I'm in Seattle, visiting Elias, who lives round-about the Haller Lake neighborhood, at the northern end of the city. Elias doesn't drink coffee - but this is Seattle, right? I should be able to find coffee behind every tree and under every rock.

So I set out to find some. Haller Lake's not the most pedestrian-oriented of neighborhoods (though it could be, with the addition of a few sidewalks and some rezoning of the commercial strips), and all of the available coffee within walking distance appears to be along Aurora Avenue. I knew I was in some trouble when I checked the google satellite images for "coffee near aurora ave n & n 130th st" - mmmm, strip mall-tastic - but I'm never one to shy away from a challenge of pedestrianism.

And you, gentle reader, get to benefit from the results, in case you're ever in a similar situation:

The New Year is a more hazy concept for me than for most, I think, due to my acknowledging the winter solstice as an ending/beginning mark, and my birthday being wedged in there. Clustered in with the cultural meanings of new beginnings attached to Christmas and New Year's, this means I end up with a ten-day transitional period where I haven't quite decided whether a new year has started yet or not. The following is therefore a loosely organized braindump of things I've been thinking about for the last week:

2006 was notable for the number of growed-up milestones it included:

• I finished that last grad school project in February and formally graduated in April.

A few weekends back, we were visiting the ex-housemates at Jorvik 2, and wound up at a North Campus Co-ops bonfire, talking to some of our further-ex-housemates. Since I'd last visited or paid much attention to what was happening up there, a few members who had caused long-term friction within the house had left (not really voluntarily), Ren had filled up (though O'Keeffe was still rebuilding from the trauma), Falstaff appeared to be experiencing a new Golden Age, there had been notable physical improvements made to other suites, and the bonfire was the best attended I've seen in years. I spent the rest of the weekend being incredibly nostalgic.