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Perfect Bali Adventure With Surfing Tips

Published on January 19, 2017

I am a traveling machine. My adventures usually start in Seattle and go from there but I haven’t been in Seattle for a while. This is my perfect Bali adventure with a special attention on surfing. One thing I really enjoy in these magical paradises like Bail is to surf the waves.

This is a guide to an awesome surf adventure in Bali. Also, this is a skeleton view of my favorite vacation on earth.

Fly into Denpesar (DPS) airport on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Take an official taxi (one with a meter where you can buy your fare from the airport desk) to some hostel or hotel in Kuta or Legian. Warning: When you get out of that airport you will be mobbed by very friendly people willing to carry your bags and take you anywhere you want to go. Don’t go with them; wait for a taxi. Arrival in Bali is a beautiful chaotic mess. Use the official taxi to get you to a pre-booked room where you can sleep and gather yourself after that flight.
Enjoy sometime walking around Kuta or Legian. Go to a market, eat exotic fruit you’ve never seen before, try strange goodies and buy an awesome knockoff. Go to the beach and drink some Bintang beer. Have a sleep and get out of that mad place. Head towards Padang – Padang Beach.
Find a place called Bali Rocks because it is amazing. Bali Rocks is a hard to find spot near the Padang Inn. There is also a surfer run Mexican food restaurant that marks where you need to head towards the cliffs. There are no signs for welcoming you or that say stay out. Walk down the long cobblestone path on the southern side of the building. Continue down a gravel cliff-side road and down the steep stairs. It’s one hell of a staircase so pack light. Make this your home base for at least a week. Bali Rocks is the #1 spot because it is right on the side of a cliff overlooking a perfect long right reef break called “impossibles.” Before you carry all your stuff down there, hike down without your bags and ask about a room. The guy that runs the place is named “Gday.” He’s super nice and he speaks English and Russian. He can offer a 2 person room for $12 US Currency per night.
Enjoy the best time of your life living here. Really take in the sun and this moment in your life. You can eat out for about $2.50 US per person. Rent a scooter so you can travel all around the place. The longer you rent the scooter, the less it costs. Our scooter ended up costing about $2.00 US per day. Now you have free fun transport, inexpensive delicious food and a stunning place to live. Millionaires don’t have it this good. We did this for a month and spent about $1,000 US between the two of us.
One day you’ll probably have to leave. You most likely can’t live in paradise forever. This will be the hardest day of your life. Go back to the airport and enjoy every second before you get back on that plane. There is no doubt that it will take you to a far less enjoyable place.

This is the blue print you need to live in the most beautiful place in the world. Smile and wave to the Balinese, they will return your smiles with even bigger ones. Drive that scooter everywhere you can. Send me a message and tell me you are there. I’ll be jealous.

Seattle’s Most Popular Theaters and Concert Halls

Published on December 7, 2016

Paramount-Theater in Seattle

Watching a play or a concert in Seattle is a fun experience. This is the case because Seattle theaters and concert halls offer a fantastic selection of concerts, plays and operas to see.

5th Avenue Theater
The 5th Avenue Theater offers visitors a great selection of plays and concerts. The 5th Avenue Theater has been a Seattle institution since 1926. It was once Seattle’s largest silent movie theater. Today, it hosts productions of classic 20th century plays and contemporary works by local playwrights. It also hosts concerts, lectures. The theater’s main drawing feature is its cozy environment. It features stadium-style seats and a superb sound system that creates an intimate atmosphere. As a result, the 5th Avenue Theater is one of the theaters in Seattle that must be seen to be believed. (www.5thavenue.org)

Seattle Repertory Theater
Located on 155 Mercer Street, the Seattle Repertory Theater is one of the Queen Anne District’s premier destinations. It presents contemporary plays that were written by local playwrights on a stage that’s surrounded by stadium-style seats. The theater also features a cafe that offers American fare, coffee and deserts. Moreover, be sure to visit this theater during the holiday season to take advantage of the discounts they offer in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. (www.seattlerep.org)

Benaroya Hall
Concert lovers will enjoy seeing a concert at the Benaroya Hall. Benaroya Hall is one of the premiere concert halls in Seattle. It’s home to the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and several local jazz groups. As a result, Benaroya Hall is host to over 100 jazz and symphony concerts a year. Benaroya Hall is one of the premiere concert halls in Seattle because it also hosts a fantastic variety of flamenco concerts, solo performances by today’s leading opera stars and children’s concerts all year long. As a result, be sure to visit the Benaroya Hall box office for more information about the venue’s current concert schedule. (www.seattlesymphony.org/benaroya)

Paramount Theater
Concert lovers will also enjoy seeing a concert at the famous Paramount Theater. The Paramount Theater is located at 911 Pine Street. It was constructed in 1927 as a Vaudeville theater and silent movie house. Today, its spacious stage and large vaulted ceilings make the Paramount Theater a great place to hear a concert. The Paramount’s concert schedule includes over 200 events that include rock concerts, jazz concerts and gatherings sponsored by local artists. Moreover, several nationally known artists make an appearance each year. As a result, concert lovers have a good chance of seeing their favorite musical act perform at the Paramount Theater. (www.stgpresents.org/paramount)

Moore Theater
Finally, be sure to see a concert or a play at the Moore Theater. Located at the intersection of Second Avenue and Virgina Street, the Moore Theater is Seattle’s oldest theater still in use. The theater was built to satisfy demands for an opera house in 1907. Today, it hosts several plays, operas and concerts produced by local music groups. Moreover, tourists will also enjoy seeing some of the country’s leading comics perform here. Be sure to visit the Moore Theater’s website for information about its current events schedule to see why it’s one of the most popular theaters in Seattle. (www.stgpresents.org/moore/)

Three Relaxing Gardens in Seattle!

Published on December 7, 2016

Seattle Gardens

There are many gardens in Seattle, Washington that can provide a tranquil and relaxing atmosphere. Filled with flowers and plants and hens and chicks from around the world, here are 3 gardens in Seattle that can offer a great outing for the day.

Washington Park Arboretum
Located on the shores of Lake Washington, the Washington Park Arboretum is a part of the University of Washington’s Botanical Gardens. The Arboretum extends over 230 acres and offers plant exhibits from the Pacific Region, a Woodland Garden, Japanese Garden and the Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden.

The Arboretum also includes nature trails throughout the gardens to provide a peaceful and serene experience while exploring the gardens. The gardens also feature kayaking and canoeing on Ducks Bay and around Foster Island on the east side of the Arboretum.

The Washington Park Arboretum provides classes to learn more about the Seattle gardens exhibits as well as more about the care and conservation of the native plants. For more information on the Washington Park Arboretum, visit: https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/washington-park-arboretum/.

Kubota Garden
The Kubota Gardens are part of the Seattle public parks system and offer a number of exhibits in Japanese culture and gardening. The Kubota Garden was created in 1927 by Fujitaro Kubota and has grown to a 20 acre display of exotic Japanese plants among waterfalls and ponds.

As a self-taught landscaper, Kubota’s dream was to provide a place to display the native Northwest flora in a Japanese setting. The Kubota garden has grown from it’s beginnings on 5 acres to a thriving and peaceful setting for locals and visitors of the Seattle public parks.

The Kubota Garden includes nature trails for self-guided tours through the park and guides are provided for group tours. The Kubota Garden is also a great place to hold weddings or special events. For more information, go to: http://www.kubota.org/index.htm

Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden
As one of the preeminent Seattle Gardens, the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden provides exhibits of local horticulture year-round. Guided tours are provided through the garden and classes are also offered to educate the public on the care and cultivation of the plants and flowers.

The Miller Garden Trust also provides classes on horticulture from around the world. The Miller Memorial Lectures are offered annually at the University of Washington’s Meany Hall for the Performing Arts.

The Miller Botanical Gardens include many varieties of Alpines, Ferns, Woodland Plants, Ground covers and more. A renown horticulturist, Elisabeth C. Miller attended the University of Washington and lived in the Seattle area for most of her life. She was responsible for the creation of the Center for Urban Horticulture as well as the University of Washington’s Elisabeth C. Miller Library. For more information, go to: http://www.millergarden.org/

These and many other Seattle Gardens make the city a great place for those who enjoy the peace and comfort of beautiful garden environments.

Top 5 Attractions Seattle Has to Offer

Published on December 7, 2016

seattle washington

Seattle, Washington is a fantastic location to experience the Pacific Northwest. Since it is also the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, there are quite a few attractions in Seattle that visitors can choose to enjoy. The “Emerald City” is home to many attractions and cultural landmarks known around the world. The following list features just a few of the best things to do in Seattle.

Seattle Space Needle
The Seattle Space Needle is a signature landmark of not only Seattle, but also of the west coast of the United States. Space Needle guests can take a quick elevator trip to the observation level of the tower and enjoy a spectacular view of the landscape of Seattle and surrounding areas. The top of the Space Needle also is home to the Sky City restaurant which gives guests a complete panorama of the city as the restaurant rotates 360 degrees throughout the course of a meal. (http://www.spaceneedle.com/)

Seattle Center Monorail
Built for the 1962 World’s Fair along with the Space Needle, the Seattle Monorail is the first commercial monorail system in the country. The Monorail takes riders on a 10 minute journey above the streets of Seattle between the Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle, and Seattle Center where the Space Needle is located. In addition to the Space Needle, visitors to Seattle Center can also enjoy the Pacific Science Center and Children’s Museum.
(http://www.seattlemonorail.com/)

EMP Museum of Music
Another Seattle Center attraction is the EMP Museum which has a variety of exhibits in one location. In the Sci-Fi galleries, guests can get an up close look at many props and sets of some of Hollywood’s most famous science fiction movies. The music museum features a sculpture made from 600 guitars and a gallery featuring over 50 very rare guitars dating back to the 1700s. Guests can also try out a variety of musical instruments and take home a recording of their own performance. (http://www.empmuseum.org/)

Seattle Aquarium
To get a look at what life looks like in the waters of the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Aquarium gives guests a glimpse of what lives in the ocean just outside the city in Puget Sound. The underwater dome lets visitors stand in the middle of a 360 viewing room surround by a 400,000 gallon tank featuring rockfish, cod and sharks. Divers also talk to guests about the care they give the various organisms living in the aquarium at the Window on Washington Waters tank. (http://www.seattleaquarium.org/)

Seattle Underground Tour
In 1889, a fire destroyed 31 blocks of downtown Seattle. In response, city planners regarded the streets to be two stories higher than they were before the fire. As a result, many of the original 1st floor buildings and sidewalks were buried underground the new raised streets. Guests can now descend underground to the original street level and take a walking guided tour of several 19th century Seattle streets. (http://www.undergroundtour.com/)

Cash Me Out in Seattle – Your Ugly Home Buyer!

Published on December 3, 2016

Seattle ugly homes cash me out

Real estate in the Seattle area is booming and prices are soaring. The prices in Seattle are climbing steadily since the market crash in 2008 and the market has rebounded in a way that has surprised many people. The median home price for Seattle real estate was an astounding $420,500 during the second quarter, compared to the national average of $239,167. Seattle real estate is selling at a record pace. This means that people who want to sell their homes, now is the time. It is a sellers market but sometimes moving quickly enough to get your home market ready can be difficult. Whether is be because you don’t have the money or the time, selling your home can be quite daunting.

Owning a home can sometimes be a huge financial burden. For some people being able to keep the house that they currently have can come at too huge of a financial cost to either themselves or their families. It can either be because they lost their job, or a divorce has them in financial dire straights, or maybe because they inherited a house that they don’t want to keep. For whatever reason unloading a troublesome property can bring about an enormous amount of relief. As of July 2016, there are currently 1,316 properties in the Seattle that are in some stage of foreclosure and this could have been prevented if the property was sold in a timely fashion. But sometimes selling a piece of property can be time consuming or tiresome. It can be expensive to update and renovate the house. People do not always have the money to make the necessary repairs to the house to attract buyers quickly enough. Most people do not want to move into a house that needs a ton of work. No seller wants their home to sit on the market for longer than a month especially when they need to recoup financially. Sellers do not realize that there are solutions available that can help them sell their home in a very short time frame.

The solution to this problem is easy. Cash Me Out Northwest has been serving the Seattle are real estate market for over a decade and has been the answer for homeowners looking to unload their burden quickly and efficiently. Their motto is “Keys for cash, no hassle!” which means that they offer stress free property liquidation. They will buy your property even if your house has zero (or even negative) equity. If your house has the following issues: poor condition that no bank is willing to finance any potential buyers, liens, code violations, legal problems attached to it, Cash Me Out Northwest will still buy it “as is.” There is no renovating or updating that you will have to do to the house. Cash Me Out Northwest will buy the property regardless of condition. Home owners can rest easy knowing that when it comes time to sell their homes, Cash Me Out Northwest will take care of the whole process from start to finish with little effort on the owners part.

The first step in the process is calling Cash Me Out. Make sure to schedule about 20 minutes for a conversation on the phone with a home buying expert. They will ask qualified questions about your home and your situation in order to get a better of idea of how they can help you to sell your home quickly or help you decide if the company is the right fit. This is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions you might have regarding the process. Ask as many questions as possible. Educating yourself is an important part of this process and the Cash Me Out experts will be able to answer your questions and put your mind at ease. The second step is a home consultation. An expert visits you at your home and will complete a walkthrough of both the inside and the outside of the property. Do not be concerned about the condition of the home. Once again, there is no judgment and Cash Me Out will buy the home regardless of condition. They will also leave you with a professional Market Analysis so you can know how they decide on a sales price. This will also be a useful tool if you decide not to sell with them and wish to use a traditional real estate agent instead. Based on that evaluation and that market analysis, a cash offer will be made within 24 hours. There is no haggling or hidden fees or costs. The offer amount is the total amount that you will net from the sale of the home. You can either accept the offer or reject it.

There are many reasons to use Cash Me Out Northwest especially if you are trying to sell a home in the Seattle market. It is a very competitive market right now and for people who need quick cash for their home, using this company can help expedite the process. Now is the time to sell, and it never hurts to contact them to at least know where you stand with your home. Cash Me Out has even been able to help clients sell the most unsellable properties on the market. They can help you get the maximum amount from your property with absolutely no effort on your part. Do not hesitate and contact them to get the most value out of your property.

Call them now: (206)202-9682
Cash Me Out Northwest serves all of Washington State.

How to Host a Kickass Beer Tasting Party

Published on December 2, 2016

Next time you’re thinking of inviting friends over for a gathering, kick it up a few notches by hosting a beer tasting party. I guarantee you will have more fun than another normal get-together of casual conversation. This Thirsty in Seattle article has you covered.

Step 1 – Plan
Guests: 6 guests are ideal, but you can easily go up to 12. I wouldn’t go any higher.

Type of Beer: Let everyone choose what beer to bring. It’s much more fun and rewarding to let each guest do some research (can be as simple as asking for recommendations from their local bottle shop). You will be surprised how diverse of a lineup you have even with no coordination. Visit our Hall of Fame for inspiration. Another option is to focus on specific styles or a region. True beer geeks will likely want to have each guest bring a “whale”, a rare, hard-to-find beer.

Blind Tasting? Hell, yes! It’s the best way to go. It helps each guest better think about the flavors of the beer, without any preconceived notions about a style or brand clouding their judgment. For a blind tasting, each guest should bring their beer(s) in a brown paper lunch bag cinched near the top with tape.

Amount of Beer: Specify to your guests how much beer to bring. Plan on a 3-4 oz. taste per person.

6-8 guests: Have each guest bring 2 different bottles (Bottle size: 22 oz. bomber OR a larger 750ml bottle, the common size of Belgian beers). This will provide the group with a tasting of 12-16 different beers, depending on the number of guests. Example: Joe brings 1 bottle of Stone Ruination IPA and 1 bottle of La Fin du Monde

9-12 guests: Have each guest bring 2 bottles of the same beer (either 22 oz. bombers OR larger 750ml bottles, the common size of Belgian beers). This will provide the group with a tasting of 9-12 different beers, depending on the number of guests. Example: Joe brings 2 bottles of Stone Ruination IPA.

The reason I recommend a different approach for 9-12 guests is that the same quantity of beer per guest will be needed, but sampling 24 different varieties in one evening is far too many from both a time and palate perspective.

This is meant as a rough guide. You can tailor the amounts based on how much your crew drinks. Also, guests may need to adjust the amounts a bit if they are bringing a beer of a smaller size (such as a 12 oz. can of Ten Fidy or a 16 oz bottle of a German beer like Aventinus) or a larger size (such as a growler).

Food: Decide if you will provide all the food, or if you want to save money by having each guest bring something to share. I prefer to take care of all the food so the guests just need to select their beer(s), but either way works fine.

Plan on plenty of palate-cleansing foods, such as popcorn and crackers. Make sure to serve plenty of heavier food as well to help soak up those high gravity brews. Here’s a sample menu from my last beer-tasting event:

–Popcorn
–Crackers with several cheeses
–Hot pretzels with assorted dipping sauces (cheese, honey mustard, etc.)
–Fruit
–Blue cheese and bacon sliders
–Dessert

Step 2 – Invite Guests
Set the date and time and send out your e-vite invitations. Due to the nature of a beer tasting party, encourage guests to arrive on-time so you don’t have to start the tasting without them. Let the guests know what they should bring and tell them to place each beer in a brown paper lunch bag cinched near the top with tape.

Step 3– Prep for Party
Print Beer Tasting Scorecards: Print our beer tasting scorecards for each guest.

Glassware: Always use glass; never plastic. I like to use Belgian beer glasses or snifters, but large, red wine glasses work just fine. You will want nice, wide glasses to smell each beer.

Set up Table(s): I highly recommend having enough table and/or bar space to accommodate each guest. With all the food and beer, along with the tasting scorecards, this is not easily done on couches. Set each place at the table with a plate, napkin, utensils, beer glass, water glass, tasting scorecard and pen. Place a couple pitchers of water on the table so everyone can mix that in between beers. Include a bowl in case folks wish to rinse their glass between beers.

Determine Beer Order: The beers ideally should be tasted in order of alcohol content (high-hopped beers should also be a factor). Create some general “zones” on the counter or table with post-it notes. For example, you could have a zone for fruity/5% ABV; 6-8% ABV; 9+% ABV; IPAs; Russian Imperial Stouts/Barley Wines. This doesn’t need to be perfect science, and it won’t considering it is a blind tasting. You just want to make sure you’re not wrecking your palate with an Imperial IPA for the first beer.

Have each guest place their beer(s) in the appropriate zone when they arrive. Once all guests have arrived, mark each beer with a unique letter (A, B, C, etc.) and place them in the fridge. The higher alcohol beers, particularly Belgians, should be served around 55°F. When you get toward the latter half of your lineup, just pull the next beer out of the fridge whenever you open a new selection, so it has 20 minutes to warm.

Step 4 – Party and Have Fun!
Put on some music, open the first beer and get the party started! Have fun trying to describe each beer and guessing what it is. Record your notes on your tasting scorecard. Eat, drink some water. Repeat.

The Reveal
Wait until the end of the party to reveal the beers. I also highly recommend tallying everyone’s scores for each beer and averaging them (have a calculator on hand). It’s interesting to see the stack ranking of beers at the end of the night.

Only one question will be left at this point is – Who is going to host the next beer tasting party!

Seattle Council Adopts plan for Best Start for Kids

Published on October 3, 2016

kids-playing-seattle

Last year the voters approved a levy, Best Start for Kids. I want to state right here I did not study that levy at all. I did not even bother to read it. I knew I was going to vote NO. I automatically vote no on any scheme the council (King County or City) dreams up because it’s like deciding which Rat Hole to pour your tax dollars in. They had no plan as to how to spend it or what to spend it on, but now a year later they are still trying to figure it out. Instead of saying we need so many dollars for what age group they just said “kids”. I tried to Google it to find out what is considered a “kid” without any success. We have infants, toddlers, children, etc. but nothing for “kid”. I never thought anymore about it until an article came out in the Seattle Times, Sept 20,2016, that The Metropolitan King Council set guidelines on how to spend $400, million in new tax revenue for child development programs.

Well hold on to your hats because you will learn what a kid is. Here is how the Council is dividing up your tax dollars. They have $400 million to play with. About (not sure what “about” means here) half the money will go to PREGNANT WOMAN and children under five. WOW, that is a mighty early BEST START. They are going to help these ‘KIDS” before they are ever born. My guess would have been the whole wagon load of $400 million would go to kids under 5. There are programs for pregnant woman and they should not be included in this levy. Then it says “about” a third will go to children ages 5 thru 24. Another big WOW here. I used to be pretty good in math but if ABOUT half goes to pregnant woman and kids under 5, then “about a third” to ages 5 thru 24. What is it a third OF?

If you are already confused about your tax dollars it gets worse. The REMAINDER (no one has a clue how much) will go to community programs, data collection and evaluation. How are they going to round up these 24 year old KIDS. Some are fighting over seas. Some are sitting down at the corner bar, lots are in jail. I have two sons and by the time they were 24 they had finished their Army and Navy service and were married with children. If “kids” can vote and go in a bar for a beer at 18 and join the service I think they are a lot to old to be included in a “fresh start for kids” $400 million boondoggle. Maybe the times article is wrong but I don’t think so. Hope some of you inquire.

This data collection and evaluation can get mighty expensive. It can however, provide a lot of jobs for in laws, girl or boyfriends or relatives or someone the city needs to give a favor too. Very little if anything will actually Help any Kid. This adds to property tax, and in turn makes rent higher. Then they create another boondoggle to register all landlords to see why rents keep going up? It’s an endless tax and spend. Look at the money spent to somehow help homelessness. The people still have no homes but man the expensive advisors (Mayor paid one expert $850,000 to tell him its not right for people to be in a place like the jungle). So with $400 million to screw away on Best Start for Kids we can hire many experts, planners, advisors, and maybe even a new assistant to each council member to keep track of this CRAP. Voters please wake up and if you are like me if you are undecided just vote NO.

Your comments and remarks would be much appreciated.

Lilly Marek

Facing The Truth About Political Lies

Published on September 7, 2016

Politicians telling lies

One thing is true – you can’t fix stupid. Its been proven over and over again that American is one of the dumbest countries around and this includes its people. From education, spending, healthcare, and voting to name a few – we are simply the dumbest in the land. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. There have been many International tests that have proven this. I see them driving and I see them in Walmart. Stupid is everywhere and we can’t avoid it.

What really gets me is just how ignorant people are about the political process. They believe our leaders are here to really help us but in reality their agenda always comes first. They will all lie like dogs to protect their leadership perception and of course none of them makes a mistake. Fingers are always pointed in the other direction when it comes to mistakes or the truth is twisted to make it sound better.

It’s interesting to me how gullible people are when it comes to their news and media. They are so convinced their news channel is not bending the truth. It doesn’t matter if you watch Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC, they all bend the truth to get their agendas out. They also favor sides (Republicans vs. Democrats). The truth is they all these channels are controlled by their respected political parties. How often do you hear them talk about the Libertarians Presidential candidate? You know there are more parties than just the Republicans and the Democrats right? Over the years, we’ve been molded to just believe in two parties and you should support one side or the other depending on what channel you watch. However, if you talk to a Fox News viewer or a CNN viewer they both believe their channel is less evil and “more truthful”.

Slavery:
There is no doubt the African American votes go to Obama and Hilary. This question is why? I’ve talked to many blacks and they are passionate about Obama. They love him and will vote for the democrats (including Hilary) with their last dying breath. There is no re-considering or logically analysis for their decision to support the democrats. Even if I said the democrats block every attempt to abolish slavery – they would still vote for them. “Well that was a long time ago”, I’ve heard which is the most pathetic answer. Grudges are held against a white man like me but not against the party that voted against abolishing slavery every step of the way. Hate to tell you but Republicans ended slavery folks.

19th Amendment: A Women’s Right to Vote
We all know Hilary has the women’s vote. She (and the democrats) have played that card very well. The perception of republicans being against women’s right has been molded for many years. There is a whole strategy in fact to dupe a lot of disenchanted voters into the democratic heard to support them. You may have heard about the “War on Women” talk that’s been planted against the Republicans the Democrats are doing a fantastic job of winning that war. That fact is simple – in 1878 a California Republican who goes by the name A.A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment only to see it voted down by a Democrats. Just like slavery and women’s rights, Republicans pushed these laws forward against the constant push back from Democrats. Over the years, the Democrats have wised up and realized they really need these people’s vote so now they are on the other side of the fence.

To make a change you must vote:
Americans actually believe our presidential process is fair. I believe more and more people are wising up to this process. It was much more obvious this time around, however. Bernie lost before he even started. News and documents were published about how the Democratic bigwig leaders developed strategies behind the scene to oust him and they did just that. Hilary locked up the super delegates before Bernie even realized what they were. Trump was saying that all along about the process and probably one of the reasons Trump is falling under the Republican umbrella. Lets look here in Washington State. Bernie Sanders won this states Democratic caucuses by a landslide. It was devastating to Hilary. Bernie preached a lot about taking Wall Street back from the billionaire class. The final results were 72.7% in Bernie’s favor over Hilary. Bernie won every county in Washington State. It was a slandering over Hilary and “the people” spoke their minds at the polls. People wanted a real change. Unfortunately, our political leadership sided against Bernie and “the people”. The truth is Hilary had the super delegates in her pocket so it didn’t even matter. It turns out some of our leadership is corrupt and continue to side against what “the people” really wanted. Gov. Jay Inslee turned against the people and pushed for Hilary after the people side with Bernie. In addition, there is U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, and all six Democrats in the state’s U.S. House delegation will turn their backs on the people and vote for Hilary. Right after hearing Bernie won this state, these super delegates were standing by their position for Hilary winning the presidency. The process is corrupt and so is our Washington State leadership. The fact that they are not supporting the views and votes of the people clearly shows this as being a fact. Bernie was done before he started.

Bernie turns his backs on his supporters:
Bernie gained a lot of traction and supporters during his campaign. A lot of people wanted to support the democrats but wanted a candidate who appeared to be more truthful and real. With Obama and Hilary, they come across very political in the way they speak and over the years its become a turnoff. We have the Benghazi incident and many feel “hope” wasn’t really delivered as promised. Bernie offered a different perspective and sided more with the public. It turns out, however, Bernie wasn’t exactly honest and after he dropped out (Hilary wins) he immediately endorses Hilary and starts campaigning for her. It was odd how that turned around so quickly. It’s still a mystery how someone who is “for the people” quickly supports his main rival. It’s common for deals to happen after a candidate drops out. It’s common for the other side to support the loser financially (it’s expensive to run) while getting his support in return. That is what I suspect happened but honestly we will never know. One thing I do know is that it was extremely shady behavior.

Some items to think about as we move closer to the election.

Seattle Landlords Face New Rules

Published on September 2, 2016

Seattle new landlord rules

Seattle Landlords don’t just face new rules, they actually have had their rentals taken away from them. Biggest land grab I ever heard of. The only thing now that a landlord has, is his name still listed as the owner and has to pay the inflated property tax or they will take it completely away form him. I believe this is a set of rules that will fall under its own weight. I want to state my source of information is taken from the Times paper and from emails from the Mayor and some city council members. I want to make it clear that I AM NOT MAKING THIS STUFF UP. Even the Mayor and Council members know this wont work but are trying to make the tenants dependent on them so they will vote for them. They have promised the tenants a little too much this time all at once trying to make them think they actually care about what they call discrimination. Don’t even know what that word means anymore. Absolutely anything a landlord does now he will be discriminating and can be sued. WOW They have just hired two new staffers to the tune of $200,000 to enforce the rules and the Times says the city will have to ramp up its sting operations. Might as well laugh here, wont help to cry. lol

Tenants must be dancing in the streets. The tenants union must be getting a lot of new members. Boy oh boy they are going to show those greedy old white landlords that they are in charge. Some old sayings are still true today. “Be careful what you wish for, it might come true”. Here is what the tenants have got from these new rules. From the day a landlord puts his rental on the market he loses all control of it. The tenants are running the rental business, not the landlord that owns the property. I have no idea what a new application will look like but the old legal applications are no good anymore. FYI I have a pile of applications that I have always had out for people to pick up and fill in and leave. I look them over and the ones that I think can afford it I contact them and they come back for a personal interview and a through look through the property. Then they have to pay $60 and I send it all to a company called Rental Research. They get the $60, not me. They can tell immediately if someone has a real poor rental record, if they have been evicted, if they have a criminal history, and if they have a good record of employment. Some people simply don’t make enough money to make it possible to pay the rent and have anything left to live on. NOT A LANDLORDS PROBLEM.

Here are what landlords CANNOT ASK ANY PROSPECTIVE TENANT.

New Ordinance: http://seattle.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2802901&GUID=1B597DBF-2FC5-4766-BAC5-F5E8F511F3D6&FullText=1 (Ordinance 125114)

Has he ever been evicted.
Does he have a criminal record.
Does he have a good work history.
If they show up with a months rent they can’t be turned down. You have to rent to first come, first served or you are discriminating.
You can’t ask for a lump sum damage deposit (too hard on the tenant) He can pay it a little each month. IN OTHER WORDS WE CAN’T GET A DAMAGE DEPOSIT OF ASK HIM/HER A THING TO BASE WHETHER TO RENT TO HIM/HER AT ALL. I have always charged a damage deposit up front of a thousand dollars. This is to insure they wont move out the first night with the washer, dryer, fridge and stove. After they stay five or six years I have never kept one dime of the damage deposit. I expect to have to replace the carpet and paint. But to let a guy move in that you don’t know a thing about with maybe $10.00 on a damage deposit, it would take him 100 months to pay that. Dream on.

The prospective tenant is entitled to move in if he depends on unemployment benefits, social security, child support payments, veterans benefits, and any other assistance programs. No employment record good or bad is needed.

I stand corrected if I am wrong here, but anyone I know on social security gets around $1100 a month. This is NOT enough to pay rent, utilities, and have anything to eat. Unemployment benefits don’t last forever and child support payments are worthless. If child support payments have to be honored then the guy paying the child support should have to be the ones agreeing to make the rent payments. Also, just because you have a paper showing how much child support you are supposed to get doesn’t mean you get it. NOT THE LANDLORDS PROBLEM.

That just touches a few of the new really important rules that makes it so a landlord loses all his rights to his property completely. I want to state here that as a landlord I am not and never will be Mother Teresa. I think it’s fine if you want to give someone free rent but it should not be forced on you. Before this batch of rules were published a week or so ago, the city started the scheme over a year ago. Every person with a rental, had to register their rental and pay $175.00. THEN we are told we have to pay for an inspector to come and look it over and tell us what he/she thinks needs to be done. It has nothing to do with what the tenant or the landlord might think. How is that fair? The city encouraged at that time for anyone with a Mother in law or fixed up garage to make them available to rent. Prior to that they had shut down the mother in law units. lol But heck we can get $175 dollars each so the more the better. That was a legalized shake down, and if that wasn’t bad enough they now put out the landlords new rules. Can you imagine having a nice little apt connected right to your house and you have to take in the first person that wants a place to rent? He/she can have a criminal history, a past of evictions, no job history of any kind. OMG what were they thinking? They want the tenants to vote for them and be dependent on them. There are more tenants than landlords so this is democracy gone wild.

The Times published a nice tid bit. Big rich developers wont have a problem. They will never have to have any of these tenants that would fail any kind of a fair application. They just pay the city a big chunk and use it as a tax write off and laugh all their way to the bank. But the paper says they are wondering about enforcement. It says the City will have to ramp up its sting operations. They are having to hire two new staffers to the tune of $200,000 to help with the enforcement of just the first come first serve rule.

A landlord with a duplex that he thought was a good investment will have to take first come first served, no questions asked. Clean the place up really good and pay for the city to inspect it. The landlord will need to make any changes they tell him too and lets say he gets a guy that wants to practice his drums, and maybe have a little band practice, or a guy that wants to move in some junkers and work on cars in his yard, or a lady with a bunch of little kids to run through his flower beds. lol

This is not even fair to the good tenants out there and I have rented my little house out for 40 years right beside me. My criteria was getting someone who had a good job that was near by because I figured they would stay the longest. Most have always been here 6 years or so, til they get married, or buy a house of their own. It’s a big job to get a place ready to rent. I pay a cleaning lady $600 to scrub it top to bottom and hire someone to make any repairs necessary. I can’t afford to rent to someone who will only be there a month or two. As for the first come, I want to give you a good example. I had my for rent sign out, applications in a pile, cute little two bedroom house with a bath fitter bathroom. I turned lots down right at the top because there was no way they made enough to stay afloat if they paid their rent. Some were two people wanting to share the rent. I learned this wont work. One will pay his half, but the other wont, and it’s an on going fight and you never get all your rent. It costs approximately $4500 to do a legal eviction. Out of a big stack of applications I chose a black guy. City seems to think we don’t want them as renters. I chose him over lots of others because he had a good job nearby and could walk to work. It was a perfect fit. But under first come first served he would have lost out. So you are not helping blacks that are hard working and honest.

One more little scam is the rent vouchers. I had two woman with them come look. One was a little black lady with a small child. She loved the place, big yard etc. but my rent was $850 and she was allowed $1400 for rent. That is three hundred a month more than my social security check that I worked 68 years for. lol Instead of being happy and saying she wanted the place, she did not want to give up the $1400 she was allowed. I told her to go find a nicer place but she said mine was the nicest she had looked at and maybe we could make a deal. There was no deal to make if everything was on the up and up. She implied that I could cash her voucher and take my money. Give her the change. I thought something is wrong here. We taxpayers are paying your rent not letting you get extra cash on top. I said my rent was $850, cash or check only so she left. Later called wanting to come back and make a deal, I hung up. Sooooo. They get this voucher and then try to find something cheaper and get the landlord to cash it and either take a kick back for himself and give her the rest to spend by trying to do a little under the table wheeling and dealing.

I think the only protection a landlord has is to not rent out his property. Sell it or leave it vacant (they may make that illegal too). You cannot hand over your keys to the first person who staggers in with the cash (heck the buddies at the corner tavern could all chip in, then come party once he got moved in). They could move out the fridge, stove, and mess it up in less than a week. A bum is a bum, a scammer is a scammer, a good renter doesn’t mind having his past checked out.

The city wants to make it easy for tenants to not be turned down but when my tenant moves, I am going to never rent it out again. I will move into it myself. It’s better than my house and I will use mine for storage. This will not increase the number of rentals in Seattle. This will not help good reliable tenants who will be at work and the welfare gal will be first to come, but you have to finish your shift. The day of reckoning will come and actually then renters will lose the most. When they head out with their list rules to show old Whitey they are in charge, old Whitey wont have anything to rent.

I think this violates the law of contracts somehow because we can’t make any agreements with the tenants at all this way. A little landlord is like a little business so if that set of rules can be enforced on us the little car dealer down the street that sells cars, with nothing down should not be allowed to ask a prospective buyer anything. He cant ask him if he has been in jail for running a chop shop, He cant ask him if he has ever had a car repossessed has a job or what his employment record is. Unless it is on all businesses then they are DISCRIMINATING against landlords.

FYI. I don’t feel anyone is entitled to a thing they didn’t work for. You are where you are because of your choices. I don’t feel sorry for the little black girl with 7 babies. She learned when she got pregnant the first time what caused it. After years of welfare and housing vouchers, help with utility bills has just made them expect the government to provide for them. The government has no money. They have to take it from the taxpayer to give to you. I did not work all those years and end up with a little rental to supplement my social security check thinking oh gee just cant wait to let a criminal or someone who has never gone to work a day in their life move in. My motto is unless I am married to you, gave birth to you, or adopted you I OWE YOU NOTHING. Somehow the government wants to say that blacks and LGBT people are better than us ordinary whites. They get to go to the head of the line. They get the favored treatment. They are no better or any worse and the playing field should be level. If the government wasn’t trying to control us to win votes we would not even have a problem.

Please readers, think about what I have written carefully even if it does not affect you today, think about what a person living alone in a house might get hit with. You might be required to take in a homeless person. Don’t laugh, its no worse than what they just did to people who own a rental. Remarks will be most welcome.

LILLY

Helping Students With Math – SWUN Math

Published on August 17, 2016

Helping Students With Math Washington State

Lets be honest, math can be difficult for both students and parents. It’s one of the most difficult subjects students face in School. From personal experience, I struggled greatly. My parents even made me go to summer school to catch up on my mathematical struggles. Looking back, that extra time and school curriculum really did help. Unfortunately, this continues to be an issue we face in Washington State and the test scores reveal that there is a lot of room for improvement.

The Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction released their recent test scores for both Math and English last Tuesday. While students did improve 3% from the previous year, it was unsatisfactory. The scores revealed that only 21.8% of Washington States 11th graders met the math standard. Washington State is considered to be in the bottom 3rd on a per pupil analysis. In addition, based on this data, that leaves 78% of our junior high school students below the overall standard. So what does this mean for our Seattle math students? It simply means that we have 1000’s of students who simply are not proficient enough in math and really need more help and/or better curriculum to get them to the next level.

Here are the 2016 math test results for Seattle Public Schools (King County)

King County Math Scores 2016 — Graph comparing 2015 king county public schools math scores to 2016.

What can we do to help our students with math?

As a parent, we need to make sure to review our students activities as it relates to their homework and math scores. In short, be on top of their homework.
Always be informed of your students math homework and be sure it’s being done on time.
Follow-up on previous homework to evaluate your students results.
If you notice that there is room for improvement, call the teacher and discuss what activities can be improved upon. If you’re student is misbehaving in class or not even going, you should be aware of this before asking. Teachers need to keep their students accountable as well. This includes informing you of their behavior.
Hold your teachers accountable. It’s their job to discuss ways to improve your students math scores and how you can do better as a parent if you’re not helping the situation. Honesty is key so everyone needs to be transparent and accountable.
If you feel your student is struggling in math, consider an outside teacher or additional tutor help. Schools have these resources available just call them and ask what department is appropriate and who you need to speak with.
Consider outside curriculum to help you student. There are some great programs out there including the SWUN Math curriculum discussed below.

Washington State Math Curriculum Information & Help:
Our state uses the Mathematics and English Language Arts K–12 Learning Standards (www.corestandards.org)

Swun Math Logo

One great program and resource is SWUN Math. For SWUN Math, it all started in a single urban classroom in California and is now educational movement focused on helping students with math. Founded in 2011 by Si Swun, many school districts across the country use them. They work with parents, teachers, and school administration to increase student scores and their involvement with mathematics. Their company focuses on the Common Core mathematics standards and they work side-by-side with school districts. According to their website, “The Swun Math Lesson Design carefully matches the eight required shifts in the Standards of Mathematical Practice, and inherently includes a gradual release of responsibility to students.” They provide coaching sessions to help principals and district staff learn their successful school-wide model. They also provide monthly reviews of the student assessment results as well as next step discussions based on those results. If you’re a parent not affiliated with a school district, you can find their math curriculum online such as Amazon.com as well as their iTunes App. Another resource they provide is their videos found on their official YouTube Channel. The company has put together math videos to help students learn more about math. They are always adding more videos and they are free to watch. This is a fabulous program that provides all the materials a school needs as well as ongoing support so students can enhance their math learning. The SWUN Math approach has been proven to help students with mathematics through clear learning, objectives, assessments, and goals. Twitter / Facebook.