With the interns coming in from wherever we are all from, I am reminded of a few instances regarding Tacoma's location.

A week or two ago I was sitting next to a person (I won't identify them for safety's sake) while they were talking to their family about the recent move to Tacoma, and he told his family he was in "Seattle." (We were definitely in Tacoma at the time)

Yeah, the cities are close and Seattle is more well known across the nation and blah blah blah, but does this deserve a swift smack in the face?

How do you handle the Seattle-Tacoma difference with out-of-towners?

This sign made me inexplicably happy today. Or maybe the sun has finally gotten to my brain. Try a nachos.

Since it's summer, that means it's time for road trips and mental vacations (if you haven't noticed by our lack of posts this month).

But even when I'm away, I always keep an eye out for all things Tacoma. It's a horrible side effect of blogging.

On one recent trip I was eating breakfast in Wanda's Cafe along Highway 101 near Manzanita, Ore., when I noticed our table was covered with retro luggage labels.

Among them: Hotel Winthrop, Tacoma, Washington. (Its slogan at the time: On the shores of Puget Sound, in the heart of the Evergreen Playground.)

So here's my assignment for you this summer: Keep an eye out for the word Tacoma. Let us know where you see it. Then maybe we'll write about it, if we get around to it.

It is true, GritCity has a new contributor, and it is me, the intern.

I guess it is a dream come true of sorts. Long ago, I added the GritCity page on my Facebook. Once I found out about getting the internship here, I longed to have my neck included in the collective strangling that made the Grit posters seem so cool.

I am from Spokane, and never had that much contact with Tacoma. All I really knew was related to a fantastic falafel wrap I had at a local Greek restaurant a few years back and the Junior Assembly (I think that is what it was called) dance I randomly went to in high school.

Yep, Mediterranean food and awkward high schoolers, that was my impression of Tacoma.

But now I am in a crew of new TNT interns, with little knowledge of the city and a few hours of free time a week. So, I was hoping everyone could do me a favor. Tell me what the interns and I should do. What can we do to experience the real Tacoma – and not just Chihuly and meth. Let me know, I'll pick an idea and report back.

Also, the post title reminded me of this movie. Charlie Sheen + goatee + random West Wing actors = fantastic crap.

Now, there's no denying we work hard here at GritCity. It takes effort to not get paid to write only one post about every two weeks.

But luckily, The News Tribune has welcomed a crop of interns for the summer and one of them actually wants to play with us.

Brian Everstine, who hails from that city on the other side of the mountains that rhymes with sugar cane, will be joining us for the next couple months.

We've already composed a list of duties for the little scamp. He says he'd be willing to do some of them, but won't say which ones. Ooh, the kid's got moxie.

So be nice to Brian when you see him around town. He's the one who dresses better than any of us.

Now, for the list.

Laura:
• Teach me how to play the guitar. If he doesn’t know how, he should learn how to play and then teach me.
• Siphon gas from other News Tribune employees so I don’t go broke driving back and forth from Seattle.
• Write some songs for my other cat, Tim. He’s feeling left out.
• Go and swipe my gym membership card across the gym scanner on days when I don’t feel like working out so it doesn’t look like I’m too lazy in their database.

Cole:
• Attend the Friday chalk contests for us. And win.
• Write three posts a day, under our names instead of his.
• Go play bocce for us. And win. And say his name is Cole.
• Be funny. And if he’s not, then, well, he can post under his own name.

Niki:
• Correspond with my mother via e-mail, telephone and, when necessary, in person – all while pretending he’s me.
• Recruit, screen and train suitors.
• Bring me a five-course hot lunch everyday in one of those cylindrical tin contraptions they use in India. (Poultry need not apply.)

Kelly:
• Peel my grapes. (I've never actually had peeled grapes, but I intend to start.)
• Vacuum my cat.
• Maintain the GritCity Facebook page and grow it’s membership by 1 million.
• Bring Laura fresh flowers on Mondays when she’s cranky.
• Baby-sit the Grit Baby and learn the real magic behind Cole’s Diaper Genie.

Here's Brian. You can tell he'll be up for the job.

This clip of a ballgirl's amazing catch has been spreading around the world this week ...

Unfortunately, it's fake.

Even worse for Tacoma batter Brent Johnson: He's since been demoted to the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.

Like the best of drug dealers, Satellite Coffee gave me my first shot for free.

It seems like just yesterday.

(cue music)

::::::::

It was Super Bowl Sunday. I was headed to work and in a sullen mood. I stopped by Satellite and co-owner Pat "Rock Hands" Brown* offered me a free blueberry scone because business was slow. As I mentioned, some dudes were playing in some football game. Anyway.

That scone changed my life. It was craggy and lightly frosted, studded with blueberries (fresh, it seemed!) and flaky tender on the inside. No doubt the work of butter and real cream.

Only, the Upper Crust baker who supplied those scones threw in his or her apron and called it quits.

Consider this my personal plea. Don't let the scone recipe die.

I get whiny when I'm hungry.

*Not actually his nickname, but that's what I call him in my head.

Last month I was told that my idea for "Plant a Beer Nut Day" was the winner in Rusty George Creative's "Create Something Weird" contest. The result:

Today is Plant a Beer Nut Day!

Today also happens to be GritBaby's first birthday, so June 19th is quite the day in the Cosgrove house.

Years from now, I'll be able to gaze proudly at our thriving beer tree and tell my boy how it all began with a tiny beer nut that was fertilized with some Tacoma Brew.

This is also how I'll explain the birds and the bees to him.

So, as has been previously reported, Top of Tacoma does not have a Big Buck Hunter Safari edition.

Tears were shed.

However. It does have a Big Buck Hunter Pro – that is, the version in which you can shoot big horn sheeps and elks and deers and mooses and other quadrapeds.

As Savvy_Reader mentioned, it ain't cheap. It's about 2 or 3 bucks per person for a "hunting mission," but that gets you several rounds, plus a couple bonus extras.

One tip: Stand a little closer to the screen than you think you should. I found the Pro deer were faster and sneakier (damn you, wily bucks!) than the originals.

Also: Don't forget to shoot the critters. That sweet fluffy-tailed fox will get you 50 extra points. Suck it up and shoot, kiddos.

All right, report back, hunters and let me know how you do. Maybe we can organize a trophy contest at TofT for GritCity readers.

I went in to Satellite a few minutes ago for my morning cup of coffee. When I went to pay, owner Pat Brown presented me with a question: Want free coffee or to make someone else's day?

Sometime this morning, an anonymous coffee drinker paid for their morning cup and put $5 in for the next person's drink. I was the eighth person to have benefited from the experiment. (But, of course, I opted to make someone's day over getting a free Americano.)

I'm not sure if the experiment lives on but it's worth stopping by to check out.

And, to the anonymous coffee buyer, thank you!

I was reading The New York Times Magazine and saw this story about Seattle-based Destee Nation that sells retro-looking T-shirts that feature small businesses – mostly neighborhood bars and restaurants. A cut of the sales goes to the business that was represented on the sold shirt. Everybody wins.

Now here's my entrepreneurial idea of the day: Somebody do this for Tacoma.

It's hard to remember when we had sunshine. But this week's GO cover story – you can read it Friday – on waterfront dining makes me think of my first blissful summer sunset dinner in Tacoma.

It's been almost four years now, if you can believe that.

It was August. It was 80 degrees. A heat wave, the front desk attendant at the Silver Cloud Inn assured me, the skeptical Midwesterner. Eighty degrees is a cold front in Illinois, I said.

But here I was, in the great Northwest, being seated on the deck at CI Shenanigans and ordering salmon – salmon, the novelty! I don't think I've had it since. There were sailboats skimming the bay and pink light over Browns Point. I could squint and imagine myself in the south of France, looking at those neat cottages on the hillside with the lighthouse turning on its spit of land. I had just been offered a job. All was well.

We will have that bliss on the bay again, I swear.

Even if it takes two more months.

Loyal reader NihilistForHire tipped me off this evening that one of these babies is rumored to be making its home at Top of Tacoma:

I'll report back when I know more. May the digital blood of wildebeests bestow good luck upon you all.

Quick, name that city:

The draw of a neighborhood bracketed by an Interstate and a Superfund-listed river is obscure.… Then in the late 1990s, displaced artists and artisans drawn by cheap rents started moving to (redacted) to open tile works, Vespa repair shops and glass blowing studios.

You would be forgiven for guessing Tacoma. We've got our own little Beltway, the 705; the Asarco site; glass blowers; artists on scooters; and yes, cheap rent.

But this New York Times article is about Georgetown, the Seattle neighborhood, and how it's apparently the last bastion of art and culture in all of the Evergreen City.

Hm, that sucks.

“Georgetown is really the last outpost of any blue-collar, bohemian arts culture in Seattle,” said Larry Reid, curator at Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery.

The only conclusion I can draw is: Seattle is the new Tacoma. Go forth and gloat.

Predicted low tides at Commencement Bay this week:

Today: Minus-3.9 feet at 11:05 a.m.

Wednesday: Minus-4.3 feet at 11:52 a.m.

Thursday: Minus-4.2 feet at 12:40 p.m.

Friday: Minus-3.6 feet at 1:29 p.m.

I always think it's cool to walk around the tip of Point Defiance during an extremely low tide.

But if you need some ideas on where to go, this story recommends: Fox Island bridge, Kopachuck State Park, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Penrose Point State Park, Quartermaster Harbor, Saltar’s Point Beach and Sunnyside Beach Park.