Read GO SEE ART Post!

I just posted on the GO SEE ART blog about Banned Books Week. Go read it!

Here is the poster for it, with robots!

A Day in the (Work) Life

Although this was created before my employ at Espresso Supply, the following video shows what happens on a daily basis at work in the shipping department. Enjoy it.



Also, if you have any need for coffee making things, here is the site: http://www.espressosupply.com/

Bike to Wineries, Check.

Yesterday (Saturday, the 11th), we biked to the wineries. Myself, Anne and our friend Zack. This was an event that we had been wanting to do for some time and only ended up doing as a result of our panic that Summer was in its death throes. The ride was about 18 miles there, but we got off the trail too early and added nearly five more to that. The Burke-Gilman Trail runs through Seattle, beginning at 11th street in Ballard and ending above the Northern finger of Lake Washington at Bothell. From there it is replaced by the Sammamish River Trail, which continues to the wineries accompanied by the Sammamish River, whose banks are crowded with small bungalows and scrappy boats. Both trails are rail trails, conversions of unused railroads, which make for very evenly graded paths.

It was a gorgeous day, luckily for us. The ride was relaxing and surprisingly easy. We rode into our usual winery destinations, starting at Columbia Winery. I am a member there, thanks to my mother, and enjoy two free tastings for four people each time I go. We were joined, via her car, by Zack's girlfriend, Jamie.

We brought various farmer's market fare to eat. A baguette filled with olive oil, basil and garlic. A creamy spreadable fromage with truffle salt in it. Some fontina cheese. Plums, various berries, heirloom tomatoes and lentil sprouts. It was decadent and delicious. We got our tastings at Columbia, our heads humming with wine, then we headed across the street to Chateau Ste. Michelle.

Anne walks with determination near the plants of her Spanish ancestry. Here, at Ste. Michelle, the grounds are much more exciting and decorative. They even have a stage for the big name bands of yesteryear to play such as Crowded House; Steely Dan; Earth, Wind and Fire and Chris Isaak to name a few. And they have fowl. Ducks, geese and peacocks. The vines on the property are decorative only, as the real grapes are grown in more sandy, loamy soil on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. As such, these grapes are a little sour...

... as can be seen in the above picture, in Jamie's face.

There are the ducks, which seem to piss Zack off, or at least make him uber-serious. This is our second eating session, because drinking wine is a task that famishes.

And the following are some of the fowl we encountered.

The ride back was less invigorating than the ride there. We were beat. And there was a football game at UW's stadium so the trail became inundated with drunk, inconsiderate sports fans. We walked our bikes the last mile for this reason. Our final mileage was sitting at about 41 miles. We swelled with pride before succumbing to exhaustion and finding bed.

Currently Reading: Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera is one of the two most well-known books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and one of the most beloved books of literature in all the world. This Nobel Prize-winning novelist's prose sings. He is a reason for the popularization of the gorgeous literary style of magical realism. The other novel for which he is so well-known is One Hundred Years of Solitude. That book may be my favorite of all-time, sitting close to Milan Kundera's Immortality and Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle (let's stick George Orwell's 1984 in there while we're at it). I just wanted to share a clump of prose from the early pages of the book that I thought were beautiful and important, as well as indicative of Marquez' prose.

"Along the rough cobbled streets that had served so well in surprise attacks and buccaneer landings, weeds hung from the balconies and opened cracks in the whitewashed walls of even the best-kept mansions, and the only signs of life at two o'clock in the afternoon were languid piano exercises played in the dim light of siesta. Indoors, in the cool bedrooms saturated with incense, women protected themselves from the sun as if it were a shameful infection, and even at early Mass they hid their faces in their mantillas. Their love affairs were slow and difficult and were often disturbed by sinister omens, and life seemed interminable. At nightfall, at the oppressive moment of transition, a storm of carnivorous mosquitoes rose out of the swamps, and a tender breath of human shit, warm and sad, stirred the certainty of death in the depths of one's soul"

It is also important to note that this English translation of this Spanish text is made possible by the ever-important translator of Latin American literature, Edith Grossman. Also, this is a mantilla.

"Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen"

The following is the poem, "America," by Allen Ginsberg accompanied by a video montage that I enjoyed. It is one of my favorite poems of all time.

"...they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party was in 1835..."

Just wonderful.

By The Way, How To Cut An Onion

This is the best way, as shown by a French guy, then an English dude.





I like how the French chef says "onion."

I Watched This And Thought Of You

This is possibly the funniest (seemingly unintentionally) video I have seen in awhile. Don't worry about understanding them.



Enjoy.

My First Real Weekend

After my first real week of work (i.e. the whole Monday - Friday, leave at five bit), I have been graced with my first real week-end. Here is what the Google says about the week-end:

Okay, now add rain and subtract sun. Here is what my window says about it:

Yesterday, it was nearing 80 degrees. And sunny. Today, we won't even come to the heels of 70. The Rain City is again earning its name.