Friday, August 31, 2007

Operator? Can you help me place this call?

I was surprised to get a call this morning from none other than Pat Shields, board member for the Edmonds School District. Of course, since I was at work and his call was not work-related, I couldn't stay on the phone very long. The call was only long enough for him to ask for "Jim Young".

Now, for those of you who follow City of Edmonds Planning Board meetings, you will know that Jim Young works for the City of Seattle and serves on the Board. Why would Pat Shields call me at work and ask for a member of the City of Edmonds Planning Board? Very strange. My telephone number is not even close to Jim's number. What could have prompted such a call?

Since I have a well-established reputation for going far above and well beyond any request received from the public, I forwarded along Pat's telephone number to Jim by way of email. I just wanted to make sure Pat got a hold of Jim. After all, since Pat's number is unlisted, it may not be very easy for Jim to get in touch with Pat.

If I had to speculate, I'd say Pat must have had a rather cluttered notepad full of my contact information that he wanted to share with Jim. Maybe Pat wanted to ask Jim a few questions about City of Seattle and King County government and what their views might be regarding what employees do when they are not at work.

Maybe Pat's Rolodex lumped "Young" and "Zandberg" on the same index card and he got his numbers crossed, but then I don't recall ever providing my telephone number to Pat. I just moved into a brand new building and the number is barely three weeks old.

Fun Factoid: The total number of possible 7-digit phone numbers "-defghij", starting with: -0000000, -0000001, -0000002, ..., -2426825, ..., -9999999. So there are 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 10^7 seven digit integers between "0000000" and "9999999" with no other restrictions on the counting procedure. Combining that with the 4 possible area codes in the Puget Sound (206, 253, 360 & 425) gives: 40,000,000 possible phone numbers, each with a probability: P = 1/40,000,000. The caller's probability of winning the Washington State Lotto is only 1/13,983,816, which would make the winning ticket nearly three times more likely to obtain.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

He should stick with what he thinks he knows and leave the digging and investigative work to the professionals.

Anonymous said...

And if anyone challenges the validity of your claim, give them the unlisted number so they can check.

Good work, Mark. It is a shame we lost you.

Anonymous said...

Could this be defended as simply a "faux pas", maybe a "bizarre coincidence" or taken under consideration as a "Freudian Slip"? Perhaps it might come to be regarded as just a "preemptive blunder"?

I am curious what the heading reads on this list your name & number (might) appear on.

Anonymous said...

Odds of injury from shaving: 6,585 to 1

Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1

Odds of being killed by lightning: 2,320,000 to 1

Odds of being murdered: 18,000 to 1

Odds of getting away with murder: 2 to 1

Odds of being considered possessed by Satan: 7,000 to 1

Odds that a first marriage will survive without separation or divorce for 15 years: 1.3 to 1

Odds of getting a royal flush in poker on first five cards dealt: 649,740 to 1

Odds of spotting a UFO today: 3,000,000 to 1

Odds of becoming president: 10,000,000 to 1

Odds of winning the California lottery: 13,000,000 to 1

Odds of becoming a saint: 20,000,000 to 1

Odds of a meteor landing on your house: 182,138,880,000,000 to 1

Chance of dying in a fireworks accident: 1 in 1,000,000

Chance of dying from legal execution: 1 in 3,441,325

Chance of dying from contact with hot tap water: 1 in 5,005,564

Chance of dying from parts falling off an airplane: 1 in 10,000,000

Chance of dying from ignition or melting of nightwear: 1 in 30,589,556

Chance of dying from contact with a venomous animal or plant: 1 in 3,441,325

Chance of dying from being bitten or struck by mammals (other than dogs or humans): 1 in 4,235,477

Chance of dying from a mountain lion attack in California: 1 in 32,000,000

Chance of dying from a shark attack: 1 in 300,000,000

Chance of contracting the human version of mad cow disease: 1 in 40,000,000

ESD15.org said...

There was a flurry of critical comments and then I checked the IP address. Of all people, he should know what an IP address is.

I also promised not to post any more porn-related comments, so I am excluding these.

Mark Zandberg

Anonymous said...

I noticed that Pat Shields put out his campaign signs this weekend. His tag line is "Vote Experience". I find this to be funny because his opponent has a lot more experience - more than four decades.

Also, this blog has identified what sort of experience Pat has, since many of the bad choices have been made while he was board president.

Anonymous said...

To the blogger of August 31, 7:15 p.m.

Apparently, financial management isn't Mr. Shields area of expertise. I wonder what he is good at?

Here is his debt history for his primary residence:

2/26/99 - borrowed $650,000 for 30 years.
1/16/02 - borrowed $787,500 for 30 years,
8/20/02 - borrowed $825,000 for 30 years.
7/18/03 - borrowed $825,000 plus Home Equity loan of $55,000.
9/16/03 - Home Equity Loan of $150,000.
11/2/05 - Home Equity Loan of $250,000.

Apparently, he doesn't know much about finances and he is making financial decisions for the Edmonds School District! Does it not surprise you that the school board rubber stamps Marla's property deals? Mr. Shields is definitely unqualified to interpret her less-than-transparent transactions!

Anonymous said...

Nice, just throw in a few vehicles, and a failed business, and you have the Edmonds school districts #1 female assistant supe.