Queen Anne Native

Best Plumbing

2010-01-14T22:33:00.000-08:00

Best Plumbing fixed everything up. Hot showers for everyone!

When I was in school, the owners of Best Plumbing sponsored a girl to be in local pageants -- the things where Miss Queen Anne goes on to compete for Seafair Queen, or something like that. A pretty girl wearing a "Miss Best Plumbing" sash. Life is good.

3 Things About Tankless Water Heaters

2010-01-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

1. Tankless water heaters require a certain amount of water pressure. If the hot water pressure in your bathtub is bad, the tankless heater will not turn on. When you were signing up to buy one, you mentioned your bad upstairs water pressure to the salesman, and he said that oh, it's fine, people have really bad water pressure in Europe. Guys come to install your heater but you can't get any hot water in the shower because of the low pressure. You will have to call a plumber tomorrow to have him address your pressure situation, or (as a stopgap measure) you will have to run hot water in a sink that has good pressure in order to fool the heater into turning on. This, however, will mean that you'll only get a trickle of hot water into the shower, since you're competing with the sink.

2. When the tankless water heater installers are done, they'll show you their work and will tell you how to work everything. You will mention to them that you smell gas (referring, of course, to natural gas, not to "water heater installers had sausages for breakfast" gas). They will say that they don't smell anything and that it's just residual. An hour later your head hurts and you leave to run an errand. An hour after that you come home and open the door and think "Whoa! Stinko!" and your head and chest start to hurt almost immediately. You go check on the cat to make sure she's not a goner. (She's hanging out by an open window upstairs, smart kitty.) An hour after that the installation company sends a guy who finds two leaks along the gas pipe that the other guys had been messing with, plus discovers that the installers didn't relight the pilot light in your ancient furnace (probably because they'd never seen a furnace that had to be manually relit).

3. A tankless water heater looks sort of like a gym locker hanging on the outside of the house.

A Pox on the Vermont Country Store: UPDATED

2009-07-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

Look out for the Vermont Country Store. If you go to one of those websites where there are codes for discounts, free shipping, etc., and grab a code and apply it to your order, the Vermont Country Store website will tell you that your code was accepted EVEN WHEN IT WASN'T. It leads you along, telling you on screen after screen that the discount will show up after checkout. But is the discount there after checkout? Noooooooo. And then when you write to them to point out that their website unfairly led you along, they don't offer to make any sort of amends other than apologizing for "the confusion." Why yes, it is "confusing" to be told that my code was accepted when it wasn't. In fact, it feels a lot like being LIED to.

I think I deserve free shipping since their website tricked me into paying for shipping.

It's not like it's hard to have an e-commerce site set up to tell customers that their code is going to be rejected. I shop online all the time, and like any sensible person I always hunt for discount codes. And every other site has told me immediately when the code was rejected.

I recommend only placing phone orders with them so you'll be able to find out right away if your coupon or code is any good.

UPDATE: After a couple more back-and-forth letters, the Vermont Country Store finally removed the shipping and handling costs that had been unfairly applied. I still advise people to order by phone, though!

Voting: How I Decide (When It's Not Obvious)

2009-06-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

When it's time for me to choose a candidate, I rely heavily on the statements in the voters' pamphlet. And since the candidates often have generic Seattle-ish views on things, here's what I look for in their statements to separate the sheep from the goats. (I'm going to call the candidates by male pronouns here; this isn't meant to imply anything other than that I dislike "s/he.")

1. Does the candidate offer specifics or is he vague? I'm not interested in a politician who talks about how we have "problems" (duh!) and claims that he will offer "solutions." I want to know what he thinks the problems are -- top five, maybe. I want to know exactly how he proposes to solve the problems and why we should believe he has the ability to do so.

2. Does the candidate have good endorsements and ratings? Endorsements from both sides of the aisle are particularly desirable (unless they come from Tim Eyman, which is pretty much a deal-breaker -- the "Biohazard: Keep Out" sign of local politics). I'm more impressed by endorsements from people and organizations I respect than I am by a paragraph about how the candidate loves the scenery of the Pacific Northwest. Who doesn't love that?

3. Does the candidate offer a coherent, readable statement? Can he stick to one tense throughout a section? Can he make all his bullet points parallel in sentence construction? Does he understand that he should end each sentence with a period rather than splicing several sentences together with commas? Has he made sure that the page is laid out for easy readability? Yeah, it's persnickety detail stuff. So is the job the candidate wants. I want the person who is running things to care so deeply about the details that he would never do the managerial equivalent of writing a statement in 20 minutes, running it through spell-check, and considering that a job well done. Everyone needs an editor. (I don't have one, so if you see any mistakes in here, that's why!)

So, how do you make a choice between Candidate A and Candidate B, who hold many of the same opinions? What are your deal-breakers?

Seattle Mayor and City Council Candidates

2009-06-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

So here are all the people running for mayor and for city council. http://tinyurl.com/mayfhp I'm having a really hard time getting energized about any of them. The viable ones all seem pretty generic so far. The ones who talk boldly about something mostly seem to talk about their opinion about the tunnel, which doesn't grab me because I don't have a strong opinion about the tunnel one way or the other. (I don't really care which solution they come up with for that -- all the solutions are bad and expensive. I'll be satisfied so long as they effin' pull themselves together, figure out that they are never going to make everyone happy, and do something before the viaduct flops down, crushing hundreds of people.)

What do you know about any of the candidates? (Something other than their opinions about the tunnel.) Fire me up about one of them! Compare and contrast please. What does your guy or gal have to offer that the others don't? Who will get some useful things done? Post a comment and tell all!

Put Away Your Sippy Cup: You're 35

2009-06-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

What's with all the water bottles and commuter mugs that people haul around with them? I don't want anyone to keel over from dehyradration, of course. But what is going on that in a generally temperate, moist area such as this (we're not exactly Phoenix!) people are toting around water bottles every day? Back in the far-off days beyond recall (the 70s, 80s, and even much of the 90s) people regularly walked from place to place, rode public transportation, etc., without squirting an arc of water into their mouths every 90 seconds as if they were in a grueling marathon. Seems like the few Queen Anne-ites who go to church can't even make it through a Sunday service without bringing along sustenance. Not only are the toddlers all sucking away on teeth-rotting juice boxes and nibbling Goldfish crackers, but their parents can't make it through 75 minutes of a worship service without refreshments. You'd think they had all walked there in the blazing sun rather than having driven the 14 blocks in an air-conditioned Volvo.

So what's up? Are people bored and fidgety when they're not texting, unable to sit still like big boys and girls? Such bad managers of time that they need breakfast and church to overlap? So accustomed to having their own way that it never occurs to them to think "Hey, is it appropriate to be glugging and slushing an iced Americano during the Lord's Prayer?"

A Pox on Access Buses

2009-06-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

I had a nice day driving my mom to appointments earlier in the week, so now I'm just finishing up all the work I had to reschedule. Glad it could be rescheduled. Of course, now I have to figure out when to do the stuff I was supposed to do today....

I'm going berserk about Access buses. Access has denied my mom's request for service. She's in her mid 80s and uses a walker due to disequilibrium plus she has bad knees and back pain that suddenly grabs her if she gets jostled or has to make any sudden movements. She has to move very carefully and not be rushed or there's a huge chance that she'll come crashing down and break something.

It's not like she's one of those whiny people who pout about having to ride buses. As a non-driver, she's been riding buses and streetcars in Seattle since the 1920s. She can still manage on those buses where there's just one step up, but she can't manage the more usual buses with the elevator platform. She has tried and it's just waaay too dangerous for her. She gets dizzy from the ride up and has to stand perfectly still for many many long seconds after the lift stops moving and then again after stepping off it -- she can't just briskly hobble over to the first empty seat. Most of the drivers get impatient and fling the bus out into traffic while she is still lowering herself onto her seat. She needs 100% of her drivers to understand the concept of "make sure frail, dizzy people are sitting down before you jerk the bus around." Only about 10% get it. Every time she rides a regular bus, she is a broken hip waiting to happen.

Access sent her their denial along with itineraries showing how she could get to her doctor's appointments in a series of one of two transfers -- assuming that all the buses, both ways, are the type she can get onto. "Oh, those routes usually have the kind of bus you can use!" burbles the dip at Metro, as if my frail, elderly, handicapped mom is supposed to risk ending up stranded five miles from home because today happened to be one of the days when the right shape buses were all on other routes. #$&%!

Spooky Parts of Seattle

2009-05-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Years ago (20 or more?) I remember either reading in The Weekly or hearing on KUOW a story that included something about how there was a certain part of North Seattle where the Native Americans (of the 1800s) didn't go -- or at least they didn't live there and passed through quickly because the area was considered haunted or full of some kind of bad vibe. I can't remember exactly what the boundaries were but based on how it feels, I think it must be somewhere around 15th Avenue NE and 105th-ish. I'm looking at a street map so I'm not sure, but it's where 15th dips down and goes over a little bridge through the spooky, foggy woods. I'm not especially given to feeling ghostly presences or anything like that, but always get the willies there and expect to see a Sasquatch or one of the Knights Who Say "Ni" in my peripheral vision as I drive over the bridge.

Does anyone remember that story or have some other knowledge of where the haunted place is supposed to be? Which places in Seattle make you feel peculiar?

Queen Anne Farmers Market

2009-05-22T09:45:00.001-07:00

Check out the website for the Queen Anne Farmers Market and start planning delicious summer meals. http://qafma.org/ They have a really nice poster this year too. It'll look nice framed and hanging near your Stickley reproduction chair in your 1920 bungalow.

Market Hours and Location
3-7 pm, Thursdays, June 18 to October 1
West Crockett Street at Queen Anne Ave. N.

I can hardly wait. Last year we got totally spoiled on the berries, especially those delicate local strawberries that are NOTHING like the sour, styrofoam monstrosities at the grocery store. OMG. Lots of good salmon, too. Lots of good everything. Plus, of course, the aesthetic pleasure of walking home with a string bag full of honest-looking produce, feeling like I must look just like Audrey Hepburn in spite of my big-butt mom jeans and sturdy mailman-type walking shoes.

I can't quite figure out where they mean when they say "West Crockett Street at Queen Anne Ave. N." Is it going to be on the sidewalk and parking strips along Crockett? Or is the street going to be closed along that one block so it can be in the street? Will we be allowed to park in the McClure lot? (Maybe someone from http://qafma.org/ will pop in and tell me!)

We're growing our own tomatoes this year...though I suppose I'll be dependent on the farmers market until about mid-July. I was hoping to grow some kind of meaty heirloom type that would mature in our short season. But before I could investigate that, Mr. QANative showed up with a couple Early Girl plants. I always find Early Girl kind of runny -- too much of that goo inside. But of course preferable to store tomatoes, and they'll actually be ripe before Halloween. I think I'll plant some onions (just to use as green onions) later today. And basil.

Byzantine Garbage Chart

2009-05-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

These new garbage/food+yard waste/recycling guidelines are going to drive me effin' berserk. I should be such an easy sell on these thing -- I'm greenish and honestly try to improve at it, I'm a rule-follower, I've been using one of those compost cones for years, I was taught to sing "Litterbug, litterbug, shame on you" in kindergarten.... But I'm spending waaaay too much time these days measuring the diameter of lids and poring over the byzantine garbage chart, trying to determine whether a butter wrapper counts as food-soiled coated paper (it's food-soiled and it's paper but it's not plastic-coated paper) or is really more like a greasy pizza box. Surely if a paper towel with butter on it goes into the food bin, then a piece of paper with butter on it goes there too? But what if I'm wrong?

And the horror: I'm having to open up the ancient yogurts that got pushed back behind the condiments last February, scoop the sour nastiness out, and then wash out the little nuclear cooling towers that it's packaged in so I can recycle them. I'm using water to wash my garbage. Or rather, my recycling. That doesn't feel very green. I'm just going to have to be a lot more careful not to buy unneeded yogurt. The only thing I've really got figured out is pizza. Would that everything were packaged in a greasy pizza box.

Ugly Sign on West McGraw

2009-05-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

There's a dentist's office on West McGraw that has been going through a series of terrible signage for the last couple years. I don't know if it's the same dentist trying over and over to express himself or if it's a series of dentists each with a different regrettable aesthetic. The most recent one is a video photo display like you'd see out in an Aurora strip mall. It shows a close-up of some guy's mouth with big shiny-white Joe Biden teeth. For a while, there were a bunch of different photos that would go by in succession, including a close-up of some teeth almost obliterated by an untrimmed Wilford Brimley moustache.

What Happened to Safeway?

2009-05-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

You know how Safeway on upper QA did some remodeling a couple years ago? I can hardly stand to go in there anymore. Did they make it feel all grubby and downmarket on purpose so there would be a place for "Old Queen Anne" people (like me) who feel like they're not dressed nicely enough to go to Metropolitan Market? Everything feels squished and messy and the lights are dim...and not in an "ambiance" way. Just in a gloomy "need stronger lightbulbs" way.

The pharmacy area in particular doesn't inspire confidence with all that crap everywhere -- cardboard displays and brochures and vaguely medical knick-knacks competing for space. You can hardly find a place to interact with the pharmacist, there's so much stuff on the counter. Pharmacies should be uncluttered and white and shiny, like a hospital, not like a 7-11 counter. I'm going to go check out Bartell's and see how neat and shiny their pharmacy area is.

And it seems like half the time I'm at Safeway, loud yahoo Country music is playing, which only makes the whole place seem even sketchier and less like I want to spend any time there.

Counterbalance Bumpety-Bump

2009-05-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

When they were creating that new little park at the foot of the Counterbalance, why didn't they shave a few feet off the corner so buses wouldn't have to go bumpety-bump over the curb?

I heard that there is free WiFi in that park. Is that true? I've never seen anyone sitting there with a computer.

Nicey-Nice at Metropolitan Market

2009-05-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

What happened at Metropolitan Market on lower QA? Did they all go to a mandatory company retreat and renew their "treat the customers nicely" vows? Really, it was plenty nice there already -- there were a couple of poker-faced baggers, too serious about bagging things just right to have any mental energy left for small talk, but in general everyone was really pleasant.

A few weeks ago the niceness and service got borderline oppressive. Nobody would let me take my own groceries to the car, and the one time I did manage to wrestle my cart away and run off without assistance, some manager type who was lurking in the garage like Deep Throat beetled over as I was unloading my groceries and wanted to make sure I had been offered help.

Maybe I suddenly look feeble, like someone who seriously needs help with grocery bags. Or maybe I fit the description of a well-known grocery cart thief and they're watching me.

The new Tang color scheme in the elevator is going to give me a seizure. It's almost as bad as the downtown library elevators. When did it become the style to have elevators decorated in colors that are only appropriate for safety vests?

I see on the Metropolitan Market website that some of the ZooTunes concerts are already sold out. Check in to see if the show you want still is available: http://metropolitan-market.com/zooTunes/

Queen Anne High School Alumni Association

2009-05-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

The website of the Queen Anne High School Alumni Association, http://www.qagrizzlies.org/, is a good source for old Grizzlies.

Is it time for your reunion?
http://www.qagrizzlies.org/Reunions/Reunions.aspx

Krishnaswami-Salman Duo

2009-05-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Queen Anne residents in concert!

Come to Town Hall on May 29, 2009, at 7:30. On the Simple Measures website it gives these prices:

"Simplest Seating" (Festival Seating In Back of Hall): $5
General Admission - Front Section: $20
"Deluxe" (Premium Seats + Champagne Reception): $50

Watch the preview video:
Krishnaswami-Salman Duo

(From the YouTube page) Rajan Krishnaswami and Mark Salman talk about their upcoming recital at Town Hall Seattle on May 29th The recital will be a benefit concert for Simple Measures. For tickets and information visit our website http://www.simplemeasures.org/ Come hear the magic that 18 years of innovative collaboration can create. The Krishnaswami-Salman duo will present its first Seattle recital since 2005, featuring works by great masters, interpreted through the prism of experience. Sonatas by Shostakovich, Debussy and Chopin, and short works by Faure, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt.