Scott Bush

We recently paid ATT Wireless/Cingular/ATT Wireless again way more than they deserve because we ran over our “Family Talk” minutes. Ouch. Our fault for not keeping up on it. That’s why I’m posting a couple of useful tools for my “in-network” brethren (and sistren… is that a word?).

Check your minutes
Dial

*646#

and hit send. You’ll get a message a moment later displaying your remaining minutes in the billing cycle. This may not include recent calls, so if you’re getting low be conservative with this number.

Find out who you can dial for free

I discovered a cool tool on ATT Wireless’s site that allows you to enter a phone number and see if it’s “in-network.” If so, you can dial it for free if your plan has free mobile-to-mobile calls (and I think most if not all do). Log into ATT Wireless and enter numbers into their “in-network” tool. If the number is found, I recommend you put that number into a group (if your phone supports it) with a different ringtone. That way you’ll know if you can talk with impunity.

A rather big day at the zoo, to be precise. I spent Saturday, 25 Aug. at the Woodland Park Zoo with my colleagues from the marketing department at a large Northwest homebuilder. We weren’t alone; about 4000 of our homeowners joined us. Quite an undertaking, but it was gratifying (okay, relieving) that it came off without any major hitches (except the missing veggie burgers for the BBQ).

The weather was drizzly and overcast in the morning and didn’t bode well, but but 11:30 or so the sky was peeking through; by 1:30 it was downright hot. We expected roughly 5200 people, and the zoo’s estimate was about 4000: a good turnout.

I took a 20-minute break from the North meadow madness to commune with the butterflies in the exhibit next to the meadow. They were great, and so many varieties all in the same spot. The keeper was releasing newly-birthed butterflies from an enclosure onto the trees, where they flapped their wings until they dried so they could take their inaguaral flight. I had hoped that if I stood still long enough, one would alight on me… and I was right! Very cool to see one so close to me that I could watch it furl and unfurl its proboscis.

To celebrate our second anniversary, Crystal and I visited Victoria, BC, the weekend prior to our actual anniversary. We had an excellent time up there, eh? Here’re the notables from the trip.

The Clipper

Want (nearly) all the security, cost, and waiting you’re used to when flying, but none of the actual air travel? The Clipper is for you! I’d never been on it and was impressed with how fast the thing went. But you can’t really spend anytime outside like a regular ferry. Then again, you can’t buy duty-free booze on the Edmonds-to-Kingston run, either. One positive: 75-cent Tully’s bottomless coffee.

Craigmyle B&B

Eschewing the class and high cost of the Empress Hotel or its kin around the inner harbor, we stayed at a bed and breakfast about a 25-minute walk away. It’s named the Craigmyle because it’s literally next door to Craigdaroch Castle (read below for more on this mansion-cum-museum-cum-tourist-trap).

The Craigmyle, a four-story guesthouse, wasn’t amazing, but suited us okay. Our room was tiny but had its own bathroom (though the sink was across the room from it… odd). A “traditional English” breakfast was included, which meant oatmeal or fruit followed by two eggs, toast, sautéed mushrooms and tomato (and bacon if you wanted it). Pretty good, actually.

Downtown Victoria

Though touristy in the extreme, downtown Victoria is quite nice. Lots of little shops (the most blatant of which advertised “best souvenirs here!” or had neon “currency exchange” signs) offered plenty of diversion and food choices. The inner harbor promenade was populated with artists hoping to sketch your portrait or sell you some handmade jewelry. We skipped the wax museum, harbor tour, undersea aquarium, and “Big Bus” tour, but did enjoy the  free tour of BC’s legislative building. Quite gorgeous and, according tour our guide, is worth half a billion dollars.

High tea at the Empress Hotel

If you look up “worst value” in the dictionary, you’ll find high tea at the Empress Hotel second only to the $640 toilet seat. We’d been told to treat ourselves with this fanciest of tea services outside of Buckingham Palace, so we did, despite the whopping $55 price tag. Each.

It’s quite a deal they have going there. Everyone tells you it’s the most wonderful, extravagant way to treat yourself so you’re built up for it. First you have to visit the reservations counter, where you’re told they can seat you tomorrow, or “we had a cancellation so we can seat you right now.” Maybe I’m paranoid, but I think they do that a lot to get people to say yes because they can get in without waiting.

I felt awkward because I was in shorts and felt too casual, but apparently the only restriction to this fancy place is no jeans. We were sat in the library, which I actually didn’t mind as it was more intimate. We sat down and was served our strawberries and whip cream. Very nice. We chose our tea (the Empress blend), then our three-tiered tray arrived with sandwiches, scones, and desserts. Being on edge about how fancy it was, I noticed the chip in the bottom plate and how all three were tilting slightly. We dug in, and honestly the sandwiches were good: cream cheese and smoked salmon; carrot ginger, chicken curry, and classic cucumber. The scone was good with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. Even the four bite-sized desserts were nice. Tasty, but honestly it was about $12-$15 worth of food. That was it. An experience and a good story to tell, but I’ll never do it again and certainly not encourage others to throw away their cash. For $55 you’d think they could give you a glass of champaign or something, sheesh.

Craigdarroch Castle

Coal baron Robert Dunsmuir built a castle for his wife in 1890, but died before it was finished. His family lived in it briefly before sitting abandoned, then serving as a hospital, various schools, offices, and now a museum. Pretty cool to wander around and see the restoration work. Some rooms were restored to their 1890s glory; others remained as spartan offices from the 40s. The coolest thing about the tour were the two in-costume “guides” discussing the castle. One gentleman in the billiard room was very entertaining, explaining things to “the futurists” gathered around him. The other was a servant girl who was “sewing” dresses and explaining to the visitors about the impending marriage of the youngest Dunsmuir daughter. They were both quite good, and it was entertaining to watch the other tourists interact with them.

Overall, it was a great anniversary trip.  The highlights, though, had little to do with Victoria. They were the delicious and dirt-cheap Chinese meal we had Friday night and the fact that we finally finished the Harry Potter series Sunday morning before heading home. Good times!

It’s a fountain alright… of crap.

Maybe that’s a bit harsh. The 2006 film was ambitious but ultimately falls apart. The Fountain really is a vehicle for Hugh Jackman to show audiences (well, those that skipped the Meg Ryan snoozer Kate and Leopold) that he’s more than just scruff, muscles, and adamantium claws as Wolverine.

The story is all over the place, jumping between three timelines: 16th-century Spain, the present (presumably in the US), and–according to the film’s synopsis–the 26th century, though how anyone would know that is beyond me. Jackman’s character and his co-star, Rachel Weisz, share a love intertwined in these lifetimes. On paper, I bet this premise worked; the film’s trailer certainly made it seem promising.

But if falls very short in execution. My primary problem was not with the paradoxical nature of the intersecting timelines; I love Star Trek and can buy off on that. It’s the fact there was never any explanation of how the three are connected. Is the 16th-century conquistador Jackman the same as the present-day scientist Jackman? If so, how are they related to the Jackman in the floating bubble in space? Flashbacks, time travel, and poorly-explained situations abound, so I’m not sure if there’s something deeper I missed or whether the script just sucked.

It’s not all bad, though. Visually, the movie’s pretty excellent. Oh, and if you like to see Hugh Jackman cry, this one is for you.

Update - This post was getting numerous comment spam, so I’ve disabled comments on this post.

Two years ago we received, as a wedding gift from my Uncle Rupe in Comox, B.C., a raclette grill. “Ooooh,” was my mom’s excited reply when I told her what we’d received. “That’s such a great gift, what a wonderful thing to have!”

“What is it?” I asked, having never heard of it nor guessing its purpose from its two-layer ovoid shape.

“A tabletop grill, it’s French and very fancy,” she told me. “It’s very fun with a group, somewhat like fondue.” And she was right, though I wouldn’t know it until last Sunday when we finally fired it up. It sat in our cupboard and we’d say “we should do that raclette thing soon.” Now that we finally have we’ll be doing it a lot more often: raclette is pretty sweet!

It’s basically a grill and a broiler. Each person loads up one or two wedge-shaped baskets with prepared foods—potatoes, other veggies, meat (if you’re so inclined) and cheese—and puts them on the bottom layer, so they’re broiled by the heating element above. Meanwhile, you can put other foods on the top to be grilled.

We’d planned to have a friend over, but she wasn’t able to join us. So we experienced it on our own but had a great time. Much like fondue, you spend a lot of time preparing the food (cubing the cheese, chopping and par-boiling veggies, etc.) and cooking it in small batches. This slower pace makes for a fun meal and ample opportunity to talk with your guests.

One thing we didn’t know was how hot the thing gets (duh, it’s a grill). I was concerned we’d set off the fire alarm with the excessive heat and smoke from the occasional basket piled too high with goodies brushing against the heating element. It’s definitely better suited for a winter’s dinner than summer.

I’m listening to my colleagues lead students in a Socratic seminar discussion about the heady topics of prior review, managing staff conflicts, and dealing with controversial topics (smoking, teen pregnancy, cheating, etc.). Anyone who thinks all teenagers are lazy, unintelligent slackers needs to spend a day or two with these young journalists.

The WJEA Writes & Responsibilities session at CWU is wrapping up and I must say I was glad to have been here. I had a few great teaching opportunities: Intermediate InDesign, where I shared a few great tips that will really save time and prevent headaches for editors. I also had a lackluster teaching experience: Design Basics, for which I was unprepared to teach and it showed.

But what I enjoyed most—and hope was the most useful—were the interactions with students during the scheduled work time. Rather than hang in the sun, these students came to me and asked for advice on their papers. The one-on-one (well, one-on-four in some cases) analysis of headline hierarchy, overuse of boxes and rules, inadequate and inconsistent spacing, low-resolution images, etc. really got me excited. It’s excellent to see them nod and get excited as they see what they can improve in their papers’ designs. And then to be able to show them exactly how those changes can be accomplished in InDesign is even more fun.

If I’m invited back next year, I hope to teach an InDesign major session where I can walk through the entire process, rather than just explaining a few tips. Oh, and I’d have time to prepare some materials!