| The basics. |
[Mar. 27th, 2020|09:28 am] |
This is my blog. There are many like it but this one is mine...
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| Let's try this again... |
[May. 17th, 2008|04:25 pm] |
So last year, after running no more than six "long runs", doing virtually no hill or speed training, and never running longer than 10 miles, I completed the Seafair Half Marathon in just under three hours. At the time, I was very proud of this result because I had just started running a few months prior--going from zero to half marathon in about six months was a real accomplishment for me, particularly since my training was so haphazard.
Unfortunately, there was a nagging little voice that wondered how well I'd do if I did try to train properly. The voice got louder earlier this year, when Emily decided to train for the Seafair Half Marathon and joined Team In Training again, and I found that my 5K time had improved ridiculously over last year.
I've been tagging along on most of her training runs this year, and I just registered for the half marathon myself. Last year, I registered on June 16 and it was more of an impulsive thing, but this year, I'm planning for it and training accordingly. Our training has included hill work and lots of trail running, and having lost a ton of weight (30 pounds and counting), I feel much more able to run a long distance this year in a reasonable time. My goals (in roughly descending order of priority) are:
- Finish.
- Finish in under 2:30 (which would be a 20 minute improvement over 2007!). If I can do it in under 2:20, I'll do cartwheels.
- Finish in the middle of the pack for my age group (last year, I was 62/65 but this year I'm in a different age group).
That last goal is a bit of a stretch but that's what goals are for, no? For those keeping score at home, my trusty Garmin is recording every step.
Note that the Seafair Marathon occurs on the Saturday prior to my wedding. Emily and I are nothing if not ambitious/crazy. If only we could figure out a way to work the marathon into our wedding week activities... |
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| Wedding planning, 7.5 weeks to go |
[May. 13th, 2008|09:53 pm] |
Invitations have been mailed and the first RSVPs are coming back! We've also received our first wedding present--a set of awesome Henckels knives that cut through raw carrots like butter. There is always a point when you are planning a big event where the stress of planning gives way to the realization that the event is actually going to happen whether you like it or not, and we've reached that milestone. So of course, I had a bit of a freakout last week because I'm used to Amazon-style project management and I was like, "Shouldn't we be at least talking to the photographer and DJ and cake lady and all of them?" But I was assured that all is well and that everything is happening according to schedule.
We are still working on the script for our ceremony which is--of course--the hardest part. But there are plenty of examples online for us to pilfer and re-word. I'm sure we'll come up with something cool in the next week or so. We're also having a bit of a hard time choosing music for the various parts of the ceremony and reception that require "special" songs. Neither of us are particularly interested in having our first dance to the same B.S. cliche love song that everyone else uses, but we're not having much luck finding a suitable alternative.
We also need to finalize the menu, but since we're scheduled to attend another tasting at the caterer on May 29, we'll probably wait until our parents (who are invited) offer their opinions of the food selections.
I'm told by married friends that the next big emotional milestone is the part where you decide that there is just nothing more you can do, and so you finally relax and enjoy yourself. For us, we're shooting to announce our "done-ness" at the rehearsal dinner. But even now, there really isn't much left to do. We've done a good job and I'm really looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our (well, mostly Emily's) labor. |
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| Fun with cardio & numbers |
[May. 2nd, 2008|02:52 pm] |
I'm not sure if it is having a year of practice under my belt, or having lost about 20 pounds, or some combination thereof, but I'm noticing with my runs this year that I can go much farther, much faster without exerting myself nearly as much. And of course, being the big math nerd that I am, tracking all of this stuff via my shiny toys makes it easy to compare performance over time.
Here is a chart showing my heart rate during a run around Green Lake on July 29, 2007. Notice how my heart rate spikes up to 90% of its max (about 180 for me) right away and just stays there. I was quite proud of this run at the time because it was the first time I'd approached a 10:00 mile for an entire loop without stopping to rest or walk, but in retrospect, I can see that I was overworking myself for no good reason: [edit: graphs removed in favor of a link to MotionBased]
Now take a look at this one. This is from another lap around Green Lake, but it was last night, where I struggled to not speed up past 10:00 during the first two miles, and then kicked out the last mile or so at an 8:00 pace: [ibid]
So I'm able to run faster with less effort for a longer period of time. Personally, I can't help but think that the extra 20 pounds I was lugging around last year put extra strain on my heart. It almost makes me wonder what would be possible if I lost another 20 pounds, which of course is something I should do. |
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| Wedding planning, the countdown begins |
[Apr. 29th, 2008|09:38 am] |
We have about nine weeks to go! Invitations are being labeled and prepped for shipment, the menu is being finalized and the ceremony is being scripted. Really, the only things left to do involve tying together small details and I think the bride might just be scheming to plan someone else's wedding, just for the fun of it.
Since we have a website with some measurable traffic, I installed Google Analytics to, you know, keep track of things. This diagram shows the states from which we've had a visitor to our website:
You can't really tell (except for Washington) but darker shades of green are used to indicate the number of visitors (or pages viewed, or kb loaded, or whatever) from each state.
We've even had some visitors from Europe. Both Dublin and London have appeared in there. Note to friends in Europe, India and Japan: make yourselves known! |
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| Wedding planning, bride-style |
[Apr. 24th, 2008|10:56 am] |
Emily shared this snippet of an email she sent on the subject of wedding planning, and I thought it was hilarious:
"So for things like invitations and flowers and alcohol, we're like.... 'COSTCO!!!!' For vendors, we're like, 'fresh out of art-school photographer, CHECK! pornstar moustache DJ, CHECK! Crazy lady who bakes cakes out of her house, CHECK! Ebay flowergirl dresses and bridal accessories, CHECK! DIY favors, CHECK!'"
OH, the other good thing about this, is that you don't just write one big $10,000 check on March 1, 2009 or whatever. You make a deposit here, a deposit there, a small purchase here, a small purchase there. So, it's not like school tuition where you have to come up with it all at once, it's like, instead of buying a bunch of new clothes this season, I'm going to buy a wedding dress; instead of going out drinking every weekend this month, I'm going to spend $200 on invitations. Instead of buying a coffee every day this week, I'm going to spend $20 on a veil. Instead of taking a class this month, I'm going to buy a ball of hobby wire and hand-make ferrero rocher wire-flower favors. That sort of thing." |
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| Media update |
[Apr. 21st, 2008|10:16 am] |
I have a New Years Resolution to read more books--at least one per month. I'm currently one month behind.
Pure Drivel by Steve Martin: a collection of New Yorker essays that pretty much are all about the non-sequitur. Probably 75% of of them were laugh-out-loud funny and the other 25% were over my head. Steve Martin is way smarter than me.
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure by Jerry Kaplan: anyone planning to start their own business should read this book. The company in question failed miserably at the "get big fast" strategy of most startups who are trying to grab market share before larger competitors (AKA Microsoft) can sneak in. Some Amazon reviewers complain that Kaplan babbles a bit at times but I don't think that detracts from the story. Also fun was the fact that the book examined a bygone era now replaced with Web 2.0 and the similarities between the valley in the early '90's and now are striking. Do they never learn?
Rules For Renegades by Christine Comaford-Lynch: mostly mindless drivel. Books like this remind me that with the right agent and editor, anyone (myself included--sigh) could write a book. I'm going to guess that most of the people who buy this book are interested more in the author's descriptions of her liaisons with Bill Gates and Larry Ellison than any self-help or management advice. Sex sells. But mostly, the author comes off as someone who read "The Secret" and believes she can get herself anything she wants through sheer force of will. Those types of people exist, I'm sure, but I think they are born, not trained.
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| Wedding planning, week 10 |
[Apr. 21st, 2008|10:14 am] |
Wow, not much to report. We really are down to the minor details. For example, Emily has been toying around with ideas for placecard holders. The idea is that when guests arrive, they are given some sort of favor that includes instructions on where to sit, etc. She bought some metal wire and made a bunch of "flowers" by folding cut wires around a pen. I jokingly call it her "garden". We've also been thinking in general about how to decorate the tables--whether to make poofballs out of tissue paper or something fun like that. In this process, Emily has proven herself to know far more about colors and how they go together than I ever will, so I pretty much keep clam.
I wrapped up my swing dance class on Wednesday, and now I'm trying to decide whether or not to take the next class in the series (Lindy Hop). The first class swung between mildly fun and maddeningly frustrating, but I think some of that was my fault and I can maybe improve my ability to handle such things by continuing the series. We'll see how that goes. |
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| Yakima Valley Wine Tasting |
[Apr. 13th, 2008|02:14 pm] |
A decent collection
Originally uploaded by jeffreyp
We took a break from wedding planning to visit the Yakima Valley this weekend. I've traveled through there several times on my way to Kennewick for work, and every time, I'm reminded that all of that is just two hours from home.
We stayed in Toppenish on the advice of a friend, and on Saturday, we headed out for a day of tasting. We started in the Tri-Cities at Tagaris in Kennewick for lunch and then went to Prosser, where we visited Hogue Cellars, Snoqualmie, and Airfield Estates. Then, we returned to Toppenish, where we went to Maison de Padgett and Paradisos del Sol. We ran out of time before we could visit a couple other Toppenish wineries on our list, but I'm sure we'll return soon enough!
We had two meals in Yakima. The first, on the way down on Friday night, was in a brand-new Italian restaurant called Zesta Cucina. We were both starving so I think for me, the food wasn't as good as I perceived it to be. It certainly was overpriced. The place was super-popular, though, so maybe I'm missing something. And then on Saturday after tasting, we went to Greystone and I found it to be excellent all around.
This was our first trip to the wineries and we learned a lot:
Lesson #1: The Yakima Valley is much larger than it looks on a map. You'll likely want to split up a two-day trip into two nights at two different hotels. You can find maps online of all of the wineries--they tend to be clustered together, and so you can pick a hotel or a B&B for each night that is located near the clusters of wineries you want to visit. This requires some planning ahead but will pay off when you can "cut loose" a little instead of spitting out and/or dumping wine at every stop.
Lesson #2: There is no such thing as "complimentary tasting". Even if I were a raging snob, I don't think I could walk out of a tasting room without at least buying a snack. They pour you a LOT of wine and take a lot of time explaining stuff to you. As you can see from the photo, we bought at least one bottle at every stop.
Lesson #3: The only good food is in Yakima or the Tri-Cities. You'll occasionally get snacks at the tasting rooms but for the most part, you are on your own for food. Plan ahead unless you don't mind eating at Subway. Next time we go, we'll bring our own lunches and pack food for dinners. Most of the hotels out there have refrigerators or mini-kitchens, anyway, so preparing a simple meal isn't impossible. But driving to Yakima (and back) after a day of wine tasting is both irresponsible and impractical.
Lesson #4: The amount of fun you'll have is inversely proportional to the size of the winery you visit. Did I get that backwards? I'm not very good at math after tasting wine for four hours. What I mean is that the smaller the winery, the more attention and education you'll get. But don't let that stop you from visiting them all. We visited the huge conglomerates (Hogue, Snoqualmie) and had a great time, but we were blown away by Paradisos del Sol, which is--no exaggeration--bolted on to the back of a farmhouse. Paul (the owner/host/winemaker/jack-of-all-trades) could sell ice to Eskimos and has a story for everyone about anything.
Lesson #5: Don't be shy. It can be a bit intimidating for a newcomer to walk into one of these places and do the whole sniff/swirl/sip waltz, but the wineries are more than happy to teach you anything you need to know and answer questions--they want your business! We were particularly amused while at Paradisos del Sol when two full-on Hells Angels-looking bikers covered in leather and grease came in and proceeded to sit at the bar and argue over whether a chardonnay or a rose would be the best substitute for the unavailable riesling. "I can't get into the rose," said one of them. "Too much !@#$ing charcoal in the nose. It's real !@#$ing flowery on the palate but the finish tastes like ass."
Lesson #6: This would be a good place to bring a large group. You can rent a limo or a van and split the cost and have a great time. If you drive yourself, be responsible, pace yourself, and spit/dump liberally.
Overall, it was a lot of fun and I didn't drink a single beer all weekend. I have a suspicion that we'll probably be making another trip out that way pre-wedding to stock up the bar. |
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| Wedding planning, week 8 |
[Apr. 5th, 2008|09:00 am] |
I am starting to wonder what we are going to do with ourselves for two months once everything is all planned. I feel like we are way ahead of where we need to be, which is a good thing.
The big accomplishment for this week is that we booked our honeymoon. We're going to be in Hawaii for two weeks--one week on Maui and another week on the Big Island. We were reviewing the hotels and photos last weekend while it was snowing here and I think that pretty much sealed the deal. We booked the trip through a travel agent who comes highly recommended by Rick Steves and others. At first, I thought, "Who uses travel agents anymore?" and looked at prices myself on Expedia. But after talking to her, I can see the value in it--she really knew the lay of the land and gave us several useful tips that we wouldn't have thought of on our own. And the price we paid for the package was significantly cheaper than anything I could find online.
I went to the Men's Wearhouse and picked out tuxes and accessories and such, and sent a note around to the groomsmen and officiant about how that whole process will work.
We ordered our invitations. They shipped on Thursday and should arrive on Monday. Now we just need to decide how to address them and send them out.
We also went to the caterer to begin planning the details of the ceremony and reception. The catering people are very enthusiastic and full of ideas. This is going to be a lot of fun.
I had an idea awhile back to have an informal gathering for the wedding party and immediate family prior to the wedding so that everyone could get to know each other a little and also for people to ask us questions and such. We held the first one last night (there will likely be more) and turnout was excellent: my parents, Emily's dad & step-mom, Emily's sister, Lawrence & Ethan, Melanie & Jim, and Brian all gathered at the Beveridge Place in West Seattle for some Friday merriment. It was a lot of fun, as evidenced by the fact that we stayed out much later than planned.
The dance class is actually kinda fun. I don't know if there will be any swing dancing involved in our reception but I am starting to feel like I might be getting the hang of it, which is a little scary (in a good way). |
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| Backups with Time Machine to a network fileserver |
[Mar. 29th, 2008|05:41 pm] |
Time Machine is the best thing about Leopard. But I recently became annoyed that I had to plug in an external USB drive to use it. I have a file server running Ubuntu in the bedroom under a couch that has all of my photos and music and valuable data on a RAID array, so why not put my laptop backups there, too? This turns out to be a bit more complex than expected:
1. Install netatalk and avahi on the Ubuntu box. apt-get is your friend.
2. Set up an AFP share so that you can view it in the Finder. Use AFP, not SMB.
3. Open a terminal and enter:
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
4. Open the Time Machine preferences and change your backup disk to your AFP share.
If you've done this correctly, you'll get an error when Time Machine starts: "The backup disk image could not be created." So, now for the fun part:
5. Fire up Disk Utility and create a new disk image on your AFP share called "ComputerName_MACAddress.sparsebundle.dmg", substituting your own computer name and MAC address (without the colons, of course). Make the disk image large enough to hold backups (in my case, the bare minimum size was 36 GB--your mileage may vary). For "Partitions", choose "No partition map". Creating the disk image takes several hours.
6. Once your disk image has been created, start a Time Machine backup and it should "just work" (ha ha).
I am a tad disappointed that I had to do this much hacking to get my backups working over our wifi but now that it does work, I'm quite happy with the setup (and it sure beats paying $275+ for a Time Capsule!). |
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| Wedding planning, week 7 |
[Mar. 29th, 2008|10:21 am] |
We have less than 100 days to go!
We received and mailed out most of our "save the date" magnets this week. We also started really stressing over the invitations. We found a style that we like at Costco but we are having a difficult time figuring out the right way to word it. For example, if you want to be non-traditional, do you say, "Together with OUR parents, Jeffrey & Emily invite you to attend OUR wedding"? Or do you say, "Together with THEIR parents, Jeffrey & Emily invite you to attend THEIR wedding?" It gets even more difficult if you try to go traditional. We'll figure it out eventually but I'm glad we sent out save the dates because I suspect we'll be obsessing over this for awhile.
We met with Lawrence last weekend to discuss ceremony ideas, and he basically told us that we can do whatever the hell we want. He gave us scripts for other ceremonies that he has done, and now, we just need to combine bits and pieces of stuff we find on the internet to make our own. But the most important thing for me is that the person who is officiating this shindig is not some random person we found on the internet--I'm excited beyond words to have someone who I know and trust "do the honors" (so to speak).
We also went shopping for flower girl dresses last weekend, and I think we're all set in the dresses department now. I need to go to the tux shop this weekend and decide what us menfolk will wear (no top hats and tails!), and we'll have everyone clad in the appropriate attire with plenty of time to spare.
Oh, and my dance class improved significantly last week. I didn't feel like the clumsiest person in the room this time. I found some videos on YouTube that demonstrated most of the stuff we learned in class and so I was able to watch and learn and then practice with Emily in the living room. The only thing I don't get yet are the three turns that the girls learned in the first class, but I'll figure those out soon enough. I don't know if there will actually be any swing dancing at my wedding, though.
Lastly, we went to Elizabeth Holmes Travel to talk about our fabulous Hawaii honeymoon. We're looking at starting on Maui in a resort-ish kind of place, and then flying from Maui to the Big Island and spending two nights near the volcano before crossing over to Kona. I would normally plan something like this on Expedia but I'm really glad we went to a travel agent because I don't know anything about Hawaii and the agent we talked to seemed to know it really well. Plus, she put together a package for us that was actually not as scary expensive as I had expected. Hopefully, we can spend some time this weekend finalizing those plans and book our honeymoon next week!
14 weeks to go! |
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| Media update |
[Mar. 22nd, 2008|11:07 pm] |
I haven't done one of these for awhile but hope to keep up this year.
First, three movies from last year:
Running With Scissors: Anyone who thinks they come from a dysfunctional family should see this movie. It is based on the memoir of Augusten Burroughs and, well, it's weird.
The Last King Of Scotland: OK, so taking a date to this movie might not have been the wisest idea, but it worked out in the long run. Any story featuring Idi Amin as a main character is bound to be a bit disturbing (at best) but I was struck by Forest Whitaker's amazing acting. There were several points during the movie where I forgot I was watching an actor portraying Amin.
Superbad: Every generation has their signature teen comedy, and it seems like each generation is able to push the envelope a little bit. "Superbad" would be the next evolution after "American Pie". Long live McLovin.
And now, this year to date:
There Will Be Blood: You can't do much better than Daniel Day-Lewis if you need an actor who can carry every scene of your movie. I thought of it as a sort of anti-"Wall Street"--greed is not so good after all. It was a terrific movie and I was a bit disappointed that it didn't pick up a few more Oscar wins.
Juno: The word "cute" comes to mind, and I enjoyed bits and pieces of it, but really, I thought it was overrated and was surprised that it received Oscar nominations. Poor Michael Cera is getting typecast in his old age. I wonder if he did this role before or after "Superbad"?
No Country For Old Men: You want intensity? This is your movie. Personally, I think I prefer the Coen Brothers when they are being whimsical but I'd still say this is one of the best thrillers I've ever seen.
Thank You For Smoking: I was a little late on this one but I'm glad I took the time to watch it. Thanks to "The Daily Show" I can't take anything I see on TV seriously anymore, and so I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the spin doctors satirized. Of course, I love the title, too...a friend from North Carolina once told me about taking a tour of the tobacco factories (I think he was in elementary school at the time) and being shown the "Thank you for smoking" signs everywhere.
Into The Wild: Major downer and bummer. The scene near the end when he realizes that happiness can only exist if it is shared is pretty powerful. Too bad the/his end is predictable. Man does not rule nature.
Away From Her: Not as much of a major downer/bummer as a movie about an Alzheimer's patient would have you expect, but still...I'm not fond of seeing nursing homes and characters wasting away and I left this movie only hoping that I never end up in one of those god-awful places. |
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| Wedding planning, week 6 |
[Mar. 22nd, 2008|01:36 pm] |
Even more progress this week:
Photographer: We officially hired Island Girl Photography for our wedding. We met one other photographer but we decided that Tricia from Island Girl was just the "right" person for us. We were especially impressed when she sent us a proposed timeline for her activities that pretty much matched our idea for a timeline exactly!
Cake: We officially hired Ginny McGavin to bake us a badass wedding cake and deliver it. Now, we just need to decide what it should look like, flavors, etc. Did you know that there are several dozen different flavors/types of butter creme?!? It is a shame that we probably won't be able to decide until we've tasted all of them...
DJ: We officially hired DJ Moose to provide music and general amplification. We need to come up with our list of songs we hate that he is not allowed to play, which should be, you know, fun. We also need to get him and the photographer aligned with our general ceremony/reception timeline.
Officiant: Lawrence fell ill last week, but hopefully we can meet with him tomorrow and start scripting out a ceremony.
We also went to a tasting hosted by the caterer at the venue where we'll be getting married. The food was outstanding and we're more convinced than ever that our venue is perfect. We met the women who will be our "event coordinators", helping us plan the menu and decorate the space and all of that.
Oh, and in a moment of sheer weakness, I enrolled in a swing dance class put on by the Savoy Swing Club. The class is five weeks long, and the first class was last Wednesday. After it was over, I felt like an even worse dancer than I did before I started (which is really saying something), but we'll see how it goes. I've always been paranoid that I look stupid and clumsy when I dance so a positive outcome from this class is really my only hope.
Save the date magnets are in the mail and should arrive on Tuesday. I noticed that the people online in wedding planning chat rooms and such call them "STDs" which really is not as funny as I think it is. We still need to decide on wording for our invitations, too.
The fun continues. 15 weeks to go! |
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| Wedding planning, week 5 |
[Mar. 15th, 2008|12:23 pm] |
The big milestone this week is that Em bought her dress and decided on dresses for her bridesmaids. I, of course, know nothing about the wedding dress other than where she bought it and how much it cost, so I don't feel like quite as much progress has been made this week. On other fronts:
Photographer: We met with Tricia from Island Girl Photography last weekend. I really liked her work and think she'd be a great photographer, but we're going to try and meet with one more photographer before deciding for certain.
Cake: We met with Ginny McGavin (who works on referrals and has no website or anything like that) to go over cake ideas and taste some samples (which were delicious). We basically need to find a cake design that we like, and then call Ginny to set it up...everything else is taken care of. Emily is collecting cake designs and other ideas here.
DJ: We've called a bunch of people who all sound like scary coke addict DJs, and so we haven't called any of them back. There is one guy who Emily knows from past weddings that did a good job, so we're trying to get hold of him and plan.
Officiant: We asked Lawrence Winnerman last weekend if he'd be up for the task of marrying us and he said yes. We just need to start talking about ideas, but Lawrence is starting a company and so might be a little short on time between that and his other commitments. We'll see how that goes.
We've ordered our save the date magnets, so those will be in the mail shortly. We are also playing around with invitation designs and text, which is far more complicated than it probably sounds. For example, we discussed this morning whether it should say "the marriage of so-and-so TO so-and-so" or "the marriage of so-and-so AND so-and-so". I voted for the latter because the former makes it sound like the two people are being welded together. We also have argued over discussed cute RSVP card ideas--I'm worried that certain unnamed people on my invite list won't get the joke if we ask them to RSVP "in body or in spirit" and those people will check both or spend so much time scratching their heads that they'll miss the wedding. So we're still working on that stuff.
We've also made some changes to our website--namely, adding a tab for the wedding party with bios of our bridesmaids and groomsmen, etc.
Has it really only been five weeks? 16 weeks to go! |
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| Wedding planning, week four |
[Mar. 8th, 2008|03:12 pm] |
Planning a wedding isn't too difficult. We have contacts out with people who take pictures, make cakes and play music. We just need to choose one of each. We are going to attend the caterer's open house and tasting on March 20 to pick our food, and we've signed up for a Costco membership which will save us money on just about everything. We also have an idea about how to arrange and decorate the space. We have identified our bridal party, best man, groomsman & groomsmaid, flower girls, and ring bearer. Emily is shopping for dresses and I've met with the tuxedo people. It is really all coming together. We still need to choose an officiant and script our ceremony, which is probably the next "hard" part. Oh, and we should actually invite people at some point which will require us to agree on wedding invitations--that should be, um, fun. Wink.
The amazing thing, to me, is still the prices people are charging for their services. For example, we've seen DJs charging $1500-2000 for five hours of service. I'd like to get paid $400 per hour to stand there and play music and occasionally make an announcement. The wedding industry is good business.
On that note, I'm becoming more and more convinced that there is a lot of money to be made in "filtering" the noise from all of these providers. Most of the wedding planning websites like theknot.com are taking money from providers for "featured placement" and just generally not being helpful to users beyond getting us to click on advertisements and buy stuff we don't need.
My dream wedding planning website would let me filter a list of venues by zip code (so that a search for venues in Seattle doesn't include everything in Washington State) and size (so that I can find a venue that will hold 200 people without wasting my time on those that won't). I'd love to search a list of hotels in Seattle that offer honeymoon suites and/or packages. The site would require providers to enter information that other sites do not require--for example, if you are a photographer and you want to be listed on my site, you'd need to provide your detailed price list and sample photos and be prepared to be listed along with other photographers who have provided the same information. Users would have profiles and would be allowed to submit reviews so that eventually the "highest rated" wedding officiant in the Seattle area would be known.
Sadly, the only way for such a site to make money would be (you guessed it) Google ads and/or featured placement from providers which sort of defeats the whole purpose. So I think I'll just keep selling books and stuff for now. |
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| Wedding planning, week three |
[Feb. 29th, 2008|10:53 pm] |
We've selected the Yacht Club On Lake Union as our venue and July 5, 2008 as our wedding date!
The Yacht Club is a cool space underneath the I-5 ship canal bridge right on Lake Union, and it is both big enough and a great deal! Since it is also the home base for Ravishing Radish catering, we can get our food from them and save money by bringing in our own beer/wine.
The Moss Bay Event Center disappointed. The ceiling was really low and it had the general ambiance of a conference room. It also had a view of a parking lot and was downstairs from a singles bar (which, for a Saturday night wedding, would have sucked royale).
In the end, choosing between the Sanctuary and the Yacht Club came down to several factors, not the least of which is that we're getting the Yacht Club for half price. And we'll have fireworks for our anniversary every year. It is a good space and has good energy and yes, I'm super-excited about it.
Now, we're starting to look for invitations and save the date cards and such. We went to Costco this week and left with some good ideas (although I think we both were mostly just stunned that we could buy a case of Bridgeport IPA for $23). We are looking at places to get save the date magnets and trying to make a photograph of ourselves look presentable in magnet form.
As the geek boy in this whole equation, my primary job has been to create the website. I've stolen content and layout liberally from other wedding websites and generally gotten my nerd on whenever I start to get stressed out about something. It has proven to be a useful distraction--hopefully, it will become more useful once we start notifying people, sending invitations, etc.
Someone told me that once you pick a date and a venue, everything else just falls into place. I'm not finding that to be exactly true, but it is definitely a big milestone! |
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| Wedding planning, week two |
[Feb. 22nd, 2008|06:49 am] |
We went to look at the Skansonia last weekend--it is an old ferry boat moored at the north end of Lake Union. And while it would certainly be quaint and have a great view, it unfortunately looks and smells like what it is--an old boat. The best part of the tour was when I asked if a sound system was available for ceremonies, because of a wedding I had attended there several years ago where nobody on the boat could hear the ceremony over the wind and seaplane and passing boat noise. There was another couple on the tour who had already booked the boat and were showing it to a friend, and they exchanged a nervous look! Maybe I saved their wedding?
Then, on Tuesday, we looked at the Sanctuary at Admiral, which is an old church in West Seattle that has been converted into a venue. It is very cool inside, and they actually have dates available in July! The only problem we could see is that it might be a tad small for the number of guests, and also, the layout of the stage and dance floor is a bit odd. There would be some ceremonial logistics involved. Nonetheless, it is the current leader and will be difficult to beat!
On Thursday, we looked at the Uptown Hideaway, which is an old loft converted into a space. It would be like getting married in someone's hip downtown loft, and that falls into the "'basketball court" category for me. It just isn't the "right place" for a wedding and reception. Art opening? Check. Software launch? Go. Wedding? Um, no.
Today, on the way out of town for the weekend, we're going to stop and look at the Lake Union Yacht Club, which is actually the home base of the Ravishing Radish catering people. We are still trying to reach the Moss Bay Events Center, but once we've seen it, we'll probably be ready to decide. I'm worried that Moss Bay will look like a corporate conference room inside, and I think the decision will come down to the Sanctuary vs. the Lake Union Yacht Club.
Oh, and the Shilshole Bay Beach Club wrote yesterday to ask how our planning was going and to let us know that they wanted to offer us "selected dates" for 40% off, which is--to say the least--compelling. We'll see what their "selected dates" are and decide from there. |
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| Super-excited |
[Feb. 18th, 2008|09:14 am] |
In the process of making a minor edit to my last post, I noticed that I referred to various things/feelings as "super-" at least four times.
I'm super-excited.
This venue is super-nice.
My writing is super-redundant.
If anybody was questioning my excitement level, rest assured you've nothing to worry about. |
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| Wedding planning, week one |
[Feb. 16th, 2008|01:31 pm] |
We returned from Vancouver all happily engaged on Sunday night and then had to deal with a bit of a reality check. Weddings are complex and expensive! Nonetheless, I'm excited to plan and see what we can come up with. We're looking for creative ways to save money, but the problem is that as soon as you say the word "wedding" to anyone, their price goes up 100+%.
Portrait photographer: "I charge $50 per hour, so that would be $500 for five hours plus film costs."
Us: "It's for a wedding."
PP: "OH, well, that's different. My base charge is $2000, and there is a transportation surcharge of $100 even though I live a block from the site. Then, I charge $100 per hour for every hour I'm at the wedding, whether I'm taking pictures or leeching off your buffet. Film is $500 per roll and there is a minimum of 10 rolls, so that's 240 photographs, but you'll probably only keep 20 of them. I'll put those 20 into an album for you--that's $400 extra--and I own the copyright and all rights to reproduce your photographs in any form or version and you have to waive all legal recourse in writing for my use of your images for the remainder of your lives. Oh, and this conversation will cost you $100 even though you haven't agreed to anything."
Our first problem is finding a venue. We have a tentative guest list that is pushing 200 people, and there are not too many venues in the city of Seattle (which is of course where we both want to get married) that will hold that number:
- The MV Skansonia is an old ferry boat moored at the north end of Lake Union. A friend was married there a few years back, and I remember it being pretty sweet. The facility rental includes food, and they let you bring your own beverages aboard (which saves some money). The outdoor wedding (weather permitting) has the Seattle skyline as a backdrop. We would need a sound system for the ceremony to ensure our guests could hear over the wind and sound of seaplanes landing.
- The Lake Union Cafe is on Eastlake and is run by the same people who run the Skansonia. Lots of good reviews and I know some folks who were married there, too. Slightly more expensive.
- The Sanctuary at Admiral is an old church that has been converted into a private residence and then converted again into a wedding venue. We drove by last night and it is super-nice. They restrict catering to one of five companies, but their fees aren't eyeball-popping unreasonable. It is also very close to her dad's house, so we could use that as our "home base" for preparations, etc.
There are a couple of other venues that we like. The Golden Gardens Bathhouse is super-nice but probably booked solid until next year. And we've also looked into using a community center (but I'm a snob and I don't want to get married under a basketball hoop).
Because of the size of our wedding, and because we're limited to large venues, we can't pick a date until we pick a venue. So we'll be on a whirlwind tour of venues starting immediately. We're going to see the Skansonia tomorrow and the Sanctuary on Tuesday night. Hopefully, we can have a date within a week or so from now. EDIT: I am a crackhead. There is NO WAY we'll pick a venue in a week. Maybe two weeks, if we're super-lucky. Probably three weeks.
As we research the various stuff involved in one of these productions, the most fun has been seeing how other people saved money and still had a great time. Our first money-saving ideas are super-promising:
- We found out today that Renton Technical College has a culinary arts program and their students cater weddings for an obscenely-cheap rate (something like $10-12 per person).
- Likewise, South Seattle Community College can provide beauty services with students dirt cheap (although that's probably more risky than food--at least with food, you can sample it beforehand!).
- For photography, I'm thinking that we'll buy the cheapest professional photography package we can find, just for staged portraits and the obligatory "bride with mom"-type shots Then, I have enough amateur photographer friends and family that I can probably ask all of them to bring their cameras and take tons of photos during the reception.
- Emily says that we can get flowers from Pike Place Market on the day of the ceremony much cheaper than we could from a florist.
We've also talked with some friends and family about wedding ideas and it's fun to see everyone getting creative and excited for us.
That post came out far more optimistic than I expected...now let's see if I can maintain that optimism for a few months (particularly once we start writing checks)! |
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