Post Folsom

So Gay High Holy Day #3 [1]Folsom St Fair has come and gone. This year Apple guy had a booth to launch his tshirt/jock business. Below is a picture of the booth setup and ready to go. I volunteered to help him with the booth.

 

Whacha think? Looking sharp huh? The hubby did all the artwork/designs for not only the shirts but also his logo and posters. I’m really proud of him. Considering we were behind the gun from the git-go, we turned out an awesome booth. There were a lot of unexpected delays in the process and to turn out such a good product deserves some serious kudos, IMHO.

We did pretty well at the fair. Not as much as we were hoping but I think that had more to do with outside factors than anything he did or didn’t do. We definitely got the name and product out there in people’s minds. As soon as the websites go live we are full steam ahead! I will be calling in favors from EVERYONE to help give us a good jumpstart! Oh yeah bitches, I’m calling in all my favors! lol Operators are standing by…

Anyway, the most irritating problem thru the whole process has been paypal. He was all setup to use them for the credit card processing when his account got hacked and then somehow tied to two fraudulent accounts. Paypal’s customer service has been on par with AT&T’s. Seriously, all my bitching about zipcar pales in comparison to Paypal. They basically don’t give a flying fuck and we are looking at months (yes, I said months) before his account gets sorted out.  Needless to say, he has decided to ditch them. [2]I have too 

I’ll be posting links to the sites soon so be ready! lol Seriously, the hubby has some awesome tshirt and jock designs, some edgy and some just plain funny. And you’ll be doing a ‘solid’ by helping him get off the ground.

References

References
↑1 Folsom St Fair
↑2 I have too

just sayin’…

Ok, so not to be a douche or a heartless bastard but standing in line at a fast food restaurant and bitching about why your very large ass can’t loose weight is probably not the best solution. In fact, it shows that you are just unwilling to make an effort. Don’t get me wrong, loosing weight is hard work. But you didn’t gain 75+ lbs overnight and expecting to loose it so quickly is unrealistic. It takes a methodical  consistent approach with room for failed attempts.

I get so tired of folks who are overweight complaining and yet doing nothing about it. And before you go off on the medical conditions, only a very tiny tiny percentage of the actual population suffers from said conditions. It may not be all your fault but it is your problem.

Let’s be real. We live in a society where convenience and speed is valued more than health. We’ve become obsessed with the “instant gratification” mentality in almost every aspect of our lives. Even our schools no longer focus on promoting and teaching good nutrition. Hell, the very people who supply us our food go out of their way to trick us with misleading labels. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that our culture is mostly overweight.

That said, at the end of the day it is ultimately up to each and everyone of us to keep ourselves healthy. Sitting back and whining while shoveling a weeks worth of dietary fat content down your gullet in on sitting is not the answer. And while not always the most convenient, there are plenty of ways to eat healthier. At the end of the day, if more people walked away from the convenience of fast food and focused on healthy eating, companies would sit up, take notice, and provide a healthier product.

/rant

Vroom

I finally got my blue beast back the other day. The damn part finally arrived after almost 3 weeks. You’d think they had to create one from scratch. Seriously, 10 days? I don’t blame the shop. They are a small local business and expecting them to keep parts on hand wouldn’t be very realistic. The supplier on the other hand, shouldn’t take 10 days to ship a small part!

Anyway, today I took a short ride down to Woodside with some of the moto gang. It was sunny/warm and traffic was bearable (in most places). Embarrassingly, we ended up getting pulled over by the Chippies (CHP). The funny part, it wasn’t for speeding! We take this particular road so much, we completely forgot the divider was a double yellow line. Without much thought, we zoomed around a slow moving vehicle in front of us. The Chippies were out doing motorcycle enforcement and apparently had a very nice view of us from the next rise. lol  We didn’t get tickets, thankfully. [1]And that’s all I’m saying about dat. lol

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. Well… almost. I’m not sure if it was the holiday weekend or just the warm weather but there was some major eye-candy when we stopped for Lunch at Alice’s. hehehe

*

Oh and speaking of riding. Rumor has it one of my gang is getting himself a very hot new Ducati soon. (my lips are sealed!)

*

Unlike some of the rest of you, I have to work tomorrow. I get overtime for it so I don’t mind but I kinda wish I had it off. I’d love to go on a solo ride. I love my gang but sometimes a solo ride can be so much fun.

Anyway, enjoy the holiday fellas.

References

References
↑1 And that’s all I’m saying about dat. lol

Not So Zippy

**Update** ~ Apparently, they do pay attention to blogs and cyber “stuff”.  I got an email and a phone call from the corporate office. The guy was nice and very apologetic. He gave me a credit, which at this point I don’t care about but I appreciated the offer. The part I did care about was his genuine concern. He made a real effort to understand my problem and listen. He also gave me his personal work email for future problems.

Don’t get me wrong, all is not forgiven but at least someone is finally paying attention. The face I had to bad mouth the company in a public forum to finally get a response hasn’t escaped my notice either.

I discovered Zipcar when I first moved to SF. For those not in the know, the concept is simple. Instead of having to rent a car by the day or week, you rent by the hour. Your hourly rate includes the cost of the car, insurance, and gas. The process is also very simple. With registration, you get a card with a digital chip in it. You log online via the web or various mobile apps, sign up for an available car of your choice, show up, slide your card over the scanner, start the car and drive away.  Great idea right? It used to be.

Zipcar started out as a bright, fun, spunky little company with a novel approach to renting cars. A niche market for sure, but in a city as dense as SF one would think there is virtually no way to fail.

Where do I start with my frustration? I don’t know if its because they’ve grown too big or just plain greedy. Either way, this fun little company is ranking one step below AT&T for all time worst customer service right now in my mind. Oh yeah, you begin to feel my pain.

It all started about 2 years ago with a car that had a flat tire. I didn’t notice the flat until I hopped in the car to drive away. I made it less than a block, turned around, drove back to the spot and notified the company. Imagine my surprise when 2 weeks later I got a bill for the repair. I called, got a credit, and went on my merry way. A month later I find a suspicious charge on my bank statement. Turns out I got re-billed for the flat. Even though I went out of my way to help, because I physically drove the car before noticing the flat I got tagged with the bill. As disappointing it was, I accepted my part in the process and ate the cost. I figured one hiccup along the way was acceptable.

Sadly, things have gone from bad to worse. I’ve experienced so much frustration since then I’ve lost all faith in the company. Granted, no business model is perfect and one that depends as much on its customers as it does its employees is bound to have problems. I totally understand that. But when I do have problems, the outright lack of concern and open disdain from the employees is not acceptable. More often than not, the line employees seem more intent on putting me in my place and citing policy vs actually listening. Out of the last 10 reservations, 4 have gone smoothly.

Today, I show up to pick up my car and its not their. [1]If the car isn’t in use you can pick it up up to 14 minutes early with no extra charge. My time slot arrives, still no car. I call in to find out what’s going on. I’m already feeling annoying expecting the worst. The rep couldn’t find the car or a previous reservation. After some digging he discovers the car was taken out of service for repair and returned. Apparently not as the car is missing. After some more searching with no luck, he offers to move my reservation. Keep in mind my start time has already come and gone. He ends up moving me to another car 4 blocks away. To be fair, he did adjust my slot and gave me an hour credit. However, at this point neither of which was any consolation. I’m just plain tired of crappy to non-existent service.

I show up at the new location to find my 2nd car parked and ready. While I’m picking it up, I notice the car I was supposed to have is parked 2 slots away. Stupid me, I was considerate enough to call back and let them know where the first car was. The 2nd rep didn’t seem to comprehend. Mind you, I am pretty angry at this point and I’m being none too polite. Her stupidity only made it worse. I finally got her to understand what I was saying or at least I thought I did. As I’m preparing to end the call, she says, “ok sir, I have changed her reservation and your new drop off time is all set.”

Excuse me? No ma’am. One, I was already in my new reservation so she was flat out lying to me. Two, my slot was already adjusted so double whammy. I finally lose my temper, let loose a string of obscenities about her stupidity and hung up. I’d had it.

I’m at the point now where I’d dump them all together if there was a easier alternative. [2]Of course, if they keep this up, someone better will eventually replace them. City Car share has a footprint here but they are much smaller and don’t anywhere near the number of cars or pickup spots.

Customer service is a dying art in most companies these days and to see a company with so much potential fall so far in such a short period of time is extremely disappointing.

References

References
↑1 If the car isn’t in use you can pick it up up to 14 minutes early with no extra charge.
↑2 Of course, if they keep this up, someone better will eventually replace them.

Blog On

Durban Bud and I were lamenting the loss of talents in the blog world the other day while he was here. And its true, many of my favorite reads over the years have given up blogging. Some have made the transition to FB [1]I’m becoming increasingly annoyed with Facebook, twitter, etc, while others just stopped. And while I’ll admit even I have cut back, the blogging bug still bites me on a regular basis. On the upside, some folks have continued to blog away. [2]Now, if I can just get them to update their damn blogs to be mobile compatible!  Others have even increased. I (think) I recently mentioned I deleted my old blogroll by mistake. I happened upon an archived copy last night and was dismayed at the number of blogs on my list that had stopped updating and/or were gone.

My blog has always been about my own personal growth (or lack thereof at times) and continues to be so, for the most part. But I have cut back primarily because I have worked thru so many of my issues over the years, frankly I don’t have that many left. lolol  Its no secret I often used my blog as a form of self-therapy. Well I’m happy to say it worked. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my issues but I am not the mess I was when I first moved to SF. heehee 

My writings (and sharing it with others) gave me a chance to really explore not only who I was but who I wanted to be. It gave me a chance to be introspective, a trait I lacked at the time. I guess it was only a matter of time before things changed. While DB and I were talking, I was shocked to realize how long I have been blogging. It was August 15th 2004 when I sat down and wrote my first post! The ex and I were starting to have problems and I needed somewhere to vent. I’d heard about blogging and thought, ‘why not?’

Nowadays, I find I have less time and less drama to blog about. Plus, with a new man in my life and a much busier work schedule, it is harder and harder to sit down and really write stuff out. I’ll often think of stuff to blather on about but by the time I find time to actually type, I’ve moved on (or its gone stale in my mind). I still write in my daily journals but that is so tedious. I keep those private as they are so mundane, what’s the point?

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll continue blogging because I always have something to say. (I know, color you surprised right?) But, as I age and move on with my life I’m a little saddened that it probably won’t ever have the focus it once did. Or at the very least, not for the reasons I originally started blogging anyway. Hope springs eternal…

References

References
↑1 I’m becoming increasingly annoyed with Facebook
↑2 Now, if I can just get them to update their damn blogs to be mobile compatible!

No Vroom

So my blue beast [1]my motorcycle up and died the other day on the way to work. I’m driving along and everything just suddenly went dead. No juice, no electronics, no power, nothing. Luckily enough, I was right next to a gas station when it occurred. I pushed my baby up into the lot and started the arduous process of calling the tow, notifying work, blah blah blah.

It was a busy day so I waited over an hour for the tow. My buddy William was kind enough to drop by the bike shop and give me a ride to work. On top of it all, work was short staffed so I had to flex my hours and work till 0100 since I was late. Even worse, work was busy as all hell so my day went from shitty to shitty with a side of pooh.

Anyway, turns out the voltage regulator burned out. It controls pretty much every aspect of power flow for the bike. No voltage regulator, no vroom vroom. *sigh* The part is on order and hopefully I should have my baby back in about a week. I have an extended warranty so its all covered, thankfully. Money is tight right now so a costly repair would have been problematic.

It could have been worse. Had I been on a long ride and it died, the process would have been increasingly more problematic. Had I been on a freeway when it happened lawd only knows what might have happened. I’m just grateful my baby is alright and will be up and running soon. *whew*

References

References
↑1 my motorcycle

Real

I can add one more blogger to my list of “real people”. lol I met the famous Durban Bud today for lunch. Him and his PILLS [1]Partner in life love & sodomy are in town and we conversed over sushi after 4 years of being blog buddies. (That sounds almost dirty. lol)

He was definitely taller than brettcajun for sure. :)~ He was also a very nice guy, easy to talk too, and an all around cool bud to have. We talked mostly about bloggers, our pasts, etc. HIs PILLS is a non blogger but we did our best to include him. hehehe We talked a lot about the changes to the blogosphere since the arrival of twitter, Facebook, etc on the social networking scene. I was really excited to finally meet him and I hope I didn’t talk too much. Lawd knows I tend to blather on at times.

Anyway, there are only a handful of folks left on my list of bloggers I’d like to meet.

References

References
↑1 Partner in life love & sodomy

Evolution

No, not the kind traditionally taught in schools. I’m referring instead to the evolution of a homo, namely me.  🙂

I was out with my buddy Nikitas last night and at one point during the evening I was suddenly struck by the difference in the person I am today and the person I was 20 years ago. [1]That said, being more than a little hung  over today, my brain is having problems functioning. Apologies if it comes out all garbled. Thru a series of choices, I’ve evolved into a completely different person over time.

Some of my decisions and choices in life have been constructive and fruitful. These are easy to accept and reflect on because they represent accomplishment. Take my sense of morality for instance. My parental units catered to the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ method of parenting so you can understand my confusion in that area. But I chose a better path for myself. I chose to rise above the state I was in after childhood and move beyond it.

But what about the choices we regret or ended badly? I used to think if I had my life to do over there are a ton of things I’d do differently. But as I get older I’m not so sure. Those choices had a huge impact on the man I am today. Would going back and having a ‘do over’ turn out any better? Or better yet, having avoided some of the bad choices in my life, would I still be the man I am now? I’m not so sure I would be. The bad teaches us to value the good more. Living a life with the intent of avoiding anything bad is self defeating as it also means you avoid the good. Like the traditional sense of good and evil, one cannot exist w/o the other. They are simply 2 sides of the same coin.

I’ve made bad choices in my life. But some of those choices helped to shape me into a better man. Am I perfect now? Hell no but I am better. Therein lies the key difference I think.

References

References
↑1 That said, being more than a little hung  over today, my brain is having problems functioning. Apologies if it comes out all garbled.

Fog-ville

Apparently, this is turning out to be one of the foggiest (read chilliest) summer on record for SF. If you’ve ever been to SF, you know we tend to have Indian summers. [1]Summers that are later in the season than you would normally expect. You also know that June/July are known for their chilly evenings. The chill is from the fog that rolls in late afternoon/early evening. We get plenty of sunshine mind you. We also get very little to no rain once the rainy season is over. And speaking of rain, we had an exceptionally long rainy season this year as well.

Anyway, as I said, this year has been especially foggy. Normally by now the fog has begun to decline and the warm weather has set in full force. Ironically, last summer was extremely warm. [2]But global warming is a total myth.  I think poor Apple guy has begun to get a little frustrated with the lack of warmth. Spending a good many years in Florida, and more recently big ole Texas, he has become accustomed to warm weather. He will adapt in time as we all do but I can tell he gets frustrated at times. I don’t blame him either.

I’m hoping we’ll get lucky toward the end of the month that the fog will finally recede and give us a couple months of warm sunny weather before winter sets in. Only time will tell I guess.

References

References
↑1 Summers that are later in the season than you would normally expect.
↑2 But global warming is a total myth.

Rant

Considering more and more people are consuming their news, blogs, etc on the go these days, I am irritated at the lack of sites that still haven’t upgraded their sites to include a mobile version.

And considering most platforms already include free templates, not switching is just laziness.

Upgrade your damn sites already!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. . .

/rant