William Carleton, Counselor @ Law

Maker Faire 2013

Sorry for the lateness of today's post.

Tomorrow I'm heading to San Mateo for the 2013 Maker Faire.

It's a working visit, so I won't be at total leisure to blog about everything I see; but I'm sure my posts for the next few days will center around the Faire.

Today's picture is not about the Faire, not directly. It's a detail from a Ken Kelly painting, Fairy Tale, 1988, that I spied this afternoon in the hallways of the Perkins Coie law firm in Seattle, where I am attending a reception.

Happy Mothers' Day

Thinking today about my Mom, of course, but also about the women who love and have nurtured my kids as they were growing into young adults.

The parental adoration and concern never stops. But today I look back and am thankful to to their Mom, the moms of their friends and the other women in their lives.

These flowers are from the garden that is the Central District. Picture taken earlier today.

SBX5

I left you hanging yesterday, so I'll report now on how the event went.

The brisket was gorgeous, smoky and succulent. Men and women were comparing the experience of consuming the beef ribs with the choicest multiple orgasms they've ever had.

The scene? Celebrities and film crews. Food hipsters, of course.

But also regular families, including children.

Deirdre is a filmmaker and Jack her producer, so they know how to stage events. Brick walls, live music, great bar, quiet slideshow with BBQ definitions, impeccable staging and timing on the revelation of the meats, the sides and then an amazing check pastry dessert by Jack's niece.

I didn't help at all of the event, just enjoyed it. From helping out around the smoker during the day, I lifted just some of the veil of the mystery of how good BBQ is made, but, thankfully, not too much.

In fact, the way you get beef to taste that way now seems even more magical.

Central Texas meets Central Seattle

There's a little patch of Central Texas in Central Seattle today.

BBQ Jack, a/k/a @JackTimmons, is smoking brisket, ribs and pork butt for his SBX5 extravaganza tonight.

(Tonight's event is sold out, but you can sign up here to learn about future Seattle Brisket Experiences.)

Daniel Vaughn, a/k/a @BBQsnob, may drop by later in the day, and will be the special guest star at the event tonight.

I've taken the day off to help Jack out.

Don't know that I'll liveblog, per se, the day, at least not in the same manner that I liveblog Congressional hearings or conference panel sessions, but I will try to journal the day with updates here. Follow me on Twitter, @wac6, if interested in keeping up!

I'll start off with a picture taken last night, Jack moving meat. I'd guess the brisket pictured is but 8 pounds of the 160 pounds or so Jack is smoking.

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Update 9:50 AM Central Seattle (11:50 AM Central Texas)

The meat spent the night packed into these cambros. The morning's order of business was to get the meat back into the smoker.

Jack stoked the fire while yours truly washed out the cambros (not pictured). (This is called participatory journalism.)

Being a high-tech Microsoft alum, Jack has all kinds of gadgets, even a wireless temperature reader that reports on what's happening inside the smoker while Jack's inside updating his tumbler.

But he's nothing if not practical: a cinderblock works fine to secure the fire kiln door.

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Update 11:15 AM Central Seattle (1:15 PM Central Texas)

Filmmaker and writer Dierdre Timmons punches up the menu copy.

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Update 1:50 PM Central Seattle (3:50 PM Central Texas)

Temperatures are steady. Jack bringing the brisket in for a landing.

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Update 3:50 PM Central Seattle (5:50 PM Central Texas)

Brief video of Jack using his new drill bit designed to pull the pork.

And here's Jack 'splaining stuff to the ABC videocrew. I didn't get a shot of Jack chatting with Daniel Vaughn, because I had greasy gloves on. Maybe later at the event.

Vespas on parade

This was fun: encountering a parade of motor scooters in the Central District of Seattle on a sunny, summer-like, Friday evening.

 

We stumbled across it like you happen to encounter things in nature, as you might hear a honk and look up to see Canada Geese flying overhead. 

Cash's numbered days

I've always known the penny costs more to mint than $0.01. Now I hear it costs a dime to coin a nickel.

Coins recirculate and I'm sure an economist can put a value to how cash yet keeps money moving. In terms of economic benefit, it may make sense to stamp change and print bills even when the cost of doing so exceeds the face value of the objects produced, many times.

Then there is the factor of the value of speedy lines.

Until recently, one of my favorite coffee shops enforced a cash-only policy. Transactions were quick. Cotton, copper and nickle produce less friction than plastic.

But the shop gave up this policy of efficiency! And they aren't going back. Sales are up 20%. Turns out people using credit or debit cards spend more. Plus, people are indifferent to paying a surcharge by not using cash. (The retailer thus mitigates the extra expense it incurs by accepting cards.)

I anticipate similar inefficiencies as people start to use their phones to pay.

Appreciate those coins and notes while they last!

The travel lifestyle

What would it be like to live, not your entire life, but years at a time, as though you were on the road?

You'd want to pack light. A simple canvas duffle bag, black, like you might use to tote gear for snowboarding, that would work.

You'd need plenty of cords and cables and maybe a spare battery or two for your phone and laptop. The rest of us would expect daily reports so you'd have to maintain a consistent, virtual home on AWS or Azure or something like that.

If I went with you I would miss the books on my bookshelf. I don't consult them often, once read, but I like the idea that they are there. Hours of thinking penciled in the margins, the pages layered and stacked vertically, like steel plates, protected from digital obsolescence.

To keep from settling in you might really have to hit the road. Do it long enough, you might return home able to discern daily differences in each familiar hillside, crosswalk, neighborhood turn. No weather would ever be the same; associations of smell and sound would evoke timeless memories out of place, almost without place.

Maybe just the shoes on your feet with the idea that you would replace them from time to time.