Stella Cafe

Welcome to the neighborhood, Stella Cafe!

Earlier this evening I was walking back to my apartment from Caffe Ladro sipping a tasty pumpkin spice latté.  I stopped by to peek at the new place opening up at the corner location at 1st and University, across from the front door of Harbor Steps and the Seattle Art Museum's Hammering Man. 

While I was watching a worker complete the installation of the new sign, I started to chat with the owner of the shop, Rob Wilson.  He invited me in to see his cafe. 

While we were looking around, Rob offered to make me a coffee.  I obliged and traded in my Ladro latté for a fresh one from my new neighbor.  Stella coffee is smooth and delicious, and comes with a free French chocolate.  While I chatted with Rob about his shop and his personal roasting operation, I had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife, Josie, and charismatic son Alex.  (Have you ever had a five year-old introduce themselves to you?  It's adorable.)

With all of the coffee competition on this block (there's a Tully's, Ancient Grounds, Cherry Street, Online Coffee, and Ladro less than a 2-minute walk of my front door), it is the personal experience that makes the difference.  Rob is already miles ahead in this game.  In fairness, the owner of Ancient Grounds is awesome too, and the baristas at Online Coffee are some of my favorite in Seattle. 

Stella Cafe makes a welcome contribution to the niceification of our neighborhood.  Joining some of my already-favorite neighbors Ancient Grounds, De Medici Ming Fine Papers, and the newly-opened Four Seasons, we're slowly but surely squeezing out the pawn shops and payday loan store that still hang on. 

Stella Cafe officially opens tomorrow morning.  Rob plans to offer Italian paninis, vino, and do us a favor by selling sundries like milk.  If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and welcome them to the neighborhood.

Rock Band is Pro-America

So today I was excited to come home and play around with Rock Band 2, which had come in the mail yesterday.  My favorite part, after the singing, is creating the characters to be in my band.  Since 'tis the season, and the Election Night Hootenanny is coming up, I thought it would be fun to create a band leader I can believe in.

Wow, Rock Band.  I thought you were hip.  With it.  Part of the younger generation ready for change.  Why don't you just come out and say it?  Is my avatar not allowed on XBOX Live because he's not like you and me?  Does he pal around with terrorists?  Or are you just saying that it's enough that he rose up to where he is, but you're not ready to see someone whose not "classy" in the top spot? 

Feeling oppressed, I sang a few songs with local Obama, then headed back over to the character editor.  Only this time, there was a new girl in town...

And is she ready to rock?  You betcha!  I think I'll nominate her to play Bass.  Because Bass is kind of like Vice Guitar. 

And if my aging guitarist keels over during our next gig, that's cool.  She's totally qualified to play lead guitar. 

She has much more guitar experience than Obama, anyway.  All he is is a lead singer.  And he wasn't even in the band that long; he practically started touring the day he arrived. 

It doesn't matter that she's never toured Japan.  She puts this Country First. 

All aborad the Straight ROCK Express.  Its's time to get mavericky up in here.

Underdog

The Republicans have been making a lot of noise lately about voter fraud.  The Reupblicans party of Ohio is suing the Secretary of State.  McCain tried to hammer Obama with ACORN in the last debate. It has become clear to me that this noise is really a smoke screen for a systematic effort to disenfranchise new voters, poor voters, and minority voters who overwhelming support Obama. 

Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are doing some great reporting on the subject in Rolling Stone, on public radio, and on their own site Steal Back Your Vote. 

Some alarming claims:

• On Super Tuesday, one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists. [RS]
• In Florida, GOP officials created "match" rules that rejected more than 15,000 new registrants in 2006 and 2007 — nearly three-fourths of them Hispanic and black voters [RS]
• Colorado holds the record: Donetta Davidson, the Republican secretary of state, and her GOP successor oversaw the elimination of nearly one of every six of their state's voters. Bush has since appointed Davidson to the Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency created by HAVA, which provides guidance to the states on "list maintenance" methods. [RS]

What this means to me is that no matter how much Obama is ahead, he is going to need to carry a huge vote cushion on election day in order to win.  As Sly and the Family Stone said back in 1967, "you're the underdog and you've gotta be twice as good."

Execution-themed Jewelry

Have you ever wondered what kinds of jewelry Christians would wear if Jesus had been executed by any other means than crucifixion?

 

Sarah Palin is Laura Roslin

John McCain must be a fan of Battlestar Galactica.  How else would he know to pick the real-life Laura Roslin to be his VP?