After hanging out at SEAFAB I jumped on my steed and road via the Burke Gilman over to Zoka Coffee. This is a coffee shop I’ve been to a zillion times, albeit before the pandemic broke things. I headed over to the coffee shop and the first thing I noticed was the times on the door are very different than they were when I’d previously hung out at Zoka. The hours now are 8 to 5pm, where as they place didn’t close up until about 9pm previous to the pandemic. Hopefully those hours can come back one day!
Negatives
There aren’t many negatives to this location. There is of course, a street that isn’t busy, but always a bunch of parked cars and kind of – by world standard – a shit street out front. But out back of the place the Burke Gilman trail passes by, which is most excellent for connectivity. The front also has a good width sidewalk too however and there are some staple racks out front for at least ~4 bikes if not more. They’re the funny overly long old school Seattle staple racks, so always a little odd to rack up to compared to a standard length one. Overall a decent store front and good access, but more on that under the positives.
For now, the enumerated few negatives.
I don’t really like the raod, but it’s America and it’s not that bad. By USA standards it’s really low traffic and nice so hard to make this a negative, but I aim for a balanced review of all the places I’m going.
that’s it really… I can’t really conjure up any negatives.
Positives
The top thing I love about this Zoka location is that it is pretty open and has multiple rooms or areas in which you can sit.
The next best thing is they’ve got pretty decent coffee. They’ve also got a number of tea and related options, simple bites to eat, and other items to mix and match as you’d like.
There are numerous wall sockets.
The wifi is more reliable than not, making it a good choice to catch an internet call, just get some work done, or anything that might require a little connectivity.
This coffee shop rates up there with the few I’d rate as having good hygge vibe.
The rest rooms are some of the better rest rooms.
Ratings & Features
Electrical Sockets: Readily available with numerous around the entire cafe. Many literally on the top of the counter that rims the windows.
Wifi & Internet: I didn’t get the internet working, so I ended up tethering. This did make me depart a little earlier than I would have otherwise. I’ll be back again to check this out.
Seats: The where 3 comfy chairs and everything else was modern standard metal and wood. Impressive considering most cafes and coffee shops these days are just hard uncomfortable chairs everywhere!
Prices: The prices seemed pretty average, not expensive but nothing cheap.
Lighting: Good lighting and good places to shield your laptop from errant sun when needed.
I took the Sound Transit 542 over to University District today to check out some coffee shops, get some work done, and generally just hang out like I do. The first stop on my galavanting about Seattle today is at SEAFAB Cafe. I’ll start off, first with the negatives and then delve into the positives of this place. Wrap it all up with a rating and features of the shop.
Negatives
The first thing to note, is that the vast bulk of these negatives are just stupid car culture carbrain shit, bad infrastructure, and completely unrelated to the cafe itself. I’ll enumerate:
The sidewalk is parked on. Yeah, that carbrain shit is in full force down here. The really stupid thing is, there is parking down here that is availbe right out front still, since people just park in what appears to be the side of the road that converges into a gravel lot.
The bike infrastructure out on the main road here is decent, albeit dated PBL (Protected Bike Lane) that merges/egresses from the Burke Gilman Trail. This is a positive, but then it dumps you into this heavily parked road which is hellsihly confusing exactly where you should or shouldn’t really be with atrocious street and sidewalk amenities.
Speaking of that, the parking situation for bikes is less than desirable. Which is oddly out of touch considering that Recycled Cycles is right next door, you’d think there would be better bike parking and sidewalk amenities considering, even if they were just kind of non-city standard stuff. But it’s instead this oddball rack and a few sign posts here and there. Of course, Recycled Cycles has some staple racks and such out front but the cafe doesn’t. So no biggie really, just something that ought to be improved.
Ok, this is the only cafe related negative. Their stock of items in the fridge and their ice cream machine were just empty. It’s possibly the newness of things and they’re working on it, but it’s always a little unsettling when the counter space, equipped to hold items, is empty. Kind of gives you the “are they in business?” feeling.
The wifi didn’t have internet access. It seemed a bunch of folks were working away on their laptops, so I suppose someone had internet access or they were just making due.
Positives
The positives outweight the negatives significantly.
The music was chill. Albeit dated 70s-90s stuff, but if that’s in your wheel house, then good stuff.
The coffee, very importantly, was good. I ordered a capaccino and a dirty chai, but where a good solid 8 out of 10. Good job SEAFAB!
The vibe in cafe was super chill. Good spacing, seats, and the like, which just makes it easy if you’re going to do some laptop work or if you’re going to chill with some friends and talk, or even have a quick coffee or lunch meeting.
I ordered some salmon avacado toast to spite out of touch right wing financiers spouting clout since I’m a home owner and it was really good! The food seems to be consistent, clean kitchen, and all that good jazz!
Location is great, with lots of connected transit, easy to bike too (albeit the previously stated concerns) and the clientale seemed super chill too.
Ratings & Features
Electrical Sockets: Readily available with numerous around the entire cafe. Many literally on the top of the counter that rims the windows.
Wifi & Internet: I didn’t get the internet working, so I ended up tethering. This did make me depart a little earlier than I would have otherwise. I’ll be back again to check this out.
Seats: The where 3 comfy chairs and everything else was modern standard metal and wood. Impressive considering most cafes and coffee shops these days are just hard uncomfortable chairs everywhere!
Prices: The prices seemed pretty average, not expensive but nothing cheap.
Lighting: Good lighting and good places to shield your laptop from errant sun when needed.
Back in April I took a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is easily one of the best trips I’ve taken in a few years! Far too many years! Obviously I had to write up the adventure and that dear readers is what you have here, the log of my entire trip to Pittsburgh. I hope you enjoy following along with the adventure!
Along with the trip, which I’ll write details about here on this post and subsequent posts here on Transit Sleuth, another branch of posts will be on Vicious Shred concerning the record shops (Attic Records, etc) and music related peculiarities. So if you’re into the metal, and other varietals of music I partake upon, navigate over to Vicious Shred for a whole host of posts about that.
Day 1 – Departing Seattle via the Empire Builder
Day 1 involved departing Seattle. What did that involve? Well let me tell you!
The very first event involved me biking down from home to downtown Redmond. There I caught the Sound Transit 545 out of Redmond heading to downtown Seattle & King Street Station. The bus arrived timely, I got the bike mounted up and off I went.
Shocker of shocker, as we got into the city there was a back up on 520 coming onto I-5, which is part of traveling on I-5. It’s always been backed up here and likely will always be. If someone is stupid enough to think they’ll resolve this poorly designed mess they don’t understand how cars work – and in that sense I am seriously looking forward to the day I can just on the tram (light rail) Link into the city!
Once I arrived downtown, I didn’t even attempt to ride the 545 all the way across the downtown core. There are two reasons I did got off the bus to travel this last few miles:
The main reason is I like to, as I’ve made it a tradition, to always stop at Monorail Coffee and get a cap before departure. For many – if not most – destinations in the United States it is likely the last time I’ll get a decent cap until returning. The espresso standards in the USA have improved to a degree so it isn’t as frequent I go without as it used to be, but I still don’t trust most cities.
The other reason is I actually like to ride through the city – I love cities, love em’! Some folks don’t get that from me but I see so much more than the mere concrete and fumbling crushed souls of the city and more the wealth generating heartbeat of America that US cities actually are. Albeit they’re severely damaged and have a severe quality of life issue compared to European cities. Largely evident in the vast warped subsidized American socialism experiment gone awry called “the suburbs”. But hey, they’re holding together the country in spite of all that!
Anarchist Jurisdiction
As the “Dear Leader” designated our poor fair destroyed obliterated city of Seattle, it is indeed destroyed y’all! Nobody come to Seattle, look at all that smoke and fire and burning, nobody is left! It’s all zombies and those lost in the riots. /s
Comedy aside, the ride through Seattle was rather pleasant. The roll – emphasis on roll because it takes almost no energy to pedal downhill from Monorail Coffee down to the train station – to King Street Station was smooth and effortless.
King Street Station
I arrived, got my bike tagged for the trip and headed off to the baggage car to hand off my bike. The only two things I brought with me was my Mission Workshop ARKIV Backpack and the bike (bounce back tothis post for details on why she’s named “PDX Orange”).
Tragedy Struck!
Chubby DOWN!!! You’ll have to watch the video for that bit of tragedy (time point @ the tragedy), it was already too much to write about the remnants of the destroyed city of Seattle! So with that bit of narration lagniappe, enjoy the video.
My Pittsburgh Adventure day 1 departing Seattle via King Street Station on the Empire Builder!
Day 2 – Eating on the Empire Builder
Day 2 can be summarized as eating day. There isn’t a lot to see or do on day 2, so it’s 3 meals and complete uninterrupted relaxation. In all seriousness it is one of my favorite days of the trip – even with the somewhat boring scenery – because I just do nothing. Maybe read, but mostly just thinking and introspecting against a repeating scenery. With that, I detail some of day 2 via VLOG for you dear reader!
Train Life, Day 2 on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago, en route to Pittsburgh.
Day 3 – Empire Builder Transfer to Capitol Limited in Chicago
When I got into day 3, Chicago was the central action of the day. I needed to arrive on time or close to on time in order to make my connection to the Capitol Limited. The Capitol Limited route runs from Chicago to Washington DC. It makes a bunch of stops but my stop would be around 5:23am in the morning in Pittsburgh. If I had my preference, I’d have take another train that would have had me arriving in Pittsburgh at a more reasonable hour, but this being America we have a severe lack of transportation options between major cities!
The great thing about – in my humble opinion – coming into Chicago is getting into the urban fabric and watching the urban core and its skyscrapers start to rise out of nothing. If you’re privy, you get to see a lot of history as you roll into the city too. If you find that kind of thing fascinating Chicago is a city worth looking into.
In this episode I wrap up things by showing the path and process – for my brave fellow cyclists out there – of getting your bike stowed in Union Station. If you’re in the sleeper or 1st class like I was, you get to hang out in the awesome lounge at Chicago but you need to stow your bike in the meantime.
Pittsburgh Adventure Day 3 – Part 1 – Arrival in Chicago & wondering around Union Station.
In the 2nd part of day 3, transferring in Chicago I provide a tour of the 1st Class Lounge and then wander aimlessly around Chicago for a short while. Then I show boarding, which is a bit of an adventure in fumbling since I have a bike. Even though this is actually an easy process, you need to stay on top of things in order to make sure the bike does end up where you end up. Follow along in the VLOG to see more of the chaotic fun as I wrap up the Chicago transfer to the Capitol Limited!
Pittsburgh Adventure Day 3 – Part 2 – Transferring in Chicago & wondering outside Union Station.
That’s it for the Empire Builder part of the trip, in my next post I’ll delve into arrival day in Pittsburgh and the ongoing adventures!
Recently I purchased a trackball and a hardshell case for that trackball, which I then wrote a review of over yonder “A Review of the MX Ergo Advanced Wireless“. The hardshell case primarily because I displace a lot during the course of the day. Whether traveling far away from home or just within the city in which I live (i.e. Seattle these days, but in the past Portland, Memphis, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Krakow, etc) it’s been very important to have computer gear that holds up well to these movements during the day. Here is a video that details the trackball, hardshell case, and some of the different places I’ve used it since purchase. Below the video I elaborate on two of the scenarios I use these devices.
Trackball Travels
Coffee Shop Cycling Displacements
Often during the day, at least a non-pandemic day, I work coffee shop to coffee shop. Meeting other coders, working alone, or having meetings in person in coffee shops. As I move from coffee shop to coffee shop, sometimes I use transit (bus/train/tram/streetcar/etc) but more often I bike from shop to shop. During these displacements computer gear can get banged up heavily. That’s where the hardshell case for the trackball is hugely important!
Here are some detailed “product” shots from Amazon/co2CREA, and the link itself to the product if you want to pick it up.
The Hardshell Case from co2CREA
While cycling all sorts of things can happen. I could biff it (i.e. *wreck*) on my pack (i.e. messenger bag, or backpack) and things are safe from direct impact in there, but can still be squished. I could toss my bag down or set it somewhere and it gets kicked, hit, or falls. The number of impact scenarios are numerous. But it doesn’t stop there while out cycling, since most of my packs are waterproof it’s nice to have individual elements packed in water resistant packages for when I pull them out of their pack. You get the idea, there’s a lot of potential oops scenarios, and for maximum gear lifespan it’s best to keep them safe.
Railroading Baggage Pannier Packing Style
Alright, using panniers for bike and train combo trips is another one of my specialties. I take a lot of train trips. Sometimes I ride coach, sometimes I get a roomette or bedroom, and on some trains I may end up standing. Whatever the case, traveling means luggage of some sort and luggage gets banged around. Again I’ve got my packs, but also in this scenario I routinely use my panniers. The combination is great as the survivability of devices – Apple Laptop + hardshell case for pointing device plus tough packs with panniers holding the remainder of things means surviving insane things like train wrecks (i.e. my experience of the train wreck of 501), or just regular travel trips like my trips to San Francisco for QCon, or my trip to Olympia, Washington to speak at a users’ group.
In summary, if you want to enjoy the bikey life combo powered with the rail life and keep your gear intact, it’s a good idea to pick up a hardshell case.
If you’re looking to move to Portland and you love the suburban home you have.
Don’t move here.
If you hate coffee, tea, beer or other related craft beverages.
Don’t move here.
If you’re looking to move to Portland because of a job, and don’t like to be outdoors.
Don’t move here.
If you’re looking to move to Portland because you like sunny weather, heat, snow, or clear skies.
Don’t move here.
If you like owning automobiles as a hobby.
Don’t move here.
If you don’t like bicycles, bicycling, or being around bicyclists.
Really don’t move here.
If you hate walking or being active throughout the course of a day.
Don’t move here.
If you don’t like transit options, hate Riding Transit or think trains are dumb.
Don’t move here.
If you like to spend a lot of time in your car.
Don’t move here.
If you love Republican ideology.
Don’t move here.
If you hate being involved in community, in the neighborhood or knowing your neighbors.
Don’t move here.
If any of these things are core tenants in your life, you’ll hate it living in the city of Portland. However, you probably could move to Beaverton, Gresham or one of the metropolitan suburbs and maybe be ok. But even the suburbs here are different in many ways than standard American suburbs. You’ll likely still be involved in your neighborhood. You’ll probably decrease the amount of driving you do even outside of the city in the suburbs here.
Thousands of Cyclists at Bridge Pedal
Tomorrow, I’ll line up the reasons why someone interested in moving to Portland may actually want to do just that. Until then, it’s raining again so I’m gonna go ride the MAX with my bike in it and then grab a drink os some coffee. Cheers!
Transit Sleuth 