As you probably know, I recently and happily went back to my old job. This time however, I work in Madison Park. After wandering around the little commercial center at the end of East Madison Street for about a week, I finally found the “beach” on the shore of Lake Washington in Madison Park. For my non-Seattle friends, Madison Park is a quiet neighborhood at the end of a major east-west street which shares its name, that runs all the way from the waterfront (Elliot Bay) downtown, to the freshwater Lake Washington.
People thought I was kind of crazy in that I wandered around the neighborhood on my lunch for an entire week and could not find the “beach” but you see…after two years of living here I still forget that my idea of what a beach is and what a beach is in Seattle, are two very different things. Granted, I shouldn’t have expected sand on a freshwater lake…but my Texas friends will understand why I keep placing the word beach in parentheses after looking at the following pictures.
Much like Chow Food’s Five Spot for Queen Anne, Easy Street Records is a Sunday morning tradition for probably half of West Seattle–judging from the often lengthy wait times. (I have to admit, I’ve never really had to wait more than 10 minutes but I always hear the waitresses telling larger parties wait times of 30 minutes or longer during peak Sunday brunch hours.) You might be asking, “Why would anyone want to wait thirty minutes to eat eggs and toast in a pseudo-garage, hipster-filled record store?” The answer is: because the food is that damn good.
Plain and simple, Easy Street Records has to be my number one choice hands down for breakfast, brunch or whatever makes you happy in Seattle. To start with, the menu offers classic American eats–even a breakfast steak and eggs–all for under $10. $1 gets you the best bottomless cup of coffee a dollar can buy. But what truly makes EZ Street shine, is its diamond-in-the-rough quality. It blows away your expectations.
According to the Chron, UH coach Tom Penders is hoping that a 25 win team will get the Cougars a ticket to the 64 team NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. The Coogs, who are 18-4 play at #1 ranked Memphis (23-0) tonight at 9p.m. EST. A win would do a lot to cement UH’s chances for getting into the postseason and move UH, which is 1 1/2 games back, closer to the top of the pack in Conference USA play.
Goodbye, old friend. Old Yeller, we had many good times. Good and bad. We’ve seen and been through a lot together. A lot. I never thought I’d lose you. In fact, I promised that you’d make it back to Texas. Now though your body may end up in some junk yard, or your organs donated to needy Ford Rangers around the state; your soul will rest with me. Before we said our goodbyes and my key to you turned away, I managed to get your license plates. And so you will live on.
I’ve said it before; the Trans Texas Corridor must be put before a popular vote. Courtesy of a newly discovered friend in the battle against the Texas take on a NAFTA Superhighway; you have to watch this video.
Downtown Seattle looks to be keeping up with the Joneses as a recent Times article announces the planned construction of a 660-ft. skyscraper to sit near the site of the hotly contested First United Methodist Church at 5th & Columbia. The building’s current rendering, seen above, would better fit a sun-belt city, where the reflective glass would make the 43-story structure shine like a gem in the crown of Seattle’s skyline. Instead, while not overly offensive, in my opinion, the building becomes a cheap knock-off; borrowing heavily from the current style of supertalls like New York’s Freedom Tower and the Shanghai World Financial center, and even to a lesser extent–Dallas’s Fountain Place. (All seen below.)
The Houston Chronicle is reporting today the winner of TXDOT’s recent License Plate e-Vote, which will determine the design for new Texas license plates when the state switches from six character combinations to seven in January 2009. With just over 456,000 votes, the “Lone Star Texas” design won by a wide margin over the next most popular design, “Natural Texas.” See after the jump for the rest of the non-winning designs. Personally, I like the “Natural Texas” design best, but it’s too bad that they couldn’t have both as an option for those people who order vanity or custom plates. (more…)
Wow. This weekend pretty much sucked. No other way around it. This has been THE worst weekend in my life. Absolutely the worst. I don’t even know what to say. I feel really sick right now. That is all.
