Courtenay Loves...

Vacation

2008-08-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

What's the ideal vacation for you? Doing "stuff"? Museums, site seeing, hiking, skiing, whatever? Or, doing nothing? Laying on the beach or by the pool, reading, room service?

As long as I'm prepared, i can go either way. The first time I visited my family in Oregon last October, I was expecting to do more stuff. We did do some touristy things, but there was also a lot of downtime. So, the next couple times I visited, I was prepared. I brought books. I read them. It was relaxing and it was good.

When I went to Oregon a few weeks ago, I brought several books, plus bought one more at the airport. The only thing I knew for sure was that my nieces (2 and 5) wanted to go with Auntie to paint pottery. So, how surprised was I when I see my sister and she works out an itinerary for the week and posts it on the fridge.

Monday - paint pottery
Tuesday - lunch and movie
Wednesday - county fair
Thursday - boating
Friday - chair lift

Wow.

And, we did all of it. Early. Because the girls need their naps. So, by 3 o'clock most afternoons, I was out on the deck reading. I read 4 1/2 books in a week.

I got the best of both worlds on my vacation. Did a whole lot of stuff. Did a whole lot of nothing.

Online ordering isn't for everything

2008-08-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

Did you know you can order pizza online? Well, ya can. Now, ordering pizza online actually seems LESS convenient than the traditional method of picking up the phone, but I like to think I'm a web 2.0 kinda girl, so I tried it.

First, I ordered from Papa John's...lots of screens to click through for one lousy pizza. Then, it took an hour and half for delivery. No thanks. Pizza is a craving that needs immediate gratification or no gratification at all. By the time the pizza got here, I was over it.

Pizza Hut is right down the street, so I tried them next. Ordered online, then drove a mile and picked up my pie. No problem. Booyah. Did it a couple more times. Booyah and booyah. Pizza craving satisfied.

Until now.

Order online. Receive confirmation email. Drive to Pizza Hut.

Bored 17-year-old whose name tag says "Management" under her name (I assume that she was promoted to management because she shows up on her scheduled days, and has for three months): We don't have an online order for Courtenay.

Me: Uhh... well I ordered it. Online. I got a confirmation.

Management: Well it's not here. Maybe you ordered it from a different store.

Me: Umm..I don't think so.

Managment: I don't know what to tell you. i don't have your order.
Note that at no time does she say "I'm sorry," or offer to re-take my order. She just looks at me and shrugs, like her hands are tied. Like she is not, in fact, just feet from mountains of pizza dough, gallons of pizza sauce, and tons of pizza cheese, not to mention the giant pizza ovens.

I wish that I were a more confrontational person, more able to stand up for myself, but I'm not. I mumble something about going home to check my confirmation email and leave. At home, I confirm that I did in fact order from the correct store and call the number in the email and speak to a new bored employee who calls me a liar.

"The order you supposedly placed isn't in our system." Now, in his defense, he is probably barely literate and doesn't understand the subtle nuance of words like "supposedly." And again, no apology, no offer to re-take my order.

Me: Well, can you just take my order now then??

Bored: Uh yeah, I guess...

In the middle of this agonizing process, he suddenly says "Hang on!" and puts the phone down. He returns a minute later.

Bored: I have your order here, you can come pick it up if you want.

Me: Wait...what?

Bored and annoyed now: Your order is ready. You can come and get it. *audible sigh*

I stare at the phone, dumbfounded, for a few moments before returning to Pizza Hut for the second time in 20 minutes.

Management: You know what happened? Someone cashed out your order so it wasn't in the system anymore.

Me: Uhh...okay?

Management: That'll be $21.64.

No more online pizza for me. And no more Pizza Hut until Management graduates from high school.

What made my day...

2007-11-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

An email from my friend, Mike, who is an awesome web designer...

Can I just say that you are awesome!!!

I love your work.

-Mike

And...the guy at Panda Express calling me babe instead of ma'am.

A Christmas Revolution

2007-10-26T16:02:00.001-07:00

christmas revolution lo res, originally uploaded by mattr_pinson.

This is posted at Church Marketing Lab. Yes, the image is a little humorous, a baby raising a fight-the-power fist, but it's also profound. I love the idea that Jesus Christ was BORN to be a revolutionary. Born to change the world. Christmas is full of sweet manger scenes with an innocent baby Jesus, but even then, He was Jesus Christ, savior and changer of the world.

Should artists/designers give away their work?

2007-10-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Interesting, and somewhat heated discussion on Church Marketing Lab. I will admit that I don't really understand what Old Testament business practices Sean is talking about, but he is certainly passionate about it. Good for him!

I always pause before I fill in my occupation on a form. I struggle to type "artist" or even "designer." But, I checked out some of the free designs on the site that inspired the whole discussion, and honestly, I wasn't impressed. Maybe that makes me a real designer!

Welcome!

2007-10-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome...