Resturant Review 1

This morning, Dustin and I enjoyed breakfast at The Downtowner Woodfire Grill, in St. Paul.
It was good, but being the critical diners that we are, there were a few things that bothered us. Our biggest complaint was the toast that came with the expensive omlette (which you were allowed NO substitutions) was "buttered" with FAKE BUTTER. It tasted like fake butter. I guess you just have to always order the toast dry.

More to come on restaurant reviews...

Fockets

I made up a new word today...

Focket, n. (fock-it) a word referring to one of those stupid fake pockets sewn into a piece of clothing to trick you into thinking you have a pocket.

14 Women/Glad I voted this year

Today, Best Buy and WoLF (Women's Leadership Forum) sponsored a screening of the independent documentary, 14 Women. Briefly, it is about the 14 (now 16) women that represent our country in the US Senate. It was a look at why they got there, how they got there and how they balance personal life with a never ending job in Washington, DC. The other fun part of the movie was the answers that a group of elemantary school kids had regarding senators, politics and why women might be good at different jobs.

The highlight of the event, however, was a visit by Minnesota Senator, Amy Klobuchar. She was so down to earth and wholesome, like a neighbor or a mom. This year was probably the first year I took any interest in who might be representing me and my state. Like in an old post about the HRC, it seems like the older I get, the more important human rights and other issues are. I voted for Sen. Klobuchar, and tonight I wrote her a letter and thanked her. What she had to say, (and it really wasn't life changing) reinforced my vote and made me proud to say that she represents our state!

Please take a minute to check out the review on this movie and see if you can watch it. You may have a better appreciation for some of the women and men in the Senate.

http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/14-women/

I joined Facebook

So, I was totally holding out on Facebook. In fact, I made fun of some folks for joining it. I finally succummbed to peer pressure from an old High School friend and joined. I feel like a dork. You know what I'm doing now? Messaging people and adding silly stuff to my account. I downloaded some new software and was planning on spending my computer time using that. Instead, I find more totally useless stuff to do on the web.

I must say, I did finish quite a few things on my list this weekend. I even got two coats of joint compound up in our basement hallway. It was SO HOT here this weekend. All of the drywall dust stuck to me. It was really gross.

I was really lonely this weekend, but I had a nice long chat with my friend, Erica. It was so nice to catch up. Dustin will be returning home on Friday! I know this week will go fast as I have lots of things to do!

The Emoticon :)

The emoticon celebrates 25 years by Daniel Lovering Pittsburgh (AP) - It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon. :-) Twenty-five years ago, three keystrokes -- a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis -- were first used as a horizontal “smiley face” in a computer message by Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman, the university said. To mark the anniversary Wednesday, Fahlman and his colleagues are starting an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication. The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo Inc., carries a $500 cash prize. Language experts say the smiley face and other so-called emoticons, or emotional icons, have given people a concise way of expressing sentiments in e-mail and other electronic messages that otherwise would be difficult to detect. Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.

Motor Trend Secret Photos

Check out this Ford truck my friend and I saw on the way to work last week. They must be road testing it here in the cities...

Maybe I should send them to Motor Trend, although it's probably old news by now...

I kept Believing

So, Apple contacted me and I have a new computer coming, sometime this week. Diana at Apple corporate was very nice and determined that they had spent quite a lot of money shipping me new computers. In fact, not that there was anything wrong with this computer, but I will get a brand spankin' new one with more memory and a bigger processor!!!

IN the meantime, this is what happened the last time I tried to open PhotoShop:


Pretty awesome, huh?

"...Don't stop bel-ieving..."

I really can't stand Journey, but I had, "Don't stop Believing" stuck in my head and I made up some words like, "Don't stop believing that Apple is calling me back..."

Well, they did. Turns out the email I sent to the address that Dustin found online for sjobs@apple.com actually made it to Apple. After finally speaking to the friendly Apple Customer service rep that helped me originally, he informed me that I would be receiving a call from Apple Corporate Customer Service. Hmmm.

Now the waiting game. I'll let you know what I hear.

F*** Richard at Apple Support

Ahhh, blogging again. I must have my computer back, right? Well, kinda. Today, I spent one hour and 40 minutes on the phone with Apple support. I spoke to three operators of which the last I had to finally end the conversation with.

I love Apple, and I will never switch to PC, but I was VERY angry tonight. I missed my block club meeting because I was afraid I would waste another 15 minutes just waiting for an operator tomorrow.

Richard was very rude. In fact, if you ask my opinion, Richard does not live up to Apple values and stand up for the brand that he represents. He pretty much told me that it was my fault I purchased a refurbished computer and I should expect to send it back.

Here is what Apple says about their refurbished products:

Guaranteed Apple quality.

Before we put a pre-owned Mac, iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV up for sale in Special Deals, it undergoes a rigorous refurbishment process to make sure it's up to Apple's tough quality standards. We back it with our standard one-year limited warranty. And you have the option of purchasing an AppleCare Protection Plan for it.

Since I receiving this model of computer as a very generous Christmas gift, I have sent three different computers back before finally accepting the last one. The computer had been having some funny issues. Once a light started to shine out of the headphone jack, I was extremely suspicious. After trying to get Apple to send me a new computer, being the level headed person that I am, I sent it back hoping that it would come back repaired. It didn't.
After about an hour on the phone with two pleasant operators that could not help me. They finally forwarded me to an ESL operator who was not helpful. He was rude and insulting. He tried to manipulate my words. I finally cried. It did not win me a new computer.

I just composed a letter that I will be sending to Apple tomorrow. I am ready for a good sleep.

Vacation Up North

We finally made it "Up North" this summer! (Otherwise known as Horton Bay, MI) Being from Michigan, everybody there knows approximately where "up north" is. Here in MN, people also use that term. Even though they don't refer to the same places, it made me feel at home. My parents were kind enough to let Dustin and I share the cottage with Dustin's brother, his wife and their two kids. It was fun.

I had forgotten what it felt like to decide what time to go to the beach. And that's ok if going to the beach was all that we did. I actually felt relaxed when I came home. And, I had a suntan! It felt SO GOOD!

I'll post some pix shortly, but my niece declared to some small friends she made on the beach that they shouldn't worry because she'd be back next summer!

August WoLF Trip

In August, I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the Best Buy WoLF convention. It was Awesome this year! I was in a better frame of mind than last year's event, but on top of that, I thought it was better! I guess I really go out of it that we need to continually learn from adversity. Here is a sample of what I posted from the convention:
"One of the last bits I will add is the new friends I made and the old ones I re-connected with. Our pack added several new members last month due to a decline in our population. All I can say is that I think they are FANTASTIC. I spent a great afternoon getting to know a new member really well. Her number is in my phone already and I know I'll talk to her before the next meeting. I can tell already that our new members will be super engaged and ready to make a difference."


The other thing is that I am starting to meet other folks from around the company who may help me get to where I where I think I might want to be.

I went to several workshops including one about finding my own "brand" and about the Grameen Foundation. (please check them out if you haven't heard of them. It is quite interesting.)

The event left me very energized and I was able to hook up with some acquantinces from Ohio who reminded me that there would always be a place for me there.

Let me know if you'd like to hear more. I really enjoyed it.

New News

Boy, sorry it's been so long. I haven't blogged in a while for two major reasons.
1. My department got mad at me for blogging. Not here, but for the work sponsored site. Since my Wolf event, I haven't blogged there, either. I'm quickly losing the points that show up when you post.

2. I had to send my computer back to Apple. It should come back on Monday.

Point number two is a pretty sore point. I really wanted Apple to send me a new computer. They were very intent on repairing it instead of replacing it. I will never not use Apple, but it did not put much faith into their refurbished products. Dustin and I did, however, put that past us and purchased some more refurbished Apple products. So far they seem to work.

What are these products, you ask? iPhones, of course! And you know what else, I can't hook it up to my computer!

Bring it on. Text message me!

Other Thoughts

SO, as I sit here, I realize that I haven't really blogged about anything very important. It's mostly been stuff I see that I like or find weird. After having been given the opportunity to meet someone at work (that I haven't met yet)I have gotten more inspired to write more. In fact, I wrote a whole big page at work today.
To paraphrase, the more I have been writing, the more I have been liking it. I continually blog on an internal BestBuy site, but only my co-workers get to read it. I don't even think that my co-workers read it...It is people across the company that I don't even know. I am looking forward to it, because in two weeks in Chicago, I'll be able to meet some of them.

In any event, i feel that I am getting behind on technology these days. Is it because I'm getting old, or because I'm out of the store? I don't know. I learned all about web 2.0 which was really cool, but I'm way behind on all these other things like net tagging (del.ic.ious), RSS feeds, stuff cell phones can do, etc. For instance, I called a friend's cell phone the other day. When it rang on my end, I heard a song! CRAZY!!! Why had I never heard of this? Maybe because I have an old phone and no longer work in the wireless department.

Enough for now. I will update later if anything comes of the great idea I had for work.

How do I get this trailer?

So, last weekend, Dustin and I went up to the north coast of MN with my parents. It was really nice to get out of the cities and also nice because I used to spend the entire summer with my family up north in Michigan. This year I will be lucky as I will have spent time up north in MN and in MI! Stay tuned for the story of the latter. I will be there this time next saturday!

In any event, on the way home, we stopped at the much talked about Betty's Pies.

There was a wait at 3:00! It was quite the popular spot!

Just as we were finishing our meal, I looked out the window and saw this spectacular rig pull into the parking lot. This trailer must hold one of everything that every true Minnesotan might want. Please look at the picture for details, it is truly worth 1000 words!

The new blender...

So, someone told me about this link the other day. The feature video combines two products i love, Apple electronics, and kitchen electronics! Usually I always buy my kitchen accoutrements at W-S, but I might have to forgo and purchase this truly amazing blender!

Check it out:

Lawn Mowing

So today I saw an awesome lawn mower. Some guy had a small hill in front of his house and apparently didn't want to push the mower up or down the small hill. He had rigged a piece of what looked like clothesline to the lawnmower handle and was standing at the top of the hill letting the mower down via the ropes. I'm not sure how well it was working, as it looked like the lawnmower had steered itself into the chain link fence bordering the yard.

Sorry I don't have a photo to go with this.

Wrapping Rap

So, as I was wrapping gifts for customers at Williams-Sonoma tonight, I made up a wrap. My co-worker asked me never to repeat it, but here it is:

" My name's Danielle and I'm here to say that I love to wrap gifts in a beautiful way.
Hat box, shoe box, linen or platter, when I'm done your gift is much phatter.

(Beat box here...)

Red or cream, gold or green, whatever color it is, it'll look keen."

I'm still working on it, so stay tuned for more verses.

Door County-Part 1

So, this past weekend, we ventured to Door County, WI for some summer fun. This is some of what we saw... The first place we ate on Friday was Al Johnson's. This place is special because every day they bring goats over to the restaurant and they graze on the roof all day. It is quite the novelty. Here are some shots...















After that, Dustin and I got forced to sit in this huge adirondack chair. We made his parents sit in it, too.








I went golfing. I only took about 12 mulligans over 9 holes...









We went to a really cool garden/antique store that had a pineapple plant from Florida growing. I loved seeing it and wondered what a whole field of pineapples looked like.
Here we also pretended to be coneheads.











Please stay tuned for photos of a true Wisconsin "Fish Boil."

SuperDog

See this dog...?













This dog was so excited to see The Gangler, that she put on a supercape and jumped through our front door!











We now have a new piece of glass in our front door, which I must say is much nicer than the one that was there.

Basketball

Boy, I think that the last 10 minutes of last night's NBA playoff game plus the last 7.5 minutes of tonight's game is probably the most professional basketball I've watched in the last 5 years. Too bad, Cleveland lost, but I must say that the game was quite exciting. As good as it was, I probably won't be watching very much more professional sports.