Good news, bad news....

Well, first the bad news. After attempting twice to contact purango at the email left in the winning post, I have not heard back. According to the posted giveaway rules, the winner was given 48 hours to respond. I was feeling generous so I gave him an extra day, but nada.

Onto the good news! On the second go-round, the RNG picked 126, which correlated to this comment:

Mommykat007 said...

I love coffee! I don't have an espresso coffee maker, so the Drip beans would be perfect for me! Thanks for the chance!

Congrats, Mommykat007! Check your email and respond within 48 hours to claim your prize!

And the winner is...

After removing non-conforming entries (there were only four, you all did great!), Rng annonced number 116 as the winner.

purango said...

I prefer drip beans (Vita).

Big congrats to purango! Check your AOL email, I've sent you a message.

To everyone else - don't despair! We will have another giveaway for our next topic - now we just have to get to the next topic! And on that front, here are a few more questions about Seattle for you...

10. What about people who live in Seattle?

What about them?

11. You know what I mean. When they aren't taking their visiting friends exciting places, what kind of things might you find them doing?

Well, I suppose we do whatever the rest of humanity does as far as generalities go, so I'll assume you mean recreational activities. Do you want to hear about rainy-day activities first?

12. Sure, hit me with some of those.

We are big readers in Seattle. We have been voted the nation's most literate city in the past, and we are currently tied with Minneapolis, our arch rival for the title. Seattle Public libraries saw approximately 13 million visitors in 2008. We have a number of good venues in which to hear visiting authors speak about their works. We have an okay art museum, a great Asian art museum, a wonderful Science Center, and the Seattle Museum of Mysteries. There are enough restaurants and bars to keep anyone full and drunk, if that's your rainy-day thing. Also, rainy days are some of the best days at our local waterfront parks - the weather is brisk, intense, and beautiful, especially when viewed from the shore.

The anticipation builds....

Okay, Dear Reader, the big day has arrived. I am about to eliminate the handful of entries that did not follow my two rules (you know, what kind of coffee you wanted, and making sure I can contact you via email), and then I'll head on over to the Big Ol' Random Number Generator to find our winner. Keep an eye on your email - and good luck!

And on we go...

6. Where do you like to take your friends that come to visit?

I love taking out-of-towners to our wonderful natural areas - In the past, these places have included Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, the Olympic National Forest (and temperate rainforest), and the Alpine Lakes wilderness area, to name a few.

7. Where else?

I also love day/overnight trips to places accessible by ferry, as that is such a well-known local form of transportation around these parts. This could include places like the San Juan Islands (I particularly love Orcas Island), a great place to visit that is brimming with historical oddities such as the site of the Pig War, as well as tremendous food. Or perhaps we would venture to the lavender fields of Vashon Island. We might take a trip to the peninsula and have a short hike, ending at Cape Flattery, the most northwestern point in the lower U.S.

8. None of those places are in Seattle.

That's not a question, but you're right.

9. Don't you like to go places in Seattle?

Sure I do. I also take tourists to any of the regular tourist spots they might want to see (you know, the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Bruce Lee's grave...), as well as some they don't know about, like the Fremont Troll, the Washington Park Arboretum, and the country's best coffee. If they're staying long enough or are here at just the right time, we might hit a First Thursday Artwalk, go to Bumbershoot, or catch a movie and a drink at The Big Picture.

I just think if you're in Western Washington, you owe it to yourself to get out to some of the best parts of this beautiful country - the best parts of Washington are away from the city, as great as she is.

You will have to excuse me for my extended absence, Dear Reader. A bout of the plague has befallen my family, and it is only out of responsibility to you that I have managed to pull myself from my deathbed.

5. Wow, Seattle sounds amazing - close to perfect, actually. Is there anything you don't like about it?

As much as it pains me to pile anything other than praise upon my beloved city, I will admit that there are many things I don't like about Seattle.

Let's start with the traffic. Between all the water (and ensuing bridges) and the roads in desperate need of repair and/or upgrade, it should come as no surprise that traffic can be a real boondoggle around these parts. The length of what should be a short commute can be extended to hours by the smallest of bridge accidents.

I don't like earthquakes. I know, I know, I can hear you asking, Dear Reader, "who does?". Unfortunately they are a fact of life around here - they don't happen all the time, but you know there is always another right around the corner.

I don't like how fake friendly native Seattlites can be. This is a city where no tourist will ever have trouble finding their way around. When a tourist in Seattle stands on a corner with a map looking confused, they won't even have to ask for directions - someone will come up and ask if they need help. But if you find yourself in from out of town and decide to go to a local bar, you will find us stand-offish. If you sit at the bar and try to strike up a conversation with the person next to you, 9 times out of 10 they will be polite, but look at you as though you are kind of strange for talking to them. Rarely will someone start talking to you. For a relatively big city, Seattle holds onto its feeling of a small town, but without all the real friendlyness.

I don't like how long it takes us to decide on anything infrastructure or government-related. We can vote on an issue 3 times and still not know what we're doing. Everything requires years of discussion, resulting in very little action.

I don't like the rift between Western and Eastern Washington.


More in the next few days, Dear Reader. 37 Questions will be moving on to a new topic in the next few weeks, so we'll be moving through the rest of Seattle and Western Washington rather quickly. If you have any last questions about Seattle, please leave a comment on this post. We will do our best to address them before topic change!