Strange things afoot in PDX

We had to make a short notice trip back to Portland for a funeral last week, and had an experience that I just have to share.

The church service was attended by a number of folks that I didn't know, as the deceased was very active in the church community and had volunteered for many years. After some very nice words from the pastor and the family, the floor was opened up for the audience to make comments and pay their respects.

Most of the folks talked about memories from church or from volunteering...the usual fare. But one speaker stood out from all the rest. Let me do my best to recount his little talk:

"Hi...uh...I didn't know Wes (the deceased). In fact this is my first time visiting this church. I was just looking for a Tai Chi class and got a little tired and decided to make a pit stop. It sounds like he was a great guy, and who knows, maybe his spirit brought me here for a reason!?"

Now...I really didn't know Wes all that well, but I from what I gathered from him his spirit probably wouldn't be hanging out with a 20-something looking for a martial arts class.

But hey...you never know, right?

Comcast FTL!

For the record...I hate Comcast.

The problem is they have a decent product...and really have no competition. Which is really sad, because it allows them to get away with ish like this:

November 30th- Service installed, but no HDMI output from the cable box
December 6th- Total outtage (with family in town and the football playoffs on TV)
December 9th- First service call...tech says it's a problem in the neighborhood and service will be up by the end of the day. Service did not come back.
December 10th- Comcast says there was a global problem in my neighborhood, but it's been resolve. I argue my service is still out- they tell me it should be working. An hour later, there are 4 trucks in my neighborhood.
December 11th- get TV back...but it's very pixelated and sound cuts in and out. Spotty internet.
December 13th- Second tech call. Tech finds a questionable splitter and swaps it out. Service comes back strong. Attempt to hook up wireless router...doesn't work. But internet will work when hard plugged.
December 18th- bought new wireless router...everything works! Call regarding HDMI output on cable box. While on the phone, Comcast remotely resets cable box, internet stops working. troubleshoot problem...and it appears modem is bad
December 21st- third tech call. Tech tests everything and finds multiple failures. Swaps modem and box. When he leaves...everything is working. Finally!

So...exactly 3 weeks after the original install everything is working. What BS is that!? At $150 a month, I have paid almost $120 for services not rendered. Not cool.

What's worse is there are little to no options other than Comcast. DSL services are a joke. I would love satellite TV, but now they require hefty commitments and don't have the internet solutions Comcast can provide. Verizon and their FIOS seems to be a great alternative...but it isn't available in many areas at this time.

I just hate being stuck. My recommendation...if you have other alternatives, use them!

London, UK

My trip to the UK was a very important business trip, so the bulk of my time was spent working and stressing over a number of things this week. However, I must say that the trip did have a number of high points.

First, the flight. When I was getting ready for this trip I happened to skim through my company’s travel policies and procedures, and it just so happens that any international flights spanning the Atlantic or Pacific get booked in Business Class, and I made sure everyone knew that portion. Yes, being on a plane for 8-11 hours a stretch is very tedious and extremely tiring…but I’m amazed at the amount you can offset with the proper service. More space than any First Class cabin I’ve previously been in, a 5 course meal, drinks, Bose noise cancelling headsets, seats that lie nearly flat, and an in seat entertainment systems with a number of movies and TV shows at your fingertips…the flight really wasn’t that bad. It’s the only way to make a trip that long…I can’t imagine how the people in coach made it in one piece.

When I finally did make it to London, I was amazed. Few cities have ever made such an immediate impact as this one. Everyone was so polite and courteous, all the amazing history the city holds…the only word to describe it is ‘elegant’. Granted I really only had one night to explore the city, and even then I didn’t have much time…but it made a solid impact on me. This is a city I will come back to, as I fell in love the first night. Hopefully next time I can bring Gayle…and some cash. With the British Pound over 2 to 1 to the US Dollar, it’s expensive. Our car service, which ranged from 1-3 hours per trip was between $250 and $350 each trip. The Hilton in the “ok” part of town was almost $600 a night, and I can’t even imagine how expensive the shopping would be if I went. I pulled 50GBP(100USD) out of an ATM one day at lunch and it was gone with a taxi ride and round of pints at the airport.

And the food! If someone ever tells you English food leaves something to be desired, I want to you punch them squarely in the mouth. It was amazing! Now granted, we were entertaining clients, so we dropped some coin at times. We ate at an amazing Indian restaurant which held so many flavors I never thought my mouth would recover...but when the tab reached well over $1000 US for four people it will probably be a once in a lifetime experience. The second night we found Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen, which not only had an amazing sampling of dishes but was founded to help troubled young people get a second chance at life by teaching them a trade. (Insert URL). At $120 per person, it really wasn’t that bad considering what the money was supporting. And on the third night we found the most amazing Argentinean steakhouse which was completely packed at 11pm…and ended up being the cheapest dinner of the week! But even the meals we didn’t pay through the nose for- Beef and Mushroom pies at the pub, Fish and Chips, Lamb Kebobs…all of them fantastic! Second to none…all of them!

The best news from this trip however came from the client reaction…he absolutely loved us, and is ready to give us almost all of the European business on a silver platter. We are already planning another trip to the UK in February…but that’s only the beginning. Germany, Holland, and France are already in the works as well…it’s going to be an excellent adventure, I know it. If you haven’t already, you might want to subscribe to the blog. There’s going to be some excellent reading in the future :)

The United Kingdom and the Mercedes E220

I mentioned earlier that I was taking a trip to Great Britain for work, as my new client’s UK division is launching a new program. Now this is a big deal- our first European program and I got to be one of three people to head over the pond to kick it off. Needless to say, it was an absolute ton of work and everyone else at work hates me now. It’s good to be hated sometimes :)

Getting around in the UK can be difficult- they drive on the left side of the road, none of the roads are marked, and none of us that were going knew anything about the layout. Coupled with the fact that we had been traveling for around 14 hours straight when we got there, no one was up for the task of driving.

Fortunately we had thought ahead and hired a car service. Robert and his Mercedes was there to meet us at Gatwick and drive us up to North Hampton, which was around 3 hours away. My first impression of this car was that it seemed very small. Usually the E class seem like a bit of a boat, but with 4 good sized guys and enough luggage for a week the space fills up fairly fast. I however was extremely impressed with the car’s performance though- considering it was a diesel. Average speed varied quite a bit as we went from the city to the country, but our mileage was always on the north side of 40mpg. And went Robert finally “put his toe down” (not that often), the car responded magnificently. It was a very grueling 3 hour drive though. His driving was so cautious it made my eye twitch. In fact, he left the directional on for so long once I reached over and turned it off myself. He gave me the look of death…which was warranted because it was a dick move. But I don’t think he realized just how close he was to getting carjacked by his own passengers so they could drive the car the way it was meant to be.

The Europeans have got it right. You can take a luxury car and add a diesel engine and keep it luxury. The engine was near silent, had plenty of pep, didn’t have that “smell”(which may be a shame to some), and STILL get the efficiency. North America seriously needs to pull their heads out and take a look around. Talk about hybrids all you want…give me a diesel any day.

As long as whoever drives “puts their toe down” :)