Just thought I’d check in. No power near 22nd and Columbia. Anyone else down?

All right folks, I have two questions to get you sharing with your neighbors:

One, did you have a Merry Christmas in the CD?

Two, are you bothered by “Merry Christmas”?!

For the sake of conversation…

1. Yes, we did!  We had friends over, watched movies, ate good food, played Wii, visited with some neighbors, all the while embracing the mantra “drink and be merry”.  ;)

2. I’m afraid this could dissolve into a religious discussion, but I’ll try anyway.  It would seem (thankfully) that the politically correct movement is waning.  I acknowledge that we have differences – as opposed to pretending we don’t – and go from there.  I am not much religious, but I say “Merry Christmas,” because that’s the holiday I was brought up with.  Do you have a problem with that?  Some do, some don’t.  Please feel free to throw me a Hanukkah wish or what have you, I will gladly accept it.  Do you concern yourself with this?

In the end, Merry Christmas.  Or Happy Holidays.  Or whatever.  :)

This kitty has come by before, but has been around a LOT lately. She is SUPER lovey. No complaints, but concerned that her parents are still around? She used to have a collar that said “do not feed me” with her name “Yew”, but the collar is gone. We always like petting her, but just wanted to make sure she still has a family home… You can mail at [email protected] if you want to check in.

Here’s an interesting read:

“Luna, 34, credits the complete turnaround in his life, even his survival, to a city of Seattle initiative that provided adult mentors, jobs and recreation to young gang members.” Seems like it was a pretty effective group.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008726881_savedfromgangs10m.html

Apparently this is part of a series and they want feedback, experiences and ideas for future stories on the local youth violence. I figured some of you might push them into a good subject.

One thing is for certain, as the times get tougher, so will the kids around here trying to get by without the support of their families and communities. We need to not only figure out how to help, but how to inspire the right help. One program is mentioned here, but keep discussing!

After a long day of travelling into the too foggy and therefore closed for a while Seattle airport, I finally got a chance to watch the inauguration speech ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4). Wow. I finally understand what my parents thought about the promise of Kennedy, and their parent’s parents (and etc…) thought about the promise of the US in the first place. I feel moved.

The sentiment of today leads me to ask, “Where can I help?” We find it useful to have a list of neighborhood businesses and restaurants, so why not a list of volunteer and support organizations in the neighborhood that could use help??

Note to CDNews – it might be nice to have a separate list of “helpful organizations” in the hood with reviews and comments just like a “business”. For now, can everyone please note any groups that we can help out?!

Perhaps we could find some sanity in the middle?! I think we should push the city to Salt the Slopes and Sand the Flats! For us, it’s Jackson, Yestler, Cherry, Union, Madison. Getting along on the flat sucks, but the *problems* happen on the black diamond runs: http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2008/12/14/the-cd-slopes-

Mabye some salt is a lesser and acceptable evil then a ton (so to speak) of salt? Chime in and call your congressperson…

Back on a lighter note, I went out and cut the snow in half on top of a box outside. It took a bread knife because of the ice in the middle! Note the ice line just shy of 7″.

We went out for a walk today, and talked with a guy outside Katy’s. He summed it up pretty well, “I don’t want to watch any more TV, I don’t want to watch any more movies, I don’t want to eat any more food. I’m actually looking forward to going back to work.” :)

Hi everyone,

I know we’ve been down this path before, so I’m not trying to start a b!@#$ fest, but… I just got my Broadstripe internet back after being out all day today. I could understand, given the weather, but in the last year it’s been out 4 times during “weather situations” for long periods of time.

I’m considering moving to Qwest DSL and/or DirectTV. Has anyone with either of those had any connection problems lately?

Thanks for the feedback in advance!

P.S. Go play in the snow, it’s good fun! :)