West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Housing is a popular theme around here this week (and many weeks). Tonight we welcome a real-estate agent listing a West Seattle home, and we welcome an ad for new apartment homes in The Junction. First, the home: Jayson Cantu from Windermere R/E Wall Street has listed a home at 4415 SW Stevens — a sketch of it is part of his ad in our right sidebar. You can see a photo gallery at Jayson’s website (click here); you can call him at 206/851-1147. Now, the apartments — The MD is a brand-new apartment building “in the heart of The Junction,” now leasing 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units; The MD too has lots of info online (click here). Thanks to Jayson and The MD Apartments for supporting WSB; if you’re interested in finding out how to join them and our other sponsors, here’s the page to see.
So who says the Internet is a threat to face-to-face interaction? It brought us 10 more acquaintances tonight — in the name of soup. We’d never been to a Soup Swap, had never even heard of the concept, but that all changed after a recent visit to Nerd’s Eye View (among the 100-plus West Seattle-based blogs linked and frequently updated here). There, we saw this post, and left a comment along the lines of “wow, cool concept” – which to our surprise and delight brought us an e-mail invite from the person who hosted tonight’s West Seattle Soup Swap. This has actually become a national phenomenon (you’ll note from that site, National Soup Swap Day is supposed to be this Wednesday, but many gatherings like the one we attended west of The Junction tonight are being held on other dates). NEV author Pam explained tonight that the whole thing started right here in Seattle, on Capitol Hill, a couple years ago. If you’re a soup fan, check it out. The ones now in our freezer following tonight’s Soup Swap range from carrot habanero to beef ‘n’ cabbage (the full lineup, six containers from each contributor, shown above). This time of year, as temps keep dipping, it’s truly Nature’s Perfect Food.
ADDED 10:35 PM: Just can’t get enough of tonight’s sunset. For this one, we have Dan E to thank:
ADDED 7:30 PM: And another spectacular sunset shot – this one from SL (thank you!):
ADDED 6:05 PM: One more scenic shot – the Sunset Avenue sunset, from Steve Heck (thank you!):
FROM EARLIER: Thanks to John LaSpina for thid shot of the Olympics in the morning light:
Now, the site notes:
ADOPT A PET! Since debuting the WSB Pets page a couple weeks ago, we’ve continued adding features, including lost/found pets and more photos from the West Seattle Blog Pet Photos group on Flickr, but we don’t mention every update here on the main page, so if you’re interested in pets, check the Pets page from time to time – you never know what you’ll find. Most recently, we have heard from a couple of animal-rescue groups asking if we’ll feature adoptable pets – so we have three links on the Pets page right now for dogs looking for new homes, including Rufus (photo right).
FORUMS GONE WILD: Well, maybe “wild” is a bit strong. But more than 250 people are now participating in the relatively new WSB Forums – which is where you can post a request for Reader Recommendations, or answer somebody else’s request – or you can get discussion going on a topic of your choice, such as the hottest one this weekend, The Seattle Freeze. (Our newest forum area is all about West Seattle schools – the forum is here; our new list of links to all WS schools, public and private, is here.)
Haven’t seen a formal announcement — this was the last update we had — but according to the service provider for Washington State Ferries wi-fi (screen grab above), the wi-fi system is now “operational” on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route, which would be news. Maybe WSF has been a little too busy to trumpet it?
This afternoon, we’re extending the traditional WSB welcome to three new sponsors who joined us today:
First, the West Seattle Family YMCA, which has been building strong communities through both the West Seattle (east of The Junction) and Fauntleroy locations since the 1920s. Josh Sutton from the Y picks it up from here: “Whether it’s families coming for child care, teens in leadership programs, or adults looking for a healthier lifestyle, the Y continues to be a place where people come together. That¹s why we love the West Seattle Blog. Over the past two years many Y staff, volunteers and members have become avid readers (and some posters). The WSB is the online gathering place, for news, opinions, community in West Seattle. We¹re happy to join WSB as a business sponsor. For those interested in Health & Wellness in the Y, January is a busy time. Lots of people resolve to take better care of themselves as they start the new year. With two Health & Wellness locations in West Seattle, we¹re open all year long to help you work towards your healthy balanced lifestyle.” The West Seattle Y is online here, with location and rate info here.
Another brand-new WSB sponsor is SoundYoga, at 5639 California, celebrating 10 years in West Seattle. Pictured at right is owner/director Chris Dormeier, who wants you to know: “SoundYoga offers small group classes (11 max), to support personal growth and fitness, in a beautiful studio with heated bamboo floors. All our teachers are Certified Yoga Teachers. Our classes range from beginning to the more challenging sessions using the breath to maximize the benefits of each posture. People who come to SoundYoga are of all ages, walks of life, and levels of fitness. In addition to regularly scheduled sessions, SoundYoga can provide classes for corporate settings, personal celebrations, and weekend workshops on special topics of your choice. I also provide individual sessions in yoga therapy and establishing an individual practice. We offer Certified Teacher Training for those wishing to become teachers or to deepen your personal practice. SoundYoga also has produced a video that incorporates yoga and light weights — Strong Bones Yoga® (available at Amazon.com). Chris says SoundYoga has several special events coming up — Intro to Ayurveda at 1 pm Jan. 27, Free Sunday Yoga at 4 pm Feb. 3, Intro to Yoga at 11 am Feb. 10, and the return of Prenatal Yoga on Thursdays at 5 pm.
And our third new sponsor is Jan’s Beauty Supply at 4517 California SW in The Junction. Jan’s is owned and operated by licensed professionals and is open to the public, serving the greater Seattle area for more than 24 years. Here’s what else the folks at Jan’s want you to know: “With more than 28 lines of professional hair-care products such as Pureology, Alterna, MOP, and Redken, choosing the right product is easy. Trusted brand-name appliances such as CHI, GHD, and Babyliss are always available. For the finishing touch, choose from a stunning array of designer jewelry. The much-sought-after ‘Liquid Silver’ jewelry is a must-have item. Indulge yourself with a French hair accessory or handmade soap or body butter. The comfortable atmosphere and reliable service make Jan’s a great place to shop. Immediate shipping is always available.” You can call Jan’s at 937-9224 or check out the shop’s new website here, with contact info here.
Thanks to the West Seattle Family YMCA, SoundYoga, and Jan’s Beauty Supply for supporting WSB, along with our other sponsors, all of whom are showcased right now in the right sidebar. If you’re interested in joining them, check out our Advertise page.
Editor Cami MacNamara just sent the link. Its articles include a contribution from us again, a shorter version of our interview with the entrepreneur who’s opening the Alki Urban Market (the WSB version is here). The Beacon is published by the Alki Community Council, which is having its next meeting this Thursday, 7 pm at the Alki Community Center, with a guest appearance by new city council president Richard Conlin.
It doesn’t seem to be online yet but if you go out and get an early copy of the Seattle Times Sunday edition, columnist Danny Westneat has written up the results of an long conversation he had with your editor here after he called us up a couple days ago and said he wanted to talk to us about WSB. It’s mostly accurate and we very much appreciate the Times’ interest in writing about what we’re doing as a hyperlocal news website (which would be impossible to run without your help, support, tips, photos, etc.). However, there is one incorrect and, we feel, unnecessarily inflammatory aspect of what he wrote that we want to go on the record about, even before much of anybody else even sees his column.Read More
We are starting the weekend with the traditional WSB welcome for a new sponsor – this time, everyone say hi to Alex Garcia and his fellow agents at Keller Williams Realty Seattle Metro West in The Junction. They are part of the growing trend of real-estate bloggers; their ad on the right sidebar links to the KW team’s new blog, currently featuring everything from information on the open houses that its agents are hosting tomorrow, to a recap of Keller Williams’ participation in Thursday’s West Seattle Art Walk. Thanks to KW and our other sponsors for supporting WSB; they’re all featured on the Advertise page, along with information for other local businesses interested in joining them.
NEW PAGE LISTING ALL WEST SEATTLE SCHOOLS: Thanks to the WSBers who suggested, in e-mail and forums, one comprehensive list of all West Seattle schools would be helpful during this intense choosing-a-school time of year. Here’s version 1.0 (and you can find it any time from the “schools” tab atop WSB pages). Despite our best efforts, we suspect there’s a likelihood we missed someone; if so, please let us know! We’ll meld the school-tour/open house info onto this page over the weekend, too (for now it’s on the Events page).
UPDATES ON CRIME WATCH AND PETS PAGES: On the Crime Watch page, you’ll find a reader report with an Admiral-area alert, as well as the latest Southwest Precinct Public Safety Newsletter. On the Pets page, we have added a “found pet” you might want to know about.
LAST CALL FOR NOMINATIONS, AND A REMINDER TO JOIN US NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT: Tomorrow’s the deadline to suggest someone for the first-ever quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards (read more here); winners will be celebrated at an informal gathering to which you’re invited, 7 pm Friday 1/18 at Capers in The Junction – come by and say hi!
Something went awry at WSB server HQ, and the site was inaccessible to the world (along with a bunch of other sites) for most of the past hour. Still waiting for official word from the hosting company on what the problem was and whether they’re sure it’s been fixed, but do know, we would never deliberately take it down in the middle of the day – maintenance and experimentation are what the “wee hours” are for! Anyway, our apologies. Now back to the news, info, discussion, etc.
JOIN US AT CAPERS FRIDAY NIGHT 1/18: The time and place is finally set for the first get-together announcing the first quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards — the good folks at Capers have agreed to play host, 7 pm Friday 1/18. Hope to see you there. And in the meantime, you have till Saturday to nominate somebody for the awards (here’s how) — this is a grass-roots thing that we’re starting small (with the original idea from Divina proprietor Julie Mireille Anderson; read the original announcement here) and hoping to keep growing as a way of honoring some of the many people who really make West Seattle click.
NEW WSB FORUM – SCHOOL TALK: Find it here; thanks to Karen for the idea. We’ve been talking about this being school-choice season, and she suggested that it would help to have a place where West Seattle parents could share experiences and ask questions about schools. If you are a parent with child(ren) in local schools, public or private, or a school staffer, even if you don’t have a question or issue, please consider checking in on the forum as time goes by just in case someone has a question about the school(s) you’re most familiar with.
UPDATES ON CRIME WATCH AND PETS PAGES: We’ve added some new material today to these two new WSB pages — the Crime Watch page is where you will find links to crime-prevention resources as well as the latest police reports from the files at the Southwest Precinct; the Pets page is where we’re posting pet pix as well as lost-and-found announcements and resource links — we’ve created the West Seattle Blog Pet Photos Flickr group to gather local pet pix (you’re welcome to join!), and we’ve added a couple of them to the Pets page today for a special spotlight.
So promises the state ferries’ wi-fi provider (after many delays) in this update today.
REMINDER THAT SUMMER WILL REALLY BE HERE EVENTUALLY: The Big Blog says two Blue Angels will “buzz” the city between 3 and 4 pm today. (If you have been reading WSB at least 5 months, you know we have what one WSB’er charitably described as a “strange obsession” with the Angels.)
WEST SEATTLEITE GUEST-SLOGS STARTING TODAY: Jeff from Soundproof Suite 1850 (which is linked from our newly improved Other Blogs in WS page) has begun his week of Slogging, thanks to the right he procured in The Stranger‘s fundraising auction; we believe this is his first post.
VEDDER VIDEO: What’s described as the first solo music video done by West Seattle rock luminary Eddie Vedder premiered today on VH1 (tv and web; watch it here.)
Toward our goal of continuously improving and expanding WSB, we’ve just added more new stuff and wanted to officially let you know:
“OTHER BLOGS IN WEST SEATTLE” HEADLINES: We’ve wanted for some time to make this page more than a static list of links, and finally found a service that will pull a frequently updated list of those sites’ newest entries (via RSS). Check the page out and see what you think. Per blog tradition, of course, the newest stuff is on top. Under the list of the latest entries, you’ll find the original list of static links for the 100-plus blogs that we have found West Seattleites producing so far (please let us know if we’re missing someone!).
WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH PAGE: Now that we are visiting the Southwest Precinct at least three times a week to scour police reports for cases you should know about, we have created the West Seattle Crime Watch page so you can easily find the latest information and other resources to help you keep your home and family safe. This page and its contents will be an ever-evolving work in progress but we’ve got enough of the basics on it now to launch it today (you can find it any time from the Crime Watch tab at the top of each WSB page).
“2008 ELECTIONS” FORUM: Today marks the start of the third week for the new WSB Forums, and so far it looks like they’re working for their initial purposes — to give you a place to post a Reader Recommendation Request (forum here) as soon as you have one, rather than waiting for us to find a home for it on the main WSB page, and to give you a place to launch an Open Discussion (forum here) about whatever’s on your mind, whenever you feel like it. We’ve also just added a 2008 Elections section (forum here) in case you want to talk politics — presidential, city, county, state, etc. — when there’s no related current news item on the main WSB page. One forum usage reminder: Anyone can read the posts, but to reply or start a topic, you have to register, and sign in. For as long as you remain signed in, the same user name you choose will also show as your user name for any comment you post elsewhere on WSB. If you don’t want that name to show on a comment, log out before you leave the forum area, or click the “log out” link you’ll see toward the bottom of the right sidebar on any page.
According to the official website for the Washington State Ferries wi-fi Internet service,
Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth is still the next route scheduled to get it … and still no date set; after various delays last year, the site switched its public projection to “fourth quarter 2007,” and now that’s moved to “first quarter 2008.” However, if you have any reason to use WSF wi-fi on a route where it’s up and running (listed here), you can get a free week of service by taking a relatively quick (we tried it) survey.
And thanks again to our fabulous tech consultant Stuart Maxwell for troubleshooting: Long story short, because it includes some behind-the-curtain stuff you should know — The world of “spam” online doesn’t just affect your inbox; it also affects websites like ours that accept comments. Automated programs are out there relentlessly patrolling for places to try to post fake comments with addresses for porn sites, pharma sites, things like that. There’s an excellent spam-fighting program called Akismet that we and many other sites use, and it catches literally thousands of spam comments per day, on WSB alone. (Sometimes it accidentally nets bonafide comments too, so if a comment you post never turns up, that may be what happened.) According to what Stuart found out, Akismet had a glitch very early this morning, so the spam comments were flooding in, and the site-hosting company disabled the function till the problem could be solved. All’s well now, the old comments are back, and you can post new ones too. Sorry for the snag!
Just to let you know – we’re having some trouble with the “comment” function right now, including posting them and reading them. Sorry about that; will let you know when it’s fixed.
Some weeks back, we carved out a little section in the right sidebar to spotlight current “most-discussed posts,” since our publishing volume 
tends to push things off the main page within a few days. Toward that end, our second of three WSB “Top 7 of ’07” roundup counts down the posts that drew the most comments – with a couple exclusions: We’re leaving out our “unveiling” post from earlier this month, which drew 90-plus comments from (mostly) well-wishers, and we’re leaving out reader-recommendation posts (original RRR archive here; new RRR forum here), which by their nature are meant to draw comments (including the all-time recordsetter so far, “West Seattle Dishes to Die For,” at 161 comments). So here goes:
#7: With 58 comments, “For the First Time Since Spanky’s Went Out …” in which we discussed the appearance of a new sign at Morgan Junction’s Short Stop, touting “Adult DVD,” which was pointed out in an e-mail tip.
#6: With 62 comments, “Admiral Acceleration Agitation,” inspired by e-mails questioning the 30 mph speed limit on Admiral Way.
#5: With 65 comments, “Wheels Up,” which began with e-mail from WSB regular “The House” regarding a note left under his windshield.
#4: With 70 comments, “Mars Hill Money Trouble,” regarding a revelation from the only megachurch with a West Seattle branch.
And now, as we invoke Casey Kasem yet again, the top 3:Read More
New upgrade – before you post a WSB comment, you can preview it. Give it a spin next time you’ve got something to say (or test-drive it on this post). Just remember to click “post” once you’re happy with the way your comment looks – “preview” alone won’t put it on the site. (And in previous “new feature” notes, remember RRRs now live here.)
Have you signed up for our new Forums (discussion boards) yet? More than 100 people from around WSB-land have, in just the first week, and the discussions are getting ever-livelier. For example, here’s the start of a new topic in the Open Discussion section:
Here is my rant West Seattle – Please STOP for Pedestrians in crosswalks! West Seattle drivers seem to be having some troubles in this area, especially (gulp) those drivers trying to catch the Fauntleroy Ferry (Black Toyota 4Runner who did not stop 12/26 at 4:00 p.m. you know who you are!) Now on to the Admiral neighboorhood, again, at a crosswalk in front of Spiro’s (Black Mercedes who did not stop 12/27 at 6:40 p.m. you know who you are!). Please stop for pedestrians. Please. Please. Please.
BTDT – we’ve got an anecdote to share on that one ourselves, so join us in the WSB Forum for that (or head on over to the Reader Recommendations forum, where topics right now range from West Seattle burgers to searches for contractors, financial planners, mechanics, and more.
You can post one whenever you want – and join in any time to help your fellow West Seattleites find what you’re looking for — now that the Reader Recommendation Requests are living in the new WSB Forums. Some of the discussions under way right now include plumber recommendations, a search for a storage garage, and a search for TV repair help. Anyone can browse the forums; you have to register to post a topic or a reply, but it’s a quick ‘n’ easy process and your info’s safe with us.
It’s a WSB tradition to let you know when a new sponsor comes aboard: 
Joining us today is J.F. Henry in The Junction, advertising to let you know about the store’s after-Christmas 50%-60% off sale (see the ad in the right sidebar on this page for more details). J.F. Henry has been in business more than 20 years, and is located on the booming north end of The Junction, where there’s a lot going on lately (Shadow Land, Craze, Spring Hill, etc.) — you can find out more about J.F. Henry’s kitchen and tableware offerings at its website, which also features details about the store’s unique decor (including fixtures from downtown’s old Frederick & Nelson store!). And if you would like to find out about becoming a WSB sponsor, check out our Advertise page (which also lists the current sponsor lineup) – we’ve got new opportunities coming up in the new year!
First of all – “Cruiser” opened a potentially lively topic a little while ago – top holiday peeves. (His rant about Southcenter reminds us of what we saw passing through Westwood Village before sundown.) Check out the forum topic here. Also, if you haven’t checked into the comments below our original post announcing the forums, we’ve made some tweaks, most notably: Now if you register and sign in to the forums, until and unless you log out, that same log-in/screen name will show for any comments you want to leave in posts on the main WSB pages. (If you want to leave a comment without your forum screen name, just be sure to log out before you try that. But registration is NOT mandatory for reading the forums without posting/replying, or for reading/commenting on the rest of the site.) Besides letting us know how the forums are working, please also let us know if you are interested in adding more subforums – for now, we are starting simple, with Reader Recommendations and Open Discussion, but possibilities are limitless – so if there’s something you’d like to see that doesn’t fit under either of those areas, let us know and we’ll add it. Thanks!
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