Category: me

Surgery

I’m scheduled for surgery tomorrow (Thursday the 4th) morning. As mentioned, my left clavicle was broken in the accident and will need a metal plate to facilitate the healing process. I could just let it heal up but that would mean giving up working out. Lawd knows that ain’t gonna happen! lol

My buddy Christopher is giving Apple guy and I a ride the surgical center. Its outpatient surgery and I expect to be home and in the arms of some serious painkillers by early afternoon. I’m anxious for it to be over. While I’ve been more mobile these last couple days, I hate feeling like an invalid.

Wish me luck!

Smash

In case you missed it, I got into a motorcycle accident this week, 6 blocks from home I might add. The picture is a fuzzy version of my left [1]Ironically, the last accident I broke the right one shoulder wound. Pretty bruises huh? 

I was headed to work on my bike. I’m cruising along when the guy in front of me signals he is going to turn left. No biggie, I’m on his right side and continue on my merry way. Well, that is until he suddenly veers to the right and directly in my path. I attempted to swerve around him but it was too late. He made contact w/some part of my bike knocking my back tire around at an odd angle. Still moving ,I try to recover but quickly see that’s not going to happen. As luck would have it, not only did I go down but I slid up under a parked mini-van. Unlike the last accident, there was no momentarily black out or forgotten consciousness. I, in true Southern fashion, jumped up swearing like a sailor. The guy immediately denied he had his blinkers on. This doesn’t explain why he was turning, either direction, nor does it explain why he felt the need to run over and turn on his hazard lights before the police arrived.

Anyway, as soon as I stood up I knew my collarbone was broken. It had that all too familiar ‘bump’ to it that I had the last time. A quick self-check and I can’t find any other serious injuries. I called Apple guy [2]repeatedly, as shitty AT&T kept dropping my calls to him.  I then called work to have them send help. Naturally, several people I work with showed up and added to my embarrassment. I knew several of the officers as well as two of the medics. Color me embarrassed but glad of their assistance. Apple guy met me at the hospital and sat with me thru the x-rays. Lord only knows what I was saying but apparently, one nurse bumped me and I said “some things” to her. I was high on drugs and things are a little fuzzy.

I saw the specialist today. I have a broken left clavicle, a displaced shoulder joint, and a torn rotator cuff. I’m scheduled for surgery this next Thursday. They’ll put a plate on the left collarbone just like the right one and do some minor stitching on my rotator cuff. I’m eagerly awaiting the surgery as this sitting around w/a broken bone shifting under the skin every time I move is for the fucking birds! Don’t even get me started on the havoc it has caused w/our sleeping arrangement. Ugh!

I don’t know the status of my bike yet. My poor blue beast didn’t look so hot wedged under the mini-van but I am hoping for the best. I really love that bike and I’d hate to lose it. Yes, I’m more upset over the bike being damaged than I am my own injuries. On top of it all, I had literally just switched insurance companies. I can only imagine how happy they are with me right now. Oh well, wasn’t like I planned it or anything. If you’ve ever had a broken bone, you know its not something you look forward to.

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes and support. I’m just sitting at home until Thursday driving poor Apple guy nuts. Gifts, cash, and random visits bearing free food are appreciated. lolol  Just kidding of course.  I’m on the mend and thanks to modern pharmacology, I’m getting by w/o too much pain. I’ll update w/more details on my bike as I get’em.

References

References
↑1 Ironically, the last accident I broke the right one
↑2 repeatedly, as shitty AT&T kept dropping my calls to him.

Props

I rarely weigh in on political shenanigans here in SF but sometimes certain issues really need a proper beating.  The most frightening and potentially catastrophic is proposition B.

Prop B will force city employees to start paying their own retirement and insurance costs in full. Costs for themselves as well as all of their dependents. Forgetting for a moment local unions have already negotiated with the city to restructure retirement payments, it totally misleads people into believing the proposed changes will solve the cities financial problems. Even worse, it bars the city from raising base salaries in any way to compensate for the sudden and significant burden it dumps on the worker’s backs. Oh but it gets better, the person who wrote it works for the city as an attorney. Naturally, he exempted himself and his cronies from the cuts. So he expects us line workers to give up our hard earned benefits while he keeps his. Oh yeah, that sounds really fair.

As a civil service worker, I’m extremely afraid of this initiative passing. If it passes, I will lose roughly $450 a month out of my take home pay. I already give up between 30/40% of my gross salary for taxes/benefits. And I only have one dependent. Imagine what it does to someone who has 2 or 3 kids? Not to mention I’ve already given up almost 15% in cost-of- living increases for the last 3 years and any cost-of-living increases for the next 2 years.

If this initiative passes, I’ll be forced to choose between having insurance for myself and my partner or move out of the City into a cheaper smaller apartment just to make ends meet. I’m lucky in that I make a decent salary for what I do. I shutter at the thought of how all the folks who make much less than I do will be impacted by this initiative.

I’ll be the first to admit the city has fiscal problems. This initiative is being sold to the public as an attempt to fix those problems. The reality is its nothing but a political ploy for power and clout. Besides part of it being possibly illegal, it also would cost the City $100 million in federal funding if it passes. This tiny little detail alone negates any positive impact of the ordinance. Not to mention, the fuzzy math used to sell it is deceiving.

I support budget cuts and initiatives that make sense. But blanket cutting hard-working employees benefits to gain political clout is shameful and extremely damaging for SF. Even worse, this proposition pits the unemployed and non-unionized employees against unionized city employees. It does nothing to solve the real problems we all face. I can only hope that people realize the truth of what this proposition means before its too late.

Year 1

Apple guy and I reached our first anniversary this week. Wow! Where does the time go!?  It seems like just yesterday I was wooing him home with me, curling up together and falling asleep for the first time. [1]Yes, there are other memories but those are just for me! :p

The irony is when we met, I was content being single. I still wanted a partner but wanting one and needing one are two very different things. I’d reached a point where I’d outgrown the notion that I needed a partner to be complete. Lucky for me, he was in the same place mentally. I can’t help but wonder if that made our connection all the better. Anyway, I fell for him hard and I love that fucker something fierce! We are alike in many ways and different in so many others.

That’s not to say we haven’t had our problems. We both realized beforehand we were moving in together a bit soon. We were ok with the decision but I think it did lead to some of the friction between us. We had a pretty bad patch a few months back. I’m very happy to report, we got past it and worked things out.

So here we are our first year in and I’m still very much in love. I know I’m in love because (Ok here comes the mushy part) every time we crawl into bed together and I wrap my arms around him, all is right with the world. I find myself staying in bed every morning as late as I can just to enjoy the moment. So here we are our first year in and I’m looking forward to the next, and the next, and the next.

References

References
↑1 Yes, there are other memories but those are just for me! :p

just sayin’…

Ok, so not to be a douche or a heartless bastard but standing in line at a fast food restaurant and bitching about why your very large ass can’t loose weight is probably not the best solution. In fact, it shows that you are just unwilling to make an effort. Don’t get me wrong, loosing weight is hard work. But you didn’t gain 75+ lbs overnight and expecting to loose it so quickly is unrealistic. It takes a methodical  consistent approach with room for failed attempts.

I get so tired of folks who are overweight complaining and yet doing nothing about it. And before you go off on the medical conditions, only a very tiny tiny percentage of the actual population suffers from said conditions. It may not be all your fault but it is your problem.

Let’s be real. We live in a society where convenience and speed is valued more than health. We’ve become obsessed with the “instant gratification” mentality in almost every aspect of our lives. Even our schools no longer focus on promoting and teaching good nutrition. Hell, the very people who supply us our food go out of their way to trick us with misleading labels. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that our culture is mostly overweight.

That said, at the end of the day it is ultimately up to each and everyone of us to keep ourselves healthy. Sitting back and whining while shoveling a weeks worth of dietary fat content down your gullet in on sitting is not the answer. And while not always the most convenient, there are plenty of ways to eat healthier. At the end of the day, if more people walked away from the convenience of fast food and focused on healthy eating, companies would sit up, take notice, and provide a healthier product.

/rant

Not So Zippy

**Update** ~ Apparently, they do pay attention to blogs and cyber “stuff”.  I got an email and a phone call from the corporate office. The guy was nice and very apologetic. He gave me a credit, which at this point I don’t care about but I appreciated the offer. The part I did care about was his genuine concern. He made a real effort to understand my problem and listen. He also gave me his personal work email for future problems.

Don’t get me wrong, all is not forgiven but at least someone is finally paying attention. The face I had to bad mouth the company in a public forum to finally get a response hasn’t escaped my notice either.

I discovered Zipcar when I first moved to SF. For those not in the know, the concept is simple. Instead of having to rent a car by the day or week, you rent by the hour. Your hourly rate includes the cost of the car, insurance, and gas. The process is also very simple. With registration, you get a card with a digital chip in it. You log online via the web or various mobile apps, sign up for an available car of your choice, show up, slide your card over the scanner, start the car and drive away.  Great idea right? It used to be.

Zipcar started out as a bright, fun, spunky little company with a novel approach to renting cars. A niche market for sure, but in a city as dense as SF one would think there is virtually no way to fail.

Where do I start with my frustration? I don’t know if its because they’ve grown too big or just plain greedy. Either way, this fun little company is ranking one step below AT&T for all time worst customer service right now in my mind. Oh yeah, you begin to feel my pain.

It all started about 2 years ago with a car that had a flat tire. I didn’t notice the flat until I hopped in the car to drive away. I made it less than a block, turned around, drove back to the spot and notified the company. Imagine my surprise when 2 weeks later I got a bill for the repair. I called, got a credit, and went on my merry way. A month later I find a suspicious charge on my bank statement. Turns out I got re-billed for the flat. Even though I went out of my way to help, because I physically drove the car before noticing the flat I got tagged with the bill. As disappointing it was, I accepted my part in the process and ate the cost. I figured one hiccup along the way was acceptable.

Sadly, things have gone from bad to worse. I’ve experienced so much frustration since then I’ve lost all faith in the company. Granted, no business model is perfect and one that depends as much on its customers as it does its employees is bound to have problems. I totally understand that. But when I do have problems, the outright lack of concern and open disdain from the employees is not acceptable. More often than not, the line employees seem more intent on putting me in my place and citing policy vs actually listening. Out of the last 10 reservations, 4 have gone smoothly.

Today, I show up to pick up my car and its not their. [1]If the car isn’t in use you can pick it up up to 14 minutes early with no extra charge. My time slot arrives, still no car. I call in to find out what’s going on. I’m already feeling annoying expecting the worst. The rep couldn’t find the car or a previous reservation. After some digging he discovers the car was taken out of service for repair and returned. Apparently not as the car is missing. After some more searching with no luck, he offers to move my reservation. Keep in mind my start time has already come and gone. He ends up moving me to another car 4 blocks away. To be fair, he did adjust my slot and gave me an hour credit. However, at this point neither of which was any consolation. I’m just plain tired of crappy to non-existent service.

I show up at the new location to find my 2nd car parked and ready. While I’m picking it up, I notice the car I was supposed to have is parked 2 slots away. Stupid me, I was considerate enough to call back and let them know where the first car was. The 2nd rep didn’t seem to comprehend. Mind you, I am pretty angry at this point and I’m being none too polite. Her stupidity only made it worse. I finally got her to understand what I was saying or at least I thought I did. As I’m preparing to end the call, she says, “ok sir, I have changed her reservation and your new drop off time is all set.”

Excuse me? No ma’am. One, I was already in my new reservation so she was flat out lying to me. Two, my slot was already adjusted so double whammy. I finally lose my temper, let loose a string of obscenities about her stupidity and hung up. I’d had it.

I’m at the point now where I’d dump them all together if there was a easier alternative. [2]Of course, if they keep this up, someone better will eventually replace them. City Car share has a footprint here but they are much smaller and don’t anywhere near the number of cars or pickup spots.

Customer service is a dying art in most companies these days and to see a company with so much potential fall so far in such a short period of time is extremely disappointing.

References

References
↑1 If the car isn’t in use you can pick it up up to 14 minutes early with no extra charge.
↑2 Of course, if they keep this up, someone better will eventually replace them.

Blog On

Durban Bud and I were lamenting the loss of talents in the blog world the other day while he was here. And its true, many of my favorite reads over the years have given up blogging. Some have made the transition to FB [1]I’m becoming increasingly annoyed with Facebook, twitter, etc, while others just stopped. And while I’ll admit even I have cut back, the blogging bug still bites me on a regular basis. On the upside, some folks have continued to blog away. [2]Now, if I can just get them to update their damn blogs to be mobile compatible!  Others have even increased. I (think) I recently mentioned I deleted my old blogroll by mistake. I happened upon an archived copy last night and was dismayed at the number of blogs on my list that had stopped updating and/or were gone.

My blog has always been about my own personal growth (or lack thereof at times) and continues to be so, for the most part. But I have cut back primarily because I have worked thru so many of my issues over the years, frankly I don’t have that many left. lolol  Its no secret I often used my blog as a form of self-therapy. Well I’m happy to say it worked. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my issues but I am not the mess I was when I first moved to SF. heehee 

My writings (and sharing it with others) gave me a chance to really explore not only who I was but who I wanted to be. It gave me a chance to be introspective, a trait I lacked at the time. I guess it was only a matter of time before things changed. While DB and I were talking, I was shocked to realize how long I have been blogging. It was August 15th 2004 when I sat down and wrote my first post! The ex and I were starting to have problems and I needed somewhere to vent. I’d heard about blogging and thought, ‘why not?’

Nowadays, I find I have less time and less drama to blog about. Plus, with a new man in my life and a much busier work schedule, it is harder and harder to sit down and really write stuff out. I’ll often think of stuff to blather on about but by the time I find time to actually type, I’ve moved on (or its gone stale in my mind). I still write in my daily journals but that is so tedious. I keep those private as they are so mundane, what’s the point?

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll continue blogging because I always have something to say. (I know, color you surprised right?) But, as I age and move on with my life I’m a little saddened that it probably won’t ever have the focus it once did. Or at the very least, not for the reasons I originally started blogging anyway. Hope springs eternal…

References

References
↑1 I’m becoming increasingly annoyed with Facebook
↑2 Now, if I can just get them to update their damn blogs to be mobile compatible!

Real

I can add one more blogger to my list of “real people”. lol I met the famous Durban Bud today for lunch. Him and his PILLS [1]Partner in life love & sodomy are in town and we conversed over sushi after 4 years of being blog buddies. (That sounds almost dirty. lol)

He was definitely taller than brettcajun for sure. :)~ He was also a very nice guy, easy to talk too, and an all around cool bud to have. We talked mostly about bloggers, our pasts, etc. HIs PILLS is a non blogger but we did our best to include him. hehehe We talked a lot about the changes to the blogosphere since the arrival of twitter, Facebook, etc on the social networking scene. I was really excited to finally meet him and I hope I didn’t talk too much. Lawd knows I tend to blather on at times.

Anyway, there are only a handful of folks left on my list of bloggers I’d like to meet.

References

References
↑1 Partner in life love & sodomy

Evolution

No, not the kind traditionally taught in schools. I’m referring instead to the evolution of a homo, namely me.  🙂

I was out with my buddy Nikitas last night and at one point during the evening I was suddenly struck by the difference in the person I am today and the person I was 20 years ago. [1]That said, being more than a little hung  over today, my brain is having problems functioning. Apologies if it comes out all garbled. Thru a series of choices, I’ve evolved into a completely different person over time.

Some of my decisions and choices in life have been constructive and fruitful. These are easy to accept and reflect on because they represent accomplishment. Take my sense of morality for instance. My parental units catered to the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ method of parenting so you can understand my confusion in that area. But I chose a better path for myself. I chose to rise above the state I was in after childhood and move beyond it.

But what about the choices we regret or ended badly? I used to think if I had my life to do over there are a ton of things I’d do differently. But as I get older I’m not so sure. Those choices had a huge impact on the man I am today. Would going back and having a ‘do over’ turn out any better? Or better yet, having avoided some of the bad choices in my life, would I still be the man I am now? I’m not so sure I would be. The bad teaches us to value the good more. Living a life with the intent of avoiding anything bad is self defeating as it also means you avoid the good. Like the traditional sense of good and evil, one cannot exist w/o the other. They are simply 2 sides of the same coin.

I’ve made bad choices in my life. But some of those choices helped to shape me into a better man. Am I perfect now? Hell no but I am better. Therein lies the key difference I think.

References

References
↑1 That said, being more than a little hung  over today, my brain is having problems functioning. Apologies if it comes out all garbled.