Tuesday, 27 September 2011

I’ve successfully managed to get the flow of water on my fridge’s tap to dispense at a decent clip. When we first moved in, it took about 5 minutes for the dispenser to fill up a glass; now it’s more like 20-30 seconds. I think that’s a significant improvement.

My next problem concerns the ice. By all appearances, the freezer should manufacture ice and dispense it into a holding tub where it then can be dispensed into a glass. I can not figure out how to get this to work. I’ve taken to manufacturing ice the old fashioned way: putting water in trays, allowing it to freeze, and then twisting the trays until the ice cubes fall into said tub. This gives us enough ice to last a few days.

I’ve printed off the instruction manual and my plan is to take a closer look this weekend.

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

The biggest news at Billboard today is that the number one album is Tony Bennett’s Duets II. He’s had some #1 singles (including back-to-back hits in 1951), but it’s hard to believe, but Tony has never scored a #1 album before.

Tony becomes the oldest person to hit the top of Billboard’s album chart. He’s 85 years young, and his new record blows right past the previous record set by Bob Dylan back in 2009 when he was ‘only’ 67 years old.

I’ve always appreciated Tony for being one of a handful of artists that seems able to continually reinvent himself and keep his music relevant for decades (Paul Simon and Brian Wilson also come to mind).

When I was a kid, my paternal grandparents frequently used to play crooner music from the 1940s and 50s. They pretty much plated music from two artists: Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes was played, I estimate, about 90% of that time. They insisted he was the better of the two artists, I insisted otherwise.

Fun fact: Tony – whom my grandparents assured me was ‘actually’ named Anthony Benedetto – went to high school with my grandfather.

Thursday, 29 September 2011

Here’s a fascinating video:

What would other bodies in our planets look like if they were the same distance from us as the moon? It gets really trippy when the Earth spins by (the Earth as viewed from Earth? Wow…), but otherwise it’s cool…

Really makes me appreciate that Jupiter is King of the Planets. Another thing to note is that Earth is spinning the wrong way, but I suppose that’s not the point of the video.

The one downside to living in the city (well, there are several downsides, really) is the light pollution. I often bring my telescope when I go camping, as it gives me a chance to check out the night sky unencumbered by street lights and house lights. I’ve heard there are telescope viewing parties around the Twin Cities. Every once in a while, I think of joining up with them. But come on, how nerdy do you think I am?

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Season 19 of The Amazing Race started this evening.

Among the ten other couples beginning the race are Ethan and Jenna. I was really disappointed to see them because, as you may know, they have both already been on Survivor. Not only that, but they’ve both won the game of Survivor.

I really prefer to see all new people playing these games, but both The Amazing Race and Survivor seem bent on culling from their own (and each other’s) pasts to find contestants. Are there not enough applicants for these shows?

This season of Survivor, for example, features both Wade and Ozzy, two people who have also already played. Twice, in fact.

And this isn’t the first time these shows have done this. I think Survivor is making this a new theme: For the past three seasons, they have invited back two players from prior seasons. And The Amazing Race has likewise used repeat players.

Boring.

I’d be more interested in seeing new people. In the meantime, I’ll root for these repeat players to leave the game ASAP.

Monday, 26 September 2011

Update on finding money this year: I’m up to $9.21.

I found a dime at work today.

Now that I’ve progressed this far in the year, I wish I had kept all this free money in a sequestered envelope or jar, and then spent it at the end of the year. I could’ve gone out to lunch, or bought a tank of gas, or a new car (depending on the final total, of course). Instead, I’ve dropped most of it into Owen’s piggy bank, tossed some of it into my car’s ash tray for spare change, and even spent some of it almost as soon as I found it.

By mid-year (02 July), I was at $6.53, and being just over nine dollars is keeping me on track for finding about $13.00 for the year. I was kind of hoping I would find more money during the year than I make in an hour, and, well, that’s just not looking likely (yes, I make more than $13.00 an hour).

On the other hand, I never know how much I’m going to find. On at least three occasions in my life, I’ve found more than $15 at one time. So who knows? I could double my total haul by tomorrow.

I better start looking.

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Today, in an effort to chill out after the stress of flying, I took the day off of work. I drove Owen to school this morning and narrowly avoided getting into an accident.

We were headed west-bound towards a busy intersection. The street we were driving on almost always has the red light at this particular intersection but at this particular moment there happened to be a green light. So, without slowing, I proceeded to drive through the intersection. A vehicle coming from the opposite direction was attempting to make a left. It was a pick-up truck and he evidently had no plans to yield to oncoming traffic.

Once I saw that he was not going to wait for me, I slammed on my brakes and swerved to avoid being hit. He finally saw me and likewise swerved. The look on his face was pretty funny, actually.

At any rate, we didn’t get into an accident, and I was able to proceed west towards Owen’s school. Owen didn’t even notice that we came this close to being involved in a motor vehicle accident; he just kept yammering on about something astronomy related.

Friday, 23 September 2011

After a grueling week of work, in which I attended a class at a swanky hotel in Atlanta and then took a vacation day, I partook in a department outing today.

First, we met for lunch at Lord Fletcher’s, a restaurant on Lake Minnetonka known for their good food and slow service. While there, I bumped into my cousin-in-law. It happened like this:

I was walking into the dining area of the restaurant, following a couple of my co-workers. Ahead of us was a table of a dozen people and one of them called out to one of my co-workers. My co-worker immediately looked over and, noticing the guy that called his name, diverted over to say hello. I didn’t think much of it; after all, every once in a while someone is bound to coincidentally bump into someone they know, right? Well, from the very same table, I then hear a woman calling out my name. I look over and stare at her for a second. I am terrible at recognizing people out of context. A few months ago, for instance, Jennifer and I saw our chiropractor at Target and it took a good 10 seconds before I recognized her out of her ‘normal’ domain.

Anyway, I finally realized this was my wife’s cousin, so I went over and gave her a hug. Turns out, she was also at an outing with her department. More coincidentally, she does the same thing at her job as I do at mine and thus many of her co-workers knew many of mine. How funny is that?

After lunch, we went out on a boat on the lake. It was cold, but I had a fun time. When we returned to the dock, my cousin-in-law’s group invited us over to their boat (which had also docked). I got in the boat and sat with them for a spell. They offered me a beer, which I declined, and then one of them said, “Ah, I see you aren’t related by blood.” I assured them that normally I would love another beer, but that I had to drive home, and they all seemed to think this further proved my cousin-in-law and I did not share any blood-relations.

Saturday, 24 September 2011

So, I have this really unimportant goal of visiting all 50 states. I’ve been to 19 of them, which isn’t a bad start, really. But here’s the sad thing: I haven’t been to a new state since 1998.

A few days ago, as I’ve noted above, Jennifer, Isla and I were in Atlanta. This afforded both Jennifer and Isla with a new state on their respective checklists, but I had already been to Georgia once before: I drove through the state on my way to and from Florida back in 1991, even spending the night in Macon. Isla has now been to three states (Wisconsin and, obviously, Minnesota are the other two). Owen has been to five states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Florida. And during the past decade, Jennifer has added three new states to her list: Florida in 2003, Washington in 2009, and Georgia as of earlier this week. But I haven’t logged any new states in 13 years.

In my defense, it’s getting harder and harder. I’ve certainly gone on my share of vacations here in the 21st century, but I seem to keep revisiting states I’ve already been to before. I’ve been to two new Canadian provinces (Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in 2001) and even a new country (The Bahamas in 2004), but I just can’t seem to get myself to a new state.

I’m going to try to do something about that during this decade.

Monday, 19 September 2011

Jennifer, Isla and I are staying in the swankiest hotel ever. It’s the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown Hotel (owned by Marriott). CLICK HERE to see their website. The lobby has back-lit marble decor with a large (200+ gallons) saltwater aquarium suspended between two pillars. There’s a modern, gas fireplace, too. And this evening they had a wine tasting in the lobby from 5:00-6:00, complete with hors d’oeuvre.

Backlit marble decor.

Isla notes her favorite flame.

We’re staying on the 17th floor. Our large room, with flatscreen TV, king-sized bed, Aveda toiletries, and bathrobe, is the corner room and we thus have a view of Atlanta both to the west and south. I think this might be the highest floor I’ve ever stayed on in any hotel.

The class I am attending is being held here at the hotel in a very classy conference room. Breakfast was waiting for us when we arrived, and lunch consisted of so many dishes I couldn’t try them all. Before and after lunch, the staff brought in snacks.

I could get used to this kind of life-style.

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

While I was in class for day two today, Jennifer and Isla walked to the Center for Puppetry Arts. I’m sorry I missed it but, hey, I had to go to class.

Here are some photos from their excursion:

In the evening, after a stop in the lobby to partake in the wine tasting again, we dined at Marlow’s Tavern. An awesome restaurant with incredibly delicious salmon. Also, great beer on tap. I tried a local microbrew. Sorry, I can’t recall the name of it. Probably because I drank so much of it.

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Today was the third and final day of my class. The class was only half a day today – actually, it was less than half a day, finishing up at 11:00. I received a certificate that says:

Be it known by all that James Zimmerman has successfully completed an extensive professional development educational course developed by the Institute of Packaging Professionals entitled “Fundamentals of Packaging Technology – Semester 1.”

The certificate then goes on to list all the topics we covered in class. It is dated September 21st and it’s signed by both the IOPP President and the class instructor.

I gotta say, this was a very interesting, relevant course. I’ve attended lots of classes through my job(s), but I think this takes the cake as the one that was both relevant to my job and enjoyable to sit through.

Exiting the conference room, my wife and daughter were waiting for me in the lobby. As per our plan, Jennifer had already hailed a cab, and it showed up within two minutes. We arrived at the airport nice and early and, with minimal lines, had time to check out a few stores and dine at Chili’s restaurant at the airport prior to our flight.

I still hate flying.

Thursday, 15 August 2011

Arriving at work today, I found one of my framed posters was lying on the floor of my cube. The frame had been hanging in my previous cube for years and back on Tuesday I affixed it to one of the walls in my new cube. Well, I must not have affixed it very well.

The frame was broken, as was the glass. The poster itself is still in good condition, so I hung it back up sans frame. I busted up the frame into garbage pail-sized pieces, and I picked up the larger shards of glass. One piece of glass, however, made up of about 90% of the original pane, is too large to fit into my garbage pail, so it’s just sitting in my cube doing nothing right now. I could walk it down to the recycle center, but I don’t want to drop it or cut my fingers on it. I guess I could go get a bag to carry it in, but that would be a real pane.

Friday, 16 September 2011

I wrote to A-1 Vacuum Center yesterday, saying pretty much what I wrote in my post RIGHT HERE. The manager responded soon after. Here’s a truncated version of his email:

Thank you for emailing.  I appreciate the opportunity to correct this matter if possible.

I’m sorry you had problems with your vacuum after we repaired it.

Although this is no excuse, our service people do treat belts as “wear & tear” items that can break easily.  Rarely does a belt break without a reason and rarely is it a defective issue.  We take pride in having good quality products that will perform well in normal circumstances.

However, that being said, there are rare occasions where our customers may experience a broken belt or other problems after we repair their vacuums.  I’m sorry you happen to be one of the very few.

I have discussed this with my service man.  He did remember your specific situation.  He recalled the belt looked like it had snapped which generally means that the brush was stopped unexpectedly and the weak link happens to be the belt.  Most vacuums are designed so that the brush and motor are spared by the belt if something happens unexpectedly.

I have also discussed with him and the rest of our crew to be more sensitive to the customer’s point of view when this type of thing happens in the future. I hope this will minimize complaints and maximize customer satisfaction.

By the way, you mentioned your original belt lasted 5 years.  This is also highly unusual as most vacuum belts like yours are designed to last 1 year.  Even before that time most belts lose their tension and efficiency so we generally recommend replacing belts at least once a year to maintain full brushing efficiency.

OK, I’ve gone on long enough into the minutia of our business.

How much did we charge you for your second “defective” belt replacement?
I’d like to offer you a full refund and 2 spare belts for your trouble.

Please respond with your address so I can mail you the belts & refund so you won’t have to make another trip.

I hope this offer will meet with your expectations for our “Satisfaction Guarantee.”
If not, please respond so we can discuss this further.

I gotta say, I’m impressed! I wrote back saying there was no need to reimburse me for the belt, as I only bought one, and I think it’s completely fair that I pay for it. I provided my address, and, today, the belts arrived in the mail. I immediately installed one of them to insure that it was the right size.

Saturday, 17 September 2011

Today we spent packing for our trip. Tomorrow we fly out to Atlanta.

I really, really dislike flying. Every time I board an aircraft, I sit there and wonder what, exactly, I’ve done with my life to yield so many plane rides.

Tomorrow will be the 26th time I’ve flown on an airplane.

Here are the years in which I’ve gone on at least one plane ride: 1975, 1979, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2006. As you can see, it’s been over five years since my last plane ride which, as luck would have it, happens to be the biggest gap I’ve experienced in my adult life. But tomorrow I’ll be boarding an airplane again.

Ugh.

Sunday, 18 September 2011

You know what I hate more than plane rides? Airports.

I’m not even sure I want to tell the story of our experience at the airport today, so I’m gonna be brief here.

Poor parking and construction meant we walked into the airport about 10 minutes later than we’d anticipated. The kiosk computers were down, so we couldn’t print our tickets. We stood in a line for a half hour waiting for our tickets, then another line for 50 minutes to get through security. They flagged our backpack as suspicious, which led to another 10+ minute wait while a TSA employee inspected the bag. (FYI: Baby wipes show up as a solid, black block of matter – evidently that’s very suspicious-looking.)

We ran to the gate, but missed our 2:30 flight. We tried getting on the next one (@ 3:30), but were given three reasons why we couldn’t board:

1) The door was closed

2) The plane is ful

3) Since we intentionally missed our flight (the employee’s words, not mine), they were under no compulsion to get us on the next flight.

Hanging out for a very stressful two hours, we were allowed to go “stand by,” which means they might let you on the plane if any other hapless soul “intentionally” misses their flight.

I was given permission to board the 5:00 flight. When I landed in Atlanta, I turned on my phone and was pleased to have a message from my wife saying she had boarded the 7:00 flight. I waited for her at the gate, and we were reunited at 10:15 (Eastern Time).

Walked into the hotel at 11:00. Ordered room service and requested a wake-up call. The day ended sometime after midnight.