"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard, or "Things I Loved in Seattle In 2007"

Caveat: I have put about 10 minutes of thought into this posting. Which is not very much. Also, I’m realizing I don’t remember much of the beginning of the year, but only what’s been going on this fall and winter…So I don’t know what I might have left out. Feel free to offer suggestions/disagreements/diversions...


Best Place to Get Hot Chocolate

El Diablo on Queen Anne, for their amazing hot chocolate, fun atmosphere, and cheerful and friendly baristas ALWAYS.


Best Place to Get Chai

It’s a tie. In my quest to find the perfect chai this year, all the big chains were clearly out due to sugary sweet chais that make me want to gag …so Uptown by South Lake Union (I think this is called the Westlake one) and the Ladro in West Seattle. I like how huge Uptown is (you're always going to find a good spot to work), and also how they have great big tables to work on. The WS Ladro’s people have an edge in terms of people atmosphere…and by people, I don’t mean baristas, because both places have awesome folks who make good coffee consistently. By people I mean those in the neighborhood who go there…


Best New Coffee Shop

Tougo on 18th and Union. Good tables to work on, friendly people, kids’ play area in back, and it’s pretty quiet. Also, if you have to go to the bathroom and don’t want to shut down your computer, Brian will watch it for you and no one will steal it. (I’ve done this three times.) Once I was there when there was a beautiful moon out and they made me take a break from working to walk to the corner and go see the moon. How cool is that? They’re just not open late enough…


Best Place to Get a Burrito

The taco truck at 23rd and Rainier, or thereabouts....


Best Place for Quiz Night

Clearly the Northside Grill…Great food, great beer, great people. What more could you ask for? Every other Tuesday, 7 p.m.


Best Place to Take a Walk

Olympic Sculpture Park is beating out Discovery – which deserves an honorable mention since it actually has a leafy trail to walk around that makes you feel like you're in the wilderness and not the city. But OSP is amazing. They did a fantastic job of melding art with the cityscape around them...I’m a huge fan of the Love/Loss sculpture, and also the one that looks kind of like a whale/music symbol/up for grabs description here.


Best Nonprofit doing good stuff with kids

NewFutures. They rock. And they’re one of the few doing stuff with teens. Honorable mentions here include TAF, the Vera Project, and Urban Impact. Also ytp. Full Disclosure Note: I do know people at NF. So I’m probably biased. Well, I am biased.


Best Music for Rainy Seattle Days….

Such a hard choice! This is a tie in my world, between Over the Rhine’s The Trumpet Child and Ben Harper’s Lifeline. Mostly OTR wins because Ben’s so much better in person, but I am in love with “Say You Will…”And also, there’s a lot of other great artists who put out good stuff this year, but I get impatient and can rarely listen to a whole album, so the fact that I can listen to these two repeatedly bears mentioning.


Best Character Studies in a Movie.

Eastern Promises. It’s intriguing, to say the least.


Best Character Studies in a TV Show.

The Wire. Michael Williams. Sonja Sohn. Wendell Pierce. Andre Royo. Really, I could list the whole cast. Enough said.


Sports Items...

I almost forgot to add the oh-so-important sports category... the Seahawks have clinched their division ...we won't talk about the Sonics because it's too depressing at multiple levels...but the best Seattle team to watch at the moment might be the Seattle Thunderbirds. Good times at Key Arena....


Categories I Have Missed...

Well, what else is there? What am I missing?