Costumes

Ran into some interesting get-ups on Friday evening, like cookie monster here, behind me:

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Friday Evening

Mini Burgers (10/10, $3.00) with BBQ sauce and sautéed onions, Satellite Lounge, 1118 E Pike Street
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Ceiling detail at Del Rey, 2332 1st Avenue

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MacBook Bliss

The Genius at the Apple Store just replaced my MacBook’s battery under my AppleCare warranty, even though battery replacements are strictly verboten under the AppleCare Warranty:

b. Limitations. The Plan does not cover:

(ix) Consumable parts, such as batteries [...]

Apparently, only iPod batteries are covered under AppleCare. Luckily, my Genius didn’t know about this and used some administrative override to give me the battery for free.

Kind of silly, considering I’m planning on buying the next-generation MacBook or MacBook Pro when it comes out on the 14th (shhhh…).

Cali Shakes

The tremor today centered in Chino Hills, CA reminded me of a photo my girlfriend took of me and my friend Charlton last year, inside of the Safeway supermarkey just 15 miles from Chino Hills, in Upland/Claremont:

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“Earthquake Kit: $8.99 + tax”

We were sure surprised to see it; definitely one of those things that you’ll only see in California.

On the positive side of the quake: Charlton’s private lemon orchard probably rained down a bounty of citrus:

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I called Charlton today. He said he felt the quake all the way in San Diego.

Bumbershoot Lineup/Tix

You should grab your tickets to Bumbershoot now (for a limited time only, they’re $25/day (instead of $40/day) using this link).

The lineup is here.

I’m excited to see the following:

Estelle (she of the Kanye track “American Boy”

Grynch

Brother Ali

Kid Sister

Stone Temple Pilots

T.I.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Flobots

The Offspring

Maybe I’ll see you there?!

Tags: Add new tag, bumbershoot, Seattle

Unbelievable Wealth

I thought London was wealthy — here in Athens, it’s out of control!  Last night, we went to a nightclub called Island with Patrick and Pavlos to celebrate the American College of Greece’s commencement, and the parking lot consisted of a Ferrari F430 Spyder, a Ferrari 599, a Porsche Turbo, an Audi R8, an Aston Martin DB V8, a BMW M6, various Range Rovers, Lotuses; the list goes on.  I’ve never seen any parking lot quite like it (though I imagine car meetups in Dubai would blow this out of the water!)

Here are the comparatively humble shots of London’s supercars from our visit last week:

The Falcons Are Back!

A few days ago, I went up to our rooftop deck to have a cup of tea, when, to my surprise, a very rare and strikingly beautiful Peregrine falcon landed not 15 feet from me, on a roofing gutter. It took a few glances at me and then flew away toward the Space Needle. Seeing the bird made me want to head to Google to find out which exact bird I’d seen (its foot was tagged). Today, I found out that the bird lives on the 56th floor of a building only a few blocks south of me, on University Street.
Seattle’s Washington Mutual Tower has been home to a breeding pair of Peregrine falcons before. From 1994-2005, love-birds Stewart and Bell raised many a clutch of baby falcons. In 2005, they both passed away, and the next year, no falcons occupied the roost on the 56th floor of the tower.

Last year, two different females apparently attempted to breed on the tower and we think that both laid eggs in the nest box. As a result, a total of eight eggs was laid in the nest box.

This was one of the largest clutches of peregrine eggs on record (four eggs are normal) and the remaining female was unable to incubate them successfully. Unfortunately, the site was subsequently abandoned and all of the eggs failed to hatch.

This spring, there is a new pair of adult peregrines perching at the nest box. They have made a “scrape” or shallow depression in the gravel which usually indicates that they are preparing to breed. We have a camera on the box and once again, the image is being piped to the branch lobby where people can observe the nesting activities as they happen.

If you’d like to find out more about our new breeding pair of falcons, check out the Falcon Research Group’s website at frg.org. To see the live image feed from the nesting box, click here (I’ve included a screen-capture from the feed. Your mileage may vary — you may or may not catch the falcons at home.)

Bandon Dunes Photoroll

Playing Pacific Dunes, one of the top courses in North America:

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Davis Cup Tennis Final Coming To Portland

USA advanced to the final with a 4-1 victory over Sweden in Gothenburg and will bid to end a 12-year drought in the final in December, which will be held in USA for the first time since 1992. USA won the 1992 final, defeating Switzerland 3-1.

USA won the inaugural Davis Cup and has since won the title on 31 occasions, but not since 1995, marking the longest period without success in US Davis Cup history. It also held the trophy from 1920 to 1926, recording the most successful defenses.

After defeating Czech Republic, Spain, and Sweden, it’s on to the final against Russia.  Russia beat us last year in the quarterfinals, so it will be interesting to see if Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers can pull off a win in the finals here.

The great thing is that the finals are happening this year in Portland’s Memorial Coliseum from November 30th until December 2nd.  I’m planning on going down to watch.  It’s the best opportunity we’ll have to see world class tennis in the Northwest anytime soon.

Link.

Night At The Elysian

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A friend had his birthday at the Elysian Brewery in Capitol Hill last night, and I was lucky enough to be able to sample their Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. It’s brewed with 150 lbs. of pumpkin in each batch, green and roasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin in the mash. They spice it with nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger and allspice, so it ends up tasting like pumpkin pie, rich and smooth.

1221 E. Pike St.
Seattle, WA 98112
(206) 860-1920

A Great Event Is Brewing In Seattle

Myself along with Nick Yanagimachi (formerly of UBS and Wedbush Morgan Securities) and Goldman Sachs’ Daniel Gallagher (edit, 6/3/08: Daniel Gallagher is a thief; he has stolen money from me. Do not associate with this duplicitous character.) are proud to announce that we’re hosting a first-rate fundraising event this following Friday, November 2nd. “First In A Series - A Social Evening of Whiskey and Cigars” will be held in the Centennial Tower’s Fireside Lounge at 7:00pm sharp. The event brings together like-minded individuals to chat about the world that surrounds us, including recent developments in business, policy, nations and people. We’ll host serious discussion in a fitting, cordial environment paired with whiskeys and wines.

The event benefits UNICEF, with all donations in excess of the event’s cost helping children all over the world.

You’re invited to bring any guests who would contribute meaningfully to the topics at hand, or anyone who would enjoy themselves in the company of bright young minds. $5 donations are suggested and help cover the event’s whiskey supply, and larger donations are encouraged.

RSVP to cameron dot newland at scarletstorm dot com, or, more simply, on Facebook:

First In A Series - A Social Evening of Whiskey and Cigars

Pacific Northwest Ballet: All Balanchine

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Last night, I took a date to see PNB’s All Balanchine, which featured music from Vivaldi, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky with choreography by the infamous George Balanchine, one of the founders of Amerian ballet. Before the show, we went out to a new Belltown favorite, Tavolàta.

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We had handmade mozzarella with red peppers in a striking artichoke sauce, and finished with a plate of fettuccine that came with onions and bacon. Both were mindblowing; kudos to my date for forcing me to try the mozzarella, I would’ve never thought of ordering it and it turned out to be remarkable. Overall, our meal at Tavolàta was fantastic. ****.

Nice Photoroll

I’ve been staying in Nice mostly and venturing out to Ventimiglia, Cap d’Ail, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Juan-les-Pins, and Monaco on day trips. I haven’t neglected to kick it in Nice though (despite the rocky beach). Here are some photos.

It turns out that the guys below on the left and right (respectively) are grads of Western Washington University. We ran into a bunch of other people from Seattle that week traveling around Nice. Small world.

Cannes

We went to Cannes today. It was beautiful weather (as always in August) and I took in the sights.

Monaco Photoroll

Went to Monaco a few times this month.  Here are some photos.

Fearless Cliff Dog

Link to Flickr photo.

Christina took me on a hike to a peak that looks out over North Bend, Washington, and looks across to Mount Si. We ran into this fearless dog on the cliff lookout up top.

Tabarca

We went out on a boat and cruised to Tabarca, an island off the Costa Blanca. It was a beautiful little paradise.  We went snorkeling for a bit before we rolled back to Alacant.

Allons-y! (…and we’re off!)

Before our driver’s meeting downstairs at the Hotel George V, I was outside chatting up some of the other gumballers. Met some guys leaving early in a silver X5 who were with DC Shoes. I asked them if any other skateboarding people were coming, they said Tony Hawk was coming from London and maybe joining the rally a day late. I saw some semi-celebs today. There was Chris Eubank, a Brit and a former boxing champion. He was wearing a long tank top with short-shorts which made him look like he wasn’t wearing any pants, and he was galavanting around outside the hotel on his razor scooter causing trouble and posing for photos. I found Alex Roy ticketing an NYPD squadcar parked in the hotel’s turnaround. Pretty ironic considering Alex was wearing a full Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform, and the fact that we were in the middle of Paris. Also, Kim Schmitz was wandering around, and Maximillion Cooper spoke downstairs at our driver’s meeting. Over the next few days, We’ll be driving through France and Spain and taking a ferry to Morocco, where we’ll drive to Fez, and then turn back and drive all the way to the French Riviera, hopefully in time for the film festival at Cannes and the Grand Prix in Monaco.

Tags: 2004, alex roy, chris eubank, gumball 3000, gumball rally, hotel george v, kim schmitz, maximillion cooper, may 2004, may 5 2004, Paris, rally