Yesterday was such a spectacularly beautiful day that it almost felt painful to be inside. Apparently the boaters felt the same way. Traffic through Portage Bay was busier than it’s been all year. That meant the bridges were going up and down like yo-yos.

It says here that for all the bridges except Spokane Street, on average a bridge opening stops traffic for about 4 minutes. It feels a *lot* longer.

Be nice to the Coast Guard. They have to write a specific exemption to let the City of Seattle leave the drawbridges down during rush hour. By federal law marine traffic is always supposed to have the right of way. Can you imagine the traffic snarl if a flotilla of sailboats came through the ship canal at 5:15 and made all of the bridges open for ten minutes or so?

We here at Metroblogging tend to like Flexcar–heck, some of us even use it. And if you’ve been thinking about trying it yourself, now would be the time: they’re having a special sign-up deal right now where if you join by April 30th you get your membership fee back in driving credit [#]. Their only caveat is that you have to use a car at least once by the end of May to get the credit, which seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I hear that the competitor Zip Car is going to be coming to town soon, which may be what’s getting Flexcar to be making deals, but this one appears to be a pretty good one. Almost good enough to convince me to start driving again.

Tip via the wonderful Manuel.

I’m back in town and catching up on my news, and I noticed that the Viaduct has been closed during the day this weekend [WSDOT]. They’ve been looking for potholes and checking things out for replacement projects and so forth, as well as hopefully thinking about just when the whole thing is going to fall down.

So I don’t drive, and I imagine that most of the people who use the viaduct use it during the week, but I’m still wondering: do you notice the difference when it’s closed?

Happy belated St Patrick’s Day to Seattle’s resident Irish. I would have blogged sooner, but I spent the day chasing sunshine and leprechauns.
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Let me start this out with a YAY Huskies! For a minute there I was unsure if they’d make it through their first game on Thursday. I felt my earlier post coming back to haunt me, what with all my anything can happen talk. Phew! The game today (@ 2:30 p.m.) against Illinois is going to be another nail-biter, I’m sure.

As any college basketball fan knows this first round has been pretty exciting with last minute three-point shots and 18-point comebacks. It’s hard on the blood pressure but good for the purveyors of beer. Which brings me to my first round of Seattle Sports Bar reviews.
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As predicted by the weatherman, Friday turned out to be a nice, sunny day, after a short morning series of disheartening rainshowers. Of course, my current visitor and I dashed out as soon as possible to catch the sun. Gleaming in the late afternoon sun, the fireboat Chief Seattle was putting on an inadvertant water display for tourists on the waterfront as it ran a check on all its hoses, and putt-putted happily around the harbor.
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A friend of mine just sent me mail saying that Ann Wilson will be at the EMP this evening, but alas, I’m out of town until the 26th. But for those of you who’re fans, here’s the pertinent information:

Wilson will share stories and insights about her acclaimed work with Heart, the groundbreaking band that she formed with sister Nancy in the early 70′s. Ann’s passionate vocals and strong songwriting, coupled with Nancy’s axe-wiedling, kicked the door wide open for other women in hard rock at a time when few female acts existed in the genre.

VIP ticket options and prices are as follows:
$125 EMP Members
$150 General Public

Time: 8:00 PM
Venue: TBA
Ticket Info: Tickets go on sale Tuesday, February 28th to members, March 2nd General Public

$20 Members, $25 Non-members

Proceeds will help support EMP’s School Group Visit program, which serves over 50,000 Washington students annually.

The Purple Store logo. It’s purple.

Do you love purple? Do you really, really love purple? Then obviously you need to shop at the Seattle-based, online store so aptly named The Purple Store. According to their website,

Purple is a lifestyle. Finally here’s an answer for those who have cried for something to come in purple, to be able to buy “just the purple one” in a set.

By shopping here you give us the buying power and clout to get manufacturers to make items in purple, make things just in purple, and package them so you don’t need to buy seven pens you don’t want to get the purple one.

The Purple Store is here to meet your purple needs. That takes your input and involvement. Please let us know about any products you’re looking for or ones you recommend. Keep an eye out for surveys, bulletin boards, and more on this site. And please, please tell your friends so the site continues to grow.

Do you agree, like I agree? Then click, shop, browse, enjoy. Enjoy the purple!

fraying, via flickr

Awhile back, because it’s important to plan these things in advance, some friends and I were contemplating where to run to when it becomes clear that the Seattle area has been overrun and the zombie hordes are advancing on our homes.

It seems clear that the best area to avoid the zombies, at least until they’ve chewed on each other enough to offer better odds, is one of the islands in the Puget Sound. But where?

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It’s started, y’all [espn]. From today until April 3rd, I am in all college-ball mode.

Of local interest, the Huskies play tonight at 7:55 PST against Utah State. The schedule was set back due to a bomb-scare in the arena [espn], which has since been cleared up. As for the game, it seems like an easy match-up for UW, but then again, they lost to Oregon (who went 7-11 regular season) in the PAC-10 tournament. And if I know anything about this tournament, it’s that anything can happen. I’m so excited!

Except…the only problem is, with so many games going on simultaneously, I don’t know the best place to watch. I’ve only got one TV at home, you know. So, I’ve decided to take these 2.5 weeks to do a survey of Seattle sports bars. I’m looking for suggestions, if you’ve got a place you love, please let me know in the comments. Pretty please?

* [imdb]