Yak Attack!

Stay tuned....

2009-11-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for a new blog Emily and I invented after reading other blogs with significantly more drama-ful and exciting lives...

I think we'll name it: Unbelievable things that happened to me again!

I'm not sure when we'll start writing it, I mean I guess we'll have to wait for something unbelievable, but it's coming so watch for it...

time for a blog update

2009-10-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I haven't updated my blog since February! So this update is for the three people that have my blog on rss feed, yes you, you know who you are...

I'll start with most recent happenings first

1) Today - bus adventures
Another fun bus adventure today. I learned a couple new facts on today's bus ride coming back from campus:

Fact 1) The craziest people ride the 48 on a Saturday afternoon.
Fact 2) The crazy people all sit in the front of the bus right in that area with the three seats facing each other and the two sets of two facing front.
Fact 3) Crazy people recognize crazy and all start talking to each other.
Fact 4) Crazy people own guns at a higher rate than do normal people.
Fact 5) Crazy people lie, really you have 2 ex-wives, three girlfriends and a friend's girlfriend after you?

2) Thursday night 3pm - 4 popular restaurants 2 blocks away from our house burnt down

3) This summer - two old Eugene friends moved back into town

4) This summer - Then one old Eugene friend moved out of town.

5) Emily and I bought a new camera for our honeymoon - it has a smile function that we tried out on all our friends. I think it stopped working...

6) After almost two years of wedding bliss Emily and I decided to go on our honeymoon

7) I switched jobs and now work for the University of Washington.

8) This is taking too long, I've only just reached what happened since July!

9) Feb through July = work + school + work + school

The end

reading, reading, writing, writing, writing, old people

2009-02-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

I figure since I have three papers due this week, why not waste a little more time writing. Only this time I can talk about fun mindless things. Forgive me friends, it's been 8 months since I have written....and now you say what have you done in the past 8 months? Well I can't even remember, but I know there was some interesting stuff that happened. I guess I could try and tell you 8 highlights in the last 8 months.....

1) I spent the autumn months learning public policy management frameworks
Framework: a basic conceptual structure used to solve or address complex issues

2) I became fascinated with the Snuggie

3)My band played at an old folks homes for a Valentine's day dance and I was paid with Valentine's pudding and blush wine (that tasted like punch and made my trombone taste funny). I wanted the pink peppermint ice cream instead of the pudding, but sadly they had run out. It was pretty fun, there was a man dressed up as a large heart and a lipstick contest.

4)I discovered Cara Cara oranges, so tasty!

5)I made a song with songsmith

6)I finished the whole season of MTV's A Double Shot At Love (why? I don't know but my mind needed a night off after reading about framework after framework in managing the public policy process, does anyone really think stakeholder analysis is a framework? Isn't it just common sense? I guess I could write a paper about how to efficiently squeeze toothpaste out of a tube and call it a framework...)

7) I made a haiku
black cat stares at me
mind melding will get my food
or i scratch your face
(actually I just made that up now because I need an eight things and I'm coming up short)

8) Emily made a limerick too (she is studying for her generals and needs a break from reading about the medial rostral prefrontal cortex aka nerdular nerdance)
there once was a small stripey beast
who only wanted to feast
he demanded his kibble
but then wouldn't nibble
and my patience was soon decreased

What do gun shows, starting a nonprofit, suprapattellar bursitis, grad school and a Japanese Maple have in common?

2008-06-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

ME!!!!!!!

I haven't written in a while so I figure let's get caught up on my life for the two people that regularly read this not so well updated blog (Emily and maybe Eric since he's probably the only person that's commented more than once).

Starting with gun shows....No not the kind that shoot bullets, those I'm not a fan of in any form! Lately Emily has an obsession with gun jokes (you know the guns in your arms) so she's been going around collecting them from anybody who has one to share. Oddly enough a lot of people know different ones, kind of like the aristocrats joke. Here are some good ones she got out of people:

Emily: Do you have tickets yet?
Confused unsuspecting person: Huh? What?
Emily (flexing her muscles): TO THE GUN SHOW!

Greg (my bandmate's hubby and master griller): Do you know of a good vet?
Emily (giggling): No
Greg (flexing his muscles): BECAUSE THESE PYTHONS ARE SICK!

April (soccer pal and soon to be lesbian ska bandmate): Do you have a needle and thread?
Karen (confused): I dunno, I think Emily has that with her craft crap?
April (flexing her muscles): BECAUSE I'M RIPPED!

Ave (soccer pal and crazy good potter): Have you heard the weather forecast?
Karen (putting her hand out to gauge the weather): eh?
Ave (flexing one bicep, then the other): IT'S GONNA BE THUNDER AND LIGHTENING

Starting a nonprofit... After starting to make a little money in the women's jazz band (http://www.myspace.com/moodswings2) I helped found a couple years ago we figure we better get our finances in order and start a business or nonprofit to protect ourselves from lawsuits, tax stuff, etc. Starting a nonprofit is a TON of paperwork and involves a lot of collaboration with a band that's gotten to be almost 20 people large with a ton of occasional subs. But we're thriving and playing around town quite a bit this summer and that's super fun.

Suprapattellar bursitis...I'm so so careful now when playing soccer, but the other weekend when a dude twice my size came in from the side of me (after me taking control of the ball) and knocked my planted leg (from the inside no less) almost all the way around, it took me out of playing for a couple weeks. Luckily it's nothing too serious, but it makes you wonder if people really are "playing for fun."

Grad School! In the middle of starting a nonprofit, playing in bands, soccer, and my full time job I start grad school at the University of Washington in the fall. I'm super exciting because the program (masters of public administration) lets you choose a focus (policy evaluation is mine) and take classes in other departments as well as their public affairs department. So I can take really nerdy quantitative classes in the econ or math department if I want!

Last but not least in the latest happenings is that my brother and mom came for a visit a couple weekends ago and decided to rip out our tiny garden. Which was a good thing because the tiny plants the builder put in were totally random and ugly.

It's kind of a weird angle, but this is what our tiny yard looks like from our balcony, we need to get some more color but after 9 hedges, a japanese maple, hydrangea, and transplanting our tiny Rhody we were tired. When I say we, I mean my brother because my scrawny arms only dug 3 of the 12 holes...

Knitting can be fun...

2008-01-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

Shocking I know, but I may have crossed over to the dark side...After a few years of Emily telling me how fun knitting is and I should try it, I finally picked back up the scarf I started for my mom over two years ago. You wouldn't think knitting is very hard, but man I was so pissed every row I knit had a different number of stitches that I pulled out most of what I had done and left it in the back of Emily's oversized knitting cabinet. Some of the girls on my soccer team wanted to start a knitting group so I volunteered our house for the inaugoural meeting. I thought why not, Emily comes to my soccer games and knits so I should bring my soccer team here and maybe we'd knit while she juggles a soccer ball....Well we couldn't convince her to do that, but it was still fun anyway.

In other exciting news, we got some crazy snow at our house. Sadly, it melted before I had a chance for snowangels. Our poor plants look so sad in the snow.

My big fat gay wedding!

2007-11-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

I had to take back my last blog entry title because clearly our wedding was one of the best days of my life! Suffice to say, it far outweighed my excitement at finding cinamon granola bars in their own package.

We haven't gotten our photographer's pictures back yet, but we did have a couple friends take some photos if you want a peek.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/59583776@N00/6cmD02
http://jbarker.net/Gallery/v/Events/Karen_Emily_Wedding/
http://www.tangiblize.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4208

After careful planning and execution of our best day ever, Emily and I came up with a little advise for those of your out there planning our own gay wedding. As you may notice, a lot of this may apply to straight weddings too...

How to make a gay wedding:

Wedding day preparation advice:
1) Feed your peeps (or "bridal party" in traditional terms) before they help decorate. This will increase their physical strength as well as mental acuity for tasks such as hanging paper lanterns on 10-12 foot high cross beams.

2) If you get your hair done, make sure you do it in the morning and not right before the wedding. You don't want to borrow your soon to be father-in-law's car (because yours has two large kegs to get to the reception site during your scheduled hair appointment) and then park it in front of a fire hydrant because there is nowhere else to park and you're already 15 minutes late to your appointment. Sorry I'm late...do you mind if we sit in the chair that faces that fire hydrant out front while you do my hair? Oh yea and my hair is crazy thick and I only have 30 minutes for you to make me pretty.

3) Do not attempt to completely wash a new dress for your sister less than 2 hours before the wedding in case it won't dry on time. If you must wash the dress, spot clean any mud that may have occurred due to transport issues from the car to the house.

4) If you are the officiant and you haven't changed into your suit, make sure it stays with you until transport to the site.

5) There is a reason for rehearsal dinners besides the food, but if you don't have one the time right before the wedding starts will work too.

6) Make sure you have a friend good with hair and make-up help you get ready.

7) Taking pictures in the sand looks super cool, but = sand in your shoes so you might want to take those off...

Advice for the cocktail hour

1) Having a cocktail hour before the wedding ceremony = awesome squared!

2) Drinking wine before the ceremony helps with the nerves

3) Drinking wine before the ceremony may cause inadvertent admissions of tipsiness to co-workers, supervisors, and/or new in laws that aren't accustom to drinking with you and your friends

The ceremony

1) Practice vows the night before to avoid crying or laughing during your partner's turn. It seriously works; that and after I told Emily my vows rhymed she needed to approve them first. I don't know why, I always write things in good taste.

2) Think long and hard about the promises you make in your vows because you'll have to live by them the REST of your LIFE. I really wrestled with the promises of shoes and expensive yarn in my vows, but I figure we're pretty even because she promised not call me Kare-bear in front of my athlete friends. And in my opinion, one "Kare-bear" in front of my friends = 1 less pair of shoes or yarn.

Reception
1) Stop talking and eat

2) Practice dancing in your new shoes before buying them. This may be a bit embarrassing and you might get weird stares as your partner quickly hides behind a rack of gray warm wool sweaters. If you can't dance in 6 inch heels, don't buy them no matter how sexy they look.

3) Use forks for the traditional "first bite" of cake (or cupcake in our case). Your partner can't safely jam a fork with cake up your nose so they won't try it. No matter how sweet and innocent your new bride may look, they still might have the thirst for a cake smashing (even after being advised by her father against it). You wouldn't believe how bad snickerdoodle frosting tastes up your nose...

4) When a large number of your prankster friends all disappear at the same time, be suspicious they are up to no good with your car.

2nd best day of my frickin' life

2007-09-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes good things happen to good people after all!The background
I guess I'll have to fill you in on a little background to start with. You know those nature valley granola bars you always see at the store? You can usually buy them in a pack of plain or variety and occasionally peanut butter. Recently they've come out with some new flavors and variations on their original like maple and brown sugar. Well anyway, I've always been in love with with cinnamon kind so for the past few years I'll buy the variety pack that has cinnamon, peanut butter and oats 'N honey. I gobble up the ever so tasty cinnamon and leave the others for Emily, which I might add doesn't work so well. She sometimes eats the peanut butter ones, but she's just not a huge fan. For maybe 5 years now I have searched in vain at every grocery story store (and targets I might add) to find a box of only cinnamon ones. Poor Emily is a little bored with my whining when I find only peanut butter and oats N' honey with their own boxes. What I want to know is who is their statistician that decided people prefer peanut butter over cinnamon, it's just ludicrous! I'll run a focus group, survey, whatever they need to show them the error of their granola bar ways for Free.

Maple and Brown Sugar Pushes out Cinnamon
Over the last couple of years there's this new flavor on the block, maple brown sugar, and they've been substituting it for the cinnamon in the variety packs, much to my chagrin. To add insult to injury they even started selling this new kind in its own box. Outrageous right?! Just think how upsetting this is after years of having to buy stupid peanut butter and oats N' honey to get to my cinnamon.

A Breakthrough
On Monday, labor day, Emily and I stop at a grocery store, one of theses indy stores, not a Safeway or Whole Foods, after some marathon outlet clothes shopping trip (another story in and of itself). So I'm hungry, tired, and delusional from the screaming of children and trying to help Emily pick out grown up clothes for her new practicum at the hospital. The first day she violated every dress code with long hair, dangly earrings, open toed shoes and who knows what else. I guess they don't want you wearing things people can grab? But I digress, so in this very random store I notice a sale on the Nature Valley variety pack (2 for 5 dollars), so I happily pick it up only to notice that once again maple brown sugar has squeezed out cinnamon. As usual I start to complain to Emily about the unfairness of my cinnamon granola bar free life. As I'm going into my usual tirade, with other shoppers looking on, Emily shuts me up by pointing at the box of cinnamon only granola bars sitting right next to the variety pack. I took every pack left they had (only 4, damn it). Best day of my frickin' life!

Moodswingin'

2007-08-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

The all women's jazz band (The Moodswings) I helped to start after moving to Seattle has been getting pretty busy this summer even if a bunch of our outside gigs have dumped rain on us. This pic pretty much says it all; it's gray, rainy and our most dedicated fan is a little boy in a rain slicker with his balloon. Not only that but iit looks like a frown on his face, but I'm sure he's enjoying himself. I mean he's got a cool balloon at least...You can see the saxes in the background a bit getting drenched.

We recorded a demo CD a while ago and I finally got it up on our myspace page so y'all should check it out:
myspace.com/moodswings2

Boeing's Dreamliner

2007-07-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

My sister works on the new Boeing 787 and had an extra ticket to their big roll out event so I got to see the new plane. I have to admit, it seems pretty fancy with it's bigger windows and humidity controled cabin tempurature. I think they even have some fancy lighting stuff and some kind of stableizer thing so no more pesky turbulence (come on, who doesn't love a little turbulence). We braved waiting in a huge line for buses to take us to the hanger. Definately longer than a Disneyland line, but at least no screaming kids or people in stuffed animal suits were there. Wouldn't that have been funny... a big stuffed plane walking up to people, ha ha. Serioulsy though here's a pic of the line:

The line was worth it though because you never get to take cameras inside (even on family day) and I got a couple good shots of the new plane:

Perhaps You Forgot!

2007-06-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

That's the title of the letter I recieved from the Advocate. They've been trying for some time now to get me to renew my subscription. I think my subscription was up over a half year ago and they still send me the magazines along with these fun little letters. I think May was actually the first month they stopped sending me the magazine and since, I have missed these little letters. Here's the last one I recieved...

Dear Karen,
This morning I was handed a short list of subscribers who failed to send in their renewal instructions. These are readers to whom we must, regrettably, stop sending the magazine.

Your name was on the list.

My first reaction was that this must be some sort of oversight, that our previous reminders somehow did not reach you.

If, however, you've decided now to renew - or if you are still weighing the decision - I urge you to consider the following:

In today's changing world, your "need to know" has never
been greater. And the capacity of The Advocate to help
you meet that need is unequalled.

I would hate to leave even one subscriber behind without making this one extra effort.

For your convenience, I have provided a specially marked renewal form and a postage paid reply envelope with this letter. Please fill it out and send it in today.

Sincerly,
Joe Landry
Publisher

My favorite line is:
"My first reaction was that this must be some sort of oversight, that our previous reminders somehow did not reach you." I love how it's so personal like "gasp, I can't believe that you wouldn't renew, there MUST be some mistake!"

Fortune Cookie

2007-05-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight's fortune cookie: "A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck."

My band finally recorded our first demo! Check it out on our myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/moodswings2

Frickin' Awesome!

2007-05-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

Sweet! A trombone buddy of mine sent this to me.

For another fun one check out trombone fun with Mario Bros:

So we bought a house...

2007-04-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

So Emily and I have been looking for a little over a month to buy a house and finally by some miracle our fourth offer was accepted. All over the news, the housing market is dropping, all except the crazy pacific NW which has gone way high. And why not, rain, clouds and crappy weather is so great! We lost three houses before this one; the second house we actually bid over, but not enough because someone bid $40K over! This house, the address was listed incorrectly and the measly four pictures on the web was of the unit next door (and they weren't great pictures). So we're grateful the realtor wasn't a good marketer. Anyway we're super excited to actually have our own place where we don't have to hear our neighbors or have a landlord. I mean, don't get me wrong we love the place we're renting, but it's the little things. Like the guy that lives in our basement is in his fourties and has lived there for 10 years. He's got joint custody of a screaming toddler and an on again off again girlfriend who regularly has the consumption (or some sort of hacking cough). Plus the incessant mix of shot em' up video games along with Aladdin "you've got a friend" music. I can't complain too much, we've occasionally done some clog dancing, etc. but ah well. Our own place is exciting!
Here's a link to more random pics.
It's a townhouse close to our school and work bus lines. It has a tiny yard which is good and bad since the upside is no gardening and the downside is no yard (I guess could you could say that about a house too though), but it's clean and new and we won't have to do any work except by curtains.

Home buying, wedding planning, and more exciting bus stories

2007-04-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't written for over a month, but I do have an excuse.... Emily and I decided that this would be the perfect time to start house hunting. I mean it's not like we're busy or anything right? Emily's trying to do her 2nd year project at school and just started taking on her second client while. I'm taking a class as well as working full time and playing in two bands and a soccer team. My class is located in the University Hospital since it's taught by an Epidemiologist in the Health Services department (survey research methods), so it took a little time getting used to going to a hospital for class. I keep looking for the cast of Grey's Anatomy in the hallways, but alas they aren't there. At least the bathrooms are nicer in the hospital and there's elevators to get to class. I guess there are some advantages to having class in the hospital.

Oh yea and we're supposed to be planning a wedding (I wish the damn thing would plan itself). Oct. 20th seems so far away so we'll have plenty of time... By the way, if anyone has any fun pictures of Emily and I for our wedding slide show send them our way.

Ok here's the fun bus story for the month. Unfortunately, I'm not able to take credit for this bus story as I'm merely parroting what Emily has relayed to me.

So these two dudes (probably in their late 20s) in house painter clothes are standing in the middle of the bus because it's crowded and they can't sit down. They start having a conversation and the tall one says out of the blue
"you know, I don't really like shampoo"
and the short dude says
"yea, I don't really wash my hair all the time"
and the tall dude says
"yea"
and the short dude says
"you know what you can do though? You can take some lotion, whatever you use is leftover and put some in your hair. It helps keep it flatter."
and the tall dude says
"yea, not so fluffy"

Appartley tall dude didn't head short dude's advice though because Emily saw him later in the week with still puffy hair. This was pretty funny to Emily since she'd had this same conversation in 7th grade with Tiffany.

More Bus Adventures and Cat Girl #2

2007-03-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't written about my bus adventures as of late, but recently I've been seeing cat girl #2 on my bus. Since I started taking class and riding the bus in the middle of the day, I get a different crowd than your usual work commuter. Cat girl #2 is frequently is also goth looking and a teenager. This one looks a bit meaner and has a "too cool" (although you're not for christ sake, you have cat ears and you take the bus in the middle of the day, shouldn't you be in school?). Anyway, I don't know what the deal is with this cat style...

The bus drivers are a bit different too. There's Antonio Banderas who has this low sexy spanish voice when announcing stops. Seriously, the man can say Wallingford so sexy that the passengers are stunned into silence. Then there's Ali G who makes a rap about every stop announcement. I would think he's super clever except for the fact that he does the same raps every day so that get's a little old (but still funny). Emily who is his biggest fan loves to repeat his lines: "49 will treat you fine to broadway" "superstar express action is ON THE MOVE" "ice cold 16 on the sweetheart 26" Yea fool!

2007-02-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

Wanna see some funny Weight Watchers recipe cards from 1974? These are hella funny! True life (remember when people used to say that), people actually ate these things. Speaking of old skool stuff, it made Emily a little sad that her future children would never first hand experience hammer pants and what a damn shame that is.

Green my Apple

2007-01-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a clever little campaign Greenpeace has launched against Apple...
http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/

I spent my little Christmas break much like a teenager, sleeping in until noon, eating candy and cookies, and playing my new video game. Then towards the end of the week a friend came up from Eugene to visit. What do you ask do we do in the gray Seattle weather? We drive out of it to the mountians where it's still gray, but with snow and wilderness n' stuff. Now it's back to good old stats class and work, oh yea and wedding planning (which consists of beer, food, people; shouldn't be hard right?)......

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

I recently got a bunch of old pictures of the family from my Mom so I could scan them into my computer. I started scanning a couple of them today while waiting for family to arrive for dinner. I'm glad that I got the pictures before my sibblings since there is some good blackmail in the stack of pictures (and I intend to use wisely)...

I found this one particularly appropriate (1989)....

Happy holidays all :)

Guide to Proposing to a Chick...if you are one

2006-09-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Listen carefully to your girlfriend
If your girlfriend starts pointing out sizeable rocks everytime you pass a jewelry store in the mall that means she probably wants you to buy her one. If you and your girlfriend are helping out a buddy pick out a ring for his/her gal and she starts telling you exactly the size, cut, stone, and metal then she probably wants you to buy her a specific ring. If you suggest all the rings look similar no matter the size and metal and she gives you that look, you should probably write down exactly what she wants because even though you can't see the difference she will...

Step 2: Covertly start shopping for the ring
It's always good to take friends and family for second opinions, even if the sales people think your brother is your fiancee and you are picking out your own ring. This can be a touch embarrassing, but just remind the sales person that although this may be legal down South I happen to be purchasing the ring for a very special girl. Next you watch the look of confusion cross their face and then the giddy realization that if one woman equals one expensive diamond ring that two women equal two expensive diamond rings (all the better for their commission).

Step 3: Cut the crap and find that special sparkle
When talking with jewelers about different rings, they will launch into all of this confusing jargon about facets, clarity, cut, angles, light refraction, and on and on until you're back in vector calculus calculating the gradiant or some crap like that. But honestly, who cares! Just find the one that sparkles the most. You girlfriend is not going to ask "wait a minute honey, how many facets does this really have?" or "is this very very slightly included or very very very slightly included." The best you had hope for is "ohhh sparkly!"

Step 4: Don't leave shopping remnents around
Don't leave ring flyers or ads laying around in say your car or on your desk. If you happen to do something idiotic like this, no problem we can fix that. The next day flip the page to some diamond earrings or necklace and circle it. She think oh yay, I'm getting a necklace. If you're feeling really bold circle the ugliest ring you can find and that when you see her gasp of abhorrence say "yea, can you believe that Chris wants to get Sam that ring? Chris just wouldn't listen when I said it was a bad idea." Problem solved. Also, remember to close Internet browsers after browsing online.

Step 5: Getting a ring sized
Steal a ring that fits your gal perfectly on her ring finger. No it can't be her right hand, if she's right handed that finger will always be a little bigger. Don't steal her favorite special ring her mother bought her that she wears everyday. She will notice it's gone and then be upset and make you help her look for it everywhere. Bad idea. Try to take a second or third string ring that she won't notice is gone.

Step 6: The proposal
Pick a special place that has a special meaning to her or both of you. The humble bagel where you used to have morning dates or the dorm room of your first kiss or the path by your old house you used to hold hands on. Or maybe on the first big trip oversees you take together...

So pretty much the short version of the story, I asked on the first leg of our trip in Paris, she said yes and now Emily and I are happily engaged.

P.S. More trip photos coming soon....

Hello from Florence

2006-09-16T02:34:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to do a quick post, since I have not updated my blog in a long time and I just recieved a special request :)

Emily and I are right now in Florence, Italy after arriving in Paris on the 6th of September. After about a week in Paris, we successfully made our way to Rome. We stayed in a particularly interesting B&B there (I will talk more about it later) and we are now in our second day of Florence. Ok, I am off to find Emily so we can grab breakfast.

Ciao

Ack Robots

2006-08-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Check out Rong Cheng! A little creepy...but kinda cool.

Fun With US Airways

2006-08-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago, I flew to DC for a work retreat (or rather Baltimore). Here's my complaint to US Airways customer service people after I missed my connection in NC by5 hours. I wonder how they'll respond...

June 26, 2006

Customer Relations

US Airways

4000 E. Sky Harbor Blvd

Phoenix, AZ 85034

I’m writing to voice my complaint with your service on US Airways flight 148 departing from Seattle going to Charlotte (NC) July 15, 2006. Not only did we leave an hour late, but we made TWO Emergency landings that could have been easily avoided. About an hour and a half into the flight we had to make an emergency landing into the Denver airport because the restrooms were not properly emptied in Seattle. Before take off from Seattle, a woman in my row tried to use one of the restrooms and reported to a US Airways attendant on the plane that it wasn’t properly flushing. The attendant said it was probably because the restrooms were being emptied, but no the woman in my row was correct; there was a problem with the restrooms.

Next after landing in Denver, our plane was evidently too large and heavy for the runway and we were forced to dump fuel, making it necessary to stop again in St. Louis to re-fuel and go onto our original destination of Charlotte. Upon our landing in St. Louis, everybody on the plane could hear the pilots clapping and cheering. This does not instill confidence in the passengers! Eventually, we made it into Charlotte at about 2:30am over 5 hours after our scheduled arrival time of 8:30pm. Every single person including myself missed our connection on the plane missed their connecting flight. To make matters worse, there were only three US airways attendants at the gate to assist with re-routing the passengers, one of which looked to be brand new so one attendant spent all her time fixing his mistakes or answering his questions. As the seventh or eighth person in a line of about 40-50 people, I had to wait a little over half an hour. Thank goodness I was in the front of the line.

The compensation we received for all of this hassle was food coupons that added up to $20, a hotel voucher for the Ramada Inn and two cab vouchers. Since I had to catch an early morning flight to Baltimore the next morning for work really the only option I had was to stay in the airport. I had to cancel my reservation at a cushy Marriott (at the cost of $159 for the night for less than 24 hours notice) and sit in an airport. Additionally, I was originally supposed to fly into DC the night before and carpool in the morning with my co-workers to Baltimore for the all day retreat. Instead of a nice dinner and sleep at the Marriott before my all day retreat, I was stuck in the airport up all night (or morning) with a Starbucks dinner (that was the only thing open at the hour) with no shower or sleep before a full day intensive retreat with my company offices from around the US.

As you can see, I am extremely upset with US Airways and cannot believe the unacceptable service myself and the other passengers received. If you want to keep my business I hope that you will compensate me for my time and money lost due to US Airway mistakes. Additionally, my company, family, and friends will hear what happened and how it was resolved. I have flown with you before without a problem so I’m completely in shock at how something like this could occur.

Sincerely,

Karen Matheson

Italy Wins in a Shootout

2006-07-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... that title sounds kind of violent eh? Guess that makes sense after the France headbutt. I'm still disappointed that Portugal didn't win the World Cup, I was really pulling for my people in this one. I'm ok with Italy winning over France though.

This has nothing to do with soccer, but I thought it was kind of cool, check out this transformer video.
http://www.blackfilm.com/20060512/features/transformertest_video.shtml

Bad Milk and So Much More

2006-06-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't really written for a while, but between my soccer team and two jazz bands I haven't had a chance. I want to know what is so geeky about playing the trombone? I know it's not as cool as say the bass, drums, or even saxophone. I don't know why everybody laughs when I tell them what instrument I play. It sounds all cool that I play in two jazz bands, but then when they ask what instrument, all my cool points get thrown out the window... I admit some pretty weird sounds can come out of a trombone, but a sax? It sounds like a goose for heck's sake!

So in between working, playing, and the bands I stay up a little too late and should probably getting more sleep. I didn't didn't realize this until last week when I got all showered, dressed and ready; then sat down for my usual bowl of honey nut cherrios. I made it through the first bowl and then a couple bites into the second bowl I noticed the milk tasted weird... So I try a couple more bites and yuck this tastes bad. I check the label and give the carton a smell and sure enough the freaking milk was bad. How the heck did I manage to get through a whole bowl of cereal and not even notice I was eating spoiled milk? Crap it's almost bed time gotta go!

Stats are BAD ASS

2006-06-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

From our very own University of Oregon Psychology department filmed in Straub Hall, see this kick ass rap video about statistics. Featuring J Lou and Chuckie T

Seriously download it, it's worth the wait... (if you're a math geek like me)

Stats Video

Trombonists = Antisocial

2006-05-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

A friend forwarded me this article about this guy's trombone being confiscated. I am completely shocked and horrified and just hope none of my neighbors read the BBC news... I can totally see trombonists being accused of being socially inept but never antisocial! Hah, misguided youths and their antisocial trombone playing, youngsters these days, my golly!

This is taken from the BBC

Last Updated: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 14:37 GMT 15:37 UK

Noisy neighbour's trombone taken

A trombone and other instruments were seized by police

A trombone was seized by police in Dumfries after complaints about noise coming from a flat in the town.

Other items taken included a drum kit, electric guitars, a television, radio, stereo systems and amplifiers.

A 55-year-old man, of Barnraws, in Shakespeare Street, was fined £200 under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 at Dumfries Sheriff Court.

The court ordered the forfeit of the sound-making items which police said could "inflict misery" on neighbours.

The conviction related to a number of complaints of continuous noise and antisocial behaviour coming from the town centre flat.

The complaints were jointly investigated by local police and noise reduction officers.

'Antisocial behaviour'

Police said the action showed they would crack down on people causing a noise nuisance.

"Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary is committed to addressing community concerns through working closely with partnership agencies," said Ch Insp Michael Collins.

"In this case the man concerned has been creating a nuisance to his neighbours for some time.

"We are delighted that the court has seen fit to forfeit the equipment this man used to indulge in antisocial behaviour and inflict misery on his neighbours."

Here the link to the full article

Arrested!

2006-04-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

To the left is a picture of the president of my consulting firm (M+R) getting arrested today in D.C. It's all in a day's work. To bad all the action is in D.C. and not Seattle. No one can say we aren't hella dedicated!

Five members of Congress (and a few other activists), including Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) were arrested today when they blocked the front entrance at the Embassy of Sudan in Washington, D.C. Their protest and civil disobedience was designed to embarrass the military dictatorship's ongoing genocide of its non-Arab citizens.

Click here for the full text article.

Click here to send an email to "he whose name will not be spoken" telling him to take action against the genocide in the Darfur region.

I've finally graduated 8th grade!

2006-04-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

You know when everybody graduates 8th grade and then that summer the descent upon our nation's capitol... I didn't and finally at age 25 along with thousands of other teeny-boopers, Michael, and his ginormous new camera. The coolest part of the tour was this random metal statue found at Haines Point called The Awakening. It's a five part cast aluminum statue that depicts a 100-foot man half buried alive trying to free himself from he earth. It's creepy and cool at the same time, Michael's favorite is when people put their babies in the statue's mouth and take a picture. See more statue pics.

I thought the Vietnam war memorial was moving and strangely sterile considering how messy war is. The wall is so refective you can see me as I take the picture.

This is the Jefferson or Lincoln Memorial (I don't remember which).

On The Home Front

2006-03-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

As usual when I get home from a rainy day, I set my umbrella up to dry in the kitchen. Now mind you, whenever I open my umbrella near the little crapper he flys out of the room like a rabid bat (this is no exaggeration, just look at those shiny eyes). The other day after dashing out of the room he decides to creep slowly back into the kitchen and upon further inspection he decides the umbrella is now his property.

New Friend
I finally got a PDA after a couple of years trying to use a paper planner and finding myself too lazy to write in it. It's so great, it syncs with Outlook and everything; now I never have to write again (except checks).

The amazing thing about this PDA, is that the darn thing didn't come with a case. How crazy is that? It's so fragile why wouldn't Palm at least include a cheapie case and charge and extra five dollars. I was too outraged to buy a case (or really just too lazy to go back to Circuit City to get one) so Emily volunteered to knit this adorable PDA case complete with stripes and button. I don't want to encourage her kniting addiction, but this was a damn useful project. Next she's making me a tie, so I can't complain too much about needles and stash lying around the house. I never thought about it, but after reading the Yarn Harlot's blot about yarn addiction and realizing that kniters talk about needles and stash as their tools.... It really is a drug.

Snow

2006-02-26T21:02:00.000-08:00

I get up Friday morning and I see snow outside the window. There was barely an inch of snow on the ground, so I'm thinking no problem I'll take the bus to work as usual right. I mean an inch of snow, that's nothing. So I get all ready and head out the door. I get to the top of my block, which granted is a pretty steep hill and this is what I see. Seven buses all stuck at the top of the hill with the "to terminal" flashing on their signs. They were all stuck not moving, meaning they never got to their route. I felt a little rude taking a picture since the poor bus drivers were all stuck in their buses... but I mean how often do you see seven buses stuck on your street! I can't believe under an inch of snow shut down transit in my area during rush hour, craziness. Needless to say, I worked from home Friday.

Finally at Last!

2006-02-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is what I've been doing the last few months in Seattle working at M+R

eNonprofits Benchmarks Study

It's about nonprofit performance in the online communications world.

The Poo Apocalypse

2006-02-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

Check out this big Canadian news story about the poo apocalypse.

Eight Grade Math

2006-02-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

More bus fun.... Still no cat girl on my bus, but the guy across the isle from me had on a sherlock holmes hat (seriously, it was awesome). He looked pretty normal except that the book he was reading was a centimeter away from his face. I kept trying to catch a look at the book he was reading to see if it was a mystery, but no such luck. I just looked weird staring at him. I bet I'm the crazy stare girl on other people's blogs.

Here I passed 8th grade. I can't believe I got a question wrong, what the heck!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

our (pretend) house

2006-02-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

emily drew our house! we are in the garden and i have a lovely black soccer ball. the kittens are there too, being kitteny, which is normative for them. check out the picture of our house!

our house!
our house!

Cat Girl Missing

2006-02-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

So I haven't seen cat girl on my bus for like the last month! There are however, other characters on the bus in the morning, but it's just not the same without cat girl. There's a new woman who manages to juggle her 1-2 yr. old son one arm and her bag in the other all while walking to the back of the bus while it's moving. Everytime it's like, is she going to drop him? How is this possible to balance a little scrimmy kid and a bag whilst walking on a moving bus. Then there's this woman who had some really high bright brown boots (FMBS) she wore over leggings, I can't describe it but it was a very odd style.

Other than my exciting bus ride news, my all chick band has formed anew after a one week drama in which our leader kicked out our bassist and drummer for no good reason and then accused me of being a brain washed socialist or something like that when I suggested we have a meeting because stuff was getting out of hand. Anyway so we banded together and formed our own band after a meeting and a group hug. Now all we need is a name, right now in our poll Bitches Brew, the Pink Menace, Jazzberry Jam and Bootleg Betty seem to be ahead.

Hey check out this new search "patriot" search enigine google put together after Bushy and his pals wanted to spying rights http://blog.outer-court.com/patriot

Rainy Sunday

2006-01-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

I'm actually trying to do some work on this rainy Sunday but can't help surfing the web a bit.
I regularly but an ad on Craigslist for musicians for my band so as I was doing this I came across a post about a violin trio of sisters. Check out their website gothardsisters, so at first I thought hmm kinda interesting. Then I found this in the text of one of the sister's bios

"In their free time, Greta, Willow and Solana have put together several feature-length stop-frame animated films with their dolls and stuffed animals with intricate props and costumes that have also been watched all over the nation. For more information on the dolls, please visit this website: www.ourdolls.net"

I never got to the watching the films; they didn't work on my computer, but man those dolls kinda creep me out. I mean how much time do you think they spend on these dolls and making greeting cards and videos out of them... I guess I can't really talk and all since we dress Yakko and Dane up and sometimes send people cards with them. Anyway check out the doll site, it's pretty kickin.

But Wait, There's More...

2006-01-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

More sights of Seattle, here I am picking the troll's nose. For some reason there's an extremely large stone troll under the Fremont bridge. That's an actual VW Bug in the trolls hand. Kinda creepy and a little scary if you don't know it's there and suddenly you see this silver eye looking at you....

So Emily and I have been blog tagged by Bridget and supposedly I'm supposed to write about five things that people don't know about me and then tag five more friends.

1) Emily used to french braid my hair when I went on dates freshman year of college.

2) On Christmas break sophmore year, a fellow RA (Vicki) and a few of us drank jungle juice she swiped (or maybe it was a bribe/gift) from a resident and when we forgot matches at 7-11 I stumbled up to my bosses door to ask for matches so we could have a fire in the Hawthorne lounge.

3) Sometimes we call our cat Dane he's who name shall not be spoken (Voldemort)

4) Once Emily and Vicki (why does Vicki always end up in our weird stories?) scared a guy out of the Carson TV room by making their plastic dinosaurs have a domestic squabble.

5) I have over a hundred Archie comic books

Okay, now the tagging part... you guys are so tagged!

Jess and Jason
Karl
Chris Brunner
Lauren

Sights of Seattle

2006-01-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

So here's a random pic we took on the way back from taking Meriel and Mark to the Space Needle a couple of weeks ago. It's a giant revolving pink elephant neon sign! It's so cool, much more interesting than the boring old space needle. The sun from last Saturday broke our 28 days in a row of rain here in Seattle. I didn't even realize how long I'd been seeing rain every day until it mentioned it on the news at day 23. I was really disappointed that Saturday broke our streak, I was hoping for a record. Oh well, there's always next month.

Here's some flash animation that my company helped produce, kinda funny (kinda scary)

http://www.walmartworkersrights.org/

C-mass fool!

2006-01-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

C-mass, so this year everybody came to our place!
This was our first year hosting Christmas so Emily and I felt like real grown-ups (I know isn't that crazy!). So for the first time ever, the kids cooked and the adults had wine and played Scrabble. Speaking of Scrabble, don't EVER play with Emily. I played with her last week and we were barely half done with the game and she had 300 points compared to my 150 (GRE here I come). So the big advice from Kaplan for taking the GRE is to read the New York Times and Wall Street journal because theys have the big words. Good thing I spent 35 buckaros on that book. Ok so I digress....
No holiday is complete with out Emily tourturing the Yakko. So I thought I'd show y'all a picture of the horror this poor cat has to endure every holiday. Now I know you think this may be cruel, and I do feel a little guilty for participating and taking the pictures, but hey the little crapper has taken a liking to my hand made speakers and uses the carpeting as his personal scratching post. Which is really not ok because it took me about 2-3 hours per speaker to get the carpeting glued on with rubber cement which accidently got my 17 year old self high because I didn't open the windows. My bedroom reeked of rubber cement for like a week, I don't know why I never bothered to open the windows, funny that?
Back to Christmas, so Dane being the smart cat he is, hid under the tree so unfortunately, he was unavailble for the group picture in which he would wear reindeer ears. Oh well, there's always next year... Other than that it was a pretty normal Christmas: wine, food, family, presents

Big Fat Wood Cookie!

2005-12-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

Now that finals are over, we're doing the obligatory holiday preparations... one of which involves dragging a tree full of pine needles and sap into our house. So I decided I wanted a big tree since Emily and I are hosting Christmas at our house for both of our families. Because we were in a big rush, I pretty much had to have the first big tree I saw (even though Emily tried to talk some reason into me). A guy came and loaded it in into the car (mistake number one because of all the pine needles) and we drove home. We got home and lifted out our extremely heavy 7 foot tree out of the car. Then we got the tree stand and realized we were going to have to saw through the damn thing to make it fit. So we dug out a rusty saw we found in our garage and took turns for around 20 minutes in the below 30 degree weather. We somehow managed to carry this mostrocity of a tree up the stairs into our house, taking several breaks along the way. Anyway the moral of this story is that one should look at the size of the trunk before one buys a Christmas tree. Big trunk means very heavy, probably won't fit in your stand. Here's the big fat wood cookie Emily and I sawed off the tree. Note the nice knot in the middle of the second picture!

It Snowed!!

2005-12-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Yay, it snowed in Seattle on Thursday! Emily took the pics since I was in New York for a work retreat. I've been waiting for snow since last year and I missed it!
I'm hoping is snows again, I really wanted to build a snowman and throw snowballs at things. Seattle is definately frickin' cold right now, last week I played soccer in near freezing weather and my little ears turned into ice cubes that gave me that headache you get with you drink slurpees too fast.

Yakko-Lantern

2005-11-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

So this is my halloween post, I know it's like a month late. No tricker-treaters came to our house so we decided to torture the little Yak Yak. This little pumpkin outfit is a handmade Emily original. Yakko totally did not appreciate the effort that was gone to for him (just like the spoiled brat he is) and whined the whole time. Then he leaped out of her arms and wiggled out of the costume.

So if Yakko was a pumpkin for Halloween... what do you ask did cat girl from my bus dress up as? Not a cat! Can you believe it, the one day a year you're supposed to dress up and she took off her cat ears?!! Instead she had a bunch of white power on her face and a black hand drawn scar along one of her cheeks. To complete her costume she wore some sort of incredibly big tutu.

The Sorting

2005-10-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

So I finally took the Harry Potter sorting test....

I got into Gryffendor because I'm so brave and all. Emily was sorted into Ravenclaw because she likes Ravens and clawing stuff.

Take the Sorting test!

P.S. No more exciting news about cat girl, she's still riding my bus and wearing cat ears.

Jeph and Bridget Do Seattle

2005-10-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

J+B came to visit us in S-town this weekend and a good time was had by all. We went to the science museum and walked along the waterfront. The science museum re-awakened Star Trek Next Generation yearnings, so we rented Star Trek Generations. I was a bit disappointed about the less than adequate Deanna Troy screen time. Deanna is totally the best and hottest character. Emily has assured me that the second movie has more Deanna, or maybe she's just saying that to get me to watch it....

Corroborative Evidence

2005-10-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

Just so you don't think I'm lying about cat girl, Emily saw her on the bus when she was coming back from campus. Emily tried to take a picture, but then she realized that she couldn't turn off the camera sound on her phone, plus that's kinda creepy stalkerish...

True story, don't let his happen to you, beware of moving companies! So this is about my co-worker trying to move her stuff across country by hiring a moving service.

First incident: Random truck driver calls said co-worker to tell her he's not moving her stuff unless she pays him. This truck driver was apparantly contracted to move her stuff by Go West movers (the peeps she paid to move her stuff).

Second incident: She calls Go West and says "fool I paid you to move my stuff, now some truck driver is threatening to move my stuff." Well... not the fool part, she was actually polite!

Third incident: She makes several calls to people at Go West to figure where this disgruntled truck driver dumped the stuff and figure out who's going to move it.

Fourth incident: Her stuff finally makes it to Seattle. This driver calls her out of work in the morning and doesn't show up until 4pm. Then he realizes her stuff was packed first so he says he has to come back after the other peoples' stuff is unloaded.

Fifth incident: About an hour later, truck driver calls her to ask if she knows anyone he could hire to help him unload the truck. When she says no, he asks her if he could hire her to help.

Sixth incident: Truck driver finally shows up at 11:30pm to unload her stuff. Now she has an angry landlord because she's moving stuff in so late, plus she has to help carry her stuff.

Seventh incident: A bunch of her stuff was broken in the move (including her bed).

Eight incident: She had to pay $200 extra dollars to the truck driver on top of what she already paid Go West movers.

I joined a Band!

2005-10-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

So I joined an all girl jazz band. I'm so stoked it's awesome. We play big band and jazz tunes. We've got a couple of saxes, two trombones, a flute, a piano player, bassist, two guitars and a singer. Hopefully we'll get a drummer and a trumpet or two soon! It's so cool, it's just like high school, I'm a band nerd all over again. The other trombone player is a nerd like me too! She does computer support and has a degree in computer science, imagine that!

In other exciting news, cat girl from the bus showed up on my way home on Friday. She is still wearing her cat ears and black clothing. She showed up near the street that goes along Greenlake. I wonder what that's about? I kind of want to talk to her and ask her what's up with the ears but she might think I'm some weirdo, hey but I'm not the one wearing cat ears.

Also, if Jeph or Bridget is reading this, which I doubt because they are way busy with school... I finally listed to your goodbye CD. It was sooooooooooooooooo great. The "Emily there is only one of you" song was really cute. "Kittens Last Jam" was pretty cool too. That Maddy has a good voice. Check out these Phat Tunes!

The Bus

2005-10-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't taken the bus since we lived in our place on Pearl, so it feels a little weird to be taking the bus to work every day. It's so weird how you ride the bus to work with the same people and take the bus home with another set of the same people. I'm always really tired (I guess some would call it grumpy) in the mornings so I'm not very aware of what's going on around me. Every morning I rush to step onto the bus and almost bump the same girl that gets off at my stop. It's not like I do it on purpose, I'm on autopilot and just start walking as soon as the bus doors open (I really have to stop that before I bowl her over). Next, I sit down on the right side of the bus in next to an empty window seat. I always feel so lucky to get a coveted window seat near the front of the bus because it's the last one available on the buses way downtown. Just today I found out the reason why I get the same seat is because the girl who I almost run into on my way in the bus sits in that seat every morning (funny that). The same people are seated in front of and behind me. Next the bus stops to let the gothish girl with her cat ears and pink miniskirt out. She looks to be anywhere from 15-18 years old. I'm really curious where she goes when she gets off. She either goes into the Bishop Blanchet High School across the street or somewhere into the residential neighborhood. Seriously cat ears every day! If she's in high school maybe she's a drama geek? You have to be pretty comfortable with yourself to wear cat ears to school every day...

Anyway, so I check out this cool shark game
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/madshark.html
Emily played it and wouldn't eat the scuba divers and only ate the fish, you have to eat the scubas though it's the fun part! Emily thinks that the game is immoral.

Eric and Steph's Wedding Pictures

2005-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday morning and rainy in Seattle, go figure.... So Meriel this blog is for you, I know I promised to post Eric and Stephanie's wedding pictures last June on my website, but I never got the chance. Speaking of weddings, four different couples we know got engaged this summer and are getting married next summer! How crazy is that? Why is everyone getting so old and mature? Ok so the wedding pics, uh I added the pics in the wrong order so you should look at the bottom ones first. Also, I know there are some people I didn't get pictures of, but remember there was a lot of Ruby and you can't easily have a glass in one hand and camera in the other.

New Place Pics

2005-09-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Okay so I finally got this picture thing working. Here's my virtual tour...

Here's our two big living room windows, it kind of a dark picture since I took it in the evening, but it's usually really bright. After dragging my sister around Capitol Hill, to help us look for a place live, she reminded us that in Seattle people spend a lot of time indoors so we'd better get something with a lot of windows. Best advice ever!!

Here's more living room at a different angle. Notice the rug on the floor, my "research gang" co-workers gave Emily and me a Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate so we used it for that rug and an ice cream maker. We are still working on making the thank-you card. I really miss all the good advice and wiseness of my research team (that and wearing Priscilla's pink jacket).

So next is the dining room... I think I took this pic in the morning
Here's the kitchen with funky blue tile

Dining room

Here's the deck

Bathroom...
and then there's the bedrooms, but those are kind of messy so I didn't take pictures...

Here's our new Ikea chair and already the kitties took it over! Ikea was the deciding factor on moving to Seattle instead of North Carolina.

So that's all for now, stay tuned for more pictures. I promised Meriel that I'd post Eric and Steph's wedding pictures so I'll get on it next...

Starting a Blog

2005-09-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Sadly my darkwing email is gone so I'm forced to move somewhere else in Internet space so here I am in blog land. I'm hoping I can post a couple of pictures of our new place.

So getting used to living in a fairly large city is interesting. So far the most noteable differences are that downtown buildings are more than three stories high, people dress a lot hipper, I have to remember the combo code to my office bathroom door (which poses a problem when you're in a hurry), people drive worse than Greg, everybody walks fast, and there's a coffee shop on every corner. Someone laughed when I told them I worked downtown by the "Seattle's Best Coffee?"

Ok so pics of our new place...they aren't loading so I'll try it again later :(