Please Attend

Join Between Friends and YPG on Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Webster Wine Bar, 1480 West Webster Avenue, Chicago, Illinois for an evening of art and wine! Admire artwork from local artists including photography, paintings and jewelry while sipping wines from around the world! The event includes a silent auction and appetizers. Purchase tickets at www.betweenfriendschicago.org or contact Amanda Espitia at aespitia@betweenfriendschicago.org or 773.274.5232 ext. 16. Tickets are $45.00 if purchased prior to October 29th, $50.00 before November 4th, or $55.00 the day of the event.

Ugly Tattoo?

This website is so painful to look at, for so many reasons.

http://ugliesttattoos.com

Just About The Worst Waiting Experience Evar!

Got myself a BlackBerry today. I've wanted one for quite some time; several years actually. But I always kept myself from getting one because I didn't want to pay the extra money for the data plan and I generally hate phones. I caved on the idea yesterday because I was tired of having a phone where the ringer didn't work and I like the idea of being able to look stuff up on le Internet while I'm out and about.

So I thought I'd beat the rush and head in to the Sprint store right when they opened. I arrived right at 10am, but there was already a line. OK. I thought, "I'll put my name in the queue and be out of here, pronto!" I knew what phone I wanted and what plan Margaret and I needed to make it all work (I called Sprint yesterday in anticipation). Nope. Not so simple.

I could see they were short on staff, but thought the small staff size was specific to this particular store. In any case, after being checked in, I sat down and waited for someone to help me. I also watched as another customer who arrived after me squirmed in his seat as customers arrived after him. Due to the fact that they waited at the counter and he decided to take a seat, I could tell he was worried that they'd be helped before he was. They were.

Flash forward 30 minutes when another employee showed up and decided to try and help me. I looked at his name-tag. I can't remember what his name was, but what I do remember was reading "Trainee" just beneath his name. Fuck! He fiddled with his computer, asked me a bunch of questions and gave me all kinds of wrong answers. He repeatedly asked his manager, who was incredibly busy with another customer and was apparently the only person in the store who knew anything, for help and still managed to screw things up.

Flash forward another 30 minutes and I'm still being helped by the trainee who couldn't even remember what phone number on which he was working, all the while a line of customers had formed practically out the door. There were also 2 techs in the room, but they were "techs" and didn't know how to do anything else. Really?!! Fucking train your staff or hide them from the customers; They can't do anything anyway.

Flash forward another 30 minutes (Yup! I was there for 1.5 hours) and the one guy who knew how to do everything was finally freed-up and completed my transaction in 5 minutes. Seriously!

The moral of the story is, dealing with a phone company has always been a hassle and I'm sure other people dread going into a Sprint or Verizon or other provider's store just as much as I do. The customer service process for Sprint stores needs to be revamped and I already have a bunch of ideas. Needless to say, someone at the top needs to take a serious look at the way they deal with customers.

This Is Amazing Stuff!

I saw a link to this artist's website on a blog or some site. Amazing stuff! Very desperate, lonely and nostalgic, all at the same time.

Thomas Doyle

A New Addiction: Sewing!

I've been keeping myself busy and our apartment in constant disarray the past few weeks. Fabric keeps showing up and there are little threads all over the floor. At least they manage to find one another and ball themselves up for company and easy cleanup. Either way, the apartment is a mess and I keep coming up with new ideas and projects.

Here are a couple of projects I've recently completed. The first is one of many baby bibs that I'll be making. Burnham Racing got together (not literally) last summer and decided they all wanted to make babies. So the new team members are all slowly joining the clan. I'm making the bibs to keep their necks dry and faces clean. I'll leave it up to their parents to ruin their lives with bike racing and various other obsessions.

The second image is of a bag I made for Margaret. I got the "pattern" from Bend-The-Rules-Sewing and completed the project in a couple of days. She loves the bag and so do her friends. We got the fabric from The Needle Shop in Bucktown. The staff there were really helpful and got me everything I needed to finish the project.

My next project is already on the cutting mat and making a few to sell on Etsy is the goal. I'm ready to quit everything and just make stuff. It's just too much fun!

Best Day On The Bike Since June

Since late June, I've been pretty "blah" about riding my bike. I continued to train hard, but the motivation just wasn't there. Yesterday reinvigorated my interest in riding bikes. Know why? It was the first day on the 'Cross bike!

Just like last year, Jason, Andy and I, along with Ted from Get A Grip trotted out to Humboldt Park to do some "'cross practice" and reintroduce ourselves to our bikes. Jason, Andy and I all got new bikes; Jason a Ridley, me a Scattante and Andy re-bought a Scattante after his was stolen last winter.

It was a pretty short day in the park, but was seriously the most fun I've had riding a bike since late June. No pressure, just fun. We rode a small loop and worked out mounts/dismounts over some barriers and did a wee bit of turning. I'm quicker over the barriers than last year but there's always room for improvement.

Damn! That was fun! So much fun!

iProducts Galore

I found another iPhone on the street today. That makes this the 3rd iProduct I've found in Chicago. Because I ride a bike around the city, it's not unusual that I would see lost items on the road where they would otherwise be overlooked by drivers. But still, I think it's strange that so many people are losing these items, considering the cost to acquire them. I hate my phone, but I at least put it in a place where the likelihood of it dropping to the ground are slim to none.

Nevertheless, I returned this phone to its rightful owner shortly after his co-worker called it to see if someone had found it. The last time I returned an iPhone, the owner was gracious enough to exchange it for a $100 bill; I was not so fortunate this time. I just kept the last iPod I found before that (there was no way to get in touch with the owner).

Whatever! Whatever! I still hate my own phone and it only rings sometimes. Oddly enough, it only rings when Margaret is within earshot.