Packer Season Ticket update

I got my new priority number for Packer season tickets. I'm now waiting list number 46,386. Projected time to get my tickets: 92 years.

The anti-delisting blog

To avoid the risk of being delisted from Karen's list of blogs, I blog tonight...

I did end up calling Queen City to talk about the incident on Tuesday... The guy immediate said he'd give me my $3 back. I told him that's great, and asked him if his employees were allowed to give refunds with out a ticket. He said no. I told him that they need to be a bit more tactful in communicating that, rather than trying to dig in and argue. He asked who I dealt with, and I told him. He seemed like he was gonna take care of it. Either way, I get my $3 back, but the experience leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I often have problems with people in customer service when they start arguing with me as if they have been wronged ("I can't help it if they forfeited"). I'm already mad that something happened to me, and now you feel like you've been wronged by me? Worse yet is when they start being condescending (when I told the gate agent that it's Delta's fault they overbooked, not mine, and she said "we're not Delta, we're Comair). All they need to do is to apologize, maybe be a bit sympathetic, and say they're not allowed to do whatever it is, but here is the person that can. More brownie points is if they would say "I'll personally let my supervisor know." They all need to read the chapter of the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" where they say even if you win this argument, you lose.

I'm so mad I could...

OK, I figure I needed to blog this right now to get all the details down...

Tonight we had our final softball game. The game was at 10:10 PM, not a very popular time for our team. When I get to the game, I pay my usual $3 to get into the game. In exchange, we get a 50 cent off concessions coupon. Since the batting cages aren't working tonight, I'm a bit early for the game. So I turn in my 50 cent coupon and pay another $1 to get a pretzel.

Turns out the opposing team doesn't show up. We get a forfeit win, and they refund us our $3 if we go to the desk. I go up to the desk and ask for my $3. They ask me for my ticket. I told them I used it to buy a pretzel. I'm then told that I can't get my $3 back unless I have a ticket. I tell them that I'm the captain of this team, I used my ticket to buy a pretzel. He says he can't give me $3 back without a ticket. I say I pay $400 for this league, drive all the way out here for a 10:10 game, have the game forfeited, patronize your concession stand, and you won't give me my $3 gate fee back. He says he can't help it if they forfeited. My friend gives me an old ticket to use. I try to use it. He says "I'm not giving it you, you just told me you used your ticket." I tell him I don't appreciate the attitude. He says I'm the one giving him attitude.

He did end up giving me the park manager's name to call tomorrow. I ask him to have him call me. He at first refuses, but then ends up taking my name and number. I don't plan on waiting for him to call, I will be calling him first chance I get.

Blink - Part 2

The book Blink is now finished... Pretty good book, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Another musing about one of the concepts in the book:

In one chapter, the author talks about how people figure out things based off clues that only their subconscious knows. When pushed to explain how they figured it out, they oftentimes make something up, all unconsciously.

"We have, as human beings, a storytelling problem... We're a bit too quick to come up with explanations for things we don't really have an explanation for."

My parents are really bad at coming up with explantions for things. Most often, they convieniently link to us being bad kids. I.E. my parents explained my bad eyesight on watching too much TV. I got sick because I didn't wear a coat. Now, I can call them on these things. I tell them my sister has 20/20 vision, and you can't say she watches that much less TV than me. I also tell them a cold is caused by a virus, not by not wearing your jacket.

I guess the moral of the story is, don't try to make an explanation just for the sake of making one. Maybe your subconscious figured it out.

The first football Sunday

A few musings from the first Sunday off football season:

-I'm currently on my 9th hour of TV watching today, third game of the day, pitting Peyton Manning against his little brother Eli Manning. The NFL should totally do everything under their power to support fantasy leagues... if it weren't for fantasy leagues, I doubt I'd be so into this game.

-My team, the Green Bay Packers, are in for a LOOONG season as we lose to the Bears 26-0. The Bengals on the other hand are looking good, I think I'm a good omen to wherever I move to.

-I watched the first game at a friend's house, who has the NFL Sunday Ticket package (you have access to all the games). Sounds like a great thing to have a bunch of friends over and be able to watch all the games, but everyone wants to be watching their team's game. So we end up flipping channels and we don't really see a lot of any one game. I wonder what the solution is...

Blink

So I'm taking an opportunity this Labor Day weekend to start the next book, "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell (he previously wrote "The Tipping Point," one of my favorite books). Basically the gist of this book is that the human subconscious is very powerful, that we can figure a surprising amount of things out in a blink. Couple of tidbits:

- He talks about speed dating, of which someone knows within a few seconds whether or not they like someone. In those few seconds, there's no time to figure out if the person fits their "ideal mate" but it's enough for us to make a call. I think Karen's a great example of this, she's told many people she knew Jim was the one within a blink.

- It's funny, as I'm writing this, a song starts playing on the radio. Two notes in, a rush of emotions fill me and my brain immediately tells me it's Journey. It's not just the two notes, but the way the notes are played and the timbre of the notes that allows my subconscious to figure out that this song is by a group who's concert I went to on memorable date 3 years ago! Interesting sidenote, on our cruise, we played "name that tune" with a live pianist. I struggled mightily, probably because I needed all the other parts than just the notes to get the song!



Part two to follow...

Cincinnati Community Orchestra Schedule

As requested so Karen can get these on her calendar, here's the Cincinnati Community Orchestra concert schedule for this year.

“OVERTURE” – Saturday, October 21, 2006
Openers by Faure, Nicolai, Offenbach, Humperdink, Strauss, Verdi, and Brahms
”TUNES & TALES” – Saturday, December 2, 2006
Symphonic holiday stories by Grieg, Humperdink, Respighi, Menotti, and Silvestri
“A TASTE OF SPAIN” – Saturday, March 3, 2007
Music with a Spanish flair by Elgar, de Falla, Bizet, Albeniz, and Ravel
“MYTHS & LEGENDS” – Saturday, May 5, 2007
A musical visit to your favorite movies from Superman to Lord of the Rings

We haven't started any rehearsals yet, so I can't tell you too much, but here's the list of songs for the first concert with any comments.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2006 “OVERTURE”

John Williams - The Star Spangled Banner (for the 2004 Rose Bowl)
Gabriel Faure - Overture to Pelleas & Melisande
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari - Overture to the Secret of Suzanne
Otto Nicolai - Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor
Jacques Offenbach - Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld
(The main melody in this song is famous as the "Can can" song)
Engelbert Humperdink - Overture to Hansel & Gretel
(Did you know that Hansel and Gretel is an OPERA? There's an absolutely beautiful melody in it, which will be featured at the next concert, that's for you Tom)
Johann Strauss - Overture to Die Flederamus
Guiseppi Verdi - Overture to La Forza del Destino
Johannes Brahms - Academic Festival Overture