Customer Service Worth Noting

If you've ever grown impatient with waiting for someone to get back to you, I have a story for you. I received a phone call today from one of the vendors of a piece of software we use here. He said he was calling to touch base with us, as we had submitted an inquiry on their website. My first thought was that Dave had submitted the request, and that it had been transferred to me (that happens all the time). I spoke with Dave about the call, and he couldn't think of any outstanding requests to this vendor. So I got back on the phone to get some more information. Apparently the request did come from me, and so I asked him if he could tell me when the request was made. He then informed me it was an older request that had been made in October 2005. Now, I vaguely recall researching something with them, but I can't for the life of me recall what it was. It kind of reminds me of the desperation poster for Apathy.

Later,

David

God's Community In Action

Hey everyone, I had something happen to me this weekend that has just blown my mind at how awesome God's community works. Let me tell you the story.

Friday night I got a call from Sean. He called me and began to tell me about the churches refrigerator starting to fail. He said it was starting to put off an burning electric smell. He called me to ask me to keep an eye out for anyone giving away a refrigerator on Freecycle. I told him I would, and that I'd post a WANTED for the refrigerator. After getting off the phone it dawned on me that Michelle and John had just gotten another refrigerator from John's dad, and they had an extra one. So I called John, and found out that they had just sold it the weekend before in their church's youth garage sale.

Well, I didn't end up posting anything that night, but remembered that I needed to Saturday evening. So, I posted the following message to the Lawrence Freecycle group on Saturday afternoon at 4:04 PM.

SUBJECT: WANTED: Working Refrigerator

I'm posting this as a request from my church. We are a small missional church in Lawrence, KS. One of our main things that we do is provide a free meal each week for anyone who would like to attend. I got a call last night and found out that our refrigerator at the ministry center has gone on the fritz and we need to get it replaced. If anyone has an extra one sitting around that works we would be glad to come and get it. Or, if anyone would like to donate a new one to the ministry center that would work to. In either case, we can provide you with a Charitable Gift receipt, which you could use as a tax deduction for 2006. If you have any questions please, don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,

David

I posted the message and didn't really expect to get a reply. You occasionally see something like this come across as an OFFER, but not too often. So, I posted the reply and didn't figure I'd hear anything back. I was still doing some other stuff on the computer and as I did I had the following message arrive in my inbox at 4:10 PM

SUBJECT:Re: WANTED: Working Refrigerator

I have a refrigerator that works - needs a little cleaning. I live 4 mi north of Lawrence airport you must pick-up. my husband is injured and can't help lift. if interested, call ***-****

Needless to say I was amazed, I got on the phone with Sean, and started trying to arrange a time to go and get it. I ended up calling a couple of guys from the church to see if they were free that night to help go and get it. After calling a few of the guys I sent the following reply.

SUBJECT: Re: WANTED: Working Refrigerator

Leigh,

Wow, I wasn't really sure we'd get any replies for the refrigerator, it blows my mind that we got one 6 minutes after posting!!! Thanks so much...I've got a couple of calls out to people to see about the use of a truck, and hopefully I'll know something soon. I'll give you a call at that point to arrange a pickup time, and also to discuss what a fair value of the refrigerator is for the gift receipt. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at ***-***-****.

Thanks Again,

David

I continued to work on getting some guys lined up to help me, and while doing so I got the following reply message.

SUBJECT: Re: WANTED: Working Refrigerator

Was meant to be , I just joined this list today specifically to find thr fridge a new home... it's a Whirlpool 17.6 cu ft with freezer on top. it's been unplugged for awhile so I just plugged it back in to be sure it'll get cold. Call me if you get a truck.

I ended up getting some guys lined up to help me pick up the refrigerator, and so I called the person to arrange the pickup. While speaking with the person they informed me that they had just signed up that day and that their OFFER hadn't posted yet. If you're not familiar with Freecycle, your first post has to be an OFFER, and to enforce that rule, as a new memeber, your first message has to be approved by one of the moderators, so the moderator hadn't approved her message yet, which if it had been approved, most likely someone else would have taken the refrigerator. Anyhow, we ended up picking up the refrigerator and delivering it to the Ministry Center around 8:00 PM. Sometime during the night the compressor on the old refrigerator died, and when Sean woke up this morning, the refrigerator was blowing warm air.

Later,

David

Work, Doctors, and Travel

Well, this weekend has been a busy time for me. I've been helping Dad button up a house he's working on, so I've been spending much of my free time working over there. It's been a good time, I always enjoy working with Dad and getting to spend time with him, even if we are working. I found myself at the eye doctor today. Last night as I was cleaning up I was getting sawdust off of a tablesaw and ended up getting some sawdust blown into my right eye. I was able to flush it out, but it ripped up my contact lense. Unfortunately it was my last contact and my prescription has expired. So Sarah and I scheduled eye exams for both of us today. Now, about $600 dollars later, we've both gotten new prescriptions and have both ordered new glasses. I've got a trial pair of contacts for now, and Sarah has a trial pair on order. I'm sure by now, you're all asking about the subject line, and what travel has to do with it. At work we're on the verge of sealing a contract, that might have me doing some onsite installs. Why is this blogworthy you ask? Well, I was told today that I should make sure I have my passport ready as the majority of these installs will probably be in Europe and South America! Of course, this isn't anything official, but I thought it was pretty cool. I'll keep you up to date on the latest happenings with that.

Later,

David

Freecycle Makes Me Laugh

I was sitting here at work and decided to check my e-mail. I had a message from Freecycle in my inbox and I wanted to share it with you.

SUBJECT: [lawrencefreecycle] WANTED DVD PLAYER

Hi all looking for a dvd player ours bit the dust and my 2year old is driving me nuts wanting to watch her Barney dvd....HELP PLEASE!!

I couldn't help but laugh as I pondered a reply.

SUBJECT: Re: [lawrencefreecycle] WANTED DVD PLAYER

I don't have a DVD player to offer, but I'm trying to figure out what would drive me nuts more. Listening to my 2 year old wanting to watch her Barney DVD, or listening to the Barney DVD as it plays. I'm pretty sure I'd choose the 2 year old over the DVD. Enjoy the respite.

Later,

David

What Can You Eat More Of?

Chocolate Syrup or BBQ Sauce?

Later,

David

X

Nothing To Write About

I'm starting to realize how pathetic my life really is. Here I sit, another night, wanting to write something on my blog, and as I stare at the computer I can't think of a single thing that anyone might be interested in reading. So, unless you all want to hear about the reports I worked on today at work, or the color of nail polish that Sarah is trying to decide on, or the temper tantrum that Erin was throwing, or the parts I removed from the Buick tonight, or the food I ate for lunch today, there really isn't much to tell. So, with that, I'm gone.

Later,

David

What happened to Random 1... IT LIVES!

Random 1 Returns!

Click on the link below to find out how!
http://www.random1.com/promo.fsp

Later,

David

Good Morning Starshine, The Earth Says Hello

I guess there is really only one thing worth writing about tonight, and it's a conversation I had today with someone regarding caffeine. In a discussion about how bad caffeine is for you, I was informed of what happened to this person's husband. I'm going to apologize in advance for this being a bit graphic...but, she said her husband used to drink a lot of caffeine. Then, he developed some small lumps on his testicles. He went to see the doctor and the doctor told him, he was pretty sure that if he got off of caffeine that the lumps would go away in a week. He got off of caffeine, and sure enough...the lumps went away. Apparently this wasn't proof enough for this gentlemen, so after several months his caffeine intake had returned to it's previous state, and guess what else returned to their previous state...that's right...his testicles. So...as I was told by this woman, her husband said "That's the one part of a guys body I don't like to f*ck with." About this time in the conversation someone else walked into the room, and I couldn't help but laugh. My comment only that I could go so may different ways off of that. Of course, what I wanted to say was "That's odd, I thought that's what most guys wanted to do with that...". Ok, sorry for the bit of crude humor, I promise, it won't always be this way.

Later,

David

NOTE: All links in the post are safe to follow. ;)

Radical Reformission

Well, I've officially started reading a new book tonight. Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll. I've only read the introduction, but I think it's going to be a good one. I will summarize by saying that the book will help guide it's reader to learn to love their culture, brother, and gospel. The introduction describes the way a church looks when one of these three are missing, and WOW! I've seen them all... Anyhow, thought I'd share this and then go to bed so I can get up to go to work in 3.5 hours.

In other news, Sarah and I paid our first visit to Family Video in Lawrence, and rented the following five NEW RELEASES: End Game, Chicken Little, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Flightplan all for $5.56! The scary part is, we rented them yesterday and have already watched them all. It's crazy though, we haven't rented movies for so long, we started looking at the new releases, by the time we got to the F's we already had 5 so we decided to quit there.

Later,

David

For Sale

Sarah and I were talking tonight about our blogs and after seeing the 'How much is my blog worth' link on John's Blog we both decided to check the value of our blogs. Well, here is what I found out.

My blog is worth $2,822.70.
How much is your blog worth?

Seeing that my blog was worth close to $3,000, I have decided it is too valuable of a commodity for me to just hold on to. So, I have decided to try and sell my blog. Now, I know many of you are asking, how would one go about selling their blog...I'm glad you asked. Where do I go to sell any of the unused things I have lying around the house that are worth anything? E-bay!

So, I took the time tonight to get my blog listed, and write up a nice description, check it out. It was kind of difficult, as I perused back through the past year and a half of my life, there were many times I stopped and asked myself, am I willing to sell this record of the past year and a half for $1,500? It was a difficult decision, but after many tears, and gnashing of teeth, I have decided that my life has been pretty meaningless, and I should have something to show for it, so, please check out the auction, and bid, bid, bid.

Just in case any of my friends out there are thinking about bidding on this as a joke, this auction does not include a reserve price. If you bid, it will be a valid bid, so only bid if you're serious.

I will try and continue to update my blog over the next week to two weeks, but at that point, I will be writing my final entry (if it sells).

With Much Hope,

David