The Seattle Great Wheel (aka Ferris wheel)

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Gandalfe

So many family and friends have asked about the Seattle Great Wheel that I have created this blog post. Wikipedia sez, “The Seattle Great Wheel is a giant Ferris wheel at Pier 57 on Elliott Bay in Seattle, Washington, United States. With an overall height of 175 feet (53.3 m), it became the tallest Ferris wheel on the west coast of the United States when it opened on June 29, 2012.”

Seattle Ferris Wheel

Photo Credit: Joe Lourenco.

Yelp rates the attraction as a 3.5 out of 4 stars. Elite yelper Kate S. sez,

imageI had a friend visiting from out of town. He’s been to Seattle about 7 times now and when it comes to entertaining city activities it can sometimes be tricky to figure out what to do when someone has already “done it all.” Thank goodness the wheel just opened last month!

We got there 20 minutes before opening on a gloriously sunny day. 10 am rolled around and the gates were still closed. 10:05 nothing. 10:10 nothing. 10:15 and they finally get the line moving — my only serious complaint. Which doesn’t count for much because I would rather they take their time and make sure all the safety stuff is in working order before putting me in a large glass box that goes stupid high over the sound.

The “gondolas” are temperature controlled,  comfy, and a wee bit on the short side (I banged my head kind of fiercely when entering).  The views are great! When the weather is clear you can see a surprisingly good amount. The dip down towards Elliot Bay is slightly disconcerting the first time you go down. After 3 semi-slow revolutions they start unloading folks again — so 15-20 minutes total from start to finish. Totally worth the $13 price tag. I was happy enough with the experience that I’d gladly go again. The Seattle Great Wheel is seriously a lovely addition to the water front.

Suzy and I haven’t been yet, but I’m sure that we will with family and/or friends eventually.

Posted in Architecture, Photograph, Seattle, Vacations, Yelp | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Microsoft Jumpin’ Jive Orchestra is on Holiday Break

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Gandalfe

“Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.” ~ Dave Barry

McHaleOn the tenth anniversary of this swing band I note that for the last five, we have always taken October through December off. This band isn’t about making money, it’s about providing a venue for hobbyist musicians to perform. As the band become better known, we have more gigs than we can do in a year. So we get to cherry pick the gigs. The Red Kettle gig, hosted by the Salvation Army and MC’d by Joel McHale is one of those gigs.

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Again, a shout out to Ray Guyll, our director for pull this show together. Roger Bare provided the Frank Sinatra vocal stylings. And the cool, new front for this year were created by my wife Suzy.

The Microsoft Jumpin’ Jive Orchestra is a great band to dance to. You can follow us at our blog site or on our Facebook MJJO page. Hope to see you on the dance floor next year.

Posted in Band, Band Management, Microsoft, Microsoft Jumpin' Jive Orchestra, Vocalist | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Hidden World of Geocaching

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Gandalfe

“We never seek things for themselves — what we seek is the very seeking of things.” -Blaise Pascal

CrabbyMy grandson and I created a little park in the empty lot next to our house. The lot was a water retention lot and there was a dying crab apple tree and waist-high weeds.  So we cut over 400 pounds of dead branches out of the old crab tree, mowed the grass for only about a 15 foot diameter and installed a nice bench that we got at a scratch and dent sale. It was a nice project to share with him.

Slowly people started to use the park, first from the neighborhood and then when people would drive up. We are in a very secluded part of an unincorporated part of our county. And the visitors who drove to the park were exhibiting strange behavior. It looked like they were searching for something.

So I wandered over with my dawgly, Amelia, and asked a fellow what he was looking for. Unbeknownst to us, someone had hidden something called a geocache in the park. That is how I discovered this phenomenon called Geocaching. Here is our listing:

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It turns out that Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. You can read more about this hobby at the premier site on the web: http://www.geocaching.com/guide/ Heck, there is even a video.

Posted in Everyday Science, Hobbies, Quote | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Map Porn – Enjoy

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Gandalfe

“Cognitive psychology has shown that the mind best understands facts when they are woven into a conceptual fabric, such as a narrative, mental map, or intuitive theory. Disconnected facts in the mind are like unlinked pages on the Web: They might as well not exist.” ~ Steven Pinker

I love maps; always have, always will. So this lovely piece by the Washington Post caught my eye and I feel compelled to share the goodness.

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Another lovely post, this time by the TwisterSifter people, is called 40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World.

If you’re a visual learner like myself, then you know maps, charts and infographics can really help bring data and information to life. Maps can make a point resonate with readers and this collection aims to do just that.

Hopefully some of these maps will surprise you and you’ll learn something new. A few are important to know, some interpret and display data in a beautiful or creative way, and a few may even make you chuckle or shake your head.

My fav:

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There is so much to learn out there, and so little time. Hope you enjoy this exercise.

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Safety Tip 2017–In Case of Fire

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Gandalfe

As soon as you see a mistake and don’t fix it, it becomes your mistake. ~ Author Unknown

tweet

Posted in Humor, Safety | Leave a comment

Jim Schmidt’s Linear Fingering System for Sax

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Gandalfe

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut

imageJim Schmidt, inventor, musician, and part mad scientist has been working on a very unique sax fingering system that takes linear to new extremes. In his own words:

When you look at a conventional sax you see a lot of complicated interconnecting linkages, unnecessary weight and redundant keys (side keys, bis key, F#, Bb. G# etc.). In the new system, scales and tones are cleaner and quicker because each key is independent (except the low note keys) and is not loaded down by interlinkage mechanisms as are, for instance, mid Bb and F# in the conventional Boehm method.

Tones are also clearer because you have the choice of closing only those holes which produce the best sound. This is especially true when playing altissimo (the conventional sax locks you out of some of the best altissimo fingerings). This fingering system allows you to do much more. For example, low note trills and interval tremolos are now available – a big advantantage over conventional horns.

A unique technique is employed to achieve this which allows two fingers to operate the low note touchpieces instead of just the pinky. For example – you can hold down low B with the ring finger while trilling low Bb with the pinky. This is easy because spring pressures are about 1/3 as heavy as found on conventional horns.

Here Jim demonstrates his sax designed from the ground up:

Very few of his uniquely designed saxes that feature the linear fingering system have been made, to date. And Jim has been at it a long time. You can read more on the NeoSax blog.

Posted in Music Instruments, Saxophone, Theory, YouTube | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Community Band Drama ~ Johan de Meij’s “Gollum”

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Gandalfe

I was listening to this video, yet again, and marveling at how much of the band dynamics were captured. Filmed by a musician and arranger, Jeff Keith, he pans to the soloist right in time, does a lovely split screen for the trombone and soprano sax duet (minute mark 5:12), and more.

Having been in the the Woodinville Community Band since 2002, there are so many friends, wonderful musicians, and memories as I watch this. Here are a few of my favs.

This song arranged by Johan de Meij, features Molly Pond on soprano sax in wicked, quirky soliloquy with the rest of the band. Providing the voice for the Lord of the Rings’ Gollum, it is not always beautiful and actual sounds like moaning in places. And the “unnamed” trumpet who drops his mute right as the soprano sax solo starts, … Well, let’s just say that I have a lifetime ribbing to provide this fellow.

My friend Gordon Brown covers the contrabass bassoon for us, which is especially noticeable during the duet. The low pulsing sound required him to gasp for air repeatedly, yet he did it with style and panache. This was the first time since I’ve been in the band that we had a contrabass bassoon in attendance. Those low notes shook the building and rattled one’s back teeth.

My friend Shannon Nelson covers the second bassoon part for us with our regular bassoon, Lev. I see Carol Higgins is on bass clarinet with the orange cream-sicle mouthpiece that I gifted her some year before this concert. She and her husband Ron are now retired from performance music.

Dave Franzwa on trombone does a wonderful job during the duet of matching Molly during the duet even though they are on opposite sides of the band! I see the band president Gary Anderson’s daughter playing the flute in a band with her dad on trumpet and her mom on drums. The family that plays together…

Young Taylor Cramer, still in high school sits in for us on alto sax as Vanessa Armstrong is on maternity leave. Diversity of age really adds a lot to this organization.

This band has become a family to Suzy and me. People come and go, but fortunately we have some recordings like this to help us remember the incredible heights this band reached under the patient administrations of our director, Leah Weitzsacker.

Posted in Band, Community, Saxophone, WCB | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Undeniable Adult Truths

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Gandalfe

I would love to find and attribute this lovely piece.

HighSchoolPres1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection, again.

13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1 .7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

24. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Ladies … quit laughing.

Posted in Health and wellness, Humor | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Seattle Plans for a Biosphere ~ Seattle Sphere

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Gandalfe

imageRecently, the Amazon planners released this recommendation for how they would use the common area between their two new 22 floor building in the South Lake Union part of Seattle.

“The intent behind the new design shown in the MUP revision is to create an alternative environment on Block 19, in the center of the 3 block development where
employees can work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting. The generative idea is that a plant-rich environment has many positive qualities that are  not often found in a typical office setting. Therefore, the MUP revision modifies the low rise office building from a six story 84,000 SF rectilinear structure to a  series of intersecting spheres with ample space for a wide range of planting material, as well as individuals working alone or in groups.

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While the form of the building will be visually reminiscent of a greenhouse or conservatory, plant material will be selected for its ability to co-exist in a microclimate that also suits people. To encourage growth and maintain the health of the plants, the building’s interior will include high bay spaces on five floors totaling approximately 65,000 SF and capable of accommodating mature trees. The exterior enclosure will be highly transparent and be composed primarily of multiple layers of glass supported by a metal framework.

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In addition to a variety of workplace environments, the facility will incorporate dining, meeting and lounge spaces, as well as a variety of botanical zones modeled on montane ecologies found around the globe. The building will be anchored at either end by publically accessible retail spaces entered from 6th and 7th Avenues.

With its revised geometry, the low-rise building on Block 19 enhances the streetscape along Lenora Street, 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue by providing landscaping and paved areas between the building and sidewalk. Due to its lower height, it also has a positive impact on the adjacent midblock open space by reducing shadow and shade impacts as well as widening the entrances along 6th and 7th Avenue to the Public Plaza and Commercial Parcel Park.” Rufus 2.0 – Block 19

Like the Ferris Wheel on the Seattle pier, there are a lot of locations that set a positive precedence for this design idea.

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For more info see the complete plan at: Rufus 2.0 – Block 19

Posted in Amazon, Architecture, Art, Community, Seattle | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Summer Morning

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Gandalfe

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“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” ~ John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

Waiting to spend the 4th in Boston. I’m enjoying the quiet life, smelling the flowers, and watching the world go by. We live in a lovely, semi-semi-secluded spot near Seattle.

The photo is from the Mother Earth site on Facebook.

Posted in Facebook, Photograph | Tagged | 1 Comment