This morning’s news that locally headquartered Safeco Insurance Company was bought by Boston based Liberty Mutual has sports fans wondering if we’ll see a name change at Safeco Field. Not likely, according to the AP:

Monfried said Safeco would retain its 85-year-old brand name and continue selling policies through its national network of agents and brokers.

What this may mean for local jobs is still uncertain. And what happens to their infamous dress code?

Update: Apparently, I need to pay better attention to the dress code policies of our local businesses; Safeco dropped their white shirt and tie policy in 1996, according to Dylan.

[Via Seattle P-I.]

photo by herbiehancock00 via our group pool.

This photo of Benny the Stone Balancer really caught my eye this morning. Another great shot left for us in the group pool!

hot chip / the showbox / 22 april 2008; A photoset is up now [flickr], more text later.

Before the show, we went to the Green Room for drinks (shorter lines) and returned to the all ages area wonering what sort of crowd this would be. Everyone was there for Hot Chip — the bouncers at the door made sure of that in repeated shouts on the way in, perhaps as a way of alleviating confusion between SoDo and “at the Market” versions of the Showbox — but it was a weeknight, all ages, and the drinking section hovers above; so you can never really tell. Would they be crazy dancers or polite toe tappers? Would the floor turn into a seething mass or remain divided? These are important questions when you’re thinking about getting into the heart of the crowd from the periphery.

It turns out that it was somewhere in between. Hot Chip arrive to their own theme song and meet their gear on a stage set with the album art from Made in the Dark as a backdrop. Passage to and from the restroom was blockaded to allow the band maxium efficiency in their rush from backstage to onstage. I have no idea what they opened with because I was taking pictures, and the listening comprehension part of my brain shuts off when I’m looking through a viewfinder and navigating the crowd. Weird, I know. But it did sound great: the combination of blaring synthetic, live acoustic, and real percussion accents is a winning one. Mix it up with some spotlights, a springy floor, and a devoted audience and you’ve got the makings of a dance party.

Onstage, the band is funny if not a bit mumbly from time to time. The lead singer kneels for particularly sensitive bits. “Wrestlers” is more comedic and less poignant live, but the rap bits (including the backwards part) is funnier and more endearing in person. Al Doyle provides bits of witty banter. Everyone has fun throughout, but the biggest wave of infectious pogoing hits when they dip back into the Warning for “Over and Over”. Among all of the songs in the set, it is the one that comes closest to uniting the crowd. It spreads from stage’s edge back to the chandelier in pulses, and, for a few moments, the room is consumed with one big singular bouncing organism.

They save breakout hits “Ready for the Floor” for last; bringing out slower come-down songs for the encore. There’s no champagne snowball slow dance for “Made in the Dark” even though it feels like it was within the realm of possibility for a few moments. The close out the set with a cover of “Nothing Compares (2 U)” that slips and slides into “In the Privacy of Our Love”. There’s no starlight from the disco ball, but the crowd’s sense of camaraderie is re-ignited seconds after the last notes are played. When “Time After Time” hits the PAs as exit music, everyone sings along. It’s surprisingly magical, especially when the music cuts out and all of our voices fill the gaps.

Whilst heading back to Seattle from Bellingham this weekend, I discovered this little gem inside of a Marysville coffee shop (yes, the evil “S” word). I had a cup of vanilla rooibos that was a little on the sweet side, with a hint of cinnamon and my other half had the silver tip which, in my snobby tea opinion, was “spot on” (say it with an upper-crust English accent, you know you want to)! Do you think full leaf tea would be a good addition to our local chain? Would you sit down for a cuppa?

The controversy surrounding the WASL continues as an instructor at Eckstein Middle School refused to administer the test last week to students. According to the Seattle Times:

Carl Chew, who teaches science, says the WASL is harmful to students, teachers, schools and families. He considers his decision an act of civil disobedience “against something I felt was … morally and ethically corrupt.”

The WASL, he says, needs to be scrapped and replaced “with a gentler, kinder way of finding out what our students know, and helping teachers educate them better.”

Chew has been suspended for 2 weeks without pay. An offer for replacement wages by The Parent Empowerment Network has been redirected to local groups that also oppose this style of testing. (Source article)

While I do not have children yet of my own, my fifth-grade “Little Brother” (through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program) is WASL testing at this time. He doesn’t like to discuss it. What do you think? Was Chew out of line for his protest? Do you think the WASL is a good indicator of what the children are learning these days or is it a big waste of time?

photo via mgmt [myspace]

Bad news for impulse planners, both of these shows are sold out. Maybe you have connections, the tenacity to wait outside hoping for spare tickets to appear from heaven, or other options? (update: … or a miraculous last-minute release of tickets! A few Raconteurs tickets just became available. [tig / ticketswest]) Either way:

• Last month, the Raconteurs raced against the leakers and pirates to distribute their album online. Everyone liked the stylings of the Jack White-anchored supergroup that tickets for tonight’s show at Neumo’s disappeared in a matter of pre-sale hours. with Birds of Avalon. [neumos]
• If it ever gets warm enough, there are at least three tracks among MGMT‘s rediscovery of peace and free love anthems on Oracular Spectacular ready and willing to contend for a place in your summer muxtape. I waver between swirling opener “Time to Pretend” with its roots in youth fantasia (although, maybe with a six-figure record deal it’s not so out there) and pulsing “Kids”, with its dance-friendly drumbeat and the upper registers of a casio being worked over intensely, fuzzy vocals, and samples of children on either side. At their high points, its easy to imagine a season of sun, bandanas, and dance parties. For now, Chop Suey will have to serve as a reasonable approximation. [chopsuey ]

I’m down to my final two weeks here at The Seattle Times before I’m officially laid off, and I don’t think I’ve ever before been involved in a more extraneous process upon leaving a job.

Two-hundred people altogether have been affected by the layoffs, and a lot of them walk around here lately acting like they’re on death row. It’s somewhat depressing for them, but I figured, hell, I was looking for a job when I found this one….

The newest step in this mass exodus is discussing a severance package with the powers that be. Because I’m Union-affiliated, this of course means the process will take somewhere between the next two weeks and the dawn of the next ice age.

Shockingly enough, I got to my desk this morning to find a voicemail from HR waiting for me. Knowing that I wasn’t in any trouble (at least, none that I was aware of) I listened to the message before doing anything else.

And, as I suspected, the message was in regards to discussing the severance package that the Union and the Times have finally reached an agreement over. (Talk about yelling “stop the presses…”)

So, I called back. The person, who shall remain nameless, promptly answered. We’ll just refer to her as “M.”

“Hi,” I said, “I was just returning your call about discussing the severance package.”

“Oh, hi Mike,” she said. “I’m sorry to hear that you have been impacted by the reduction in force.”

I blinked. What the hell had this woman just said to me?

“Ah, well, that’s OK,” I replied.

Silence.

For a second I actually thought I was talking to one of those creepy voice-prompt things that calls you at 7:59 a.m. to remind you of your doctor’s appointment the following Thursday. The emotionless, empty language this woman just used completely tore away any kind of direct meaning or implication of what she was actually trying to say.

After a second or two, M spoke.

“Well, that’s not the normal response I get,” she said of my near-indifferent tone when I responded to what she’d said about my job. Or, tried to, anyway.

“I was looking for a job when I found this one,” I said with a slight laugh.

More silence.

“That’s….an interesting way to put it,” M continued.

From there, despite her awkward attempt at expressing sympathy, we established when a good time would be to get together and chat. I made things short and sweet, because clearly I’d scared the humans again today already and I hadn’t even had any coffee.

What the hell is up with this language we use in office environments today? When did:

Sorry to hear you’ve lost your job

Suddenly translate into:

I am sorry to hear that the reduction in force has impacted your life.

Please. Talk to me like I’m a functioning, intelligent adult capable of handling that thing called reality, scary as it may be to some people. I’m perfectly willing and able to accept a situation when it’s presented to me, and the use of watered-down American office jargon isn’t ever necessary.

George Carlin would call this lifeless spin on language “the ‘pussification’ of American culture,” but I just think it’s the result of people not willing – or, in some cases, able – to deal with reality.

Needless to say, I think I’m ready to be happily unemployed in the near future.

Unless, of course, a reduction in force is not currently impacting other people’s lives in an alternate environment in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, thereby allowing me to seek employment at their establishment.

From Seattle-PI’s Getting There column:

Question: Greg Anderson asks if big trucks should be banned from Interstate 5 express lanes and provided with a new bypass to the freeway to help traffic flow.

“Every day during rush hour, both morning and night, I see semi-trucks in the left lane approaching the entrances to the express lanes,” he said.

“They are of various sizes and haul assorted loads — no doubt some flammable. The immediate effect is the slowing of the traffic in the lane next to the commuter (car pool) lane going south on I-5 and in the lane that is the entrance to the express lanes … . I wonder why the semi-trucks are allowed to use the express lanes at all considering that an accident there might effectively end the use of the express lanes as a whole for the better part of the day.

“Prohibiting the use of the express lanes to truck and tractor traffic would, seemingly, reduce the congestion considerably, in both directions.”

He wonders if “any thought (has) been given to creating a truck bypass lane around the east side of Lake Washington, similar to the one going north through Portland, so that trucks not needing to stop in the Seattle area could use that lane to get through.”

Maybe Greg moved here a short while ago, but I-405 on the Eastside used to do what Greg has proposed. The key phrase there is “used to”. “Originally intended as a bypass to I-5 through Seattle, I-405 has experienced a large increase in traffic volume since its construction. I-405 is now the most congested freeway in Washington State, particularly the segment between State Route 169 and I-90.”

Congestion may be the problem but roads aren’t the answer. If we build more roads, congestion will follow. With the fast growth of the suburbs, any new freeway built will become just as congested as 405 as people move further and further away from the city centers trying to find less congestions, yet still depending on those same urban centers for jobs and entertainment. Easing congestion will require a different frame of mind than most people are willing to adopt, though it’s been shown to work in the not-so-distant past.

The DOT came to the same conclusion. Getting There’s answer to the question posed by Greg:

“Keeping traffic moving is one of WSDOT’s top priorities,” Conrad said, but “adding an additional lane to I-5 for freight traffic would prove to be a very costly venture, and would do little to relieve congestion in the Puget Sound area. Truck traffic is not the reason Puget Sound highways are congested.”

I’ve been a fan of Trophy Cupcakes for quite some time. I love their variety (chai cardamom, lemon strawberry, red velvet). But recently, the owner was featured on Martha Stewart making a wonderful new cupcake: Chocolate Graham Cracker with Marshmallow Cream.

Local blogs have covered the Martha Stewart appearance and new cupcake pretty extensively. [Link], [Link], and [Link]. (And can I just say… a blog devoted entirely to cupcakes? How cool!)

The recipe is even online.

For the past few weeks, Trophy Cupcakes has been offering these tasty bits of brilliance on selected days every few weeks. Now though, they will be regularly available on Sundays and Mondays. That means you can get one of your very own tomorrow!