I Wrote This: Seattle Rain or Shine

Hey everybody - I'm delighted to announce the release of this snazzy new map, published by Herb Lester, designed by Ellis Latham-Brown, and written by me! Read about 42 of my favorite Jet City spots to eat, drink, shop, and have fun. Get it here.
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SteveMandich.com Blog 2011 Year in Review!

This is easily the best picture I took this year, if not the best picture I've ever taken.

Among this blog's 105 posts in 2011, it's obvious that I became obsessed with hockey (and to a far lesser extent, D.B. Cooper), and I had fun on my travels around the Northwest and Southeast.

Celebrating birthdays this year were Yakov Smirnoff, Wayne Gretzky, Dog, Dr. Dre, Jack Chick, Ace Frehley, Willie Mays, Chris Elliott, Gene Simmons, The Onion, Ryan Kesler, Adam West, Captain Bananas, Weird Al, the University of Washington, Washington state, Quatchi, Fred Armisen, Peter Criss, Lemmy and Don Francisco.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Tura Satana, the White Stripes, Knut, Jim Mandich, Gil Scott-Heron, Cave Man, Clarence Clemons, Rick the Peanut Guy, R.E.M., Red Foxx (albeit 20 years too late) and Kim Jong Il.

On top of this being the fifth full calendar year of this blog, I also started a couple new blogs in 2011 -- Super Ichiro Crazy! and Bigfoot is Real -- and I've also added lotsa stuff to my flickr pages, which now hosts almost 1,000 images.

Anyway, the good Mayans willing, stay tuned for more of this stuff in 2012... Thanks for reading!
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Popular Pike Place Pig Plowed

I'm a couple weeks late with this, an update to my old Do the Collapse post, covering "the Seattle area's decades-long history of man-made structures falling down, exploding, imploding, sinking and whatnot"... Back on February 5, Rachel, the 25-year-old, 550-pound bronze piggy bank at Pike Place Market, was rammed by a taxi -- details.
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Happy Groundhog Day!

Predicting an early spring: Buckeye Chuck, Chuckles, Dunkirk Dave, General Beauregard Lee, Grady the Groundhog, Gus, Jimmy the Groundhog, Malverne Mel, Punxsutawney Phil, Shubenacadie Sam, Staten Island Chuck, Susquehanna Sherman, Wiarton Willie.

Predicting six more weeks of winter: Balzac Billy, Dover Doug, Holtsville Hal, Mountain Maryland Murray, Octoraro Orphie, Poor Richard, Sir Walter Wally, Stormy Marmot, Tumbleweed, Uni, Woody the Woodchuck.

Full results here.
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Happy 60th, Northgate!

Didn't want 2010 to end without mentioning that our big local shopping mall hit the big six-oh this year.

Which doesn't sound like much -- it's only half as old as Bartell -- but Northgate's 1950 opening turned out to be ground zero for America's subsequent mallification. According to Wikipedia, "Northgate was the first regional shopping center in the United States to be described as a mall, in this instance a double row of stores facing each other across a covered pedestrian walkway (also the first mall to have public restrooms)."

It just wouldn't be the holidays for me without a trip to Northgate, but something draws me back during the rest of the year, too. Maybe it's the pants at J.C. Penny, or the shoes at Footaction USA, or the burgers at Red Robin. Or, seeing as how I was born right across I-5 from Northgate, it's probably some Freudian thing.

In any case, don't bother looking at Northgate's crap web site -- more enlightening is Shopping Center Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University.

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Stupid Postcard Alert

Got this in Wednesday's mail from my State Farm agent. Though I appreciate that he hired a skywriter, a photographer, a printer and so forth just to tell me "I really appreciate your business," two things stick out:

1. Though we're married, Eliza and I have different last names, so I'm the only Mandich in the house.

2. Even if we did share my last name, we'd be Mandiches, not "Mandichs." I wonder how he might handle the Jones family, or the neighbors Homer Simpson calls the Flanderseses?

Anyway, it's the thought that counts. Thank you, State Farm agent!
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Way To Go, Doppler!

Is that a WNBA championship trophy in your diaper, or are you just glad to see us?

Seattle's favorite anemometer-topped hairball mascotted the Storm to their second WNBA title last night. Soon after, he was seen looting area businesses and setting cop cars on fire before passing out behind Dick's.

Here he is in more modest attire, posing with Eliza at some function last year.First photo from the P-I; second photo by Barbie Hull.
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Hello, Chetzemoka!

Washington State Ferries is putting a new batch of 64-car ferries on the sound, starting with the M/V Chetzemoka. It's currently undergoing sea trials before taking on the Port Townsend/Keystone run in October. The Cheztemoka looks pretty much like all the other ferries of its size that have gone into service in the last half-century, albeit a bit blockier, with fewer windows on the car deck and huge wheelhouses.

Disgruntled employees test out the inflatable slide:

Many cool photos in this Flickr set, and more info on both the DOT site and this ferry porn site.
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Cool Logos, Boring Game (Still)

The Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers recently revealed new logos for their respective teams, both to join the Seattle Sounders next year in the MLS. Though I'm still ho-hum about the sport, perhaps I'll change my tune in September after we've been to our first game. (Many of our neighbors are already big fans, as evidenced by all the yelling and cheering coming from various homes around our apartment during today's World Cup games.) Regardless, I dig the designs, and It'll be cool to have a three-way Northwest rivalry.

From last year, here are my original Sounders impressions... Also, The Onion Sports Introduction To World Cup Soccer.

UPDATE
This just in -- soccer is gay!
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Sign o' the Times: Born to Ride the Ducks!

Good grief. Spotted Monday at Fifth and Broad.
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Happy Birthday, America!

Eliza got me this bitchin' giraffe ornament.

Trick or treat!!
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Sixty-Nine Flight Rock

This morning I ascended the second-tallest building on the West Coast -- the hard way!

It was the Big Climb for Leukemia, a sort of vertical fun-run up the stairs of the 76-story, 967-foot Columbia Center. Upon its 1985 completion, it was the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi (likewise, the Smith Tower held the same distinction from its 1914 opening 'til 1931). Columbia Center has since fallen in rank -- it's now the west's fourth-tallest building, and the twelfth- tallest in the US... I didn't train much, only climbing the Volunteer Park Water Tower several times in the last week. Still, it took me just 19 minutes to hike up Columbia Center's 69 flights (1,311 steps, 788 feet of vertical elevation) from its Fifth Avenue lobby to the 73rd floor observation deck. The view was pretty amazing (I love observation decks!), though I too pooped to fully take it in.

As for the event's fundraising aspect, I'm not big on hitting people up for pledges, but if anyone wants to make a donation, it'll be gratefully accepted here.
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Animal Wild Life!

My eight-year-old pal Caleb made this awesome stop-motion video one rainy afternoon -- it inspires me to make my own.
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Robot Camel Jockeys

Some Arab countries have in recent years begun using robots as camel jockeys, a story I first saw on TV a few months back. Here's that video (following a commercial), along with another video I found tonight.

Hooray for the precious children, etc. The thing is, it totally cracks me up how the little remote-control robots spastically whip the camels, and I especially love how they're outfitted in tiny caps and tiny numbered jerseys.

I want one.
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Adult Swim

Did I mention my intent to become a better swimmer this year?

For the most part, I've always hated swimming. I don't mind splashing around in the water from time to time, but I've never enjoyed practiced, coordinated, point-to-point swimming. This started when I had to take lessons as a kid at our local pool, where I was always cold (it was an outdoor pool, and the shower/locker-room facilities were open-air too). Propelling myself through water simply seemed more trouble than it was worth. Even worse was when I had to swim on a team, actually competing in such unpleasantness. Oddly, it seems I should like swimming -- my mom and both sisters have been avid swimmers for decades, and if you believe in astrology (not that I do), we Cancers are supposed to be at home in the water.

In any case, after avoiding the water for years on end, I've tried swimming in various lakes in the last couple summers, and was disappointed (and in one case, spooked) by how weak, uncoordinated, and non-confident I was. I couldn't even bring myself to dive into the water -- flinging myself headfirst into anything seems counterintuitive.

So over the last five weeks I attended a series of eight half-hour swim lessons at Medgar Evers Pool (conveniently located right across the street from Ezell's). I relearned the basics: crawlstroke, backstroke, breaststroke, treading water, and I even did a few shaky dives off the pool's edge. Since the lessons ended last week, I've twice gone swimming on my own, and can feel myself getting stronger and more coordinated with each session. The water isn't as cold as I remember, though it seems I get tired a lot faster. But last night I made that pool my biatch.

In the meantime I dug out an old swim lesson report card (seen above, enhanced with my own artwork), probably from 1973 or '74 (when I was 4 or 5). Here's what my instructor, someone named Nancy Baer, had to say: "Steve is really starting to relax in the water. I strongly suggest to continue with lesson [sic] because he is now starting to lose his fear of water. He can now face float and back float on his own."

Not too shabby.

Final thought: There should be a reality show in which celebrities learn how to swim. Take care of yourselves, and each other.
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Love That Bob's

Sad news on the front page of this morning's Tacoma News Tribune...

"Among the big-name rockers to drop in were the Ventures, who often performed there before the Tacoma surf-rock band scored its first big hit 'Walk -- Don't Run,' in 1960. Members of Nirvana hung out there in the '80s, though the urban legend that the band performed there isn't true. Members of Tacoma punk band Girl Trouble were also regulars around that time; singer Kurt Kendall and guitarist Bill 'Kahuna' Henderson met there. And Neko Case was even employed as a bartender a few years later, before she became a rising alt-country star. The bar once featured two chimpanzees, named Java and Jive, who played drums for the customers. Animal rights protests and Health Department complaints forced the family to give the pets to friends."

I've only been inside the place once, when I stopped by for a hamburger one afternoon. No rock stars or celebs or chimps were present -- just me and the bartender/cook. I regret never spending an evening there, when the joint is presumably rockin'. Still, I often drive by when passing through T-Town, usually to show Bob's off to friends and take pictures, like the one here I snapped in 1993.
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Do the Collapse

Last night's crane collapse in Bellevue is the latest in the Seattle area's decades-long history of man-made structures falling down, exploding, imploding, sinking and whatnot. The causes of such destruction have been intentional (the implosion of old buildings), accidental (the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, various engineering boners), and Acts of Jesus (major storms, major earthquakes in 1949, 1965, and 2001; Mt. St. Helens in 1980).

Here's a chronological sampling of the more spectacular instances:



November 7, 1940: The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, as seen in the footage above.

February 13, 1979: The Hood Canal floating bridge sinks in a windstorm.

February 25, 1987: The under-construction north upper deck of Husky Stadium collapses.

November 25, 1990: The I-90 floating bridge spanning Lake Washington floods and sinks.

Sometime in 1992: The 48-foot, 13-ton Hammering Man sculpture topples over upon installation outside the Seattle Art Museum.

January 17, 1993: The Asarco Smelter smokestack Ruston, once the tallest smokestack in the world at something like 500 feet, is imploded.

March 27, 2000: The Kingdome is imploded. (I have a small chunk of its concrete rubble in my kitchen.)

January 15, 2001: The historic pergola in Pioneer Square crashes to the sidewalk after being hit by a truck driver.

I also remember in the mid-'80 when a crane fell 29 stories from the top of Century Square, but the guy in the cab only suffered scrapes and bruises. If that's not enough, this Seattle Times article's sidebar lists 11 other local crane-related accidents since 1994.

Hey! Let's be careful out there.

UPDATE

Popular Pike Place Piggy Plowed

2013 Skagit River bridge collapse, Mt. Vernon
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Sign o' the Times (1993)

I snapped this photo in Vancouver, Washington, shortly after the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. While it was good of DQ to ensure customer safety, I couldn't quite handle the juxtaposition of "Dairy Queen" and "E. COLI."
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Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!

Here's to 230 years of freedom -- the freedom to jump a monster Bigfoot truck over an exploding 727!



Vroom!

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