We've got some new news on the 4111 Stone Way development under way. Patrick writes: I think I mentioned to you a while back that my firm Lake Union Partners is re-developing a site at 4111 Stone Way into a 4-story apartment building with commercial space at street level. Image is attached. In case you are interested in posting this on your blog, I wanted to let you know that we signed an agreement with Empire Espresso of Columbia City to take…
Wallyhood welcomes Lice Knowing You, a new salon that does just what you think they do - lice removal. As they said in their email to Wallyhood, "Now, now -- before you roll your eyes in exasperation [about yet another salon opening], let me just tell you that this particular salon is nitpicky. Literally. Lice Knowing You is a head lice detection and removal salon." I spoke with Lice Knowing You owner Nancy Gordon this week. She owns four other lice removal…
Eric Lippert, a Microsoft coder* and blogger, posted a riff last week on the increasing number of aggressively creative "roguelike people" in Wallingford: Roguelike People on MSDN. He's right, they're not really grifters, even if that is a more enchanting word than "liar", but still a fun read. * It seems that "engineer" is the preferred term these days for someone who writes computer software, but that always leaves us with the image of someone in a striped cap leaning…
Kisses might begin with the letter "k," but they don't begin with "Kay." And I will not be adding the Lexus ringtone to my partner's phone Christmas Eve (sorry, honey!). I just spent a week at a hotel/mall that's been overtaken by holiday-themed consumerism. They charge $30 to decorate gingerbread cookies with "Gingy" while waiting to have a photo taken with Santa. The 19-story atrium is decked out in twinkly Christmas lights. Christmas trees line the hotel lobby. Parking valets wear…
Oh noes! Bad news, folks. Woodlawn Santa (aka. Sharon Ehrig) is out of commission for the season. Sharon broke her right wrist this morning and will be unable to wave from her porch at 3916 Woodlawn Ave this holiday season. She will not be on the porch for the rest of the year. But Santa's lights are on! Something like 15,000 of them, so do drop by if you enjoy Santa's Christmas decorations. I sure do. Tonight the weather is mild,…
Back in my ballet-dancing days, I heard a lot about Alexander Technique but never pursued it until a recent serious injury sent my entire body in a general state of Wonk. Now in my mid-30s, I'm re-teaching myself to climb stairs, to bike and to walk without looking like the love child of a chicken and Buster Keaton. As I searched for new ways to improve integration of my body and brain, I jumped at the chance to explore Alexander Technique…
The first time I heard Dylan Thomas’s classic poem, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” it was just after a typically enormous Thanksgiving meal and we were all cuddled up around a woodstove in a New Hampshire farmhouse listening to the sonorous, Welsh-accented voice of Mr. Thomas himself purring on about snow for six days and six nights when he was twelve, or twelve days and twelve nights when he was six. His frenetic, disjointed style captured each of his fleeting memories…