Cottage Lake (part II)

As promised in an earlier post about Cottage Lake, I wanted to provide additional information about the ropes course, officially known as the Odyssey Course. You can read more on how the partnership between King County Parks and the YMCA came about here.

According to Bill McKee, the Odyssey Program Director at the Northshore YMCA, the Y is about to launch a detailed website about the program, and where it is headed. The current pricing for community groups wanting to make use of the course is $40/person for groups of 16 or less, and $35/person for more than 16 participants. To find out more, you can contact Bill directly at odyssey@seattleymca.org

Great customer service!

If you've read some of my earlier posts, I've ranted about some of the businesses that provided terrible customer service. This one however, is just the opposite. In a previous post, I described a home remodel that I had recently completed. In my remodel, I had purchased several appliances from my local appliance retailer, Frederick's in Redmond WA. Eric Blakemore is the owner and he has been an acquaintance of mine for many years. I have purchased nearly all of my appliances for my personal residences and rentals from him (there were times he recommended that I go to Sears, because he couldn't provide me with as good a deal).

Anyway, I purchased a Fisher Paykel Dishdrawer (3rd one, not because they fail, but because I keep moving!) and it stopped working yesterday. I called for repairs and the authorized service center told me it would be 10 days before they could come out to look at it. So, I called Eric. He knew exactly what the problem was (user error). And, he walked me through the very easy solution to resolve the problem. This isn't the first time he's solved a problem for me. Maybe that's why I recommend him to all of my clients! If you live in the greater Seattle area and need appliances, stop by and see him.

A new way to look at homes?

Trulia just launched a new site called Trulia Snapshots that enables consumers to graphically view homes in any given area, sorted by price range, or market time. I've tried it out, and it looks pretty snazzy. At a quick glance, you can see all the homes within a price range (slider bar at the bottom of the screen), and just by moving the slider, the graphical representation of homes changes instantly!

I think this new tool will put pressure on sellers because now buyers have a quick way of seeing how long a home has been on the market, thus spotting over-priced homes. What do you think?

In Honor Of...

Memorial Day this year, I decided to learn about the Woodinville Memorial Mead, aka Woodinville Cemetery located in downtown Woodinville. I drive by this location on a daily basis, but had never visited until today.

The land for the Memorial Mead was donated by the Woodin family, the family for whom the city is named. One of the interesting facts I learned today was that plots are still available in the Mead. I had always assumed this was a historical cemetery, and that it was filled with the Pioneers of the area.

I took a few photos of plot markers while there. If you get the chance to visit, it's an interesting journey to our town's past. Elmer Carlberg, a WWI veteran (see 2nd photo below) was a self-appointed caretaker of the Mead for many years, and built the huge monument for his parents, John & Julia, also on the grounds. The poem (last photo below) is from their monument. I don't know who penned the poem, do you?

The Woodin Family plot
Elmer Carlberg, Veteran
Unknown Poem