What has Amanda Knox missed?

Posted by MyNorthwest.com Staff

Coming back to your hometown when you’ve been away for a while can be kind of shock to the system. You notice that certain things always stay the same, but you also notice that some things drastically change.

Amanda Knox is back in Seattle after four years, so what has she missed? Amanda, here’s a short list to catch you up on some of the happenings.

Mayor Greg Nickels is now former Mayor Nickels (though he said he might run again.) Mike McGinn is your new mayor. He rides a bike, and was against a tunnel replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct. But yes, a tunnel will eventually go in and the viaduct will come down. Your commute from West Seattle could get ugly.

Qwest Field is now Century Link Field. They want to be called “Century Link” but people have already started calling it the “Clink.”

That guy in the #7 jersey on the field at Clink is quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. Matt Hasselbeck no longer plays for the Seahawks, but moved on to the Titans. Former UW QB Jake Locker also plays in Tennessee now.

The iPhone had just been introduced when you left to study abroad – but now we’re on to the iPhone 4S. We think you could just as well hold out for an iPhone 5.

Lady Gaga.
Jersey Shore.
Avatar.
Michael Jackson died.
MySpace is out; Twitter and Facebook (although everyone complains about the constantly evolving service) are in.

Senator Barack Obama is president, and he has a legal U.S. birth certificate. Under his watch, the U.S. captured and killed Osama bin Laden.

The University of Washington is now more difficult to get into – and they raised the tuition. The good news – since you already have credits, you can get in quickly when you reapply.

The U-District’s Neptune isn’t a movie theater anymore. It closed for a few months and became a live music venue.

We heard you liked Harry Potter. You missed three movie releases, including the two-part finale.

You can now listen to KIRO Radio on the FM band at 97.3 KIRO FM. 710 AM is now 710 ESPN Seattle. You can listen to the Mariners there, but they’re still not doing well.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer shut down its operations, prompting the question of how people consume their information. You can still visit SeattlePI.com

The Seattle Center closed down the Fun Forest. A Chihuly Glass museum will be going in instead.

The local housing bubble burst, along with the rest of the nation, sending us into an economic downward spiral some liken to the Great Depression.

There are a lot more changes of course, I’m sure they’ll start setting in as you traverse the city with your family and friends. Welcome back.