What a Croc!

Another Seattle institution is vanishing before our eyes. I'm speaking of the Crocodile Cafe, which had shut its doors for good earlier this month. This morning I arose at 6:30 am to capture it before it becomes another Starbucks or Subway. Here are a few angles:


My first visit to the Croc was in summer of 1992, to see Terry Lee Hale, who opened up for Solomon Grundy. Probably one of the more memorable occasions was the night in 1993 that I went with my brother Steve to see Polvo. He was egging me on from across the room and I ended up hurling a glass of water in his direction. I think a few people were upset about being splashed, and one of the employees asked that I not do that again. Probably the closest I've come to getting ejected from a club. Steve ended up hugging Polvo's drummer that night.

My last visit to the Crocadile was to see Joseph Arthur in the Fall of 2006. The Crocadile never changed a whole lot over the years, and never tried to modernize as other clubs did. It was a simple cafe and club where you could go see good bands relatively cheap and in small space. I'm not optimistic about what is to spring up in its place. I'm envisioning someplace safe and comfortable for the yuppies to enjoy an exquisite meal.

Alas, nothing lasts.

Time-killing Strategies

Work is slow. It's the Friday before New Year's. It's way too chilly to go for a walk about town. So what does one do? Today, I've found enjoyment in looking over the "worst film" lists for 2007. Thankfully, not one dime of my hard-earned money was wasted on any of the, though I could have seen myself taken in by the likes of Guy Ritchie's "Revolver". Thankfully, I wasn't.

This quote regarding Eddie Murphy's "Norbit" pretty much sums it up:
"I saw Norbit in a 'black' movie theater...if you're gonna see that movie, that's the way to view it. Some dude kept yelling out 'I'm high as a mothaf__ka and this sh_t still aint funny', which got the biggest laughs"

I know I would have laughed.

Another source of time-killer has been surfing through the archives of The Onion. Here are some gems:

Jon Lovitz and Subway ads: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49386
Catwoman not being completely awful: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30654
Preemptive raves for Blues Brothers 200: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29684
Robin Williams = imbecile: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38611

I close with this question: why is not enough bad being said about Robin Williams?

Snow

I'm thinking it's going to snow this evening. It's awfully wet out there, and when I was out at lunch earlier, it was pretty chilly to boot. I'm planning on returning to the gym after work tonight after a six-month hiatus (okay, maybe four months). It'll be interesting to see 1. if I can get through a half hour on the treadmill without keeling over, 2. if it's a snowy walk home, 3. if I can get to a changing closet without waiting a half hour.

Smell that Crisp Car Exhaust!

Every night on my walk home from work, on 2nd and Pine, I witness a horse and carriage sauntering through rush hour traffic. People pay to experience some of the busiest streets of Seattle during the busiest time of day this way. Now, I can understand being in Manhattan, and fantasizing that you are in a romantic historical era where friendly gentlemen sweep the streets, children play marbles on the sidewalk, and a salivating dog peers into the window of a bakery, tail wagging behind him... all while you roll through central park in your horse driven carriage. But for god's sake, this is downtown Seattle. All such images are a lie. This place was founded by rough gold-diggers who came into town looking for hard liquor and prositutes. Wake up, the closest thing to a magical era here was the smack-fueled 90's where gunge rockers reigned supreme. All your horse and carriage is doing is clogging up our already over-crowded streets. So take a deep breath of that fresh carbon monoxide tourists! You're living a lie! And your lie borders on abuse for slave-driven horses, while trying the patience of drivers who just want to get home to their families.

I call BS on the horse and carriages rolling through downtown during rush hour.

Happy Holidays!

Well, Christmas #39 in the life of David Berlinguette has just become a done-deal. Overall, we had a good one this year, though low-key. I think one of the highlights was celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of Tito Romy and Tita Aurora on Sunday night (Dec 23rd). It was a nice evening, with a room rented out for the occasion at Anthony's Homeport down on Shilshole bay. I was especially surprised by the number of Aurora's coworkers from Fred Meyer who made it. I think they were expecting about 5-6, but got closer to 20. She's obviously well-liked.

On Christmas eve, I spent most of the day getting things together around the house. We then went over to Fred Meyer (popular theme in this post) for stocking stuffers and staples. Afterward, we went out for sushi and sukiyaki, following which we went home, drank some wine, and broke tradition by opening the gifts on Christmas eve rather than Christmas morning. I'm very happy with the little tri-pod I received, the electronic Karaoke, a hutch for the computer table, portable hard drive case, a book or two, and a generous gift from the parents toward something for the home. We scored! Leilani seems like she likes the Mac Mini. I know she'll love it once she gets it up and running. I'm sure of it.

Christmas day was spent baking tortiere in the earlier part of the day, and then off to Issaquah in the afternoon, where Lew and Charlene were hosting the gathering. I provided Dewayne with the gifts of a blown up framed photo of a flower I had taken, and a nice sweater from Macy's. In return, I got a copy of Guitar Hero 3, and a Tully's coffee card from Larry. We drove home in a wet snow storm, and chilled out for the remainder of the evening.

Now I'm back at work as if I never left. Good times. It's all about the GCI and Certuspact.

Best wishes for a Happy and healthy 2008!

Late again...

So, sometime back in August I stated my intentions to have my Christmas list ready and the shopping process begun by early Fall. Christmas is now a week away, and I'm just as clueless and unprepared as I was back in August. The trouble is, nobody wants anything! This is not a bad thing. I think there's already way too much junk in this world and each year at about this time we fill the landfills with more of it. But when you feel obliged to get gifts for the people in your life, it doesn't make for an easy situation.

So here I am, scrambling to get some things taken care of, but obviously at this point there will be some "surprise gifts", reaching their destinations a few days generous of the actual holiday date.

Yelling at Homeless People

Last night was a dilly. I had spent a mostly relaxing evening at home. Leilani was at a meeting for the radio station in Everett. All good. When she got home I was relaxed in bed. She ran into the room in a tizzy. It was late at night, and the garage door decided not to work. There was a whole line of cars parked in the alley, and in the meantime, she had placed about six calls to building security. God forbid anyone needed to drive a sick loved one to the hospital, because they weren't going anywhere, and security wasn't checking their messages. The whole thing got her more agitated by the minute. Finally she conceded that the car was staying in the alley for the night. We tried going to sleep.

Literally, not seconds after our heads hit the pillows, our local homeless drummer / singer was out on the sidewalk putting on his nightly show. I finally did what I've been wanting to do for a long time. I went out to the terrace and shouted "WILL YOU SHUT UP!!!!"

Funny thing... it worked. Didn't hear one more drum beat for the remainder of the night.

Where Have I Been?

It's been since October since I've typed in one single character on this blog. What have I been up to during that time? Here's a quick rundown:

• Sick for the past two weeks. Spent my 4-day weekend in bed. Just now getting over it


• Taking zero pictures


• Spending 4 hours per week in class, about the same amount for out-of-class work. We conducted some usability studies on the website Localharvest.org. I'm happy to say that I've completed my course of study in User-Centered Design. Good experience, but a lot of work outside of the normal work of my day job.


• Not doing any artwork (outside of the occasional birthday card)


• ...and not doing any holiday shopping. Gotta get on that!

So now I'm back and I'll try to come up with some things to write.