I’m currently unemployed and am looking for opportunities to make a little bit of $ to help pay for my medicine and food.

PET CARE

I can provide pooper scooper duties around the property if necessary.  I have no trouble administering meds if necessary.  Can’t make it home in time to let the dogs out?  Give me a call and I can take care of it for you!

I can also prepare very healthy organic dog food that can be frozen in single serving pckages. This could be done once per month to stock the freezer.

Pet sitting while you are away. Overnight stays are acceptable. Companionship and exercise. Daily walks and playtime. 

AUTO

I’m meticulous and can detail your boat, truck, motorcycle or car until it sparkles!  At your home or at a local wash port.

HOUSE

I can gather your mail and newspapers while you are away, do light house cleaning, laundry, water indoor and outdoor plants, light gardening, any special projects as determined by you.

I am available to house-sit almost anytime!  Overnight, a few days, a few weeks!

CULINARY

I can prepare almost any cuisine and have contributed to cooking shows and numerous cookbooks. I Love to cook and am capable of making large quantities for freezing in single serving sizes.  I’ve prepared breakfast for 500, dinner for over 200 and I’ve planned, prepped, cooked and served food for various parties and events. While I’ve never been a professional “Chef”, the Culinary Arts is my passion and I’ve done several cooking shows for PBS.  I can help with menu planning and other tasks with regard to your culinary needs. In addition, I can prepare large quantities of freezable food for you to stock your freezer with home-cooked goodness!  For large parties, I can help set-up and cleanup afterward. I can also coordinate rental equipment and other vendors.

ORGANIZATIONAL – PROJECTS

I’m very organized and can help you with making your spaces functional, organized and clean.  How’s that garage looking?  I can organize and clean that too! Do you need your woodwork cleaned? What about inside windows? Do your drive and walkways need pressure washing?  Is your deck ready for entertaining? Clean BBQ?  Wood decking scrubbed clean?  Patio furniture out of storage and aired out and cleaned?  How’s your home office looking?  Can’t find an envelope when you need one? I can get that in shape for you too!  Does your attic need to be cleaned out?  Do you want to make donations of unwanted items?  I’m very good at de-cluttering spaces.  Do you need something painted? I’m detail oriented and very meticulous, and I’m a good painter!  Isn’t it about time you crossed that project off your to-do list?

PERSONAL ASSISTANT

I can assist you with schedules, travel and most other executive tasks.  I’m a professional with almost thirty years as a senior executive working in the high tech industry. I’ve traveled extensively in the course of my work and I work well with all levels of internal and external organiztions.  I’m available to travel and have a current passport. 

There’s a lot I’ve left out of this list, but for now this should give you a good idea of what kind of work I’m looking for and capable of doing.  I’m open to other requests or suggestions.

Thank You for taking the time to read this!  I really need the work/$ right now and if you, or someone you know, would benefit from my services please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thanks Again!

• Chow attempts to break the restaurant curse plaguing 12th & Pike since the 1200 Bistro closed shop (target opening date September 2009): “Our establishment will serve Pacific Rim style cuisine in a casual environment complimented with music and art. We will be open for lunch and dinner Monday thru Friday and breakfast thru dinner Saturday & Sunday.”
• Maggie Savarino notes that the Bar 41 at B & O Espresso Happy Hour is worth a stop (M-F 5 to 7 pm and after 11 pm) – $6 for a shot and a beer, $2 off cocktails, $1 off beer & $3.50 appetizers
• Bottleneck Lounge will be closed Sunday 8/16 & Monday 8/17 to take down a wall as a part of their expansion – they will be hosting a Top Chef Las Vegas viewing party on 8/19 at 9 pm (cheer on Robin Leventhal & Ashley Merriman)
• Olivar introduces happy hour from 5 to 6:30 pm M – Th featuring a $5 daily tapas special and sangria for $2 as well as house red & white wine for $5 / glass
• Chicken Katsu & Chicken Satay at the Chatterbox Cafe are good enough reasons to cross Madison says Hillel Cooperman
• Cocktalia visits the Knee HIgh and recommends a number of them (he leaves out my personal favorite – the St. James Cooler)

Just a brief note to let you know I’m working on a little bit more than news this week. CHS continues to grow. In July, more than 43,000 people visited the site for information and news about the place they live and love. It was our biggest month ever. But we need to work harder. I’m well aware that CHS isn’t the only Cap Hill organization having to kick it up a notch to survive during these challenging times.

CHS is advertising supported. We have raised about $1,600 in donations this year to help pay for writers and photographers. I am also in discussions about partnerships that will give the site another $5,000 to help us get through the year. The rest must come from the advertisements local businesses purchase to support the site and share their messages with the CHS audience.

You can view our available ad types and rates here:
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/ads/setup/positions

Our ad system is self-serve so you can control your campaign on your own but I’m ready to help with whatever you need. Call me at (206) 399-5959 with any questions or suggestions.

Thanks for reading and being part of CHS.

Justin Carder
jseattle

Somewhere around 11% of you lucky primary ballot holders were so locked-down positively sure of your election selections that you already made your mark and dropped your ballot in the mail. The rest of you are like me. Waffling. Waiting. Wishing you could vote via Twitter. No?

According to King County Elections, here are the ballot return rates in Capitol Hill’s two county districts through Wednesday night at 8 PM.

• District 2: 10.30% (12,737 returned of 123,648 issued)
• District 4: 11.28% (15,974 returned of 141,561 issued)

---

The two county districts that cover Capitol Hill: 2 and 4

The current county total is 11.25% so, Cap Hill-ites east of 16th Ave, time to make up your minds (though the good people of Montlake, Central District, Rainier Valley and plenty more also need to help. BTW, seems like it might be worth digging into 16th Ave E as the divide between 2s and 4s someday.)

Your mail-in ballot needs to be postmarked by Tuesday the 18th or you can drop it off at either of these drop box locations closest to Capitol Hill:

• Seattle, King County Administration Building, 500 Fourth Ave.
• Central, 2301 S Jackson

The drop boxes can be accessed 24×7 up until 8 PM on Election Day.

Once you’ve sent in your ballot, check King County’s ballot tracker to make sure it has been properly received.

Looking for ideas or want to sway the Cap Hill undecideds? Leave a comment on our CHS Open Endorsement Thread.

(hat tip to West Seattle Blog for guilting us into doing this post)

In a special public hearing at City Hall, the City Council’s transportation subcommittee met on Wednesday to discuss the 2010-2011 King County Metro budget, and the plan for overcoming a $700 million revenue shortfall.

In front of a chamber full of transit riders, drivers and concerned citizens, King County Executive Kurt Triplett and King County Metro General Manger Kevin Desmond presented their proposal: a four-year plan to offset the projected $546 million deficit including service cuts, fare increases, and improvement program deferrals. Despite an increase in ridership for the last three years, Desmond stressed the significance of 12-13% drop in sales tax collection which is a main revenue source for Metro.

Alongside Desmond and Triplett were two other panelists: Rob Johnson and John Scholes of Transportation choices and the Downtown Seattle Association respectively. Johnson informed the public in attendance that transit cuts were not a King County exclusive issue, citing that 90% of public transit systems nation wide have raised fares and/or cut service hours. Scholes, representing downtown businesses and citizens, applauded the ride free area, but wanted the idea of a new revenue source for Metro outside of sales tax to be on the table. “We need another source that is stable in good times and stable in bad times,” he said.

Representatives from South Seattle and the Rainier Valley area dominated the public comment portion of the haring. Concerned about service cuts to routes 42, 48, 106, and 107, sign-holding audience members and a parade of citizens came up to the microphone protesting bus stop removal and frequency reductions.  Citizens called those routes their “lifeline,” and added that the cuts have a disproportional effect on people with low income and people of color.

Other concerns from public comment:

• Labor costs
• Connections between ferries and buses.
• Against scheduled maintenance cuts, stressing the quality of service rather than the span.
• Moving away from the politics of universal service cuts and run Metro like a business. Executive Triplett responded, saying it would have been more difficult to go route by route, and that Metro wanted to “balance the needs of the transit dependent as well as the people just getting to work every day.”

While the $20 vehicle license fee suggested by Washington State Legislature was vetoed by the governor, Desmond provided two other options to aid the falling revenue: $50 million in already allocated stimulus money, and reappropriating property taxes. However, he said that the ferries will continue to be maintained and expanded for the next four years under this proposal.

As expected, cuts to the Metro system were the focus of the proposal. These cuts include:

• Deferring bus expansion: While the new RapidRide(link) services will continue full force, taking 4.5 cents of the total 5.5 cents from property taxes, Transit Now service investments are being deferred as well as investments in scheduled maintenance. Desmond noted that this does not mean Metro is favoring the specific RapidRide routes while cutting overall service.
• Capital program cuts: Metro will greatly reduce the number of buses it purchases, and speed, reliability and asset maintenance programs will be cut.
• Non-service related cuts: 10% reduction in complementary programs like security enhancements, customer information and park and ride landscaping and cleaning.
• Operating reserves: The proposal is reducing its reserve fund, which it uses in case of an emergency, as well as its fleet replacement reserve. The latter will go into funding and maintaining the current buses.
• Fare Increase: The proposal includes the already approved $.25 fare increase in January 2010, but calls for another $.25 increase in 2011. This would move the base fare rate to $2.25. Desmond added that the projected 1% ridership decrease with fair increases was already factored into the budget deficit.
• Bus Service Suspensions: 310,000 hours cut by 2011, with a possible total of 585,000 by 2013. This amounts to a 9% cut in service that will be spread out over all service lines. The first 50k in 2010 will be administrative, and will bypass the normal service change process that will be applied to the rest of the cuts. Desmond stressed that no routes will be removed, but cuts will be administered through reduced frequency, reduction or elimination of weekend routes, and earlier final stop times; all of which depend on the size and popularity of the route. “If you see a line on a Metro map today, that line will stay there,” said Desmond.

King 5 news is currently featuring Hallie Kuperman, owner of the Century Ballroom, as one of its Home Team Heroes.

“SEATTLE – She is considered by many to be The Face of social dancing in Seattle. Hallie Kuperman says she got sucked into what she describes as the abyss of swing more than 20 years ago. It’s an addictive type of feeling, she says, that tells you there is nothing else in this world you want to do but dance….”

See the story and video here.

*Home Team Heroes are chosen via public nomination on the King 5 website.

Editor’s note:
Check out Seadevi’s comment. 10-year lease? Wow!

This spring, CHS reported that cheese shop The Calf and Kid was making plans to open its business on 12th Ave near the Northwest Film Forum. That plan was not executed. And Sheri Lavigne’s hunt for a location down in I-5 Shores didn’t pan out either. So don’t count your curds just yet but it sounds like Calf and Kid finally has a home lined up. In an interview with CHS’s own Seadevi, Lavigne said she’s got the financing in place to open her shop in The Pearl building at 15th and Madison. Her neighbors will be Anchovies & Olives, newly moved-in plant purveyor Envy and CHS sponsor Healeo. Now, all Lavigne needs to do is sign the lease. (if this plan changes, no more updates until we have Calf & Kid cheese in our mouths!). Target for opening is a leisurely (easy for us to say) “before Thanksgiving.” Watch for the full interview from Seadevi later this week.

The annual Perseid meteor shower is peaking this very minute but you couldn’t see anything on Capitol Hill last night and you won’t be able to see anything tonight. Seattle will be buried underneath a layer of 90% cloud cover.

But here’s the good news. Nature doesn’t run on a clock. The Perseids have been shooting across your sky for weeks and they’ll be shooting across your sky for a few weeks more. Chances are good you’ll be able to see a shooting star or three on the Hill Friday night as the cloud cover is forecast to drop to around 60% and a relatively crystal clear 40% on Saturday.

Also in your favor, the moon is retreating toward a thin crescent and won’t rise until around midnight so the skies should be as dark as city skies get around 10:30 PM.

So that’s the when. As for the where, here’s a handy infographic from NASA showing a view to the northeast. That’s what you’ll want to find to get the best view of the action. Not sure where you’ll find the barn and the windmill around here but keep looking.

Northeast View (NASA.org)

For your Cap Hill viewing location, think of relatively open spaces with a northeast view. Also think of dark places so bring a friend! Some places to consider: Louisa Boren Park overlooking Lake Washington and Volunteer Park.

The best places to view, of course, are far from the city. So think of things in a different frame of reference. This will be an urban meteor shower. There’s a good chance that things on the ground will be more interesting than what’s in the sky.

Blitz improvised poster – detail
Originally uploaded by akiramorita

August 13 will be the 2nd Thursday of the month, and Capitol Hill readies itself to Blitz. Grab a full venue list at http://blitzcapitolhill.com/

As in previous months, if you are seeking company, Blitz participants will gather at the Seattle Central Community College Plaza between 6 and 6:30 PM.  Some highlights from August 09 Blitz include:

o Arbitrary Art Grant in Art Dealing (happening at the People’s Parking Lot) – Marination Mobile plans to be there as well.

o Tomoko Briggs at Snowmonkey’s House of Monsters (by way of Bluebird Ice Cream & Tea Parlor)

August 13th – Snowmonkey’s House of Monsters – Tomoko Brigss
Originally uploaded by blitzcapitolhill

o Michael Rioux portraits at Porchlight Coffee

August 13th – Porchlight Coffee
Originally uploaded by blitzcapitolhill

o Digital Kitchen artists at Vermillion

August 13th – Vermillion -Digital Kitchen
Originally uploaded by blitzcapitolhill

The empty, gravel lot that has become a symbol of changing Capitol Hill and Hill activism will be home to two rather interesting developments that don’t involve design reviews, setbacks, or floor area ratios:

First, the lot will host a temporary art gallery where one accidental artist will receive $500 for sharing a work of art:

They tore the heart of Capitol Hill out and replaced it with a parking lot. The great comedy of greed. But this Thursday we are going to create a new gallery on that block, lay down a hundred and fifty feet of white rope, define an entrance and call it home. It is our 2009 Arbitrary Art Grant for Art Dealing, and we invite you to strap on a painting, a photograph, some 2-D piece of art- around your neck like a big Flav necklace. Hell, put a price tag on it. And step on this white rope. With enough people, your bodies will become the walls, and for an hour, pedestrians can stroll into this temporary structure and view a selection of poorly curated work (one thing at a time, alright?) Artists- throw on your work. Friends- try and hawk your shy artist friends work. Dealers- extend your arms and hang a tryptich just to show the punks how it is done. Maybe you sell something, maybe not. But one person will walk with $500.00 cash, chosen randomly, in one small effort to recognize and appreciate the true nature of our arts culture. Plus, how cool would it be to make a gallery out of bodies? Come one, come all! The Arbitrary Art Grant in Art Dealing is a rain or shine event, open to all people, of all skill levels, and all that jazz…

Thursday night is Capitol Hill Blitz arts walk so plan to include the People’s Parking Lot in your itinerary for the evening.

You might also plan to come hungry. Marination Mobile makes its debut in its new Cap Hill home in that very lot Thursday night. Here’s the details from the People’s Parking Lot blog:

Congrats to Marination Mobile for negotiating a lease with Murray Franklyn, to park Big Blue on the lot Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and serve up tasty treats. PPL is happy and proud to have put them in touch with the right folks at Murray Franklyn! 

UPDATE:

Got a note from Roz of Marination Mobile:

Well, we were able to secure a deal for the lot on Pine, but the most recent glitch is that we can’t get onto the lot. The curb on Belmont is low enough for us, but cars are parked there all the time because for now it’s 24/7 free parking in cap hill. I’m trying to work out a way for the developer to put some sort of no parking barricade in one spot so we can pull in. We hope…really hope… To sort this out to be there Thursday.

Drama!