all aKIMbo

can't wait for dessert

The best homecooked Thanksgiving food EVER was cooked and served today by the Brown-Clampitts, to me and another grateful guest. Check out that plate. Yukon Gold mashed potatoes with shredded carrots and garlic, fresh sauteed green beans in hazlenut-lemon butter, sweet potatoes & yams glazed with maple syrup and nutmeg, sausage-apricot-sage stuffing (to die for), and whole organic cranberries turned into a luscious cranberry sauce over turkey that marinated for 10 hours in an apple cider/allspice/ginger brine while stuffed with orange slices...before being cooked to perfection!

Oh yeah and that's me and my mom up there. She looks like she's stoned (it's just tryptophan).

pre thanksgiving

the stranger came out today. there were some great articles. everyone else probably knows about some of this stuff, but i guess i get most of my news from the stranger! yikes.

check out thestranger.com

i'll add links later, but the best stuff was about

eric keroack
o.j. simpson
PS3
pot butter recipes
orkestar zirkonium (they wrote about the park performance we happened upon last weekend)

Fall Treats

Special things about today:

Sleeping in

Morning coffee with Fran's caramel sauce

Long talk with Polly on the phone

Walking all over downtown & Capital Hill

Getting caught in Schmancy when the power went out

Tenderloin sandwiches and Pilsner Urquell at Can Can with friends

Seeing a wiener dog in a coat and hat, on his leash, crossing a street downtown

Chocolate Raspberry Torte at B&O Cafe

TONS of free zines/publications found at Everyday Music on Broadway

Finding a band playing, Romanian style, in the park by our apt at about 10pm. Following the band, with a few dozen others until we broke off and strolled back home.

borat and foot traffic

I read today that Sasha Baron Cohen is Jewish! I wonder if any Jews were offended over his movie?

Oh and can I rant about Seattle pedestrians? The pedestrian right-of-way law is out of control here! I think more people are dying in the streets because they assume that all cars are going to stop for them. I'm hardly going to put my life in the hands of someone eating a cheeseburger and talking on the phone while fiddling with their iPod, speeding towards a sidewalk at 45 miles per hour just because the law says they have to stop. I think some degree of common sense should come into play, if you are walking, and not in any rush, and your ambling across a sidewalk is holding up 7 or 8 cars either waiting to turn or waiting behind the cars waiting to turn... just HURRY UP! Around here, motioning for the cars to go is fruitless - they're afraid of getting a ticket for not yielding to you. Sometimes if I'm standing at a corner I turn away from the street so cars don't stop and wave me on. I guess the road rage that stems from waiting endlessly for pedestrians to stumble around on their phones, talking to their friends, etc, might promote more people to just take the bus and vote for mass transit?

Jarad's 25th

Last weekend was dedicated to Jarad, who just turned 25 yesterday. On Saturday we hit the happy hour at "Can Can", a new burlesque club under Pike Place Market. Jarad likes whiskey so I ordered him a shot of The Balvenie along with a few Pilsner Urquells and some great food. We were pretty tipsy and warm enough to brave the wind and rain during our walk to Open Circle Theater to see "The Colour out of Space", an HP Lovecraft adaptation. Jarad schooled me on many things Lovecraft. It was an interesting night.

Sunday we visited the worlds best film rental spot, Scarecrow Video, for a DVD sale, and then went to Jarad's (and mine) favorite coffee roaster - Lighthouse Coffee - to buy a pound and have a few lattes. After that it was off to Cupcake Royale for apple spice and pumpkin cupcakes, and hot caramel apple cider. Cupcake Royale was crowded as hell, probably due to all this CRAZY RAIN. Jeez, even today it was windy and stormy - still! Umbrellas turning inside out, branches and leaves littering the sidewalks, and I guess the power was out all day in a few neighborhoods. After braving more downpour and leaping over streams that crisscrossed all roads, we ran to the Metro to see Borat! Everyone should see Borat.

Yesterday morning we went out to breakfast with some friends of mine, and then last night we hit a late night sushi happy hour by our apartment and one of Jarad's friends from work came too. The sushi was awesome and strangely went along great with PBR. I tried Jarad out on some Lagavulin. He prefers The Balvenie. (oh yeah this is scotch i'm talking about. landon and jesika have taught me about good scotch!)

Halloween

Not much has been happening lately... Halloween has come and gone, somewhat uneventfully. Last saturday Nanette and Thadeus came over. She prepared a leg of lamb with this yummy pear & pine nut sauce, plus potatoes and salad. I made bread and then afterwards we walked around Capitol Hill, checking out all the people in their costumes. Saw a couple dressed as Meg & Jack White, which was my idea that Jarad wasn't really going for... probably because neither of us looks anything like the White Stripes. But neither did that couple we saw on the street! There were a lot of pirates and devils. I think our favorites were Pink Panther and Tigger in full-on mascot style costumes, in character, bouncing around down the sidewalks and waving to everyone. I also got a kick out of the gang of bicyclists dressed up as cows. They were cruising all over the hill, moo-ing a lot. Once we saw them stop for hotdogs at the hotdog stand by the clubs on Pike St. The four of us had dessert and coffee on Broadway while watching more costumed folk walk by outside, and this is where we saw the creepiest costume, a petite asian girl dressed like THIS:

my gifts to polly & mark

the official hot sauce of young republicans everywhere.

fall is nigh

i guess it's been awhile since i've been able to experience autumn in seattle. it's beautiful. except when it rains. i've said it before - i don't mind the rain, and i don't mind the cold, but together they suck.

there's a few pictures here that were taken from our apartment. i'll be back later with much more badass sunset photos...

the first pic up there is from a day trip to the san juan islands. turned out to be super foggy, so no sweeping vistas of marine and island splendor, and no orca whales, but it was still nice.

in other news, we went to two shows this past week: Hawk & a Hacksaw were openers for Beirut, and then we saw Electric Six on wednesday. Hawk & a Hacksaw are a lovely duo that puts out beautiful music. Beirut is comprised of some kids and some professionals who put out equally compelling music, but maybe trying to ride a little on Gogol Bordellos coattails (just a little) and the adorable, romantic-voiced lead singer complained waaaaay too much about not being able to drink at that venue (he's 19). If you made Stephen Merrit's voice a little higher, added the Gogol Bordello musicians when they're in a somber mood, and threw in some spanish horns, you'd have Beirut. my opinion, anyway. I loved them. but i like Gogol better.

Electric Six was awesome - Dick Valentine is hilarious and so were the high-fivin' frat daddies in the crowd. If I'd had just a little liquor in me I would've probably been a dancing fool.

Pumpkin Patch

new apartment. no furniture!

from the cafe

hmm hmm well i don't bother with caps or punctuation because i'm going to have to do that enough while prepping the new zine. so friends, have patience. there's some punctuation after all. not getting all kerouac on yas.

i haven't heard from YOU (MASON!). yeah man i was hoping you might be interesting in writing something. yes but i KNOW YOU READ THIS. ok so listen babe the first issue is going to focus mainly on maritime education and licensing, because that's what's in demand. if nothing else could you write a blurb about USMA. i can write about my experiences but it'd be best to have your input too. (think ADVERTISING! or do you want that?)

anyway my weekend... my work last week totally wore me out. crazy physical labor. but i told my boss i could only work close to home, and that going elsewhere wouldn't be worth the $10/hr, which i only accept right now because i love working near any kind of boats/water. and she agreed to that AND gave me a $2 raise! how cool is that after only working 6 days? i'm stoked.

last thursday some friends from austin, texas came up and that was nice to see them. friday, nanette took jarad, thadeus and i out for some awesome indian food at Chutneys restaurant. mango lassis, chai, lamb and curry = YUM. yesterday jarad and i went to breakfast at the Deluxe Bar & Grille, because we had no food at the apartment and didn't want to cook. and then last night we went down to Owl & Thistle to hang out with Steve Dilley, who's up from vegas to buy, get this - a 64 foot gaff rig schooner! he might even take it to lake las vegas !?!?! he got us really drunk. i had fun catching up with him and hearing about tall ships challenge from this year. he had nothing good to say about ASTA, which is disheartening, because i've been chatting with the prez of ASTA via email/myspace and he's effectively convinced me of ASTAs role and contribution to sail training. he said alan kerstetter looks same as ever and was doing great, he told me a story about how bhodi thought he'd convinced dilley to help him screw over topher on appledore by convincing him to walk out with him, but when bhodi told off topher, and said "steve is going to leave too", steve said "what are you talking about? i'm first mate now!" and took bhodi's position. something about cocky guys screwing over other cocky guys is just amusing to me. steve is glad that i didn't come out to be first mate, and i agreed. we don't work well together, but we've become good friends. we know each other pretty well and accept each other's personalities even though we don't always agree and it all works out. he's nice and gets along with jarad and that's important to me too. oh! and he said mathilde allnut is the cutest baby in the WORLD and that tuvalu is ultra militant about only feeding her organic foods and letting her play with proper toys and all that. but not in a way that's going to give the kid a complex. anyway, steve will be back up in 2 weeks when the survey is completed. i met another tall ship sailor, jared t., who just bought a boat in PT and is going to move up there this week. he already knows hallie and ozzie so he's got friends up there already. i had forgotten that hallie was working at the sail loft up there. i didn't even look for her at the WBF.

anyway, today we went to value village and grocery shopping and the cafe we like that also has internet, so it's been a mellow sunday. we put up more posters. our apartment looks like a music store. jarad is the only one in this relationship with lots of STUFF. so he's got decorations.

once again, the first issue of jack tar is going to focus on maritime education and licensing. anyone interested in writing about their experiences, please send your writings to jacktarzine(at)gmail.com. the first deadline is halloween, and hopefully the first issue will be out before thanksgiving.

livin' in the citaaaay

yeah whatup i'm quoting ol' stevie.

Today I got up, created a myspace page for my new 'zine "jack tar", made bacon, muffins, eggs & coffee for breakfast, went to a sad little Seafaring Festival near South Lake Union, where the two old fellas singing chanteys on stage had zero people in the audience. I suppose everyone was at the beer festival. Or maybe people really do watch sports in this town. Nah.

We took a quick tour of the Arthur Foss and the Virginia V, then scooted over to CWB for the free sail aboard a 100 year old sprit rigged fishing boat named "Admirable". It was a nice little 1 hour sail around Lake Union, watching seaplanes land and all the sweet wooden boats cruising around. Near the end I decided to help row us in and got a little irked by the old dude who insisted on helping me with my oar. I'm sure I sounded rude when I made the passive-aggressive comment: "does each oar require 2 people?". But jeez, anyone reading this who actually knows me is well aware that stuff like that bugs me. The nice thing about young guys is that they will usually ASK you if you need help. Older guys just jump in and help. Unfortunately they are either weaker than me or just as controlling and bullheaded as me. Neither makes negotiating a large bulky item easier. And when I say older I mean at least over the age of 60. Sometimes it's nice to get help without having to ask for it. I feel sorry for men. They walk a fine line with today's women.

Oh yeah so anyway after that we went to the Locks to watch some Argosy boats go up and down and some chinook salmon wander around the fish ladder. Then we went to my moms for dinner. She told me she's going to give me her car next year. Yesterday she auditioned to be a game show contestant on "Deal or no Deal" which I've never seen. Apparently she won a crowd of 300 over by performing the fight song from when she was a cheerleader at Ballard High School. She had to take some percoset after those semi-splits at the end. She's 52 for chrissakes. The judging panel couldn't believe she was 52.

'Zine

I am starting a 'zine for everyone considers themselves part of the blue-collar boat culture. It will also be partly geared towards traditional maritime enthusiasts. If you would like to submit, please email your submission to intrepid.sailor(at)gmail.com. Unless it's an epic and amazing sea story, please keep your submission to 1 or 1/2 page long.

There's a large variety of topics that can be included in this zine. Feel free to ask questions or offer ideas regarding this first issue, because it's the one that all future issues will be based on. I've lightly researched copyright laws, and everything will be protected under the Berne copyright convention; all rights reserved until 70 years past your death. Be sure that you have your facts straight if you are reviewing/profiling a person, boat, or organization. Please do not submit anything time-sensitive at this point. I'm not sure of the print date yet. ($$$)

I know a lot of guys who get VERY technical when describing their projects. At most, I will dedicate 2 half-pages to technical articles. I'm more interested in relating stories, informational tidbits, brief engineer's and repair tips in LAYMANS terms, educational resources and experiences, and fun stuff like profiles of favorite bars in port, profiles of particular sailors, boats, organizations... maybe some nav trivia... I'm open to ideas.

...

My last week:
Went out for a beer with Captains Christopher and Dierk in Seattle. Made dinner for Cass & Eric. Walked 4 miles with Jarad across town. Got a new boat-related job that lets me come home at night, and will eventually allow me to take my (future) dog to work with me. Looks like I might be starting a 'zine for maritime stuff. I'm already getting offered donations!

I found my digital photo card reader, so more pictures soon.

Terr0rSt0rm and The Outlaw Sea

Last night I watched the documentary "Terr0rSt0rm". Alex J0nes is a pompous character (imagine Rush Limbaugh going Left) but his message and research seems very clear and VERY FUCKED up on the part of our g0vernment. Check it out. I'm also reading The Outlaw Sea by William Langewiesche. He's a right-leaning journalist but the stories and facts are very interesting. Worth a read for maritime and non-maritime folk alike. It's mostly about modern piracy and a dangerous shipping industry. Did everyone else know that there's been oil spills 3 times the size of the Exxon Valdez off the euro coast several times since? A lot of the book is about the sinking of the ferry Estonia on the Baltic. Details of her final hour are very descriptive. I like to read that stuff because however much I study in preparation for an emergency, it's hard to know how both the passengers and the boat might actually act in a real situation.

the third vortex

it's a reference to new age people thinking port townsend is on par with sedona for all that vortex stuff.

port townsend is where i spent my weekend! i ran into lots of boat folk aboard lady, lynx and on the streets of downtown PT.

highlights: getting to see Cherlynn, Logan, Captain Gary & Ozzie after so long, breakfast at the Stugards, watching Alcyone heading out Sunday, watching the crew of Lady WA having a raucous dance party aboard the main hold hatch while listening to that numunumu song, chatting it up with Adrian L.

i didn't get to hang out with elaine or christopher, or ozzie, or mark o., which is lame.

My Bumbershoot

Saturday: RELAX, pick up Bumbershoot tickets, pay deposit on new apartment.

Sunday: Bumbershoot music fest w/Jarad, Katie, Gillian, and random high school students that they ran into. New Pornographers, Spoon, Common Market, Blue Scholars, Kanye West.

Monday: Breakfast at Salmon Bay Cafe w/Nanette, move first load and get keys to new place. Go to Grams & start laundry, see Mom, unwillingly go to walmart for cheap kitchen stuffs and be rude to Jarad because I HATE WALMART. Apologize. Pick up laundry and pack all sentimental belongings from Grams shed into a tiny jeep. Eat sickening Taco Bell food. Go to Ballard, transfer stuff to other car, take to apartment (4 trips to 3rd floor!), christen apt, return to Nanettes to sleep on her floor because she's asleep and we don't want to take the bus home at 1am. Even though it IS 3:30 now and I'm still on the computer....

Regarding the BumberMusic -
New Pornographers
they're obviously a good live band, just not as good when it's not before their normal wake-up time. They openly complained about the 1pm showtime, the lead guitarist looked really rough in the natural light, like super hungover & dirty rough, and I think they were all a little too hungover to warm up their vocal chords. Kathryn Calder's voice kept failing her and all Jarad could say was "she ain't no Neko". But the drummer was totally entertaining and pumped to play. Every time the lead singer started jabbering about how it was too early and whatever private jokes between he and the band, the drummer pretty much cut him off and started right into a song. By the end of their set they were all much more into it and performing better. I still love them.

Spoon
I had very low expectations for this performance. Everyone says they suck at live shows. They must have heard about this reputation because they seemed pretty good to me. Nothing fascinating and incredible. But good fun clean rock or whatever genre they are... oh and David Cross is apparently friends with them, so he came on stage and made everyone laugh.

Common Market
my 3rd favorite new local hip hop band, behind cancer rising and blue scholars. We stumbled by the crazy bumbrella stage crowd and just watched from behind the stage. they're great.

Blue Scholars
Awesome local hip hop band that raps about local issues, southside represent and all that, and US antibush/antiwar stuff. they had their vocals turned way up so i couldn't hear the actual music very much, which was annoying. Jarad thinks they won't go anywhere because they only sing about local stuff.

Kanye West
shit. either kanye west is completely shameless or he is trying to send a message to his fellow african americans that it's good to be DAMN PROUD of yourself. if it's the latter, i say fine and good. he had a string sextet backing him up - 2 cellos and 4 violins played by chicks in black dresses and orange safety glasses i guess. and even though he spent way too much time talking about how freakin great he is, i had FUN at his show. everyone in memorial stadium was getting into it. my little sister started dancing like a crazy woman during the last song of our festival day: Jesus Walks.

Besides all that, I actually enjoyed looking at music poster art at the Flatstock exhibition. We found the Mars Volta poster designer, and one group who does very nice posters for the White Stripes and Raconteurs.

no longer homeless!

We finally landed ourselves a decent apartment. Right in the middle of Capitol Hill, which is the closest decent yet fun neighborhood to downtown Seattle. We even have an itsy bit of a view. AND... they allow dogs. So we can get that golden retriever I've been pining for. $750 per month for a teeny 1-bedroom. Yeah, Austinites and Grand Rapidites might think that's silly, but hey, there's a million coffee shops and cafes and pubs within a 10 minute walk, there's a giant lake to our east, a nice park 5 min walk north, good music venues 5 min south, another lake and an ocean to our west.

Last night we went to the M.Ward show. He's a singer-songwriter acoustic kinda guy, but he's traveling with a band right now. Which is great - particularly the very intense looking ex-Decemberist drummer chick, but he's never toured with a band before and this was their first show together. M.Ward's voice is amazing, but it got a little drowned out by the really loud bass drum pounding away and his guest guitarist also playing loud and breaking strings. I expected the more mellow stuff, so it took me a while to get into the surf-guitar mood that was being presented. But it was still good.

Tomorrow is Bumbershoot. New Pornographers, Dengue Fever and Blue Scholars are the bands I want to see. Jarad wants to see all of those, plus Spoon and Kanye West. So we're going to try to hit all that and some short films too. My little sis is coming with. I'm not sure I'd go if Jarad wasn't here, but it's cool because it'll be fun and he'll get to experience a new Seattle thing. I realized last night just how little I've gone to shows here (or anywhere else, for that matter) and it feels a little claustrophobic. All of the shows we went to in Portland this past spring were sit-down. Last night was standing room only in an unventilated club.

We went out for beers with Cass & Eric tonight. Pic's later...