What Not to Do

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that you are on a Delta flight from Minneapolis to Paris, flying in a 2/3rds full 767. That leaves plenty of space free on the plane, and so people can spread out. Thus, for example, when there are two people in a set of three seats in the middle of the plane one might expect that the random guy in the middle would move to the open aisle seat. Leaving a luxurious cattle-class seat worth of no-mans land in-between passengers.

That might seem obvious and perhaps every other row in the plane would recognize the optimal positioning. But dear reader, there is in fact another option:

You could stay in that middle seat, with your bulky shoulders and jabbing elbows punishing the unfortunate soul assigned to sit next to you. After a while when you get up to go to the bathroom and you come back, stepping carefully over that empty seat on the aisle to plop back down in the middle, that other passenger might say something like "Why aren't you sitting over there?". You could then answer "Hmm, I don't know. I guess I like this seat". It's a good effect if, as you are sort of testing out the arms of that middle seat while describing your eternal love for it, you jab the other passenger in the side with an elbow just to remind him that this is your assigned seat and by god, you aren't moving.

I'd just like to say: Please, don't be that guy.

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Temperature Change

I was copying pictures off the camera today for the first time in quite a while and discovered this picture from less than a month ago. Besides Elijah's hilariously suspicious expression, I thought it was interesting that just a month ago the weather was such that playing in the kiddie pool on the deck in shorts and a t-shirt was still appropriate.

Today, on the other hand, was nice for a bit while the sun was out but definitely felt like fall. I suppose the fact that I was in Nice two weeks ago and Atlanta last week didn't help make the transition from summer to fall less shocking.

For reference, the weather in Nice was as amazing as advertised despite mid-September being 'after' the peak summer holiday season. I could definitely get used to 75 and sunny every day. I have no idea what the weather was like in Atlanta because I literally did not go outside from the time I arrived on Monday to when I left on Thursday, which I am pretty sure is not healthy. Unfortunately since the summit took place in convention facilities attached to the hotel and the schedule went from 7am till about 12:30am every day, that left no free time.

Next week I'll continue to ensure that my body has no idea what season it is, with a trip to San Francisco. All things considered, it could be far, far worse.


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Future Career

My rediscovery of a camouflage hat in a basement box of paintball supplies, coupled with my vast experience in watching Swamp People episodes, has reassured me that if my career in middle management doesn't work out I can always take up gator hunting.

Treeshaker! It's a treeshaker!


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Brazilian Beef

My trip to Brazil that was supposed to happen this week and next was canceled at the last minute, last Thursday. While I'm disappointed to not experience South America/Brazil and to not be able to help with the problem which necessitated the trip, I'm certainly not missing being gone from home for two weeks.

I was, however, looking forward to trying the cuisine in Brazil, which is rumored to be quite good. On Friday, this was highlighted when an e-mail chain was started by some co-workers that I was going to meet for dinner while in Sao Paulo discussing just what high-end restaurant we should go to. The decision was for Brazilian Barbecue. Something that was awesome in it's Minnesota imitation, so I can only imagine what the real deal is like. Alas that experience has been postponed, potentially indefinitely.


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Convoluted

Over the weekend the popular activity seems to have been attempting to buy Twins tickets. Instead of using some sort of sensible system, such as letting you pick games and buy tickets, instead the Twins used a useless and ineffective virtual line system and a website built out of chewing gum and bailing wire.

My parents spent hours waiting in the virtual line, only to eventually get to the site and still be unable to buy tickets due to high volumes (isn't that what the line was supposed to prevent?). Linzy and I also waited in line, but never moved, until eventually going out and back in got us right into the site around the same time my parent's four hours of waiting got them in.

But then once you got the the actual site I was never able to actually buy tickets. My parents were able to after trying again and again, but my patience ran out after an hour of trying different games and sections over and over, always getting an error message saying that the request couldn't be processed due to high volumes.

Eventually I was so frustrated at the wasted time that I just went and bought the tickets (which were a gift) at Stubhub in about 10 minutes. Sure I paid a gross mark up over tickets that I likely could have just purchased directly from the Twins on the same day, but Stubhub had a website that worked, the Twins did not. And at the end of the day my time was worth that premium.

What is so hard about making a website to buy tickets? Let people pick them, give them a time limit to buy them, and then either complete the sale or put them back in the pool. There is no need for a virtual line, and you certainly should expect when you only allow single game sales on a specific day that there is going to be a flood of people buying tickets. It was sort of like Best Buy being shocked that on Black Friday there were lots of people looking to buy cheap laptops. Seriously, a virtual waiting line?


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Nap Time

It's nap time at the Eck household, with Elijah,Linzy, and Pippen all laying down for a rest. Pippen of course, is always eager for a nap, while Elijah is usually only interested for the first 20 minutes but after that it's time for action.

Meanwhile, instead of doing something productive with my free time, I'm using the quiet period to transcode videos for next weekend's work trip to Brazil. And blog. In retrospect, perhaps not the best use of my time.

The trip to Brazil will be my first business trip since October, and the first since Elijah was born. Unfortunately it appears those five travel-free months are coming to a rapid and emphatic end. Interestingly, Linzy says that she is less worried about how her and Elijah will get along without me (Linzy's dad is coming down to help out), as she is about me being in Brazil for two weeks. I think sharing the stories of co-worker's experiences in Venezuela might have been a mistake.

Elijah is a little over three months old now and continues to get more interactive every day. He was also diagnosed with torticollis a few weeks ago, which is basically a neck problem where he prefers to hold his head to one side and tilt his head to opposite side. He's able to move his head with the proper motivation but if left to his own devices will always look to the right. So now he has weekly physical therapy, stretching exercises to complete with each diaper change, and four-times-a-day tummy time sessions. The stretches involve some crying, but the tummy time sessions are when Elijah really gets to exercise his lungs.


Fortunately, despite the heartbreaking crying, we've persevered and there's already been a noticeable improvement. And it doesn't seem to affect his otherwise generally happy mood.

And with that, it sounds like Elijah's had enough nap time, and now it is time for attention.


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Check Your E-mail

When we bought the new car a few weekends ago, we decided to buy and bought the same day. To help that process along, I decided to try out a feature on edmunds.com where you can e-mail local dealers to get an online quote. You select your car and options, and the local dealers you want to e-mail for a quote. Conveniently the site accommodated spur-of-the-moment purchasers like us by allowing you to select when you want to purchase and giving a 'next 24 hours' option.

Since I filled this out about 45 minutes before we left the house to go buy the car, speed in reply was of the essence. All the dealerships had the auto-reply 'we will be contacting you shortly' down, but Inver Grove Honda took things to the next level, actually calling me back within about 15-20 minutes and giving me a quote on the phone and setting up an appointment for us to come look at the car (with it waiting at the door when we pulled up). Richfield Honda was the only dealership brave enough to offer up a quote without calling me first. Unfortunately for them, their quote came in several hours later and a couple hundred dollars more expensive. Next.

Burnsville Honda's response was an even bigger disappointment. They never did e-mail a quote, and didn't even return the inquiry by phone until about 7-8 hours later. On the way to Inver Grove we actually called to try to get the quote proactively. After waiting on hold for a while, and hearing how 'everyone was busy' eventually the general manager gave us a quote for $75 less than Inver Grove. At that point despite Burnsville Honda being much more conveniently located, after all the rigmarole and the only slightly lower negotiating starting point, we just went ahead and did the test drive and purchase with Inver Grove.

So basically Burnsville Honda's slow response to web inquiries lost them a sale. When your only differentiation amongst the other dozen dealers in the same metro area selling identical merchandise is customer service, perhaps you might want to take any inquiry seriously. Even if it does come from a mass-submital form on the web.


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