FAVORITE COFFEE SHOPS #4--TULLY'S COFFEE AT UNION STATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT

Tully's Coffee at Union Station in the International District

(This and subsequent images are Hawaiian Odysseus photos.)

A STAND OF BAMBOO TREES separates this Tully's Coffee shop from its competitor, Starbucks, which is located diagonally to the northwest in the busy Union Square of the Emerald City's International District.

While competition is said to be healthy in a democratic society, it's more than just a Bamboo Curtain that sets Tully's apart--not necessarily vertically, but definitely horizontally--from Starbucks.

For starters, I like the presence of more furniture (and, in some areas of the room, more comfortable furniture) at Tully's.  As you enter the shop, there's a variety of seating arrangements that meet the eye. To the left, if you're fortunate enough to arrive there early or when the area is vacant, you'll find an ideal writer's or student's table.  This is where I plopped down for a few hours today to write the previous post and do some prep work for the one you are reading right now.

(I am laughing inside because I am actually finishing this piece while seated at the handicapped table at the aforementioned Starbucks shop.  Hey, it's a free world, right?)

Anyway, I was served by two very personable young men, Tobin and David.  

David is sporting a handsome Van Dyke these days, and I complimented him on doing such a good job growing and grooming it.  David immediately called out my drink by rote, and that impressed me to no end since it's been months since I last saw him in the shop.

Tobin, whom I have featured in a rather complimentary Yelp post I wrote about a year ago for this same coffee shop, has a very sincere and winning way about him.  Often, I see him sporting a dapper derby hat.  He is probably older than his youthful appearance belies.  

Between the writing and photographing, I got a refill of their drip coffee and ordered a savory tomato and basil roll, heated to draw out its wonderful flavor.

Another feature of Tully's Coffee is the presence of a large, attractive table adjacent to where I was seated.  I've observed many a friendly, familial, and/or serious business meeting occur at this table.

The sign on the table kindly asks patrons to reserve the table for large groups.  For the most part, customers politely honor this request.

The atmosphere is laid back in direct contrast to the competitor shop.  While this is not necessarily viewed as a business plus at the corporate level, it is--from the customer's perspective--a tranquil alternative that encourages the flowing of creative juices, the catalyst for pheromone chemistry, the suitable arena for finals cramming, and the fostering of business and political liaisons.

Who frequents the shop?  Well, Hawaiian Odysseus, for one.  Many a blog post has been written in this Tully's, several of which were born in a mind severely fatigued from having just emerged from a one-hour bus ride immediately following a graveyard shift at the bagel sweat shop.  Oh, did I just write sweat?  How purposely Freudian of me!

There is a corporate Amazon presence close by, and many of its employees enjoy a nice caffeinated brew here.  Police officers, security guards, transit authorities, and--no doubt--plainclothes cops and detectives stroll in at times.  On the other end of the spectrum, there is an occasional homeless person who just scored on some coffee money handout.  In between are the yuppies, attorneys, public transportation (Amtrak, Sounder, Link Light /Rail, and Metro and Sound Transit bus) commuters, janitors, and backpackers (a loosely defined group of which I am a proud cardholder).

I digress at this point with a SECRET moment...

I AM BACKPACKING AND BLOGGING MY WAY TO A VERY SUCCESSFUL BESTSELLING NOVEL!

There, I manifested my secret by daring to boldly proclaim it in a public forum.  The seeds are taking root in a very fertile universe.

Thank you, Tully's Coffee at Union Square in the International District, for being a groomsman (or maid of honor...one needs to be especially politically correct in trendy and super liberal Seattle) in my wedding to SUCCESS.

Ah, my narcissism rears its swell head when fueled by the java jolts of not just one, but TWO coffee competitors.

It's time I draw this to its illogical conclusion.

Tomorrow, I will ride an Amtrak train for the very first time in my 6-decade life from Seattle to Portland.  

The occasion?

For the first time in 33 years, I will be reunited with my father.  So, as much as I know you enjoyed this current post, do me a favor, won't you? and help me pay tribute to dear old Dad by revisiting the last entry.

For your convenience, here is the link:

http://hawaiianodysseus.blogspot.com/2011/06/forgotten-legend.html  

You'll hear from me again when I'm crabbing with my loved ones on the Oregon coast.

ALOHA!

BEHIND THE SCENES

Dylan and Joe--Just Two Wild and Kolohe Guys!
(Photo courtesy of Kathleen W.)

Three days ago, I had the pleasure of having family visitors from Kauai.  Needless to say, their sweet aloha and warm personalities were a wonderful contrast to the seemingly bipolar weather that has recently beset the Emerald City.  I think the sun is starting to win the Who's Going to Dominate the Sky Today? competition, however, and I'm convinced that my loved ones tipped the scales by bringing some of the Hawaii weather up here...at least for a little bit.

Featured above with yours truly is the charismatic, vibrant, and adventuresome Dylan Imaikalani Watanabe, my five-year-old grand-nephew.  For your information, Dylan is highlighted in several of my humorous posts   on the close cousin blog to Hawaiian Odysseus, aptly named Hawaiian Odysseus 2.

Just in case, let me provide you with a link to HO2:

http://hawaiianodysseus2.blogspot.com/

In fact, if you get a chance to view HO2 sometime soon, you will see a recent post on there (which I'm working on in my head just yet) that uses the same image as that above.

Okay, now that we've taken care of that detail, we can proceed.

Dylan is a very special child and is a permanent guest in my heart.  When I first met him a couple of years ago, he instantly won my affection.  The best way I can describe the close bond I feel with him is that he reminds me of the little boy that was me, fifty-plus years ago.  On some level that I don't quite yet understand, when I think of or interact with him, I am attending to that little boy growing up on Kauai in the 1950's when Hawaii was still a territory. 

And so we come to the gist of these two blogs that I pen--Hawaiian Odysseus and Hawaiian Odysseus 2.  The first is a more serious look at life and Everyman's journey to find himself.  For me, personally, it is a challenging trek, and I embrace each fork or curious bend in the road, each passage of imposing body of water, and each Cyclops, siren, Scylla and Charybdis, Calypso the nymph, Circe, and angry Poseidon passionately and voraciously.  Why?  Because to experience the process of working through and maybe even overcoming these obstacles and adversaries means that I am getting closer to going home...to my queen, to my castle, and--most importantly--to my true sense of self.

It may be Everyman's journey, to be sure, but this blog seeks to chronicle my unique homeward trek to metaphorical Ithaca. 

The Greek playwrights and their successors knew and  understood the value of balancing life's scales.  If there is tragedy, then there must also be comic relief.  Real survival relies on this yin-yang balance.

This is where Hawaiian Odysseus 2 comes in.  It is light humor--sometimes obvious, sometimes cryptic, sometimes sophisticated, sometimes elementary school playground.  But foremost and always, it is a wonderful complement to Hawaiian Odysseus.

And it is my earnest prayer that my faithful followers and casual readers will review both blogs.  Undoubtedly, you will prefer one over the other, but just as the need exists for this writer to invest in both in order to maintain mental, emotional, and spiritual stability, you--the reader--will welcome a similar respite at times.

So, back to Dylan...he will pop up as the featured attraction now and then in the HO2 posts.  And when he does, I hope you smile and/or laugh your heart off.  

Thank you for your gracious attentiveness.

Aloha and mahalo!  See you around the next bend...

                                                      

 

THE RAIN WAS HERE LONG BEFORE ANY OF US WERE AROUND TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.

Majestic 'Opaeka'a Falls
(Photo courtesy of Silas K. Aqui)

The rain was here long before any of us were around to complain about it.

This thought came to mind as I sat in a coffee shop one morning wondering if and when the sun was ever going to come out and play again over the Emerald City.  I was at the Olive Starbucks on Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood at the time, and the raindrops were pummeling the large window to my left.  Seattle rain usually is of the drizzle variety, but on this particular morning, it reminded me more of torrential Hawaiian rain.

Which only reinforces my split personality lifestyle--one mental foot in Hawaii, and the other in Seattle.

Japan is also on my mind.  A lot of people's minds, for that matter.  

Sadly, the death toll in our Asian neighbors' homeland has reached five digits.  The meltdown of the nuclear reactors currently poses an ominous threat to the safety and security of not only the people of Japan but also the populations of other countries.

True to its role as a socioeconomic barometer of global current events, the stock market plummeted and then gained back a small portion of its drop yesterday.  As I write this just before 10:00 AM on Wednesday, March 16th, the Dow is at 11705, a drop of approximately 150 points, or 1.28%.  Understandably, the crisis in Japan figures significantly into the current stock market weakness, but history dictates that the investor's best course is to maintain a cool and calm mindset.

The rain was here long before any of us were around to complain about it.

We need to be mindful that it is not the event but rather our attitude about the event that makes or breaks us.  I will be the first to admit that I have much to learn about keeping my cool under fire.  But at least I can be honest about my weakness in that regard, and that in itself is a beginning.

I purposely selected a photo of 'Opaeka'a Falls for this post today that showed it in all its muddy water glory.  You won't see too many island postcards, if any at all, depicting a brown waterfall.  I mean, it's just not great marketing, is it?

Still, it's a definitive mark of integrity to showcase that which is natural and real and brutally honest.  

We're seeing a lot of that lately in the news.

Here's some additional insight regarding the photo above.  It was taken before the Ka Loko Dam breached  one night, resulting in several people being swept out to sea by a powerful flood.  

You can read about it here:  http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/05/22/news/story02.html

Unfortunately, disasters happen.  It's an inevitable intersection where Mother Nature and civilized man 

have a head-on collision. 

Some blame God. Some praise God.  Some don't believe in God but nevertheless point their accusatory fingers at someone else. 

I choose to live by this simple and original homespun adage:

The rain was here long before any of us were around to complain about it.

                                         

ANYONE REMEMBER WALTER MITTY?

Olohena Road Waterfall
(Photo courtesy of Silas K. Aqui)

The overhead palette for the Emerald City, consistent with the weather patterns of the last month or so, has changed about as quickly as a fickle television viewer flicking through expanded basic cable channels.

One minute, the sky is ash gray with the threat of busting loose in a torrential downpour...um, okay, so it doesn't usually rain in torrents in Seattle.  Let me rephrase that.  The sky is ash gray with the mediocre feint of an aged pugilist's right cross. 

Then, as if on taped cue, the clouds disappear, and the sun comes bursting through like a Brahman bull on its virgin attempt to rip its rider from his saddle.  Okay, okay...the sun comes dancing from behind the smoky curtain like Richard Simmons in polyester striped shorts and shiny nude support hose.

Only to disappear--impotent, it seems, in the early March haze.  

In the midst of all this crazy weather, how in the world do most Seattleites keep from suffering from Seasonal Affect Disorder?

It would appear to be the coffee.  

I haven't conducted any formal research, but I'm willing to wager that the inhabitants of this city consume more java per capita than any other metropolis in the world, or my name ain't Joe.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

So, where does Walter Mitty fit into this scenario?

Those of us on the senior edge of the baby boomer generation may very well remember the 1947 Danny Kaye movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  Based on a 1939 story penned by James Thurber and published in The New Yorker, the story is about a daydreaming pulp-fiction writer with an overprotective mother who spaces off frequently, imagining himself to be a hero who experiences fantastic adventures.  

Truth be told,  http://hawaiianodysseus.blogspot.com/ and http://hawaiianodysseus2.blogspot.com/ are in great part (comedic, more often than not) contemporary allusions to this wonderful tale.  

Furthermore, this writer would posit that most, if not all, men need to have this imaginary hero alter ego to maintain not only their sanity but also their sense of male identity, especially in a world where boundaries are transient and gender roles are almost non-existent.

So, the Starbucks where I post today's entry is really Olohena Road on the island of Kauai.  And the coffee counter is not an urban water hole but, rather, a miniature waterfall that conceals the hideaway of a notorious terrorist and his cache of plutonium.  And the barista--well, she's the leading actress, of course, and I had better determine in the next few seconds if she's my ally or just another clever femme fatale.

But right now, I'm waiting for the Head Prop Man upstairs to change the look of the theatrical sky from drab gray to Polynesian azure.  

He can do it, you know, because He owns an awesome iPhone 6!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-M1F8hVfjM

                                       

FROM THE 2ND HIGHEST STARBUCKS SITE IN THE WORLD

Columbia Center Building
Seattle's Tallest Skyscraper
(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)

Today, I wanted to treat myself to a Caramel Frappucino, venti size, and I wanted to engage in my blog activities while reveling in the magnificent view from the 40th floor of the Columbia Center, smack dab in the heart of downtown Seattle.

From this vantage point, I can see the details of the underbellies of incoming planes as they maneuver through their approach flight patterns, eager to touch down at either Boeing or Sea-Tac Airports. For a moment--and a fleeting moment, if you will--I reluctantly flash to the newsreels that played over and over and over again on our television screens on that fated September day a little over 8 years ago. At the speed of light, I thank God that the giant silver birds that pass over me this idyllic Seattle afternoon are manned by friendly pilots.

Somehow, the magical perspective from this lofty site makes me forget about the dismal sports seasons the Emerald City has suffered through the past couple of years.

So what if the occasional (um, okay, chronic) drizzle cloaks this city in eerie black and white film noir apparel?

It's just me, my laptop, this delicious frapuccino, and the musings of a vagabond lifestyle that color this Pacific Northwest metropolis as night covers it with an ethereal blanket.

An hour from closing time, I am waiting for my four auctions on eBay to end so I can record the necessary information and prepare the packages for mailing.

Meanwhile, I want to share with you that my son and I had a gmail chat this afternoon (his midnight). He's been very busy taking beaucoup photographs in gorgeous Florence, Italy. He added that he'd get back to his blog sometime in the next few days. Speaking of which, I really like how he's added the amazing European landscapes, architectural and sculptured classics, and lively portraits to his blog. He certainly has a photographer's vision.

Back to the eBay theme...

What am I selling? Some of the best fly tying/fishing hooks out of Korea and Japan--respectively, the Dai-Riki and Tiemco brands! Ten years ago, when the general populace was uncertain as to whether or not Y2K was going to be the most awesome and ominous computer plague to hit the planet, Rita and I opened up a Mom and Pop business on the burgeoning internet auction giant. At first, I was selling fishing flies that I had begun crafting in the early 90's. But it got to be such a pain in the neck (really, the long hours spent with one's neck at an unnatural angle is certainly an invitation for early arthritic onset), that I decided to go to a least labor-intensive practice--that of selling fly tying materials and supplies to other fly tyers. The fly tying hooks just happened to be our highest volume commodity.

It's a humble venture, but it's helped pay for some of the smaller family expenses as well as contributed to the fine Christian education of both of our children. In addition, it's been an adventuresome and educational foray into online entrepreneurship. How wonderful to have customers from every state of the Union as well as from every continent of the globe. Most importantly, it has set an example for my children about the good things that can happen when diligence, sacrifice, and perseverance fire up our dreams.

Just this morning, I was musing about our 100% positive feedback rating from almost 5000 unique customers. We serve a wonderful God who blesses in such sweet and mysterious ways.