baroqueMorales

Prequel: Friday night, Connor had karate until 7:30pm, and then later friend Kobe over for a sleepover. I also had a good friend and her daughter over for an elaborate dinner party. Dinner included salmon, salad with miso-ginger dressing, sauteed vegetables, crisped white potatoes, red wine and coffee ice cream for dessert, (although the kids had tacitos, corn and O.J.). The kids all played vids on the mini-tv/ GameCube. They then stayed up late, and then got up early to continue playing vids. I woke, started laundry by 7:50am, made a killer breakfast and tried to tackle the dishes from the night before. I made ham and sauteed potatoes, bannana, yogurt and orange juice for the boys, mushroom omlette and coffee for myself. Kobe had to get home, so we hustled over to 19th Ave, had an interesting visit with Kobe's mom and dad. After, Connor and I took the #43 downtown, and met my sister at Mama's for lunch. Some background: Mama's Mexican Kitchen, on 2nd and Bell is a S...

OK, how is this for geeky? My son and I were on Broadway having lunch at Rom Mai Thai, one of our favorite restaurants. They have a rock'n green curry and a good attitude towards child patrons, as all smart businesses should. After, we started to wander north and peeked in the window of the "Seattle Museum of the Mysteries." Located at 623 Broadway Avenue East, a formally somewhat creepy place, that I was still curious about and would like to now demystify. The rather nice post card they gave me says it features "Exhibits, Library, Cultural Center, UFO History, Ghosts and Northwest Mysteries." They also gave me a tri-fold flier from "NUFORC" (I've never seen such a dorky acryonym in my life) the National UFO Reporting Center. (more info at: www.UFOcenter.com ) I have been and seen many a parent with children in tow look down the dank, dark stairwell next to the sign, and the ill-favored (creepy/rubbery) larger than life troll mascot that sits on th...

I just attended my first bonafide political meeting with a variety of Seattle Civic activitsts in attendance. The breakfast meeting held at the Greenery Cafe at 2205 7th Avenue and held monthly was hosted by Kent of the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition. I was invited by Ballard civic leader Capt'n Eddie a.k.a. work confidant Stephen Lundgren. I had also forwarded the meeting notice to Christal Wood & Co. who was previously planning on attending. Luckily, food was being served so that I could bring son Connor, 9 who would normally have a low tolerance for a room full of adults talking about (to the average citizen, let alone a child) obscure topics. Thank you Connor for being quiet and respectful throughout the three-hour's of speeches and discussion. The speakers and attendees: included Robert (Bob) Ferguson, Dem, 2003 Seattle City Council Elect who gave a lengthly speech about strategies he used to conduct and underfunded local political campaign, which included garnering wi...

Below are various things that annoy the bejaysus out of me about living in the Modern Age. Complex automated Voice Mail trees "..press 9 to talk about this, press 2...." None of which "say dial pound to talk to a human or manage a transaction too complex for a machine." Also, overly long Voice Mail extensions and option. Like: “just call 1-877-510-2147, Dial Option 1, then Option 6 then extension 914326. (huh?) Grocery Store “Membership Cards,” such as the Slaveway Club Card, which tracks your purchasing habits and pattern-matches them to your zip code. Additionally, this requires extra steps in the transaction, digging out the stupid card and/or having to voice your phone number in public. Of course, you can give them bogus information, but that is a company forcing you into dishonesty. Just for the hell of it, I signed a card profile up using the QFC Corporate address so they can get their own junk mail. Not using one of these cards gives you a penalty in terms of...