What's great about this place we live in is that it doesn't take long to get away and really feel that you've left urban existence behind.There are numerous ways to escape city life, but I've found that the most expedient and also the most relaxing method is via the ferry. The moment I drive my car onto the boat, I know my getaway has begun, and as the Seattle skyline slowly starts to recede, my shoulders sink down from their vise-grip position next to my ears and I begin to breathe easy. I'm headed to Bainbridge Island, 35 minutes across the Sound, to visit the Bloedel Nature Reserve. It's winter, yet it's one of those picture-postcard days full of sunshine and blue sky. Bundled up on deck, skin braced from the brisk wind, I watch as the boat nears the island. Although I've been to Bainbridge before, I've never made a stop at the Bloedel Reserve - merely passed it on my way to the Scandinavian hamlet of Poulsbo where out-of-town guests always clamor to be taken.
"I don't guarantee that you are going to find the One," says Alma Avery Rubenstein, the vivacious sparkplug behind The Professional Dater, Seattle's newest and most personal dating service. "But I do promise people a more satisfying single life."It is a drizzly Thursday night, and sexy city lights replace the Northwest gray. Valentine's Day is less than a week away, and anything feels possible. Under the dim lights of a hip Green Lake bar, Alma, togged out in turquoise suede skirt and sassy black-leather boots, surveys the singles scene before her."I have always been fascinated with the art of dating and courtship," says Alma, renowned for revitalizing her client's dating lives. "People get comfortable with just having their life be OK."
Jim Diers, the former director of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, is out and about in our neighborhoods, and what a joy it is to see him in action again. His enthusiasm is a stunning antidote to any feelings of despair and hopelessness. He possesses this incredible ability to make great things happen in spite of mean adversity.So, ironically, we should all be thanking Mayor Nickels for firing Jim. Jim took his newfound free time and wrote the book "Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way" (University of Washington Press). The ideas, along with case studies, clearly show the benefits derived from empowering a city's citizens.
Closely following one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern history, Pacific Science Center has just opened an exhibit, "Powers of Nature," and an IMAX film "Forces of Nature." Exhibit and film are timely by virtue of not only the tragic tsunami in South Asia but also, nearer to hand, the building lava dome at Mount St. Helens. Our planet is an active, living and changing system, and those forces of nature are an ongoing fact of life on Earth.
Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Monday, Feb. 14, to be exact - the busiest day of the year for local florists. While you are dashing around looking for that last-minute Valentine gift, or busily selecting just the right card for that special person in your life, let me remind you that you are perpetuating an age-old tradition going all the way back to ancient Rome.Feb. 15 marked the feast of Lupercalia, when Roman maidens placed their seals, tied with a lover's knot, in a box from which the young men would select at random, thereby choosing their mates for the following year.There is also an ancient legend about two Roman martyrs, early Christians, in the third century - both of whom happened to be named St. Valentine.
Social Security is one of the great government success stories of our time. It has lifted more disabled and elderly Americans out of poverty than all other social programs combined. If not for its guaranteed benefits, more than half the elderly would drop below the poverty line, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.But in his State of the Union address President Bush said, "By the year 2042, the entire system will be exhausted and bankrupt."He was referring to Social Security trustees' prediction that the trust fund will run out of money in 2042. (The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts 2052, but let's stick with the 2042 estimate.)What does that mean and how do they predict that? Learn the answers, and you'll wonder what the fuss is all about.
House and Senate proposals for family-leave insurance have made headlines around the state. Lines are being drawn between business interests and family responsibilities - but it doesn't have to be that way. We know from the experience of other states and large employers that paid family leave works. We also know that many small employers support giving their employees family leave.Let's be clear on what family-leave insurance is:1) It is an insurance policy, paid into by the employer at 1 cent per hour and by the employee at 1 cent per hour, for those times when a birth, adoption or serious medical condition creates exceptional family responsibilities. In those instances, the employee, rather than having to quit, can take paid leave at the rate of $250 a week for up to five weeks.  Family leave is only for critical medical conditions or for bonding with a newborn or a newly adopted child. The cost to the employee for this insurance is $20 a year.
A young friend was telling me about a recent embarrassment that reddened her face and shrunk her confidence. She was at her job nattering away about a boss she said none of her co-workers like either. Unfortunately, despite her interlocutor's suddenly rolling eyes, she didn't stop talking about that boss even though he'd walked over and was standing right behind her."I could have died," she said.I can sympathize. Who among us hasn't gotten egg on our face?
The following e-mail messages were sent to Pat and Carol Jean Gaffney by their son Don Gaffney, a longtime Magnolia resident currently stationed in Iraq with the Washington National Guard's First Cavalry Division. Gaffney attended both Lawton Elementary and Catharine Blaine schools, and was a delivery boy for the Magnolia News when his family was stationed at Fort Lawton. On Sunday, Jan. 30, Gaffney was assigned to security in the "Green Zone" during the Iraq election. This e-mail was generously shared with the News by Carol Jean Gaffney.
John Kane is fed up with the Port of Seattle's approach to its industrial land. So the environmental consultant and Queen Anne resident has announced he is running for the Port Commission slot currently occupied by Paige Miller, a Queen Anne resident who is leaving the Port to run for the Seattle City Council. It will be Kane's first foray into politics, he said. Kane has a grounding in the industrial issue because he has spent seven years on and is currently chairman of BINMIC, the Ballard Interbay North End Manufacturing and Industrial Center Committee.
The Port of Seattle bought the 3.4-acre South Tsubota Steel site off 15th Avenue West just north of the Magnolia Bridge for $6.1 million on Jan. 27, said Port spokesman Mick Shultz. The price includes $600,000 for due diligence, assignment and closing costs.But the Port doesn't plan on doing anything with the Tsubota property until plans are firmed up for future development of the 57-acre, Port-owned North Bay land north of terminals 90 and 91, he said. The National Guard Armory just to the northwest of the Tsubota property also could become part of the North Bay plans if a suitable location elsewhere for the Armory to relocate is found, according to the Port.
The dynamics of replacing the Magnolia Bridge have changed with a new cost estimate that makes the earlier 2002 figure of $100 million to $135 million look a bit like a bargain-basement price.The new figure is plus or minus $200 million for all three alternatives, said Grace Crunican, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation. The jump in the cost estimate, in turn, has led the city agency to consider rehabilitating the bridge rather than replacing it with a new structure, she said.
In 1960, when Angelo Pappas was a boy, the USS Enterprise docked in Athens, Greece.As the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, it drew considerable attention. Among those allowed on board for a tour were a troop of Boy Scouts, including Angelo. "The American sailors were above human," he says. "They were human gods."Now that he is an American himself, and older, his eyes are not so wide with awe. Still, he looks favorably upon Americans. "They are very fair people," he says, meaning that justice is usually served, and they do not think less of him as an immigrant.
"I don't guarantee that you are going to find the One," says Alma Avery Rubenstein, the vivacious sparkplug behind The Professional Dater, Seattle's newest and most personal dating service. "But I do promise people a more satisfying single life."It is a drizzly Thursday night and sexy city lights replace the northwest gray. Valentine's Day is less than a week away and anything feels possible.Under the dim lights of a hip Seattle bar, Alma - dressed in a turquoise, suede skirt and sassy, black-leather boots - surveys the singles scene before her."I have always been fascinated with the art of dating and courtship," says Alma, renowned for revitalizing her client's dating lives. "People get comfortable with just having their life be okay."
hn Kane is fed up with the Port of Seattle's approach to its industrial land.So the environmental consultant and Queen Anne resident has announced he is running for the Port Commission slot currently occupied by Paige Miller, a Queen Anne resident who is leaving the Port to run for the Seattle City Council. It will be Kane's first foray into politics, he said. But Kane has a grounding in the industrial issue because he has spent seven years on and is currently chairman of the Ballard Interbay North End Manufacturing and Industrial Center Committee.