October 2007

When you leave the country, it’s a really good idea to tell the bank so you have money when you get there. We have two accounts and to make sure we could use either, I called both banks.

Wells Fargo was first on the list.

I got through the phone tree pretty quickly and was able to get help. I had both a debit card and a credit card there that I wanted to authorize. The teller was able to take care of all it in one fell swoop.

Now for the USBank experience.

Again, got through the phone tree pretty quickly. They didn’t make me enter an account # to speak with someone which was great. I always like it when companies don’t make it hard for me because at the time I was multi-tasking and taking my new baked lamp chops out of the oven so I really didn’t have the digits to punch in the numbers.

The disappointing part was that the accounts are not tied together. So I gave all the info to the teller for my debit card and when I asked if she could also flag my credit card, she had to transfer me. I was transferred and no info came with me. I had to repeat all the same info for this second teller. Annoying for the customer and costly for the bank.

The other dirty little VISA secret is that you pay 3% for every transaction because there is a conversion that needs to happen. Really? Isn’t it all digital? It costs them 3% of the cost of my transaction to do the math? Sure does pay to be the bank.

I just found out that there is an exhibit at the Stedelijk Museum’s temporary location that I really want to see. I’m excited about this because I’ll be going to Amsterdam or AMS as it’s known in airport speak in one week and that’s where the museum is at. Nothing is better than surprise art on a vacation.

I have not prepared for a trip like this for several years. It’s strange to be away from home for a very long time. It causes you to think about all the things you need to bring with you. My goal for this trip was to start thinking about that far enough in advance so that I can take away the extra things that one tends to bring on trips just because. I want to strip away the unnecessary objects from my life. Vacation is a good time to practice such an activity.

The most photographed revolutionary

hated having his picture taken.

Shoutout to Amy for the link.

I am always on a quest to be better than I am. My current path has me very focused on understanding how what I eat affects me. It’s a complicated topic. I believe I am beginning to get a new understanding. I made my first meal tonight using the principles I’ve been learning as a guide.

I admit I cheated by making a frozen Matar Paneer. However, I coupled it smartly with gluten free polenta and tofu both lightly fried in olive oil. A big glass of green tea goes well with everything don’t you think?

I wrote about my friend Megan earlier and her work in the show “War Mediated” at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The artist’s were interviewed and the interview ran this morning on MPR.

I’m taking a trip at the end of the month to the Netherlands. I was doing a little research and came across this article, which included the following,

“A spiritual visit to the countryside. Windmills are worthy objects of artistic attention, as Rembrandt found. (The windmill was said to be his muse.) De Kat, the last remaining wind-powered color mill in the world, produces “antique pigments” from dyewood. ”

I’ve always had a real affinity for windmills. I get to see more of them now then when I was growing up as they line the border between Minnesota (where I live) and South Dakota (where I go to see my mother, sisters, brother-in-laws, and nephews).

Not only have I always felt they were beautiful and serene. It’s also been shown that they are good for us. Too bad the fair residents of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket don’t agree.

I got this link from a few places for a quiz about the candidate that aligns with your opinions on the issues the most. Once again, Dennis K. is my man. I sure wish I lived in a country where he could win. Electoral college votes are not the votes of the people. We people have to pick two, one from each party and let them slug it out. It’s a numbers game and a third party candidate doesn’t have the numbers to win.

I have been using a web browser for a very long time. Today, I went to write a journal entry and I just wanted it to be for me. I didn’t want to blog it or anything like that. That’s when I realized, I could not think of another way to communicate this. I didn’t go for a pen and paper, I couldn’t think of an application that I would use right off the bat. When I did start thinking about the possibilities, none was right 1) I don’t use MSOffice, 2) StarOffice/NeoOffice/OpenOffice didn’t feel right 3) Google docs, well I wanted this to be my personal diary entry, so putting it on the web definitely involves a level of risk (a small, small risk, but it’s there). The only thing that felt right was my trusty blog posting software. It’s so comfortable to create my entries, this expression was just like a blog post, except I didn’t want to share it.

It was a strange discovery. I could only think and expound in the blog post environment. So instead of writing that diary entry, I had to write this blog post first. It’s odd when we make discoveries about ourself that are so telling of our own reality. It’s obviously become a creatively comfortable environment for me, but is it a crutch? And if this means of communication is such an important avenue for me, why do I still have the default theme? (:) )