See, there are places I'd expect to be worse or as bad with similar situations, but NONE OF THEM have been such a lasting clusterfuck as the corner with that McDonald's.

It's so weird because it's so close to so many perfectly nice places to shop, eat, and hang out, and yet so persistently cursed.

Though speaking of Seattle crime, my office on the outskirts of the UW campus has been on lockdown twice in the past two weeks because of armed robberies in the immediate neighborhood...which is two times more than had ever happened before in the four years since we moved to that location.

Wow, I have a suspicion I know the McDonalds and the corner you are talking about and this is from experiences in Seattle in the 90s.

There were always lots of unsavory folks around--I think that was the MacDonalds that played obnoxious, repetitive music in their parking lot in the hopes of keeping people from congregating there--and when it was late I sometimes walked in the street just to give myself a little distance from the unruly groups on the sidewalk.

I think that's the other McDonald's that was, I think, seven or eight blocks away? Maybe ten? Closer to the monorail.

This one's 3rd and Pike. No parking lot. Bad, bad fucking corner.

Nope, nowhere near, but I did casually chat with Ken to make sure he hadn't gone into town on his day off.

Steph, I'll chime in with everyone saying that caretaking is exhausting. It's too late now, I'm sure. But the next time you're that tired, could you get a friend to drive you or take a Lyft/Uber? Local friends often want to be helpful, but they don't know how without explicit suggestions. Of course, that's one more thing to corral when you're already tired. But it might be marginally less tiring than hiking all around a medical complex.

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it so much. (Caretaking.) Today SUCKS.

I would give someone $500 to fucking bring me lunch.

Non-intrusive hugs... I swear delivery is the best thing ever. I was just sitting down to order my groceries.

I would give someone $1,000 to bring me a sandwich on gluten free bread. How the fuck does the hospital cafeteria not have gluten free bread? They have a big sign saying the Boars Head deli meats are gluten free, but what fucking good does that do me if you don't have gluten free bread to serve it on?!?!? I don't want a handful of turkey.

Ugh, Steph, I'm sorry. Could you get GrubHub or something to deliver?