RANT to people who go through the drive-thru at Starbucks and order ridiculous amounts of food and drink. Either order in advance via the app so you can swing in and pick it up, or go inside to order so you don’t have cars lined up down the street waiting for your order. Those of us who are driving up for a quick cup of joe to get to work with would appreciate it.

RAVE to the staff at Mamma Melina, to the couple who paid for our meal and hopefully to the end of COVID-19 restrictions. A friend and I recently went to Mamma Melina for happy hour. We sat at a table at the back of the bar and were ignored for a long time (the couple next to us were aware that we had not been waited on). Finally, we waved down a waitress who took our order and apologized for ignoring us. She immediately brought our drinks and said the wine was on her. There was a shift change, and this was the second night the restaurant was open at full capacity, so there was some confusion about who was to wait on our table. When she came back with the food, she said the couple at the next table had paid for our meal!

RANT to the city that sent a Department of Transportation crew with a huge grinding machine to indiscriminately chew up all the blackberry vines and juniper bushes in the median on our street (along with flowers planted by neighbors to beautify the median strip). Now it looks horrible, and they left heaps of debris in their wake for those living on the block to clean up. This isn’t maintenance, it’s Armageddon.

RAVE to all the people in the Bothell and Juanita neighborhoods who helped us find our lost dog who is blind and needs daily meds. Thanks to you, she’s home safe and sound!

RANT to whoever invented the pop-up reaction emojis for iMessage (the heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, ha-ha, “!” and “?” on iPhones). They are so overused, particularly in group texts where people continually use them when they have nothing new to add. What you add is another notification (I’ve turned mine off, at least) and a complete repeat of whatever was said before. How about “Yes!” or “I like that” or something short and sweet. Or even nothing?

RAVE to Seattle Parks and Recreation. Throughout the pandemic, they regularly kept portable toilets well maintained, allowing walkers, runners, bikers and wheelchair athletes to safely exercise and enjoy the outdoors. Bravo!

RANT to the U.S. and Canada border closure. If planeloads of hockey players can travel freely between Montreal and Tampa Bay, Florida, for the Stanley Cup, why can’t vaccinated people drive across in our own vehicles? Families are essential!