View From Vancouver Train Station

From Drop Box

"Welcome to the inner circle of tax data geeks."

Cool Treasury Data on the Revenue Effect of Past Tax Bills

The real purpose of this post was to see who’d click through to an entry titled “cool data…”

Just In Time For Fall

New leaf-peeping foliage app from Yankee magazine

Yankee's new Leaf Peepr app, free and downloadable for iPhones and Droids, lets users check color status by region or zip code, and also offers interactive elements like the ability to upload new reports and photos to YankeeFoliage.com's fall foliage map. Leaf color on the Leaf Peepr app is coded as green, turning, moderate, peak, fading and gone.

Read more.

Caution: Language Not Appropriate For Small Ones

In Case You Were Wondering

Bert and Ernie - not gay

Chicken Little

Paltry Poultry

Play With Your Furniture

With right tune, musical desk reveals its secrets

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/living/article/With-right-tune-musical-desk-reveals-its-secrets-1734531.php#ixzz1UD5f6Ct5

Amazing

The Good Stuff

Bad Hair

Okay, so this pic says so little but this is about fair play.

Love those glasses.

A Thousand Words

This picture says so much. Let's just start which Who is that guy with the goofy grin? This is circa 1970? I imagine the subject may know the answer.

But what else? He's making pizza. A family ritual. Every Saturday night, followed by Sonny and Cher and The Carol Burnett Show. The way I remember it, though, the crust was my job and the camera was his so I have no idea what happened here. Oh, and did you notice? The pizza was rectangular? Made it on a cookie sheet. Continued that tradition with my kids, too.

Also, the counter top is not red. It used to be red. So, this photo must have been after a very expensive kitchen remodel. I also want to point out the radiator but I can't, really. It's hiding behind the ventilation between the counter top and the stove. See it there? Right behind the toaster?

The Toaster?! That's the toaster. I'm telling you. It's a legend.

See, now? You thought this was about about the guy with the goofy grin. (Love that guy.)

Danny Westneat | Report we've had '78 minutes of summer' hit a nerve | Seattle Times Newspaper

Danny Westneat | Report we've had '78 minutes of summer' hit a nerve | Seattle Times Newspaper

Lady Bug

From Drop Box

Don't Worry, It's Natural

From Drop Box

Last week I saw a sign that read, "Pretty Clean," which was the name of a housecleaning service and I thought that was a pretty good name for a pretty good service.

Before that, I saw one that read, "Fish With Confidence." I really like the idea of confident fish.

Summer

Kudos

A friend of mine wrote this, available on Kindle from Amazon on July 15. Laura and I went to high school together. We were in the same graduating class, cheering on the football and basketball teams with our skillful dance moves at halftimes, taking the Pom Pon squad to Number One at State competition.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but only slightly.

It's been about 25 years since I last saw Laura in her California home, pregnant with her second daughter. After that we pretty much lost touch with one another, until we reconnected roughly two years ago on Facebook. (See? There's a perfect example of how social networking works.)

That's where she posted about NaNoWriMo which gave me the inspiration to write a novel myself. Laura is my muse, my biggest fan, and the one who gave me my first big break as an author. Okay, still exaggerating, but only slightly.

With her encouragement, I wrote 50,000 words in thirty days and I'm almost halfway through a second draft of what came out of it. She also directed me to On Writing by Stephen King which led to many other books on writing and publishing. Enough to encourage me, at the same time overwhelming me to the point of giving up on the possibility of ever being published.

It's nice to know it can be done and it can be done people who love life, love their families, and love to write.

Congratulations to my friend, Laura! Thank you for your inspiration. I can't wait to read it!

Lilies

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Turtle alert! Flights delayed at JFK as terrapins cross runway

One tweet explained why the reptiles avoided airport security: 'We go straight to the runway because it takes 5 hours to get out of our shells for the TSA ...and the shell pat down option is too awkward.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2009791/JFK-Turtles-Flights-delays-New-York-airport-mating-turtles.html#ixzz1QoCMSpst

Politics | Colbert gets conditional OK on campaign finance | Seattle Times Newspaper

Politics Colbert gets conditional OK on campaign finance Seattle Times Newspaper

"I don't accept the status quo," he told the crowd, brandishing a portable credit card processing machine. "I do accept Visa, Mastercard or American Express."