Nicole's News Blag

“LudwigVan” - Before & After I’m...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:26:48 -0700

“LudwigVan” - Before & After

I’m tinkering with a new photo app: Mextures.

We once saw the last shuttle launch together. Now we can add...

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:46:31 -0700

We once saw the last shuttle launch together. Now we can add building implosion to our relationship resume.

A boat teased us by blocking the view moments before the demolition. The same thing happened at the STS-135 launch with a yacht. Weird.

The boyfriend walked me through the financial center before it swarmed with tourists.

It was a good morning.

Photo

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:32:20 -0700

Things that are distracting me today

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:13:28 -0700

Star Trek inspired wine: the solution to my empty wine rack obviously. It’s an Ikea metal shelf that I bought for Mike’s beer collection. However, we learned beer is to be stored upright and not on its side. Now we have a wine rack - empty, but full of opportunity.

These “perpetual blooms towels” from Anthropologie are the answer to my woes. Based on the reviews, I don’t think I could handle them as a full-on bath towel, but as hand towels - now we’re cooking. Next step: find matching bath towels.

I’m officially a member of the Megan Draper/Sharon Tate conspiracy theorist cult converting viewers on the Internets. I want to believe.

Also, who is Bob Benson?And is his father really dead?

I say crayon like “cran” and apparently so do people in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to a study by a North Carolina State University student. This obviously proves a theory that I’m secretly a Midwesterner. Don’t let that fool you though, I also pronounce mayonnaise in the fashion that southern folks do.

I’ve completed week one in Brooklyn. So far so good. With...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:19:00 -0700

I’ve completed week one in Brooklyn. So far so good. With nothing to do except unpack, decorate and look for jobs - I’ve had a lot of time to observe the ways of Brooklyn. Here are three dining trends I’ve noticed.

1. Hand-cut Ice Cubes - It’s like the bartender put an iceberg in my Negroni (above photo). However, I couldn’t argue with the taste. It was a fine cocktail.

2. Dish Towel Napkins - You can never have enough dish towels, but the boyfriend would disagree. I’ve dined at two restaurants (Barboncino & Sunshine Co.) that use the rougher farm style towels with a single stripe instead of a plain cloth napkin. I can’t stand how edgy it is, but find myself deeply attracted to it.

3. PYOW (Pour Your Own Water) - No ice either. Instead of a waiter(ess) stopping by frequently to refill your water, they pass that work to you. I drink more water at places like these because there’s no ice to get in the way of giant gulps in between humid walks.

Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:42:31 -0700

Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster:

Weather disasters and quakes: who’s most at risk? An attempt to assess a combination of those risks in 379 American metro areas.

Why did I move away from Spokane again? The city is ranked #6 for most likely to avoid natural disaster, according to The New York Times.

It’s rather unlikely the residents will ever experience a tornado or hurricane threatening their city. Spokane will not crumble into a hot magma mess as theorized by that one volcano dude.

However, in New York City - we’re more likely to experience hurricanes. Flooding from Hurricane Sandy last year was quite the problem for lower elevation areas. My area of Brooklyn was not affected, I’m told.

Hurricane season begins June 1 and is expected to go until Nov. 30.

Apartment life in Brooklyn is working out thus far. I met our...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:23:41 -0700

Apartment life in Brooklyn is working out thus far. I met our neighbor to borrow a can opener.

Other neighbors, however, I’ve only met by the things they leave behind.

Apparently we have a cactus thief in our building. They left the above note next to the elevator. To be honest, there’s a bunch of things next to the elevator known as the free pile.

Another neighbor might be a lover of the arts - role playing arts. Either their name is TJ or they’re an employee of Trader Joe’s which is a subway stop or two away.

Regardless, they threw their hammer away and I found it in a pile of garbage.

I don’t think I can get sick of this view.

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 17:59:00 -0700

I don’t think I can get sick of this view.

There’s nothing like a roadside sign that says, “Eat...

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 15:24:53 -0700

There’s nothing like a roadside sign that says, “Eat Real Food,” to signify you’re driving over Hipsterville aka Williamsburg.

One last reader email from the volcano guy

Fri, 31 May 2013 14:58:00 -0700

The Earth’s crust has deteriorated under the city of Spokane, according to a Spokane man. He has been bombarding news media in Spokane for a long time with his volcano-under-the-city delusion.

He has sent emails, letters and called newsrooms, but nobody listens to him, he said. Since Spokane lacks major fault lines - there’s not much to support his story. However, it does make for a good blog post.

One of his emails sent in early May is a gem. Enjoy.

A few days before the first of April a loud crack was heard under ground beneath the west basalt cliff by Latah Creek. The cities south basalt wall the South Hill cracked month ago.

The city of Spokane immediately started to move like a diving board after the west crust crack which was more than five miles long going south to north. More than 30% of the city has no rock crust its fell into the magma abyss.

The volcanic hazards assessment guide states the area is a mandatory evacuation by the current noises heard.

The city and area will finish its drop and erupt lava flooding the Columbia Basin with lava suddenly.

To ignore the mandated criteria of evacuation is ignorant suicide.

For public officials also to ignore the mandated evacuation criteria listed in the volcanic hazards assessment guide is self and mas murder.

Spokane Washington poses a threat for a sudden and globally catastrophic eruption now.

I evacuated my home.

I was born and raised in Spokane and attended Emerson, Havermale, North Central, Spokane Community College and Gonzaga University.

I feel I have failed to alert even though I placed warning signs on poles at the request of aware S.T,A. drivers, and was first to announce the eruption emergency on KXLY and was banned from the news scope call in being called insane.

News media listen again to the noises under ground in the Spokane area. I fail to see any reason for such arrogance. It doesn’t require a expert’s to recognize a emergency exists in the Columbia plateau.

I’m alive and well in Brooklyn. Except for the fact that...

Fri, 31 May 2013 09:42:19 -0700

I’m alive and well in Brooklyn. Except for the fact that it’s humid, hot and we don’t have a vacuum cleaner until June 8.

Brooklyn is okay. We took a drive around Prospect Heights and Park Slope last night on our way to Ikea and Home Depot. Obviously from the above photo - it needs more hipsters.

I saw a bar called the “High Dive” which made me homesick because I used to live on High Drive in Spokane. Also, there’s a punny place called “Pork Slope.”

They made a pun!

In which I dream a movie idea

Fri, 31 May 2013 07:49:32 -0700

I don’t have a dream notebook, but I should. The night after the Texas tornado whipped through the state, I had this dream:

I was on the fourth or fifth floor of an office building and we were watching the clouds swarm, spin into a gigantic funnel cloud. As it hit the ground, we knew there was shelter in the basement, but the tornado was headed our way.

The elevator swayed as we went down. It nearly got stuck at the basement, but we crawled out and there was this long hallway of “shelter pods.”

Only two people can fit in each of these pods. They look like an egg - something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Once you get in, the pod locks and is filled with gas.

Next thing you know, you wake up to an alternate reality - a dream state where anything you want is happening - a distraction to keep your body calm as the building collapses around you.

I became aware of the distraction and could access the administration panel which shows each pods condition. Some were down - the people inside them dead.

Another was alive. It had my name on it in bold red typeface. It said critical condition.

And then I woke up.

Here's what I miss about Spokane

Thu, 30 May 2013 21:02:00 -0700

I miss these guys.

I pretty much cried on my last day of work at The Spokesman-Review because…

A. My co-workers made a Vine without my help.

B. I’m really going to miss them.

C. Both.

I’ve been eyebombing since before it was a meme.I gave...

Sat, 25 May 2013 17:55:31 -0700

I’ve been eyebombing since before it was a meme.

I gave this seashell googly eyes during a craft project at Girl Scouts camp in 1997-ish. While most girls made friendship bracelets during their craft time, I was obsessed with the googly eyes - putting them everywhere.

This is however, one piece of evidence to that obsession. I found it while packing for the big move on Wednesday.

Eyebombing became a meme in 2011, according to Know Your Meme.

I’m not sure if wind power is a big thing in New York, but...

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:02:59 -0700

I’m not sure if wind power is a big thing in New York, but ill miss the giants along I-90 in Washington. I think they’re a marvel to look at - addictive to stare at while crossing the state.

A quick search shows me a map of current wind power sites in upstate NY. I’ve heard of the proposed wind power site offshore of Long Island.

Sounds like a bunch of drama I’ll get to learn all about while I live there.

Let’s play a game of ad libs: “Enjoy a cup of hot...

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:46:11 -0700

Let’s play a game of ad libs:

“Enjoy a cup of hot catnip tea while watching ____ frolic in a patch of ____…”

Also, the cat’s eyes are the same color as the plant. Weird.

Here’s an weird find at Central Market: the Cherry...

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:42:58 -0700

Here’s an weird find at Central Market: the Cherry ChOmper.

Because rock blasting is how I wanted to spend my evening...

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:46:31 -0700

Because rock blasting is how I wanted to spend my evening driving to Seattle. At least I can complain about it on every media platform known to man.

Historic watering hole lost to overnight fire in Mullan by...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:44:32 -0700

Historic watering hole lost to overnight fire in Mullan by Nicole Hensley

More than a dozen bars used to wet the whistles of Mullan steelworkers in the heyday of mining – now there is one. A fire burned the rickety Silver Dollar Bar to the ground early Tuesday morning, taking an old miners union hall and railroad car with it.

Read more about the fire that destroyed one of the last historic buildings in Mullan, Idaho at The Spokesman-Review.

Four may be charged in assault at WSU by Nicole Hensley

Pullman police are recommending felony charges against four people connected to an assault on Washington State University instructor David Warner. Police also want prosecutors to charge the instructor’s friend, Lawrence J. McDonald, with a misdemeanor for his part in the March 30 melee. McDonald, who told police he was too drunk to remember what happened in the parking lot of WSU-owned Adams Mall, is accused of harassing people and challenging passers-by to fights. He had been drinking with Warner at two bars earlier that night, police said.

Read more about the police department’s investigation and when the prosecutor could formalize charges at The Spokesman-Review.

"There's always money in the banana stand."

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:30:16 -0700

A woman called me asking about the Silver Dollar Bar that burned down in Mullan, Idaho yesterday.

What happened to the silver dollars that lined the bar, she asked.

My mind wandered to the Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand, but to answer her question, there were no silver dollars in the bar.

Speaking of the banana stand. It’s on a nationwide tour right now and I just missed it by two weeks as it visited New York.