12 mini-reviews for the short attention span, taken from dark corners of stevenl's video vault:

Hi If you have not already heard this please check it out Here's a link to the permanent archive of an interview w/ Niombi, Hillside Quickie founder. It's about 13 minutes in: Sound Focus

You can find Hillside Quickie sandwiches in the refrigerator case at both Olympia Food Coop stores.

Below is an excellent essay examining leftist and anarchists relations to violence which has powerful connections to the events of May Day.

Against the Corpse Machine: Defining a Post-Leftist Anarchist Critique of Violence
by Ashen Ruins

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Sometimes anarchists are slow learners. Disregarding the famous, definitive and prognostic Marx-Bakunin split in the First International near the end of the 19th century, anarchists overall have continued to cling to the obsolete notion that anarchy is best situated within the otherwise statist Leftist milieu, despite the bourgeois democratic origins of the Left-Right spectrum. Since then communists and Marxists, liberals and conservatives alike have had us right where they want us - and it's shown in our history. In continuing to view ourselves as Leftists, despite the glaring contradictions in such a stance, we have naturally relegated ourselves to the role of critic within larger movements, and often found ourselves either marching towards goals which stand in direct opposition to our own interests or suckered by counter-revolutionary appeals to anti-fascist or anti-capitalist unity.

Read more.

The checks started going out this week. What are you going to purchase?

Mine's either going towards my student loans or its going towards a new computer.

This is the next installment of our Alpine hiking experiance in Western Washington. This hike is on Mt. Rainier, called Comet Falls, just a little West of the Skyline trail.

Comet Falls trailhead is located on the drive up to Paradise from the West entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. Parking is pretty limited at the trailhead, so on busy weekends you will want to get there early. The hike itself is pretty steep and the view not all that good, compared to the Skyline trail, until you get up towards the end at the top. Once at the end, you are surrounded by alpine meadows, and a great view of the Cascades and of course Mt. Rainier.

Near the end of the trail, about 1/4 mile from the end, was a small spur trail that went off to the East. We walked down that trail and it ended about 150 yards from the main trail. But there was a nice little open area with some logs to sit on and surrounded by scrub fir trees. We set there took in the fresh air, enjoyed the view, all the while sipping some Cabernet and eating some cheese.

A very nice hike, rewards with a good workout and wonderful scenery, even though you have to wait until the end to see much.

(Critter report: saw a lizard today, which I narrowly avoided rolling right over, and some squirrels. I can't believe I didn't include squirrels in yesterday's post!)

Yesterday I had a thing after work that involved biking out on Martin Way & then Carpenter Road. I had almost forgotten how squirrelly it can be riding on really busy highway-like roads. I love biking, but I'm not exactly what you'd call the most expert cyclist. (As chad360 can attest to.)

Yes, there is a bike lane on Martin Way; however, there's also quite the dip by Top Foods: a long downhill followed by a long uphill, and the traffic zips by at (I would guess) 45+ MPH. So I stuck to the right edge of the bike lane, more in the shoulder than the lane. Heading east, I got to a pretty nice clip myself on the downhill, which is fun if slightly unnerving.

From Janine Gates via email:

...I attended the Triway Enterprises "open house" last night at Tumwater Lodge, met Jeannette Hawkins and Mr. Tri Vo, the project developer, the project designer, and others. A Triway-hired limo driver enthusiastically insisted on taking me the short distance from the overflow parking lot up to the lodge. That about says who was really invited to this "open" house. I walked back to my car.

I asked Jeannette who was invited. She said the Chambers, the Olympia Downtown Association, the Westside Business Association, the 2012 group, etc." By only inviting such an elite sliver of the community, an opportunity for real dialogue was missed. I asked when she was going to invite the local environmental community to participate in the discussion and she laughed, saying that she had lots of time, "until September." Mostly likely, she had no intention of reaching out so I asked if she would be interested in coming to a forum that SPEECH would sponsor and she said yes, she would welcome the opportunity. So, SPEECH will be sponsoring a forum, date and time to be announced soon, stay tuned.

Do these people really want to work and play with us? I don't think so. I've lived here 25 years and I still don't personally don't know anyone who could afford to buy one of those condos, which they said would retail for $800,000 - $1 million each. They said there is a pent-up demand for view condos at that price. Build it and they will come seems to be their philosophy. But at what price are we wiling to sell the soul of our community - our views, our way of life, our sense of community spirit?

I look for common themes when I browse through posts by local bloggers. These two posts on lawn mowing caught my attention:

I mowed the lawn this morning with a mulching mower. So now the dog's running around with little green paws. It's so cute. :D

Wally's LiveJournal

A day in the life of Amanda! I'll tell ya! I got a little crafting in, and a little baking, and I RAN OVER A SNAKE WITH A LAWN MOWER!

More at Yellow Makes Me Happy

And in our own OlyBlog archives read stevenl's long entry written to avoid mowing his lawn: The Link-Crazy Freewriting News

Need to mow your lawn? Tomorrow, Friday, appears to be the day to do it.

Got mowing stories? Remember to give our local bloggers some attention too.

Please join us for the Thurston County Young Democrats' meeting next Friday, May 9th, at 8pm. This is our first meeting following a successful Thurston County Democrats Convention, and we are very excited to build on the fantastic turnout from young Democrats at our precinct caucuses and Convention!

We will be meeting at the Thurston County Democrats Headquarters, 2120 Pacific Ave. in Olympia, to elect our 2008-2009 officers and plan our activities through this summer and fall. If you're interested in volunteering with campaigns, registering new voters, or just getting to meet other young people who are passionate and engaged in Democratic politics, this is the place! And of course, we'll have plenty of pizza & beverages.

When:

Friday, May 9th at 8pm

Where:

Thurston County Democrats Headquarters
2120 Pacific Avenue SE
Olympia, WA
(between KRXY Radio & Capitol City Stove -- there is additional parking behind the building on State Ave.)

For more information, visit our website at www.tcyd.net, email Chair Hillary Hunt at hillary.hunt (AT) ydwa.org. Thanks & hope to see you there!