A look back at ‘What’s Up’ in 2023: Robots, Costco, secret crushes

A robot waitress and a rogue barber.

Those were among the most read “What’s Up With That?” columns in 2023.

Others were about Costco, a rhinestone-studded car, Guam grub and a torrid romance on Rucker.

Here’s a look back at 2023.

‘Digital face’

Peanut the singing robot waitress was hired on at Lynnwood’s Sushi Hana in January. She has since served thousands of customers, delivering drinks and chattering away.

“Here comes the little Peanut, pretty and smart,” she says, gliding down the aisles to greet diners with cups of ice water.

She made a lasting impression: People couldn’t get Peanut’s chirpy, whistling melody out of their heads. Other songs have since been added to her repertoire. That’s not all.

“Now she has a digital face and she winks sometimes,” said Sushi Hana owner Sarah Lee.

Peanut was such a hit that a twin sisterbot was added to the other Sushi Hana location in Bothell.

From Guam, with love

Up north in Everett this year, Julita Atoigue-Javier missed the taste of home and opened Guam Grub, the only place in the region specializing in Chamorro dishes. Now locals can say hello— or “Hafa Adai” — to staples such as red rice, pancit noodles, chicken kelaguen, chewy ribs, pumpkin buchi buchi and fina’denne’ dipping sauce.

Swig a King Car Lemon Tea, a popular cold drink in Guam, for a complete island experience.

Where’s the beef?

In a March column, I predicted Costco’s $10 roast beef sandwich tested at the Lynnwood food court in March would be a flop after the social media hype and FOMO was over. After all, you can buy seven $1.50 hot dogs and drinks for about 10 bucks.

Well, that sandwich was not a flop. It’s on the menu at most of the food courts now.

‘Secret crush’

Spring romance in the air had an unlikely pair on Rucker Avenue feeling frisky.

A reader board at Totem Diner confessed “a secret crush on the rake and shovel sign down the street” at Pacific Stone Company, several blocks away. The Pacific Stone sign flirted back, and bacon started shaking.

Both signs have retro neon and old-school hand-lettered marquees. The attraction between these two flamboyant seniors blew up on Facebook and led to more stories and other nearby signs cheering them on. After all, who doesn’t love a tale of chemistry, no matter how ridiculous?

The sign owners were featured in a video at The Daily Herald’s “Behind the News Stories” community event in October.

The signs have yet to even hold hands.

‘More romance’

Too bad they couldn’t go a mile down the road to The Love Zone.

“Puts more romance in your life,” the Love Zone banner on Evergreen Way says.

Isn’t that exactly what those two readerboard signs were trying to do?

The adult shop has items to spice up romance for couples with all varieties of interests. A story for Valentine’s Day barely touched the surface. Go there. I promise you will learn something.

Rotisserie memories

In June, it was back to Costco. Any excuse, I’m there.

The aroma of rotisserie chickens lures many Costco shoppers. Jona Sarmiento, pregnant with her first child, was walking by the roasted birds when her water broke on May 25 at the Lake Stevens store near her home.

She did what any Costco devotee would do: She got the rest of the items on her list before heading to the checkout.

She loaded the groceries and drove home. She didn’t panic, but her husband did. They made it to the hospital in plenty of time for baby Carlisle to arrive.

A week later, Carlisle went on his first Costco outing. Each month is documented with a Costco photo. The first month Carlisle was by Costco pizza, a single slice missing to represent the age. At two months, he posed by two hot dogs. On Halloween, he was dressed as a Costco worker with a name badge.

“Every time we pass the rotisserie chicken it’s like, ‘This is where your story started,’” said Carlisle’s dad, Angelo Sarmiento.

Like a rolling rhinestone

In September, while strolling in Langley on Whidbey Island, I saw a crowd gathered around a car festooned with thousands of rhinestones. Happens wherever owner Shannon Kringen goes. She spent two years and $2,000 blinging her Honda Fit that she calls Opal Moonstone.

Kringen, 55, a Seattle artist, said she had one normal job, at a Kinko’s years ago. She appeared on a public access TV show in Seattle called “Goddess Kring” from 1996 to 2011, at times wearing only body paint. She has been a nude art model for 30 years and still at it.

She’s an inspiration for everyone to follow their dreams and be comfortable in their own skin.

Lights, camera — cut!

The most-read What’s Up column in 2023 was in March with an update about Bob Martin, longtime owner of Stag Barbershop. The headline, “Snohomish’s rogue barber keeps clipping despite no license, $90K in fines,” sums it up.

Martin, 82, made news during the pandemic for his defiance of the stay-home order, which is not the usual irreverent fodder for What’s Ups. I stopped by his Snohomish barber shop a dozen times for serious stories. I’d stand at the door because nobody masked up. Martin said the virus was a hoax, despite the thousands dying and infected daily.

I was heckled by some inside his shop, made even more menacing by the glass eyes of numerous dead animal trophies on the walls. Martin was always courteous, in his own curmudgeonly way. He said the state couldn’t tell him what to do. He was right.

After the March column, someone called on behalf of Tucker Carlson’s show asking for help contacting Martin. Barber Bob was on the show, ranting against Gov. Jay Inslee while cutting conservative radio host Jason Rantz’s hair.

Carlson got the boot from FOX a few weeks later. In September, Martin retired.

Bring it on, 2024.

Is there a person, place or thing making you wonder “What’s Up With That?” Contact reporter Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.