Redheadedblonde

My younger sister moved to the other side of the world, and I posted this on her Facebook the other day, because we love The Little Mermaid and love our silly dog, Sousa. So in honor of National Dog Day.. Here’s a cross-post.

P.S. It’s read best if you sing along :)

Part of Sousa’s World

Look at this dog, isn't she sweet? Don't you think she might deserve a good treat? Can't you see she's the one, The one that so misses you.

Look at that fish, Flounder's his name, We only love him cuz of some ginger's fame. Sousa thought he was a toy, A toy that you bought for her.

She's got mommy and daddy on most days. Dzung and I too, I suppose. What about Selah? Oh, her and Kenny. But who cares. They don't count. She wants you...

She wants to go to the beach with you. Or maybe just go for a long car ride. Sticking her out out those, what are they called again? Oh, windows.

Running with dad just kills some time, She wants you to cuddle (she'll hog the covers). She behaved well and now she wants a.. Why'd she lift her foot? Treat!

The vet says don't. Mom can't resist. So we just give her treats to make her.. Fill the big void Left in her heart When you went back.

What would she say, to spend a day Riding camels with you. What will it take for her to make Friends there in Jordan.

Bet over there, they understand That black dogs are the very best companions. Lots of licking. Minimal kicking. She wants you.

She wants you to know she misses you. She wants to hug you (Cuz our dog does that) What's life like without a dog? What's that word? Ughhhhhh.

I wasn't going to blog about this, but I was hoping to have a new book to listen to today at work and on my lunch break, so this is how I'm spending my lunch.

I love the autobiographies of pop culture "icons" (I'm using "icons" very loosely). Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Cosby, Betty White, Carrie Fisher, Joan Rivers, George Carlin, Jim Gaffigan, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, Kris Jenner, Howie Mandel, Katie Davis, Phil Jackson, Piper Kerman, Bob Barker, Dick Van Dyke, Elizabeth Smart, Rob Lowe, LL Cool J, Eminem, Walt Disney, Judy Greer, Vanessa Williams, Jane Goodall, Drew Carey.. And those were all read or listened to (probably 50/50) in the last 14 months. I'm currently reading Neil Patrick Harris and Cary Elwes' books. I think I'm fascinated by the lives of people whose reality is incredibly far from my own. I'm not longing for their life styles or situations at all.. It's just interesting to read or listen to.

And that brings me to the latest book I'm excited about: "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler. If you don't know who Amy Poehler is, Google her right now, and you'll recognize her. She's hilarious. And her best friendship with Tina Fey is something that I wish I could be apart of. But I can't, so instead I will settle for having read Tina Fey's book, and being so, so, excited that Amy Poehler has now written her own book!

As I mentioned I'm currently reading Neil Patrick Harris and Cary Elwes' books (physical books), so I decided to get Amy Poehler's audiobook so that I can "read" in the car (also, so many of the audio versions of autobiographies are read by the person themselves, so how could I pass up listening to Amy Poehler tell a story?!). I pre ordered this book over a month ago. I've had it written on my Google Calendar since I knew it was coming out. I. Was. Excited.

Then yesterday, I got an email from Audible.com

I saw the email, saw the dates mentioned (the 27th to the 28th), checked my calendar and saw that I knew it was coming out on the 28th the whole time, and figured "it was probably posted on their website as being on the 27th at some point, good for them for clarifying"... And I thought that was it. By the time I was finished reading the email, I received two more emails saying the exact same thing. I know that this happens sometimes. Maybe they sent it out to multiple Distribution lists that I was apart of, no big deal.

Within 7 minutes, I had received 6 more emails. So I posted on Twitter, knowing that sometimes you can get a response from a company that way.

.@audible_com has emailed me 9 times in the last 7 minutes to tell me that they're pushing back their release date of "Yes Please". #igetit

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

Update: 10 times in 8 minutes @audible_com pic.twitter.com/2qkM9ILHS2

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

At this point, Audible wasn't responding, but my friends were.

@redheadedblonde @audible_com If you had real friends, they'd email you to remind you the release date has been pushed back. @goodbye_erin

— Professor John (@jdbish) October 27, 2014

John then sent me an email informing me that the release date of "Yes Please" was probably going to be pushed back. Real friend.

UpdateL 17 emails from @audible_com, 1 email from @jdbish #yesplease

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

Another friend (Erin) got involved by Favoriting a tweet, so the conversations continued, also helping get the word out that Audible's release of "Yes Please" was being delayed.

Update: 10 times in 8 minutes @audible_com pic.twitter.com/2qkM9ILHS2

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

@jdbish @goodbye_erin Dang, I'm glad someone told me. Someone should give @audible_com a heads up to tell their customers. #30emailssofar

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

You can tell by my hashtag that I was now at 30 emails.

A few more Tweets between us.

@goodbye_erin @redheadedblonde @kierstashley okay just to be safe, you all know @audible_com is going to be delayed right??

— Professor John (@jdbish) October 27, 2014

@kierstashley @goodbye_erin @jdbish Oh. I'll fill you in. #yesplease's @audible_com release is being delayed. I think. #44emails

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

@jdbish @redheadedblonde @kierstashley OMG IT'S GONNA BE DELAYED HOW DARE THEY

— Erin Murphy (@goodbye_erin) October 27, 2014

@kierstashley @goodbye_erin @redheadedblonde I don't know either. Is it this? http://t.co/epTvWG4xco @audible_com

— Professor John (@jdbish) October 27, 2014

@redheadedblonde @kierstashley @goodbye_erin @audible_com They're actually emailing FASTER than we're tweeting about it.

— Professor John (@jdbish) October 27, 2014

At 3:40 (1 hour and 7 minutes after the first email), I thought that it had stopped finally.

I think it finally stopped. 49 emails from @audible_com, 1 email from @jdbish. It's been 5 minutes since the last email. #yesplease

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

At this point, my co-worker joked that "maybe you purchased the book 49 times", which would explain 49 emails. That would've been expensive mistake to make.

Six minutes later, I hit email number 50.

Imagine if each of these (now) 50 emails from @audible_com were actual mailers. #riptrees #globalwarming

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

At this point, I decided to reach out to Audible on their website. I also attached a screenshot of my Inbox for them.

About 40 minutes later we hit #60.

We've now hit email #60 from @audible_com to tell me that #YesPlease is being delayed a day.

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

After email number 63, something weird happened, and the emails started a new "conversation" in Gmail.

Update: 63 emails and then 4 emails from @audible_com, why it's coming separate, I don't know. pic.twitter.com/zdUNc8ncgE

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 27, 2014

Between emails 72 and 73, I got an email from Colleen (another a real friend) about the book.

At 6:58 last night, I received an email back from Steve at Audible in reply to my email from earlier.

I've sent several of these exact types of emails out whenever we have problems at work. I appreciated the acknowledgement, but I also wanted to know what actually happened.

After that, I thought this story was over (ignore my lack of a double L in the word "tally").

Final taly of @audible_com #yesplease related emails: Spam: 101, Customer Service: 1, @jdbish: 1, @mrsma1990: 1 pic.twitter.com/0CmjLGYQWN

— Kelsey Laine (@redheadedblonde) October 28, 2014

But then I woke up this morning with one final update to my pre-order

The date has been moved from the 28th to the 29th. After all of those emails yesterday, it got moved again.

For some reason, I then decided to go through the 101 other emails, and noticed something even more frustrating than the bombardment of emails about the delay...

Out of the 101 emails yesterday, 78 of the emails said that the release date had moved from October 27th to October 28th. The remaining 23 emails said that the date moved from October 27th to October 29th. And it wasn't like the first 78 emails said one thing and the next 23 said the new date (because I went through and checked). I thought that maybe when the emails started in a new Gmail "conversation", that that was when the dates changed.. But nope.

The first 22 emails said "the 28th to the 29th", the next email said "the 27th to the 29th", the following 14 said "the 28th to the 29th", the next one said "the 27th to the 29th", and it alternated back and forth, one would say one date, three would say the other date. Six would say one date, two would say the other date.

After I realized that, I sent Audible another message, out of genuine "I have no idea when this audio book is coming out" (ignore the weird ' markings.. Their email response system doesn't like apostrophes or quotes, apparently)

I was about to hit "Publish" on this post, when I got this reply.

So that implies that it should be available now (as it was originally supposed to made available). But I checked on my "cloud" settings on the Audible App. And when you go to the Audible website, it now has a scheduled release date of September 29, 2014 ("in 11 hours").

I've now responded to that latest message, and am again waiting for a response.

It's Father's Day. My dad is currently 2,400 miles away in Ohio visiting his mom, step-dad, brothers, sisters, nieces, cousins, and who knows who else.. And I'm sitting here, not sleeping, sitting in bed with a snoring dog, thinking about my dad.

My dad can build. And not just like "here's a box". My dad can BUILD. Anytime we needed any sort of backdrop made for any band, guard, or drumline show, there was no doubt that my dad would be able to do it. If something breaks, my dad can fix it. Giant, moving triangle backdrops made out of mostly styrofoam? Yup! Cupcake stand? Yup! Stranded at the top of a hill in the middle of the Philippines with a car that won't start? No worries! My dad is like Bob the Builder, only way, way better because he doesn't have an annoying theme songthat gets stuck in your head.

My dad talks. That might be a weird thing to say (most dads talk), but most people at first think of my dad as very quiet - which he is by default compared to the Weisenberger females. But anyone that has had any conversation with him will stop using that as their first word to describe him - it normally changes to "wise" or "smart". And while he is those things, I also think he's funny. Growing up, most of my friends were "scared" of him (just like I tended to be scared of their dads). But one time a friend came over for dinner when we had "breakfast for dinner", and my dad ended up serving the pancakes "air-born" style (chucking them across the table).. That friend thought it was hilarious and never used the word "scared" to describe my dad again. Ask my dad a question and you won't just get a "yes/no" answer.

My dad is patient. He's lived with four females (plus every dog we've had has been female) for a very long time and we are all very, very talkative. He had to deal with girls being teenagers for about thirteen years straight. He's watched us girls grow up. He's seen us make good choices. He's seen us make bad choices. And he has loved us through it all. He's heard me complain about things that are stupid and things that are important, and has never told me that he doesn't want to hear it. 

My dad is never satisfied. He is never satisfied with who he is - in the best way possible. My dad wants to be more like Christ. He wants to be different than this world. He wants to soak up all that he can learn about his Creator and be who he is meant to be in Christ. He is always reading. Always. And most of the time, that reading isn't the latest pop-culture autobiography (that tends to be what's on my most recent Amazon receipt), it's a book to better himself (and not in a "self-help" kind of way). His office walls are covered in books and that doesn't include the hundreds (if not thousands) of books on his Kindle. He recently quit the job that he'd had for most of my life because it was what God was calling him to do which has given him more time to focus. Not focus on himself, but focus on Christ.. Because being satisfied with who you are with God is being content, and being content is not growing, and if you love God, you should be growing.. And my dad knows that.

And last but not least, my dad loves. He loves me. He loves Jenna. He loves Selah. He loves my mom. He (most of the time) loves Sousa (the dog). He loves the Lord. And he doesn't just love all of us, he loves us unconditionally (okay, maybe he does love the dog all the time). And I don't think love like that needs any more explanation.

There are so many people that either don't know their dad, don't like their dad, or think that their dad doesn't like them. But I'm extremely thankful this Father's Day that I know my dad, that I love my dad, and that I know that my dad loves me.

P.S. My dad also blogs. That's right, he blogs. And he blogs some good stuff. You should go visit his site.

Remember that time I met Jason Bateman at 2:30AM when he was finished filming an episode of Season 4 of Arrested Development? It was awesome.

You can read about the whole thing here..

Prior to about 4 years ago, elevators were just a randomly used transportation device for me. Primarily when I was at Disneyland in the parking structure, or at California Adventure (although THAT elevator isn't quite normal). However, when my office moved from the bottom floor of an office building to the fifth floor of a different building, elevators became a daily ride. Several times a day. Even more if I took the elevator in the parking structure. 

Ever since this move, I have had some of the most random, bizar, and awkward conversations take place in the elevator (and trust me, I have random conversations with complete strangers all the time, but the elevator ones tend to take the cake). Ranging from "I like your hair!" to "You smell like a blue snow cone" to "Your fingernails look like M&Ms" and (one of my my personal favorites) "If this elevator gets stuck, this is the pee corner". Oh, or a recent one where two guys that I'd never met before decided they wanted to come to lunch with me (got out of that one). Elevator conversations provide some entertaining stories and Facebook statuses (stati?), but I'm here to make a rule (I've actually had conversations in the elevator about how there should be a rule book for Elevator Etiquette).

Rule #4: Do not feel obligated to make small talk in the elevator.

I really think some people feel like they have to talk in elevators, whether they're with people they know or people they don't. I've had someone try to sell me Mary Kay products in the 5 floor ride. The elevator is not a place to sell things. The elevator is a place for me to have a few moments of silence before helping people that know what "reboot" means, but do not know what "restart" means. Or it's where I'm sending one last email before heading home. I tend to be a socialable person, but most days, I like the elevator to not be one of those places.

Special Note 1: It's different when you're in the elevator with someone you know. You still don't need to feel obligated to talk, but it shouldn't be awkward "I have shoes like those!" conversations.

Special Note 2: There have been times that when walking into our downstairs lobby, I'll hide just out of sight as a door is closing just so that the person doesn't feel obligated to say "Whoops!" and hit the "Open Door" button.