Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Normal is boring. I'll take the crazies.

I took a motorcycle safety course this weekend. It's something I've always wanted to do.
Some people were impressed; Others thought I had lost my mind.
I'm so glad I did it... and I love this quote! =)

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
-Jack Kerouac

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Inspiration


"If you're going to be passionate about something, be passionate about learning.
If you're going to fight something, fight for those in need.
If you're going to question something, question authority.
If you're going to lose something, lose your inhibitions.
If you're going to gain something, gain respect and confidence.
And if you're going to hate something, hate the false idea that you are not capable of your dreams."
-Daniel Golston

Friday, July 2, 2010

Dutch Domino's Pizza World Cup Special!



Netherlands - Brazil cries out for the Family Pizza

This afternoon at 16.00 hours in the day, the Netherlands plays the quarter-final against Brazil. Of course that includes the family pizza at Domino's! The huge pizza consists of a half Hawaiian and half a chicken supreme, so Twice as Nice. Other combinations may of course also be requested. While you also get an order of jalapeno bites, potato wedges, chicken strippers and two sauces. For only 15.95 plus Shipping. Now only win!

Order now!



I was quite yesterday confused when I got a Domino's marketing e-mail. Not because of the e-mail though... because it was in Dutch.

However, I was only confused until I remembered the ONE time we ordered Domino's while in the Netherlands. We decided to have an American junk food night during the week of the 4th of July! Well apparently, they're having a deal for the Netherlands-Brazil quarter-final game today... Haha! This definitely made my day!

And in case you were wondering, yes, they deliver on bicycle. =)

Also, I wonder how much shipping to Iowa would be... It sounds like a pretty good deal!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

My sweet RAYGUN test tee

I am literally in love with this shirt from RAYGUN (formerly known as Smash).

RAYGUN is a Des Moines retailer that screenprints witty sayings on t-shirts with an antique machine. This is one of their test shirts. Before printing any shirt (for real), they run a test print. The test shirts are used repeatedly before being "retired," so this makes each of them totally unique and created over weeks and weeks of printing.

I'm pumped, because this one has all of my favorite sayings/designs on one shirt! Thanks RAYGUN!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Allegiant Debacle:

Why I will never spend another cent with Allegiant Air, and why even I am sad about it.


The Situation:

I got an amazingly cheap flight from Des Moines to LA to visit my older brother. It was $79.99 there and $19.99 back. With taxes, the total was $150ish. Incredible. I was sooo excited. My brother and I haven't spent enough quality time together for... too long, so it was going to be great!

On the day of my flight, I was running a little late (as is common with me), but since I only had a carry-on bag and it was the Des Moines airport, I wasn't too worried. I arrived with 25 minutes until boarding.

There was no line at the security check, so all I needed to do was check in and get my boarding pass. Only problem: Nobody was at the ticket counter. It was utterly deserted.

After talking to an airport security person, I found out that Allegiant closes it's ticket counter 30 minutes prior to boarding.

What??? I was dumbfounded. I'd never heard anything about that. Apparently, it does mention this at the very bottom of the confirmation e-mail, and it's easy to find if you're looking for it, but I'm fairly sure I read all of the material before purchasing the flight, and I don't recall anything about that.

The security person said my only hope was to get on an airport information phone where I had to call the paging system and have them announce "will an Allegiant person meet a passenger at the ticket counter?" over the intercom. Oh, and they told me straight up that nobody would probably come.

I waited 10-15 minutes before I even talked to anyone. Even then, it was just an airport worker who said he couldn't do anything.

When we realized there were 5-6 total people that weren't going to get on the plane, the worker said he could go out to the plane and see if anyone would come help us. He came back, but reported that no Allegiant person was going to come in until the plane had taken off.

At 8:25, we finally got to talk to an Allegiant representative. He pretty much said that if we weren't there at 7:50, we were SOL. No refund, no credit, nadda. It was our fault, so it was all on us.

I tried to talk some sense into the guy, but the other dude in front of me got really upset and started yelling that he wanted to talk to the guy's manager. He lied and said he was there 45 minutes before the departure (when I knew that he got there 10-15 minutes AFTER I did). By that point, anything I could have said to the Allegiant rep would have gone in one ear and out the other. I left sad, frustrated and feeling more than a little disrespected.

In the end, I lost all of the money from not only this flight ($80), but also my flight from Phoenix that I couldn't take because my friend decided not to move at the last minute ($150). With that flight, I lost $50 for canceling my flight, and got to use the rest on my flight to LA.

Plus, since Allegiant only has flights between Des Moines and LA on Fridays and Mondays, there was no chance of rescheduling.



My Issues:

  1. I didn't get to talk to a single Allegiant person for over 20 minutes.
  2. From how the airport workers sounded, it seems like this is the standard way Allegiant operates... With no regard for customer service. Zero tolerance, really?
  3. Let me say: I do take partial responsibility for the situation. I was running late... BUT... It's Des Moines... There weren't any other flights, so they weren't going to lose their spot on the runway. There was no line for security. I would have had PLENTY of time.
  4. Why would they close the ticket counter so early??? There was nobody in the security line, and all they had to do was print me a boarding pass.
  5. They made no attempt to assist a large group of passengers.
  6. If it's going to be such a strict cut-off time, they should make it much more obvious. Like BIG LETTER, stated multiple times, blatently obvious.
  7. Other airlines will at least give you the boarding pass and say they don't know if you'll make it, but wish you good luck!



What I wish Allegiant would have done/will do:

  1. At least had someone or something at the ticket counter to explain the situation. I didn't even know what was going on for 15-20 minutes!
  2. State very clearly, multiple times, that their ticket counter will close 30 minutes before departure. (But I think that's a stupid policy anyway.)
  3. Considered serving their customers with respect a priority.
  4. Refund/credit my ticket or allow me to reschedule. Or at least refund my original credit, since I've now paid for two flights that I haven't been on.
  5. At the VERY LEAST offered an apology.



We're all losers.

As soon as he heard I was going to miss my flight, my brother (who I was going to visit in LA and who is a frequent traveler) called the customer service line and tried to talk some sense into them. When they didn't have anything helpful to say, he said he "gave them a piece of his mind." They probably didn't care... He also did some online research and found some other interesting customer reviews:


My parents are flying from Des Moines to LA on Allegiant at the end of this month. Their flight is on a Friday, but they said they're thinking about getting to the airport on Wednesday *just to be safe*. We wish they didn't already have their flights booked, because none of us want to spend another cent with this company.

It sucks, too, because it would have been incredible to get $150 flights from the city where I live to my brother's. We don't see each other hardly enough, so it would have made bi-annual visits much more feasible. 

I WISH I could still fly Allegiant. I would have been a loyal, frequent flier. As would my brother, and as would my parents. It WOULD have been awesome for all parties involved... We would have gotten cheap, convenient trips to see each other. Allegiant would have gotten our money (over and over).

But I can't fly Allegiant Air, because I don't believe companies should treat their customers like that. I won't, because it's a matter of principle.

And it sucks, because in this situation, everyone loses.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Census 2010

Sorry for my absence in posts lately...
I've been crazy busy with work and life.

There's been lots going on,
but nothing I've felt compelled to blog about.
Until now.
The 2010 Census.

It's not that the census is the most exciting thing of all time.
It's just that I feel that I'm participating in history or doing my civic duty. The census is only taken once a decade,
and this is my first chance to fill it out.

Last week, we got a letter from the Census Bureau, and I thought it was the actual census.
Nope.
It was a letter warning us that we were going to receive the real deal in a week or so. I was so excited that I warned my roomie to not even THINK about filling out the Census, because I was doing it.

The act of filling out the census wasn't even that exciting... I answered a few basic questions, and I was done.
Whoop-dee-doo... Oh well... civic duty and all that, right?

On a final note, I think the Census 2010 commercials have been very good. I've heard a good one on the radio about towns not having enough teachers and stoplights. I've also seen some good ones on TV. I think they evoke a sense of responsibility... at least they did for me!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Emilee 2010 : 365 Project

One of my 2010 resolutions is to start a Photo 365 Project -- posting one photo each day of 2010.

I'm going to try to keep the storytelling to a minimum and focus on the technique and process of the pictures. We'll see how that goes!

Will I really be able to keep with this? I don't know, but that's the "project" aspect of this adventure.

Check out my new blog here.