There are somedays when I blog about something new I have learned about CSS, PHP, MySQL, Apache, etc. There are also somedays I come home, unwind, and realize I have much bigger life lessons to share. Although life is not all fun and games I always try learn something from each experience. This is what I learned/realized today:

It is human nature to be liked and loved by all yet there are sometimes when you are faced with a choice. You can either take the path of least resistance and go along with the majority all the while knowing what you are doing is not right, or you can take a stand and try and do something different. As a history major in college I often studied and read about such “difficult” people: the Pilgrims, Mahatma Gandhi, MLK Jr, Rosa Parks, etc and had great respect for them. Why? Because they decided not to go with the rest of the pack…they wanted change and they would not accept the status quo. They exposed themselves in order to try and make change happened even if it pissed people off and left them open for criticism. … [more]

I would like to think we all have standards of some sort. I expect people to treat me with respect as I will treat them with respect. Other people demand to be catered to at all costs - all the time. This morning at the train station the police were out and about issuing tickets for all people who crossed the tracks (there are 3 sets - closest: from Chicago, middle: express trains to and from Chicago depending on the time, far set: local to Chicago). Anyone who has ridden the Metra for a few days/weeks/years has crossed the tracks (after looking both ways of course) to catch their train (and we have also seen people get killed doing the same thing too). It is not always smart, but when you know the schedule, you also know what other - if any - other trains are coming and going. This morning, I was trying to catch an express train. Unfortunately, the train showed up early, and after seeing the police there, I was not going to cross and get slapped with a $250.00 fine. Don’t worry, some idiot did…and got fined. … [more]

Today I went into a Trader Joe’s to pick up some beer and the the guy at the checkout reminded me that if I did not like the beer I was welcome to bring it back for a full refund. I told him I was very impressed with their customer service and he told me it was to promote customers being more adventurous. I have been a Trader Joe’s for a few years now and even more so after tonight. I love that they want their customers to be more adventurous with their choices. Cheers to Trader Joe’s for making me think about trying new things!

I love interesting and crazy signs (Ex: garage sale) and after looking through some pictures with a friend who recently returned from New Zealand, I thought I would share yet another great sign that someone decided to make and post. Even better…there is a law against spitting and a fine attached!

If you have a hard to buy for person in your family or circle of friends…and they have a good sense of humor, check out the custom bobbleheads. One of my friends had one made for him and it is unbelievable how much they look alike! Enjoy!

I have always found myself sticking with companys that offered really great customer service. Personally, I would prefer to pay more to get good customer service than to pay less and get frustrated every time something goes wrong. On that note, I love Land Rover. Not only does the company make amazing cars, they treat their customers like rock stars. Evan, Amy, and I made a trip to the Land Rover dealer on Saturday to enjoy a complimentary inspection. Not only did they have complimentary inspections, they catered in lunch, had free massages, and had off-road demonstrations. Evan brought his own lunch, but he did enjoy touching the Range Rovers (of course I made sure his hands were clean). Land Rover goes above and beyond to make their customers feel like they can count on a first class treatment and I appreciate that. Thank you Land Rover!

Wow. I recently received an email concerning an account creation for a particular company I have never had to call. In the email, the technician gave me a temporary account, email address, but no password, but gave me a number to call to have a helpdesk technician “reset” my password so I could use it for the first time. I called the number, gave the person my ticket number and the craziness began. First, my ticket was closed. This was the first and only time I ever called about it. Second, they kept talking about ID and account names that I had no familiarity with…”well, do you need this?”. I told them I just needed an user name/password for their account. I was clear to tell them what it was for, and that I would then also need instructions on how to access what I needed. I gave my email address to the technician and he told me he would send me instructions.

I was told that password resets were handled by another department, so I called the other department. The other department, when I explained my issue, was not … [more]