Yesterday Emily and I took a full day off, something neither of us has done done since that trip to Port Townsend in early January. It was so nice in Seattle. We went to Alki and took a walk, went to Ray's for a late lunch, and ended up at Captain Blacks with some favorite cohorts, where we got to watch Bode win the combined, along with the ceaseless wonder that is ice dancing. It was magical and surreal (the day off — the ice dancing not so much).

This post is not about anything, it's just me checking in 'cause it feels like it's been awhile. Here are some pictures I've taken over the last month.Shabazz Palaces at Neumo's.One should never disagree with a bear.There's a band called Ocelot Omelet.Cold Lake at the Comet. They play the Crocodile this Thursday night — highly recommended.I remember someone coming back to New York and saying that one of the things they missed was all the walls of ads pasted up around the city. At the time I thought that was ridiculous.Seattle does have some nice paste-up artwork around though. I admired this skull on the way to work for a few days until the rain washed it off.Stang and a couch. What else is there.I don't know, seemed photo-worthy. Nice colors.I'm looking for a new office. One with a big window.There's a venue in Seattle called the Pet Seminary. ("Where dogs go to become priests.")Classy."Go to hell." "You first." (Is that a line from The Quick and the Dead? I think it is. Surprisingly underrated movie despite the presence of that little girl DiCaprio. He's kind of a kid in that movie anyway so it's okay...Arnie Grape with a six-shooter.)Past Lives at Black Lodge on Saturday. Go buy their new record and see 'em live (Brooklyn: April 20th). They have never sounded better. Same goes for Triumph of Lethargy, who opened. They have a new album on the way which I'm very much looking forward to.After the show we walked out to our Jeep to find that it was all muddy and the front fender was crushed. We became quite agitated. And then we realized that our Jeep — the exact same model, year and color, with the exact same rack on the roof and everything — was parked two cars in front of this one, and was 100% unscathed. It was a little embarrassing.If anything like that ever happened to this dude he would just finish his Raindog, find a crooked little stick in the gutter and wave it in the air, and an unusually sturdy and majestic shetland pony would appear to whisk him away...or maybe a dune buggy. He seems like he knows some secret that I don't know, and I wish I knew it.