Already April
Wow, is this year unfolding more quickly than usual, or what?
Hard (for me, anyway) to believe that it's already April 3. Lots and lots of things happening recently, both in the news and here at home.
In the interest of equal time, let me share a couple of customer service stories, as I often do. We finally "joined" one of the local HVAC sales and repair organizations, as we now pay them a small monthly fee to pre-pay for twice-a-year service calls. Apparently this puts us higher on the list if we have a sudden equipment failure.
Anyway, in our case the only variable for us was that I committed to buying my own filters for our heating and cooling units, as I can get them cheaper than they were prepared to sell them to me. They have my cellphone number and I had set up yesterday's six-month check a couple of weeks ago. I was finishing lunch with a friend and my phone rang, and it was the service tech calling to ask if I would mind meeting him a little early, and we agreed to meet at the house in about twenty minutes.
When I arrived he had a filter propped up against the garage, and when I greeted him at the outside part of our system (he had already begun his checks), I said that I was supposed to supply the filters. "That's OK," he said. "I don't mind, and it's not my money." We went inside and I took him to the space through the upstairs guest room closet where our interior units are.
He came downstairs about ten minutes later, proclaimed a clean bill of health and brought down a slightly soiled filter. He reminded me that we had bought an additional filtration module, and that was doing its job. He also said that I should buy a certain kind of filters for that. He then went back outside to finish checking the exterior compressor unit, and came back and smiled, saying "You won't see me again for a while, everything is in great shape!" No forms, no signature, I'd already paid for it with my membership. Neat and easy.
Later in the day, I returned the filters I had purchased to the home improvement store and was given the third degree by the returns clerk (who'd had quite a rough transaction right before mine, I observed). After several attempts to imply that I was returning used filters were unsuccessful, she relented and I got my money back.
It looks like President Trump is signaling that he wants his money back, or the government's, as he's mentioned repeatedly that he's cutting off financial aid to Honduras, Guatamala and El Salvador, the countries from which a high percentage of migrants attempting to enter the US are originating. Study after study indicates that aid actually reduces the number of people who would seek refuge in other countries, but on we go with the charade to "close the southern border."
We also got a whiplash chain of events regarding healthcare, as after claiming exoneration by Attorney General William Barr's brief summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's massive investigation report, the President decided that he wanted another swing at eliminating the Affordable Care Act in favor of a yet undisclosed Republican healthcare plan. Deja vu all over again, but this time the Republicans in the Senate persuaded him to table this action until after the 2020 election.
I for one hope to see the Mueller report in whatever form it's available to the public. When and if that happens.
If you don't follow sports you would not know that Kentucky's basketball team lost in overtime on Sunday for the right to go to the national Final Four segment of the NCAA tournament. A few days after, news surfaced of another school's interest in coach John Calipari, and Kentucky then swiftly reached agreement with the coach on what amounts to a "lifetime" extension of his contract, including a role as a university ambassador after he retires from coaching. Good on them.
Finally, since it's April, I'll mention that my Cincinnati Reds are off to a very mediocre start. They won on Opening Day last week and have not won since, with a rainout thrown in for good measure. Looks like some room for improvement, but they still have 158 games yet to play!
Hard (for me, anyway) to believe that it's already April 3. Lots and lots of things happening recently, both in the news and here at home.
In the interest of equal time, let me share a couple of customer service stories, as I often do. We finally "joined" one of the local HVAC sales and repair organizations, as we now pay them a small monthly fee to pre-pay for twice-a-year service calls. Apparently this puts us higher on the list if we have a sudden equipment failure.
Anyway, in our case the only variable for us was that I committed to buying my own filters for our heating and cooling units, as I can get them cheaper than they were prepared to sell them to me. They have my cellphone number and I had set up yesterday's six-month check a couple of weeks ago. I was finishing lunch with a friend and my phone rang, and it was the service tech calling to ask if I would mind meeting him a little early, and we agreed to meet at the house in about twenty minutes.
When I arrived he had a filter propped up against the garage, and when I greeted him at the outside part of our system (he had already begun his checks), I said that I was supposed to supply the filters. "That's OK," he said. "I don't mind, and it's not my money." We went inside and I took him to the space through the upstairs guest room closet where our interior units are.
He came downstairs about ten minutes later, proclaimed a clean bill of health and brought down a slightly soiled filter. He reminded me that we had bought an additional filtration module, and that was doing its job. He also said that I should buy a certain kind of filters for that. He then went back outside to finish checking the exterior compressor unit, and came back and smiled, saying "You won't see me again for a while, everything is in great shape!" No forms, no signature, I'd already paid for it with my membership. Neat and easy.
Later in the day, I returned the filters I had purchased to the home improvement store and was given the third degree by the returns clerk (who'd had quite a rough transaction right before mine, I observed). After several attempts to imply that I was returning used filters were unsuccessful, she relented and I got my money back.
It looks like President Trump is signaling that he wants his money back, or the government's, as he's mentioned repeatedly that he's cutting off financial aid to Honduras, Guatamala and El Salvador, the countries from which a high percentage of migrants attempting to enter the US are originating. Study after study indicates that aid actually reduces the number of people who would seek refuge in other countries, but on we go with the charade to "close the southern border."
We also got a whiplash chain of events regarding healthcare, as after claiming exoneration by Attorney General William Barr's brief summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's massive investigation report, the President decided that he wanted another swing at eliminating the Affordable Care Act in favor of a yet undisclosed Republican healthcare plan. Deja vu all over again, but this time the Republicans in the Senate persuaded him to table this action until after the 2020 election.
I for one hope to see the Mueller report in whatever form it's available to the public. When and if that happens.
If you don't follow sports you would not know that Kentucky's basketball team lost in overtime on Sunday for the right to go to the national Final Four segment of the NCAA tournament. A few days after, news surfaced of another school's interest in coach John Calipari, and Kentucky then swiftly reached agreement with the coach on what amounts to a "lifetime" extension of his contract, including a role as a university ambassador after he retires from coaching. Good on them.
Finally, since it's April, I'll mention that my Cincinnati Reds are off to a very mediocre start. They won on Opening Day last week and have not won since, with a rainout thrown in for good measure. Looks like some room for improvement, but they still have 158 games yet to play!
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