Why I Love Good Customer Service and Beer

As many of you know.  I'm kind of a brewery fanatic.  I tend to choose where I'm going to eat based on new breweries I've never been too.  We live in the micro brewery capital of the world.  Who can blame me?  I also have a pretty "epic" logo pint glass collection from my travels.  And this Thanksgiving weekend was no except.  My dad was visiting from China (I have him to thank for getting me into breweries) and Kirk was playing basketball in Washington.

So for lunch we stopped at Fish Brewing Co. in Olympia, WA.  They are an organic brewery (which is awesome in it's own right).  And was pretty bummed when I found out they are out of logo pint glasses...Fast forward to dinner, we decided to check out the Green Dragon, who Dad had heard about from some friend in China and I had heard about through Twitter.  And guess what?  They were also out of pint glasses!  I was so bummed and told our waiter about what had happened at Fish Brewing.  She disappeared and came back with a Fish Brewing pint glass for me!  Turns out they sell Fish Beer there and had some promo pint glasses.  She seriously made my day!

When was your last great experience with customer service?  Or tell me about another great brewery.

This Holiday Season, Give Gifts that Give TWICE!

As many of you know I've been doing freelance work for an awesome company call CafeGive for the past couple of months. A lot of you have been asking about it. What I'm doing, what CafeGive does, how you can get involved. So with the holidays just around the corner I thought I would pass on the love by sending you all:

Your Personal Invitation to Shop for a Cause:

In July 2009, a brand new business launched, and I have been a part of the creation process. Please spend some time on our site, www.cafegive.com, where your purchases will benefit one of the causes you choose. Help us build some momentum for this new way to shop — where causes benefit and you can support change in the world! I am so excited to share it with you.

Lots of online stores—find gifts, cards and more!
• We’ve added lots of stores and made it really easy to shop while you earn for a cause.
• Over 150 great stores to choose from...we have it all, no need to go to the mall. Choose a cause you want to support!
• You’ll find local and national causes—benefitting children, animals, or the environment. Now that I’ve told you, pass it on!
• Visit www.cafegive.com and see how easy it is to select a cause, shop, and create a widget to encourage others to shop.

East Coast Day #2

As mentioned before I stayed up a little too late (like 2AM, which honestly is like 11PM my time, which is pretty good for me), working on my Bible Study, The Search for Significance, and my book club book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  But in hopes of conquering jet lag, I set my alarm for 8:30AM, on a SATURDAY, which is really 5:30AM for me.

I managed to get up and survive quiet happily on coffee all day.  Can I tell you how awesome my day has been?  Grammie and I started our day checking out the Brewster Women's Library, where she volunteers.  We used to check out books and movies there.  I must have rented The Last Unicorn there over a hundred times when I was little.  Then we headed to Paine's Creek, home of Kate's Ice Cream, which has real bubble gum in their bubble gum ice cream.  And where I fell on the rock jetty and got my ankle crushed between two big rocks, when I was like 6.  Followed by the Thrift Shop Grammie also volunteers out that is supported by her church.  We then went to practice using an ATM machine, something that is still new to Grammie, followed by a grocery store run.

While Grammie took her afternoon nap, I took a walk up to the Brewster store, a penny candy store (now a dime candy store), I went to EVERYDAY while on the Cape.  Then walked back on the beach.  Even though it was misting out, it still was fun.  When I got back, we looked through my parents wedding album, which was fun, my mom looks freaking amazing and my dad has a classic 80's mustache...  We also looked through my baby album, which is is amusing because I'm 2 weeks older than my cousin Paul and the only way you can tell who is who is because I'm like twice the size of him.  Seriously, I was one fat baby.  Everyone used to call me "no-neck" apparently.

Did you have a funny baby name?

Almost Didn't Make It

...but I'm now in Massachusetts!  Cape Cod to be exact.

Yesterday I realized United booked the wrong dates for my trip.  Can we say freak out?  Luckily things got taken care of (or are still in the processes of being handled but I'm here so I'm not worrying).  Anyways, I stayed up most of last night.  Flew through Denver, arrived in Boston, took the bus to Cape Cod.  Had my cousin John and his wife Katie pick me up from the bus station.  It was so great seeing them, I hadn't seen them since May 2008 when I graduated from Bentley.  And headed to my grandmother's "Grammie"'s house.  It was so great seeing her as well!

There is just something about being "home" that makes everything feel so good.  So what am I doing here tonight?  The same thing I did while at college, come down for a weekend, spend the first night working on homework.  Although tonight it was "real" work.  Can't believe the last time I was here I was a college student and now I'm a graduate!

What was your worse airplane experience?

East Coast Tour 10/16-10/25

I'm heading to the East Coast on 10/16 for the first time since graduation! I am beyond excited. I get to mix: work + family + college friends = nine days of craziness. People keep saying "oh your taking a vacation!" To be honest, it doesn't feel like it will be one. Here is my schedule:

Arrive Friday Night: Take bus to Cape Cod for the weekend. Visit with Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle, Cousins.
Sunday: Take bus to CT. Visit other Grandparents, more Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. Plus an old college friend.
Wednesday: Head back to Boston. Sleep over with college friends.
Thursday: Watch my boss do presentation at MIT, sit in on a class, have lunch, maybe take a tour and get something from the gift shop?
Friday: Alumni Weekend at Bentley + dinner and a play with another set of Aunt and Uncle and Cousins.
Saturday: Bentley round 2 with friends.
Sunday: Fly home.

Monday: Back to work.

Which is honestly a crazy busy week:

• Bible Study
• Book Club
• Roller Derby Bootcamp
• Halloween Inspired Wildfire
• Two Willamette Events
• Halloween
• CafeGive proposal
  

Good thing I strive under pressure!

When is your next "vacation?"

10/4/09 2.0

• Jon and I caught four mice in my garage this weekend. More like Jon caught them. And after every one I prayed, "Dear Jesus, I'm sorry. Amen." I tend to be an overly passionate person when it comes to mercy killings. I was the kid who would try to save the slugs after the neighborhood boys pour salt on them. Or when our neighbors had mice in their rice bin I wanted Mom to save the mice babies from the snakes in the backyard. Or when Dad ran over a rabit when we were driving to Utah and called out "Thumper" I cried for about an hour.
  

Floating Thoughts 10/4/09

• I'm going to Boston in two weeks - still haven't bought my tickets. I should be doing that instead of writing this blog post. Excited to see friends and family. Going to see my boss teach at MIT, going to Bentley's Alumni Weekend and visit Cape Cod and CT. All in a week!
• Tomorrow is my two week post-op. appointment for having my toenail permanently removed. It's healing nicely, still kinda looks like there is a nail there, but I know that its just a scab (which kinda looks like my original toenail and thus why I had this surgery). Can't wait to see what it looks like healed.
• Had such a good weekend hanging out with Jon. It's so good to have old friends!
• I'm officially joining the Rose City Rollers and doing roller derby. Month long boot camp starts November 1st.
• Excited for my Bible Study to start up and the fact that we picked a book.
• Working on my Thriller dance for Wildfire. Shall be interesting.

What have you been up too?

Antarctica Update - TWO MORE WEEKS!

Here is an email I received today from Quark!  Just wanted to ask everyone to keep voting for me!  And help me spread the word by telling YOUR friends, family and co-workers about it.  Right now I have 112 votes!  Would love to see a couple more hundred (or thousand) votes in the next two weeks!

Check out my blog and to vote here:  http://www.blogyourwaytoantarctica.com/blogs/view/604

Thanks again!

Love,

Jenna

Who will become the Official Quark Blogger?   Dear Jenna, After over 600 blog entries and 46,000 votes cast, the competition to become theOfficial Quark Blogger enters its final two weeks. For competitors, the next two weeks are vital, as there is still time to overtake the leaders or consolidate a lead. Keep spreading the word! You have until September 30, 2009. Or…competitors may ask their supporters to vote for another competitor, if they feel they no longer have a chance to become the Official Quark Blogger. We make this suggestion, because last week, a generous competitor asked to transfer his 500 votes to another contender. He will inform his voters through a notice on his blog entry. The rules of the competition do not allow us to change a vote. Only the voter can. So for all you voters, it’s time to decide if the blogger you chose is the best candidate for the job. You can change your vote at any time before September 30, 2009.   Please note that voters are under no obligation to change their vote! Thank you to everyone for participating, and for making Blog Your Way to Antarctica a runaway success. Sincerely, Quark Expeditions