ANGER ISN’T GOOD FOR YOU (OR ME).

I like the Quaker Oats company, I like the purity of rolled oats, the texture and health benefits. I did some grocery shopping yesterday and stopped into my favorite dollar store where they often have items I regularly use that cost $3 for $1.

I picked up the item above. I’d left my glasses in the car and decided to get to the check out stand and bolt to the car for my glasses so I could read the ingredients. I normally don’t buy anything that has more than 3 or 4 ingredients because I don’t like eating chemicals.

Distractedly talking to the clerk, I bought it without going for my glasses. When I got home, I read the label. This product has 74 ingredients.

It has sugar, honey, caramel, invert sugar, corn syrup, sweetened dried pieces of cranberries, elderberry juice concentrate and each item like brown rice crisps, whole grain brown rice, malted barley flour, all heavily processed,  on and on, each subset of ingredients has sugar over and over again. So, 74 ingredients actually repeats sugar over and over again. Thankfully, the box does not state the product is healthy or good for you. The saturated fat alone is enough to turn me off. I didn’t follow my own rule of reading the label before I buy, so this $1 piece of crap goes directly into the garbage can where it belongs.

But, that isn’t what made me angry. I’m angered by the poor customer service I received while trying to return two Linksystem Routers.  I ordered one and received two.  I know this happens to everyone once in awhile and Jim and I always agreed that some blunders and shoddy service do not merit a rant, but  sometimes, it reaches the boiling point in frustration.

I needed the router in Oregon. I ordered from Linksystems, by phone, which is a Canadian firm (Linksystems-Panasonic.) Instead of being shipped to Oregon, two identical boxes were waiting for me when I returned to California. By then, I had decided to go with a jet pack of some type and forget the router.

When I check my credit card, over the phone, they didn’t have a purchase from Linksystems. We eventually figure out it came from BELKIN. It seems BELKIN purchased the company in Canada and mistakenly shipped me, and charged me for two of the same product.

I spoke with the first customer service rep, Willy, who explained he would send me a prepaid label to return them since they were unopened. Of course, it didn’t arrive. Then came Rachel, Rod, Morgan and Mike.  The supervisor of these incompetents, would not talk to me. Five different phone calls, a conservative estimate, at  three hours waiting on-line, and yesterday, I finally got one label to return two boxes.

I took the boxes to UPS  where I got someone who isn’t afraid to make a decision. He just taped the boxes together and sent them with the one label.  I was very angry and decided I lose if I allow myself to get so angry and frustrated.

So make my loss your win and don’t do business with BELKIN. I will never do business with that company and don’t buy their stock either. You’ll lose money.

Jim also corrected my blog from yesterday. It hasn’t been over a year since we’ve seen each other. I guess it just seemed that way.

 

 

 

 

 

MANUFACTURING AND DESIGN

Wouldn’t it be nice if one could travel from the Motor Home to the house and get on my “resident” computer and have it work the way it did when I left it?  No such luck, of course. After two days of struggle, I still cannot get my photos to load the way they normally do, so I’ve figured out a way around it.  I can sympathize with the demented guy in a cartoon who takes a hammer to his television or computer. Frustrating.

I like driving my Prius and just had a new battery pack installed. But after reading Steve Westley’s report, I’m thinking I should have bought a Tesla. Steve is a dot-com millionaire with a community service bent.  He volunteers his service on the  state’s Energy Advisory Board.  I met him twice and I’m very impressed with his intelligence, and ideas. Anyway, you might want to read his take on the new Tesla being manufactured right here in nearby Fremont, CA. at the old G.M Plant.

I have never been a big “car guy” and have been driving the same car for 12 years. However, I just got my new Tesla Model S last weekend, and it feels like driving something from the future. The all-electric Model S is built in Fremont, CA at the old NUMMI auto factory that Tesla reopened after it was closed by Toyota and General Motors. The car is faster than almost any other production car (0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds) and gets the EPA equivalent of 95 miles per gallon. It also costs 75% less to operate than a gas-powered car. That’s why Motor Trend chose Tesla as Car of The Year. The Model S is a great example of Silicon Valley innovation and American manufacturing ingenuity. If you also have solar panels on the roof of your home, you may never pay a cent for electricity or gas again.

Who knows, I may buy one yet. And then, there is building design. I’ve designed two houses and live in one still. I never thought I’d be designing another one, but since my mobile flooded in Oregon, that is a very real possibility and occupies a good bit of my thought these days. Look at the Energy Board’s report on digitizing homes. Steve chaired the Subcommittee on Building Energy Efficiency. The Committee’s report follows:

Buildings use 40% of the nation’s energy – more than the transportation or industrial sectors. The National Academy of Sciences points out that “full deployment of cost-effective energy efficiency technologies in buildings alone could eliminate the need to construct any new electricity-generating plants in the United States” until 2030. In November, our subcommittee released a report analyzing the tremendous potential for cost savings, available technologies, and Department of Energy programs and initiatives related to building energy efficiency. The report outlines what the U.S. needs to do is to lead this revolution. We have digitized music and cameras; it is time to digitize buildings.

The challenge is before me and I’m hoping the eventual economy of the building might mitigate the extra cost of using these features.  When I find out what they are, I’ll let you know. I just hope they have a self-cleaning garage and a self repairing computer.  (The report was put out Nov. 2012.) Should be perfected by now, doncha think?

 

 

 

 

 

MAKING PROGRESS

These months of confinement have been painful and frustrating, in big part because I’m separated from Jim. I watch him visiting places I would have seen with him, all the arts in Santa Fe and Taos. Now, the West Texas territory of Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings and other greats we listen to all the time in the Motor Home. We have never before been apart this long since we met.

This week I’ve been able to walk beyond my mailbox with minimal pain and get out in the fresh air and see some fall color.

Just looking at the leaves in the sun brings me joy.

This picture was not taken on my walk, but outside the eye doctors office. Maybe not as spectacular as the Eastern fall, but still a lovely color.

I don’t know the name of this fall bloomer, but it grows on a neighbors driveway.

I’m able to resume, (cautiously), my yoga that I’ve been addicted to for 12 years, another Hooray! And, best of all, I have a surgery date of Nov. 14th.

After much stressful delay, I’m finally beginning to see around the corner. I’ll be out of community, but the change was necessary. I must travel to St. Josephs in Stockton, over an hour distance from my home.  But, After Thanksgiving, I’ll be able to concentrate on accident related issues.  And, now that the election is over, I can quit ranting. Hah! says my son.

One compensation for being home so long, is catching up with old friends and trying new restaurants that opened since the last time I was home. My quilting friend, Kendra and I tried the new Magnolias restaurant in Murphys and were both impressed with the quality of the food. It is strictly lunch, but delish.