Changed pharmacies

Here's what I sent to Walgreen's just now:

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I tried to do the survey on my pharmacy receipt, which would have been a glowing one had I been able to get past the first step, but it wouldn't recognize the fact that I had selected a category for the first comment even though I =HAD= chosen "Pharmacy" as that category. Therefore, I could not complete the survey. Therefore, I could not be entered in the drawing for the $3,000! You guys had me 110% satisfied up to that point. Too bad you had to tarnish the record by a bummed-up survey page.

Here's the deal. I went to two different pharmacies for my prescription. Neither one had it in stock. One -- at the doctor's office -- would have it in two days, but I thought maybe my regular Rite-Aid pharmacy would have it.

Wow, not only did they not have it in stock, but the only person who could order it was the pharmacy manager, and he was out on vacation! They wouldn't attempt to contact another Rite-Aid to find out if one of their own stores had it in stock, either.

Hmmm, there's a Walgreen's right down the street by where I get on the freeway, maybe THEY have it....

Not only did they have it, they said it would take just a few minutes to get it done. And they offered to have their system automatically text my cell phone to let me know when it was ready. So I could just go out to the car, kick back with a magazine or even take a nap. The only disappointment was that it was ready SO FAST I barely had time to get comfortable in the car before I had to go back in and get the Rx!!!

So all of this would have gone into your survey, but I couldn't get past the first page of the survey site. Bummer, guys!

Hey, you still have me as a customer, but I was really disappointed about missing out on my chance for the money.

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What can I say? :) //Steve//

Memorial Day

A couple of observations…

At our local church, the pastor makes a point of recognizing veterans of all branches of the service during the Sunday service on Memorial Day weekend (since Veteran's Day isn't always on a Sunday).  God bless him, he also remembers to honor our spouses, who are as important to our military service as we are!

Yesterday after church, we were at the gas station, waiting in line to fill up.  At the pump, an elderly gentleman with a walker was waiting for the attendant to bring his change out.  The young lady behind him went in to “expedite” that, while I helped him into his car.  We talked briefly, and I asked him if he was a veteran.  Yes, he was, retired from the Air Force in 1962.  He was a pilot on four-engine aircraft – a fact I got from him after a couple of more questions.  (He was ever so slightly reluctant to go into it.)  I thought he might have meant B-47s or whatnot, but it turns out his “four-engine aircraft” were B-17 and B-24 bombers over Europe during World War II!

My wife honked at me once to remind me that there was a line, so I respectfully got him into his truck and saluted as he settled in.  After he left, I told her that this man flew through hell and back, many times, and lived to tell the tale.  He deserved a little respect from the generations that followed him into the service.  She realized at that moment exactly how much that meant to someone like me, and wisely dropped the subject. :)  I think my daughter and granddaughter, both of whom were also in the car, might not understand quite how important that was to me to have the privilege of helping someone out who gave so much, but maybe someday they’ll understand…

An online cartoonist, going by the name Farva, has a daily strip called Air Force Blues.  Today’s strip says pretty much all there is to say about Memorial Day.  You can see it here – and I recommend strongly that you do.

//Steve//

We’ve moved…

 

…and chaos reigns!

We pulled up stakes from the Wildomar house on Saturday, 15-May.  VIP Mayflower came and picked up everything, and plunked us down at the new place in Corona.  As they did before – they’ve moved us at least one time before – they took good care of us.  Money was pretty critical this time, so I asked if they could match or beat the quote from another mover for the cost of packing.  (We were trying to do our own packing to save money, but there was just so much stuff, and with my limited capabilities since the back surgery I was just not up to it.)  They beat the quote, so our move came in at just under $2k for all that stuff!!!  The place we’re in now is smaller, so it’s taking us a while to get everything settled in to the reduced capacity of our new home.  But we’ll get there.

The chaos factor has increased, since our oldest daughter and granddaughter have moved back here from New Mexico.  They’re in the process of finding jobs and a place to live, so the nest has gone from empty back to being to very full for the time being.  It’s a little stressful, especially for me, but I think after a while I’ll be okay with it.  I love ‘em both to pieces, but my problem (and it’s MY problem, nothing against them!) is that we haven’t even got all of our stuff unpacked yet and now we’re having to deal with another U-Haul truck full of stuff.  I got a little stressed-out over it all, and I reacted badly, so I’ve got some apologizing to do.

My laptop also went on the fritz just after we moved, so I’m having to make do with a desktop (no portability) with half the memory and almost a tenth of the disk space as my trusty XPS, so I’m looking at replacement options.  The optical drive was going out on it anyway, so it’s probably just as well that I have to replace it, but it’s not something I can really afford right now.

We also had to deal with the expense of replacing the engine in our car, since the engine blew recently.  More on that one in a coming post.  Brace yourself on that one – lots of drama, including the betrayal by someone whom I thought was a very good friend.

Anyway, we’re here.  I’ve sent out a change of address email to a list of friends, but if you’re reading this and didn’t get the email, let me know.  Some addresses came back as no longer valid, and I don’t have email addresses for everyone I know.

//Steve//

Don’t Mess With Old Folks

Just read a great joke in email:

An older gentleman had an appointment to see the urologist who shared offices with several other doctors.   The waiting room was filled with patients.   As he approached the receptionist's desk, he noticed that the receptionist was a large unfriendly woman who looked like a Sumo wrestler.

He gave her his name.

In a very loud voice, the receptionist said, "YES, I HAVE YOUR NAME HERE; YOU WANT TO SEE THE DOCTOR ABOUT IMPOTENCE, RIGHT?"

All the patients in the waiting room snapped their heads around to look at the very embarrassed man.   He recovered quickly, and in an equally loud voice replied,   'NO, I'VE COME TO INQUIRE ABOUT A SEX CHANGE OPERATION, BUT I DON'T WANT THE SAME DOCTOR THAT DID YOURS.'

Moral of the story: DON'T MESS WITH OLD FOLKS.

Giving In Reverse

I learned a very important lesson in the past couple of weeks.  A very wise friend told me that it’s a little bit selfish to refuse to allow someone to help you when you need it.  To do so denies the person wanting to help you from receiving the blessings that come to those who want to help.

That didn’t quite hit home until this week.  Usually we’re the ones that do the helping and giving.  This week we’ve hit some personal crises of our own, which seemed insurmountable at the time.  Our church family stepped in to provide the help we so desperately need.  My normal reaction would be to thankfully decline the help, but now I’ve learned the difficult lesson of thankfully accepting the blessings that others want to give.

It’s a hard lesson, one that’s taking a lot of prayer on my part.  I’m not a “taker” – far from it.  I only hope that I’m able someday to give back to those who are giving so much of themselves to help us in our time of need.

-- //Steve//

PS: A profound and heartfelt “thank you” to those of you who have so faithfully provided support and prayer for both Claudia and me during my recent hospitalization.  I’m eternally grateful to all of you, and especially those who have been there to support my wife during this time.  By being there for her, you’ve helped her be there for me – and without her, I seriously doubt I’d be here to post this to you.  She’s the love of my life, someone I really don’t deserve but am grateful beyond words to have in my world.

“Our Daily Bread”

At one time, I was getting a monthly booklet with daily devotionals called “Our Daily Bread,” produced by the Radio Bible Class (RBC) organization.

Now they have an online version at http://odb.org which has each day’s devotional online.  Well worth checking out.

-- //Steve//

Time-Warner just blew it

Just saw a Time-Warner Cable commercial on TV, slamming DSL.  “Tired of slow DSL speeds delivered over old copper wires?”

Guess what, TWC – the center conductor of your cable is copper wire!

-- //Steve//