Monthly Archive for January, 2009

A family day

Published on January 18, 2009 in Family and Recent Events. 5 Comments

On Saturday, or family went cross-country skiing at Trillium Lake near Mount Hood. This outing was part of our family Christmas plans.

We left home at 9 am, picked up Aaron at his apartment in Sherwood, and got up to the mountain at about 11:00. We rented all the necessary gear at Mountain Tracks in Government Camp. By 11:30 we were at the trailhead. There were lots of cars in the parking lot, but the trails were not crowded at all.

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We skied the loop around the lake, which is about 5 1/2 miles. The first 1/2 mile or so is downhill, and being beginners, we walked down that part (as we were advised to by the nice people at Mountain Tracks!).

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The rest of the trail had some slight ups and downs, but nothing too extreme. It was a challenge to keep from going too fast in a couple of places, but those made for some excitement!

We ate our sack lunches at Trillium Lake, with it’s awesome view of Mount Hood. We were thankful for the sunny skies and calm air.

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Alison, Aaron and Austin. Aaron is throwing Cheez-Its at…

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… the ravens.

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Alison explored the frozen lake.

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We were back to the car by 4:00 (after hiking back up that hill!). It was a fun trip, and good for all 5 of us to spend the whole day together.

Hey… That’s our personal info!

Published on January 12, 2009 in Rants. 0 Comments

We got a letter from our credit union in November saying,

“A laptop computer was stolen that may have contained member account data…”

Huh? Why is sensitive customer data even being put on laptops — which can easily be stolen or misplaced?

Two months earlier, in September, we got a letter from our mortgage company stating:

“…an employee (now former) may have sold personal information about you to a third party.”

They assured us that this employee had been terminated and they were working with law enforcement to pursue other actions. They said they deeply regretted it, apologized, and set us up with a free 2-year membership in the Experian® Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring service, which I thought was a good response. They monitor it on a daily basis and will notify us if anything suspicious is going on.

So far no more funny business… but I really wouldn’t be surprised if I got another letter,

“Dear Mr. Comfort, We are writing to inform you that we recently have become aware…”

I really hope my Bimart card doesn’t get hacked!

The End of an Era

Published on January 10, 2009 in Recent Events and Work. 3 Comments

Change is in the air — not only in our government and economy, but in my workplace as well. Late last summer I learned that the company where I work, Vineyard Graphics, was for sale. In late November it was announced to the employees that a buyer had been found, and that Vineyard Graphics would change hands on January 1, 2009.

The news came with a bit of sadness for me. I have put a lot into the Vineyard Graphics brand, since it started on New Year’s day in 2002. The signage that I designed for my boss’s pickup has already been taken off… (sniff, sniff).

There will likely be a yearlong brand transition to the new name and look, so most changes won’t be immediately seen. But sadly, eventually my handwriting is going to have to come off the wall in our front office…

In time we will become Allegra Print and Imaging — part of the Allegra Network, one of world’s largest graphic communications franchises with more than 600 locations in the US, Canada and the UK!

The old boss, Larry, just wanted to do something different. He and his wife, Linda, (our current office manager) will be moving to Colorado, where they are buying some property that borders national forest land – way up in the Rockies. Larry will be hunting and fishing more I expect.

The new boss, Karl, also wants to start something new. He (like Larry) is already a successful businessman, having started and developed several businesses. He has lots of ideas on how to take this operation to the next level. He doesn’t have a printing background (but then neither did Larry) and he has already started his crash course!

At the news of Larry’s decision to sell, I felt deflated. I really didn’t want to go through another owner transition, and I began to wonder If I’ve been there too long? Maybe I should do something different?  After meeting Karl and reading all I could about Allegra,  I am now jazzed and excited about the direction we will be going. Allegra is big on service, quality, new technologies, training, and giving back to the community… Karl even mentioned better benefits for the employees.

I now believe it is going to be a good thing, and I plan to stay on and make a go of it!