Merry Christmas

I got Karen a Tivo for Christmas, so Karen and I have finally stepped into the 21st Century...

So I was wondering what everyone else got??? Hope it's good!

Nater

New Horizons

Since hours at the golf course are very sparse I have picked up a job at Golf Galaxy. I will be starting the week after Christmas. I will only be working a couple days a week, so I don't think it'll be too bad. I just hate the thought of going back to retail... It should only be till maybe March when I am expected to be getting hours again at the golf course.

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Senior Project

Well finals will be over this week, so next week I will find out if it has been a successful term. And now I move on to my Senior Project. Most of you know, because you have had one, that this is fairly big and will take a lot of time. I am expecting it will, but at least it is a cool project.

I will be working with OMSI on my project. Which is cool since after we have completed our project, it will be at OMSI and people will be able to see it and play with it. As stated in our project description, which you can read at the above link, we are suppose to build interactive, communicating blocks... Which is actually a lot cooler than it sounds. I have found something similar which uses Stick Men as the display, instead of LEDs which we are suppose to use.

Anyways it sounds like fun.

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Running

Karen and I have been going to the gym since January. And we have turned into running machines. And as I was running tonight I wondered how many miles I have ran this year...

So I was thinking I needed an odometer...an ODONATER... So I created one. As you can see in the top right corner of this blog (depends on comp settings..), there is now a ticker for how many miles I have ran. I will try not to forget to update it every time we go to gym.

I have set a couple of goals. I would like to run a 5K next spring sometime. And I would love to compete in a triathlon next fall. The first goal I know I can reach, the second one will be a little harder!

Anyways keep coming back and see how many miles I can put on the ODONATER.

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Pilot Soccer

On Monday morning UP girls soccer tickets went on sale at 1pm for the Quarterfinals of the NCAA championship. Over 4,000 tickets sold in under 10 minutes, without the website working! I finally went to one of the ticket offices and the lady said she had been holding 2 tickets for a couple to be there at 3pm but they never came, so I got them!

I went to 2 other ticket offices and they all said the same thing. "I had a line of over 100 people stretching out my door and down the street. Sold all I had in 10 minutes!"

There are even some on eBay selling for over $50 a piece! It has caused such a commotion that UPN 49 decided to send a camera crew up there and show it live on television.

I am so excited for this game! Notre Dame knocked them out of the Quarterfinals last year and ended up winning the National Championship, it's UP's turn this year.

The last game against Arizona was awesome, even though it was a blowout of 4-0. The ball handling by the girls was just incredible. What I really liked was that even though they were up by 3-0 with just minutes to go, they still pressed hard. No courtesy win, either bring it o kick your ass kicked.

I love it!

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Mom's Back From Scotland

So my mom is back from her few week vacation in Scotland... Here are a few pics of where she stayed...

This is just funny

Keeley sent me this and it's just hilarious!

ING Up Again

Hey I know all of you know about what a great deal ING is. And now the interest rate has gone up again.

It's now at 3.5%!!!

So if you haven't opened an account, do so and quickly because the free $50 goes away at the end of the year I think...

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Lonely Island

So a friend showed me this webpage with these guys that make some pretty funny shit. You should check it out if you got some time to waste. One is going to be a cast member on SNL and the other two are going to be writers for them...

The Lonely Island

Nater

Daniel Craig is No James Bond...

All I have to say is whats in the Title. Daniel Craig is no James Bond! I dont know who made this decision, but they are a complete moron... It should have been Clive Owen.

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2 Years With No Car

Today marks 2 years that I have been without a car. I never thought I would really make it this long without one... I wouldn't have made it if Karen didn't own one. I still have 9 months to go until I will need to get a car for myself. So for now I will still have to ride my bike around... :(



Anyways as for this anniversay I decided that since I don't own a car, and I have been acting like a teenage boy whenever I see a cool car... Here is tonights top ten list:

Top 10 Cars Nater Would Like To Have:

#10 Volvo S40
#9 Morris Cooper S
#8 Ford Escort Cosworth
#7 Lexus IS300
#6 Audi RS4
#5 Infiniti G35
#4 Nissan Skyline GTR R34
#3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Tommi Makinen Edition
#2 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 22b

and the number #1 Car Nater Would Like To Have is....

2004 BMW M3 CSL

My Hopeful Future

As stated in the previous post I may have a job fairly soon after I graduate. And like I mentioned it has nothing to do with Electrical Engineering...

Working at The Reserve has given me a lot of contacts at Nike Golf, and most of these contacts are way up the food chain. I recently had a meeting with the top Test Engineer for the Golf Ball division. It was a really good meeting and he was really impressed with me. I will also be having a meeting with the top Design Engineer in the near future.

My guess is that I am going to be turned into a Test Engineer for them. This would consist of testing golf ball manufacturing components and provide performance data to R&D Engineers. I would perform lab tests on golf balls, which would include weight, size, compression, durometer, hitting machine test, Coefficient of Restitution testing, durability testing, and the best part of all, human performance test with a radar launch monitor.

The radar launch monitor is awesome! Its a $50,000 system that consists of two radar sensors and two intense laptops to process data. It can detect spin rates and track the ball for the whole flight of the shot. It is an incredible system that anyone, not just tech-nerds like me, would think is awesome.

This sounds like it would kick ass! Hopefully something like this works out, I guess we'll found out.

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School!

So school officially started last week. That means one week down and 29 more to go till graduation. I can finally see the finish line and I cant wait!

"Lots of people go to school for 8 years. Ya they're called doctors!"

Anyways it might turn out that I might not even use my EE degree... Find out in the next episode.

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I Officially Hate "The Dish" Now!

So here we are watching the James Blake/Andre Agassi quarterfinal match on USA. When they say that due to contractual obligations we will have to switch from USA to CBS to watch the end of the match, if we're on the east coast. So we don't change it and the next thing we know they are switching the programming. Its a weird DirecTV thing that except for the local channels everything is kind of on east coast. So I tried to change to CBSE but we don't get that channel and we ended up missing the end of the match...

Well Agassi ended up winning the fourth set, and then they tie the fifth set and go into a tie-breaker. I at least found a radio feed to listen to, so that I could hear what was going on. But it ended up being probably one of the best matches I have ever heard of.....

The only problem is that Comcast is just such a Monopoly Bitch of a company. God this pissed me off. I cant believe that there was no live TV feed online. They better replay this, I want to see it again. I think I might write an angry letter to DirecTV!

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Google Earth

For those that have Google Earth (if you don't get it cause it totally rocks) here are a few beaches that Karen and I have had the luxury to spend many hours on....for those of you that aren't the brightest just cut and paste the latitude and longitude coordinates into the search bar in Google Earth

Whitehaven Beach
-20.2805, 149.0400

Magnetic Island
-19.1485, 146.8695

Surfers Paradise
-27.9994, 153.4319

Byron Bay
-28.6406, 153.6120

And our most favorite place on Earth....
Great Keppel
-23.1910, 150.9489

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Hairstylists

I went and got my haircut today, and while I was sitting there ignoring the stylist talk non-stop about here stupid life, I wondered...

Why in the five minutes that it takes to get my haircut do I not only hear stories about your father's birthday, but also about your boyfriend, and your quad motorcycle. Why doesn't she shut up. I don't care about how her father's birthday party went. Just ask me the usual questions about how I want my haircut and do it!

The worst part is when the lady you get doesn't speak "Engrish" very well and still talks excessively. I don't know why I haven't gone to Chris's wife Cindy yet, but after today I just might start. Even though I would have to go to Washington Square, I think it would be worth the trip...

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Jeld-Wen is Over

So the Jeld-Wen finished up really well. It was good for the tournament and the golf course. There was a 2-person sudden death playoff that provided some good excitement, and the 3rd great finish in as many years for the Tradition since coming to my golf course.

And now I am so glad to see it go, so that we can get back to our normal way of life at the course. I got recent info that my job will be getting more time consuming, since we now have like 20 shotgun tournaments in something like 15 days. There will be many back-to-back events which will make for some exciting days. But after that the tournament season is over, and we move on to the "Please give me more hours" rainy season.

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Jeld-Wen Day 3

The locker room has to be one of the most boring jobs there is. I stand in a little office and wait for players to give me something to do... Could be dry cleaning, shoes, or just a towel. So basically I spend most of the day cleaning up after them and standing around.

If you haven't heard Google now has an IM/VOIP program out. Downloaded it as soon as I saw it. Wish I would have invested in their IO, would have made lots of money, and they only look to be going up.

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Jeld-Wen Day 1

Well today started out really shity (is that with one T or two T's....)! I got a terrible nights sleep and woke up to a flat tire on my bike. By the time I had got to work the day was not going well...

The day did get better, the locker room job is fairly neat. I get to see all the guys behind the scenes and do a little bit of talking with them. Most of my work is just standing around and making sure they have everything they need. So it can get boring some times. But it is only Monday and there are only a few guys here, so tomorrow should be more exciting.

David Duval was out and did a little clinic for the children. It was cool to watch him hit balls. I wish he could return to the form of old...The most incredible thing that I can say about watching a PGA Tour caliber player hit golf balls is that no matter what club he is hitting, the trajectory is always the same. This leads to consistency that I have never known, and could only dream of.

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Spending Money

As most of you know I am a cheap bastard! And as everyone knows you have to be while your in school... But I found what I think is a great deal and I just can't get myself to spend the money.

I found a 40 gig Sony Vaio mp3 player that comes with a remote control and a USB docking station for $229...
Sony's stuff usually kicks ass, so my guess is that this would be fairly awesome. CNET rates it like a 7.5, so you know that's more like an 8 to 8.5 due to all the dumbasses that have one little problem and give it a 1.

I will have to see if I can round up some money somewhere so that it wont feel bad to spend some....

NATER

ING Goes Up

If you haven't jump on the ING deal yet, you should now. With the government announcing a small increase in the national interest rate, ING decided to up there rate again. It's now at an astonishing 3.3%...!

Like I said, it will keep going up so jump on it.

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Michelle Wie Testing

This morning we had Nike out at the golf course for most of the day doing testing on some new balls. Tigers ball engineer, Rock, was there. And we talked a little while about why they had come out. They were there to do some testing on a new Nike One Black and then the had a special lady coming out to do some club testing...

We all new already that it was Michelle Wie. He just didn't want it to spread to much. After we did our ball testing he told us that she had the same ball speed as one of our top professionals Steve Burch. They both have a ball launch speed of about 175 mph, I was in the 165 range. Rock said with a better matched setup I could probably get up to around 170. That's the plan next month when I go down to Tigard and get fully set up at Nike!

Later on Michelle pulled up into the west end driving range area that was closed of for Nike in a nice big limo. I was at the other end of the driving range and saw her warm up and proceed to hit drivers. She was hitting them almost to the red flag green, which from the west end is almost 300 yards, and she had a slight breeze into her. It was amazing. They had like 20 people down there for her, just to test some new things out.

If I get on as an engineer I hope that I will be able to be at some of these testings for professionals, it just would be awesome to be that close to these guys as they do there thing.

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Summer Class is Over!

I am so stoked! Class is finally over, and I have a month and a half to just kick back and work my ass off at work :( ...

I think my final went well. Going into it I had one of the highest grades in the class I believe. So it should turn out okay. I have registered for the Fall. I am taking my Senior Project class, Quantum Mechanics, Digital Signal Processing, and Control Systems. Fairly heavy load but some interesting topics. Just 1 year to go, so scheduling classes is getting a little difficult. I need things to fall almost perfectly in place for me to get my EE/Physics major and Math minor...no worries...

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Karen Got a Job

So Karen finally got a job. She got hired on at Nike doing Insurance Claims Customer Service. Not bad being unemployed for only 3 weeks. Funny thing was she didn't even have an interview. They just called her up and told her that she had the job. She did go through a hiring service, Adecco, that did like pre-interview, but Nike didn't...She's over-qualified for the position so the job should be fairly easy. Hopefully though it will lead to bigger and better things.

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Can't Beat This Deal

So I was shown a while back about a great deal from ING. Basically if you open a savings account with them you get a 3.15% APR (way better than most CDs and it slowly increases!!), a $50 bonus, and there are no fees included or minimums. It is tied to your current checking account so that you can transfer funds back and forth. You just can't beat this...

All you need to do is go to this website.

http://www.ingdirect.com/quicken5/

And enter a Product Code for Quicken 2005 that you can find by just Googleing "quicken pn".

Thats it and you have the best savings account that I can find. Everyone should jump on this.

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I am Employee-of-the-Month

I'm finally employee of the month! I have been trying to get this for such a long time. The reason I wanted it so bad is because you need to be nominated for Employee-of-the-Month to be nominated for Employee-of-the-Year, which is what I really want. For winning I got a front row parking spot, a $75 gift certificate, and 2 passes to the Nike Employee store...

I also have had a little bit of a career change. Karen and I were talking the other day and we were trying to combine my schooling and my golf. We then thought about being an engineer for one of the golf companies as a design/test engineer of some sort. I look it up online and it looks like I might be able to do that with my Physics degree. I may have to take a few more classes like Strength of Materials and Dynamics. But that should be no big deal, I'm really used to going to school now a few more classes won't hurt. I am really excited about this, I feel that this could work out really well, I can get the pay of an engineer but still be working in the golf business. And with my Nike Golf contacts hopefully something works out.

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Employee of the Month

I have been working at my job for about a year and a half now. And I have been doing great work, multiple promotions and raises, but I have never been nominated for Employee-of-the-Month. This I thought was really weird considering how hard I work...My thought behind it was because I would never be able to use the front row parking spot that comes with it, so people would be jealous.

But this month I was finally nominated, twice. So hopefully I win, I would like to have that on my resume...And damn it I am going to lock my bike up right to the Employee-of-the-Month parking sign!

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Nike Deal

I have been in talks with some Nike guys and it looks like I might be a Nike Staff Professional in the near future...

It could just mean that I get some new clubs, or it could go as far as having a full contract to where I have a clothing and equipment deal. I just want to get on staff with some company, I think it would be really cool to be on the inside loop for once. And Nike would be the best since they have such a big presence at my club.

I now need to talk to my boss and see if we can make me an official Reserve Golf Assistant Professional...

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I'm an Apprentice

After a beautiful exhibition (hah) of putting by me, I missed 16 putts inside 5 feet over 36 holes, I shot a 151 and passed my PAT. So now all I have to do is register with the PGA and I will be a PGA Apprentice Golf Professional. I was getting a little worried after the first round when I shot a 77. I had already missed 10 putts inside 5 feet, and I should have made at least 7 of them.

I started the second round really well, after 3 holes I was 2 under, but after 9 holes I had missed a few more putts and I had slipped to 1 over. So now I had 9 holes to go and 1 shot to give to pass. Number 10 is a par five, I hit a monster drive and had a 7 iron into it. I missed the green to the right, and proceeded to chip it in followed by my imitation of a Tiger Woods fist pump. I was then able to kind of cruise my way in, because I now had 3 shots to give with 8 to go, With two of the easiest holes to go.

Anyways enough talking about golf...

NATER

Finals Are Over!!

To anyone who actually reads this blog (hahahaha), sorry its been so long between the last posts.

Well finally Finals are over. I spent quite a few hours studying, hope it pays off. This is the first term I had where it could go any way. I thought about it and I could anywhere from around a 2.0, all the way up to about 3.33. So I am a little anxious to get my grades....

I have the PAT (player ability test) for the PGA on the 21st. I need to beet 75/76 to pass the test. If I pass this test, I will most likely be made an Assistant Professional at the golf club. Which will be nice to make some more money for not really having to do any more work.

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My Big Fat Raise

Some of you know that I got a promotion over the winter time. I am officially titled the Vintage Club Manager/Assistant Tournament Coordinator/Golf Shop Monkey. Now you would think that a lucrative position such as this (remember the longer the title, usually the lower on the totem pole you are) would pay for all of my wildest dreams to be fulfilled. But you have guessed wrong my dear friends. I have figured out that I am currently working close to 40 hours a week, which I told them I couldn't do, doing these three jobs, extremely well by the way, and all I got was a crummy $0.35 cents extra an hour!

Fortunatly this was for just through April which was very light in play. And that as the Tournament rounds keeping racking up like crazy, that I will make a whole bunch more, I get paid $.10 per tournament round. And we do have scheduled almost 16,000 rounds this summer. So hopefully on the next check I see a lot more than a $53 bonus for the month for tournaments.....

Just Venting.

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Here's a Random One

As I sit at work today a thought came to me that I haven't had for a while...

Have you ever sat/laid absolutely still for a period of time that you actually do not feel what you are touching? I had my arm resting on the counter and after a few minutes I couldn't feel the counter. I knew my arm was touching it, but if I stayed perfectly still I couldn't actually feel it! I get this weird feeling all the time and was wondering if I was just a weirdo or if it happened to everyone.

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Family Guy Premiere

FAMILY GUY PREMIERE THIS SUNDAY

Remember everyone, set you TiVo, Family Guy premieres this Sunday. So make sure to watch this incredible show. I don't want it to go off the air again. I need my good half-hour comedies. All of this hour long crime show shit, or reality shows are driving me crazy. I like my canned humor.

I, and some of my friends, have seen the premiere already and it's hilarious! If you want to see it early let me know and I can get it to you. I am going to try find some server space to post this on.

As for other news, well there is really no new news.

NATER

Nater Got a Promotion

Well it's finally official, I got a promotion. My new position is actually three positions. I am now the 2nd Assistant Tournament Coordinator/Vintage Club Manager/Golf Shop. This will keep me busy this year and will bring in a little bit more money also...

I am now looking to pass the PGA Player Ability Test (PAT) and the PGA Rules Test so that I can become a PGA Professional. I will take the PAT in late June and I will probably take the Rules Test sometime shortly.

Also a school update, the teacher that I despise, I think I wrote about him before, has been released from being the teacher of our class and will be fired at the end of the term. YAY! He was a terrible teacher. I did end up getting a B in both of his classes, but I just as easily could have failed.

Anyways sorry for taking so long to post again, not like anyone reads this BS anyways.... :D

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My Birthday Rocked

First off thanks to all of my friends who called me and wished me a happy birthday, that was special...

Second off Bandon is just incredible!

I played Pacific Dunes on Friday and was so impressed, I couldn't believe how beautiful this course is...The course dosen't play that long though. I found myself hitting a lot of Driver/Wedge combinations, oh well its still an awesome course. The wind was very gusty with a strong constant wind. I managed to shoot a 78 which I was very happy with.

My Favorite hole was the Fourth, it was a par 4 that just ran right up the ocean, just beautiful. My most favorite stretch of holes was the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth, although it has two par 3's in a row, the views were just incredible. Definetly the most beautiful course I have ever played.

On Saturday I played Bandon Dunes in the highest winds I have ever played in. It was a constant 30 mph wind with gusts up to 60 mph. It also rained on me for about 5 holes, but I didn't care. I was golfing by myself, on one of the best courses in the world, on my birthday, I definetly had a smile on my face.

The course layout is definetly better than Pacific Dunes but not as beautiful. There were some pretty holes though like the Third, which had a high tee box with a view of overlooking the course and ocean. My favorite holes were the Sixth, Sixteenth, and the Seventeenth, all of which were some of the prettiest holes I have ever seen. I ended up shooting an 81, and in the wind I was quite happy with that, considering I had some drives go just 180 yards.

I can't wait to go back again someday, hopefully when the weather is better so I can play them in more normal conditions. And definetly after Bandon Trails opens up! Man what a Birthday though, just awesome.

NATER

Off to Bandon

We are off to Lincoln City tonight, then Bandon in the morning... I am so excited to play Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes. I just hope that my wrists can take two rounds of golf in a row. Most of you probably dont know but I hurt my right wrist last fall in a golf tournament and my left wrist this winter in the gym. Similar injury on both wrists too, they dont hurt all the time, but golf aggrivates it. I also am just getting over this cold I have had all week long....Anyways enough complaining by me, I am on Spring Break...

Go Dawgs in the Sweet 16!

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Happy Birthday Megs and Adam

Just wanted to let you know that you are getting old....

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Huskies Win Pac-10 Championship!

I know most of you probably don't care too much but my Dawgs did it! They beat Arizona big time to win their first-ever Pac-10 Championship! Nate Robinson is just amazing. The things that that man can do, and at 5'7" is unbelievable. He made some awesome dunks; he was even dunking over other players, just incredible.

GO DAWGS

Nater

Bus Poem

If you have ever ridden on a Tri-Met bus then you have probably seen the poems that are posted on them. Here is one that I kind of like:

I believe in the rule of opposites,
that the two sides to a coin are loss and greater loss,
that grief dribbles out of a bottle as effortlessly as joy,
and if you scoop up everything sad,
your hands will discover the texture of hope.

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This Term is Kicking My Ass

Man seems like I cant do anything right this term. I keep making stupid mistakes on my exams and getting points knocked off for stupid things. And if you know me at all I hate screwing up on little things...

I have one teacher that I really would like to kick in the nads! He has fallen two weeks behind in lecture and he dosent even seem to care. He is impossible to pay attention to since he is always going off on tangents and then coming back to what he was talking about. So basically my friends and I have had to teach ourselves everything! And his exams are near impossible. I probably spent close to 20 hours working on it in the last week, and I still had 1 problem that I know wasnt completely correct. And the exam is on stuff that we havent even really covered yet...

And lately I have been thinking about Grad School and know I need to finish with a 3.00, so I am really stressing these classes out. Cant wait for spring break and Bandon Dunes.


Sorry for rambling, just venting...

We Are Really In For It!

Any one else have the inkling that we are in for a serious deluge this spring due to that fact that we have had almost no rain this winter...I mean it was 63 today in Portland and 67 in Scappose and Salem!

I am serious, have your ark built cause I swear its coming.

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Some Impressive Service

I just have to give some major credit to newegg.com. I just experiened some of the best service off of an internet sales site ever.

Well I ordered a memory card for my new phone (more on that later) on Wednesday afternoon at 1:15 pm, and then I went to work. When I got home I checked my email and had received a reply telling me my order number and my tracking number. I always seem to get these really quick from all my orders online but the cool thing here is usually even if you have a tracking number, it usually dosen't actually get sent for a day or two more. I decided to check the tracking number and loe and behold it had shipped at 2:20 pm that same day!! I couldn't believe it shipped in barely over an hour....

The next cool thing is that orders are usually shipped in the slowest form possible (cause I am cheap and dont want to pay more for shipping is one reason), but I got my package on Friday afternoon....That's right 2 days from when I placed the order. I am stunned I have never had that kind of service before.

So here is my recommendation...Any electronics that you need or want definetly get it from newegg.com even if is a few more dollars, it's totally worth it with the service you get. So a big Nater Thumbs Up to newegg.com.

Man I am so excited for my new phone now....

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Restaurant Reviews

In the last couple of weeks Karen and I have gone to 2 really great restaurants that I would like to tell everyone about....

The first one is Merchant of Venice in Orenco Station. We were first going to go the the Orenco Grill but after sitting down and looking at the expensive menu, we decided it was too rich for our blood for just a normal meal. So we walked around the corner and saw this place. We went in and they have two separate areas, a bar area, and a normal restaurant eating area. The restaurant area was very open with small romantic tables and candle lit, it looked very nice. But the Kings game was on in the bar area so we sat down in there. We each got a personal size pizza for ourselves and were quite surprised with how big they were. Each pizza ran like $8 and they were delicious, and we both had some left over for lunch the next day. Definitely a Nater Thumbs Up.

The other place we went out to was Oba! Restaurant in the Pearl District. We had an Ahi Tuna appetizer that was so soft that it just melted in our mouths, it was incredible. For our entrees, Karen had the Steak and I had the Prime Rib. Both were absolutely fabulous, but the Prime Rib was to die for. I have never had prime rib that had that soft of a texture; you always tend to get some gristle in there. The seating was nice and comfortable, with booths around the edge and normal tables in the middle of the room. The wait staff is extremely nice and knew everything about everything on the menu, I was impressed. Over all it was a little expensive to dine here, but well worth it if you want to treat yourself or someone. Once again a definite Nater Thumbs Up.

Nater

Just a Link

Well if anyone out there is a tecno lover ( I know not many are ). Trance Addict is a cool link to some good tracks. Especially check out the live sets, they cant be beat. And if you know where to get others let everyone know.

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Its Official. I am a Janitor.

The other day at work I was the one to close up the Player Services area, since I am helping them out down there for a while. Well I got 2 new keys to go to my collection to lock up. So the grand total of keys for me at work is 16, thats right 16 keys to close up a little shop at a golf course. And thats even not the best part.

The funny thing is, is that they are all normal door keys and are all the exact same! Someone was smart enough to come up with a nice little alpa-numeric code so we would know where each key goes. Too bad the system makes no sense at all. For example the 'B' key goes to the side door, the '1' key goes to the inside officies, the 'H' key goes to the upstairs offices....and itjust goes randomly like that all over. For some places they even mix in numbers and letters.

So basically I now just go to a door and try key after key until I get the right one. All I need now is one of those key chains that latch to a belt loop with a rectractable cord.....SWEET

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New Subaru SUV

I have been a "Big" fan of Subaru for almost 10 years now. Have loved just about everything that they have ever done, except the weird bug-eyed WRX's that came out a few years ago. I even went to a meeting with Subaru about bringing the WRX and STi over here...

But I just dont know about their new SUV, the B9 Tribeca. It just looks too much like the Porsche SUV. I also liked the fact that Subaru made vehicles that kick SUV ass. There is countless times when I have gone up the mountain in my Subaru with no chains or traction devices and passed stupid fucks on the side of the road chaining up their yuppy SUV's.

I dont know how to feel about this.

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Hello My Name is Nate. And I Have an Addiction.

I have developed this new addiction from somewhere, and I dont know where. I have an addiction to buying bottles of wine.

I know this doesn't sound that weird, but I hardly ever drink wine. Yes I do like it, but I hardly ever drink it. Mainly because I am the only one in this house that drinks wine, if I wanted to open a bottle I would have to drink the whole thing. Not that that is a bad thing, but I find it hard to drink a whole bottle of wine by myself. I know I could put it in the fridge...but I would probably never get around to finishing it.

What to do......

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$135 Million Awarded for Drunk Driver Accident

I just dont know about this one. I mean I feel sorry that the little kid got paralyzed, but $135 million....$75 million to Aramark just for serving this man alcohol...

I mean when people get killed, they usually get some where in the neighborhood of what, $10 - $30 million. I mean OJ only had to pay out $8.5 million to the Goldman Family...

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Confirmed Premiere of The Family Guy

Sunday, May 1st 9/8c on FOX....

Damn. Seems to be a long way away for them to be doing these warm-up shows on Sundays. So be sure to set those Tivo/Cable/Satellite Timers, you really wont want to miss it.

If you can't wait that long for some laughter then make sure to read Get Fuzzy. It will put a good smile on your face until then.

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Crazy Thought

Karen and I bought a new mattress over the weekend and it is extremely comfortable. Which reminded me about a thought I had before.....

Why can your bed be so uncomfortable when you are trying to go to sleep, you can be tossing and turning all night and never get comfortable. But when you wake up it dosen't matter which position your in, your bed is the most comfortable place you could be. I mean you could have your feet hanging over the edge of the bed, your pillow could be on the floor, and your significant other laying on top of you, and you wouldn't care because it would still be the most comfortable thing ever.

hhmmm...

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My Lewis Black Rant

We have the strangest damn weather in the Northwest...On the 15th it was 32/29 in Portland, and on the 18th it was 64/55. We go from wearing mittens and butt pads to protect us from slipping on the ice, to walking around in t-shirts and no coats.

And what is it with all these damn rebates. I have about 9 just for buying a computer, totaling somewhere around $400. I finally get them all ready to go in the mail and I head down to the post office. I wanted to track them cause a few are worth quite a bit. Well to me it looked like I could track a parcel for $0.55, so I slapped a sticker on there. When I got to the counter the lady just about ripped my head off telling me I couldn't track a letter, just a parcel (which I quickly learned is at least 3/4 an inch thick). To track it, it would cost $4.30 because it had to go Priority Mail! So basically I could package it so its 3/4 and inch thick and mail it for like $2.50 or I can track my letter for $4.30...This is got to be one of the stupidest things I have heard! I thought my brain was going to explode out of my ears.

Okay that was my very poorly done Lewis Black rant impression, sorry you guys had to read it.

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ALLLL RRRIGHT! Family Guy Is Back!

Thats right, it is finally coming back to television. And Fox has an hour long showing this Sunday night, and the next two, to kick off the new Spring Season of The Family Guy. Just make sure to watch it. And check out The Family Guy Uncancelled website.

Man I am so excited.

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Odd....UW Engineering webpage

So as I was looking for some things to build...when I ran across this webpage on the University of Washington EE web page. Looks like a schematic to build a garage door opener that would open up just about any garage door. Seems to be the kind of schematic a school like UW would not want on their website....

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8 Week Free Pass to Bally's

Okay so I saw the add about the National Body Challenge on the Discovery Channel and didn't believe it, but then Chris said his parents had signed up. So I looked into it. And loe and behold it was true. So Karen and I signed up for one, and I thought I would let other people know about it.

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Finally got my Matrix Internet Head Port!

Okay so we finally got our Comcast set-up so we have an internet connection at home. Nice to finally join the 21st century.

Here's my IM info, I only use ICQ right now, dont really like having 5 IM's or Trillian...I might change if I find that everyone seems to use one type or the other.

ICQ: 315-721-754

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Well thought I would start one of these things up.
Seems like everyone has one, so here is mine.

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