I had an interesting experience this afternoon. I got to test drive a Smart ForTwo. I commute across the lake every day and while I do try to bus or vanpool it at least one way several days a week, I still spend too much on gas and pollution for my tastes. I also hate to park. I happen to be a pretty good parallel parker, but hey, parking a car that’s less than half as long as my current 4 door sedan certainly can’t be a bad thing.

The experience was, as I’ve said, interesting. Despite the fact that there are only two seats, the car feels deceptively large. In fact, it felt bigger inside than the Mini Cooper we test drove last year. I was only able to take the car around the block, so I can’t speak to road noise, but we did verify that our gym bags and work bags would fit inside. My only complaint about the car is that the driver’s side mirror was a bit concave, and was a bit disconcerting every time I glanced over.

Smart USA is in Seattle for Bumbershoot, September 1-3. Visit their display and take a look at the new Smart ForTwo that will supposedly be available in the United States in early 2008. I have my eye on the Cabrio model.

Today I’m in line at the Kidd Valley stand at Safeco Field buying the usual round of overpriced ballpark food. (At least it’s good for ballpark food, I having been raised on Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell brand hot dogs at the minor league park.) I ask for two orders of fries. Regular fries. The clerk turns around and shouts,

“TWO MURPHIES!”

“Murphy?” I ask.

“Yeah, that’s the word they use for regular fries. We have garlic fries and chili cheese fries, so regular fries are Murphies.”

“You know where the word comes from?”

“I have no idea. I’m just a volunteer.”

So, Kidd Valley folks, where does “Murphy” come from? Who is/was Murphy?

UPDATED: Big thanks to Seattlest James, who dug out the most logical answer:

Apparently “murphy” is diner slang for “potato.” “Because of their association with the Irish diet of potatoes, Murphy being a common Irish name,” according to the American Diner Museum.

So Murphy fries=potato fries, as in, just potatoes, no garlic or chili.

Today on my way to lunch I noticed that there were way more people in Westlake than usual–and there are usually quite a few at lunchtime, especially on sunny days like today.

When I got closer, I realized that the crowds were there for “free” lunch:

Many more photos after the jump.
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NWSource has a new promotion along the same lines as their “25 for $25″ [nws] and “New Urban Eats” [nue] programs. It is called New Urban Drinks [nud] and promises a drink and two small plates for $15. There are 11 participating bars and lounges (and/or wine bars) from around the city with a limited food and drink menu. The hope, much like, again NUE, is to highlight new, up and coming bars and lounges, essentially providing them with a happy hour menu where there might not have been one before.

Now, given my proclivity for the booze, I of course perked up when I read “drinks.” That said, it seems like a good idea, but is it? We here at SM have been to a couple of 25 for $25 [mb] (and meant to get around to the NUE) and have had mixed experiences. For my part, I will say that I did enjoy my meals at Campagne and Nishino as part of the original configuration. However, I am a little trepidatious about this recent concoction.

First of all, I took a stroll through the menus and someone had the audacity to put Bud Light on the drink menu. Seriously? Bud Light? Others have limited theirs to two drinks only. Granted, I do enjoy a cocktail, but some of these beverages sound so pretentious. Gold dusted martini? Come on!

But then on the other hand, some of those small plates do seem like they could be delicious. Mini lamb burgers? Spicy poke salad? Oh yeah, and I’m always a sucker for dolmades.

I suspect that since I have all of the Sundays through Thursdays of September (except the 3rd!) to try it out, I probably will. Will you? Or are you tired of these promotions?

You do? Well it just so happens that it’s your lucky day–King County is trying to get the Mount Si bridge off of its hands. Built in 1914 to span the White River in Buckley, it was moved in 1955 to Mt. Si to replace a small wooden bridge[Times]. But now it’s too narrow for the volume of traffic it receives, and that makes this the perfect time to get an unforgettable gift for the bridge enthusiast in your life.

You’d have to move it yourself, but that shouldn’t be too hard; it’s held together with steel pins, rather than the usual bolts and rivets. (Makes you rethink all those times you drove across it, doesn’t it?) It’s the only one of its kind left that is maintained by the county, and all you’ll need to put it back together is probably an allen wrench and perhaps some new custom pins to replace the old rusty ones.

It’s a landmark, so the county has to try and find it a home before selling it for scrap, and if you’re a governement agency they’ll be willing to work out an agreement with you so that you can have it with no cost. I’m just not sure how you could possibly pass this up.

wesa turtle [flickr] stayed up late, got this picture of the red moon, and shared it via our group pool [#]. now it’s your turn.

• Seattle Center’s marketing and deputy director leaving this fall. [dailyweekly]
• The inevitable LOLcatting of Sharkansky [horsesass]
• What Ken Vincent’s departure says about KUOW’s “march to blandness” [crosscut]
• Band of Horses posted a new song. [myspace]
• Non-starving non-artist ‘bloggers hold pledge drive [westseattleblog]

Boy, Alaska Air is having a hard time of it lately. Within the past few years they’ve suffered through several public humiliations: cabin depressurization, punched holes in luggage compartment, profit decline leading to a major stock-value decline, and now this:

An Alaska Boeing 737 carrying 117 passengers to Washington, D.C., was pushing back from its gate when its left winglet made contact with another Alaska jet, said airline spokeswoman Amanda Tobin Bielawski.

As reported in the Seattle Times, the departing plane was slowly backing away from the gate when it bumped the other plane, damaging its winglet in the process. The tail horizontal stabilizer of the parked plane was also damaged. Both planes require repair before they can go in the air again and, boy, those winglets aren’t cheap.

Considering that this coming weekend is one of the busiest air-traffic weekends of the year (Sea-Tac officials advise you to show up for your flight at least two hours early and expect delays, anyway), here’s hoping that no other Alaska planes get knocked out of service any time soon.

As an aside, I’d like to mention that I think the Alaska Airlines team-up with the Washington State Lottery to offer a scratch ticket that gives gamblers the shot at two million Alaska Airlines rewards miles is a clever marketing idea. That would get you anywhere Alaska flies, I think.

While the fountains of Capitol Hill (Kinkos, Cal Anderson) may seem fertile ground for good soapy fun, would-be bubblebathers are advised to stay well north of Portland. As the New York Times notes, the city’s Water Bureau has started posting night-time mugshots of Joy-wielding fountain defacers (enliveners?), taken minutes after apprehension and in the harsh glare of police flash cameras.

The Bureau does have a good point that each bubble-bath incident cause 75,000 gallons to be flushed from the water system, in order to rid fountains of eye-irritating detergent. Are bubbly fountains doomed to the same eco-no-no fate as throwing soda cans away in the trash?

The Sharkansky lack of proportionality fiasco does bring up a key point: What is the correct amount to tip in Seattle?

The rule of thumb, as argued by Eric Earling, has always been 15% for average, 20% for good, 10% for poor. The zeitgeist, though, is that you start at 20%, while 10% is for visiting Europeans and conservative bloggers.

Me, I start at 20%, but it’s not about economics. It’s about my inability to multiply any number in my head by .15. Moving the decimal point one left and doubling the number, I can do that. So I tend to be a 20-10 tipper — bad service gets 10%, everything else gets 20%. I don’t tip on the sales tax, though.

One other thing in this mix is Washington’s minimum wage law doesn’t separate waitstaff into some other category because it’s a tipped profession. So, while a waitress in Moscow, Idaho gets $2.13/hour and expects tips, down the road in Pullman another waitress is making $7.93/hour regardless of tips. On the other hand, though, that means only that a waitress has about $6/hour to start with, and if you assume that a living wage in Seattle is now upwards of $15/hour, that’s still $7/hour she’s going to have to make in tips. So while it’s benefiting East of the Mountains waitstaff greatly, it’s almost a wash for those working around the Sound.

So. 15%? 20%? What’s right?

I need a favor, Seattle. My wardrobe tends to run to jeans, t-shirts, and the occasional cotton skirt. But soon, I will need a dress. Not just any dress, but a dress I will wear to pledge my heart and soul to another. So what is the problem you ask? The problem is that I don’t want a standard white wedding dress. I want something with color, something I can wear on our anniversary, something fun and girly and pretty.

Since I don’t shop for dresses, I need your help, dear readers. I need to know where to go shopping. Can you help me? Oh, and lastly, environmentally friendly or sustainable materials are a plus!