Forget counselling, play dodgeball!

Starting next Monday (Aug. 6), the Morgan Family Branch of the YMCA (The one on Pearl) will host Dodgeball. If you're a member who's 18 or older, show up at 6:15 p.m. and get ready to channel your worries into a red rubber ball.

The only other scheduled match is Monday, Sept. 3, but we can only hope that, if it's popular enough, they'll think about hosting more regular matches.

For more questions, contact Anna Parsons at aparsons@ymcatacoma.org.

Look at all those red markers! Those are all the spots GritCity has stopped to scratch our heads and ponder those mysterious Constitutions Matter billboards.

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According to an Associated Press story, at least one local made their way to American Idol auditions for a chance at making it on the show next season.

"I just want to be able to say I gave it my best shot," said Tabatha Politis, 20, whose co-workers at a veterinary hospital in Tacoma, Wash., chipped in to send her to California because she got in a car accident on the way to audition last year and missed her chance in Seattle.

Would love to hear how it went if anyone's privy to the info. Good luck, Tabatha!

You must visit the playground at Jefferson Park, which is just off of Sixth and Proctor. Aside from the very cool water feature, it has the best playground equipment I've ever seen. It looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

Even the stuff that looks innocent -- like the little orange tulip-looking thing you sit in -- will spin you around like a perpetual motion machine until you're sick. It's the best, really.

Before we moved, we used to visit the playground at the elementary school on N. I st and ... maybe 12th? That's a pretty standard one -- monkey bars, swingsets -- but good nonetheless.

Other suggestions? If there's a free park that rivals the one at Jefferson, I'd be shocked... but lemme know!

Tacoma has been invaded with a crazy number of billboards with the phrase "Constitutions Matter."

(I didn't know we had more than one.)

What's up with that? Have these cropped up in other cities or are we special?

Update: I'm thinking Tacoma's Aug. 1 deadline for billboard compliance might have something to do with it.

My favorite summer festival in Tacoma, Ethnic Fest runs from noon to 7 p.m., both today and Sunday at Wright Park.

You'll see a lot of "I ran the span" T-shirts around town from this month's Tacoma Narrows bridge run, which billed itself as "The one and only!"

But a check into the Tacoma fun run T-shirt archive turns up this rare gem from the original bridge run ...

Howard Clifford, the event's one and only unwitting participant, won in record time.

And this lousy T-shirt? It's all he got.

We earned July. We deserve July. Give us July!

At least the lawn is no longer primed for wildfire.

To all of you smart, responsible, God-fearing people who have been paying Narrows bridge tolls this week: Surprise, you're wasting your money!

The law that sets a $49 fine for lack of payment doesn't go into effect until 12:01 a.m. Sunday. So until then, drivers can salute the toll collectors while motoring across the new span, all with a clean conscience and without the fear of being ticketed.

Kind of makes you feel stupid for waiting in line with your $3 bill flapping in the breeze, huh?

I have a Gig Harbor-dwelling friend who plans to cover his Good to Go! transponder with aluminum foil for his commute to Tacoma the rest of this week. I'll let you know how that works out.

It's a long way from her start at the Olive Garden in Olympia, but 28-year-old Tacoma native Lia Bardeen wields a mean knife on Bravo's reality show "Top Chef."

A new episode airs at 10 tonight (Channel 74 on Click!, 66 on Comcast). It's preceded by a marathon of this season's episodes, starting at 6 p.m.

Hey, at least she gives us someone to cheer for.

The Foss High grad, an executive sous chef at Manhattan's Jean-Georges, won last week's challenge with "Olive Oil Poached Key West Pink Shrimp with Avocado, Cucumber, Lime and Grilled Pepper Salad."

Hmmm, I don't remember seeing that on the menu at Olive Garden. Does it come with a breadstick?

Bridge photos snapped by wildcelticrose and lorenzoluv respectively, both captioned by me. Lots of reader photos here.

Ed told me (and blogged) that he snuck by Corina Bakery this morning and the new interior is just as delectable as their sweet treats. The remodel, my gigantic sweet tooth and the very important one-year-and-two-weeks anniversary (nothing wrong with making up celebrations, right?), mean I'll be going there directly after work.

In other news, we rode our bikes past Bombay Bistro on Sixth Ave. last night and I asked the group of four people outside when they were going to open. The woman (I didn't ask her name or identify myself. I figure that, wearing workout clothes on a mountain bike at 10 p.m. didn't exactly look official) said they have an appointment with the city *hopefully* this week and that they'll open ... sometime after that. I tolk her that we were waiting patiently and she told me "Those who wait will be rewarded like kings and queens."

I told her I'd hold her to it.

And I'm focusing on sweet treats and delicious curries today because yesterday I covered a funeral. And I had to sit next to a bunch of shiny TV reporters. And one of those shiny, shiny gems PLACED A PHONE CALL DURING THE SERVICE!!! I'm not sure who she was talking to (or maybe she was checking a message? still.), but, oh I'll just venture a guess: Making an appoinment to get an even worse haircut can wait. Ugh. People!

I'm going to go find a happy place. It may or may not involve buttercream.

I live just around the corner from Corina Bakery, that sweet-smelling nook of buttercream and chocolate on Sixth Avenue, and have been watching as its remodel/expansion has unfolded from newspapered front windows to lush curtains, which I spotted this morning.

Had I been properly caffeinated, I would've stopped to peek inside. But I wasn't. And I didn't. And work called.

But lo! From Kevin Freitas comes the serendipitous news: After a few delays, Corina is due to reopen Monday. Monday being my birthday. Birthdays being carved from cake and laughter.

I recommend the red velvet.

You can bet Ed's Diner will have any and all updates. I'll just have crumbs on my face.

Here are two shots of a tree that squashed a car -- sorry, a VW bug -- in Tacoma.

I don't want to laugh too hard at other people's misfortunes, but ... with the right insurance, anyone can agree this is kind of funny.

So I invite you to write your own caption. I haven't thought of anything fantastic, but here are some ideas ...

1. Usually bugs are in trees ...
2. Something about the tree moving very slow and juuust missing the Hummner that was parked there the day before.

Obviously I need my free Slurpee to get my creative brain working.

If you like Slurpees, today, 7/11, is your day: 7-Eleven stores across the nation will celebrate the chain's 80th birthday, also known as 7-Eleven Day, with free 7.11-ounce Slurpee drinks in special birthday cups while supplies last.

While supplies last? See you there.

And, if you can hold out until Friday (the 13th, creepy), in celebration of Krispy Kreme's 70th year of making doughnuts more than just a special-occasion treat, you can score a dozen glazed doughnuts for free ... if your birthday is on July 13. Don't try to pull a fast one: They require you to show ID.

From the National Weather Service:

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING.

TEMPERATURES WILL BE 15 TO 20 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WITH DAYTIME HIGHS REACHING INTO THE 90S ACROSS THE TACOMA...SEATTLE AND EVERETT AREAS. WEDNESDAY WILL BE THE WARMEST OF THE TWO DAYS WITH HIGHS IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S POSSIBLE.

They're also warning that the humidity is going to be high, increasing the risk of "heat illnesses." Stay hydrated, kids!

I'm sort of disappointed that I did all the laundry yesterday, as this marks the beginning of Nude Recreation Week.

That's right: Go forth and recreate in the nude.

We've already missed Nude Gardening Day. Sorry that I wasn't more organized. Where was the banner at the city council meeting when you needed it?

Photo courtesy John Henrikson

Listen kid... you're also gonna eat vegetables for breakfast, watch the History Channel for entertainment and go to bed by 9 p.m. every night. And you're gonna like it, you hear me?!

Hey, did you notice it's summer?

I've been walloped by memories of the Midwestern days of my youth: those musty pup-tent, dusty-lane, bologna-sandwiches-at-the-lake sort of memories.

So I've been working on laying down some fodder for future nostalgia. It's a pretty simple formula. But feel free to make your own. (And share, won't you? What have you guys been up to on these lazy days?)

• Buy old Schwinn bike. Ride it.
• Eat peanut butter-filled pretzels. You'll need the energy, and they're easily portable. Though I wouldn't recommend carrying them in your jeans pocket.

Don't be surprised if people stop you to say hello. Offer them a pretzel. Ask for their story. It's summer, you know?