Office Nomads: Come and Go

Go, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

I've decided that I haven't been playing enough Go lately (none at all for the past few years) and to remedy this, I've brought my Go set to Office Nomads. It's a nice set, and I'm here on Thursdays during the day. If you play Go, or are interested in learning how to play, come down.

If you don't know what I'm talking about at all, check out the Wikipedia page on Go

happy st patricks dai!

st patricks day, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

We will be knocking your Irish bars down now. kthxbai.

Seriously. They've been stalling on this project for how long now?

Anonymous

Anonymous, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

Today is L Ron Hubbard's birthday. I'm not sure if it's a Scientologist holiday or anything, but it's when Anonymous gets together to remind the Church that they're after them. Anonymous, a loose organization of people from The Internet, has put Scientology on Notice.

I heard about the protest in February, but I didn't make it down to get any pictures. This time, I decided I had to check it out. WikiNews was also there, and did a much better job of reporting the worldwide event.

The few people that I talked to assured me that they were not actually against Scientology as a religion, but had a beef with the management. A man who was part of the church for 30 years, told me that he believed in the ideals of the religion, but did not like the tactics of the organization, and that it "hunted down" people leaving the church. I didn't see any hunters, but I did notice a large amount of IR CCTV in their parking lot. As far as "Church" goes, it's got to be one of the jankier buildings in town, and it's right on Aurora. They're definitely not spending their money on architecture or real estate.

While I was there, a couple of people showed up and went in the building. They were shouted at, told to Google some terms, visit xenu.net, and outed as Scientologists. I was accused of being one as well ( I didn't wear a mask, and was apparently on the wrong side of the parking strip at one point on my bike ), but once I explained that I too was from The Internet, and not working press, they relaxed a little.

I have to say, it was definitely lulz, and I'm looking forward to taking pictures of the next one. Speaking of which, here's the flickr set.

wow. that sure is blue

blue bus, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the building in the last post which is apparently part-havana. But it's pretty blue.

not wings

that sure is blue, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

I don't think I've ever been in this building. I think it was a hair salon before it became the Wing Dome. Now it's Tiffany box blue. I gotta say, I'm curious.

Broadway Grocery

point 83, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

Last night, I was on a take-out run, and stopped by Broadway Grocery for a half-gallon of milk. This place has like 20 refrigerators packed with beer, wine and energy drinks, but not one carton of milk. Can you really call it a grocery store at that point?

another bike rack post?

third rack, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

Apparently the "new" bike rack wasn't enough. A third rack, one of the spiffy SDOT Bicycle Circles was added just the other day.

The Lunch Bus

Rail, originally uploaded by Matt Westervelt.

Yesterday, Eric, Andy and I took a ride on the Sound Transit Lunch Bus, a guided tour of the Light Rail in progress. They say in 2009, we'll be able to take a train from the downtown bus tunnel to Tukwila Station, then later in the year, Seatac Airport. Judging by the progress we've seen, It looks like they're on schedule, and mass transit really is coming to Seattle.

The Lunch Bus took us on a tour of all the stops between the International District and the Airport, and we stayed close to the line throughout the trip, stopping in Columbia City for pork sandwiches at Jones BBQ. Tour guides Jeff Munnoch and Roger Pence told us about all the stops on the line, the construction process, the art, and the outreach efforts that Sound Transit has gone through to create the 16 mile line that broke ground in 2003. There were a lot of questions and answers, and some were very interesting, but all I did was take pictures and put them in a Lunch Bus Flickr set (I'm lousy at taking notes, but I do carry two cameras). Eric got video, and will be putting it on the tubes as soon as he figures out how to edit it all down in Linux.

Thanks to the Sound Transit Community Outreach organizers Wilbert Santos, Jeff Munnoch and Roger Pence for answering all of our questions and providing a fun friday diversion.