Seattle Represent!

The first time I met Morgan Hepfer, I had just walked into my gym for a normal afternoon workout. He was there for the first time with his wife, Lisa and their baby daughter, Finley. Morgan is of average height, well-built, head shaven and heavily tattooed on the arms. His build is beguiled by a warm smile and very agreeable disposition. He and Lisa had just recently moved back to the Tacoma area after teaching English in Bangkok, Thailand. They went through our workout and I found that I was quickly dominated by Morgan’s work ability: Finley lay on a blanket for the duration, every now and then being checked on by her mother. It may sound strange to befriend someone so randomly at a gym, but I should explain that this gym is anything but typical. We were training (a word used here in place of “working out”) at Crossfit Pierce County, a gym owned by Eugene Allen, a local sheriff and former special forces member. At the time the gym was run out of Gene’s oversized three car garage. There were about 15 regular clients coming in at the normal workout time of 4:30 PM, any day you wanted to train. Continue Reading…

The Tacoma News Tribune reported yesterday that there were more than 1400 applicants for an opening as a water and electric meter reader in the city of Tacoma. The next step in the process was a test administered in the Tacoma Dome, where 807 people showed up to give it their best shot. Out of the test takers, 27 people were invited to interview. Finally one person, Scott Hoover, was hired for the job. The pay is around $20 an hour, with benefits.

Yes, that’s right- In a clever variation on the classic bank robbing cliche, a US Bank in downtown Tacoma was robbed yesterday morning by a bible totin’ robber. Continue Reading…

Crime by city rankings have been released by CQ Press and two Washington cities are near the top of the list. The lovely, if not fairly dangerous, Tacoma comes in at #39, and Washington’s next most dangerous city, Everett, ranks #55. This was actually a better year for Tacoma which was ranked #33 last year, but Everett was merely #66 last year. The most dangerous city on the list was the culturally rich New Orleans, followed by Camden, New Jersey, which has a lot less going for it.