Passionate about um…vacuums?

Posted by random olio

I remember our Kirby vacuum from my childhood. That thing looked like it could make it through a war, yet I think I remember my dad fixing it more often than not. It had this thick large rubber band on the bottom that would often break, get off its track, or get caught with all our hair. I remember when the bag got fairly full and you turned it on, all this dust would explode out. Fun times.

A few weeks ago, we bought a new vacuum. I know not the top of the list of items to purchase, and you may be wondering why I am even writing a blog on purchasing a vacuum. You see the vacuum is just a vehicle to the real morale of the story. A little back detail first.

We had a crappy vacuum from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was fine, but now we are living in the house that we hope to be in for a very long time. This house has both carpet and hardwood floors meaning that one or the other was not getting as clean as it could be from our current cheap vacuum. We decided that since we plan to be in this house for a long time, and are not moving every few years as we had been, that it was time to purchase a “grown up” vacuum.

Now to a few weeks ago. Inner east side Portland, on a Saturday afternoon. We decided to go to a local store that just sells vacuums. I say to Chris as we get out the car: “Let’s make this fast, this is the last place I want to be right now.” We go inside to a fairly large store with so many different types of vacuums that your head would spin. I am bored already. Stay patient Tami, if we find a good one the hardwood floor would no longer befriend your constant shedding hair.

We get the salesman that is about our age. We also learned that he grew up in vacuum stores. He father was a vacuum salesman. He is passionate about it. Who knew that in 2013 someone could be passionate about such things? He steers us clear from the Dyson, which shocked me a bit because those have the higher price tag. He tells us the ball on the Dyson has hard plastic which will be fine on carpet, but will scratch our hardwood floors. He steers us from upright vacuums (which is what I was wanting) to the canister vacuums. Chris asks him what are the perks for purchasing directly from you? The salesman says to support a local business. Chris said, well yes, definitely but any others? No. After demonstrations, dialogue, and explanation of which vacuum would be the best for us we thanked him and said we were going to think about it.

Chris went back the next day to pick up our vacuum. He researched online reviews and pricing. We could have purchased it online, but based on the service, care, and knowledge we received, we wanted to support our local business. No more hair all over the hardwoods. We are happy vacuum owners, and I am grateful that there are still businesses that care about customer service, their products, and truly finding what is right for their consumers.

#cleanfloors

Would you be mortified?

Posted by random olio

I write. It is what I do. It is what makes me feel grounded and balanced, and how I make sense of the world. I cannot remember when I started writing in a journal, but I have a bin or two in a closet that contains all my journals from over the years. I am now slightly inspired to go and find my earliest ones and see has my voice changed? I am sure it has.

So when a colleague told me the other day about “Mortified Nation” I had a nice chuckle. Mortified Nation is a documentary that has just been released where individuals read from their teenage journals. Some of them are funny, some depressing, and some will speak directly to the title: mortified. I am sure I have plenty of journal entries that fall into each of those categories, and some that might lead me down a path to what life truly was like back then. Of course we have our memories, but I wonder if even at a less mature age if the words that flowed from within were telling to what was really going on in our lives?

Would you be mortified to read our teenage journal aloud? What would we find out about you? That you hated your mom, and had a crush on a different boy a week? Who knows but these individuals are brave souls, unless they have the writing ability of David Sedaris’ or their raw honesty just rings a bell in our own nostalgic thoughts of the past.

The documentary was available on iTunes and Amazon on November 5, and in some local theaters over the next 2 weeks.

#timetounearthjournals

She remembered.

Posted by random olio

We all want to be remembered. We want to know we matter. Sometimes we are remembered and we are in awe of the individual that remembered us. I often have blog posts about customer service, the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly. I still have wide eyes after this experience, and yet you might consider it mundane.

At the end of last week, I went by a Nike store to return a few items. The last time I had been at this location was in mid-September when a good friend was in town. We had spent a bit of time there looking for clothes and shoes for her, her husband, little baby girl, and step-son. During that visit I had a shift of thought. Nothing ground breaking, but a shift nonetheless. You see, I can sometimes get addicted to something and not want to try something new. I mean that in the form of the running shoes I wear. I’ll tell you what happened.

My friend and I started looking at running shoes. She asked me what were the best for the different kinds of needs of a runner (over pronation, flat foot, under pronation). While discussing each potential option for her, the sales associate (Nike calls them Athletes) asked if she could help us. We asked her a few questions, and she asked me what I run in. I told her the LunarGlide 3 and that I had a stash of them in my closet because once I find something I like I want to make sure I can keep using them. This is a tough thing to uphold when you wear a Nike running shoe, as they innovate so fast. The Athlete said to just on the LunarGlide 5’s for her. I resisted for a while, and she persisted. Finally, I grumbled, and gave in. I tried them and I was hooked immediately. I bought a pair (as did my friend). I began running in them the next day, and have not once touched my 3’s.

Fast forward to the end of last week (remember, I was returning a few items). I am quickly scanning men’s shoes with Chris to see if there was anything new, and this Athlete looks at me and says, “How are the LunarGlide 5’s?” I was flabbergasted. I stared at her a minute, as a zillion things crossed my thought. “She remembered me. Wow. That is amazing. That was over a month ago. I only met her once. How did she do that?” I slowly regained my focus in the present and said, “I love them. I recently purchased a second pair.” I pointed down to my feet. As I walked away to find Chris and tell him what happened. It was not until I was home that I thought to get her name. I should have. She made me think about the power of remembering, of caring. If only we treated everyone that way.

#sheremembered

Apply to college to graduate high school

Posted by random olio

One day last week, not long after I arrived at work, a story came on the television that airs the news or sports game in my team’s workspace. They mentioned a high school in Oregon that requires students to apply to college in order to graduate from high school. A few of us that were working away look up to the screen and want to more about the story. Why? Because the school was near us in Portland. I was intrigued. A high school in the Columbia River Gorge (about and hour east of Portland) in the Corbett School District may mandate this ruling for graduation. They want to make sure that students have options for their future. It made me wonder, do some students not know how, or have the support to apply to college, so they just do not even try?

I can remember in high school struggling to figure out the matrix of applying to colleges. For a few reasons. My mom had passed on 1.5 years before and she would have most likely helped me (or so I think). My dad was not really involved in my life at that time. I also did not have the money to send away to a bunch of colleges and universities in the form of an application fee. I had no idea what I wanted to do after college, or what type of school I wanted to go to. So what did I do? I applied to a few local colleges that had no application fee, and I applied to a university affiliated with my high school (again no application fee) to see if I would get in and potentially they could help me with financial aid. Did I really look at my options? No. Did anyone really help me? No. It was in my high school’s best interest for me to get into the affiliated college. They did next to nothing to help me find a school based on my interests. I am not sure the career office even checked in with us to see if we had applied anywhere.

What happened to me? I went to the college affiliated with my high school. I was actually fortunate to receive a large financial aid package based on my family situation. Do I regret it? Yes, and no. I received a good education, but half way through college I wondered what direction my life would have taken if someone had helped me to select a college that was just right for me. Even if it was in the middle of Montana. I worked hard, got good grades, learned a lot, but I often wonder what might life could have looked like with just a bit of guidance.

Oh and in case you are wondering. The Corbett School District indicates that this new requirement would mean that students have to get into a secondary school, however, just because they are accepted, does not mean that they actually have to go. The school will also help to pay for any application fees incurred. So students would learn about themselves along the way, and who knows maybe there are millions of individuals out there that never went to college because there was no one to help them navigate the landscape. Maybe this requirement will set expectations for students to work hard and try to get into college, and maybe their life will be changed because of it. Oh, and by the way, this high school was ranked the fifth best in the nation by Newsweek in 2010, so maybe they are on the right path.

Further reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/12/corbett-graduation-requirement_n_4088775.html

Do Good, Be Good, and Kick Ass

Posted by random olio

My inspiration for this week was stolen. Yes, I stole it, from the back of a truck. It said: “Do Good, Be Good, and Kick Ass.” Of course I did what most smart phone loving individual does, I took a picture. What if that was your mantra in life?

We often think about being good, sometimes we talk about doing good, and I think when we know who we are we just want to kick ass. At least I always want to kick ass. I love that a company chose to advertise with this tagline and that it may very well inspire folks as they sit in traffic (as it did me). A win-win sales pitch.

I try to be good, but sometimes I get a little sassy, so I will work on that this week. Ah forget that. I would not even know how to start to take out the sass. Instead, I will just keep goodness in the forefront of my thought. I will try to lead with good in my interactions, and as a result my hope is that my actions will lead me down the path to do good. Now for kick ass. When you put 110% in all that you do whether that be work, family, marriage, friendships, two things happen. You fall right to sleep at the end of the day, because you are pooped, and 99% of the time you kick ass. Are you giving it all you’ve got?

So your inspiration for today, is to remember: “Do Good, Be Good, and Kick Ass.”