Shadow of the Valley of Death

We have returned! Escaped the shadow!

1,639 miles in a rented Chevy Traverse. Really a great car! Never thought I could say that about an American one, sadly.

571 photos with my new camera.

Great trip.

Vizio redeems itself

Scott (a manager) from Vizio called me today and explained everything that happened. And I am willing to give them another chance. While I was not offered a super duper amazing deal to ‘make up’ for issues encountered (like a $100 50” tv – ha!), I was at least offered a somewhat similar (not bad at all) tv to replace what I had been supposed to buy.

The issue: it seems that only recently has Vizio started selling directly from their website. Thus, there was miscommunication within the company regarding units available to be shipped to retailers versus units to be sold from the website.

You might say, well, that doesn’t explain the customer service. And I said that. He noted that they are implementing changes (and had planned on it before my experience) which will quickly address any internal inventory issues and ensure better communication with customers. He also noted that my other issues had been noted and would be addressed.

I asked him about the rest of the service – eg. technical assistance. And as he is the manager of that department, he noted that callers tend to be happy with the technical service. He listens in on calls and makes sure that the service is good.

Scott was glad that I was giving the company a chance to earn my trust. He offered me his direct phone number in the event of another issue arising, but quite honestly, I think all will be ok. I hope so for sure! Or else I’ll be calling him…

Mother Nature has laughed in my face. The last two days I have not biked because of weather forecasts, so I was excited to bike in today. I'm 10 minutes away from going out the door and it starts snowing like crazy. The radio is talking about all the accidents in the north and west. But there was no way I was not going to bike, so I did. In the driving snow. And I survived!

Two nice things happened to me yesterday. The first - I had gotten my Levelor blinds and while the blind itself was what I wanted, the factory chose the top bar front thingie, and it is this weird green. When I called them yesterday, not only did they listen to me, but they are also shipping me a sample of a gray that they have to make sure I'd like it before sending it back for 'repairs'.

The second was when I stopped at Whole Foods after work. I didn't have a basket, and so put my wallet in my pocket. Of course I picked up way too many things to carry, so at some point my wallet fell out. I only realized when I was done shopping. I went to the customer service desk, and ta da, it was there. Nothing missing - I think, since I dont' know how much cash I had in there. Since it wasn't that long, I'm not worried about numbers being stolen.

In Heber Springs

Hi everyone. Didja miss me? Oh, that's right, I haven't really been away. Oh, maybe for a couple hours. I'm in Heber Springs, AR, at a writing retreat, and these people just won't stop, despite the hour. What dedication...grrrrr... But we're in a glorious house on the Red River - perhaps I'll post photos later. The screened in porch is as big almost as my whole first floor of my old house. My brain has tuned out, but typing makes it seem like I'm participating. Gotta love that. I was participating and contributing, but then someone at dinner makes a comment that it's great that I'm here to takes notes. Grrr... to them. Jeez, I'm not just a note taker. Whatever. Trouble is, it gets late, and I get less patient and less tactful. Gotta keep my mouth shut!

I've been contemplating my living situation. I really can't do anything until I'm off the mortgage. I had put a bid on another place, and they just don't want to deal with me because I'm not off the mortgage. And the timing is a big black hole since it's owned by another bank, etc. So, I've given up hope that I'll be able to buy anything soon, and so I'm trying to figure out how to survive another couple months, since as of today I think I've been out of my house 2.5 months. Yep. I have the possibility of house/cat sitting the whole month of July (though in a semi-dicey neighborhood), and I was thinking of subletting someplace in June, but not sure I could get that, so I may spend multiple hundreds of dollars to have a week in an extended stay hotel so I really do have my own place, even if only for a week. My friends are generous and I am eternally grateful, but having no place to myself is grating on me. I figure the money will be well spent, since even just investigating the cost and the possibility made me feel better.

On a side note, if anyone has seen 27 dresses, the movie, can you let me know so I can email and ask a few questions? It was playing on the plane today and I didn't think I wanted to watch it, thus I did not pay the whopping $1 for the earphones. But I watched the whole thing without sound, which for the most part was fine, but I want to know just two bits from it which I didn't get. By the way, plug for continental airlines. I got a real live 'free' breakfast this morning - cereal and milk and banana! I was so shocked!

OK, it's now almost midnight my real time, so I"m going to sleep. We'll see how the day goes tomorrow - I may be blogging more!

Sleepless in Salt Lake

Howdy friends and neighbors (I'm wearing my best sweater vest). I woke up at 3:30 AM and started thinking about many things, including the fact that for the last two days I have not iced my back, and realized I should just get up and ice the damn thing. Normally when I wake up and can't go back to sleep I make myself warm milk, but there's no possibility of that in a hotel, so blogging it is.

First off, there have been sightings of Billy around the house/neighborhood, so at least he hasn't run off to some far reaches of my town. He's a skittish boy, so he likely won't come in until I get back. And even then I worry he won't. But we'll see.

As for skiing, well, it's been great. No new snow, alas, but lots of great runs and some places where there was some untracked powder (short spurts). I can't add photos from the hotel computer, but will add some later. And maybe even a video of me, in all my glory. Best of all, no migranes!!! Amazing. But since I often get them at the end of a busy/stressful period, this leads to my current icing.

One of the things that has contributed to a great ski time has been my new skis. Product plug: K2 Lotta Luv. GREAT skis. I honestly had no clue that skis could make such a difference, but they do. No floppity floppity (or in ski tech terms - chatter) at high speeds, solid on a jump, etc. Of course, when I say jump, for me that's higher than 3 inches. I can ski black diamonds (but not double black) but I'm not that good. I have spurts of goodness and it feels great when I do have those moments, but then I either have to slow myself down, I have to stop, or I fall. And let me tell you I had a few spectacular falls. Tumbling down. On one I ended up on my stomach sliding face down the mountain - not good.

Lesson learned this trip - I have a lazy right leg. One of my more spectacular falls came when I was turning right. When you turn you have to put most/all of your weight on your lower leg - the left in this case. Well, either due to a lazy leg or my hip issues, sometimes I don't rotate the right leg and unweight enough, so I can't finish the turn. In this case, on a steep slope, that meant me flying down the mountain towards some trees out of control. Thankfully I got myself to fall, since a spectacular fall is better than smashing into a tree.

OK, I'm going to try and go sleep. My husband will ski this morning and then we'll go to the airport and try and get home (we have to fly through the ice/snow that moved from the Midwest). Wish me luck, as I really want to try and get Billy in. I don't care about missing work...

cars - Learn from my experience

The post on panniers was supposed to be today's post, but I made a mistake and instead of hitting save, hit publish. So, I thought I would share with you my experience of the last week re: my car.

I have a 2006 Toyota Matrix, which I love (that's the product plug). Poor baby's a little abused, but I try to take care of her mechanically. But, since I am also a frugal person, instead of going to the dealership (which had a few free oil change coupons for me in the beginning - but then I ran out), I used a $15.99 coupon at the local Merchant's Tire and Auto.

When I dropped the car off, they offered to rotate the tires for free. How nice, I said. Because they needed it, and again, I'm frugal, I said yes. When I returned to pick up the car, they said there was weird wear on the tires and I needed an alignment, and they had these plans of 1 year, 2 years, 3 years. It was the end of the day, so I didn't get it.

Though I can be naive (hence, the 'how nice') I also thought I should have my dealership check it out, since the guy in the service center, Paul, is great and trustworthy, I think. (and who can't love a guy who calls you a wise ass). My car also needed 20,000 mile tightening of bolts, etc. So, Paul took my car in, chastized me for taking it to another place and said he'd honor any competitor coupon in the future, and said he'd get back to me.

And what do you think was the answer? Alignment is spot on true. Balance is a little off, but within tolerable limits. Bolts tightened, etc. All for free. I love my dealership and I love Paul.

I have half a mind to go back to Merchant's (this is the product unplug) and ask how they can sleep at night. But, it's not the guy's fault - it's the corporation, so I won't waste my time. But I won't be spending any more money there either. And neither will my husband.

Product Plug - Ortlieb bike panniers

I have biked to work for over 13 years. The first 12 years I had panniers that were given to me by an ex - the fabric was durable, but several years ago they started falling off my bike whenever I'd go over a bump. Not a good way to start or end the day. But, me being thrifty (cheap) I never got new ones.

Finally I decided I had had enough, and I was worth it, dammit, so did research and went out and bought Ortlieb bike panniers. They are the BEST. They have a great on/off the rack system that takes just seconds, and they are HUGE (today I had to take my violin to work, and it worked putting it in one - yes, it stuck out some but was secure). Yes, I missed out on getting the new ones which have an internal pocket (Gnome), but such is life. And they are waterproof. Really truly. No more worrying about my stuff in the event of a possible afternoon thunderstorm.

I am so happy every time I use them.

Better Living Through Drugs

I used to be chemical-free. I was a healthy young lass, who had migranes and found that I needed to abstain from caffeine and too much sugar to help keep the migranes away (along with regular exercise and enough sleep). The only drug I took was aspirin. And then, over time, I had to cave and start ingesting chemicals. The first one was high blood pressure medication. I was already eating well and exercising, and my blood pressure was at that cut-off point that you need to take drugs, so I had to start taking them. Then I got herpes, and found that I really needed the drugs to keep it at bay in the beginning. Then my allergies got worse and I experienced my first sinus headache, which made me want to cry, so I started with sudafed and then claritin when needed. Then I became severely depressed, and needed drugs to help me get out of the deep deep hole.

And then, Jan. 2 of this year I ran to work with a backpack and got the most severe sudden migrane I have ever gotten. And for 4-5 days in a row I got a similar though less severe headache. I was a wreck - scared to do any strange movement - because my usual methods of getting rid of migranes did not work with these new ones. I went through months of various doctors and tests, finally to hear from a neurologist that, oh, well, sometimes people suddenly start getting exercise-induced migranes - we're not sure why it happens, but it does and it can also go away at any time. I was so sick and tired of being afraid to exercise that I accepted some samples of Relpax, which you take when you first start feeling a migrane. I did all I used to and didn't need to use the drug - yay! So it seemed like it was all in my head (pardon the pun).

But then I started getting one of 'those' migranes last Sunday (the day after my hard climbing), tried it, and it was a miracle drug. I used my second and last pill last night - seems skydiving is considered exercise! (My back IS actually sore - even though I stretched the morning of). And it worked again. So now I do NOTHING until I get a prescription for some more. Give me drugs! I want drugs!