Stiebel does something stupid #286

I was driving in Seattle this past Sunday afternoon.  I got to a 3-way intersection and stopped to let a minivan taxi cab go ahead of me.  Instead of going ahead, the driver sort of waves and points behind me.

I'm not sure what he's pointing at, so I wave him ahead again.  But he keeps pointing behind me.

So I think maybe there are some cars waiting behind me, and he wants me to go first.  But when I look out my rear-view mirror, I don't see any cars.  And since I'm not in a rush and I'm in an overly-polite mood, I wave the cabbie ahead of me again.

He continues to gesture behind me.  I check the rear-view mirror again, and I still can't see any cars behind me.  But then my brain catches up to my eyes, and I realize that I can't see anything behind me!  All I see is shiny red...which happens to be the color of my car trunk.

I'd been driving with my trunk all the way open.

Needless to say, the cabbie had a good laugh at my expense.

At least I wasn't driving with the hood of my car open.  That would've been awkward!

Have you ever....

Have you ever tried to roll up your sleeve, and just as you tug it the last few inches past your elbow, your fingers slip and you punch yourself in the face?

I have.

Fish catching and throwing

I almost forgot the best part about my Sunday trip in downtown Seattle.

I caught a fish at the market!

yes, that is a full-size salmon

I've seen videos of these guys throwing fish back and forth, so I asked one of them if they let other people try, and he did!

Here's a video of them in action:



The one unfortunate thing about catching that fish was that I didn't get a chance to wash my hands for a good 4 hours afterward.  :)

Pike's Place Market

Last Sunday, I walked around downtown Seattle with one of my new local friends Gavi.  There were several highlights to this outing, but certainly the sights and sounds of Pike's Place market were the best.

Pike's Place market is basically a huge open-air market and bazaar, with a bajillion shops and eateries and attractions and people.  It's pretty cool just to walk around, (which is exactly what we did.)

A quick highlight reel:

The mose delicious piece of technology I have ever seen.

completely automated mini-donut machine - AWESOME!

A very talented one-handed Rubik's cuber dude

one-handed Rubik's cube while spinning a giant tray

with the other hand, solved in 1:06 minutes.

And he's cute, too!

A giant nuclear missile being marched down the street

i hope they have a permit for that thing

An X-rated Starbucks coffee shop....sort of

this is their original logo, apparently

A 1920s porno machine...sort of

It was literally just a series of pictures of a

fully-dressed woman standing in a bathroom

 Other highlights included:

• doing magic tricks for the people working in the magic shop,
• asking for multiple samples from the chocolate stand,
• reading inappropriate passages from sci-fi novels outloud in the used bookstore,
• almost dumping water all over a table of classic books at same bookstore,
• pretending to use the bathroom at a restaurant just so I could ask for a plastic fork on my way out

All in all, a good day in Seattle.

9 year old kid with flamboyant sequin shirt walks in front of me on street.

I was thinking about writing up a detailed account of this particular event from last Sunday in Seattle, but I think the title says it all.

long-sleeve, bright purple, 100% sequin shirt

His entire family was dressed totally normal, but for some reason he decided to go a different route today.  He wasn't even wearing tap shoes or a feather boa or anything that would have at least suggested he was coming back from some sort of school performance.

(And props to me for snapping this photo without stopping and without bring attention or humiliation to myself.)

Possibly awkward moment from last week

I went to dinner in Seattle with my friend Jeremy and his mom (who was visiting him for a few days.)  We went to a Chinese place near downtown, and when the fortune cookies came, we each took one and shared our fortunes with one another.

Jeremy's and my fortune were pretty standard.  Something about good luck or something.

This is what Jeremy's mom got:

"in bed" is sort of redundant here.

I couldn't quite tell if it was an awkward moment, but it sure was funny.  And I was very tempted to ask Jeremy directly about what he thought of his mom's fortune, but I decided against starting that conversation at the table.

All in all, a very pleasant dinner.  Thank you Jeremy's mom!