Cafe Flora

This past Sunday, Carrie and I walked to Cafe Flora, always a pleasure to go to. Here is the route we took:

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The food there is simply awesome. For a dedicated Omnivore such as myself, the main failing that I usually find with Vegetarian / Vegan establishments is that their offerings are either bland or downright aweful. Sorry, I'm not going to give up taste just to make a statement.

Cafe Flora is one of the few places that could honestly inspire me to change my eating ways, however (the other being Hillside Quickies in the U-District, and Hillside Cafe in Capitol Hill). There, the food is fresh, flavorful, and always expertly prepared (the portions are generous too). Carrie and I have been there well over three dozen times in the past year, and we've never been disapointed.

Madison Park Cafe redeaux

The route that Carrie and I took to the Madison Park cafe... not that I would go there again...

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Walk to Geraldines

This past Sunday, Carrie and I took this route to the always wonderful Geraldine's Counter in Columbia City. I can honestly say that we burned more calories on the walk there and back than we consumed at the resturant itself! It's always a kick-ass place to go for Sunday brunch, however! Thier deep-fried French Toast is always a fave with us.
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Breakfast Fail

Sometimes, I question the tastes and palettes of the "Other Half".

Carrie and I went to this cafe in Madison Park, which is a pretty well-to-do area of Seattle located along the western shore of Lake Washington. We saw all manner of well-heeled (or so they like to think, I guess) individuals lapping up their $10 salmon bagels and 8$ sourdough waffles. While those prices may not seem to be exorbant, considering the facts that (1) I've gotten better salmon bagels at Noah's and Pike Place (and Blue Brick in Silverdale) for $2-4 less, (2) the sourdough waffles were wafer thin, (3) the sourdough waffles tasted like crap, (4) the butter pats on the waffles were frozen (which in my book is an automatic 1 star deduction for any breakfast place), and (5) the waitress acted like she was tweaking, I'd say that this place is overpriced, to say the least.

And here were these well-heeled fools, lapping it up, smiling and nodding, happy to be with their own.

Quality doesn't matter, Image is everything.

Catharsis is as Catharsis does

Carrie and I took the opportunity this past weekend to get rid of a bunch of photos that we had collected over the years. On the whole, it was a pretty emotional experience - at one point in time, some of the people in the pictures had played a pretty pivotal role in helping to shape who we were as people at the time - which, in turn, has played a pivotal role in shaping who we are as individuals now. So how long are we as individuals obligated to acknowledge the role that person played in shaping our lives?

Perhaps the answer cannot always be communicated objectively, but I feel that once a person's actions and presence no longer influence your being, even to the most infetismal degree, you are no longer beholden to the active memory of that individual. This does not in any way mean "Out of sight, out of mind"; far from it, the memories of loved ones both alive and deceased influence our lives to a degree that cannot be described. But I do happen to think that holding onto the physical manifestations of memories of indivuduals who no longer influence your life - willingly or no - is excessive, especially when the chances of that person once again taking an active part in your life are slender.

Finally...

Furthermore....

Okay, so I forgot to mention...

Carrie (my wife) and I have an arrangement - we each have eight New Years' goals and collectively we have eight goals. If we make progress on 1/2 of our own goals for any given month, we get an additional $50 at the beginning of the month; if we make progress on 1/2 of our collective goal, then we each get another $50.

Sweet, eh?

So, here is what I have done so far:
1 - Finished documenting and testing 4 out of the 5 Java projects that I have been working on. Next step - pubishing!
2 - Read 1 book. Just a throwaway, nothing important.
3 - Joined two meetup groups - French Language and Coffee Lovers
4 - Did one session on the WiiFit, I walked home one day (3.5 miles in 43 minutes! Some of it uphill!), and I'll get a good session in this weekend....

And it's just the beginning of January! Insert vision of Dancing Dollars here...