Two Words for You

One time a drunk girl said to my friend John for MI, "I got two words for you. GO TO HELL!" John and I, also drunk at the time, oddly enough laughed out loud at the girl making matters all the more irate and making us laugh more.

But those aren't the two words that prompted my posting. The two words on my mind are Air Supply. That's right. Those odd looking singers from down under that made smarmy love songs in the 70's and 80's. I recently downloaded their greatest hits to my itunes and I am loving me some Air Supply. They could really turn a phrase and make you feel to love, or love lost, in every song.

What happened to love songs about love? Now all we get is sexy dirty talk from people who wouldn't know love if it gave them a reach around. I wish I had been looking for love or had been in love when this Air Supply stuff was on the AM radio 24/7; to see them pop love song out on Solid Gold with Rex Smith would have been the most. I could have slow danced without rubbing my dork on my lady fair's bottom and showing wood in front of our contemporaries before we'd sneak off to get in on without protection or a worry beyond what penicillin could fix.

It makes you wonder if we really have come so far. In our hurry to advance it seems we have regressed to our ancient self rutting about showing our attractions and availability with inflamed organs exposed so any willing partner would know at first glance.

So yeah, I got two words, Air Supply.

Update II: Aligators on Parade

Hey thanks all for your comments on post # 100. It was a big moment for me and I am glad you could share it with me.

So to bring you up to speed with the goings on in my house...

In an effort to hasten the Younger's development we have skipped right on past potty training and other early child development practices and are teaching him to drive.

Here he is after doing the curves on MLK in the Mrs' Saab car. He was doing fine until a load of the aged and infirm in a Buick Station Wagon doing 15 in the 35. He was doing 103 so he just blew past when the filth showed up and he got pinched.

In this photo the Younger was back from some extreme 4x4 driving in my truck. I don't know where he was but it took 4 trips trough the wash to get the mud off the roof. There was also dead rabbit in stuck in the wheel well and I didn't want to know anymore.

This weekend we are off the my mother's for hot dogs and family visiting. Happy Memorial Day to you all.

Post Number 100

Wow. 100 posts for me.

I just did a recap of my friends adventure with an online music store and the grief he has gone through to get a deserved refund. I too have had my more than fare share of discussions and feuds with customer "service" representatives in the last year. My gripes were related to our purchase of new appliances that have shortly after delivery, quit working. I was told by several employees that I was locked into the service they provided and if I didn't like it to go screw. Both times have required multiple days at home waiting on service techs and their 8 hour appointment windows. The last time I did get a new appliance delivered and I felt vindicated.

The point here though is not that I won or that my friend may win. The point is we were customers who had problems and were not given appropriate service. What ever happened to the customer always being right? I mean if a restaurant gave crap service, you would complain and it would be taken care of on the spot with an apology from the manager. Over the phone or online you get a case of the ass from some disembodied ninny reading a script who is always unable to offer the help you request or anything close to what you request.

An 8 hour appointment for a faulty installation should not be acceptable. And then, then to miss the appointment altogether? If you order a pizza, a fucking pizza, and were told it would be on your door in 30 minutes and it wasn't it would be free. If you ordered peperoni and it showed up with sausage it would be free. These dicks installed a dryer incorrectly and could have burned down my house and I had to take 3 days off work and make countless phone calls to get my 2 month old dryer replaced. Even then It was me reminding them that the dryer in place may be a fire hazard and that if my house was damaged because of their lack of action I would be pleased as punch as long as nobody was hurt.

I bought something for the Younger from Walmart.com. It showed up past the promised delivery date and was damaged. I could take it back to a local Walmart but would have to eat the shipping. When I asked why I am being held responsible for shipping a damaged product the idiot at the customer "service" desk told me that because Walmart.com and Walmart are not the same store she really couldn't help me. The good people at the Walmart.com customer "service" hot line offered for me to ship the item back to them, then they would refund the return shipping to me in 4 to 6 weeks. Again no reasonable answer to why I should want to pay to have a defective item shipped to me could be offered.

I have had it with these rude and awful people and their inability to actually help anybody. Especially when the help required to save a customer is right in front of them. The customer it telling them what they want to make things better and usually it is to return or replace the crap they sent in a timely manner with as little inconvenience to the customer. Why is this so freaking hard to figure out?

Because of the poor service I no longer shop at Sears, HH Greg or Walmart. I tell people all the time how crap the service was and how rude the people were and how awful the in home service was. I mention it to people on several occasions whenever the subject comes up to be sure that people know how bad my experiences were and hope that they too join me in my boycott. I hope they do. I hope people continue to stop shopping at Sears, HH Greg and Walmart and I hope that me telling my true stories of customer service hell convinces them not to shop at these places. I hope that my efforts help lead to a revitalized the customer service industry so we can all enjoy shopping, knowing in advance that if we buy something we don't want we won't have to fight to get it returned.

Event

Hello all,
As you may know I am going to be walking 60 miles over three days in August to help support breast cancer research. As part of this walk, as is the case with most charities, I am asked to get donations from friends, family, and strangers. To those of you who have already donated, thank you very much. To those of you who have not, here is your opportunity.

My team, the Bodacious Tah-Tahs, if throwing a kick-ass party at Frank and Tony's Bar in historic Downtown Willoughby and you are all invited. The owner of the bar is donating the space and a portion of the proceeds.

As an added benefit you will get a chance to see me in my natural surrounding although I will be cooking and serving drinks instead of eating and drinking. There will be contests and fun for all. They have a full menu and bar and now the place is smoke free.

The time is July 21st from 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
The location is 2nd Street downtown Willoughby.

Please mark your calenders and show up and have fun while supporting a good cause and a good guy, me.

If you want to learn more about the 3-Day walk or make a donation check out my special 3-day web site at:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=202302&lis=1&kntae202302=F332D69896954BA8AC3BA960E6302A8B&supId=168613333

My Left Foot

My left foot feels fine after my 10 mile walk . I went with our team captain to Chapin's Forrest this past Saturday and we strolled along for a 3 hour walk in the woods. It was actually kind of fun to hike about avoiding huge piles of horse manure and looking at owls and deer and what not.

So far the walking part of my 3-day is going well. The fund raising, as I expected, is harder for me. I am not big on asking for help from people and certainly not from strangers. I am not too worried yet as I still have about 2.5 months to get the rest of the money in, but I would just as soon have it in and done.

In other news, Mother's Day was yesterday and that was nice. I cut the grass and used my new 18 volt rechargeable weed eater/edger and the yard looks pretty good. I did this after Mrs. got breakfast in bed and cards a gift. She seemed like she liked it but she might have just been being polite.

I called my mother and grandmother too. My grandmother is in a home these days as she is old and in poor shape. It is hard to talk to someone in a home, but I guess that is a cop out as it is harder to be in a home.

I feel bad for her and wish she was still in good health and happy to be alive. I am scared she will die soon and I will miss her. Not that we've hung out much over the last years, but it is a comfort to know she was there. I think there are far too few people in the world that love you and the loss of one leaves deep and permanent scars. For me, it makes me want to pull away from other people and the person facing impending doom. I think it is a defence mechanism to protect my fragile inner self. I have used this defence on several occasions of similar and different circumstances and have usually regretted doing so after the fact, but try as I may, it seems more natural for me to be this way than to engage my fears and pains and adapt to the situation.

The Younger is growing like a well manicured and healthy lawn. I know the more typical saying references a weed but I think weeds are negative and refuse to make a allegory out if weed and my son. He repeats about everything he hears so that's fun in the car. One night at dinner he went into a rousing version of "Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band that had the Mrs. and I rolling on the floor laughing our colletive asses off. I know I could have used some instant message short hand but that is for children and whores and I am neither.

Welcome to Me

I am have been ill the last few days and did not care for it at all. I am feeling better now and need to get back on my kick ass training regime. I am surprised how easy the training part has been, and that I actually (a part for the blisters, shin splints & strained hammys) enjoy it very much. The harder part is begging people for support.

I am still trying to get donations for my 3-day walk to help fight breast cancer. For those of you who have already donated I offer heart-felt thanks. For those of you who plan to, go ahead and do it lest you forget. You can do it electronically on my web site for the 3-day:
http://www.the3day.org/cleveland07/mrbebout?faf=1&e=992623937

Or you can send a check made out to Breast Cancer 3-Day. If this option works better for you, email me and I will get you my address. I have some form that has to accompany the check so it goes toward my total.

If you aren’t all into saving women and helping find cures for breast cancer, then do it for the tax deduction. Do it for America.