~ W. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 is courtesy of Elliott Bay Books. I love them, but they are a bit pervasive, no?

* At 6:00 PM, Mark Richardson will be in store to talk about a book about a book. Richardson wrote Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is (duh!) about every yuppie’s favorite book, Pirsig’s Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry Into Values. Richardson is touring the US via (what else?) motorcycle to promote his book. It’s all very deep and self-referential. And why isn’t the word spelled yuppy?

* Town Hall Seattle hosts Tariq Ali at 7:30 PM. Ali puts out a book every year or so, both fiction and non-fiction. He’s currently promoting The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power. An activist as well as a prolific writer, Ali’s primary themes are religion, politics, and place.

* Back at the store, Irvine Walsh, author of Trainspotting, will read and sign his latest novel, Crime, at 8:00 PM. Pedophiles and cocaine, oh my!

The biggest question about the soonish-to-be reopened [mb] and renovated Crocodile Cafe now has a few very good answers. That question being “who’s going to book the bands?” And the happy answers: Eli Anderson (former assistant booker at the Crocodile, current assistant booker at Chop Suey), Roy Atizado (recent GM at Chop Suey), with some assistance from Portland’s house of awesome Doug Fir Lounge.

For more details, see Hanah Levin’s report. [reverb]

photo by seattlebonvivant [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Be aware that there exists a brewing multi-front war about ownership of the various slices of Capitol Hill between the hipsters, yuppies, and gays (ed: categories neither mututally-exclusive nor exhaustive). And they all have blogs; so things could get really texty. This thing is a like a powderkeg and everyone is giving off sparks. Just wait until the indie-yupsters weigh in. [chs, slog, captothehill]
• For the first time in its long existence oatmeal is a hero. Wilford Brimley would be so proud. [starbucksgossip]
• oh, and, more breakfast sandwiches in more places. [starbucksgossip]
• Another day, another blogging conference. This one at UW, 11 October. [bigfoot via monicaguzman]
• After much anticipation on the Olive Way is So Hot Right Now Watch, the Buck is now “softly” open. [voracious]

Loading the Ferry
Via the Flickr and by SolYoung.

One of my favorite local trips is over to Bainbridge Island, partly because I simply enjoy riding the ferry and the trip there and back is convenient fun.

As anyone who has taken a Washington State ferry any time recently can tell you, you cannot be even remotely near a ferry without hearing multiple times the warnings about not leaving your personal possessions unattended, so it always surprises me on those infrequent occasions when someone does. Usually, it’s a suitcase or a backpack or a big shopping bag that someone’s put down and walked away from without thinking about it. but last night someone left a much larger item behind on the M/V Tacoma: a car.

My ride over to Bainbridge yesterday was the M/V Wenatchee. We had totally smooth sailing until just as we were pulling into the harbor over on the Bainbridge side when the overhead speakers made that gravelly sound that indicates a message is coming. An announcement at this point in the game is usually about some delay or potential delay, and sure enough, that’s what it was. It’s just that instead of the usual minor mechanical issues or heavy water traffic causing a delay, this time it was a security issue caused by the discovery of an abandoned vehicle in the car deck of the Tacoma.

Apparently the car wasn’t much of a threat because we were still able to pull into the dock and disembark as normal. The 5:30 sailing from Bainbridge on the Tacoma had been cancelled, but the people waiting were all able to board the Wenatchee for its return trip. My return to Seattle on the 8:10 crossing was on time and perfectly fine.

This morning I glanced through the papers to see if I could find a story but there’s nothing noteworthy in “nothing happened” so there was nothing to be found. Still, I can’t help but wonder about this car. I’ve left magazines and bottles of water behind on the ferry out of carelessness and inattention, but who leaves behind a car? One of my co-workers thinks that it was someone who routinely walks on the ferry and simply forgot that they drove; another proposed the idea of someone trying to fake his or her own disappearance. What do you think? Could someone really forget something as big as a car?

I for one am ecstatic about the changing of the season, having been abroad in the hot and humid Southeast Asia for the last 6 weeks. Fall means pumpkin ale, acorn squash, layers of clothes, and some spectacular sunsets. What does autumn mean for you?

Maple Sky by Seattle Metblogs Flickr contributor B Mully.

I have been walking by the pizza place called ‘Zaw for months now on my way to the Capitol Hill Trader Joe’s, and it is now open. While under construction, the windows were plastered with such groan-inducing slogans as, “Remember when that cool kid moved in on your block? That’s what ‘Zaw is.” (Or something like that.) Everything about it pre-opening tempted me to go into snark overload the likes of which the world of blogging has never seen. HOWEVER, I am just going to try* to present the facts and let you, dear reader, add your well-reasoned thoughts to the comments:

They describe ‘Zaw as “pizza in the raw” (the concept formerly known as “take and bake”)
They use Bob’s Red Mill organic white and wheat flour, and they make a limited amount of a gluten-free dough as well
They will add freshly-ground flax seed to your dough
They sell growlers-to-go for beer
The beers and wines are local and, in some instances, organic
They strive to make pizzas with S.O.U.L. (that’s Seasonal, Organic, Unique, and Local)
They call their Italian flatbread starter an “appeti’zaw” and have pizzas and salads named “The Arizawna”, “The Vietzawm” and “The Caezaw Salad”
They offer delivery via bicycle

So what do you think of the concept? Is it an idea that sounds intriguing enough that you will give it a whirl? Will the overlords at metblogs reach into their vast, deep, pockets to reimburse me for a pizza (I mean, ‘zaw) and a growler?

‘Zaw
1424 E. Pine St. (at 15th)
206-325-5528

*Whenever someone says they will “try” to do something, I can’t help but remember an episode of The Simpsons where Marge asks Bart, “Promise me you’ll try to behave?” Bart’s respsonse: “I can’t promise to try, but I promise I’ll try to try”

Potatoes are in season right now at the farmers markets. Availalbe in a ranibow of colors, they couldn’t be easier to prepare. Just toss with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast them in the oven. These were from the Madrona farmers market and they were delicious. What are your farmers market favorites this time of year?

photo via macarthur foundation

Earlier this month the Stranger crowned their latest crop of local geniuses with $5,000, a cake, and a big party at the Moore. Today, Seattle has another “genius” in our midst thanks to the MacArthur Foundation’s new list of fellows, each of whom receive $500,000, paid quarterly over five years [macfound]. At least a half-million hearty congratulations, then, to University of Washington geomorphologist David Montgomery[#], whose studies of the earth’s surface and environmental change have considered the local, global, and interplanetary level put him in good company with the music critic, saxophonist, fiber artist, urban farmer, fiction writer, epigrapher, and others who won this year’s grants. [#]

In addition to being an inspiring award, it also sounds like the makings of the best cocktail party ever.

Some people will try to tell you that the “Seattle Freeze” is just a myth, that people here are just as friendly and outgoing as anyone else. Please. This is my hometown and I love it, but let’s not kid ourselves: anyone who’s spent time anywhere else in the US knows that we might be nice enough people but we’re not exactly the model of gregariousness. (Yes, yes, I know there are exceptions to the rule, I’m one of them.) The Wall Street Journal supports this contention with an article today that takes a look at “The United States of Mind”, using nifty interactive maps and charts to take a look at personality types across the map. The most extraverted state in the union is North Dakota. The least is Maryland. Washington comes in near the bottom at number 48.

Don’t feel too badly about our low ranking, though. We came in at number five for openness, 22 for agreeableness, and 25 for conscientiousness. Oh, and apparently we’re pretty mellow for a bunch of people who appear to get along by keeping an open mind about the people to whom we don’t speak: we’re number 46 for neuroticism.

It’s only 40-something days away. The morning when your 2008 ballot will be due, after which you are bound to spend the whole night drinking because no matter which way the election turns, there will be significant occasion for serious drinking. Sure, the fate of the presidency lies more heavily in the hands of the fickle voters of less enlightened states with less patriotic names like Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and New Mexico, but just a little bit of the responsibility falls on you, too.

Before you can actually do any voting, you need first make sure your registration is up-to-date. Click your way over to the Secretary of State and not only will the internet tell you if and where you’re registered, it will also show you how often you’ve voted along with the names and addresses for almost all of your current elected representatives. Creepy, but kind of awesome, right?

If you find out that you’re not registered, head over to the Online Voter Registration immediately.