Perils of Caffeine in the Evening

We walked to the grocery store last weekend, and encountered some photo ops. As we passed a bus stop on Meridian, I saw the forlorn shoe below in the parking strip. I tried to imagine the Quasimodo gait with which its owner ran for the bus wearing only its mate.

In this other pic, I’m accommodating a pair of my sycophants (psychopants?)

As we exited the store, we encountered this display for Mad Housewife wine. We thought it would appeal a lot more to its target market if each bottle came with a Ginsu knife.

Here’s
a picture from my seat at the Yankees-Mariners game last Tuesday. 
Derek Jeter’s at the plate.  Carl Pavano pitched a masterful
complete game for the Yankees and won 6-0.  One highlight was a
line-drive home run by Alex Rodriguez into the left field stands, just
a laser shot that probably didn’t go above 20-25 feet in the air.

The picture is actually two photos stitched together (with software).

Rexroth’s Daughter asked me last week to report on how dinner was at Etta’s Seafood Grill. 
Etta’s is one of 4 restaurants run by chef Tom Douglas, and is located
at the end of the Pike Place Market.  I had Dungeness crab cakes,
one of the signature dishes there, and my friends each had a tasty
looking halibut dish.  I have to say I prefer the crab cakes at
Chinook’s (an Anthony’s restaurant).  I think it’s a matter of
philosophy.  The Chinook’s offering is almost 100% crab
meat.  Etta’s is not stingy with crab, it just has a certain
amount of savory additive that gives it a distinctive flavor and
texture.  I like it fine, not complaining. I just like me the
unadorned crabmeat. The merlot from l’Ecole No 41 vineyard was good enough that we chose not to spoil its aftertaste with any beer at Safeco.

Does anyone ever wonder why prices for everything seem to be going through the roof, but the government continues to insist that inflation is “tepid” or “benign”?  Here’s last week’s news from the WSJ:

 The Labor Department’s consumer price index rose 0.5% in April, largely due to a spike in energy prices, which made their biggest increase in two years, after increasing 0.6% in March. But the core index, which excludes food and energy items, was flat, after climbing 0.4% in March. Wall Street called for a 0.4% increase in the overall CPI, and a 0.2% gain in the core.  The report eased concerns that prices were accelerating too rapidly, suggesting the Federal Reserve won’t need to raise interest rates more aggressively to contain inflation.

So, they throw out everything whose price skyrocketed - gasoline, food, housing, health care, air travel, tequila - and rest their beleagured eyes on this “core” market basket of shit nobody would be caught dead buying, and the economic sector they represent:

• 
  
  Postum (food & staples)


• 
  
  Perry Como retrospective on DVD (entertainment)


• 
  
  AMC Pacer GlasPak conversion kit (automotive)


• 
  
  Wooden replacement handles for Ronco fondue forks (consumer goods)


• 
  
  Multiuser CP/M operating system license for the DEC Rainbow (technology)


• 
  
  A Call To Service: My Vision For A Better America by John Kerry (hardback) (media)

I think the hardest part about being a government economist would be not running down the halls shreiking with laughter.

We
walked up to Phinney Ridge to visit a new bookstore, and stopped to
photograph some odd stuff that we encountered.  Above is another
in what’s becoming a collection of pictures I have of outrageously
tricked out VWs.  The sign below is evocative of the X-Files
episode of the same name, although I believe it’s synctactically
incorrect (should be “La Chupacabra”?)  I was strangely drawn to
the Space Needle lamp, but it wasn’t for sale.

Since it’s all the rage to generate excitement on your blog by having
guest bloggers, I’ve invited an old acquaintance of mine to guest blog
here at Perils of Caffeine. I met him when he was 16 and the
editor of his high school newspaper. When he was in 7th grade,
Jim Leyland, the former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Florida
Marlins, was a senior, a sports star (natch) and went by the name of
Jimbo.

My young friend’s math teacher was a wiseass guy from New York with a
bit of a mean streak, and hung the name “Philbo” on the chubby little
putz in his math class in what he probably thought was a brilliant bit
of irony. The name stuck, but the kid wore it indifferently, as
few, if any, of the other kids were fully aware of its sarcastic
etymology.

His career at the school newspaper had its ups & downs. As
sports editor in his junior year, he incurred the ire of the football
team by referring to a 44-0 defeat as a “holocaust”. His editor,
the baseball coach, stood by him, however, and things got worked out
without his having to make an appearance at practice without pads.

In his senior year, he began to fancy himself (despite a paucity of
evidence) a writer and, with the latitude of being co-editor of the
paper, started writing a column.  He has agreed to submit one of
these columns as our guest blog.   Check him out!

This is from a “humor” column I wrote for the school newspaper as a
senior in high school.  I stumbled across the stash of these old
papers last week, and had some fun reading through them.

Mike tagged me with this, probably in order to draw out in more embarrassing detail what a weird musical sense I have:

• Total volume of music on my hard drive: (I’m counting my 40gb Creative Nomad Zen Xtra, since I only have music on my computer long enough to download it and rip it) 13.54 gigabytes - that’s 257 albums, 2,573 tracks.


• Last CD bought (download): Within Me by Camille Bloom.  She’s a relatively new local act that owes a lot to Ani DiFranco.


• Last CD bought (store): Say What You Mean by Maktub  Another local act that we’ve heard live quite a few times.  Reggie’s voice is so versatile, he can sound like Otis Redding on one cut and Soundgarden on the next.


• Song playing right now: Elephant from Who Is This America? by Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.  This New York-based band is a lot of fun to see.  They travel with 15 or so musicians and have a terrific horn section.  We’re hoping to see them June 10th at Chop Suey.


• Five Songs I listen to a lot: I tend to select albums instead of individual songs.  One reason, I suppose, is that I’m too lazy to create playlists on my mp3.  Here are 5 albums I’ve been dialing up frequently recently




• Street Signs by Ozomatli


• Brazilian Girls  by Brazilian Girls


• President Alien by Yerba Buena


• When It Falls by Zero7


• Blue Scholars by Blue Scholars

It strikes me that I haven’t been playing singer/songwriters very much.  I own and like people like Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith, Neko Case, Ani DiFranco, Tom Waits.  I shy away, I think, from an entire album at one time.

A friend called the other night and offered me a ticket to tonight’s baseball game between Seattle and the Yankmes.  Confession:  I’ve not been to Safeco field yet, I’ve been in a snit over the way the stadium got built (slid through the state legislature after being defeated in a popular vote), and also over the penurious tone-deafness of ownership in its subsequent personnel dealings.

Well, the stadium’s not coming down any time soon, and I pay for it every time I buy a meal in King County, so it’s time to extract the corn cob from my butt and go see a game.  We’re meeting at the exquisite Etta’s Seafood restaurant in the Pike Place Market, then on to the game.

Film at 11!

Well, that certainly was fun yesterday.  Thanks again, Birdie.  I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over 100 hits on this gasbag in a single day before.  Scads of your fans drove by hoping to see something smart, and kept checking the address when they saw this dingy double-wide.

It will be fun to see what the other guys have to say as the week progresses.  Ulak preceded me on Sunday; Mark of the droll and witty Fried Green al-Qaedas clues in the clueless today.

I’m a guest blogger today over at Birdie’s most exquisite Beauty Dish
site. Birdie’s a nominal Avon Lady, but she uses this as a ruse
with which to populate her stories with interesting characters and
madcap situations. It’s kind of like having a duck blind in a
bird sanctuary. Every now & then she’ll actually give a
beauty tip. I’ve yet to try one.

All this week is Dude Week there,
with a different male guest blogger each day. I feel like a
supermodel on a runway (hope that Airbus misses me). Be sure to
leave a comment on my article - I’m competing for a pair of nose hair trimmers.