Yesterday, I took Boeing’s new flagship airplane out for a spin. I hopped in the cockpit of a 787, took off from SeaTac, flew down to Olympia, cut back over Vashon Island, and came in low over Downtown Seattle before sticking a VFR landing at Boeing Field. Now I know what you’re thinking … Rex is on another meth bender, but you’re wrong. That shit wore off hours ago, and...

City Market. Home of the highest prices, rudest service, and most expiredest food in all of Capitol Hill. Despite it all, however, I love the place. It’s like the abusive stepfather with a heart of gold that I never had. Sure, it slaps me around, calls me a worthless sonofabitch, and makes me scrub the toilet with a toothbrush … but it always makes up for it by giving me the last...

Sunday morning usually means brunch at Pike Place Market, and yesterday was no exception. Shortly after 10, I headed over to Piroshky Piroshky, and this time, I decided to try something different. While I usually get Oscar’s Star or some kind of breakfast concoction, on this day, I decided to broaden my horizons. After eyeing the menu for a few moments, I decided on the mozzarella,...

On Tuesday, my 10.1″ Galaxy Tab arrived. I’ve only had a few days to play with it, but I can already see that it’s going to be yet another life-changing device. As someone whose life literally revolves around technology, especially mobile technology, incremental updates such as this literally change the way I do everything, from blogging, to working, to coding, to sketching, to...

Last night, to “celebrate” the completion of a certain project, we headed up to Ballard for a bowl of Mike’s chili. Some people celebrate with champagne, others with cocaine, but that high-brow, pretentious stuff doesn’t fly with me. If ground beef and kidney beans are good enough for cowboys and hobos, then it’s good enough for me dammit. On the way up 15th Ave,...

Last Thursday, I went with a friend of mine to two stores, located directly across from each other in the University Village Shopping Center. The first store was the Apple Store, the second was the newly-opened Microsoft Store. You see, my friend, a non-US resident, needed to buy a contract-less iPhone, and he could not do it in the AT&T Store in Downtown Seattle. As you might imagine, they...

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again … Love Battery is the most underrated band in the history of music. Over the years, I’ve mentioned this group in my various articles a few dozen times, and in the process, I’ve turned a lot of people on to the band. Not once has anyone been disappointed. Love Battery was one of the best bands in Seattle during Sub Pop’s meteoric rise,...

About a month ago, when the Cinerama began selling tickets for the premiere of the Pearl Jam 20 movie, I looked at my late September calendar and realized that my schedule would be chaotic. I might be available to see the show, and then again, I might not. Because of this, I decided against purchasing tickets. Not so much for financial reasons (two tickets would have been $18), but because I...

My never-ending quest for the best, cheap food in and around Downtown Seattle has caused me to stumble upon a new reigning champion. Something only a local could discover. Now, when I reveal the source of my new culinary delight, some of you will laugh … but before pretentiously dismissing it out of hand, I urge you to try it before you scoff. Yesterday, I went grocery shopping at Kress at...

After the Bite of Seattle on Saturday, we decided to do some tourist stuff, and what Seattle attraction is more touristy than riding The Ducks? Unfortunately, for whatever reason, nothing ever goes 100% smoothly for yours truly. After paying for our tickets, a lady at the base of the duck insisted that some of our folks line up for a shot. I politely declined, choosing instead to take my own...

Since I am going to be away from my main computer this week, I decided to download all of the local Seattle news apps onto my Galaxy Tablet this morning. I grabbed King 5, Komo News, Kiro 7, Q13 Fox, and the Seattle Times — then I went about testing each app to see which would take the coveted upper-left-corner position on my news page. King 5’s app is nice, and has a great deal of...

About an hour ago, I was walking through Westlake Park when I noticed a crowd gathered near the corner of 4th & Pike. I walked toward the group, and when I arrived, I found that a brand-spanking-new eatery had opened up on 4th Avenue. It’s called “Potbelly Sandwich Shop”. I entered the store, surveyed the scene, and even though I was not hungry, I realized that I had a...

I grew up eating pizza. A lot of pizza. Tons of pizza. I also grew up on two distinct styles of the food. Not a lot of people realize this, but “DC-style Pizza” does exist. It can be found in places like Trio Pizza at 18th Street & Columbia Road. DC-style pizza is pizza which has little or no uncovered crust at the edges, has a thin-yet-firm crust underneath, and is generally heavier...

Because I am so fond of Pike Place Chowder’s clam chowder and seafood bisque, I often don’t bother to try other soup offerings in the Pike Market environs. Yesterday, however, I decided to expand my horizons a bit. While walking through the market, I decided to get a 16oz cup of clam chowder ($6.50) at the Market Grill, and I am certainly glad that I did. Like most Seattle offerings,...

Before Donkey Kong, before Asteroids, before Pac Man … heck, before Pong … there was pinball … genesis of mainstream electronic gaming. Few people are aware of this, but ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball. From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all. However, I’ve never seen anything like it in any amusement hall — this deaf, dumb, and...

Late Saturday morning, before heading up to Cal Anderson Park, I decided to snag a couple of slices of pizza. Since it had been a long time since my last visit (I think the last time I ate here was sometime in the 90’s), I decided to re-acquaint myself with Hot Mama’s Pizza on Pine Street. I tried to have lunch here a couple of weeks ago, but when I walked through the door at 11am, the man...

For lunch yesterday, I decided to patronize two businesses on Broadway … one of them new, one of them brand new. Z Pizza opened up on Capitol Hill last August, and I finally got around to checking out the joint myself. I ordered the lunch special consisting of two slices and a fountain drink for $6.26. My first slice was a pepperoni, and my second slice was a tomato basil creation. If you...

From 1991 to 1994, Nirvana ruled the airwaves, Seattle became the capital of the universe, and the world hasn’t been the same since. In my opinion, it’s been all downhill from there. A video at the EMP this weekend said something to the effect of “There hasn’t been another geographically based music genre to emerge since grunge. We’ve all been waiting for one for the past 20 years,...

Over the past two days, I have consumed the best donuts I have ever eaten in my life. I say this without an ounce of hyperbole. I like Krispy Kreme, and Dunkin’ Donuts are just fine, but both Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts and Mighty-O Donuts are true “gourmet” doughnuts that stand head and shoulders above the national chains. After eating both, I realized that they do have a...

Another day, another donut shop. Today, my goal was to complete the shootout for best donut in Seattle … and by proxy, best donut in the solar system. After yesterday’s trip to Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts, it was time to go to the Food Channel’s winner for Best Donut Shop in the USA … Mighty-O Donuts. At around noon, I hopped on my Humvee and headed north to...

Not long ago, two donut shops in Seattle were in the running for Food Network’s “Best Donut Shop in the Nation”. Those two shops were Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts and Mighty-O Donuts. Mighty-O prevailed. Story: http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-mighty-o-donut-duel-20110411,0,4776001.story Now, personally, I don’t eat a lot of sweets. At least not anymore. It’s hard...

Built in 1985, the Columbia Center is the 7th tallest building in the USA, and at 932 feet, it is the tallest building in the entire Pacific Northwest. The building has 76 floors, 46 elevators, and the antennas on the roof bring the total height to 967′. While the Space Needle is Seattle’s Statue of Liberty, the Columbia Center is our Sears Tower. Our Empire State Building. ...

I’m not a big hot dog fan. I’m not sure why, I just never developed a taste for tube steak, but there was one exception. When I used to go to Toronto back in the 90′s, there was a hot dog cart downtown that made what I thought were the best hot dogs on earth. They put a dog in a pretzel bun, smothered it in sauerkraut, and laced it with crack cocaine. At least this is what I...

At about 9am this morning, I left home with my family en-route to Broadway Market for a little pre-weekend grocery shopping. Weekday mornings are prime if you hate standing in line, and standing in line is something that I detest more than anything. As we were climbing Mount Pine Street, led by two sherpas, I checked my Android to see if anything interesting was going down. Unlike in my more...

With the exception of Subway, I greatly dislike fast food. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell … it’s all kind of gross to me. The last time I ate fast food was at a Taco Bell in SoDo, and they didn’t bother to cook the beans in my burrito. They were still powdered, and it was so nasty that I vowed to never again darken the doorstep of a national fast food franchise. Regulation of...