. . . and now, presenting the results for the categories of Metroblogging Seattle’s favorite Starbucks in all of Seattle, favorite non-Stranger periodical, and favorite nonprofit . . . [Ed: next year, we really should get some celebrity 'bloggers to open these envelopes and read canned dialogue from teleprompters.]

favorite starbucks: u-village

All of our bravado about the thrill of the voting process for these favorites aside, there was no way that we’d subject ourselves to an all out battle for our favorite Seattle cafe. Blood would be spilled, heads might roll, and allegiances could be torn asunder. Instead, we punted, and chose a favorite Starbucks. We now realize that the heading is a little confusing: “but which U-Village Starbucks?” you might ask. Why people wouldn’t just go to the Zoka instead to simplify the process of figuring out which of several U-Village locations you’re meant to be using as a meeting spot baffles some of us. But the winner of this year’s title is the 24-hour location. The last time we checked, it held the title of second busiest store in the Starbucks empire (damn you Tokyo! We’ll see you in hell.), and the kids at the UW do need a place to stay up all night, get hopped up on caffeine, and study away their youths.

favorite periodical*: real change

The Stranger is probably everyone’s favorite free weekly, but among there are plenty of other ways to get your fingers smudged with newsprint (the University of Washington’s the Daily and ruckus as well as newly more conglomeratized Seattle Weekly, being just a few options). But this year’s winner goes to Real Change, which became the nation’s first weekly street paper staring in February, making it harder to pretend that you already purchased the current issue. Last year’s winner, Tablet closed up shop in 2005. We hope this category isn’t a curse.

favorite nonprofit: abundant post-disaster d.i.y. fundraising

Let’s face it, 2005 was more of a disaster recovery zone than usual. The year started off with benefit shows to raise money to help tsunami victims with a warm clothing required show (I think they turned off the heat to save money) by Ben Gibbard, James Mercer, and Dave Bazan. Later in the year, there were too many Katrina fundraisers to keep track of (even though we tried [mb]). In any case, if Time can pick Bill & Melinda Gates with Bono as their Person of the Year, we can pick everyone around town who did something to get the rest of us to donate a few bucks as our nonprofits of the year.

PHOTO CREDITS: most of the pictures came from metroblogger vaults, but a few were borrowed — starbucks [thomashawk],nonprofit [flickr].

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