I got a call from the fraud prevention department at my bank. They wanted me to confirm some recent charges--since there was some unusual activity on my card. When I heard what the charge was, I knew it was an unauthorized charge.

But then I thought, of all the things to purchase with a stolen credit card, the last thing I would purchase is $75 worth of women's body shapewear.

I am pretty impressed by my bank though. That particularly credit card is the joint checking account for me and Fede--which we use to pay for utilities and food. The charge was also made in some small city in NY, which maybe is what triggered the fraud alert.

 

I buy things. While I love to shop, I do not necessarily purchase. Typically, I just look. But, when I start buying lots of things, then I know that something is wrong. It truly is retail therapy. The new item is exciting, and temporarily distracts me from my misery. The process of shopping and looking and purchasing also gives my mind a break from whatever it is that I'm worrying about. And when I'm unhappy, I'm weak--and my usual willpower (the one that stops me from buying random things) fails.

So what is my problem? Well work is absolutely crazy right now. Too many deals, too little time, and I want to strangle some of the people I'm working with. It doesn't help that I have too much to do, am working late, am not getting enough sleep, am inhaling lunch since I need to get back to work...and then I have to be pleasant to people.

When I get home, I just want to cry. The yard is a complete disaster--weedy, messy, and my plants are dying of thirst (who has time to water them?). I have been needing to purge crap from the house (we're having a yard sale in a few weeks). But I'm too tired. (I'm sure I have been miserable company for Fede.)

There was also a little personnel drama at work--but I probably shouldn't repeat it here.

So, really nothing too unusual. I think I'm going to be busy for at least another 6 weeks. Somehow I need to find time to ride my bike...otherwise I won't be able to do my bike ride in September. Hopefully this buying will stop soon...my house already has enough stuff...

...I pass a garbage dump and a Hostess bakery factory.

...I pass a mini-mart, a supermarket and a neighborhood grocery store.

...I ride downhill, braking the whole way, with a beautiful view of Lake Union and the downtown skyline in front of me.

...I pass a nonprofit radio station and a TV broadcasting studio.

...I ride underneath the Monorail.

...I ride on little neighborhood streets, minor arterials, a bridge, and six lane streets.

...I somehow make it to work without crashing.

I learned about this fabulous drying rack from Rouel and Hugo. Their apartment in Beijing has a washer, but no dryer. So everything has to be dried on this drying rack. It holds so much! It's amazing.

Since it's finally summer here, I can actually dry the laundry outside. It brings back one of my favorite smells--sun-dried laundry.

Growing up, my family dried all of our clothes outside. We did live, after all, in sunny Southern California. And my parents are rather frugal. Even to this day, I try not to dry my clothes in the dryer--but hang them up instead--slightly damp. But with this fabulous drying rack, I can finally dry things outside. That is, when it's summer here.

They are finally ripe. Unfortunately, they are not particularly sweet. But I'm eating them anyway. If too many of them get ripe at the same time, I might have to make jam. Which means, I'll have to learn how to make jam, since I've never made it before. Can't be too hard, right?

Some of the strawberries are totally deformed. So, I've been picking them and leaving them on the ground, as an offering to the squirrels. Hopefully they'll be happy enough with the mutant strawberries that they won't go after the pretty ones.

Next year, I need to figure out how to make them sweeter. They are still juicy, just not particularly flavorful. Maybe I need to plant a different variety? Either way, it's fun being able to go out in my yard to pick some fruit.

I keep waiting for my tomato plants to grow some tomatoes. Unfortunately, I only have flowers, no fruit. I'm hoping for a harvest in August. We'll see.

Some of you may already know this, but you can text Google (46645) on your mobile phone and get search results. This has saved me so many times--especially when I'm wandering around a neighborhood, trying to find a restaurant but I can't remember exactly where it is. I just text "Pearl Baker, Portland, Or" and I get the address of this amazingly yummy bakery in Portland.

Fede and I also use this to get movie times--which has also been incredibly helpful when we're already out of the house and want to find out when and where a movie we want to see is playing.

BUT, I just found out that Google SMS can do so much more!

http://www.google.com/mobile/default/sms/

I {heart} Google SMS!

We have been having some struggles with Qwest (the local phone company that also provides us with broadband internet service). This is actually Fede's task...but since he was taking longer than Mexican time to get it resolved, I finally contacted Qwest myself.

The Problem: We were signed up for $31.99 for life. Or, that's what we thought. Then our bill changed to $49.99. Fede called and the person said that whoever had signed us up originally set it up incorrectly, so our $31.99 price for life was only for one year. But, she would fix it so that we would retroactively commit to a 2-year contract and keep the $31.99 price for life. We got a credit on our bill to fix this. Then, we started getting charged $36.99.

What Qwest Says Happened: I used the "live chat" feature on Qwest today to figure out why we were being charged $36.99 instead of $31.99. (Yes, I know it's only $5 per month more, but that's $60 per year, and I don't like paying more than I think I'm supposed to.) First, they said that we were erroneously given a better discount than was available in Washington. Then, they said that the discount did apply in Washington, but that we were supposed to commit to 2 years, and that's why our price went up. Finally, they said we did sign up for the lifetime price in December 2007--which means we get the lifetime price that was available then--and in order to get the lifetime price, we are committed to a 2-year contract. If we cancel, we will be charged a $200 early termination fee.

WHAT?!!

So, I was furious. Not only were we paying more than we expected to, we were also locked in for 2 years!

Lifetime Price Doesn't Mean What You Think

Then, I call this number that the Qwest chat person told me to call to try to get our issue resolved. When I explain the situation to that person, he tells me that we are getting the lifetime price. He says that the "lifetime price" is really a misnomer and it should be called a "lifetime discount". That we are still getting the $18 discount that we initially signed up for. The lifetime discount applies to whatever the current price for the service is.

WTF? This is completely ridiculous. When I hear "lifetime price" I think "this is the price I will pay for my lifetime."

This is clearly some BS that someone made up to fool people into thinking they are still getting a great deal. But I'm not buying it.

More Tomorrow

Unfortunately, the person I talked to on the phone couldn't help me either. He said I needed to call back during business hours to talk to the "Loyalty Department". (Uh, maybe it should be called something else...) So, I'll be calling Qwest again tomorrow. Oh joy. There is a reason why people like to break up monopolies--they don't have any incentive to be good.

...know their ice creams!

A couple weeks ago, I went to a new ice cream store in town. I asked for a taste of the lavender ice cream...and got maple walnut. That was a bit of a surprise. So, I thought maybe it was because the store had just opened a couple days before, so maybe the person was a bit confused. She game me a second taste of the lavender, only this time it was honey.

I still have no idea what the lavender ice cream tastes like.

Today, I went to a fairly well-established gelato store. I asked for a cone of lemon and blueberry (you get two scoops with a small). But, I got vanilla instead of lemon.

What I realized, though, is that if you're expecting one flavor and you get another, it takes you a moment to adjust your thinking (and tasting). So while all of the ice cream was good, the initial surprise made me think--"Yuck, there's something wrong with this lemon. Oh, that's because it's vanilla."

I guess this is why if you have certain foods that you love, and you KNOW what they are supposed to taste like, anything different, however slightly, is just not going to be quite right.

This morning, I saw a squirrel run off with one of my strawberries. It wasn't even ripe yet. I am now worried that I will be fighting off the birds, squirrels, ants and everyone one else interested in my strawberries. Damn. 

I just bought this bike!

I have been wanting a new bike ever since I borrowed Fede's bike and realized how crappy my bike is. I did some research online--and went to a couple bike shops.

Today, we went to one place because they were having a sale. I test road a couple--but didn't want to go for the Women's Specific bikes. But, then I thought I should try one, just to see the difference. Wow. There really is a big difference. It just felt like the bike fit me so much better. And so, after debating a bit between two of the women's specific bikes I was looking at, I finally decided to go with the one that was a bit more expensive, but felt a lot better.

Sadly, I couldn't take it home with me because the color I wanted (in the picture) was at another store. So, I'll have to wait until next weekend to pick it up. I'm so excited!

The new bike will be great since Marlene and I are doing the Trek Tri-Island this September. I need to start training. Now.

I don't think I can really say that I have a garden...mostly because it is such a mess. Too many weeds. So, it's the side yard to the house.

Currently, there are some strawberries that are ripening. Can't wait to eat them. Although it has been so cold lately, who knows if they will ever ripen.

Of course, I had to also post a picture of the patio, now that it is finally complete. It is so wonderful to have a patio. Now, I want to have people over all the time. And buy patio furniture. And maybe use that portable fire pit that I bought 7 years ago and only used once. But, I also have to clean up the yard. It's a bit embarrassing just how messy it is.

Truly, yard work is a constant. I dream about a time when there won't be as much yard work to do. But that's a fantasy.

The picture isn't the greatest...this is what happens when I take pictures with the camera built into my computer. Anyway, this is the view from my hotel window. It's a really nice day outside.

I went to the National Building Museum today. It is one of those museums that I had not heard about until after I moved away from Virginia. I was determined to go, and figured that if I skipped out on the lunch at the conference, I could go to the museum instead. There was a great exhibit on Eero Saarinen.

Another exhibit had a beautiful drawing of Turner City 1959. Turner Construction is a large construction company...which is actually a consultant on the CCTV Headquarters project. One thing they started many years ago was depicting all the projects they completed in a particular year, all in one drawing as if all of the projects were completed in that imaginary city. It was very cool to see Turner City 1959 since the buildings show the design aesthetic of that time. Similarly, Turner City 2006 shows a very different aesthetic.

But, of course, I'm here for a conference about affordable housing and community development...not to learn about buildings...so I had to get back to the conference for the last afternoon session...which was essentially more bad news about the low income housing tax credit market. I embarrassingly fell asleep for maybe 10 minutes (hopefully I wasn't snoring, since I woke up with my head completely flung back).

I was thinking today about things I can't resist. I'm not sure if they are addictions or fetishes (or something else entirely). But there are definitely things that I love to look at and often buy. I'm not organized enough to focus on one thing so that it becomes a "collection". Instead, what I ultimately buy can be a bit random.

For instance, one thing that I can't resist are cookbooks. I must have at least 30 cookbooks (yes, three shelves of cookbooks). I love them. I am constantly looking at them and buying them. I read about new ones, and immediately want to buy them. I go to new cities and love finding cookbooks by local chefs. I go to thrift stores and find ancient cookbooks that peak my interest. I am addicted.

Federico teases me about my cookbook addiction. It seems that whenever I go somewhere, I wind up bringing home a new cookbook. His response is usually something with a lot of sarcasm like: "Oh, that's right, you don't have enough cookbooks."

Similarly, I love plants. I love looking at them and buying them--and dreaming about a fabulous garden at my house. (In my dream, my beautiful garden is weed-free--which is the first indication that it is but a dream.) I go to plant sales and nurseries and have to stop myself from bringing home all of the plants. Even at the grocery store, I have to resist the temptation. It is an illness.

I also can't resist looking at jewelry. Thankfully, this is something easier to resist--since it is all a bit too expensive. But I love looking. It can amuse me for hours.

There are other things that I can do for hours...like read craft blogs. Thankfully, while that wastes a lot of time, it doesn't waste any money.

On the Sunday that we were leaving Beijing to fly to Tokyo, the airport had apparently instituted new rules--no liquids in your carry-on, sort of. When we checked our bags, we were asked if we had any liquids, and we said no. The signs that were posted were similar to the ones you see in the US--a quart-sized ziploc bag with some trial-sized bottles in them. Since this seemed familiar to what we see in the US, it didn't really register with me.

As we were going through security, I realized I had my allergy medicine with me (a nasal spray). But, since it was in a ziploc bag and it was a very small amount of liquid, I didn't think it would be a problem. The first person at the security checkpoint just told me to leave it out. So I did.

Sadly (and frustratingly), the airport security would not let me keep my allergy medicine. I was told that my airline would not let me bring any liquids, at all. This was a bit odd to me since we were flying Northwest Airlines. But she took my medicine and threw it in the trash before I could say anything more. End of discussion.

I was totally bummed...and scared that I would be constantly sneezing in Japan. But there was no arguing with security, even though it made no sense. Aargh...

Later, Federico and I would run into a more ridiculous situation at the Tokyo airport. Fede needed to shower at the airport (since he couldn't shower that morning because the shower at our inn was having issues). So, he wanted to carry on a small bottle of shampoo (the showers were by the gates). This was the only liquid he had--and you could clearly carry on some liquids--BUT ONLY if the bottle was in a ziploc bag.

We thought we could get a ziploc bag at security, but they don't provide them. You could purchase a ziploc bag at one of the stores--but it costs $3 (far more than the shampoo). So, we decided to risk it and see whether security would let us through.

No. It needed to be in a ziploc bag. A plastic bag (we had several) was not good enough. Even though it was clearly the only liquid we had, it still needed to be in a ziploc bag.

This made absolutely no sense to us. Somehow, shampoo is safe when it is in a ziploc bag but not safe when it isn't.



 

According to Federico, if a movie does not have guns (or some type of weapon), spaceships or boobs, then it's a chick-flick. Unfortunately for him, we've been watching a lot of chick flicks. The last two we watched were Once and Evening. Yes, I picked them.

Fede doesn't like to admit it, but he gets sucked into the chick flicks too--even Jane Austen Book Club. Although I have to say, the past few movies we've watched haven't been that great. Mildly entertaining, but not great. Maybe it's time for some guns, spaceships or boobs...

There are certain expressions that simply crack me up. Recently, I was on a conference call with people from all over the country. The guy from Northern Virginia had a refined Southern accent. But when he mentioned that his client "didn't have a dog in the hunt", I almost burst out laughing.

Of course, my favorite Southern expression is still "the War of Northern Aggression." That would be, of course, the Civil War.

This plant has been in KTM's office since who knows when. It has been, as you can clearly see, seriously abused. I finally couldn't take it anymore and had to remove it from Dan's office. (Dan inherited in a bad condition, but it has gotten progressively worse.)

When we picked up the pot, there was rotten smelling water in the pan underneath it. Gross.

Needless to say, I will be repotting this plant. Wish me luck in nursing it back to health.

As some of you may know, Saturday was the day for the Democratic and Republican Party caucuses in Washington State. Originally, I had not planned on going, but then thought it might be interesting to see how the caucus worked, since I had never been. Fede was convinced that the whole concept was ridiculous--since it is chaotic and there isn't really voting.

So, here is how it went... You were supposed to be at your caucus location (for me, an elementary school) by 1 PM. We were a bit late, and didn't get there until 1:30 PM, which is when there would be "voting". We determined our precinct number (our house is right on the border), and then walked to the boys gym where there for 4 precincts, each taking up one corner.

There was already a group of about 30 people gathered around a table. There was a sign-up sheet where you could write you name and address; and state whether you were for Obama, Clinton or Uncommitted. (I think that is how we "voted.")

As you can imagine, it was really loud in the gym...with over 150 people (at least 30 people from each precinct) yelling to get through the process. I could barely hear the person in charge. Someone tallied up the number of people who wrote Obama, Clinton and Uncommitted. Then we divided up into groups: Obama, Clinton and Uncommitted. Then someone spoke on behalf of Obama, then someone for Clinton. Then people could ask questions like "What do you think about the electability of Obama?" or "How is Hillary going to pay for her health care plan?" And someone would respond to the question.

After the discussion, people "voted" again. This was by show of hands and feet. First we were once again divided into Obama and Clinton. People who went from Uncommitted to Obama raised their hands; then people from Clinton to Obama, etc. This part seemed very error-prone to me. But at some point, my precinct determined that Obama would get 5 delegates and Clinton would get 1 (my precinct had a total of 6).

Meanwhile, around the gym, you could also hear the other precincts going through the same process. Some precincts seemed to have a more heated debate than my precinct. Some got through the process much quicker.

I think the nice thing about the whole caucus idea is that it seemed almost non-political. These were regular people...in fact, they were my neighbors, literally...who were getting together to talk about the two candidates and why they wanted to vote for one versus the other. Granted, these are regular people, so maybe they don't know everything there is to know about these candidates. Maybe their information is wrong. But this is that "town hall meeting" idea. People getting together to talk and discuss and make decisions. This is democracy, in all of its imperfections.

Oh, and yes, everyone can attend the caucus, even if you can't vote. There were kids (most of whom were bored) and Fede came. No one checked to see if you could vote or not when you signed on the list...I'm assuming someone is confirming that later.

Our current stash of Mexican junk food is gradually decreasing. Federico and I have been trying to be careful, only eating a little at a time--hoping that the snacks can last us at least a month (maybe two?). You wouldn't think it would be that difficult to find Mexican snack foods here--but it's the good ones that are hard to find.

Today I went to Bellevue Square--a mall that was so crowded that they had flashing traffic signs set up 1/4 of a mile away, to direct cars. I almost didn't go when I saw all the traffic--thinking that I would never find a parking spot. But, amazingly I did...so I could satisfy my need to shop (which I haven't been able to do because of all that working I've been doing).

I went to a store called Lush (bath and beauty products, based in the UK). It is a smelly store--all those soaps have a heavy fragrance. The smell is almost solid--it hits you as you walk in and catches your breath.

As I was wandering around the store, deciding what to get, I overheard a group of skater-looking teenagers talking to a store clerk:

Boy #1: Whoa man, this place smells AWESOME!

(I was not sure if this was meant to be sarcastic or not.)

Boy #2 to Clerk: Yeah man, what is this place?

Clerk: We sell all-natural, hand-made soaps and beauty products.

Boy #1: Whoa, you make this stuff here? Cool, man. How much is this? (Points to a large round wheel of soap, the size of a large cheese wheel.)

Clerk: That would be about $300.

Boy #2: No way man. We should make soap.

Boy #1: Dude. Yeah.

(The two teenage girls with the two boys didn't participate in the conversation. I'm not sure whether they thought the guys were being funny or not.)

I, of course, had to stop myself from laughing--picturing these teenage boys with their hands full of soap-making ingredients--cooking the soap over the stove--and then selling it to...grandmothers? Yeah Dude, that would be awesome.