Any of you who have followed me on a regular basis know that my household are longstanding fans of Folklife, the big four-day music festival that happens every year at the Seattle Center over Memorial Day weekend. This year’s is imminent, and as always, Dara, Paul, and I are looking forward to spending time there.
But I noted with dismay this morning that the Seattle Times has an article up saying that unless they get more donations at the gate this year, next year’s festival is in danger of being canceled. :(
According to that article, Folklife usually only gets donations from about 17 percent of attendees at the gate, and they take in around $190,000. They really need to bump that number up to $350,000 in order to afford next year.
So if you’re in the area, you love Folklife and what it brings to our local culture, and you’re planning to go this weekend, please please please donate anything you can spare at the gate. They need your help. Also, if you’re not going to be able to hit the festival but you still want to help out, you can donate to them directly on their website.
Please spread the word to other area locals! And if you’re going to be at the festival, hey, look for Dara and Paul and me, and say hi if you see us!
Incoming Seattle snowstorm alert for Murkworks.net users
Most of you out there probably are aware already, but just in case you aren’t, be advised that we have serious snow on the way here. Therefore, as is often the case when we have wacky fun weathertimes, connectivity to Murkworks.net and resources we house may be impacted. Our power may go out, or even if we stay up, connectivity via Comcast may be affected if there are any issues with ice on power or phone lines.
Assume therefore that if you can’t reach any commonly accessed Murkworks.net resources, this will be why. This will include the Murkworks MUSH, WordPress sites and other web pages, mailing lists, user logins, and mail.
Follow Cliff Mass’ blog for ongoing weather developments if you’re interested. His last two posts on the situation are here and here. The Times has an article up here.
If we do go down and you need to reach me, you can do so via my gmail addresses, annathepiper or angela.korrati.
Unexpectedly exciting walk home last night
As y’all probably know, one of the big reasons I like to work downtown is that I get a really nice walk through Pike Place Market and along Elliott Avenue on my way to my workplace, and back again in the afternoon. Gives me a nice view of the water, and the sidewalks are wide and relatively uncrowded. Bit of a bitch during the fall and winter when it’s windy and rainy–but on gorgeous days, you can’t beat the view.
I particularly like cutting through Pike Place since the fruit vendors are friendly, and I’ve started buying fruit and veg from them, often enough that they’ve started introducing themselves to me and cutting me discounts. (That one of them is also quite cute is bonus. ;) )
Last night in particular the older gentleman who runs the table I like to stop at gave me a really nice discount, five bucks for a (huge!) Asian pear, three cute little Clementine oranges, and late season raspberries. The aforementioned cute guy was also there, and while he was talking to other customers, I happened to jump in and assure the lady from Portland that why yes, their Asian pears were awesome and I bought them all the time.
The customer lady was amused and said to Cute Guy, “And she’s not even paid! Or your girl, either!”
I can’t swear to this 100 percent, but I’m pretty sure Cute Guy said, “Not yet.” To wit, lulz. And also *^_^*;;
That was the Good Exciting part of the walk.
The Bad Exciting part of the walk was that apparently, about an hour or so before I got to the market, somebody got shot. :( I heard somebody going by me saying something about a shooting, and then after I stopped at my marketboys’ table and went around the corner to head to the bus stop, I saw the area was still taped off. There was a uniformed guy on duty and I asked him what had happened; he said he didn’t know.
So I cut through the alley between 1st and 2nd to get over to Union so that I could reach my bus stop. A woman stopped me to ask for change or cigarettes (which I couldn’t give her, although I did offer her one of my oranges), and she said as well that “some guy got shot in the head”. To wit, um, yikes.
So yeah, that was unnerving. Second and Pike is right by the market and is right along my usual walking route, and I am very, very relieved that I and 
llachglin
High Wind Watch for the Seattle area
For those of you who aren’t following me on Twitter or Facebook, y’all be advised that we have a Wind Advisory up for today and tomorrow and a High Wind Watch for Monday evening and Tuesday. Looks like we have the potential for some nasty gusts. Cross your fingers that this blows over (aheh) without coming to fruition, hey? Not only would a decent windstorm be guaranteed to knock out power at the Murk, it’d probably put a nasty crimp in our ability to get a very important project done at work!
You can read both the Advisory and Watch data over here.
ETA 6:25pm: And oh hey, the Seattle Times has an article up now. The money quote here being “If projections play out, it will be the strongest windstorm of the season”.
So keep a sharp eye on the weather forecasts, people. This could get crunchy.