![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterToday's original itinerary and goals:
1. Post office, to mail myself a ream of paper and a big stack of outdated calendars (Priority box so I don't have to lug everything all over Portland), and to buy a big stack of stamps for a big pile of overdue holiday cards
2. University Bookstore for more red correcting pens (Pilot V-Ball Extra Fine, they work so well for me as a left-handed person).
3. Artist and Craftsman Supply, to replace two pens that are out of ink and hopefully find a good small notebook for sketch journaling.
4. REI, for replacement lightweight gloves and a replacement foam accordion seatpad (Z-rest, if you know what those are).
5. Uwajimaya to hunt for a specific type of Thai Tea.
6. Pacific Fabrics to hunt for some dress and trouser fabric, and to just generally nose around.
-
How it went:
1. Got things shipped off fine! But then, the Postmaster said they have a grand total of 6 stamps left for sale, 5 of which are menorahs for Hanukkah. I've never been to the post office after they've completely run out of stamps before, I was amazed and said okay, never mind for now, save those stamps for someone else who might really need them. So the Stamp Quest must continue.
2. U Bookstore only had 4 red pens left, so I had to supplement with some purple ones, I'm sure my students will prefer the purple anyway. Also, I think they re-re-arranged, weren't the art and office supplies upstairs for a while? And now they're back downstairs? That whole section is still pretty depauperate compared to what it was historically, but at least it still exists.
3. Artist and Craftsman Supply delivered on all accounts, hooray! Love that place. I would like to give it all my money, every time.
4. The glove display at REI was a little overwhelming because it's winter and everyone wants all the giant long mittens for all the skiing. But I eventually figured out where they had the same Smartwool gloves as I'd gotten before, and I was able to compare them against something closely related with more wind-blocking capability, which let me conclude that out of the entire massive mitten and glove array, the ones I had were the ones I wanted still. So now the clock will start ticking again on an update to the palms and fingers.
No z-rest seat pads, anywhere. I did find some mostly nylon men's MTB shorts on sale, though, and I somehow managed to resist the urge to buy myself a Micro HydroFlask, even though I keep wanting something of that size to transportbooze half and half for coffee. I didn't think it, YOU thought it.
I'll probably order both items once I am back in New York. I at least managed to avoid SOME packaging via all of today's errands. Let's just point out that if I'd ordered a ream of paper, it would have come packaged inside of a box, and that box would have been padded with even more paper, which is ridiculous. At least thanks to the post office trip, I could pad the paper with a stack of calendars.
5. Uwajimaya has less interesting selection than our local Asian grocery store in Albany, NY. So no, no sign of the tea I'm after. I'll probably wind up ordering it online, too (ChaTraMue Brand Extra Gold Original). I did buy some sriracha and cholula, because I managed to forget that my mom doesn't believe in hot pepper sauces, for unknown reasons.
6. Pacific Fabrics was a great way to cap things off. It's in SoDo (that's South of Downtown Seattle to the rest of you), upstairs from Pacific Iron and Metal, naturally (LOL). I got off the light rail and discovered that lo, there's a 'bertos in SoDo, wow. Who doesn't love cheap Mexican food? From the exterior of the building you'd never expect the bright and bustling space full of fabric inside. It gave off Original REI vibes (that's the REI before they built the flagship store, the one that had the REI Smell). LOVE it.
I wound up buying some fabrics that I may come to regret, with ambitions to make a dress and also some trousers from them. The fabrics are a linen/rayon blend and the people working there warned me the fabric will want to fray so I will need to plan accordingly. But they are extremely pretty and it's really hard to feel the fabrics when shopping online, so I went for it.
While I was there I was also glad to have a chance to feel the ripstop they had in stock. I didn't buy any, because it was the wrong color, but now I'm more confident about some upcoming ripstop shopping (pack and pannier covers). And otherwise, it's just really nice to know that anytime I'm back in Seattle there's a good fabric store that's worth the trek and right near a light rail stop to boot.
I think I wound up walking around 5-6 miles altogether, along with various transiting, which is so much more than I regularly walk in New York, because most of the time in NY I'm on my bike if I'm trying to go somewhere. This would have been a terrible expedition to carry out by bike, however, most especially because it looks like they're ripping up Eastlake now to add more streetcar tracks. Oh, I'm wrong, they're just putting in more Fancy Bus, which is probably just as well. Based on our experiences with the 70 last fall, the Fancy Bus is very much needed to accommodate the throngs of people wanting to take that line.
I have some entertaining photos to share, too, but that will have to be a separate post.
1. Post office, to mail myself a ream of paper and a big stack of outdated calendars (Priority box so I don't have to lug everything all over Portland), and to buy a big stack of stamps for a big pile of overdue holiday cards
2. University Bookstore for more red correcting pens (Pilot V-Ball Extra Fine, they work so well for me as a left-handed person).
3. Artist and Craftsman Supply, to replace two pens that are out of ink and hopefully find a good small notebook for sketch journaling.
4. REI, for replacement lightweight gloves and a replacement foam accordion seatpad (Z-rest, if you know what those are).
5. Uwajimaya to hunt for a specific type of Thai Tea.
6. Pacific Fabrics to hunt for some dress and trouser fabric, and to just generally nose around.
-
How it went:
1. Got things shipped off fine! But then, the Postmaster said they have a grand total of 6 stamps left for sale, 5 of which are menorahs for Hanukkah. I've never been to the post office after they've completely run out of stamps before, I was amazed and said okay, never mind for now, save those stamps for someone else who might really need them. So the Stamp Quest must continue.
2. U Bookstore only had 4 red pens left, so I had to supplement with some purple ones, I'm sure my students will prefer the purple anyway. Also, I think they re-re-arranged, weren't the art and office supplies upstairs for a while? And now they're back downstairs? That whole section is still pretty depauperate compared to what it was historically, but at least it still exists.
3. Artist and Craftsman Supply delivered on all accounts, hooray! Love that place. I would like to give it all my money, every time.
4. The glove display at REI was a little overwhelming because it's winter and everyone wants all the giant long mittens for all the skiing. But I eventually figured out where they had the same Smartwool gloves as I'd gotten before, and I was able to compare them against something closely related with more wind-blocking capability, which let me conclude that out of the entire massive mitten and glove array, the ones I had were the ones I wanted still. So now the clock will start ticking again on an update to the palms and fingers.
No z-rest seat pads, anywhere. I did find some mostly nylon men's MTB shorts on sale, though, and I somehow managed to resist the urge to buy myself a Micro HydroFlask, even though I keep wanting something of that size to transport
I'll probably order both items once I am back in New York. I at least managed to avoid SOME packaging via all of today's errands. Let's just point out that if I'd ordered a ream of paper, it would have come packaged inside of a box, and that box would have been padded with even more paper, which is ridiculous. At least thanks to the post office trip, I could pad the paper with a stack of calendars.
5. Uwajimaya has less interesting selection than our local Asian grocery store in Albany, NY. So no, no sign of the tea I'm after. I'll probably wind up ordering it online, too (ChaTraMue Brand Extra Gold Original). I did buy some sriracha and cholula, because I managed to forget that my mom doesn't believe in hot pepper sauces, for unknown reasons.
6. Pacific Fabrics was a great way to cap things off. It's in SoDo (that's South of Downtown Seattle to the rest of you), upstairs from Pacific Iron and Metal, naturally (LOL). I got off the light rail and discovered that lo, there's a 'bertos in SoDo, wow. Who doesn't love cheap Mexican food? From the exterior of the building you'd never expect the bright and bustling space full of fabric inside. It gave off Original REI vibes (that's the REI before they built the flagship store, the one that had the REI Smell). LOVE it.
I wound up buying some fabrics that I may come to regret, with ambitions to make a dress and also some trousers from them. The fabrics are a linen/rayon blend and the people working there warned me the fabric will want to fray so I will need to plan accordingly. But they are extremely pretty and it's really hard to feel the fabrics when shopping online, so I went for it.
While I was there I was also glad to have a chance to feel the ripstop they had in stock. I didn't buy any, because it was the wrong color, but now I'm more confident about some upcoming ripstop shopping (pack and pannier covers). And otherwise, it's just really nice to know that anytime I'm back in Seattle there's a good fabric store that's worth the trek and right near a light rail stop to boot.
I think I wound up walking around 5-6 miles altogether, along with various transiting, which is so much more than I regularly walk in New York, because most of the time in NY I'm on my bike if I'm trying to go somewhere. This would have been a terrible expedition to carry out by bike, however, most especially because it looks like they're ripping up Eastlake now to add more streetcar tracks. Oh, I'm wrong, they're just putting in more Fancy Bus, which is probably just as well. Based on our experiences with the 70 last fall, the Fancy Bus is very much needed to accommodate the throngs of people wanting to take that line.
I have some entertaining photos to share, too, but that will have to be a separate post.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-28 09:48 am (UTC)