"Trunk or Treat" is a new "Halloween alternative" offered by churches, in which rather than go from house to house, the members of the church gather in the parking lot and trade candies from the backs of their cars, along with the usual foofraw about Jesus and saints and all that.

Fred Clark made a brilliant observation awhile back about " ( Read more... )

I was reading the local newspaper, the Seattle Times, and came across an article that addressed a problem in my household: whooping cough. According to the family physician, it was "very likely" that at least one, and possibly up to three, of the people in our house caught the disease. We're all old enough that it doesn't represent a life- ( Read more... )

It looks as if the local Costco, our huge-box, members-only, warehouse supply store is making a big play to finally crush Cash & Carry, the other major restaurant supply chain in my neighborhood. Costco has always had a bit of schizophrenia; I qualified for membership when I was a teacher at a local community college, and have maintained ( Read more... )

I stopped by a local gym today, the one closest to my house (other than Curves, which I won't do because it's (a) not a personalized routine at all, (b) the CEO donates his income to extreme right-wing causes, and (c) it's a woman-only facility). It's a one-man operation with a very pretty man in charge, and when I went in to grab the paperwork he ( Read more... )

D20 Games, the local "gamer's lounge," recently moved from its previous digs to a larger space. It's still in the same strip mall it was in before, but now it has a wider corridor running the length of the retail space, side windows letting in much more natural light, a private gaming space in the back, and a kitchen space with a working stove ( Read more... )

It was a beautiful Fourth of July here in Burien, where the weather reached a sweltering 74F (23C), and Omaha had volunteered to do her annual part with the 33rd District Democrats, and Kouryou-chan was commandeered into showing up for her dance school's part in the parade.

( Way more photographs of my small town than you ever wanted to see. )

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