i know i said i’d put this up sunday but i got busy. this is the result of my first creative photography group project; as you can see our theme was “red square.” i’d seen a lot of close up shots of candy on faces in flickr explore a lot and i wanted to try my hand at it. turns out it’s pretty hard. i made myself a beauty dish out of a 18″ pot, some white spray paint, and some other items i found at the hardware store. it actually worked really well but the light was a little harder to control than i initially thought. all in all i’m pretty happy with the results. i do wish i could have controlled the light a bit more around the edges but there’s always a next time.

incidentally, Phil, if you swing by here, it’s impossible to find a good confectioner in the market. at least google maps couldn’t find one and an hour of wandering around yielded up nothing more than Rocky Mountain Chocolate.

i know i’ve been doing the whole photo thing lately but i had content for a real post. it’s short so don’t worry.

apparently troopers are starting to ticket people that are driving slower than the speed of traffic in the left lane. even if they’re doing the speed limit. why? because, and i’ve known this forever because for some reason i’ve read a good deal of the Revised Code of Washington, there’s a law (RCW 46.61.100 s.4) on the books that says you can be ticketed if you’re holding up traffic. i now feel vindicated that these jackholes are getting $124 tickets for being self-righteous asshats staying in the left lane when traffic is obviously moving faster than they are.

Tessa and I had lunch at Dad Watson’s in Fremont.

then we wandered around the Ballard farmer’s market and ran into this guy. he seemed happy to be outside in the sun.

this was a pretty empty street, not many pedestrians. i wonder how often this sign gets used.

went to see The Presets last week at Nectar in Fremont. great venue, awesome show.

not him specifically, but about the people he takes photos of.  he’s a pin up photographer and some of his clients are sending care packages overseas to troops in iraq.  good stuff.

here’s the route i took.

http://mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/wa/seattle/565437194

i deviated from the map a little bit because i made a couple wrong turns.á specifically i didn’t go far enough west around mile 25 to get to the trail there, so i just went through town.á all told it was 43.5 miles.á there are a couple mean hills over in west seattle.á it is also very quiet over there.

when i got to the I-90 trail it was rather warm.á i found a park that had a faucet where i could soak my head.á i gave my helmet a good washin.á when i got home i was rather tired.á i was in the saddle for about 3 hours and surprisingly i could still feel everything.á gg specialized toupe.á i now understand the reason behind carbon bikes, and now want one very badly.á because lemme tell ya, aluminum, not so good for vibration dampening.á i was very glad for it in the climbs, but on rougher roads it transmits the whole road right to my butt and my arms.á next bike…

there is a flickr set of my ride today located here

tahuya tomorrow!á whee!á it’s tahuya day!á that means hot dogs, beer, boating, beer, and now a skidoo!á did i mention beer?

sunday, ride with a local club around seattle to yarn stores and bars!

new viaduct

pro

• cheaper
• faster to build
• we’ve built these before, estimates for completion should be pretty accurate

cons

• flow is not improved
• tax increases to pay for it

tunnel

pro

• improved traffic flow
• waterfront improvements
• initial plans look to provide for more bike access on new surface road
• unobstructed waterfront views from downtown (though this could actually be a con, we’ll deal with this in a minute)

con

• costs a hell of a lot more than a new raised structure
• urban restructuring plans are notorious for overspending. i’m not talking about just the Big Dig; the higher the cost and complexity of the project means higher spending if plans get changed or delayed
• middle class people will find it harder to live in seattle proper because of higher taxes required to pay for this, and the newly unobstructed waterfront views drive up housing prices downtown
• horrible traffic incoming to the city, see above

i’m certainly not the most well informed person about this sort of thing, but this is the information i’ve been able to gather from reading the news and various other things i can find. personally i’m in favor of replacing the elevated structure. the same amount of traffic that costs less is worth more to me than paying more to allow a higher volume of people sit in one place for and just letting rich people have a better view from their already horrendously expensive downtown condos. yes having a nicer waterfront would be nice. but the expense would lie largely with people just like me who already can barely afford to live in the city.

here are some links i’ve read about the project.- like i said, basic informational and editorial, as well as a link to the WSDOT project site.- if you have anything you’d like to share about the subject to better educate by all means post up.

Seattle PI: Taxpayers may be forced to “Big Dig-Deep”

Seattle Weekly: Seattle’s Little Dig

WSDOT Proposals: Viaduct Proposals