Just a thought

This is a great way to live:

“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours." Swedish Proverb

Football Saturday in Athens, GA

It's the first football game of the season and thousands descended upon our little town for the action between ULL and UGA. It's also the first game with new tailgating rules concerning North Campus. Those of us who work on North Campus (and love) were apprehensive that the new rules would either have no effect or be ignored by the fans. Thankfully, people followed the new rules. At game time the quad in front of the library was free of trash. No broken tents, no beer cans everywhere, it looks beautiful.

To the Dawg fans I have to say good job in keeping North Campus trash free and beautiful. At least in front of the library. I am looking out and all I see are a few cups and a couple of bottles. Keep it up guys!!

Suddenly my Cheerios taste bad!

Yesterday I read a short article about General Mills, the big corporation which "makes" my morning cereal, objecting to a small business owner in Salt Lake City calling herself "My Dough Girl" because the "needed to protect" their trademark.

The bakery makes cookies and cookie dough and is owned by a woman so I understand the name but General Mills must think they own the rights to the word "dough" and since they make processed cookie dough then they're the only ones who can use the word "dough" in anything. Then there's that Pillsbury mascot, the dough boy. Click here to see that mascot. I'm not running the risk of pissing General Mills off by posting a picture of their albino doughy mascot.

The result of this is that a big corporation wins again because they are a 16 billion dollar company and who has the money to fight them. However, they have lost a customer in me because I have lost my taste for my old favorite cereal, Cheerios. Reputations are hard to make and easy to lose. With this one action which GM must believe is an insignificant act of doing business I will always remember their arrogance in thinking they are the only ones to use "dough" or a dough imagery in their advertising just because they make refrigerated cookie dough.

Now I have to find another quick breakfast. Kellogg's? Post? I think there's a lady who sells natural organic granola mix at the farmer's market in town.

Help

Poor John is trapped by the physical plant people. I guess we can guess their opinion of art!!

What do you want to do when you grow up?

What happens when you reach the age of 50 and you still have figured out what you want to do when you grow up? Have you failed? Have I failed because I have not become a great lawyer or business tycoon? What about a life of experience? Does that count for something? How would have my life been different if I had married that nice young man instead of deciding to spend the summer hiking the Grand Canyon? I can't really say I regret any decision but I wish that I knew how to actually make plans for the future. I've spent so much of my life living in the moment that I am stumped by the question of what are you going to do with the rest of your life. Tonight I'm searching. Tomorrow? Who knows? I guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

Dr. Bonner's Magic "All-One." and Netflix

Thank you Netflix.

Actually before I explain why I am grateful to Netflix or what Netflix has to do with Dr. Bonner's Magic "All-One" I must, for the benefit of the FTC and total disclosure, state thatI HAVE NOT, DO NOT, NOR WILL I PROBABLY EVER RECEIVE ANY COMPENSATION FROM NETFLIX, DR. BONNER'S SOAP, OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY OPINIONS STATED IN THIS BLOG. Now if that's not clear enough then we really are doomed in this county.

What do Dr. Bonner's soap and Netflix have in common? A few weeks ago I was checking out the movies available on Netflix I came across a film entitled "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox". Upon closer examination I was amused to see that it was about Dr. Bonner's soap. 25 years ago I used to use Dr. Bonner's soap all the time. I was very active in outdoor sports, hiking and kayaking, and Dr. Bonner's was the soap of choice among my peers. We could find it everywhere. Then I moved to South Florida and couldn't find Dr. Bonner's in the stores down there. This was pre-internet days so you couldn't just go online and find it. You were stuck with whatever the big corporate owned stores wanted t sell. So Dr. Bonner faded into past along with my beautiful blue kayak.

Fast forward many years and I am watching the video about Dr. Bonner's soap and the company that still operated by his son and grandsons. I was captivated by Ralph Bonner's stories and thrilled to learn that not only does this great company still exist but that it still adheres to the standards that sets it apart from every other company. Dr. Bonner's is a leader in environmental design, a leader in organic ingredients, and a leader in employee relations.

The day after viewing the video I found a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Pure Castile Classic Soap at the Daily Co-op here in Athens. There were so many more scents to choose but I settled on peppermint since it was the one I always used in the past. I love the way it smells and the tingle I feel when I use it. I am so glad I found it because I love the way it makes my skin feel. I am hooked again.

Thank you Ralph Bonner for keeping your father's vision alive. Thank you everyone else at Dr. Bonner's for making excellent products. I look forward to trying all the other scents as well as all the other products you make.

T-Mobile: the prime example of corporate America

I just had to voice my frustration at the extent of apathy and poor customer service in corporate America. I just received a phone call from the "top customer service department" in T-Mobile and it was a horrible experience. The gentleman was argumentative and kept cutting me off in mid-sentence. Here's an abbreviated version of my dealings with this company over the past year.

It all started when the screen on a phone that I had for 14 months burned and I have been trying to replace it. First, I was told, at a T-mobile store, that since I still had a contract it would cost me a hundred dollars. Same online and with the telephone people. I was told that T-mobile had grown so big they didn't have to care about customer's problems anymore. That in fact they no longer allowed the retail stores to take care of customer issues and "do anything for existing customers." So I decided to wait until my contract ran out and see if they would offer me the phone at the same price as they did a new customer which was fifty dollars. However, now it is unavailable to me as an existing customer even though it is being offered for free to any new customers. After receiving no answer as to why I can not get the phone as an existing customerr, I wrote a letter to customer service asking why and the response I got today is even more frustrating. A "customer service" representative called to offer me the phone I wanted. However it was not a new phone as offered to new customers but a reconditioned phone without any instructions. This is how much T-mobile thinks of me. I guess I'm supposed to be thrilled at any offer but I am not. I am insulted that they would offer me a reconditioned phone without any instructions. He told me that if I didn't accept the offer there was nothing he could do for me. Obviously, T-mobile as a company has no integrity because they think all I want is the phone. They still have not given me a reasonable reason why the phone is unavailable to me but is available to new customers. Although the "customer service" rep from the head office did admit that free phones are not free to new customers. You pay for them in extra fees and increased costs. That doesn't surprise me that T-mobile would lie to new customers about getting "free" phones. They're a typical corporation in American where integrity and ethics doesn't exist. It's sad that we have to do business with such people.

I know that most of you would say that this is the way all the telecommunications company do business and that's just the way it is. But my question is why do we allow this to be the way they operate. Why do we keep buying things from companies that treat us like crap? Why do we reward the rude behavior of T-mobile and others by signing long contracts and buying expensive phones and plans? We can't go on much longer like this. The greed in this corporate climate has already caused a lot of destruction to our middle class. This is not the America for which my father along with many thousands of men and women today are fighting. We need to stop allowing companies from destroying our country.

Two of my friends have already left T-mobile. One signed up for their "no contract" plan which I think is a big rip-off since they charged him for the phone (full price) and then an activation fee of 35 dollars. Let's see. he already had an account, he kept the same phone number, he put the Sims card in his new phone. I haven't upgraded quite honesty because I can't get one comparable to the phone I had a year ago. Any time I think of taking another one I am pissed off about seeing the upgrade fee added to whatever the cost of the phone.

For now I'll keep using the crappy phone I purchased a year ago (without extending my contract). I think my friend who switches companies every time his contract ends has a better idea. At least he gets a new updated phone out of it each time and gets to feel like a company wants their business. He never gets told take it or leave it!!!

Eliminating Debt

I found this great debt reduction calculator that is free for personal use. It has really helped me to focus. For the first time I have actually made a real list of what I owe. Each time I receive a credit card bill I change the amount owed and watch my total debt fall. It is so encouraging to me.

Previously I was afraid to look at the bills and to see what I actually owed. Of course my bills didn't go away and kept getting larger.

Download the calculator and see if it makes a difference in your fight against debt.

http://www.vertex42.com/Calculators/debt-reduction-calculator.htm

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again and like usual I've decided to set a few goals for this year. They're not quite resolutions because I'm not disciplined enough to actually keep resolutions. They are in fact some things I want to focus on this year to make my life more enjoyable, more productive, and make myself feel better.

1. Healthy lifestyle
This includes the usual lose weight goal but I'm also including healthy habits such as eating more fresh, locally grown food and starting an exercise program.

2. Debt Free lifestyle
My overall goal is to be debt free in two years. I have a huge amount so this will actually take some work. However, it can be done. In order to do that I have to eliminate half my debt this year. In order to do that I will have to cut my living expenses and increase my income. I don't have an extravagant lifestyle right now so it'll be hard to cut expenses so I really need to focus on increasing my income with a second and maybe a third source of income.

3. Artistic lifestyle
I want to increase beauty in my life and increase my creativity. So I am going to focus on both increasing my skills and being more productive. I also want to find creative and inexpensive ways to decorate my apartment.

So there you have it. My New Year's Focus. It'll be interesting to see what the New Year brings and what I can learn this year.