Frinklin sent me something ever so fun to play with.

Head over to the Walk Score website and enter in your address. It will map our your home and surroundings and the "walkability" of your neighborhood, taking into consideration the convenience of the nearby destinations. You receive a score from 0 to 100 depending on just how fully walkable things really are. Their scale is broken down like so:

90 - 100 = Walkers' Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It's possible to get by without owning a car.
50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

My score was 57, which is reasonable. We have a lot of restaurants and a few shops as well as a hospital (if one might walk there) well within walking range, but grocery stores are pushing the limits of walkability when you start to talk about carrying a lot of stuff back with you. I would assume that most of Tacoma is fairly walkable.

You can actually get a map to place on your blog. I thought it would be funny to see the walkability of my parent's neighborhood. They live out in the boonies:

They scored a 6. Not so walkable there.

Posted by: Ensie at 12:31 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Now, there's a Sizzler within three miles so it's not all bad! My mom's address scored a 25. A little better than your parents but still pretty awful. The house I grew up in scored an 8. I'd say that's about right!

Posted by: Jenyum/Tacomamama at May 24, 2008 08:23 AM (LMqvC)

2 We got a 51 ... but two restaurants listed aren't really there. I'm guessing there's a N/S switch going on. Though I'd love to have Gateway to India and a teriyaki as close as it SAYS. I know I'm in the suburbs of the Proctor District ... sigh.

Posted by: tacomachickadee at May 24, 2008 09:49 AM (nWV/l)

3 The house I grew up in got a 2, but I think only because it counted an asparagus farm a mile away as a restaurant. Otherwise I think they'd be at 1 or 2. The nearest thing of any category was several miles away. In case any of you wonder why I'm perfectly happy in T-town with a score of 51 ...

Posted by: tacomachickadee at May 24, 2008 09:53 AM (nWV/l)

4 That's a great tool to objectively determine how "walkable" an area is. As an example, Fife has installed some great new sidewalks and treees but the distances between uses is so large its hard to walk to anything so every trip ends up being one in a car.

Posted by: Erik B. at May 24, 2008 10:53 AM (OVI7B)

5 Wow! Our site for cohousing (1002-4 S 12th St) got an 85! They are a bit funky on the search criteria though. Under schools, they listed Bates about 10 times (probably for the different "majors", and an LLC with Park in the name was listed as A PARK! All together, though, I'd say we picked a good place. Still looking for members!

Posted by: Earthdaughter at May 24, 2008 11:08 AM (JllhC)

6 Walk Score: 5 out of 100

Posted by: Eden at May 24, 2008 02:25 PM (BDCWt)

7 My home address gets a 60, which is better than last year when it left out even more, but it still leaves out Dave's market and Lowell elementary, which would probably boost it considerably. Lowell is actually much closer than Grant, but both are easily walkable.

Posted by: Jen at May 24, 2008 05:52 PM (LMqvC)

8 Yeah, there are definitely some glitches in the alogorithem (is that how you spell that?) that is used to figure out the acutal walkability. But it's still interesting to look at. My parent's house actually has some sort of odd "Quality Hydroseeding" place listed as a school nearby, which I don't believe has anything to do with education.

Posted by: ensie at May 24, 2008 09:35 PM (0Y/90)

9 Just for fun, I looked around on walkscore's site and found this interesting information on how they arrive at their scoring. http://www.walkscore.com/how-it-doesnt-work.shtml We can actually help them "fix" some of the errors in our neighborhoods and improve the accuracy for Tacoma. (P.S. It's algorithm.)

Posted by: Patricia J. Menzies at May 25, 2008 05:24 AM (JllhC)

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Discussion of this great SNL skit came up the other night when describing Kevin's nightmare concoction of cereal (CoCo Puffs, Whoppers, and chocolate milk).

"This one time!..."

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I'm not entierly sure how I've managed to go this long without writing about Bookmooch considering the fact that I've used it every single day for the last couple of months obsessively. It's officially become my favorite new thing to play with because a) it allows me to get rid of the excess books that have been haunting my house for years, b) I get new books that I actually want, c) I get mail, which is fun, and d) I get to use my Stamps.com shipping program and paraphernalia.

Assuming one isn't familiar with Bookmooch, it's a simple website where you can trade in your current books for points. Your points can then be exchanged for books other users have that you would like. Easy peasy! Typically books are worth one point each as you send and receive from one person to another within the same country. Books "mooched" to and from foreign countries can cost 2 - 3 points.

At last check I have sent out 39 books and received 13 (which sounds bad, but really, I've been wanting to get rid of a lot of crap). I'm waiting on 5 more to arrive and have one book to send out currently. I have 25.1 points currently. Books that you want to give away are kept in an inventory that is browsable by other members. Books that you would like to receive are added to a "wishlist." Every time a book on your wishlist becomes available you are sent an e-mail. You can also get an RSS feed of the wishlist if you prefer.

The best part of Bookmooch is the cost. It's completely FREE. The only cost associated with trading books is the shipping cost. But since books are bound, printed matter, they can ship as media mail. This can take longer to ship but typically costs very little. Most books cost between $2 - $3 to ship. Considering the average cost of a paperback can be $12 - $14 and a harcover can be as much as $30 this is really quite a deal!

Bookmooch has a blog and has recently been writing about some very cool stuff. Making books and bookmooching more green has been a big topic as of late. Things like reusing packaging and making sure that you can order the reused packaging right on the website. They also have started working with publishers to have books available directly.

Being a voracious reader, Bookmooch and Paperspine are exactly the type of things that I've been looking for. While the library is great, the fact that there are fees (I recently racked up $50 in fines at the Tacoma Public Library for the five books I had out) keep me from going back. I can find more recent titles, keep them as long as I want (own them if it's Bookmooch), and not have to worry about returning them to anyone. What's not to love?

Posted by: Ensie at 01:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Today I came home from lunch with Jenyum of Tacomamama to find a package on my doorstep. Upon opening the package I found a delightful gift. Some may remember my obsession with the book The Fruit Hunters by author Adam Leith Gollner. I raved about this book when I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from Simon and Schuster a couple of months ago. The book is an absorbing read from beginning to end and made me care about a topic I previously had little interest in. I can't wait to see how Gollner's work is received and what he chooses to write about next.

So, anyway - the surprise gift. Because I had gushed to my Simon and Schuster contact about the book she sent me a signed copy of the finished hardcover! Not just signed, but signed to me! Adam Leith Gollner knows my name!

OK. He likely had a huge list of books to sign for various people and I was just one of a massive number getting books signed to them. But still! This is cool.

I also just received a couple of other signed finished books that are being republished (after being self-published, then published by Slave Labor Graphics). Ariel Schrag's amazing books Potential and Awkward and Definition are being published by Simon and Schuster. Potential is being developed as a movie to be directed by Rose Troche. I own the Slave Labor Graphics editions, but having signed copies is so nice...

Posted by: Ensie at 02:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 257 words, total size 2 kb.

Today I came home from lunch with Jenyum of Tacomamama to find a package on my doorstep. Upon opening the package I found a delightful gift. Some may remember my obsession with the book The Fruit Hunters by author Adam Leith Gollner. I raved about this book when I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from Simon and Schuster a couple of months ago. The book is an absorbing read from beginning to end and made me care about a topic I previously had little interest in. I can't wait to see how Gollner's work is received and what he chooses to write about next.

So, anyway - the surprise gift. Because I had gushed to my Simon and Schuster contact about the book she sent me a signed copy of the finished hardcover! Not just signed, but signed to me! Adam Leith Gollner knows my name!

OK. He likely had a huge list of books to sign for various people and I was just one of a massive number getting books signed to them. But still! This is cool.

I also just received a couple of other signed finished books that are being republished (after being self-published, then published by Slave Labor Graphics). Ariel Schrag's amazing books Potential and Awkward and Definition are being published by Simon and Schuster. Potential is being developed as a movie to be directed by Rose Troche. I own the Slave Labor Graphics editions, but having signed copies is so nice...

Posted by: Ensie at 02:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 257 words, total size 2 kb.