July 17, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I was watching the MLB All-Star game with my 10-year-old son on Tuesday night, and somehow we got on the subject of the NFL. I said (as I always do) how excited I am for football season, and asked how soon it starts — a question I usually start asking about two weeks after the Super Bowl ends. (Seriously, shouldn’t the NFL season be year-round? How fantastic would that be?)
ANYWAY … that delved into a comparison of baseball and football, and I started doing the best I could to remember that old George Carlin routine about the two sports. Only remembered a couple lines, but I found it later that night on YouTube. How great is this?
Showed it to my son last night so he could understand what I was trying to remember, and he loved it, too. Nothing like George Carlin to help with some father-son bonding!
July 1, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Started my new position today at KeyRelevance, and decided to treat myself tonight to a little after-dinner celebration. Like this:
Believe it or not, this actually tasted better than it looks….
June 25, 2008 at 4:31 pm
… and I didn’t even know it. I need to pay more attention.
ANYWAY, looks like Chris Hooley is doing something called the SEO Superlatives Poll, and little ole’ me is in the running for two honors:
Best Conference Speaker
Most Networked SEO
I have no idea how I was nominated in either category. I’m actually thrilled to be nominated for Best Speaker, because I do take that kind of thing pretty seriously. Not sure how I got in the running for Most Networked … do I know that many people? Hmmmmm.
Anyway, thanks to whomever nominated me. And thanks to whomever votes for me!
June 7, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I’m not one of those “I hate to travel” people, but my schedule so far in 2008 has me leaning in that direction more than ever. I’ve done more travel in the past four months than in any year of my life so far.
Where I’ve Been So Far This Year
It started with what was supposed to be a 2-day trip to Seattle in late January, but turned into a 3-day trip because the worst storm of the year shut down the Tri-Cities Airport. The photo at right is what my car looked like when I finally made it home. After that, the travel schedule went like this:
February 25-29: Santa Clara, CA
March 9-10: Portland, OR
March 10-12: Seattle
March 16-20: New York
March 28-31: Martinez, CA
April 20-22: Houston
April 22-24: Long Beach, CA
April 30-May 2: Seattle (I canceled this one, needed a rest.)
May 6-13: Philadelphia (and New York)
May 20-21: Portland, OR
June 2-5: Seattle
I get tired just looking at that list! But, if all goes well, the only traveling I’ll be doing between now and August is a quick drive to Portland later this month for a friend’s wedding. I can handle that. With air travel being as expensive as it is these days, and being such a complete hassle, I’m going to aim to stay home as much as possible. There’s a wedding in August I hope to go to, and a conference in September I’m already committed to. Other than that, I’ll be quite happy right where I am.
May 17, 2008 at 1:44 pm
… won’t actually be a car, it’ll be a Toyota Highlander. Like maybe this one:
In late 2006, when I started working at Marchex and was faced with having to drive the 200+ miles from West Richland to Seattle at least twice a month, I had a feeling my little Toyota Corolla (the 1999 model) wouldn’t survive much longer. So I started looking for something bigger and sturdier to get over the mountains in winter, and decided on the Highlander. Never bought it, though, because the company let me work from home over the winter months while Snoqualmie Pass was more like an ice rink than a highway.
Fast forward to two weeks ago, when we’ve rented a mid-sized car for our vacation back in Philly, except when we get to Avis they’ve upgraded us to a brand new, only-5-miles-on-the-odometer, 2008 Toyota Highlander. YES!
I’ve been wanting to drive a Highlander ever since ‘06, and this was my chance. I wasn’t disappointed. The thing drove like a charm — super smooth, very quiet, all kinds of comforts in the passenger cabin. And, much to my surprise, it went more than 300 miles on 3/4s of a tank of gas! We drove from Bristol up to NYC and back, then down into Philly and back, and didn’t have to fill the tank until the day before we were coming home. There was still 1/4-tank of gas and we’d gone more than 300 miles. When I went to the gas station, it took a little more than 15 gallons … so 300+ miles divided by 15+ gallons … more than 20 MPG for a big SUV. I’m sold.
Only problem is, it might be years before I get one. I don’t buy new cars until my current car is dead. And my ‘99 Corolla, like all Toyotas, just keeps going and going and going and going…..
April 18, 2008 at 10:51 pm
And like every proud owner of a new set of wheels, I’m going to show it off:
Ain’t she a beauty? Say what? Yes, a Suburban. Oh, noooooo. Not that kind of Suburban. I mean a Schwinn Suburban.
See, the missus has been working out at the local gym for a while now (and is looking fine!, I might add). And since I work from home now, I get absolutely no exercise. At least last year, when I worked half the month in Seattle, I would have to walk a couple blocks back and forth to my car, and I could go out and walk around downtown at lunch. But this year? No exercise at all.
I’ve been planning to join the gym, too. Except I’ve been traveling way too much since the start of the year, and have never gotten around to it. And then when I started researching prices, I wasn’t too thrilled.
So, I had this crazy idea to buy a bike. I thought I was gonna spend maybe $100 for a nice 12-speed or something like I used to have in my younger years, except they don’t make bikes like that anymore. (I’m so freakin’ old.) After a little shopping around, I decided on the Schwinn Suburban above. And it has all kinds of levers and controls and things that twist and turn on the handles, and I have no idea what any of them do. So, I read the Owner’s Manual and realized that right there is problem #1: It comes with an Owner’s Manual.
When I was a kid, bikes didn’t need owner’s manuals. This one needs it, has it, and I don’t understand it.
If the weather is nice tomorrow (it’s not supposed to be), I’m going to throw caution to the wind and pretend I’m 12-years-old and just go riding, Owner’s Manual be damned. And if something goes wrong, I’m going to take it back to the store, and then go buy a real Suburban.
March 13, 2008 at 12:21 am
First things first: I hate credit cards. I’m as guilty as anyone of being fiscally irresponsible with them in the past, but I also think a special circle of hell should be reserved for credit card companies. In the past year, the McGees have paid off and cancelled 6-7 credit cards, and we still have some to go. There will be a colossal party (paid with cash) when we finally pay off and cancel the last one. It’ll be so loud, you’ll hear us … no matter where you are.
Since we still have some credit cards, I decided a couple months ago to call each one to request a lower interest rate. It worked awfully well. I believe we’re paying, on the whole, somewhere around $90/month less simply due to lower interest rates. Doesn’t sound like much, but who wouldn’t take an extra $1,000/year if the only requirement was to make a few phone calls to Satan’s helpers?
On The Consumerist today, they shared a sample call script for making such a phone call:
“I think I’ve been a good customer. I’d like to stay with you, but I really want you to lower the rate on my card. Can you help me?”
Simple, but effective. It’s similar to mine, although I took a more drawn out approach and actually got the credit card employee to agree I was a great customer before agreeing to lower our interest rates. Here’s how the conversations typically went:
Me: Hi, my name’s Matt McGee. Do you have my account information in front of you? (Several times I had to punch my account number into the phone before reaching a human, but if not, I’d give my account number at this time.)
Them: Yes, I do.
Me: Great. You’re going to help me with a few questions and then I have a request after that.
Them: Okay. How can I help you?
Me: How long have I been a customer? When was this account opened?
Them: 1990 … 1994 … (or whenever).
Me: Great. And according to your records, have we ever missed a payment?
Them: No. No missed payments. You have a perfect payment record.
Me: Cool. Thanks. So, we’re longtime customers with an outstanding balance and we’ve never missed a payment. Would you agree that makes us a great customer?
Them: Yes, you’ve been an excellent customer. (One person even shared with me that, according to their private, internal rating system, we were in the top class of customers.)
Me: Thank you. Now here’s why I’m calling: We keep getting mail from your competitors offering really low interest rates on balance transfers, usually for the lifetime of the outstanding balance. They’re offering rates that are way below the XX% (I gave them the exact rate here to show I’d done the research) you’re charging me. So, since we’re such good customers, I’d like you to match the rate they’re offering me. Can you do that?
etc……
Admittedly, they were never able to match the 3.9% rates that others were offering me, but they were able to come close enough that it wasn’t worth the hassle of switching. (Plus, regular shifting of balances from one card to the next is supposedly a black mark on your credit rating.) And now we’re saving about $1k/year on interest. I’ll take that anytime.
(photo: Michael Brenton)
March 6, 2008 at 12:32 am
It’s strange: Amazon has had my book listed for a few months now, both on the main .com site and on the UK site, too.
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Doesn’t exist.
I wish I knew more about publishing. I know Amazon is the biggest book seller in the world, but why would there be such a huge separation between when they know about it and when everyone else knows about it?
February 13, 2008 at 6:10 pm
My wife sent me a link to this “Which LOST character are you?” quiz, and the $%#@ thing tells me I’m Charlie Pace.
No way! Just because I said I prefer rock music, and because rather than say I’m “squeaky clean” I admitted to having had a couple speeding tickets in my life … they equate me with a drug-addict, rocker-dude? B.S. I like Charlie and all, but I’m not him. No way, no how.
February 6, 2008 at 6:43 pm
My wife told me about the Sawyer Nickname Generator on ABC.com’s LOST site. This is what Sawyer came up with for me.
Thhhhppfftttt.
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