Exactly two months ago I earned a new title: Dad. Coincidentally, my Metroblog posting hit has an all time low. Forgivable, I hope. But the chaos is finally subsiding and I’m back, hopefully for good.

For those of you who are not aware, parenthood has many hidden expectations attached to it. For example, in fortune cookie form:
* Your social life will take an unexpected turn for the worst
* A move to the suburbs is likely
* A mini-van is in your near future

Ah, the American dream. A big suburban home with a big yard to mow. A car for Dad’s two hour commute and a mini-van for Soccer Mom. Too bad it’s not sustainable.

Yes, we have shunned the typical American family dream for a life in the city. No big house; we have a one bedroom condo near Greenlake. No mini-van; we only have a compact car with thoughts of ditching that for Metro, Flexcar, taxis, and rentals. Our social-life lives: we either bring the munchkin with us or have dozens of friends who would take him at the drop of a hat (he’s pretty damn cute).

Speaking of, my wife and I have a hot date at the Elysian tonight and I’m making us late writing this. Nothing like celebrating urban parenting with a frosty pumpkin ale. Mmmmm.

image, via MHN

I’ve posted a little bit about the Wawona and the struggle to save it from destruction. The original deadline for figuring out a way to fix it and/or a place to put it was today, and it’s still there.

A big part of the reason that they haven’t chopped up the Wawona yet is MOHAI’s potential move to SLU. They started seriously discussing the prospect back in July, and as of last week the City Council has voted to support that move [P-I]. MOHAI will have to sell the space that they already bought down by the Convention Center, but the old Naval Reserve building is clearly a good fit for a museum that wants to tell the story of the city’s maritime history.

Last week the always reliable Joe Follansbee of the Maritime Heritage Network pointed out some money set aside in the mayor’s 2007-2008 parks budget to dry dock the Wawona for repairs. They’re not committed to save the whole boat, of course, and are still trying to put it on land for display because they are not budging from their resolve to get it away from the dock where it is currently moored. Specifically, the proposal says, “The project may include removing and preserving key features, and demolishing the remainder. Key features that may be preserved include the aft section, the masts, and other specific pieces showing the construction and workmanship involved in the vessel’s construction.”

Still, it’s a start, and the fact that the city has agreed to work with the boat’s supporters provides hope that a compromise that makes everyone happy may be able to be reached.

OK, I admit this is shameless self-promotion for work, but I think it’s of interest to a few of you.

The shiny, brand-new University of Washington Department of Global Health is hosting a 4-week Global Lecture Series in October. Leading off on Tuesday at 7pm in Kane Hall is a panel discussion on fairness in health with some really smart people talking (but sadly, not singing). Later on in the month brings some super-heavyweights in the world of public health — Ira Longini and King Holmes among them. These are people who are leading the fight against HIV/AIDS and trying to stop the bird flu pandemic before it starts. If you’re into health and science, you need to come on out.

If your Saturday night plans aren’t already set in stone, consider heading to the Nectar Lounge tonight, where skateboarding legend turned musician Tommy Guerrero will be playing a gig with Curumin, Honeycut and Grieves. Listening to Tommy play is like listening to that one guy who sits out on his stoop in the summer and plays songs that somehow manage to be mellow and thrilling all at once. Curumin [myspace] is a Brazilian musician who specializes in a spicy blend of samba and funk. Both musicians are more than worth the hassles of parking in Fremont, plus their label-mates come highly recommended as well.

Nectar Lounge is at 412 N. 36th St. Doors at 9, show at 10, $8, 21+

This is the weekend to do it; the Washington football team is on the road at Arizona. So, traffic should be a little lighter (though it will probably still take an hour to get from 45th over the Montlake Bridge).

And while we weren’t looking, they’re 3-1 for the first time since that guy with the sweatervest was betting on March Madness while moonlighting as their coach. What was his name? New-Weasel or New-Heist-er or something like that?

Thanks to the cost-of-living adjustment built into Washington’s minimum wage, you will receive $7.93/hour next year — a bump-up of 30 cents.

Of course, you are still making minimum wage. On the other hand, you’re nearly $3/hour better than the federal rate of $5.15, which is just ridiculous to me, since $5.15 won’t buy a month’s worth of ramen anymore.

Tell them that Mike Hargrove is coming back in 2007.

Enjoy some spleen venting from the commenters on USSMariner and the P-I Mariners blog.

from a 1988 drive from Olympia to Seattle, compressed into about two minutes

• a reason to spend your free museum pass at the Henry [seattleartblog]
• life on the front lines of the fall foliage progression [bunnieswithsharpteeth]
• Olympia to Seattle in just under two and a half minutes? A thing of the future? Actually a blast from the past, yet the drive still feels long even in stop-motion super-8. [finkbuilt]

I like to look at commenters’ blogs when they link to them in their comments. That way, I can personalize my snarky retorts. “Oh yeah? Well, your HTML is not well-formed, you web standards luddite!’

So I want to point out Carla’s blog, which informed me that one of my favoritest movies of all time, Repo Man, is playing at the Central Cinema on top of Capitol Hill this weekend.

Central Cinema is a pizza-and-beer movie house, as in “they serve pizza and beer and you can watch the movie drunk and bloated.” And Repo Man is the perfect cult movie to watch drunk and bloated. It was us Eighties kids’ Donnie Darko. You’ll never look at generic products the same way again.

Repo Man shows all weekend at 7:00pm and 9:30pm. BE THERE! Thanks Carla!

Dateline Seattle, from the mean streets of Fremont:

A Norwegian who says he has biked 16-thousand miles through South and Central America says he was robbed within 30 minutes of arriving in Seattle. Rune Monstad had parked his bike outside a grocery store to use the phone when someone unzipped a bag and took his passport and 500 dollars — all the money he had.

A friend is helping Monstad while he tries to pick up enough money in odd jobs to resume his trip. He plans to bike across Canada this winter.

On a personal note, this just makes me sad..

Source: KOMO TV (who have updated the story with a feel-good ending).