does it ever rain in Seattle?
The temperature displayed in my car after being baked in the late afternoon sun for about an hour.
Yesterday’s high of 92 degrees fell a little short of the record of 93 degrees set in 1987. But it was hot enough for both Smelly and i as we rode on the Cedar River Trail.
There’s a popular saying that football - what is known everywhere but this country as football - is most beautiful game in the world. But that was not what i saw when i witnessed Smelly and her co-workers played in a match last Thursday. Most of the time, they were not able to even get the ball out of their own half. Almost all of their passes were intercepted and even when they were able to make it relatively close to their opponents’ goal, all the attempted shots were weak.
Now i have not played soccer since junior high, and even back then, i was a pretty shitty player. But after watching how Smelly and her teammates were embarrassed by their opponents, i could no longer stand it. I have decided to join Smelly in this coming Thursday’s match. The soccer boots that i ordered from Adidas probably won’t show up in time for the game but i know my shins will be protected with the newly-purchased shin guards.
It will be very interesting to see how i will be embarrassing myself this Thursday.
I have been wanting a dog for a very long time. But because of the constant travel i had to do for work, i had shelved that idea until i finally changed to a non-traveling job for the first time in my 11-year career.
Initially, we visited the Seattle Animal Shelter, hoping to find one that will suit our lifestyle. Most of the dogs at shelter were either pit bulls or pit bull-mixed. Since i have not had a dog since i was about 15, i really didn’t think i could handle a pit bull-like breed.
Smelly then suggested getting a Shiba Inu, a breed that is native to Japan. After doing some research on this breed and visiting a few breeders, including a very questionable backyard breeder in Arlington, we decided to get a puppy from Leslie Engen of San Jo Shibas back in March. I had not visited any breeder prior to deciding on getting a Shiba and i learned a great deal from Leslie. If there is a standard for dog breeder, Leslie should be it. She basically interviewed us to make sure that we were suitable owners of Shibas. She explained to us tirelessly almost everything we need to know about raising a breed like the Shibas, including the potential pitfalls.
Two weeks ago, i sent an email to Leslie asking her for news on her Shiba breeding this summer. She told us the good news. There was a litter of four puppies born on 5/29 and we would be able to visit the puppies in a week or two.
So Smelly and i went over to Leslie’s gorgeous wetland-filled compound yesterday to visit the puppies.
One of the four Shiba puppies.
The Shiba mom is KD. She’s the daughter of Taro, another of Leslie’s Shibas that has sired many Shibas with good temperament.
Protective KD with two of her puppies.
Leslie left us in a fenced area with KD and her four puppies. We were able to interact with most of the puppies - one of them fell asleep as soon as it arrived in the pen. It was very obvious to me that KD was very protective of her puppies. She would chase after flies as perceived threats to her puppies. She showed no sign of aggression toward us but she would not lose sights of all her puppies.
Showing affection to one of the puppies.
Leslie told us that we will be able to pick up one of the four puppies in about three weeks. I can’t wait for the arrival of that day.
I was at the Seattle Municipal Court again for the second straight day, performing my jury duty. During the morning, three groups of juror who were selected the day before were called up. I, along with the remaining jurors, waited at the jury assembly room. I brought my work notebook and did some work. When i got bored, i decided to start reading the book - Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” - i brought along with me but i fell asleep soon after. Around noon, an announcement was made to the effect that my service was no longer needed since cases that were scheduled for the rest of the week were settled.
Before i left the Seattle Municipal Court, i decided to take some pictures of the 12th-floor rooftop garden.
Seattle Municipal Court rooftop garden.
I do not see a single weed in the garden. May be it is difficult for weed to land on a garden twelve floors up.
Then i looked across the street at the rooftop garden on top of the City Hall.
Unhealthy-looking rooftop garden on top of Seattle’s City Hall.
It does not appear that the City Hall rooftop garden is well-maintained at all. Considering the amount of rain that we had been getting prior to this week, i was expecting the garden to look greener than what it was.
The new Seattle City Hall.
I received a summon for jury duty about a month ago. According to the summon, i “have been randomly selected to serve as a trial juror in the Municipal Court of Seattle.” I had to get up way earlier than my usual time in order to arrive at the Municipal Court before 0830. The daily compensation for each day of service is $10. That’s barely enough for lunch. When i signed in on arrival, i decided to donate the $10 to Childcare Services of Seattle.
Seattle Municipal Court.
After watching an 18-minute video on a juror’s duty, one of the two ladies explained that the length of the Jury Service is Tuesday through Thursday. What ??!!! I initially thought it was a one-day deal. RTFM, it was printed in bold on the summon, right under the huge title “INSTRUCTIONS - READ CAREFULLY.
Basically, i am in a pool of about 30 jurors. Each time, they will randomly call a group of about 10 jurors. The bailiff will lead this group of jurors to the judge. The judge will tell them about the case and introduce the jurors to the lawyers and others who are involved in it. After taking an oath to answer all questions truthfully, the judge and the lawyers will question the panel to find out if the jurors have any knowledge of the case and things that may make it hard for the jurors to be impartial.
No one was called up before lunch so everyone was let out at around 1130 for a two-hour lunch. Since i had so much time, i decided to walk over to Salumi, a restaurant owned by Armandino Batali, father of celeb chef Mario Batali.
Long line of lunch crowd waiting outside Salumi.
There was a long line waiting outside Salumi, about 30-people deep. I must have waited in line for at least 45 minutes before i was able to make my order. I ordered the special of the day, Marco Polo, an East meet West sandwich with a prosciutto-wrapped chicken marinated in Wasabi sauce, loaded with Wasabi dressing and hot peppers. It was a huge and delicious sandwich.
I spent the whole afternoon in the jury assembly room, waiting to be called up. Four groups of jurors were called up and i was not among them. I fell asleep several times during the afternoon. By 1530, they let everyone who was not called go home.
Two more days of this to go.
People who schedule meetings or conference calls before 9 o’clock in the morning are just fucking rude.
Above & Beyond at the Showbox. Photo courtesy of givanov.
Above & Beyond, a trance trio from the UK was in Seattle last Friday. Two out of the three members - Paavo Siljamäki and Tony McGuinness - were here for the energetic two-hour set, in support of their new release Anjunabeats 100. Above & Beyond are currently ranked #6 in the DJ Mag top 100 poll.
No, the Mariners did not beat any major league baseball teams. They are still the worst baseball team in the majors with record of 25 - 47. But the Mariners did one up on a group of Mariners fan calling themselves “Baghead Nation”. Apparently , some disgruntled Mariners fans started speculating in the comment section of Geoff Baker’s Mariners Blog to make what was supposed to be a nationally televised game on July 19th a paperbag night. The idea was for Mariners fans to attend that game wearing paper bags over their heads, to show that they are too ashamed to be seen watching the Mariners play.
Evidently, the Mariners got wind of this situation and decided to not televise the July 19th game on Fox. In fact, this game will not even be shown on the local FSN station. Geoff Baker was nice enough to leave a note for members of the “Baghead Nation”:
ADDITIONAL NOTE: To members of “Baghead Nation” who frequent this site, please be advised that the Mariners have announced that the July 19 home game will no longer be televisised nationally. Nor locally. No television at all. Thought you might be interested.
So the score for now, the Seattle Mariners 1 - Baghead Nation 0.
Update: The Mariners just announced the firing of manager John McClaren.