Crossing the US Border

As usual, after a 7-month blogging hiatus I'm finally going to make a good-faith effort to get back into the blogging of random thoughts, OUTSIDE of when I'm on vacation and actually good at blogging.  So here goes...

Today's random topic:  Why are US Border Agents so gruff?

So yesterday I took some friends up to drop them off at the Vancouver cruise terminal.  As usual, it's a quick and rather uneventful drive until you get to the border crossings.  Normally I use the NEXUS lanes, so I don't have to deal much with the Canadian border agents (they typically just wave through the NEXUS card holders with little more than a passing glance to see if there's anyone else stowed away in your car).  Though this time since my friends were "normal people" we had to use the regular lanes.  No wait at all, so we just pulled up to the booth and the Canadian border agent made typical idle chitchat while scanning our documents.  "Where you from?  Where you headed?  How do you know each other?"  The typical questions where it really doesn't matter what you answer, just how you answer.  The usually cordial Canadians welcome you with a "have a nice day" and you're on your way.

I delivered my friends to the cruise ship, then turned back for home.  No adventures in Vancouver for me today, it was a nice drive though.  As I pull up back at the US side, similarly low wait times at the border.  I, of course, now having nobody else in my car, could take advantage of my NEXUS card and use the special quickie lane.  Though really, I think I've had more pleasant US border crossing experiences when I'm NOT using the NEXUS lane.

Now, ostensibly the point of the NEXUS program is that you voluntarily submit yourself to a background investigation by both the US and Canadian governments.  Assuming they find you suitable (and you pay the $50 processing fee), they give you a NEXUS card, identifying you as pre-screened, low-risk traveler who really just wants to be able to get back and forth across the border without hassle.  This honestly seems to be the way the Canadian border patrol views the NEXUS program.  Admittedly, the Canadian border agents are less concerned overall with Americans traveling into Canada, but the US side is so vastly different.

First of all, I have only once had a cordial experience with a US border agent.  I believe they are trained to be intimidating.  After all, I guess they are the bouncers at the door of the hippest club in the world, the United States of America.  But seriously... I am an American who lives less than 2 hours from the Canadian border,  trying to get back to my own home in my own country.  I have done everything I possibly can, including actually PAYING to get a NEXUS card and VOLUNTARILY submitting to a complete background check to ensure that I have no criminal history or pose a likely threat to my own country.  Maybe they can stop being like the bouncer and more like the doorman, who will welcome you back to your home.

This trip as I pulled up to the border:

CBP: What have you been up to?
ME:  Dropped some friends off at the cruise terminal.
CBP:  (looks around the car, looks at me, looks a little longer)  Goodbye.  


That was the end of it.  Should I expect much more?  Probably not.  But I think it was the "Goodbye" that threw me off.  What, not even a "have a nice day"?  Is that so much to ask?  I think a bit of good manners goes a long way.

But I can't be too hard on the fine men and women of the Customs and Border Protection service.  They ARE there trying to keep the bad guys out, and to protect us Americans.  I just wish they were a little less intimidating.  I shouldn't feel like a criminal when I come through the border to get into my own country.

One more reason I don't like Hallmark...

Greeting cards are a multi-bajillion dollar industry.[1]  You have cards for every seemingly meaningless occasion on the calendar, made-up occasions, congratulations, salutations, animal rehabilitations, or marriage nullifications.  Each of these categories have something for everyone, something funny, something sentimental, something touching, something ornamental.  It's brilliant marketing, I suppose.  Yet with all of these options...

WHY IS EVERY WEDDING CARD SAPPY, TACKY, OR OTHERWISE CRAPPY?    I'm a mildly amusing person, so I want nothing more than a mildly amusing wedding card, but every one you find is so serious and flowery... I just don't understand it!  I've resorted in some cases to re-purposing some creative anniversary cards (which are usually more amusing), or something else.  I haven't yet resorted to giving someone a "congratulations on your impending divorce" card for their wedding[2], considering that would be in poor taste even for me.  :)   All I want is a reasonably mainstream "Congratulations on Your Wedding Day" card, with Snoopy on the front holding a bunch of balloons or something.  Is that so much to ask!?

[1] Not based on any statistics I could find or bothered to look up.
[2] Not that I haven't thought it might be more appropriate at times...

2010 Washington State Initiatives to the People

While browsing across the Washington Secretary of State's website (don't ask), I stumbled onto the list of initiatives filed for 2010.  To be certified and placed on the November ballot, these initiatives need petitions with the signatures of 241,153 Washington State voters (8% of the total number of votes cast for the office of governor in the last gubernatorial election).

Of course, just getting the text of your initiative filed with the Secretary of State requires not much more than a properly formatted document and a $5.00 filing fee.  This, of course, lends itself to some very interesting initiatives that never make their way to the ballot.  I present a roundup of this year's more interesting initiatives on file with the State... that you'll never see on a ballot:  

Initiative 1069:  Replace the Seal of the State of Washington


This measure would require the Seal of the State of Washington to be changed to depict a vignette of a tapeworm dressed in a three piece suit attached to the lower intestine of a taxpayer shown as the central figure. The seal would be required to be encircled with the following words: “Committed to sucking the life blood out of each and every tax payer.” The illustration would be selected from submissions submitted by taxpayers. 


This one gets my "creative initiative of the year" award.  


Initiative 1058: Teach the Declaration of Independence and its relationship to the federal and state constitutions.  


This measure would require specified teaching concerning the relationship of the Declaration of Independence to the federal and state constitutions, and related documents, as a prerequisite to graduation from public and private high school. Copies of these documents would be displayed in all schools. The measure also defines what “teaching” is required. Teaching would occur in fifth grade, eighth grade, and two years of high school, and would be a subject of state standardized testing. 


Funny, I seem to recall learning this all anyway.  I don't really need a test to tell me I learned it.  Then again, maybe if we could make the cable news pundits forced to learn this stuff some good might come of it.  


Initiative 1072:  Change the legal age to sell liquor, but not to consume it.  


The laws prohibiting selling or providing “liquor” (alcohol, spirits, beer, and wine) to anyone under age twenty-one would be changed to prohibit selling or providing liquor to anyone under nineteen. The measure, however, does not change the laws preventing persons under twenty-one from possessing, consuming, and purchasing liquor, and public intoxication, although it modifies penalties for persons who purchase liquor under age twenty-one. The measure requires a public vote on the measure after ten years. 


I'm not sure what's more confusing, the idea or the wording.  Basically, what I get out of this is that the drinking age is still 21, but if I'm selling you beer, it's not a crime for me to sell it to you if you're 19 (though it's still a crime for you to buy it from me).  The point seems to be to save money by not going after all of the liquor age enforcement, but leaving the penalty to those 19 and 20 year olds who consume it.  Uh-huh.  

Initiative 1076:  Repeal every law enacted by the 2010 Legislature.  

This measure would repeal all laws adopted in 2010 prior to this measure’s enactment, other than initiatives, that were not subject to referendum because they contained clauses declaring the bill to be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, or support of state government and its existing public institutions. Other 2010 laws that could not have been enacted but for a law repealed by this measure would also be repealed. 

The state constitution provides a way for any law the legislature enacts to be referred to a vote of the people by petition.  As it is, the state legislature has a way to make laws un-referable by calling it "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace", the so-called "emergency clause".  This would basically undo any of those such laws, or any laws resulting from them.  An interesting concept, but seems like you'd be throwing baby out with the bathwater.  

---

Tim Eyman and crew have added another half dozen initiative proposals in the last week contesting everything related to the new taxes on cheap beer, pop, bottled water, candy and tobacco.  In fact, there are at least 2 dozen other initiatives Eyman has already submitted related to taxation in some way or other, that will probably also never make it to the ballot.  At least give these other initiatives some credit for creativity.  

The Game

So I was thinking (dangerous, I know)... this morning on the drive into work. I know there are a fair number of Star Trek fans who read my blog out there, so hopefully some will get this. :)

Does anyone remember the episode of TNG titled "The Game", where Riker brings back this virtual game device, that everyone started playing. It wasn't until nearly the whole crew of the Enterprise was absolutely addicted to it that the ever-annoying Wesley Crusher and his partner in crime determined that it was actually a mind-control device sent by a group of rogue aliens with the intent of infiltrating and taking over the ship. Their very existence was threatened by this all-consuming game that would allow the evil bad guys to swoop in and capture them all for eternity.

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you Farmville.

Updates!

Well, it's been a long and eventful holiday season... one that has had countless situations I've been intending to blog about, but never the motivation to do so.  Trying to summarize all the way back to the snow will be a challenge, but I'll try to give you the highlights. 

Christmas was good.  The traditional family gathering on Christmas Eve was postponed due to the trecherous driving conditions and snow, but I did make it down to my parents' house for the day.  My car performed admirably, until on the way home after dropping my sister off at her house, a mere mile from my house, the lights on my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and I knew something must be wrong.  But more on that later.

Christmas Day the entire family came over to my house.  It was a nice day, despite even more fresh snow falling in the morning.  I took my morning to shovel out a couple of parking spots on the street, and then everyone showed up for the day.  Lots of food, good times, not much to complain about I'd say.  

Day after Christmas, it was time to address the car issues that I knew were going to be a problem.  Determining that there was some sort of problem with the electrical system, I considered the distinct possibility that my car battery needed replacing.  The battery was original to the car, which is now about 8 years old, so it's reasonable to assume it's time to be replaced.  Driving over to Schuck's, I made my way through the slushy mess that was the street, and as I was a block away from the store, heard my engine begin to sputter, as one-by-one each electrical component in my car began to shut down.  Pulling into the parking lot, the car died completely, not to start again.  With the help of some folks, I was pushed into a parking space, where I proceeded to buy a new battery and replace it there in the parking lot, as the snow began to fall again.  After finishing that, the car started up just fine, though the warning lights on the dash remained.  The worker at Schuck's brought out a tester, and determined that as I had suspected likely, my alternator was certifiably dead.  On battery power alone, I managed to get my car driven over to the Nissan dealer just 20 blocks away, where I had taken my car before to solve the great Window Regulator Debacle.  Of course, as I attempted to pull out of the parking lot at Schuck's, my tired got stuck in the slush, necessitating me pulling the shovel out of the back seat and digging out the tires again.  But at the dealer, they took my car and I found my way to walk across the street to the transit center, grab a bus to get me within 1.4 miles of my house, where I proceeded to walk home through the snow.  Later found out that I had both a dead alternator, and a cracked radiator hose (no doubt from driving over some ice that jabbed into it).  They fixed them, and the next day I paid $750 to get my car out of hawk, and all was well.  

My week off from work was reasonably enjoyable, though I did work a couple of days to stock up on some comp time, and New Year's was also fun.  Then we come to last weekend, where my comp time came in handy as I took Thursday and Friday off to be Chief Umpire for the USCA West Regional Curling Qualifier for the Olympic Trials.  As my math works out, I was at the curling club for about 65 hours over 4 days, but had a good time for the most part.  Met lots of great curlers from around the country, and despite the average of about 6-hours of sleep each night, managed to enjoy myself.  

And now, after a month where I had so little downtime it's hard to remember the last time I took a night off, I have a night off.  But I leave you with this random rant:  

Do the legislators in King County have anything better to do than pass these ridiculous laws requiring calories information posted on menus in all restaurants?  There is nowhere I can go without seeing ridiculous information I have no desire to know, let alone care about.  I do not want to know how many calories there are in my large curly fries from Jack In The Box.  All it makes me do is go "hmmm, that's interesting" and proceed to order them anyway.  Knowing fast food is bad for you didn't stop me from eating it before, so why would I stop eating it now that I see this (admittedly large) number posted on the menu.  As far as I'm concerned, the only number I should see on the menu when I pull up to the drive-thru window is the one with a dollar sign next to it.  

So listen to me King County.  I'm going to thank you.  Not for trying to use numbers to try to dissuade me from eating foods that might be bad for me, but for giving me the power to use those numbers to know exactly which foods I WANT to eat.  From now on, I'm going to religiously look at those calories numbers, and know definitively that the higher the calories, the tastier and more satisfying the food will be.  And that's what it's all about.  

Office Excitement

The biggest, most exciting thing that's happened around our office in years is about to happen...

... that's right, after 5 1/2 years working here and having next to zero food options around our building, other than a couple of over-priced delis, or a long walk to Taco Del Mar...

... a Subway is opening right across the street from the building on Westlake.  

It's glorious.  It's spectacular.  That Subway is going to get a LOT of business. :)  

Now everyone's walking down the hallways doing the $5 Footlong hand gestures.  OK, maybe not, but that'd be hilarious.  I think I might start that. :)

Random Update

A week's worth of updates crammed into this space now:

Saturday night went and saw Bill Cosby at Benaroya Hall.  I don't think I've seen Benaroya that packed in recent memory.  Certainly there are some rather full symphony concerts, but not usually like this.  I must say, Bill is looking a bit old, but sounds just like he always has.  The show was basically Bill coming out, sitting in a chair, and telling stories for 2 hours.  It was uproariously funny, in that Cosby kind of way, since he is indeed the master of just telling stories in a funny way.  It was definitely worth seeing him live.

Those who know me know (or for all I know I've had a rant somewhere in this blog at a point in the past) that I have had a long standing stance that I need my cell phone to do one thing:  make calls. I've held similar resistance to the iPod and everything that comes out of Steve Jobs over-enthusiastic mind.  Well, friends, I've crossed over to the dark side.  The allure of Apple engineering has bitten me, and over the weekend I got an iPhone.  Once the price no longer became a determining factor (and my sister offered to buy me one for my birthday), I really had no excuses left.  And I must say, this phone really is as cool as everyone says it is (and as I've found by playing with other folks phones).  

Election mayhem is finally over.  And the excitement of election night was definitely worth it.  I don't think anyone fully expected the post-election Obama-mania that happened seemingly everywhere on Tuesday night.  But really what made me more excited is the initiative and proposition results.  Tim Eyman's horrendous initiative failed handily 60/40, though I'm sure Tim's already got some way to spin that into a moral victory for him and his supporters.  In response, his next initiative will be to support changing the state constitution to require only 40% support to pass initiatives, which he will call a "super-minority".  Look for it next year. :)  More excitingly, Prop 1 for Sound Transit is leading with close to 60% support.  Light rail will stretch to Northgate, Bellevue, and almost Federal Way by 2020.  Now, I guess that's 11 years from now, but hey, by then who will really want to be driving in that mess?  The one thing we can count on next year, another 0.5% sales tax in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, bringing most parts of King to 9.5%, except restaurants which already have an extra 0.5% tacked on (in KC only) which will make dining in restaurants in King County hit the magic 10.0% Sales Tax threshold.  That's the small downside to big transportation projects, which I think is actually worth it.  But yeah, cost of living is high here, but still not as unreasonable as some states.  Only California, Arizona, and Alabama have higher sales taxes on some items, all of which also have state income taxes, and Alabama is the only state that does not offer an exemption of sales tax on groceries.  Personally, I'll take our sales tax without any income tax, thank you very much.  

Finally, I give a hearty endorsement to my new favorite streaming internet radio website:  Pandora Radio (www.pandora.com).  You create your own radio station by telling it what artists/songs you enjoy, and then it finds other songs with similar characteristics to create a radio station of all the music you enjoy (or might enjoy) without the crap you don't want.  If you like a song, give it a thumbs up and they'll find more like it.  If you don't like a song, give it a thumbs down, it'll immediately move on to the next song and you'll never hear that song again on your station.  Brilliant and worth checking out.  

That's all the news that's fit to print for now. 

Birthday Recap

Well, yesterday was my birthday, which most people know means very little to me.  Everyone's excuse is "but you're one year older," to which I respond "everyday I'm a year older than I was a year ago."  

But that's not to say I don't appreciate all of the birthday greetings I received.  It's always nice to see everyone come out of the woodwork who you rarely hear from otherwise.  

In other news, my company gave me a birthday present yesterday too... a 5% salary cut.  In an effort to cut costs and prevent layoffs, they decided to cut the entire company's salaries 5%.  This actually was a reasonable solution, and they handled it well, but it still sucks.  In addition, they are going to be raising our health insurance rates, and the office will be shutting down the week between Christmas and New Year's, forcing all employees to take 4 days of vacation.  I guess that's not so bad, I've got a lot of vacation I didn't have major plans for anyway, so it's not such a big deal, and it might be nice having December 24-January 4 off as a sort of winter break.  I haven't had one of those since college!  Maybe I should make some fun plans that week.  

Last night to celebrate my birthday, I went curling as usual.  Had a good time though.  All does seem to be well in the world.  

But so far my Friday has been less than stellar.  I hope it improves.  

Things that surprisingly annoy me

• People who pronounce "taco" like "TACK-o".
• People who use "u" instead of "you," "r" instead of "are," and "thx" instead of "thanks" outside of a text message or IM.  
• People who use "heart" as a verb.

Vacation Wrapup and The Week Ahead

Without much trouble we made it back home from the islands, and never have I been more pleased to have 50 degree weather and a distinct lack of sun.  :)  Unfortunately, now I have a half dozen things to do in the next three days, not counting getting back up to speed with everything going on at work.  Running down the highlights of the calendar:  

• Tonight I need to make my way over to the curling club to meet my Thursday night team who wants to get some practice time in so we might be able to win a few more games this year.  Should be fun, hopefully I'm still awake by then.  
• Tomorrow I have a meeting for the Husky Band Foundation, followed by the customary pop culture trivia night at Jillian's.  That'll be fun and a nice break from work, but unfortunately, all these other things have to be done too.
• Friday kicks off the curling season with, of course, the league I manage.  So as usual I've got the next two days to figure out who all is planning to curl on Fridays, get a rough idea of how the teams will be all organized, and hope that nothing falls through the cracks.  Looking at my recent registration lists, I can see that there'll be plenty of the usual last minute people who didn't see fit to register early, and I'll have to shoehorn them into the roster in some capacity.  Why can't everyone in the world be more organized?  Seriously...
• Saturday I volunteered to help out with another curling open house, so I'll be back up there teaching folks how to curl again.  At least that'll be fun and fortunately with the Huskies bye this week, I don't have to worry about juggling that with a UW football game. :)
• In things without an allotted time, I need to do laundry from my trip sometime.  
• I need to figure out what Vancouver 2010 Olympics tickets I want to put into my order.  I've got about a month to figure that out, but I want to iron it out sooner than later, mainly because it's fun and it'll be cool to plan what I want to try to get tickets for.  How exciting.  And how ridiculously expensive can tickets to the Opening Ceremony be?  Oh, anywhere from $700-$1300 each.  Ouch! 
• Any number of other things I've forgotten.  What a week, what a week...  

GraphJam

Mildly amusing site of the day:  www.graphjam.com

Some selected graphs...  

Good News... Bad News...

Good News: I found the tube of chap stick I had lost...

Bad News: ... when I was taking the clothes out of the dryer.

Evolution of an Address

The "internets" have taken over the world! It's interesting to notice how advertising has adapted to and embraced the internet as their best marketing tool. No longer do they have a 30-second spot to tell you everything they do, all they need is to convince you they do something big and important, and throw their web address at you to find out more.

One of the interesting things is that I've been around to see the entire progression of this over time.

1) The .com address. First it was just the really techie companies that had these, then everyone realized how easy it was. You got your name, stuck a www. before it and a .com after it, and you're set.

2) The world got smarter. People started to realize, "Hey, if I don't know the address of a company, I can just put its name with a www. before and a .com after, and that's probably it!" Well, that worked once in a while, until the .com namespace became so polluted that new companies had no choice but to call themselves www.mycompanynamewasalreadytakensowepickedsomethingelse.com.

3) The .notcom addresses. People found that if their .com address was taken, they could just get the .org, .net, .us address, or whatever. Easy! Or not... they publicize their address as mycompany.org and everyone punches in mycompany.com instead going to their evil competitor (or more likely some completely unrelated company with a similar name).

4) The world got smarter. They realized the world isn't all .com, and they adapted. But what do companies do then? They make sure to register .com, .org, .net, .everything so that whatever ending we put on the name will take us to their website. Genius. Now all the common root domain namespaces are polluted.

5) Google. Forget about addresses, what we need is a phone book. Aha! Hello, Google. Now we can punch in the company's name, and it'll TELL US what the address is. Brilliant. Except that I really don't want all of these other web sites that come up. Or do I?

6) The AOL Keyword. Or the keyword. This was a short-lived bogosity. Force someone to go to some easy to remember website (ala aol.com) and then once that page comes up (and you stare at all their appropriate advertising), type in some keyword you could have just typed on Google in the first place, and get where you need to go. A vain attempt at a "user-friendly web" which failed miserably.

7) The world got smarter. Now not only can they advertise their .com address. They can advertise complex addresses that include all kinds of dots and slashes. helpfulname.mycompany.com/somethingelse. The techies love this. We can get to exactly what we want to get to without having to wade through pages of navigation.

Which brings me to a side rant. The slash (or is it a backslash?). You no doubt hear this on the radio all the time. Some announcer is reading off a web address, and says "Visit mywebsite dot com, backslash idiot, for more details." Certainly backslash sounds really big and important... I heard some IT guy at work using it last week... all the cool kids say it. Well folks, I hate to tell you, but THERE ARE NO BACKSLASHES IN A WEB ADDRESS! They are ALL, ALWAYS, WITHOUT-FAIL, simple old slashes. Something slash something. End rant.

The nice thing about the whole evolution of it is that it's entirely backwards compatible. You can always go the hard way and keep clicking until you find something you want, or just take shortcuts along the way.

The evolution will continue. Next comes direct advertising of IP addresses... no, not IPv4, but IPv6 addresses. Just like a 32-digit telephone number, with 16-digits on your phone dial. Piece of cake, right? Well, maybe we'll just continue to use Google instead.

Crazy Weekend

There will be a short and long part of this report. The short is my weekend report. I was down in San Jose, California for a summer curling bonspiel. Despite the fact that we won 1 and lost 3 games, we had a great time. One of the advantages to losing out early was that we had the whole day Sunday free to do what we wanted. We decided to drive down to Monterey, visited the aquarium (which for my avid blog readers, is on par with the excellence of the Tennessee Aquarium from my last trip), did some shopping down Cannery Row, and then drove down to Pebble Beach and checked out the golf courses and scenic drive.

Flash back to earlier in the day... I get a call from a family friend who has been looking after my parents' house while they were on vacation... their house was broken into. My parents were in Turkey, without any way to contact them until they got home today, and with me down in the Bay Area, I was fortunately able to get a hold of my sister eventually and she went down to help take care of things at the house.

After further assessment, these were decidedly amateur crooks. They broke a bedroom window to get in, after not being able to find an easy way in. They didn't really ransack the place like you'd typically expect... however, they stole some jewelry, silverware, two TVs and a laptop computer. Oh, and to top things off, they took my mom's minivan too (they probably needed something to haul away the stuff in). So after the police to wrote up the report, and CSI:FW processed the crime scene and got some nice fingerprints from the window, they cleaned up a bit of the mess around and the police put out a stolen vehicle alert on the car.

On to today... my parents got back and we told them about what happened. They made it home and took inventory of what was missing and worked on getting things back in order. The insurance folks will call tomorrow to take care of everything.

But wait, there's more! About 9:00pm, less than 30 hours after the incident was reported, they get a call from the FWPD: they've found the stolen van parked at the Denny's on 320th (all of about 3 minutes from my parents house) and asked them to come over to take a look. Apparently these crooks ARE as stupid as they seemed to be. After arriving, they found 3 or 4 police cars surrounding the parking lot and apparently they had two suspects in custody. Unfortunately, most of the loot was no longer in the van, but they suspect it's all close by. After some waiting around for CSI:FW to process the car and get any fingerprint evidence they could, they actually drove the car back home. The car seems to be in good shape, though apparently the police found a crack pipe among other things in the car, and recommended they get it professionally cleaned, which insurance should take care of. In the meantime, the police apparently have already recovered a few things (mainly jewelry-type stuff) off the suspects.

As of the last update, one suspect is in jail being interrogated, one suspect is at the hospital, probably handcuffed to the bedrail, after an untimely run in with one of Federal Way's four-legged finest in the FWPD K9 unit. It sounds as if justice may be served afterall.

TV Commercial Roundup

For the benefit of those of you with a Tivo, here's another roundup of great commercials that you may have skipped over. One advantage of being forced to watch live TV occasionally is that you get to see some of these really great commercials that themselves are worth watching. Today we have two more you need to see:



Who doesn't miss the days when Lou Piniella was the Mariners' manager? Even when the M's couldn't win a game, there was still a reason to watch!



Great commercial, especially with all of your favorite Discovery Channel stars. I could watch this over and over... which I do, because Discovery replays it constantly. I guess that's what you do when you get a winner.

Global Warming? I think not.

It's the middle of April...





... and it's snowing.

It's the latest Spring snow in history... beating the previous record of April 16th. It feels like January. I think this means we'll have an abnormally hot summer. 6 days ago it was 78 degrees and sunny. What's the world coming to?

Another update...

Curling season is finally over. After a weekend where I curled at 2pm and 2am on Saturday night/Sunday morning, it's a good time to take a 6-month break from throwing rocks at houses. Another fun, yet surprisingly long season. I think the added complications of buying a house and moving in the middle of the season made it feel much longer than it really was. But on the bright side, I now have a much more relaxing summer lined up. The season was a resounding success, with my defending-champion Friday night team coming in a resounding 2nd place, yet my Thursday and Monday teams firmly in the "also ran" category.

In two weeks I'll be heading down to the South to visit Andrew. It's been nearly 2 years since I went down there, whereas he's been up to visit all of us in Seattle about 3 or 4 times (or maybe more, I've lost count). I'll be celebrating Confederate Memorial Day in Alabama, which will probably be a non-event down there, but at least interesting. Of course, in my constant frugality, I saved money by building the most convoluded flight itinerary down and back. I'll be leaving Thursday morning and fly to San Francisco, then to Charlotte NC, then to Birmingham. On the following Tuesday I'll go from Birmingham, to Charlotte, to Chicago, and finally home to Seattle. About 6000 miles criss-crossing the country for the low, low price of just $235. I don't mind too much... at least that's what I say now. :)

Work is going well. My new commute averages about 25 minutes, which is probably about the top of my tolerance zone, but acceptable. I think I'll enjoy the commute a bit during the summer when I can enjoy the nice weather while I'm driving home. The only part I don't enjoy is that I'm filling up the gas tank much more frequently now... add in the occasional drive down to visit the parents and it's even worse. But at this point, given the state of the bus system here that would add another 30-45 minutes each way to my commute, the time and flexibility of driving is more valuable to me. They really need to expand the light rail, even if it'll be 10 years for them to finish it. That's what I say.

Now I just need to figure out what new and fun things to do during the summer. Perhaps another attempt to get motivated to improve my golfing skills is in order. I need to actually get myself over to the driving range more often, just to remind myself how dismal my skills are. Or maybe something else is in order. We'll see.

Infomercial Bingo

Infomercials. It's hard to avoid them, unless you're watching pre-recorded shows on your DVR. But if you can't avoid it, why not play along? Play Infomercial Bingo! I've compiled a list of some of the greatest catchphrases in TV infomercials today. Compete with your friends to find who can score a BINGO the fastest! How long will it take? Just one commercial? Maybe two? It's not as hard as you think! Enjoy!

B	I	N	G	O
Billy Mays	"Action"	"Cutting Edge"	"Powerful"	"A $___ Value"
"1-800-..."	"Absolutely Free... just pay separate shipping and handling"	"Cutting Edge"	"Instantly"	"Technologically Advanced"
"Amazing!"	"___ Easy Payments"	FREE	"Like New"	"Breakthrough"
"But Wait..."	Any miracle cleaning product	"Wow!"	Anthony Sullivan	"Free replacements for life... just pay separate shipping and handling"
Any obviously made-up technological-sounding word	"Developed by NASA"	"Double the Offer"	Any generic British voice	"Revolutionary"

Holiday Madness

I appear to have been in another of my predictable blog droughts. It's not that there hasn't been enough going on, in this case there's probably been too much going on. As a result, this blog is brought to you by Google Calendar: "The only way to know what all you did the past month!"

• Went to two musicals plus the Seattle Symphony's holiday pops concert. All of which deserve their own reviews, but may or may not get them. We'll see how much time I make for them today.
  
• Lots of curling, culminating with a break from actually curling, only to be the head official for the state junior curling championships this past weekend. Being both competent and willing to volunteer is a dangerous combination. Tiring but a lot of fun.
  
• Started the process of looking for a house. I'm sick of my apartment, and after waiting for a year or so until the market is finally right, it's time to buy a house. Now I just have to find the right place. Once the new year starts, it should be prime time for people to start selling decent places again... I hope.
  
• Christmas came and went, and New Year's is here. I don't think I really realized Christmas was coming until about the Friday before. Things have been a bit hectic.
  
• How can I forget how this all started? The day I got home from vacation in Hawaii (well, actually the day before I got back to work), my company decided to lay off 18 people, including half of my team. I was spared, but half of my friends and coworkers were told their last day was December 12th. It's made for quite the uninspiring holidays around the office. Fortunately a few of us insisted on making things a bit cheerier and helped decorate the office for the holidays. I strung my customarily tacky Christmas, er, Secular Festive Non-Denominational Culturally-Inclusive Wintertime Holiday Lights, throughout my aisle of cubes and from the ceiling and all. It was quite nice. Regardless, unless things drastically change around work, 2008 may become time to look for a new place to work.
  
• And yes, I know I'm behind on Amazing Race episode blogs. Legs 6, 7, and 8 are all on my DVR waiting to be watched, I've just had more important things to do. At least this way I can just sit down and watch them all at once one of these days.

Sky-High Dining

Every so often someone comes up with a new idea that makes you go... WHAT?!

[USA Today Article]

Presenting "Dinner in the Sky": dine at a table suspended from a crane 165 feet above the ground, harnessed into a chair like you're in a roller coaster.

This begs the immediate question... WHY? Are people really that fascinated with cheap thrills and gimicks that this actually would sound like an appealing proposition? In the spirit of cynicism, I present the Top 10 Things Heard During a Dinner in the Sky Event:

10) "As we prepare for our descent, please make sure your plates are securely fastened."

9) "Whew... I think I had a bit too much iced tea."

8) "It was like eating with the 12 apostles and Jesus Christ." [Quote from the co-inventor.]

7) "Anyone have a fire extinguisher?"

6) "Timmy? What happened to all your vegetables?"

5) "Check, please!"

4) "Ladies and gentlemen, we're expecting a bit of turbulence... please return to your seats."

3) "Welcome to Dinner in the Sky, the world's largest lightning rod!"

2) "Waiter, there's a bird in my soup!"

1) "Look at all the people below us... Oops! Can I please have another steak knife?"

In a related story, Dinner in Disguise? Sky-high dining reports drop in reservations after bout of violent food poisoning.