Excellent service transferring multiple audio cassettes from the 1990's and a CD into digital…read morefiles. I dropped off in Bellevue in person but received originals and jump drives safely in return mail.

Although I haven't seen the digitized videos yet, on Friday, June 12 (two days ago now), I dropped…read moreoff 62 tapes (mix of VHS, MiniDV and Super 8), some of which are 35+ years old. I happen to live close enough to Lotus Media that it's a short drive to their drop off point. Today (Sunday), I received an email stating that the video tapes have already been processed. Lotus' turnaround on this has been amazing! I provided them with a USB drive to store the digitized videos, and it is being delivered to my home tomorrow (i.e., Monday). Wow - thus far Lotus has been awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product but have been extremely impressed with their service. I will update the review after I have time to review the digitized videos.

Love their music…read more Just the thing for driving in our hot summer days! I need 85 characters. The music is calm, diverse, interesting. Ive never heard a commercial- tho I am sure they have many.

Thom Hartman show in the morning and then free form DJ programmed radio the rest of the day. Pretty…read moreheavy folk/country vibe.

I'm grateful to have found Jason & Donna. I had two other lawyers since 2017 (one from McKinley…read moreIrvin) and they don't come close to what Jason and Donna did. I cannot thank Jason & Donna enough for their help protecting my children. We had multiple hearings over the course of 8 months. Jason and Donna were available 24/7. No matter what day of the week or time of day, I could reach them if needed. They went above and beyond with their skills and resources to protect my children as if they were their own. We are so very grateful for their time and strong efforts to keep them safe. If I ever need help in the future, I will only use Jason & Donna.

I hired Andrew May from Envision during a very difficult time for my daughter and I while we were…read moretrying to sort out her situation with her mother. Andrew's warm, comforting and sharp demeanor instantly put me at ease during our initial consultation. He gave me confidence that I was on the right path and that I had come to the right person. My daughter's mother and I both have rocky pasts and there was a long and messy history to sort through. Andrew and Donna (paralegal) did an excellent job of helping me put together my case and were very responsive, as I felt like I had endless questions to ask and additional information to give. My situation was very hectic and there were regularly new twists and turns and they were tremendous in advising me on how to navigate through it. We got through our temporary orders hearing and Andrew helped me to get a great temporary parenting plan. The months that followed were no less stressful and Andrew and Donna both stuck with me and guided me through it all. This entire legal process was completely outside of my comfort zone and I had to put a lot of faith in Andrew. I trusted him to make very big decisions and his approach was always very thoughtful, intelligent and strategic. He did not let me down one bit. When it came time to go to trial, Andrew spent a ton of time working with me to get ready and went above and beyond prepping both me as well as himself for what was one of the most important events of my life. He was also mindful of the fact that my financial situation was not the best and did his best to work with me accordingly. Over the entire year plus long process, I felt like he was genuinely invested in my daughter's well-being and he proved that with how hard he worked for us. In the end, thanks to Andrew's excellent work and Donna's vigilance behind the scenes, I was able to get full custody and decision making, which was amazing as a single father with a past in Washington state. As I said before, my situation is ongoing and often tumultuous so unfortunately there will very likely be a need to work with them more in future. Should that need arise, I will go back to them with the utmost confidence. I truly cannot thank them enough for what they did for me and my family.

My "Go-To" Rag for the Haps in Seattle…read more SITREP Jetting in and out of SeaTac for work assignments keeps my head spinning. But when I want to decompress in a cutting-edge environment, THE STRANGER gets me the information I want to see in relationship to the entire scene at once. SETUP Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my iPhone. But what I've discovered is a "weakness" with our tech - or maybe an "insufficiency" - be it iPhones or laptops, tablets, what have you: these cool little devices are great at honing on more specific details of information when you already have a general idea of what you want to do. For example, you know what movie you want to see (maybe "Wrath of the Titans", etc.) and so you can do a quick search on the iPhone and get the 411. Or you might know that Tango has a great happy hour with inexpensive drinks and munchies on Tuesdays going on and you want to confirm these specials, and so you jump on the iPad and get the 411. THE RANDOM But what if you really just want to "see" what random stuff is out there? Expose yourself to the bills and the ads and the what not: "What bands are playing?" Tonight? Tomorrow? "What venues are DJ or Band or Dancing or all combined?" All in a grid matrix on a sheet of paper so you can compare (EASILY) or contrast (EASILY) all the cover charges, the location-neighborhoods? Oh, what's this? A random ad for a cool burlesque night at Noc Noc is going on for Thursday. Oh, what's this? Stumbling Monk is doing a special game night. THE WEAKNESS With my tech, it's not easy for the eye to capture than more than the little "streaming" bursts that are on my little iPhone screen, or even on a tablet. However, with the paper, I can look at a grid-matrix all at once - left-to-right, with my peripheral vision catching just as much as my focus. And until we get to the level of holographic projections (ie. the movie MINORITY REPORT) where we can turn pages of light with our fingers, I think the tech will still be smart, but very truncated and very limited. If I can make this make any sense there is an relevant adage that states, "You don't know, what you don't know." So if you don't enough to ask for information on bands playing in Pioneer square, you aren't going to remember to ask a search in your iPhone to get information on bands playing in Pioneer Square. But if you eye catches the ad placed by Central Saloon that gives the bands for the next 3 days, then you HAVE that information. Bottom Line: for all the tech I have accumulated and use regularly, I STILL find that there sometimes just is not a replacement-tech for the simple act of scanning and turning the pages of a news rag. THE LOWDOWN There are just some things that are tech can not encompass "randomly" that will get my attention as easily as turning the pages of a rag. And so that's why I still rely on THE STRANGER, and why it is still one off the best offerings for the truly random pieces of information that I still enjoy having "my eyes scan over" since I may not always know to search for something specifically on my tech.

This paper has really gone to the dogs over the past couple years. Definitely in need of new…read moreblood, from the editor-in-chief on down the line. Sad to say the only thing of interest these days is "Ombudsman" A. Birch Steen's snarky column on the Table of Contents page. And maybe once in a while David Schmader prints an amusing "Hot Tip" in Last Days. But he's like a Pavlovian dog. Anytime Hizzoner Mayor 5-Cents proposes something idiotic (like say a 20 cent fee on bags or build a tunnel), Schmader is there applauding wildly. He's a loyal soldier on Team Nickels. No longer (well, at least the last two weeks) are Letters to the Editor printed in the paper version. And pretty much, the movie times have disappeared too. And what happened to Lloyd Dangle's "Troubletown" comic strip? The Mercury in Portland still prints it. Miss Matisse and Adrian Ryan's columns have vanished too. And so has Charles Mudede's Police Beat. The Stranger is a shell of its former self. Borrrrrring!

My elders and family have relied on The Facts for over 20 years as a trusted source of information…read morewithin the greater Seattle community. It has also served as a source of inspiration, standing as one of the longest-running and most successful Black-owned African American businesses in the city. If you are a Seattle local or a newcomer, this is one of the best resources for business listings, obituaries, and community news.

While the FACTS newspaper has been a staple in the African American community for many years, our…read morerecent experience has left a lot to be desired. After the recent loss of our loved one, we knew where we want to go to post the information. A 6am call from the company to obtain credit card information, for a 307 word obituary, which cost 228.00 proved startling. We had no idea no idea anyone would call at that hour about such matters, but were happy our request to post the obituary was being handled. The individual on the other end seemed confused, as they fumbled the credit card information repeatedly. The obituary was to run front page, in their 3/27/19 issue, as well as on their Facebook page. After emailing Dennis Beaver (publisher) a couple of times, as well as making calls to the business I found locations near our home to pick up copies. What a huge disappoint! While the picture of our loved one looked great, there were several noticeable grammatical errors that stood out and made the entire obituary appear tacky. A call was placed to the company within an hour that day. Speaking to the female on the other end of the telephone, she seemed confused about my frustration. I pointed out the bold header states "in loving memory of for," the word importance 8 lines down is spelled "wimportance," homegoing services is spelled "Homeguoung Serves." She agreed to forward my concerns to Dennis Beaver, he called shortly, apologized, stated the company did not issue refunds ever, and that he would run a new obituary in the next edition. I explained this was pointless as the funeral was occurring that weekend, 3/31/19. we wanted copies for our family that were coming to town, and errors should have been captured. I emailed him a copy to demonstrate no errors were in the original copy sent. Even if there were, the company should have captured and corrected them prior to publication. I was assured corrections would be made on the social media part to bring things up to standard, and spare any embarrassment. A partial refund was asked for, since in our opinion " a half ass job" had occurred. Again, the response was "no." Over the next 24 hours no attempt was made to correct the errors on the social media site. Even up to the day of the funeral nothing was done, and Mr. Beaver no longer responded to our requests to make things look decent on the online page as he said he would. He never did what he promised. We felt this was because payment had been received already. Our family and many friends saw this page run with these errors. The day after the funeral occurred which was April 1st, Mr. Beaver emailed a copy of a FACTS link showing the new obituary that would run without the errors. A little too late. We would have preferred a refund, or partial refund. I would hesitate before doing business with them again. This proved to be a disappointing experience from a paper that always took pride in what they put out there for the community previously.