horrid customer service

If your bank/credit card company gets acquired by Bank of America, just kiss any concept of service you may have goodbye.

I just loved my MBNA card I had the last few years..great service on calls, great performance on the website. Now when I call BoA I get extremely long hold times, confused service reps who can't do much to help me, and if I do ask about fees and such, all they can do is confirm 'yes, we have fees for everything' It makes using the card for rewards painful. Using the card internationally (3% fee on every txn) is just out of the question.

Oh well, just whining. I'll be using the capital one when I'm overseas.

late nights

One of the good things about international ops is you get to travel a few weeks a year. One of the bad things is that you are on call or working a much longer day all the rest of the weeks of the year. Tonight was a crummy night on call but not really bad or anywhere near terrible--just a few hours. Got paged at 11:30 while starting to snooze/telling the oldest son a story. Minor issue, spirals up a bit, then the fallout and some emails to make sure we do better next time, etc etc. So it's 3am and I'm going to bed. Then I'm lying there awake, thinking the workday needs to be 12 hours, not 8-9, because I didnt' make enough progress on every project I needed to today...a few made progress, but not all. Oh well...worry about it tomorrow.

Then just before I drift off, I realize that I didn't see my younger son today. I hadn't seen him in over 24 hours. Boy that just feels freakin great... I about cried thinking that it's one of those things you always think 'I didn't even see my family today!' but it doesn't actually ever really happen. And then it does. I peeked in him, and he's fine...but I still feel like a lousy parent. I also fed the cats while I was up (They said they have been neglected a lot too, but I don't believe that. Cats lie about everything.), then I put my hours in for the day and read a few more emails of what's happened in the last 20 mins. So now back to bed, it's 3:30.

I would say that someday this will all pay off, but honestly, I like my job and they do take care of me. I just need to stop more often, know when to quit for the day, and keep in mind that there are more important things. The little voice in my head keeps saying 'bad parent' though. Damnit.

January

It's going to be quiet on here for a little while. Lots of work, lots of family time, and I'm working on my house when I get spare time. Some tidbits.

We saw Casino Royale the other night. Fabulous. Very nice to get out of the house for a date too. We had a nice meal at Stir Crazy. Thumbs up for them too--recommended.

Blues are on a win streak...what do ya know? Is it real? Are we indeed the .500 team with potential we thought we had coming into this year? Ehhh...i dont think so. We're overachieving a bit right now, no injuries and new coach Murray is doing a great job, but I think we'll have a slump soon to offset this recent spurt. I think if we're a few points from playoff contention near the trade deadline, we'd be wise to sell. Too many teams every year think they're buyers and they're not. Let's be real...we are not doing better than maybe a #7 seed and a first round upset then a crushing in the 2nd round, if we even do make it in at all. That isn't bad for some teams, but c'mon, with our team's history, we aren't satisfied with round 1 OR 2. Let's invest in the '08 and '09 seasons now and deal some of the older talent to teams that want to win right now. Trade KT. Brewer if possible. Drake if possible. Ruccinsky for sure if someone will take him. Any goalie out of Cash, Sanford and Legace is fine by me...we want the future to be Schwarz and Bishop anyway.

Finally, as for the NFL on Sunday...c'mon Saints and Colts. Nothing personal against da bears, but they're a flawed team. Time for the clock to strike 12 on that bad offense. And F the Pats, plain and simple. I hope their luck finally runs out and the other team doesn't GIVE them the game again, as has been done in a few of their impressive wins of the last 6 years. Yes, theyr'e a good team, good coach, good QB and good talent, but they've gotten some nice breaks too in their opponents just jumping on grenades when they get a chance. My rams in 01 is a good example of course, and then you have the chargers last week doing it again.

Hope this note finds you, and finds you well.
Cheers,
Mike

Spider Studies

The short-term effects of various toxins on spider behavior (Canadian zoological research)

You know I used to do biological research. Ground-breaking stuff like this makes me wonder why I ever sold out and moved into IT.

2007

Things to look forward to this year--- a business trip to London, a trip to Austin (just the 2 of us!), a fishing trip to Ontario with my dad and brothers. Cam turns 4 this week, Patch will be ...wow... 3 (much later in the year), a little less debt, my first spring with my MINI, hockey playoffs on Center Ice (yay!) and hopefully an all-around great year like last.

Oh, and mark your calendars if you skate--we're playing hockey come April. My 35th birthday party is going to be pickup hockey! I can't wait. Place and date TBA.

Hope 2007 is good to you too, my friends.