Literally, how cool!

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Several years ago (okay, it was 2006. Who’s story is this?) I settled on the couch in the living room and turned on the TV. We’d upgraded our cable that summer. So rather than 7 channels (2 local, 2 Spanish, 2 religious…you do the math) we suddenly had a 100. Yeehah! Channel surfing, here I come.

As I flipped through the channels, a field of golden sunflowers flashed on the screen. And then this undulating rainbow of spandex clad guys rode by on a pack of bicycles. It was the Tour de France. And I was hooked.

I originally watched for the scenery. But by the end of July I was hooked on the sport. That’s another post entirely. This one is supposed to be about music!

Flash forward a few years. Another year. Another Tour de France…but it wasn’t. This year the producers had procured the rights to use a certain song as their theme song, so to speak. They played at the end of each broadcast.

Now you’ve heard that scent and memory are closely tied. I think that songs, emotions and memories are tightly woven as well. Case in point. This particular song.

Whenever I hear it I’m taken back to those 23 days where ordinary men became extraordinary. Where things you didn’t think were possible (like riding a bike up an Alp – a dozen times!) is suddenly possible and incredible to watch. Days where you watch a field of a 200 of the world’s most elite athletes dwindle down to 150 broken, tired bodies.

There are the underdogs. The superstars. The sprint finishes that literally have you clinging to the edge of your seat lest you fall into the floor. And in the end, after thousands of kilometers (hey, pro cycling is metric, people), endless crashes and enormous heartache, one man is declared the winner.

And they play that song.

Now, whenever I hear King and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars, my mood lifts and I feel like anything is possible.

Even climbing an Alp…or say, finishing this book.

There are few places I’ve seen more beautiful than Yosemite. This time-lapse video reminds me that I need to go back. Soon. Be prepared to have your breath taken away…

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

My DH traditionally sends a little something to his clients around Christmas time as a thank you for doing business with him. As usual, I picked the perfect thing from Harry and David, requested addresses from DH and made the order. Imagine my disappointment when I saw the tracking information telling me that one of the packages hadn’t arrived.

Turns out that DH had given me an old address.

Well last week we contacted H&D to figure out what could be done. I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to buy the whole thing again but yummy snacks are perishable, so…H&D said they’d gotten the goodies back and would send out a new batch to the NEW address ASAP. No charge. No extra shipping.

What a nice thing for them to do. They’ve certainly earned two more customers for life!

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I’ve been on a customer service kick lately (seems like I need customer service more around the holidays, lol). Here’s my experience with Bell and an unnamed major internet florist.

A while back I mentioned how fabulous the customer support was at Bell. Recently I ordered a flower arrangement from a big internet flower company and the customer support wasn’t so fabulous and it didn’t leave me smiling.

I should say that the two flower shops in my town closed down and I found a really beautiful arrangement online and decided to splurge. The flowers were supposed to arrive on Friday. I worked it out so that I’d be here on Friday (or if I wasn’t, my DH was.)

Friday came and went. My Christmas company arrived. No pretty flowers on my table.

Friday evening I went to the website and completed a request for a follow up via email. That email never arrived.

So on Saturday, I called the company around lunch. As it turns out, the florist didn’t have the container for the flowers so that’s why I hadn’t received them.

This is the point where I’m thinking: are you kidding me?

The customer service rep wasn’t terribly apologetic or contrite. In fact, it seemed rather: business as usual. She did tell me they could have the flowers to me on Monday. Monday being the day after Christmas. The day my company was leaving to go home.

She’d mentioned that there were two florists in the area and one didn’t answer the phone. I asked her who that florist was because, as I mentioned, the florists I knew of had closed down. She told me that was confidential.

At that point I was really thinking: you’ve got to be kidding me.

I kept my temper in check and asked for a refund.

I was terribly disappointed. Mostly, that I didn’t receive the flowers I’d been lusting after for three months but also because the company’s response was rather “blah.” For some reason I expected more. Oh well. No one’s perfect. Live and learn.

Happy Birthday to me. (And my cousin Allison!)

Hope all my American friends had a Happy Thanksgiving.

I’ll see you back here next week for new tips!

photo by: Will Clayton

My hubby and I have been bike aficionados for several years now and when we were first getting into the sport we purchased a Bell Bike rack from Walmart. During our recent trip to the beach, we took out bikes and rode just about every day. I am a big fan of riding on hard sand. And the view was amazing, but I digress.

On the way home, I’m zooming down the highway and I look back in the rearview mirror and think that things (being the position of the bikes) look a little odd. I comment to hubby about it. Hubby is one of the most laid back people you’ll ever meet so I fully expected him to say, “I don’t see a problem.” or “That’s nothing.”

He said “you’re right. It looks like something’s broken.”

Those are not the words you want you hear when you’re clipping along the highway at 70, er 75, okay 80-ish miles per hour with two hunks of metal hanging off the “broken thingy.”

We pulled over ASAP to investigate and sure enough, the “cradles” that hold the bike had broken. They’re plastic. Old. Brittle. And evidently those south Georgia roads were just too much for them. The “cradles” cradle the bike and a strip of velcro wraps from one side of the cradle over bike and loops back to keep your bike (and fellow drivers) nice and safe. We fiddled as best we could and then prayed the entire way to the next convenience store. And at 45 miles per hour, it was a long trip.

We were thinking duct tape. But we settled for packaging tape and hubby wrapped that bad boy tighter than a cheerleading outfit on a hog. The bikes were safe. And it took us almost as long to get the bikes loose when we got home as it did to drive home. The dog was royally confused as to why we didn’t just-take-the-bikes-off-the-rack-and-let-him-out-of-the car-already.

Fast forward a few months (because really, it takes us a few months to do anything.) I decided we should go riding again and I also decided I needed to stop procrastinating about getting replacement parts for the bike rack. How hard could it be to replace plastic cradle gizmos for an 8-ish year old bike rack?

The answer? Really hard.

Finally, I found a phone number and called Bell’s customer support. The lady on the other end was a real peach and she took my name, address, and phone number and promised to send me two new pair ASAP. ASAP because they’re currently back ordered but just as soon as they arrive she’ll put them in my hot little hands FREE OF CHARGE.

Hello customer service!

I totally intend to buy that new Bell bicycle helmet I’ve had my eye on because now I truly understand that they stand behind their product.

Bell – you’ve got a customer for life.

super awesome bike rack photo by: bigoteetoe

I’m not the type to complain about spam, but I recently started getting emails about a writing contest/festival thing and I honestly don’t remember signing up. What’s more is that I get these emails every few days. I finally took the time to unsubscribe, only to find out I was subscribed to a dozen mailing lists.

For some reason, I’m still getting these emails.

I feel like I’m on a speeding train. How do I get off??

I have a list of writing prompts that I occasionally pull from. This one is short and simple. Can you guess which board game I’m describing?

A kaleidoscope of colors that will remind you of a spring day and make you crave something deliciously sweet.

How about describing your favorite in the comments?

I got a flu shot the other day. My second in as many years. To make matters worse, I got it on my wedding anniversary. How romantic is that?!

After finding myself laid up with a severe cases of “just kill me now” for two years in a row, I thought I’d try the whole flu shot/prevention thing. And yay, it worked!

But, what they fail to mention is that getting a flu shot is pretty darn painful. I’m not even talking about the needle. No, I’m talking about the little old lady squeezing my arm like a stress ball. Then there’s a shot, and hey, that part is pretty painless! But then, and oh my prepare yourself, she proceeds to press, smudge, stamp out any trace of blood left behind by the shot. I’m talking serious pressure here. For all she cared, I could have been a hunk of beef that needed tenderizing.

She told me she was stopping that little bit of bleeding. I wanted to tell her to stick the band-aid on me and be done with it.

The next day I could hardly lift my arm above my shoulder. I suppose the stiffness will all be worth it, assuming I don’t get sick this season!

photo by: Bubbels