Pithy Title Here

About a year ago, I found myself being introduced to a member of the Sounders' arch-rival Portland Timbers (the rivalry has its own Wikipedia page if you need to be brought up to speed). The introduction was a chance meeting. I ran into an acquaintance who is affiliated with the Sounders and he just happened to be hanging out with this member of the Timbers. The friend introduced him, jokingly, as "the enemy." Instead of taking the bait, though, I answered back more simply: "no one's on the field right now." Granted, I'd like to think I have enough class that I wouldn't make some snide remark to a fellow human being simply because of the logo on his professional uniform. That said, in today's world of anonymous or quasi-anonymous commentary on various online channels, I cannot say that everyone has the same restraint. A brief look through Twitter at any moment will show buckets of vitriol and that's not even getting into the cesspool t...

Oh, it was a troubling noise. All I needed was to do laundry before a week-long trip. Our laundry machines are upstairs. I was downstairs and watching TV and then, a noise. What was it? It was not how the laundry normally sounded. That said, the cycle finished and, since I'm male, I figured it was all fine. Next load of laundry goes in and, sure enough, once again, sounds like I have a freight train rumbling around upstairs. We have one of those front loaders, so you can actually watch as stuff goes down inside the washer. If I was a five year old, I'm sure I'd watch the laundry all the time because MACHINE WITH WATER, but these days, I need my laundry to kindly do itself, preferably quietly, and incident-free. Anyhow, I sat down and watched to see where exactly the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad was taking over my wash. And... you know what? That was where this story goes from household emergency to "we got this."

Last year, I started running more. I ran in a few 5k races. I kept up going to the gym (as I have for nearly the past 10 years) and I even refocused my weightlifting on my upper body since I walk on my toes and, as a result, have leg muscles that do not need to get any larger. As my 35th birthday approached, I was still cognizant that I felt a bit older than I ever had before. My face was rounder. I'm not sure I have a body type that will ever have a flat stomach, but, let's just say that, when I looked at pics from last summer, I wasn't heading in the direction that might help me get there. At first, I blamed it on "getting older" and moving to the Pacific Northwest. My friends, family and coworkers know I have never felt more at home in a place than I do here, and, to be honest, I have immersed myself in all the things that make the PNW great... including our tremendous supply of local craft beer. We're lousy with it. You come to a bar here and, if you a...

This is one of my favorite posts to write all year, because who doesn't love to write about things they love? It's a very indulgent blog post, saying at least as much about me as it does the artists I have picked. It's a snapshot of what moved me this year (though I try to provide some second opinions to prove I'm not nuts), rather than some definitive word. Hell, I still haven't listed to Lorde's album, which is apparently New Zealand's new gift to the world. So, what I'm saying: feel free to tell me ones I missed. Share what you loved. Go read other "Best of" lists out there. Amazing to see how American Songwriter handles things compared to Rolling Stone , for instance. If you walk away from a list like this with a new artist to check out, then you win. So enjoy! Onto the list...

I look forward to this every year. Since 2007, I've been putting together an annual mix of current (or current-ish) bands doing holiday songs. For me, this offers a nice departure from the stuff that crams onto you local all-Christmas radio station. Plus, we're starting to get some decent Hanukkah songs. Maybe in five years there will be enough for an all-Hanukkah mix. Anyway, I think this year's might be better than last year's installment , though nothing may ever reach the heights of the 2011 mix . As always, everything below is available from most purveyors of digital music. 1) Bad Religion - Angels We Have Heard on High - Dude. Bad Religion just put out a Christmas album. This is WHY I started making these mixes back in the day. If you aren't familiar with Bad Religion, suffice it to say, they probably won't be asked to perform in your church's social hall any time soon. They said they made this album for fun and top show that good songs are good s...

It's tough to review a major music festival unless you are a major publication with the resources to send several writers to fan out among all the stages and see every minute of every act. I just spent three days of Labor Day weekend at Bumbershoot and, while I saw so much, it pales to what I couldn't make it to for various reasons. But here goes. First of all, one of the things I wrote about back in 2010 holds true: the ability to leave and return. When you live within a short bus ride from the Seattle Center, this is huge. You can eat some meals at home. You can take a break. It's divine. You're not stuck out in a field somewhere. You are in a city, and if you happen to call the city home (or one of the nearby hotels home), Bumbershoot is really generous by not trapping you inside the festival grounds. As for the music, this is what I caught my three days:

It's been some time since I blogged about a hike . As many places as I've hiked since moving to Seattle, I could probably bore you to death with stories of them all. Today, though, I headed out to Gothic Basin. Aside from the cool name (apparently named for a guy named Gothic, but whatever), things I've read about the hike were enticing. We don't want for beautiful scenery here in Washington, but some spots stand out. To get to this particular spot, though, you must work. A rule of hiking in the Cascades seems to be that the more you have to exert yourself, the more you get back in terms of views, solitude and more. As I sit here tonight, I'm not in nearly as bad shape as I was when I finished the Harper Creek hike I blogged back in 2009. But I'm still bruised, blistered and tired from a hike that easily ranks as one of the toughest I've completed. The Washington Trails Association has a fairly good writeup on the hike. However, I've learned tha...