It’s been maybe six months since I’ve seen a high centered truck on Roy, but every time I do, it makes me laugh.   You would think after the bus incident all commercial drivers would have gotten the advice “If you miss your exit, don’t just start taking random streets, call in”, but hey maybe not.    

I didn’t get the real story here, but my guess is that this car carrier missed the Olive exit, took Lakeview and for some absolutely stupid reason, decided to head up Belmont.    I counted 5 cop cars.  I hope they bill the driver for their time. 
 

Unless you get the paper delivered (physically, not RSS), it was impossible to get a hard copy of today’s Times or PI.   We walked all over the hill, only to find empty paper boxes on every block.  Every single cafe copy was gone, and we even got laughed at by a few convenience store clerks.    We found our copy (one per person, quickly running out) at the Seattle Times headquarters, and even got a ‘commemorative plastic sleeve’ for archiving our historical memorabilia.

Overheard at the Times,

“i don’t know why we didn’t print more”

“if only it was like this every day”

It’s not often that you see a cop run down a suspect on Broadway, but there we were, walking to an election night party, when 4 police cars came whirling up the street.  One cop jumped out and started running up Broadway towards The Alley, and aprehended the suspect.  Although the officer on the scene told me it was a car break-in, CentralDistrictNews Scanner reported it as a mini crime spree, and we got to see it come to a close.    Hopefully that was the end of the crazy crime for tonight.  Have fun at your election parties!

I noticed a stage going up over at RPlace today.   Apparently, they’re setting up for tonight’s block party for the Gay Softball World Series.   Tomorrow, the party moves over to Purr and will be going until 2AM.    They’ve been doing some testing of the sound system, and it does kick out quite the phat beat, so if you’re living in the neighborhood, you may as well just go down and dance, because you won’t be getting any sleep.

So I know I’m probably just being a neighborhood busybody here, but leaving your mostly empty gas can chained to a telephone pole on a residential street is probably just a bad idea. The fire department has been called, and they informed me that it is mixed fuel, most likely for a scooter, and they’re going to come back tonight and see if it’s gone. If not, they’re cutting the lock and taking it. If this is your can, and I have to say, it’s a nice one, please put it in your garage, or hall closet, or some place shady and out of sight. People do stupid things, and although taking a picture and blogging it is probably pretty dumb, it’s by far one of the safer things a random passerby can do.

We stopped by the park for weekend fun in the sun, and got to see the start of the Seattle Alleycats “Posse on Broadway” race.    From the racers I asked, the race is blind, you only know the next stop in the race when you get to the destination given to you from your last stop.   Some estimated the race could be around 25 miles, with all the stops being listed in mix-a-lots rap.   For those there (or within earshot) that didn’t know the lyrics, there was a racer with a loudspeaker strapped to him playing the track.   There were some 40 people signed up, and the race starts and ends in Cal Anderson over by the playground.     Looking over the other race results at the Alleycats Myspace, it looks like there will be a pretty kicking afterparty, prizes for winners, and a big pile of fun for everyone involved.

Probably the best bit of knowing this was all happening was when I walked home and saw the POSSE UP tear sheet in front of the hole that used to be Taco Bell.  That sort of thing really twists my brain up.

For those of you that missed it, the Rubber Duck Regatta was a blast. Along with the ducks and bullhorns, there were jugglers, hula hoops, banjo music and even a bride (totally unrelated park fun). Top that off with some good splashing in the fountain and everyone seemed entertained. The rule of the Regatta was simple. Everyone drops in their ducks at the top and whoever gets to the end first wins bragging rights. Corprew, the organizer (who also pulled together the total eclipse of the heart singalong on teletubby hill in February) brought a bag of 20 marked ducks for those who were duck challenged (I got one marked B!), and anyone who wanted a shot, got one. Some people decorated their ducks, some were pre-formed ducky devils, decked out in tuxedos or sunglasses. There was even a Hippo and a Paddleboat. Almost universally, the smallest bath toys won. The Hippo pretty much always came in DFL.

My duck didn’t do very well, but my son got soaked playing chase and pickup for the ducks stuck in the minefield. Someone even gave him a decorated ducky to take home. Good times.

BTW, Wesa won the last race, she’s got her pictures up at metblogs

Miss the pride dyke march on Broadway today?   I didn’t even know it was happening, and only figured it out because some people had set up chairs in front of the Urban Outfitters.    Thanks random strangers!

Here’s some pictures in a handy-dandy Flickr Set.

This just appeared on the corner of Mercer and Summit. 10 points to those who remember what was there before. More points awarded to those that can provide a history of that space. Super ultra points go to those that can provide pictures.

Googling a bit off some overheard info that it was an art gallery and having a party, Cairo has a MySpace, a blog, and is an interesting new addition to the neighborhood.

From the cairo blog.

Cairo is a forum for creative inquiry and exposure, showcasing visual arts, design, performance, sound, film, and artist-in-residence opportunities. We renegotiate the traditional relationships between artist and institution in partnership with our visiting artists, and, in the process, create an ever-evolving arts space open to all kinds of circumstance.

Cairo is a gallery, a boutique, and a working artist’s studio. In addition to our ongoing arts exhibitions, always available in the gallery are independent arts publications, emerging artist flat-files, and our own collection of unique Cairo apparel.

They’re also having a party this Friday Saturday. Whoops

This morning, the Seattle Times got to report that the SPD and the FBI raided a bunch of strip clubs. They’ve got video and quotes from officials and everything. Here at Capitol Hill Seattle, we’ve got my first hand account (and lousy camera phone pictures) of the raid of the Taco Bell.

We were walking home from an awesome dinner at Queen Sheba, and happen to see 3 police (in some sort of swat gear) pull a battering ram, a crowbar and and a big old sledgehammer from their car at the old QFC. They weren’t in a hurry, and they weren’t being sneaky, so I asked them if they were practicing. They said “yes” (actual quote), then proceeded to bash in the big metal back door of the old Taco Bell.