Skudd.com

Company Review: H.U.B. Mitsubishi

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:23:42 -0600

Have you ever bought something that was rather expensive, expecting the seller to provide you with at least some support after the sale? Wouldn't you expect that in buying a car?

Recently I blew a tire on my car, and luckily I had purchased some tire and wheel insurance for the car when I got it. However, to take advantage of this insurance, I had to find a shop that was willing to work on the car.

I attempted to take the car to the dealer I bought it from, but they were all closed up and appeared to be overtaken by a Cadillac dealer. After seeing that, I decided to head to the next Mitsubishi dealer I had already talked to. See, this dealer indicated that if I brought the car in before 5:00PM, they would get the ball rolling for me.

After driving about 50 miles to get there, I went in to the service department and waited patiently to be served. The gentleman who was working the front desk called for someone else to come assist, and the help he had called for arrived.

This service manager asked me right away how he could help me, but as soon as I told him what I was needing, he told me that he wouldn't even be able to look at the car today, and that it would have to wait until tomorrow.

Okay, wait a second. You're telling me that you can't take 15 minutes out of your oh-so-busy day (they had 2 cars waiting and none in the bay) to just look at my wheel and tell me if you could or couldn't help me?

It gets better though. Since this guy was so busy and couldn't take the time to look at my problem, how did he have the time to ramble on and on about how I should go to their other shop? Also, why couldn't he give me the location of their other shop?

Between this experience and the constant barrage of "buy a new car from us" marketing propaganda they have been sending me against my wishes (I'll normally get 2-3 pieces of mail at a time from them), especially after I've asked them to stop (at varying degrees of niceness), I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to do business with H.U.B. Mitsubishi, nor do I recommend them to anyone else.

You're better off doing some more research and going to a different shop. Don't waste your time with H.U.B. Mitsubishi.

Stupid Netflix

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:44:30 -0500

It's been a long while since I've posted anything here, and the last few times I have it's been me complaining about something. Well, it's time for that again. This is going to be the first of two complaints posted. While they may not be a very good way to get my actual problem solved, they are a good way for me to vent and to share my experience with other wondering consumers. Enjoy.

Netflix. They've been up in the news quite a bit lately with their rate changes and such, right? While that's a rant for another day, I want to share with you my current issue. I can't access the streaming.

As part of their plan changes, I now have only streaming service. While I do have one DVD in my presence still, the only way I can really access their service is via streaming. And wouldn't you know it, the only device I have that supports it (computers included) is my Xbox 360. After a very long weekend, I decided I want to go ~~sit~~ lay down in front of the TV, watching one of my favorite shows to lull me to sleep. Apparently that was too high of an expectation. You see, when I started the Netflix app on my Xbox, I was presented with an error stating that it was unable to connect to the service and to see http://www.netflix.com/tvhelp for more details.

I came back to my computer and attempted to access the Netflix site, but I could not log in with my known good user ID and password. After numerous failed attempts at logging in, I decided to try the lost password tool. Unfortunately, I didn't receive the e-mail until over an hour later. In the meantime though, I was able to find a way to log in using my name and the credit card number on my account. However, once I was logged in I couldn't really do anything, including reset my password: Their form decided that "apple" and "apple" were not the same strings (note: my password is not "apple" or anything of the sort).

Great, so I guess I'll call. Once I found the number and tried calling, I got a busy signal. UGH! I guess I'll just go watch a movie I've already seen instead.

After the movie was over, I decided to try it again. While I was finally able to log in to the Netflix site with my password, the Xbox was unable to connect still. I took a look at my authorized streaming devices and saw that there was nothing shown here, so I went about the process of reinstalling the Netflix app on my Xbox. The funny part of this was that when I entered the activation code into the Netflix site, I was greeted with the message of "Activation is complete -- Your {DEVICENAME} is now ready to instantly stream movies from Netflix. Go check it out now!". Really? I have a {DEVICENAME}? Nice to know. Will it stream movies better than my Xbox 360?

Okay, so it's still not working. Let's try calling...

Thank you for calling Netflix. We are currently experiencing a higher than normal call volume. Please try your call again later.

Now how is that helpful? Couldn't they spare the few second it takes to explain what the problem is? Couldn't they post something on their Twitter account? Couldn't they throw a status page up somewhere? All I have to go by is http://downrightnow.com/netflix, and that's not really giving me any indication of whether I'll be able to encrust the pillow on my couch in drool while unconsciously watching old episodes of Scrubs.

Is customer support really such a difficult science? What is up with these companies sucking so hard at it?

Why I'll Never Use Comcast

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:38:27 -0600

When I first moved to Houston, I had quite the issue with getting internet service established at my new place. Before I left Indiana, I had Comcast and was relatively happy with them. This prompted me to call them up and see if I could move my service with me, to which the answer was "yes". The representative I was working with schedule the install at the new place, and all was well.

The day of the install, I realized I had given the wrong address to the representative. However, the time window that I was given had nearly passed, so I gave Comcast a call. The representative I dealt with then was somewhat helpful, but when she found out that I was trying to transfer from another state, the condescending attitude began quite promptly.

Because of the attitude I was receiving from this agent, I asked to speak with a manager. I was already upset, so you'd think that at this point they would do what they could to make me happy. Sadly, that is the wrong thought when it comes to Comcast.

When the manager got on the phone, she too was quite rude to me and when I asked what they could do to resolve the issue, she informed me in a very rude tone, "This is your problem and it's because you messed up. We shouldn't have to do anything because you tried to do something that we don't do."

I was fuming at this point, but as calmly as I could I said, "Well, I'm going to find another provider then. You just lost a customer."

After having service with AT

Post-Surgery Pictures

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:16:46 -0500

As promised, here are the pictures from after my surgery. Enjoy!

LINK!

Surgery - From my perspective

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:43:17 -0500

It's been 13 days since I had my shoulder surgery, and I finally have a minute where I'm able to tell you all how it went.

The only surgical procedures I've had in my life, up to this procedure, were either simple outpatient with local anesthesia or they were at a point in my life when I was far too young to remember or understand what was going on. Because of that, I was incredibly nervous about surgery of any kind, as I didn't know what to expect.

Monday night before bed, I was working on calming myself down to the point that I would be able to sleep without any sort of pharmaceutical assistance. I was really focusing on my breathing, as I knew that I wasn't allowed any food or drink after midnight, and if I was breathing heavily I would be in dire need of water. Surprisingly, I was successful in my attempt, and I slept like a baby all the way up until 6:30AM when my alarm went off.

I got out of bed, put my clothes on (an oversized button-up shirt, elastic-waisted shorts, and flip flops), took my medicine nearly sans water, and grabbed my duffel bag that I packed the night before and my pillows and Emily and I got in the car and headed out for the surgery center.

We got to the center a little early, and I had to use the restroom, no thanks to my usual stomach issues. By the time I was done with that, I got checked in and within a matter of minutes a nurse came to take me to the pre-op area, Emily accompanying me.

The nurse instructed me to disrobe down to my underpants, and put on the compression stockings and gown and climb into the bed. As I climbed into the bed, I pulled the blanket over me, which was nicely warmed. From this point forward, everything seemed to go at a rushing pace, and I'll try my best to recall the details.

The nurse came back to the area and took my vitals, asked me several times which shoulder was being operated on, and marked it with a black Sharpie marker, saying "YES". She said the surgeon would come and initial it prior to the surgery.

Another nurse came into the scene and took care of starting my IV while the first nurse took care of shaving my shoulder and a couple spots on my chest. Soon thereafter, the anesthesiologist came in and told me what to expect. He gave me two options for the local anesthesia portion, a scaline nerve block, and explained the pros and cons of each. I opted for the method he was more comfortable with, and I didn't see much of him after that.

Meanwhile, the first nurse addressed a concern I had of nausea by giving me a motion sickness patch behind my left ear. She said that it would be the remedy for any sickness after the surgery, as there was some sort of a correlation between motion sickness and anesthesia-related sickness. After she did that, the other nurse gave me a dose of Pepcid via my IV, which would be the remedy for any nausea before and during the surgery.

The first nurse left the picture for a while, as the second nurse asked me my name, my date of birth, and which shoulder was being operated on. Shortly thereafter she left and it was just Emily and me in the pre-op room.

The second nurse came back and gave me another injection via my IV, and said, "This will feel like you've had a couple of cocktails. You'll feel really good." The first nurse came in and informed us that they were going to start the nerve block procedure and asked Emily to vacate to the waiting room until they called her again. This was not the last time I would see her before the surgery though.

The anesthesiologist then came in and moved the bed at an angle in the room. While he was doing this, the first nurse attached some sort of unit that emitted a beeping sound, which I figured was a heart rate monitor of some sort. Things got really fuzzy at this point. I recall the anesthesiologist stretching my arm out to the side, and the first nurse saying something like, "Your arm is going to want to twitch; just let it, as this is normal." After that, it is nothing but static until I remember Emily saying something like, "No, I will not take your picture. The camera is in the car." Apparently I was rather adamant that she take my picture before I went into surgery.

I think I remember asking her if I had a cap on, and she mentioned that I was painted up with a yellow substance (later determined to be betadyne) and that I didn't look too great. I eventually came to my senses though and I remember the surgeon coming in and asking me how I felt. He asked me if I had any pain in my shoulder that morning or the night before, which I did. I explained the sensations to him, he initialed my shoulder as the nurse said he would, then he left.

Emily sat with me for a few minutes, counting down how many minutes remained until my surgery, according to what they had written on the whiteboard in the pre-op area. When the time went over a little bit she made a comment about how they must have been busier than they expected.

I remember a third nurse coming in at some point thereafter, saying it was time to take me to the operating room. I kissed Emily and told her I would see her on the other side (I think I said that anyhow), and they wheeled me down the hall and into the operating room.

When they rolled my bed up next to the operating table, another nurse was in there and instructed me to climb over to the operating table. She said something along the lines of, "Don't worry about your right arm, we'll take care of it." As she said that I looked down to see my right arm just laying across my front while another nurse pulled it across. I couldn't feel it though, and this was a really weird sensation.

After I got on the table, a male nurse brought a mask down to my face and told me it was oxygen and that I just needed to take a deep breath. I thought I was doing well breathing, but I remember him saying, "Don't hold your breath. Just breathe." I remember counting how many breaths I took after that, and the number was just two.

The next thing I remember was laying in the bed in the recovery room with Emily by my side. I don't know much of what was said, but I do remember she helped me get a drink of water and she did take my picture. I also remember the surgeon's primary nurse coming to check on me and to get me more water.

As I started to regain my senses, I asked Emily how the surgery went and she said that it went okay and that they fixed more than just the suspected tear. I also remember another patient being wheeled into an adjacent recovery area, and hearing the nurses telling him that he had knee surgery. I remember one of the nurses telling his mom that he had been smiling really big from the time he woke up, which I found to be a little entertaining.

After I was with it, Emily helped me to get dressed and helped me to the restroom. After I was done in the restroom, she gathered the rest of our things and a nurse wheeled me out to the car in a wheelchair.

I don't remember a whole lot of the trip from the surgery center back to Emily's mom's place, but I do remember when we got there her uncle was sitting in the recliner. He got up and moved to another chair so I could sit there. I don't remember much else after that other than shaking the uncle's hand, Emily and her mom trying to figure out how the compression icepack worked, and eventually moving to the sofa in the front room of the house.

At some point in the afternoon I do remember noticing that my hand was completely paralyzed from the nerve block still. I was trying my hardest to issue a "move" command to my fingers, but they didn't budge.

The rest is pretty much boring after that, as I began the recovery process. I am happy to report though that my stitches have been removed, my doctor is very happy with my progress, and I am able to use my arm about 60% of normal (though I don't know if I'm supposed to...).

I'll post some pictures in a little bit of me laying in the bed post-op, and some pictures from the days after the surgery. In a couple of days I'll try to post some more pictures of my current progress as well.

The day is drawing near

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:27:16 -0500

My shoulder surgery is officially scheduled for October 12th. I was scheduled to get my wisdom teeth removed on September 24th, but the doctor's office called me the day before and cancelled. This was actually a blessing in disguise though, because when I got home from work on the 24th, I was so sick to my stomach. I spent the evening that night hugging the toilet bowl, and the remainder of that weekend was purely miserable.

I am back on my feet from that little stomach bug, but my shoulder is pretty sore right now. I'm not entirely looking forward to surgery, but I am looking forward to getting it all out of the way and the recovery.

The orthopedic surgeon gave me a prescription for Darvocet, which has been useful to help me sleep at night. But I'm running out of it and I don't know how well I'll be sleeping the night before my surgery.

The financial end of it isn't looking too bad. I have some PTO to use at the office, and I'll probably take all but that Monday off. Everything I've read suggests that I'll be able to get back to work after 4 days or so, which I'm staying optimistic about.

Emily's mom has been gracious enough to allow us to stay at her house for the first couple of days after the surgery. Since she's a nurse, that's an added bonus, but it also allows Emily to be able to take care of me while she's working, taking care of the nephew.

I don't know if I'll have the time or presence of mind to post any more updates between now and then, so please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as the days lead up to the surgery and for the days after. I just need to be able to keep calm about it and I want nothing more than a prompt recovery.

Surgery, surgery, and more surgery!

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:15:29 -0500

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything here. A lot has happened since that wonderful day when I got married (and I have enjoyed every moment of it!), but there are a couple of not-so-fun things going on right now that I figure warrant some explanation.

The first thing that's going on has to do with my teeth. This really isn't all too big in contrast to the other thing I'll be telling you about in a minute, but it is big enough to mention.

When I was still in Lafayette, I decided to go see a dentist for a check-up and cleaning. Knowing my wisdom teeth would have to come out at some point, what the dentist told me wasn't too surprising: The wisdom teeth had to go. He gave me a referral for the local maxiofacial clinic, but I never followed through with it.

Let's fast-forward to the present. I now have dental professionals, orthodontists to be exact, in the family. If you've ever been around any sort of dental professional, you know that the just love to look at what work you may or may not need done. This actually kind of rubs off on their family members as well. Better yet, I have a loving wife who is concerned about my health, and it doesn't stop anywhere short of my dental health. This is heightened by the fact that her sister and sister's husband are the aforementioned orthodontists.In short though, they all agree that my wisdom teeth have got to go. My new dentist here in Houston didn't say anything to the contrary of that either, so I am now scheduled to get the rotten things out of my head. I look forward to September 24th when I actually have that done.

As much as my teeth have been bothering me, it's miniscule when compared to the trouble I've been having with my right shoulder.

Sometime back in March, I noticed that my shoulder was really sore and it almost felt like it was partially dislocated. I did some research of my own, saw a couple of general practitioners, a couple of different chiropractors, and talked to friends who have had shoulder issues before I finally decided to go see a specialist for it.

I called and got an appointment for this past Wednesday to see an amazing doctor on the north side of town who really doesn't do anything but shoulders, and he determined that I have a SLAP Tear.

I'm not going to go into the full detail of what this tear is, but here's a good analogy that he gave me that you should be able to visualize.

Think of your shoulder as a ball and socket joint. This joint is very much like a golf ball on a tee, in the sense that the socket of the scapula (the tee) is much smaller than the ball of the humeral head (the golf ball). So what is done to keep the ball in the socket is a rim is added to the socket, extending it out to add stability to the joint. In the shoulder, this rim is called the Glenoid Labrum, and it works in the same way as the golf tee.

Unfortunately, the Labrum is susceptible to injury. While it normally hits middle-aged adults, everyone has a chance of experiencing it. And let me tell you first-hand, the experience is not great.

For me, it started with the dislocated feeling, and escalated to a popping and grinding, and is now at the point where I have trouble sleeping because it hurts so bad. I have been taking some pretty strong prescribed drugs (Fiorinol, Methocarbamol, Vicodin, and now Darvocet) just so I can sleep, which makes it very apparent that this is a serious issue that I need to get fixed.

My visit with the specialist on Wednesday was pretty educational and I fully understood the condition when I left. He still wanted to get an MRI to make sure there were no other complications, such as a torn rotator cuff, and I went back to get those results today. The MRI report was pretty clean and said that everything seemed okay, but the doctor said that because of the way the "slices" of the MRI were done, they couldn't get a full picture of the Labrum. With that in mind, he decided to do a physical examination again and confirmed that I have a "classic SLAP tear", and that we needed to move towards surgery since it is causing me so much pain.

Because I'm scheduled to have my wisdom teeth out at the end of September, I told him that I should probably wait until the end of October to get the shoulder done.

The surgery is pretty straight forward. Being arthoscopic, it will only require a couple relatively small holes to be poked into my shoulder. I'll be knocked out for it with general anesthesia, the surgery will take about 30 minutes, then I'll be in a sling for 2-3 weeks and on rehab for 3-4 months after that.

I'm not really all too concerned about having the surgery, since I've been able to talk to people who have had similar procedures. However, I'm worried about being able to function during that time of recovery, and being able to handle it financially. Luckily, one of those concerns is addressed by having a wonderful wife who is a great caretaker. I found this out already when I was sick a few weeks ago and she tended to my every need. :)

So yeah, this is what's going on. I'd very much appreciate your prayers during this time. I know God can work miracles, and I have no doubt that he can work one in this situation. But even if that's not in his plan, I sure could use some calm nerves, focus, and stamina to get through the sleepless nights ahead, and for a financial breakthrough that will allow me to not have any worries about it at all.

Getting Hitched

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:30:41 -0500

It is currently 7:25AM. At 11:00AM, I will be standing at the altar, watching my beautiful bride approach. By 12:00PM I will be married to the most beautiful and wonderful woman whom God has provisioned for me.

I will be out of reach from the point I click the "Submit" button to post this entry until sometime after July 19th. I will do my best to post some sort of update after that (if not sneaking it in sometime before) and share with you the joy of my new married life.

A Letter

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:18:15 -0500

Mr. Mosquito,

I would like to thank you for finding refuge in my eye socket. I know that the world can be a harsh place, and it gives me a sense of self-worth to know that my eye can be a secure location for you. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Come back any time.

-Me

Engaged

Sun, 02 May 2010 16:21:35 -0500

That's right, engaged.

Emily and I have been dating since June 4, 2009, and with each day that goes by I know with greater clarity that we were meant for each other.

Sometime a couple of months ago, we got to talking about wedding stuff, and she asked me if she and her mom could start planning for a wedding. Even thought I hadn't yet bought a ring and there wasn't an official announcement, I told her they could. I did this knowing that I would soon make it official and ask her to marry me.

Even before that, I began shopping around for rings. She didn't know it, but I was using my limited free time to get around to various shops and inquire about rings, educating myself of the different cuts and grades of diamonds, and finding that one ring that was just right. She had given me some direction before, pointing out ring styles she liked, and I took these into consideration.

Finally, I was able to find the ring that I wanted for her. It wasn't extravagant by any means, but it was definitely something I knew she'd like. This just happened to transpire just before her birthday, so I used the opportunity to make it a very special birthday that she will (hopefully) never forget.

I organized a birthday party for her last night with a group of people from the church. Before we went to dinner though, I had to find a parking space. We got to one space, but I wasn't sure about the cost, so Emily jumped out to check the meter for me. While she did that, I pulled out this little box wrapped in silver paper with a large bow on it, and I gave it to her when she came back to the car.

I wanted her to open it and I would have said a few words then asked her to marry me. But with the frustration of trying to unwrap the box, I lost track of what I was going to say. So when she opened it up and marveled at it, I just asked her a question consisting of the 5 most important words of what I was going to say, "Emily, will you marry me?" Her response was confident; "Of course," she said. This set the mood for the evening and the rest of the weekend though, and she has been on cloud nine ever since.

Thus, I am proud to announce that I will be marrying my lovely ~~girlfriend~~ fiancée, Emily, this summer.