was their first. George was 19 and Andrew Ridgely was 17 (if I remember correctly) when it was released. The music wasn't that great, but it was fun to listen and sing along to. Later, after I moved to California, my sister and I memorized "Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)" and would trade lines back and forth with each other. If I had known about karaoke back then, I would've been dangerous. So then Make It Big came out and that was a bigger than big album. I listened to "Careless Whisper" over and over and was impressed when I read that George had written it when he was 15. When Music From The Edge Of Heaven came out, I was a little confused because it sounded as if it were for a movie soundtrack. "What is this "Edge of Heaven" movie?" I thought, "I've never heard of it." I was already in California and working at Licorice Pizza/Sam Goody when this album came out and one of my friends, Craig Keipp, and I, would obnoxiously yell the lyrics to "I'm Your Man" whenever we'd go out and hear this song, whether at a club or in the car together. I was 19. "Last Christmas" was a beautiful song, as was "A Different Corner" and it really showed another side to George Michael. Edge of Heaven was pretty much a George Michael album, as Andrew wasn't really a part of it even though he was given credit on the album. WHAM! was huge at this time and Craig and I daydreamed of creating a pop duo much like WHAM!

Faith was released in 1987. It's remarkable to think how closely the three WHAM! albums and then Faith were recorded - four albums in four years. I was working at the record store, back when CD's were really gaining in popularity and they were packaged in the long boxes. We listened to Faith every day while in the store, if not two or three times. Faith was H U G E. It was everywhere and George was loved by everyone, especially me. I bought most every CD single that was available - I have a "One More Try" picture CD (who does these anymore?), "I Want Your Sex" special remix in three parts, a 3 1/2" CD single (these aren't even made anymore) of 3 versions of "Monkey", and a few singles he did with Queen and Elton John. Since I worked at Sam Goody, I was able to keep many of the cardboard squares with pictures of the album cover and I had about 10 and kept them for the longest time, even taking them to UCLA with me and hanging them in my room. I even had a GM poster! Back then, people were OPEN to liking George Michael. Needless to say, I knew all the lyrics to all the songs on the Faith album. Zodiac boots were big back then and I had a pair with silver tips, just like, of course, GM.

I saw George during his Faith tour at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, an outdoor concert venue in lovely Irvine, California. Unfortunately I can't find my ticket stub, but I'm pretty sure I bought the program too. I wore faded jeans, my Zodiac boots, grew three days of stubbly beard, and wore a large gold cross earring in my right ear. I'm even embarrassed to admit all this now. The final piece of clothing was a white t-shirt that Craig had labeled with "I Want Your Sex" in large black iron on letters on the back and given to me. Remarkably, I was not shy (or smart enough to think better of it) to wear it. (Craig and I went to the concert together. Years later when I visited him at his new home in Honolulu, we went to see Ozzy Osbourne. Ironically, we both wore the same boots that we had worn to George Michael.) Anyway, the concert was great even though I don't remember details. That was about 1988.

Tonight George was in Seattle for his 25Live tour. It was his 25th year in the music business and this is supposedly his last tour. He's only 44! I didn't originally have tickets because they were expensive and I also haven't really listened or bought any of his recent albums, although I do listen to his songs on occasion. A week before the concert a certain number of $25 tickets (I know!) went on sale and I was fortunate enough to get some. And I'm so glad I did. The concert was incredible. There were images and videos playing on the gigantic video screen. The pictures above were taken by Susan's friend Karla who was in the 9th row. George has an incredible voice and the production was awesome. I had forgotten how many great songs he had and how easily the words came back to me as he sang them. I felt like a teenage girl singing the songs and yelling the choruses. Wonderful. *sigh*

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Gaussian Blur

  • 2 pina coladas - home
  • 1 bottle Carlsberg - Celtic Swell
  • 1 pint Stella Artois - Celtic Swell
First place in trivia! We each went home with 15 extra dollars AND I got me a Carlsberg soccer jersey. Wayyyy cool. Our team name was Gaussian Blur which Danielle, Jeff, Lisa, and Susan know what it is, but all I know is that it's some tool in Photoshop.