His name is Eric Keto — that’s pronounced “Keh-toh” and not like that fad diet — and he’ll be helping us make more rad videos to help us tell Seattle’s fun and complicated story. He moved to our city a year ago after working for three years in Anchorage, Alaska, where he shot videos for a local PBS station. Since then, he’s made awesome videos for Crosscut and KCTS 9, including the wonderfully delightful Mossback’s Northwest series with local columnist Knute Berger.

How’s he liking the Emerald City so far? Let’s find out…

What’s your favorite neighborhood so far?

I’ve got a soft spot for Ballard. I grew up in Wyoming, but on summer vacation we’d often make the trip out to Seattle to visit the relatives. As a Rocky Mountain kid, I never got tired of watching the boats — and the salmon — heading through the Ballard Locks. It’s still one of my favorite places to take out-of-town guests.

What’s your favorite café and restaurant?

Let’s keep this boat thing rolling. I nominate the café aboard the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I can take or leave the coffee, but the view can’t be beat.

Chungee’s [in Capitol Hill] serves up some fresh bok choy, and I’d be happy to meet my new coworker Kenny at ChuMinh Tofu Deli [in the International District] any day for lunch.

What’s the best show you’ve seen in the city?

Does live theater qualify? Ragtime was pretty darn good.

What does your perfect Seattle weekend look like?

This past weekend was pretty solid: It started with a night of high culture at the Hump! Film Festival. Saturday included a birding trip with my girlfriend (she’s a proud member of Seattle Audubon, I have a hard time identifying common starlings), and a separate trip to our local dog park (turns out my dogs are also better birders than I am).

Found some time to squeeze in a climbing session at Vertical World, and wrapped things up with a night of hardcore board gaming/dinner partying with friends (I won Catan but failed in my efforts to make a decent batch of ice cream).

Are you pro- or anti-umbrella?

I don’t own an umbrella. That being said, do what you gotta do to stay dry.

Is the Seattle Freeze real? Why/why not?

Some Seattleites might have a hard shell, but I find that most have a soft, nougaty center.

Have a fun video idea for Eric or just want to say hello? You can reach him at [email protected].

HQ3? Amazon’s search for its second big headquarters just took another big twist. Instead of hiring 50,000 people in one new city, they apparently want to split those jobs over two new cities. This isn’t official — Amazon is saying shhh (and worse) to big leaks in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times this past week. But if these insider sources are legit, then Dallas, New York City, or Crystal City, Virginia could be in the Amazon jungle real soon. Journalist Nick Wingfield of The Information is not impressed. “If Amazon ends up splitting its expansion into mini HQs, that is called…opening satellite offices, which scarcely deserves the buckets of ink spilled so far,” he tweeted. (GeekWire)

Gab goes Northwest. Web sites don’t really “live” anywhere, but to exist, they have to be hosted. Enter a company called Epik Inc. It’s a domain name registrar company that’s based out in Sammamish, and it’s agreed to host Gab — the two-year-old social networking site where Robert Bowers posted anti-Semitic hate before allegedly killing 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue last month. Gab went offline when its previous host, GoDaddy, wanted nothing more to do with it. To Epik CEO Rob Monster, giving Gab a new home was a matter of American free speech. (KUOW, Epik.com)

What does it mean to be a Jew? That’s been on the mind of Seattle writer and Evergrey reader Michael Podlasek Kent since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Michael is “visibly” a Jew, he writes, in a city “where Jewishness feels more a novelty than an understood, appreciated, and integrated segment of the broader society.” One thing he hopes his neighbors can understand better: “Being a Jew includes but transcends religion,” he writes. “My wish is for us Jews — right now, in modern America — to be seen as a people first.” (Crosscut)

All the early votes! FYI Guy Gene Balk crunched the numbers, and we’re rocking this midterm election thing. In fact, Seattle’s had the fourth-highest turnout over the last three midterms among big metro areas, and we might break records in 2018, because this one’s kind of a doozy. What’s the number to beat? The 644,192 King County ballots we returned in 2014. How are we doing so far? As of 6 p.m. last night, we’d turned in 629,094. Can we make up the 15,000-ballot difference on Election Day? Hell yes we can. Get updated numbers here at noon and 6 p.m., and SEND THAT BALLOT HOME. 💪 (The Seattle Times)

GOT ELECTION FEELS?

Hey, so do we! Post a GIF of your current midterm election-inspired mood over in our Facebook thread (47 hilarious/angst-ridden GIFs and counting) and let’s commiserate. Need something non-election related to look at for a minute? Watch these salmon swim across the street near the flooded Skokomish River. Gets us every time. 🐟

Go join that big heaping pile of democracy, all. We’ll see you on the other side. — The Evergrey