The Merechi Blog

Pas keniriv mleni ejh vek'nes vás'vanuna k', kret'vesha no emaelivdeni vek'di adhen. Lajiv neshad ne gir'emaelivon riga'vik vojeni.

Vik esni emaeliv vesha'lomael so'Amanda 'da meirechith k'. Sirev lomael seith ne shalthan 'sa lomael ghya seni, vet'sholdavni ne ovon shalthan 'sa eyemaene seith. Yet sholdav esa ne lisevon done dasharan, jhiye cha'akénelvaiye ne lomael meirechith 'da so'Amanda. [explanation]

Or, in English:

My boyfriend visited this weekend, but I will write about that later. The topic needs more writing than I can right now.

I'm writing now about Amanda's merechi blog. Her blog has a link to my own blog, so I want to link to her website. If you want to read in a conlang, then go look at the merechi blog of Amanda's.

My Car's Brakes Died

My '95 Honda Civic has had mild brake issues for a while. So, when the brakes started making a low grinding noise Monday on the way to work, it wasn't shocking. Not happy, but not shocking either.

When cars make weird noises, I figure that's bad and I do my best to pull over immediately. There was a pay lot through the intersection from where the noise started, so I pulled in to the lot. I got out of the car and looked at the tires, but I didn't see anything really really obvious. Kicking myself for letting my AAA Roadside expire, I stood around wondering what to do. Then I noticed that Goodyear was right next to the pay lot. So some good luck, at least.

I drove my car one lot over and went in to the Goodyear office. I told them what was going on with my car and they said they'd look at it for me. We agreed that they wouldn't start work until they told me what was wrong, had an estimate, and received my approval to charge me for the work. One of the employees gave me a lift to work, which was nice of him. "It gets me out of there," was his explanation. :)

They called me later that afternoon to report that the front brake pads and rotors would have to be replaced. In addition, the driver's side CV joint boot was torn and needed to be fixed. They quoted me $1000 for the entire job. I thanked them for the estimate and told them I'd get back in touch to authorize the work.

It seemed to me that $1000 was high, but I don't do my own car work, so I wasn't sure. I called my dad and Forrest; they both thought it a ridiculous price, especially when over $700 was just for the brake pads and rotors themselves. I looked up some Honda-only places, and ended up taking my car to Honda Specialties, who had quoted the same job at $450.

My coworker* Josh gave me a ride back to work from Honda Specialties. I didn't realize it at the time, but my cell phone fell out of my pocket in Josh's car. Later in the day, I noticed I didn't have my phone with me. I hoped it was in his car, but he'd parked quite a ways from work that day and so I didn't go out to look for my car right then. I called up Honda Specialties to let them know that the number I'd given them wouldn't be very useful. I gave them my work number, but apparently my extension doesn't actually work; you have to navigate the directory, which most people don't bother to do. (And I don't blame them.)

So I tried calling the mechanics back, but I'd waited too long and they had already closed. Not so bad, though: I have bus tickets and the 17 goes right between work and downtown. (First Hill is practically the same as downtown, so those routes are great for me.)

Last night when I was going to bed, though, I remembered I still didn't have my cell phone. No cell phone means no alarm clock. And if you know me, you know I'm not naturally a morning person. So I was, uh, a "bit" late in to work today.

After lunch today, Josh gave me a lift back up to Honda Specialties. I paid for the work done ($475) and drove back to work. I'm happy to have my car back in working order, even if my wallet is not so happy.

The word "coworker" doesn't really imply "friend", but "friend" by itself doesn't tell you that I also work with said friend. "Coworker-friend" just looks silly. So I'm without a succinct word; or, at least, I can't think of it right now. But if you read this footnote, then at least you understand what I wanted to convey. :)

Make Easy Money: Become a Scam Artist Today!

Apparently scamming people for money via panhandling is totally legal. So, if your morals don't dissuade you from it, I suggest going out and scamming your local kind folk!

Perhaps some background is in order, eh? About a month or two ago, I was walking downtown on 5th Avenue with my friend Shane when this guy in a suit stopped us. He said that his story was a little embarrassing, but his car had run out of gas. He said he would be happy to show us his ID (for what? I dunno), but he would really appreciate it if we could spare some cash for just a gallon of gas to get home. I'm very distrustful of strangers, but Shane had barely finished listening to his story before he gave him a $10 bill. The guy thanked him and walked off.

Shane and I discussed a bit about how it's hard to tell the motives behind strangers asking for money. But we both agreed that a well-dressed person seemed less likely to go spend begged money on booze or drugs. We left the conversation at that, and went on about our evening.

Fast forward to today. I was walking back home along 6th Avenue when a guy in a suit stopped me. (Sound familiar?) He launched into his "slightly embarrassing" story about how his mom was in from Spokane and for some reason her credit cards were frozen and they just needed a little cash for something or other. I had this very strong feeling of deja vu, then I recognized this guy and his sob story from before! I backed away while he was still trying to convince me to be charitable, and I told him I thought I'd seen him before. He denied it, of course, but I didn't feel like debating his scamminess with him. So I just kept walking, and he walked off the other way.

When I got home, I looked up the non-emergency police number for Seattle and reported the guy. The woman on the phone politely informed me that, unfortunately, panhandling was not a crime unless it's aggressive. This scammy-suit-man was nothing if not polite. So I apologized for taking up the woman's time, and I hung up.

At least I can blog about it and try to warn my Seattle friends about this guy.

Update: According to Wikipedia, this is (unsurprisingly) a well-known con:

Just $5: this is an abuse of charity scam: the conman approaches the victim and asks for "just $5" to help them achieve some goal that is almost within reach. The conman displays cash to prove they have "almost enough" and usually adds some props/window-dressing to add veracity: carrying a car part that needs repair/replacement or carrying a gas can (because the car ran out of gas and the wife/child is waiting). The victim frequently gives double or triple the amount requested or more. Couples are the preferred target: the wife for sympathy, the husband often pays out of nobility.

And then a Nothing Goes Right day

So Sunday was a good day; Monday I actually spent working from home and fighting with non-functioning drivers and keyboards. Today continues downward.

I woke up late, not feeling rested at all, and scrambled off to my follow-up dental appointment. My absence-of-teeth are doing fine, but for the 3 to 6 weeks it'll take to heal, I have to squirt water into the sockets after each meal. After that, I got my last pain meds prescription filled, just to keep them on hand. (Neener neener, Aaron. :) Then I went over to the Virginia Mason hospital (through the wrong entrance, oops) to sit on hold on their dedicated appointment-scheduling phone. At least I got an appointment.

I get home at 10:30 -- later than I'd hoped, but still within the range that I normally get in to work. Except there are FOUR cars in the alley blocking my garage. I left a note on the U-Haul and called to let Gaurav know what's up. And we have an All Hands at noon! An hour and 2 checks later, the cars haven't moved.

I figured by this point driving in to work was a lost cause, so I looked up the bus schedule. If I left RIGHT THEN, I could still catch the one bus that goes to work. So I switch into my Vans -- I can wall faster in them than in my boots -- and hustled downtown. But when I got there, the little old lady at the bus stop said I'd just missed the bus. Arg!

I consoled myself with a lemon car and mocha while waited the half hour for the next bus. I'm on said bus now, almost to work. Of course, now I have a headache. :( I just can't win today.

Friends, Coffee, Blogs, Servers, and Grocery Stores (Oh My!)

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day, despite the drizzly weather. (Today's nice and sunny!) Here's the run-down on what I did yesterday:

24-Year-Old Female Not Actually a 40-Year-Old Male

I hadn't managed to make any real friends at the Spanish-English intercambio I attended, and I haven't really hung out socially with my coworkers, so two days ago I turned to Craigslist's "strictly platonic" section to see if there were other friend-deficient Seattle newcomers looking for companionship. After ignoring the many anything-but-platonic postings, I responded to one 24-year-old who said she lived in Capitol Hill (the next neighborhood over from me).

We emailed back and forth a few times. She didn't sound creepy, so when she emailed me yesterday to let me know she'd be at the Bauhaus (a nice coffee shop within walking distance of me), I walked over there after stopping by the library to pick up Cryptonomicon. ("Finally!!1!!eleventy-one!" I hear Forrest and Jerry say.)

I'd never responded to "personal ads" on Craigslist before, nor met up with someone from the Internet that I hadn't even spent 24 hours conversing with first. So I was a little concerned that this "Claire" person would turn out to be some scary 40-year-old guy looking to stalk unsuspecting women. But Claire turned out to be honest: she is, in fact, a 24-year-old female.

We chatted for while, did the basic "what do you do? what are your hobbies and interests?" exchange. She's a copy editor (she both works for a company and has her own business through which she does freelancing. She's in a long-distance relationship too, but she combines her visits with business-related meetings so she can write off the travel expenses. I need me a freelancing gig! ;) (She's lucky that her "long-distance" is only to Spokane; interstate long-distance relationships really suck [especially when said states are big western states].)

We seemed to get along, so hopefully we'll meet up again at some point. It'd be great to actually have a real friend up here within walking distance. (Shane, you're awesome, but... Eastside! Ugh! ;) Not so conducive to causal hanging-outage.)

Coffee Cupping

Claire and I chatted for about an hour and a half, but we might have chatted longer if it weren't for a coffee training/educational session at 2 PM. I found out about the session through MeetUp.com and decided to go. It ended up being pretty cool.

Stumptown Coffee Roasters put on the session for about 10 of us random MeetUp people. They talked about their coffee beans, then showed us how to do taste-testing. We sampled six different beans from Guatemala, Brazil, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Sumatra, plus a the "hair bender" blend meant specifically for espresso shots. In the world of coffee, this taste-testing is called "cupping." Sounds vaguely dirty, but try not to think about it.

Based on the samples, it turns out I prefer "full-bodied" coffees. I suspect this is from growing up with my dad's French roast coffees. I just didn't like the lighter coffees much. The Ethiopian one, though, was really different — the description claimed it was fruity, but I've never been able to match wine/chocolate/coffee tasting descriptions with what my taste buds actually taste.

At the end of the session, we got a little half-bag of coffee (I took the full-bodied Guatemalan) in exchange for our $5. I made myself a cup this morning; it was yummy (especially with the addition of Bailey's, heh).

Discovered New(-to-me) Psychology Blogs

Then I went home and played around on the internet. I discovered (via PsyBlog) a bunch of new-to-me psychology blogs:

• Cognitive Daily
• Inkling Magazine
• The Last Psychiatrist
• Mind Hacks
• Mixing Memory
• The Phineas Gage Fan Club
• Positive Psychology News Daily
• Research Digest Blog

New Server and Monitor, Free!

Then, Chuck called to let me know I could come pick up his old 700 MHz machine that he'd previously said I could have. I drove over and snatched it from his porch, then found a free monitor on the next block! So I'm going to install Ubuntu Server on it — just as soon as I get a keyboard. Oops.

New Grocery Store 2 Blocks Away

Finally, I discovered that M Street Grocery finally opened, just two blocks from where I live. I bought some CPK garlic chicken pizza and strawberry mochi ice cream. And I was even able to chew the pizza. Happy!

The Good Things That Happened Today

I was reading about positive psychology while surfing around the internets today. I ignore the things that sound New Age-y or otherwise hokey and pay attention to the things that make sense to me.

One thing several articles talked about was recording the good things that had happened during the day. It's so easy to gripe about all the things that went wrong during the day, but that's a crappy way to experience life. If I can choose to focus my attention (and later, memories) on the positive things and let the negative things slip by — rather than the other way around, which seems easier to do — then I would expect to be happier overall.

So here's the list of good things I can recall happening today:

• I woke up pleased that my (lack of) wisdom teeth weren't as sore as yesterday.
• Despite snoozing through my alarm later than intended, I still got in to work before Chuck-the-manager, who was coming in late today.
• I have always thought that I didn't like chili. But when my coworkers were going to the sandwich deli across the street for lunch today, I wanted their company and I tagged along. The no-chewing-required foods available were clam chowder and chili. I realized that I couldn't really remember having chili, so maybe I would like it after all. I ordered a bowl of chili and was very pleasantly surprised by how yummy and not–bean-heavy it was. Maybe I'll order chili again! (I remain suspicious of canned chili, however.)
• For a brief period of time, it looked like Forrest would be able to find a reasonably-priced plane ticket to come see me this weekend. That would have been awesome, and I was really looking forward to seeing him. (Then the price disappeared from the website and he couldn't come after all. But I remember the feeling of being excited to see him. Maybe I can focus just on that aspect of the memory?)
• I made Jiffy corn muffins last weekend, then brought the leftovers to work for my coworkers after my oral surgery made eating solid things impossible. There were still a couple left today. They reheated great, were still soft and tasty, and I was able to eat them without a problem! (The little things, right? :))
• I chatted with Olya online today; we haven't talked for a month or so, so it was great to catch up again. I love how we remain close, even though we have such chats very infrequently.
• I wrote up this list, which actually has put me in a better mood. I started writing the list specifically because I was feeling down beforehand, so it's great that such a simple, easy thing really did affect my mood so quickly.

My Wisdom Teeth

My Wisdom Teeth

Only two of four made it out of my mouth intact. The dentist said he couldn't get the other two out whole.

Wisdom Teeth, Post-op

So I have no wisdom teeth left. Actually, that's a lie: I have 2 of them in a container. Will the Tooth Fairy come, I wonder? *peer Mom*

I really don't feel too out of it. Definitely drowsy -- I'm planning on watching TV shows and movies for the rest of the day. But other than that I feel more or less normal. I can't talk worth anything though -- gauze stuffed between your teeth will do that to ya. :P

Wisdom Teeth, Pre-op

Pre-Op Pills for Wisdom Teeth

The oral surgeon gave me a fair number of instructions to follow, and I'm afraid I'll forget something. So I wrote everything down on little sticky notes; now all I have to do is follow them in order!

Today I'm getting my wisdom teeth out. The oral surgeon said it would have been easier to remove them five years ago, before the roots had finished growing. So I warned my five-year younger sisters to get their wisdom teeth checked out. Lisa's are too close to her jaw's nerve to justify preemptive surgery, but Rene's getting hers out later this week.

I can't say I'm looking forward to it -- I hate the dentist -- but my wisdom teeth have already caused one infection, and my regular dentist wants them gone and out of the way before she works on all my other cavities. :(

I'm going in for a half day of work today, and I worked yesterday to cover for my anticipated post-surgery uselessness. Forrest wants me to call him while I'm still loopy after the surgery meds and drugs. And after that, I'm probably just going to rest or sleep. I've never known about anyone else's getting their wisdom teeth out; I don't really know what to expect.

Testing from My New Phone

I bought a refurb (ie cheap!) cell phone last month and I hadn't tested that I could still post to my blog. So here's that test.