Icing and More

GROUND FLOOR: Yesterday morning, the kids and I were working three computers and at least four browsers, targeting the Ticketmaster website. Our goal? Potentially getting in on the ground floor of a National Hockey League team coming to the Emerald City.

Our efforts paid off, and within 10 minutes of the opportunity going on sale, we were "in."

In fact, a whole lot of people were in. Within short order, more than 10,000 season ticket deposits were made.  

What comes next remains to be seen. The NHL has not awarded the city a team. It's just speculation at this point. And the deposit means nothing, really, other than the maybe chance to get tickets. 

Oh well, at least we have maybe supposedly have a chance if we want. And they couldn't possibly go as long without winning a championship as the Mariners, right?

BTW, Seattle was the FIRST U.S. team ever to win the Stanley Cup, way back in 1917. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in the States.

By Alex Goykhman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44669468

YOUNG ACTIVIST: Yesterday, CJ called the office of the governor of the state Washington twice. Why?

I'll let him tell you. ...

Yesterday, it came to my attention that a bill withholding information about various state legislators from the public was at Governor Inslee's desk. Specifically, the bill would have exempted the legislature from the Public Records Act, which, according to the Seattle Times, several members of the legislature have long claimed they are not bound by.

After I learned about this, a family friend and I agreed to call Governor Inslee's office to request that he veto the bill. After dialing the Inslee office's number, I was told to wait for a representative to respond to my call. After waiting, I was greeted by the voice of a representative and asked what I wanted to say.

I introduced myself as a constituent of Governor Inslee, and asked that he veto the bill withholding information about state legislators from the public. I was promptly told that a recording of my request would be played to Inslee later that day.

After walking around the field by Cascade with our friend and her dog Penny,  our friend asked if I wanted to call Inslee's office again. I agreed, and repeated the same requests made in my previous call to the Governor's office.

Later that day, Inslee vetoed the bill, in (what I consider to be) a victory for concerned Washingtonians like (our friend) and me. Reportedly, Inslee's office had received thousands of calls regarding the bill by the time he had vetoed it.

CJ clearly felt good about trying to do something positive for our state, and I'm proud of him for doing so.

FAR PARK: This morning, we resumed our Japanese studies. Some of the things we'll be working on in our next unit include important words and phrases for getting around. Here's a screen shot of the Mango Languages goals for our present unit. We were happy to see we are finally going to ask where the bathroom is. (We kind of thought that might be in the very first unit, and this is unit 14!)

FYI, おてあらい is a polite Japanese word for a restroom, and it literally means "a place where you wash your hands." We learned that when in Japan, the English characters "W.C." (water closet) or pictographs of a male and a female are often used to denote restrooms.

Another topic that came up today was Tokyo's  うえのこうえん, or Ueno Park. Curious, we quickly hopped away from Mango and onto websites where we could find maps and pictures of the park.

Turns out the sprawling urban oasis was established in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to the temple of Kan’ei-ji. 

Park grounds include major museums (including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum for Western Art, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the National Science Museum), a zoo, historic buildings, a zoo, and a 100-plus year old statue of Takamori Saigo. Saigo was a statesman credited with playing a pivotal role in the birth of modern Japan.

The park's northern part features over 8.800 mature trees, including a thousand cherry trees lining its main path. The Japanese National Tourism Organization has a video about those trees and their blossoms.

Overall, the park looks like a must-see if we're ever lucky enough to get to visit Japan.