OFFICIAL Michael Jackson Flash Mob Seattle - Beat It

I love my city!!

The new thrifty

MSN Money Today has an article about "15 overpriced things we hate paying for".

With Americans feeling the force of the recession, some charges have grown from minro annoyances to pet peeves. Readers tell which goods and services just aren't worth the money.

I can actually relate two experiences just yesterday where we went out of our way to avoid handling fees on event tickets. David Cook is in town on Monday (I saw a tweet about it) at The Showbox in SoDo. Instead of buying them online we stopped by the venue during box office hours and only paid $2 handling per ticket instead of a LOT MORE via Ticket Master.

And this was on the way to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the IMAX Theater at the Pacific Science Center. Normally we would always order tickets in advance to avoid the line. We decided to go to a 4:10 pm showing and arrived an hour early to be sure we got tickets - and good seats. We did pay for the parking garage ($7) but saved more than that by avoiding online handling fees.

Of course, it helps the film has been out since July 22nd and the crowds have diminished. BUT it was the very first time we were sitting on the floor at the very front of the line for an IMAX showing. We sat there and tweeted and surfed the web on our PPCs, so we didn't feel like we were wasting our time.

And the film is pretty good! Loved the 3D in particular. Technology has come a long way, baby!

Our first mini-vacay in 18 months

Steve and I - and Sophia - went to Sisters, in Eastern Oregon, to visit Steve's sister Kimry Jelen for the first time since she moved there several years ago. We took the scenic route leaving Seattle east on I-90 then traveling south through Eastern Washington into Oregon.

We had lunch at this famous place in Union Gap on the way, Miner's Drive-In Restaurant. Not as good as Zippy's or Red Mill but decent. The shakes were a disappointment. We picnicked next to a group of kids headed for camp. They had gone to Cold Stone Creamery for little 1-scoop bowls of vanilla ice cream and they had some left over, so we got to enjoy some of theirs.

We pulled into town in time for a gallery opening for Dennis Mcgregor, her significant other. Then we were invited along to the gallery owner's home for a catered dinner. We had fun chatting with all of the artists. Sophia didn't enjoy being locked in the car...

Beautiful countryside

Several of Kimry's painting in another gallery in Sisters, OR

Sophia really appreciated the sun-warmed cushion outside of one of the shops on the main shopping street. The entire town is cowboy themed, like Leavenworth is Bavarian.

Steve went shopping for more safety razors. He has turned into a thrift store hound! It's terrible. It's like, we are old or something. We have turned into our parents.

We arrived Saturday evening and stayed until Monday morning. She lives in a custom studio she built on Mcgregor's 60 acres. I saw a deer the first morning I was there when I took Sophia out for a walk around 7 AM. Her floors are concrete that she stained herself and are heated. She has a giant bathtub! I don't have any pictures of her place. There are interesting plants there, and some weird looking rocks left over from volcanic times. We spent an evening around a camp fire visiting and we enjoyed cooking together.

Steve and I have been hunkered down since our return from New York City where we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and rang in the new year of 2008. My car is almost paid off and we have been in a debt management program through Take Charge America for a year. We do not plan on any serious travel again until we are free of our consumer debt (summer 2012) and can pay cash for our trip. I've set a goal for Portugal for 2015!

Greenwood Seafair Parade

 

A number of us from my office walked in the Greenwood SEAFAIR parade on July 22nd. Our office is located in Greenwood, west of Green Lakein the Phinney Ridge area, and since the theme of the parade was "Greenwood Gets Fit" we dressed like, or brought along, our exercise tools. So Ben wore his hiking gear, Howard dressed like a marathon runner (which he is, among other things), the three canines of GreenWorks were in attendance, and we handed out a coloring contest flyer to the kids. I'd made 300 copies and we could have handed out over 1,000 easily. Next year we will plan on doing a lot more!

Neighborhood House construction tour

 

I am holding an open house today so it is giving me time with my netbook, mobile wifi router, and camera card to get some posts caught up.

I uploaded a photo album on my Facebook page of the construction tour in May that Ray Li with Neighborhood House gave some of us in the community.