Category: Business

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.

Thoughts on Boeing and the 737 Max

Carl Setzer
Boeing 737 Max

Boeing Deception Alleged in Scathing Report on Max Crashes

Article via Bloomberg

As a fan of all things Seattle and Boeing, this was painful to read. I’m hopeful that Boeing can fix this, but also recognize that it’s a monumental task of attempting to reboot a corporate culture against decades of history. Crises tend to provide solid energy to overcome social inertia. I hope Boeing is able to pull this off. 

Boeing is still a company I love and admire. Sure, as a fan of things Seattle, and a lover of aviation, I hold a bias. Many, many of my friends and family have held Boeing badges. I deeply want the company to succeed. Yet in a sustainable manner. Erosions of trust at this level are very hard to overcome, and it can’t be done with a model solely focused on maximized profit.

Getting Takeout: helping our beloved local restaurants stay afloat

Carl Setzer

Today we went and got take-out from one of our favorite local places: Mel and Mia’s (they’re offering takeout and curbside pickup). In the madness of these times, it’s critical to support our local businesses. Especially those that you adore.

Check out the macaroon Rebecca crafted! Isn’t it stunning? One of many reasons why I love these folks.

Getting Takeout: helping our beloved local restaurants stay afloat

Carl Setzer

Today we went and got take-out from one of our favorite local places: Mel and Mia’s (they’re offering takeout and curbside pickup). In the madness of these times, it’s critical to support our local businesses. Especially those that you adore.

Check out the macaroon Rebecca crafted! Isn’t it stunning? One of many reasons why I love these folks.

The IRS and 21st Century Annoyances

Carl Setzer

So, one of my current projects is helping a non-profit get up and running. One of the things we need is an EIN (Employer Identification Number…the organizational equivalent to a Social Security Number). So, I go to the IRS page to request this, and keep getting the old “Can’t connect to the website. Please try again later” error. I don’t think too much of this, but after a couple of hours, it’s getting to me. So, I explore a bit and find this.

image.png

Really? A website that’s only useful during “business hours”? It’s a WEBSITE! Why on earth is this not available 24-7? I guess that there’s some manual approval that happens during the process. Even so, I should be able to apply and be dropped into a queue that’ll be checked Monday morning, or whatever. A website with office hours just boggles my mind.

Ok, this clearly is a 21st Century problem. But it’s just so antithetical to the zeitgeist.

Have you been to Mel & Mia’s in Edmonds? Best baked cakes and such in South Snohomish County!

Carl Setzer

My good friends at Mel & Mias in Edmonds (located at 7530 Olympic View Drive (Google Map Link), right in Perrinville) have great baked goods and coffee…really, really good coffee. Here’s their latest Instagram announcement, I expect it’ll be a fun time.

If you don’t know them, the owners are Bill and Rebecca. Bill is a Culinary Institute of America (the real CIA) trained chef with 30+ years of fine dining experience, and Rebecca has 20 years experience that combines with a passion of cakes, party planning and design. My family are regulars, and we rely on them for perfect cakes for those super-special occasions.

Besides heading down there as soon as you can, follow them on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll be glad you did.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Just a reminder, that on July 26 we are having live music and Mel&Mias! #live #music #livemusic #melandmias

A post shared by Cute Pastries & Coffees (@melandmias) on

Meet The Dogs Of Amazon

Carl Setzer

Just stumbled upon this post on Amazon’s website: “Meet The Dogs Of Amazon“. I was reminded of my brief stint with Amazon.

Back in the mid-90s (est. 1996) I did one temp project with them, back when Amazon was located on 2nd Avenue, close to Pike Place Market. I helped build a call center. I set up the dumb terminals for the inbound call reps. Not the most challenging work. I just pulled a monitor from a box, added the keyboard, pinged the mainframe, then off to the next one. It was just a few day project.

During my intro, I was given a tour of the building. On one floor, there was a corgi and his human. Every hour or so, the human threw the ball down the hall, the corgi chased it, repeat. I thought it was pretty amazing. It was my first experience into a more relaxed office environment. Eye opening and rather life changing. And my first experience with tech culture.

I’ve been fascinated ever since.

Some thoughts on Seattle’s growth  

Carl Setzer

Lately I’ve been considering growth. Seattle’s been growing in a huge number of ways: jobs, cost of living, rents, population. This growth changes things: traffic, greater economic fragility, more economic stress on nearly everyone. I

I read an article yesterday saying that San Francisco’s poverty line income was a bit above $114k. Seattle is getting close. 

With this growth and pressure on finances, I see this region’s density increasing. I expect the single family home will slowly vanish as land costs continue to climb. Eventually, multi-family will be the only way to earn enough return on land investment for builders. 

I expect well see lots of Seattle neighborhoods becoming predominantly multi-family, actually a region of apartments condos stretching from the center out to the burbs. 

I do wonder if there’s an equilibrium. Will we get to a point where things will stabilize? 

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

Let’s Talk Burgers, Shall We?

Carl Setzer

Over on Instagram one of my chums, Eat Stay Love posted the photo below:

 

Their post led to a discussion about great burger places in the region. Funny, but I realize I’ve experienced many and have my “definitive” list of favorites, which stretch from Seattle north to Bellingham.

This my reflexive list. What’s missing? What are your favorites? I’d really love to hear them.

Several years ago, I considered doing a road trip focused on the best burger places. Might be time to consider that one again. What do you think?

Through The Day Then Into The Night

Carl Setzer

A pretty standard day any more. Worked all day, mostly drafting a site plan, but some other work, too. The most amusing was driving to one of our new listings. The property has been framed, but is still under construction. As it’s listed, we wanted to hang a keybox on the property, so other agents can show. We’ll, got the keybox, inserted keys, drove it out to Snohomish from Marysville, and then noticed there are no doors on the property yet. Nothing to hang the keybox to. Sigh… Anyway, I also followed up with a few folks, sent a gob of emails. After dropping off some drawings, etc, at a client’s house, I zipped home.

Now, in a couple of minutes, I’m heading off to a board meeting for the Snohomish County Youth Chorus. As my son sings in it, and the director is a long-time friend of mine, I’m quite committed to the org. It’s a fun group, the parents enjoy each other’s company, and the kids have fun. Oh, they sing and stuff!

Anyway, off on to the next appointment!