Sale Lost, Now the wind is out of My Sails

Dear Home Depot,

Yesterday you lost a sale.  A guaranteed sale at that.  Now, after my experience last night, I am not sure that I need, or even WANT the item that I was going to purchase.  And if I do but it, I will probably NOT be buying it from your store, at least not the one that I was at last night.

If you are still reading this, here is the entire story.  When finishing our lower level, one of the things that I wanted was to have a refrigerator so that we would not have to constantly be running upstairs for drinks and snacks if we are entertaining in the lower level. So, you can see that this is not an item I NEED to have.  It is something that would be nice, but in the large scheme of things, isn’t going to kill me if I don’t have it.

Yesterday, we were in the Twin Cities area for some graduation parties, and thought, this might be a good day to get that refrigerator.  We live about 60 miles from the nearest Home Depot, and just about anything else for that matter.  We stopped at a home depot on the way down to see if they carried a model I would want. They did, so we arraigned borrowing a trailer from my dad.  We stopped at a different store to see about expanded selection, the first HD we stopped at is a smaller store and doesn’t have the widest selection. From here we went to two graduation parties and stopped at a second HD store to look at fridges.

After the graduation parties, we picked up the trailer and stopped at the closest HD on the way home.  Here is where stuff gets bad. This was the third store I had taken all 4 kids into.  They had not behaved well in the other two stores, and by this time, they were hungry to boot.  This was not a great  time to be look at anything other than a fast food joint.  The third store has several models to choose from.  I was trying to look at them with my beautiful Bride, while all for Nuts ran amok all over, opening ovens, dishwashers, etc.  I am sure you can imagine the scene right now.  The salesperson came over, we told her we were looking for a refrigerator for the basement, in a wet-bar type or area ( big mistake there ), so she tried to move us toward the mini-fridge, which I do not want.  After I stated that I wanted to BUY a certain model, and that I wanted to take it with my TODAY, she went to look it up in their system.  They have two in stock, the floor model and one “in the warehouse”.  She was going to go back and make sure it was there.  After about 10 minutes, she comes back. They CAN’T find it.  Many excuses about the state of the warehouse, etc.  But come on, it’s a REFRIGERATOR.  It is in a REALLY BIG BOX!  

There is more to this that I can write at this point.  My only really problem with Home Depot is that this salesperson was very unprepared to deal with actually selling something that I wanted and she should have called for help much earlier that she did, or tried to do.  Once it because apparent that I was frustrated and was going to leave, she didn’t try to save the sale.  She only had excuses, and none of them were sufficient for me.

I left without a fridge and at this point I wonder if I really need one at this time.

75%

I have reached 75%!  75% of my goal in weight loss that is.  Actually a little more.  I have lost 32 lbs. of my initial 40lb goal.  You will remember that I have a goal to lose 40 before my 40th birthday, which is still quite a ways away. 122 days to be exact.  I have now “in”grown all my clothes. ( I didn’t really outgrow them, since I am technically getting smaller.  I don’t have any pants that fit.  I have have many pairs of pant that WILL fit, I just need to drop another 15 lbs. for that to happen though.  So I need to get a couple pair of in between jeans to tide me over.  I was hoping that I wouldn’t need them, but I don’t think I can stand to wear the ones I have been wearing much longer.  They really will fall off of me, and they are bunching up quite a bit when I pull the belt tight, so it’s off to the store tonight for smaller pants.  Yea!

Everything else is good.  I have been sick the past couple of days, so I haven’t been able to exercise as I would want to, but I hope to get back on that wagon tomorrow.

Things are good on the home front.  I would like to take some more camping trips, but the current state of affairs here in Minnesota doesn’t bode well for THAT to happen, at least not at the state parks. It seem that the only things that this budget fiasco will actually shutdown are the things that actually BRING IN MONEY. Like the state parks, the Minnesota Zoo, the horse race track, etc.  Perhaps they should keep those OPEN so they can continue to serve the people who are willing to PAY to use them.  Enough about that rant.

I would really like to get a camper also, but that appears to be deadlocked at this time, which is probably ok, since the state parks will be closed. Ugh! 

But hey, I have lost 32 lbs.  That is enough for today, right?

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day Dad!  Happy Fathers Day Dick!  Hope you both have a great day.

I have many great memories of both these men from growing up. My dad instilled in me a love of learning, camping, hard work and enjoying the satisfaction of a job well done.  He taught me that with a little time and effort that I can accomplish anything.  Thanks Dad.

Most of my memories from childhood I have with my dad involve camping, or being outside doing stuff.  Also, taking trip to see relative at the lake, or in Chicago.  Good times!  I also went with him a lot when he had work to do on the weekends, either at the office, or doing surveying work at job sites.  I distinctly remember one time holding the survey stick, and he kept telling me to move back, move back.  I wasn’t watching, and I moved back right into a steep, and deep, ditch that was about 10 feet to the bottom. I am sure it was quite the sight for him to all of a sudden watch me disappear.  We took trips to Colorado, Florida, and we followed the Laura Ingalls trail to Mt. Rushmore.  We went camping several time each year and even made two trip to the BWCA, where I enjoyed time spent together and great fishing.  I could have done without the bears though.  Now that I am grown and have four kids, my dad is teaching me how to be a great and loving grandparent, so that one day, in the VERY DISTANT future, perhaps I can do that too.  And I mean VERY VERY VERY distant future.

As for my other “dad”.  My mom married Dick about 10 years ago now or so, but I have known him all my life.  Our families were good friends and we spent much time together as I was growing up.  I remember taking lots of camping trips and many nights where we all got together so our parents could play cards.  He has been a great person to talk with, and has a great interest in the lives of all the people he knows.  He is especially knowledgeable about nature and is a veritable walking encyclopedia of outdoor information.  Going camping with him, both as a child, and an adult now is certainly a learning experience.  You don’t really need a park naturalist if you are going camping with him!

Thank to both of you for being such a big part of my life.  I look forward to many more years of wishing you a Happy Father’s Day!