No Access Today

I’m in an all-day meeting today. What you read now was written last night and I’ll have little-to-no internet access today.

You Have To Walk Before You Can Run
And in my case you have to walk while you are running. Yesterday morning I made my first attempt at running since before the bicycle accident. I chose to wake early, get dressed to run, drive to my work area, and go out for a part of the run I was using when I was training in January/February.

It. Was. Horrible.

I made it about 0.75 miles before resorting to walking. All in all I did a two-mile loop of walking/running.

How To Lose A Customer
Last night at Taco Mac my credit card was declined. Upon arriving home I gave the Major Bank a phone call to see why my card had been declined.

Customer Service: “It looks like your account is twenty days past due.”
Me: [confused for a second and then remembering that I somehow missed June’s payment] “Yes, I know. But I’ve set up a payment.”
Customer Service: “I see, for July 18th, but your past due.”
Me: “I understand that, but I’ve committed to payment and included the $25 late fee plus the interest which has occurred without contesting either. Why would you freeze my account then?”
Customer Service: “Because you are twenty days past due.”
Me: “But I’ve set up a payment. I admit that missed June’s payment but accepted responsibility by paying your fees! This may be the first time I’ve ever missed a payment. Why doesn’t [REDACTED] take my payment history into consideration? Why would you freeze my account?”
Customer Service:: “We declined payment so that you would call us. If you’d like to pay tonight I can unfreeze your account.”
Me: “When will it be safe to cancel my credit card? I feel that [REDACTED] has shown me that it doesn’t care — nor should it because it’s a business — but I don’t like the way you do your business and intend to take mine elsewhere.”
Customer Service: “We sure would hate to lose you as a customer, sir.”
Me: “I don’t think you care.”

[more back and forth occurred where I continue to inquire about cancellation while the customer service rep continues to explain the bank’s desire to keep me.]

A little while after hanging up with the customer service rep I paid my balance in full last night, and once I am certain that all charges have come in and that my payments have cleared I will indeed be canceling that credit card.

Even More Le Tour
The riders are back on the bikes today, but I’ll have to wait until tonight to find out what occurred during today’s stage.

Yesterday I was contacted by email directly by VERSUS asking to spread the word about some Facebook pages they’ve set up.

The first is a contest from which you win some cool prizes, click on the image to enter the contest:

And if you have a question for Bob “Bobke” Roll you can post it using this link:

For what’s it’s worth I get nothing from these, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Amazon MP3 Freebies
I realized that now that Amazon has a cloud music player I can “purchase” and “download” as many free sampler albums that they offer. As I “purchase” each my cloud account gets populated with the albums and I’ll be able to play them whenever I want (okay, whenever I want and have internet access).

Go to Amazon and check out their free offerings. What do you have to lose?

Going To Make My First Trip To 529
While I’ve lived less that 0.25 miles from 529 I’ve yet to see a show there. That will change tonight as I will be there to see/hear Colourmusic perform. Many thanks to the folks at Tell All Your Friends PR to turning me onto the show. I’m looking forward to going to the venue for the first time as well as seeing a band I’ve never seen perform live.

If you are free tonight come out and say hello — I’ll be the guy paying with cash because he no longer has his “walk around” credit card.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – frustrated for many reasons
Current Music – listening to “The Social Hour” podcast
Website Of The Day – The internet is a fascinating place. See a person doing a television commercial and want to find out more? Just Google! I typed in “Tire Rack commercial girl” and found my way to Anna Zielinski’s web site. Turns out that Zielinski is also the adorable woman from last year’s Kindle commercial. It also turns out that Zielinski is married and has a child. The Internet giveth, The Internet taketh away.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking/running, 2.0 miles
Morning Weigh-In – tomorrow

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 2.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)

Vegetarian Days – 2
Carnivorous Days – 9

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

July Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Buy a bicycle and start riding again
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least once
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than five days
– Lose three pounds

2011 Goals [will be a little more fluid than in past years]
– Reduce my weight by 25 pounds based on the my weight as measured on February 1st
– Completely read the book Daily Negations which I received as a Christmas gift.
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business — one which does not get penalized.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than two one half-marathon
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]