Perhaps You Forgot!

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

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!

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...

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fun With US Airways

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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.