Action Packed Sunday

Life: Well yesterday was quite an interesting day. My son and I packed up and went out on a long bike ride. My wife has recently discovered a gem of an idea, and I decided to give it a go -- I pull the Burley trailer behind me, with all of our "luggage" for the day - basketball, soccer ball, knights and castles legos, lunch, and most importantly bike lock. Then, when Nayan gets too tired to ride, I just lock up his bike, and pop him in the back of the trailer. He made it a surprisingly long way - we rode down to the Nordic Heritage Museum, played basketball, snacked up, then rode down to the start of the new Burt Gillman, rode that to the locks. We then meandered across the locks, visited a friend on the other side, after Nayan pushed his bike up a huge hill. Then he made it almost to Discovery Park. We had a lovely picnic lunch out where Ameen and I got married, at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center. Then he rode almost all the way home, where the real action started.

We get home, and a gigantic antenna is sticking out of the KIRO news van in front of our house. Here's a clip from the Seattle Times located HERE:

A three-hour police standoff ended Monday afternoon with the arrest of a 53-year-old Ballard man suspected of threatening his family. Police say the man possessed several weapons and that he and his wife had a previously unreported history of domestic violence.

Family members called police after they left the home in the 8000 block of 28th Avenue Northwest shortly after 2:15 p.m. with the man inside. Seattle police cordoned off the area in the Loyal Heights neighborhood and called in a SWAT team and negotiators.

Failing to get a response at the house, police thought the man might be hiding in his backyard. They tossed a percussion grenade into it and released a gas irritant. The man was flushed from a boat in the backyard and arrested, said Seattle police spokesman Rich Pruitt.

Nayan of course was thrilled with all the action in the neighborhood - helicopters circling over head, police barracades everywhere, etc. And like tried and true crime jaded Americans, our neighbors were all busy cracking jokes about the violent state of the nation. Alas, its a bit sad that few people are shocked over this sort of thing anymore. I'm sure if this happened in my friend's quaint neighborhood in violence deprived Oslo, people would be aghast.