Nordquist Blog

Seems like every Saturday morning I find Kim adding items to her grocery list. When I see her doing this I’ll say, “Hey, I’ll watch the kids while you go the store” and she’ll nod in agreement.

But I know how this plays out. Kim loves to make lists. She likes to modify lists. Sometimes she’ll start a list upstairs on a Post-It and another downstairs next to her computer. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a list in each room of our house.

I’ve learned a thing or two in our 11 years of marriage. When it comes to shopping I’ve been able to distill what I’ve learned into the following 4 scenarios:

1. If the list contain items found at Target, Kim will do the shopping.
2. If the list contains grocery items, I will do the shopping.
3. If the list contains Costco items, my only involvement comes in the form of car to kitchen transportation.
4. I don’t get to create lists. I can only add to existing ones.

So like clockwork, I found myself at Fred Meyer tonight looking for pizza sauce, sourdough bread and pineapple tidbits. Not crushed pineapple. Not pineapple chunks. But pineapple tidbits. The kind you toss on pizza. I had to call home to confirm.

I couldn’t do the shopping without a cell phone and I call Kim at least three times each trip. I get 3 life lines before I’m called home. I call to ask which type of cheese I should buy. I call to ask which yogurt flavors the kids like best (peach bad, vanilla good). Sometimes I just call to chat and to let her know I’m “testing” the grapes or bulk cashews.

Over time, I’ve refined my methods. I carry the consolidated list around with me and make a small tear next to those items I’ve put in the cart which I’ve tested to ensure it doesn’t sport the crazy wobbly wheel from hell that vibrates your entire body. I save the hard to find items for last. Like El Pato sauce. I can never find that stuff. Last week I spent 20 minutes looking for lemon juice too. I get through 98% of my list in 30 minutes and then spend the next half hour playing hide-and-go-seek with the last few hard to capture items. I’ve just plain given up looking for “Jet Puffed Marshmallow”. I don’t believe it exists and I’m convinced it’s Kim’s way of sending me on a snipe hunt.

But the real fun comes during check out. No matter how many items I have in my cart, I head for the 12 Items or Less line. Some trips I might have fewer than 12 items. Sometimes I have more.  As long as the number of items is divisible by 12 I feel I’m keeping the spirit of the law.

If there are items already on the conveyor belt I never know how far I should let them travel before it’s safe to start mine on their journey. I’ve noticed that women are vigilant about putting down the little black divider even if they have only gum and a People Magazine to purchase. We wouldn’t want my Wheat Thins fraternizing with her Big Red. And when I’m done putting all my stuff on the belt am I supposed to put a black divider down behind the last item? I feel like I’m drawing a line in the sand if I do, but I don’t want to go home with a stranger’s set of size 13 Dr. Scholl’s insoles.

I enjoy shopping on my own. I find it relaxing. And I’m starting to feel like a regular because a few checkers call me by name now.

And I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact I can’t reliably count past 12.

One of my favorite moments from the 2008 election is when Andrea Mitchell was engulfed in a sea of balloons at the Republican National Convention.

“Keith….Keith….I can hear you but I don’t know if you can see me….”

I was hanging out on Twitter tonight when a user that goes by BCK mentioned that Amazon had HDTVs for incredibly low prices.

I checked it out and found a Sharp Aquos 52 inch model for $38.

I’m trying to write this with a straight face but it’s likely Amazon is having a few pricing/database issues.

But just in case it’s not an error I went ahead and placed an order for one.

Do you think they will cancel my order when they realize their mistake? I just received a confirmation email, but they have already fixed the price on the website.

I guess we’ll just take Nicole Wallace’s word that Sarah Palin can stand on her own two feet because the McCain campaign machine won’t let Palin anywhere near the press. Keep in mind, this is Time Magazine, not some unknown blogger or small town newspaper she’s mocking.

CARNEY (Time): We don’t know yet and we won’t know until you guys allow her (Palin) to take questions, you know, can she answer tough questions, you know, domestic policy, foreign policy–

WALLACE: But I mean like from who? From you? Who cares?!

CARNEY: Who cares? I think the American people care.

According to some of her fellow Alaskans, the GOP has good reason to keep her quiet. Thankfully, details are trickling out.

Our two oldest children started school this week. Luca has been telling Lincoln what it means to be in school, and he’s been unable to contain his excitement for the last few days. But he’s certain he’s already figured it out. He’s convinced school is about:

• Riding the Bus
• Carrying a new Backpack

And when you’re in Kindergarten those are definitely two activities to get excited about. I enjoyed watching them both smile and giggle and tell each other stories about school tonight.

Their enthusiasm is contagious. They haven’t become jaded by the system or the politics or adults telling them what they can’t achieve. They are still little sponges soaking up bits and pieces of information along the way.

Lincoln told me tonight he wants to work at the zoo. Luca wants to play the piano. They believe they can become anything they want.

And that’s how it should be.

Nothing excites the geeks like a new web browser. Especially one from the Church of the Google. It only seemed reasonable to take my first Google Chrome test drive on the super fast Microsoft network before I left work today.

I used it for about an hour before coming home and installing it on my much faster workstation. I browsed my normal collection of sites and was impressed that, in about two hours of constant use, it never hung or crashed. Here are my initial impressions:

PROS:

1. Feels fast especially on sites like Google Reader and Gmail.
2. Lots of screen real estate.  When I launched Chrome for the first time I thought I was in full screen mode. Chrome reminds me a little of Opera before feature creep.
3. It’s simple. No pre-populated favorites. Not even a single tie-in to Gmail or Google Docs. Like the comic above says, it feels like it was built to get out of the user’s way.
4. The browser option are written in plain English and they don’t bombard you with crap you shouldn’t be changing in the first place. The tabs under options are even labeled, Basics, Minor Tweaks and Under the Hood.
5. Excellent memory management. I love being able to see how much memory each tab is using and have the ability to shut down a single tab without crashing the entire browser. All browsers should handle tabs in this manner.
6. When you open a new tab, Chrome shows your most visited sites, searches and recent bookmarks. Super helpful.
7. Drag a tab to your desktop which opens it’s own instance of Chrome. This has been on my Firefox wish list for years.

CONS:

1. Weird status bar behavior. There’s no persistent status bar at the bottom of the browser yet notices continually pop up even when you browse to another page.
2. No plugins like I have with Firefox. I need my Mouse Gestures. It’s just too big a time saver not to have.
3. “Home” button isn’t visible by default. Thanks for a follower on mine on Twitter, I got it turned on.

You have tried Chrome and what did you like/dislike about it?

Here’s my favorite of the numerous Sarah Palin cartoons found at MSNBC. Each day we find out something new about McCain’s choice for VP that’s more fitting for Entertainment Tonight than a national election. Now McCain tells us he’s sent a team to Alaska to look into Palin’s background in more detail. Shouldn’t have he done that before he thrust her onto the national stage?

Part of me feels bad for Ms. Palin because this feels similar to when Bush nominated his pal, Harriet Miers, for the US Supreme Court when she was clearly out of her league. The choice was such a disaster than even Bush supporters lambasted the selection which lead to Miers withdrawing her nomination.

Could we see the same thing happen with Palin? I personally hope she stays in the race and McCain is forced to deal with the distractions as a consequence of not fully vetting her.

I came across a great post by Jake Behrens where he talks about the relationship between employee and employer. In short, he states it’s up to the individual to look out for himself, and employers need to understand talented employees will look for new challenges. He says:

At my last job, I did the typical personal-sick day to interview routine. In my exit interview my boss gave me this lovely quote, “I think it was immature of you to lie about being sick, you could have just told us you had an interview.” Wow. I was shocked. Don’t ever let an employer pull that card. Anyone knows that you have to look out for yourself, and eventually your family too.

I agree 100%. Nobody will care about your career more than you will. You have to take control of the situation and do what’s best for you (and your family). Sometimes that means using vacation or sick days. I can’t picture my boss or company executives sitting around dreaming up ideas to further my career. I view my job as just that: a job. My company pays me a salary as long as they feel I’m worth more than what it costs them to keep me. The less they have to pay me the better because, any compensation they save increases their bottom line. I know this sounds brutally cold to some people but this is how I feel. Basically, I’m a free agent working for the company I feel will compensate me well for the amount of work they expect me to perform.

There’s no such thing as company loyalty. No company cares about me or you. People care about other people. Companies do not exist to take care of their employees. Companies exist to increase shareholder or owner value. I’ve felt loyal to a manager or two, but never to a company.

I’ve had a number of jobs since graduating from college and I left all but one on good terms with my former boss. Along the way I’ve learned a thing or two about quitting a job without burning bridges. Here are a few suggestions that have worked for me:

1. KEEP IT TO YOURSELF - Don’t tell your coworkers you’re looking for a job. That only causes a scene. Go about the process in a discrete and professional fashion. If you blab it will get back to your manager. You want to be the one to break the news. You don’t want your coworkers putting their own spin on the situation.
2. FIND A JOB FIRST – You’re welcome to tell me you’re looking for a job. I may act understanding. In fact, I’ll probably encourage you. Just don’t expect perks such as promotions, raises or plum assignments. I hold those for employees who plan to stick around.
3. TELL YOUR BOSS – The time to tell your boss is ONLY once you’ve found and accepted another job offer. You don’t have to go into specifics. Once you tell me you’ve accepted another job the only thing I really care about is how much longer you plan to stick around. The shorter the better.
4. LEAVE WITH CLASS – Badmouthing the company or boss on the way out is a poor reflection on you, and could come back to haunt you. Why spend years building a good reputation only to tarnish it on the last day?

What have you learned by leaving a job that I’ve missed?

My brother-in-law wrote about this topic as well. He decided to tell his boss he was looking for another job and it worked out for him. Lucky dog.

We drove to Olympia to see the State capitol building this weekend. I wanted to take some pictures and the kids wanted to run up and down the stairs. There were dozens of stairs leading to the capitol and the kids spent a good hour running up and down them. It’s a miracle we avoid a trip to the emergency room for stitches or worse. 

Olympia is a gorgeous city nestled in what feels like a hilly forest. It has a rustic flavor with many small shops dotting the downtown. On a musical note, Kurt Cobain wrote most of Nevermind while living in Olympia. I can’t believe I’ve lived in the Seattle area nearly 14 years and had never visited Olympia till this weekend.

While we were there, a photographer showed up and began taking pictures of a couple that may have recently been married. I told Kim they looked too old to be getting married, and then it struck me,  Kim and I tried to keep our kids away from them but I’m certain at least on kid will show up in a picture or two.

Here’s a picture of the kids playing Humpty Dumpty without the great fall.

Church used to be the most relaxing, enjoyable three hours of the week. This was back when Sunday service was about reflection and singing and fellowship. We came home invigorated for the week ahead.

But since we’ve added young children to the mix, church is about as relaxing as a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Now church is about:

1. 45 trips to the bathroom and drinking fountain
2. Putting Cheerios in the hair of the lady sitting in front of us
3. Making faces at the people sitting behind us
4. Giving dad a ‘wet willie’
5. Searching for the largest piece of bread from the sacrament tray and yelling “OH YEAH!” when found
6. Using dad’s silk tie to wipe boogers

And this doesn’t even get us half way through the meetings. I’m totally worn out before we’ve heard from the youth speaker.

Today we sat on the far left side of the chapel on a short rows second from the front. Sitting on the front row with kids is pure punishment because there’s nothing to cage them in. So we sit one row back which is great for keeping them from escaping to the drinking fountain, but it puts us in direct view of the bishop and other leaders. I can only imagine what he’s thinking as Anna yells “BUTT!” during the passing of the sacrament.

I suppose it’s good for our kids to learn to behave during meetings and get along in close quarters for a few hours. Church gives them a chance to learn about the gospel and interact with friends and teachers. They have the opportunity to speak and say prayers and attend activities and contribute to service projects.

Maybe next week I’ll bring my own bag of cereal. And it will be some of the good stuff.

Like Cap’N Crunch, because I’m going to need the sugar high to keep up with my kids.

I grew up in Ogden, Utah two homes away from McKay Dee Hospital and not far from Weber State University. Just past the water fountains and parking lot at the hospital sat a huge grassy area. As kids we’d run though the sprinklers, hit golf balls and play Frisbee on that patch of grass we assumed to be an extension of our own front yard.

But my favorite activity was hitting baseballs. I would spend hours tossing balls to myself and then smacking them as far as I could. I would occasionally hit the sweet spot and knock one into the hospital parking lot. I may have been responsible for leaving a few hood surprises but I’m certain the statute of limitations has long expired. 

I knew I was improving my swing when my dad came over to watch one night and I told him to back way up. He took a few steps back, but I still belted it well over his head. This may explain why it wasn’t long before he told me about a contest called the “Pitch, Hit and Run” that was sponsored by Burger King.

The competition consisted of throwing 3 balls into a net the size of the strike zone, running the bases and hitting a baseball fungo-style (tossing the ball to yourself and hitting it). I don’t recall practicing five minutes for the pitching and running portions of the contest so when I showed up at the little league park to participate, expectations were not very high.

Although I could throw a baseball quite well, I hadn’t practiced much and it showed when only one out of three balls found the net giving me 50 out of 150 possible points. Next up was the base running event and I scored an 80 out of 100 when I slipped going around third base. This left me near the bottom of the standings with only the one event to go. Several of the boys in my age bracket (12-13 year olds) hit the pitching target 2 or 3 times and nearly all collected the full 100 points in the base running portion.

Since I wasn’t expecting much from the start, I didn’t feel nervous going into the last event. I thought, how hard can this be? I’ll just do what I do for hours on the hospital grass each day. I watched the younger boys step to the plate and take their swings. If you’ve ever tossed a baseball to yourself to hit you’ll know the key is to get “under” the ball to give it the desired lift. This requires an uppercut swing compared to the the more level swing I’d normally take during a game.

I was surprised to watch most of the kids barely hit ball out of the infield. They hit the ball hard but were not getting any lift. Occasionally one would hit a pop fly into the outfield but that was rare. I walked over to an area where the bats were located. They were standing up against a chain link fence. I searched for a bat that felt just right. But they all seemed too small or too light. I started to get nervous. I was the next batter in line and I had to find a good bat.

Finally, my name was called and I stepped to the plate without a bat in my hand. As the hitter before me walked by I asked if I could use his bat and he threw it to me. The bat felt good! It felt very good. It was bigger and heavier than the other bats. I looked towards the outfield and saw a number of contest officials waiting for me to swing so they could measure the distance my ball traveled. I had three chances to get a good score. The furthest hit would tally into my overall score.

I tossed the first ball and smacked it over the officials head. I watched as they ran to where my ball had first touched down and measured it. The officials now backed up a little further. I tossed the second ball and hit it very high into the air but not as far as my first try. No need to measure.

Here’s where my competitive nature came out. My father had explained to me before the competition started that the two boys on the west coast with the most points would win a trip to San Francisco for themselves and their parents. That all sounded fun, but what I was most excited about was the possibility of getting to travel by airplane.

I took the last ball in my hand and figured I had nothing to lose. I must have been living right because I detected a small breeze at my back. All I need to do was get that ball into the wind and let it ride. My father had dropped me off at the park and wasn’t able to watch me, but I looked behind me hoping maybe he’d be there.

I stepped up to the plate, lofted the ball just right and swung as hard as I could. My swing felt good, and I could barely feel the ball hit the bat which means I’d connected at the sweet spot. The baseball got up into the air and took off just like it had done thousands of times on the hospital lawn. It kept going and going. I watched the officials begin running for the fence.

But I’d crushed that sucker and the wind was carrying it further than it had any right to travel. The ball sailed over the fence and into the parking lot. One official jumped the fence and tried to locate the exact spot my ball had landed. I watched as they threaded the tape measure through the fence. My ball had flown over the first row of cars and came down in the middle of the parking lot. Kids were jumping up and down all around me. Finally, one of the officials yelled TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SEVEN FEET!

I felt like I was floating on air. I jumped up and down and started high fiving people I didn’t know. To a twelve year old boy, it was magical.

When things settled down, I grabbed my glove and waited for my dad to arrive. When he pulled up, he asked how I’d done, and I told him about the hit. I wish he had been there to see it. He said I might have done well enough to earn a trip to San Francisco where I’d compete for a chance to attend the World Series.

What I didn’t know at the time as I sat in the front seat of our Plymouth Duster was how right he was. A few weeks late my mom picked up the phone to find out we were headed to Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

We took our kids to Taco Time in Covington last night because our oldest daughter was going to die if she didn’t get some CINNAMON CRUSTOS and what a lame dad I’d be if I let that happen.

After I paid, I was invited to earn a free combo meal by taking a customer survey. I figured I’d take the survey because this Taco Time has screwed up our order on a number of occasions. But they always fix it so I was planning on filling out a generally positive survey.

But Taco Time does not want my feedback.

I went to their website and clicked the “Take our Survey” link and was presented with this message:

I tried again and and again and received the same message each time.

This is the first I can remember a company saying they have received enough feedback and don’t want anymore. I’ll bet it’s a case of Taco Time not wanting to give out more combo meals. But they should still allow me to fill out a survey.

How can they “appreciate” my feedback when they don’t allow it to be given?

So I went back to the homepage. While I’m here I might as well enter the drawing for the Ford Escape Hybrid, right? That’s almost as cool as CINNAMON CRUSTOS. But when I clicked “Click here for more details” it tried to launch a PDF file.

Who has time for this nonsense?

A day after I wrote about my experience at Sears, I received the following email:

Hello Brett,

My name is Amanda Broderick and I work for Lands’ End.  I ran across your blog posting about your experience at one of our Lands’ End shops within Sears.  We take pride in offering excellent customer service and I’m sorry that you had such a frustrating incident in the store.  We are constantly striving to offer the best service we can and it’s unfortunate that we obviously let you down.  Would you be willing to share which store you visited so we can make sure that the sales associates receive additional training?  Also, we’d love the opportunity to attempt to regain your respect and trust.  May I send you a gift card to put towards a future positive Lands’ End experience?

Warm regards,
Amanda Broderick
Lands’ End

I’m impressed there’s someone at Lands End following blogs and reaching out to customers in this manner.

Sure, I was proud the first time I watch Luca perform flawlessly at her piano recital after months of practice.

My heart swelled with joy as I watched Lincoln dribble the ball down the field and kick his first goal during a soccer game this summer.

But I’ve never been more proud of my kids than I was with my 4 year old daughter, Anna Lynn, this week when Kim told me she can whistle the song "Patience" by Guns N’ Roses. I can’t wipe the grin off my face.

Now that’s girl after my own heart!