Perils of Caffeine in the Evening

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Perils of Caffeine in the Evening
Ill-advised insomniac ruminations.

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6/9/2005; 4:16:57 PM

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Sunday, May 25, 2003

A picture named 100-0011_IMG.jpg The ferry Kalakala, also known in its heyday as The Silver Slug, taken from my kayak. In a touching entreaty, it had a plastic bottle hanging off the bow expressly so kayakers could drop contributions as we paddled past.
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Long, Strange Trip

A couple years ago, a sculptor in Fremont located this Seattle icon on a mudflat in Alaska and, in a feat (or fit) of diesel-powered performance art, floated it and had it towed back to Seattle. I'm sure he expected to engender a groundswell of civic support for its restoration, relying on the same appreciation of irony and quirkiness in the larger Seattle populace that informs the Fremont enclave. But this is a city afflicted with so much political gridlock that it has trouble siting portable public toilets (internet-ready or not), and his effort first languished, then capsized disastrously (for him).

Soon after the boat arrived here, I attended a musical hosted on board, and it struck me that it would make a great all-ages music venue (of which there were none in town at the time) - access was restricted so adult predators could be controlled, etc. However, that restricted access also meant restricted egress, and caused the fire bureaucracy to declare it unsafe for that purpose.

The boat was truly in wretched shape, and it would have taken a sustained cash infusion to convert it into anything remotely habitable. While I have no personal, emotional dog in this race, I think it's an interesting story of a man's attempt to relate to his city and engage its mythology, and I feel for him.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/123495_bevis24.html

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