Visitor 3,000

Lots of numbers this week so a quick post to note a milestone -- last night at 10:24 PM, the 3,000th visitor landed on UptownSeattle. We entertained our 1,000th guest back in September so we're seeing more than 1,000 of ya'all per month.

#3000 came to the blog via Google where s/he had searched for i heart rummage dec 4th -- a solidly constructed query! Now, we're not the definitive source on all things i heart rummage but we are a running stream of thoughts and ideas about Seattle and its cool stuff like i heart rummage -- so Google's nifty math equations pointed the user to us and a few dozen other links.

#3000 chose our link from Google's search results and ended up on one of our archive pages where we had a useful little post about the upcoming i heart rummage schedule. Of course, it doesn't always work that way -- we feel bad for those of you who end up here hoping to find lots of BDSM info besides our post about Belltown's own pleasure dungeon. But it's cool to be part of the info flow.


-- j/k

Oops: There are actually 17 Great Seattle Blogs

When we posted our 15 Great Seattle Blogs, we forgot one. Obvious Diversion deserves a place in our pantheon of sources for good data on the city. And now it's award winning so we really better mention it. So, that makes 16 Great Seattle Blogs (read that in deep radio voice please). What's with 17? That's us, silly. Right?




--j/k

Tags: uptown, seattle, blogs, obviousdiversion

25 for $25 in Uptown: Flying Fish

We're not usually swayed by the over-hyped 25 for $25 dining promotion. In fact, we actively avoid it as an introduction to a restaurant we've never been to before. It's the wrong way to say hello to a new menu, we think. But last night we were at an old favorite and found ourselves ordering the pieces of the 25 promo menu anyway -- so, what the heck, why not have pumpkin cheesecake too? Like we said, we'd rather you have your first experience with Fish free of the constraints of the deal menu -- but we also understand saving some cash. BTW, surprising that 25 for $25 doesn't have some sort of charity component. It seems like that would be a good way to give the whole promotion a little heart and soul.

--j

Tags: uptown, seattle, restaurant, 25for25, flyingfish

15 great Seattle blogs

We've updated our sidebar list of favorite local blogs. We limit our list to blogs that (mostly) cover local events, thoughts and issues. The web has a global reach and some of our favorite sites harness this worldwide power. But we also think there is plenty of room for a more local focus and that there is power in that too -- strangely enough, even the most local, navel-gazing post about your neighborhood will draw interest from around the world. We'd recommend these 15 to everybody from Cape Town to Belltown.

1. Belltown Bent (neighborhood)
2. Cascadia Scorecard (enviro)
3. Cornichon (foodie)
4. Evergreen Politics (enviro)
5. HorsesAss (PNW politics)
6. Metroblogging Seattle (pro)
7. Queen City Cruise News (GLBT)
8. Rain City Real Estate (real estate)
9. Restless Reader (literati)
10. Seattle Bon Vivant (foodie)
11. Seattle LiveJournal (community)
12. Seattlest (pro)
13. Slog (pro) )
14. USS Mariner (jock)
15. You Deserve the Truth (media)

-- j/k

Tags: uptown, seattle, blogs

The 31st most relevant Seattle blog... ever

According to Technorati, we rank 31st among Seattle blogs in terms of 'authority' -- Technorati bases its authority calculations on the number of current incoming links and sources to a given blog tagged 'seattle' in the Technorati system. So, really, there are lots of more authoritative, more relevant blogs about Seattle that either aren't tagged for Technorati or not linked to in a way that is counted in the Technorati rankings. The other problem is way simpler -- tagging a blog 'seattle' is just too easy to do. Some of the blogs in the rankings above and below us aren't really about Seattle at all. Some happen to be written by people living in the city - others happen to work for big corporations like SBUX that have their HQ here.

So, what's the point beyond our ongoing need to be measured and treat life like a competition?

First, if you're a blogger yourself, make sure to include a link to your favorite blogs in a fashion that registers in Technorati. We need to update our links -- a few of our faves have faded away. There's a responsibility to link -- no matter why somebody keeps a blog, having visitors is important. If you like something, you need to link to it to help keep it alive. Systems like Technorati hold the key to connecting with an audience. This is especially important for small, homebrew micro-blogs like ours.

If you leave the blogging to attention-starved writer types, you need to be a discriminating consumer. Don't settle for the top scrape from the various search engines and tagging systems. Sometimes you just have to get more specific -- we like our ranking for 'belltown,' for example, very much!

--j

Tags: uptown, seattle, blogs, technorati

Thanksgiving for lazy orphans: 3 restaurants open for Turkey Day

Some of my favorite Thanksgivings have been spent with the orphans -- the random assembly of friends and co-w0rkers either too cheap or too bitter to go home for the holiday. If you're part of an orphan gang this year or, god forbid, hosting the fam, you might want to consider sticking a big fat fork in tradition and handing the food part of the equation over to the pros. While a potluck can be a lot of fun, there' s no shame in buying your way out of dealing with giblets. Here are three restaurants in the neighborhood where the doors will reportedly be open on Turkey Day (we'd call ahead ;) ). If you know of any others, feel free to add them to the list.

1. Cascadia - 2328 1st Ave
   The swankest option of the bunch but no word if they make their hyped mini-burgers available for the feast.
   
2. Cutters - 2001 Western Ave
   The most accesible of the trio so won't flip out your weird uncle. Most likely to include honest-to-gosh-regular-old-american-style-not-fancy-pants-style turkey in menu.
   
3. Fish Club - 1800 Alaskan Way
   Solid middle ground. Fancy joint but location within Marriott Hotel will help everybody feel comfortable -- especially when you rent a room and wear bathrobe to dinner.

-- j

Tags: uptown, seattle, thanksgiving, restaurants