I don’t know if this piece of news is of interest to anyone (besides me of course). Bon-Macy’s (formerly Bon Marche) is finally accepting the Macy’s credit card. After the name change last year, Bon-Macy’s customers could use their newly renamed Bon-Macy’s credit cards at Macy’s, but the reverse was not true (according to all the sales and customer service people I kept hopefully asking). Now I can once again feel like one of those ladies-who-lunch, if only for brief moments in time.

Baby giraffe! (warning: actual birth process photos)

Last June 2 in San Jose, a man in a pickup truck deliberately chased down and drove into Tom Castrillon who was riding a motorcycle. Castrillon was thrown off his bike and paralyzed from the neck down. The man fled the scene, changed the title on his truck, and disguised it — but not enough. Rodney Torres was tracked down as the driver of a truck matching the description and was eventually found guilty of hit and run and assault with a deadly weapon (he pled not guilty). Apparently this was a case of road rage as the two exchanged words after Torres cut off Castrillon. Torres then followed the motorcycle into a restaurant parking lot and ran into it. On Thursday, Torres was given the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He is also due back in court in May for restitution hearings, though it’s doubtful he will be able to pay out the requested amount of $2 million in damages. I’m hoping this incident helps me think twice before doing any little thing to incite any idiots on the road to blow off their steam at me in murderous ways.

After realizing that my gardening activities centered mainly around weed and pest control, I became less enamored of cultivating a green thumb. However I have just discovered that there is something called flame weeding. You can kill your weeds with a propane torch. How satisfying! Unfortunately it won’t work in all situations since desirable plants can be easily killed as well. But…torching weeds! What a concept. And it’s organic too!

Every time I see the elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle, I think of the raised (and now being razed) Central Artery in Boston and the collapse of the elevated Cypress Street decks during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. In other words, it doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies. I wasn’t surprised to find that it has been a subject of redesign for the Seattle waterfront area. Perhaps the most controversial plan, publicized today by a coalition of concerned residents, is the option of removing it and replacing it with…nothing. No tunnel, no new highway. Just some better planning on existing roads and highways to handle increased traffic. The DOT has five replacement alternatives: rebuild as it exists, rebuild widened, replace with a tunnel, a tunnel and widening of the road underneath, and a larger widening of the road underneath. Not having knowledge about the traffic patterns in that area, I’ll just hope for anything except rebuilding an elevated highway.

In the interests of controlling how much and what kind of sweetener we drink (and to make life more interesting than fruit juice and water), and of course also just to have some fun, I’m looking into concocting soda at home. Of course you can buy seltzer and spritz up syrups and juices, but how about carbonating at home? It involves putting yeast and sugar together in a bottle to create fizz. You can buy soda flavorings, try fruit syrups, or make your own flavoring. And in this guide written for home beer brewers, honey (my favorite sweetener) is actually recommended for the soda base. If I start to experiment, I will report back.

Recently transplanted from Seattle to Brooklyn, the proprietress of Geegaw listed her favorite Seattle characteristics. Since I’ve been bad in the past at appreciating things and places before they are gone, I figure I should take her list to heart now. Bunnies on the paths at work, water views, green everywhere, birds chirping, and soon yummy fresh cherries. One day there might even be an ethnic restaurant to miss.

A postcard written in 1922 ended up in an Ohio post office 82 years later. No one knows where it was mailed from, only where it was going to, and that was unfortunately an unnumbered rural route address. Was it dislodged from a hiding place after so many decades or accidentally posted by a collector? It is addressed to a Mrs. Roscoe St. Myer and is presumably from her husband. The mystery may never be solved if descendants are not found. (via Obscure Store)

If the world was flat and had fewer cars, I might spend more time on inline skates. Enterprising tour developers in the Netherlands have taken advantage of their country’s flatlands by offering inline skating tours. Skaters must be careful to avoid potatoes and cow patties, but the scenery, when you can look up, is storyboook.

Archie McPhee is of course the place to be if you need an Edgar Allan Poe figure, one of those punching nun puppets and the like. But I haven’t actually made it to their Seattle store yet. However, there will soon be more to choose from, as they have plans to open More Archee McPhee next door to their present location later this year. The expansion will house their home decor line, sure to please those who can’t get enough tiki in their lives.