Things that might be decidedly odd…

Astoria Column

Astoria Column

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On the Way to Oregon

On the Way to Oregon

Originally uploaded by decidedlyodd

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Art

Last night, Marc and I went to see the opening of a new show at the Sisko Gallery in Belltown. Most interesting were these pots by Allen Moe. They’re covered in different animal parts (for lack of a more specific word). Cool stuff.

Yahoo vs. Hotmail

Ugh, Hotmail MSN Hotmail Windows Live Hotmail is bouncing email I’m sending from Yahoo (the only free mail that actually functions decently with an iPhone right now):

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

<removed@hotmail.com>:
Remote host said: 550 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. A block has been placed against your IP address because we have received complaints concerning mail coming from that IP address. We recommend enrolling in our Junk E-Mail Reporting Program (JMRP

— Below this line is a copy of the message.

Received: from [68.142.237.87] by n7.bullet.re3.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 27 Sep 2007 01:18:55 -0000
Received: from [69.147.75.189] by t3.bullet.re3.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 27 Sep 2007 01:18:55 -0000
Received: from [127.0.0.1] by omp105.mail.re1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 27 Sep 2007 01:18:55 -0000

Sigh.

Career

Lisa always finds the funnest memes. The login info didn’t work but I found this entry point after a little searching.

What the “Career Matchmaker” says I should do with my life:

1. Computer Engineer
2. Mathematician
3. Computer Support Person
4. Actuary
5. Foreign Language Instructor
6. ESL Teacher
7. Cartographer
8. Computer Programmer
9. Corporate Trainer
10. Air Traffic Controller
11. Computer Trainer
12. Project Manager
13. Biomedical Engineer
14. Mining Engineer
15. Petroleum Engineer
16. Agricultural Engineer
17. Astronomer
18. Civil Engineer
19. Materials / Metallurgical Engineer
20. Electrical Engineer
21. Industrial Engineer
22. Operations Research Analyst
23. Physicist
24. Chemical Engineer
25. Multimedia Developer
26. Professor
27. Mechanical Engineer
28. Aerospace Engineer
29. Land Surveyor
30. Oceanographer
31. Meteorologist
32. Occupational Therapist
33. Business Systems Analyst
34. GIS Specialist
35. Database Developer
36. Web Developer
37. Architect
38. Webmaster
39. Military Engineer
40. Video Game Developer

#1 doesn’t appeal to me that much actually, mainly because I’ve always had a rocky relationship with the design of electronics and low-level computer hardware (bad undergrad memories of EE 42 and EECS 150). #2 is too head in the clouds for me. Done #3 and it’s ok, but pay and respect both kind of suck. #4 is something I never really thought much about pursuing but seems sort of interesting. #5 and #6 kind of surprise me actually. I do like languages, but I was never very good while learning them in school. #7 sounds really cool, mainly because I absolutely love maps. Seriously, I can just look at maps and be completely stimulated for hours on end. It’s one of the few things I (sort of) collect. I never really considered that there might be professional cartographers in the world still. Obviously, #8 is what I currently do, which is well within the margin of error I suppose #9 is something I’ve vaguely considered in the past since I really like teaching. #10 sounds way too stressful.

#14/15/19/24 is generally what I thought I wanted to be when I was 17 and applying to college. I wanted to be #26 for a while, but it didn’t work out. Search through past blog entries while I was in grad school if you didn’t know me back then. I’ve done #36 and #38 in the past. I turned down a job doing #40 to work for Microsoft as #8 instead.

Twin?

I got the strangest letter today that reads,

Dear Washington State twin:

The University of Washington is requesting your participation in a twin registry project. The twin registry currently being established will be used to study common health problems. Your participation in the twin registry project is encouraged. However, participation is strictly voluntary.

Your name was provided to the University of Washington under the Driver Privacy Protection Act, US Code 18, Section 2721, which entitles the University of Washington to the names and addresses of driver license applicants who indicated they were of a twin birth.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Margaret Eby
Licensing Services Manager
Driver Responsibility

Apparently, the State and University of Washington think I’m a twin. Weird.

The letter was accompanied by a survey, a letter from the University of Washington informing me that I would be contacting twice more to participate and a $2 bill as “a sign of appreciation”. The first survey question reads, “1. Are you a twin, or triplet, or higher multiple birth? Twin / Triplet or higher / Neither” with instructions reading “Please stop here, fill in the contact information in Question 24 and return this survey” if one of the latter two options was selected. I should probably send this back before I get more bizarre twin related mail.

Three Stars?

Three Stars?

This Handlery Hotel and Resort I’m staying at in San Diego claims to be a resort and three stars. I’m not impressed though especially for the price I paid.

In other news, I was hoping to go to the beach today but it’s still overcast outside.

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Submarine

I just saw this submarine!

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Sailing

I’m about to go sailing in San Diego!

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Back behind the Orange Curtain

I made it to my hotel for today for the reunion. The room has a lovely view of the 55 freeway but at least it’s stumbling distance from the cash bar, right? Ugh, scenery like this is part of the reason I left southern California in the first place.

I spent the rest of the day visiting my grandfather and his girlfriend, which was nice since I haven’t seen them since Christmas.

Now to finish getting ready for this evening….

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