A Sea of Red & Black Along the Puget Sound

I lived in Seattle and environs from 1997 to 2003, and like many Expats I check in with the old stomping grounds quite a bit. This evening I see the following traffic graphic from the quite sophisticated Seattle Times/Washington State Department of Transportation:

You can't get the full traffic Hell effect without a click on the map

Now Seattle may be far hipper, cooler, swankier, cosmopolitan as all get out and the cat's pajamas compared with ABQ, but after making a 11 mile bike ride this fine sunny 'Burque afternoon in about 35 minutes (mostly downhill, of course), and coming home to see all the Red & Black on the Emerald City's thoroughfares, I'm thinking (again) that hip, cool, swank might not be all that. Especially when you combine the above with the typical nasty winter horizontal rain and dark at 4:30 p.m. skies.

I still miss that naturally air-conditioned summer, though. And the water. And the Virginia Inn before it went all toursity. And...slap yourself, Scot....look at all that Red & Black!

P.S.: In more ABQ-centric snark...why is it I almost expect Duke City Fix to post a new entry tomorrow in which we are told that the Albuquerque Journal has hired 100 new employees? I see now that the periodically updated corrections from Sophie about the actual situation have been taken down, but here's the alarming blogpost that started it all. Like most of the blogosphere when it comes to "news", I have no idea what the Hell is going on, either.

Oh wait, Sophie's post appears to be back up. I, for one, welcome our new, post newspaper-age, information overlords. Just not enough to join a "social network" quite yet...which I realize for a "blogger" is like saying one isn't an alcoholic because they only drink beer and wine.