A Seattle Aside to my Sister

I was telling you about those books I read that featured steampunk versions of Seattle?

Ok, one was Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and the other (with the seamstresses) was Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear. Also, there are TWO notable "seamstresses" that helped early Seattle - Mary Ann Conklin and Lou Graham. Karen Memory features a character based on the former and includes quite a bit about the raising of the streets and those ladders we learned about, if I recall correctly. All very fun and very Seattle. Both books are worth a read if you find the time.

My Sister's Birthday!

Yesterday, Inkwell and I set off across the mountains to visit my family in the ancestral home in Renton. My sister's birthday is today, and I planned to spend it with her.

As many of you know, Inkwell the cat does not travel willingly, and he got a little suspicious on Wednesday when I cleaned up and closed off the guest room, then packed a bag. On Thursday he hid for a bit until I fed him, then tried to keep an eye on me while being ready to hide as I got ready to travel. I quietly closed all the doors upstairs to cut off his potential hiding spaces, and when I got out the carrier he did what I expected and bolted for the stairs - only to find the bedrooms and the nice hiding places under the beds cut off. I caught him as he came back down the stairs, and the look he gave me is not one I will soon forget.

He settled down quickly once in the car, especially after I pulled the towel over his carrier. Along the way I only stopped twice to rest, and checked on him both times. A little unsettled, but he wasn't too upset. Once at our destination he almost couldn't wait to get out of the carrier, throwing my balance off as I hauled him up the hill to my parents' front door. Once inside, I opened the carrier immediately and he darted out, pleased to find himself in the big house he loves.

My sister arrived home later that night from a work site in Oregon, and we had dinner together and caught up. Her first choice of destination for her birthday turned out to be closed for the winter, so she suggested the Underground Tour in Seattle, and I enthusiastically agreed, since I have lived in the Seattle area most of my life but had never been on the tour.

The next morning we got ready to go and Inkwell hid, afraid to be caught and stuffed back into his carrier. He was still a bit worried when Lisa and I left.

We got downtown before 11 a.m. and parked in a garage, then as we started the walk to Pioneer Square we spotted a fellow selling the Real Change newspaper and pulled out the $2 to buy one. He looked at us and said, "Wait, you're sisters, right?" We nodded, and he looked back and forth between us, carefully, then pointed at Lisa and said, "You're the younger one!" We laughed and confirmed it, then I said, "Yeah, and it's her birthday!" Immediately he said he had a gift, and sang a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday" for her, right there on the sidewalk. It was great.

We thanked him and headed down to the tour, with Lisa quickly learning that I cannot walk quite as fast as she can. Once there, we learned the 11 am tour was sold out and they were selling tickets to the noon tour. We bought them, and, with about 45 minutes to spare, headed out to first get some Cow Chip Cookies, then visited Magic Mouse Toys, a place my husband worked at some years ago, while he was still in high school.

We got back to the Tour spot a little early and I read Real Change while waiting for the tour to start. We were called down to the theater and listened to a nifty 15 minute tale of the early days of Seattle to start the tour.

Now, I knew most of the information in the tour. Like I said, I've lived in Seattle a long time, and I paid attention to the history because, frankly, it's hilarious. But there were some great tidbits I didn't know for sure. Like Yesler becoming mayor and suing the city over his taxes, then settling out of court with himself. And everyone who grew up here knows about the Denny regrade, but I didn't realize just how they did it to not cover the sidewalks. In short, it was fun, punny and informative.

Then we split into smaller groups to go on the tour itself. There were a lot of people in each group. It turned out that there was a cruise in town and a lot of people from the cruise were doing the tour.

I hadn't realized that the tour goes outside and aboveground, then heads down into different sections. I think we went up or down stairs at least 10 times, maybe more, and crossed a lot of heavily trafficked streets. Each time we emerged it was wonderful to come up into cool air - by the end of the tour I'd taken off my coat and didn't need it at all walking back to the car.

The tour group looks at an old photo of Seattle before the fire and learns about the dangers of flushing toilets at high tide.

The tour started in a small gallery with a photo of Seattle before the fire, when the toilets were such a big problem that a person was almost risking their life if they flushed at high tide. The group then moved to a corner spot underneath a set of purple tiles, which we learned were original skylights that had kept the underground usable in a time before electric lights were practical. The tour guide actually turned out the lights so we could see how much light the now grungy tiles provided, and it was actually quite nice.

Skylights!

The tour guide also told us about the teller's ghost in that area - a young man shot in his teller's cage while reaching to for the keys to give them to the robbers so he wouldn't get shot. They apparently misinterpreted his move as reaching for a gun. The guide said he'd never seen a ghost in all the time he'd been working in the Underground, and he's been there since 1879. That is, indeed, the level of the jokes on the tour.

The ghost of a man shot inside the teller's cage is said to haunt this area.

The city was originally built on what were basically tide flats, and flooded frequently. Particularly the sewage pipes. The problems were bad and getting worse when the city burned down. Most businesses wanted to immediately rebuild, for obvious reasons, but were told to have entrances on the second floor of the building. But for a time, folks still used the ground floor of the buildings - and because the sewage problems were no better, the toilets were usually up on platforms.

A crapper device on a platform in the underground.

The guide also showed us an image of the building we were in, and showed how the building originally looked, before the streets were all raised to the second story and filled with dirt from Denny Hill.

Our guide Thad shows where the street is now on the Korn Building

After the streets were raised, people were still using the sidewalks that were now, sort of, below ground. This is because the city owned the streets while the sidewalks belonged to the buildings. The city provided ladders for people to climb up at each corner to get up to street level to cross streets. As you can imagine, this was not an ideal situation. Eventually, the sidewalks were covered with a series of Roman arches supported at the base with metal beams.

Roman arches supported by I-beams covered the "sunken" sidewalks.

The beams and the arches have withstood earthquakes and such better than the upper levels of Pioneer Square.

The underground sidewalks remained in use until an explosion of the rat population encouraged the city to shut them down and seal them off. Of course, not everything got sealed - some businesses continued to use their areas. And the sidewalks no longer connect around every block as they once did. In the 1960s, Bill Speidel started a crusade to save the underground part of Seattle's history and created the tour we went on. My mother apparently went on the tour only a couple of years after it opened.

The tour lasted about 90 minutes, and Lisa and I were tired from all the walking. We headed to her office to pick up a couple of things she needs when she heads back to her work site, and then headed back to Renton, stopping only long enough to get a light meal from Taco Time. Once home, Inkwell greeted us with much sniffing of the shoes and cautious optimism that he didn't have to deal with any travel. We had a family meal with four of the seven siblings and a spouse along with my mother and father, making us seven around the table. Inkwell was overwhelmed with all the scary, loud humans.

After dinner and cake, Lisa and I started to work on a puzzle. Then she went out with our brother-in-law to catch Pokemon while I came up here to write this...

...and now I think I will get a nice glass of chocolate milk and head to bed, since I'm wiped - yet again.

I am in Seattle

A New Laptop?

It's apparently not a good idea for hubby-Eric and I to go into a computer store together, especially one as comprehensive as Fry's Electronics...

We went in for a new power cord for Eric's computer because he forgot his cord at home. Neither of us wanted to drive three hours to get it and three hours back. I also wanted a power strip so I could plug in my various electronics in the single outlet available to me.

The power strip was easy. We found a PowerSquid and I talked Eric into it. So now I have a little squid with a single glowing eye. oooooh.

To get the power cord, we had to go to the section where they had laptops on display. I walked over and checked them out, and was approached by a nice sales rep named Anthony who glanced at my Doctor Who/Minions t-shirt and made the correct assumption that I probably know a bit about computers. I told him right out that I was just looking, held up my PowerSquid, and said I already got what I came for. He asked me what type of computer I was looking for and within 30 seconds we were looking at a handful of refurbs that I really liked the look of. At this point, anything on the market is more powerful than my old Inspiron 6000.

Anthony quickly figured out that I wanted a touchscreen, preferred the metal body, need at least a 15-inch screen and don't mind Windows 8 since the upgrade to 10 will be free for everyone. I also need Windows because that's what I have at work, and I want some continuity. He was a little surprised when I later told him the netbook I'm using is on Ubuntu.

While he was showing me a decent little Asus model, Eric came up with his new cord and heard the word "financing" and said, "You know, Laura, you really need a new computer." We decided to see if I qualified for financing. I was certain it would turn me down, but no, they gave me some credit. Enough to get the Asus. So Anthony went to the back to try to fetch it while his co-worker Righteous finished up the paperwork with us.

Unfortunately, they were already out of the Asus. Anthony apologized, clearly embarrassed, and said there were two open-box ones in the back. I'm not really inclined to go open-box, so Anthony took me around to see an HP model that was similar. In fact, it was slightly better and a bit more expensive. After some hemming and hawing, Eric and I went for it.

So I walked in to get a power cord and came out with a new laptop.

I came out to Seattle early to see my family, not to play with a new computer, so I decided to download Windows 8.1 on the new machine after making sure it worked. I plan to do a clean install as soon as I have time or get home, whichever comes first. I don't want all the crap HP already has installed on the machine.

In any case, I'm up early to head to Emerald City Comicon, and we're going to take off soon-ish. In the meantime, I thought I'd update everyone on how yesterday turned into an unexpectedly expensive day for me.

A Sunday Review

This week's movie was How to Train Your Dragon 2. I loved the first film, enough to get the DVD. I found this one to be fairly good except for major stumbling on the plot. The characters are great, the animation is wonderful, but the plot definitely needed some serious work. I never got a sense of how bad the bad guy was... menacing, but he just didn't scare me. The other new main character was also great, but needed a little more action in the second half of the movie. There is also what should have been a serious and painful reconciliation that never actually happened (a single dance does not a reconciliation make). Overall, not as perfect as the first movie, but surprisingly managed to meet expectations despite that.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• May 21st
• Forever Evil #7 - It wasn't really worth the wait, was it? I mean, it was good, but it would have been better if it had actually shipped on time and we didn't already have books showing the aftermath.
• Justice League #30 - Lex is way too smart to end up in the League, and yet here he is. I like "Shazam's" reactions to everything.
• Justice League of America #14 - So this is why there's a Justice League in Canada, eh? Again, it would have been nice if this had been on time. The whole Justice League United would have made a little more sense.
• Trinity of Sin: Pandora #11 - I'm getting rather tired of this book. Good thing it's ending soon.
• Sinestro #2 - At least Soranik is ok. Sort of.
• Green Lantern: New Guardians #31 - A whole bunch of Kyle thinking and doing stupid stuff. Ok.
• Batman Beyond Universe #10 - Lots of revelations in this one. Lord Batman's suit looks fairly cool. And now we know where Zod comes from, I guess.
• Batman '66 #11 - The introduction of Harley Quinn to the Batman '66 universe? And nicely done, as well.
• Scribblenauts Unmasked #5 - This one is great just for the sight of Aquaman and several other heroes in the back seat of the space cab. This series is trying to hit every bit of the DC Universe.
• Powers: Bureau #10 - So Walker and Pilgrim get questioned, and things happen, and this series only has a handful of issues to go, I think, before it stops officially and I drop it for good.
• Grimm Fairy Tales: Warlord of Oz #1 - The lion travels to the Emerald City to consult with the Scarecrow about his missing people while Dorothy is having nightmares back in Kansas. Impressive enough start, I guess. I'm curious to see where this is going.
• FCBD
• FCBD: Top Shelf Kids Club - I'm not sure what to think of Maddy Kettle, but I really enjoyed the taste of Monster on the Hill. The ending surprised me quite a bit.
• FCBD: Walt Disney Scrooge and Donald Duck - A couple of good duck stories, reminds me of being a kid and reading comics in the attic of a friend's house once. Anyway, I'd love to read more, these were generally clever and interesting.
• FCBD: Guardians of the Galaxy - I know just enough about Marvel to be a little concerned by that new team member. As for the rest, that alternate Spider-Man was fun.
• FCBD: Rocket Raccoon - Um. Ok. The silly side of Marvel, I guess. Not my thing, but I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys it.
• FCBD: Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man Flipbook - Lots of origin stories in this one. I like these... not quite enough to buy them, but I like them.
• FCBD: Entropy - Three fairly freaky stories, the last one very intense. I may end up taking a second look at this company.
• FCBD: The Adventures of Jellaby - Cute and fun. The first story had a mood set by the coloring. I wasn't expecting that level of oddness from it. I wasn't entirely sure if it was horror or something else. Nicely done.
• FCBD: The Smurfs - The notes at the bottom of each page of the Smurfs story were very interesting. I found Annoying Orange to be boring, and the other two were ok but nothing special.
• FCBD: Courtney Crumrin - I think I want to read more of this book, based on what I read here. This was interesting, and not at all sanitized for children, although it wouldn't be completely obvious what was happening for a child reader. Kind of chilling, actually.

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My mystery book this week was The Alpine Traitor by Mary Daheim. Tom's children want to buy the newspaper, but Emma is unwilling and horrified by their actions. This one was a mess, frankly. I never quite worked out who the players in the Cavanaugh gang all were. There were shocking moments, yes, but it was terribly confusing overall. This is one that actually might benefit from a reread, just to get all the facts straight. On the other hand, it was very good to see Emma coming to grips with her own motherhood and how she feels about her lover's children. So the soap opera aspects aren't bad, but the mystery is a little difficult. If you want to start the Alpine series, I strongly recommend starting at the first book, The Alpine Advocate.

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Fortean Times #314 (June 2014). I almost groaned when I saw this cover with Phoenix Jones, well-known real-life superhero of Seattle, front and center. He's been in the news quite a bit, and although his original intentions were certainly good, he sometimes seems like a publicity hound and not a person looking to help. That said, the cover article was nicely balanced and explored the motivations for becoming a superhero rather than either just poking fun at them or applauding them. I found it fascinating to see the extent of the movement, as well. I'd heard that it had spread, but I didn't realize just how widespread it really is.

There is an extensive obituary for Steve Moore, who clearly had a strong impact on the Fortean scene as well as the comic book world. Moore's final article for the Fortean Times is printed, covering an incident involving witch-finders in the Han Dynasty of China and the reign of terror they caused. There's a sidebar about the methods used to murder people with magic in China.

Another article covers the rapid rate of canonisation in the Catholic church. The Random Dictionary is about little people in all their mythical forms. The First Forteans continues its retrospective of Eric Frank Russell.

Strangedays has the usual mix, including a fish hitting a plane, fairy photographs, see-through shrimp, cats who dial the police, and hidden talents revealed by bumps to the head. Other bits include a piece on a comic book exhibition and some Fortean Follow-ups. Science talks about continuing efforts to make cold fusion work. Archaeology has pieces on Petra, ancient cheese and an ancient magic wand. Classical Corner is... um... er... it's about people having sex who get stuck together, and there's another article in Strangedays on the same subject.

Right... let's move on to Ghostwatch, which continues a look into weather-related hauntings, or more precisely, a look at psychic attempts to control weather. Not as interesting as I hoped it would be. Alien Zoo spots a black flamingo and a white marlin, along with mystery cats of Peru. Simulacra Corner has stone faces. The Illustrated Police News has a bit on an animal hoarder living in Thomas Carlyle's house. Phenomenomix is about P.L. Travers.

The Forum has an article about being able to light up an unconnected light bulb on a particular bridge in Nebraska. Another article asks about human sacrifice and bridges. Yikes. There is also a piece on the Southwark Gateway Needle, which is a stone spike sculpture at the southern end of London Bridge, and what it means.

Reviews are solid, though I don't care how high a rating a book on taxidermy gets, I'm still not interested. I'd like the two books that scored nines... The Burglar Caught by a Skeleton and Silbury Hill... but I think one of those is far more likely to end up in my to-read pile than the other. A book about Doctor Who (New Dimensions of Doctor Who edited by Matt Hills) got a really low score of only one, which is pretty rare to see.

Letters were good as well, and continuing with the comic book theme, there's notice that The Punisher sometimes uses "Charles Fort" as an alias. I love the corrective nature of the letter columns. People write in about subjects they know, and tend to clarify articles from previous issues. It makes for very good reading some times, and soap opera-y reading at other times as letter column wars (generally short and well-written, if not good-natured) sometimes spring up. And lastly, actor Paul Giamatti gives his "it happened to me" story of visiting a haunted house. Another issue worth reading.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist -- My Camera Wishlist

Seattle Superbowl Rings

My thoughts: I love the logo, and the emerald eye is excellent. The 12th man flag shows up a couple of times, reminding the players of the fans. The side designs with the skyline and the mountain are also very cool. Overall, it's a pretty nice ring.

Well, crap...

My heart goes out to the family of the victim in the latest shooting, this time in Seattle at SPU.

Linkages for a Monday Morning

The Way. I actually quite like the song, although I knew it had to have a sad story behind it. I still find it to be powerful. Maybe even moreso now that I know what really happened.

How about another song, on a slightly more silly... um... level... Fact-Checking "Don't Fear the Reaper". I just don't know what to say about the level of pedantry in this post, but it's ... um... I think I'll just go listen to the song again.

Dumb but fun.

Someone who knows more about geology can tell me if this video of the effects of the 2011 Japan earthquake is real.

And lastly, I was blown away by this piece of art merging Seattle with Van Gogh's Starry Night. Prints are avaiable, and this is one I would definitely get if I could afford it (I would want to get one framed, and I just can't justify the cost right now *sigh*).

Peep Show

The Seattle Times Annual Peeps contest winners...

"Seattle Peephawks Trophy" by Debbie Doty and Kerry Smith

Lots of Seahawks-themed entries. I also like the Doctor Who themed ones. There are some pretty creative entries this year, but then... this is a Seattle tradition and every year has a few truly awe-inspiring entries.

Seattle Crash...

My heart goes out to the families of the dead in the helicopter crash in Seattle this morning. I tried to watch some of the news at lunch, but couldn't handle the sheer sadness of reporters mourning one of their own.

YES!!!!

YAY SEAHAWKS!

Wahoo, my home team has won the conference again! I don't know if they'll beat the Broncos, but I hope that this time the Super Bowl has fair officiating...

Doctor Who Day

I didn't realize Seattle had so many Doctor Who fans...

Eric and I crossed the mountains Friday night with a very unhappy Inkwell the cat. We stayed at my folks' place in Renton (thanks again Lisa, for putting up with us). Inkwell wandered my mom's fabric collection and was given lovin' by my parents.

Saturday morning we headed out to Lincoln Square in Bellevue to watch the simulcast of Doctor Who on the big screen in 3D. We joined up with other fans while there, then we left hubby-Eric to wait for another fan while we went in and got seats. I found a pair of seats in the top row for Eric and I and when he came in I waved. He spotted me, then was greeted by somebody else, then by another person, so he threw his arms out and shouted, "For everyone who knows me, HELLO!" and got a surprisingly large response. That's how I know theater #4 had a lot of Androgums and other old school fans in it. We later learned many of our friends were also in theater #12.

When Eric made his dramatic entrance, I told the girls sitting next to his empty seat, "That's the guy you're going to be sitting next to." They giggled. Nervously I think.

What can I say about "Day of the Doctor"? Let's see... the opening sequence with Strax informing people of proper theater etiquette, particularly the screaming popcorn, was a delight. The 3D bit at the beginning showing how to tell if the person sitting next to you was a Zygon was a hoot. The episode/movie itself was ... wow. I mean, wow. It was... wow. I'm sure there were bits that I would quibble about, but frankly at the moment I still want to just enjoy the experience. There is a special aspect of watching anything in a theater full of like-minded people... Doctor Who seen that way was simply amazing. It just was overwhelming.

Anyway. After the movie was the short making of, and that was also fun to watch in the theatre. I think maybe two people got up after the episode itself was over. No rush to the door until after everyone in the whole place was certain there wasn't any more delightful bits to watch.

Eric and I eventually got out of Bellevue Square, I'm not sure how, and made our way to Marlow's place in Totem Lake to have a mini-Androgum party. We had pizza, dissected the episode and watched "An Unearthly Child" (just the first episode, not the rest of the story with the cavemen). We had a good discussion and made up some theories that I'm sure many other people will have made up, and then we carpooled (five of us) to Seattle to go to the Experience Music Project party.

There were Androgums at the head of the line, we managed to join them and pack the front of the line with Androgummy goodness. We stood outside in the cold for more than an hour and I got more and more hyper just to keep warm. Eric had changed into his fifth Doctor costume and I was wearing the Ace jacket my mom made as a costume for me more than 20 years ago for Visions '93. More than a few people recognized who I was supposed to be, although there was a large number of folks who simply, sadly, had no clue.

Getting in was easy enough, but there were so many people that my main goal was to get away from the crowds until the party settled a little. So I actually found the bar where the trivia was going to be held and settled down after my initial run-through of the building. Unfortunately, no soft drinks at that bar and even a cup of water cost $1. Yikes. Still, it was a relatively quiet place early in the evening and I managed to rest my feet and recover from the cold.

Then the trivia started and the place got packed. Eric came back, Dan arrived... we only needed Ryan to make the Doctor Who trifecta. As it was, Eric and Dan managed to answer most of the trivia questions without any trouble at all, and then they promptly left me alone in the bar before the results were announced. I was not at all surprised to find out that they'd won the contest, but because they were missing, I had to go and accept the prize. I then gathered them up and got the guy running the quiz to get his picture of the winners. We then divvied up the loot, which had some neat stuff. Nothing huge, but it was good.

I left to wander the building and see some sights while they watched our place in the bar. I got some pictures of some of the attractions (Wizard of Oz, mainly) and was recognized by more than a few people... either as Ace or for being the one who won the quiz. It was far too crowded for me to handle being out and about for long, so I headed back to the bar and enjoyed the boys, this time with Ryan, taking the second quiz. When the results were announced the trifecta had only missed one. They came in second... somebody had managed a perfect score.

I can't remember exactly what we did next, but basically we left the bar for the night and headed to the costume contest. A tree approached us and asked Eric to follow her because she was doing the costume contest. I didn't realize she meant she was the MC of the costume contest, but Eric followed her while I wandered the edges for a bit. When they started pulling the finalists out of the crowd I managed to get to the other side of the stage to take some pictures. Eric was a finalist.

They started with the best Doctor category and pulled up three contestants. A second Doctor, Eric as the fifth Doctor, and an eleventh Doctor. Eric was crowned the best, got a loot bag, and eventually found me and got a big hug. One of the people who was handing out prizes handed me a little prize, a Doctor Who minifigure, because I was wearing a costume and hanging out so close to the stage.

The other prizes were announced, they were well deserved, and then I went to get Eric's picture with the EMP's Cyberman.

I don't really remember much after that. I was tired, hungry, and mildly grumpy. Our group found the car and we all headed up Lake City Way and stopped at Dick's Drive-In for some cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes just before midnight. We eventually made it back to Marlow's house, then Eric drove us back to my folks' place where my mom was waiting up for us. I somehow got to bed... and we came back over the mountains with an EXTREMELY grumpy cat late this morning.

A Sunday Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Aug 17th
• Green Lantern Corps #63 - Yawn. Humans are the bad guys. Racism in the corps. More nonsense. Will these stories ever be resolved? Hard to say. Do I care? No.
• Flashpoint: Abin Sur the Green Lantern #3 - Not what I was expecting, really. In fact, I fully expected the cliffhanger of the previous issue to be resolved with blood and Hal. Good stuff, actually.
• Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #3 - At first I was afraid it wasn't supposed to be read after the last Emperor Aquaman, but it all became clear eventually.
• Justice League of America #60 - What was that? A summary, or something else? It was more of the same of this team that I never liked, barely got through, and am glad is going away. Will they be remembered? Yeah, probably, but not by me.
• Power Girl #27 - What kind of idiot doesn't take Power Girl's speed into consideration when calculating how she will respond to multiple crises?
• Zatanna #16 - Ok, I know she's a responsible magic user, but if she just *has* to be home, why'd she bother with the flight and not just, you know, "ekat em emoh, won!"?
• Tiny Titans #43 - Aw yeah Aqualad! Aw yeah Mera doing laundry! Aw yeah Aqua-Ohs! Happy happy! Dang, I love this book. Silly and fun with very little worries about continuity. I definitely like having a book or two like this in my monthly pull.
• Fables #108 - A child will be a king, and some folks are sneaking into Oz. I think I'm following the story, but MAN I want to get the first few volumes in trade format so I can really catch up to what's going on.
• DMZ #68 - So Matty has to go around an see what the Five Nations of New York are, and he's starting in the "first" nation. What would the place be like after a decade of war, occupation and constant death?
• Sergio Aragones Funnies #2 - What can I say? If you like Sergio's art, you want this book. Period. If you don't, well... what the heck is wrong with you?
• Soldier Zero #11 - Wow. Pretty intense stuff, but hey, I thought they were hanging out in the Northwest, why would the rain be caused by the aliens?

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My Kindle book this week was Seattle Quake 9.2 by Marti Talbott. When Seattle is hit by a major earthquake, ham operators and a small local radio station work on spreading information and saving people. I purchased this book based on the description and the sample, and because at the time of purchase it was only 99 cents, which is a good price for what looked to be a good read. It was worth every penny.

The start of the book is split between two storylines, one about a private investigating firm monitoring a woman they think is a man's missing, once thought dead, wife and the other about the local radio station. While the storylines never quite merge, the distant between them evaporates once the earthquake actually hits. What pleased me as a reader is how much I really cared about the resolutions to both storylines as the book came to a close.

There is one major flaw in this book that threw me out of the story every time I hit it. Perhaps I'm being pedantic, I'm not sure. But I have NEVER heard anyone refer to the Alaskan Way Viaduct as the "Alaskan Freeway". I've heard it called Alaskan Way. I've heard it called the Viaduct. I've heard it called 99. I've heard a lot of different names for it, but in all the time I lived in Seattle and its environs (and I'm a Seattle native), I never heard any regular person on the street call it the "Alaskan Freeway" so every time a character in the book referred to it by that name, I stopped and thought, "Where the heck is this person supposed to be from?" because they sure aren't a native.

Other than that, though, it's a darn good read. The descriptions of the locations were good enough to figure out where people were and the descriptions of the devastation were terrifying, all the more so because they are clearly based on reality. I was amused that the Kingdome fell, but only because it places the book firmly in the realm of fiction and dates it to between July 1999 and March 2000.

The driving force of this book and what made it a compelling read was the characters. From the woman trapped in a high-rise to ham operators I cared about what happened to them, and found myself mourning the dead along with the characters. The very good depiction of ham operators made me realize just how important such people would be in an event like this. Yes, we have the internet, but when all communications are cut off, what then? Radio still works, and the hams get through where the rest of us would fail. So I felt a sudden desire to find myself a ham radio and get a license.

Definitely a good read, and one with few enough flaws that unless you are a pedantic Seattle native, you are probably going to enjoy it quite a bit.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Linkdump

Ten Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle.

Have you seen The McBain Movie?

A typeface designed to help dyslexics read.

The Renton Police bring down the Streisand Effect upon themselves. I grew up in Renton. I wouldn't have known a thing about this... except the police decided to bring attention to it.

Ten Things Not to Say to a Depressed Person. And since that's a downer, read this next: Ten Supportive Things I'm Glad Somebody Said to Me, from the same author. Via.

The Oldest Unsolved Seattle Police Homicide.

I'm sure you can spot a Monty Python reference from a mile away.

Aim for the Stars.

It's not a Bloggity linkdump without a pug.

Yet Another Linkdump

Very well done Comic-Con Bingo board, and as a counter, a disturbingly honest Comic Con Bingo board. Note: I've seen the Comedy Central version, and it's lame compared to these.

The Case for Comic Books.

Keep Right Except To Pass.

A League of Their Own.

The biggest problem with electric cars is that the infrastructure to charge them while you are out and about doesn't yet exist. Walgreens wants to change that.

Fascinating article on what gender means, and how marriage laws may have unintended consequences.

I'm seriously having trouble believing that people are really stupid enough to believe The Onion. It "literally" blows my mind!

Pug Puppy animated GIF for the in-laws.

Links!

We're soon to start off to Oz, so here's some links to tide you over until I can next find an internet connection...

Ah, the Oxford Comma.

LEGO Pancake making machine. Mmmmm, pancakes.

New Beasts of Burden! I'm looking forward to this. I hope there's another mini soon.

OrcaMan cleans up Puget Sound.

Autism and Empathy. Again, when I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, I thought the diagnosis must be wrong because I've always had too much empathy. Articles like this one simply make sense to me.

Sadie Barker Fights Back.

Fangirl Dreaming...

What Your Favorite 80's Band Says About You.

Massive science fiction encyclopedia's third edition will be digital... and free?

Review - A Spark of Death: A Professor Bradshaw Mystery

A Spark of Death by Bernadette Pajer.

Release date: July 11, 2011, pre-order now! I got my advance copy via NetGalley.

I made the mistake of starting to read this book very close to bedtime. I was quickly drawn into the story, and found myself staying up entirely too late. It was with great difficulty I reluctantly set the book down to sleep, only to take it up again as soon as I could the next day. And so I finished it in two sittings, and could have easily finished it in one if I had started reading earlier in the day. Be forewarned, it's a very engaging read.

The story is set in Seattle (which is what attracted me to it on NetGalley) in 1901. This is a meticulously researched Seattle, with only very minor details different from the real world. I was expecting another Steampunk novel but I got lovely historical fiction with just a touch of mad scientist brilliance. Did I mention that it's well-researched? As a Seattle-area native, I had no problem following the action, even the visit to Snoqualmie Falls, and loved the short history lessons that managed to sneak into the text (like the dynamiting of Seattle Rock at the Falls in 1900 and the great Seattle fire).

The story itself is a non-stop push against time and unknown consequences, as Professor Bradshaw is suspected of a colleague's death and must figure out how the murder happened to clear his own name. Having read a lot of Agatha Christie lately, I cannot say this one equals her best work, but it's certainly as strong as many of her mysteries. I'm sure a true mystery aficionado or an electrical engineer would have figured it out sooner than I did, but that's just quibbling. The action presses forward at a pace that, as I've already said, makes you want to keep reading.

The characters are a tiny bit weak in some areas. There are some standard types in the cast, and only the main character is deeply explored. But the characters serve the story well and by the end I really want to read more about Bradshaw, at the least, even if the people around him aren't quite as compelling. As this is the first novel of the author, and the first in a series to boot, I think I can forgive those issues in anticipation of seeing this writer grow and develop.

I'd recommend this book to mystery fans, historical fiction fans, and electrical engineers. It's a safe book for almost all ages, except for the murder bits, but I'd think only teens and older would get enough of the historical references to really appreciate the book. This is a good read, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Where There is Smoke...

...there isn't always fire. No, the Space Needle wasn't on fire.

Talking 'Bout the Weather

Snow in Churchville again. I looked out late last night and it was lightly snowing. So both hubby-Eric and I were up early this morning in case school was delayed. However, they are made of hardier stuff out here, and their snow is less deadly than Seattle's, so school was on time. Before Eric went out the door, I bundled up and shoveled the walk and the sidewalks, even though it was still snowing, because it's a heckuva lot easier to shovel when no one has walked on them. Unfortunately, just before I got to the sidewalk, a young man walked across the pristine snow in front of me. Getting his compacted footprints off the sidewalk was annoying. Because it was still snowing, I eventually gave up and went inside to cool down, warm up, and rest.

A couple hours later, the snow had stopped. So out I went again. This time I cleared off the driveway, and re-cleared the bits that I had gotten earlier but had been re-snowed upon. The older neighbor next door came out and started shoveling, so I helped him, getting the sidewalk up to his driveway for him, then alternating with him on the rest of the sidewalk. In return, he sprinkled some snowmelt pellets on my portion of the sidewalk in preparation for the possible freezing rain later this afternoon. It started to very very lightly snow while we were working, but nothing too impressive. I left the shovel and broom next to the front door when I came in so I could shovel again if necessary.

The snow in Churchville is nothing like the snow in Seattle. I always wondered why people called Seattleites wimps for our reaction to snow, but now I completely understand. In Seattle you cannot go more than a half a mile without running into a hill. Now, Seattle hills aren't scary to people who live in Seattle, but on the East Coast what we call a "hill" they call a "mountain". To Seattleites, a "mountain" must have snow on it year-round, otherwise it's just a hill. Some hills are bigger than others, true, but a mountain must have at least one glacier to truly earn the name. In any case, if you drive around the Seattle area, I wager you won't find many level places, and certainly none that aren't surrounded by hills that you have to go up in order to conduct your daily business.

In addition, snow in Seattle is wet. In Churchville, I can literally sweep most of the snow away with a broom. It's dry powder, the stuff we heard about as kids but never experienced in Seattle itself. Because in Seattle the stuff we call snow is wet, slushy, and turns to ice the instant it hits our hilly roads. And so you have a deadly combination of ice and hills. Add in that snow is relatively rare in Seattle, and you also have a lot of inexperienced drivers who haven't dealt with enough snow to remember the basics they ought to know. Mixed in, of course, are an elite group of skiers, who think they know how to handle the snow, although about half of them are wrong because the snow up in the mountains is drier than the snow in Seattle. Then there are the SUV drivers who don't realize that their special all-wheel drive will certainly get them going, but isn't going to help a lot when they need to stop.

So in Seattle, when you get an inch or two of snow, everything shuts down. The schools are closed because it isn't worth a child's life to risk going out on the hills of ice with the insane Seattle drivers. Businesses close to try to keep insane people off the roads. And everyone calls Seattleites snow wimps. Meanwhile, in Churchville, we get three plus inches, and not one district closes in the area. Because this much snow is trivial here. Everything is flat. The snow itself is dry and easy to remove. When the snow is compacted it does get slippery, but everyone drives slower in the snow because they are used to it, and there aren't any hills to make stopping impossible, like in Seattle. For an example of a Seattle hill, check out this video, particularly 3 minutes in (if you watch nothing else, the sequence starting about 2:45 is a classic demonstration of why you don't drive on certain hills in Seattle in the snow):

Many thanks to Roger for the link to that video from the comments in my last weather post.

In any case, I'll update this post if anything really interesting happens with our weather for the rest of the day. I'm not counting on it, but I'm worried about the freezing rain prediction just enough to be glad the neighbor put those snowmelt pellets on our sidewalk.

UPDATE: The dreaded freezing rain did not arrive, but some of the snow has melted, particularly in the middle of the street and near the house. In fact, our house is growing some truly wicked cool icicles. The current forecast, which changes about every hour, says we might get up to 4 more inches of snow tonight... but maybe not. And if we don't get it tonight, we'll probably get it on Thursday... possibly. We're still under a Winter Weather Advisory, though, not a storm watch, so I'm not terribly frightened.