Read carefully

Billboard located in Uptown

Its beginning to look a lot like Chr...rrr...Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from snowy Minnesota....

Sick as a dog...but I'm home

Home this week because of Thanksgiving holiday.  But I've got a cold to beat the band.

You may have heard on the news that we got a bad ice storm Saturday night.  We did.  I drove Christine, Tom and Christine's parents to see Harry Potter. We got back just as it all started...thank goodness it wasn't any later.  Just walking home from Christine's place was getting treacherous.  By Sunday morning the sidewalks were rediculous.  We don't get these ice storms very often.

Gonna stay in bed mostly today.

A missed photo opportunity

My nephew, Kevin, flew through Minneapolis yesterday evening.  I picked him up at the airport and we had drinks and dinner in my neighborhood.

He spent the night.  We went to Isles Bun & Coffee for coffee and a pecan roll. Then I took him to the airport.

We had great conversations.  I finally got to learn what he does as a geolgist at the University of Utah.  He is on something that could be big for our country's energy resources.

We only had a few hours together but I forgot to take a picture.  He is very handsome, too, ladies.

Roasting Frankie by the Fire

Frankie has been fascinated and enjoyed the new gas fire insert everytime it has been on.

Yes, it snowed.

I haven't heard what the official amount was but it was a lot and it was wet, wet, wet.

You can see how it is sticking to everything.

Chrysler 300 (Touring)

I decided to go with a big car this week which will come into play later.

I think the 300 is a big car.  It looks big from the outside. It has those thin, mysterious, sinister looking windows all around.  I thought it would be difficult to see all around with this type of window design.  But it isn't.  I didn't notice any more blind spots than in any other vehicle.

Chrysler has gone very analog in this "Touring" version of the 300.  There is an analog clock in the center of the dash similar to Cadillac.  Even the A/C-heating is analog...knobs to adjust the temperature even in auto setting.  I have not seen that on any other vehicle.

The 300 has very good acceleration from all speeds...complete stop to passing.  The leather seats are comfortable.  The one thing that bugged me was a wind noise from the rear driver side.  Apparently the window or door fit is not exact.  These little noise nuisances are a big deal for me because it shows problems with workmanship.

Now to the big car effect.  It snowed in Denver this week.  A big car means a lot of surface area for snow to pile up on.  National Car did supply a decent size snow brush...thank goodness.  It was placed on the dash, whether on purpose or not, which made it very easy to find though not easy to reach as the dash is nearly 2 feet deep.

And now a compliment to National Car Rental.  As you may remember I had a very bad time with them in Denver the last time.  This time the experience was completely the opposite.  My reservation ended up on the wrong credit card again...I still don't know how that is happening.  But this time the supervisor was out in the check-in.  He took me immediately to a convenient counter and processed the correction quickly....though he had to press about a million keys and cycle through a dozen screens.  I greatly appreciated the quick fix.

Better Business

As you know I purchased a new boiler and a ductless air-conditioning system from my gas company, Center Point Energy.  I could receive an additional $500.00 off if I paid with cash. I have an equity line that I can draw from so a wrote a check on that account and got the additional discount.

Flash ahead to yesterday...I got my gas bill from Center Point Energy...for a huge some of money!  Turns out the check apparently did not go through and the first I knew of it was that my gas bill reflected the entire purchase amount.  And a $10.00 returned check fee.

I called the gas company to ask what had happened.  The billings person, Adam, said the check was returned and I owed them the full amount plus the $10.00.  I said that wasn't possible because there was more than enough money available.  He said to call the bank and have them fax proof.

I called the bank.  The bank operator said that no attempt had been made to withdraw money from the equity line.  I would have to go to a branch to have the fax generated for Center Point.

I went to the bank today.  Michele at the Uptown Branch was very nice, very patient and very persistent.  She tracked down that the checks I had were for an old account that no longer existed.  Apparently I had done a refinance on the equity line in 2004 and that generated a new account number.  US Bank had not given me new checks though.

Michele typed up a letter explaining what had happened and faxed to Adam at Center Point.  I called him to let him know it was there.  He got it and said he would remove the $10.00 fee.

Meanwhile, I realized that the $500.00 cash discount was not included in my gas bill.  I contacted my salesman who gave me Nancy's name and number at Center Point billing.  I called her to explain what had happened and since I was planning on paying the bill in full, could I not still be qualified for the discount.  She said she would talk to her supervisor and get to me.

Nancy called me later in the day to say the supervisor had agreed and she would credit my billing with the $500.00!!

I am super super happy on how I was treated by US Bank and Center Point Energy.  It took some effort on my part but not really that much.  The way everyone handled the situation was fantastic and shows that some businesses do care.

Christmas music!? Really!?

Christmas music being piped into hotel lobby!?  It really is too early for that.

Of course, the shopping center was fully decked out in lights.  And the trees around the client's office were being draped in lights today.  And I did buy new outdoor lights for the house this past weekend.

It was 70 degrees today in Denver.  Expecting snow by Thursday if not even by tomorrow.

Denver bound

Back to Denver this week.  It was a study in crowd behaviour this morning at the airport.  The flight attendants were late so people gathered around the gate.  The group kept growing and were well out into the aisle way. 

Ours was gate F1, the first one and at the "top" of the concourse, therefore, everyone waiting in the concourse was blockng the rest of the 15 gates.  One guy in particular just parked himself right in the middle and was oblivious to all the people trying to get around him.  No one said anything to him.  A woman next to me kept shaking her head and I knew she was thinking the same thing as I was...."Why don't you move out of the way, sir?"

Minnesota AIDS Walk award

First coffee (first Saturday of the month) had a surprise element...Rosie's Art Ensemble team for the 2010 Minnesota AIDS Walk received their sixth place award!

That is an improvement up from seventh last year.  Congratulations to the team and all the donors.

A smile and a laugh

I was making my morning walk to the coffee shop.  It was cold and crisp and the sun was rising.  The maple tree in front of the church was a blaze of yellow.  Leaves were wafting down...floating...shining...making me smile.

Then a leaf crashed right in my face!  It made me laugh.

It was one of the best starts to a day ever.

And the annual ginko leaf drop as it finally got cold enough this morning.

Also, my Mom and I had an email discussion over whether the fruit of a ginko tree stinks...you have to have a female ginko tree to have fruit.  Most cities try not to plant femail ginko trees.  There happens to be one done the block from my house.

I had claimed that there was no smell.  Well, there definitely is.  The fruit is all over the sidewalk and I stepped all in it.  By the time I got home, I (my shoes) stunk up a bunch.  Avoid ginko fruit.

Before the freeze

Clipped these off before the A/C outdoor unit was installed and before the first big frost.  Thought they looked pretty.

Trail of Terror -- boo!

Christine, Kay and I made our annual trek to Shakopee for the "Trail of Terror" fun and scariness last Saturday...the night before Halloween.

It was a great night for a hay ride and scare.  We had a couple of small girls in front of us on the hay ride and they were genuinely frightened by the ghouls and goblins...lots of goblins.

This year's fright maze was particularly good.  Kay lead the way as we traveled through the long and very dark passageways.  Several frights had us all screaming but Kay took the prize when this very small clown had her flailing her arms and stamping her feet.  I laughed and laughed until a tall clown scared the you-know-what out of me.

Way, way fun!