WTF...............

Is wrong with these people. How hard is it to get a plumber out to fix something. According to the warranty company I was supposed to here from a plumber this afternoon to schedule an appointment for tomorrow A.M. I am pretty sure at this point that is not happening.

I did however receive the parts I needed from whirlpool today. Unfortunately though it was broken so yet another day without hot water.

Some Light At The End Of The Tunnel......

I think anyway. I talked to Lowes this evening and told them how useless the warranty they sold me was. They are sending out their installer tomorrow and if he cant fix it they will install a brand new tank so I should have hot water by tomorrow evening. It is a good thing it is winter or my entire family would smell worse than the family dog.

Big Talk Is Coming From..............

Over at Poser Central these days. I shouldn't get on him though the rest of the team does enough of that. Anyway I hope he survives Hockey camp and then gets back out on the bike this year. Speaking of bikes...Brian over at Cartwheels just installed his new Quark power meter today. He spends more money on bike parts like one of my buddies wife spends on purses.

So Its Christmas Eve........

And I am into the usual Pre Holiday rush. No the shopping is done ,and we have no where to be just another Christmas catastrophe. Well not really catastrophic but still a problem and kept me from spinning this morning.
There has been a ongoing battle between me and appliances ever since I became a home owner. I can't remember how many times an appliance has gone on the fritz during a holiday so why should this year be any different. Seriously I should have expected it. I have had everything break from the stove to the garbage disposal on or near a holiday more times than I can remember. This year the water heater has left us in the cold.
This all reminded me of the year I came home around Christmas and my wife was holding the tree up that had started to fall down. As I rescued her from this folly she informed me that the washing machine was broken and the garbage disposal was jammed.

We Need To See Your Papers................

So when I purchased our current water heater I bought one with a 6 year warranty and an extended warranty just in case. This will be the second time I will have used it in the past 2 years.
So of course the paperwork has disappeared since the last time but I was able to find out the name of the warranty company and contacted them. S0 I give them a call and the nice lady on the other end tried her best but could not find my information on her computer. So i did a little more digging around here and called back getting another Customer disservice representative on the phone. Of course she was even less help than the first. So I call back a 3rd time and still no luck but at least they were more helpful.
I finally end up calling the place I bought it and they went he extra yard to help but still could not give me all the info I needed but told me that they would help me research the issue. they call me back a while later with a number but nobody would be able to help me until next week.

I Have Learned Over The Years.................

That sometimes to get the results you want you need to be persistent so I call the warranty place back a 5th time and gave them my information. The exact information I had given the previous 2 times and low and behold she found my information and called a local plumber. the plumber called me within the next half hour only to tell me that he no longer works for the company as he has trouble getting paid. He was however kind enough to tell me what he thought was wrong and the place I bought it gave me the part so it all ended up not being too bad in the end.

The Visit WIth My E.P.

Went very well yesterday. Its been 4 months since my ablation at UPMC. Living in NSR without the fear of going into Affib is such a blessing. My EKG was flawless and my Resting heart-rate was 45 bpm. He decided to keep me on the Flec for another 3 months but took me of Cumadin. This was fine with me as the blood thinners have had the greatest impact on my lifestyle.They will send me an event recorder 1 week prior to my next visit in March and if everything is still good at that point he will discontinue the Flec as well.

Getting Back Into The Grind.......

So I guess it is time to start getting back on track (Biking and Blogging.) I have been back to spin class for the past 4 weeks and will be teaching my first class of the year tomorrow. I will be teaching a Friday class after the first of the year and am looking forward to it. "Monkeyboy" is going to be back in town today and wants to do some mountain biking this afternoon. I think I will have to pass though as I still have the blood thinners in my system. I am looking forward to seeing him though. He transferred to Kent State this pas semester so we don't see very much of him these days.

Its About Time..................

They start doing more to promote cycling to the youth of our fine state. And what better way than through mountain biking. We are blessed here with some of the best mountain biking you could ever want around here. Unfortunately this program probably does not stand a chance in this area, but wouldn't it be great if it did. Seriously what would it take? You could probably outfit a whole team for under $5000.00. You wouldn't need to build a stadium or install astro turf. Just cut take them to the trails and cut them loose. Even if you had to supply bikes or subsidise bikes for the team it would be under $10000.00. Thats a dropp in teh bucket for what our local school just layed down for their football field.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Is The Day.........................

That I meet with my E.P. It has been nearly 4 months since my ablation and as far as I can tell all systems are a go. I am not sure of what the next step is but I believe that I will wear a monitoring device for a few days and if nothing shows up he will discontinue the anti-arrhythmic drugs and hopefully the blood thinners.

After living with Atrial Fibrillation for the better part of the past 18 or so years I have had to adjust to not having it. You don't realize how much control something really has over your life until it is gone. Expecting it to crop up at any moment and the initial disappointment when you think that it is. Then the overwhelming relief and thankfulness when it doesn't. I am sure that this will all pass with time but I will never forget all that I have had to deal with over the years as I am sure those that I spend time with will as well.

It has been almost 5 months since I have really ridden a bike other than short little jaunts around town. I am so looking forward to getting back to racing, riding and suffering with my friends.

Keystone Cops

I have written and commented may times on the diligence with which the local police force and parking authority have for running business and people out of Indiana. I personally avoid driving through the Borough at all cost. My wife however does not and has been stopped no less that 30 times over the past few years. Never receiving a ticket as in reality there has never been good reason. Her problem is she often goes to work around 4:00 am and of course if you are out at that time that is suspicion enough to get pulled over. She actually got stopped one time, after stopping to tell an officer of a person she saw lying along side the road. She pulled into the local Sheetz, it has the same magnetism as a donut shop, and reported what she saw. So as she left the parking lot, instead of going to investigate what she saw they pulled her over.

Yet Another Reason To Avoid Downtown Indiana

So I was working on a friend’s bike a week ago and needed a part. So I sent him to town and wished him luck. After retrieving the part from a LBS he discovered that the return street was blocked so he performed a 3 point turn. As he was performing the move he approached a one way street the wrong way. Now he did not actually enter but was pointed that way during his maneuver. Unfortunately for him there was a borough officer coming down the street. Long story short he received a ticket for going the wrong way on a one way street even though he was not.

He soon returned to my place with a ticket that clearly read $107 & and some change and the wrong part. Bummer.

Bureaucracy At Its Finest

So my friend calls me the other day saying that he received a letter form the borough that there was a warrant for his arrest for failing to pay his ticket. Now this really surprised me as he had stopped by my house on his way to pay it only a few days before, which he actually had. It seems though that there was a mistake. As I said, the ticket clearly read $107.??. At least that is what you could make out from the 3^rd grade scribble. Unfortunately it actually read $109.??. So, instead of a letter requesting the two dollars, they issue a warrant for his arrest. I am guessing they went this route as they stand to make additional funds, over and above the two dollars.