No Snivelling

I can never find these when I need them...

Amazon US Customer Service - 800-201-7575 (Toll free for US/Canada)

Amazon UK Customer Service - 011 44 2086 369 451

never got out of pajamas yesterday, so i figured it would be best to get the shower in immediately... in hindsight, that was wise...

listed some more items on amazon and ebay... will see how they do... i sold 4 more items in last 2 days... wahoo!

to bruce and pam's to celebrate hayden's 1st birthday...



caught up with mark (he reminded me of the idea of buying a ski pass at stevens or crystal... must check that out this week while they are still cheap... reminded me that they have a mid-week+most_weekends (excludes christmas, etc)... that sounds good to me

OK... I know... I'm a few years late with this one, but I recently purchased an 80 hour Tivo and am officially in love... although a fairly simple device, it is just fantastic at saving me time and increasing my enjoyment of television consumption... not only do I get TV Poker at just about anytime, but am also catching Jon Stewart, Inside the Actor's Studio, and am NEVER watching commercials... is really amazing, watching a football game start-to-finish in approximately 60 minutes!

Oh, and yeah... I also got it set up so that it can display pictures and play music that is on my laptop and desktop computers, all linked via wireless network... this wired home thing is really going to happen!

Gorgeous day today... wanted to take advantage of it... so, packed up Zach and the two of us headed out to Snoqualmie to hike the Kendall Katwalk... ended up being a 10 1/2 mile hike and took ~4 1/2 hours, and it was truly amazing! About 4 miles of the way up the mountain, an A6 Jet came roaring thru the pass tilted on its side... was just blasting! Some fellow hikers who I passed told me that they're based on Whidby Island... awesome... by the time we got to the Katwalk, I was extremely tired... still sore from the Half Marathon... but the views were worth the pain... and, most important, Zach loved it!

gorgeous day again today... went to Poulsbo with Vikas... then to Winslow/Bainbridge... great day to take a ferry ride, walk around some small towns and just relax...

laurao dropped off a small plaque today to add to my bronze 'just do it' shoe... the shoe was just a great work gift... thank again to laurao and andy...

watched the third, and final, Presidential debate with kerry and bush... not that kerry blew him away, but i continue to shake my head and wonder how bush can not only have won one time, but actually has a chance to win a second time! is really amazing... i honestly think he's an idiot... he's arrogant... has never earned anything on his own... just stands for everything i despise...

Karen and I went to see the Seattle Storm win the WNBA Championship tonight... was the first professional women's basketball game I'd ever been to, and it was really fun/exciting... first, it was great to see the number of little girls at a sporting event, fully engaged, with role models, etc... second, the fact that there was no dunking made the game more exciting, because it relied on defense, passing, shooting, etc... finally, the fact that we dominated in the second half and won going away 74-60 didn't hurt either! i'd never been at a championship winning game before... was fun to go nuts, sing 'we are the champions' and witness the trophy presentation, hear Howard Schultz speak, see the MVP trophy handed out, etc... awesome...

Woke up early on 10/9 to catch the Victoria Clipper ride to Victoria, BC... KarenC and I were on the same ferry... Jeff, Anne, Kendall and Kate were on the later ferry, and Paul was on the earlier one... nice ride... went straight to the Marathon Expo, picked up our registration info, and then explored town... since town is so small, that didn't take long :) We ended up catching an early dinner with Paul, and then packed in early... i had been feeling tired/sick all week, so i really wanted to get a full night's sleep to make the run even possible tomorrow... I was successful, and woke on 10/10 feeling actually pretty good! The Half Marathon was gorgeous... 8am start... first few miles thru town, then lots of the later miles along the ocean/water... I was feeling great thru ~mile#7-8... then started feeling tired... then started feeling a lot of pain... our goal was to run under 1 hour 50 minutes... so i tracked that pace as good as I could... we ended up taking our pace comfortably under the 50 spot... then the last 3+ miles were total pain for me... the kind of pain that makes you grimace and think seriously about walking... i did that... i thought that i might have to walk... that i could still beat the 50 goal... but i kept on going... thankfully Jeff was right next to me (KarenC took off and finished ~90 seconds ahead of us)... at one point Jeff said "when we get close to the finish we can kick it in"... my response "i'm in a lot of pain"... i think he understood... jeff, thanks for sticking with me and helping me finish so strong... in the end, jeff and i finished in 1 hour, 46 minutes, 42 seconds... 8:08/mile pace... amazing! maybe the best run i've ever had... in that i (a) beat my goal and (b) beat my desire to walk... i ended up walking around in a daze afterward for quite awhile... felt great to get home later that night :)

Jeff & Anne recently returned from jolly ol' england... so some friends hosted a party at the Seattle Tennis Club to welcome them back... now, I haven't played tennis in quite awhile, but a person could get used to hanging out at 'the club' :) Gorgeous spot overlooking Lake Washington and Bill's house...

Stopped at old stomping grounds, Belltown Billiards, last night to wish Vikas good tidings as he embarks to India to put in a 1-2 year stint with Amazon in the new development center there... I only stayed for a few minutes (one quick game), as I'm still a bit uncomfortable being around work folks (i have absolutely no desire to discuss 'anything amazon'...

I really do love the tables at BB... never seem to get any wayward roll on them...

Also, a reminder to call out Vikas as well for helping me out with getting contact info for work contacts... it would have taken me 10-20 hours to copy & paste the info i needed... to save me time, he created a program in C to pull the info for logins that i supplied to him -- thanks Vikas!

Big day today... last day of work at Amazon after spending almost 6 1/2 years there...

Amazon Badge Photo for David Schappell:



While driving in to work, I heard on the radio that Mt. Saint Helens first erupted on May 18th, 1980... i thought to myself "what a coincidence"... since my first day at amazon was May 18th (1998)... and, my last day at work is today October 1, 2004... and lo and behold, Mt. Saint Helens mildly erupted again today... nice coincidence :)

I actually did almost zero actual work on my last day (phew!)... spent the day copying files/addresses/etc. off of my laptop at work, gathering the last of my possessions, and saying good bye to a last few folks... thought about it for awhile... was i sad to be going? actually, i was more than ready... had lunch at peco's with mark and andy... then a quick exit interview, and out the door...

nice event #2 of the day... to the mariners game with Sang... Ichiro only needed 2 more hits to break the single-season hits record... and, to make my day complete, he did it! was the first time i've ever been at a 'flashbulb-popping-on-every-pitch' type of event... very very cool...