Buffalo

One of the first things I remember about Steve occured when we first hiked the "Y" together. During the climb he told me about his dreams of building a castle (complete with moat, drawbridge and stone gargolyes) and having a lot of land. With the land he would like to raise beefalo (hybrid buffalo and cow). He still has this dream.

On our way back from Arizona last weekend, we past and took pictures of buffalo, which aren't beefalo, but could be the next best thing!

I love that he still has big dreams.

Negotiations

Ok, this is Steve posing again. This must only be my 3rd or 4th, but there's something way to cool to not post. This is my first really awesome exposure to negotiating super lower prices.

We are leaving Provo (as you know) after I graduate in April. We've been looking at rental trucks and making reservations.

First, I searched the internet and found that Uhaul was $470, Budget was $455, and Penske was about $650. So I made the reservation with Budget.

Then Penske called me the next morning and pointed out that I didn't complete the reservation with them. I explained that it was a price issue. Then the lady said she could "maybe" find a hidden discount somewhere. Yea right, i'm acutely aware that businesses like to have stepped price systems to charge different rates to customers depending on how much they're willing to pay. Similar to department stores' progressive sales. First full price, then they fall weekly until they're a magical 70% off! People pay approx. the max they are willing to pay.

So I called Budget and explained the situation. I said, "Hey, I'd like to stick with you guys, but I'll switch if I can save money." So the Budget folks dug around a little more and got the price from $455 down to $431.

The next morning Penske called again and said that they had a better rate--$421. Sure, it's only a ten dollar difference, by why stop the ball rolling now? I used that offer to call up Budget and see what they could do. As they were getting back to me, I spoke with Penske again who let me know they could lower the price to $375.

That's actually cheaper than it would cost to rent a modest trailer and pull it across to California. Instead, we get a truck with double the space, and for less moolah. My next experiment with competitive supplier bidding will be when we make our trip. We need to stop in a small town of Ely, Nevada, and get a hotel room there. I imagine that all hotels will have vacancies that they can't fill, so we'll see who's willing to take the least to fill some vacancies!

--Steve

Roughhousing and Bruises

I think that bruises are intereting. I got this when I was playing with a dog (not the dog's fault). I got a bruise on the left hand side of my hand below the ring and pinky finger. This one is kind of painful but not very visible.

And then it looks worse on the wrist portion. But this one doesn't hurt.
I think that the two are connected somehow as I didn't hit my wrist. It is times like these that I realize how much I don't know about the human body.

(oh, and the bruises are healing very nicely, so please don't worry about them!)

More Quilts

One of my goals for 2011 is to finish all of the crafty projects I have started since marriage and have not finished. I have quite a few of them. Two of them were baby quilts, made from kits from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I like the kits very much and with a coupon, the kit plus tax is only $16. How is that for a deal??

I even kept one of them this time; the green, blue, white, pink one shown below.

Some Fine Things

Food, Flowers, Friends and Family. Need I say more?

Things I Love about BYU/Provo, Part IV

Snow.

Well, actually let's qualify that. I like to look at it when it is in the mountains. I don't like to live in it. For example, when I walked home on Tuesday from yoga - less than one mile - it felt like negative 9 degrees! (I checked weather.com.) Burr! But the mountains outside of my office look majestic with a little bit of snow on them.

Quarter Century

So I expected most people to be impressed or at least appreciative that I turned 25 on Sunday. Was this the case? No! When I asked for advice on how to celebrate my 25th birthday the most common reaction was not advice but rather, "You are such a baby! You have your whole life ahead of you!" I was kind of hurt. I feel like I have accomplished something by turning 25! At any rate, I have been rather reflective the last few days and I hope that I can make my next 25 years even better.

My 25th birthday the celebration was low-key. Steve and Kitty cooked. I decorated. Kitty skunked us in yahzee. We then danced.

Oh, and my co-workers decorated my desk when I came in on Monday. I have very wonderful co-workers.

Here is to the next quarter-century! May it be all that I want it to be and more!