The Top 10 List that started it all

I've blogged about the Top 10 list that Tom has came up with for my graduation... Here's where it all started. A while back we had a stand up comedy night, where my act was a top 10 list. Here it is:

The Top 10 Signs You've Been Hanging Out With The Sturgis Brothers Too Long

10. You randomly yell boo-yeah at inappropriate times
9. You have the sudden urge to run through fences
8. You know the plural form of "Sturgis" isn't "Sturgises"
7. You can tell them apart
6. When they're up to bat, you play all of your fielders behind third base
5. Your poker spreadsheet starts to look like your stock portfolio after the crash of 2000
4. You know that XsunX isn't a porn sight
3. You actually have met Meghan and Rachel
2. You feel depressed after the Patriots lose, even though you're a Packer fan
1. You inexplicably agree to do a stand up comedy routine even though you've never had any desire to do one and never will again

Blog of consciousness

I realized I haven't had an old fashioned blog about myself in a while. Karen does a good job with those, I tend to stick to funny things and events. Years later, it'd be interesting to see what was happening in MY life... So here goes.

I blogged about a Brewers pitcher named Balfour a couple of days ago. Well, on Monday I went to see the Reds play the Brewers. The game goes into extra innings, and in the bottom of the 11th the Brewers bring in who else but Grant Balfour. He then ironically (or maybe it was poetic justice?) walks the first two batters. They he makes an ill-advised throw to 3B on a sacrifice and loads the bases with no one out. Reds win on a subsequent single.

Two weekends ago (man time goes by fast) I was in Milwaukee to see the Brewers. I got a Chorizo bobble head doll! Recall last year I got a hot dog bobble head. The Chorizo is a Mexican sausage that the company decided to expand into.

Let's see... our softball team tonight won the first game of the playoffs. I went 2 for 3, so my on base percentage improves. I've been in a home run slump since my monster shot a few weeks ago, but at least the singles are falling in. Not enough Ryann time?

The new job has been really interesting so far. For those I haven't told yet, we're opening a retail store to test market some of our new products. So I was chosen to manage that. It's located in Columbus on the OSU campus. Pretty neat so far!

Oh, there's been zero response from DJ Orthopedic since mailing my letter.

The weekend of August 10, my good friends from high school are coming to town to watch some tennis. And they're leaning towards bringing Bucky, my former dog, down with them!

Issues with Jersey Mike's

Thought I'd share another consumer experience of mine... this time with a Jersey Mike's store on Western Row Rd in Mason. I went in with a filled out Frequent Buyers card (12 sandwiches) which entitled me to a free regular sandwich. When I tried to redeem it, they said that they wouldn't take it because most of the stamps were not from that store. I argued for a few minutes as to why even have a frequent buyers card if you weren't gonna honor it, and why would you stamp my card that contained other stamps on it if you weren't gonna honor it if it didn't have mostly your stamps on it. Of course, to no avail. I wrote customer service at the Jersey Mike's website, and got a response:

Mr. Ting,

Thank you for your e-comment card received by the Customer Relations
Department of Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, Inc.

The frequent buyer club card is available at participating locations.
Jersey Mike's locations are individually owned and operated; therefore
some owners have made modifications to the program.  It is at their
discretion to redeem the card.  Your comments will be forwarded to the
owner of the location you visited.

In the meantime, we will forward you gift certificates to use towards
your next purchase at any Jersey Mike's to the mailing address you
provided for your inconvenience.  We value you as a customer and hope
you visit us again.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for contacting
us!

Customer Relations Department
Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, Inc.
800-321-7676, extension 238
customerrelations@jerseymikes.com

I definitely appreciated the response and the pending gift certificates, but I'm still a little miffed as to why you would have this program and then not recognize it. So I sent this response:

Melissa, thank you for the response and the gift
certificates. I do appreciate it. I have some
additional feedback:

My question to you then is why even have this frequent
buyer club offer when it's not going to be recognized
by franchises. Nothing on the card says that you may
or may not be able to redeem it. Therefore, this card
is basically worthless and the stamps we're getting
are deceptively worthless.

I also would like to say that this kind of practice by
your franchisees is very short sighted to regular
customers. It conveys the message that your company is
cheap and regular customers are not valued because
they're not customers of one particular store. For the
cost of one free sandwich, I would've been happy to be
a continuing customer of that store. Now I will think
twice about going to that store. Again, very short
sighted and not very good business.

Reminds me of two other Jersey Mikes experiences, one good and one bad. The bad one was on Fields Ertel road, where they refused to take credit card under $10... so alienating customers and showing how cheap you are to save 3-4%. The good one was on Winton Road, where I maybe waited a little above average time in line (certainly nothing major) but the guy gave me a free drink and apologized for the wait.

Trains and rains

You know when you pass by a railroad track and there's a train? And you always think "man, there's ALWAYS a train when you're in a hurry"? Well, in actuality, it's because you never notice it when there ISN'T a train, you only notice when there is one.

So in the spirit of noticing when there isn't a train, I would like to say that I noticed that it just started thundering and raining... about 10 minutes after I got home from my softball game. Not right before so it rains out the fields, not during while we're trying to get the game started, but 10 minutes after I returned home and we got our game in.

As an aside, sometimes there are names that just sound funny (see Dick Pole, pitching coach of the Reds) or ironic. Well, the Brewers just called up a pitcher named Grant Balfour. Gotta love a pitcher with the last name "Balfour." It'd be funnier if he walked a lot of guys.

The Milwaukee Chinese community

So over the weekend I headed back to the Badger state for a belated July 4th visit with the fam. Our family is a member of the local chapter of the Organization for Chinese Americans (OCA). They were having a picnic that day, and I went to it. Well we all took a picture of all the Chinese people there along with a sign that said something to the effect of "The Milwaukee Chinese community welcomes Yi." I'm the tall guy (relatively) in the middle wearing black.

One guy there also created a webpage, yifanclub.org, and posted this picture. However it's all in Chinese, of which I can read on like a first grade level. Well who woulda thunk it that the web could translate Chinese too. It's not perfect, but it's enough to get the drift. It does make for something pretty amusing. Check out the second paragraph on the site first, then check out what the translator spits out:

"Sends the fan we, deeply loves the basketball; We, like Yi Jianlian, likes the male deer team; We, deeply love this city which the life as well as we lives... ... Comes, joins our □□Yi Jianlian the fan club! The hope facilitates this marriage with the aid of our local Chinese people and all mass organizations' strength, lets the matter have to let everybody happy result; Let us have an opportunity in front of the entire society to demonstrate our Chinese people community, tells everybody us is a unity, the cooperation association, we like the land and here people which we lives □□at least, we cannot let ignorant manager Fei Gen talk irresponsibly, describes in front of the public this beautiful city and the life in here Chinese people mass organization has no merit to speak of! This is an equality, the voluntary organization, this is a friendly affection cooperation association. Here, is a homeland □□United Arab Republic's homeland, fan's homeland, Chinese people's homeland, is people's homeland which each deeply loves the life. Comes, we wait for you in here!"

My favorite part is where it mention the "male deer team." I.E. the Milwaukee Bucks. And something's lost in the translation, not really sure why the "United Arab Republic" is in here. I will hafta check with my parents and get back to you...

Milwauk-Yi

Nice article about the Yi, Milwaukee, and the Chinese community. Personally I think it's the Chinese government that's b*tching about him playing in Milwaukee, not him.

Just for kicks...

Thanks Dean for the research... The player pictured here:

Is named Eddie Watt. So maybe he made it to second base in some National League game? So now we have Hu on first, Watt on second...

What's the significance of this?

OK, hang with me non-baseball fans... you'll appreciate this blog entry too.

The MLB Futures game was played today, where an all star cast of minor league top prospects get to showcase their stuff. Well, the MVP of the game is pictured here:

In the third inning, he reached base on a single. So what's the significance of this? Well, this guy's name is Chin-Lung Hu. So, for the first time in baseball history, you could say...

HU's ON FIRST!

My letter to DJ Orthopedics

July 8, 2007

DJ Orthopedics

1430 Decision Street
Vista, CA 92081

Dear DJ Customer Service Representative:

I am writing to express my disappointment and request a refund for a pair of knee braces that I had to pay for out of my own pocket. I’m a long time customer of DJ, ordering more than 5 pairs of knee braces in my life. I really am a big fan of your products, which is why I am writing to give you a chance to keep me as a customer.

About 2 years ago, I received knee braces from my doctor. My doctor was in network for my insurance, however due to a technicality – the insurance company said the doctor was in network but not as a distributor of knee braces – the braces were not covered. Both my doctor and the DJ representative said the braces should be covered, however there were “contract issues” and my insurance refused coverage after many appeals. DJ then sent me a bill for $242.00 to cover the two braces.

I then asked DJ to waive the charges because I’ve been a long time customer and would be for the rest of my life. DJ rejected my appeal, and I sent a letter to Steve Burns. I didn’t hear from Steve, and the bills stopped coming. A month ago I got a call from your collection agency to collect on the $242.00. I paid the bill, however I’m extremely unhappy that you decided to go this route. Is this a way to treat a regular customer?

Again, I’ve bought at least 5 braces in the past, and since I’m only 29 years old and I plan on playing for many more years. I will potentially be purchasing at least 5 more pairs. I’ve always gone through the insurance company, who has paid full price for the braces. This time around, a very stupid technicality prevented coverage. I gave DJ a chance to really cement their relationship with me by asking them to waive the charge, but instead you sent a collection agency after me.

Since I truly do like your product, I want to give you another chance to keep me as a customer. DJ talks about customer satisfaction being important to them; here’s an opportunity to show it. Please consider refunding me the $242.00 I paid to the collection agency. It would allow me to continue being a DJ customer.

I can be reached via email at xxx, phone at xxx, and by mail at xxx. I have enclosed copies of my bill, my letter to Steve Burns, and the payment to your collection agency.

Book report: Orbiting the Giant Hairball

This book was recommended to me by a colleague who's in a similar role as mine in New Business Development. Basically, the analogy goes like this... the "Giant Hairball" is all the structure, systems, and processes that a corporation has. It's all tangled up, some companies have bigger and more tangled hairballs than others. Somehow to be creative and innovate, we hafta not be caught up in that hairball. However we can't be so out there that we fly away either.



The author is a creative type that works for Hallmark, the company that makes all the greeting cards and such. It shocked me at first that a company like Hallmark would have corporate bureaucracy. Then I figured of course, any company that big is inevitably gonna be like that.

The book is pretty outside the box, with random sketches and drawings and a lot of random stories. It was getting borderline over-outside the box, but it settled in nicely near the middle. He told comical, Dilbert-like stories about how he bucked the system within Hallmark. One of my favorites is when he was given a "special assignment" which usually is a role that you kinda hang out in until you retire or are asked to leave. He only accepts if he gets to name the role. He ends up naming the role "Creative Paradox." And since no one knows what the role really is, the role gets a false perception of power and he spends his remaining days at Hallmark as a "Creative Paradox."

There are many more stories like that... I really enjoyed the book, and have fantasies of doing some of those things in my corporation...

No Mow Count: 44

I think it's also funny that my Google ads have lawn care services in them.

More Potpourri

- As some of you may know, the last month or so has been very dry (until recently). I never believed in watering my lawn, I felt like if the grass were out in nature this is the way it would be. I'm proud to say I haven't mowed the lawn since May 19. So I'm debuting the "No Mow Count." No Mow Count: 42 consecutive days without mowing

- Jim educated me today a little bit about childbirth... he said that if there's no hospital trip by about 8 PM at night, the baby probably won't be born that day. So if the Eutslers are not at the hospital right now, Dave has struck out and Tom is on the clock.

- At the Precinct, they were handing out little cards from Delta Airlines about private jets. Tom and I figured it was a good way to hit a target audience. I was curious enough to take a card, wondering how much does my time hafta be worth to me to justify taking a private jet (I was able to fly on our company one once, and that was awesome!). Well, Delta raved about how they had one of the lowest entry price point for private jets... a card you can purchase for 10 hours of flight time. The cost of that card? "Starting at" $43,900.

- Another happening after the Precinct... I had carpooled with Tom and Meghan, and when they dropped me back off I had left my doggie bag in their car, which consisted of about half of my bone-in ribeye. Tom and I were trying to figure out the best way to get this valuable piece of meat to me, and we came up with... a rendezvous at the Audi dealership on Montgomery Road. Tom and Meghan were looking at cars, and that happened to be on the way home for me.

Sunday Night Badinage - 7/1/07

-First off, I would like to start the petition for Meghan (Tom's wife) to start her own blog. We see too many Shelby stories from Tom's point of view. I think she needs some bi-partisan balance in her human representation. Those in favor respond here.

-Had a great dinner at the Precinct (local very expensive steakhouse) tonight to celebrate the promotion. Thanks so much to Tom for setting this up, and for everyone else for coming! One of the positives of Karen being 8.99999 months pregnant is their calendar was cleared of any other engagements.

-Speaking of Karen and her pregnancy, Tom, Dave, Jim, and I have a baby pool, with $4 at stake:

• Now until Monday - Dave
• Tuesday - Tom
• Wednesday - Jim
• Thursday - Dale
• Friday - Jim
• Saturday - Tom
• Sunday - Dave
• Next Monday until infinity - Dale

- Apparently the Brewers updates are more for me than the people who read this blog. But I'm going to talk about them anyway. The Brewers got four players into the All-Star game: Prince Fielder, Ben Sheets, Francisco Cordero, and JJ Hardy. Boo yeah!

An open letter to Dave Polley

Dear Dave,

I'm writing to respond to your comments about your recent softball hitting struggles. As someone who has had many struggles, and one who will again in the future, I would tell you the best thing to do is to stay positive. It doesn't necessarily help your hitting prowess, but it does snap you out of it faster. You're someone who's been so remarkably consistent in the past that you probably don't know what it's like to to be in a slump.

You say that you're feeling your age... I actually have logical reasoning as to why that cannot be the reason for your recent slump. You age gradually; your slump has only happened recently. If you were not hitting well because of your age, it would gradually go down. You wouldn't suddenly lose it.

So what's the problem? It's just timing. I think the whole team on Wednesday was reaching for pitches. Don't know if that's because of their pitchers or if we were all anxious, but that's just what happened. So just make a point to wait back... In fact, I'm thinking I might need to do this too (my hit was a little dribbler that went through the second baseman, so I didn't exactly do well). I was almost to the point where I wasn't even paying attention to the pitch until it got closer to the plate.

So overall, you've been a consistently good hitter in the past, and you will again the future. Make a point to let the ball come to you and stay positive.