Making excuses has never been my strongpoint. Why did I wait to mow the yard? Uhhh. Why Did I not take the trash out? Uhm...
Pedestrian examples I know, but the excuses that I was going to make for not making a post on here in the past month ended up being the meat and bones to my post this evening so just sit back, relax and try to enjoy my months events:)
After being given my rental car, a Chevrolet Cobalt 4-door, I was ever so nicely introduced to the difficulties in ergonomics in a budget vehicle. Which, I mean, there are plenty of vehicles on the market that are miles better than the Cobalt and they have more features-per-dollar and they can do more tricks but after 1200 miles in the car and literally using it for what its worth I can tell you that I really enjoyed it, and I am not afraid to say that in a crowded room.
Here are the specs.
Vehicle Weight-2,805lbs
Gas Mileage (cty/hwy)-25/37
Trunk Space-13.9 cu/ft.
Silver Car, Black Interior.
The car had a CD player and some mini features, things like real-time TPMS sensors and an honest-to-goodness sound system. The fabric was busy at best but durable. Gas Mileage was strangely below average considering my light foot after the first week. Traveling to work though was great at road testing the vehicle on roads and highways but the tires were super fuel-saver economy tires so they weren't shy at showing their lack of adhesion in everything except going around the drive-thru.
However, the day I turned the car in and left. I was riding with my good friend back to my parents house. I was racking my brain at the thought that this car had actually been legitimately good to me. I hated on it, I had the A/C blowing all the time, I carried 4 people in it, I spilled sweet tea on the passenger floorboard, sorry. I flipped the backseat down and carried a weed-eater to a family members house to trim some shrubs. I royally made this budget car work. The thing is, it never complained. Not once did it break a sweat or act any less eager to do what its meant to do. I really like the car. No greater than my MINI but GM is listening to the blue-collar crowd out there. Make it durable and affordable, granted at the cost of material quality but I would call it faux and aware.
Moving on I was called at work by my mother in the beginning of june.
"on the 30th your wisdom teeth are coming out, I set up an appointment for you"
In the mean time I was working on wrapping up the brief stint-turned-full-on month and two week stay back at Honda while I was in town (thanks to my wreck). I had been moved to the service department in an attempt by my General Manager to solve a growing problem back there, that, really only had made it self pronounced as the customer base there grew. Some quick facts about my prior job before I moved to Pasadena---
It serves the largest area in Middle Tennessee, it has the largest customer base and also is ranked #1 in the state in customer service for Honda and sales, plus it is # 6 in the nation in service. The service department has (as of when I last checked) 96,000 customers on file and is busy and open 6 days out of the week (5 of which I worked). On my second day back in town back in June I had sat in with my GM and he spoke to me about a position he was considering creating for me over in service to better provide communication to the customers/provide quick-fix solutions/relay messages and basically be a buffer between customers and service advisors when need be, say if one of the advisors had a customer at his desk and another one showed up to pick up and pay for their vehicle I could look up their information and last name and lead them to the cashier and subsequently to their car after. My goal was to provide the best experience for them while giving some southern charm and really using my knowledge of the brand to my best ability and pushing the boundaries of what my job title was, so much so that the cashier had started calling me "Gladiator" and then "Gladiator Liason". So there I would be, dragging my Gladiator rear end in the morning at 6:45am and leaving at or around 5 everyday. My swiss army knife-like abilities being exercised at will and putting a smile on my face and a pep in my step in doing so.
At the end though, I was back were I started. Sitting with my GM and talking about the blessing I had been given and that I appreciated that a position was literally created for me when I came back because I had set the stage for myself and as my GM put it "You made a name for yourself when you were here, I felt I wanted us to take care of you while you were back and possibly create a position that you could pass onto someone else and do some good back in service".
When I left, I made sure to go around and remind everyone that they meant the world to me and I loved them. I thanked them, because you know some people need a good thank you in their day. That is what makes me the happiest man in the world. I feel like I did the right thing and this was my reward.
It was now time to get my wisdom teeth removed. Ill go ahead and speed through that process but basically the room was spinning because I was fighting the anesthesia, but I went under and woke up at home. Delirious. The next day, I was jazzed because I felt great! I was up putzing around the house and feeling good but the following week I realized that....I had dry socket. However I would not realize that until I had gone through 5 days, and a 2,200 mile trip back to California in my car plus a flight back that I had dry socket. The second I landed my mother had me in her office in a chair at 9:30pm stuffing dissolving gel packs into my mouth soaked in clove. Within seconds my mouth was completely relieved. Dry socket was described to me as basically kicked in the face by a horse then set on fire and rolled down a hill in a suitcase filled with bricks.
Dry Socket in my case was just incessant throbbing. It was just miserable because it was slight.
Basically the rest I will try to make up with pictures (as seen from the top)
School starts soon and OH MY GOSH. I forgot. I leave for Milan, Italy on Thursday.
Love you
