If you’re not already familiar with it, Cove to Clover is a local, homegrown fundraiser that will benefit numerous local charities, with a weekend that will include a 5k, 10k, talent show, Pub Crawl and much more between March 9 – 11. The organization is very lean and is run by passionate, local volunteers.

“Be assured, your participation will be making a positive impact on your community,” the website adds.

Tickets can be purchased for just $25 each at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub – just ask to buy some from the bartender.

Buy early, buy often and increase your odds of escaping the crazy winter weather we’ve been having. Think of how easy it’ll be to forget the snow, ice, slush, gusty wind, downed trees and power outages when you’re sitting on a nice beach sipping a cocktail…

And did we mention how the odds are 1 in 200 that YOU could win AND help raise money for a great local cause?

Here are some details:

• Winner will be drawn at the finish line of Cove to Clover on March 11 (need not be present to win).
• Single prize is 2 airline tickets for anywhere Alaska Airlines flies.
• Chance is 1 in 200!
• Buy tickets for just $25 each at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub!

For more information on this great fundraising event, or to register for the race, go to http://covetoclover.com.

*EDITOR’S NOTE: According to a website about 4-leaf clovers, the odds of finding one are 10,000 to 1.

Our Organizer friends at the upcoming Oct. 9th Burien Brat Trot (we’re Sponsors) want our Readers to know that another Sponsor that you may have heard of – Alaska Airlines – is giving away tickets for two to anywhere they fly (except Hawaii and Mexico), and to enter, all you have to do is:

Text BRAT to 44227 for a chance to win (message and data rates may apply)!

You can also now register online – here are the details:

5k Solo Race
The 5K race begins @ 1:00 PM (at the corner of 10th and 152nd)

• $35.00 registration (through 10/7 at 11:59 PM US/Pacific)
• $40.00 day of registration (available at the race only)

Short Course Race (about 1 mile)
The short course race begins @ 1:40 PM (at Lake Burien Park)

• $30.00 registration (through 10/7 at 11:59 PM US/Pacific)
• $35.00 day of registration (available at the race only)

Family Registration (4 or More People, Same Household)
Family rate available through 9/15. Family Registration opportunities exist for both the 5K and short course races.

• $100.00 for 4 family members, $10.00 each after fourth

Be an “Angel” Donor and Sponsor a Child (Sign up and Pay Now)
Each year during our school competitions we encounter families with children who would love to run but cannot afford the registration fee or do not have adequate shoes to run in. The Angel Donor funds will be matched with kids – either partial or full.

• $30 to sponsor a child
• $20 to sponsor running shoes for a child (through 10/7 at 11:59 PM US/Pacific)

Click here to register!

Here’s more info:

Sunday, October 9 will be a great day of German-style fun and exercise presented by the Tin Room Bar & Grill in Olde Burien!

The 5K race starts at 1:00 p.m. in the heart of Olde Burien and widely circles Lake Burien. The “Seize the Sausage” Family Race (about one mile) starts at Lake Burien Park at 1:40 p.m. Both events finish to cheering crowds right in the heart of Olde Burien where revelers can enjoy a day-long Oktoberfest style festival including brats, beer gardens, live entertainment and plenty of activities for kids! Costumes are encouraged!

The Brat Trot is a true community celebration – one that brings out the fun in all of us – and it also raises critical funds for two local non-profits:

Safe Kids King County South and Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence.

Thank you to our main event sponsors:

And just in case you missed it (or can’t get enough of it…), here’s our video of the first-ever Brat Trot “Flash Mob” held July 16th:

Click here to view the embedded video.

UPDATE SUNDAY 3/27/11 10:30am: Alaska Airlines announced Sunday morning that the “computer system outage that disrupted Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights Saturday has been resolved.”

Their press release adds:

“The majority of Alaska and Horizon flights are operating on time although the airlines have delayed about a dozen flights due to crew scheduling issues. Customers traveling today are still advised to check the status of their flight at www.alaskaair.com or by calling 1-800-ALASKAAIR before leaving for the airport.”

On Saturday (March 26), Alaska and Horizon canceled 150 flights affecting some 12,150 passengers due to a computer malfunction. Customers were being re-accommodated on the next available flight at no charge and in some cases on other airlines.

“With computer systems restored and our operation back on track today, we will continue to assist those customers whose flights were canceled yesterday,” Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden said. “On behalf of the 13,000 Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air employees, I offer my profound apology to customers inconvenienced by this disruption.”

Customers whose flight plans were affected by the computer outage and have been re-accommodated are advised to contact the airlines’ Customer Care team at http://bit.ly/eJUPTe.

PREVIOUSLY: Alaska Airlines says that a computer system outage that disrupted about 15 percent of its flights (including Horizon Air) on Saturday (March 26) has been partially restored.

Alaska and Horizon flights are operating, although many are delayed by two hours or more and additional cancellations are possible.

Here’s the rest of Alaska’s press release:

By midday, Alaska and Horizon had canceled about 140 flights affecting some 11,700 passengers. Customers are being re-accommodated on the next available flight at no charge. The airlines are also working to accommodate customers on other carriers.

“We’re working to get our operation back to normal as quickly as possible and are very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers,” Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden said. “We are doing all we can to book them on other flights.”

Passengers are advised to check the status of their flight on www.alaskaair.com or by calling 1-800-ALASKAAIR before leaving for the airport. Customers whose flight plans are affected are advised to change their flight reservations on alaskaair.com. Alternatively, they can call: Alaska Airlines Reservations: 1-800-ALASKAAIR (1-800-252-7522) or Horizon Air Reservations: 1-800-547-9308
(TTY/TDD Users: 1-800-682-2221).

Following flight re-accommodation, the airline encourages customers to contact its Customer Care team at this URL: http://bit.ly/eJUPTe.
Twenty of Alaska Airlines’ 58 canceled flights were departing Seattle while another 10 were flying in the state of Alaska. The remaining cancellations affected departures throughout the airline’s route system, including six in Southern California, five in Portland and four in the Bay Area. Horizon has canceled 81 flights so far today, including 30 departing from Seattle, 13 in Portland and eight in Spokane, Wash.

A central computer system used to prepare flight plans and other information went down about 3 this morning when a backup power system upgrade was being installed and a transformer malfunctioned. IT specialists have temporarily restored the system and will work on permanent repairs overnight Saturday.

Also, as proof that addressing issues immediately in our modern-day, fully-connected, transparent society, Alaska President Brad Tilden and Horizon President Glenn Johnson posted this video late Saturday afternoon (we’re pretty sure they probably Tweeted and Facebooked the same message):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Alaska Airlines and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno unveiled a specially-themed Boeing 737-800 Tuesday (Nov. 17th) at Sea-Tac Airport, painted with a larger-than-life image of the celeb athlete and telling people to “follow Apolo.”

Also, to celebrate Ohno’s race for gold, passengers boarding the “Follow Apolo” jet received Ohno trading cards, copies of Ohno’s signature bandana and press-on faux facial hair (faux facial hair??? dang…now we’re sorry we missed this photo op!).

While we certainly don’t know any humans who’ve actually sprouted wings and can fly on their own, the unique design features a huge painting of the Seattle native on the aircraft’s fuselage and also promotes his new Alaska Airlines-sponsored website www.followapolo.com as he pursues winter gold in Vancouver, BC during the upcoming Winter Olympics.

“It’s an honor to be featured alongside Alaska’s trademark Eskimo and have the support of my hometown airline for the most important race of my life,” said Ohno, after seeing the plane for the first time.

A team of Seattle-area youth speed skaters aspiring to follow in Ohno’s path accompanied the athlete onboard the aircraft as it was unveiled at Sea-Tac Airport Tuesday. The skaters are members of Pattison’s Team Extreme and train at Pattison’s West Skating Center in Federal Way, where Ohno trained as a teen:

Apolo Ohno and members of Federal Way's Pattison's Team Extreme.

A native of the Seattle area, Ohno began his speed-skating career at age 14 in Seattle and Vancouver. He went on to become the youngest skater to win a World Cup event title in December 1999. Ohno has since won 11 national champion, 18 world champion and five Olympic medals.

If you’d like to “Follow Apolo,” you can either grow wings and attempt to fly behind (or alongside) his cool new airplane, or you can just click here and check out his website.

(Photos courtesy Alaska Airlines)

Photographer Michael Brunk risked his life on Sea-Tac Airport’s tarmac to get these photos:

Click to View Michael Brunk’s Photo Slideshow

During the 2008-2009 season, SeaTac Airport experienced just over 23 inches of snow, compared to an average of 12 inches. While airport operations continued during the higher than normal snowfall, some improvements are being made for the 2009-2010 season.

Alaska Airlines has added eight new de-icing trucks to their fleet and three “nurse trucks” that will shuttle fluid from storage tanks to the new de-icing trucks. The new de-icing trucks feature an enclosed operator cockpit that allows them to operate safely around aircraft while the aircraft engines are still running. This feature coupled with new procedures will allow Alaska Airlines to de-ice an aircraft much more quickly and efficiently using central de-icing pads that will use a “car wash” model.

The Port of Seattle — which is responsible for clearing snow and ice from runways, taxiways and the ramp areas — has also taken delivery of several new vehicles that were already on order prior to last year’s unusual snow event. Using several snow plows followed by snow brush trucks one runway can be plowed and cleared in 30-45 minutes.

Most residents of the Pacific Northwest would think that Boy Scouts participating in a day-long event to earn a merit badge on a mostly sunny Saturday in late October would be hiking in the Cascade Mountains or exploring the Puget Sound shoreline.

But such was not the case on Oct. 24, when 160 scouts packed classrooms at the Alaska Airlines Flight Operations Center in SeaTac and visited the company’s hangar at Sea-Tac International Airport for a close look at a Boeing 737-700 – inside and out.

The first Aviation Merit Badge day, sponsored by Alaska Airlines in partnership with the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America, was by all accounts an overwhelming success, with many more scouts wanting to participate than there was space to accommodate.

During the day, Boy Scouts were introduced not only to the dynamics of flight and the basics of flying an airplane, but also to airport management, flight operations, air traffic control, and careers in aviation.

Aviation Merit Badge day came about, said Brad Tilden, president of Alaska Airlines (and an Eagle Scout and Highline High School graduate), because “we love to support the Boy Scouts.”

But a golfing auction that the airline sponsored to support scouting wasn’t quite the thing since “there are not a lot of golfers here.” The merit badge idea surfaced as company officials looked for new ways to support the scouts.

“Most of us in aviation remember something that sparked our interest,” Tilden said. “We hope this merit badge event is the spark for some of these scouts. We hope we have fun and that the scouts learn something about aviation.”

Noting that he felt the “energy” while walking around the Flight Operations Center and observing the scouts, Tilden added that he would “love” to do another aviation merit badge day for scouts – perhaps expanded to include girls next time.

Pat Craven, director of development and marketing for the Chief Seattle Council, said the event – “a first for the Boy Scouts and a first for Alaska Airlines,” which he described as “a great friend and partner of scouting” – was “really unique.”

Craven called it “an overwhelming success. We allotted space for 140 scouts, then expanded it to 160, and we still had a waiting list. Alaska is already talking about doing another one next year.

“We’re so excited that Alaska has done this for Boy Scouts. It’s such an exceptional opportunity for them to get an introduction to aviation and aviation careers. They’re still running an airline today, yet they have so many volunteers here doing this.”

Apparently the main complaint was eye irritation.

Read the full story here.

But did you know that PC (and TV) monitors and other elements of those old “megahertz” dinosaurs have dangerous toxins lurking inside them?

To wit:

• Monitors with Cathode Ray Tubes contain 4 to 8 pounds of lead in the radiation shielding of the glass and in lead solder on wires and connections. Barium is also used in the glass shielding. There is phosphorus in the inside coating of the faceplate. Hexavalent chromium is applied on galvanized steel parts for corrosion protection.
• PC chassis contain hexavalent chromium, which is used on steel plates to prevent corrosion.
• Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE) are used as flame retardant in computer plastics. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) components, when burned, give off dioxin fumes.
• Most manufacturers use lead solder to connect semiconductors and other components and wires to motherboards and integrated chip sets. Beryllium is commonly found on boards and connectors. Printing wiring boards contain mercury. Cadmium can be found in semiconductors and resistors.

Well fear no more, as the Alaska Air Group will hold an “E-cycle” event where local residents and workers will be able to responsibly dispose of computers and other electronics they no longer need for free or a nominal charge.

Residents will also have the opportunity to donate their useable computer equipment to a local charity.

The event is scheduled for Earth Day, April 22, 7:30am to 6pm, at the Gold Coast Center parking lot, 20833 International Blvd. in Seatac (see map below).

All computers (any age or type) will be accepted for free. All computer monitors will be accepted for a $10 fee.  Many other computer peripheral parts, cell phones, CDs, diskettes and other items will also be accepted for free. For more information, call (206) 392-5439.

Computers and peripheral equipment that still work will find a new home after they are refurbished by InterConnection (http://www.interconnection.org/), a Seattle-based non-profit that fixes up computers and donates them to underserved people and communities located both locally and abroad.

More details available by calling (206) 392-5439

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