February is Spring

Springtime in Seattle seems to start in February! Very pretty trees blossoming right now all over town:

Even More Upset About Those i3s

I just received an email today from my new parking garage company that they will not be able to offer me parking anymore as of 3/31 and to contact the residential building manager. Funny thing is, the building manager said, "No you have to talk to republic parking about that." Even when I pressed and asked, "does that mean you are no longer offering parking to non-residents?" The manager said I have to talk to Republic Parking. A non-answer. 

So yet again, I am going to have to find a new place for monthly parking. I probably will be able to find a place, but for $300+ a month. To put it into perspective, bait-and-switch ads around the area say $180 plus tax. In reality, I have paid $225 then $265. And now it's going to be over $300.

If it wasn't for those damn BMW car sharing i3s, street parking would be a little easier even though having to go pay every 2-4 hours is a pain. And break-ins happen all of the time. Those parallel parking spots are roomy, though! Compared to garages at least. 

BMW i3

There are 3 BMW i3s taking up valuable street parking space on my block right now. Street parking is already difficult to come by and now all of these i3s--for a car-sharing pilot program--are making the problem worse. There are a total of 8 of the cars all parked within 2-3 blocks of my apartment 24/7. 

It's definitely a good move to use BMWs to appeal to all of the (hypothetically) car-less tech people moving into the area to work for Amazon and the tech sector. Between a nice BMW or a Smart Car aka golf cart, this demographic will pick the former to drive. But again, it's taking up valuable street parking space exclusively in my little corner of Belltown so I'm a little irritated at the moment. 

A Good Day

It's a good day when whole foods has salmon burgers! Yeah! My lobbying of the whole foods seafood department is working :) Tequila lime is a really delicious burger.

Suggestion Box

Seattle needs more wine bars. 

Hazard in the Air

Yesterday I was driving over the Magnolia bridge from work and the coolest/scariest thing happened: a bald eagle almost hit my windshield! It was mixed in with a bunch of seagulls so I didn't see it until it was almost too late. Amazing.

Parking Problems

Since my last parking lot gave me 3 weeks notice, I found a new garage. It's about a 15-minute walk to my apartment depending on how damn deep I have to drive into it. 

For $270 a month, I'm not guaranteed a spot. All of the spots are compact size and I'm pretty much guaranteed body damage, yay!

Update: Maneuvering out of that spot in the am was very difficult. I scratched my mirror a little bit. 

Update: I am now parking in a different garage, albeit in the same building, with somewhat larger spots and better lighting

Trying to Vote

So there is a special election in Seattle for February 9th about a levy for school funding. But it doesn't matter that it's on February 9th! Because there are no polling centers (there is one office for the whole county for people with disabilities) or lever machines. Apparently you have to mail a paper ballot and hope it gets to the right place and before the election. Not that I don't trust USPS, but it just seems like a lot could go wrong from depending on the mail for something as important as voting. And going to a polling center makes it feel more democratic and United in a way. I really miss those lever machines in NYC. 

Update:

There were way too many materials in my election envelope to figure out. But since I'm pretty smart, I was able to understand it all. However, I have to provide my own stamp to mail the ballot, which is essentially a poll tax. And that violates the 24th amendment. Also, you have to lick the envelope as well.