Dad's Birthday

My dad's name was John. John Johnson. I remember growing up and everyone called him Johnny. And he was from the South where they called him Buddy. I called him Dad. And I recently learned that my brother called him Johnny Danger. I'm not sure what that means, but Mike and I chuckle about it.

Today Dad would have been 82 years old. But he died when he was just 49.

Here is a picture I took of Dad back in 1976. I had been living in Florida and I was driving home to Seattle when I stopped in Mississippi for a week to visit Dad and my grandparents. Of all places, Dad and I visited Vicksburg National Military Park.

And we climbed, and posed, on the horses. We probably weren't supposed to, but that's just how Dad rolled.

I wish he was here today so we could climb on some more horses and maybe we could find out why my brother called him Johnny Danger...RIP,Dad.

Haiku Time

Dead leaves falling from the trees
Wipers - can't keep up
Mounds build along the way home

Cat ready to pounce on it
Life is near the end
Cat eats very well tonight!

Veteran’s Day at Applebee’s Restaurant

Today we want to say THANK YOU to all of the men and women that serve/or have served our country!! And a special shout to to Dad and Mike.

And once again Applebee’s Restaurant honors our veterans and active duty military by offering a free meal today. Check it out!

Earn$t Money

The original cashier’s check was returned to us on Monday. It is now resting in our bank account...waiting for the next house!

Inspection #1

We found a house. Last month. But it’s been an uphill battle.

It’s a foreclosed house. Little did I know what that entails. But I am learning.

I learned that when a bank owns a house they don’t know how to be a “seller.” They are not in the real estate business and it shows. And even though the bank uses a real estate agency that focuses on foreclosures it doesn’t mean that that agency is going to play by the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) rules that were drilled into me when I was a real estate agent.

I contacted my former Coldwell Banker Bain broker/mentor and asked him to be our agent. We put in our offer on a Wednesday morning, with a response requested by Thursday at 5:00pm. It wasn’t until TEN DAYS later that we learned they had gone with a “cash buyer” and we were knocked out of the competition. Hmpff!

But I kept watching the MLS listing and never saw it change from Active to Pending. I thought that was weird, however, considering my short-lived experience with the bank’s agent I wasn’t that surprised. So every day I watched it and then – out of the blue – our agent contacted us and told us the cash buyer backed out. Whoo-hoo!!! We were back in the game.

We had additional documents to sign (plus, we had to magically turn our earne$t money check into a cashier’s check) and those went back and forth until last Thursday when we were told the offer was accepted – even though TO THIS DAY we have not received a copy of the signed around Purchase and Sale Agreement which documents mutual acceptance! Nevertheless, I noticed last Thursday evening that the MLS listing had changed from Active to Pending Inspection so we presumed our deal was on the table. Whewww…

So we had our agent set up an inspection and we crossed our fingers.

The inspection was Wednesday afternoon. Mike and our agent met the inspector at the house and the plan was to have me meet them at the house to hear the “results” when the inspector was done. My heart sinks when I think about the next paragraph I am going to write.

First off, it appears that someone used a water pressure cleaner to “clean” the roof – multiple times – and they ended up damaging numerous shingles and actually causing enough damage to see the plywood under the shingles in places. Cost #1 – a new roof NOW.

Secondly, since the house was vacant the water had been turned off. So the inspector turned it on and heard a leak behind a wall in the bathroom. Cost #2 – tear out the wall, find the leak and fix it.

Third, the gas water heater is old and near the end of its lifespan. Cost #3 – a new water heater and quick before it quits working.

Fourth, someone somehow made a "new" laundry area in the kitchen, but the dryer they have cannot fit into the laundry area so that the laundry door can shut! And in order to open the dryer door you actually have to "unhook" the laundry door to give it enough room! Cost #4 - re-engineer the whole laundry area.

And I could go on and on with the other issues. But I won’t. The bank stipulated in the Purchase and Sales Agreement that they would not pay for any repairs and that the house was sold “as it.” So much for negotiating. (As an aside, our agent offered to go back to the other agent and request concessions, but we have our doubts that that would ever happen.)

The drive home with Mike was quiet. We both knew in our heart of hearts that we didn’t want to buy a “fixer” and sink extra money into it just to make it livable. When we got home the floodgates opened and we debated the issues until we came to a resolution.

Not this house. Nope. Too many issues.

So yesterday morning we talked to our agent and said we were ready to walk away from the deal. He posed some good questions for us to think about, but could not change our minds. We explained that we’d rather keep looking. And we will. And I have no doubt that we will find the perfect, little house for us – one day.

Now the question at hand is – how long will it take for that lame seller’s agent to return our earne$t money???

Where in the World are Mike and Cynthia?

We’re right here in Kenmore, Washington. And we’re living the good life.

Mike’s health is excellent – even with all of the pills he has to take and the numerous doctor visits.

Cynthia loves her job and all that goes with full-time, permanent employment again!

Cynthia’s brother is doing pretty well…he had a bad few months in the hospital, but he’s recovering and almost back to par.

Our doggie, Rock, is eating well. He does, however, run off down our street every now and then – causing me to chase after him!

Our kitty, Squeak, is also eating well and sleeping quite well.

Everything is going so darn well that we’re moving forward with another goal in mind. We want to buy a house. Our “nomadic” life is drawing to an end…and while it was fun to pack up and sell everything and travel - we long for putting down roots again.

There is something about pride of ownership that we miss. We’ll never have the perfect garden, but we can grow tall sunflowers! We’ll never have the newest car on the block, but we can keep ours washed and shiny. We’ll never have the biggest house, but we can keep the gutters cleaned and the windows washed. We'll never have the biggest party at our house, but we can get to know our neighbors and be there when someone needs a hand.

Just the idea of settling in to our own place again makes me smile...stay tuned...there is more to come…

Nintendo Orientation

As a newly appointed permanent employee (oxymoron for 2011) of Nintendo America Inc., I recently participated in a two-day orientation. All the other newbies come to Redmond from NYC, San Francisco, North Bend and Kirkland and together we all go through a comprehensive ramp-up to hit the ground running as new Nintendo recruits.

The conference room we used was huge, the large conference tables were beautifully set, and there was a breakfast awaiting us on the side of the room. We were a group of nine and we were divided into teams of three with three of us at each of the large conference tables. Executives and managers took turns addressing us and providing information about their department or the company structure.

We even took a field trip to the North Bend facility where games and consoles are sent out round the globe. We had lunch with North Bend executives and managers and had the chance to ask them about North Bend activities.

We returned to headquarters in Redmond and heard more about some of the fabulously robust employee benefits and opportunities to win all kinds of prizes throughout the year.

We shared stories with our table-mates and we collaborated when competing against the other two teams – yes – we had contests that tested how much we’d been paying attention during the presentations. At the end of day one my team won the Jeopardy competition and we each received a shopping bag full of Nintendo goodies.

Upon our return to the same conference room on Tuesday morning we were greeted with a nice, red and black athletic bag that had been tucked onto each of our chairs. Our nametags had also been rearranged so that we sat with new people on the second day of our orientation.

We began with a complete tour of Redmond and I had my first glimpse of the Contact Center (reps responding to Nintendo calls, email, and correspondence) in the building next to mine. It was also my first time to see the underground parking in my building and the state-of-the-art Nintendo workout facilities. WOW.

We had a catered lunch and were joined by high-profile people that work at the Redmond campus. Again, it was an opportunity to have a 1:1 with someone that was open to questions from new employees. The person who sat at my table is someone I have seen around the building for months and months and it was so nice to finally be introduced.

The afternoon included a competition with a crossword puzzle. Each team went to a private conference room and went to work. We found that calling Nintendo employees and asking for the answer was the way to go! We didn’t win, but we had great teamwork!

We finished the day with another Jeopardy competition and we fought hard, but, alas, no win for my team.

Prior to this week, I had heard lots about the orientation and I was looking forward to it. I was not at all disappointed. It was fun and it was a fulfilling two days.

News from Nagoya, Japan

My friend, Teresa from Lake Stevens, Washington, recently sent more pictures that describe the life she is now experiencing in Japan.

My favorite: A two-car garage!

Teresa explains that this globe-like building is the Nagoya Planetarium, the largest one in the world!

A ferris wheel!

I had asked Teresa about challenges in using her washer and dryer and in a recent email Teresa wrote:

Now, what you've all been waiting for, washers and dryers and recycling, oh my! said to the tune of lions, and tigers and bears......as i said a while back, our washer and dryer are from Germany. l am most grateful to have them, but they really try my patience. For some strange reason, they almost never work on the first try, especially the washing machine, so I have to keep pushing the buttons which can get frustrating after several tries-I swear between the washing machine and stove, I am going to have arthritic fingers by the time we go back home. The dryer takes at least 2 hours to get everything dry, even though I do very small loads, therefore if I want to keep up with the dirty laundry, I have to take care of it just about every other day or so. Unfortunately I often get behind then I spend hours doing it. Oh well.

I was also curious about recycling in Japan and Teresa said this:

As for recycling, which my friend Cynthia asked about, things have to
be sorted into 6 different bags-burnables, which is basically food refuse, paper, plastic, bottles, cans and non-burnables. We have 3 large containers into which we put different colored plastic bags and that is how we sort things. The non-burnables get picked up once a month, things like pots, glass, electronics, etc. and everything else gets picked up twice a week. I refuse to keep the stinky garbage inside, so it sits outside our door in its own container. I hide it under a tarp when we have company ;-) On pick-up day we have to put the burnable trash under crow nets. I wondered what those were when I first heard about them. Well, the garbage goes out in bags, not in their containers, and if it does not get put under the nets, the crows come and make a big mess. They have managed to make holes in the net so they still sometimes get into bags. They are determined, they are huge and they seem to know the value of teamwork!!!

Teresa and Steve ate at a teppanyaki restaurant that was pricey and short on the food portions.

Teresa gets around Nagoya and comments:

I went to feed the cats in Meijo Park this morning. Saw more than ever but Poco, the one that was injured, was nowhere to be found. He was improving a lot the last 2 times I saw him so hopefully he was asleep or maybe someone took him home. Last week when I was coming home from teaching in Sakae, I saw a family of beautiful kittens with their mama near our subway station. There was a huge crow hanging around trying to attack one of the kitties so I hung around and chased it away until the kittens went for cover. Dang crows!
The little red bike that takes Teresa on sight-seeing trips.

Teresa in a cooking class.

A farmer in her field.

Rice drying.

Thank you for sharing, Teresa!

Seattle Sounders Fan Appreciation Night

I love Nintendo! Back in June Mike and I were lucky enough to watch a Seattle Sounders professional soccer match with the New England Revolution from the deluxe Nintendo suite at Century Link field.

Oh, la, la…we were spoiled with high-end snacks and beverages – not to mention the view.

The stadium view from the entry onto the suite level.

Our view from the suite.

And it was in August that I saw a Nintendo announcement offering Sounders tickets for Fan Appreciation Night – and only $10 a ticket. I ended up getting 5 tickets – for Mike, me and 3 friends. The game was Saturday night and traffic into Seattle was predicted to be a mess with the 520 bridge closed. Mike and I decided to take the bus and enjoy the ride into the city.

We got to Pioneer Square just after 5:00 and went to the Central Saloon for a beer. It was nice and crowded, but we found two bar stools at the bar. We had some French fries and then wandered over to the stadium.

Our seats were on the three-hundred level – which mean we’re covered – but it’s also a long climb up to our seats! Unfortunately, Mike took a bad fall on the steps and I doubted he could sit in that seat the whole match. We found Cheryl, Pat and Kevin and we all sat down.


We watched the “pageantry” although we weren’t always sure what was happening. The game was really loud with all the fans in a packed stadium - lots of fans cheering their hearts out.

By half-time Mike’s fall was taking a toll and he was in a lot of pain. We packed up and headed for the bus. Luckily, we waited a very short time and the bus whizzed us home.

The Sounders ended up beating San Jose 2-1, and Mike was better on Sunday and hopefully he’ll continue to improve!

New Laptop & Old Wireless Connection

For my new old job at Nintendo of America Inc. I got a brand-new laptop! Yep, my IT guy took away my workstation and left me with a pretty Dell laptop. That was over a week ago.

The first day I got my brand-new laptop I took it home with me. I wanted to test the wireless connection and VPN account to make sure I could connect to the internet and to Nintendo’s network from home.

At home Mike has a laptop and I have a laptop and we share a wireless connection through Comcast with a dual modem/router. We’ve had this set-up for more than a year and a half. And it always worked fine. Until I brought the brand-new laptop home from work…and I had to remember the Network Key (password). I dug out my old notes from when we originally set up our network a year and a half ago. And I saw the password that I had written down. So I tried using the password to hook up my brand-new laptop from work into my home wireless network.

Ahhh…but just to make life interesting, the password didn’t work. Subsequently, over the next few hours I tried various passwords and made numerous attempts to simply change my password. (I set up the network – why can’t I change the password??)

Oh and did I mention that I no longer have an IP address on my personal laptop? How in the world did that happen?

ARGHHH!!!

Since that time I have tried novel ideas like trying to ping my personal laptop for the IP address or disabling my network and then attempting to re-install the wireless network software. And poor Mike got on a call with Motorola (manufacturer of our modem/router) for hours…they suggested he call back when he was ready to shell out $30/hr to talk to a Tier II rep who would not be allowed to “run” to our laptops to do the troubleshooting. That could get pricey.

So I plan to sit down Saturday morning and take a fresh shot at figuring it out on my own. OR if that doesn’t work out in the first hour I think I’ll call Moto…wish me luck.