And another fun-filled year comes to a close

“Better Days”, the Goo Goo Dolls

I have been thinking off and on for the past few days about the past year. Let’s just say it’s been interesting. Without further ado, though, let’s get to the lists. Doesn’t everyone love a good list?

Things I found unfortunate this year:

• My Seattle Seahawks and the injury situation. We had 46 different starters on both sides of the ball this year. Most teams have numbers in the 20’s. When I wasn’t upset about that, Coach Holmgren’s retirement was problematic.
• I wrote a fan letter. The recipient of my fan letter never wrote me back, even though my letter was a combination of War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice, and more brilliant than The Beatles’ “The White Album”. I can only believe he had some kind of unfortunate incident with a tube of Crazy Glue, or sustained some kind of injury that left him unable to write. (Sniff! Sob!)
• There’s been an employment situation at our house. I will believe things will get better in 2009.
• Someone (namely Pepperidge Farm) is now manufacturing Tim-Tams in the USA. If you’ve never had a Tim-Tam, my advice to you: Don’t start. They’re more addictive than Frangos.
• John Edwards. Need I say more?
• Good deeds never go unpunished.
• The Shiba-Inu puppies are no longer on Webcam. (Well, one of them is.)
• George W. Bush.

Since I’m trying to be one of those glass-half-full kind of chicks, I left the good things for last. Behold, there were lots of good things that happened this year.

• cnn.com, washingtonpost.com, and several other well-known media outlets linked to my humble blog.
• I got a very nice note from Tracy’s niece. Tracy is the lady who got her house back from Marilyn Mock, the “foreclosure angel”.
• I got my work in front of many more editors and agents.
• I finished another book.
• Three of my friends are expecting in the New Year. Three of my friends got married over the summer and fall.
• My Seattle Seahawks will be picking fourth in the draft. Speaking of football, I can watch NFL Network till my eyeballs fall out on the offseason.
• We are safe. We are, for the most part, well. We are happy.
• We got one more year with our loved ones.
• Just like everyone else, I was in tears the night of November 4th as I watched Barack Obama named the winner of the presidential election, and an entire country spill peacefully into the streets for a spontaneous celebration.
• Hope and change are alive and well in America.

To quote a mythical character, to infinity and beyond.

It is my every hope this New Year that you, and those you love, find joy, peace, and prosperity in 2009. May you have the courage to go after your dreams. May you love like you’ve never been hurt. May you have many occasions to say “thank you”.

Most of all, may you always know how important you are to those around you.

-S

Dear KOMO-TV: Guess what? I don’t miss you.

Casa de Dauphin/Strategerie boasts a DISH Network subscription. We’ve been DISH customers for thirteen years now. Despite the fact that DirecTV has more sports content, we continue with DISH. They have the NFL Network, they have Free Speech TV, and they have the “Charlie Chat”.

Charlie Ergen is the CEO of DISH. “Charlie Chat” is his live TV show. (It’s always fun to watch the tech guys trying to explain things so those of us who don’t work with satellites and equipment all day long aren’t scratching our heads and saying, “Huh?”) We don’t watch the “Charlie Chat” as often as we did when we were wondering when on earth he was going to get Seattle’s local channels up and running, but we tuned in the other day to see what was going on. It seems DISH has been unable to come to an agreement with Fisher Broadcasting regarding the local ABC channel. I’m sure this has something remotely to do with the fact that Fisher increased their rate to carry by 82%. Fisher would be demanding exponentially higher amounts per customer to carry the local affiliate than anyone else DISH deals with.

Considering the fact that the local broadcasters have the free use of public airwaves and advertiser dollars besides, it’s a little comical that they thought jacking up the rates would be just ducky. In the meantime, Charlie asked for questions during his program, so I called him. He had all opportunity to bash the folks of Fisher during our little chat. I asked him a question, as a matter of fact, that swung that door wide open. He didn’t. He explained why DISH was not paying that 82% increase, and I agree with him. He didn’t attempt to ratchet up the rhetoric.

Fisher Broadcasting has now bought advertising time on multiple radio stations in the Seattle area to give their side of the story. They’re definitely not taking the high road. It’s unfortunate. In the meantime, KOMO, I’d love to tell you that I miss you, but I just don’t. Well, there are exceptions.

I’m sad I can’t watch your news programming. I like Kathi Goertzen and Dan Lewis. It would have been interesting to see your point of view during the “WINTER SNOW BLAST!!!!!” coverage of last week.

The only fly in my ointment may be the Oscar telecast, but that doesn’t happen till the end of February. I can watch whatever prime-time programming I just can’t live without on ABC’s website. In the meantime, KOMO and Fisher, you might want to rethink your comments about DISH. When the people of any region can have your channel shut off for almost two weeks and barely give it a second thought, you have a problem, don’t you?

Maybe you BOTH need to go back to the table and see if you can work it out, huh?

Fondly,

-S

It’s Patrick Kerney’s birthday today

As the president for life of the unauthorized Patrick Kerney Fan Club, it’s important to remember this stuff.

In lieu of cake and ice cream, we’ll be running around the block. When we’re not doing that, we’ll be reading his comments about his new coach, whom he previously worked with in Atlanta:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2008571643_hawk30.html

One thing is certain — practice under Mora will be conducted at a faster tempo.

“You don’t just jog to the next drill, it’s a three-quarter run to the next drill,” Kerney said. “Defensively, he charts effort on every snap of every practice, for every little detail of your effort towards getting to the ball for every position on the field. Like I’ve told guys, ‘Make sure [you're in] great shape when you get back.’ “

Happy birthday, Patrick, and Seahawks fans everywhere hope that things are moving in a positive direction with your shoulder.

-S

Okay, this works my last nerve: “The Christmas Shoes”

I should be writing my end-of-the-year wrap-up.  At the same time, I have to lodge my token protest against things I find incredibly objectionable, and here it is.

I realize everyone has different tastes in music. I’m sure there are lots of people who don’t care for some of the stuff I listen to. (Let’s face it, The Dauphin doesn’t care for some of the stuff I listen to.) At the same time, whenever this song comes on the radio (and these days, that’s quite a lot,) I want to drive an icepick through my eardrum to make it stop.

Let’s take a look, shall we? Let me give you the rundown.

A little boy is buying shoes on Christmas Eve for his poor dying mother, who’s “going to see Jesus tonight”. He doesn’t have enough money for the shoes. Does Jesus care if she’s wearing new shoes? I mean, REALLY. It’s not like you’re out if you show up barefoot, are you? Think about it! I realize he’s little and doesn’t know there’s no dress code at the Pearly Gates, but wouldn’t his family worry about where he was while this whole shoe-purchasing situation was going on?

Sir, I wanna buy these shoes for my momma please.
It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry, Sir?
Daddy says there’s not much time.
You see, she’s been sick for quite a while;
Know these shoes will make her smile.
Want her to look beautiful if Momma meets Jesus tonight.

Barf. I mean, really. There was nothing else to write a song about? This song is engineered to work the tear ducts to the tenth power. Obviously, the traditional Christmas songs just don’t do it. Of course, I was just reading the comments on another blog I frequent, and someone has quoted these same lyrics as meaningful.

I’m torn between guilt and cynicism.

I don’t mean to be a killjoy, but I’m telling you, “The Christmas Shoes” makes me lose my will to live. Interestingly enough, someone even made a MOVIE out of this. It was on “Lifetime” over the past few days. I was a little shocked to note that Rob Lowe was starring in it. What was he thinking?

Back to the subject at hand.

All Christmas music is not necessarily intellectual. I have to admit laughing myself silly over some of Bob Rivers’ “Twisted Christmas Tunes”. I WAIT to hear Bob and Doug McKenzie’s version of the “Twelve Days of Christmas”: “A beer. In a tree.” I’ve really had enough of “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”, but some of the rest of it’s pretty funny. It’s good to laugh. I prefer it to stressing out over how on earth some poor little boy could be wandering around in traffic to buy shoes on Christmas Eve. We won’t even go into what he might come home from the store with.

Let’s face it. It’s not world peace, but for the good of humanity, let’s retire “The Christmas Shoes”. I’m sure there’s lost of other holiday music that can take its place.

-S

Lunchbox Laboratory: Run, don’t walk, for the greatest food, period.

Sometimes, it’s hard to get out of the house on the weekend. There’s a ton of things to do, we’re both tired from the week, and it takes a concerted effort to pry us out of here. At the same time, we made the extra effort recently, and I am so glad we did! I never thought I’d be doing a restaurant review on The Little Pink Clubhouse, but this one’s special. When I reflect on the great things that happened this year, I think about our visits to Lunchbox Laboratory.

Lunchbox Laboratory opened a few months ago in Ballard, another suburb of Seattle. It’s burgers, it’s fries, it’s lots of other side dishes, and it is unbelievably good. We first read about the restaurant in the following article.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/restaurants/2004242562_taste270.html

Their menu will encompass hand-ground burgers made with beef, turkey or lamb seared in French cast-iron skillets and topped with the likes of “crispy farmhouse bacon” and balsamic plum onion relish. We can expect a long line of “experiments” in comfort-food classics, like a rotating list of “TV dinners” built as a square meal with protein, veg, starch and dessert and served on compartmentalized china.

Vegetarians can munch on an “Ultra Vegetarian Patty Deluxe” embellished, if they wish, with one of two styles of fries — fat and stubby and shoestring. Plus vegetable gratins, mac ‘n’ cheese and “candyman carrots.” Kids are sure to clamor for housemade corn dogs, and milkshakes made with homemade ice cream, flavored with peppermint sticks or Ovaltine.

Let’s face it, I’m a cheeseburger fan. Yes, I’ll probably get mad cow, but I’ll enjoy every bite till it happens. I had the best cheeseburger I’ve ever eaten in my life at Lunchbox Laboratory. If that wasn’t enough, I don’t know what Scott does to his fries, but they were fabulous. We ate everything put before us, and tried not to lick the plates as well.

Their restaurant’s not huge. There may be a wait. Then again, I’d wait all day for food like this. I can say that we’ll be back over, and over, and over again. (Get the brownie ala mode. If you think Meg Ryan screamed in the diner scene in “When Harry Met Sally”, you haven’t had one of their brownies yet. After that, get the caramel pumpkin pie shake. Actually, just order one of everything on the menu.)

We watch Food Network just like everyone else does. It’s nice to talk with a chef, and we got our chance when the restaurant settled down a bit. We talked about some area restaurants we’d all been to, and we talked about food. Scott and his partner, Allegra, both said that they will not do it until it can be “done right”. I know I’d rather have a few bites of something sublimely delicious than huge amounts of something else that’s not made with love and passion. Scott has a mad passion for what he does, and it shows in his food.

The Dauphin and I have a few places on our radar screen that we’ve gone to again and again: Burgermaster in Bellevue. Nana Carmela’s in Monroe. Frankie’s Pizza and Pasta in Redmond. Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue, usually when there’s a special celebration — it’s a little spendy. We’re not especially picky, and we’re not hard to please. We just love good food. Lunchbox Laboratory is excellent food.

If you’d like to check them out, please go to www.lunchboxlaboratory.com. Also, you might want to call first, just to make sure you can get in.

We can’t wait to go again. We hope you’ll enjoy it, too!

-S

Stephen Colbert’s eagle has been spotted in Oregon!

Photo:  San Francisco Zoo

“Dear Dad: I’m fine. Wish you were here. Love, Stephen, Jr.”

I realize there were many important things that happened in the world today, but I don’t watch their television show. I DO watch Stephen Colbert’s. (The neighbors must enjoy the laughter while I’m doing so.)

Stephen has spoken many times of his son, Stephen Jr., a bald eagle that’s been playing the field on the West Coast. After all, he’s young. He needs to hook up. What better place to do it than somewhere with a huge number of wild salmon to lure the lady eagles into his lair with, huh?

It seems that Stephen Jr. actually wears a GPS device, is tagged with A-46, and was spotted in Oregon the day before Christmas by Jack Kisling, another fan of the show.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008567493_webcolberteagle28m.html

“I’ve been waiting 2 1/2 years to see this eagle,” said Kisling, who finally did so on Christmas Day. “I just knew eventually it would show up here.”

From California, Stephen Jr., named after Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central television’s The Colbert Report. And Colbert has been keeping track of the bird.

Stephen Jr., hatched April 17, 2006, from an egg found on Santa Cruz Island, one of Southern California’s Channel Islands, at the San Francisco Zoo as part of the its California Bald Eagle breeding program.

It was released on the island June 8, 2006 with a blue tag and GPS unit.

Since then, Colbert has regularly reported on Stephen Jr. during his mock newscasts.

“I watch the Stephen Colbert show regularly,” Kisling said.

We are lucky enough to live in an area that several eagles evidently nest in. It is still amazing to me to see one, though. They like to fly over the Snoqualmie Valley when we’re trying to get home. Perhaps Stephen, Jr. will stop by one of these days!

-S

It’s SNOWING AGAIN

Just stop it. Stop it NOW!
-S

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men.”

It’s still my favorite Christmas carol.

Merry Christmas to all, and I hope you are with loved ones today.
-S

The Holly and the Ivy

The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir

The snow is falling on the Cascade foothills. This carol is another of my holiday favorites. I hope you’ll like it, too.

-S

Does Christmas HAVE to be December 25th, anyway?

The view from our front door

The twenty-pound turkey has been defrosting in the refrigerator. The family members have e-mailed what they’re bringing to the big dinner. I’m about to start the cookie-baking effort. We’ve been cleaning for a few days now. Let’s face it, the Flylady (www.flylady.net) and I are going to have to become much better acquainted in the New Year, but it’ll do. There’s just one fly in our ointment.

There’s still fifteen inches of snow on the ground outside. We’re supposedly getting six more inches today. The snow sits on top of a thick layer of ice. As a result, just the thought of our grandma and grandpa even attempting to drive here right now, let alone the rest of our family, scares the living daylights out of me.

We’re postponing Christmas. The family members are coming over this Saturday. Yeah, it’s not going to go over well with the man in red, but it seems that we have a lot of company this year. Our next-door neighbors can’t get to their loved ones, either, due to a combo of illness and road conditions. Maybe they’d like to eat turkey with us.

I have to confess that the first thought that came to mind when we talked about doing this was “what a bummer”. We had so much fun on Thanksgiving at Aunt Suzie’s that we couldn’t wait to see everyone again. At the same time, I was watching the news earlier. Twenty-four hours ago, there were still two thousand people stranded at Sea-Tac Airport. One of the guys pictured at Sea-Tac was a young man on leave from the military. He’d already been there for three of his precious fourteen days of leave. There are hundreds more who’ve spent a week sitting in the Greyhound bus station, and lots at the Amtrak train station, too. It’s not looking good for them to get home before Christmas Day.

It’s corny, but I would switch places with that young man in a moment. I wonder if there’s a mom making all of his favorite dishes, or a girlfriend who’s been counting the hours till he arrived. There must be a story for every person who’s sleeping on a bench, or on the floor tonight at the airport. There’s a story for everyone who is outside, too, or every person that’s lost. Somewhere, someone is wishing that they were home.

If there was one thing I could wish for this Christmas, it would be that all those who want to can go home. They might not make it by December 25th, but when their loved ones see them walk through the front door, any day is Christmas, isn’t it?

-S