Monthly Archives: April 2011

Tacoma Central Police Substation

Today I took a quick stop at the Tacoma Central Police Substation, Sector One at 1524 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.  What attracted me to the building was the stones in a metal cage art, of which there are at least three.  I’m not finding information on them, though they seem to be designed to be educational.  I did find this document about other art at local police stations.

http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/resource/TA_PUB_Police.pdf

 

 

 

Tacoma Wayzgoose




IMG_0255.JPG

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

Today dear husband and I went off to Wayzgoose Letterpress and Book Arts Extravaganza at King’s Books. The place was packed! I loved walking through the store and visiting each book. Such creativity!

http://www.kingsbookstore.com/

Bank of America, doing the right thing?

I’ve been hearing that Bank of America isn’t paying its fair share (any?!) of taxes. I don’t know the truth of the story, but across the country there are demonstrations to protest BOA’s tax paying practices. I’ll be listening for more information. In the meantime, today’s new place is the Bank of America near the Tacoma Mall.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/on_tax_day_protestors_hit_the_bank/id_35680

The Price of Getting Around

I was riding around on fumes today when I pulled into the Shell Station at 5744 N 26th St., at N. 26th Street and Pearl Street. I paid $3.95 per gallon for the regular gas and that seemed expensive to me, though at the time I didn’t complain because I was so happy to have gas back in the car!

That made me think about gas prices and I found this website that provides the gas prices within cities or zip codes. Per the site, the average gas price in Tacoma and Washington State is $3.90 per gallon and in the US the average is $3.80 per gallon. The site also has a trip calculator and an interesting 72 month average price chart. Nope, it’s not my imagination, gas is high right now!

http://www.tacomagasprices.com/

For a little spring color

I made a quick stop today at Lowes at 7905 South Hosmer Street, Tacoma to pick up some flowers to put in pots on the front porch.

http://www.lowes.com/

They were pretty busy for the middle of a weekday and that made me wonder if the home improvement stores are doing well. Apparently, based on this article in the LA Times, yes they are.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-improvement-20110413,0,7527522.story

Tacoma Boys in Puyallup

IMG_0180_edited-1 by Gexydaf

I’ve been wanting to see the newest Tacoma Boys, the one in the South Hill portion of Puyallup. It is much like its sister stores, the one on 6th Avenue in Tacoma and the other on Lakewood Drive in Lakewood. As always, they have excellent produce, a lovely assortment of specialty items and friendly staff.

http://www.tacomaboys.com/

Inspiration at Tacoma Public Library

 Today dear daughter and I went to the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch to hear William Kamkwamba who co-wrote the incredible book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope). Both of us had enjoyed the book, finding it uplifting. William, a young man of 23, is inspirational. More about the Tacoma Reads program here.

http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us/Page.aspx?hid=239

It was the first time that I had been in a Tacoma Public Library on a Sunday and it felt good to see all the people there. The history of the library can be found here.

http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us/page.aspx?hid=42

Currently in the gallery of the library there is an exhibit of art tiles, old and new, that is well worth seeing. That link can be found here http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us/Page.aspx?nid=64

Macy’s at the Tacoma Mall, are they on strike?

 



I’ve been honoring the strike at Macy’s at the Tacoma Mall, though they probably haven’t noticed because I go there so infrequently anyway! But I needed a nice dress for an upcoming event and I don’t have time to order something online. So, feeling particularly mean I dragged my poor husband to Macy’s. It ended up that I didn’t find a dress that I liked in my price range, but I did buy a nice pair of jeans for $24, which seemed reasonable to me. The sales associates were pleasant, but the racks of clothes were a mess with sizes all mixed in together.

The UFCW Local 367 members voted to strike Tacoma Macy’s in May 2010 and I’m not readily finding information to see if the strike is settled. I haven’t seen one of the trucks that had been driving around promoting the strike for a while.

Jack in the Box, Open Late




Jack in the Box, Open Late

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

The first Friday that feels like Spring and we decide to celebrate with milkshakes, one chocolate mint and the other vanilla. This Jack in the Box at 2420 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, is pretty much like the rest. I haven’t gone into this store in forever because, to be honest, it doesn’t feel completely safe to me especially in the evening. But the drive through is fine and the drive through workers are friendly and do a good job.

Puget Sound Nuclear Free Weapons Zone

This home is dedicated to being a Nuclear Free Weapons Zone and its sign declares “40 miles from the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S.”

I confirmed this in an online article that states “The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, has become home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal“.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Bangor-an-indicator-of-military-intentions-1231416.php#ixzz1J3hw2g00

Recently in Tacoma five peace activists, the Plowshare Five, were sentenced to time in jail because of their form of political protest. It is a fascinating story and one well worth reading. The best source of information is their blog at http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/

My hat is off to them for living their beliefs.