Big Apple gets picked for plan

Latest romantic news — this really IS the mating season, isn't it? — comes via the grapevine from New York City. Several days ago, KIRO-TV news anchor Brad Goode proposed to his girlfriend, Bellevue native Dina Napoli, in front of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

The couple had flown into the Big Apple for the weekend to rent an apartment. After three years at KIRO, Goode has taken a job as morning anchor at CNBC. He starts next week.

By the time they landed, Napoli said she was too tired to go out that night. But Goode, who had secret plans, persuaded her to head for Rockefeller Center. He'd hired a fellow to photograph the proposal and had reservations afterward at the fabled Rainbow Room.

"It all worked out," says Goode. "The photographer found us in the crowd. When I got down on one knee and pulled out the ring, people were yelling."

The couple started dating last May. Although Goode grew up in Detroit and worked in Los Angeles, he says he's fallen for the Rainy City. He says, "We'll get married here — sometime after July 1, when summer finally comes to Seattle."

Theft proof: A supervisor at a downtown construction site recently was asked why he painted his tool boxes pink. The answer: Before he painted them pink, other workers would "borrow" and never return them. Now no one steals them.

Seems to be a well-known phenomenon. Another construction supervisor responded, saying, "Yeah. Same thing at City Hall." Visitors to that site formerly donned white hard hats, but the hats kept disappearing. Now they're outfitted in pink ones and there's no longer a problem.

Corr consideration: Displayed in the reception area at Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' office is the latest issue of Seattle magazine with a Post-it note: "Page 26." Open the magazine to the cover story on "Top Lawyers" and facing page 26 is a full-page photo of attorney Kelly Corr of Corr Cronin.

It was Corr who represented the rock group Nirvana in its high-profile lawsuit against Courtney Love, widow of the band's leader, Kurt Cobain.

Why is the mayor's office focusing on Corr? Maybe because he's the brother of O. Casey Corr, the mayor's communications director.

Picture this: It was turnabout time a week ago. Former Seattle Times photographer Joe Scaylea, the man of 1,000 photographs, had almost that many pictures taken of him. A sea of photographers could be seen, snapping away.

The occasion was a surprise birthday party for Scaylea at his picture-lined North Seattle home. Among the guests were all four of Scaylea's daughters. It was Joe's 90th.

Speaking Seattle: Difficult to keep up with the local lingo without a glossary. One word that's been showing up lately is "starbucks."

Sometimes the word, derived from the Seattle-based coffee giant, is used as a synonym for overnight success, as in "doing a starbucks." At other times, it has a darker meaning as: "The virus starbucked from town to town."

Jean Godden: 206-464-8300 or jgodden@seattletimes.com.