christopher575

Full list of February questions here.

In case you wondered why I'll write up several questions at a time, always early, it's because sometimes I'll have the perfect amount of time for it and I'd always rather be early than late.

21. When was the last time you heard music played live (at a concert, in a musical)?

We saw Tiffany live in concert February 13th the New Everett Theater, which is the new name for the Historic Everett Theater. Fun show but she definitely likes to talk a lot between songs. I wouldn't mind so much but she had a LOT of hardcore fans there who were going nuts waiting for her to sing! I also got a little stressed out when she said people could come up on stage, I worried people would get pushed off.



22. What is your favourite writing implement – a fountain pen, ballpoint pen, pencil or something else?

A laptop. And if I have to do it for a very long time or work on something involved, the setup at my desk with a docking station, keyboard, mouse, and large extra monitor. If you only mean for handwriting, a ballpoint pen, but I really don't like writing things by hand. The thank-you cards I'm writing for my fundraising campaign are tough to get through.

23. Do you own many mirrors?

Not as many as I'd like, or as big. My dream is to have an entire wall of closet space in my bedroom with sliding doors that are floor-to-ceiling mirrors. My grandma and her husband had that setup and I've loved it for as long as I can remember. They were also very ahead of their time with a sliding shower door that went into a standup shower that had a tub beyond that. I saw that at their place in the '80s and then not again until probably the late 2000s. The newer versions are much fancier, though.

24. What are you watching this month that you are enjoying?

I just started a 13-episode show called Dead Last from 2001-2002 that Tubi guessed correctly I'd like. It's about three friends who have a band on the cusp of success who stumble upon an amulet that curses them to see ghosts for the rest of their lives. Each time they help one of the ghosts resolve the issue tying it to the mortal plane, it's able to move on to the afterlife. I'm only three episodes in and am pretty impressed with the situations the writers have put them in so far. Looking up one of the stars Tyler Labine, I just learned he's in a similar show called Deadbeat. I already knew he was in Reaper, too. Christine Willes from Reaper? Well she's also in a very similar show, Dead Like Me.

Full list of February questions here.

16. Do you own your own washing machine in your home, or do you use a laundry service/laundry room in the building or a launderette?

We have our own washer and dryer. Two of each, actually! The original set is in the garage and Garrett hated using it, so when we gave the main bathroom upstairs its desperately-needed remodel, we took out the tub and put a washer and dryer in its place. It's great having two sets. I do my laundry in the garage since I spend most of my time downstairs. It's hard to tell in the photo, but we took our next Christmas card photo in front of the new washer and dryer.



17. Chinese New Year begins today, and festivities continue until March 3rd – the year of the Fire Horse. What animal are you born under in Chinese astrology?

I'm a tiger who doesn't believe in astrology.

18. What is your favourite shellfish dish (if you have one)?

Well, my favorite dish of all is banh hoi, especially banh hoi dac biet, which is the restaurant's house special version. Many restaurants include shrimp paste baked onto sticks of sugar cane and that's a fantastic addition. And some also include grilled whole shrimp. And I eat the tails.

However, my favorite shellfish-centric is scallops if they're prepared well. And I love oysters. Too bad the fried oysters I had last night weren't very good.

19. Have you ever worn false eyelashes or had eyelash extensions?

I wouldn't want to anyway, but even if I cared about eyelashes, mine are quite full and long. So much so that those and my eyebrows used to make my glasses filthy within minutes of cleaning them. Getting LASIK was such a relief.

20. Are you a fan of mayonnaise in a sandwich (either egg-based or vegan)?

Absolutely, especially Kewpie, the famous Japanese mayo.

Full list of February questions here.

11. Would you consider yourself superstitious?

No. Superstitions are adjacent to the supernatural and I don't believe in supernatural things either.

12. Do you have any siblings?

I do! I'm the youngest of five. My dad had three daughters in a previous marriage, the middle of which is estranged from the family. Then he married my mom and had my brother right away and almost five years later.

13. What’s the weather like today? Is it about average for the time of year?

Cloudy and just slightly rainy at 46F. Like a spray of rain, the kind that really coats your car windows. Depends on the year, sometimes there's snow!

14. How many flights of stairs would you consider walking up in a building, or do you always take the lift/elevator?

I suppose it depends if I'm carrying anything or what time of day it is or how my knees are feeling at the moment. I'd do a couple of flights under most circumstances.

15. Have you ever considered how you would leave your home in an emergency?

We live in a woodsy area within an urban area. Not too much to worry about. For instance, we could walk to the supermarket in ten minutes if we had to flee on foot and needed to get to the nearest shelter. If the house were on fire my car is parked on the street and less likely to be affected.

One recent cleanup task I didn't mention was deleting some work stuff from my personal laptop. It was several months into my current contract before anyone decided I needed corporate network credentials, so I couldn't use the company laptop and had to work on mine. When a reason to get those credentials arose and I got them, I copied everything over to the work laptop and resumed a 2-laptop lifestyle.

Since I was cleaning stuff up anyway, the outdated copies of everything I'd worked on were low-hanging fruit, so I deleted that folder. It was backed up to OneDrive and I got a message about whether I wanted to delete the documents for everyone and thought, yeah whatever. But then a scenario flashed in my mind wherein I somehow accidentally created links to those on my work laptop rather than copies. My blood ran cold even though that situation, if true, would likely be fixed easily by grabbing something from the trash. But I confirmed that the ones on my work laptop were still there and backed up on a work instance of OneDrive. Phew!

The update I promised about YouTube provided another lesson in checking first. After deleting all those old videos and my channel for my original YouTube account, that account did indeed disappear from the opening screen on the YouTube TV app. I checked my second-oldest YouTube account found it didn't have a channel, just likes and Watch Later. No videos meant nothing to delete, so I thought I'd check the TV to see if there was an option to simply remove it from the screen. I didn't start there with the first account because the last time I thought to try to clean up that screen, it didn't have that option. But it does now, so I removed the second account.

All of that reminded me that I used to use the "like" feature on YouTube more, and there was probably some interesting stuff in the like list on the oldest account. But that's gone now and I won't worry about it. I'll check on the second account sometime. I already reviewed its Watch Later list and didn't find anything that mattered much. I'm still happy with my decision to nuke that first account, but it's funny to learn after the fact that I could have just removed it from the TV.

It's nice to know Google will actually add features to their apps that they don't just delete because they got bored with them. I should see if I can get them to introduce a sound leveling feature to YouTube Music. I know Spotify offers that but I refuse to give Spotify any money. I haven't deleted that account yet, but I found its replacement for the only thing I used it for, podcasts. Now I'm using PocketCast for the two shows I still listen to, Text Me Back and Melrose Place Cast. Eventually I'll probably start listening to more of them again, but for now the time that I used to devote to podcasts goes mostly to TV and movies. I generally only listen to podcasts when I walk, and thanks to water fitness, I walk way less than I used to.

I've strayed quite far from the original theme of checking first before deleting files and accounts, but a new one is suddenly on the chopping block. I use TimeHop every day to look at old tumblr and Facebook posts, and today's journey started off interesting because three years ago was when I tested positive for COVID. But the app froze and crashed, and kept freezing and crashing over and over. I'll try one more time this afternoon and if it doesn't work, I'm done trying for the day.

I just checked the app to see if it can tell me how long my streak is, and I've been using it since 2016. And in that process I just noticed I can connect Flickr, which I either didn't know, or forgot. The idea's intriguing for sure, since Flickr's the most comprehensive nostalgia source I have. There's also really no good way to review it all except for TimeHop, because breaking up the archive by day lets you see the whole thing over the course of a year.

Ok I just answered my own question. I'll connect it and cross my fingers that the app stops crashing.

Find the full list of February questions here.

1. What’s your favourite hot beverage? How do you make it?

I struggle to think of one other than coffee, which I of course drink every single day. I use a standard drip coffee machine to make Seattle's Best Coffee, currently Post Alley blend but previously Portside. I didn't even really notice the change when my subscribe-and-save order changed, probably because of Portside not being available at the time. They're pretty similar after the most important part gets added, Lucerne salted caramel creamer. There was a supply chain issue and salted caramel wasn't available for a while, and I learned that I only like a few flavors of Lucerne, and I don't like other brands of creamer at all. If Lucerne salted caramel were ever discontinued, I'd probably switch to syrup and half and half. Sometimes I toy with the idea of quitting coffee altogether.

2. When was the last time you saw an original hand-painted painting?

I see several constantly because I own them!

3. Is there a book you’ve seen made into a film and been disappointed with the result?

No. In fact, I was very impressed when I saw Where'd You Go, Bernadette? because when I read the book, I figured it'd be hard to put her creative works on the big screen and the setting, too. But they did an excellent job! I don't read a lot so the situation doesn't arise a lot.

4. How old is the oldest book you own?

No clue.

5. It’s the 60th anniversary of the game ‘Twister’ – have you ever played it?

Yup! I can't imagine doing it now. Sounds like a good way to get a cramp in my thigh.

I thought about deleting my TikTok account for a long time but kept waffling about it because it always bums me out when stuff that's on the internet ceases to exist. In this case, it was more complicated because I really liked the videos I made there, but liked the things I was hearing about the platform less and less. A post someone shared on IG today put a lot of things in perspective and I figured since I had some free time today, I may as well go in and save most of my videos, then delete the account.

It took a lot longer than I thought it would! 852 saved videos later, I began the process of deleting the account, and then saw there was an option to request a download of everything. Oh well. I continued with the account deletion process and then deleted the app from my phone.

There's a lot of good stuff to see on that app, but the way it works ushered in a new era in content creation that I absolutely can't stand. Nowadays, people will do anything for engagement, and that typically means making bad contect just to annoy people instead of making something interesting that people will share with each other. Instagram is now much crappier because of this, so it's pretty important on that site not to scroll too much beyond accounts one is following.

It's pretty easy to see how the app became extremely popular due to COVID, which is when I really started using it. And when I got into water fitness in late 2023, I found something to do for a couple of hours each day in the real world. I don't know if or when I'll look at those videos again, but they're safe on our server in case I want to or, more likely, when I want to see a specific one.

26. It’s Australia Day! What do you think of when you think of Australia?

This is a very timely question because Sendle, the amazing Australian company I used to work for, is shutting down. This follows a merger that clearly didn't turn out so well. I recently spent some time on their blog turning my posts there into PDFs for my portfolio and it was a very bittersweet experience. They're the company that took a chance on me, giving me my first full-time writing job when my portfolio was all freelance pieces. Well, I worked briefly as a full-time writer back in 2000-2001, but I don't really count that as the bulk of what I did was turning job requisitions from a large technology company into job postings, then putting them on Monster.

Anyway, the people at Sendle in the US as well as back in Australia were some of the coolest people one could ever want to work with, and I got to do interesting work that was important to me. The website is still up even though they've ceased operations, but I have my PDFs to link to from my portfolio. I should probably do that. Maybe in the morning.

27. Up-Helly-Aa is a vibrant fire festival celebrated in the UK Shetland Islands tonight. Thousands gather to witness the breathtaking sight of a longship ablaze, illuminating the night sky. Do you have any similar local winter or summer celebrations?

I grew up in New Mexico and the annual burning of Zozobra is a pretty big deal there. And they smartly added an evening balloon glow portion to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which I think is the best event. I'm struggling to think of any "let's light something on fire" events up here but as you know we risk burning the entire country down every year on July 4.

28. Have you ever played a kazoo?

Surely at some point. I was more fond of the tubes that you tilt back and forth that make an alien style sound, and the little cannisters that sound like farm animals. Plus those tubes that have a spinning thing inside that make a much funnier noise than a kazoo.

29. It's Tom Selleck's birthday - have you ever seen him in anything you've enjoyed?

I already mentioned Whispers Lounge, my '80s blog. His 1984 movie Runaway is the exact type of thing I love to promote via that blog. And his movie Her Alibi is one of my all-time favorite comedies. I should probably revisit Three Men and a Baby. And as someone who was previously in an intergenerational relationship, I thought it was great when he dated Monica on Friends. I know Magnum, P.I. is conspicuously absent here, especially since I have the '80s blog. I'd like to watch it at some point but I think Miami Vice should come first.

30. In 1873, Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne was published in France. Have you read the book or seen any of the films?

I used to watch the cartoon and the theme song is now stuck in my head!

31. Do you like hot chocolate with or without marshmallows?

What I don't want is a packet of hot chocolate mix that comes with dried marshmallows. There's something about the texture of dried marshmallows that makes my skin crawl, so anything like that hot chocolate or a cereal like Lucky Charms has to sit for long enough to ensure the marshmallows are no longer dry. At all. And by that time the hot chocolate isn't hot, and the cereal isn't crunchy.

This post also appears on Whispers Lounge, my '80s blog. If you like the '80s, please check it out!




- She's got hits, but not enough for a full set, and chooses to do a few covers rather than her album tracks most people won't know. The opening track was Lisa Stansfield's "All Around the World" which was perfect for her. A few songs later was "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette. I think she should be Roxette's new singer and tour as a Roxette/Sheena Easton double bill. Learning there's already a new lead singer for Roxette that people don't seem to like reinforces this wish for me.

- I'm so grateful that the Historic Everett Theater has seating for everyone. If you were performing in the '80s, your aging fanbase mostly wants to sit! She smartly invited people up front to dance during her biggest bangers, but then sent everyone back to their seats after each one because the people in the front rows deserve a good view.

- The door opened at 6:30 and the show was at 7:30. In my dreams it'd be 6:00/7:00 but I understand people need time to get their dinner. And it didn't really matter much because there was no opening act. Once again, if you were active in the '80s, you don't need an opening act. A double bill with an act from your era is ok, too. "But someone needs to warm up the crowd!" Please, we aren't gonna get all that hot.

- No meet and greet was offered and that's great because that's how we got the show started so quickly. She signed autographs while performing, which was hilarious. And she prevents autograph hounds from selling them by saying she'll only sign stuff that people write their own name on first. When she ran out of time for signing, she said people could leave stuff on the edge of the stage and it would all be brought back to her and she'd sign it immediately and send it back out.

- Her backing band was great and included a saxophone player because she truly understands the decade that made her a star. Everyone in the band did backing vocals and she also had a singer for duets, which she did as medleys which is a great way to handle the reality that someone shouldn't be expected to sing a whole Prince song. She also had wonderful stories about Prince and was quite funny.

- At the end she explained that she really only had one more hit to share, and it was time to do it rather than pretend the show was over and make us yell for an encore. Again, she understands we're tired and for that I'll always be grateful.

Full list of January questions is here.

11. The first National State lottery in England was drawn in 1569. The first prize was £5,000, and other prizes included tapestries and high-quality linen cloth. How much does it cost to enter where you live (and have you ever bought a ticket)?

We have several lottery games available in the US in states that have opted in. You don't have to be a resident to play or anything, but the tickets are only for sale in those states. That leads to people buying lots of tickets while on vacation, and I've heard of a store or something that's right on a state border and has something like one corner that overlaps and the vending machine is there. I used to buy two tickets each for Powerball and Mega Millions twice or so a week without fail, and the occasional Lotto. I once matched five of six numbers on Lotto and won $1,000, but the jackpot at the time was $2.9 million and I realized that's not a jackpot I would want. Sure, it'd be nice to win, but if I'm going to win, I want more! So these days I buy Powerball tickets once a week on Monday if the jackpot is over $200 million. I used to also get Mega Millions under the same conditions, but stopped because it now costs $5 to play instead of $2. They improved the game buy making the minimum jackpot $50 million instead of $1 million, but I'd rather have more chances for my money. Powerball recently got up to $1.9 BILLION and I ramped up my purchases quite a bit in those last few draws. Unfortunately someone else won.

12. In 1948, the first Supermarket in the UK opened - the Co-op, the country’s first permanent self-service store, in East London’s Manor Park. Do you use one specific supermarket to buy groceries, and do they have a loyalty card scheme you belong to? How does it work?

I love this question because I go to different stores for different things.

Safeway: We've always lived close to a Safeway. In Seattle, the condo was across the street from one, and there was one .7 miles east of the apartment complex we lived in for four months before buying our house. The house is .4 miles from one, which is so handy when the party goes on longer than anyone thought and runs out of wine. If I was forced into shopping at only one store, it'd probably be Safeway because the only coffee creamer I like is a Safeway exclusive, Lucerne salted caramel. Lucerne also makes fantastic cheese and it's always inexpensive and often on sale! We use Garrett's mom's loyalty card which is based on her phone number so we can rack up as many gas reward points as possible, and we use the Safeway gas station almost exclusively because of that. I also created a second one using my phone number so I can easily sign into the store's app and take advantage of digital coupons that need to be scanned in the store. When I use one of those, I type in my number instead of Bev's at the register.

QFC: The next closest store to us (1.2 miles) is QFC and it's also a great store. It's just over the hill from the Y and if I need something, I'll often stop there after teaching my class to get it so I can look for things from the deli that have been marked down. Their deli is better than Safeway's and for some reason way more likely to have items from the previous day at a discount. As much as I like that stuff, I'm highly unlikely to pay full price for it. The loyalty card works the same way and we use Bev's number, but we don't do as much shopping there and thus won't have as many gas rewards. Just like with Safeway, I have my own account on the phone if I need it. QFC is in the same strip mall as our favorite neighborhood bar and we used to be able to walk to them in about ten minutes until the shortcut at the end of our street became overgrown.

WinCo: It's 5.9 miles to WinCo and I'm glad I teach at the Mill Creek Y once a week so WinCo isn't out of my way. WinCo can be found in Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon, hence the name. The locations are huge with an incredible selection of bulk items that has to be seen to be believed. It's employee-owned, and they've chosen not to accept credit cards to help keep prices low, so you need cash, checks, or a debit card to shop there. In spite of doing absolutely no advertising, the store has a huge following due to the low prices and huge selection, which is why I always go on the way to my class. Any other time, it's completely mobbed. Lots of people who own food businesses do their shopping there instead of at the "cash and carry" restaurant supply store. And it's open 24 hours a day! They have a lot of their own products and we're huge fans of their breakfast sandwiches, but unfortunately those haven't been in stock for a while. There's no loyalty program and there are never even any sales, but shoppers there will tell you they don't need them. You also never end up seeing things like limited edition chip flavors. I would have a hard time moving somewhere that didn't have a WinCo because I consider their bagels a staple item and eat them several times a week. Speaking of which! I came up with a great bagel hack and may as well share it now. I slice all my bagels the day I buy them and keep them in the freezer, and if I remember to, I slice them off center so the bottom is one third the thickness and the top is two thirds. That way if I want a sandwich, I can use two of the bottoms so it's not as big, but if I want a topped bagel half, it's thicker and more satisfying. This came about by accident on my part, but then I remembered that Ina Garten slices her bagels in thirds so they're all thinner.

Trader Joe's: I almost never go to Trader Joe's (5.1 miles away) even though I love it a lot and it's perfect for single people and couples with its convenient, pre-made items. Trader Joe's is famous for its aisles packed with people and terrible parking lots, but the Everett location recently moved to the mall and is quite the opposite from most locations. Tons of easy parking and they kept the same layout but in a much larger space so there's way more room to move about. I should go there more. TJ's has no loyalty program but people are very fond of their newsletter.

EDIT TO ADD: I almost forgot Amazon Fresh. They don't have a great selection and it's not often I "need" groceries delivered, and everyone offers delivery now anyway, but I have regular items I get from Amazon Fresh. I have no idea why none of the stores carry Ballpark brand premade frozen hamburger patties, but they're one of my favorite products. I really don't like cooking my own burgers, and for me burgers at home are about the toppings anyway. It's great to be able to heat one up in a minute whenever I want one. Safeway and QFC have Freshpet dog food logs, but somehow they're so much cheaper from Amazon Fresh. I usually throw in an Avocado because they're cheap there, too, and whatever else catches my eye. This last time it was a pizza and a salad, we'll probably have those tonight.

EDIT 2: How in hell did I forget Grocery Outlet? It's just two blocks from our QFC and is such a fun store. Much of what they sell is overstock they buy from other stores and closeout items, but there are also things they stock regularly and they've been adding more of their own brand as well. Fantastic deals but there's the occasional heartbreak when you find something you like and what they have on hand is the last that will ever exist. I was even in a video when the one near us opened.



Tod (correct spelling) and Debbie have moved on but the store remains, thank goodness.

13. January is the best time to see the bright gas giant planet Jupiter in the sky – have you ever seen it?

I don't think so. As I previously stated, Washington's not a great place for stargazing and spotting meteors for the most part.

14. Mark Antony was born today in Rome in 83BCE. Have you ever seen “Cleopatra” starring Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra and Richard Burton as Mark Antony?

No, but if it ever shows up in any streaming packages I have, I will. Right now it's $3.79-$3.99 to watch. I might grab a DVD the next time I'm getting some on eBay. What ends up happening is that I want to see a movie that's not included in streaming plans, so I find someone selling it on eBay who has a deal like buy-two-get-one, buy-three-get-five, or a certain amount off if a certain total is reached. Our local library has two streaming providers, but I just checked both and neither has it.

15. If you could, would you like to be a little bit taller or a little bit shorter?

I'd probably choose to be a little taller even though I'm happy with my height. I used to be 5'11' but I've lost an inch!

kazzy_cee is creating questions of the day this year and I've decided to answer them. Might not be every day but I'll do missed or upcoming ones in multi-question posts so they're all covered. It's been a while since I had something fun and consistent like this to commit to. January questions can be found here. Thanks kazzy_cee!

1. What’s the first thing you think of when you consider the year ahead?

I really dislike the holidays and winter weather, so I'm basically always looking ahead to warmer temperatures. But also dreading summer because it gets too hot! We finally came to the conclusion that if we can afford it, we should be "snowbirds" in the future because the places that are too hot for us in the summer are just right in the winter. But of course lots of people do that so it's not necessarily easy.

2. What’s the weather like today (warmer or cooler than average)?

I recently read that this area is on track to have the warmest winter...in a while? On record? Not going to bother looking it up, but I was definitely surprised when I read it because it's been really cold lately. Of course that was after the "100 year" rains and flooding. But the cold finally let up and the high today is supposed to reach 54F. Average is 46F and the record is 59F. This is actually the first time I ever looked up current versus average weather.

3. There is a Wolf Moon tonight - it will be the fourth supermoon in a row. Have you seen a supermoon before?

Maybe. I don't really try to look for things like that because typically when something happens in the sky here, the sky ends up being cloudy.

4. Do you have any travel plans arranged for this year?

I'm taking a weekend away by myself 1/9-1/11. I realized a few weeks ago that it's important to do more stuff on my own and to counterprogram the holidays a bit. I kinda think this is what led to Garrett's thoughts of snowbirddom.

5. Are you looking forward to any TV shows this year?

I really, really hope season 2 of Pluribus airs in 2025. What an incredible show.