Dear Ikea,

Many years ago, in 2001, I purchased two beech-colored items of furniture. The items, a bookcase and a CD tower, were bathed in a lovely golden brown veneer. Recently, Wendy and I decided to embark on a trip to the new Ikea in Portland, Oregon. We decided that we would like to procure another beech CD tower. Upon our arrival at the Portland store, we grabbed a golf pencil and used a gps to locate the CD tower on the demo floor. I was gleeful when I discovered a fleet of benno CD towers in all sorts of different colors. I wrote down the stock number and we proceeded downstairs to the loading area. The box containing a beech benno was loaded onto the neatest handtruck ever and we rolled to the checkout counter.

Three days passed before I decided to build the benno. I opened the packaging and that’s when I realized that something was wrong. The beech on the new benno was much lighter than my seven year old beech colored furniture! Gasp! I showed Wendy the color disparity and we knew that we did not have a match.

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I would like to introduce Wells Fargo Financial to my favorite web browser - Firefox. Apparently, the uber high tech features of the Wells Fargo Financial website are only accessible to Internet Explorer (note, they only list versions 5 and 6!), Netscape Navigator (is it 1999?), and the ever popular America Online browser!

Firefox users (as well as anyone using Safari) who attempt to login to the Wells Fargo Financial website will be greeted by the following Firefox-unfriendly message:

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The Torii Mor Winery is located in the hills outside of Dundee Oregon. The scenery is perfect, the wine is tasty, and the service is atrocious (translation: Torii Mor was More Terrible).

There were six of us who entered the tasting room at Torii Mor a couple weeks ago. Posted near the entrance was a sign stating that groups of 6 or more would need a reservation. We hoped it would be okay if we inquired within to see if it was okay for our group to enter the premises. I was the last member of our party to enter the tasting room foyer. (To protect the innocent, I will provide nom de plumes for all of the parties involved sans myself.)

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Sam’s Station owners, managers, and staff, please read the following - “The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence: A Handbook For Implementing Great Service in Your Organization.”

I love the #3 — Spinach, Tomato, and Parmesan Cheese Omelet. It is one of my favorite breakfast dishes. However, something has to be done about the appalling lack of customer service at Sam’s Station. Consistently poor customer service will drive customers away. If only Sam’s Station did not have a chokehold on the Corvallis omelet market…

Are there any other places in Corvallis, Oregon that can make an omelet with spinach, tomato, and parmesan cheese? All I’m asking for is a little bit of attention, a few coffee refills, maybe some water, etc.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and sometimes I want an omelet on Saturdays…