Feb 2, 2013

For many years, I made a living as a bicycle messenger. It was a tough job, but in those days, the days before email became ubiquitous, it was one of the few jobs which afforded young proletariat adults a quasi-legal way to make a better-than-minimum wage. Winter was especially harsh, but due to a reduced number of messengers on the streets that time of year,...

Jul 1, 2012

May 29, 2012

I once entertained the thought of moving to Bremerton. It was a fleeting thought, but a thought nonetheless. The reason the notion crossed my mind wasn’t so much my love for Bremerton, but rather, the idea of commuting by boat. I figured that if I lived in Bremerton, I would have to take the ferry almost every day, and that thought appealed to me. Think...

Oct 10, 2011

A couple of years ago, YouTube began rejecting or silencing videos en masse because they contained “unauthorized audio”. You’ve no doubt run across one of these soundless videos yourselves. A few months ago, they kicked out one of my movies for this very reason. In my particular case, however, there was no actual copyright violation. While I...

Aug 29, 2011

It’s been awhile since I added to my Downtown video collection. Here, I recorded a short session at the Seattle Waterfront in all of its glory and splendor. After the deep-bore tunnel goes severely over-budget, The Waterfront is going to look like a very different place. Supposedly. I enter this video into the historical record: Download...

Aug 18, 2011

I just got home from a trip down Pike Street, and I almost got taken out, ironically, in a manner very similar to that on Dexter Avenue two weeks ago. As I was sitting at the stoplight at Pike Street and Broadway, a straight-up Gangsta G in a silver BMW pulled up beside me in the right turn lane, blasting the shitty autotuned rap selection of the day. When the...

Aug 7, 2011

Okay, I’ll admit it, the naked bike rides are getting a little played out. It was fascinating on Solstice Day, mildly interesting on Gay Pride Day, but now … well … now these folks are having trouble holding my attention. It’s still cool and all, but I feel like the horse has been duly beaten with a stick made from the remains of...

Aug 3, 2011

Next in my series of ‘Tours of Downtown Seattle for people with ADHD’, I present to you Second Avenue from the Space Needle to Pioneer Square. This street travels one-way from North to South, and is the location of such fine venues as the Crocodile Cafe, the Moore Theatre, and everyone’s favorite … Shorty’s. Download...

Jul 28, 2011

Today, I handed nearly $75 over to the State of Washington. Why? I’m not entirely sure. I certainly didn’t get anything in return for it. You see, I have a 200lb scooter, which weighs less than most American people. A scooter that cannot ride on the freeway, cannot ride on bike paths, cannot trip stop lights (I have no choice but to run reds frequently),...

Jul 26, 2011

For some reason, I’ve always left my camera behind when riding at night. I guess I just figured that the lens speed was too slow to record anything but vague specs of light on a dim background. I finally rode with the camera on last night, and for the most part, I was right. Low-light performance is dismal, and this coupled with the rain-spotted camera...

Jul 24, 2011

Yesterday, I spent the entire morning doing something that only I would do. Well, except for Google. I video recorded the entirety of Downtown Seattle, including Pioneer Square, Belltown, Denny Triangle, Pike/Pine, First Hill, The Waterfront, and the International District. I started on Alaskan Way and worked my way back and forth, up and down the avenues with...

Jul 21, 2011

As the rest of the country bakes in 100+ degree temperatures, Seattle continues to get rain and drizzle into the second half of July — typically the sunniest and driest part of the year. Of course, we all know how this is going to turn out. A cool, wet July means that August and September will be that much hotter and drier. The summer is delayed, not...

Jul 17, 2011

Sometimes, I have no idea what I catch on camera until I get home and play it back. Take my Friday ride, for instance. I rode over to meet some folks at the Bite of Seattle, and on my way back, I turned on my helmet camera. I rode down 5th Avenue under the Monorail tracks (a stretch known as the “Monorail Mile”), and when I stopped at 5th &...

Jul 11, 2011

Today, I had a few things to take care of on The Hill and I rolled my camera for the majority of the trip. I obviously didn’t ride over the entire hill, but I covered most of the Pike/Pine and Broadway sections. I got the clanking sound issue worked out and I also experimented with looking left and right to capture some of the sidewalk action. Anyway, for...

Jul 10, 2011

The heck with Facebook’s video chat, there’s a new feature on Seattle Rex that has the whole country buzzing: 170 degree full-motion HD video from the streets of Seattle. It’s true. Call a friend and let them know. Hell, call two. Then they’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. That reminds me, I’m out...

Jun 24, 2011

You know, if they wanted to, local news stations could really mess with me. They could send me out on one wild goose chase after another, and keep me chasing my tail indefinitely. Take this morning for instance. Q13 Fox, terrorist fighters extraordinaire, mentioned that Disney had a promo running. The studio was going to take to the streets of Downtown...

Jun 23, 2011

Yesterday, I headed down to Pioneer Square to have lunch with a buddy of mine. I approached a parking meter under the Viaduct, ordered up a $4 hour of parking, and was charged $4.88. A 22% markup. Apparently, this was a private meter, and the owner unbundled all of the taxes and tacked it onto the end. Nice. I’ve heard it said that costs decrease when...

Jun 3, 2011

Yesterday, shortly after 5pm, I decided to get a couple of slices from Pagliacci Pizza. At first, I couldn’t decide between the Lower Queen Anne location or the Capitol Hill location, but when I realized that it was the middle of rush hour, I decided to avoid Mercer like the plague and head up The Hill. When I got up to Broadway, I parked my scooter, and...

May 4, 2011

When I bought my scooter a couple of months ago, I was paranoid about riding it home. “What if a cop stops me?”, I thought to myself, “I don’t have proof of insurance yet”. When I got back to my nerd cave, I immediately jumped on the computer and pulled up my insurer’s website to get quotes. As I was scrolling through the...

Apr 27, 2011

As I have mentioned before, I am an Android Geek. When I leave my nerd cave in the morning, I typically have two Android devices in my possession … a phone and a tablet. In addition to being a fan of the platform, I am also a statistics geek. No matter how hard they tried, my teachers in elementary school could not get me to read a fictional book. ...

Apr 25, 2011

Apr 19, 2011

Today, I rode my scooter up to Broadway in order to check out a couple of eateries, including our newest business, Yogurtland. After circling the block once, I found a parking space in front of one of the restaurants. I backed my scooter in so that my rear wheel was touching the curb (as is required by law), purchased my parking sticker, and hung it on my...

Apr 15, 2011

This morning, I went down to the waterfront so that I could check out the first cruise ship of the season. It was cool and I enjoyed it. After getting a few shots, I hopped on my Vino and headed north on Alaskan Way. As I was riding in the right lane, a Volvo Station Wagon to my left suddenly switched lanes directly into me. I had to swerve and then grab both...

Apr 15, 2011

Today is “National Don’t Buy Gas Day”. The premise of the day is obvious. In order to show your outrage over high gasoline prices, the organizers of the event urge you not to buy gasoline today. While I vaguely support this endeavor, the problem with such a “protest” is obvious. Since most fuel companies account monthly or quarterly, it is of no...

Apr 2, 2011

Forgive me if this is incoherent as all of this just happened minutes ago. I just got back from a ride through Fremont, Ballard, and back through Downtown. I stopped by Pike Place Market for a little while also. After leaving The Market, I rode north to Bell Street because it’s the first hill that does not have cobblestones. I took a right, then another...