Money Back Guarantee?

Have you ever ordered something on-line, with a thirty or sixty day return policy guarantee?  You know the one,  with the miracle product,  that: "if you are not completely satisfied,  then return it for a full refund."  Here's the problem... you must call customer service within the cancellation period,  to cancel and return the product.  But,  for some reason,  you can never get through,  and they tell you to call back at another time.  They are always "experiencing heavy call volume,"  and so they cut off your call.

Even though they have a website,  and you were able to order on-line,  for some reason, you can't cancel on-line. "Cancel anytime, if not completely satisfied.!"  The only way to cancel, is to talk to them, but you can't get through.

Well, I have learned to save myself the aggravation, by trying to 'test cancel' before I buy. I call the 800 number and try to cancel, even though I have not yet bought the product.  I also go to the websites they recommend in their 'hold messages', while I am waiting, to see if there is an on-line procedure for cancelling. If I am not successful in 'test-cancelling', then I don't order the product.

It's too bad,  that even though some products seem like something I want to buy,  if the 'cancel' phone number is experiencing 'unusually heavy call volume',  then, maybe there are a lot of dissatisfied people.  And if they won't let me cancel,  the same way I bought it, on-line,  then it must be a scam, and a waste of my money.  

Seriously, try this 'test cancel' as a reasonableness test of the company and product.  If it's easy to order, but not easy to cancel,  then if fails the test, and the product is not what it seemed in the advertisement, so save your money. 

Looking into the future

My son, age 28,and I were discussing what technology might be like when he gets to my age. It came up because I had been to a recent Social Media for Realtors, training class and was amazed at the things that are now possible, which were not even dreamed about when I was his age in 1978.

I told him that working as a CPA the first electronic calculator I saw in our office, was the size of a personal printer today. It was noisy and cost $700. Only a few accountants in our firm had one. . Sears released a handheld calculator for $30, but it failed with any regular use. I worked on a large company assignment, with many store branches, and in order to consolidate their numbers, we laid a paper spread sheet, on the floor, taped together, across the room, with several accountants kneeling and making changes to the twenty foot document as entries were posted. My first mobile computer was a Compaq computer which weighed 30 or more pounds. I carried it through St Louis Airport terminal, only once, before I realized I needed a luggage cart to keep from dislocating my elbow.

My first mobile phone, was a Motorola Dina Tac 8000. You could not put it into your pocket. It was almost the size of a Liter bottle of Coke, and about as heavy. It didn't ring very often, as you never gave out the number, because of the excessive cost per call and per minute. You used it for emergency calls only.

I am sure that there are some of you who were 28 in 1958 or 1968, who put these minor problems to shame. That is why we started the discussion. He was wondering what his children or grand children would take for granted that he is living without today.

Seeing how far we have advanced in my life, I hope for these things for him and his family:

Microsoft Operating software and all their applications are considered the pile of junk that they really are, and someone has found away to store data without strings of I's & O's. All automobiles are battery driven, and the battery is the size of a D-Cell today. It lasts thousands of hours, and is recharged by the Sun, even on a cloudy day. Vehicles have mechanisms to avoid pedestrians and each other, as well as stationary objects like trees and bridges. Vehicles actually drive themselves and only require an address to deliver the occupants safely.

Air travel uses magnetic force operated vehicles, like Dick Tracey's comic book transportation units, and they also know how to avoid other airborne vehicles and the ground at high speed. Doctors no longer need to diagnose your illness, as the human body has been mapped completely and most ailments can be repaired with stem cell therapy, which comes in a lotion as well as a tablet. Dentists merely need to give you a shot of the same medicine that doctors have, to re-grow a single tooth or a whole set.

We have no further issues with identity theft as all transactions involving cash from your bank requires an eye scan, which can be done remotely to pay bills. Social security was bolstered in 2013 as the Republican Congress cut government spending and raised the limits and rates on social security and Medicare, and doubled the rate for taxpayers making over a million dollars per year.

The enormous deficit was eliminated by stopping our reliance on foreign oil and collecting billions from all our foreign allies for past assistance.

The national obesity problem was eliminated by an implanted device that instructs your brain to reroute any excess food intake to the large intestine for disposal. This same system works equally well for alcohol and drugs so that the euphoria and buzz associated with those vices is eliminated.

Football is still the most popular sport in the United States, but it is no longer necessary to be in a seat at the games, or even watching it on television, as a small fee will allow the purchaser to have a hologram view of the game, complete with realistic sound and percussion as if they were actually watching the game live. The view will be as if they were sitting on the sideline fifteen feet above the ground. They can share the experience with their friends as if they were all at the game together, or at any sporting event for that matter.

Communication has advanced to telepathy, and merely requires you to think of the person with whom you want to communicate, and they will sense your signal and connect with you telepathically. Neither of you will need to speak, as you can converse more effectively through ESP.

Do all of these seem out of reach? Henry Ford once said, " The Future fairly startles me with it’s impending greatness."  What would he say today?

Remember when you needed a phone, pager, computer, calculator, calendar, camera, alarm clock, address book, map, transistor radio, television, and electronic game. Each were separate devices, and did not interact together. Now the smart phone does them all in a package smaller than that old transistor radio. Who would have believed it? Henry Ford,  would have.

Helping Others, Your Way

I have felt others pain. I mean that I actually feel pain when others hurt themselves in my presence. I don't know why. I don't like it, I don't want it, and will do anything to avoid watching others injure themselves. Funniest Home Video's is often not funny to me, as someone falls off a horse, bicycle or skateboard. I feel the pain myself.

I was watching a Michael J Fox movie the other night, and his 'love interest' drank too much liquor, and got sick by the side of the road. Michael, also started to get sick, and she reminded him that he had not been drinking. He told her it did not matter, he was a 'sympathy sick.' That's what you call someone who gets sick at the sight, sound or smell of someone else getting sick. I have that same affliction, but I will spare you the details and stories.

Having survived a few hurricanes in Florida, I often think about those who face the aftermath of a major catastrophic event, and the pain they must feel. Haiti, Japan, Tuscaloosa and Joplin, just to name a few. Fortunately I have not seen them actually injured, so I don't feel their actual pain, like I mentioned. But, looking at the destruction and loss of life, none of us can help but feel something for them. What disappoints me is that I don't often act on that feeling. If someone needs my help, I will give it. If someone asks me to contribute to a needy cause, I often do that. But once the victims leave the media spotlight, I forget about them. I think we all allow ourselves to forget their pain.

I am not admonishing you, more than myself, I am giving you food for thought. Obviously I cannot solve all the aches and pains of the injured, nor will my pain, ease theirs, but I can try to help some.

I recently heard a quote: "The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy." Kalu Kalu.


I like to volunteer. I will not list the things I personally do to volunteer to help others, it shouldn't matter. What I do, may not be something you can or like to do. I ask you to consider finding your own way to help others. There's no wrong way to give of yourself, your time, your money or some combination of each. It does not matter how, so long as you do something. What I am suggesting is that you find a way, even the smallest way, to consistently help those in need, and not just because they are in the news. Consider it pay back for the ones long past, in the news, where you did not help.

We are a large world population, and if we all do a little bit on a regular basis, it will pick away at the overwhelming pile of need. Please find something you like to do, or something that makes you feel good. This will motivate you to continue doing it. It would be a sad life to record, if we died and the only thing left to show, for our life, was a pile of accumulated stuff. Wouldn't you rest easier, if you felt your life meant something? If you could say, "I did what I could, I actually made a small difference." I promise it will be something you actually look forward to doing, and those receiving it will, as well.

A Box of stuff

I have a box of stuff. It is sentimentally valuable to me.  I don't even need to describe it here as it would be unimportant to most,  except my family.  It has very little actual value. It occured to me that if someone found it after I was long gone, they would wonder what it is, and why I kept it, and not know this sentimental attachment it had to me.

Most people have a similar box of memorablia or junk that they like to sift through from time to time. It will also get tossed after they are gone, along with the stories that were attached. We keep this stuff because it reminds us of some specific time or event in our lives. If it is important to us now, so it may also be important to someone in your family.

Certainly we have seen all television coverage of the aftermath of a hurricaine or twister, and you see people, on the news clips, sifting through a pile of rubble that was once their house. On camera they say, "we lost everything.!" The house, furniture and clothing can all be replaced if they had insurance, that's not the 'everything', to which they refer. What upsets them the most is losing all of their 'stuff.' All of the pictures and treasures from a lifetime. These things are not listed or covered by insurance. They cannot be easily described or explained, to another without holding the item and vebalizing it's significance.

You might have some family heirlooms that were passed on to you: Aunt Franny's china, grandmother's silver, dad's straw skimmer. If you saw some of it at a second hand store, you wouldn't give it a second thought. But, knowing where it came from and that it has a past, makes these things valuable to us all.

So, I have another life suggestion for you. I recommend that you go through this stuff again, soon. If you think it will have value to a family member, then tell them all about it and give it, or leave it to them in your will. That item will have new significance and a new life. If it is very special, it will also be passed on to their family with the same story.
If you have other items that have no value to others, but are special to you because they remind you of a story, or event or time in your life, then write down that story before it goes to the grave with you. Once on paper, you could share each story with someone, or just accumulate them so that when you are gone, the stories will be found with your 'stuff.' They won't be left wondering why you have this box of junk. You will have told them, in your own words. I bet they keep some of your stuff themselves. It may even become part of their 'box of stuff."

Law of the Garbage Truck

This is snippit from an article by J. Dick Martinez. He is Grand Master of the Florida Masons.

"..people are like garbage trucks. They drive around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile and wave, wish them well and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it, and ninety percent how you take it."

This might be a good time for a New Years resolution. If you don't have one, or have failed at others, this might be one you could try. It will not take much effort. It will take lots of will power and self control. But here's a new twist. This year, write down your resolution, and send it to anyone who rides with you in the car. Now you have to actually try to follow it, or you will hear about it.

If you think about it, what do you actually benefit, when you blow your horn or gesture at another driver. It might feel good, but it is short lived, and most of them will gesture right back and you never know what might come next. and even if they ignor you,  you will never change them by getting upset.

Smile, wave and wish them well. You will feel much better, I promise. Plus you may have actually been successful in your New Years resolution. Happy 2011.

Small World

It never ceases to amaze me how small our world seems sometimes. It is that 'six  degrees of separation" thing. The Human Connection. The Theory is that we are all so closely related, that any two individuals could be connected through at most five acquaintances, or the six degrees. Some believe it to be an Urban Myth.

I like the theory myself, I am amazed at who I meet sometimes, who know people, who know people, I know. My dad died in the military over fifty years ago. He was kiiled in a fire, on the USS Bennington, in the Atlantic along with a hundred other men. My family went to the 50th reunion of that tradegy a few years ago in Newport Rhode Island. Before I went, I sent a note to the organizer and asked if he knew anyone who actually knew my father. He said he would send a note to the crew members. I was only four years old when my dad died, so I did not have a lot of memories, of him.

I met a lot of people at the reunion, but none who actually knew my father. When I returned to Naples, I got a letter from a man who actually lived in Naples. He knew my father, in fact he worked for my father on the ship. I went all the way to Rhode Island, and the one person I was looking for was right here in Naples. We met, and he was a delightful man with lots of stories and anedotes about my father. I enjoyed the meeting. One email to Bennington Crew members, thousands and thousands of  people, and from that email, three people have now contacted me, who knew my father. Wow!

One more story, and you will believe we really live in a small world. Recently I went to a highschool reunion. I met someone I went through twelve years of school with. I had not seen her in over forty years. The reunion was on Friday night. On Saturday morning, I was running some errands which took me a few hours. On my way back home, I randomly stopped at a flea market. I parked my car walked into the market, turned right and stopped at the first booth. someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was my highschool friend. I had not seen her in forty years, and the day after the reunion, I ran into her again. It is a small world. I bet some of you have better stories than these. Let me know.

Football Trifecta

We have three NFL (National Football League) teams in Florida. Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins. My son and I finished our trifecta by going to see the Dolphins last night. We have now been to a game at all three Florida stadiums, and I am here to tell you, from a pure entertainment view, they are all worth the trip. It does not matter where you sit, or whether you are a football fan, fanatic, or tag along friend or spouse. All the teams work hard to make sure that you get your money's worth. Just being part of the spectacle and interacting with the other people there is an experience.

I say it does not matter where you sit, because we sat high and low, in these stadiums, 7th row, 60th row and nose bleed seats. The game is viewable from all seats, and so is the extra entertainment. Fireworks, stadium video, celebrities, fan participation, sideline antics and choreographed beautiful cheerleader movements. Pregame, halftime and post-game programs. A mega-merchandise store and a Gallery of Legend Players, It is non-stop sensual stimulation. Forget the old single scoreboard, the entire stadium's flat surfaces light up with information, sights, sounds, and the contagious thunder of the excited crowd.

Forget about the old days of just hotdogs and peanuts, there are so many choices for food, Cuban sandwiches, wraps, pints of ice cream, nuts, smoothies, even a booth with Boar's Head products sandwiches. Nothing is cheap, but, it is worth what you have to spend.

If you are a tailgater, these stadiums cater to your needs. The parking is laid out for tailgating with plenty of space, and portable toilets. The smell of food cooking is everywhere. If you need something, just ask your parking lot neighbor. We forgot a spatula to flip our burgers on the hibachi grill, and it only took a minute to find one. You could make an evening of just sitting in the parking lot, and watching the fanatics, and I believe some people do. There were several tents with big screen TV's. There is so much to see, there was even a pole, with ladies dancing around it and a crowd cheering them on and taking pictures.

If you live in or just visit Florida, I suggest a drive and visit to any of these football stadiums.  Buy your tickets on line, EBay or scalp them at the game. I promise, you will enjoy yourself and come away with a unique experience and lots of memories. Don't forget the spatula.