There is a Travelex currency exchange on the top level of Westlake Center. I believe that is your ONLY local option other than at SeaTac Airport.

You might start with one of the "sprint" triathlons. That's a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run.

You don't mention your gender, but my wife did the women's Danskin Triathlon in August. It was her first triathlon. It seemed to be well organized and she had a good experience.

One thing I'll add ... if you do a tri that includes a lake swim, do some training in the lake. My wife only trained in a pool, and got a bit freaked out by the waves and depth of the lake (still finished though).

In general, there is nothing great about a stadium concert, except for the amount of money they make per show. Compared to an arena show, the sound quality tends to suffer and it's harder to see the stage.

There are bands who have gone to great lengths to make stadium shows look and sound great, so it is possible to do this right. For the most part, this exception applies to ancient rock acts, such as Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. Two things these bands have in common: superbly engineered sound systems, and they don't move around much on stage so there's nothing to see there anyway. I'm guessing that Madonna will not fall into this category.

If you live in Seattle, meats and dairy ARE allowed in the yard waste. So, I wouldn't hesitate to put either dry or wet cat food in the yard waste bin.

Here's a link to all of their rules. There's even a video!

Batteries are rated in amp-hours (Ah). Your cpap draws 5 amps, so 8 hours of sleeping is 5x8=40 amp-hours. Four nights camping is 160 amp-hours.

160 amp-hours is too high for a standard automotive battery, but you can certainly find a deep cycle lead-acid battery with at least that capacity. However, it will weigh a ton and won't be cheap. A quick Google search for a 150Ah battery revealed one that was $200 and 84 lbs, and more research might reveal a better one. But that will be in the ballpark for cost and weight.

$200 might be worth it, and it may be something you'll use again. But 84 lbs ... are you getting dropped off, or do you have to lug this thing 1/2 mile to begin with?

You could save a lot of weight by going with a Lithium battery, but it would cost you a fortune ... probably $1500 or more, and still 25-30 lbs worth of batteries.

Perhaps you could consider using it just a couple of hours per night? An 80Ah lead-acid battery weighs probably 40% less. That's 16 hours of good sleep.

We've done it, and I recommend it. Everything you need to know about officially organizing the event and closing the street off is here.

We've always had coolers of beer and BBQ's in the street, and I really can't imagine that being a problem. Live music is allowed, with the recommendation that you keep it not-too-loud and not-too-late. I think the only real rule is you can't completely block the street so as to prevent emergency vehicles getting through (i.e. no setting up a stage in the middle of the street).

One other recommendation: organize the food. It's nice to have side dishes, desserts, etc, and that rarely works out if it's a free-for-all.

Get a new helmet.

If money is an issue, Cascade Bike Club sells them for $10 (next available at Green Lake Pool on June 18).

If it was me, I'd try the following:
1. REMOVE THE BATTERY (very important)
2. Scrub the phone inside and out with soapy water
3. Rinse thoroughly (deionized water is better than distilled water which is better than tap water)
4. Dunk everything in isopropyl alcohol
5. Let dry completely (be conservative)
6. Reinstall the battery ... if it works, great, if it doesn't, get a new phone.

First a tequila primer... tequilas are sorted by age with the youngest being silver, the middle being reposado, and the oldest being añejo. In general, añejos are more expensive than silvers, as it needs to sit in the barrel longer before bottling.

If you're making margaritas, get a decent silver. Nothing fancy is necessary here ... Sauza Silver is cheap and does the trick. In fact, using a nice tequila for mixed drinks is kind of a waste of nice tequila. If you're sipping it, get a reposado or añejo. You'll definitely taste more of the barrel in an añejo, almost like a whiskey. I prefer reposados myself.

By the way, "gold" tequila, as in Cuervo Gold, is just silver tequila with artificial color to make it look aged. Yuck.

As for suggestions, I like Corralejo. You can get the reposado in the blue bottle, and the añejo in the red bottle. Both versions are smooth for sipping, and won't break the bank. If you're looking for value, stay away from Patron, which is excellent, but well-known, and accordingly overpriced. If you want to shop around, the liquor store at 15th Ave NW and 80th in Crown Hill has a very good tequila selection.

It varies drastically by what type of washer you have. An old school top-loading washer can use up to 40 gallons of water. A front-loading washer is about half that. The biggest cost, by far, is heating the water. This will vary by season, as warmer inlet water is cheaper to heat than colder inlet water, for obvious reasons. Water costs vary by usage and season too. Here is a laundry cost calculator. I have no idea how accurate it is, but it seems about right.

Another thing to keep in mind is dirty cloth diapers take 2-3 washes to get clean. There are a million or so websites dealing with this topic.

For the sake of argument, let's just call it $1/wash, and $0.50/dry . For 3 washes/load, that's $3.50/load. Let's say you've got two loads per week, so $7/week, or around $28/month. Call it $30 to pay for detergent.

We use a diaper service. It's about $80/month and comparable to the cost of disposables. So, an extra $50/month buys convenience and not having to deal with poopy diapers. Worth it!