naming things

I like to make lists of things. I keep a couple of lists of what I would name something. For example names for pets. Minna and I were talking about things we don't like to say, and we thought that if we had pets with names that are words we don't want to say then we would find ourselves saying these words less. Our list consits of 'like' 'dude' 'sooo' and 'ya-know'

If we had a dog named Like and a Cat named Dude we'd probably say those words alot less in our everyday word useage because we would be more aware of it. Think of it... "heeeere Dude"...or ... "sit Like, sit."

We were talking today about trying to improve our fake sneezing ability. And decided to ad the name "Repeated Sneezes" to the list of names for a band.


This picture is very old of my holding Sophia's kitten. My friend Brian is doing dishes I believe. We're at Sophia's house.

I believe names are important for things that don't have much value monetarily but are important like pets. I have not named my computer but i've named my harddrive. because my harddrive is valuable but not worth much. My computer well... I paid a lot for it so I've never named it. but harddrives must be named. I've never named any of my own cars. My car seems a part of me, and extension, and naming one's self is a bit wierd. But in talking to my friend Karl the other day I was thinking of his car 'The Blue Banshee" and wondered if he has replaced it.

Nicknames must be given by other people. There was a trend in the recent years here in seattle amongst friends to have you house named. I lived in the Ranch House. named by a visitor. I remember a house full of girls. One girl wanted to name it the "Star house" I never thought it would stick, it didn't. I remember another girls house. They had two girls named holly living there and it became the hollie-holly house. and that name stuck well, and they never liked the name.

I just can't wait for a band to come out named "Repeated Sneezes". I'll claim the thought first, but you just wait.... they'll be a band with that name in the future...

a lazy friday

Minna had friday afternoon off this week. So I took her to the Columbia Tower for lunch. We packed PB and J. Drove to downtown Seattle and paid our $5 to get on to the observation deck.






It was so lazy. We just walked around. It was so high we could actually feel the building move just a bit. One plaque said that the wind force on the building is 16 million pounds or something. It didn't actually feel like the building was moving, everyonce in a while you felt like you were dizzy for just a second.

See the video of our excursion.

the story

This is the story of my trip to New York for my JetBlue intervew. This was an email sent to my family and friends.
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Thank you everyone for your prayers I really think they helped. I felt so comfortable and confident about my interview, I was truely blessed with energy and confidence.

Ok, so I was scheduled for a 11:59 pm flight out of Seattle. I knew I wouldn't get too much sleep on the plane so I took a nap that afternoon for about 2 hours. this would come in handy over the next 36 hours. Flying on JetBlue's famous airplanes with a TV for each seat was pretty cool. except most channels dish out infomercials after midnight. they don't serve meals but they load you up on snacks. I had two small orange juices (which would later haunt me) and a cookie. I watched an infomercial made by pontiac. It was a "documentary" on making a car chase. but they highlighted Pontiac's new sports sedans. one of the coolest ideas for an infomercial I've ever seen. about 30 minutes before we landed at 8:10 NY time I fell asleep. I woke up at landing. Jet Blue has dominated JFK airport they have most of one terminal. and it's all "jetblue-ed" out. but the cool thing was we didn't taxi very long. (we taxied for hours when we flew to Boston) and I got a taxi right outside of where I changed into my interview clothes. Minna taught me a cool trick of spraying your clothes with water (just a bit) then giving your shirt two hard shakes. nicely done. I had fresh clothes. The taxi ride was about $16 and the office it was only about 3 miles away. the driver stopped in front of an unassuming tall building with nothing but an address. I walked in and there was a big glowing jet blue sign on the wall. and the wall had a familiar two tone blue stripe. I signed in at the front desk and went to the 6th floor. I met a few other people getting interviews and we talked for a bit. I ate my energy bar. I met two very nice ladies I had talked to on the phone. Laura and Tanarra. We found an empty conference room and I was interviewed. I think I had some tough questions. like how do you deal with negativity and I told of my bike shop experience. they asked about priority of tasks when there is pressure. I was able to make them laugh a few times. I was taken on a tour of the building and peaked in where there was the annual stock holders meetings. I saw david neeleman. up in the front speaking. I was shown other things. They have a big huge simulator and they have training for tons of their new flight attendants. which includes a full size airplane cabin (but it's only about 10 rows long) they take up most of the 6 floors. There are a few offices that aren't theirs but they will probably be aquiring those. It was nearly lunch time Laura and Tanarra exited the room for a moment and Tanarra came back and asked if I would like to take a drug test, just to get it out of the way. yep. so I met one of the nicest people who assigned me my cup and showed me the bathroom. I was a bit astonished when she didn't hesitate as I gave the cup to her, pouring my warm specimen into another test tube and sealing it, like some crazy chemist mixing a special concoction for lunch. I met tanarra again and she and leslie wanted lunch, but first I met with the big wig of JetBlue University, he was full of energy and wanted 0 nonsense. I felt he had just a bit of ego, but he was a fighter pilot, and a trainer at top gun, I returned his energy as he gave it out and asked where I would like to be in 5 years. "family, home moved up in Jet Blue" 10 years? "i'll have your job" He smiled and said only a few have said that. he was the numbers guy signing the checks to spend lots of money. I met tanarra again and we all walked across the street and JetBlue bought my second ever meal. I had a BLT. Lunch was much more casual and I asked them questions about how they've used their flight benefits etc, tannara had just taken a red eye that night as well and everyone was very tired. Afterward tanarra showed me how to get to central park using the subway and gave me a map. I was happily on my own again. The whole morning was spent with JetBlue and mostly with tanarra. I felt comfortable, I felt positive and I felt like they liked me and already knew they wanted to ask me back but just weren't going to say anything yet because they still have to interview a few other people. Over lunch tanarra admited that there were probably going to be 2-3 people hired in this area. Then as I was leaving I thanked her very much and hoped I'd see her again. She gave me a pat on the shoulder and said "i'm sure we'll see you around" it was like a hint, an assurance. I really believe I'll be back in NY for another interview. I was now on my own in the biggest city I've ever been in.

I took the F train but I was supposed to take the E train. some nice philipino lady was more than helpful. she repeated many times which I'm sure was because of my glazed eyes and blank expression. I was running on adrenaline at JetBlue but I had run out. I got off. got on another train. The subway is ugly. Boston's subway is so much nicer. This subway feels dirty, cramped and old. I found my way to Central park.



This place was huge. everything seems big in NY. Central Park seemed like a national park. It wasn't too busy or anything but it was really nice. This was the number one factor in thinking that i would still like to move to NY. I called minna and called another friend ryan. I took some pictures. but really I just wanted to sleep. but I can't do that on my free trip to NY. I explored the Park. It was so nice and big. sometimes it just doesn't feel like you are in the city when you are in the park. it was quiet, not too many people and it was just beautiful. I went into a very expensive department store and saw an really ugly purse for 1,379 dollars. holy cow that is so gross. I found the bathroom and I changed back into my jeans. I went to time square and then made my way back to the airport. I'm running on only 3 or so hours of sleep since i had woke up the day before. I didn't want to walk around any more I didn't want to fly I didn't wan to do anything but sleep. I got on the plane and was asleep before we took off. I slept maybe and hour and woke up feeling better. Yes I was still tired but I didn't feel like I would fall right back asleep so I watched TV until we landed. It was so good to see minna. but she had some bad news we were locked out of the house. we tried to break in but it was no use the Malloys have high quality windows and they lock well. we slept at rachel's house. I fell asleep at maybe 2 am. having had maybe 5 hours of sleep in the last 45 hours.

Random Rambling

Some cool things that are going on my my life right now:

My Marriage. I've only been married for 10 months now and it really is nice. Everyday I feel closer to my wife. I feel like we are growing in massive amounts (not physically) but in all other ways. I feel like I've been shown all of my shortcomings and here in my marriage I'm allowed to work on them, AND after finding all these out my wife still loves me.

Fantasy golf. This is really cool. My male family members are golfing on Yahoo Golf. We don't exactly email all the time so it's kinda cool to have this place that we all meet and have a little competition.

Job. I'm looking for a job. I have no job, but my business is doing better than it ever has. (Duster Books) I'm selling lots of books and spending alot of time making them. I'm quite enjoying it actually. But I've applied for a position at JetBlue and they flew me out for an interview. I'm now waiting for a call back... OK I should really tell the whole story...

Once upon a time there was a boy named Dan who had gotten a whole bunch of education and really like to use computers and make movies and websites. He had a few jobs making these types of things but none paid very well and now that he had a master's degree he felt like he should have a real career and a real career-like paycheck. So he applied to many many jobs. Most of them were on the internet. No, all of them were on the internet. This didn't seem to be the best way to get the attention of recruiters so he decieded that he needed to take extreme measures. He had heard of a man who did the same thing and it landed him a job at the software giant Microsoft. "What a good idea" Dan thought the first time he had heard of this idea. He thought it was the coolest thing but he didn't have a company in mind worth trying this idea on... Until one day while he was in Boston and his good friend Tadd (his website) told him about this CEO of an airline who was sooo totally awesome that he would go on the airplanes and serve the passengers their peanuts (even as a CEO). Dan got home to Seattle and looked up all sorts of articles about this company and it's CEO. Dan decided that this was the company that he liked the most and would like to try some extreme measures to get a job there. The CEO's name is David Neeleman. So Dan decided to make a website that would attract enough attention that the CEO David Neeleman would want to hire him. Please see the website: DavidNeelemanPleaseHireMe.com and then come back here (oh, don't forget to compare it to jetblue.com).

Well the story goes that Dan made a few comments on their "Customer Care" website about "how cool" their company was and that he had made a "fan" website. Well eventually a woman called from JetBlue and told him that his qualifications didn't meet the minimums for the position that he applied for but that there was another position that would fit his skills. She gave him the number to some other hiring people there in JetBlue. So he ended up talking to 4 people before he had a little pre-interview. A woman named Jenny from JetBlue was going to be there in seattle and met him for lunch... At first he thought that this was going to be his first interview of 3 or so. Well it's looking more like it was the interview to make sure Dan wasn't crazy having made the wierd website and all. Well he was invited into the Corp. HQ for an interview. How exciting. These extreme measures were working!! He thought the interview went well, and they asked for some of his urine in a cup. With that taken care of JetBlue then paid for his lunch as he ate with two of the women he would be working with were he to get the job. Farewell was said, and Dan was on his own in New York, until his flight back to Seattle. He got home and sent the background check they gave him to fill out... The story is yet to be finished... They did say that the website did attract alot of attention from the people there at JetBlue. as a matter of fact the biggest attention getter was the video posted on the website "Like My Dad". Everyone watched it and they all wondered what he would look like.... ha. He has yet to post a picture of his dad on there. The mystery remains as to whether or not Mr. David Neeleman himself has acutally seen the website. Dan thinks he has.

Crazy exciting huh? I'll post the email I sent to friends and family later.

other things going on.

House sitting. Minna and I are living in this totally awesomely free house... at least until we move to NY or until the owners come home. The home belongs to the Molloys. They are retired, and now professional RV-ers. Now in Minnesota somewhere visiting grandkids we have full rein of their house... well sorta. We just use the upstairs. There's a pool table and a telephone. What else more could you use. Oh a bathroom. yep that's here too.

Going to Reno. Next week Minna and I will off to Reno to visit my family. Everyone will be there and we're gonna have so much fun there.

First One

This is my very first ever blog, for all to see. I might as well write something... important. How about an abstract (it's not supposed to make sense):

I was walking fine but I couldn't run. That's the problem with muscles. They like to work. Mine was working so hard, as I began to enjoy the concrete. I stepped more and more and stepping helped. I once time saw the house that kids were throwing stuff at Minna, thence time they missed. Home was nice. A ways away, I saw the single car and supposed the driver said, "sure I'll go, meet me here". Poor van nobody likes it. Poor busstop it's so far away. I saw a dog I should've known but the walker said, "we live by the park" I said "nice". My stomach felt better and I stepped more slower.

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I went running today, but I'm sooooo out of shape.