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September 29, 2007
Warranty
Lots of manufacturers out there offer unconditional, anytime, product replacement, repair warranties. Normally I just assume that they are worthless and go about my purchase under that assumption. So it was in 2002 when I purchased my travel backpack -- the turtle backpack as I think of it, because the shoulder and belt straps tuck inside it, and because it is green. Now most of you who've traveled with me recently have experienced the failure of the small day-pack portion of my my backpack. It happed first during the Patagonia trip and then again on my trip to Italy. Resulting in the purchase of a new day-pack in El Chalten.
So I figured it was time to invest in a new travel backpack -- it still might be because my backpack isn't very large, but the decision is much less imperative now. And so it was while i was looking for a new backpack that I happened up on the Eag*le Creek site, the manufacturer of my original bag. I saw their warranty. Hmm. I decided to take them up on it. And so it is with great excitement that I received my day-pack back in the mail today with a completely new set of straps. :) (the straps are a single u-shaped piece of foam which had begun to tear) I'm very happy.
Posted by kfeigh at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2007
New Zealand Bound
Well after waiting until what was pretty much the very last minute (there weren't actually many seats left) I bought my ticket to New Zealand tonight. It was expensive, but that was my own fault for letting it go so long. The good news is that because it had become so expensive I ended up getting a premium economy seat for about the same cost as a regular seat. I'm particularly excited about it because it means that I might get to sit in the upper deck of a 747. Something I've always wanted to do. Either way hopefully I'll enjoy my 15+ hour trip a little more.
Unfortunately because of constraints on Becca's schedule. Instead of flying out right after Christmas (which would have been much cheaper), I will be flying out the weekend following my birthday -- which means I won't be home for Christmas. This makes me very sad, because I really like Christmas at the Feigh household. Oh well, Becca has promised me that we won't spend Christmas in a hostel :) And what with the warm weather I'll probably not be in the mood anyway. We'll just have to postpone Christmas until I can get home some time in January. I just learned that Northwest has a direct flight once a day to Norfolk, which should come in handy.
Now all I've got to do is figure out how to get from MSP-Atlanta-LAX-MSP. I intend to fly down to Atlanta on the 14th to catch graduation. I'll spend the 15th with Brian and then fly out to the South Pacific on the 16th. I'm hoping my sky miles will come in handy. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to work in a stop over in ATL on my way to the coast. I can still back out and only be out $300.
Posted by kfeigh at 11:41 PM | Comments (1)
September 25, 2007
More mandatory training
Another fun quip from my mandatory training.
When asked why it was important to do something one of the answers was, "because corporate makes me."
Other than that not much going on up here. This weekend I found that a great off-road bicycle path is just about a block south of my building and runs pretty much all the way into the city. The weekend's weather was great, but it has now turned cold and rainy. We've had lots and lots and lots of rain here as of late. Apparently 14 inches in the past two months, making up for the summer's drought.
Oh and one of the welcome mats that I routinely walk past is really amusing to me too:
Affectionate Dog
Stand back and no one gets slobbered.
OK that's it for now.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
Modern Dentistry
Today I went to the dentist. It was an amazing experience. It was th model of efficiency and modern medical technology. They must have taken over 20 X-rays of my teeth--all digitally. It could not have been more different from my experience with the NHS dentist in Cranfield. Should I perish in some horrible way, fear not I have good dental records on file up here.
Unfortunately the result of all that modern equipment was the identification of 3 separate cavities on 4 teeth. Two of which I was fairly aware of, as they have been bothering me for a while now (long before my last visit to my long-time dentist), so they came as no surprise. Still, it would have been nice to have been wrong.
So next Friday I'll get two of the four teeth fixed. The other two I'm still on the fence about. Probably get it fixed later in the fall, after I get a pay check or two under my belt.
In a small victory over bureaucracy, I managed to convince the reimbursement department to process my relocation paperwork.
Posted by kfeigh at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2007
Groceries Delivered
Does anyone remember Webvan? It was the ill fated on-line only grocery store which went belly up less than a year after it started. Well Becca, Sarah, Heather and I used to use it frequently in the short time it was available. I, personally, loved it and was very upset when it disappeared. Its not that I don't like going to the grocery store, so much as I hate having to carve out 1-1.5 hours every week to do it. And so long as I only have one fridge this will probably continue to be necessary (although maybe not now that I live alone). However MN has grocery delivery!!! I am so excited. I just got my first delivery.
Man was that nice, and it is still above freezing outside :)
Tonight -- I'm watching the GT game if the TV downstairs is free. If not then I'll be in the hot-tub.
Posted by kfeigh at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2007
Off to CT
Yes, I'm off to the next-to-the-smallest state in the union to meet "the team." Should be fun, if all my flights go well and I can manage to stay awake and quiet during the briefings. I'm usually good at doing one or the other, but rarely both.
This morning's temperature outside of my apt at 7:45 was 41 degrees. Looks like I'm going to need to order my winter gear sooner than I thought.
Posted by kfeigh at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2007
More unpacking
So after talking with the leasing lady and finding out that she really is not going to replace my carpet -- unless some sort of catastrophic event happens to it, I decided it was time to unpack the desk bits and my work computer. When I say desk bits, I actually mean desk top. I bought one of those mix and match desks at ikea. The only problem is that the legs I want have been out of stock for the past few weeks. Consequently, right now I have the desktop perched on top of two short filing cabinets. It works fairly well, but one filing cabinet is about 2 inches shorter than the other, so I've had to employ several text books to make things level out.
Also since the Ethernet port for the entire apartment is in the far wall in the bedroom, I had to purchase a wireless adapter for the computer. It was either that or search for a 100' Ethernet cable.
So now I've emptied out all of the "big" boxes that I brought with me, and only have a few paper boxes and smaller boxes. That is on the list for tomorrow's work.
GT won today and Georgia lost, all in all I'd say its been a good day.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2007
Back Online
Well it only took a week to get myself hooked back up to the internet. It needn't have taken so long if this apartment wasn't full of cat-5 connections, or if the internet connection had been put in an even slightly useful location. Neither of these was true however so from Tuesday until today I didn't have internet because I couldn't find the live plug and no-one at the internet place (they are directly contracted to by the apt building, since we have a T1 line here) knew where the connection was. I figured it had to be in the living/dining room area. They thought it was in the bedroom on the wall with the living room. Neither of us was right. It was in the bedroom, on the wall with the other apartment. Luckily it wasn't behind a full box, or we might never have found it.
But now that it is back, things should be much easier. For one thing I can now look up maps, phone numbers, send email, and most importantly update my blog.
I've got pictures from the move, but haven't downloaded them yet, as there seemed little reason to, what with no internet.
So, feel free to call me, I'm on central time now and mostly home in the evenings.
Posted by kfeigh at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2007
End of the Road
Well 1146 miles after we began, we arrived. We got here about 2:30 and had the truck all unloaded by about 4:30. Luckily for us the mattress and the box spring fit into the elevator. The hand dolly from college years came in handy once again. It is starting to show its age, but I think it has at least one more move in it.
After that we, the elevator and one other couple were really sweaty. Instead of the nice 70 degree temperatures which had been forecast we had middle 80s. We then got cleaned up (as well as you can without a shower curtain) And then it was on to dinner and Target for a huge shop for all those things that I already have one of in Atlanta -- shower curtains and the like.
Just for the record I'd like to state that last night I took up three parking spaces: one for the truck, one for the car, one for the two dolly.
We got up this morning and returned the truck and tow dolly. It felt good to have that off our hands -- the truck itself was fairly easy to maneuver as trucks go, but with the dolly it was harder. No room for mistakes, no backing up. However the truck was extremely comfortable to drive, if anyone needs to drive a truck cross country, I recommend Pens*ke.
Oh, one of my favorite bits of this whole adventure was getting a call on Saturday afternoon. The apartment complex called because I was scheduled to move in on Thursday afternoon -- including signing the lease. They called because "we aren't going to be open on Sunday" I had previously called not once, but twice to verify my move in day. So their solution was to tape the keys under a bench in the front hall way. Luckily for me, they actually did leave the keys where they said they would.
So I have now moved into an apartment for which I have not signed a lease. And I don't think it has really been cleaned. The carpet is all torn up, and has a number of stains. We'll see what they management wants to do about this.
Posted by kfeigh at 07:26 PM | Comments (0)
September 01, 2007
Wisconsin
Brian and I made it to Wisconsin. We had some obligatory fried cheese curds. Tomorrow on to Minnesota.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)