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Some Recent Musical Thoughts

Carl Setzer
Photo by Jonathan Cooper

Music plays a huge part in my life. One of my “gifts” is the ability to tie pretty much any phrase, event, or whatever with a song. I’ve had plenty of opportunities this week.

I’m currently working on a project with the Edmonds Waterfront Center. They have several musical activities over the course of each week. And I hear these from my office. One of my favorites: a ukulele class. They play a wide range of songs, which often transforms me in place and time. The ukulele is a wonderful instrument that I delight in hearing. It’s hard to continue in a bad mood when ukuleles play. With this, I was explaining to a chum about some of the artists who have created albums with the instrument. The two that readily come to mind are Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame and Amanda Palmer.

Eddie has a great ukulele album titled, less creatively (I guess) “Ukulele Songs“. This is, perhaps, my favorite from that album.

Amanda Palmer has written some fun songs for the instrument. This one is my current favorite (FYI, not completely safe for work).

A few days later, a friend of mine mentioned her drink of choice was tequila. That always make me think of this song:

And, yesterday, while seeing article after article about AI, this song popped into my head.

Seattle Area Networking Events

Carl Setzer
Guys networking

Well, it’s been a bit, hasn’t it? It’s been nearly a year since my last post. Wow! My apologies. Attempting to reboot my career has taken a great deal of my time and energy. I deeply appreciate that you are here, now, reading this post. Thank you so very much!

As I’m now looking for a new role, I thought it apropos to create a list of networking events. Besides the need for ME to network, I’ve had a couple of folks ask me for places to go. So, here’s the quick list I came up with.

List of Seattle networking events

  • Seattle Chamber of Commerce:
  • Puget Sound Business Journal
  • IABC (International Association of Business Communicators)

Now, here’s where you come in. This list is minimal. Please give me ideas, add to this. I think this could be a nice addition and regularly updated element to my site.

The Evolution of a Lynnwood Construction Project

Carl Setzer
Evergreen Estates Sign - Lynnwood

If you travel around the intersection of 188th and Highway 99 in Lynnwood, you’ve probably noticed the land that’s been sitting vacant for years has been cleared. It’s been quite the journey for this site over the past few years.

Evergreen Estates Construction
Evergreen Estates – Lynnwood

It has evolved a fair amount since it was the Evergreen Estates mobile home park. Back in 2017, it was slated to become the Evergreen Village apartments, a 231 unit 6-story multi-family project. There were low-income units planned, which would be valuable in this region, especially with housing prices rising rapidly. Though it would’ve solidly impacted traffic in my neighborhood, I was good with something going in. That project fell apart, however, I don’t have visibility to the specifics. It did go through much of the more involved parts of the permitting process. I did notice that the property went up for sale after languishing for a few years. In 2020, it was bought by Holman Lynnwood RED LLC, an affiliate of Holman Auto of New Jersey. And now the land has been cleared and the project seems to be moving forward.

Many of us are going “great, just what we need…ANOTHER car lot on Highway 99!” I’m glad that the property will be developed and become less of a trash and graffiti magnet.

Rick Steves Visits Whatcom County

Carl Setzer
white and brown mountain under blue sky

Edmonds’ own Rick Steves recently created a series about touring Whatcom County for the good folks at Visit Bellingham and Whatcom County (check out their write up of this series here). I found it fascinating and enlightening.

Below are the videos in episode order.

Episode 1: Rick Steves Tours Whatcom County and Samples Farm to Bottle Fare

Episode 2: Rick Steves Explores Seaside Life and Peace Arch State Park at the Top of the PNW in Whatcom County

Episode 3: Rick Steves Enjoys Arts & Culture in Whatcom County

I adore Fairhaven. It’s a wonderful part of the region that has a marvelous charm. I especially appreciate Rick calling out Rena Priest, Washington State’s Poet Laureate and member of the Lumi Nation.

If this inspires to you to explore Whatcom, the Visit Bellingham & Whatcom County folks have a visitors guide for you.

*A special thanks to The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog. It’s where I first read about Rick’s video series. If you love poetry, you should go check them out.

Sad update on Brian Yang

Carl Setzer

A few days ago I posted about Brain Yang, a local solider who had gone missing by Mt. St. Helens.

Per his family, he’s been found, but not alive.

Per KIRO’s website, he apparently fell 200 ft down an embankment. My condolences to his family. I hope they find peace

Missing Soldier By Mt. St. Helens

Carl Setzer

Yesterday, this tweet came through my feed:

Being ex-Navy myself, military folks have a place in my heart. Yet, before I posted, I looked to see if there were any updates. Mainly I hoped he’d been found already. I found several other posts, but with the same information. Only this one had more information:
One thing about modern media: we rarely have follow-thru or closure on stories like this. I plan to keep an eye on this story, hoping for a positive outcome. If you hear anything, please let me know and I’ll update this post.

Other posts about Lt. Yang:

Mountlake Terrace Traffic News: July 19 until August 12

Carl Setzer
City of Mountlake Terrace Logo

Just to the north of Lake Ballinger more light-rail work commenced. This started on Monday, July 19th, and stretches to August 12th. It is overnight work (from 8pm to 5am). I expect it will be less than pleasant for the area residents, with overnight noise and traffic issues.

Here’s the link to the City of Mountlake Terrace’s announcement.

236th Street Closure Map
A map of the work area on 236th in Mountlake Terrace