Someone on omjp has just noted that the Port of Olympia has been doing a lot more business lately. Here's the numbers for 1998-2004:

year  millions
1998   83.9
1999   20.9
2000   6.4
2001   12.0
2002   20.5
2003   106.2
2004   163.6

There is a one hundred forty million dollar increase between '02 and '04. The new deal with Weyerhaeuser couldn't account for this jump, because that just recently occured. Would war-related shipments be counted as commerce? Anybody know what accounts for the increase?

I was pondering how best to make a really great contribution in this post. Ideally an earth shattering revelation with a touch of whimsy, along with the use of the necessary word "fetid". 

Should I write about state government nefarious activities? That unusual fetid house down the street where stray cats wander in and never come out again? No no, my most important contribution is to check on when happens when the words -olympia caimans- are googled on, right this second.

No " " involved in the first search. There we are! #1, an OlyBlog post, Strap a Caiman to Your Head. #2 is Take a walk -- the weather's fine.

With quotes around the search terms we also get The Mystery of Decatur Woods Park.

All on OlyBlog, all local reporting, all the Olympia caiman news, all the time. And #1 with the Google.

...is a new blog by Jade:

We haven't had a really great, really Olympia coffee shop since the Smithfield. We need a place where coffee costs a dollar. Where not only is it "bus-your-own", but you can grab a bar towel and wipe up your own spills, too. Where people go to play chess with random strangers and write poetry on napkins. Where teenagers sit around playing guitar. Where crazy people spread out their wares on the formica tables and no one tells them to leave and people do weird performance art peices and people bug you for money and they have open mikes on Thursdays and AA meetings on Tuesdays. Whatever happened to those places?

Mmmmmmmm. Super blogolicious!

One of our neighborhood unofficial mayors asked me why I was standing in the middle of the street staring up, I pointed out the two bald eagles circling overhead. She told me that the eagles visit frequently and that they like to sit in -that- tree over there.

All this reminded me to remember to look up! from time to time, even when the sunlight is confusing, and that the unofficial mayors know way more than I do.

Recently I noticed one of the unofficial neighborhood mayors out deadheading some plants. Her back was supposedly turned to any activity, but the more I watched, the more I saw that she was keeping an eye on things even still. She was listening, her dog was paying attention, and I'd almost claim that she really does have eyes on the back of her head.

I notice that there is much more awareness around logging trucks now, especially as they try to navigate roundabouts. Transit bus drivers give them lots and lots of room. Pedestrians step back further as logging trucks go by.

I have to wonder if there is some way to increase safety. Do logs need to be secured to the trucks differently? Do the trucks need to be redesigned? And what of our city streets, how will the possible increase in logging trucks moving through Olympia impact our streets?

From Olympia Time:

The following is an outline of what I think it would take to pull off a "Since Sliced Bread" type project to develop a Washington State Netroots Legislative Agenda for the 2007 legislative session. Please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested in any of the below points (especially number one) and comment.

Discussion over there.

You are cordially invited to:
The Evergreen State College - Tacoma
11th Annual Showcase and Resource Fair
"Strategies for Renewing and Restoring Community"
Saturday, May 20, 2006
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

See poster.

I saw, a few years ago in Phoenix, a sign at an intersection that read "Red means Stop. That Means You."

Afterwards, I thought: Jeebus, is it really that bad?

Well, yes it is - Lacey drivers are just plain fucked and when the new Costco / Best Buy / Home Despot Megaidiotplex is up and running, just down the road, there'll be more of you red light running fuckers.

So slow down and live another day, and if you hit my car running a red light, and I can walk out of it - consider yourself truly fucked, for I will have no mercy on you.