12 June 2007
KSL
What time to you all arrive in Utah on the 29th? Because I will be on KSL TV some time between 11 and 12. I probably won't be talking, but I will be holding an owl.
08 June 2007
IKEA
Everyone in town has been tingling with excitement - IKEA is here! People actually camped out the night before the store opened to be the first ones in. I can understand the excitement, but camping out for furniture (which they're not going to sell out of) is a bit crazy.
Anyway, Blake, Cameron, Linda, Cathy and I made our pilgrimage last night to check out the store and see if it really was that cool. And: it is. Wow! I want all that stuff! And it's an incredible amount of stuff, too: 310,000 square feet if I'm remembering the newspaper articles correctly. That's twice as big as Cabela's, for those of you keeping score at home.
We didn't get there until 8:00, and the store closes at 9:00 so we only had time for brief reconnaissance. But first order of business was dinner so we headed upstairs to the restaurant before it closed at 8:30. I had vegetable soup (forgot my cash except for $2, and soup is $1.69) that was very good. Linda and Cathy had poached salmon, Cameron had a chicken Caesar, and Blake got the Swedish meatballs. Everyone thought it was great, and cheap. You have to clear your own tables, but that's how they keep costs down. They are very good at informing you throughout the store on stuff that they do to keep costs down.
Anyway, the furniture is very neat but most of all this store has thought of everything. Hands full when you walk in the store? Use a convenient locker. Got kids? Drop them off in the supervised play land. Need a sturdy bag? Use one of ours! Bag got too heavy? Borrow a fold-up hand truck! Need a cart? They're on the first floor, so pop on the elevator! Want to know if this will fit in your house? Here, we have paper measuring tapes in metric and standard! Want to make a wish list? Grab a golf pencil and paper! Please note that there is a map of the store on the back of the paper, so you can write down the coordinates of the thing you like. Hungry? Please, stop in the restaurant, or bistro, or Swedish foods store!
Really, it's like they thought of everything.
Another cool thing they have done is to have set up a few model homes. Each has a bathroom, front room, bedroom and kitchen decked out in neat IKEA stuff, and on the outer wall they tell you exactly how many square feet it is. So you can get an idea if the stuff you want will fit in an apartment that is 579 square feet, or 340 square feet.
So anyway, I'll go back some time for dishes or cushions or a tiny couch or something. All I've bought there so far is the soup, and Linda got cinnamon rolls for all on our way out. (Hot and fresh, at closing time.)
This couch is very comfy.
This chair, with the footstool, is perfect for dozing off.
Anyway, Blake, Cameron, Linda, Cathy and I made our pilgrimage last night to check out the store and see if it really was that cool. And: it is. Wow! I want all that stuff! And it's an incredible amount of stuff, too: 310,000 square feet if I'm remembering the newspaper articles correctly. That's twice as big as Cabela's, for those of you keeping score at home.
We didn't get there until 8:00, and the store closes at 9:00 so we only had time for brief reconnaissance. But first order of business was dinner so we headed upstairs to the restaurant before it closed at 8:30. I had vegetable soup (forgot my cash except for $2, and soup is $1.69) that was very good. Linda and Cathy had poached salmon, Cameron had a chicken Caesar, and Blake got the Swedish meatballs. Everyone thought it was great, and cheap. You have to clear your own tables, but that's how they keep costs down. They are very good at informing you throughout the store on stuff that they do to keep costs down.
Anyway, the furniture is very neat but most of all this store has thought of everything. Hands full when you walk in the store? Use a convenient locker. Got kids? Drop them off in the supervised play land. Need a sturdy bag? Use one of ours! Bag got too heavy? Borrow a fold-up hand truck! Need a cart? They're on the first floor, so pop on the elevator! Want to know if this will fit in your house? Here, we have paper measuring tapes in metric and standard! Want to make a wish list? Grab a golf pencil and paper! Please note that there is a map of the store on the back of the paper, so you can write down the coordinates of the thing you like. Hungry? Please, stop in the restaurant, or bistro, or Swedish foods store!
Really, it's like they thought of everything.
Another cool thing they have done is to have set up a few model homes. Each has a bathroom, front room, bedroom and kitchen decked out in neat IKEA stuff, and on the outer wall they tell you exactly how many square feet it is. So you can get an idea if the stuff you want will fit in an apartment that is 579 square feet, or 340 square feet.
So anyway, I'll go back some time for dishes or cushions or a tiny couch or something. All I've bought there so far is the soup, and Linda got cinnamon rolls for all on our way out. (Hot and fresh, at closing time.)
This couch is very comfy.
This chair, with the footstool, is perfect for dozing off.
06 June 2007
Wild About Wetlands!
Whew! The wetland exhibit, she is finished. It about killed us, but it's done. Pretty much. Still some finishing touches to put up, but finished enough to be open and up and running.
If I haven't been writing or calling you back lately, this is why. Working 80 hours per week isn't fun. But we took the building from totally empty with white walls on the 16th to open to the public on the 26th. Not too shabby!
Photos:
Linda finished painting the heron at 2AM on the 26th.
Every zoo should have a sea monkey exhibit, don't you think?
Tell me now, who am da man?
I rock! Yes, that's right. Me. Rocking.
We had some little baby snakes get loose at work several months ago - October and February - and went missing. We all assumed they'd perished in the winter or wandered off somewhere. Well, last Friday night I was walking to my car after an after-hours event at work. It was dark out; about 10:00. Suddenly, my cell phone begins to ring. It's Alex, who was walking down from the front gate with Elliott and Brindi when they saw a small snake on the path. I told them to keep it in sight, dumped all my stuff in my car, and ran over to where they were.
Brindi was using her cell phone as a light to watch the snake, which was curled up at the base of a tree. I had thought that maybe it would end up being a garter snake or some other wild snake, but no! It was one of the missing gray-banded king snakes! While I was still trying to register all this, he began to crawl away. Without even thinking, I grabbed him by the tail and picked him up.
It was very much a Crocodile Hunter moment, me holding the cranky snake by the tail, and trying not to get bit. I took off running for the reptile house - Alex, Elliott, and Brindi following close behind. I managed to get the door open with my right hand, and then threw a pillow case at Elliott so he could hold it open for me.
Success! Single-handedly brought in a snake, months on the lam. Granted, I'm not the one who spotted him, but I did catch him. Anyway, I called the curator of the zoo who instructed me to put that pillow case in another pillowcase in a locking snake carrier in my office, to make sure he wouldn't get out again before the vets could pick him up in the morning.
The next day, the vet came and got him, pronouncing him to be in excellent health. It also turned out that he was the one who escaped in October, meaning he'd lived out there for almost eight months before we got him back. What a guy. Now if only we could find the one we lost in February...
We had some little baby snakes get loose at work several months ago - October and February - and went missing. We all assumed they'd perished in the winter or wandered off somewhere. Well, last Friday night I was walking to my car after an after-hours event at work. It was dark out; about 10:00. Suddenly, my cell phone begins to ring. It's Alex, who was walking down from the front gate with Elliott and Brindi when they saw a small snake on the path. I told them to keep it in sight, dumped all my stuff in my car, and ran over to where they were.
Brindi was using her cell phone as a light to watch the snake, which was curled up at the base of a tree. I had thought that maybe it would end up being a garter snake or some other wild snake, but no! It was one of the missing gray-banded king snakes! While I was still trying to register all this, he began to crawl away. Without even thinking, I grabbed him by the tail and picked him up.
It was very much a Crocodile Hunter moment, me holding the cranky snake by the tail, and trying not to get bit. I took off running for the reptile house - Alex, Elliott, and Brindi following close behind. I managed to get the door open with my right hand, and then threw a pillow case at Elliott so he could hold it open for me.
Success! Single-handedly brought in a snake, months on the lam. Granted, I'm not the one who spotted him, but I did catch him. Anyway, I called the curator of the zoo who instructed me to put that pillow case in another pillowcase in a locking snake carrier in my office, to make sure he wouldn't get out again before the vets could pick him up in the morning.
The next day, the vet came and got him, pronouncing him to be in excellent health. It also turned out that he was the one who escaped in October, meaning he'd lived out there for almost eight months before we got him back. What a guy. Now if only we could find the one we lost in February...
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