no customer service at continental airlines

this is most likely the longest post i’ve written to date on this blog. the crappy service that continental provided me today really got under my skin. if you don’t have the time or don’t want to read the entirety of this post i understand; i know i probably wouldn’t either. this post was more for me as i needed to get these thoughts out of my head & on to paper. also, i’m writing this while on a plane r& don’t have much else to do :)

just yesterday i wrote about how great continental airlines' service was. two days later & i’m telling a completely different story.

i left the IBM executive conference center at 2:45 PM today in order to make it to laguardia airport for my 5:05 PM flight from NY to houston & finally on to austin. i arrived at laguardia around 3:40; one hour & 25 minutes prior to my flight departing which is super early for me. i immediately headed to continental’s self check-in service when a continental booking agent approached me to ask if i was connecting through houston. i responded yes & she continued to tell me that because of bad weather, all flights to houston had been delayed for at least 2-hours. i actually didn’t mind hearing the news too much. of course it sucked, but i’d just plant myself on the computer & get some work done, makes some calls, etc.

because of the delay, i was told to proceed to the long line of folks waiting in the main check-in line to be informed of the bad news to come. when i reached the counter after about a 15-minute wait i was still quite cool about the whole situation. then the continental agent informed me that because of the delay i would miss my connecting flight from houston to austin & that i’d have to spend the night in houston. on top of that, continental wasn’t going to compensate me the cost of a hotel room because the delay was due to bad weather which is out of continental’s control.

i asked if there was any other flight i could take tonight that would get me to austin. not only did i want to get home to see kristin & sleep in my own bed for a change; kristin & i are leaving for san francisco the very next morning & i couldn’t afford to miss that flight. the agent then informed me that there was a direct flight to austin leaving [insert mumble followed by flight number] at 7:40 & that if i could make it there on time she would book me on that flight. without hesitation, i nodded my head & said thank you & i was out the door – by this time it was 4:20 PM.

i grabbed this first taxi i saw outside & told him i needed to get to JFK. about half way to JFK the driver, who couldn’t speak very good english (what a surprise) asked me which airline. i told him continental. he seemed puzzled & asked again, what airline. i responded again, “continental.” he kind of shrugged & went about driving.

when we arrived at JFK the driver asked which terminal i was leaving from. i said i’m not sure, all i know is that i’m flying continental. low & behold we finally saw continental on a sign for terminal 4 which was good because terminal 4 was the last of the 4 terminals at JFK. i paid the driver $32.50 & headed into the terminal. before messing with checking in i quickly called kristin to let her know i made it. then i called mitchell to talk about some project work at the office. i was on the phone with mitchell for a solid 30 minutes when i let him go. i began looking for the continental desk when i noticed that the majority of airlines in terminal 4 were foreign carriers. i headed towards the one continental terminal which was closed. by that time i realized something was wrong & that i was at the wrong terminal.

i hopped on the phone to continental to find out which terminal my flight was leaving from. after hanging on hold for 5 minutes, i was connected to an agent who began looking for my flight info. since i didn’t have a flight number or reservation number it was a bit more difficult. i even began thinking that maybe the agent back at laguardia booked me on another carrier & that was why finding the continental terminal was so difficult. a few minutes into my conversation my connection dropped – damn cell phones/AT&T network!

i dialed continental again & was again put on hold for about 7 minutes. when the agent answered this time i was telling my story to a much friendlier agent than the first one that answered the phone. this new agent quickly found my flight information & that’s when she gave me the bad news – my flight which was still a continental flight was leaving out of newark airport, not JFK. by this time it was around 5:45 PM & my flight was leaving at 7:40 PM - 1 hour & 55 minutes away, no problem right?

i ran out the door of the JFK airport bound for the newark airport. i hopped in a long line of folks waiting for cabs. as i was working my way toward the front of the line some dude for a car service was running around trying to get people to take his service instead of the cabs. i asked him how much he would charge as a flat rate to newark & he said $125 plus he wanted me to pay for the tolls. i told him no & he immediately dropped his price to $100 plus i pay tolls. i again told him no. he then said OK, $100 bucks flat, no tolls but i must pay him with cash. i told him all i had was credit card. when i got about three people away from the front of the taxi line i asked the curb-check how much a taxi was going to cost me to newark. he said $120 bucks easily. i hopped out of line & went after the car service dude because i thought if i could save a few bucks why not. Plus the car service would be nicer than a taxi & the driver might even speak english. i told him flat out that i’d give him $100 flat (no tolls), that i would take care of the driver (even with a solid 20% tip it would cost less or just as much as a taxi) & he’d have to accept a credit card. he reluctantly agreed & i hopped in a nice black lincoln town car headed for newark.

i told the driver my situation & that my flight departed at 7:40 PM. he said as long as traffic wasn’t too bad we’d probably be there around 7:00 PM. i wasn’t surprised when traffic turned out to be a mess. i mean it was rush hour in NY & i was heading from one busy airport to another. i proceeded to just make work calls during the drive until about 6:55 PM when i called kristin to let her know it wasn’t looking good. i then called continental to see what other options i had in case i missed this direct flight to austin. they informed me that i could still catch a later flight (8:15 PM) that would get me to houston, but i’d have to take a flight in the morning to austin. this of course was the same situation i was in 3 hours ago in laguardia. so now i’d made all this effort & was still going to end up in houston tonight & i’d be out $150 for the cabs plus another $150 for a hotel room in houston.

around 7:10 PM the driver & i (we became good friends at this point) finally came out of the tunnel between NY & jersey the roads opened up. it was awesome; the driver was doing 90 MPH down the road trying to get me to my flight. to add to the excitement & what i found to be a bit funny was that the driver handed me the credit card machine to scan my own credit card & fill out the paperwork in an effort to save time. we finally pulled in to the continental terminal at 7:20 PM. i tipped the driver $20 bucks & he wished me good luck & a safe flight home.

i immediately ran to a continental self check-in terminal & began entering my information. the machine told me that it couldn’t print my boarding pass & that i’d have to see an agent. again, there was a long line in front of the counter & this time i just skipped the line. i walked up to the closest agent desk & simply said, “i really need your help.” to my surprise the agent could have cared less about my situation; she was playing this one by the books. she said she couldn’t print my boarding pass for the direct flight to austin because i was within the 30 minute window prior to departure time. i pleaded my case about all the hassle i went through, the cost of the cab fair, etc. & she wasn’t having it. i even asked if she would just print up my boarding pass & if i couldn’t make it to the gate in time then i’d rebook to the houston flight. she said she couldn’t do it though.

i conceded to the houston flight because that was my only choice. when i asked for continental to compensate me with a room in houston, the agent said she couldn’t but she would ask a “supervisor.” i thought for sure the “supervisor” would take care of me & understand all that i had just been through. then a dark cloud appeared & the meanest customer service supervisor appeared before me. talk about someone that could care less, she immediately began typing at the computer & told me there was no way she was going to compensate me with a room. i asked about alternative airlines or maybe a flight to dallas instead of houston so i could avoid the hotel costs by staying with my folks. she said houston overnight was my only option other than staying in newark for the night.

she then began booking my flight to houston & then to austin in the morning. she then lifted her head away from focusing on the computer & she looked at me & said that unfortunately i was now again within the 30 minute booking window & now i was going to have to spend the night in newark. this is when i lost it & said i wasn’t going to accept that; especially since i’d been in front of the other agent & now her for a solid 20 minutes discussing flights. she dropped her head & just began typing away. she then, against her will, booked me on the houston flight & handed me my boarding pass.

i then headed to security which was basically empty. i was thinking to myself that i surely good have made that austin direct flight if they would have just printed my boarding pass when i first walked up to the counter instead of adhering to that damn 30 minute rule. i proceeded to search out some grindz because i had not eaten since lunch. i checked out a few places before settling on a bottle of water & two cliff bars – one hell of a dinner huh?

as i was walking toward my gate i glanced up at the flight departure board & i noticed a continental flight to austin was NOW BOARDING. i took off running to gate 105 where the flight was leaving from. i nearly screamed with joy when i noticed the ticketing agent still at the gate & the door to the walk-way to the plane was still open. the flight was literally leaving in the next minute or two. the agent grabbed my boarding passes & hastily began scanning them while i was telling her that these boarding passes were for another flight. she got super frustrated & even after i told her all that had happened she said that this flight had to leave now & that she couldn’t hold the plane up to re-ticket me.

at this point i really wanted to just go off on this chic. she threw my tickets down & said there was nothing she could do & then proceeded to walk down to the plane & close the door behind her. what really frustrated me about this whole thing was that the agents down at the front desk obviously knew that this plane wasn’t leaving on time & given its new departure time of 8:05 PM i was well outside of the 30 minute rule that prevented them from printing my boarding passes in the first place.

the gate attendant then came bounding back from the plane & through the door & she said her boss told her that she couldn’t do anything (she didn’t apologize or anything). as she was telling me this a younger male continental agent was arriving at the gate; probably for the next flight. the female agent that had told me no then took head back down to the plane. i looked at the younger continental agent, shook my head, & said i can’t believe this is happening like this after all i’d been through to make this flight. he looked back at me & said don’t worry about it. he took my tickets for the houston flight & just threw them on his desk & he proceeded to unlock & open the door to the jet way leading to the plane & told me to have a nice flight. wow! what a cool dude & someone that puts the customer’s best interest before any damn company policy that is ridiculous to begin with.

when i reached the plane the chic that had told me i couldn't get on this flight was standing with the other flight attendants laughing & looked to be drinking a coke. i looked at her, shrugged my shoulders, smiled, & proceeded to board the plane. there is a good chance that my name was never put on that flight roster.

the plane then sat at the terminal for 10 more minutes before backing up & heading to the taxi way. when we arrived at the taxi way the pilot's voice came on over the speakers & he announced that there were 27 other planes in front of us & that it would be 30 – 35 minutes before we would be taking off. it was 9:05 PM when we got in the air (exactly 4 hours after my original flight was supposed to leave). to think that if i wouldn’t have looked up on that departure board & had seen that this flight hadn’t left yet & then to have this plane not even get in the air until 9:00 PM still pisses me off big time.

i still can’t believe that this same airline was the one i was profusely complementing not much more than 48 hours ago. now, they fall right in the same crappy category as american airlines. granted, continental can’t control the weather or long taxi lines, but i dealt with 2 agents & 1 “supervisor” who treated me like crap & who could have cared less about the time & cash i’d lost today just trying to get home.

my airline shopping continues again tomorrow when i take a southwest flight to san francisco. i’m keeping my fingers crossed & really hoping that southwest doesn't let me down too.

why did i ever choose american airlines?

not sure why i did it, but some years ago i choose american airlines as my airline of choice. that’s where i had my miles & i continued to use american airlines to accrue more miles in hopes of one day getting a “free” flight or two.

there have been a few occasions in recent years that i’ve taken southwest & other than southwest’s relatively cheap fare i wasn’t too impressed with their service. i’m not complaining about southwest, i’m simply suggesting that it wasn’t so special that i would walk away from american airlines & more importantly the many miles i had with american. i will openly admit that i don’t like southwest’s first-come/first-served approach to boarding; probably because i’m typically running late to my flights.

this past weekend it finally came time to cash in some american airlines’ miles. kristin is joining me on a trip to dubai next month & we are paying for her ticket with miles. a few things in particular really ticked me off about the american airlines’ mile redemption process. first off, the mileage cost just increased from 75K miles to 90K miles on october 1, 2008. second, even though we aren’t flying during a peak time, only a small number of advantage spots exist on their schedule so we were forced into a flight itinerary that neither of us really wanted. lastly, because the flights that american had available include a british airways flight we had to call our reservation in & as a result we were charged a $20 booking fee because an operator booked our reservation. i complained about this $20 booking fee as high as i could go in the american airline organization & no matter who i spoke with i couldn’t have the fee waived. how ridiculous is it that there are no other options for booking these flights & then american charges you for it?

today’s flight on continental really had me wondering why i have put up with such poor service from american airlines. both my flight to houston & to new york were practically empty. i had an isle to myself on both flights in fact. the interior of the continental planes were much cleaner & better kept than any american airlines’ plane i’ve been on in 5 years & i’ve been flying a lot & have seen my fair share of american airlines’ planes. both of my flights on continental were on time today, while almost every american airlines flight i’ve flown in the past year has been delayed for some reason or another. continental offered a movie on the longer flight from houston to new york, a “free” lunch (cheeseburger & salad that i didn’t take), & the flight staff toured the cabin 4 times asking if i wanted anything else to drink.

the service that i received today on continental was the total opposite of the service that american airlines offer. not only does american ding you for every little thing (baggage, food, booking fees, etc.), they are for the most part rude & could care less about making you a happy customer.

going forward i’m going to try & not marry myself to any one particular airline & i plan on doing some airline “shopping” so i have the right perspective on what level of service i’m getting when i fly. i can already confidently say that american airlines does *not* know how to do it.

banana republic can't make socks

this past sunday, september 14th, kristin helped expand my wardrobe by buying me some new threads for my birthday. yes, last sunday i turned 31 & no I will not forgive "you" for forgetting to wish me a happy birthday.

one of the many new additions to my wardrobe that kristin showered me with were socks (4-pairs) from banana republic. she got me two brown pair & two black pair with fancy blue patterns on the black pair & fancy orange patterns on the brown pair. OK, the colors don’t matter actually. what matters is that i get it across to everyone that these fancy socks from banana republic suck.

initially i thought that they were great. i liked the style, how they looked, & how they felt. of course after wearing a pair for the first time i realized very quickly that the quality in these socks were crap. the diamond pattern on the pair i wore was already fraying after one wear. the threads had come apart almost entirely & i’m sure after one wash in the washing machine these socks would be in complete shambles. i’m not even going to bother trying to wear the other three pair that kris got me. instead i am going to return all four pair to banana republic & let them know how disappointed i am in their quality, especially given the $8.50 price tag per pair.

banana republic may offer great shirts, pants, & other items of clothing, but when it comes to socks they really suck (i could have written stink things up instead of suck, but i can’t bear to sink that low in my writing, not yet anyway).

casa has spoiled me

casa de luz has quickly become the most frequented restaurant for kristin & i. what started out as an every now & then sunday night meal has turned into an every sunday night tradition. even better is that we have a few friends that are becoming regular “sunday nighters” with us. over the past couple of weeks we’ve even found ourselves enjoying both a breakfast & a dinner at casa during the week.

while casa is absolutely amazing & super healthy i’ve got to tone down what has turned into a “how many plates can brian eat” episode. the food is obviously all healthy for you. like anything though, to much of something can be bad for you. the “bad” parts for me is that i'm finding that it is taking much more food to fill me up when i eat & secondly i’ve got an addiction to veggies & you’ll be hard pressed to find another restaurant that serves up the type & most importantly the quantity of healthy veggies as casa.

tonight i suppose i lucked out. i had dinner at the hotel restaurant rather than driving around looking for somewhere to dine. while i do order meals with meat (mostly fish), i try my best to get as many veggies as possible with the dish i order.

i began my meal with a spinach, beet, & garlic salad. i asked to have it served dry as the beets & garlic where enough to flavor the spinach to my liking. for a main course i ordered the sea bass which was to be served over polenta, mushrooms, & cherry tomatoes. i quickly scanned the menu for other veggie offerings. the bok choy, kale, brussel sprouts, & asparagus all grabbed my attention (a number of restaurants in white plains, NY have had kale & things like swiss chard on their menu to my surprise). in an effort to keep the cost down i asked the waiter to 86 (given that i’ve never worked in a restaurant, it was just over a year ago that i learned the 86 restaurant term while out for lunch with the crew in ft. lauderdale, FL) the polenta & hook me up with a side of bok choy, kale, brussel sprouts, & asparagus. of course i requested that they all be steamed or just lightly sautéed with olive oil. the waiter with a confused/shocked look on his face nodded that he understood & said thank you & walked off.

when he returned with the meal he almost got it right. the polenta was 86’ed as requested & the sea bass looked amazing. however, the chef simply mixed in a few pieces of kale & bok choy with the mushrooms & cherry tomatoes that were already part of this meal. there also wasn't any sign of the asparagus or brussel sprouts. i went ahead & started eating the dish as it was prepared thinking that the waiter would just bring the asparagus & brussel sprouts on the side on his next trip out & i could live with the few pieces of bok choy & kale that were mixed with the meal.

when the waiter finally did return to my table my plate was clean. the meal was fantastic! the veggies mixed up really well & the sea bass tasted even better than it looked. the waiter, gary, asked how everything was & i told him that it was great & then asked about the missing asparagus & brussel sprouts. he apologized for missing them & then asked if he got everything else correct. i explained to him that i was actually requesting a side of kale, a side of bok choy, a side of asparagus, & a side of brussel sprouts (wow - that is a lot of veggies... maybe i got carried away) & that i was expecting the sea bass to simply be served with the mushrooms & tomatoes just like on the menu. he explained that he would take care of it.

i expected him to simply return with the veggies i ordered on the side. to my surprise & delight he returned with an entire full meal & went so far as serving the mushrooms & tomatoes on the side too. he said, “here you are sir & as your requested for no additional charge. i apologize for the prior confusion & i hope this meal meets your expectations.” talk about great service!

in the end i got my fill of healthy & tasty veggies along with two magnificently prepared sea bass fillets – all for the price of the original meal. if only the service & food at every restaurant could be this awesome. remember, you get what you pay for.

heading to CDA on the b12

i just bought a new bike. the felt b12 is finally mine! it is gorgeous & will make me go so fast – it damn well better… good thing we sold the audi when we did :)

since december of last year i’ve taken 7 really nice tri bikes for test rides. if you are going to spend some serious cash on a bike & you plan to be on that bike a lot (say for 5+ hours at a time) you want to really take it out & ride it; not just tool around a stores parking lot.

while i love the folks at bicycle sport shop & i think they do a great job at what they do they can’t compete with a store like jack & adam’s when it comes to setting you up & getting you on the right tri bike. if you need a good road bike, mountain bike, or service on your bike definitely head to BSS – they’ve saved my butt a couple of times.

i did start at BSS back in december. i road an ’07 specialized transition e5 comp. it was a nice bike but it wasn’t carbon & it just didn’t feel all that hot. specialized has actually totally redesigned the transition for ’08 & according to bicycling magazine it’s a sweet ride. given that the transition is the only tri bike that BSS sells i headed over to J&A's put myself in the hands of the pros. right off the bat i knew i found the right shop – there’s no tooling around in the parking lot with the bike – they fit you & give you the keys to take it out as long as you need. need it for a couple of days to get some time in on it – sure thing!

my first ride was on a quintana roo kilo. i like the QR & since my current tri bike is a QR (a really old ’01 QR that i bought off craigslist – got a great deal actually) i figured i would see where seven years of technology/development had brought the kilo. the kilo has an aluminum frame, not a carbon frame & while this bike retails for $1,600 it is still considered an entry level tri bike. i got out on the kilo & while the fit on this bike was much better (J&A’s sized me for a 54 – my existing QR is a 56 (way too big)), the bike itself didn’t feel all that much different than what i’ve got. so after one long ride on the kilo i passed on it.

*** note: just like car manufacturers, bike manufactures change things up from year to year & most new bikes don’t arrive until late Q1 of the new year since in majority of states folks can’t ride their bikes outside because it’s too cold (doesn’t apply to us in texas). so J&A’s inventory was low & they, like me, were just waiting for the new bikes to arrive. ***

given that the racks in the shop were mostly empty jack set me up on a kestrel talon that had a carbon frame. kestrel is a damn good brand & a number of ironman championship races have been won on a kestrel. however, i wasn’t digging the frame or the look of this bike at all. while looks aren’t everything, when you are shelling out BIG bucks for a bike you want to enjoy looking at it. kristin has already warned me that whatever we buy i need to keep for the next 3 – 5 years so i can’t afford to make any mistakes on this purchase.

once i jumped on that kestrel with a carbon frame i knew there was no turning back to a bike with an aluminum frame. a carbon frame is just so much more forgiving on your body & so much lighter too. i told jack (owner of J&A’s – damn cool cat) that from this point forward i only wanted to ride carbon. we had a problem though - that kestrel was the last carbon bike in stock that was in my price range & until the newer bikes were to arrive there was nothing for me to test ride.

after doing some internet research & talking to friends i narrowed my search down to three carbon tri bikes that were in my price range: the kuota k-factor, the cervelo p2c, & the felt b12. all are damn fine bikes with their own little perks.

of the 3 bikes i was now shopping, J&A’s only carried two of them. they don’t have the distribution rights for the cervelo. the folks down the road, austin tri-cyclist, are the only guys in town with the distribution rights to the cervelo (jack, from J&A’s is working on this). while i am no doubt a huge fan of J&A’s, I needed to see what the cervelo p2c was all about. so i ventured down to the austin tri-cyclist shop & i have to say the cervelo p2c is damn sweet. the folks at cervelo hit a home run with this puppy. not only was it sweet, the guys at austin tri-cyclist were offering it below MSRP & they even were throwing in a package deal to include wet-suit, new shoes, new clips, & helmet for a $100 bucks over what the MSRP was on this bike. at this point i hadn’t ridden the kuota k-factor or the felt b12 (because they hadn’t come in yet) so i didn’t just want to move on the p2c without giving these bikes a chance.

the kuota k-factor was the first of the two bikes to arrive at J&A’s in january. jack called me up & that saturday we scheduled a fit & a test ride. when saturday rolled around i couldn’t wait to get down there & pick-up the k-factor. i ended up taking the k-factor on the 360 loop & back. while a nice ride, i wasn’t impressed. it was the cheapest of the three bikes i was now considering & while it had a carbon frame it just was lacking in so many other spots. i returned to J&A’s & told jack that i’d hold tight until the b12 was in.

at this point i was really getting sick of riding my QR. it didn’t fit me & i now knew what a real tri bike was supposed to feel like.

when the b12s finally arrived in early february i reserved the first available 54 (my size). i scheduled my fit for a friday night; that way i could take the b12 on a long ride with the t3 the next saturday. after work i gave jack a ring & told him i was on my way in to get my fit down. he had bad news – one of the guys goofed the scheduled & let someone else take out the one b12 in my size. i was devastated & a bit pissed because i’ve been waiting almost 3 months for this bike to arrive & when it finally did i still couldn’t get my hands on it. jack could tell i was bummed & that i was getting sick of riding my QR.

jack & i talked later that night & even though they were closing he told me to come down to the shop & he’d hook me up with something very fun to ride the next day. when i got there he had pulled the top of the line kuota kalibur off the rack for me. this was a very high-end tri bike - $4,000+ & if you add race wheels you are easily looking at a $6,000+. this bike was hot & i was looking forward to hopping on it in the morning. i ended up talking to jack for about the next hour while we dialed this bike in to fit me perfectly – no reason to ride a bike this sweet if it didn’t fit me just right. i learned a lot about J&A’s, jack, & the whole austin tri/athletic scene.

needless to say, the ride on the kalibur the next morning was awesome. i was riding the audi (i’m an audi guy – what can i say) of bikes. i was almost nervous that after being on this nice of a bike that the b12 wasn’t going to be all that i had expected it to be. it didn’t matter though – neither kristin nor i were going to spend $4K+ on a tri bike.

that third weekend in february it finally happened; another b12 in my size arrived & jack had it reserved for me. i was pumped to get out on it. unfortunately it rained the saturday & i my first “ride” was indoors on my trainer. the next day was the AT&T marathon & i crashed that race to get in my 15-mile long run. however, later that afternoon i did a recovery ride on the b12 down south with kristin around the veloway & the s. mopac loop - while only a 19-mile ride it felt good. i called jack & he told me to hang on to the bike until the following weekend so i could get a real ride on it. that next saturday the weather turned bad & i found myself indoors with t3 on the trainer for 3-hours – again, not how i wanted to spend my time on the b12. the next day, prior to our long run, ed, noah, i got in a 20-mile ride & we spent a little time on bee caves (fast, hilly, & good turns) & the b12 felt awesome! i called jack right away & told him i’d take it.

it took almost a full week until i was able to make some time after work this past wednesday to make it to J&A’s to get my official fit & actually hand over the cash for the b12. jack gave me a great deal on the accessories that i purchased with/for the new ride along with some other additional goodies for both kristin & i.

it took almost 4-months to find the bike that worked for me. never before has buying something involved so much work, yet so full of fun along the way. a BIG thanks to jack & the guys at J&A’s for working with me on this one. i am one happy client & i’ve got one kick ass bike! coeur d’ alene – here i come & i’m coming on a b12!

you get what you pay for...

i’ve commented before that kristin & i do the majority of our grocery shopping at whole foods & central market; probably 75% at whole foods & 20% at central market. the other 5% of grocery shopping is done at HEB & just recently we ventured back to costco.

last week i made a quick pit stop at the HEB in the arboretum after a workout & prior to picking up firebowl for dinner. it’s never a good thing to send me into a grocery store for just a few things especially after a good gym workout because i’m super hungry & i start making impulse buys left & right. the normal trip to HEB includes cat litter, cereal, a particular type of oat meal, a particular type of figs & prunes (can get the prunes at costco now), protein shakes (can also get at costco now instead) & a handful of other canned goods & pastas that are the same ones at whole foods & central market but about a 1/3 of the cost.

where i feel the most pain of going to a grocery store like HEB is at the check-out area. lines are long, people look miserable, cashiers are not friendly or very intelligent, the check-out lines are laced with trash magazines & candy crap, & what really got me the other night is their inability to bag your damn grocery somewhat correctly!

my first taxable job was sacking (call it bagging if you want) groceries at a tom thumb page grocery store (same store is called randalls here in austin) in garland. we weren’t called baggers or sackers either – they called us courtesy clerks :) anyhow, i was a damn good courtesy clerk too! we were allowed to accept tips back then & i would pocket $20 bucks on most days. back then it seemed everyone wanted their groceries taken to their vehicle for them – these days i rarely see someone having their groceries carried out for them. i knew who the BIG tippers ($2 bucks) were & i made it a point to take extra special care of those customers. i would tell all the ladies how great their dresses, hair, shoes, etc. look. most of the time i was actually being honest, i wasn’t just saying it to say it. if you look hard, you can find something nice about anyone :)

regardless of what i said or didn’t say i was a damn good bagger. i’d square up the bags whether paper or plastic, frozen foods were bagged with other frozen foods, cold with cold, can goods with can goods, products like soaps, bleach, tooth brushes, etc. were bagged separately. always treat the eggs, breads, chips, etc. with the utmost respect for care. not only was i diligent about my bagging, i was fast.

these kids at HEB are just a mess. they go right to the plastic 90% of the time without even asking what type of bag you prefer. they don’t attempt to talk to you at all – normally they are chatting with the cashier about homework or something, they throw things in the bag in the order they come down the line with no regard for colds, dry goods, chemicals, etc. hell, i go out of my way to put things on the conveyor belt to make things easier for them & still they F it up!

when i walked out of HEB the other night with my groceries one of the bags i was carrying ripped in half & spilled all over the parking lot – talk about me being pissed!

in the end i just shook my head & reminded myself that you get what you pay for.

my never ending battle with mayo

i have a constant battle avoiding mayonnaise when visiting sandwich joints. i just can't stand mayo & yes i know i'm a bit over the top about my resistance to mayo - that's just me... below is a comment that i sent to panera bread after i ate & made good use of their free Wi-Fi at their location in waco tonight. & no, i'm not really allergic to mayo.

i drive between austin & dallas quite often for business. it's been a nice relief from the usual road-side stops to now have a panera bread available for coffee, sandwiches, etc. on my way back to austin tonight i stopped for a cup of coffee & sandwich. i ordered a turkey on whole wheat with avocado, tomatoes, roasted peppers, spinach, onions, & spicy mustard with an apple on the side (again it's nice to have a healthy alternative even if i've got to build my own sandwich). anyhow, my sandwich came with a bit of mayo on it where the sandwich was sliced in half. i returned the sandwich to the window explaining that i'm severely allergic to mayo & while the sandwich looked great i can't touch it with the mayo on it. the girl, natalie, behind the counter was an absolute doll & was happy to remake the sandwich & take extra care to ensure it was sliced with a clean knife this time around.

the point of this comment is to highlight two things. first to note the excellent customer service by natalie - so nice for her to politely & understandably take the sandwich back & then personally bring it to me at my table & tell me they she made it a point to ensure that there wasn't a drop of mayo on this new sandwich. the new sandwich she brought me was amazing by the way! the second reason for this comment is to suggest using clean knives for cutting sandwiches. maybe you've got a vegan who doesn't want their sandwich cut with a knife that touched meat or you've got someone like me that is allergic to an ingredient & i don’t want that knife that just cut that ingredient then used to cut my sandwich.

great customer service, i enjoyed the food, & please consider cleaning your knives (or any other cooking utensils used to make your dishes) between sandwiches.

finally, free Wi-Fi at starbucks!

looks like howard shultz really is cleaning things up at starbucks. any day now & i'll be able to pick up my $1 cup of coffee! for now, i'll enjoy the free Wi-Fi access to come.

SEATTLE -- Starbucks Corp. is teaming up with AT&T Inc. and will start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet service in many of its U.S. coffee shops, beginning this spring.

The world's largest specialty coffee retailer's move ends a six-year partnership T-Mobile, which did not include free Wi-Fi and charged more than the new AT&T service will cost.

Starbucks said Monday it will give customers that use its Starbucks purchase card two hours of free wireless access per day. After that, it will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session. Monthly memberships will cost $19.99 and include access to any of AT&T's 70,000 hot spots worldwide.

Nearly all of AT&T's broadband Internet customers will automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks.

japanese translation help

kristin & i frequent firebowl at least once a week & i usually go there once a week with co-workers or friends if i’m eating out for lunch during the work week. my normal dish is salmon soba noodle with broccoli. i ask them to hold the teriyaki sauce but to include the sesame seeds.

we’ve come to know both the store manager & her daughter (who works behind the counter) well enough to engage in small talk. during the football & basketball season we get along really well with one of the shift managers who is from cleveland – first cleveland browns fan i’ve ever known.

the salmon soba noodle is actually a pretty special dish. after eating at firebowl for the first time many years ago i wasn’t very impressed. i order some type of stir fry it your way & it didn’t come out very well. my boss & good friend trevor told me i should try the place again, but order the salmon soba noodle with broccoli. he knows how clean i like to eat & this meal is perfect – good carbs from the soba noodle, protein & omega-3 fats from the salmon, & good nutrients, fiber, & protein (didn’t know that broccoli had protein did you?) in the broccoli. after getting this dish a few times i dropped the teriyaki sauce because of all the sugars & from that point forward outside of adding edamame every so often that’s become my dish. kristin orders the vermicelli singapore & really does a number on it: tofu, no onions, add mushrooms, & replace the vermicelli noodles with soba noodles.

about 6-months ago firebowl took the salmon soba noodle of the menu. i talked to the manager & read some information about this change on firebowl’s website & they said it just wasn’t cost effective & not enough folks ordered it. lucky for me firebowl continued to stock the ingredients you just had to know to order it & they started charging an extra $1 due to their costs on the soba noodles. after 3-months of taking salmon soba noodle of their menu, firebowl was supposed to stop serving the dish altogether. the manager would kid with me every time i came in by counting down the days. i told her if they pulled it i’d stop coming in.

when the 3-months came up i noticed they hadn’t pulled it & in fact they had added it back to their menu. i talked with store manager & she said that there were a lot austinites like me & that firebowl gave them & only them the go ahead to keep the salmon soba noodle dish. go to any other firebowl not in austin & you won’t find the salmon soba noodle. check their website menu - it isn't even listed. good ole austinites & their healthy diets!

so about this translation… the other night kristin & i stopped at firebowl for dinner. i had a good idea of how much protein i was getting from the salmon & the nutrients i was getting from the broccoli, however, i’ve seen that soba noodles range in value of amount of carbs & fiber from one brand to the next. i was talking to the manager’s daughter about this (i need to remember her name) & she said she’d go pull a package of the noodles from the back & we could see. to our surprise, the ingredients were all in japanese. so, if you know japanese or know someone that does, could you have them translate the ingredients depicted in the picture please?

it is about time starbucks!

times finally aren’t so good for starbucks. about three years ago i tried to give starbucks coffee up – let me repeat that. i tried giving up “starbucks coffee”, not “coffee” – i’m not that crazy :) it wasn’t that i didn’t enjoy their coffee, in fact i love their coffee. i’m not one to order a frappucchino, a mocha, etc. – i just want a cup of black coffee with nothing added to it & in my opinion starbucks coffee quality & taste is consistent & rocks.

so why did i try to give it up? starbucks was becoming to commercial. it started feeling like a fast food shop – how quick can we turn a customer in/out appeared to be their driving concern. drive-thru windows were even installed. OK, i’ll admit that drive thru can be convenient at times. ever try sitting at a starbucks to actually do work? have you noticed that it’s always freezing inside starbucks & loud? you think that’s an accident? heck no, they want you in & out that door as quickly as possible. so they crank down the air & turn up the music & people leave because they can’t concentrate. the straw that broke the camels back was when they introduced t-mobile & *not* free internet - i was so pissed! then more food items started showing up (none of them good for you), they started selling walls of merchandise to include $1,500 espresso machines, CD purchases, & over-priced odwalla drinks, water, etc. most importantly of all these things – a tall coffee costs over a $1.70! i was checking out starbuck’s menu one afternoon & if you order anything other than a tall coffee or a espresso shot you are in for a $2+ drink. most drinks on their menu range from $3 - $4 bucks! give me a break!

the problem i ran into while trying to give up starbucks... other coffee spots were convenient given my location & the coffee was usually hit or miss day-to-day. it also seemed that ever corner i turned someone was giving me a starbucks card as a present so how could i avoid free coffee?

so i continue like so many others to frequent starbucks on a daily basis. how do i afford it? you’ll love this – the credit card kristin & i use is a starbucks rewards card. we don’t earn air miles – we earn starbuck’s points. for over two years now we’ve been fortunate enough that we’ve never had to “pay” the high dollars at starbucks due to the plethora of points that we earn each month.

we’ll i’m not the only one that has been frustrated by starbucks obviously & as a result starbucks IS now starting to feel some pain due to all their “dirty” tactics. they claim to serve their consumers – yeh right! gouge them for every dollar you can & get them out as quickly as possible has been their approach for too long!

it was just two weeks ago that they brought back their original CEO that took them to the top. early this month they fired jim donald & they reinstated howard shultz. if you own starbuck’s stock then you know that on jan. 4th their stock price was sitting at $18.11. the stock had fallen over half of its value since may 5th of 2006 when it was at its peak of $39.63 a share.

upon hearing this news i visited starbuck’s website & the home page was nothing but a letter from their CEO howard shultz explaining to consumers (aka investors) how he was going to turn things around & serve his customers ethically. you can still find the letter on their website but it no longer makes up their main page.

oddly enough starbucks is supposedly feeling the crunch from dunkin donuts & mcdonalds. i hear mcdonald’s coffee is actually really good & cheap; however, it goes against everything i believe in to visit a mcdonalds. as for dunkin, there is only one that i know of in austin & it’s out of my way to visit. i have been reading a lot about dunkin & how they have been working on changing their brand image recently. they’ve always been the coffee/donut shop for the common man. while i think they still stand by that statement, they are changing things up to draw more consumers (yuppies that are frustrated with starbucks) through their doors.

so this morning i heard something on NPR about starbucks that really peaked my interest. starbucks is going to offer a $1 cup of coffee. i have repeated it over & over that a cup of black coffee should *not* cost any more than a buck. unfortunately for me starbucks is only rolling this promo idea out in its seattle store locations to see how it’s going to work & probably more importantly whether they can sustain at selling coffee at this price. i think it may actually work for them & more importantly us – the consumer! now how about turning that A/C down & providing us some free internet shultz!

additional information about starbucks if you are curious:

- 1971: first stoor opened in seattle
- 1982: howard shutlz gets involved
- jul. 03, 1992: starbucks IPOs for $0.71 – 165 stores
- 1999: starbucks buys TAZO tea (ever wonder why they sell TAZO?)
- 2000: shultz steps down & orin smith becomes CEO
- 2001: the starbucks card that we all have learned to love makes its appearance
- 2003: starbucks acquires seattle’s best
- 2004: t-mobile hot spots installed (bad (greedy) move)
- 2005: orin smith retires, jim donald takes charge
- may 05, 2006: starbucks is at it’s peak $39.63 – 12,440 stores!
- jan. 04, 2008: starbuck’s stock is at $18.11 (less than half of what it was worth in may ’06)
- jan. 04, 2008: starbucks sells naked juice brand (cutting loss leaders)
- jan. 04, 2008: starbucks stops offering organic milks (cutting costs & inventory)
- jan. 07, 2008: donald is fired & shutlz is brought back in as CEO
- jan. 23, 2008: trying $1 coffee in seattle stores

- jan. 23, 2008: starbuck’s stock is at $18.67 (well, we are headed into a recession folks)

an update on my eagle entrepreneurs - 2008 take I

paul & his partner richard launched their website a couple of weeks ago. i was lucky enough to be partner one's first customer shortly after they finalized their reseller agreement with dell. that is right, SQ-0001 was processed by my company networkIP. i have talked to paul about once a week since he started partner one. we talk about current projects that i've got going & i suspect partner one to be an integral part to two of our biggest projects this year that will involve hardware procurement.

paul is always on top of his game & has the information i need on time. while i know paul is very busy with all that goes into turning up his business - he has never once denied me the time on the phone when i've called & in fact he goes out of his way to keep me up to date & dialogue with me at length about what he has going on.

i really hope all of paul's customers see what i see in him & partner one. thanks for always taking care of networkIP & more importantly thanks for being such a good friend at the same time.

a different approach to grocery shopping

since kristin & i moved back into town we've done 99% of our grocery shopping at whole foods & central market. from time to time when we are looking at our checkbook we wonder if this is a smart move to be shopping at these stores all the time. well sometimes it isn't about money... did i just say that? maybe i've had one two many poppers (cute little healthy treats that kristin makes) today.

i recall our grocery shopping experiences in the past being mostly chaotic & they usually resulted in both of us being frustrated (even if only one of us went to the store the other would come home in such a bad mood that we'd cause the other to get frustrated). who would enjoy long lines, frustrating people, & buzzers & beepers from endless rows of checkout lines ringing in your ear from the moment you walk in until the moment you walk out? while i don’t consider grocery shopping fun, i do feel that both whole foods & central market try their best to make our experience as enjoyable as possible.

to begin with, the lines are usually never as long at these stores as they are at a traditional grocery store. the consumers, as well as the staff are much more personable too. we often find ourselves conversing with other folks in line & the staff is always eager to talk & help you out. parking… well parking is bad everyone in austin right?

we normally frequent the downtown location of whole foods & the central location of central market. whole foods is by far the best of the two stores in my opinion. both of us appreciate that whole foods tries to off the highest quality of real or “whole” foods. you’ll be hard pressed to find anything at whole foods containing high fructose corn syrup for example. central market is a bit lax on their ingredients & appears to me to be setup for more of the foodie & not as much towards the foodie who is also concerned about the ingredients of the food.

visiting whole foods usually turns into a full trip for us. we’ll often run at the lake & then head to whole foods. we’ll fill up on some goodies from the many choices they offer & then do our shopping. since kristin has been doing the veggie thing we’ve found some really cool & tasty items to satisfy both of our taste buds. stop by the vegan bar next time you are there & try their pumpkin mousse – it’s amazing & 100% vegan.

whole foods just did this very cool & environmentally conscience thing… they got rid of all plastic bags. if you visit the store, you’ll need to bring your own or purchase a re-usable bag of which is made of recycled plastics & paper. what a smart & responsible move on their part for setting a good example for other companies to follow. i’m sure central market will follow in their food steps soon & eventually all grocery stores should do the same. so much waste comes from the plastic grocery bag.

the only down side we have with whole foods is the cost of their produce & meat. we usually buy the majority of our produce & meat at central market just because of the cost savings.

oh, & big props to central market on something that just happened a few days ago. i was at central market on christmas eve their credit card machine (you could still use a check-card, cash, or check) was on the fritz & the lines were getting thicker than normal. in an effort to mitigate the situation while the machines were being looked at there were regular announcements on the overhead speakers informing everyone of what was going on & they even started serving champagne to those waiting in line. that’s top notch service in my book.

who can beat 1 hour & 39 minutes?

i just spent 1 hour & 39 minutes on the phone with AT&T. we humans can handle just about anything can't we? the worst thing is, they still haven't completed my transaction. all i wanted to do was add kristin's number to my existing plan. in the course of that 1 hour & 39 minute conversation i got transferred to over 6 representatives. i'm currently awaiting a phone call back from gloria ratliff; we'll see if she calls. i would have never spent that amount of time on the phone, but i've got to get this transaction complete or kristin's previous employer is going to cancel her number & then she's got to get a new number. the last thing AT&T told me was that this "isn't working because you have an iPhone." so beware if you have an iPhone & want to add a number to your existing plan. i should have been at the pool swimming, not on the phone with AT&T tonight.