Well, next week will be my last session with Daniel. It's still very difficult to just let my mind flow. Just keep typing rather than criticize every aspect of every word I choose.
It's a struggle and sometimes I wonder why I have to deal with it.
Everytime there's something interesting that flows in my head, when I get on a computer to type it out... it's just not there.
Still props to HealthPAC
Cheers to Daniel and good luck with his PhD
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
High Tech Chabot College
Chabot has a 32" LCD screen my class for announcements. That's how I found out my class is cancelled after a 30 minute drive from Dublin.
Back when I first started college (2002) class cancellations came in the form of paper taped on the class door. Email was available, but professors/teachers would rarely send one out for class cancellations.
Maybe in a few years students will get a notification sent to their smartphones right when a professor/teacher notifies the school.
Technology - advancing life.
Poison Peeps
Have your read about the shelf life of peeps?
Have your read about the way peeps digest in your body?
Talk about poison!
How do companies get approved to sell these things?
Monday, February 11, 2013
Mental Endurance
First post with the Acer A500 i bought for $175. Blogger app is similar to iOS version.
After my ass got handed to me 3 years ago at the half marathon over the Golden Gate Bridge, I got addicted to running. After my injuries healed, i ran at lrast 3x a week!
I hate running when it's cold however, so i haven't been out for a run in quite some time - 4 months? All my workouts have consisted of Insanity.
I finally went for a run today, but had a difficult time running more than 1 mile straight. Physically i felt fine; wasn't grasping for air; no cramps but why couldn't I keep going? During my peak running days, i could run 4 miles straight! I feel more fit now since i can handle max Insanity.
Max Insanity is a 60 minute workout but it focuses on going all out for 30 sec to 1 minute intervals. I ran 8 minute miles today and when i see the mile marker, I just had to stop.
While I can blame the interval nature of Insanity, there is a pure cardio workout that keeps you moving for 40 minutes straight. So I know I can keep moving for more than 8 minutes. However, the pure cardio workout makes you do a variety of workouts. My inability to keep running after an 8 minute mile was basically boredom.
The same movement over and over, just keep running forward. To change things up I would alternate the pace I ran - aka fartleks.
Still, despite my best efforts I couldn't be an energizer bunny.... keeps going, and going, and going. I'm glad I ran about 4 miles, but it was frustrating that I had to keep taking breaks. Lesson learned: confuse your body and do different excercises. Insanity does have multiple excercise workouts, but they borrow the same move from each other.
I got too used to the way Insanity trains my body physically. Often you overlook the mental aspect of excercising. Running or more accurately, jogging, takes a lot of mental endurance. Now that it's getting warmer, I hope to mix it up a bit more and not solely rely on Insanity.
Mental endurance - no matter how fit you are, without it you won't get far.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
ILOB Notes: How a Small Discount Can Make Such a Difference
I saw this article on Yahoo titled "Unusual message on mom's restaurant bill."
To sum it up: her kids behaved so well she received a $4 discount. The total bill was $58, so the discount was enough to cover the tax charge.
$4 off might not seem much but it's all about how your customer feels. What a wonderful investment by the restaurant owner:
To sum it up: her kids behaved so well she received a $4 discount. The total bill was $58, so the discount was enough to cover the tax charge.
$4 off might not seem much but it's all about how your customer feels. What a wonderful investment by the restaurant owner:
The discount isn't restaurant policy though Sogno di Vino owner Rob Scott said that he tries to reward good behavior when he sees it.Independent owners take note! You have complete control of how your run your business - make decisions like this and you will reap the rewards.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Customer Service Experience with AARP UnitedHealthcare
Today had a very frustrating moment after my parents and I arrived at the Social Security office in Hayward at 12:15pm just to find out that they close at noon on Wednesdays. I guess I should of checked online before we left home but I was rushing because I woke up late and my mom has been waiting all morning.
In the end though, if I didn't drive out with my parents today, I would probably not have called AARP to cancel my dad's supplement plan.
If you're unfamiliar with how Medicare works, it covers most of your medical bills (80-90%). Therefore you are encouraged to pay for a supplement plan to cover any remaining costs that Medicare doesn't cover. AARP in partnership with UnitedHealthcare has such a plan - my dad currently pays $215/month to have this "emergency" insurance. That's $2,500 getting drained from my dad's social security every year - that means my dad gets 49% of his social security benefits every year.
After calling the # located at the back of my dad's AARP card, they have to transfer me to UnitedHealthcare and the representative Ariana helps me through the process. She puts me on hold to find out if I can get reimbursed for the payment that was taken from my dad's checking account yesterday 2/5/2013.
The answer is simply "NO"
Confused, upset and annoyed, I let it be and allowed her to finish cancelling my dad's account. After taking care of other things, I realize that I'm still bothered with the refusal to refund my dad's payment despite only a day has passed by.
So I call AARP again and give Ben (service rep) the details of what happened. He advises that I immediately ask for a supervisor once he transfers me to UnitedHealthcare.
I do what Ben says, and the new UnitedHealthcare rep: Kaye runs me through the standard protocol then asks why I'm seeking a supervisor. She informs me that the supervisor has already left for the evening but she will look into my dad's account and figure things out.
Kaye cancelled my dad's supplement plan 11/30/2012 - the day before my dad's Medicare went active. Now my dad will get reimbursed over $500.
I didn't track how much time I spent on the phone, but man... for $500 I'll go through that any day.
It's probably protocol that customer service reps deny refunding a person unless they are persistent.
Sigh....................
Impromptu Day: The World of Print
Wow! What a day!
As an entrepreneur, you don't have a set schedule and things often come up - all you can do is enjoy the ride.
I met an awesome business owner a few weeks back while looking around for a place to print my business cards. I'll start with the two print shops I visited in Pleasanton: Alpha Omega Print & Imaging and Chromagraphics.
While Alpha Omega Print & Imaging was rather a "normal" experience - meet owner, shake hands, take business card, take postcard with pricing, leave - Chromagraphics has me quite stumped.
Chromagraphics was the first print shop I visited in Pleasanton. When I arrived at the facility, there was no one around, so I just looked around the front desk to find information or figure out how I can get help. Only about 5 minutes passed before a lady came out from their office located on the other side of the facility to greet me. I explained what I needed and she brought me over to their office. She took notes and I know I gave her the correct email address. A week passes and I don't hear from her, so I figure why not be the one to initiate communication - all I'm seeking is a quote.
Aside from sending her an email, I went ahead and filled out their online contact form. After allowing a couple more days to pass, I realized she made the decision to shrug me off as a "not so important client." I shouldn't even say client because we never really did anything besides wasting her time to give the details of the services I wanted to pay for.
Moving on, I remembered the very first print shop I visited in Hayward: On Time Signs. The first contact at this shop was weird. I looked them up on Yelp and noticed that the owner was Filipino based on the information given on their website. I was excited considering the potential to make a connection and maybe collaborate on a deal.
All I can remember from that meeting was the owner telling me that his son runs the business card portion of the business and that he'll be back:
That was that and I told myself, well I won't be back next week. This came true, however, with uneventful experiences in Pleasanton, I eventually came back 2 weeks later.
The son was within my age range and so we easily broke the ice and got down to what I was looking for. Basically 3k business cards total. He showed interest in the fact that I'm planning marketing campaigns for independent locally-owned businesses. The only complaint I have during the visit is his lack of ability to show he is an expert in what he does.
I have no doubt he'll produce exactly what I want, however he didn't even come close to conveying that message to me.
So all of these visits led me to the owner I'm currently working with. Here are some of the pictures I had the opportunity to take today as I explored the world of print.
As an entrepreneur, you don't have a set schedule and things often come up - all you can do is enjoy the ride.
I met an awesome business owner a few weeks back while looking around for a place to print my business cards. I'll start with the two print shops I visited in Pleasanton: Alpha Omega Print & Imaging and Chromagraphics.
While Alpha Omega Print & Imaging was rather a "normal" experience - meet owner, shake hands, take business card, take postcard with pricing, leave - Chromagraphics has me quite stumped.
Chromagraphics was the first print shop I visited in Pleasanton. When I arrived at the facility, there was no one around, so I just looked around the front desk to find information or figure out how I can get help. Only about 5 minutes passed before a lady came out from their office located on the other side of the facility to greet me. I explained what I needed and she brought me over to their office. She took notes and I know I gave her the correct email address. A week passes and I don't hear from her, so I figure why not be the one to initiate communication - all I'm seeking is a quote.
Aside from sending her an email, I went ahead and filled out their online contact form. After allowing a couple more days to pass, I realized she made the decision to shrug me off as a "not so important client." I shouldn't even say client because we never really did anything besides wasting her time to give the details of the services I wanted to pay for.
Moving on, I remembered the very first print shop I visited in Hayward: On Time Signs. The first contact at this shop was weird. I looked them up on Yelp and noticed that the owner was Filipino based on the information given on their website. I was excited considering the potential to make a connection and maybe collaborate on a deal.
All I can remember from that meeting was the owner telling me that his son runs the business card portion of the business and that he'll be back:
Next week.
That was that and I told myself, well I won't be back next week. This came true, however, with uneventful experiences in Pleasanton, I eventually came back 2 weeks later.
The son was within my age range and so we easily broke the ice and got down to what I was looking for. Basically 3k business cards total. He showed interest in the fact that I'm planning marketing campaigns for independent locally-owned businesses. The only complaint I have during the visit is his lack of ability to show he is an expert in what he does.
I have no doubt he'll produce exactly what I want, however he didn't even come close to conveying that message to me.
So all of these visits led me to the owner I'm currently working with. Here are some of the pictures I had the opportunity to take today as I explored the world of print.
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