Bus Tunnel

The bus tunnel is set to re-open this coming Monday, a scant six days away. To celebrate, Sound Transit is having not one but two lunchtime parties. The first one is today 11:30am-1:00pm at the Westlake station where you can get onboard a light rail car and walk through parts of the tunnel itself. The second party is Monday 9/24 11:00am-2:00pm at Westlake park where you can get some commemorative souvenirs. Today's party sounds much cooler if you ask me. More details on the Sound Transit website: http://www.soundtransit.org/x6388.xml

2524 Beacon Ave

2524 Beacon Ave, better known as that nice purple house just south of Beacon and 15th, has finally been leased to Culinary Communion. Gabriel and Heidi, the owners, and their family are already living in the upstairs of the house, and the cooking school will be open in October. It sounds as though they might have a bit of a restaurant aspect to them, perhaps cooking your own food before you eat it, but I don't know for sure.

Ski Season is Coming

Although there's still some summer left, you can save some money if you buy a season pass to one of the local ski areas soon.

Crystal Mountain's best prices expire September 15.
Steven Pass' best prices expire October 31.
Summit at Snoqualmie's best prices expire on September 30.

Meteor Shower

Keeping with our celestial theme this week, I've become aware of another western-US-only event. This time it's The 2007 Aurigid Meteor Shower! At 4:36am on Saturday morning (wake up early, or stay up late Friday night) fragments from the long-period comet Keiss will be passing by Earth. Because it's a long period comet, it only comes every once in a long while -- that means it doesn't get heated by the sun very often, so the fragments that come off are "older" and "different" than usual meteors. I don't know what that means exactly, but the coloration may be pretty, I'm told.

For optimal viewing, find yourself a dark spot away from the city (but hey, a spot in the city is better than nothing) and look to the North-North-East.

Gunfire

This morning just before 1am, I heard what sounded like firecrackers. What really worried me was the three distinct pops after the main burst. Firecrackers don't pop one at a time. Shortly afterwards, sirens could be heard all over Beacon Hill. Suspecting Rainier Valley, I was right:

KOMO 4
Seattle PI
KING 5

Fortunately Beacon Hill manages to avoid the danger that befalls the Rainier Valley. Our compatriots to the east need to get their act together and drive out these lunatics.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Starting around 2:00am and ending at 4:30am, a total lunar eclipse will be visible in Seattle. NASA has more details.