Heartfelt speech for this employee

Dean Cowles' speech to fellow employees on Friday will come from the heart. Cowles will be featured at the quarterly kickoff meeting at Medtronic Emergency Response Systems in Redmond.

The company designs and produces defibrillators. It is traditional, said spokeswoman Anne Devine, to have a heart-attack survivor who was saved by Medtronic's equipment speak at the meetings.

About 98 percent of Medtronic's employees are trained in CPR and use of the automated external defibrillators is available throughout the facility.

So when Cowles, an Eastsider, collapsed at work last month, his fellow engineers knew what to do. They called 911, started CPR and used the defibrillator until medics arrived.

"This is the first time employees have used one of Medtronic's defibrillators to save one of their own on site," Devine said.

Floor duty

Eastsider Matt Jones left Microsoft almost two years ago to follow his passion. Jones, who had been a product designer and an art director, wanted to cook professionally. He took classes for several years before leaving his day job.

A few months ago Jones opened Starry Nights, a private event center and catering company, in Kirkland. Denise, his wife, didn't sign up to be a sous-chef or assistant. She's a software engineer and likes her job just fine, thank you.

But because Denise is married to the chef, she helps at evening and weekend events. Which explains why she was on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor at Starry Nights before a big party.

"I stopped in the middle, looked around and said, 'I went to college so I wouldn't have a job doing this kind of thing.' Not that it helped. I still had to finish scrubbing the floor," she said.

Expect to see Matt on television this fall. He cooked for Anthony Bourdain, an author and chef who visited Seattle in June. Bourdain stars in television's "No Reservations."

Girl magnet

Alan Paulsen helps promote Camlaan Medieval Village, a themed adventure in Carnation. (For more information go to www.camlann.org). In addition to his promotional duties, Paulsen serves as a knight. He wears full body armor, rides a horse and jousts in the shows at the village.

His e-mail signature is Latin: "Dolor Temporarius, Gloria Aeterna, Cicatrices Virgines Placent." He also supplies the translation: "Pain is temporary, glory is eternal, chicks dig scars."

Life notes

Don Riggs of Bellevue, the voice of the morning news on KMPS-FM (94.1), almost bought the greeting card even though he doesn't know anyone getting ready to celebrate an 18th birthday. It was a perfect sentiment, he said.

The card read: "Turning 18? Wow. Almost every seriously stupid thing you'll do in your life, you'll do this year."

One last grin

Nathan Yagi-Stanton of Bellevue noticed a Mini Cooper near the Lake Hills Connector. The tiny car carried an appropriate license plate: SUV2BIG.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com