Skee ball fun times!

I’ve been pretty obsessed with the Skee Ball iPhone game recently… SKEE BALL!

I think Skee Ball is the best arcade game ever made. And the iPhone game is very true to form… You flick the ball up the ramp into the slots for points, and the points get you tickets. There’s also a prize counter where you can redeem points for random things like Peruvian Pan Flute CDs, Magic 8 Balls and Lava Lamps.

Scott’s work also had a (real) Skee Ball competition as part of an overall “Office Olympics”. (I know, how great would that be?)

In preparation for that, and because I’ve been so fascinated with the iPhone game, we decided to hit up the Skee Ball lanes at Lucky Strike in Bellevue a few weeks ago. Obviously we had the place to ourselves. It was a weeknight.

I can attest that the real life game is more difficult than the iPhone app game! In part because you’re paying to play each game with real money, and you want to maximize your points. So the strategy is to go up the middle, whereas in the iPhone game my strategy is to go for the corner slots (worth more points) only.

Side note. The Skee Ball lanes at Gameworks downtown are a lot less expensive than the ones at Lucky Strike. We stumbled on them on Friday at a friend’s birthday party. I have also heard that there’s a bar in Ballard with a Skee Ball tournament on Thursdays! I don’t think I’m quite competition ready. I’m going to need a few more practice nights.

More Classic Seattle: Bumbershoot!

Scott and I went to Bumbershoot, an outdoor music festival here in Seattle, all three days of Labor Day weekend. It has come to be a tradition for us.

This year I had been a little disappointed that nobody I knew was going. And I was initially disappointed that the weather forecast called for rain. We made the most of it though, decked out in rain gear, with our umbrellas, camping chairs, juice packs and snacks in tow.

The weather (and economy) turned out to be in our favor, as the attendance this year was very low. This meant we could roam around without having to jostle through crowds of people. It was also really easy to get tickets to the main stage events.

Here’s who we ended up seeing. Brett Dennen and Franz Ferdinand were my favorites. Janelle Monae was also great… she crowd surfed at her own show.

Saturday, September 5th

• Low vs Diamond
• Eleni Mandell
• There were some other ones in here. I can’t remember. We spent most of our time on Saturday roaming around the grounds.

Sunday, September 6th

• Brett Dennen
• The Helio Sequence

Monday, September 7th

• Say Hi
• Oren Lavie
• Janelle Monae
• The Cave Singers
• Vieux Farka Toure
• Franz Ferdinand

p.s. I’m writing this on Tuesday, but setting it post tomorrow, 9/9/09 at 09:09am. Consequently it is also my 29th birthday.

Changes to my walk home.

I walked back to my condo from downtown this afternoon, and noticed a few changes to my old route.

A new sidewalk! I used to have to cross the street at this section. Somewhere in the last 6mo a sidewalk and crosswalk at the light were installed! Nice.

A payday loan shop on Denny & Bellevue. Aw, sad. Sign of the times. It’s across the street from Amante. Officially my least favorite intersection on the hill.

A nice garden in a neighbor’s front yard. Lovely.

Clear and sunny.

Yesterday was gorgeous. And also dangerous. I ventured out with Carina for a few hours. It was hard to leave this amazing view. But necessary for my sanity.

To see the pano in more detail, follow this link. (It should allow you to click on the image and zoom in.) 

Snowy Seattle.

I’d say that snow in Seattle is rare, but we’ve been having at least one ’shut down the city’ storm each Winter now for the past couple of years. (Note to Utah friends: a ’shut down the city’ storm is usually an inch or two. And actually Seattle schools were closed yesterday at just the thought of a snowstorm coming through. It didn’t actually snow until last night. Needless to say they are closed again today, and probably will be again tomorrow.)

Scott is working from home, so we ventured out to Broadway for some lunch. On the way back, there was a group of people sledding down Republican Street next to our building.

Frolicking in the snow is so not for me. I’m inside now with some wassail and grand plans to make some refrigerator rolls.

Jen Time.

I got to spend a bunch of time with Jen this week, including going to the Alanis Morissette concert on Wednesday! The guy taking these photos was sitting in front of us.

Self defense in Peru.

I’m going to take a Home Alive self defense course, starting in a few weeks. Anyone else want to take it with me? They still have spots open, and it’s a sliding scale (pay what you can, when you can) kind of deal.

I’ve never taken a self defense course. After reading a few of the horror stories of travelers in Peru (especially female travelers) I decided I should…

When I brought this up to my Peruvian Spanish tutor, she was somewhat offended at the idea. Her advise was essentially to “kill ‘em with kindness”, which I appreciate. I’m definitely going to be socialable, nice, generous, and friendly. But I also realize that I’m white and tall and female, and there will be times when I’m traveling alone.

I’m most interested in learning how to set boundaries. And of course understanding when I need to take more serious action and when it would be better not to.

I could use a buddy if anyone is interested!