Recently in Quality of Life Category

Delta shows how outsourcing is a great way to ruin customer relationships

By James Lockman on September 23, 2011 5:49 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
As I wait for my 3:48 flight to Portland Maine to depart sometime after 6:30 due to a "mechanical issue," I was surprised by a Delta representative who came to ask if everything was all right. I told her that no, it was not all right, and that Delta's business decision has once again made me question whether to continue my relationship with the airline.

Like so many of its competitors, Delta outsources the small market routes to regional carriers. When those planes break down or the regional carrier can't provide crews, then it is Delta who is the bearer of bad news. Since I, as a customer, can't distinguish between Delta and the partner, my trust in Delta erodes every time I fly.

To contrast, I had a flight earlier this week between Atlanta and JFK. That flight had a new plane with in-flight television, on-time departure, and a friendly and attentive crew. Between major hubs, flying with Delta is often a great way to go, but not when travel to a smaller airport is required.

My ask of Delta (and the other legacy carriers) is that they stop pretending to serve us in the smaller airports. Leave that to the carriers who care about the smaller airports, like Southwest and JetBlue. Allow the regional carriers to stand on their own, and I bet we would see a drastic transformation in their level of service.
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Got rid of the 1998 Chevy Venture today

By James Lockman on August 2, 2011 1:53 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Car Talk

Image via Wikipedia

Back in September of 2008, our 1998 Chevy Venture died a steamy death. A call to Click and Clack at Car Talk told me that the car could be repaired, and that I should look for a broken intake manifold gasket rather than a broken head gasket.

Taking up the challenge, I was able to dig down into the engine and finally see the broken gasket. Unfortunately, it was dark by then, and it snowed overnight and that was the last time I looked in there. 

Yesterday, a car picker came by with a flatbed. He knocked on the door and offered me money for the dead car. I took it before he could change his mind, and he came to take it away today. 

Imagine the cascade of mice, bees and wasps as he dragged it off the ground!

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Just finished my second week at Adobe...

By James Lockman on December 3, 2010 5:30 PM | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks
For the first time in my life, I'm working for a "big" company. This particular "big" company is Adobe Systems, Inc. I must say that I am so far enjoying the challenge of learning big company processes. Coming from a small print shop and then from a one-man shop, it's somewhat overwhelming to have to think of every word or action in terms of how someone else may interpret it. I'll settle in soon enough, though.Times-Square.jpg

One thing that I'm learning is that I haven't found a bad apple yet. I know that there are over 8,000 people working here, and I've yet to meet them all, but these last few weeks have been a steady parade of one pleasant, helpful and sincere person after another. Being a person who thrives on personal interaction, I am very excited to have joined Adobe.

My office is in Times Square, which is pretty cool in and of itself. I must look like an office worker, because I don't get accosted by the tour guide hawkers on the street every day.

I'll report here from time to time on my life in the big company and in the city.
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Enterprise Car Rental wins 5 stars in my book

By James Lockman on September 26, 2010 6:55 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
My trip to Seattle was going great until I got to Seattle. There, I learned that all of the luggage from the Portland, Maine connection had been lost or misdirected in JFK, so I am without the majority of my clothes. Thankfully, My Prescient Wife, Rori, hinted that I should split my clothes between my carry-on and my checked bag. My mother's experience this summer while traveling to Germany of being without luggage for a good portion of her trip was also on my mind, so I had kept one change of clothes in the carry-on as well as all of my toiletries. I must assume that JetBlue will find the bag and get it here sometime tomorrow.

With this news weighing heavy on my mind, I get on the Enterprise bus to go get the rental car. When I hand the agent my reservation (that had been made my Hewins AAA Travel in Portland, Maine, from whom I had specified Enterprise), he showed me that it was in fact for Hertz. Imagine my delight when he asked me if I had rented with Enterprise before, and I told him that I had a corporate account and that I rented locally in Maine about once a month. Having found my account, he was able to match the rate and get me out the door in about 5 minutes.

Hooray, Enterprise, for redeeming one part of this trip. Next time you need a car, give them a try.
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Mikvah reopens at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh

By James Lockman on July 26, 2010 11:13 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
The Mikvah at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh officially reopened this weekend after more than a year of hard work by Mikvat Shalom, the nonprofit group that was formed to rejuvinate it. Read the Portland Press Herald article. 

The Mikvah was a bone of contention between different interest groups in Portland: the women who need it for their monthly cleansing, the people who need it for conversions, the families who need it for kaschering pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, and the men who use it for cleansing prior to Shabbat and other holidays and festivals during the year.

My involvement in the Mikvah was a practical one. When the filters failed, I did my best to get them back in service. When we discovered a water routing problem in the backfeed system, I installed valves and pipes to correct it. When other maintenance tasks arose, I would lend a hand where practical to bring the Mikvah back to service. When the air handling system failed and mold overtook the building, it was clear that a more dedicated approach to maintenance was required.

Mikvat Shalom was organized by Marilyn Fried, then the Executive Director of Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, on whose land the Mikvah sits. She saw the decrepit state of the Mikvah as an opportunity to build community among the competing interests. Representatives from Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, Congregation Bet Ha'am, Temple Beth El, and Chabad of Maine as well as unaffiliated Jews from the community came together to take on the challenge of restoring the Mikvah and creating a center of renewal and cooperation.

During the dedication, Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld remarked that he did not know of another Mikvah that had the support of the entire Jewish community. I am proud of our community for having come together to achieve this goal and having created a vibrant and welcoming Mikvah.

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No Chanukah miracle here...

By James Lockman on December 17, 2009 10:45 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I called the oil company on Wednesday to deliver K1 for our furnace. They said they'd come on Friday. The tank ran dry tonight. I drove to the gas station to buy enough to last the night, and I had left my wallet at home. I went back to get the money, returned to the station, and they had closed. I struck gold on the third station, and was able to buy fuel.
If the oil in the Temple could burn 8 days, why can't mine burn two?
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Disappointed with my fellow Mainers

By James Lockman on November 4, 2009 10:21 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Yesterday, the voters of Maine voted to repeal a same sex marriage law that the legislature had enacted last spring. Maine became a focus of national attention, and with it, national money and campaigning. It is unfortunate that outside interests with deep pockets can poison the issue and turn the issue from one of equal treatment for all into one of, let's face it, religious opinion.

The Pilgrims left England over religious persecution. Today, tax paying citizens face the same religious persecution in the form of scare tactic ads promising the gay-ification of our schools. There was another issue on the ballot calling itself the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and another one looking to limit excise taxes on new (6 yrs old or less) cars. Both of these were defeated, so our taxes will remain among the highest in the nation for another year or two, anyway.

Now, I know that this is going to sound stereotypical, but my gay friends and acquaintances are folks who earn decent money, have no kids, and like to spend. Now, who do you want in your town, propping up your school departments? The retirees, the new homeowners, the struggling small businesses, or the well-to-do couple with no kids and no drain on the tax base?

Of course, people live where they work, and it is unlikely that these couples will not pick up stakes and bolt for Massachusetts. However, in our Internet economy, where you live is less and less important, so there may be little to keep these couples here.

Shame on you, Maine, for shooting down an opportunity to attract more highly paid, intelligent, and creative people to our otherwise lackluster economy. Shame on you, Maine, for caving to outside interests. And shame on you, Maine, for not doing the right thing.
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Maine License Plate causes confusion for Woodbridge, CT Police

By James Lockman on October 10, 2009 8:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
While visiting family in Woodbridge, CT this weekend, I had to go to the Walgreen's to get some rash cream for Zeke, and on the way back, I must have caught the local constable's attention. A few minutes from having pulled into the driveway, the constable knocks on the door and tells me that my car's registration is expired, and that I had better step outside to explain the situation to him and to the other officer. Of course, I was able to produce proper paperwork and the officers politely apologized for the confusion and left.

The reason for their confusion is that in Maine, each type of license plate can have its own custom plate. In our case, we have a Combination Plate and a regular Passenger Car plate, each with the tag "YPMB." The car with the expired plate is the one about which I called Car Talk and was on the air last year, and it is a passenger car. The Connecticut license plate rules apparently don't allow this, and so both officers were, safe to say, thrown for a loop with this one.
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High Tech Trickle-Down benefits us

By James Lockman on August 30, 2009 9:43 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Maine has a program in the schools called Maine Learning Technology Initiative that provides laptops to middle school and now high school students. The program began with iBooks and progressed to MacBooks. The computers have a lifespan in the schools, and apparently with the stimulus package, are getting replaced sooner than expected in some school systems. The upshot is that there are many of these white MacBooks are available if you know where to look.

I have been struggling with how to get Arthur and Rori into Intel Macs, and the opportunity presented itself with a couple of these machines. Arthur can now use CS4 Master Collection and write Flex 4 code. We also want to write iPhone apps, and the old G4 Powerbook wasn't up to the task.

Thanks, MLTI.
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Calls to AT&T customer service sometimes pay off.

By James Lockman on August 29, 2009 2:12 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
When we bought our iPhones, we had phones with AT&T that were not on a contract. We had accumulated about 7900 rollover minutes over the years we had been with AT&T. We wanted to be able to keep them, so we tried to simply add iPhones and a 2 year contract. Apparently, the result was that we got:
  1. A new AT&T account for the iPhones;
  2. The old account was cancelled;
  3. The minutes were left behind.
Unhappy with losing the minutes, I called and learned that the old account was a business account and the new one was personal. Regardless, I argued, I should be able to keep my minutes. Without any hesitation, the lovely gal on the line told me that she could give me 1000, but she'd have to ask her manager about more. She text messages her manager (I kid you not) and the result is that we got 4000 of the minutes restored. Better than zero, and there's more. 

Because of the large number of accumulated minutes, I wasn't paying much attention to the minutes on the phone. Good thing I did, though, because the counter was reading low near the end of the month. I knew that we had called everyone we knew on these new gadgets, and that I was using it for most of my business activities, so I figured that I needed a plan with more minutes. I changed to the 1400 minute plan with minutes to spare, and forgot about it. I got the bill, and it claimed that I had gone over by ~150 minutes! The same call got the charges refunded.

I must say that the experience was pleasant and very rewarding, for me, anyway, and AT&T gets a thumbs up from me.
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