August 17 - Bird Alert, Garage Sale

Editor's Note: This post was mostly written on Monday, but it is now Tuesday owing to staying up too late watching The West Wing yesterday and forgetting to hit send, my apologies.

You know, yesterday I thought I would get a head start on writing this, opened it up, typed the heading. And then? I thought I should organize my photos, so I installed Darktable. Big mistake. Anyways, I am once again writing this on Monday.

What I've Been Up To

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a job interview last week for some part-time work that I figured could fill my time while being slightly more fulfilling than volunteering (on account of being paid). I actually had a second interview, which I think went pretty well. I suspect the standards for this job are not especially high, but there were still enough applicants for them to close off the applications and for the interviewer to say she was swamped, so I am a bit nervous.

Chophouse Row Adventure

On Thursday I wanted to go to Sugar Bakery to get sandwiches for lunch, but there was some police publicity event going on outside and there were just a bunch of cops and a camera crew blocking the entrance, so we ended up going to Tailwind Cafe. I forgot how good this place is. They have decent coffee and good food for very reasonable prices, a rarity in Capitol Hill. Didn't get a picture of my food but we also got this frozen lemonade that was very cute, very cold, and very sour.

There's this place in Chophouse Row that I've heard about a few times with regard to perfume called Atelier Madrona, but every time I try to look for it, it has eluded me. NOT THIS TIME THOUGH! After wandering around for a while, we found their upstairs office, which seemed pretty closed to the public, but then on our way out, we just happened to discover that they had a new downstairs self-serve perfume bar, which seems pretty cool! It's sort of pricey, but I feel like perfume always is, and it's not that crazy.

That night was also one of my friends' birthdays (happy bday heather!!) so in the evening I donned my most unbearable pairs of fly goggles and headed over to the party location, where we discovered we were DOUBLE BOOKED with a Revolutionary Communist Party meeting??? Only in Seattle.

Volunteer Park

Friday I spent some time walking around 15th ave and Volunteer park. It was a pretty chill day, and I also had my second interview. As far as I know it went well, but I am still waiting to hear back. As a side note, the houses near Volunteer Park are absolutely insane. It's bizarre to me that we have mansions like this housing a single family in close proximity to homeless people begging on the street, but I suppose that is the great contradiction of Seattle. I don't know if I've been to many other cities with the same jarring contrast between abject poverty and mind-bending opulence, though I suppose the insides of the high-rises in downtowns are all probably pretty fancy.

Bird Watching

I am still pretty new to this camera, so when @cee.wtf posted asking people to go bird watching I was like heck yeah! Turns out, I don't really know how to take pictures of birds, but the outing was fun! I did get some very cute bunny pics.

As an aside, on my way back I was struck by the beauty of Interlaken Park. It's such a weird area, I don't even know where the "park" is. But just biking through it is so pretty, it's quite dark so the light coming through the trees is very dramatic. Cars tend to zoom by though, so it's a bit scary to fully enjoy.

Garage Sale

Sunday was the Capitol Hill Garage Sale!! Imagine me actually going to an event I advertise in this newsletter? This may be a first! Anyways it was fun, a bit overwhelming actually owing to the hundreds of vendors all packed next to eachother selling mostly random stuff. There were a few cool vendors, though, including my favorite local artist @coolartcorner.bsky.social!

Some highlights included a magic trick from the incredible Lizzie Feir,

and finding an artist selling Jimothy stickers! People will forget about Jimothy, but he will live on my bestickered bicycle forever...

After rummaging around the garage sale for a while, we headed to Kajiken nearby for food. I hadn't been there in a while and forgot how filling it was with the raw egg yolk and all the meat. A nice treat, but one that should be enjoyed sparingly, I think.

I Saw the Signs

What's Coming Up

Struggling once again this week to find things to do. That was in fact part of the allure of this newsletter, but I suspect I need to waddle harder, faster.

Chess Club 8th anniversary tournament - at Stoup Brewing Sunday Aug 23 from Noon-4pm

I'm not particularly good at chess, but I miss seeing chess club around Capitol Hill at Linda's Tavern. Perhaps this can fill the void.

Seattle Central Go Club - Wednesday at 7. I want to go this week!!

Bicycle Advisory Board bike ride - Looking at my calendar I was intrigued by this one, an official city government board is doing a bike ride starting in Capitol Hill Today at 5:30

Center City Cinema showing Fame - This Friday at 7:30 at the Freeway Park ( a place I frankly didn't really know was a park )

Best of the Net

https://linebender.org/blog/hyperbezier/ - Looking for a replacement for the much-maligned bezier curve? Look no further! Will this be the future of vector illustration or an oddity relegated to the archives of time. Only the years will tell...

https://aresluna.org/the-hardest-working-font-in-manhattan/ - A fun article exploring the history and various forms of "Gorton" a poorly-defined set of plotter fonts that show up all over Manhattan and many cities (and my new favorite font, for now).

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expanding-capabilities-to-combat-transnational-cyber-enabled-crime/ - Good news everyone, cybercrime is legal now￼￼*

* if it's the US government doing the hacking

https://www.noemamag.com/why-is-everyone-in-tech-so-sad/ - A beautiful, dark exploration of the existential challenges facing "knowledge workers". Hit me pretty hard, I've been feeling a real lack of optimism lately about my career and felt very affirmed by this.

Thank you for reading, and I apologize again for the delay in publishing. I am sure you were all eagerly waiting with bated breath. Have a great week!