Tom and I went for a drive in Snohomish yesterday and were pulled over by the police who had us stay in the car and keep our hands on the dashboard while they looked up our vehicle to find out if it had been reported stolen.

More than a year ago, Tom got new license plates.  The replacement license plates were for the old van we own (we have no idea why Washington state issued us new license plates for the van), but Tom thought the plates were for the truck that he had recently purchased because that is the vehicle where the ownership changed.  We think Washington State screwed up and sent plates for the wrong vehicle.  Addendum:  there is a rule that vehicles can't use the same plates for more than 7 years, and plates don't automatically change when ownership does in the State of Washington, so they did send us the right plates.  Strange rules.

Anyway, Tom assumed that the license plates were for the new truck and put them on his truck.  He's been riding around with these plates for a year.  The Snohomish police saw a mismatched license plate on a vehicle and pulled us over assuming the car or plates were stolen.  When we couldn't produce proof of ownership of the vehicle (Tom put the new papers in the glove compartment and we had the old papers at home), they didn't care that he had insurance for both of the vehicles with him and assumed we were criminals and treated us accordingly until they ran his name and vehicle on their database.

The police frightened us until they determined the mismatch was a mistake and not a crime.  Then they let us go with a warning.  On the way back home Tom and I talked about how lucky we are that their database displayed a clean record for him.  Both of us realized that we might have gotten different treatment if we hadn't appeared so middle class (white?) and squeaky clean.

I'm working on some site-wide updates but they aren't completed yet. .

The boss's trip to Dutch Harbor has been rescheduled for next year.  So I'll have to wait till then to install the new firewall.

I've ordered the new server for our accounting database and it should arrive at work this week.

I STILL haven't gotten Majordomo working properly on my server for SeattleLinuxChix.  I phoned my ISP and they are supposedly sending my messages through, but it isn't working the way it should and I'll need to look deeper into it.

Yes, I am finally running a mile, on some of my run days.  The other days I still run 3/4 of a mile.

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We're having morning frosts and snow in the mountains, so snow does not feel far away.  I expect that any day now I'll wake up to white stuff on the streets.

We are still enjoying our hot tub spa but we have some suspicions about it.  We ordered it in August and it was finally delivered at the end of October, more than 6 weeks later than what we were originally told.  It arrived with a noisey motor, which they replaced at no charge, a used cover, which we are having replaced this week at no charge, a headpiece that falls off, and now the light has burned out.  I'm starting to suspect that they lost our order and to fix things (get us a tub as soon as they could) they gave us a floor model, so the spa wasn't really new when we got it.  Other than that, everything has been working fine though.  Addendum:  the 90 day warranty covers all these repairs and replacements.  The service department says it is not unusual for their new spas to require lots of little adjustments and repairs during the first 90 days and that's why they have that warranty.  They hope that everyone who buys the spa reports any problems right away so they can be fixed for free during that period.  There is a year long warranty which continues most of the coverage, but not pick up and delivery charges.

Tom showed me his office at Microsoft.  He shares it with another Microsoft employee.  He likes his work space (of course what he really wants eventually is his own office).  He really loves his keyboard.  I tried it too and I think it is brilliant.  It angles up towards the hands, down for the fingers.  We should have thought of that years ago!!!!  He took me to the spa near Microsoft.  Discounted membership in the spa is a Microsoft benefit and many employees take advantage of it.  I can see why.  We refer to it as "the palace".

One of the most frustrating things in life is when unfortunate or unfair things happen to people I love and there is nothing I can do about it. 

My friends Mike and Deb moved away from Seattle, leaving their house behind with no equity to get out of it, because he could not find a job (he's a librarian) in Seattle but was offered and accepted one in Tucson.  Once they had relocated (in a rush) to Tucson, in time for him to start his job on his assigned start date, he found that the Library did not have accommodations for him (he is partially sighted - yes, they knew all about it before they offered him the job).  They made him wait, without pay, for 2 months, and now they have him working in a part time job, different from what they hired him for, and Mike and Deb have dropped deeper in debt because of this unfairness.  Unfortunately, at this point there is no restitution.  Maybe when he is earning a living wage at a stable job (what job is stable these days?) he can take some legal action, but if he took legal action now, he'd just be an impoverished whistle-blower that noone would ever hire again.

Shelley, my good-hearted, civic-minded friend who has devoted her life to many good causes (she did emergency support in NYC on 9-11, she spent many years of her life improving care for "troubled girls") is facing cancer for a second time.  The first time it was kidney cancer and she beat it.  This time it is breast cancer.  The doctors say the two are unrelated.  I am again angry at doctors who deliberately removed lymph nodes from her underarm without first informing the patient about lymphedema.  They've done the surgery, now comes radiation and chemo.  I hate this medical practice.  I've already lost one very close girlfriend to breast cancer.  She would have been better off without the treatment.  It is going to be difficult to not let my anger at idiot doctors get in the way of my emotional support for Shelley.

We had 6 people in addition to ourselves over for Thanksgiving.   Tom and I have a lot to be greatful for.  We were working poor for a very long time but now we have good jobs, each other, a nice home.  All but one of our guests were still in the working poor stage.  We hope they escape from that soon.  All of the people at our table were single, and I think all or most of them would prefer to be in a relationship.

On our trip to Snohomish, Tom and I saw snowgeese.

A Bewick's wren has come to our shade garden and eaten from the suet a couple of times.  The winter birds are here again.  I spotted a spotted towhee or two several times in our shade garden.  The Anna's hummingbirds are visiting the feeder regularly.

Two nights ago,we had a thunderstorm.  Surprisingly, this one did not result in a power outage.  I need to purchase another UPS soon.

There are a few toad lillies and some yellow daisies still blooming.  I am surprised that they made it all the way to the end of November.