The Seattle weekend report

1. Two feet of snow fell in the mountains this weekend with cold rain for us in the lowlands.  The high temperatures were only in the 40's, making for that unique Seattle winter damp chill that turns all those twinges into aches and pains. It's getting dark at 4 in the afternoon, so wine time comes a little early. And after listening to the awful weather news from the Midwest, we feel lucky.

Sinkhole near King Street

2. "Big Bertha" the giant tunnel boring machine triggered a sink hole along the waterfront. She's creeping through layers of rotting timber, dirt and assorted trash the Seattle pioneers once dumped as fill into Elliot Bay.  Soon Bertha will be passing right under the crumbling Alaska Way Viaduct, but the WDOT says they are not worried a bit, because they "reinforced" the shaky structure with underground concrete.  OK, then.

As we sat in the usual traffic jam up on the elevated viaduct this weekend trying to get back to West Seattle, I had ample time to point out all the cracks and chunks ready to fall on our heads. Anyway, Bertha is off to a slow start, and has moved only 460 feet since July 30 on her two mile underground journey to South Lake Union.

The Wheel of Smartness

3.  Seattle is now America's smartest city, according to new rankings by the business magazine Fast Company.  A wag at the Seattle Times commented that the people at the magazine never attempted to get from West Seattle to Ballard!  Still, it's more flattering than the other lists we make, most recently one ranking Seattle as 4th for traffic congestion in the nation. We're also in the top ten as one of the snobbiest cities. Oh yes, and we always make the list for "least fashionable city" but we're kind of proud of that.

Everett 777 assembly line

4. Last week the Boeing Union Machinists rejected an appalling contract extension offer that would have destroyed their benefits earned over decades of hard bargaining and sacrifice, including the pension plan. The union members are a target of scorn in some circles around here for their greedy attitude of "entitlement."  I've never been a big union fan, but I find that really hard to take.  John is a little more thick-skinned about the local media.

No one can predict the future, but despite billions of taxpayer subsidies to stay in Washington, the profitable Boeing Company (stock and executive compensation at an all time high) might be off to Texas, or South Carolina, or another right-to-work state to cobble up a grateful minimum wage workforce to build the planes we fly in. As the New York Times wrote, "the middle class dies not with a bang, but with a long, slow squeeze."

5.  After another great win, the Seahawks are currently the #1 team in the NFL. Go, Hawks! And we're blessed with (too much) good food, a cozy warm house, a healthy family, and heavily composted flower beds. Bring on the holidays.