Today the University of Idaho, my alma mater, graduated over 1,600 people. What a great day to be a Vandal.
You can watch the pre-graduation processional into the Dome for the graduation ceremony.
Go Vandals!
Tough Time for our family
It is a tough time for our family.
Our dog, a golden retriever, has been fighting lymphoma since last June and the chemotherapy is no longer working.
We had enrolled him in a special study at Colorado State University Vet Clinic and School and we thought it would give us a longer time with him.
CSU was nice and allowed us to do the chemo at Alameda East Vet Clinic. They were wonderful throughout the whole process.
We have a little time left with him and will make the most of it. He is a wonderful dog and a big member of our family.
He will be missed.
What is happening with customer service
I am wondering what is happening to customer service in this country. Where has it gone?
We decided to take the kids to McDonald’s (Zuni and 128th) because of various errands this evening, don’t worry it is not a regular thing. Well the play area was a disaster and there was spilled soft drinks on the floor. The tables were dirty and it was not a great place to eat. The same in the main dining room. I even had to clean the table that we ate at. It was disgusting.
Then I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some groceries and get some lunch meat. Well the Safeway near our house decided to close their deli at 7 pm because someone was sick. It is crazy. They couldn’t find someone to run the deli? It is crazy and a great inconvenience to work all day and go grocery shopping and not be able to get what you want because they didn’t schedule enough people.
Customer service has disappeared in this country. It is amazing to me how companies can do this to their customers. It never used to be like this. I wish that they would get with it.
Dining out for life – Project Angel Heart
Well it is now the end of April and what does that mean? Dining out for Life on April 26, 2007.
This is the annual fundraiser for Project Angel Heart.
Project Angel Heart is a non-profit organization that delivers food to home-bound people who are suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses throughout metro Denver and Colorado Springs.
It does not get any better than this for a non-profit organization.
To donate to Project Angel Heart, all you have to do is go out to eat on April 26 at one of the participating restaurants and a portion of your bill is donated to Project Angel Heart by the restaurant. The servers usually donate a part of their tips also. Last year they raised over $330,000.
Go out to eat on the 26th and donate to a great cause.
Why do I feel the way I do about the Virgina Tech massacre
I don’t know why I feel the way I do about the Virgina Tech massacre. For some reason I feel a connection to the campus, the students, the community, and everything else that I am watching.
I have been having this sorrowful and empty feeling ever since this happened.
In thinking about this as I was driving home from work this evening and discussing it with my wife, I think I figured out why.
The reason that I feel the way that I do is that Virgina Tech and Blacksburg, Virgina are similar where I went to school at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.
Even though Idaho is a smaller school and Moscow is a smaller town, it is a close-knit campus and community. In listening to the studens describe their friends and their relations on campus and with the community, it is really similar. It just hit really close to home for me.
I am amazed how the students, faculty, and staff are handling all this tragedy and attention. My thoughts and prayers are with them as they move forward.
And my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I wish there was something that I could say to the families that would ease their pain and loss. But besides praying for them, there is not much more that I can do right now.
God Bless.
David Allen interviewed on CNET
David Allen of Getting Things Done was interviewed on CNET about Getting Things Done.
He was interviewed at the Under the Radar conference in Silicon Valley.
Take a look at the interview…
OS X Leopard Looking Good
Well I am beginning to look for a new computer and have pretty much settled on going with an Apple. I have PC’s for work and want something new for home. The Apple software is much more friendly for doing home videos, slideshows, videos, and other home applications.
One of the things that I am interested in is the new Leopard operating system. It will be coming out late this spring or summer (hopefully) and it adds a lot of good things.
The good thing for people and me is the Time Machine. This allows you to back up your hard drive and then go back and retrieve it at anytime. All you have to do is connect an external hard drive and it takes care of everything else.
The other cool thing that improves on the current operating system is in iChat. The new function allows you to share displays. So now when my parents are having problems with their Apple Macbook Pro, we can login into iChat and fix the issue. That may be a good thing or a curse. Who knows.
Overall, Leopard looks like a good upgrade to Tiger and will sway me to purchase a Macbook.
Whole Foods buying Wild Oats
Is this good or bad? I don’t think that it can hurt. Take a look at the coverage in Bloomberg and Rocky Mountain News.
I like both Whole Foods and Wild Oats. They provide good food, many items that you can’t get anywhere else, and good service. But the one thing that hurts them is the fact that they are so expensive.
The two chains built their business on selling organic food when it was tough to find organic food. Now that everyone is selling it, mainly Safeway. Safeway has come out with a line of organics that is a lot cheaper than products that are similar at Whole Foods or Wild Oats. They are even pushing them on their website.
Another store, that is not in Colorado, is Trader Joe’s. They offer similar products and organic food at a lot lower price than Whole Foods or Wild Oats. I bet the competition is quite fierce. I would love to have Trader Joe’s move into the Colorado market.
I may have to check out Vitamin Cottage. These tend to be smaller stores but apparently have good service and prices. That is what Al Lewis of the Denver Post thinks in his blog post this afternoon, “Whole Foods announces plans to swallow Wild Oats whole“. They may be worth a try.
This acquisition can only benefit the two chains. I hope it works. The have a good product and hopes that it gets better.
Removing Dog Poop a Priority
In an article in the ColoradoBix Magazine, “Poop removal priority after snow“, they captured the need to get all that dog poop off the backyard.
I am with all of them on this. We have a golden retreiver and we are having the same problem. The snow keeps covering it all up and you can’t pick it up.
I was able to get about half the yard picked up a week ago, but the rest of the yard was still covered in snow and I was unable to get there. I am just hoping we have a little break so that I can get the rest of it picked up.
It is going to be a crazy spring, but let me get the dog poop picked up.
California, Love the Weather & the Break
I am out in California visiting family and you can’t beat the weather. After being in Denver where it has been cold and snow has been on the ground for about 60 days, it is nice to be in Northern California with temps in the 70’s.
It has been fun being able to go outside in shorts and take the kids to the park to play. They have been having fun doing that. Especially the climbing. It has been nice to be able to get out of the house and play.
Visitng family has been fun and it has been enjoyable just being able to sit and just veg out. Not having to worry about shoveling snow or doing projects around the house. Vegging is fun.
Mile High Soapbox 