The Blog Less Traveled

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all had a happy and restful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Our daughter came home for the holiday weekend so that made it even better. We got together with a few of our in-laws and had a nice turkey dinner with all the fixings. There was plenty of turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies and pies galore. No one left hungry.

Today, all the crazy folks got up bright and early to hit the stores for all the Black Friday specials. Standing in line and fighting the crowds is not my idea of fun, even if you do save a few bucks along the way. Some people actually look forward to the event – you folks are crazy! Of course, I got up at four this morning (zero dark thirty) to meet a group of fellow runners in downtown Grand Rapids. Today was a free training session to see if we want to join for the long haul (26 sessions). We ran through the covered skywalks that interconnect all the downtown hotels, restaurants and garages and ran up and down the multi-level parking garages and periodically stopped and did pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, etc. I’m trying to get my body in shape for the hills in the Boston Marathon in April and I thought this might be a good way to get in condition. If the weather gets real lousy, we’re pretty much covered most of the time. The place is pretty deserted so traffic isn’t a problem. There’s a personal trainer running the show and we even have “Marathon Don” working with us. He’s the Grand Rapids Marathon Race Director and he has run over 180 marathons – all 7 continents three times and all 50 states and DC. Now that’s crazy!

Maybe I better rethink calling all of you Black Friday shoppers crazy. I guess we all do things at one time or another that other people think are a little odd. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend – crazies and non-crazies alike!

So much for my first marathon being a bucket list item. When I ran my first marathon a few weeks ago, it was with the idea that it would be a one-time deal. I wanted to push myself to accomplish something that would be tough both physically and mentally. It was a pretty good test. Those last 5-6 miles definitely test your resolve to push yourself to the limit. I guess I must have enjoyed the satisfaction of crossing that finish line too much or I’m just a glutton for punishment. I’ve decided to run at least one more marathon. Last Wednesday I applied for entry into the Boston Marathon. I received my official acceptance postcard in the mail today from the Boston Athletic Association – the graphic above is a portion of that postcard.

For those who don’t know, the Boston Marathon is the oldest running marathon in the world. It began in 1897 and the next one this coming April 19th, 2010, will be the 114th. You can’t run in the Boston Marathon unless you run another marathon within the last 18 months with a fast enough qualifying time for your age. I was fortunate enough to have run my 1st marathon fast enough to qualify. This marathon will be a tougher test for me. There are a series of hills 16-21 miles into the race and the last hill at mile 20-21 is the highest and is called Heartbreak Hill. Hills at any time are no fun, but hitting a big one this late in the race will definitely push you to the limit. That hill will turn your legs into rubber in a hurry. Hopefully, my legs will be in good enough shape to make it past that obstacle.

I’m really looking forward to the challenge. The race course runs through a total of eight towns, starting in the town of Hopkinton and ending at Copley Square in Boston. I hope that I’m able to enjoy and appreciate the history of this event as I run it. Maybe it will help me to take my mind off the toll it will be taking on my body.

Interesting Boston Marathon facts:

• In terms of on-site media coverage, the Boston Marathon ranks behind only the Super Bowl as the largest single day sporting event in the world. More than 1,100 media members, representing more than 250 outlets, receive credentials annually.
• The legendary John A. Kelley started a record 61 Boston Marathons and finished 58. Kelley, who won the race in 1935 and 1945, first competed in the race in 1928, but it was not until 1933, in his third attempt, that he completed the course, placing 37th in 3:03:56. He last completed the course in 1992 at the age of 84. Kelley lived to be 97 (1907-2004).
• Approximately 500,000 spectators line the 26.2-mile course annually.
• Since its inception, the Boston Marathon has been held on the holiday commemorating Patriots’ Day.

One of my pet peeves is customer service or lack thereof. It bugs me to no end when I have to deal with a rude or indifferent customer service rep. Customer Service is not rocket science. It’s just common sense. Treat people the same way that you’d like to be treated if you were in that situation. It doesn’t sound that hard to me. Granted, there are obnoxious people out there and it can be a true test of your patience to deal with them. In those cases, if they cross the line and become truly belligerent, I would thank them for their past patronage but in a firm manner I would tell them that their business is no longer appreciated nor wanted. And that brings me to my recent encounter.

I recently needed to get a legal document notarized. As I no longer have a local bank account in Michigan, I went to the nearest bank, which happened to be Mercantile Bank on Gezon Blvd. When I went into the bank that morning, it was completely empty. There were no customers at the teller area nor at any of the bank desks. I walked up to one of the ladies in the office area and asked if I could get a document notarized. She asked if I had an account with them and I told her no. She said she couldn’t help me since I had no account with them. I told her I was willing to pay for the service but she still said no. I then told her that I used to have a business account with their bank in the past. This was true. She called a supervisor but the answer was still no. I next went to the Byron Bank branch in Byron Center. I went to the customer reception desk in the main lobby and was greeted by Beth. I told her what I needed and she said she’d be happy to notarize the document for me. We had a pleasant and friendly conversation and she quickly took care of notarizing my document. After returning my document, I thanked her and was on my way in just a matter of minutes. What a difference in customer service. She never even asked me if I banked there. She just asked me what she could do to help me and did it. She was pleasant, friendly and professional. She’s exactly the type of person that you’d want your patrons and potential customers to have first contact with.

Granted, neither bank has my business at this moment so you might say it didn’t hurt Mercantile Bank to refuse me any service. However, I think that’s a shortsighted business view. Should I need to open up a bank account in the future, whom do you think is going to get my business? Also, if someone asks me for a bank recommendation, whom do you think that I’ll recommend? Mercantile Bank could have just notarized my document in almost the same amount of time that it took them to say no and call a supervisor for approval. Instead, they’ve lost a customer for life and they won’t garner any favorable opinions from me in the future. Unfortunately, in today’s business world, more companies seem to be geared towards using the short-term profit business model. They don’t want to look forward very far and invest for the long-term. I think that’s a big mistake and it will take its toll in the long run.

Do you ever drive down the highway and see a sign that you do a double take on? Or, you’re in a store and see a sign and wonder, “What were they thinking?” Over the past week or so I’ve come across some signs and billboards that got my attention for one reason or another.

The first picture is a billboard on US-31 in Michigan. I don’t need to know that Michiganders are proud of breastfeeding. Really, I don’t. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice that they’re proud. I just don’t need to see a 10-foot breast on the highway telling me that. I’m easily distracted by much smaller ones. I’ve got enough on the road to deal with already. The next thing you know, there’s going to be a 10-foot athletic cup with the caption, “Michigan Men Protect Their Jewels With Pride.”

This second picture is from a urinal in a men’s restroom. As I was standing there doing my thing, I read the following: “Place hand in front of automatic eye for 15 seconds to flush.” Ah huh. I’m going to just stand there for 15 seconds and wait for the stupid urinal to decide and flush. Sorry, folks. Ain’t gonna happen. Maybe five seconds but not 15. Do they really expect someone to stand around that long just to get their urinal to flush? Either put a handle on it or make it flush automatically. I’d like to know how many people are really going to stand around that long and do it. Actually, I’d like to meet the idiot that designed this.

The third picture is a sticker on a 2010 Chevy Camaro SS. My daughter and I were looking at the new Camaros. Back in 2008, the state of California (surprise!) mandated these stickers on their cars. Apparently, they’re finding their way onto cars in all the states. I guess they’re supposed to shame you into buying a “greener” car. The sticker says, “Protect the environment, choose vehicles with higher scores.” Yeah, right. How many people are going to really use this sticker as a determining factor in their car purchase? If someone is in the market for a performance car, then the car’s looks, horsepower and features are going to sway that individual, not the global warming factor. If you’re into economical or high mileage cars, you’re going to look at price and mpg. I can’t imagine that someone is going to use the “Global Warming Factor” or “Smog Score” on the sticker. Plus, if two cars are almost identical in features, engines, etc., chances are, the scores will be pretty much the same. I can just hear the auto customers now. “Gee Mary, I really had my heart set on the Dodge Viper with the 600hp V10 engine but the Ford Taurus has a much higher global warming score so I guess I’ll get the Ford!”

If you’re a chocolate aficionado then you have to try Brookside’s Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranates. These things are awesome. If you like chocolate covered raisins, almonds, etc., then you’re going to love these. The quality of the dark chocolate is excellent and the taste of the pomegranates will make your mouth water. This is definitely my new favorite chocolate treat. Pop one or two of these in your mouth and you’re in for a great chocolate high. They’ll probably even cure PMS, depression and any drug addition you might have! If you like chocolate but don’t like these, then you’re in serious need of medical attention.

The best price by far for a 2 lb. bag is at Costco. Amazon.com also carries them but they’re over $17 there and only a little over $9 at Costco. Wal-Mart carries them in a 12 oz. plastic tub but I don’t know what they charge.

Let me warn you though. These things are addictive. Bet you can’t eat just one.

Well, it’s been awhile since my last post. Lots of things have been going on in my life but they’re way too personal to discuss on this blog. Writing on the blog has certainly taken a back seat these past several months. I don’t know if I’ll get back into it or not, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

In another lame attempt to impress my lady friends, I give you my version of the omelette. This is my first omelette ever. Basically, it’s a four-egg omelette with cheese, tomatoes and olives. Yeah, I know. What’s with the olives? It’s the only thing I had in the refrigerator besides the cheese and tomatoes. Plus, I love olives, green or black. I figured these would give the omelette a little extra kick in taste. I have to admit, it wasn’t a bad tasting omelette. It was cooked just a little longer than I would have preferred but that was because I wasted a little time in getting the camera and taking the picture. All-in-all, it was pretty tasty and I’ll definitely do it again.

My cooking ability is still pretty pathetic. I’ve only done sunny-side-up eggs, scrambled eggs and now the infamous omelette. I can also cook pasta. That’s pretty much it besides heating TV dinners and vegetables in a microwave. Hey, at least I’m not starving!

Well, until next time folks, keep it tuned here for the next episode of the Kulinary King.

Let’s set the record straight. There is absolutely NO conclusive scientific evidence that man is creating global warming. None whatsoever. Are we causing some pollution in the atmosphere in certain parts of the world due to the burning of fossil fuels? Absolutely. I think that there is common agreement on this issue. We should do everything we can to minimize pollutants in the air. However, I challenge anyone out there to show me scientific proof that man is creating global warming. And no, just because Al Gore says so doesn’t make it so. I am utterly amazed at the gullibility of people that take his movie and slideshows as gospel.

There is no compelling evidence that I can find that backs up, with a high degree of certainty, the claims of the global warming fanatics. For every report in their favor, I can produce one to refute it. It is the United Nations report (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – UN IPCC) from the late 1990’s that is used so extensively to back up global warming claims. Do you really trust the political motivations and individuals running that show? Based on its less than stellar performance in most other areas, the quality and validity of anything they do is suspect. Did you know that the Earth has actually cooled since 1998?

Here are a few quotes from noted scientists and experts in the field that you won’t find in the standard media outlets:

“There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate,” the petition states. “Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.”

“The models and forecasts of the UN IPCC are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity.”

“Earth has cooled since 1998 in defiance of the predictions by the UN-IPCC….The global temperature for 2007 was the coldest in a decade and the coldest of the millennium…which is why ‘global warming’ is now called ‘climate change.’”

Here are a few links to read if you’d like to get a more informed opinion.

U. S. Senate Minority Report
The Amazing Story Behind the Global Warming Scam
31,000 scientists reject ‘global warming’ agenda

My blog has a birthday! It was one year old yesterday, March 28th. Woot woot. Since I host my blog on my own domain that I control, I have access to various statistics about the site. The graphic on the left shows the top 25 countries that have visited my blog this past month. I went from about 700 visits/month during my first full month online to about 2400 visits/month for the current month. A very small fish swimming in the big Internet pond. Blogging serves as a useful diversion for me when I get the urge to write about something. However, I don’t expect the New York Times to be knocking on my door any time soon with an offer!

What some people may not realize is just how pervasive blogging has become. Every Tom, Dick and Harry, myself included, is doing it. There are millions of blogs on just about every subject imaginable, and then some. What I found most interesting was discovering that other websites and blogs had links on their sites to my various postings that I’ve written over the past year. There is a technology out there called web robots, or bots for short. Bots are sophisticated software applications that can scour the Internet at tremendous speeds and gather and catalog all the information available on a website. This is the technology that Google and other search engines use to provide you with the ability to find things on the Internet. In my case, companies or individuals are using their own bots to find sites that have certain keywords that they want to catalog and list on their sites. For example, they might be interested in articles that have the word “religion” in them. If their bot finds this keyword, their site will generate a link to that article. They might also extract the first few sentences of the article and include it in their posting. For those of you in the technology business, this is no great revelation. However, it might be interesting to the non-techy type that is reading this blog.

Well, I guess I’ll go now and bake a cake and stick a little candle in it. No, not really. Those that know me know that I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of how to bake one. I’ll just sing myself the birthday song. Happy birthday to my blog, happy birthday to my blog, happy birthday…

Back in July of 2008 I had written an article about tattoos. It discussed why I had a change of heart on my perception of people who got tattooed. I think I’d like to expand on that idea a little bit more.

Over the years, I’ve formed many opinions on a variety of subjects. Whether it relates to politics, religion, relationships, etc., I have a definite view on what I think is the correct conclusion to draw based on the facts presented. In all honesty, I would have to categorize myself as a bit judgmental. As you get older, I think you have a wealth of experience to draw on. Some might call that wisdom. But that “wisdom” can sometimes be misleading or at least give you a false sense of righteousness. I’m not saying that basing conclusions on past experiences is faulty. On the contrary, experiences, good and bad, are valid barometers on which to base conclusions. However, I think as we get older, we tend to think we’ve seen and heard it all. Our opinions tend to get cast in stone and there’s little anyone can say or do that will change it. Basically, our preconceived notions cause us to rush to judgment. I can honestly say that I’ve been guilty of this on occasion so I’m definitely not throwing any stones from my glass house. I’ve been critical of people and some of the choices they’ve made. On further reflection, some of my opinions may have been too harsh. Just because you have experiences to draw from doesn’t mean they’re enough to form the correct opinion or make the right judgment. You might not have as complete of a picture for the given situation as you think. Sometimes there’s a lot more information that you’re not privy to or maybe the other person is not willing to share that information with you at the moment.

So there you have it. I think I need to do a little more reflecting on occasion or at least make a more earnest attempt to see the other person’s viewpoint. I need to listen more. Some things just aren’t as cut-and-dried as you think they are.

This is my 100th posting. Woo hoo! I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. When I started this blog, I had no idea of how long I would end up doing it. As my “About” page details, and my first posting mentions, I had no agenda in mind nor a particular subject area to discuss. It wouldn’t have surprised me nor bothered me if this ended in one month or one year. I just thought I’d give it a whirl and see what happened. Some months I wrote every other day and some months it was once a week. It all depended on my mood at the time and whether I had something I wanted to say. There are now twelve categories of subject matter. I don’t know if that will expand in the future or not.

So, getting back to the topic at hand, why do I blog? I think my primary motivation, at least in the beginning, was to peel off a little bit of my self-induced shell. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a fairly introverted kind of guy. I’m definitely not the life of the party. There won’t be throngs of people gathering around my end of the room to hear about all of my adventures or listen to my captivating stories. As a matter of fact, shortly after I started blogging, one of my former co-workers told me that she learned more about me after the first few weeks of blogging than she had in the couple of years that we worked together. Heck, I actually thought I was being pretty open at the time. In reality though, few people get past the first layer with me. Not that I’m an overly complicated guy or anything like that. Just the opposite. I’d say I’ve got two shells. A lot of people may get through the first layer, but few, if any, get past the second. If you do, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what makes me tick.

So there you have it. If you’ve been reading most of my blog, you should have a little better picture of who I am and what my opinions and beliefs are. They’re not set in stone although there are certain core values that are not subject to negotiation. I do think there are things that this old dog can still learn. I’ve actually changed my opinion in certain areas in the short time that I’ve been blogging. I’m sure there will be others. Stay tuned…