A record of Daniel's ramblings and reviews.
Time of death: 01/14/2026 12:00 PM EST Today was the much-anticipated release of Bilt 2.0 , touted by the company as a "new era" for the fintech company that has been beloved by renters all over the country for over six years now, according to their wikipedia article . The new card tiers look quite boring if you just look at their announcement website , something like : a free card offering 1%…
Background EAT Asian Tapas (according to this Capitol Hill Seattle blog post that scooped me by a few hours it might be pronounced E A T instead of Eat, I failed to ask) is a new restaurant that rather quickly popped up in the space formerly occupied by Lil Pocha. Prior to Lil Pocha, they were IMO Pocha, and apparently before that they were Glo's Diner! The more you know. Carmen and I visited Lil…
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana - Confucius I remember seeing the game in a panic preview post a few months back, and it looked so exciting! So I was overjoyed to hear that they accepted my application for a free media copy of the game! This is also a disclaimer, I got the game for free as a review copy, they haven't really told me anything I am expected to say but, worth…
Well, it's been a while. I suppose I have been mostly keeping myself busy, which is good, but if I am being honest, I have spent most of the last week decompressing from a deluge of activity starting with my trip to Philly and culminating in the Capitol Hill Block Party. Post-Covid Pretty much immediately after recovering from COVID (testing negative, being careful ofc), I had a bunch of volunteer…
I didn't really know what I was getting into when I went to watch Sorry, Baby. This is probably a common trend for me, since I don't like knowing too much about movies before I watch them. For some reason, I was under the impression that the movie had something to do with a miscarriage, but that wasn't quite the case. The film takes place in frustratingly undefined New-England town. Carmen guessed…
Well, it finally happened. After over five years since the "official" start of the pandemic, numerous close calls, and one extremely painful strep-throat like disease, I came down with what felt sort of like a cold or flu, with a significantly sore throat and mild chills and muscle aches for a few days. Honestly, having never gotten COVID before, the idea that this could be COVID didn't cross my…
If you are anywhere near my age, you were probably still a very young child in the year 1999. The media since has shown it as a party year, full of excitement about the end of a millennium and the possibilities of the human race. Computers had started making their way into everyone's home and the world was at the tail end of an unprecedented period of peace, with world peace feeling like a very…
Disclaimer I have been avoiding talking about this thing for a while, in fact I considered returning it or selling it for a while. Upon initially purchasing the phone, it sat in my desk drawer a beautiful black monolith bereft of purpose. A strange intention to somehow be better but lacking any substance to make it worth using. It was kind of embarrassing to have pre-ordered this thing only for it…
Background A few months ago, I saw Boris post on bluesky about a group buy for a Vancouver mesh networking club. I was interested at the time, and did a bit of research into what this "mesh network" actually was. I ended up not buying either of the two devices at the time, feeling like I didn't know enough about what was going on and wasn't sure if Boris had strong enough arms to throw these…
I had a pretty nice day. Slept in a bit since carmen snuck out of the house before I woke up, then quickly made some tea and headed to the JCCCW to do my volunteer shift at the gift shop. A Pleasant Walk On my walk there, I saw these interesting plants, which caught my eye. I am not sure if these are flowers or just pretty bracts. The Gift Shop I found out about a bunch of neat stuff at the gift…
If we have never met, it may interest you to know that I have two cats. One orange cat named Percy (Persimmon) and one gray and white cat named Charli (XCX). We adopted Percy considerably after Charli, and their initial introduction was a bit rocky. Percy didn't want to stay in one room and kept clawing at the doors and after about a week of sleepless nights we just decided to let him out and risk…
I was thinking, and I actually DO remember my first Hanyama puzzle. My whole family went on a trip to Prague a few years ago. My mom wanted to see it because she had a pen pal there growing up. It was a fun trip, but anyways at one point my brother and I headed to a toy / souvenir shop and I saw this NEWS puzzle. I thought it looked really interesting and my parents had given me some spending…
Backstory As those of you who know me well will know, I try not to collect too many things. I find that having too much stuff around stresses me out, so when possible I avoid buying things I don't need. There is one notable exception, however, which is Hanayama Huzzles . Ever since I was a kid, I found these little beauties absolutely captivating. I don't think I actually got a Hanayama branded…
UPDATE: Oh my god I published this with like half a sentence, I sort of forgot what I was planning to write here!! Was supposed to get together with my friends for a little pizza party, was shocked to see Carmen prepping food all day. I guess I didn't check the group chat so I didn't realize it was going to be a potluck-style party! It was so nice to see all of my friends in one place, and eat…
This is basically my go-to place for quick coffee or food in capitol hill so its an easy 5 star rating. Overview Analog coffee fills a much needed niche in the Northwestern Capitol Hill area by providing a (relatively) inexpensive option for decent, healthy food and spectacular local coffee roasters. As far as I know they do not roast their own coffee but they are a solid all around location that…
Today was generally a very nice day. The meetup walk was full of interesting people and the weather was gorgeous. It's always interesting to chat with people about their lives and interests, and I love doing my little bit about the sassafrass tree. I keep waiting for it to get old, but people still seem to like it. It was an interesting turn of events that multiple people came that hadn't come in…
I went into this movie more or less blind, with the only information I was given ahead of time being: The movie is directed by the same director as Past Lives Carmen said it was like Challengers Synopsis The movie follows a New York woman living a somewhat lavish life as a matchmaker for a snazzy matchmaking firm called "Adore". We see her sitting with clients and discussing what they are looking…
the world is so tiring wish it would all just please stop i am so eepy
Today, I had a lot of stuff that had built up around my apartment just generally from not cleaning for a bit and from some events I had hosted over the last few weeks. Been making a concerted effort to clean them out I also designed this long goose badge which I am pretty proud of, will ideally make it a bit smoother eventually. I am not sure if it will load properly, only time will tell. In…
Today was my first real day of volunteering at the JCCCW after my preliminary visit mentioned here . It was sort of mundane in many ways, but also felt really nice after years of isolation from a Pandemic, followed by a WFH tech job, followed by a few months of unemployment. I met many wonderful people at the center / remet people whose names I could not keep in my tiny walnut brain for even one…
Background About a week ago, Carmen and I headed to the Greek festival in Capitol Hill. There was lots of tasty food and it was generally a lot of fun, but one of the dishes stood out to me as particularly interesting. There was a soup called Avgolemono, which was about $5 for a cup. It was a very thick soup that seemed to be a porridge made up of rice, lemons, and eggs. It was pretty thick and…
Background Nestled between the Spin Cycle Records and Chase Bank on Broadway, there is a hidden spot hat has been the source of significant contention over the years. For much of my time living in Seattle, I thought little of it, as it was just a sort of boarded up hole in the wall I walked by every time I hung out with my friends. I was quite surprised, then, when I saw fuel coffee setting up a…
Context I have been going to the various fuel coffee shops for a long time now, almost since I first moved here. When I started hosting the Arboretum Walk until very recently, I would go to the Fuel coffee near the arboretum, and I took a bunch of "coffee classes" at their 19th Ave location back when the former Director of Coffee Christopher was still there. Overview I was a big fan of them for a…
Carmen and I walked by Bad Chancla pretty much every day since it was announced, waiting for them to finally open their doors. Once they finally did, we were super excited to try out the clever street food concept by Jose Garzon, popular Seattle chef. Having gone there a few times, I always feel like family and the food is excellent, I always regret not going more often. The prices are a bit…
Had a fun tea meetup with some friends and strangers, I try to do it every two months but it has literally been over 6 months since the last one. Oops. Here are their notes verbatim in alphabetical name order. Amy Fave: Ginger peach Least: Noah 3/5 Hibiscus Green - Nice smell, sour, would be good cold-brew 4/5 Sticky Riced puerh - :) 4/5 Ginger peach - ginger candy 4/5 hojicha - good smell, VERY…
It was a good day. I took some photos with the not boring camera .
Background Today after a long day of working on my website, I had scheduled to watch The Phoenician Scheme, a movie about which I knew very little other than the director. Carmen and I had watched "Asteroid City" on one of our first dates, so I was excited to watch another movie by mister Wesley himself, if perhaps a little trepidatious. Overview The movie was excellent! It had a star-studded…
Oh my god AAA its driving me crazy!! The rectangles!!! The scaling!! EVERYTHING I DO, RUINED BY THE HUBRIS OF SOMEONE HAVING A DIFFERENT SCREEN SIZE!! It is MADDENING
Some Background If you haven't heard of not boring , they are worth looking into, I have spent a long time experimenting with their apps, for a while I used their weather app , and I messed with their calculator app , too. Ultimately those sort of felt like toys to me-- fun, but not really capable of replacing the tools I use regularly. Plus, to be honest I almost never need a calculator due to my…
I have been a huge fan of Cheeky Cafe since I used to live in the central district. It's a cute little spot that has good food for reasonable prices in a fairly quiet area near the CID. I've had lots of their food over the years, all their different pancakes and sweets and most of their savory dishes. Today I tried their Fried Rice! It was really tasty with 2 types of sausage that complemented…
AAAAAAAAA, well this has been fun, but I actually have stuff to do tomorrow.
Had dinner here tonight with some friends. The pizza was pretty okay, but like most neapolitan style pizza, feels overpriced for what you get. In addition, the huge chunks of meat were a bit awkward.
I like easter eggs, I think websites should be full of them. What is the point of the web if it is too simple, too accessible. What happened to the joy of arcane knowledge, of digging through the depths of the source code, clicking around. Anyways, no hints, but this is the first of many easter eggs. I will probably not post about the future ones, so I hope people enjoy looking around, digging for…
Saw an ad in the newspaper saying the JCCW needs volunteers, gonna head over and see how I can help! UPDATE: it was fun, looking forward to starting soon!
I have long been obsessed with the Caprese sandwich. Something about the simple mix of good bread, tomato, basil, and mozzarella has always been deeply comforting to me, and it tends to be a nice cheap option for food when you are out and about. After years of being a noted Caprese enjoyer, I finally decided to try making the sandwich my self recently. I gathered all the ingredients and got to…
Backed them on kickstarter before they opened, they are one of my favorite cafes. The owners are super friendly and they have a great selection of drinks / snacks.
The city bakery was a great place. I miss it every day. Look at this hot chocolate, look at this marshmallow, it was an art form. Beautiful, stunning. I need to go to Tokyo to visit the last remaining locations.
Miro describes this tea as having "incense aroma", which I am not so sure about, but it is a delightful tea, with a great umami flavor that is deep and satisfying in a way that not all sencha is.