blog.mattgoyer.com

We left Winnipeg today around 4pm and now we’re in Fargo at a Schlotzsky’s Deli.

Comments(2)

My family has a decent number of Video 8 tapes that we’d like to digitize. Unfortunately our Sony Handycam no longer turns on and so we can’t use it to transfer the video. I know this is a long shot, but does anyone in Seattle have a Video 8 camcorder or player that I could borrow?

Comments(1)

• Site of Capitol Hill massacre is once again a happy home - I believe John and Ming looked at renting this place but passed
• Water buffalo: Worst Christmas present ever? - I think my sister gave someone a goat and my mom gave my young second cousin a forest.
• Whistler rentals
• Phoenix electric trucks
• Ring faucet
• NYC by Night - Photoset
• Office Guns
• Hiding alarm clock
• Style Diary
• Share Your Look

Comments(2)

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is surviving boxing day if they headed out (the Canadian equivalent of Thanksgiving shopping).

Comments(0)

We made it.

Comments(2)

Early December, around the usual time that I start thinking about buying a ticket to fly home to Winnipeg I took a look at airfares and found nothing for under $1000 out of Vancouver, Seattle was already way jacked up. And so, John and I have decided to drive the 1644 miles / 2645 kilometers, we’ll leave sometime this afternoon or evening.

Seattle to Winnipeg Hosted on Zooomr

Now, every single person I have mentioned this too thinks I am out of my mind. Maybe its the recent tragedy in Oregon or the recent natural disaster in Seattle where 53,000 are still without power that is making everyone super cautious. Or maybe its just that Americans are more hesitant about long cross country trips. See, I think back to my time at the University of Waterloo which is a similar distance, 1322 miles, when we made the trip back and forth and no one called us crazy. It’s just what you did to get home.

Least you worry too much, yes we have experience driving long distances (I’ve driven between Waterloo and Winnipeg at least three times and have driven from Toronto to Seattle), yes we have experience driving in the snow (we’re from Winnipeg), yes we will have warm clothes (we are driving to Winnipeg after all!) and no we are not taking the Neon. And yes, this will likely affect the amount of time I spend in Winnipeg, but by no more than a day or so. And yes, this means I have more money for Christmas presents!

…For interest sake I pulled how much my last two flights to Winnipeg cost (both out of Vancouver and booked last week of November/first week of December). 2004 was $670CDN and the trip there took over 24 hours; it would have been faster to drive because of flight delays that meant I had to stay overnight in Vancouver. 2005 was $879CDN and was also delayed but by only several hours. Given that you need to budget at least five hours for flights out of Vancouver, possibly more if the border is likely to be delayed, and it’s three to four hours to get to Winnipeg depending on if you have to layover or not, driving really isn’t that much longer :).

For curiosity’s sake flights are now $2500CDN+, will take anywhere from 9 to 18 hours and have multiple connections on the east cost, either Montreal, Toronto, or both! A random weekend in February is $770.

If there are any sights or stops we should be making along the way please leave a comment.

Update: Eric just ruined my vacation after pointing me to Kayak and I found this best price trend for SEA to YWG for the 23rd. Apparently December 7th was the time to buy.

BestFareTrend Hosted on Zooomr

Comments(4)

• Kilimanjaro tour company - Only $1000
• Cascade Cat Skiing - Only $400/day
• The Most Dangerous Roads in the World - Priceless

Not travel related…

• DPD Activity Locater
• Annual Credit Reports

Comments(0)

In this photo from the craziness at Viceroy on Saturday night does it look like I woke up at 6:50 am and hiked up a mountain later in the day? (Boy did we make a wrong call on what hill to go to! We went to Steven’s and the backside was closed because they were running off of generator power; tragic given how much snow they’d received.)

At least I look awake in this one…

Comments(0)

The Seattle Times has a lengthy article about the situation, Storm causes state of emergency:

King County Executive Ron Sims issued an emergency proclamation this morning after supercharged winds of up to 70 miles an hour overnight knocked out power to about one million people in greater Seattle.

Of course last night as the storm was ramping up and people were panicking Glenn and I foolishly hit the roads to head to a recruiting event, Neither Wind, Nor Rain, Nor Bad Mexican Food…:

Matt Goyer, the product manager leading the charge, was unphased. “Maybe we should leave fifteen minutes early,” he said. “Maybe we should wimp out,” I said. He assumed I wasn’t serious. But the truth is, if I could have stayed home and still thought of myself as someone who rallied, I would have.

From our Pioneer Square office, we waded through hordes of Seahawks fans in blue firemen’s helmets and garbage bags, who seemed even happier because of the rain. It felt like one of those zoos where you walk among the animals.

Matt’s beat-up Neon from Winnipeg began burning oil after fifteen minutes on the road. We saw a waterfall pouring over the freeway wall from Capitol Hill.

Nothing will stop us from finding more engineers! :)

…Actually it was the first day I’ve ever driven to work since starting at Redfin three and a half months ago. Of course there was a football game yesterday which made parking, even in the morning, impossible.

Now when I did get home from the Eastside last night our power kept flickering but never went off. And of course, the office is still pretty busy even with the Eastsiders staying home (two Redfinners had trees fall on their houses).

Comments(0)

Saturday I wrangled an invite to the Microsoft EXG party (so eHome, XBox and Zune) at Pier 30:

EXG Hosted on Zooomr

And it was quite the party. Free valet parking, numerous open bars, ice sculptures, air hockey, foosball tables, photo booths, three large rooms, food and Eagles of Death Metal played:

Eagles of Death Metal Hosted on Zooomr

But of course like the other large Microsoft party I went to two years ago only a few social butterflies from eHome showed up.

Social Butterflies Hosted on Zooomr

Which is sad because the people I ran into at this party are the people I usually either go out with or run into when I’m out. What I’d prefer is to get a chance to socialize with all the people who normally don’t go out but when there’s a big party they seem to all stay at home probably afraid that the space for the party is too large and they won’t bump into the people they work with. And so even though this party was bigger and more extravagant than last year’s eHome only party I don’t think it was nearly as good because it didn’t bring the eHome employees together. Now it did bring the eHome and other groups together in one space which I’m sure the vice presidents believe will create greater ties between their groups but really there was little meaningful interaction between the groups.

(Begin tangent)

After the party we went to a house party at Jeff and Chris’s place where I discovered that Jeff has a serious Lego addiction:

Jeff’s Lego Collection Hosted on Zooomr

Check out this condo he built:

Jeff’s Lego Condo Hosted on Zooomr

(End Tangent)

Compare this to our Redfin company party last night at Glenn’s house where nearly everyone showed up:

A Blurry Redfin Christmas Hosted on Zooomr

And we had a great time eating, drinking and socializing (though we tend to all those things at work too.) I’m sure next year’s party will be much larger and won’t be hosted at Glenn’s house!

Comments(1)