Tag Archives: tips

Environment, News, Weather

Natural Disaster Tips That Renters Need to Know

With a 7.7 earthquake to the north at Haida Gwaii and Hurricane Sandy working over the East Coast, it feels like a good time to have Arne (@nwquakes) talk with emergency management expert Carol Dunn (@caroldn) about a higher-risk group: renters.

What are some things renters can do to help protect themselves?

The impact from disasters can be reduced when communities work together in advance to identify and reduce risks, to gather supplies, and to train to work as a team to respond to disasters–but this can be harder to achieve in areas with a high number of people who are renting. In King County, there are a number of cities where more than half the people rent and not own. Because renting can lead to more frequent moves within the community, individuals may not feel vested in the neighborhood or community. And, local preparedness training efforts can be hampered by residential turnaround.

But as a renter, you can provide guidance to other residents—help teach them how to safely conduct light search and rescue/first aid, and do welfare checks after a disaster. Work with your management company or property owner to see if they will be willing to provide emergency information to new tenants: perhaps a simple handout with contacts listed, info on tools and other equipment stored inside the building and how to access them, emergency exits, nearby emergency shelters and medical aid, etc.

Reach out and talk to your neighbors. Share your telephone numbers, and a number of a contact who lives out of the area. If you are away from your home and a disaster strikes, you will be relieved that you have someone you can talk to who might be able to tell you the status of your location. This is particularly true if you are the caregiver for someone (person or animal) who can’t communicate on their own. Out-of-area contacts are useful after disasters if no one can return to their original location, and in the period immediately after a disaster, when local phone lines are more likely to be jammed than long distance lines.

Rental insurance is really important. The owner of the property will have insurance that covers their building, but not the things you have inside the building. Also, a lot of people don’t realize that property owners aren’t required to rehouse and repair units damaged by a natural disaster. I’ve seen situations where property owners simply declare the buildings too damaged to be used, so, since disasters are considered Acts of God, the residents are not allowed back, and not given any assistance by the property managers to find new housing.

Mind you, this can also be an advantage in a post-disaster period: if your unit becomes inhabitable your lease is no longer valid, providing flexibility that allows you to relocate to an area that isn’t damaged. This can make recovery faster and easier. But, studies have shown that being forced to relocate with no advance warning is emotionally hard no matter what the circumstances, so be sure to take advantage of opportunities to talk with counselors who have specific experience working with people who have undergone disaster related trauma.

Frequently multi-housing units are electric only—heating, stove, refrigeration. This makes a power outage in extreme weather hit harder. Have backup heating, lighting that doesn’t require any sort of flame or burning anything (candles, camp stoves, etc.), backup food that doesn’t require heat. Fire and carbon monoxide poisonings frequently happen in the period after the cause of the disaster have passed. Multi-housing units may depend on electric pumps working for water to reach apartments—and may not have water heaters in individual units. This makes water a more serious problem.

Do you have other advice?

The very nature of multi-family units mean that you are living with others nearby, so the mistakes of others can impact your life. Be sure to have a carbon monoxide detector with a battery backup. If a nearby family uses charcoal or a generator inside, creating odorless, invisible, dangerous gas, you will be warned that the gas is in the air. Don’t assume that your smoke detectors work: Test them yourself.

Often there are rules on whether you can bolt furniture to your apartment walls. If the rules say you can’t, work with other residents to try to influence the owners of the property to change the rules. In the meantime, consider the location of furniture that might fall down in an earthquake. If you can’t brace your furniture to the wall, you should at least move it away from places where it might tip over and hit someone (i.e., near beds, chairs, and couches). And you don’t want furniture where it can fall and block doorways and hallways and any other exits.

Unrepaired masonry (Photo: Carol Dunn)

Since we live in an area with flooding, landslides and earthquakes, it is important to spend time evaluating whether the place you want to live is at risk from each of these hazards. Your ability to make it through a large disaster will largely depend on how well the building you’re in holds up to the disaster. People living in buildings that are not in flood zones have radically different experiences during a flood than people living in buildings in flood zones.

Likewise, people living in buildings that were built to handle earthquakes have radically better chances of recovering quickly from an earthquake than people living in buildings that can’t withstand shaking. Take the time to evaluate your building and its risk of being damaged in a disaster. A benefit to renting is that if you learn you’re in a risky building, it’s easier to move to a safer building pretty quickly.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that landlords can’t offer units for rent that are in bad earthquake buildings, or located in an area known to flood. Local laws state that only new buildings, or buildings that have undergone major structural renovations, need to meet current earthquake codes. We have literally hundreds, if not thousands, of rental units in the Puget Sound region (See this Capitol Hill map–ed.) that are in buildings made with materials and techniques that cannot handle earthquakes well, or are in areas that flood.

Since there is no law requiring property owners to make such buildings safe for earthquakes and flooding, it is up to us as individuals to make sure we don’t live in them. Learn how to recognize buildings that don’t handle shaking well, or are in flood zones.

LINKS:

  • How to Secure Your Building
  • Three Days, Three Ways (pdf)
  • King County Hazard Maps & Data
Arts & Entertainment, Music

Bumbershoot Pro Tips

We here at The SunBreak like to live A Life of Pro-Tips. To that end, here are some tips and tricks for how to best get around the festival.

Josh: As a general tip, the Bumbershoot iphone app is ready for downloading. It still doesn’t know about sharing your schedule with friends (or, even better, tracking your friends on the Seattle Center grounds) or figuring out which acts are the most popular among app users, but it’s a start and will still help you on time and aware of the schedule when your newsprint version gets horribly smudged.

The KEXP Music Lounge, where they broadcast from an undisclosed location on the Seattle Center campus, is always a nice escape from the teeming crowds. Unfortunately, this year’s sessions are already sold out, but you can still buy your way in with a Platinum Pass, which also gets you all sorts of other crowd- and sobriety-defying perks.

Also worth noting: sunlight-averse Bumbershooters may prefer this year’s (separately-ticketed) AfterDark programming by the Decibel Festival, which brings electronic music fans into the Exhibition Hall dungeon until 4 a.m.

Audrey: There’s also the Free Yr Radio lineup, with mostly Bumber-acts (but a few local extras!) doing yet another performance at the festival. Which means you actually have three chances to see Pickwick: their stage set, KEXP set, and the Free Yr Radio set. It’s almost an overwhelming number of scheduling options.

Jugglers at Bumbershoot 2010 (Photo: MvB)

MvB: One Reel is putting free water tents all around the grounds, so just bring a refillable water bottle (or two) and save on buying anything at all.

Audrey: Yes, FREE WATER is a pro-tip. Don’t be a chump!

Shawn: They don’t check bags at the main gates, so bring in as much water as you like. I don’t think they even care if it is in view when you walk in. However, the mainstage and most of the indoor venues DO check bags and DON’T allow outside water, so keep that in mind.

If you are hungry/thirsty, sneak out to QFC or Met Market for a reasonably priced sandwich and drink. Or plan ahead and grab stuff before you head into Seattle Center.

Audrey: My biggest Bumber Pro-Tip is MONORAIL to get you to and from Seattle Center in under five minutes. Labor Day is the only time all year I take that accursed mode of transportation, so I’m glad it’s running late this weekend (till 11:30 p.m.).

Josh:If you insist on taking the bus, you’ll probably have more luck getting a seat if you pick it up in Queen Anne instead of downstream on Denny.

Katelyn: Stay hydrated, don’t eat pot brownies made by strangers, and know where the nearest restroom is at all times.

Josh: If you’re not rolling through the festival with shiny gold or platinum passes around your neck and care deeply about the comedy lineup, be sure to show up early to get a Comedy Pass. The main stage, now in Key Arena though, doesn’t require a special token as all shows are first-come (up to 90 minutes ahead), first-served.

MvB: Best bathrooms? I think there are some that end up less “used.” If you get my drift. Generally, those in specific venues, rather than the ones on the main floor of the Center House. There be monsters.

Shawn:Also, the bathrooms in the NW Rooms are usually the least used of the ones you don’t have to wait in a long comedy line to get to.

MvB: Avoid any path lined with food if you’re in a hurry, because you will either wear yourself out playing Red Rover with multiple food lines or end up with a plate of yakisoba on your shirt.

Josh: You’ll want to get a hundred posters at Flatstock; time your purchases so you’re not hauling your merch around all day and starting accidental tube fights during particularly boisterous sets on the Fountain Lawn.

MvB: It’s going to be hot this year, so don’t forget some kind of hat and SPF159. If you forget, it would be worth running across the street to Met Market or QFC. You may want to consider buying extra sunscreen and selling it at a huge markup to people turning lobster.

Josh: On the Be Prepared front, get ready for your phone’s battery to fade. Keep a printout of the schedule handy and pick a meeting time and place to find your friends when you inevitably get split up over funnel cakes vs. elephant ears or Hall & Oates vs. Truckasaurus.

MvB: Comfy shoes. Ear plugs.

News, Sports

Tyler Farrar’s Tips for City Biking

Tyler Farrar is in the news for winning Stage 3 of a French bicycle race known as the Tour de France. This is of local interest because back in 1984, Farrar was born in the sleepy hamlet of Wenatchee, and he has not stopped bicycling since. Also, it’s his first Tour stage win. It’s kind of a big deal.

There are 21 stages to the Tour, so Farrar can’t relax yet. Actually, as a sprinter, his objectives change dramatically throughout the Tour–on the flats, he’s the man of the hour, but during the mountain climbing expeditions, his team will present a different strategic face. (Here’s a great shot of Farrar leading his team, Garmin-Cervelo.) Let’s let AP catch you up on the action:

All this reminds me that back in 2008 I got to interview Farrar via email, and decided to pick his brain about cycling in the city. (He lives now in Belgium, so grain of salt. He didn’t know what a “sharrow” was.) This is all great advice, from the current Tour stage winner.

MvB: Tips for the urban biker! Say a friend of yours came up to you and wanted to know 5 things they should know/do as a city biker. What would you tell them?

Tyler Farrar: 1. Keep your head up! Too often I see people riding through traffic without even looking where they are going. How are you going to avoid the car that just cut you off if you are staring at your feet?

2. Ride like you drive your car. Sometimes people seem to think that the basic rules of the road don’t apply to them when they get on a bike. Don’t run red lights, don’t cut people off, look before you change lanes, just like you do when you drive.

3. Don’t ride at night without a light and reflectors. I can’t believe it when I see some guy riding down the street in the dark wearing black clothes.

4. Always be on the lookout for new rides. If you do the same three rides over and over you will eventually get tired of them no matter how good they are. Check out a map and try some new roads, you might find some cool places.

5. Have fun!

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

SIFF Pro-Tips, or How To Festival

1 Comment

the SunBreak at SIFF 2011

As you may have noticed by now, we’re almost a week into this year’s SIFF. So time to stop acting like a n00b. SIFF like a pro, courtesy of our time- and fest-tested tips:

  • Plan ahead. Check the SIFF website to see if guests will be at the screening for a Q&A, for timing and scheduling purposes, if not for celeb-watching. Check the festival updates page regularly for, y’know, updates, so you’ll have the heads up before a screening sells out.
  • Technology is your friend! SIFF hasn’t quite entered the 21st century and made schedules sharable via Facebook, but do what you can. Make use of the iSIFF app, the SIFFter, My SIFF, and the ability to email your personal festival schedule to friends.
  • Consider buying in bulk. Ticket packages cut down on service fees and are cheaper per ticket, especially if you’re a senior or student: $35 for 5 films ain’t bad.
  • Flying by the seat of your pants and getting into a film via the standby line is a complete crapshoot–don’t count on it for a popular film. But if a miracle does occur, those tickets are full price and cash only.
  • Head to a SIFF box office to get your tickets in advance and avoid an extra line at the venue for will call. If you must pick up tickets at will call, try to drop in between screenings and have them print all of your pre-ordered tickets at once.
  • If you’re particular about where you sit, there’s no such thing as arriving too early. Expect every screening to have a long line and a full house. Still, as long as you have a ticket, you’ll have a seat. If you’re a passholder, you can usually show up about 20 minutes in advance of the screening and still get a good seat. Ticketholders, try 30 min. All bets are off in the case of movies with big buzz. In that case, take whatever seat you can get, but just sit down already. There’s not going to be some magical super-seat in the theater if you scour the entire venue.
  • Be prepared with umbrella and light jacket. Bringing some snacks is acceptable, but don’t be That Guy who sneaks in a four-course meal.
  • Find your path of least resistance. For example, at the Egyptian, nearly everyone enters the theater and goes to the left. So break away from the herd and go to the right.
  • The Neptune is in the midst of a renovation by new owners Seattle Theater Group. As such, the seats in the re-raked balcony are brand new (but still tight on legroom). The floor, though, is all folding chairs on two flat levels. Some people have been avoiding the theater entirely, but if you’ve already got tickets to a Neptune screening, get there early to snag a seat in the front row of the raised orchestra section for the best shot at not having a head obscuring your subtitles. We’ve heard rumor that the good folks at Sundance have swooped in to save us by sending some of their spare seating our way (they’re pros), but the seats shouldn’t be arriving until this weekend at the earliest.
  • Bathrooms! (Ladies, I’m mostly speaking to you, unless you’re a dude at a dude-heavy midnight screening.) It’s a good rule of thumb that the further away the bathroom is, the shorter the line. So the third floor bathrooms at the Harvard Exit are much more likely to be free compared to those on the second floor. Another way to avoid the line is to either head straight to the restroom as soon as you get into the theater, or wait until the lights go down and the SIFF ads start. You’ve still got about 7 minutes of ads and trailer before the film begins.
  • Consider subtitles. If your film has them and you’re not fluent, find a seat with a clear view of the bottom of the screen. Aisle left or right is generally a good bet. The seats on the center aisle (exit row) at the Egyptian have tons of room to stretch your legs, but the raking (grading?) of the theater flattens out for the aisle, so you’re likely to have an obstructed view of the subtitles if anyone of average height or above average skull circumference sits in front of you.
  • If you’re on foot and trying to see multiple films in a row, the sweet spot is the Egyptian. It’s a walkable distance from both the Harvard Exit and Pacific Place. (The Neptune and SIFF Cinema leave you reliant on Seattle’s not always timely bus service.) The Egyptian is also right next to a Walgreen’s, if you need water, snacks, or eye drops after 12 hours of movie viewing.
  • Speaking of: Marination Mobile now has a permanent location just a block away from the Egyptian. Delicious alternative to popcorn if you need a nutrition break between a double feature, but allow plenty of time to contend with the massive popularity of Korean-Hawaiian inspired street food.
  • If you’d otherwise like to avoid consuming your weight in popcorn, the concession stand at Harvard Exit (and maybe other Landmarks) offers a bargain size combo, which is just enough for a light snack for one.
  • You can’t take it with you into the theater (Ed: technically), but beer is cheaper than soda (Ed: pop) at Pacific Place.
  • And of course: Your ticket stub or pass gets you a discount in the bar at SIFF Lounge at Boom Noodle.
Eats, Food

Lou Manna’s Tips for Mouthwatering Holiday Meal Photos

3 Comments

(You’re taking pictures of the bird again, right? So here’s Lou’s Tips again, republished from last year this time.)

A little while ago, the fine photographic folks at Olympus put us in touch with Lou Manna, “Olympus Digital Visionary Photographer,” for a story on photographing holiday meals.

If you’re a foodie, it’s likely you’ve already run into Lou Manna’s food photography; he shot for the New York Times for 20 years.

Now he’s got his own Fifth Avenue food photography studio, which is where he works with corporate, advertising, and restaurant clients, using (it must be noted) Olympus E-System cameras and flashes. Check out his website www.loumanna.com and blog www.digitalfoodphotography.com.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, we talked Lou in to a photo essay. Click through each photo for a tip on how it’s done. We can vouch for the “good enough to eat” part.

Here’s Lou to get things started:

You’ve spent two days baking all of your holiday goodies… Finally on Thanksgiving Day, the turkey is ready to be gobbled up. Now you want your sweet labor to translate well in photographs. If you follow some of the following tips, then the pictures of your feast will look good enough to eat!