my Monday - Friday view...

This was the first morning in quite some time that it wasn't totally dark out when I arrived to work. This photo was taken around 6:45 a.m. The sunrise was pretty intense. Now only if I enjoyed my job as much as I enjoy my view.

Holy Cow

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of Harry Caray's death. I'll share some of my favorite quotes of his :

"Now, you tell me, if I have a day off during the baseball season, where do you think I'll spend it? The ballpark. I still love it; always have, always will." - on his reason not to retire

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."

"When I die, I hope they don't cremate me 'cuz I'll burn forever. "

"I know it is the fans that are responsible for me being here. I've always tried in each and every broadcast to serve the fans to the best of my ability."

"I knew the profanity used up and down my street would not go over the air... So I trained myself to say 'Holy Cow' instead. "

Happy Valentine's Day

Ah yes, the day of overpriced flowers and turn-and-burn dinners for two. Additionally, this day always reminds me of the infamous St. Valentine's Day massacre of 1929 on the north side of Chicago.

Obama 4, Clinton 2

Just got home from my precinct's caucus. My district has a total of 6 delegates. 4 went to Obama, 2 went to Clinton. I just hope this is representative of the rest of the state. I didn't make it to the Obama rally yesterday. It was his biggest rally to date - 18,000 packed inside Key Arena with an estimated 4,000 turned away when the arena reached capacity.

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Obama in Seattle today...

Barack will be making an appearance at a rally today at 1:00 pm at Key Arena. I'm hoping to get a chance to sneek away from work and go. Our Governor endorsed Obama today (about time) on the eve of our caucus.

To my fellow Washingtonians, GO TO YOUR CAUCUS tomorrow. If you're a registered Democrat, use this website to figure out where you need to be: www.wa-democrats.org/caucusfinder. Still confused about the caucus ? The Stranger had a good rundown of what to expect tomorrow.

Happy Friday too !

more rockers for Barack....

Music producer and Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am wrote a song inspired by Senator Barack Obama’s speech after the New Hampshire primary. Jesse Dylan, son of Bob, worked with Will to create an inspiring music video in song called “Yes, We Can.”

Grateful Dead and Deadheads reunite for Obama

Saying Barack Obama embodies political hope absent since Robert Kennedy was slain 40 years ago, three surviving members of the Grateful Dead rock band reunited on Monday for the first time in four years to back the presidential candidate. The concert started with this short video from Obama, filmed on an airplane, thanking the band.

rock around Barack

straight from the pearl jam website:

Stone Gossard and members of PJ spearheaded the recording of a new rendition of an old-school tune "Rock Around The Clock", cleverly changing the lyrical content to "Rock Around Barack".

Here's what Stone has to say about the recording: "Hello everyone. This is a track I've been thinking about for a while. Rock Around The Clock was the first mainstream rock and roll hit in 1955 and it had a transforming effect on American music. At that time, rock and rhythm and blues music was traditionally only played on black radio. I am, by no means, an expert on the history of rock & roll, but this was a big deal. The rhythm of rock music and its energy were so overwhelming that traditional barriers of race and culture broke down with an enormous crash. So here's to new energy, rock and the breaking down of cultural barriers: Barack Around The Clock!"

Drums - Matt Cameron
Bass - Jeff Ament
Rock and Roll Piano - Boom Gaspar
Lead Guitar - Mike McCready
Vocals and Rhythm Guitar - Stone Gossard
Background Vocals - Barrett Jones

Paid for by Stone


Listen to the song here.

Edit: As of 2/7/08, the pearl jam website deleted the news blurb and the song clip. Sorry. Apparently, Ed is on the fence about his candidate of choice. (wtf Eddie ?!)

no perfect season for the Pats...

It really didn't matter to me who won the Superbowl today. Dan likes the Patriots and I guess it would have been nice for them to have had a perfect season. Thank god the game picked up in the 4th quarter. I was a bit bored. And not overwhelmed by the commercials. Some were good, but none made me throw up my arms, exclaiming "now THAT was a good one !" Here were my favorites:

no shadow today...

It is Groundhog Day and there's no way one such oversized rodent would see its shadow here today. I really do hope that means winter will be ending soon in our neck of the woods. The actual Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow.

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Here's a clip from one of Bill Murray's classics and a definite favorite of this household, "Groundhog Day":

wish me luck...

My friend Mo and I are trying out for Jeopardy tonight. There's an online test for west coasters at 8:00 pm. (do they realize this is too close to my bedtime ?) This will be my third attempt - two online tests and one on-site test in New York city a few years back. At the test in NYC, 65 attempted in my group - 3 passed. It's pretty tough. But I'll give it another shot. Wish me luck...

so much for the clear blue skies...

(January 28, 2008) Credit: Mike Kane/P-I

Snow showers this morning and another 3-4 inches predicted for overnight. I hope not. This town doesn't deal with snow very well.

she's been out all week !

It's been so clear and cloudless here this week - Mount Rainier has been "out" since Monday. I'll never get sick of this view:

photo was taken Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008, by UW Photographer Mary Levin

Happy Friday everyone !

Mount Baker goodness...

Dan and I took a drive up to Mount Baker on Monday for a snowshoe run. We didn't find our original intended hike, but ended up at another sno-park location whose trail runs along the north fork of the Nooksack river. It was a perfect day too - not a cloud in the sky.

how time flies....

It's hard to believe that it has been a month since we went back east for the holidays. My sister-in-law sent this photo of my niece and nephew - I miss them a bunch !

a visit from Joyce...

Dan's cousin Joyce lives in Korea now, but is back in the States for a few weeks visiting family. She stopped in Seattle first to spend a few days with us. We had a great time with her - Dan hadn't seen her in almost 20 years ! A few pics from the visit...

Congratulations Eddie !

Eddie Vedder won a Golden Globe tonight for best original song in a movie for "Guaranteed", from the soundtrack to Into the Wild. Well deserved...

am I blue ???

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire officially proclaimed today "Blue Friday" in honor of the Seahawks, coach Mike Holmgren, the loudest fans in the league and for 43 consecutive sold-out home games.

GO HAWKS !

Guaranteed

Eddie Vedder will unveil his first solo music video for “Guaranteed,” taken from his Into the Wild soundtrack, on VH1 tonight. The song has already been nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe, and is a frontrunner for an Oscar nod.

Here it is, thanks to YouTube:



from pearljam.com: Feature film writer/director Marc Rocco conceived, directed and produced the video for "Guaranteed" in just a few days - and shot the project entirely on 35 mm film in three hours - as a way for the typically video-shy Vedder to pay tribute to Sean Penn's film and Chris McCandless's journey. The video uses a series of floating, illuminated images from Into the Wild to capture Vedder's intimate and poetic performance, weaving striking silhouettes of Vedder with translit still frames from the film in a powerful and simple way.

"To me, Eddie is the most compelling musical artist of our generation," explains Rocco. "His songwriting pounds you on a visceral level and his storytelling always stands apart in the same way a great film does - each time you hear his words, they engender a different experience in your heart, soul and mind. It has been a privilege and honor to collaborate with Eddie in a medium that he so rarely visits. I hope that I've portrayed visually the song 'Guaranteed' in a way that leaves the viewer as emotionally moved as I was the first time I heard Eddie's music for Into the Wild."

Dan and I visited the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford one afternoon while we were back east for the holiday. We didn't participate in the tour of the interior, but I took some nice shots of the house. The brickwork was amazing.

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life"
Mark Twain

Why Iowa? And what's a caucus, anyway?

Question: Why does Iowa go first?

Answer: Because for years no one much cared. Iowa has been holding some form of caucuses since the early 1800s. (The word caucus is American Indian in origin, referring to a gathering of tribal chiefs). After McGovern's surprise showing, another long-shot candidate, Jimmy Carter, used the 1976 Iowa caucuses as a springboard to the White House. Other candidates began coming to Iowa seeking a similar breakthrough. A tradition was established and once that happened, few wanted to alienate Iowa voters by challenging the state's privileged status. Eventually, Iowa and New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, reached an accord that cemented their one-two placement on the nominating calendar, which has been recognized by the national political parties and, more importantly, those seeking the White House.

Q: What is a caucus?

A: It's a gathering of voters at the precinct level. There are 1,781 precincts in Iowa's 99 counties. A caucus can be held in a community center, at a fire station, a library conference room, or somebody's living room.

Q: Who gets to participate?

Anyone who will be 18 years old by Nov. 4, the date of the general election. The two major parties are fairly flexible in their rules. Basically, if you are willing to register with the party on caucus night, you can participate. There is no entry fee.

Q: How does a caucus work?

A: The two parties conduct their caucuses differently. Republicans operate in a fairly straightforward fashion. Participants vote by writing their candidate's name on a blank sheet of paper, or sometimes by a show of hands. Shorthand or nicknames ``Huck'' for ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, or ``Rudy'' for former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani will be counted. Democrats have a much more complicated system. Participants break into groups based on their preference. If a candidate fails to reach the ``viability'' threshold at least 15 percent of the vote he or she is eliminated. Supporters of eliminated candidates can fall in with another candidate or go home (though leaving is considered poor caucus form). The voting is done in the open, and debate and persuasion are very much a part of the process.

Q: So that's how Iowa awards its delegates to the presidential nominating conventions?

A: Actually, no. The caucuses elect delegates to county conventions in March, the first step in a process that will end with the selection of Iowa's national delegates in June. By then, no one is paying much attention.

Q: How are the caucus results used in picking delegates to the county conventions?

A: For Democrats, delegates are allocated through a mathematical formula involving how the than one candidate to walk away with a share of delegates. On the Republican side, the caucuses are simply a presidential preference vote. Delegates are awarded in a separate process.

Q: It sounds very complicated and confusing.

A: It is.

Q: Why the fixation on Iowa?

A: Because it votes first and the political news corps, the candidates, donors and others who follow politics are desperate after years of campaigning for some measure, however abstract, of popular sentiment.

Q: Given all the attention, an Iowa victory must pretty much ensure a candidate will win the nomination, doesn't it?

A: Not necessarily. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton both finished third in Iowa en route to winning the White House. Republican Robert Dole and Democrat Richard A. Gephardt won their respective caucuses in 1988 and failed to win their party's nominations.

On the other hand, in the last two presidential elections Iowa proved decisive for the Democrats, paving the path for Al Gore and John F. Kerry to win the nomination.

Q: So whoever gets the most votes wins?

A: Not necessarily. In 1976, Carter actually finished behind "undecided.'' But since he came from seemingly nowhere, it was seen as a huge accomplishment. Walter Mondale beat Gary Hart 49 percent to 17 percent in 1984, but because Hart did better than anticipated he was showered with favorable news coverage that helped propel him to an upset win in New Hampshire.


By Mark Z. Barabak
Los Angeles Times