Red carpet? For me?

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"Red carpet? For me? "

All Aboard!

It's kinda hard to make a 7:45am 4-miler when you wake up at 7:30am. Oh well. I jumped out on my own run at 7:45 and eventually ended up running the last mile of the KC Trolley Run backwards (which is uphill, ack) until I saw my sis, then I turned and led her home on that last mile.

I'd not seen this particular run before, so it was great to see so many people out there! And, I'm super proud of my sis for becoming a runner after having always been an elliptical trainer chica.

I'm a soccer guy myself, so I have a tendency to run too fast for distance. I'm that walk/jog/run person that passes you and then you pass me back. :-) But, the energy from the crowds at the 5k and 4-mile races is too much fun to pass up. Plus, now that I'm back home in KC, I run into a bunch of friends during the races. WOOT!

See you at the next race?

reduce, REUSE?, recycle

A few weeks ago, I ran into a gentleman who asked if he could see my to-go coffee cup before I tossed it in the trash. "Of course," I replied.

He pulled the sleeve from the cup, put it in his pocket and then threw the rest of the cup in the trash. "A little pet peeve of mine," he said. "It's against a health ordinance for them (the local coffee place) to put these back into use, so I sneak them back into the tray for them... just a little thing I do."

I didn't think it odd at the time, and I still don't. Here was one man doing what he could do, be it ever so slight, to make the world a better place.

"No problem," I replied.

Fast forward a few weeks and I stepped into the local Latte Land (east side) here on the Country Club Plaza with my frequent drinker card (pictured above) to meet someone for a quick business meeting. I stepped up the counter, made my order and presented the sleeve to the barista, who promptly punch my sleeve... buy 10 get one free, you know.

"Would you like to put this back into your backpack or use it for your order?" she asked.

"What?" I was perplexed at the question so she repeated it. "Use it, please," came my reply.

Part of the purpose of the frequent sleeve is reuse. In fact, it says right on the sleeve, "Be green, save a tree and drink for free!" So, why did this employee even ask whether I wanted to stuff it back into my bag (the premise being that I'd have to use a new one to protect my fingers from the heat of the tea)?

Herein lies the difference between the person in the first story and the person in the second: generation. The first man was an older person, the type of guy that keeps his nuts and bolts in their individual glass jars and labeled in the garage for that rainy day when they might be needed. The second person was a very young American with a throw-away society mentality... instant gratification, assumed entitlement, when you throw something away it just disappears with no impact on the world.

Ummm, no. It doesn't work that way. The choices we make impact the world. So, stuff that reusable sleeve in your pocket or your bag and yank it out the next time you enter a coffee house. Don't worry about whether it's for that particular establishment or not, you're saving them money by not using one of theirs.

Interview by KC Star Last Week

Did an interview and a photo shoot a few weeks ago about the new property that I'm living in here on the Plaza. It was printed in the KC Star last weekend.

“When I walked in and saw the amazing view out of the bay windows, I knew I had made the right choice,” he said. “It went from being a house to a home in one night.”

Check out the full article online, "Mill Creek Terrace: Plaza homeowner enjoys unparalleled views, urban lifestyle." [No longer online]

Customer Service Bad Karma: Post #847

Yeah, most of my regular readers know that I get terrible customer service. In this economy, as Steve and I were discussing last night, I'm willing to go out and eat or pay for things more so if they go out of their way to help me. Otherwise, I'll drink MY wine at MY condo and pay much less.

Case in point, M&S Grill on KC's Country Club Plaza last night went out of their way to open up a bottle of wine just so I could have a taste of it. I ended up purchasing the bottle, of course I did!

UPDATES:

• Yahoo! is going on about 6 months with no response since I told them that I can't FTP to my web site.
• Match.com, when I told them that my email threads were all twisted up with various ladies' profiles, sent me the generic response, which didn't address my needs and has not gotten back to me since they said they would forward it to the tech team. That was about 3 days ago and my subscription has since expired. No need to renew when I can't read email.
• Pizza Hut, oh Pizza Hut, I foolishly tried to redeem the $20 credit that the Area Coach gave to me after an order never arrived. No one that I could reach on the order line could find my credit. I tried three times. In fact, the first guy said that he didn't know what I was talking about and straight up transferred me to another agent. Absurdly ridiculous, which is why I went to M&S Grill instead.
• DirecTV, the bane of my customer service world, after getting transferred all over the country (or so it seemed) and getting disconnected twice, I finally got to a woman that said I was in the right place, but she couldn't help me because I'm not the building owner.

And that, is your CSBK update for November 12, 2008.

How You Can Impact Me...

My friend, Steve, always says that there are 3 ways that you can impact him:

1. Because you can vote.
2. Because you can drive.
3. Because you can procreate.

I totally agree. I sometimes wonder if we should have a license for more than just #2. Being uninformed is simply not acceptable. Being an oppressive imbecile is even worse.

This Saturday, 11/15, at the JC Nichols Fountain on the Plaza (1230pm), there is a rally to repeal Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage in California and was passed in the most recent election.

I'm not gay, but I have many friends that are. I don't care what your religious leaders say, I am a believer in love and civil rights. To those of you in California that voted FOR Prop8, shame on you. Shame on you even more if you are or have ever been divorced. That's just hypocritical to claim that you are "protecting marriage."

Fortunately, you can be part of the movement to give human rights back to humans.

Triple B Raps About His Digs

I know you love the Triple-B (bigBADbob) when he drops some phat lyrics about his night (last night) on the PLAZABUZZ. Check it, yo, by clickity-clicking here.

1 Man, 1 Unit, 1 Building

Notes on being the only person living in a new condo building (well, basically the only person since I've seen the neighbor guy a few times and he won't even look at me though I've tried to say hello... he's second floor serf anyhow).

• GOOD: Playing my music as loud as I damn-well please.
• BAD: No cute girls to borrow sugar from.

• GOOD: Never run into anyone in the hallway when in PJs and carrying trash.
• BAD: Often run into twin girls on tricycles in random places.

• GOOD: No loud-ass, barking rat dogs.
• BAD: No cute girls that own loud-ass, barking rat dogs.

• GOOD: That feeling of being the first one... you know #1!
• BAD: Being the first one to deal with construction problems.

• GOOD: Walking to the Plaza to party on, dude!
• BAD: Staying out until 4am because I can walk home.

• GOOD: Enjoying a most excellent view of The Plaza.
• BAD: Waking up to the sound of the Life Flight helicopter in the middle of the night.

Heehee!

New Posts on PlazaBUZZ...

For those in KC (and others that enjoy my wit), there are 4 new posts on the PlazaBUZZ:

• Crime stats on the Plaza and whether Larry Johnson impacted them.
• New movie being shot on the Plaza.
• How KC kicks the crap out of CT.
• Was LJ charged yesterday... for his $750 bottle of champagne?

Read all about 'em by clicking here!

New Blog: Plaza Buzz

Hey all, I started a new blog this morning called The Plaza Buzz. I'll work on the design over time, but wanted to let you know that there's a new place to read my words about my new neighborhood.