Time! One of the governing factors of our lives is time, from minutes to years to decades and more. Sometimes we speak of time in general measure such as 'morning, afternoon, day, night, last week, next month, etc'. Sometimes we're more specific using a clock to mark the exact time something occurred. Regardless of whether we're talking in generalities or in specific, time is an important concept to understand... or is it?
The value of time is another subject altogether. We've all heard the saying "time is money". Different people place different values on time. Some people feel it is very important to be 'on-time' to an event, while others (who shall remain nameless) have never been on-time to anything in their lives and they're quite ok with that.
There's no great mystery here. Time and the value of time is relative to the individual. But imagine, if you can, that you had no concept or understanding of time. How would you live? How would you know when it's time to do anything. How would you feel if you didn't know how old you are. How would you feel if you didn't know when you got married, or when your child was born?
If you haven't figured it out yet, here comes a Mom story. I've known for a while that Mom was losing the concept of time. She still knows what an hours is, a day, a week, etc. but she has no concept of time spans. If something happened yesterday, it might as well have been 10 years ago. If you tell her on Monday that something is going to happen on Friday, she'll worry about it every day wondering if it's Friday yet. Today I had to take Mom to a lab to have some blood drawn for a test her eye doctor wanted. While we were sitting at the lab waiting, she asked me how long it had been since she lost sight in her left eye. I told her it had been 5 months. She gave me a funny look and emphatically proclaimed that she hadn't seen out of that eye for years. Now, in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter whether it's been 5 months or 5 years. In this particular case, no it doesn't.
This was a stark reminder that Mom is going away. You know how it is... you think you understand, you tell yourself that it's the alzheimers desease, you rationalize it in your own mind and then think you're prepared to deal with it. Well trust me, you can arm yourself with the cold hard facts but you're fooling yourself if you think that prepares you to watch your Mom disappear.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
It's All a Matter of Perspective
Part One: 35 years of marriage
Sheri and I recently celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary, and by celebrated I mean we got dressed up and went out to a fancy dinner. Thirty five years is a milestone, to be sure, and it caused me to reflect on the past. You know how it is, we get so wrapped up in the here-n-now and worried about the future, that we don't usually give much thought to the past. Now I have to admit that my memory is selective, choosing to remember mostly the good times, and many of the details are lost to dead brain cells, but the general ideas and feelings are still there. Having made that stroll down memory lane now, I can honestly say that I feel extremely blessed.
Of course, it takes two to make a marriage so let me say a few words about the better half of this partnership, my lovely wife, Sheri. It goes without saying that God knew what he was doing when he put us together. At least that's my perspective, I hope it is Sheri's as well. To summarize, Sheri is all the good things I believe a wife should be (loving, caring, respectful, supportive - to name a few), and none of the bad things (nagging, belittling, shop-aholic, etc.).
My kids might think "ewwwwww" at this next statement. I happen to think Sheri is a hottie, especially to be a 50+ year old grandmother.
I could go on and on about the highs, the lows, the changes, the growth, but I'll just wrap up this part by saying it's been a great 35 years of marriage and I'm looking forward to many, many more.
Part Two: Getting Old Really Sucks
I know... It's been an amazing journey and I should be happy that I've made it this far. But that doesn't keep me from longing for my youth - the days when I could mow my yard without taking 4 rest breaks and needing all night to recuperate. Seriously, just this year I've begun to notice things like that. It seems like all at once I can't do certain tasks with the same endurance and enthusiasm of days gone by. It doesn't feel like it slowly crept up on me. It was like, "BAM" your old now! I can't go anywhere without my reading glasses. I can't plan two physical events in the same day, like washing the car followed by mowing the grass. And the heat, I can't take it like I used to. It just sucks the energy right out of me. In my youthful days a "good time" was going out and doing something fun, usually a physical activity. Now days a "good time" is doing nothing at all. And it doesn't help to think it probably won't get any better. Sure, I could work really hard to get in better physical condition and shed a few pounds and I might get a boost in energy, but the body is still the same age and will still suffer from all the aches and pains.
OK, enough with the pity party. Since my 85 year old mother has moved here, I see her several times each week and so I'm keenly aware of her condition (mental and otherwise). Then I think "is that me in 25 - 30 years?" Holy octogenarian, Batman! Put in that perspective, these ARE my youthful days and I'd better enjoy them while I can.
See. It's all a matter of perspective.
Sheri and I recently celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary, and by celebrated I mean we got dressed up and went out to a fancy dinner. Thirty five years is a milestone, to be sure, and it caused me to reflect on the past. You know how it is, we get so wrapped up in the here-n-now and worried about the future, that we don't usually give much thought to the past. Now I have to admit that my memory is selective, choosing to remember mostly the good times, and many of the details are lost to dead brain cells, but the general ideas and feelings are still there. Having made that stroll down memory lane now, I can honestly say that I feel extremely blessed.
Of course, it takes two to make a marriage so let me say a few words about the better half of this partnership, my lovely wife, Sheri. It goes without saying that God knew what he was doing when he put us together. At least that's my perspective, I hope it is Sheri's as well. To summarize, Sheri is all the good things I believe a wife should be (loving, caring, respectful, supportive - to name a few), and none of the bad things (nagging, belittling, shop-aholic, etc.).
My kids might think "ewwwwww" at this next statement. I happen to think Sheri is a hottie, especially to be a 50+ year old grandmother.
I could go on and on about the highs, the lows, the changes, the growth, but I'll just wrap up this part by saying it's been a great 35 years of marriage and I'm looking forward to many, many more.
Part Two: Getting Old Really Sucks
I know... It's been an amazing journey and I should be happy that I've made it this far. But that doesn't keep me from longing for my youth - the days when I could mow my yard without taking 4 rest breaks and needing all night to recuperate. Seriously, just this year I've begun to notice things like that. It seems like all at once I can't do certain tasks with the same endurance and enthusiasm of days gone by. It doesn't feel like it slowly crept up on me. It was like, "BAM" your old now! I can't go anywhere without my reading glasses. I can't plan two physical events in the same day, like washing the car followed by mowing the grass. And the heat, I can't take it like I used to. It just sucks the energy right out of me. In my youthful days a "good time" was going out and doing something fun, usually a physical activity. Now days a "good time" is doing nothing at all. And it doesn't help to think it probably won't get any better. Sure, I could work really hard to get in better physical condition and shed a few pounds and I might get a boost in energy, but the body is still the same age and will still suffer from all the aches and pains.
OK, enough with the pity party. Since my 85 year old mother has moved here, I see her several times each week and so I'm keenly aware of her condition (mental and otherwise). Then I think "is that me in 25 - 30 years?" Holy octogenarian, Batman! Put in that perspective, these ARE my youthful days and I'd better enjoy them while I can.
See. It's all a matter of perspective.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
I'm Boycotting Honda
This is my own personal rant about Honda so if you're not in the mood for it, just stop reading now. If you agree with me, please feel free to pass on my sentiments to all who will listen. I realize this really won't change anything with Honda or fix the problem, but I'll feel better having said my piece, and if I can cause Honda to lose one more customer, then my job is done.
Here's the story in somewhat condensed form. Three years ago my son, Brent bought a Honda Fit with manual transmission. At 50,000 miles the clutch went out. Of course, the clutch plates are considered a consumable wear item and are therefore not covered under the 60,000 mile powertrain warranty. So according to the Honda dealership and Honda Corporation, tough luck, it will cost $1,000 to replace the clutch. Not being very satisfied with that answer I encourage Brent to follow the Honda process for arbitration. Quickly stated, you have to file paperwork with the auto division of the Better Business Bureau. Now, six weeks after first contact with the BBB, they finally respond by saying the cars mileage is too high for them to consider pursuing our complaint. In other words, tough luck, it will cost $1,000 to replace the clutch. Where do you go to file a complaint against the BBB?
Now, you may be thinking I really have no complaint because everyone knows that a clutch is a consumable item not covered under the powertrain warranty, and you would be correct. I knew that, and to the letter of the law, we really have no recourse. But that doesn't make it right.
If you've ever driven a manual transmission, under normal driving conditions (not racing on the local drag strip), then you know that a clutch typically will last at least 100,000 miles and I've known of clutches lasting up to 200,000 miles. I have a Nissan Frontier that went 140,000 before I had the clutch replaced. So, with that being the "norm", certainly Brent's situation is out of the norm. To see if our case was a one-off bad luck situation, we went to the internet and searched for others with similar problems. Would you believe there are hundreds of reported cases of premature clutch failure with Honda Fit cars, and all of them tell the same story... no recourse with Honda... shut up and pay up. Some of these other cases are even worse than Brent's. Some had clutch failure at 30,000 or less.
I owned a Honda CRV for 13 years and never had any problems other than standard maintenance. In that regard, Honda lived up to its reputation for building quality vehicles that hold their value. Based on that experience, I've encouraged others to buy Honda products. That may have had something to do with Brent buying the Honda Fit. But now I think Honda is resting on their reputation and thumbing their nose at their customers. I've heard other people say the same thing, that Honda is not working to maintain their reputation, they're just riding its coat-tails.
You cannot convince me that Honda thinks it's normal or "ok" for a clutch to fail so soon. They just know that according to the book, they don't have to pay to fix it. They have shown that they are really not concerned with the satisfaction of their customers. Well, if they don't care about me, then I no longer care about them and will do everything in my power to discourage others from buying their products. They could have easily saved their reputation for customer satisfaction, and saved at least 2 customers by making some pretence to work with us to make it right, but they chose not to. Since the clutch was effectively half used up, we would have been happy with them paying only half the repair cost... but noooooo! When the dealership found out we were taking it to arbitration, their attitude said "take your best shot". To avoid paying $500, they have now lost at least 2 customers, and with any luck there will be many more lost customers.
Call it sour grapes if you want, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
P.S. If there's a silver lining to this cloud, maybe it's that due to Honda's crappy product and even crappier service, some local American-owned business will get paid to replace the clutch.
Here's the story in somewhat condensed form. Three years ago my son, Brent bought a Honda Fit with manual transmission. At 50,000 miles the clutch went out. Of course, the clutch plates are considered a consumable wear item and are therefore not covered under the 60,000 mile powertrain warranty. So according to the Honda dealership and Honda Corporation, tough luck, it will cost $1,000 to replace the clutch. Not being very satisfied with that answer I encourage Brent to follow the Honda process for arbitration. Quickly stated, you have to file paperwork with the auto division of the Better Business Bureau. Now, six weeks after first contact with the BBB, they finally respond by saying the cars mileage is too high for them to consider pursuing our complaint. In other words, tough luck, it will cost $1,000 to replace the clutch. Where do you go to file a complaint against the BBB?
Now, you may be thinking I really have no complaint because everyone knows that a clutch is a consumable item not covered under the powertrain warranty, and you would be correct. I knew that, and to the letter of the law, we really have no recourse. But that doesn't make it right.
If you've ever driven a manual transmission, under normal driving conditions (not racing on the local drag strip), then you know that a clutch typically will last at least 100,000 miles and I've known of clutches lasting up to 200,000 miles. I have a Nissan Frontier that went 140,000 before I had the clutch replaced. So, with that being the "norm", certainly Brent's situation is out of the norm. To see if our case was a one-off bad luck situation, we went to the internet and searched for others with similar problems. Would you believe there are hundreds of reported cases of premature clutch failure with Honda Fit cars, and all of them tell the same story... no recourse with Honda... shut up and pay up. Some of these other cases are even worse than Brent's. Some had clutch failure at 30,000 or less.
I owned a Honda CRV for 13 years and never had any problems other than standard maintenance. In that regard, Honda lived up to its reputation for building quality vehicles that hold their value. Based on that experience, I've encouraged others to buy Honda products. That may have had something to do with Brent buying the Honda Fit. But now I think Honda is resting on their reputation and thumbing their nose at their customers. I've heard other people say the same thing, that Honda is not working to maintain their reputation, they're just riding its coat-tails.
You cannot convince me that Honda thinks it's normal or "ok" for a clutch to fail so soon. They just know that according to the book, they don't have to pay to fix it. They have shown that they are really not concerned with the satisfaction of their customers. Well, if they don't care about me, then I no longer care about them and will do everything in my power to discourage others from buying their products. They could have easily saved their reputation for customer satisfaction, and saved at least 2 customers by making some pretence to work with us to make it right, but they chose not to. Since the clutch was effectively half used up, we would have been happy with them paying only half the repair cost... but noooooo! When the dealership found out we were taking it to arbitration, their attitude said "take your best shot". To avoid paying $500, they have now lost at least 2 customers, and with any luck there will be many more lost customers.
Call it sour grapes if you want, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
P.S. If there's a silver lining to this cloud, maybe it's that due to Honda's crappy product and even crappier service, some local American-owned business will get paid to replace the clutch.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Life Imitates Nature (is that redundant?)
I recently came upon this scene in nature (a.k.a. my backyard) that caused me to stop and contemplate how life sometimes imitates nature... okay, it took about 2 seconds. Anyway, I got in touch with my artsy-fartsy side and took this picture.
I have three titles for the picture and can't decide which one is more fitting, so you be the judge.
"Late Bloomer", or "Dare To Be Different", or "There's One In Every Crowd".
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