Brain Dungeon

Ok, I have been relatively quiet since the last update about our truck. Mainly because this week has been pretty busy for me. I have started seeing a chiropractor for my bad back and had other things going on in the evenings that just kept me from being bloggy.

That’s ok, except that I just had a chance to catch up today with The Rock Chick’s blogs about Mental Illness Awareness week. Unfortunately, participating in awareness week is a one day thing for me since today is the “last day”. BUT awareness isn’t just a one week thing. It’s a forever thing.

The fact is, mental health is a MAJOR factor in your over-all health. Unfortunately, in many cases mental health “issues” are perceived by people as weaknesses. People are sometimes ashamed or afraid to seek help because they don’t want to admit their weakness. IT’S NOT A WEAKNESS!

I can attest to this because I’ve been there. I have been so depressed that nothing else in the world even mattered anymore. I was ashamed to seek help because I just KNEW I was strong enough to get through it all by myself. Unfortunately, I was only deceiving myself. It wasn’t a matter of being strong. It was a matter of being willing to accept help. My wife, my boss, and my friends could all see that I needed help, but I was too stubborn to go get it. I didn’t even realize just how much it was effecting every aspect of my life until my boss (for emphasis only, not a “real” threat) threatened to grab me by the throat and drag me to a doctor. The fact was that due to my chronic back pain and ever-persistent sciatica (old Army injury), and the stresses going on with my job (and my perceptions of the need for absolute perfection in everything I do), I was ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE. Talking to someone helped. I should have done it sooner. In my case, I did not need medication – but different people heal in different ways.

I believe there are many possible factors for issues with mental health to include physical, emotional, spiritual, chemical, and so on. The brain is a very complex organ and just like you can have illnesses relating to the heart, liver or kidneys, you can have illnesses relating to the brain. Sometimes medication helps, sometimes meditation helps. It depends on what’s going on up there, but awareness is the first step to help. For the sake of those who might find that they themselves need help, SEEKING HELP IS A SIGN OF STRENGTH, NOT WEAKNESS! For those who know people who might need help, being informed can help you help them get help (wow…how many times can the word help be used in one sentence???).

So, in the spirit of grabbing the Rock Chick’s hand in spreading awareness about mental health and mental illnesses, I am encouraging everyone out there to be aware. Her own daughter is going through some battles with anorexia and bipolar disorder. If it weren’t for Rock Chick’s awareness, the consequences of her daughters battle could have ended up so much more severe! SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT! Stop on by her blog and let her know you’re tagging along!

It’s time for yet another (and final!) truck update!

I was having kind of a long day today. All in all, it wasn’t horrible, but long nonetheless. At about 4:00, my cell phone rang. It was a number that wasn’t in my contact list, but I recognized it all too well.

It was the dealership.

In the two seconds or so that it took for me to recognize and subsequently answer the phone, I had several thoughts go through my mind. “Is it actually ready? Will there be another delay? If so, what will it be this time? Can I ever be patient with these people again? How many sentences are going to go through my head before I answer this dang phone?”

So, I answered. I half expected it to be the service manager or sales manager. It was neither. It was the service guy that I started dealing with from the very beginning. I did a pretty good job at not sounding irritated when I answered. I figured, it’s a new day, a new week….let’s see if I can cut them some slack.

Well, the guy was calling to tell me that my truck is ready. I light-heartedly asked him if he was sure. He said yes. I thanked him and told him I’d be by to pick it up this evening. I also asked him what my total was going to be (I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to get charged for that airbag).

You might want to make that you’re seated for the next little bit. No, seriously…sit down! Ok, I know most of you probably are sitting down, but if you happen to be reading my blog post on your phone or something while walking then sit! If you happen to be reading my blog post on a phone or laptop while you’re driving, then put it away and come back to it later…THAT’S NOT SAFE!!!

Ok, anyway, so I asked him for the total.

“Well, as far as I understand…we’re taking care of it for you.”

HUH? That was unexpected!

I wasn’t sure what to say. For a moment, I was actually speechless. I stammered for a second and then said, “Well, I didn’t expect that!” and he said “Well, I’m sure this has been a frustrating experience for you, so we’re just going to go ahead and cover it for you.”

I was a little shocked. A lot shocked. I got off the phone and called Crystal to tell her about it. I suddenly didn’t feel quite right about it. I felt like either the guy misunderstood what he was told or that I needed to at least call back and offer to pay for the brakes – since that part was my fault to begin with (at least I think it was).

For the record, let’s cover what was being done and roughly the cost:
Initial reason for going in:
Wheel wouldn’t turn and airbag light was on – Estimated cost of repairs $550.
Eventually, they found the front rotors needed to be replaced. Add $200
They forgot to add in the key I needed to buy (outrageous cost for a key!) $150
New airbag when the original fix for the airbag light didn’t work $300

If you do the math there, that comes out $1200! So…$1200 for brakes that got screwed up (likely my fault from driving in salt water), a key I SHOULD have gotten when I bought the thing, and airbag stuff that (if you ask me) should be covered by the warranty I purchased.

Relatively speaking, I’m sure this was a small write-off for them. But it was a big deal to me.

So I called back and asked to speak to the sales manager or the service manager. Both were busy and couldn’t come to the phone. I spoke with dude again to make sure he was relaying the information to me correctly. I asked him if there was some mix-up or confusion because it was only the airbag I wasn’t supposed to be paying for. He assured me that the whole bill would be covered. I asked him to have the service manager call me back when he could.

So the service manager called me a short while later and I said something to the effect of “Look, I appreciate what you’re doing here, and if you REALLY want to do it that way, then great, and thanks! But I’m not trying to get something from you for free. I want to make sure we’re doing this fair.”

He basically said, “I don’t see it that way at all. We really dropped the ball on this from the very beginning and every step of the way. It’s been nothing but a nightmare and a headache for you and I think that you shouldn’t have to pay for it. You just bought the car from us, and already had to have service for something that shouldn’t have even come up. Hopefully, we’ll be able to earn the right to do business with you again in the future.”

Wow. I really was stunned. For the record, I really DID feel that I shouldn’t have to pay for any of this. I never would have said that to him, though (unless he directly asked me). I really wasn’t trying to worm a free repair here. I had just had it with their lack of customer service. But – my opinion has changed now.

Not that he bought me off or anything like that. I mean, it may sound that way, but to me it’s been all about customer service from the beginning. I have a motto about customer service and that is “Always treat your customers like you’d want someone to treat your grandmother.” It works for people who don’t hate their grandmother…LOL. To me, good customer service means doing EVERYTHING you can do to satisfy your customer, even if it ends up costing you money.

If you had asked me last week, there is NO WAY I would have said I was satisfied. However, the gesture they offered today was significant. The fact that they decided to do that without any prompting from me, in my opinion, is stellar. I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied with their service department in general, but I would definitely say that their service manager will do what it takes to fix the situation.

So, the experience as a whole may have been nothing but an absolute nightmare, but in the end, they did what they had to do and, I have to say, have earned a chance to do business with me again in the future. Not without caution, mind you – but they have definitely earned one more shot.

I guess it pays to voice your opinion!

I’m getting more search engine traffic!

Though – I’m not sure that’s something to be proud of. Of course, this site isn’t really about anything in specific other than me posting my thoughts and rants and ravings and whatnot. But Google helped get my site some attention with the following search terms:

ant online warehouse (no quotes) – oooooooh…not good for antonline. Though I show up as number 15 for this search, it certainly wasn’t a happy post! I still have such a bad taste in my mouth for them that I would absolutely advise AGAINST purchasing with them. They don’t have their act together people! You can’t reach the people who contact you and they treat you like you’re stupid!

Still not holding a grudge…PFFFFFFFT.

And the other search term that brought me some traffic…

dusty turn on hold again (with or without quotes!) – ummmmm…I have no idea what this person might have been looking for. I think they may have just…I dunno…randomly typed a few words into Google and…wow. WHAT? The worst part is that I show up as NUMBER ONE for this search…go ahead, try it! You know you want to. If you haven’t already you’re just being stubborn…no seriously, you can type it without quotes and I’m number one. You can type it with quotes and it says “No results found…” and then shows the results without quotes. I just don’t understand!

Ok, so that was a little fun.

You know – for being just a “fun little blog” I sure have got some wide-spread traffic! I mean, ok…it’s probably no big deal. But when I first turned on Google Analytics on my site, I truly anticipated that I’d see a hit here or a hit there and just, you know…whatever. But so far I have gathered traffic from SIXTEEN states and FOUR countries outside the United States. Sure some if it may just be people who happened upon my site and then happened away from my site.

Perhaps it helps that I’ve started posting more frequently. Whatever it is…I find it really cool.

Anyone else using analytics that has found themselves in awe of what they are seeing?

Before I post this I have to say:

Rock Chick – I PROMISE…I got these pictures BEFORE your “We the People” post!

I went to Walgreen’s yesterday to pick up some stuff Crystal requested and when I walked in I saw something that made me turn around and run screaming from the building walk out to my car and get my camera. Observe what I am calling the most frightening Halloween display EVER!

I swear this isn’t photo-chopped people! Go ahead…click on it…blow it up…take a good close look at who’s standing next to Freddy and Jason! AND THE SCARIEST IS ON BOTH ENDS! LOL!

I wish I knew if the person who set up this display was being snarky or if they were just thinking “they are dolls, put them all together.” Either way…I found it HILARIOUS.

No, not really.

I got the phone call yesterday morning from the dealership. Apparently the passenger’s side airbag needed to be replaced for some reason. They he told me that there IS a safety warranty, but it’s only up to 60,000 miles. Which our truck is way past (just a little under 80,000). SOOOO, it is going to cost $265 to replace that airbag (no charge for labor) and $23 for freight and because airbags are considered hazmat, they wouldn’t be able to get it there any sooner than next Monday.

NEXT MONDAY!!!

Uncool. Very very uncool.

I got off the phone and boiled for a bit. I called the dealership and asked to speak to the sales manager who was trying to help me get through all this. He was on the phone, so I didn’t get to speak to him. I left a message to have him call me back.

A few minutes later, the service manager called me. He said “What can I do to make this right?”

I told him, “I’m not sure there is anything you can do at this point! I’m so sick and tired of this crap. You guys can’t get my truck done, you keep charging me more money. I’m not saying you’re doing anything dishonest but this is the stereotypical auto shop horror story!”

He then tells me that he’s going to see what he can do to get me a discount on the airbag. This offers me little consolation.

“Discount?? You know what? I hesitate to say this because this is NOT how I am. I DO NOT believe it trying to get things out of people for free. I am NOT about shorting you money. BUT, if I have to pay for that airbag, then forget it! Give me my truck and we’ll call it done. I’ll take my truck AND MY BUSINESS elsewhere!”

He tells me that he’ll look into it and see what he can do and call me back.

Then I ask about the sales manager. I figured that since it was the sales manager I had called for, that I ought to get to speak to him. Apparently he’s sitting across from the service manager for this call. I ask to speak to him.

I basically repeat everything I said to the service manager. I let him have it about how frustrated I am and how I just can’t fathom the fact that they put this vehicle through all kinds of tests to make sure it was safe for the road and that I haven’t even had the truck for 3 months and the airbag needs to be replaced. I exclaim how furious I am that the extended warranty I purchased since this vehicle was sold to me “as is” didn’t cover something as critical as airbags. It’s not as if the vehicle was in an accident…THEY JUST STOPPED BEING OK!

I repeated my comment about taking my truck elsewhere. I told him to figure out what he had to figure out, but that if I have to pay for the airbags then I’m done. I have absolutely had it and I would rather take my business elsewhere.

“Woah, wait a minute,” he says, “You don’t have to pay for the airbag. It’s covered by your warranty.”

I told him that’s not what the person told me earlier. I told him he’d better get his story straight because I was specifically told that it was NOT covered and that I was going to have to pay an additional $300 to get it done.

He says he’ll look into it and call me back.

Apparently, I finally got their attention.

I got a call less than 5 minutes later. The service manager called and simply said, “Your airbag is NOT covered under the warranty, but don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of it for you at no charge.”

I thank him. I apologize for getting rude and explain that I’d just been pushed beyond my limits. He says he understands and can’t blame me. He then says, “Well, I hope this doesn’t ruin our chances of doing business together again in the future.”

I told him, “To be perfectly honest with you, IT DOES! BUT because you’re taking care of me now, MAYBE there’s still a chance we’ll do business again in the future.

So, there you have it. I had to blow up at them to get their attention. It’s sad, really, because I hate being that way.

…I really don’t even want to post about it. But I’m going to because, well, I’ve come this far with the story, you may as well know the current status.

Still. No. Truck.

You read it right. In The Rock Chick’s most recent blog post “Listen Up”, Rock Chick talks about the incredible frustrations she is having with the people who won’t listen to her when it comes to her daughters battle with an eating disorder and, as was recently diagnosed, bipolar disorder. While the issue with my truck is nowhere near the magnitude of what’s going on in her life, there were two sentences in succession that, at this point in my truck story, I feel I can really relate to.

She said, “When I spoke calmly, my words were tossed aside by the supposed experts. If I yelled and screamed (because nobody seems to listen when one speaks in a calm tone), clearly I was the dominatrix of a mother trying to control every aspect about my daughter’s life.”

Ok – so I can relate to it except the part about being a dominatrix of a mother…

They say (and for the most part I truly believe) that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. However, when I called (they did not call me!) the dealership this afternoon to find out the status on my truck, they told me that they found (surprise!) another problem. Apparently the thing they did to “clear the code” on the airbag system only cleared one code, it did not clear the other – so the light is still on.

First of all, when were they planning on telling me? Why did I have to call an hour before their service department closed in order to get this information when they had known for 3 hours already. Secondly WHY IS THIS SO FRIGGIN’ HARD???

I understand that things don’t go as expected; I understand that there are unforeseen issues that come up. I do. I really do. But they KEEP telling me that my truck will be ready “tomorrow” and it keeps getting put off and I keep having to probe to get that information. It’s RIDICULOUS.

I have been very patient so far and very calm and very collected, but they are coming dangerously close from going from “not-so-happy” Dustin to “I’d-rather-jump-off-a-sky-scraper-and-get-my-eyelid-caught-on-a-rusty-nail-than-to-piss-him-off-again” Dustin. I admit, in the privacy of my own home, I probably do not exhibit the highest levels of patience, but when I am dealing with people out in the world, I try to be as patient as I can. But these people are wearing me very thin. I even reminded them that I have been very patient up to this point and that I am trying my best to remain patient, but that my patience is running out.

They’ve had my truck for a week and a half and they can’t get it finished. I came real close to telling them just to forget the rest of it, to close the work order and give me my darn truck – that I would take my business elsewhere to get the rest of the work done and send them the bill.

*Sigh* I guess life happens sometimes. I guess I ought to feel fortunate that I can even afford to have a truck, or a roof over my head, or two dogs that are absolutely nuts. I ought to feel fortunate that I have a wife who loves me and a steady (although sometimes frustrating) job and food to eat every day. And I am thankful for all of these things. Thankful for these things and so much more…

…but this dealership is making my blood boil…

oh, and P.S. – Rock Chick, I will continue to keep you and your family in my prayers!

NO TRUCK!!!

*Sigh* well, I feel like being nice about it because the guy sounded so apologetic when I called for an update, but apparently getting the brakes fixed on our truck was so time consuming that they couldn’t find time to finish the whole airbag light problem. According to the manager, the part for the airbag light thing came in, but not until later in the afternoon. They got whatever needed disassembling disassembled, but they’re not quite ready to put it all back together yet. Perhaps they really just forgot how…

So, we will supposedly get the truck back tomorrow. I know they’re doing me a favor by fixing my truck, but why do they have to forget that I’m doing them a favor by giving them my business? It’s just so frustrating.

On a much less serious note:

I’m not sure how many of my readers are also readers of my wife’s blog, but I know there’s at least a couple of you out there. For those of you who are NOT my wife’s readers, it might behoove you (did I really just use that word?) to check out her post about the 11 boxes of the same thing and get a laugh when she talks about her paranoia of clicking submit incorrectly. She said in her post:

“Pushing that submit button, you must understand, sends a jolt of panic up and down my spine and I click it as quickly and as lightly as I possibly can so as to not awake the multiple-click-submit-button-dragon, angering him and causing him to charge my credit card multiple times.”

Well, we were talking about that post today. Of course, knowing my wife, I knew she was being silly and creative and funny. What I DIDN’T know was that she actually is a little paranoid about that submit button! The sites always say “CLICK SUBMIT ONLY ONCE” in big bold letters and it makes her nervous that she’s going to do it wrong. She literally clicks it as quickly and as lightly as she possibly can to avoid being misinterpreted by the submit button!

I thought that was funny. So I said, “you seriously do that?”

As if to justify her neurosis, she goes on to say, “well, you have to be careful because what if you lose control of your finger…” I REALLY don’t know what she said after that because I was lost in a fit of uncontrollable laughter! I could not stop laughing at the image of someone losing control of that blasted finger that clicks the mouse!

Crystal, I love you with all of my heart…but you need help! Especially if you are having problems with occasionally losing control of your fingers!

I admit there’s a chance that you “had to be there” in order for that to be as funny as it really was…but what’s worse is as I’m posting this, she’s STILL trying to justify that you just never know…it COULD happen!

That’s the ONLY Google search that has resulted in a hit on my blog so far. As I told you before I went ahead and installed Google Analytics on my blog so that I could see what’s going on with my blog and I was actually kind of impressed. Ok, so I’m not reaching the masses, but I really kinda thought that I was really only typing for me and like 2 readers. (One of those readers being my wife!)

So after a little waiting I finally saw that I had a Google search bring someone to my blog. What I had to say about that abomination of a Pink Jeep obviously wasn’t what they were looking for because, according to Google Analytics, their average time on my site was 00:00.

I was just looking at the rest of the information and I am, I have to say, really astounded! So far, have had hits from 10 states within the US and 3 additional countries! I’m an INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR!!!

Ok…so maybe I’m not an international superstar, but I’m definitely getting more exposure than I thought!

I just have one question…WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE???

It’s enough to turn a man paranoid to know so many people are looking in but so few are actually saying anything…it’s like they’re sneaking up on me…

I feel as though I owe it to my readers to explain my wife’s comment on my “bloggy ideas” post about dancing monkeys.

In case you didn’t get to see her response, she said, “I think you should blog about dancing monkeys. Because obviously, they are a driving force to your madness. And then blog about how awesome I am.”

You see, I was on the phone with a good friend of mine the other day and I can’t remember what spawned me saying this, but I said, “DANCE, MONKEY! DANCE!” I think we were talking about our respective difficult days at work or something and while he was telling me about his day I said it as if I were the organ grinder making his day so difficult.

Well, he let the comment go, but later on in the conversation he said something that made me say it again. Then he said something that indicated disappointment and I said, “CRY, MONKEY! CRY!” I guess I was in a weird mood, but then he said, “That sounds so familiar! Where did you get that?”

I said, “as far as I know, I made it up.” Turns out – I didn’t.

Ok, so maybe I DID come up with it all my own, because the Google searches I did for the phrase “dance monkey dance” came up with stuff I had never heard of. Over 37,000 hits for the exact phrase “dance monkey dance”!!! Looks like there’s games, videos, all kinds of stuff. I could hardly believe it! I was so very disappointed. I was astonished. I was perplexed. I was driving my wife nuts with my absolute awe over the fact that “dance monkey dance” was such a widely used phrase on the internet.

Oh – and my wife is awesome!

Well, we heard from the dealership what was wrong with our truck.

Apparently the brake rotor rusted and locked. Bad mojo. To make matters worse, the front to rotors were rusted as well and were in danger of having the same happen. They needed to be resurfaced.

Ok – we agreed to have it done.

I was thinking about what on earth could have caused that to happen. We’ve only had the truck for about 3 months and out of nowhere the brakes rust up on us? What gives?

The Gulf of Mexico – that’s what!

Hurricane Ike missed us by a long shot, but we still saw a storm surge in the Gulf which resulted in some flooding on the northern edges of town. In fact, we went driving around to see what the beaches looked like and ended up driving through some of the flooding that occurred. I was so proud of our 4WD truck that wasn’t gonna get stuck in the water! (no cars were stuck in the water…)

Well anyway, after that we went home, parked the truck and left it there for about a week. (I drive a company vehicle for work and Crystal was working hard at home on her jewelry that week). As it turns out…salt water and metal don’t mix too good! I’m pretty sure that the fact that we drove through the salt water and didn’t rinse the truck off before parkin’ it was the cause of the problems.

So 3 rotors needed to be resurfaced. Oh – and we needed to have the little sensor for our airbags or something replaced because the airbag light had been coming on and staying on for about the last 2 weeks. Worst of all, none of this is covered by the warranty we purchased with our truck. All in all – it was gonna cost around $500.

Now let’s recap what we learned so far – “unlucky” license plates: bad. Salty brakes: bad. Local dealership: loses trucks and doesn’t call back: BAD!

I fear I’m going to sound like Paul Harvey…

And now for the rest of the story…

It was Monday when we found out about the actual cause of the wheel being so stubborn. They said that the truck would be ready to go Tuesday afternoon. Not so bad I guess considering all that’s happened so far.

We got on with our busy lives and realized on Thursday that they still hadn’t called. WHAT FREAKIN’ GIVES?

Thursday they tell us it’ll for sure be ready on Friday by 2:00. I have my doubts, but plan to actually show up at 2 and have a little one-on-one with the service manager about the severe lack of “service” we’d seen thus far.

Friday at 1:00 I get a call. “Mr. Braindungeon Dude, [not really what he said, in case you didn't pick up on that all by yourself], I have good news. You’re truck is almost ready.”

This doesn’t sound like good news…otherwise, why the call? I chime in, “But…?”

“Well the thing is…” and he goes on to explain that the front left router was so badly corroded that they had to “cut too deep” to be able to resurface it. It’s now too thin and must be replaced. I kinda saw this coming a mile away…I have had it happen before on another car.

He goes on to say that they can replace just the one router, but they recommend if replacing one front router, go ahead and replace both. He reassures me that they won’t be charging me any extra for labor but tells me that to replace one router will be an extra $100 and to replace both will (amazingly) be $200. A question suddenly comes to mind. I remember talking to this guy when this all began about the fact that we need an extra key. This magical key costs $50 just to purchase, but $100 to program. (Why even bother telling the price without programming…I mean seriously…???)

I want to know if that was included in the original work order, because now the dollar signs are just flashing past me like crazy and with the lack of customer service they’ve provided, I can’t stomach the thought of paying over $850 bucks for all this. Not only did he forget to work the number into the original work order, but now there’s yet another due date for our truck…MONDAY.

I calmly…coolly…but sternly say “before we talk any more about money…let’s talk about facts.” and I start pointing out every single instance where their customer service has been less than worthy of the moniker.

The conversation went on for a while and I ended up setting an appointment to actually meet with the service manager. Before I am able to get out there, I’m sharing this story with someone I work with who happens to know the General Sales Manager there. He calls him up and let’s him know what’s going on. This guy calls me back and does his best to assuage me and offer to rectify the situation by paying for a rental car for the weekend. I decline and tell him I don’t need it. I bring up the key issue and he offers to throw in the key. He asks if that would make the situation right.

I begin to think about this and say to him, “I would love to get that key and not have to pay for it, but I’m not sure that I can justifiably say that would make me a happy customer. I’m not trying to put you out of money, I’m trying to resolve a customer service situation. At this point, I’m not sure I will ever return to your service shop.”

We decide that I’m going to think it over and call him back. Ultimately, I decide that since I had a need with my truck that they did not fulfill, then fulfilling this other need I have with my truck at their expense is a fair trade. I mean, come on…$150 bucks for a key??? lol

I still wasn’t sure that I was comfortable with that. I was, after all, still not sure I was going to go back there and I didn’t want to come across like the key was “the key” to solving the situation. I decide to go and discuss it with him face-to-face before giving a final answer.

When I show up, he greets me pretty warmly. He’s not a “typical” sales guy. He’s friendly, Has an honest look to him and genuinely, and sincerely is apologetic for all that’s happened. He tells me that he’s gonna throw in the key anyway at his cost (before I get to tell him I’m going to accept it) and says that he is personally going to follow this task to completion. It can’t happen until Monday because the parts that need to be replaced need to be ordered.

We have a friendly conversation about customer service and he asks me to consider giving them another chance in the future. I tell him that I most certainly will consider it, because I feel he has done everything he can to rectify a situation that he only came into at the last minute.

So there you have it. Hopefully you’ll hear from me on Monday that we have our truck back. I haven’t sworn off the dealership (at least not yet!). And I learned a valuable lesson in chemical reactions between salt and metal.

Perhaps it will all go uphill from here…

PS – I added a feed counter to my blog – I HAVE 11 SUBSCRIBERS VIA FEED! Check it out in the upper right hand corner. I can now officially stop using the “(s?)” when I refer to my readers!

PPS – James really can read…so he says…