Field agent Brian reports on a mystery Nickerson Street storefront:

The only piano repair shop received a new logo “Wexley School for Girls”. Now I thought this was an awfully run down, small space for a school. Well, it happens to be that Wexley is a very abstract advertising firm. Check out their website [wexley.com] — possibly the most bizarre business website I’ve ever seen. They’ve done marketing for Diadora, Nike, ESPN, and other companies. wow. (via lifeofbrian)

The site is definitely an interesting Flash-based journey of pseudo-salesmanship with a catchy themesong.

Is there a storefront in town that’s left you curious? For instance, you probably already know that the typewriter store on Olive is actually the Stumbing Monk, a smoke-free pub focused on Belgian style beers. And the “Flowers” on University Way is a restaurant and bar. Send us your favorites or unsolved mysteries and maybe we’ll investigate!

Last year, after some quite persistent nagging, his Royal Grinchliness finally agreed to go to the Seattle Men

While I’m relieved that Washington’s Democrats raised the money to call for a statewide recount, I am completely baffled by this aspect:

Before their recounts can begin, Snohomish and Yakima counties will have to print out paper ballots to record tens of thousands of votes cast at the polls Nov. 2 on the computer-voting machines. [seattle p-i

Without getting into the merits of Gregoire vs. Rossi or the problems with electronic voting, I’m really curious about how creating ballots from the data will help.

Does anyone know more about the voting technologies used in these counties? I assume that they didn’t have a “paper trail” since they are printing the ballots now instead of on election day.

Have you always thought that it would be totally sweet to have a Seattle area phone number that people could call to send you voice messages and FAXes? Except that you wouldn’t receive them using a phone? K7.net makes all these crazy technology dreams a reality with a free phone number that sends audio and FAX to your inbox.

Extra special bonus: people who want to pretend to live in Seattle can use the service to fake out their friends and neighbors. Just be sure to leave a suitably greeting.

[found at scripting.com #]

I typically leave resturant reviews to things such as Seattle Citysearch but in this case, I really must gush about the fantastic brunch I just partook in. We went to Crave and I must say that it was a fantastic place to get brunch. Between the french toast that was soaked overnight in custard to the green chili homefries and pomegrante mimosas (Highly recommended), the menu was really quite a spread. The music is hip but not overpowering so that you can have your rehash of the evening prior’s events. The waitstaff worth more than the average 15 percent. They even have bathrooms for transgender! It’s at 12th and Pine and fabulous if I do say so myself. Anyone else had brunch recently at a fantastic place? I’d like to check it out.

(Side note: The place is small and packed. We waited an hour for a table.)

Specifically, I love the SAS Advent Calendar (Scandinavian Airlines). You know the one I’m talking about. I’ve been watching it for four years, now. $300+tax from Seattle to a surprise different city in europe every day from now until Christmas. Every morning I wake up, pad downstairs to the laptop, and click on the little number to find out where I might be able to go today. Is it Copenhagen? Is it Amsterdam?

I never got a chocolate advent calendar when I was a kid, but my friend’s kids all have one. Is this how they feel?

Today’s city is Stockholm, land of meatballs, the Nobel Prize, and the King (who apparently hangs out there a lot).