Kate's Space

Car Repair Strategy

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:33:20 GMT

Today I had an appointment with an auto shop to get a 60k check-up for my car. I love my car. She's a 2002 Infiniti G20, she's midnight blue, and her name is Trinity. I may have blogged about her in the past. Anyway, I once got roped into an unnecessary and expensive "engine flush" at the Infinity of Kirland dealership, so ever since then I have been very wary of auto shops. You never know when you're getting screwed. Luckily, my dad is a mechanic with over 40 years of experience, so whenever they tell me I need any "extra" service, I always call my dad and check with him first. (During the engine flush incident, my dad wasn't answering his phone. He called me back to tell me I was getting screwed about 5 minutes after I had authorized the service. Doh!)

I was getting dressed today and was about to put on a Red Sox t-shirt since they're in town, but I hesitated. What if the guys at the shop hate the Red Sox? Then they'd for sure want to screw me. I also didn't want to wear anything that looked too expensive because then I'd look like a good target - someone they could screw over without feeling too bad about it. So I "dressed down" a little with a hooded sweatshirt. But I did put on a little make-up because I think you can get better service if you look attractive and have a winning smile. I think I play up the "I'm poor and cute, like a daughter or niece to you, so please don't screw me over" card. Don't get me wrong, I assume the guys at this shop are decent, fair, people, but just in case I'd rather cover my bases.

I believe there is strategy in almost everything we do. We make our own luck. A while back I wrote about this in my entry about the book The Luck Factor.

So far they've called and said I needed new brakes. I checked with pops and it sounds legit. Hoping it's nothing else. For the 60k service, Infiniti of Kirkland was charging $1100 and this place was charging $260. Have I mentioned how much Infiniti of Kirkland price gouges? Infiniti dealership in Brighton, MA was awesome and very fair, just FYI, so they're not all evil.

Back to the strategy thing, I also do my hair before a haircut, so they can see that I care about my hair looking good and they'll do a better job. And I brush my teeth before the dentist. If you are making a purchase that involves negotiations and decide to dress down, you have to speak intelligently so you don't get pegged as a dumb kid. It's tricky stuff...

Spring Cleaning in the Summer

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:56:55 GMT

I've been on a little bit of a Spring cleaning kick. Got rid of a ton of books, now I'm moving on to clothes. Fascinating, I know. I can't believe you're reading this.

What it's like to be 530 pounds

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:29:31 GMT

Stolen from Fil's Blog where I'm guessing he found the article on digg. This is a moving account of what life is actually like for a morbidly obese woman. I hate it when I hear people making fun of fat people. It's even worse when my friends do it - luckily a rare occurrence, but it makes me lose respect for them. Anyway I had no idea just how bad it was until I read this article:

http://thesugarmonster.livejournal.com/114631.html

24 minutes and millions of dollars wasted

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:03:32 GMT

My work laptop was really sluggish this morning, so I decided to reboot. 24 minutes later it's finally back to normal. I decided to install some updates during the reboot. Then when those finally were installed, the network adapter wasn't working, so I had to reset that. Adding up the time when your computer is completely unusable during updates and restarts (let's say about 24 minutes every update that requires a reboot), multiplying by all the employees of Microsoft, times the average salary per minute. That's about $300,000 per update, and way more if you account for all the other companies in the world who have employees running Vista. My math might be off but still, it's such a waste of time. Sitting around waiting. There's gotta be a better way.

On a positive note, Microsoft finally got rid of the orange styrofoam cups (which were not pleasant to drink water out of) and they've replaced them with paper green cups. I think they should have thinner disposable cups for water. I get why they need to be so thick and sturdy for coffee, but why not have smaller water cups. It kills me to huge such a huge cup when I just want a little water. I could carry around a Nalgene but those have issues too, and I'm totally anti-mug. Lots of issues this morning. :-)

Jetsetting

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:12:30 GMT

Amsterdam airport is funny. If anybody doesn't show up in time for boarding they call them out really loud over the loudspeaker and reprimand them. "Passenger X Y travelling to Z, you are delaying the flight." Makes me laugh. I'm off to Florence in an hour. Will add more travel observations soon. Internet access about to expire...

Early Morning Blunders

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:06:33 GMT

I woke up this morning at 5:20 AM and decided to go into work to get a head start on the day. I recently pulled my hip-quad muscle, so I brought in a zip-lock bag full of ice. As I'm sitting in my office this morning, icing my hip, completely focused on the document I'm editing, in a benedryl daze (love allergy season), I look down and realize the bag has been slowly leaking for the past half hour. Right into my crotch. So I have this giant wet spot. Great. My jeans are seriously soaked through, the chair is wet, the ground has a little puddle. I'm slightly horrified, but luckily it is so early that nobody has arrived yet. I'm so wishing the bathrooms had those hand dryers. Anyway, I wrap a sweater around my waste, limp to the bathroom, and do my best to dry my pants with a wad of paper towels. Thirty minutes later I'm still in the drying phase. Luckily my coworkers are late risers. What a morning. And it's only 8am.

Lessons Learned:

Have a change of clothes in your car.
Don't mix ice and benedryl.
If you wake up early, stay in bed.

Lady in Red

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:29:36 GMT

I had some wardrobe issues this morning related to the color red. I was getting ready to go to the airport, and since I was going to be on a long flight, I wanted to be comfortable so I chose this long-sleeved red shirt. Since I messed up my foot last week I can only wear certain shoes, so I was going to wear my red boots. Red shirt plus red boots...too much? Both are somewhere between deep and bright red. I was a little worried about red overkill but I went anyway. As I got out of the cab I got a glimpse of myself in the glass of the airport doors. Ugh! My suitcase is red. As I got in line for security I took out my wallet which was red too. I tried to conceal it. This was embarassing. As I sat down to take out my computer, my stomach dropped as I saw my red backpack. And the backpack is a whole other shade than all the rest, so it adds this horrible clash factor. People can have favorite colors, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm the kind of person people blog about or talk to their friends about. Ack! I hurt my own eyes. What was I thinking? Stacy and Clinton would not approve of this. KStar would probably send me back home.

Podcast is back

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:25:31 GMT

Enough people asked about the podcast that I decided to bring it back. It's not the highest quality content in the world, but if you're really bored have a listen. http://pencilstar.com/Documents/katestory.xml

Oh, and Happy Heart Day

Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:18:08 GMT

A young boy, bent at the waist, stares intently into a sewer, his face a mere two inches from the grates. A short walk away, two girls search through the pebbles that make up the walkway, collecting only the whitest, most beautiful stones. The blonde girl with ringlets proudly displays a handful of sparkly white rocks. I widen my eyes in approval and make my way past a giant orange sculpture by Andrew Calder called "The Eagle." I smile because, unlike most people, I can see the eagle. Continuing on my journey, I walk along the outdoor amphitheatre where a girl diligently climbs up each platform unhaltered by a floor-length floral dress, her fluffy brown workboots peeking out through the bottom in contrast. A mother chases her son who runs down a hill, flapping his arms up and down through the air. She smiles at me, shrugs, and says "I guess I'm going that way." As I exit the park, I look up to see a family of five in the distance, racing toward the park. They're all going slow enough to make sure everyone keeps up. The boy slows down, distracted by a dog. The family arbitrarily stops on the sidewalk, the unofficial finish line. The mother looks at me and proclaims, "I got last place." The girl, giggling, agrees.

This is my favorite place in Seattle.

Freaky Masseuse Update

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:50:25 GMT

Remember when I wrote about The Freaky Masseuse? Well I didn't hear back, so I followed up with an email. After lots of phone tag I finally got ahold of the manager of the salon. He was very apologetic and I'm getting my refund. He even offered to pay for my chiropractor appointment. Olivier is no longer with them. He went back to Belgium because of some family problems. Apparently in Europe masseusses are allowed to adjust bones and stuff, but he wasn't supposed to be doing that here. The manager was very nice, and I'm really glad to hear that Olivier is no longer working there.

(I'm multitasking right now, so I apologize if my writing makes no sense...)

New Favorite Candy

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:55:42 GMT

My new favorite candy of the season: The Russell Stover Marshmallow & Caramel Santa

Mmmmm!

The Lost Diary

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:33:51 GMT

This woman lost her diary at the Puyallup Fair. And someone from Movin' 92.5 found it. Ever since they have been reading one page a day on the air in the hopes that somebody will recognize her so they can return the diary. It's hilarious. This woman hates her boss, is not over her ex, and lots of other stuff. Man, I don't think I'd want the radio to read my journal over the airwaves!

From the site:

Here's what we know about the diary owner so far:

She works at a boutique, possibly on the eastside, with women named Erica and Amy

Amy is her best friend, Erica is her boss

She has an ex-boyfriend named Alex

She lives alone

She has a dog named Jasper

Her mom lives in Atlanta

She briefly dated a guy named Matt

Ex-boyfriend Alex has a daughter and an ex-wife

Hear a page.

Help find the diary owner!

GoCrossCampus

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:26:26 GMT

I found out about this online game called gocrosscampus.com . I know it looks dorky but it's kind of fun. It had this Ivy League version of Risk. Princeton was taking down Columbia and Penn. Unfortunately they had horrible problems with performance because it got too popular too quickly and they had to temporarily shut down the game.

One More Thing

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:44:14 GMT

Oh yeah. THE RED SOX MADE IT TO THE ALCS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now let's hope there is a Game 6!!!

The Freaky Masseuse

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:42:02 GMT

I had the massage from hell this weekend. My sister had given me a gift certificate for my birthday last year and it was about to expire, so I finally made an appointment. I got this guy named Olivier (pronounced o-liv-ee-ay). He was awful. The whole experience was pretty painful. I asked him to be more gentle and he basically wouldn't. Eventually at the end he said, "I don't think this was the massage you were expecting," and went on to say he had realigned my spine and adjusted 4 of my ribs which were out of place (can you even get to one's ribs from their back?). He looked very proud of himself. That's just wrong. I didn't go to a chiropractor. My back was just fine. Now, 2 days later my neck, back and shoulders are still sore from the stupid massage. I wrote a letter asking for a refund and mailed it this morning. We'll see what happens.

The worst part is that he started chatting with me asking all about my job, and it turns out he used to work at Microsoft. He was a Program Manager on Vista. Ew! This is not exactly the kind of person you want seeing you in your undies! Separation of work and life please! He left MS last November, but still.

That was my first professional massage. I'm not sure there will ever be a second.

The Microsoft Connector

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:34:09 GMT

I took the Connector bus today for the second time this morning and ended up next to the biggest armspace hogger of all time. This guy was awful. He wasn't a big guy but his arm was well into my space. I was very uncomfortable - the seats are narrow to begin with and the guy had big puffy sleeves on his jacket too. I had to take my coat off and keep my arms crossed in order to be even a little comfortable. SHARE YOUR ARMSPACE!!!!! Geez. :-) I feel bad for anyone who gets stuck next to this guy on an airplane.

Winnie Cooper, Billy Joel, and Jacoby Ellsbury

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:57:35 GMT

What a great week. First, I found out that Billy Joel is coming to Seattle, and I bought tickets. Then I met Danica McKellar aka "Winnie Cooper" from The Wonder Years who was at Microsoft to talk about her new book Math Doesn't Suck. She's gorgeous and still looks just like Winnie but without the bangs. Last but not least, ... wait for it...

This is big.

I got tickets to see the Red Sox in the ALCS Game 6 at Fenway Park in Boston. Holy crap. They need to beat the Angels and make it into the next round. Then the ALCS needs to take at least 6 games. If both of those things happen, I'll be watching the game live from Fenway. Imagine me catching the game-winning walk-off homerun in Game 6 against the Yankees. This could be great. Oh, and I got bleacher seats so I'll be right there next to Jacoby Ellsbury who's one of my new favorite players (if he gets to play). He's awesome and dreamy at the same time.

See how lucky I am (per my post on The Luck Factor)? Now I just need to find someone else who likes Billy Joel to come to the concert with me. I better start volunteering or something to earn some of this good luck. October is turning out to be a great month.

Millennium Digital Media Sucks...Again

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:58:33 GMT

Well I'm on hold with Millennium Digital Media. Again. It turns out they forgot to stop charging me for my service at my old apartment, so now I'm getting double-billed. This is ridiculous. "We appreciate your patience. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered in the order received." Ugh! I'm only 5 minutes in and I want to go home from work but I have to call from here so it doesn't hit my cell phone minutes. Last month I paid bigtime for all those hold times. Millennium should be put out of business. Do I really need tv this badly? I actually get 2 bills to my new address now. The old one specifies that it's for service at my old address. Nice to know I'm paying for somebody else's tv and internet. Why do they punish their customers like this??? I'm 7 minutes in now.

Ride the SLUT

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:54:37 GMT

This is pretty funny. Thanks to B for sharing.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/09/18/seattle_trolley_line_has_acronym_slut/

Crocs on Escalators

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:54:05 GMT

I've always had a slight fear of escalators. They freak me out. Here's another reason why you should be careful on escalators: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/09/17/got_crocs_be_careful_on_the_escalator/

Photo Album: Halloween

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:08:14 GMT

Halloween

Halloween 001

Halloween 014

Halloween 015

Halloween 018

Halloween 019

A few days later.

Photo Album: Smiles

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:47:12 GMT

Smiles

fenway

fenway2

Photo Album: Scottish Lakes

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:57:23 GMT

Scottish Lakes

Our Cabin

Snow Tunnel

Snowshoeing

Sledding

Snowshoeing

Snow

Glacier Peak

Dan

Fil

Tandem

More Photos...

Photo Album: St. Patrick's Day 07

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:25:07 GMT

St. Patrick's Day 07

kate

StPatricksDay 003

StPatricksDay 005

StPatricksDay 008

StPatricksDay 010

StPatricksDay 027

StPatricksDay 031

StPatricksDay 042

StPatricksDay 048

Photo Album: 2007

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:48:34 GMT

2007

group

redcarpet

RedCarpet 004

RedCarpet 005

RedCarpet 010

RedCarpet 014

RedCarpet 016

RedCarpet 019

RedCarpet 030

RedCarpet 031

More Photos...

Photo Album: Seattle - August '06

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 04:13:01 GMT

Seattle - August '06

w and d at el portal

shar in her fun shirt

eytan and martha

martha and v

dan taking a pic

getting late

weird pic

always smiling

always thinking

adam the birthday boy

More Photos...

Photo Album: Christmas 2006

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:01:12 GMT

Christmas 2006

Me & Kate G

Me & Kate at airport

Me and my new boxing gloves

The Kids

Christmas2006 015

Christmas2006 017

Pat & Marie

Stef

Marty-Mar

Tommy

More Photos...

Photo Album: Pics from Boston

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:39:04 GMT

Pics from Boston

Anna's Wedding

Mark's Wedding

Beautiful Flowers

Chicago - Gehry building

Ben by the giant bean

Me touching the giant bean

The giant bean

Jen from Mark Harris

Great Products at Mark Harris Stationers in Chestnut Hill, MA

Photo Album: Fall 2006

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 08:27:05 GMT

Fall 2006

tator tots

tator tot eating

supergirlkate

Halloween2006 028

Halloween2006 031

Halloween2006 034

Halloween2006 041

Shira and Max's Wedding

Shira the bride

Shira

More Photos...

Photo Album: Seattle

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 20:41:50 GMT

Seattle

olympic mountains

My old apartment

Mr. Rainier area

Me and Dano at Mt. Rainier

Ack!

Can you see the top of Mt. Rainier?

Strange man downtown

My friend Dan

Fun at clubs

Ultimate Frisbee team called Defenestration

More Photos...

Photo Album: September 04 - atthequarry.com

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:18:30 GMT

September 04 - atthequarry.com

lamb for dinner

karen and tobias - outfit #2

having fun

michael the dj - he was really good

beautiful sunset

vaughn's tent

karen's dinner

adam in his pbr gear

amy brought dessert

walter being walter

More Photos...

Photo Album: Pics from School

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:44:56 GMT

Pics from School

PicturesfromBoston 030

PicturesfromBoston 031

PicturesfromBoston 032

PicturesfromBoston 033

PicturesfromBoston 041

PicturesfromBoston 042

PicturesfromBoston 043

PicturesfromBoston 046

PicturesfromBoston 047

PicturesfromBoston 063

More Photos...

Photo Album: Nepal

Mon, 15 May 2006 12:01:46 GMT

Nepal

Ger's House

Empty Pool

Godavari

New Year's Feast

Food is served

Ben and I

Kiran and Geraldine

Untitled Photo

Prianka and Saroj

Pashupati

More Photos...

Blog list: Blog list

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:33:20 GMT

Blog list

Music List: Songs I Like

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:35:22 GMT

Songs I Like

Billy Joel: A Matter of TrustGreatest Hits Volume 3
Daniel Powter: Bad DayDaniel Powter
Anna Nalick: BreatheWreck of the Day
Carbon Leaf: ChangelessIndian Summer
Shakira: Hips Don't LieOral Fixation Vol. 2
Toby Keith: How Do You Like Me Now
Tom Jones: It's Not UnusualReloaded - Greatest Hits
Carbon Leaf: Life Less OrdinaryIndian Summer
Madonna: Like a PrayerThe Immaculate Collection
The Bangles: Manic MondayDifferent Light
The Opportunes: Show Me HeavenCandy for the Children
U2: Stuck In A MomentAll That You Can't Leave Behind
Snow Patrol: You Could Be HappyEyes Open