Downtown

Thursday night I took the Max (the local train) downtown to a software developer's get together at the Thirsty Lion. I got off the train at the Oak Street station and my short walk to the pub took me by a couple places I knew. I would never have guessed that I would find so many places I knew all in one go. First was McCormick & Schmick's (Seafood Restaurant). My wife and I eat there occasionally, but I have never been able to find it reliably. I know where it is approximately, so I drive to the general area and then wander around till I stumble on it. Practically next door is Apple Music. I was just down there with my son looking at guitar amplifiers. I bought one of those $100 specials they throw in when I bought him an electric guitar. He has outgrown it. He claims the sound is terrible. I wouldn't be surprised, but I really have no idea. After all, the sound of screaming hot rod engines is music to my ears. I don't claim to appreciate the finer nuances of actual music.

Around the corner I find a whole bunch of TV news vans pulled up along the curb. Oh, s**t, this must be the "Zone" where we had several people shot the other night, two fatally. What an effed up thing to happen. One of the girls who was shot goes to my son's high school. She is an exchange student from Ecuador. She caught a bullet in the thigh, but she is going to be okay, physically anyway. They released her from the hospital and she is planning on staying on.

The shooting was a friggin' disaster. Near as I can tell, the shooter wasn't a gun nut, wasn't even a nut case, just an ordinary guy who went off the deep end.


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In the next block was the pub, where SAO's DevSIG was meeting. I stayed for an hour or two, talked to several people, and then walked back to the train station. Took me about an hour and $2 each way, door to door.