I attended my first Ballard Seafood Fest on Sunday. Being able to stroll over was the way to go since I had to make trips back to my apartment with all of my bounty. Although Seafood Fest does have elements that tie it to Seafood and Vikings, it’s essentially just a street fair – live music, [...]

A 35 year old sidewalk sale, oh my. After work, I avoided chores for a few hours by wandering up Ballard Ave and Market St past all of the lovely sale tables and racks. My “if you can only go to one store, then go here” is Velouria on Market St – $10 t-shirt bin outside and [...]

Dear violinist, I don’t know which apartment is yours, but please keep playing. Posted in Uncategorized

A few weeks ago, I moved from a house with a WalkScore of 49 to an apartment with a WalkScore of 97. The transition is everything I wanted to be and more. For a carless individual, having three real grocery stores less than .35 miles away from my home is amazing. A library less than .5 miles [...]

How the City Hurts Your Brain This paragraph struck a cord with me. The reason such seemingly trivial mental tasks leave us depleted is that they exploit one of the crucial weak spots of the brain. A city is so overstuffed with stimuli that we need to constantly redirect our attention so that we aren’t distracted by [...]

I am so happy that I was in America tonight. Thank you for sharing the glory with me, Seattle. Posted in Uncategorized   Tagged: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, election 2008   

January 2008 - As I sat in an airport going back to Mongolia after my America visit, I overheard political pundits discussing Clinton’s cry before the New Hampshire primaries. After arriving in Mongolia, I took a trip up north to visit a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. Sitting in a car in -40F, waiting for the [...]

I love FactCheck.org. I also am enjoying their 2008 Election Roundup of the best and bizaree ads of the season. A couple of my favorite moments from Colorado ads: “Boulder Liberal Mark Udall is as shifty as Middle Eastern sand.” “They say the only things you can count on are death and taxes. And Marilyn Musgrave’s lies.” GOP takes [...]

The first trick or treaters of the night were two greedy middle school (or maybe high school) aged girls that were barely dressed up. One of them was texting the whole time at the door. You better do better than that, Ballard. However, I did get a, “You have the best candy ” comment. Edit: A giant PACK [...]

Today, I completed my mail-in ballot from Colorado. I voted for Barack Obama. I also voted for Mark Udall, against folk from defining a person, and for and against other stuff on the LONGEST BALLOT EVER (since 1912). Edit: Oh yes, because I couldn’t vote against it, I donated a very small bit of cash to No [...]

Posted in general american life, politics   Tagged: 2008election vote important voting politics   

A fantastic, visual representation of the journey it takes to become an American citizen (link via Metafilter). The graphic did leave off one (long shot) route to America, diversity immigrant visa lottery. During my time in Mongolia, I had many many people ask me about green cards, and beyond marriage to an American, that visa lottery [...]

Satire. The only way I can process…all of this…America. more about “Hulu - The ColberOhmyGodSocietyIsColl…“, posted with vodpod Posted in general american life, Uncategorized   Tagged: OhmyGodSocietyIsCollapsingAndWeWillSoonBeDevouringEachO   

I have not forgotten my blog. Really. I am currently couchsurfing in Budapest. After 5 weeks of buses and trains, I’ll get on a plane for Dublin tomorrow evening. After a quick beer run in the land of Guniess, I spend Labor Day weekend in NYC. I get to Denver, CO at 10:45pm on Sept. 1st [...]

The World’s Three: Dark is a night without the moon. Dark is a person without knowledge Dark is a flock without sheep. Proverbs: One log is not a fire One person is not a home A man falls 7 times and raises 8. A person comes to a home with the man’s name and leaves with the woman’s name. [...]