'Tis the season

Although it seems like this will be my first Christmas without snow, its kind of cool to see all the lights going up around the area. I am always amazed at peoples dedication to their Christmas decorations. It seems like as soon as the the clock strikes midnight after Thanksgiving, people are gung-ho on putting up their decorations so they can be the first in their neighborhood. Although I probably won't have any decorations, it is still fun to see people get in the spirit.
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Caribbean Vacation

Ok not really, but this was about the closest I am going to come for quite awhile. After being prodded everytime I spoke to my brother, I stopped in a little hole in the wall eatery called Paseo's. Apparently well known among the locals, and now I can see why. It looks like a little hole in the wall store, which it kind of is, but don't let that fool you. It is an easy place to miss too when driving up Fremont Ave, so you have to be on the lookout. Its a couple places up from the Buckaroo Tavern and if you keep your window down, you'll probably smell it. Anyway, it offers up a menu of caribbean inspires sandwiches and entree's. Prices are reasonable, service was great(and fast), and most importantly the food was great. A little messy, but that has never bothered me before. Its safe to say I'll be back more and more.

walk this way...

I found a link to this Web site that apparently grades communities on their "walkability". I guess they just take into account everything around you from grocery stores, bars, restaurants... pretty much everything. All you do is just type in your address and it pops right up along with distances to local places. After typing in my address, I was proud to see Fremont score an 86/100 on the walkability scale. Apparently that means it is "very walkable", although not quite up to a "Walkers paradise". Maybe one of these days....

The downside of Fremont

I guess this is only a downside depending on which one of the two main universities you attended, but since this is Apple Cup week I am ultra-sensitive to all things purple and gold. It never really bothered me too much before, but because of the circumstances this week, I have noticed a lot more people around my neighborhood declaring their allegiance to uw through a number of mediums. I know I know, Fremont is within a few miles of the uw campus and a decent number of current uw students live there, but it is still bothers. Especially since I don't have a good feeling going into the game on Saturday, but I will be sporting my Wazzu garb proudly and come the weekend I will be at husky stadium cheering on my team... I'm just praying for the best

Blast from the past

So I was walking home from the bus on the same route that I have walked numerous times, only to realize that I had been walking by a hidden gem the whole time! What is it you say? A sports card shop! I have no idea what the name of it is, but its located right on Fremont Ave. towards the top of the hill. Now, I realize that this isn't something that a lot of people would get excited about, but I used to be an avid card collector in my youth and I used to plead with my mom to stop whenever I saw one of these shops. I didn't have a chance to go in because it was closed, but I will surely report back once I get the chance. I'm just hoping they have a steady collection of Griffey cards still in stock, even though it probably won't be good for my bank account if they do.

Neighbors

I decided to do a little research on the demographics in 98103 zip code. I didn't dig too deep, I only went to the U.S Census Web site to gather all the information I needed. No big surprises, over half the people in the zip code are my age and are recent college graduates. There are very few young and old people around just as I had suspected. I didn't do any sort of income analysis of the people around or anything, but if I run out of things to talk about, I might look into that more later.

Fremont bridge mystery solved

Remember those posts a little while back about the Fremont bridge being closed at night without any warning or anything? Well I promised I would find some sort of explaination, and while looking through some local blogs, I finally found something. It was convenient because last night I was hanging out with the same friends, playing the same video game, and came home at about the same time and would have made the same mistake if I hadn't came across this article.

Wind

After hearing about the chaos that came from the big wind storms last year, I was expecting the worst last night with rumors of big wind storms that were going to be sweeping through the area. Much to my surprise and delight, the storm didn't hit anywhere in Fremont. From what I could tell, nobody lost power anywhere in my area. I read about huge winds pretty much from Bellingham to the coast, but not where I live. There were reports of some pretty intense damage to cars, homes and businesses, but from what it sounds nothing like the chaos of last year. I have to say though, the best part about not being hit was getting to watch the 'Hawks slap the Niners around like we usually do on MNF.

Buses

One thing that I started to notice about the bus I take every morning (Bus #5) is that has been consistently showing early for the last couple of weeks. Lucky for me I've only been burned by that a couple times since I've adjusted my morning schedule, but it is still irritating. I would much rather have the bus show up a few minutes late then walk out of the street in the morning and then see the bus I thought I was going to catch pulling away. Atleast when the bus comes a little late, its only going to cost you a couple of cold minutes sitting there waiting. When it comes early and you barely miss it, it costs you usually around 15 minutes of standing there wondering when the next one is going to come. Maybe its just the time that I choose to catch the bus, because it seems like the other times are hit almost spot on. I'll be sure to check back in if this problem continues.

In case you didn't have any plans...

Found this little tidbit in the PI blogging section about a mini festival thing going on in Fremont on Saturday. I unfortunately won't be here this weekend to partake, but it sounds like this event could be like disneyland for Fremont beer drinkers. Apparently its a yearly thing too, so maybe next year.

fool me once....

so this relates to a previous post that I had about the fremont bridge being closed at night and nobody putting up any sort of warning until you get within about a quarter-mile from the bridge itself. I figured it was a one-time thing that night. Apparently I could not have been more wrong because I came back from the same friends house, at about the same exact time, so find the stupid bridge closed. Apparently they didn't read my blog and learn that they should have some sort of notification. Hard to believe, I know. But until I have reason to believe otherwise, i will be taking any alternative route.

its like they read my mind

One of my biggest frustrations since I moved over here has been some of the bikers that seem to think that they own the roads. I understand that a lot of people are doing it for convenience and environmental reasons, and thats completely respectable. It just seems like sometimes there is a disregard for people in cars. Now I would never condone swerving to intentionally intimidate anybody on a bike, but I have had my moments of peak frustration. I think this idea passed by the City Council is a big step in the right direction. I have no idea how long it will take for this project to be completed, but the sooner the better.

this pretty well sums it up

Although this isn't necessarily a Fremont thing, its a greater Seattle area issue and I deemed it appropriate to put in my blog. Also Queen Anne where the Sonics play is just a couple minute drive down Aurora, so its close enough. But I felt that this article pretty well sums up what everybody in the Seattle area who are Sonics fans thinks of Sonics owner Clay Bennett. This article was interesting to me for a couple reasons. One was because of the content, and two because it came from one of ESPN.coms better, more well known writers. This issue hasn't received nearly as much national media coverage as it probably deserves, so it was nice to actually see something that was more then just a quick mention on Sportscenter. Of course, we also all know that the rest of the country sees Seattle as an extension of southern Alaska, so it was good to read something this strong from someone who has no background from the Pacific Northwest.

Wow

With my brother in town for a few days this week, we got to discussing about how busy we both are and all that stuff, when he brought up that he gets his groceries delivered to him. This blew my mind. So I did a little research on the Safeway Web site and sure enough, right there on the main page was a link to submit your information to have everything delivered. Now we've all heard Jay Leno's of the world make the same jokes over and over about how fat and lazy we are getting in our country. I can hear their jokes about something like this now. I know from my perspective, going to the grocery store or whatever is usually a welcomed event in my night. With the exception of going to work, I rarely have a good reason to leave my apartment. So most of the time I find myself looking for excuses get out and wander. Now I can understand why people would do this, I mean having food delivered right to your front door makes one less thing you have to worry about. It just just never seemed to me that going to the grocery store was a major inconvience in the first place. Of course, I say all this now but I'm sure in a couple of months thinking to myself that it doens't sound like such a bad idea afterall.

Surprising

I was a little surprised and dissapointed at the lack of trick or treaters out and about last night. Maybe it was just my area that suffered, but I expected to see more then just a few little guys around. If I had a guess I would imagine that it is because there a quite a few apartments around where I live, but there are still plenty of houses that were ripe for trick or treating.