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August 26, 2004
Of mobile phones and puddles...
Hokay, so I did a bad.
Yesterday, I was walking back home from the library (I got a library card now!) in the rain (it rains in Portland. Who knew?). I was holding my PDA in one hand, looking for a phone number, and Barb's phone in the other hand, while walking. Nobody as clumsy as me should ever, ever do this. So, of course, I stumble and chuck Barb's phone into a puddle the size of Lake Erie.
Yeah, I'm just that coordinated.
Now, my friend Teel had just done this with her phone a few months ago while playing disc golf. Rusty took her phone apart and let it dry, and it was Happy Happy again. So I did the same thing. Not Happy Happy.
Barb took the (practically brand new) phone into the PCS store, and they basically told her "Hmmm...didn't buy the extended warrantee? Sucks to be you. How about a new phone?" Ugh. So this evening, I went phone shopping. I told Barb that this was totally my responsibility, and I would get her a new phone one way or the other (preferably sooner rather than later, as this is her only phone). So, I went to Costco (which was an adventure in its own right. I've never seen a Costco buried in the side of a hill before.) to look for phones. They had crappy phones for much money. Nope. So I went into the Sprint PCS store, and they basically told me "Hmmm...didn't buy the extended warrantee? Sucks to be you. How about a new phone?" Ugh.
Bout what I expected.
So, I decided (oh man, here it comes) to see if I could get a phone. They ran my credit, and it came back aces. Wow! That's a surprise. So, the guy tells me that if I sign up for a new plan, I can get two phones for $50 (instead of one phone for $250). Now, I'm bad at math (no I'm not) but this sounds like a good deal to me. I've been toying with the idea of getting a mobile, since I need to be reach-able for job stuff, and I don't like stealing Barb's phone all the time. So, I hem and haw, and buy the two phones. Now, the fine print.
The salesman had told me that I could keep Barb's number, and not need to pay a cancellation fee. 90% of the way through the paperwork, the guy gives me my two new phone numbers.
Whoa there, Skippy. Hold the phone(s).
He had miscommunicated to me. I was creating a whole new contract with Sprint, and hers was still going to be active. Uh oh...this is bad. I'm about ready to pull the plug. Salesman (not wanting to watch new prey^h^h^h^hcustomer walk out the door) gives me a loophole. Ask me about it next time you see me. Basically, the loophole seals the deal.
With Sprint. Now I need to talk to Barb. Suffice it to say, this deal was not in my task list for the evening.
I explain to her the deal, and why I did it. I told her that if this is a bad idea, we've got 14 days to change our minds. The bad news is that she'll have to change her phone number, but with The Loophole this even becomes manageable. After she takes a bit of time to wrap her head around the fact that her boyfriend has basically cancelled her communications link to the outside universe and created another one, she allows as how this is a Pretty Good Deal.
So now I have a mobile phone. I have now joined The Dark Side. If I like you, ask me for my phone number.
Whew.
Oh yeah: PS and by the way, the phones I got two for $50 were the same damn model as the one I killed. Guess I'll have to remember not to throw these in puddles, huh?
Posted by Lee at 01:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tommy came to visit me!
Flash bulletin update! Tommy's pics of the weekend are up! Do not miss the panoramic photos!
Now back to your previously written blog post...
This is my second crack at writing this blog entry. Yesterday, I foolishly closed the browser tab in which I was editing my post, and it went all splodey.
Hokay. So, here is the earth.
Last Wednesday evening, Tommy came up to the Pacific NW to play for a few days. Now, this is the perpetrator that introduced me to my lady (with whom I'm essentially shacked up with at the moment), so we were both happy to see the boy.
After sleeping in Thursday morning, Tommy and I met Barb (the ladytype, for those of you keeping score) for lunch, and then we stole her car and went on an adventure. We dead-reckoned our way up to Council Crest, the big hill overlooking downtown Portland (pictures forthcoming). We also popped into Powell's to geek out on books (which are a new taste for Mr. Tommy, and an old friend of mine). Then, we went to the regular Thursday night dance. Unfortunately (for all the follows in Portland), the dance was a bit lead-heavy. (For those of you non-dancer types, leads are typically boys and follows are typically girls. Typically.) So tha ladies of Portland didn't get to enjoy the terpsechorian stylings of either Tommy, or our friend Titus, both of whom are well-regarded dancers (to say the least).
Friday, we went a-hikin'. We first popped downtown to have coffee with the lovely Miss H, and then headed out to the Columbia River Gorge to see Multnomah Falls. The Falls are a big tourist trap, but still very much worth the look if you're in the area.
670 foot drop from the head of the falls, into the creek that feeds into the Columbia (which is just across the highways). We hiked to the top (a strenuous hike of a mile, with a lot of up. I was proud that I made it...although I must get into better shape) and took some pictures which Tommy will post soon.
We drove back along the old Scenic Highway and stopped at a few places to stroll and take pictures.
That evening, we were planning on visiting the Brazen Bean, a beautiful old Victorian house converted to a martini bar. Unfortunately, Victorian houses are teeny, so there's very little room in there, and (due to a time mix-up by yours truly) we couldn't get in. So, we dropped back ten yards and punted.
We wound up at McMenaminaroonaramalamadingdong's Ram's Head over on 23rd street. (The McMenamin brothers are local beer magnates, with brew-pubs all around the area. Good brew-pubs. They do have a funny name, though.) We (that is, Tommy, Barb, and I) had a yummy goat cheese and garlic appetizer, along with some drinkses. We were met by Miss H's and her boy, A, along with Titus, and we all headed out for Yuki's for sushi. (Teel, you need to come here with me!)
So we met Aa (Yes, another A person I'm going to keep semi-anonymous until I become better friends with them and I feel more comfortable horking their names into my blog. Barb just made the cut.) at Yuki's, and we all proceeded to eat raw fish and laugh like idiots for a couple hours. A good time was had. I told the Squid Caper Story, and Tommy and I told the Snoopy Kiss Story. Much hilarity ensued.
Then, we went to a scary Yuppie meat market on the 30th floor of a downtown Portland skyscraper. We commandeered a table, and proceeded to chuckle to ourselves at the primate dynamics playing out around us. There was some creepy swinging (not swing dancing. Swinging.) thing happening at the corner of the bar. Uh huh. We had some drinks and bailed.
Saturday, we went to the Lindy Picnic in the park. We had a nice afternoon chatting and dancing in a beautiful forest bower. Live music and pretty girls...there is no bad. We then went out for Thai with a bunch of peoples, and then went out to the evening dance at Norse Hall. (I had no idea that Scandinavian people had a beef with the Irish. Who knew?) More live music. More pretty girls. Yay!
Sunday was kinda low-key. We went T-shirt shopping for Tommy, and then decided to head out to the beach. Barb decided that we needed to go to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast. Have you seen Goonies? If not, you need to get off the freakin' Internet and go to your video store and rent it. If so, you might remember the Three Big Rocks that One Eyed Willie hid his treasure ship near.
Found 'em.
This is Haystack Rock. Apparently Goonies was filmed in this part of the country, and this is in fact the place where they shot those scenes. The vista was absolutely breathtaking. Here you can find the pics from Barb's camera. Someday, Tommy will post his as well.
We had dinner at Mo's, apparently well-regarded for their fish n' chips. (Halibut, not cod, thank you.) That's what I ordered on Barb's recommendation, and I was not disappointed. Yummy. The waitress gave Tommy and me static about not ordering the chowder. (sorry, don't like chowder. Deal.) Then we find out that she doesn't like the stuff either. Uh huh...I've got your attitude right over here, sister.
We drove back, and Tommy composed a couple mix CD's on ye olde Powerbook. (When the muse speaketh...) I also roped him into making a driving mix, because the one I'd done simply wasn't doing the job. Go DJ Stu.
Then, we put Tommy back on the airplane. Sad sad. But! More hijinks will be here soon. Next big event is B&G's wedding in Dallas. I'm looking forward to going back and visiting my people, and seeing two cherished friends seal their union. And I'm singing! Yay!
Posted by Lee at 01:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 16, 2004
Rotten Tomatoes is wrong.
Last night, the lady and I went to see Alien vs. Predator. Now, when you sit down in a movie theater to watch this, you sign up for a couple things.
1) There will be people dying. Badly.
2) You need to suspend your disbelief. Do not take things seriously.
3) One measure of goodness is how wrong you are about who's going to die.
This is a horror film. It's an action movie. Get some popcorn and enjoy yourself. This is not, repeat NOT, supposed to be a Serious Film.
So what's up with all the hatin' at Rotten Tomatoes? Usually a pretty good read on whether a movie is going to be awful or not, RT just PANNED AvP. What did they think was going to happen? You've got aliens. You've got predators. You've got some very unfortunate humans. Hijinks ensue.
Looking back, several of director Paul W. S. Anderson's other films that I really enjoyed also got zero lovin' at RT. Guess those reviewers just can't appreciate a good cheez-fest. Resident Evil and the first Mortal Kombat movie were just way a lot of fun. Sure, they were based on video games, but you know what? I had a good time watching them.
OK, Event Horizon didn't really work, and Soldier was freakin' awful, but hey...the man's still batting better than .500 with me. That's good, right?
What, you don't buy the back story? You're worried about continuity with the other films? Here's a hint. GET OVER IT. Your butt is in the seat because you want to see two great movie monsters Fight to the Death, a lot of times.
One thing I did find amusing was the number of flashlights in the movie. Every character...EVERY CHARACTER, seemed to have two or three flashlights on their person, plus one on their weapon (if they were smart enough to actually read the script before venturing into this hellhole, and came strapped with the biggest gun they could find). I mean, if the problem could have been solved with flashlights, this human party would have WON.
But, fortunately, the aliens and predators both seemed to appreciate the flashlights only as "Come eat me!" markers. As it should be.
One funny line...the Tough Ice Guide Chick says to the Tough Short Haired Mercenary Chick "I've never seen a gun save somebody's life out there..." Well, you're right. Going into this situation, you need way more bullets than you can carry...but at least you can go out swinging.
Heck, if I could find an IMI Desert Eagle that carries 30 rounds in the magazine, I'd probably carry one too. (Hint: the .50 only has seven rounds. Use them wisely.)
Gun geekery aside, the movie was just fun. Had some ridiculous bits. Had some scary bits. Had some "Wow, cool! Aliens and Predators!" bits. Had some "Boy, humans are DUMB!" bits. Pretty much just what the doctor ordered.
Not as good as Aliens. Not as good as Predator. Easily better than any of the four other movies in these two series. Three out of seven ain't bad....
Posted by Lee at 12:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 13, 2004
Freakin' HR drones...
Yesterday, B and I went to Seattle for a job fair with a certain large aerospace firm. Getting into the job fair was positively Kafka-esque. We started out in this humongous mile-long line of immobile cars, on the highway running North parallel to SeaTac's runways. The hotel/convention center was up on our right, and we couldn't figure out what all this traffic was about.
I got impatient, and popped into the left lane to get ahead of all these meatheads. Apparently, they were all trying to turn into the Hilton (where the job fair was).
In retrospect, this was the First Bad Sign.
So I drove up the hill behind the hotel, and looked at B for clever ideas. She told me "Shut up and get in the passenger seat." Uuukie.
She parked us in a residential neighborhood a few blocks from the hotel. I saw maybe half a dozen other well-dressed individuals who had the same idea.
So we walked down to the convention center, only to see a line of about 700 people wrapping around the back of the center headed into...wait for it...the parking garage. OK, who's in charge of THIS side-show?
So we get in line, and start socializing with the people in the herd around us. Note that this is at about 12:45 or so, fifteen minutes before the doors open.
We finally get into the parking structure (and see the other half of the line) at about 2:00. I see an elevator about 3:00, and we get upstairs around 3:10. Once we got into the parking structure, I looked outside. The line we'd been standing in now goes all the way around the front of the hotel, and all the way up the hill we'd driven up to park. I guesstimate that there were about 5000 people behind us.
Smells like economic recovery, huh?
So I finally get in, get sorted into another line, and get told by an HR flack that unless I had a 3.0 GPA, I've wasted my time. Well, thanks for nothing, lady. Had you put that on your web site, I could have saved myself standing in line for three hours, and six hours of driving from Portland to Seattle and back. I wonder what GPA she earned with her engineering degree? Oh, wait...she probably doesn't have one.
Not that I'm bitter or anything.
B was looking for a gig in the business/finance side as a purchaser. They told her that she's wasted her time coming up here unless she's got 8 years' experience. She "only" has 6.
argh.
So, that was a bust. B and I then went over to the IKEA store. Woo hoo! Flat-pack nirvana! This is a cool, cool place. Yes, I have now picked out furniture with my girlfriend. *meaningful look*
We (by that, I mean "she") wound up buying two very nice dining room chairs, and about $60 worth of crap. By "crap", I mean absurdly useful, reasonably priced, and well-designed crap. Then, we bopped into Seattle proper to meet J, a friend of ours (and of other people we know) (Ask him about prepositional phrases!) for a very pleasant dinner (with alcohol!) at Red Robin. Pictures!
Then we had ice cream, and picked on B, and went home.
Re: the stupid cattle call: Fortunately, I've still got some other irons in the fire. All this has shown me is that cattle calls really, really suck.
Posted by Lee at 07:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 11, 2004
Went to a pretty place today...
This evening, Barb took me to the Columbia River Gorge. On the way, we stopped at a brew pub for dinner.
I can't pick between beers, so I tried them all.
So, the gorge was really pretty. Lots of nice waterfalls and scenic vistas. More pictures for your enjoyment.
Posted by Lee at 01:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2004
Okay, I'm not counting my chickens...
But I've got some eggs. I've got a good contact at Boeing who looks like he is gonna come through for me. I'm stoked.
Today, I wandered down to Woodstock St. to meet tha lady and her dad for lunch. He's a quality assurance guy at the titanium casting company that her entire clan apparently works at.
On the way back, I got:
Some bubble tea with a Super Deformed Freddy Krueger on the lid. Arigato gozaimasu, Freddy-chan!
I don't understand Asian pop culture, but I really like it.
Never had bubble tea? Too bad for you. Imagine a nice glass of iced green tea, with some .40 caliber spheres of tapioca rattling around in the bottom of the cup. You are equipped with a straw of similar gauge, so you can suck up the bubbles and chew on 'em while you drink your tea.
You will never, ever find a superior spitwad. Not that I've ever tried, or anything.
On the walk back, I started listening to some albums in the Best of College A Cappella series, which I pillaged from KB's Stash O' Music. (Which is huge, and has a large overlap with my own tastes, with which I'm attempting to fill my iPod). Some really, really great stuff. I love finding new a cappella grooves.
BTW, the image above is a still from my iSight webcam. I'll see if I can get a little better shot.
Posted by Lee at 05:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 04, 2004
Where's Lee? AT FLÜGTAG!
I vanishted.
I'm currently in Portland, OR job hunting and visiting with my lady. I've got a job fair at Boeing next Thursday, and I'm trying to make some stuff go at Honeywell working on their terrain avoidance systems. I'm currently enjoying my sweet new laptop from the comfort of ze sofa. Wireless networking is my friend!
With a little bit of luck, I'll find work up here and have my People back in Dallas ship me my junk.
Last Saturday, Barb and I went to the Red Bull Flügtag on the Willamette River. We had great seats, right down on the water, maybe 50 yards from the "landing" area. (By "landing" I mean "crashing spectacularly") Unfortunately for the teams, but fortunately for the spectators, there was about a 10 knot tailwind blowing right down the flight line. So, basically, the mad charge of the teams pushing their craft towards the 30' drop pretty well nulled out any airspeed they might have had, and they pretty well just plummeted into the river. There were a couple teams that got lucky and flew pretty well (some even had a flight to plummet ratio of greater than 1!) but mostly, we enjoyed the teams' skits, and then pointed and laughed when they crashed into the water amidst the wreckage of their craft.
Nothing like laughing at the misfortune of others!
Apart from that, we went to the dance last Thursday, and that was cool. I put a new hard drive in Barb's computer, the better to pillage large amounts of music with. Yesterday, we went to see Saved, which was remarkably good.
Nobody in OR believes in air conditioning. It is my professional judgement that they should. It's not near as hot and gruesome as Texas, but it's warm enough for me to want something other than a fan.
Pictures of Flügtag are here! Also, check out the videos on the official website linked above..
Posted by Lee at 02:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack