Today was originally going to be the start of my epic cross-country round-trip by train for the holidays.

I say "originally," of course, because Amtrak just called to let me know that today's Empire Builder departure for Chicago has been canceled due to the snow. They'll honor the tickets on the next run, although they don't yet know if that will ( Read more... )

You wouldn't have guessed it with all of the referenda and ballot initiatives that have been clogging the airwaves. But as of this morning, almost 400,000 voters in King County had already had their mail-in votes counted. If the turnout forecast [PDF] is correct, that's going to be about half of all votes cast (although that same forecast is ( Read more... )

Well, that didn't take long. Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters brought their interview road show to a packed house at The Moore last night, and as soon as they opened up to questions from the audience, the very first question:
Are you going to do a show on RFID chips - how hackable are they anyway?
...and everybody who was at dinner with me turned to ( Read more... )

Oh my. It seems the bank with my checking account has failedSo, WaMu got acquired. That's not exactly a shock; they've been on fumes for a while now, and it's widely accepted that they've been trying to recruit a proper suitor for at least a couple weeks. Tonight, though, their consumer banking business was apparently snapped up by JP Morgan/ ( Read more... )

I'm back from Pennsic. Yes, I know I'd planned to start August with a post about Seafair's capstone weekend, even once my manager and I concluded I needed to use vacation before it expired - and yet, there I was, a day or two into two weeks of vacation, booking the cheapest fare Expedia could find for me and flying back out east for my first ( Read more... )

Holy crap, it really has been four years. It really does not feel that long since the move, but that's July in Seattle ( Read more... )

Ah, Sunday on Capital Hill. And a line around the block at the Egyptian full of people who have to admit they don't know exactly what they're there for that morning: thy name is Secret Festival. Week two maintained a very satisfying series this year with the sort of movie I could score serious film geek cred for saying I saw. Except, you know, I ( Read more... )

This year's SIFF program is now only hours past its shiny newspaper debut. The SIFF members-only preview night has just wrapped up, and (predictably) I already have what is almost certainly an entirely unrealistic schedule of films outlined in various shades of highlighter ( Read more... )

I considered trying to save it, at least for partial credit. I had given serious thought to heading out to the San Juans for a long weekend at the end of March, which would give me "Back to the mainland!" on the return, but got snowed out. After a fairly long week mid-month, I turned left at the ferry on the walk home and spent a relaxed evening ( Read more... )

The 70mm print of Lawrence of Arabia's at the Cinerama starting mid-month; who'd be in for the 16th or 18th?

In related news, the "Twenty Five for $25" restaurant promo has returned as Dine Around Seattle (which I guess they figured was catchier than "Thirty for $30" - which is what it's up to this year). That's running Sundays through Thursdays ( Read more... )