Thursday, July 24, 2008

Sorting the stuff.......from the stuff

Cigarettes light up as a parade of four or five fishmongers pour out onto S. King Street in the international district south of downtown Seattle. The sun is finally beginning to go down creating a pink and orange hue over the Olympic mountains visible behind the cranes and outline of Qwest Field on a cool July night.

The energy on the street is different than it was two hours prior. We have recommitted, recreated, and are ready to take on anything. We have cleaned out the fishbowl once again......like we did two weeks ago......and like we will probably do again.
As far as I can tell, nothing in the world is a destination but rather a journey. Successful journeys require maintenance and that's what we do. We individually make sure we're committed to the journey of a world famous fish market that makes a difference for everyone we can.

Now a pack of hard-working, burly, and sometimes smelly, fishmongers smoking on the street may strike you as a bit intimidating. If you look again, you'll see the crowds are gone, the cameras are nowhere to be seen and all the fishes have been put to bed. What's left is the thickest paint of emotions covering the walls of that little Chinese restaurant where we all have met every two weeks for the past 10 years. Before cocktails or the drive home after 15 or 16 hour days on these meeting nights, we pass around steamed rice and tea talking about what's present and what's missing. What are the conversations going around? What are the choices we need to make?
If you think it's all about fish, you're sadly mistaken. We are present, we are intentional and we do our best to be supportive. Tears, anger, laughter, sadness, the list goes on but what really matters is that we all care enough to sit down and recommit to making this place great, recommit to the vision.

This is my blog entry for a meeting night and the high that I ride until 12:28am on a weeknight. Everyday is great at PPF, but fridays after meetings are really something special.

~scotty

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Created From Nothing


John Yokoyama, owner of Pike Place Fish: "Scotty, it took me a long time to warm up to the internet, and I still don't quite get it all, but if this "blog"will help us tell the world who we are and what we do, why not!"

Seriously, did you ever think a bunch of guys who work in rubber boots, have hands of sand paper and generate more chiropractic paperwork than the hunchback of Notre Dame would begin a blog!?

We thought rather than barraging your email boxes with our ramblings, we'd put it out there to the world and see what sticks. Our plan is to post evidence of what we're generating and creating for ourselves here at Pike Place Fish. We're world famous because of our commitment to creating energy from nothing and this blog will show you how. We're consistently amazed at how that shows up on a daily basis at 86 Pike Place and we wanted you all to see it too.
Be prepared for pictures, updates on the fishes, and who knows what else. We sure as heck don't know but happy to be taking Pike Place Fish to new places everyday.

Now to tell you the truth, this is more time in front of a computer than any of us are willing to devote right now, so thanks for reading the intro and we hope you continue to return and read up on us. The July BBQs are calling which means grills in need of salmon and picnic tables in need of crabs so call us or stop by to get the best summer cookout supplies that the Northwest has to offer! Heeeeyyyyaaaah!