this blog can save your life.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Monday, May 14, 2012

Sporting Life 10K Toronto - Sunday May 13, 2012

Greggy and I ran the Sporting Life 10K yesterday (Mother's Day 2012) and we had a great time! I am extremely proud of Greggy for finishing the run without stopping, given he hasn't trained at all for it.

I'm proud of myself for my first race. On May 22, 2011 I started running again (thanks to my dream of enlisting in the Navy). The Navy thing didn't pan out... something about me having to know how to swim and all... but I kept up the running and here we are, 52 weeks from when I first started.

Place Bib # Name Time

14421 21618 ELAINE XXXXXXXX 1:12:53

14422 21619 GREGORY XXXXXXXX 1:12:53

We ran 7:18 minutes per 1 Km. Not bad. My goal is to get that down to 6 minutes per 1 Km and then do a half marathon in 2013.

I loved that my Mom and T were at the Finish Line to meet us... that was really nice.

Maybe this will be the start of my career in racing. Race running? Professional racing? Race runner? Professional runner? Professional race runner?

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Roma Victor!

We will be traveling to Rome soon. This is what our apartment in Trastevere looks like. I'm very excited!

Photos courtesy of my friend LC in Rome.

I am obsessed now on researching again as only four weeks to go... how can I possibly concentrate on work? How????

Exterior view

Kitchen

Bedroom

Living Room 1

Living Room 2

View from Living Room

Running Log - Week 50

  Sun 22-Apr-12   - Rest -

   Mon 23-Apr-12  - Rest -

  Tues 24-Apr-12  32:00

   Wed 25-Apr-12  - Rest -

 Thurs 26-Apr-12  - Rest -

  Fri 27-Apr-12   - Rest -

   Sat 28-Apr-12  57:59

Running Log - Week 49

  Sun 15-Apr-12   53:48

   Mon 16-Apr-12  - Rest -

  Tues 17-Apr-12  - Rest -

   Wed 18-Apr-12  42:10

 Thurs 19-Apr-12  - Rest -

  Fri 20-Apr-12   40:40

   Sat 21-Apr-12  51:40

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Running Log - Week 48

  Sun 08-Apr-12   - Away -

   Mon 09-Apr-12  34:36

  Tues 10-Apr-12  - Rest -

   Wed 11-Apr-12  40:11

 Thurs 12-Apr-12  - Rest -

  Fri 13-Apr-12   - Rest -

   Sat 14-Apr-12 - Rest -

Running Log - Week 47

  Sun 01-Apr-12   55:02

   Mon 02-Apr-12  - Rest -

  Tues 03-Apr-12  - Rest -

   Wed 04-Apr-12  31:00

Thurs 05-Apr-12   - Rest -

  Fri 06-Apr-12  41:49

   Sat 07-Apr-12 - Away -

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Running Log - Week 46

  Sun 25-Mar-12   1:16:00

   Mon 26-Mar-12  - Rest -

  Tues 27-Mar-12  42:00

   Wed 28-Mar-12  - Rest -

Thurs 29-Mar-12   39:30

  Fri 30-Mar-12  - Rest -

   Sat 31-Mar-12 - Rest -

Running Log - Week 45

  Sun 18-Mar-12   56:51

   Mon 19-Mar-12  - Rest -

  Tues 20-Mar-12  41:23

   Wed 21-Mar-12  - Rest -

Thurs 22-Mar-12   43:05

  Fri 23-Mar-12  - Rest -

   Sat 24-Mar-12 - Rest -

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Running Log - Week 44

  Sun 11-Mar-12   41:35

   Mon 12-Mar-12  - Rest -

  Tues 13-Mar-12  32:22

   Wed 14-Mar-12  - Rest -

Thurs 15-Mar-12   41:41

  Fri 16-Mar-12  - Rest -

   Sat 17-Mar-12 - Rest -

Running Log - Week 43

  Sun 04-Mar-12  54:12

   Mon 05-Mar-12  - Rest -

  Tues 06-Mar-12  42:00

   Wed 07-Mar-12  - Rest -

 Thurs 08-Mar-12 42:00

  Fri 09-Mar-12  - Rest -

   Sat 10-Mar-12  - Rest -

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Moved by Words

I always had an affinity for words and good writing.

Thanks to this post, I came across the wouldhavesaid.com site and I just died when I read this. Sometimes it's so hard to be a parent. And it's also hard being a child.

Broken Pieces

Momma,

Do you remember,

when I was breaking inside,

and when I was breaking bowls and plates and glasses

because I didn’t know how to tell you

that I wasn’t as put-together as you thought?

When I finally realized

that being quiet and stumbling through without causing problems

was just-good-enough for you,

good enough to keep you from being mad at me,

but not good enough to get attention?

When I finally realized that

by being good and letting you focus on my three brothers and their problems

and never asking for anything

was just going to end with me not having anything

and you not caring

and not understanding when I finally asked for something?

Do you remember,

when I finally told you I broke the plate,

and instead of asking why,

or what was wrong,

you said:

“That behavior is unacceptable.”

Did you stop to wonder what behaviors I had skipped for you?

Did you think about all the girls my age with kids,

with addictions and bad attitudes and no respect,

who didn’t even bother coming home at night?

Did you think about what I would feel,

knowing my behavior was ‘unacceptable’,

knowing I was ‘unacceptable’

and that nothing I could do would change that?

Did you realize it was going to make me curl up in bed

and hate for so long

and realize I’d hated the whole time,

and now,

weeks and months and years later,

when I know better,

I still hate,

and I’ll never be able to stop?

Do you remember,

when I was breaking inside,

and when I was trying to break down and tell you,

do you remember leaving me behind

with all the tiny bits of shattered Me,

and telling me the best thing to do

was to build a cage with the pieces?

I don’t think you do.

Allyssa, Your Good Kid, age 18

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Running Log - Week 42

  Sun 26-Feb-12  52:11

   Mon 27-Feb-12  - Rest -

  Tues 28-Feb-12  - Rest -

   Wed 29-Feb-12  32:00

 Thurs 01-Mar-12  - Rest -

  Fri 02-Mar-12  42:00

   Sat 03-Mar-12  - Rest -

Running Log - Week 41

  Sun 19-Feb-12  56:25

   Mon 20-Feb-12 - Rest -

  Tues 21-Feb-12  30:00

   Wed 22-Feb-12  - Rest -

 Thurs 23-Feb-12  42:00

  Fri 24-Feb-12  - Rest -

   Sat 25-Feb-12  - Rest -

Friday, March 2, 2012

Burger's Priest

www.burgerspriest.com

Tonight, I am going to the Queen East location of the Burger's Priest. I only hope it lives up to its hype. A detailed review will follow!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Running Log - Week 40

  Sun 12-Feb-12  1:00:01

   Mon 13-Feb-12  58:35

  Tues 14-Feb-12  - Rest -

   Wed 15-Feb-12  - Rest -

 Thurs 16-Feb-12  22:00 (Massive nose bleed)

  Fri 17-Feb-12  - Rest -

   Sat 18-Feb-12  - Rest -

Running Log - Week 39

  Sun 05-Feb-12  - Rest -

   Mon 06-Feb-12  - Rest -

  Tues 07-Feb-12  42:00

   Wed 08-Feb-12  - Rest -

 Thurs 09-Feb-12 30:00

  Fri 10-Feb-12  - Rest -

   Sat 11-Feb-12  - Rest -

Nothing

I have not been posting as of late (other than my running log) because I have nothing to say.

I am preoccupied with learning about DRIPs so I can get that in place before end of February.

Main goal? Accelerate my rat race exit strategy.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Running Log - Week 38

  Sun 29-Jan-12   59:02

   Mon 30-Jan-12  - Rest -

  Tues 31-Jan-12  - Rest -

   Wed 01-Feb-12  45:00

  Thurs 02-Feb-12 - Rest -

  Fri 03-Feb-12  - 42:00 -

   Sat 04-Feb-12  - 42:37 -

Running Log - Week 37

   Sun 22-Jan-12  54:39

    Mon 23-Jan-12  - Rest -

 Tues 24-Jan-12  42:00

    Wed 25-Jan-12  - Rest -

 Thurs 26-Jan-12  - Rest -

   Fri 27-Jan-12  42:00

    Sat 28-Jan-12  - Rest -

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Sears Home Services Review

What did it take for me to get my furnace serviced by Sears Home in a no-heat emergency situation?

An email to the Sears Canada CEO, Senior Vice President, and Ellen Roseman @ the Toronto Star.

Scroll down to the first email at the bottom of this page and read the story in chronological order.

--

On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Peter Kalen wrote:

Thanks for the note, Elaine. I apologize that it took so much effort on your part. It is not reflective of the type of customer service we are striving to provide.

Warm regards,

Peter Kalen
Senior Vice-President
Sears Financial and Home Services
(416) xxx-xxxx
xxxx@sears.ca

On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 1:16 PM, Elaine wrote:

Dear Peter and team:

I can confirm my furnace was fixed by 2 service technicians this morning. Heat has been restored in my house.

Peter, my sincerest appreciation for your help in turning this bad customer experience into a positive one. I'm hopeful that my future interactions with Sears Home Services will be smoother the next time around.

With thanks,
Elaine

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 8:59 PM, Elaine wrote:

Dear Peter:

I wish to provide you an update on the situation.

Thanks to your intervention and assistance, a gentleman by the name of Lissandro from the Sears Executive Offices called me around 7:30 PM today to offer help. He has made arrangements for a service technician (Adrian) to come to our home tomorrow (28-Jan by 12 noon). I understand that Adrian (the technician) will first have to provision the furnace parts required from local suppliers tomorrow and will be in a position to repair the furnace at the earliest possible time.

I am grateful for your prompt reply as I am able to see the light at the end of the (cold) tunnel. It was not my intention to escalate, although I felt I had no other recourse or option as no one from the Sears Customer Service team (except Adam and Brae (the Sears sub-contractor I mentioned in my original email below)) was willing to help me and my family.

I will provide an update to this distribution list shortly following tomorrow's service appointment. A special thanks to Lissandro for his empathy and taking the time to contact me tonight. I look forward to the forthcoming resolution.

Sincerely,
Elaine

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 6:08 PM, Roseman, Ellen <eroseman@torontostar.ca> wrote:

Thanks, Elaine, sorry about the bad furnace experience. I sent this to my Sears contact to review (xxxxx in communications). Hope he can get you some quick action.

Best wishes,

Ellen

Ellen Roseman

Toronto Star personal finance columnist

www.moneyville.ca/blog/onyourside

www.ellenroseman.com

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 6:09 PM, Peter Kalen wrote:

Elaine, I apologize for your experience and will have this looked into immediately.

Peter Kalen
Senior Vice-President
Sears Financial and Home Services
(416) xxx-xxxx
xxxx@sears.ca

From: Elaine Sent: 01/27/2012 06:05 PM EST
To: Sears Executives
Cc: eroseman@thestar.ca

Subject: Furnace Problem: No heat for 30+ hours and Sears Lack of Customer Service

Dear Sears Executives:

I purchased a furnace with Sears which is still covered by full warranty. On Thursday 26-Jan at approximately 7:00 AM, the furnace shut down after making grinding noises. I promptly called Sears Home Services http://www.searshomeservices.ca/ at 1-800-4-MY-HOME to book an appointment.

I understood a no-heat situation constitutes an emergency especially given we are in the middle of winter. I was assured by a Sears CSR that the service appointment will be for the same day.

I have received very little help from Sears Home Services thus far.

I made 4 calls to the 1-800-4-MY-HOME number on Thurs 26-Jan following my initial call (10 am, 11:34 am, 3:22 pm, 6:00 pm) as no one from Sears had followed-up with me since I first called. I was provided no commitment, no ETA for when a technician would be able to troubleshoot my furnace.

Back in November 2011 I had a my furnace maintained by Sears via a Sears sub-contractor, luckily I kept his phone number and called him directly on 26-Jan to seek help. He immediately contacted Sears Customer Service to investigate, only to find out that no service appointment was booked for me on 26-Jan. Rather, it was for the next day. He was understanding of the no-heat situation and arranged to go to my home on 26-Jan to look at the furnace. In short, the furnace needed parts replacement ordered before it can be fixed. The sub-contractor placed the order on the same day and was kind enough to leave us one of his portable heaters to assist us through the night.

On Friday 27-Jan, I called 1-800-4-MY-HOME again at 8:45 AM to inquire on the status of the parts order. At this point, I expected the Sears CSR to be able to advise me when the replacement parts will be available. I was advised by the CSR that the parts had arrived on Friday 27-Jan, the technician had it, and my furnace will be restored on 27-Jan. This made me feel really good.... until I received a call two hours later that the parts did not arrive, the technician does not have them, and the earliest we could expect our furnace to be restored MAY be Monday 30-Jan, but they are unable to commit whether Monday will be doable.

This is confusing to me as a Sears Call center Team Leader advised me specifically that the parts were shipped from Belleville today 27-Jan and the truck rolls go out at 2pm EST with arrival in GTA by 5 PM on the same day. The Team Lead / Supervisor (Malisha - sp?) - who promised to call me before she leaves work at 5 PM to provide an update on the parts order - has not called me back, not that I am surprised anymore.

Essentially this means we will be in a no-heat situation for 5 consecutive days.

I do not know what type of service provider lets their customers go 5 days in the middle of winter without any heat. Perhaps I would have been in a better situation if I called another Furnace Repair Service provider, however, my furnace is still under warranty with Sears and I expect the company to honour our legally binding agreement.

As I am writing this letter at 5:32 PM on 27-Jan, I am again on the phone with one of your 1-800-4-MY-HOME CSRs.

Another Team Leader (Adam, Toronto Office) is trying to help me, the first Sears employee to actually provide assistance. He has called the Parts Department who advised that the parts will be arriving Monday 30-Jan. Assuming this is the case, my furnace may possibly be restored by Monday. In the meantime, Adam is trying to make arrangement for Sears Scarborough Town Centre to hold three portable heaters to get us through the weekend, which he advised me to purchase with my Sears Credit Card and Sears will re-imburse me for the cost of the heaters ($90 + HST x 3).

I have been a loyal Sears customer for 5 years and I never thought that I had to beg Sears to provide me with assistance. I am disenchanted by the lack of service, the complete disregard for my well being by at least 5 CSRs. Adam was the only one who even attempted to make an effort to assist.

I am not sure how this story will end, if we will get our furnace restored on Monday 30-Jan, or perhaps we go on without it for another week or so. I will keep you and Ellen Roseman http://www.ellenroseman.com from the Toronto Star (an advocate for the consumer) posted.

--

Elaine

Sears account phone number: 416-xxx-xxxx

Mobile: 416-xxx-xxxx

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Running Log - Week 36

Sun 15-Jan-12   59:02

 Mon 16-Jan-12  - Rest -

Tues 17-Jan-12  - Rest -

 Wed 18-Jan-12   42:00 (i)

Thurs 19-Jan-12  - Rest -

Fri 20-Jan-12   42:00 (i)

  Sat 21-Jan-12   - Rest -

Running Log - Week 35

Sun 08-Jan-12  - Rest -

 Mon 09-Jan-12 - Rest -

Tues 10-Jan-12   50:36

Wed 11-Jan-12    43:59

Thurs 12-Jan-12  - Rest -

  Fri 13-Jan-12  42:00

  Sat 14-Jan-12   - Rest -

Monday, January 16, 2012

Running Log - Week 34

   Sun 01-Jan-12  50:46

    Mon 02-Jan-12 - Rest (Honduras)-

  Tues 03-Jan-12  - Rest (Honduras)-

   Wed 04-Jan-12  - Rest (Honduras)-

 Thurs 05-Jan-12  - Rest (Honduras)-

  Fri 06-Jan-12   - Rest (Honduras)-

  Sat 07-Jan-12   - Rest (Honduras)-

Running Log - Week 33

   Sun 25-Dec-11  52:05

   Mon 26-Dec-11  - Rest -

  Tues 27-Dec-11  50:20

  Wed 28-Dec-11   - Rest -

 Thurs 29-Dec-11  49:00

 Fri 30-Dec-11    - Rest -

  Sat 31-Dec-11   - Rest -

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Fear and Loathing

Salvador Dali: Down the Rabbit Hole

I had a very weird dream last night and I can recall it vividly. I don't usually remember my dreams, they are more fuzzy memories than anything.

I know my dream last night is one of my biggest fears about rabbit.

I hope it's just a dream.