Sunday, September 30, 2007

Got the pictures to work!

Geoff standing in front of the Tahoe (Tara) and the Tango (Todd)

Putting down the jack and stuff...
Rolling out the awning.

The middle of the process of putting things away...



My excellent welcome mat! It's from Wal-Mart


The bed all made up. That is my bear. Don't make fun.


Geoff relaxing and watching TV.


Geoff MORE relaxed with his feet up...
Lying down to watch football.

Cuddling up with a blanket. He claimed it was cold.

Breakfast in the morning!

The library

I've been going to the library lately. They have a lot of RV books and magazines, plus I've been checking out the Sue Grafton alphabet books. I've read most of them, perhaps all of them, but I started in 7th or 8th grade so it's probably been long enough that I can start back at A again. Anyway... here are some camping pictures! I'm sorry that I suck at posting pictures... I know when you click on my pictures, they show up in giant size and it's really pointless. One day I will learn how to resize pictures. I mean, I KNOW how to resize pictures, but it is a huge pain. So one day I will figure out a faster more efficient way that I will actually DO.

Okay, just kidding, I'm not posting pictures because I've tried 3 times and Blogger keeps saying:

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:
Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code and additional information.
bX-6tnzzz
Additional information
blogID: 6zzzzzz host: www.blogger.comuri: /upload-image.g
This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Camping!

I know I've been scarse lately. Geoff and I DID end up buying a camper after all. It is SO GREAT! Tonight we are on our "maiden voyage". We are camping in Cannon Beach... if you can call it camping, I AM on the internet after all. (there is free wifi in our campground!) We have had so much fun this past week... getting things all set up with our camper! And if you come visit, we will take you camping. I went to Geoff's mom's today and she donated many things (towels, etc.) to our camping cause. So we're pretty much all set up. Geoff is watching TV (yes, our camper came with a TV and there is cable at this campground too) and we got back a little while ago from the hot tub. We are seriously just having a blast, and it will be great to be able to get away. We are already planning an October camping trip with his parents. And his mom and I go wine tasting every Thanksgiving, so this year we might take the camper and make it a multi-day thing! Hopefully Geoff can get a few days off. :) My parents are coming for Christmas (YAY!) and we will go camping with them too. I LOVE camping (I grew up with it) and I love that you can camp year-round here. I'm so excited about it. I have pictures and I could even post them since there is a card-reader on this computer, but I'm getting tired so I will post them tomorrow or later in the week! I just wanted to share a little bit of my excitement.

Monday, September 17, 2007

"The Greatest Thing I ever did"

I put the title in quotes because it's a HUGE exaggeration. But anyway, the "greatest thing I ever did" was start cooking what I call "Rachael Ray style". Basically, that means "eyeball it". Tonight I made a homemade spinach artichoke dip from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook... and I did it without using a measuring cup! I started doing this a couple of months ago and it's so great. You just dump the right ingredients together and somehow (unless you're baking!) it all works out. I love it... so much simplier, cuts the prep time and cleanup in half. It used to be that if a recipe called for 10 oz of product x and I only had 8 on hand... I'd go buy another can or whatever so I'd have enough. Now I dump in the 8 and call it good. And my food is better than ever. YUM-O

Okay, I'm done talking like Rachael Ray now...

Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Baby

I bought a 6 pound bag of pretzels from Costco for Hood to Coast. It was really nice to have, salty food is good when you're running. The only problem is it was so big it took up a significant amount of space in the van! We started calling it "the baby" because 6 pounds IS the size of a newborn baby. And it took up even more space than a newborn would... so somebody always had it in his/her lap or else we had to wedge it in somewhere. It was quite amusing.

Needless to say, Geoff and I are still eating the baby. I think there are about 2 - 3 pounds left at this point.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Nothing

For once, I'm not not blogging because I have been too busy or just haven't been paying attention to my blog. I'm just boring! I've done a lot around the house lately and it's looking good... but then, it didn't look bad before. Geoff and I have been looking at buying an RV. Well really, we just were looking at RVs for fun because I love them. But then we found a perfect one and at a great price, since it's a 2006. (that and I'm a good negotiator, things to the Negotiations for Engineers that I took in college) Problem is, it's 8' wide, and the spot next to our house is 8' wide... and also where the utility meters are. So we need something that's about 7' wide, which is much harder to find. We're going to go to the RV show this weekend and check it out. Truthfully, I don't see anything happening on this front for a while (while = months - years, don't know exactly). This afternoon I think we're going to go pick out our Christmas tree. Yes, I know it seems early, but Sleighbells in Sherwood will let you go tag yours early and then you just cut it in November or December. My parents are coming for Christmas, YEAH! I dunno... that's about all for now. Oh someone at work asked me how my new last name was pronounced. For those of you who know what it is, that should be pretty funny. More later if anything ever happens in my life...

Thursday, September 06, 2007

"there's a rat in the house"

First, I am completely ridiculous. After I called my insurance company to add Geoff to my policy last week, they had the names printed on our cards like this:

Geoffrey George Garrison Martin
Kelly Rumquist

So BOTH of Geoff's middle names (the middle and last names are not real (correct initials though)... and story on the two middle names in a minute) and not even my middle initial! It looked so silly.. his name being so long and mine being so short. So since yesterday I had to call to tell them that I got my name changed on my drivers license and I needed a new card with my new name on it (they are cool, they will email you the cards or you can get them on the website anytime, love it!) and I said "I know this is so silly and picky, but can you change the names to either add my middle name or change his to just a middle initial? They did! So now it looks like:

Geoffrey G Martin
Kelly E Martin

It just looks shorter and cleaner. I don't know why I'm so particular. But I really appreciate them for satisfying my whims! I would have been like "no, you're ridiculous, goodbye". Okay, not really, but I would have thought it in my head. And probably blogged about the fool later. So I guess it's good that I'm blogging about the fool (myself) anyway. What fun is a blog if you don't make fun of yourself equally with others?

Story on the middle names: Geoff's great grandfather had no middle name. As he was growing up, it was always frustrating to him because he'd have to explain to people he had no middle name, he never had anything to put in the middle name box, etc. So when he had kids (6) he decided to give them all TWO middle names, each starting with the same letter as their first name. For example Emily Emma Elizabeth Martin, or Julie Jane Judith Martin (wow those names aren't really very good combinations together, but you get the idea!). Geoff's grandparents really thought that was cool, so when they had kids (5), they did the same thing. Then Geoff's parents thought that was cool as well, so when they had kids (2) they did it as well. I'm not really sure how many other members of the family (like of the 6 people in Geoff's grandfather's generation, or the 5 people in his dad's generation) did the same thing, but I know not all of them did/will. To me, it seems like MORE of a pain to have to have two middle names... like it's funny to me that the first dude had no middle name so he gave his kid two middle names... but that can be a problem logistically, explaining to people, etc. too. So it fixed one problem but created another one! :) Geoff and I have (for the most part, subject to change) decided that if we have kids, we will probably do one with the two middle names and others without it. There's a reason behind that too but I'm not quite ready to blog it just yet.

And now my last story for now. At work we have this area of little "cubby" type things where you can drop off outgoing stamped mail (personal or work related), interoffice mail, etc. I frequently take advantage of it, it's picked up between 10 and 11 AM and it's very handy. Well yesterday I go to drop off some mail and I see this sign:

"To the Netflix thief: watch the movies and then put them back in the mail!
To all others: don't put anything in here that you really care about! There's a rat in the house."

Yikes... I hope the "rat" doesn't care about my thank you notes and my letters requesting my name changed... if anyone hasn't received a thank you note, now you know why! :)

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

"Oh crap, I lost Kelly"

Last night was interesting. Geoff woke me up at 4 AM and then ripped the pillow out from underneath my head. Um, okay. That must be some weird dream. He felt ready bad about it this morning when I gave him a hard time about it. ;-)

Also, he said that when I woke up to shower this morning, he woke up a few minutes after me and looked over and didn't see me and thought "Oh crap, I lost Kelly! Where did she go?" Then he heard the shower. Hehe.

And my mom had a dream that Julie and Gary (Geoff's parents) were moving all of our stuff for us... but she didn't know why. And it was just a bunch of teeny tiny little things.

Strange happenings...

Crazy feedback lady

I have become crazy feedback lady. As I run into roadblocks with the name change process, I am trying to provide feedback to the companies/agencies that I have difficulties with. I'm not angry or trying to be mean to people (especially the customer service representatives), I just honestly want to make the process easier for others! It's already time consuming enough as it is without getting wrong information or having to do extra things to get it done. So I wrote a letter to Comcast Corporate Headquarters (in process, to be published on blog at later date) to inform them that I thought their process was too complicated. And I just submitted this form as feedback to the Oregon DMV:

Form Confirmation
Thank you for submitting the following information:
Reason: Web Site ContentProblem_Page: Info_Found:
Specify_if_Other
Comments
I am going through the process of changing my name due to marriage. One of the things I need to do per DMV guideline is change the title on my car. At the name change website: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/dv/chgname.shtml it says to use the "Request for Correction of Title Records" to change one's name on your title. However, in person at the Tanasbourne Express DMV office as well as on the phone at the DMV Portland metro phone number, I was advised to use the "Application for Title and Registration" to change my name. Sounds like the website might need to be updated. :)
Unable_to_find
Return to the form.


Friendly enough? I hope so.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Quick Comcast Rant

No one likes Comcast. Seriously, read online forums and you will see a lot of "Com-crap" and such, people think they are a monopoly, overpriced, bad customer service, etc.

Here are my two recent vents about Comcast:
1. Refusal to carry the Big 10 Network. I'm not anxious to switch to Direct TV and we don't have FIOS TV available in my area, so I am stuck having to go elsewhere to watch Northwestern football games this season.

2. Requiring an in person visit to their service center to change one's name. SERIOUSLY!? You won't even let me mail you in a copy of my marriage certificate like the other 40+ agencies I've already talked to will? Seriously, I can understand you not wanting to let me do it online, or even on the phone... but at least let me do it by mail. Your nearest service center is 25 minutes away from where I live! What if the other 40 establishments all wanted me to visit them too? I think my credit card companies and banks would be slightly more particular about my name than a random utility, but they seem to have been fine with either a phone call or a letter with a marriage certificate. Ridiculous.

Fun on the phone...

Okay, so I'm on a conference call, and keep having to loudly blow my nose. Every time I start to blow, I remember I'm on the phone and look frantically at my phone (mid-blow) to make sure the mute button is still blinking. Luckily, I've been safe so far. :)

Also, I've been on this call for about 45 minutes. One of my suppliers has called THREE TIMES in that 45 minute period (I have caller ID). They also have not left a message (I have a voicemail light that lights up). Just leave me a message, I'll call you back! Or, better yet, just send me an email... then I'd get back to you right now, since I can obviously be on the computer right not but I can't be on the phone while I'm on the phone!

Wow two entries in a day... it is pretty fun to just share all of my crazy little thoughts with you people...

Thai Food

Geoff and I went to my favorite Thai place, Thai Princess, approximately a year ago (it was probably even longer than that, I don't know for sure). We both got medium spicy Pad Thai. He thought it was way too spicy and he hated it and refused to eat Thai again for the longest time. I have only had Thai on rare occasion for the past year, whenever I could convince a friend to go with me. For some reason, last week he agreed to meet me at Thai Princess for lunch. He had mild spicy Pad Thai... and LOVED IT. We've had Thai 3 times in the past week. He can't get enough of it. He says it's my fault for making him order medium spicy last time... apparently, since I ordered it, he had to order it too because it wouldn't be "manly" to order a less spicy food than your girlfriend. LAME!!! I can't believe I missed out on a year's worth of Thai food because of this. I told him I might cut him off for the next year to see how he likes it... although, at this rate, I'm going "catch up" from the entire year in a month. I'm sick of Thai already! Although that Thai cookbook my mom got me will come in handy now... :)

The process of changing your name is so interesting. Nerd that I am, I have made a fancy tracker in Excel. I put in the place I need to change it, method of change (sending a letter, phone call, visiting an office in person, etc.), and date of change. When the date is in, it adds it to my "percent completed". As of this morning I am at 43% completed. Yes, I am a total complete dork and I realize this. Secretly, I think I am cooler than anyone else who changes his/her name... I have a colorful, fancy tracker. It even has weird random stuff, like changing my name on Noodlegrams (the emails I get from Noodles & Company). There are 59 items on it currently... I know I will continue to think of more! Yaaaaaaaaay for dorks! :)

Monday, September 03, 2007

sick

I'm sick. I've been sick since Friday. I even came home from work early on Friday because I was sick. I'm not a fan! It's boring to be sick, especially on a weekend that you have tons of fun stuff planned. This weekend I missed an NU alumni event (watching the game on Big Ten Network at a bar), Joelapalooza (a family event with Geoff's family), and Carrie & Mark's wedding reception. I did go to Carrie and Mark's wedding because I refused not to go, but it was painful because I was so sick! At this point my entire nose is just totally raw - ew. I have gone through almost an entire box of tissues just over the weekend. Tylenol Cold is my new best friend. I am at work now... I figured it'd be good for me to be up and around a little and I won't be getting anyone else sick since no one else is here. I will only stay another hour or two. But I have gotten a lot done, which is nice. I hate being sick! (does anyone LIKE being sick?)

In fun news, I use Google Analytics to track who is reading my blog (yes, I'm stalking you stalking me!). Oh speaking of fun Google tools, if you don't use Google Reader, start. You're just ridiculous if you don't! If you have questions, let me know, but it will make your life 236892362 times easier and you will be able to read 23589678% more blogs! Anyway. So the number one way people find my blog via google? By googling: kelly geoff blog. Here's a few other fun ones (quotes shown exactly as they were googled):

"i met james van der beek"
"big bacon omelette"
"oringial pancake house" franchise
"ryan zordan
"tampons at work"
costco hood to coast
p-town blog
porn star vin's
scottsdale old navy hours (I actually checked this one - my blog shows up on the very bottom of the 10th page of Google)

I also got three visitors from Marisa Mitchell mentioning me in her blog. 19% of readers visit my blog just once... 15% of readers visit over 200 times. The majority of people (26%) visit between 100 and 200 times. 86% of people visit for between 0 and 10 seconds - HA! I love that one. I really know how to captivate my audience, huh? ;-) In the past month I had visitors from 9 countries - 270 from the US, 2 from Australia, 2 from Canada, and a handful from various other places. Citywise - 83 Chicago visitors, 38 Phoenix visitors, 33 Denver visitors, 25 Troudale (that's in Oregon) visitors, 14 Hillsboro (also Oregon) visitors, 11 Atlanta Visitors, 7 Scottsdale (that's Arizona) visitors, 6 Portland visitors, and 5 Richardson (Dallas, TX where my parents live) visitors. 81% of my visitors are returning.

I don't know what all of that means (for instance, why would 81% of my visitors return but only read for 10 seconds... makes no sense... well, maybe they're not using Google Reader so they're checking to see if I've updated and I probably haven't). And I probably just bored you all to death (except maybe the keywords part, that's the best part!). Oh well, I had fun!