I Heart Seattle

I ran across some travel journal notes I'd taken on our trip to Seattle this past spring, so I've converted them to blog form -- mainly for myself to help remember the trip.

WEDNESDAY

Fish Throwers - check

It's "As Seen on TV." They yell the fish, throw the fish, catch the fish, sell the fish. Since the media wasn't around (I guess my camera phone didn't count), the staff weren't quite as "on" as I've seen them on television. But is was fun nonetheless.

What I wasn't ready for was "Rabid Fan," a gentleman with a notebook containing each fish thrower's photo and autograph. He was asking who was working today in an attempt to fill out his book. I intially wrote him off as a weirdo, as I'm not a fish market superfan., but quickly realized that I have plenty of "weirdo-ness" myself about other topics, events, and celebrities that many would find lame.

Sleepless in Seattle Reference #1

Janelle is a big fan of the movie, so it was fitting that our first Seattle meal together was at a restaurant from the film. The food was good (fresh seafood is my all-time favorite), and the view of Puget Sound was beautiful.

Starbucks Run #1 (of many)

I've already consumed more Starbucks coffee this week than in my entire life before this trip. I've become a fan. We visited the very first Starbucks (1971) and ordered something coffee-sounding that ended in "-ocha." I'll expect to be a pro by the time we leave, and probably suffering from extreme caffeine high.

Hotel + Mall + Sleep

I purchased a much-needed jacket (it's colder than expected) and hit the bed early. We had started the day at 2:45 AM Pacific Time, so 7:30 PM seemed like a good time to get some sleep.

THURSDAY (aka Nerdfest Day)

Sleepless in Seattle Reference #2

Before the nerdfest began, we spent some time on Alki beach in West Seattle (apparently it's the location where Tom Hanks and the kid are flying a kite towards the end of the movie). Beautiful place with a view of the city.

Nerdfest #1: Science Fiction Museum

I liked this museum, but felt that I didn't know enough about the source material to truly love it. It is well done and had an impressive amount of nerdy eye candy -- especially for Trekkies. I particularly liked the R2-D2 and Death Star models.

Nerdfest #2: Experience Music Project

Holy crap. I could have spent days in this museum, listening to every song and reading every plaque in this incredible place. It was a sensory feast, visually, audially, and tactilly. An entire room is devoted to Jimi Hendrix (who I learned this week is from Seattle), and similar displays on the grunge movement of the early 1990s (my favorite retro music era).

The experience also included sound rooms for guitar, piano, drums, and vocals. I spent a few minutes banging on the drums (it's been awhile) and got revitalized. For anyone who loves music, this is a must-see.

Nerdfest #3: Nintendo of America Headquarters

I previously blogged about this experience here. Recap: It was fun.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Mars Hill Graduate School

Janelle had interviews on Friday morning, so I went off on a self-guided walking tour of downtown. I rode the Space Needle, enjoyed more Starbucks, and walked back to Pike Place Market to watch more fish throwing. Lots of walking in a very walkable city, and I took a bunch of fun pictures. Here's one:

The remainder of the weekend was a fast-paced, exciting, mind- and heart-bending time of learning. Mars Hill Graduate School is a special place, and I'm excited for Janelle as she pursues her dream. I'm also selfishly excited for me, as the school does an incredible job of including spouses in the process. If we do this thing, I'll be able to sit in on her classes free of charge any time my schedule allows, and I can participate in a special council devoted to spouses of students.

(Editor's note: Janelle was invited to attend graduate school at MHGS. The current plan is a move to Seattle in 2010, with school starting in the fall.)

Is this heaven? No, it's Gotcha!

My favorite part of Halloween in Columbia is trick-or-treating downtown. And the highlight of the evening is a visit to Gotcha.

For those unfamiliar, Gotcha is a costume shop in downtown Columbia, owned and operated by a gentleman I've only known as "Arrow." As one might imagine, the shop is extremely busy on October 31, as college students and others are completing their outfits for upcoming parties.

Here's the scene:

We walk into Gotcha, fighting the crowd a little to get in the door.

Arrow yells, "Make way for the important people!" in reference to Blake and Madilyn as he makes the 30 people in line scoot back two steps to make room.

"Hey, it's Bumblebee and Hermione!" (they were mis-identified as Harry Potter and a Power Ranger in many of the other stores) "Come get some candy! Happy Halloween!"

At this point it is important to define "candy" in Gotcha terms. We are not talking about tootsie rolls or smarties. The kids' eyes opened wide as they looked upon a basket full of king size candy bars. Blake grabbed M&Ms. Madilyn beamed at her choice: a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup 4-pack.

As we walked out the door, I had trouble composing myself. It was an emotional experience for me.

In a world where kids (particularly once they grow past the cute baby and toddler stages) are typically ignored, mine were declared the important people by a store owner who surely had much more important things to do on his most profitable day of the year. For 2 minutes, Arrow made them the stars of the show.

Arrow's "let the children come to me" selflessness surprised and overwhelmed me. But why? Because I think love and acceptance is reserved for more "Christian" environments like home or church (often neither lives up to that billing)? Am I surprised that God can love on my kids in a downtown costume shop? Do I think the lavish generosity of chocolate is somehow different than or separate from God's gift of grace?

I'm not sure about answers to any of those questions, but I do know this: My children experienced unconditional love this Halloween. Not at a church-sponsored, anti-Halloween "Fall Festival," but among the plastic vomit, inappropriate costumes, and half-drunk college students at Gotcha.

A glimpse into heaven, Gotcha style:

Blake Chandler, Imagineer

Blake Chandler, age 6, has the most incredible, active, creative imagination of any person I've ever met. He has invented animals (Titanicsaurus), planets (Solarspace), and entire galaxies (including 'Galaxy of the Innapropriate' where the inhabitants are never clothed).

In Blake's kindergarten class this week, another student made the statement that "imagining is stupid." Blake vehemently disagreed, and made a point to share his feelings that "Imagination is Awesome!" on our drive to school this morning.

His invention of words from age 2-6 could have filled poetry books, upstart small businesses, and website URLs -- if only we had captured them more agressively.

He is rarely daunted by what others would consider the "rules" of physics, time, and space. And his arguments are compelling to the point that I'm beginning to believe him and have attempted to minimize boxing him in with my small view of reality.

His current school library book is entitled Imagine a Night. One particular page grabbed my attention and hasn't let go. It's a perfect example of Blake's answer to the "Do you think we could ever _________ ?"

His response: Sure!

imagine a night...

... when you might find

that gravity

doesn't work

quite as you expected.

It just makes me laugh.

I don't know what it is, but "professionally-produced" (term used lightly) signs with obvious errors or misspellings make me laugh. Here's one I ran across a few weeks ago.

Bendaroos: They're awesome!

I've had the pleasure this fall to share in the "take the kids to school" task with Janelle. I didn't realize what fun little conversations can be had in a 6 minute drive from our house to the school.

One day last week we discussed TV commercials:

Madilyn or Blake (I forget, which): I want (some toy) because I saw it on a TV commercial.

Madilyn: It is cool to have things that we see on TV.

Me (in fatherly tone, capturing teaching moment): You know kids, that's the reason they make TV commercials - to make you think you want things.

Blake: I do want things!

Madilyn: And Dad , if we didn't have TV commercials, we would never know what Bendaroos are.

Me (stupidly): What are Bendaroos?

Madilyn: They're awesome. And they're only $19.95!

New and Improved ... fork?

Finally, someone has improved the design of the fork. I've been searching for one that was not only stronger, but also tougher (two vital fork qualities) -- now I've found it.

I can sleep again.

It does make me wonder, though, if the purchaser of the 600-piece plastic fork box was somehow influenced by the blatant marketing declaring these forks different in some way to the last 50 years of plastic forks.

I have to admit, if they were on a Sam's Club shelf next to plain old forks, I'm going with stronger and tougher every time.

Chip clips make me happy

Do you ever avoid doing/buying something, and then when you finally do you ask yourself, "Why in the world didn't I do that weeks/months/years ago?"

We've had a lack of "chip clips" in our house for quite awhile. There was a daily struggle to determine which bag of chips or other food were "chip clip worthy." It consisted of a tiered system of criteria that looked something like this:

1. How many chips are left? (more chips = more loss if they go stale)
2. How new is the bag? (new chips gone stale seems more wasteful)
3. Which chips am I personally more likely to eat (for me, Santitas got the clip before Lay's)
4. Which chips taste OK stale? (Doritos are passable; chewy pretzels are not)
5. Which chips cost the most to replace if thrown away? (I'm looking at you, Gardettos)

Also, it seemed the number of chip clips dwindled year to year. We received a bunch for our wedding (granted, that was ten years ago), and we've picked up a couple along the way -- including a random clothespin here and there. But items like this have a way of disappearing or finding other uses. One currently clips the Costco-sized bag of cat food in the garage (Otis does not go for stale food. Also, see #5 above.), and others end up clipping various bags inside the refrigerator or around the house.

Of course, every time I fought through this decision tree I asked myself the question, "Self, why don't you buy some chip clips?" But the feeling soon passed, and it never happened to occur while at the store.

Then something very special happened. I was in Wal-Mart and happened to think about this issue. I sprinted to the chip clip aisle (ok, it's not an entire aisle - but there are options) and made this vital purchase. It has changed my life.

I am a rich man. Rich with chip clips. Now every bag of chips, no matter its race, creed, color or flavor, is properly clipped and fresh for eating at our leisure.

Chip, chip, hooray!

Do not eat kids crayons

This is a box of crayons at an IHOP restaurant in Olathe, Kansas.

Most signing like this has a story attached to it - a reason for its existence. I have no idea what happened at this IHOP, but I'm sure the story is worth a listen.

I've heard of premium coffee, but...

I know McDonald's is trying to win the "we have the best-tasting fancy coffee" award, but this is ridiculous.

It does make the $5 Starbucks version seem a quite reasonable expense.

OK, fess up. Who has paid $200+ for a cup of coffee? Come on, I know you're out there.

The Paradox of Our Time - George Carlin

I was recently forwarded this monologue by George Carlin. It's a speech I had read years ago, and enjoyed in different way today. Enjoy.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce; fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, ' I love you ' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

- George Carlin