Kicker Josh Brown is leaving the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks organization couldn’t get the deal done with him.
Brown is one of the better kickers in the NFL, I really hate to see the team lose him. Who he’ll be replaced by is anyone’s guess, but I have to admit to having a sinking feeling about this. Prove me wrong, Seahawks. Free agency isn’t showing us much excitement thus far.
Technorati Tags: Josh Brown, Seahawks, kicker, NFL
Because I have lost any desire to post something substantive, here’s a video. I am being forced to re-do all the work I had begun for my India trip, this the loss of posting mojo.
Enjoy while I go make voodoo dolls.
*Term/title lovingly stolen from Uppity
Lavender fills the house. The Paia-made prayer flag decorates our living room. A tiki sits silent and powerful on the fireplace mantle. I’m wearing the uber-comfy Crocs1 that I bought in Lahaina.
It’s been almost three weeks since we went to Maui and had the best vacation we’ve ever had, and I still don’t know if I have the words to describe it. Read more…
Technorati Tags: Maui
Or something like that. Taken from Pisco.
The Rules
Rule 1) List three reasons for your blogging.
Rule 2) List the rules.
Rule 3) Tag three others with the thread.
The story of Lt. Laurel Hester‘s battle to allow her partner have death benefits was one I followed throughout. Now, director Cynthia Wade has won an Oscar for her documentary about Hester’s struggle. (Go here to read an earlier article about Hester.)
Hester, who worked as a detective on the force for 25 years before battling cancer, took on the locally elected Ocean County Freeholders to give the financial security of her pension to her partner, Stacie Andree, a right automatically afforded to heterosexual married couples.
The film is a look at the LGBT community‘s effort to face down bigotry interwoven with the touching journey of a couple coming to terms with the end of their time together.
Congratulations to Cynthia, and to everyone who worked on the film. And most of all, thank you to the late Lt. Hester and her surviving partner, Stacie Andree. Your courage to fight, and later present your story, is very admirable- and we are the richer for it.
Technorati Tags: Lt. Laurel Hester, Ocean County, LGBT community
I’m sure this panda was deep in reverie about bamboo forests and cool air.
Talk about being shocked back to reality.
This is a very interesting profile of the late Ric Weiland, the former Microsoft executive who committed suicide in 2006.
Weiland was a local Seattleite who was one of the first 5 employees at Microsoft. He retired at age 35 after helping Bill Gates and Paul Allen build Microsoft into a behemoth success. I read about his death with sadness, as it was published that he struggled for many years with depression. It just goes to show you, even with the best care some people still do not get the best of the disease.
It’s been a long time coming, but Weiland’s extensive estate has finally been settled. And what a series of gifts he left behind for the gay community, the environment, and others:
Weiland has left $65 million to the Pride Foundation in Seattle and 10 nonprofit organizations, believed to be the largest estate gift ever given to the gay and lesbian community in the U.S.
His generosity didn’t stop there.
Weiland left $160 million, the majority of his estate, to charity. That includes a gift to Stanford University estimated to be worth $60 million, which the university said is the largest bequest it has ever received. Weiland also gave significant amounts toward environmental protection and scientific research.
All very worthy causes. But I am particularly interested in the gift to the Pride Foundation. Prior to this gift, the foundation’s annual budget was $2.5 million. The Pride Foundation has said the money is earmarked for anti-discrimination campaigns and programs to help youths, scholarships, and leadership development.
I can’t help but feel this will help advance equality issues in the Northwest; the additional capital will allow these programs to flourish and hopefully touch many, many people’s lives positively.
A formidable, compassionate, and expansive legacy. But I can’t help imagining what Ric Weiland might have accomplished if he were still here. I hope wherever his spirit lies, its does so in peace.
Technorati Tags: Ric Weiland, Microsoft executive, estate, gay community, Pride Foundation, equality issues
…the redneck-looking1 asshole I saw punch his dog on my way to work this morning:
So help me, if I hadn’t traffic behind me and a sudden stop wouldn’t have caused a chain reaction, I would’ve stopped and gotten your address and plate number.
You better pray I don’t find your house on the way back home today, because if I can recognize it, I WILL be calling animal control. And here’s a tip- the next time you want your dog to get into the back of your pick up with no steps, how about HELPING HIM! He was scrambling to get in because you hadn’t lifted a finger to keep him from sliding.
Honking the horn got your attention- I hope it woke you up the fact that you were seen in public abusing your dog.
I have a long memory. Sucks to be you.
Technorati Tags: dog, animal control, abusing
…last night, trying to stay awake to watch Boston Legal.
I wish I were as cute as this little guy.
Some interesting pre-season action happening for the Seattle Storm. The team traded their fourth round draft pick for Detroit’s Swin Cash.
The Seattle Storm acquired Swin Cash from the Detroit Shock on Tuesday in exchange for the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft.
Cash, a two-time WNBA All-Star, averaged 11.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season. She was a member of the WNBA champion Shock teams in 2003 and 2006.
Cash and Sue Bird have played together, and quite well, in the past. Here’s hoping they can rekindle the court magic and make the coming season an even more exciting one.
Technorati Tags: Seattle Storm, Swin Cash, WNBA, Sue Bird
Heard upon landing in San Francisco from Maui:
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to reality. We hope you appreciated giving us your business here at United as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”
Bitch.
As I sit with the roaring surf behind me, the sun lighting the sky, I’m truly relaxed. It feels so nice to say and feel that after 4 solid months of go, go, go.
To get an idea of the adventures we’ve seen already, check out this and this. On today’s agenda, the Haleakala Volcanic crater.
After coffee and breakfast, though.
If you want to see our Maui uploads so far, here ya go. Aloha and later gators!
Dead dog on the highway
Median cats are growling at me
I turn my lights on brighter
Im counting through the night ride
And its one more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
One more song for the maker
Chickenman chickenman1
This story reminds me of something I’ve meant to blog about for ages.
A Wild Wings ’n Things store owner in this Teller County city is fighting city hall over Chicken Man, an employee in a costume, and her right to have him stand along U.S. Highway 24.
The city told her to bring him inside. She refuses.
It’s a story that has ruffled a lot of feathers in Woodland Park. It has become a focal point in a community debate about how far local government should go to enforce sign laws and about how much this rapidly growing mountain town should try to cling to its rustic charm.
These days, Chicken Man waves an American flag instead of a sign enticing drivers with wings and beer.
“I’m an American. I live in the United States of America. That’s why he’s carrying the flag,” owner Lisa Branden said Wednesday.
Having Chicken Man along the highway violates sign laws designed to maintain the town’s “mountain grandeur,” city manager David Buttery said.
At stake, Branden said, is the survival of her business and the jobs of two employees who dress as Chicken Man.
On our way to work everyday, we drive through an industrial section of South Seattle. There are all manner of companies- painting, plumbing, construction- there’s even a roofing company. This is where we see the Chickenman. Some days, he’s the Gingerbread Man from ‘Shrek’. Other days he’s a giant ape or a ‘Nacho Libre’ -esque wrestler. He stands on the corner with a sign advertising this roofing business, waving at cars. He stands out there even if it’s cold, raining, or snowing. He never fails to wave.
After seeing him daily, I’ve begun waving when I see him. On the days where he’s not out there, I wonder if he’s alright.
Bayou and I speculate that he’s an injured worker, and this is how they are keeping him on the payroll and insured. Or perhaps he’s an illegal immigrant. We don’t know. But we do know that we miss seeing him when we drive by, and we give him silent kudos for standing out there almost every day. It’s a thankless job, he’s no doubt had stuff thrown at him, been cursed, and had sore feet for weeks. But he’s out there anyway.
Here’s to you, Chickenman.
There are a lot of neat, grass-roots driven charities.
And then there are the people who do things their own way:
It’s like an episode from the old TV show “The Millionaire,” in which a man who never appeared onscreen — except for his hands — gave out shockingly large checks to people on the condition that the source of the money never be revealed.
It was a script come to life for a couple named Alissa and Barry as they ate last Thursday at Dr. Salami’s Cafe in Pella, Iowa. He basically just came into the restaurant and just came in and started talking to us,” Barry said in an exclusive interview on “Good Morning America” today. He was most interested in whether they had any children, Barry said.
After they replied that Alissa did indeed have a 2-year-old child, the man slid a check across the table and asked the couple to fill out the check with any amount they wished. The two assumed he was joking and made the check out for $100,000.
The benefactor signed the check and said, “I’m good for it,” Alissa said.
And he was. The only conditions he gave the couple:
-They were not to reveal their last names or to identify the source of the money
-They were to use the cash to buy or build a house
-If they have a child together, they must name the child after the benefactor
The last one is sort of lame, but hey, he had the cash and they’d be looking a gift horse in the mouth to do otherwise. And hey, I can relate to what he was feeling- he had no grandkids, so he feels a loss of legacy. And really, unless his name is something godawful like Nesbitt or Otto or worse, it’s not such a big deal.
Random acts of kindness and generosity like this are inspiring. Perhaps you and I don’t have $100g’s to toss around, but I’m sure we could something similarly random and kind for someone. The small gifts add up. If I ever had a fortune like this guy, I would totally do similar things. Except the name requirement.
Technorati Tags: charities, cash, Random, generosity
For so many reasons!
Firstly, we had a nice trip to REI to pick up a $7.60 Jansport backpack we bought for Maui. (God how I love REI and their outlet site; such good deals!)
Then, we had a fun get-together with bloggers we admire, Jen & Sara of We Are So Much Fun. I see Jen was surreptitiously blogging the Super Bowl party she and Sara so wonderfully organized. Sneaky sneaky! Seriously, it was a lot of fun and w also got to meet fellow blogger Amanda, a Midwesterner like yours truly. There were also lots of other cool folks and we had much fun conversing and playing Football/Commercial Bingo. In fact, I won- you can see my awesome prize here.
Lastly, I am SO PLEASED the Giants won. They pulled out a scrappy, determined win. And Eli Manning- well, quite simply, he played tough and he played consistent. With all the ridicule and nay-saying he’s put up with in the media, I am sure he is one vindicated Mississippi boy.
But by a long shot the best part of the day was meeting up with our new-old friends and meeting their excellent friends. Nothing quite so invigorating. And just what we needed to start the week off right. Good times, people, good times.
Technorati Tags: bloggers, Super Bowl
Or, subtitled “Pre-Spring Rituals I’m Not Ready For”
Reading through my favorite blogs this morning I came upon Guy’s post about pruning fruit trees. A lot of terminology I’m unfamiliar with1 totally had me freaking out.
When we bought this property2 I didn’t think too much about the various trees on the lot. We have some plum trees and an apple tree. We also have a lilac tree. The rest are unknown to us. The lot also came with three rose bushes.
Guy mentioned it was time to prune fruit trees, and I read with interest. And then I realized we are so out of our element and possibly in over our heads. My natural reaction to this? “I’m paying someone to handle this shit.” Read more…
Technorati Tags: pruning, fruit trees, plum trees
Despite being a fan of all things flora, and having an appreciation for well-manicured yards1 I do not seem to know how to keep plants alive.
My past history exhibits my Black Thumb Syndrome pretty well, although in my defense I was set up to fail both times. In 1996 I was dating a woman who I fondly refer to as the Narcissist. She was pretty, she knew it, and she wasn’t all that concerned with her vanity. Despite her love affair with herself, she did a lot of unselfish things and liked to give gifts. She bought me a bonsai tree, knowing that I’d wanted one for some time. Read more…
Technorati Tags: plants, bonsai tree
When I worked at a different office for the Cool Company, I had the good fortune to meet my friend Cammie Owen. Since dogs were allowed at that office, I had been bringing Sumi daily to work. Cammie, being a dog lover, stopped to admire her and we became fast friends. We have a lot in common- about the same age, photographers, and major animal lovers.
Not long after Hurricane Katrina hit, we saw Cammie at our favorite West Seattle dog park, Westcrest Park. She told us she was hoping to adopt a rescue from New Orleans or the Gulf Coast. The next time we saw her, she had a chow mix name Mohawk, or Mo. Read more…
Technorati Tags: dogs, Hurricane Katrina, West Seattle, dog park, Westcrest Park, rescue
A pretty damn landmark decision just came down in NY State. A women who married her partner in Canada took her case for comity to the Appellate Court- and won. You can read the judgment here.
The Appellate Court ruled, UNANIMOUSLY, that New York State must recognize our valid Canadian marriage.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Harold L. Galloway, J.), dated July 27, 2006 in an action for, inter alia, a declaratory judgment. The judgment granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment to the extent of granting judgment in favor of defendants declaring, inter alia, that plaintiff’s marriage to Lisa XXXXXXXXXX in the Province of Ontario, Canada, is not entitled to recognition in New York State and denied plaintiff’s cross motion for partial summary judgment.
It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion is denied in its entirety, the cross motion is granted in part, and judgment is granted in favor of plaintiff as follows:
It is ADJUDGED and DECLARED that plaintiff’s marriage to Lisa XXXXXXXXXX in the Province of Ontario, Canada is entitled to recognition in New York State.
This…..is…..HUGE!
Congratulations Pat and Lisa!
Other articles can be found here and here.
It will be very interesting to see what happens down the road. Will the NY legislature move to deny marriage recognition to gays in light of this decision? Quite possibly.
But if they do, they better be prepared for a long, long fight. We are not going anywhere, our voices will only get louder, and we are prepared to dig in. Pat and Lisa’s fight is our fight in every state; every victory just adds momentum to the force that is the marriage equality movement.
Oregonians, get your domestic partnerships AWN!
Congratulations, my friends. It’s definitely a step in the right direction!
Technorati Tags: Oregon, domestic partnerships
