Tim: Seems like a good topic for this chilly week in December — some fun advertising from Columbia Sportswear featuring Wim Hof, the Legendary Iceman.
Jason: With Winter’s Chill firmly established Spike is thrilled to see a new ice skating rink set up in one of Seattle’s coolest neighborhoods… Capitol Hill
Gary G: Spike likes getting together with old friends, like at the Cole & Weber 80th Anniversary Party (left to right: Gary Graf, Christina Conte, Chuck Pennington, Steve Johnson, Peter Richards)
Kristen: My all-time favorite Christmas movie… Christmas Vacation! It never gets old
Rachel: I like getting in the holiday spirit! We got all of our Christmas lights up on our house, and our tree decorated. Next up for me is some holiday baking. Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!
Tiffany: “Exploration is not a choice, really; it’s an imperative” – Michael Collins
My spike like’s this week is the Nasa Kepler Mission. In the past few months Kepler has discovered a Earth-like planet in the “habitable” zone of a star and a Tatooine planet with 2 suns. So far the Kepler telescope has spotted 2,326 candidate planets outside our solar system with 139 of them potentially habitable ones.
Natasha: Old song by N Sync but I love it for the holidays!
Gary Meyers: With all the great harvest foods out there during Halloween time, my favorite food that I enjoy is pumpkin soup.
Gary: I can still picture my kids in their various costumes over the years: My daughter as a red crayon, a lady bug, a dalmatian puppy, a present, Snow White, a ballerina; my son as a construction worker, baseball player, Spider man, a character from the Tin Tin comics, a mummy. But my most favorite memory is, after making the rounds with the kids, getting home out of the inevitable wind, rain and fog that seems to haunt Seattle Halloween nights.
Kristen: Saturday night I’ll be at The Oxford Saloon in Snohomish, famous for being haunted with 18 ghosts! Let’s hope I make it back to work on Monday
Tiffany: One thing I look forward to every year is a new Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror episode!
This year will make the 22nd episode in the Treehouse of Horror series, and for once it is airing BEFORE Halloween.
Natasha: It doesn’t have to be all scary treats for your waistline this Halloween. Try these Skinny Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting!! YUMM! Happy Halloween!
Erin: I love Halloween because its the time of the year that I can get my favorite candy: candy corn!
Jason: My favorite thing about Halloween is that it’s the only time of the year that people generally forget who they are and what they do for a living and try to recapture the honesty and fun of being a kid in a costume.
Spike loves art. And loves coffee. So, this fun idea appealed to him on a couple of levels.
Some of Spike’s friends Down Under used 3,604 cups of coffee into a giant Mona Lisa Painting. The cups were filled with different amounts of milk to create the different tones and shades.
Jason: This is random, I realize… but I find it funny not that this guy got in a car crash… but that Mr Bean can afford a McLaren F1; which I believe are multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Rachel: Spending a lot of time in front of your computer? Check out this great infographic- Healthy Eyes in a Digital World!
Gary G: Spike likes it when the Mountain comes out to play.
Tiffany:
Sam Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the genre change remarkably, but he never appreciably altered his mournful Lone Star sound, which translated onto both acoustic and electric guitar. Hopkins’ nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his fascinating penchant for improvising lyrics to fit whatever situation might arise made him a beloved blues troubadour.
Filmmaker Les Blank captured the Texas troubadour’s informal lifestyle most vividly in his acclaimed 1967 documentary, The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins. As one of the last great country bluesmen, Hopkins was a fascinating figure who bridged the gap between rural and urban styles.
Charlie: Everything you needed to know about making S’mores.
John: Ice Cream! A great place to visit is Molly Moon’s in Seattle, when the lines are short (Capital Hill, Wallingford, and truck locations). Here is a quick video of my son doing his happy dance after indulging in an ice cream cone.
BTW, my wife is going to kill me for providing this video, and I’m the one grumbling in the background because I thought I was only taking a picture.
Gary G.: Likes the fact that Summer in Seattle officially starts after the 4th of July weekend.
John: NYC fireworks displays. Always crowded, but always very impressive!
Rachel: Growing up, I lived in an area where it was still legal to set off fireworks of any size right outside your house. Every year, we would go to Boom City to pick out fireworks for our own personal fireworks display. If you are planning your own show- Boom City is the only place to go! And the best part- negotiating is part of the deal, so you can get really great prices.
Charlie: Spike likes our national anthem – Hendrix style.
Kristen: Looking forward to spending the 4th of July with friends and family at a neighborhood block party. Can’t wait to try my brother’s batch of Amber Ale homebrew!
Willem: I can’t remember much about the 4th. Probably because of these….
Sharan: My daughters marched in this parade for 6 years when they were young. Supposedly, this parade is the largest 4th of July parade West of the Mississippi! Below is a photo of their High School band playing, and you can see one of the performances here.
Andrew: For this year’s Independence Day Weekend, I’m looking forward to our traditional family BBQ, sipping some cold microbrews, and watching the thousands of fireworks from our backyard.
Lea: Spending time with my family and friends….and kickball.
Tim: Fireworks are great. And the make-’em-yourself kind are best. No, I’m not just talking about pinching a Piccolo Pete towards the bottom so it makes a bang. But in the interest of public safety (and little boys’ fingers), I’ll stop right there.
Chris: I like the Seattle weather forecast for this 4th of July. Could it be? Is it possible? We may actually be able to see the fireworks this year! Enjoy, be safe and have a happy Independence Day.
Another week, another round of Spike likes Fridays! Take a look and see what the Spikesters are liking this week!
Spike: Check out the latest video from Spike and the Noisemakers and order some band tattoos!
Chris: While I don’t like natural disasters, I do like the fact that today’s technology can actually help those in need instead of just spewing out the same news coverage over and over again. For example, check out Google’s Crisis Response page complete with real time updates and a “Person Finder” to help locate those who were affected by the massive quake.
Charlie: Surrealist images created by Google Earth’s 3-D mapping technology.
Erin: This song & performance cheers up any Seattle grey day for me!
Rachel: Microsoft Outlook plug in helps edit passive aggressive emails- before you send them.
John: Looking forward to the NCAA Tournament starting up next week and Spike’s Bracket Challenge. Tim “AutoPick” Hodgson is the defending champion and will be out to prove that last year just wasn’t a fluke.
Willem: The Noun Project: A bold idea with a simple mission statement: “Sharing, celebrating and enhancing the world’s visual language.” Essentially, the Project aims to collect, organize and add to the universal library of symbols and images that make up our visual language.
Jamie: In celebration of their 40 years in business, Starbucks has a new commercial (below) and is giving away free Starbucks Petites. If you go to Starbucks between 2 and 5 p.m. on March 10-12, you get a free Starbucks Petites when you order any handcrafted beverage!
Andrew: The Husky’s pulling away with a win against the Cougs in the PAC10 Tourney. Gotta give my hometown pride to UW.
The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear. Or in Spike’s case- pecking. Here are our Spikesters favorite holiday things- to help get you in the spirit.
Lea: My husband is a news photographer and every year, since my son was born, makes some sort of ‘catching Santa’ video. It’s documentary, grainy style with low lighting, effects and sounds like reindeer, sleigh bells or Santa laughing. My son enjoys those movies as much as his presents because he thinks it’s ‘proof.’
Jason: Spike likes that all our military men and women can now show their true colors if they so choose. Spike is all for self-expression.
Erin: My favorite part of the holidays is the smell of the tree throughout the house. And for some reason, Christmas morning, coffee’s never tasted better.
Jamie: Cookie Monster writes Santa, in the 1978 Sesame Street Christmas Eve special.
Part 1:
Enjoy Part 1? Part 2 of this Sesame Street special is Here and Part 3 is Here. Enjoy!
Rachel: A delicious way to start your holiday morning: Overnight Blueberry French Toast is the perfect way to start a holiday morning, and is easy to make- since all you have to do is pop it on the grill in the morning!
Sun Liquor is one of the city’s favorite hangouts on Christmas for the young and hip — and also for those already sick of their visiting in-laws. It makes the best eggnog in Seattle. It’s less fluffy, with layers of flavors and a smooth finish. It goes down easy. Too easy. The secret to Sun Liquor’s addicting eggnog — made by barman Erik Chapman — is that it gets aged for a month in jars and stored in the back of the fridge.
Andrew: Looking forward to eating too much Christmas Dinner and cookies over the next week to justify an “I’m going to the gym every day” New Year’s Resolution.
John: No more going to the mall! Amazon.com and several other online sources has taken away all the stress and insanity of holiday shopping. Even a last minute order will be delivered tomorrow (Christmas Eve), just in-time to be placed under the tree.
Robert: The Coats family will be diligently tracking Santa’s route from the North Pole- all the way to our home.
Also, a holiday special so bad that it is hard to believe that it came out of the greatest movie franchises of all time. Extra eggnog to those who can watch all 1:56:53 of this galactic (and epically bad) holiday special all the way to the end.
